Chapter 97 - Operation Cherry Blossom Part I

(Here the promised chapter. Sorry a little late.)

Exactly 6:00 AM of 31 December 2001.

Hundreds of drop pods rained down on hives all across the world as planned. When the pods landed, unmanned TSF and Mechs start an attack on all the hives in a seemingly suicidal attack with BETA hordes easily outnumber them 100 to 1 yet they continue to attack fiercely and bait out the BETA forces hiding underground and inside the hive.

"How is the progress of the bait?" Adam asked while overseeing the progress along with UN Yokohama Base commanding officers and staff in the command room.

"Estimated more than 100 Millions BETA forces had been deployed to engage the baits in open battle." Agent provide the information faithfully while the others stay silent as this is still not their part to play yet.

Dr Kouzuki had been standing in the sidelines with her arms crossed and she was growing impatient along with others regarding the 'surprise' Adam had for the BETA.

"May I ask, Mr White? What is this secret weapon you stated in your plan?" Dr Kouzuki asked.

To her question, Adam could only smirk mirthfully while trying to contain himself from laughing like an evil mastermind. Instead, he merely snaps his finger which turns the entire command room transparent and shows the scenery outside of the Orbital Fortress.

"Look over there." Adam points in the direction away from Earth. Multiple dots appeared and progressively became bigger until it's revealed to be hundreds and thousands of meteors heading for Earth.

They are stunned beyond words. What they thought might be a powerful beam weapon or bombs turned out to be a meteor shower. An artificial one that Adam managed to cook up in less than a day which is quite literally impossible unless he can teleport them in.

The sky of Eurasia turned red as hundreds and thousands of meteor arrived on time and rained down toward the ground. Like a scene straight out of Jurassic Age. The grand catastrophe that nearly wiped out all life on Earth.

In just a matter of minutes, Adam wiped out almost more BETA than what the entire Earth did in the past few decades. No traces of BETA left after the meteor bombardment is done. The entire Eurasian continent under the BETA control turned into a smoldering wasteland filled with flames and melted rocks and metal slags.

"You… *Gulp* You were capable of such a thing this whole time? Seriously, just how much more secret are you trying to hide from me?" Dr Kouzuki felt the urge to choke Adam and force him to spill all his secrets.

"I have no intention to share if that is what you are aiming for." Adam said curtly before returning his focus on the battle.

"Tch! Figures." Dr Kouzuki grumbles silently. This isn't the first time she made her request after all as he pestered Adam before for his permission to study the KANSEN.

After Adam is done with his part which is the first phase of Operation Cherry Blossom. Commander Radhabinod communicated to all the allies surrounding the absolute defense line spread across the Eurasian continent.

"This is UN Commander Radhabinod of HQ 01 to all HQ. The operation will now move to Phase 2! I repeat. The operation will now move to Phase 2!"

As soon as the order is given, all ground units begin the diversion counterattack as how it was played out in the canon except this time, it's the BETA that will be in a disadvantageous position.

Moving on to Phase 2, all units will attack all hives simultaneously. That's included Hive 01 which is incharge by Adam.

"Agent, prepare the Orbital Fortress for the drop." Adam ordered.

Agent immediately communicate all across the Orbital Fortress to alert all personnel about the drop. Meanwhile Commander Radhabinod is giving order to all soldiers regardless of TSF pilots, armored tank division, artillery or missile launchers to enter combat ready state. The battle will start immediately when the fortress landed.

After giving the order, Adam himself left the command center and prepare inside his TSF along with Tina, Alice and Winter.

When the Orbital Fortress is prepared to land, it shed it's invisibility field before the thruster turn on and accelerate the spacecraft down plunging into Earth.

The BETA forces that redeployed on Hive 01 after the initial one was destroyed, unaware of the incoming danger. By the time they noticed, it was too late. The Laser-Class BETA tried their best to shot it down but not even the Fort Laser-Class can put a scratch on the external armor of the Orbital Fortress created with interstellar warfare in mind that see plenty of energy weapons in combat.

The Orbital Fortress is literally a kinetic weapons so massive and heavy that the impact caused a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in a hundred miles radius of the landing area. The surrounding BETA exterminated before they can even see the face of their enemies.

As if it was a neverending nightmare for the BETA, the tail of the Orbital Fortress split open like the petal of a flower and split into four petals. Each is filled with countless missiles silos, laser cannons, railgun autocannons, railgun artillery cannons lining up the entire four petal-shaped platforms.

<All unit, charge forward!>

The TSF units drop down from the platforms and fearlessly engage with a frontal attack directly at the BETA cornered into their pathetic Hive.

Adam was one of them and along with his TSF piloting companions, they charged straight at the main entrance of the hive. As long as the BETA remain cornered in the hive, there is little they can do and it's easier for the friendly forces to focus all their firepower into a singular point rather than stretching their forces thin and weakening their overall firepower.

<Go ahead and kill those BETA. But remember Laser-Class is our main priority if they appear.>

<Yes! > Tina and the others replied before they joined the battle.

Adam continues to stand on the platform and view down at the battle. He had bad feelings. Like a premonition of something not good might happen. However, he didn't know what it would be exactly. His plan is impeccable and as long as everything plays out like he planned. Humanity will secure victory with even lesser casualties. He even went his way to eliminate variables like the Megaworms. So, what is this bad feeling about? He didn't know and didn't have the luxury to investigate it.

