WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 199: Survivors (2)

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There were three Army officers besides the Captain: Ensign Ruben Pennington, Ensign Malcolm Krueger, and Ensign Ralph Novak. Even among them, their affiliations were split. Unlike Ensign Pennington, who served under Captain Langford, Ensign Krueger was a transport helicopter pilot, while Ensign Novak had been dispatched from the Army Information Support Group.

"Ensign Ralph Novak. I am an administrative officer assigned to Echo Company, 9th Psychological Operations Battalion. My mission was to provide psychological support to survivors remaining in the metropolitan area."

He looked especially tense as he introduced himself. It was understandable. His post was even farther removed from direct combat than artillery. The same went for Ensign Krueger.

No wonder some of the soldiers had felt slightly out of place. They must have received regular training too, but it would be hard to expect combat proficiency on par with ordinary infantry. If mutants appeared right in front of them, the Coast Guard might even respond more steadily.

In other words, Gyeoul was the only infantry commander here. The Captain emphasized that point as well.

"I am ashamed to say it, but everyone will be relying heavily on you. Myself included. Please take good care of us for a while."

"I will do my best."

The next topic was the nuclear strike.

"Are we certain we are completely outside the nuclear effect zone?"

Captain Langford nodded at Ensign Escamilla's question.

"You can rest easy on that point. We are about thirty kilometers from the bay, and the wind is blowing from the west. Since it was an underwater detonation, there will be a lot of fallout, but at this wind speed it should spread within twenty degrees of the wind direction. Most of the contamination will stop in the mountains east of the metropolitan area. Unless Command has lost its mind, they would not have used a strategic nuclear weapon."

The power of nuclear weapons was expressed by the weight of explosives needed to produce a blast of the same yield.

The strategic nuclear weapon the Captain mentioned meant a warhead in the megaton class or above. If one of those went off, the fallout could spread over hundreds of kilometers. Even if the mountainous terrain reduced that range, it would still mean unavoidable contamination south of Sacramento, across the Central Valley of California.

Gyeoul agreed with the Captain's judgment.

"It would have to be that way, for the sake of the forces stranded in the Central Valley."

The exact scale of the forces whose supply lines and retreat routes had been cut off by Shangjiang Yang Yongbin's nuclear terrorism was still unknown. They could only guess it might reach as high as a million at most.

'There is also a chance the nuclear strike was canceled.'

That was Gyeoul's private thought. The ultimate goal of the final solution was to eliminate the threat of further nuclear terrorism. But with that chaos erupting in the bay, it would not be strange if a nuclear submarine had slipped through the blockade. From the U.S. government's perspective, that had to be another piece of bad news. What was the President feeling right now?

"Then do we move on foot from here?"

The question came from Ensign Barker. Captain Langford thought for a moment, then asked the pilot for an opinion.

"If we keep using the helicopters, how much farther can we go?"

Ensign Krueger was pessimistic.

"We did not have enough fuel from the start. We were pressed for time, and one refueling truck had to fuel as many aircraft as possible. Assuming we keep to a safe speed, even if we siphon fuel from the damaged aircraft, twenty kilometers ahead is probably the limit."

"Hmm. That is awkward."

The Captain sank into thought again.

"Even if nothing happens, it is a distance that would take half a day on foot, so I cannot call it short. But there is no guarantee everyone will survive the next landing either... What do you all think? Would it be better to move quickly even if we accept the risk of another accident? I think walking is the better choice."

Gyeoul agreed.

"I share that opinion. If we move on foot, combat will be unavoidable, but fortunately there do not seem to be many mutants in this area. Since the roads are in good condition, securing vehicles should be an option too."

Just as Gyeoul said, the state route running north and south was strangely clean. That was all the more unusual because it was one of the main routes out of the San Francisco metropolitan area. There was only one conclusion they could infer from that. The infection must have spread north of the Golden Gate Bridge that abruptly.

Ensign Krueger added,

"It was already a miracle that beginners got helicopters on the verge of breaking down this far."

The remaining ensigns looked at one another, but no one objected. Their expressions were not bright, though. Gyeoul read their worries.

'They must be worried about running out of ammunition. How much do they really have left?'

Everyone must have spent a huge amount of ammunition escaping Fort Baker. As he recalled the scenes he had glimpsed before takeoff, the effects of his Intelligence correction provided an even clearer 「Memory」.

