A Distant Reverie

Chapter 105

"100."

Suisei reached one hundredth step. That was the planned number of times their Exos were supposed to advance towards the Incursion command center under the cover of the salt storm. Too much and they risked straying away from each other and breaking formation. Too little and they would have had too much remaining ground to cover before they could reach the command center's perimeters.

Let's hope everyone else didn't run into any issues.

The Exo naturally idled as the salt storm reached its apex shortly after. The clattering of salt against the metal exterior was relentless. The stampede of collisions was so loud that she couldn't even hear the wails of the high-speed winds anymore. She quickly put on a set of noise canceling earphones to lessen the strain on her ears.

There was nothing to do now but wait for the salt storm to dissipate. Cecilia's simulations had indicated that the salt storm would last about twenty minutes after it reaches the apex. But as they had just experienced, the salt storms of this world were erratic. For whatever reason, the phenomenon was extremely difficult to forecast even with all the advanced data collections and predictive technologies.

Suisei went through the plan again in her head.

The next step of this raid would be to regroup and recreate their formation once the salt storm lessens. Ideally, this was done before the Incursion command center's automated defenses and detection systems were back up. There was a brief window in the dwindling moments of the salt storm where they would be able to coordinate before the Incursions resumed activity. That period was crucial. If everyone was close by, then they could immediately launch their assault with Cecilia and Fuwamoco providing cover with the EM blasters.

It was a strict timing, but they could avoid any unnecessary fighting if done correctly. As usual, it was a plan with high risk and high reward.

The stampede of salt suddenly began to lessen. Suisei took off the noise cancelling earphones. The change was immediate.

Already?!

Barely five minutes had passed since they reached the apex of the storm. The timing was tight. It was possible that some of the others haven't even taken their hundredth step yet.

Suisei clicked her tongue, cursing their luck. She had her hands on the control interface, staring at the mini-map, ready to analyze the situation the moment her systems came back online.

Her phone suddenly rang.

A message notification.

Suisei's heart dropped.

Dammit, what now?!

The timing was ominous. It couldn't have been anything good. Lady Ouro had been silent for the past week. And she usually only sent messages in two situations. One, to help them decide what to do next to advance. And two, to warn them of impending dangers.

Unknown Sender: Marine is in trouble.

For fuck's sake.

The salt storm was still too strong. None of her Exo sensors were working yet.

"What's happening to her?!" Suisei pleaded, glancing above, "You're watching, aren't you? Tell me!"

There was no response. The despicable entity was silent. Even now, she refused to waver.

"You fucking bastard! You can't tell me this is part of your plan! You couldn't have predicted Marine to go amnesic. This entire journey hinges on Ame's success. That's what we're brought here for! We're not supposed to be the ones creating the problems!" Suisei screamed, "Give me the information, or else I'm going to make sure this raid fails!"