Looking at the screen display to his right, the Kansen team is also fighting fiercely. The aircraft carrier and battleship shipgirls unleashed all their attack on the enemies while the vanguard shipgirls joined the ground force.

Everything is progressing well and nothing unexpected happened yet.

For the next half an hour, the BETA kept pouring out relentlessly from the tunnels around the hive without any sign of stopping.

This might be a problem because Phase 3 would be the Valkyrie Unit infiltrating the Hive and letting Susano-O blast away the core. They can't go through the existing entrance with just how much BETA is crawling inside.

The reason why going through the existing entrance is the plan was because the inner wall within the main section of the hive is very strong and durable. They were made from unknown alien material created by the BETA. However, that may only apply to the locals. He has the confidence to be able to break them. But the next problem would be Susano-O II itself being too big.

"It seems the main entrance is the only option." Adam concluded after a moment of thoughts and immediately contacted HQ.

"Sword 01? What is the matter?" Commander Radhabinod wonders when Adam contracted out of the sudden.

Adam explained that Phase 3 would be impossible to execute if they don't find a way to empty out the BETA crawling inside the hive. Not to mention the BETA from other Areas had started to swarm in on them from all sides. Putting pressure on the ground unit and they can't really afford to waste more time waiting for an uncertain opportunity.

"Then, you are proposing we turn to Plan B?" Commander Radhabinod asked.

"Yes." Adam nodded his head in confirmation.

Plan B being Adam will try to forcefully break through the enemy ranks and cause chaos deep behind the enemy line. This is wholly dependent on who the BETA commander thinks is more of a threat. Asam or Unit 00 and Susano-O II. While he is pulling the BETAs attention. STF A-01 or the Valkyrie Unit will proceed with their designated task of taking out the Hive Core.

Commander Radhabinod contemplated for a moment before he made his decision. Indeed as Adam said, they cannot afford to wait for an uncertain opportunity.

"Relay the order. Phase 2 is switching to Plan B."

Adam nods his head once more before cutting the transmission and connecting to the Valkyrie Unit leader and the rest of the Sword team.

<As you all already heard. We are switching to Plan B. The Sword team will create diversion and pull the BETAs attention meanwhile Valkyrie Unit locate core chamber.>

<We wish you luck, Mr White.> Captain Isumi answered with a smile to send him off before ending the transmission.

<Thank you.> Adam replies before focusing on his team.

<Gather up on me, everyone.> Adam ordered before he controlled his TSF to leap off the platform and activated the thruster to fly directly into the mouth of the hive with six other Shiranuis and one Takemikazuchi unit following close behind him.

The Orbital Fortress released volleys of missiles that exploded and temporarily cleared the BETA on the entrance as Adam and his team flew in with him at the front, deploying a Rutherford Field shield to forcefully push into the hive despite the BETA's attempt to block them and shoot them down.

Flying in a spearhead formation, Adam is the tip with a shield to block incoming damage and a greatsword that cuts down any big BETA strains, primarily Fort-Class and Grappler-Class. Meanwhile Winter cut down anything that filters off him. As for the five Alices and Tina, they shoot down any smaller ones with Tina primarily focusing on Laser-Class with a railgun sniper cannon that can pierce her enemies even if they try to hide behind obstacles or ally. The bullet will also explode after five seconds in case the impact alone is insufficient to kill.

A few minutes later, the Sword team managed to get deep into the hive and surely as he guessed. The BETA commander prioritized him more as a major threat than Unit 00. Adam received confirmation from Captain Isumi that they managed to enter the main underground chamber and even located the Core chamber which is locked behind a special gate which confirms the chamber is indeed a Core chamber that they were looking for. As such, the operation officially entered Phase 3.

All diversion units above ground retreated back into the Orbital Fortress to use it as an actual fortress while fending off the waves after waves of BETA hordes from other Hive Areas. Meanwhile the Sword team lead by Adam regrouped with the Valkyrie Unit and helped them break into the Core chamber.

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<Nii-san, I'm running low on sniper cannon ammo.>

<Us too!>

Tina and Alice informed.

Hearing this, Adam orders for a quick stop while he unloads several ammunition crates filled with pre-loaded magazines specifically for the weapon used by Tina and Alices.

While Tina and Alices loading up ammunition, Adam and Winter stand guard over them.

<How are you holding up?> Adam asked Winter since it had been almost one continuous hour of grueling battle.

<Fine, husband. I'm not that fragile to require your worry. Though, I don't dislike attention either.> She replied jokingly and slightly flirtatiously to lighten up the mood as the tenseness that radiated around Adam didn't go unnoticed by her.

<Well, don't push yourself. If your Aura is running low, inform me immediately.> Adam said worriedly because Winter is fighting close combat against the BETA which made her coat the TSF blade and body with her Aura. Which deplete fast.

<Also, Winter. You promised me you would call by my name unless in private.> Adam added a little annoyed and bashful about it.

<Are we not in private space? No one can hear us like this.> Winter argued back.

Before Adam could retort her, Tina and Alices suddenly connected through a video transmission to inform them they are done refilling their ammunition and replacing their thruster's fuel cells.

<Let's continue. We must regroup immediately with the Valkyrie Unit.> Adam said to them while he kept having a bad feeling that something bad was approaching.

<Let's hurry.>

<Yes! >

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