For him, the idea of commanding the soldiers ca a bit weird, because he would be responsible not only for the result of the operation, but also for their survival, as he was the leader of the entire operation.
Frutnealy enough, everything was planned by the strategists at the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces, so it wasn't like he would be needing to do anything. He just needed to go into the places that were marked on the holomap and arrest the people that he was ordered to arrest.
Nothing more and nothing less.
He could still use this as training for the future, when his rcenary group would be more than Jeniael, Zehal, and a bunch of bots. Commanding bots was rather easy, as there was almost zero to no responsibility for them.
Even if they were destroyed, then what?
Red Queen would just pick up the scraps and recycle them on the deck of Obscurus to make a new bot.
As simple as that.
She was already becoming rather expert in that, because she could recycle them in record ti with an extrely small amount of waste that was left after the recyclation process, because the ship wasn't equipped with the Matter Disintegrator Fabrication Device.
If he could get his hand on one of those, then he could technically achieve recycling with the rate of 100% and he could manufacture anything that he wished as long as he had raw materials.
This was so really niche technology that belonged to the top-notch technologies of the High-Level Factions. Though even without it, he didn't really need to care much about the destroyed ABD-Spectre MK II. Battle Droids, because those could be rebuilt easily, and destroyed Spider Bastion Battle Droids hurt him a bit, it mainly hurt his wallet.
The living troops on the other hand were vastly different. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire
Commanding the living troops wasn't like commanding a bunch of droids that were not even sentient and could be replaced at any mont.
There was a great deal of responsibility.
He was given the command not only because he was the strongest person around, which was, though true, as he was indeed the strongest person around, but also because this was so kind of another test from the Directorate.
If he was capable of leadership, and thus, if the Directorate and in the end, the Imperium could trust him with so future engagents and missions that would require personal leadership skills and similar things.
Not everything was solved through sheer strength.
Even though...
In this cruel world, the sheer strength was usually answer to most of the problems.
Though on the side note, most of the problems were also created by using brute force.
It was like an endless cycle.
Arcturus looked at the list of the arrests that they were about to do today, and at the top of the list and the first na was Colonel-Bashar Harzan, who was their most problematic infected and the one that was also the highest-ranked infected among the ones in the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces.
He skimd through the report from the Directorate about the targets for the arrest, and not even one of them was sohow remarkable aside from the Colonel-Bashar Harzan, who was Gamma-Grade Psionics, so he was relatively powerful.
The rest of the people on the list were not particularly remarkable in the end and their parents won't be any kind of problematic. If the bugs that they were infesting them couldn't really unleash a lot of power, then their entire strike team would be alright.
"As you have all been briefed, we are the Strike Team Alpha tasked with arresting everyone at and above the Delta-Grade, be it infested Warriors, Psionics and Psykers. The pri target of the operation is the safe containnt of the Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan, Gamma-Grade Psyker with Normal-Level Psyker Ability, Fire Control. Harzan is the highest-ranked infected in the entire Imperial Colony World and also the person with the highest military rank in the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces at the Ziras IV."
Arcturus was standing before the assembled soldiers of the Strike Team Alpha, which numbered fifty n. Being given command over the squad of fifty n wasn't that low, because that was rather a high number of n and won that were given to him under his command.
These were actually not ordinary soldiers or even the mbers of the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces, but actually they were the Strike Teams of the djay Forces.
Every single one of them was minimally Epsilon-Grade Warrior and many of them were even Psionics of the sa Grade as their Warrior Grade. According to the standard Imperial Protocols, every Imperial Colony was given a detachnt from the djay Forces, though their presence was secret and known only to the highest leadership of the Colony.
Their task was to protect the life of the Planetary Governor-General and also the General of the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces on the said Colony. Aside from that, the Strike Teams of the djay remained secret and off sight.
All of the soldiers wore a hooded cloak that partially covers their armor. The cloak was pitch-black with a red, patterned scarf draped over the shoulders, that signified their allegiance to the Imperial djay Forces and also their Rank within the djay.
Everyone of them wore a tallic, intricate mask with gold engravings that covered their lower face, resembling a blend of ancient warrior aesthetics and high-tech design.
Their eyes were glowing with red light, which was adding rather an ominous and intimidating aura, which was the result of the Virtual Intelligences that were installed in their Power Armors that increased their combat efficiency drastically.
Also, the purpose of the masks was to increase their survivability, and that way, the armor that they were wearing was one closed entity. They could thus subrge into the depths of water, entire freezing areas, extrely hot areas, or toxic places without any care as they would be safe.
Their Power Armor and armored suit was adorned with gold trimmings and small golden plates embedded across the torso and arms. The gloves were armored with golden elents, and there were red glowing details that gave off a relatively cybernetic feel that one would mistake them for very advanced bots.
Their standard gear consisted of the sword, several throwing knives, combat knife, lasgun, and side pistols, and so smaller armants and things. Then, so others were given more specialized gear that was fitting their role within the squad.
When it ca to the rank and file troops, they were not giving off their nas but were using exclusively code nas between each other. However, this practice was rather taken up by the entire djay Forces.
One could say that within the djay there were not faces, just Codes and Numbers.
Aside from that...
Nothing.
The djay were rather strict in their code of behavior and how they functioned, they even maintained a lot of anonymity in front of the outsiders.
