Chapter 91: Secrets
When Cillin and the others arrived at the rendezvous point designated by Shawton, the rest of the five B Squadrons were already there. After linking the starship with the Sixth Squadron’s main starship, the spoils of the hunt were reported and traded with the buyers who had been communicated with beforehand.
But those jobs did not require Cillin to do anything. Right now, he was sitting inside the room and reading a book. It was a book he borrowed from Enji about cosmos parasite. There were plenty of information inside that could not be found on the federal network, and the average electronic magazines would not log such information too extensively. Some of the information that was truly useful was locked behind reading privileges. With his current identity as a Hunter, Cillin was not allowed to read through those official documents.
Hunters kept their stuff for their own people, and would not easily publish them. This book in Cillin’s hands right now was just that something that belonged and was known only to Vanguard.
The book was more like a journal; a journal where the recorder would jot down every line with his pen. Although it wasn’t the original, every other copy was copied to be exactly the same. Therefore, Cillin was able to make out the writer’s feelings at the time through his handwriting.
The person who wrote this journal was called Chamonidine. However, Enji only told him that the journal was something left behind by a senior who had passed away, and did not explain more than necessary about the person named Chamonidine. Still, from the recorded content, Cillin could guess more or less the person’s identity.
From some of the contents recorded inside the journal, Cillin knew that Chamonidine was someone from the Third B Squadron. Moreover, he was probably an engineering technician aboard a starship just like Enji. However, his status was higher than Enji, and since Chamonidine had brought up the Third B Squadron’s commander Nata quite a number of times, it would seem that his relationship with Nata was pretty good. The problem was that the current commander of the Third B Squadron wasn’t called Nata, but Falvey.
That being said, forty seven years were enough for the common people to welcome a new generation already.
From the ephemeris time (ET) recorded in it, this journal had existed for quite some time already. The final record was made forty seven years ago, and there was nothing else beyond that.
There were a lot of pictures in the journal, and they were all depictions of the parasites Chamonidine encountered when he was in the Third B Squadron. Moreover, there were labels and explanations beneath the pictures, definitions regarding the parasites’ partial habits, fondness for certain things and more.
While Cillin read, the doorbell of his room rang up. From the display, he could see that it was none other than Cary, whom he hadn’t seen for more than half the day. Although he was waiting outside the door, Cary looked like he was filled with excitement.
“What, did you win a lottery? You look so cheerful.” Cillin shut his book and said to Cary walking into his room.
“Hehe, I have something to show you!”
Cary took out his tablet, and even brought up a 3D hologram on purpose.
“Look, it’s our new equipment! Don’t you think it’s just overflowing with power? The commander sure spared no effort this time around!”
Cillin was astonished just looking at those images alone. The batch of weapons were plenty and varied ranging from equipment to firearms, and although there were plenty of strange and weird weapons that he did not recognize among them, he knew that they cost a lot judging just from the ion guns and shoulder rifles alone.
Cary pointed at one of the wrist blades and said secretively, “Do you know how much this wrist blade costs?”
“What material is it made of?”
“I don’t know, but I asked the lieutenant earlier, and he gave me this number.” Cary showed five fingers.
“Fifty thousand?”
“Five hundred thousand!”
He was well and truly astonished alright.
Cillin had thought all this time that he was more or less well-off, but this new revelation was truly a blow to the gut.
“This work truly is a money burning business!”
Seeing Cillin’s expression, Cary said, “You didn’t really think that those lousy guns we use to hunt down the polar bears are enough to make it through a five-year mission, did you? Space exploration is a money burning business in the first place, and if your equipment isn’t good enough, then there won’t be nearly enough lives to fill the void. I remember that during the previous five-year mission, I was fighting an alien lifeform; and that thing kneaded my high density alloy knife into a ball like it was mud. I nearly lost my life then.”
Cary dragged over a chair and sat down, “Before I became a Hunter, I saw everything through a lens of naivety. It was only when I truly became one that I knew how stupid I was being at the time. Lady luck isn’t always going to bless you, and good fortune isn’t something you’re always going to pick off the road. Using the Commander’s words, we’ve got to be pragmatic, and the build up of confidence needs the investment of capital. Therefore, the random missions we perform usually were all in preparation for the five-year mission.”
Cillin agreed with Cary’s words. Several hundred millions of credits might seem a lot, but when the money was actually invested in high level missions, they would be gone in a flash. This was just like the achievements published in ‘Glory’ and ‘Code’, they were all the products of countless of people, lives of test subjects, and money. Where else would their illustrious success, capable of influencing the entire GAL come otherwise?
This included the maker of the chip, Horay as well. He might not necessarily have spent much money, but he must have sacrificed the lives of many for his experiment. Cillin could still remember those failed human test subjects who were preserved in liquid like specimens in Horay’s laboratory.
Looking around Cillin’s room, Cary asked, “Where’s that damned cat of yours?”
“It’s gone patrolling its domain.”
That fellow would patrol the whole starship once every day, obviously having partitioned the place as its own territory. Dough had joined in the fun as well. However, Cillin forbad the gray cat from entering any other starships. It was only allowed to move about their own.
“Right, Cary. Do you recognise Chamonidine?”
“Chamonidine?” Cary frowned in ponderment before shaking his head, “Never heard of him.”
“How about Nata?”
“Nata… I think I heard of him before. Oh, you mean the Third Squad’s commander Falvey’s daddy! Nata is the previous Third Squad commander, but more than forty years ago…”
At this point Cary paused and scratched his head, “Cillin, some things aren’t easy to talk about.”
Cillin waved his hand, “It’s okay, I was just curious and thought that I’d ask. This journal was written by Chamonidine, and Chamonidine was once a member of the Third Squad. But big brother Enji said that senior Chamonidine had passed away a long time ago, and the final record in this book was from forty seven years ago.”
“Forty seven years ago, huh. There were plenty of legends who passed away that year… Sigh. Even I heard only a short word or two. If the commander himself doesn’t talk about it, then it’s best if we talk less as well. Do you know that that years’ incident affected a lot of people? It was just too complicated. The four great Hunter regiments, the army, and some political figures were involved as well.”
“Alright, I understand.” He said that, but in truth Cillin was very curious about the incident from forty seven years ago inside. After all, he had never heard anything about that year’s incident up to this day. That being said, it was one thing to think about it, and another to show it on the surface.
“Okay. I’m just here to tell you that we got some new stuff. We frontline combatants have the first right to the goods, although there is a limit of course. I’m sending you the information, and take your time to think through which one you’d like to pick up first. The lieutenant and the others should be done with their meeting and returning pretty soon. Once they’re back, we will depart for Sector Z. This time we must put on a good show!”
Cary did not leave for long before Dias came back from his meeting and notified the squad’s members to gather over, instructing on the relevant matters. Once he was finished, everyone returned to their respective positions. Although they were currently connected the A Squadron’s big starship and thus did not need to perform additional piloting, it was still necessary to pay attention to some details and be ready for any emergencies at a moment’s notice.
Amidst the Vanguard’s theme music, the giant starship branded with the Vanguard’s symbol left the Sector and flew towards their current destination: the Black Triangle, Sector Z.