บท 129: Chapter 128 - The Ominous Foreshadowing
Gathered within the walls of the Orbital Fortress is Agent and Winter sitting in a meeting room along with hosts of other shipgirls that are involved with management of Adam's projects.
In the meeting hall is a windowless room with pitch black walls and floor illuminated by a gentle glow of light coming from the glowing ceiling. Seated on the long rectangular table made from an unknown and nigh destructible black material created by the BETAs are of course, Adam's main wive, Agent and Winter except for Jalter who dedicated her time to training rather than doing managerial task like her two sisters because she will otherwise wasting her potential. Then following the two main wives that sit at the very front of the table, are the faction leaders like Enterprise, New Jersey, Nagato, Queen Elizabeth, Richelieu and Sovetsky Soyuz. Then dozens of their second-in-command and other related shipgirls like the researcher group, technician group, etc. Which brings the total attendees to over a hundred which oversees and supervises the ongoing projects.
It has been two months since last time and Adam spent his hectic two months handling various projects, especially the two very important projects such as the Mechanized Quincy Army and the Orbital Fortress Fleet that he personally supervised. He is personally at Mars, overseeing his main projects.
The other lower priority project such as the Forge World Mars project, the KANSEN Retrofit and Outfitting project and lastly, the Mechanical Quincy Army's training which is being handled by other people, most of whom are his wives except for the Quincy Army's training part which are handled by the 5 Quincy girls and the Arrancars.
The Forge World project is the most crucial despite not being the priority as the production of the military equipments and supplies, TSF, Mechanized Army, KANSEN Rigging parts and Orbital Fortress Fleets relying on the Forge World Mars which was an entire planet which had been converted into a gigantic planet sized and fully automated industrial complex that capable from creating chips and screws to nanites android and massive Orbital Fortresses.
The meeting will start in another minute, at 8 AM, Standard Terran Time. The room is relatively quiet with few hushed whispers among the shipgirls especially on the back part of the meeting table as some are attending for the very first time.
The moment the time reaches 8 AM sharp, Agent stood up as the room turned silent. Everyone turns their eyes to the empty seat between Agent and Winter where a hologram of a white haired man with cold and sharp eyes wears white and silver hakama with an ethereal air surrounding him like a veil of faint mist.
"Let's start our eighth weekly meeting." Agent announced like a faithful secretary she is as Adam nodded to give his formal approval for the meeting as his cold and icy look melted into a faint and thin smile that made those inexperienced shipgirls blush when combined with his overall look.
"Ahem! Let's begin with the logistic report on the raw materials first." Agent cleared her throat before glaring at the blushing girls at the back for wasting her Master's precious time.
Akashi stood up with her group of logistical managers that help handle supplies to the projects since they are adept in matters of inventory and distribution.
"Ahem. As of now, there is no shortage of normal materials. However, we are expecting the shortage of rare metal in the coming week because of the manufacturing of the Orbital Fortress's electronic parts. At the very least, we need five times the current mining rate to satisfy the supply line, Lord Admiral." Akashi read her report before she put down the report and waited for Adam's decision.
"Hmn. Agent, delegate the 3D printer to make three more fleets of asteroid miners and set their mining priority to rare metal." The hologram of Adam ordered as Agent immediately executed his command via a datapad she used as an essential interface to access the majority of the Orbital Fortress's functions.
"Wait, Lord Admiral. I would like to report about something." Shiranui suddenly raised her hand, which caused Akashi to look concerned and panicked. "I would like to report about Akashi embezzling gemstones mined."
"Oh, that? I already knew and it will be deducted from her pay." Adam replied with a humorous laugh as he looked at Akashi's miserable expression being dragged out by two kunoichi shipgirls, Kuroshio and Akatsuki by Nagato's order.
Nagato, feeling incredibly embarrassed and ashamed for the action of Akashi, immediately stood up to apologize but Adam simply laughed it off.
"Don't worry. Don't worry. Those gemstones are useless anyway unlike the metals. Let her have it if she wanted. It will motivate her to work much harder compared to giving her punishment." Adam waved his hand and sighed mentally that everyone seemed to take this matter too seriously when in reality, he already considered everyone in this room as family and would prefer more casual settings compared to these stuffy but necessary formalities for the sake of maintaining his authority and discipline of the shipgirls.
"Let's talk about the progress next. Shall we?" Adam steered the meeting forward as someone else soon stood up.
"The KANSEN retrofit and outfitting is nearly completed with only 60 ships left combined from Sakura Empire, Iris Libre and Northern Parliament. It is expected to be completed in another two weeks at the latest, Comrade Commander." Sovetsky Soyuz stood up and read her report, representing the group that handled this project that includes the majority of the shipgirls capable of engineering and technician works. "However, we encountered unexpected issues with the retrofitting as some ships have very old hulls that require an entire overhaul."
"So, you need ship hulls…?" Adam mutters as give the request a thought. "Hmn, I can free up some production lines temporarily to make ship hulls. But how much is needed?"
"12 Destroyers, 5 Light Cruisers, 4 Heavy Cruisers and 3 Battleship Hulls, Comrade Commander." Avrora stood up with the document in her hand and replied in Soyuz's stead.
"Doable. Will be completed within two days." Adam answered with an affirmed nod.
Then next, finally the biggest project in terms of scale. The production of Orbital Fortress's parts.