Judging by the soldiers' ammo vests in those scenes, each person probably had one or two magazines left at most, even by a generous estimate.

A fully loaded magazine held thirty rounds, so it was hard to call that nothing. But that was still the amount an ordinary soldier could burn through in one normal engagement. Against mutants, inexperienced soldiers sometimes sprayed dozens of rounds to bring down just one. Gyeoul, who killed at least one with every shot, was not a fair comparison.

Shaking off his lingering attachment, Ensign Pennington backed his superior's opinion.

"If we give up the sea, either choice is the same. Even if we take the helicopters, we still have hundreds of kilometers to travel afterward. Whether half a day gets added or not will not make a major difference. We have no choice but to avoid combat as much as possible and strictly control ammunition use."

Considering their difficult situation, the decision came quickly.

"Then the remaining question is where we go now..."

The Captain looked around at everyone.

"I should have asked sooner, but may I assume I will hold command until we return?"

Since they belonged to different organizations, it was something that had to be clearly settled. As he did so, the first person he looked at was the boy officer. Gyeoul was second in rank here. In some sense, he might even be better suited to command than Captain Langford.

But that would leave room for pointless discord.

It was not what Gyeoul wanted either, so he immediately stood at attention.

"Yes sir."

He had no intention of following unreasonable orders, but there was no need to say that now. The Captain did not look like that kind of person either. Gyeoul's instant decision affected the other ensigns as well. The two Coast Guard ensigns looked at each other briefly, then lifted their chins.

"We will follow your instructions as well."

Ensign Barker's words represented the position of the Coast Guard survivors. The Army ensigns were no different.

"I see..."

Captain Langford let out a long sigh. Gyeoul sensed both light relief and heavy anxiety in it.

"Good, gentlemen. I will do my best as well. Even so, I will have many shortcomings. If you have an opinion, state it actively. And I hope we do not push one another away just because we belong to different organizations."

After a slight hesitation, he made a request of Gyeoul.

"Lieutenant Han Gyeoul in particular, please pass this along properly to the Intelligence Agency agents and the Bureau investigator too. I do not know how to handle them. They are personnel from organizations outside the military."

Gyeoul answered at once.

"I will take responsibility for those people. However, among the Intelligence Agency agents is a witness to a very important matter, so it will be difficult to deploy them in combat like ordinary enlisted soldiers. I would appreciate your understanding on that point."

"An important matter? Am I allowed to know?"

In front of the puzzled Captain and the other curious officers, Gyeoul looked for a moment toward the agents. Since they were few in number and practically outsiders here, they had gathered separately inside the perimeter. Joanna was still resting in the cockpit. Even from a distance, he could sense the awkward tension between Kowalski and the other agents.

The general shape of it was Talbot asking questions while Kowalski hesitated.

He could not hear them, but it was easy to guess what they were talking about.

Gyeoul turned back and answered the Captain's question.

"It is difficult to explain in detail here. It is a major issue... related to national security. As for that, I will arrange a meeting with Supervisor Gibson of the FBI later, when there is time."

The reason he trailed off in the middle was that bringing up national security felt awkward. It was not that he was being difficult at this point. It was a pause to gauge whether it suited Han Gyeoul of this world to say it.

The Captain accepted it.

"Then I'll set that aside until then. You will control the relevant personnel. If cooperation is needed, report to me first. You said you would take responsibility, but you cannot always be with them."

"Yes."

Gyeoul, the strongest combatant, also had to become the busiest person. That was the point.

After establishing a rough chain of command, the Captain returned to the earlier discussion.

"For now, we will set Yuba City as our destination. I heard a fortified base was prepared near the city to collect the forces retreating after the failure of Manifest Liberation."

Gyeoul unfolded a virtual map in his head. He had seen it many times across multiple rounds, so even without the help of 「Map Navigation」, he could estimate the rough route.

It was far. Yuba City was much farther north than Sacramento. If they simply walked there, it would take more than ten days even if nothing happened. It was only a rough calculation, so he would not be surprised if it took longer.

If they found vehicles, that time would drop sharply.

The Captain added a caveat.

"But this decision can be overturned at any time. It is better to always keep other possibilities open. Yuba City is only one possible route to survival, not the answer. For now, our first priority is finding the nearest residential area and making the preparations we need for a long operation. Ensign Krueger. You must have piloted the lead aircraft. Did you see anything ahead?"

