Cerberus Headquarters, Strategic Command Director's Office.
"I have read your reports about the infiltration mission, Lieutenant Bet."
"I'm satisfied that your group accomplished the primary task and some of its secondary counterparts."
Duke calmly muttered while holding a piece of file in his hand. They had gained a lot from the infiltration mission. Whether it be the layout of the Imperial Fortress or the situation of Torrington.
"The layout of the Imperial Fortress is like a maze, and from the looks of it. It goes deeper underground."
"I would want to occupy the Imperial Fortress just to be on the safer and controllable side. But for now, resources and personnel need to be correctly utilized."
The Cerberus had a lot of things to do. It needed to grow, expand, and exterminate aberrants. The personnel and logistics still needed time to adapt to the growing tasks of the organization.
"Lieutenant Bet, I will deploy you to a mission once more."
"The Cerberus is undergoing a construction project that will take a lot of resources. Our LRS personnel have spotted quarries, material centers, and warehouses throughout the south."
"We will dispatch cargo and transport trucks to collect these resources, but before doing so, the supply area must be cleared of any hostiles."
"You will be working alongside platoon officers of the 2nd Stormtrooper Company. This operation will require you to strike three material depots for collection."
"For now, you will be deployed to the quarry in the southwestern part of Goshen County along with Officer Hermes of the 8th Platoon of the 2nd Stormtrooper Company."
"Are my words understood?"
Duke gazed directly at Lieutenant Bet's eyes. Everyone in Cerberus worked overtime due to Operation Goshen Liberation and the organization's growth.
Even Duke was handling ten times the reports and files he was supposed to deal with. Fortunately, though, his body was a lot stronger than before.
He felt he could work for an entire week without needing sleep.
"Your orders are our command, Director."
"I will be heading out to accomplish the task."
"But..."
Duke could feel the gaze of Lieutenant Bet scattering around the Director's Office. However, he didn't feel offended since he understood what Bet was thinking.
"You must be curious where Lieutenant Aleph is, especially when he's supposed to guard me."
"I sent him on a critical and confidential mission."
"There's no need to be worried about him."
He smiled at the curious Bet, but the lieutenant merely shook his head and denied the last words of his Director.
"I'm not worried about Lieutenant Aleph, Director."
"I simply think that there should be someone guarding the Director."
The words of Lieutenant Bet made Duke chuckle since Aleph said the same thing. It seemed his guards had the same mindset no matter where they were.
"There's no need for a guard to be always with me. Besides, I'm in the headquarters. This is the safest place for me."
"I understand, Director. Apologies for the disrespect."
Lieutenant Bet lightly bowed since he felt he disrespected the Director by acting as if the Director were some flimsy glass that would easily be broken.
"No need for the apologies, Lieutenant Bet."
"Continue on, and I'll be waiting for your victory."
Duke smiled and shooed the Sentinel away from the Director's office. Lieutenant Bet respectfully left, leaving the Director alone with his thoughts.
After the lieutenant took off, Duke's smile disappeared as he soon glanced at the report given by the LRS who were with the lieutenant.
Things were a lot more complicated than he had previously imagined. Especially considering the mysteriousness of Torrington.
"Dozens of Aberrant Tyrants, who didn't attack but only observed the group. I haven't seen a gathering of Aberrant Tyrants working together."
"Mostly, they managed their own aberrant hordes."
"I thought they avoided each other and acted independently. I guess my conjecture was wrong. Hmm... This needs to be implicated as a primary anomaly."
"*Sigh...* Change of plans it is..."
Duke sighed and glanced through the clear windows where the desolated wasteland shrouded in the darkness of the eternal night resided.
Treading the Dark Cataclysmic Era was a difficult thing to do. But he didn't plan on giving up because of mere challenges. They would have to push through and become the shining ray of hope for humanity.
"The 2nd segment of the Operation Goshen Liberation will be delayed. For now, all resources will be concentrated on the massive expansion of the Cerberus Headquarters and the construction of Installation 01."
This was the consensus Duke made after some thought. It also gave him a realization of the material collections' importance.
If Duke could lower the cost of building defensive fortifications for the expansion, it would help excellently with the growth of Cerberus.
"I guess I'll invest more personnel in the material collection operation."
....
Outskirts of Hawk Springs, Cerberus Convoy composed of three Vanguards.
