Terra,Sargon.

    The scorching sun baked the earth, and the rolling sand dunes were heated to a blistering temperature. The steaming heat waves distorted the air near the ground, making the distant scenery blurry and illusory. A rock crab carefully hid itself under the gravel, waiting for the next unlucky prey. But the vibration from afar forced it to leave its carefully chosen hunting ground, lest it be trampled by the huge beast that was coming.

     Looking in the direction where the rock crab avoided, two Mannan light armored assault vehicles were galloping on the endless sea of sand. The two LAVs (Light Attack Vehicle) were speeding across the desert with exaggerated turrets, their powerful engines allowing them to reach cruising speeds that did not match their huge size. They occasionally jumped from the top of the sand dunes, drawing a stunning arc in the air, and then landed lightly back on the ground. Their agile suspension and large tires made them stable as a mountain while running like the wind on the undulating sand, dragging two rolling sand dusts towards their target direction.

    "This is Cat Melt Base Walker to Marine 1st Assault Group, please respond."

    "This is 1st assault group，go ahead."The target machine, who was in charge of the assault group, endured the discomfort caused by the bumps and opened the intercom system. “The drone has arrived over the target and will start image transmission soon. Please deploy the laser communication antenna and access the link37 data link.”

    “Copy that, reduce speed to 60 km/h, integrated electronic mast raised. … Laser communication antenna deployed … Searching for the nearest unit and laser communication base station … Data link matched successfully, signal strength: high, start sending command identification code.”

     “I see you, target machine, wait a moment, I’ll send you the picture.” Sitting in the Cat Melt Base Walker, the frontline intelligence support officer Lilim saw the target machine online in the data link and started sharing the picture taken by the drone."

    With the huge bandwidth brought by laser communication, the ultra-clear picture taken by the drone was transmitted to the integrated display panel in front of the target machine almost without delay. In the picture, a vehicle that looked very similar to the all-terrain off-road vehicle on Earth was dusting off, followed by six or seven all-terrain vehicles that looked shabby and full of wasteland style. Although the power of those broken all-terrain vehicles did not seem to be sufficient, they had reduced their weight to the extreme except for some metal plates on the front that looked unreliable as armor. So they could chase after the off-road vehicle all the way.

     According to the guidelines established by the previous Transcender Conference, they were not going to intervene in the local people’s grudges until the Capisi Expedition Transport Ship reached its predetermined destination. Unfortunately, these few wheeled vehicles of the Terra natives rushed straight towards the Capisi’s scheduled route.

    “First assault group received.” The target machine rubbed the trackball and tried to zoom in on the picture sent back by the drone, while answering.

  “Hmph, I wonder what those Arknights players in the CIC can figure out.” The gunner of the second car, jelivor, listened to the conversation on the radio channel and kept complaining. He was unhappy about being assigned to the Marine Corps. The treatment was poor, the work was hard, he often faced danger, and even the equipment was the worst. What made jelivor most dissatisfied was that due to the lack of manpower, there were only four permanent staff in the entire Marine Corps organization!

    Bastard! These scum! All the hard and tiring work involved in the field work was thrown to the Marine Corps to do. When they needed it, they pulled it over to wipe their ass, and when they were done, they threw it into the toilet and flushed it into the sewer. The scum in the bridge and the CIC had no humanity at all! It was often the first to meet the enemy. The Marine Corps only got two crispy LAVs!