"If we go one more kilometer from here, there is a small town. I did not see any movement from the air. At least, I do not think we will run into a large mutant horde. How about securing that place and letting the soldiers rest for a while?"

The ensign who said so looked very tired himself. That was how desperate the dawn had been. Even if they were not as badly off as the Bureau investigator who had held the controls while suppressing her trauma, rest was essential for the officers and soldiers who had fought through a fierce battle.

"We will do that. We move immediately after reorganizing the troops and redistributing ammunition. Each of you will identify and report the personnel, weapons, and ammunition status of those who rode with you. I will give you ten minutes from now."

He meant for them to take control of the soldiers without distinguishing their original chains of command. In a situation where people from different affiliations were mixed together, it was an efficient order. The unit patches on the Army soldiers were also all different.

On the aircraft Gyeoul had ridden, Gyeoul was the only officer.

The survey itself ended quickly. Since there was no way to memorize everyone's different ammunition counts, he first redistributed ammunition in a way that made the math simple. That way, they only had to multiply the number of people by the amount held per person.

Last of all, it was time to wake the sleeping Joanna. He gently shook her as she groaned through a nightmare.

Click!

She drew her pistol before even opening her eyes. The fear must have been engraved that deeply, because even half asleep, the movement was clean, without a single fumble. Squeeze. Her finger tightened on the trigger until it went white. Even so, the gun did not fire, because Gyeoul had grabbed the pistol and locked the safety.

"Calm down. Nothing is happening here."

At Gyeoul's calm words, her trembling breath slowly settled. When she came to her senses, she realized who she was aiming at and flinched in shock.

"Th-this is... My God. What did I just... I am sorry. Truly, oh, God..."

"It is all right. It was not especially dangerous. You must have had a bad dream."

Whew. Joanna wiped her damp forehead and nodded.

"The one who killed themself in the experimental zone was grabbing my ankle and would not let go."

Ah, that Trickster? It had certainly been memorable enough to show up in a dream.

"We are checking how much ammunition is left. You are the last, Anne. I put it off because I did not want to wake you, but if I had known this would happen, I should have come earlier."

Joanna gave a tired smile, took the magazines from her vest, and counted the one already loaded as well.

The rounds she held had not gone through the first redistribution. Gyeoul kept that in mind separately. It was only a temporary measure for convenience anyway. Formal distribution would be handled later.

Soon, Captain Langford received the reports.

Excluding the agents, the soldiers numbered seventy, enough to form a Company structure, if barely. Gyeoul was given command of one platoon.

============================ Author’s Note ============================

#Q&A

Q. FlyingDori-nim: @Do the number of comments have any meaning too? I usually only press recommend.

A. Comments have nothing to do with calculating the best index. Still, the author likes it if you leave them sometimes.

Q. svjk-nim: @Thanks for the chapter! Does the appearance of more and more new mutants mean the ones that have already mutated can mutate again?? If new mutants only come from the current survivors when humanity has already decreased so much, I thought clearing might be easier than expected haha.

A. It was already mentioned that mutants reproduce on their own, you know? Haha.

Q. .50Cal-nim: Also, I thought of this while rereading chapter 198, but a Company-level echelon under an artillery battalion is a battery. The U.S. military calls the battery commander the Battery Commander, and in Korea I believe they are called battery commanders. (Omitted) Other batteries were named Alpha Battery, Bravo Battery, and so on. The word Company was used when referring to the support Company assigned to the battalion.

A. Thank you. I will partially reflect this. I am hesitant because notation like 2-111 seems like it would lower accessibility for readers who do not know it.

Q. Kaif-nim: @Did you set any goals while writing this novel?

A. That is a slightly vague question.

First, if you mean whether I planned for it to be completed, then of course I did.

Next, if you mean whether I aimed for a certain level of popularity or higher, that is also true. I hoped I could at least make a living from it.

If you are asking whether there was any other purpose, I already revealed that. I planned to make all of you unable to date because you were busy reading the novel. Of course, all of you read so wickedly fast that I failed completely.

Q. hia-nim: @Humpback is definitely some kind of problem too, but I am looking forward to a type that drops acidic child mutants in bird form. Honestly, even if humanity is isolated without an air force, mutants have no answer if safe zones run point-to-point operations, right? The flower of modern warfare is more about... than ground warfare.

A. You can trust the author's childlike innocence.

Q. Jiteunbi-nim: @Live long and prosper!

A. Yes, I wish you long life and prosperity!

Footnotes:

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