Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

'''Mission Report B-02

'''March 21 – 2230 Hours

'''Legitimacy Kingdom New Caledonia District – Special Political Prison “Château de Rouge”



While imprisoned in his container cell, Quenser peered out at the outside world using the long slit for food trays.

It was still pouring rain outside and the Object that had brought him was gone.

The prison was a giant jungle gym. The passageways had wire mesh floors and metal pipe railings. There were occasional barriers and metal bars. The layout was made to ensure a wide view, but that meant the passageways had no ceilings and the rain could get in.

Guards carrying guns with lights attached would walk along the wet passageways at uneven intervals. They most likely randomized their patrol patterns so the prisoners could not predict them. Either due to the rain or the heat, the guards looked displeased inside their raincoat hoods.

Their guns resembled assault rifles, but they were different.

The magazines were oddly thick and the barrel was cut short.

“What are those? They’re not carbines, are they?”

“Euhh… You don’t know? They’re known as Don Chicago Can Openers.”

“Oh, so they’re full-auto shotguns.”

That model was known more for its use in crime-filled safe countries than in battlefield countries. The mafia had acquired the military models and swapped out the ammunition for powerful slugs, which gave them the destructive power to slice apart a bulletproof luxury car at close range. They had become notorious during their use in the abductions of several political VIPs who were cracking down on drugs. It was infamous enough that even a student like Quenser was familiar with it despite knowing little of wars and guns.

“But they wouldn’t be using slugs. They’re either using normal shotgun rounds or rubber riot-control rounds.”

“H-how can you know that? They wouldn’t obey regulations out of concern for us.”

“The one thing jailers fear most is a riot. If a prisoner steals their weapon, it’ll be turned against them. If the enemy got their hands on one of those ‘can openers’, they could tear through the emergency barriers and incapacitate the jailers’ break system. They wouldn’t let that happen.”

Quenser looked away from the slit and approached the ventilation fan again.

“More importantly, what did you think of the story I told you? Any thoughts at this point?”

“Well,” began Mariage Nightcap’s quiet voice. “If the Megalodiver really does locate its target with acoustic signatures, you might be able to use that. For example, you could play a pre recorded Island Nation acoustic signature with a speaker or detonate a decoy torpedo to mask your own acoustic signature.”

“We tried that with the unmanned subs. It bought some time, but they were still all located and destroyed with laser beams. Also, there’s no way to hide something as large and noisy as an Object.”

“Yeah… But it might help to eject buoys with speakers to assist evasion a lot like chaff or flares.”

That could work.

Quenser was a bit annoyed at having nothing to take notes with, but then Mariage asked a question.

“U-um, so how are we going to get out of here?”

“As I said before, I won’t be doing it alone. The military will be taking official action, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“But I’ll worry if I don’t know the details.”

“It’s simple. First, a virus is sent into the prison from outside and that takes control of the entire facility’s control system.”

“Oh, and that opens the locks on all the containers so everyone can move, right?”

“No. It locks everything down to trap everyone where they are.” Quenser readily rejected her opinion. “The prison will be attacked by heliborne troops, but the jailors might take prisoners hostage if they start to lose. Some might even decide to take the prisoners into death with them. Our top priority is protecting people’s lives from that kind of desperate last stand.”

All the containers would be locked down so not even the jailers could open them. Then the attack helicopters would attack from the air and transport helicopters would lower soldiers to suppress the jailers. Only then would the containers be opened.

“The Don Chicago Can Openers worry me a bit, but as I said, I doubt the jailers will be carrying around excessive firepower. Normal shotgun rounds and rubber rounds aren’t enough to break into the container cells. …Anyway, there isn’t anything in particular we have to do. We aren’t tunneling out with a spoon or scraping a fork down on the wall until it can work as a screwdriver. We just have to wait for the heavily armed soldiers to end it for us.”

Quenser heard a sound as a jailer passed by in front of the door.

He knew the jailer could not hear him, but he still fell silent.

After making sure the footsteps had left, he opened his mouth again.

“Okay. Next I’ll tell you about when we actually came into contact with the Megalodiver.”