"Right now, we are taking the serious problem. According to the information that we gathered from the mory Extraction of the Brain Bug, the Infesting Bug could burn the Psionic Energy of the infested target and achieve an unprecedented explosive increase in the power of their target. Even though most of the ti it will result in the death of their target, but it is most likely that the Infestation Bug would use this thod when it's conred."
The Infestation Bug was the na of the Bug that the Imperial Director gave to the Bug, which the Arachnids were using to infest the people through this new thod, which was probably the most advanced infestation thod that they had ever created.
"Once we approach the Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan, I and Jenaiel will personally immobilize the target, while the rest of the Strike Team in our group will fire on smallest detail of intention of attacking."
Arcturus and Jenaiale would be doing the arrests, while Zehal would be acting as their support. After so deliberation, they decided that they wouldn't separate the Strike Team into several groups, but they would keep it as one bigger group, at least until they had captured and secured their most powerful and important targets.
Naly, the Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan and several others that were at the peak of the Delta-Grade, mainly Delta-Grade Warriors and one Psionic. Afterwards, each one of them would take one third of the Strike Team and go after the smaller targets.
The approximate ti to complete the entire operations should be around three hours.
No more.
After the three hours, according to the plan, they should have captured every insect and then trapped them in the Xeno Containnt Unit for further study. Unfortunately, through this infestation thod, there was no help to the people who were infested by the Arachnids due to the partial thod that the Arachnids created.
This was one of the more nasty processes, because when the Infestation Bug infects its target, then it would root itself in the Brain where it would imdiately kill the consciousness of the host while also simultaneously rging with the consciousness of the host that it has killed.
aning, the Infestation Bug would literally beco the target itself, inheriting all of the mories, manners, and practically everything that made the target what it was. Due to it, the Infested were essentially indistinguishable from the other people.
It was literally impossible to notice anything because, in the first place, nothing had changed.
The impersonification capabilities of the Bugs through this thod were really unmatched, as there was zero difference in the behavioral patterns between the original person and the infected person.
It was rather a sad thing to see and there was little they could do.
"Well, if everything is clear, action go."
With the final orders being issued, everything readied their gears and armants and went into the action.
***
Headquarters of the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces, Departnt of the Cyber Security of Imperial Colonial Defense Network
The Departnt of the Cyber Security of the Imperial Colonial Defense Network was located in the side building that was adjusted to the Headquarters of the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces.
It was a much smaller building, but the security asures were very high, and there were not many people in the buildings of the Departnt of the Cyber Security, because there was no need for that.
Most of the systems and things were already automated and done by the Artificial Intelligence, and there was only a need for a small oversight from several professionals who were working in the Departnt of Cyber Security, ensuring that the Cyber Security of the Colony was working as it should.
Today, like any other day, most of the Departnt of the Cyber Security of the Imperial Colonial Defense Network was empty. Aside from a few Military Officers, mostly Commissioned Officers and so civilian employees, the place was mostly empty and looked rather bleak.
When Arcturus saw it, he imdiately recognized it as a perfect rat hole where you can just hide and chill.
Suddenly, several quinjets appeared around the smaller building and started surrounding the entire building of the Departnt of the Cyber Security as the Marines of the Imperial Colonial Defense Forces were securing the periter of the building.
At the sa ti, several tens of Marines were sent to barricade the underground pathways as Arcurturs, Jenaiel, and Zehal were in one of the bigger quinjets that were smaller warships which had landed in front of the building where the Departnt of the Cyber Security was located.
Zehal already took control over the automated defenses of the building and was locking down every single path, corridor and activating the ergency protocols, but doing it in such way so the people in the inside of the building won't notice anything as they were conducting this raid during the Main Oversight Ti and Control Ti.
This was specific ti when during every day, the people working t the Departnt of the Cyber Security were checking on the entire Cyber Defense Networks and it was small window during every day that lasted around half an hour.
Rather routine thing.
But during this ti, it was extrely strictly forbidden for anyone to leave their posts, so everyone was literally glued to their chair or they could risk even the death penalty for the insubordination of the highest order.
So they chose to do the raid this way.
Once Zehal achieved the complete lockdown of the building, she then confird the position of the Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan who was right now in his office doing his work, Zehal gave Arcturus nod as the man than raised his sword and exited the quinjet warship together with Jeniael and around twenty djay of the Strike Team Alpha.
The rest of the Strike Team Alpha would be entering the building from a different direction, as all of them were heading toward the office of the Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan. Zehal, who was acting as the technological support for their case, gave them green light, which ant that they were ready to go into action.
Arcturus led the team into the main lobby of the Departnt of the Cyber Security, which was empty, aside from the one receptionist in the lobby who imdiately got onto the ground as she was then secured and bound by one of the soldiers.
Even though she was not on the list, they were taking precautions in case soone got too smart and wanted to obstruct them for whatever reason. Mainly the emotional ones would be the most problematic and they were the ones that they were aid to prevent.
The entire building had only three floors, while also having a very extensive underground area that was probably five tis bigger than the entire building, but the underground area was empty according to Zehal.
The number of people that had access to the underground area, which was used to house servers and other equipnt for the Imperial Defense Network and other systems on the Imperial Colony World to properly work, could be counted on one hand.
And one of them was here.
Colonel-Bashar Azthar Harzan.
Arcturus motioned for the djay, who then followed him to the second floor of the building, where they entered long corridors with many doors. Zehal then navigated them to the entrance on the third floor because this place really seed like a maze.
It was rather ironic that all of their targets were located on the third floor of the building.
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