"Yes."
Upon receiving the command, Serena's eyes shone brighter than ever, seemingly executing the order through a vast network.
William remained silent behind the porthole for a moment, then turned and walked towards the central console, approaching Halsey and asking, "How is it? Any leads?"
"None at all." Halsey shook her head. "To be honest, I can't analyze what the barrier covering Egypt is made of.
The drone can successfully enter the barrier, but after entering, I lose control and visual feed of the drone.
The barrier isn't like a regular shield; it's more like a 'rejection,' rejecting all contact between the inside and the outside."
Hearing this, William's brows furrowed as he mused, "Rejection, huh…"
After a brief thought, he asked Halsey again, "Since we can't observe the internal situation from the outside, what about sending troops directly for reconnaissance? Do you think there will be any unexpected issues?"
"I can't be sure." Halsey shook her head slightly and analyzed:
"However, according to reports from agents hidden in Sudan and Libya, the barrier seems to have risen instantaneously, and many people have fled from Egypt.
But those people were severely frightened, and most of them kept repeating words like 'hell' and 'demons.'
At the same time, when the barrier suddenly rose, civilian aircraft near the border were also affected by some kind of shockwave and crashed.
This situation also occurred with the drone I controlled earlier, which rules out aerial reconnaissance units.
But sending a small number of ground reconnaissance troops into the barrier to confirm the enemy we're facing should be fine."
"A small number of troops…" William nodded, then walked out of the bridge, saying to Halsey in a calm voice:
"Alright, I understand. Then I'll leave the continuous analysis work to you, Catherine."
Then he commanded Serena, "Notify Major Victor (Michel) to bring his officers to the combat briefing room.
Also, have Spartan Blue Team go to the briefing room."
"Yes." (x2)
——
…
Minutes later.
Inside the combat briefing room near the bridge.
Seated in the fixed chairs were a group of Helljumper officers and lieutenants in black gear.
The masks of these Helljumpers were painted with red shark teeth patterns, and their armbands featured a shark with a gaping maw.
'Shark'
They were the elite of the Helljumpers, with twelve full-strength companies currently, totaling 1,440 personnel.
One of these companies was composed of Shark elites, and the company commander leading this unit was Major Michel Victor, who had previously contained the 'Cult Get Out' incident.
This Shark company and the other regular Helljumper units were stationed on the UNSC Infinity.
John, Mellen, and Carl had also put on their long-unworn Mjolnir armor and stood at the very back of the combat briefing room.
As for William, he stood at the front, with a holographic projection beside him showing a satellite overview of Egypt.
With a serious expression, he said, "Gentlemen, even now, we cannot determine the situation inside Egypt.
Although the UNSC has assisted us in blockading the area around Egypt, this scale of anomaly can no longer be concealed, so the company needs to quickly ascertain the specific internal situation."
As he spoke,
The holographic projection beside William changed, displaying an image of Cairo, along with a row of detailed data.
Coordinate ①: 29° 58' 45.03" N, 31° 08' 03.69" E.
Coordinate ②: 29° 58' 31" N, 31° 08' 16" E.
.
William gestured to his side and said, "Coordinates one and two correspond to the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx, respectively.
According to Dr. Halsey's deduction, if a large-scale anomaly occurred in Egypt, the origin of the event is highly likely to be between these two locations.
But it doesn't really matter, as the distance between them is quite short anyway."
"Boss." Michel, seated at the very front, raised his hand and asked:
"Is the content of this combat briefing to have us conduct an orbital assault on the pyramid and the sphinx?"
"No." William waved his hand, explaining, "If these two locations truly are the origin points, then a large number of anomalies will certainly gather there, and you are very likely to be surrounded."
William then used the remote control in his hand to make the holographic projection show another location.
He said, "This is the west bank of the Nile River, located south of Cairo, an uninhabited dense forest.
This will be your drop zone.
One minute after you conduct your orbital insertion in drop pods, the fleet will conduct a concentrated bombardment of the uninhabited deserts of Egypt to cover your trajectory.
As for the equipment assisting you in this reconnaissance mission, it will also be air-dropped with you.
The mission will commence in twenty minutes, which is 16:25 Egyptian time, and your estimated arrival time is 16:30.
Since aerial vehicles cannot directly penetrate the barrier, you will need to exit the barrier area by ground.
However, Libya, Sudan, and Israel, which border Egypt, as well as the northern sea area, all have large numbers of UNSC troops and naval fleets stationed there.
So, no matter where you withdraw from, there will be sufficient friendly forces to support you."
At this point,
William scanned everyone in the combat briefing room and asked, "Are there any other questions?"
"…" Everyone shook their heads silently.
"Boss." John, standing at the back, raised his hand and asked, "Do our God Bodies also need to be air-dropped?"
"No." William shook his head slightly. "The God Bodies are too large a target, which is not conducive to your rapid reconnaissance."
"Understood." After saying this, John returned to silence.
Seeing that these elites no longer had any comments, William raised his right hand in a salute and said, "Then, I'm counting on you this time."
In response, the officers and the three members of Blue Team straightened their backs and returned the salute, "Yes!"
——
…
Helljumper Drop Preparation Bay.
Michel led the Shark company into the drop pods, and John, Carl, and Mellen also entered the special drop pods designed for Spartans.
In addition to the single-person drop pods, there were also many rectangular drop pods on the rails.
Everything was ready.
The compartment began to depressurize.
Green indicator lights flashed on each rail.
The drop pods successively disengaged from their hooks and rapidly shot out of the ship's hull.
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
Nearly two hundred drop pods left the ship's belly, 'sandwiched' between the UNSC Infinity and Earth, appearing so tiny.
One minute later.
Countless 'glowing points' moved away from the Zero Fleet and the Containment Fleet, following the reconnaissance troops' drop pods as they plunged into the atmosphere.
These were the missiles intended to cover the reconnaissance troops.
Soon.
The drop pods and missiles, like a meteor shower, began their collective atmospheric entry, heading towards Egypt, which was enveloped by the blood-red barrier.
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