Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume6 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

The Information Alliance military satellite instantly spotted the large truck exiting the tunnel.

But it was not a military truck. It was a beat-up civilian truck. The back canopy had been removed and a large number of unexploded shells were visible in the back.

There was no sign of the lithium ingots.

Hiding such massive pieces of metal was not easy. They could be hidden under the clothes of the soldiers scattered around the truck and attached below the truck’s body, but that would only count for a tenth of the total amount.

They may have given up.

That was the conclusion the Information Alliance satellite officer came to. The Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers must have been aware they were being watched from the sky because they were looking up and waving their rifles with white handkerchiefs attached to the barrel. (However, the handkerchiefs had frozen in the cold.)

The satellite officer contacted the Second Generation Snipe Laser 051.

“It appears the Background Unit we were told about is headed to a civilian residential area in the Athabasca district rather than the Legitimacy Kingdom military airport. International law does not allow an Object to attack a residential area. This is our last chance to attack.”

“Checking on the undeniable sign of their surrender comes first. They have likely left their military trucks and lithium ingots in the tunnel. As long as we can retrieve them, nothing else matters.”

“So we let them go?”

“Deserting on the battlefield is a serious crime in any nation. Our interference is not needed.”

With a crackle of static, another transmission cut in.

It was from their “customer” in the Legitimacy Kingdom.

“Have you confirmed receipt of your payment?”

“We are doing so right now, lieutenant colonel. We will open the air route after we do,” said the satellite officer while beginning to think to himself.

The situation was not good.

The Snipe Laser 051 was a collection of cutting edge laser technology. It had overwhelming speed and high power laser cannons that’s lasers could be freely bent using photonic crystals. It had been shown to have a use beyond simply fighting in battles.

Namely, it could block an air route.

The anti-air lasers equipped on the Object were the natural enemy of all forms of aircrafts. But by determining what route the Object’s giant form would take and obstructing its path with an Object of your own, you could secure an air route for passenger planes.

However…

The Snipe Laser 051 was a Second Generation Object with laser attacks that could be complexly bent and overwhelming speed bought at the expense of the ability to withstand a nuclear attack from any direction. That made it not too difficult to slip through the gaps in the existing pressure tactics and shoot down a passenger plane on a supposedly safe air route.

When the Legitimacy Kingdom had become aware of this threat, it had offered the lithium. In exchange, the Information Alliance would promise not to interfere with the air routes in the Athabasca district using the Snipe Laser 051. That was the agreement.

At first glance, it appeared to be a victory for the Information Alliance’s technology.

If Objects with the same concept as the Snipe Laser 051 were mass produced, the state of the war could seemingly be turned completely around.

(But the Information Alliance’s conservatives do not like the Snipe Laser 051 with its armor that cannot withstand a nuke. If it takes any actions that stand out too much, it could be surrounded and have concentrated fire poured on it. The Snipe Laser 051 focuses its defenses towards the front, so it is weak to attacks from multiple directions at once.)

The Snipe Laser 051 was certainly part of a new age, but the age was unable to keep up with it and was therefore tripping it up.

In that way, it may have been an Object forced to bear a certain type of tragedy.

“The infantrymen have discovered the military trucks in the tunnel,” reported the Elite.

“Hurry it up,” said the Legitimacy Kingdom officer. “If the soldiers you overlooked send an SOS to the military airport, we will have to send out a search team.”

“They have found 50 containers. Just as we were told. …But what is the meaning of this, lieutenant colonel?”

“?”

“The containers are empty. There is nothing inside. Where is the promised lithium?”

“Impossible… I made sure it was inside! I know! Those survivors must have taken it with them! That is the only explanation!!”

“But how? That truck had nothing but unexploded shells inside. I do not think there was enough space to hide that much lithium.”

The satellite officer sighed.

He had a good idea what had happened.

Lithium would melt at 179 degrees. And the explosives in the shells could be melted and removed by heating them in hot water.

In other words, the explosives in those giant bombs had been melted and removed and then the melted lithium had been poured in instead.

If lithium was heated in the air, it would burn. But if a small container was placed inside a larger container, the liquid nitrogen used for removing fuses from shells was returned to a gas and used to fill them, the trucks’ engine oil or something similar was heated up like cooking oil, and the lithium was immersed in it, it was possible. If the group had someone with some skill as a cook, it could be easily pulled off.

But the satellite officer had no obligation to faithfully report that conclusion just because he had determined the answer.

He was from the Information Alliance and they were from the Legitimacy Kingdom.

He would speak with them when it benefitted him, but he would cut off contact when it no longer benefitted him. He would only reward them when the payment offered was provided.

“Now then, lieutenant colonel,” said the Elite. “Since the promised payment has not reached us, our actions are limited.”

“Wait! They have to be somewhere. The lithium ingots have to be somewhere! N-no, I can prepare more money if you need it. So please!!”

“First, we need to leave a clear sign. A sign showing what happens to those who make fools of us. And lieutenant colonel, we know the location of your transport plane… Do you catch my drift?”

The Snipe Laser 051 was disliked by some of the higher ups of the Information Alliance because it was too cutting edge.

But the means of escaping that situation were quite simple:

Earn enough victories that the higher ups had no choice but to admit its usefulness.