Inside the leading Vanguard was Lieutenant Aleph, who was directly ordered by the Director to go on a confidential mission.
With him were the first elite Sentinels of the Director.
The lieutenant gazed at the dark wasteland where nothing seemed to be seen. He closed his eyelids and thought about the orders given to him by the Director.
The goal of their mission was simple. And the reason why it was confidential was evident.
'Contact survivor groups and steer them away from the Cerberus. Gather any information about them and investigate their origins. If the survivor group is deemed hostile, termination is granted.'
The mission was basically them thinning out any harmful survivor groups that might affect Operation Goshen Liberation while also making those neutral groups stay away from it.
Lieutenant Aleph knew that this would take time since they needed to investigate any tracks left by survivors. But he wondered if there were tracks left.
From the words of his Director, Aleph concluded that the survivors were akin to hiding cockroaches. It would be hard to find them or exterminate them.
Due to this, the aberrants had a hard time giving humanity its inevitable extinction.
"Lieutenant, we will be arriving soon in the outskirts."
The driver of the Vanguard said, which made Lieutenant Aleph nod at him. Aleph took out the radio and communicated with the two Vanguards behind him.
*Prepare for deployment. We will be reaching our destination.*
*I will be debriefing through the radio.*
*The Director has given us a special mission to contact survivor groups in the wasteland. If they are neutral, we need to have them away from the critical locations of Operation Goshen Liberation.*
*If they are deemed hostile, we must terminate them and leave no one alive. Burn their bases and make sure no one remembers their existence.*
*Am I understood?*
After debriefing his soldiers, Lieutenant Aleph questioned with a stern voice.
*Understood, Lieutenant!*
*Orders Received!*
Soon, the Vanguard reached the devastated fire station of the wartorn town of Hawk Springs. The vehicle trembled from the craters brought about by the liberation of Cerberus.
The convoy stopped, and the engines stopped roaring. The forward lights of Vanguard gleamed onward without care while its doors opened.
The elite Sentinels stepped out of their vehicles and calmly observed their surroundings. Some continued operating the Vanguards' heavy EM machine guns while the primary group pressed into the fire station.
Silence shrouded the elite Sentinels as their steps echoed in the darkness. They carefully marched into the fire station, prepared for any ambushes from the alive or the dead.
Droplets resounded in the air, and the elite Sentinels continued to move forward. They soon arrived at the fire station's garage and saw something intriguing.
There was a sign of campfire forcefully extinguished. It appears the adversaries noticed them too late since light smoke continued to exude from the campfire.
"I guessed some are already occupying this town after we liberated it."
"Well, the first liberation operation wasn't silent, so it's understandable."
Lieutenant Aleph muttered under his breath and signaled the elite Sentinels to check every corner and room of the fire station.
The elite Sentinels calmly nodded and began piercing through the internal structure of the building in a tight linear formation of threes.
Each corner and room of the fire station were efficiently cleared as the Sentinels acted like an unstoppable tide. They soon arrived in the final room, the cafeteria storage room.
The elite Sentinels were about to burst into the room before Lieutenant Aleph stopped them. He placed a finger in his gas mask as though asking them to be quiet.
Lieutenant Aleph gave them signals to not kill the survivors but incapacitate them with maximum force if needed.
The information such survivors held was useful. They might even learn the existence of a shelter from their mouths.
His team calmly nodded with his signals and prepared a flashbang. Seconds passed as one of the elite Sentinels kicked the door open while another threw the flashbang inside.
*BANG!*
A flash of light pierced through the darkness of the eternal night. The cafeteria storage room was immediately covered in gleaming light.
"Get down!"
"Get down on the floor!"
"Get your hands off your weapons!"
"Place your hands behind your head, or otherwise, lethal force will be applied!"
The Sentinels immediately conquered the cafeteria storage room. And the survivors within it were in disarray brought by the flashbang.
They were immediately knocked to the ground by the Sentinels, with their weapons swiftly confiscated. The barrels of the EM rifles were on the survivor's head, threatening a swift end.
Lieutenant Aleph coolly entered the cafeteria storage room and saw the survivors lying on the ground.
Most of them were still confused since things happened incredibly fast. However, with time, they glanced forward in fear and saw Aleph walking towards them.
He looked at them with his crimson-lensed gas mask and introduced himself.
"Hello, I am Lieutenant Aleph of the Cerberus."