While the Mars Forge World will be constructing its main body and frame. The electronic parts etc are made separately and will be assembled later. Those electronic parts will mostly be produced on Earth which have more sophisticated and specialized equipment to manufacture them.
With a total of 20 Orbital Fortress being constructed, the electronic parts that needed to be produced are so obviously numerous that take up over 50% of the current industry on Earth to produce everything within the one year schedule and require Enterprise, Queen Elizabeth and Nagato themselves are personally overseeing the production along with dozens other shipgirls to manage multiple factories and industrial complexes that produces those parts.
"The production rate is within acceptable limits. However… four days ago. Two of our industrial complexes in Europe are being attacked by remnants of the Anti-KANSEN movement terrorists group that are targeting the assets under Azur Lane's management." Enterprise read out her report before nervously looking at Adam, afraid she had disappointed him for being unable to detect the terrorist groups.
Seeing the kind and warm smile on Adam's face fades away and replaced with a ruthless icy frown marring his face made Enterprise feel like her heart just freezes over. Everyone also shares similar emotions as Enterprise although not as intense. Seeing his smile fades away made their heart ached and wanted to execute those terrorists with their cannons for making their commander and husband unhappy
"Terrorist? I thought they had been wiped out?" Adam said before looking at Agent as she is the one handling the matter and reported their extermination to him.
"My apology, Master. It seems I had overlooked some of them." Agent hastily apologized with her body bent down and almost touched the table with her face. "Please give me another opportunity to set it right. I will definitely uproot them, Master."
Adam about to say yet before he is interrupted by a future vision which made him take back the words he almost said.
"No need. I will take care of them personally." Adam said as his expression turned serene and calm once again like a still lake surface. "Let's end the meeting here." He ordered and everyone complied immediately as the meeting was adjourned.
When his hologram disappeared, everyone loosened up and discussed what happened in the end just now. After all no one will pass on juicy gossip and everyone is dying to know what his next action is.
———
On the surface of Mars without need of respiratory aid or suit, Adam stared at the direction of Earth with his star-like four pupil eyes. Before he formed a blackish blue Reishi bow and arrow, Sankt Bogen and Sankt Pfeil that appeared as a giant blackish blue bow and arrow floating above his head.
With a squeeze of his palm, the Reishi bow and arrow start to condense down and turn smaller while the energy it contains becomes even wilder at the verge of exploding. Then he waved his palm up which signaled the bow to lose the arrow. The blackish blue arrow turns into a streak of light heading toward Earth as Adam dismisses The Almighty and returns to his tea table to meditate.
Several minutes later on Earth, the satellites and Orbital Fortress detected a high energy projectile moving near the speed of sound before it hit a private property hidden well from the public eyes, somewhere in Romania before dozens mile wide explosion engulf the place and created a pillar of blue cross in the sky that lasted a few moments before fading away.
All the rebels and terrorists had been killed in one swoop without them even realizing.
But the reason Adam decided to act personally is because he can sense the influence of Deus X on the terrorists. After all, it's impossible for them to survive the purge. Yet they did and managed to form a resistance group with stable backing and funding despite Agent's effort to squash the rebels. This is not natural and obviously manipulated by someone.
Perhaps due to paranoia. Adam decided to scour the world using The Almighty to detect any presence and influence of the Deus X on the world and surely, there is. From a small group of people trying to influence the population online to go against him to less subtle methods like people spreading lies and propaganda and incite people to become rebels.
But what worries Adam the most is that the influence of Deus X on the Iron Blood is very strong. The initial report from the spies from a year ago till today had remained consistent. The Iron Blood is obsessed with reverse engineering Siren Technology and especially obsessed with deciphering the uses of Black Cube or Origin Cube which is directly related to Metamorphosis.
When Adam tried to peer into the future with The Almighty to see if what the iron Blood do will be a threat in the future, he sees only darkness which is weird since normally he can directly see the vision of the future. Then from within the darkness suddenly a pair of eyes opened with blinding light radiating from it. By the time Adam realized this was a psychic attack, it was already too late and he was harmed instead.
"Cough! Kah!" His eyes bleed out as he coughed out a mouthful of blood and felt as if all his blood vessels ruptured. Thankfully, it's nothing but superficial injury with his abnormal regeneration.
"Husband! Husband! Are you alright?" Kyoka Suigetsu instead appeared and used a pale pink silk handkerchief to wipe the blood on his face with an incredibly worried look, almost like a distraught mother tending to her sick child than anything as she vowed to pay back hundred folds to the despicable assailant that dare ambushed her Master.
"It's alright. It's alright. Just superficial injury. I'm already healed the moment you appeared." Adam reassures his over worried Zanpakuto Spirit that he is no longer harmed but she wouldn't believe him and makes a scene by throwing a tantrum.
"Take a rest or I will force you, Husband." She said with a threatening look while pointing at her lap after she was seated.
With a sigh, Adam accepted. She is just taking advantage of the situation to make him rest on her lap. Her intention is truly crooked. But he rather just surrendered than dealing with a sulking Kyoka Suigetsu. It's a nightmare. A small sacrifice is better than a big loss.
"Fine, I will." Adam sighed and rested on her lap while she happily rubbed his hair and hummed to some unknown songs to create a mysterious yet heartwarming scene on the main desolate landscape of Mars.
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