Chapter 42: Cerberus Growth: Plans and Construction
After Duke returned to the Cerberus Headquarters after his short visit to New Torrington, he swiftly gave a prime directive order to every Cerberus Personnel.
This action was under the support of Aurora, the Administrator, since Duke needed to know whether their current logistics could handle it.
At any rate, the prime directive order given by him was straightforward.
The Cerberus was to liberate the entirety of the Goshen County. It was the current main goal of the Cerberus, which was a good one. Not too big, not too small.
With the prime directive order, the operation of Goshen Liberation began. This operation was divided into four cardinal segments, which would be systematically accomplished.
The first cardinal segment was the termination of southern aberrant hordes. The strategy for this segment was to send Long-Reconnaissance Squads, or LRSs, to examine the surrounding area.
To efficiently do so, the grid sectors were created.
As an explanation, the grid sectors divided Goshen County into hundreds of grids with a square kilometer each.
This would make it easier for the LRSs to scour the vast land of eternal darkness.
When the Long-Reconnaissance Squads discover aberrant or aberrant hordes activities, the grid would be marked as hostile, and termination units would be sent.
The process would be slow but thorough. If patiently done, it wouldn't take a month for the southern Goshen County to be cleared of aberrant influence.
Afterward was the second cardinal segment of Operation Goshen Liberation.
The second cardinal segment was the project Torrington Freedom. Its first part was the creation of the Cerberus Branch Outpost in New Torrington, Installation 01.
Installation 01 would be the starting point of the Torrington Freedom Offensive. The TFO consists of three stages, the bombardment stage, the cleansing stage, and the rehabilitation stage.
The bombardment stage would be done through the acquired Jaguars of the Cerberus. Using the drones to attract the attention of aberrant hordes into one area, the Jaguars would begin their artillery bombardment.
The cleansing stage followed after the bombardment. Stray aberrants would be annihilated by the Cerberus Ground Forces. Every building will be cleansed, and no aberrant will be left in Torrington.
Finally, the rehabilitation stage would be the final act of Project Torrington Freedom. The Cerberus would build the first functioning human city in Goshen County from the rubbles of Torrington.
It would be entirely under Cerberus Authority, and the survivors would be sent there to live in the area.
Duke wanted the Cerberus Headquarters to be entirely his and didn't want outside or foreign forces to intrude on it. As selfish as it may be, he was a cautious man.
Next was the third cardinal segment. It was the completion of the grid sector strategy that would take place in the north of Goshen County.
Duke wasn't too detailed with the third cardinal segment since he had little information about the north. Who knows what goes on in that area.
Lastly would be the fourth cardinal segment of Operation Goshen Liberation. It was somewhat simple. Merely construct a perimeter in the borders of Goshen County.
Once finished, the county's entirety would be declared a safe zone.
The third and fourth cardinal segments of the operation weren't too detailed. But that didn't mean changes couldn't be made.
Duke could change if the first and second cardinal segments provided valuable information.
....
It has been several days since the beginning of Operation Goshen Liberation, and progress was made during the timeframe.
The grids in the county numbered over two hundred. And this was with the change of a single grind containing 100 square kilometers.
Duke underestimated the vastness of Goshen County, so a change needed to be made. Otherwise, his personnel would be handling thousands of grids.
The grids surrounding the Cerberus Headquarters were cleared by the 2nd Stormtrooper Company with the help of the 1st Airborne Company.
At the moment, dozens of grids were emptied by the Cerberus. No aberrants dwelled in the cleared grids, resulting in a spike of Duke's source points.
The 2nd Stormtrooper Company wasn't to be underestimated. They were excellently coordinated, and their efficiency was better than past platoons.
With the support of the 1st Airborne Company, they were practically storming the lands influenced by the aberrants.
And through the newly gained source points, Duke decided to invest in research. He purchased researcher units from the Doomsday Mall in hundreds.
This resulted in the research stations brimming with researchers of various sizes.
Currently, Duke walked through the research station with an aloof expression. Aleph and Bet followed behind him like loyal bodyguards, attracting some attention from researchers.
Duke glanced at the researchers and found them intriguing. Unlike the usual cold personnel of Cerberus, the researchers had all kinds of personalities.
