The First Order

Chapter 1247: Eye in the sky

Translator: Legge

In Stronghold 144, the 6th Field Division’s convoys quickly drove out of the stronghold. They wanted to get to the mountains in the northwest before the enemy arrived so they could slow the enemy down with guerrilla warfare.

For the sake of this guerrilla warfare, almost all of the core members of the 6th Field Division were working together. Wang Yun was the one who identified the battlefield, and the dirt road in the mountain range was marked out by the Great Hoodwinker.

The others more or less had key roles to play as well.

To P5092’s surprise, the arrival of the Riders not only provided them with individual combat strength support but also brought along with them some unexpected gifts.

At this moment, the Riders were sitting together in the same truck. There were several maps and countless pages of drafts laid out in the cargo area. All of them were seriously writing and sketching as though they were doing some calculations.

In the truck, Black Fox was in a discussion with P5092. “Our preparations are complete now, but there’s still the birds left to worry about. I’ve arranged for the entire recon battalion to eliminate any birds we see along the way to prevent the Al from getting a visual on us. But the problem is that if some of the predatory birds are flying at higher altitudes, we can’t do anything about them. Furthermore, it’ll be very difficult for us to discover any birds hiding in the canopies of trees.”

P5092 said, “Let’s take it as it comes. There aren’t any battles we can be a 100% confident of winning. Let’s try our best to keep our marching to areas with no vegetation. That’ll be less troublesome for us.”

This was not difficult at all. The Northwest was mostly barren to begin with, and a large number of loess hills had appeared due to soil erosion. The mountainous area they identified for the guerrilla warfare was a region with very little vegetation.

Although there were still satellites in the sky, P5092 had found a way to deal with them.

When the convoy was driving towards the northern gate, someone at the front of the convoy suddenly said through the vehicle’s walkie-talkie: “Sir, the nomad who led the wolves here says he has something to discuss with you.”

P5092 was stunned for a moment. He did not know why this nomad named Hassan was looking for him, but since he was Yan Liuyuan’s envoy, he should treat him with respect.

When the vehicle he was in reached the gate, P5092 got out of the truck and asked Hassan, “Hello, what’s the matter?” Hassan said, “Y’all should bring me along with you.”

P5092 asked curiously, “Why?”

“I wasn’t the one who suggested it. It was my master,” Hassan said as he conjured up a hawk with a wingspan of nearly five meters. “My master says that it would be very annoying if that nuisance intelligence thingy can control hawks and use them as reconnaissance, but I just happen to be able to deal with them.”

P5092’s eyes lit up. He did not expect the final problem in this guerrilla warfare plan to be solved as well!

Sometimes, P5092 felt that it was really comforting to fight under Ren Xiaosu’s command. Every problem he encountered always seemed like it could be handled by some wondrous person.

It was as though the lucky stars were always shining upon him.

The convoy continued advancing. Meanwhile, the huge hawk in the sky kept circling above the convoy. From time to time, it would swoop down and kill some unidentified birds.

After the convoy traveled about 60 kilometers, hundreds of white doves suddenly flew over from the sky and surrounded Hassan’s hawk.

The well-organized group of white doves soared in the sky like they had a plan. From the ground, it even seemed like they were carrying out their attacks in an attack formation.

Compared to other birds, white doves had greater flight endurance. They could even fly nonstop from the Central Plains to the Northwest.

However, the appearance of the white doves also made P5092 realize there were probably not many birds left that were controlled by the artificial intelligence. Otherwise, the artificial intelligence would have chosen the more ferocious birds to attack Hassan’s hawk.

P5092 looked at Wang Yun. “Can you kill them with your superpower?”

Wang Yun’s superpower was the control of air, and he could also launch long-range attacks with it. Therefore, in the original plan, Wang Yun was the one who was supposed to deal with these birds.

However, Hassan’s hawk and the group of white doves that surrounded it were flying too high.

Wang Yun asked Hassan in the truck, “Can you make your hawk fly lower so it’ll be easier for me to help you kill those doves?”

However, Hassan simply smiled. “Unnecessary. I can handle it with just my hawk.”

The feathers of the white doves fell from the sky like heavy snow while Hassan’s hawk remained unaffected. It was extremely agile and ferocious as it twisted and turned in the air.

Hassan’s hawk’s wings were like sharp blades. A collision with it would leave the white doves bleeding profusely with cuts.

In just three minutes, hundreds of white doves were killed by Hassan’s hawk.

P5092, the Riders, Hassan, Wang Yun, Ji Zi’ang, and the others were all sitting in the same military transport truck. Everyone praised him so much that Hassan felt a little embarrassed.

But at this moment, the Rider, Xu Ke, suddenly looked up and said, “I’ve figured it out! Starting from now, there’ll be no satellites flying above us for the next nine hours.”

The artificial intelligence currently controlled nine satellites, seven of which used to belong to the Qinghe Group.

Therefore, as the leader and guardian of the Qinghe Group, how could Xu Ke not know the speed and trajectory of satellites?

It was not only the Qinghe Group’s own satellites, but they had also obtained the parameters of the other two satellites because they were the most knowledgeable people in this field.

The satellites needed to go around the Earth in a fixed orbit to do their work.

In Xu Ke’s opinion, these nine satellites were all low-orbit satellites, so their observation range was far less than that of high-orbit satellites. Moreover, they were not synchronous satellites.

A synchronous satellite referred to a satellite that had a fixed observation zone while in orbit. Its orbital speed would be consistent with that of the Earth’s rotation.

However, the technology required for launching a synchronous satellite was extremely advanced. Such satellites would be sent into a near-Earth circular orbit with a multistage rocket first, also known as a parking orbit. Once the satellite was over the equator, the control rocket would ignite again and accelerate for a short period. Then the satellite would move into a transfer orbit. Once the satellite reached apogee,O the rocket would ignite again and accelerate before finally entering a synchronous orbit.

No one possessed such technology now, so there were no such things as synchronous satellites anymore.

Based on Xu Ke’s calculations, three of the nine satellites should be capable of accurately observing the battle zone. But from this moment on, those three satellites were all moving along their respective orbits and heading further away from the battle zone.

In other words, Zero would not know anything that happened here for the next nine hours.

This was the gift the Riders brought to the 6th Field Division.

A lot of people only paid attention to the Riders’ powerful individual combat strength and physical fitness which exceeded that of a T5 combatant. In the end, they neglected the high intelligence of some of them.

Xu Ke looked at P5092 and pointed at the sky above him. He said in seriousness, “Starting now, the land here is ours to control.”

P5092 took a deep breath. Once the artificial intelligence lost its strongest reconnaissance and observation ability, the 6th Field Division would have more tactics it could choose from.