Arrangements

Bang.

Reno dropped his gun.

He lifted Claire and placed her on a large wooden crate, taking out a vial of medicine from the medical kit beside her and injected it into Claire. It was meant for emergency treatment of her injured leg.

When he came back to pick up Nora, she had already stood up on her own. "I can walk by myself."

Tychus muttered, "I think what she really means is you shouldn't think about hugging me after hugging my sister."

Smack. Nora gave Tychus a slap.

Tychus acted as if nothing had happened and turned to Wang Yile, saying, "Looks like I was right."

Wang Yile maintained a calm demeanor, pretending to be deaf and mute.

Nora said to Reno, "Come and see this."

She walked back, with Reno following her.

Stopping beside a corpse, Nora said, "This is the person who injured me."

Reno furrowed his brows slightly. "No rank, no epaulets, and I've never seen this kind of black uniform... Could they not be soldiers?"

As he spoke, he carefully examined the body, taking off a badge from the dead person's chest.

The badge bore an unknown blue flower with two crossed swords beneath it.

Reno scanned it with his terminal and then opened a channel, saying, "Ike, check this badge and find out its origin."

"Understood," the virus replied.

The investigation result from the virus came surprisingly quickly. He said, "This is the emblem of the Santiago family."

"The Santiago family? The top federal family?" Reno asked in astonishment.

Reno had heard of the Santiago family everywhere. Or rather, few people wouldn't know about this federal super-family that owned twelve mining stars and an independent planet.

This family had produced a federal president, three supreme senators, more than ten chief justices, over twenty generals, and more than sixty regional councilors. Calling them the first family might be an exaggeration, but they definitely had the qualifications to compete for the first family.

Interestingly, the Golden Shield Group was one of their industries.

This family had its own private armed forces, including fleets, guards, you name it, with numbers reportedly reaching millions. Among them, the elite forces were directly recruited from retired veterans.

However, these forces had never appeared on the battlefield for humanity!

They didn't fight for humans but for themselves, only for their patrons!

It was unexpected to encounter such a private armed force in the research institute. No wonder they didn't come out to fight at the beginning.

This was the nature of private armed forces: as long as there were government and public forces in front, they would never charge forward. Even though they had once been warriors for the country, once they were recruited by private individuals, they became slaves to money and had to follow their employer's demands.

Of course, it was also because of this reason that they missed the best opportunity to deal with Reno and the others. Otherwise, with the experience of these veterans combined with the previous armed forces, it would definitely have been Reno who was defeated.

Perhaps Reno and his team were strong, but they were too few in number.

Understanding this, even Reno couldn't help but sigh, "Our luck is terrible, but it's also good."

"Indeed, but if you guys don't hurry, your luck might just get worse," the virus said. "The anti-aircraft fire has stopped."

The cessation of anti-aircraft fire meant that Stephanie and her team were coming down.

"Then let it start again," Reno replied.

Reno searched the body and retrieved an optical brain, looked at it, and smiled. "This optical brain has already connected to the main system of the research institute. I'll connect it to you, and you can control the firepower, and also send over the map."

"Received," the virus chuckled, starting to receive the information Reno sent.

There couldn't be an easier invasion than this.

The virus quickly took over the institute's system, and just as the anti-aircraft fire had recently stopped, it started again. Stephanie was furious, although she didn't know it was Reno and the others who opened fire, she still sensed something was amiss.

At the same time, Reno also received a detailed map of the entire research institute.

The map also marked the positions of all the people. No wonder these people could ambush them so accurately; it turned out that there were comprehensive monitoring devices installed here.

Damn it, this wasn't a military base, why was the defense so strict?

But now, they were the unlucky ones.

Reno's fingers lightly slid across the holographic screen, already seeing a concentrated area of red dots.

But not far from this concentrated area of red dots, there was a smaller and more hidden room, also containing several red dots.

Obviously, this was the key.

Reno pointed at the screen. "Tychus, Yile, Nora, take Claire to the main room, control the people there. I'll go here. Everyone turn on your terminals, share the channel, but don't speak, especially you, Tychus... Ike, invade the system, take over the engineering robots, we need to load some goods here."

"What goods?" the virus asked.

"Send the data to Woodpecker and let him decide. He's an expert in this area."

"Understood!" Ike commanded from the control hall, already connected to the approaching Abradai.

Woodpecker's excited voice quickly followed, "Oh my God, this is the holy land of research, all the equipment here is top-notch. We shouldn't miss out on them, Reno, can you hear me? We need to take everything with us!"

"Taking away all the equipment from a research institute isn't an easy task; it wasn't part of our initial plan," Reno replied as he moved towards the target.

"But you'll find a way, won't you? You always do."

"...The institute is vast, and even the Abradai can't take much. So, to take everything from here, we'll need more ships."

Woodpecker began to understand. "You mean... stealing ships? But where are we going to find so many ships?"

"The Milky Way Base," Reno answered.

"Damn." Woodpecker exclaimed.

The Milky Way Base indeed had plenty of ships, but the problem was they were all warships!

Did Reno intend to seize all those warships?

Reno provided an answer, "Development is inevitable; a faction can't rely on just one ship. I was planning to wait a little, but since the opportunity has presented itself, there's no reason to miss it."

"We can't win against so many warships."

"Under normal circumstances, that's true. But currently, the Milky Way Base is in trouble. Many soldiers have died, the port has been attacked, the fleet is chasing the Bazoru tribe, and the fleet commander might even be locked in a closet. It's chaotic there, and even the doors have been kicked in by the Bazoru. Now that the research institute is under attack, the few ships they have left will be sent to help here. Trust me, this is the perfect time to launch an assault; we have a good chance of winning."

"Wow," Woodpecker whistled. "What's your plan exactly?"

"We already have the commander's access code; let the virus take over the base system directly, block all information channels, then attack and capture the base."

Woodpecker understood, "Then we disguise ourselves as base soldiers and wait for the returning fleet?"

"Exactly. The base is in chaos right now, and you won't even need to clean up much of the battle aftermath."

Woodpecker chuckled, "That's a great idea. And we can take all the equipment from the base as well."

Reno sighed, "It's a pity; if we had known this would be the outcome, we wouldn't have hurried to load everything onto the transport ship."

"Life is full of surprises," Woodpecker replied with a smile.

"Let's hope there won't be any more this time," Reno replied. "I'll leave this operation to Inigo LaWell."

Inigo LaWell, the former second officer of the Autumn Day, was an experienced old officer. If it weren't for Reno's appearance, perhaps he would have been the one to lead the Abradai back then. Of course, provided another mech warrior had opened the locked hatch to rescue him.

According to Reno's plan, Inigo LaWell was also one of the future deputy leaders of the Freedom Heart, not only because of his prestige but also because he represented another group of soldiers not from the Abradai.

As a leader, sometimes it's necessary to consider things from multiple perspectives and take into account the emotions of various parties.

After briefing everyone, Reno stood in front of a metal gate.

Looking at the specially made lock on the door, Reno spoke into the intercom, "Will you open the door, or shall I blow it down? The choice is yours, all three of you."

After a moment, the door opened.