Chapter 268: Silverpeak Deployment

The meeting lasted much longer than Brandon expected.

By the time he finally left the operations room, Fredrinn and Minerva had given him enough reports, maps and requests to keep Southern Command occupied for days.

The Municipal Emergency Authority wanted civilians recovered from sectors the MDC could no longer safely reach.

The Industrial Continuity Directorate had its own lists. Workers, engineers, specialists, workshops and facilities they believed Silverpeak could not afford to lose.

Brandon understood Federick’s complaints much better now. Both groups had spent months pushing the MDC to do more.

From the outside, they could easily sound ungrateful. MDC soldiers had already died keeping the remaining districts alive, and every operation they launched took ammunition, vehicles and people away from somewhere else.

But Brandon could not completely blame Fredrinn or Minerva either.

People usually expected the military to solve a crisis once everything else failed. The problem was that armies needed food, ammunition, fuel, spare parts and people just like everyone else.

Silverpeak’s MDC was running short on almost all of them.

Brandon stepped outside with Federick following not far behind. He had only made it several meters from the operations building when the ground shook.

Brandon stopped.

Federick and the other people immediately looked around.

"What’s happening? An earthquake?!"

Another vibration passed through the transport yard. It didn’t sound like an explosion.

Golden Eagle soldiers nearby barely reacted beyond moving farther away from a section of open ground that the Engineers had cleared earlier.

Brandon understood immediately—Hans was starting the deployment.

Federick turned toward him. "Commander Brandon, is this your doing?!"

"Not exactly."

The pavement ahead of them was disturbed.

A large rectangular section of empty ground shimmered faintly inside Brandon’s System interface.

Then the construction began.

Heavy foundations emerged at once. Concrete and structural sections formed across the marked area while metal framing rose above them piece by piece. Pipes, cables and machinery followed so quickly that Federick could only stand there and stare.

Golden Eagle Engineers remained around the perimeter, making sure nobody crossed into the construction zone.

The shape formed into something recognizable by all Golden Eagle units within minutes—a Power Plant.

White steam rushed from several vents as machinery inside the newly formed structure came online.

A low electrical hum spread around the building while lights along its outer sections turned on one after another.

Inside Brandon’s interface, the local System Energy Pool updated.

"Wha—"

Federick never finished the word.

Beside him, Fredrinn and the people from the Municipal Emergency Authority stood just as still. Several MDC soldiers farther across the yard had stopped whatever they were carrying, while others were already calling more people over to look.

The reaction from the Industrial Continuity Directorate was even stronger.

These people had spent months worrying about damaged machinery, missing specialists and factories slowly becoming impossible to recover; just a second earlier, they watched an entire Power Plant rise from empty pavement without rhyme and reason.

Now they could even build infrastructure in minutes straight out of the void.

Federick stared at the newly formed structure. Buildings did not simply appear like that.

Even with Silverpeak’s pre-Event construction capability, foundations needed to be dug, materials transported, machinery brought in and people assigned to assemble everything.

The Golden Eagle army skipped almost all of it.

The thought brought him back to something he saw a few days earlier from the southern military installation.

It was almost empty when the MDC first noticed activity there. Then structures began appearing faster than they should have, accompanied by military equipment and personnel claiming to be from Hawford.

Federick looked toward the Power Plant again; the similarity bothered him.

Are they from the same unit?

He didn’t know if that was the case or not.

The Golden Eagle army and the Hawford delegation met inside the MDC compound, yet during that time, neither side had shown any sign of recognizing the other beyond what strangers normally would.

If they belonged to the same organization, somebody should have known—unless both sides were hiding something.

That possibility bothered him even more, so he left the thought alone for now.

On the other side, Minerva had no such hesitation. Her earlier irritation disappeared as she watched the Power Plant come online.

"Oh, have mercy..."

She stepped closer before one of the Golden Eagle Engineers held an arm out to keep her beyond the marked perimeter.

"The Golden Eagle army. Commander Brandon, you—how did you do that?!"

The question pulled everyone else’s attention toward him.

Fredrinn adjusted his glasses and stared as well. Even several MDC soldiers who had been complaining about Golden Eagle taking over the transport yard were now waiting for an answer.

Brandon gave them a small smile.

"That’s confidential."

Several faces fell. Minerva looked offended by the answer.

Fredrinn muttered something under his breath. "Of course it is."

Everyone kept their eyes on the newly deployed Power Plant.

Whether that came from confidence, carelessness or simply not caring who saw it, none of them could tell. Golden Eagle was even harder to explain than it had been yesterday.

Brandon already started walking away while the others were still watching the structure.

He raised his communicator.

"Southern Command to all forward elements."

Several channels opened.

"Start processing the priority lists we received from the MEA and ICD. Recon elements, take the uncertain sectors first."

He continued walking toward the BACV.

"Guardian groups can begin with the confirmed civilian locations that are still accessible. Coordinate with MDC personnel before entering their sectors."

More acknowledgements came through.

"Engineers, start reviewing the industrial locations. I want route conditions and site status before we commit anything heavy."

Brandon glanced toward the Radar picture. A large concentration of red markers could be seen holding in the center—a complete opposite of what was in Grefort.

"Leave the central area alone. Wait for clearance and additional reinforcements from the main base."

The replies came one after another.

Brandon lowered the communicator.

Behind him, Federick, Fredrinn and Minerva were still gazing at the same structure.

He turned back toward them.

"I hope you liked the look of it."

The three did not know what to say.

Federick looked around the yard and noticed that the Golden Eagle soldiers were already moving.

Guardians started leaving their temporary parking areas while Scouts and Engineers gathered around the reports brought from the operations room. MDC personnel assigned to assist Southern Command were being pulled toward different groups before most of them had even finished settling into the yard.

Minerva’s people were already trying to follow the Engineers handling the industrial reports.

Fredrinn’s assistants had begun sorting civilian locations according to whatever Golden Eagle personnel were asking from them.

The transport yard had been crowded before, but it had never looked like this.

The Power Plant was the first structure High Command deployed inside the Silverpeak foothold. A War Factory and two Barracks were already scheduled behind it, together with several defensive positions once the Engineers finished marking the perimeter.

The old transport yard would not remain an MDC staging area for much longer.

Brandon intended to make it their own by the end of the day.

To make it the foothold of the Golden Eagle army down south.