This made Duke hopeful of the Cerberus personnel, though the researchers still displayed some fanaticism towards him as the Director.
"Director, we have made some great advancements."
Out of nowhere, the head researcher emerged before Duke's eyes. He resembled a handsome middle-aged man with copper rim glasses. His skin was pale, and his irises glowed in emerald green.
He was Eldric, the Cerberus Research and Development Department Head.
When Duke met the researchers for the first time. His first order for them was to examine the available tech trees for Cerberus.
It seemed that Eldric and his researchers immediately concluded their examinations of the tech trees.
"Continue, Eldric. I'd like to hear more."
Duke nodded and wanted to know what Eldric had discovered from the examination. The Head Researcher became determined and calmly explained their conclusion to the Director.
"The Cerberus has a lot of tech trees in its database, but we have separated them into four categories, the building tech tree, vehicle tech tree, armament tech tree, and technology tech tree."
"Each of these tech trees has a branch that would require more research to get deeper in. And the deeper we go to the branch, the more resources it takes to complete the research."
"Most branches are locked in the database, but some are opened for the Director and us to research."
After Eldric's short explanation, he gave the file about their discoveries to the Director. Duke accepted the file nonchalantly and began reading it with curiosity in mind.
As Eldric had explained, there were a lot of tech trees, locked or unlocked. What interested Duke was the aircraft tech tree, drone tech tree, and the armored train tech tree.
These tech trees were available for research, and Duke considered them integral to Operation Goshen Liberation. There were also the building tech trees. But for now, he didn't need an upgrade.
"Eldric, focus the two research stations in the technologies of the aircraft tech tree, drone tech tree, and armored train tech tree."
"But if you want to know the priority, the armored train tech tree should take precedence."
Duke returned the file to Eldric, which the head researcher accepted with grace and excitement.
"Understood, Director. From the data we got with the armored train, it should take a week to unlock its basic technologies."
Eldric reported the duration the research would take to unlock the base technologies of the armored train tech tree.
One could argue that the armored train was an ancient technology, but there were differences when comparing the old train to the Cerberus Armored Train.
As an example, the Cerberus Armored Train was significantly larger. Compared to the usual 3 to 5-meter-tall trains of the old times, the Cerberus Armored Train stood 10 meters tall and 6 meters wide.
Its size was absurd, and the same could be said for the resources needed to build it. So, gaining the general technologies in a week was already good enough for Duke.
"Good, we'll start building the infrastructure of the armored train next week."
Duke nodded and left the researchers to handle the given task by themselves. Since he had done his job in the basement, it was time to enter the armored factory and drone forge.
'I bought hundreds of workers to start building some vehicles for me. That includes IFVs, Vanguards, APCs, Armored Trucks, Transport Trucks, Cargo Trucks, and some L3 Komodo Tanks.'
'Other than that, I also equipped the drone forge with numerous workers. I had them construct 3 LR20 Interceptor Drone and 5 SD4 Reaper Drone.'
'This would make the first cardinal segment of Operation Goshen Liberation easier.'
Duke also remembered the arsenal refinery that he entrusted with workers to build armaments, ammunition, and ordinances for Operation Goshen Liberation.
And speaking of workers, they weren't much different than the researchers. They were also hard-working and probably strong. Workers only needed military training, and they could become Sentinels.
"*Sigh...* This inspection job should be done by my precious Administrator. But what could I do? I gave her a 3-day vacation for the hard work she had done for me."
Duke muttered as he entered the elevator. But he wasn't annoyed by it since it made him understand the inner workings of Cerberus.
He didn't want to be blinded by his position, so it was an intriguing experience.
The metallic elevator rose from the basement. And the scene of the headquarters's ground level slowly emerged before Duke's jet-black eyes.
It brimmed with Cerberus Personnel, from Sentinels, Grenadiers, Engineers, Mechanics, Workers, and many more. It resembled a lively city.
This made Duke proud of the achievements he had gotten with the headquarters. He wanted to see more of this scene everywhere. And it was why he was saving most of his source points.
He wanted to build a Cerberus Branch Building in New Torrington, or Installation 01.
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