GATE: The United Nations of Earth

Chapter 18: "Priority: Cheiron Mansion"

--World-building fact--

Did you know why in reality, faster than light (FTL) travel seems impossible? It is because as an object moves faster it also gains mass. So the closer we get to the speed of light, the more energy it requires to accelerate that object. To reach the speed of light, the mass and the energy to accelerate become infinite. You might be wondering "Then how is light moving at light speed?". It is because light itself is made of photons, and photons have no mass and they experience no acceleration or deceleration. Photons move at the speed of light the moment they were born.

In this Gate: The United Nations of Earth universe, this problem was solved by the invention of mass manipulation technology. The technology controls the mass of ships and missiles or any object it is built in so that the energy required for acceleration does not change.

--Cheiron Mansion--

The night on Spes is dark because the planet has no moon. Because of the lack of a satellite planetary body, Spes spin faster than Earth and the waves are much smaller. However, Spes is bigger than Earth in terms of size, which coincidently synchronizes their day-night cycle.

The mansion is lightly guarded with only small fences to mark the property and keep out wilds animals. The guards at the mansion act as a security force to control the household slaves and to keep out intruders, they are not expecting enemies so deep within the Empire's territory. Built on a perfect square piece of land in the middle of an open field, it was designed by some of the best architects in the empire and was built by the most skilled builders, not slaves.

Walking out from the tree line, Ava signals the 5th to stop and observe the mansion. TACNet indicates that they have 300 meters (about 1000 feet) of open field to move through before reaching the mansion's fence. There are 4 watchtowers, 3 of them are in the line of sight and 1 is obscured by the mansion. Each tower has 1 guard and an alarm bell. Ava 3 operators to each pick a target on the 3 towers insight and the recon drones to lock on the 2 on the other tower.

The PAS-5 assault rifle uses mass accelerator technology to launch the superheated plasma bolt down the barrel. While it does make as much noise as the ancient's gunpowder weapons, it still creates a small sound as the mass accelerator pushes the bullet and a crack sound as the bullet speeds up close to the speed of light. However, the sound can only hear in close proximity or echo through hallways and chambers, at 300 meters away it is impossible to hear without any hearing assistive technology.

As soon as the guards on the watchtowers are out, Ava orders Ashley to take the 2nd squad to split up and approach the West gate while she takes the 1st squad directly to the South gate. There are 4 gates, each has 2 guards which are also taken out using knives. In the Southwest corner is the guard's barrack right next to the slaves' cabin. The scan of the slaves' cabin detects no UNE citizen.

She orders one of the operators to use the replicator of one of the SAT8s to replicate a can of sleeping gas and fill the slaves' cabin with the gas. While the slaves are not combatants, they are a potential threat that Ava wants to put them out just in case. The rest of the 2nd squad and the SAT8s are ordered to put out the sleeping guards in the barrack then secure the perimeter while Ava leads the 1st squad into the main building.

The main building is large and has 3 floors including the ground floor. Recon drones identified the 2 UNE women are being kept in a room on the 3rd floor with only 2 guards. The plan is to swipe each floor, room by room, to find any useable intel. There are fewer guards inside of the building than the outside, they are mostly guarding offices, library and bedrooms. However, scans detected 2 children in a bedroom on the 3rd floor and a few unarmed humans.

Carefully, the squad swipe through the ground floor and the 1st floor like a well-oiled machine and take out any guards they found using knives or breaking their necks. After securing a list of all Senator names and which side, pro-peace or pro-war, are they supporting, Ava orders them to move up the 2nd floor where the bedrooms are located. TACNet shows that there are more guards on these floors and while most of the unarmed are asleep, 3 of them are still awake and are sitting in the largest room of the floor.