"We can establish a temporary intelligence-sharing and cooperative relationship," Maine responded. "We will provide limited military support in exchange for basic information on the local situation, the characteristics of hostile organisms, and the geographical environment."
The UDF officer visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am Lieutenant White, from the 42nd Mobile Battalion of the United Defence Force. We can provide all the intelligence we currently have on the mimics, as well as a map of the theater of operations. Our forward command post is just three kilometers away."
"This proposal is accepted," Maine said. "Please provide a safe passage route. Warning: Any hostile actions will be considered a unilateral termination of cooperation and will have corresponding consequences."
Lieutenant White looked at Maine's cold, mechanical body and the superhuman physique and weaponry of his squad members, and nodded solemnly: "Understood. We will guide you to the forward command post. Please follow our vehicle."
UDF soldiers began to carefully close their positions, and the armored vehicles turned around.
Throughout the entire process, their eyes never left Maine's squad, especially the two "Iron Guards" that took heavy steps and began to follow the movement, their eyes filled with a mixture of awe, fear, and a glimmer of hope.
Sasha silently connected to the squad channel: "Preliminary scan of the other party's communication network architecture has been performed. The firewall level is low. We can establish deeper access at any time."
Kiwi added, "We are continuously analyzing the residual mimic communication signals recorded earlier in the background, attempting to build a feature model."
Sasha reported her new findings: "The spatiotemporal readings still fluctuate, and the background intensity has not weakened. This phenomenon is extremely unusual."
David was quickly browsing through basic biometric data about mimics that he had just downloaded from the UDF open database.
Following the guidance of UDF, Maine's squad headed inland.
Two teams with vastly different levels of technology have temporarily come together because of a common enemy.
Rebecca remained dismissive of the UDF's equipment, while Dorio continued to gather tactical information along the way.
Maine was calculating various possibilities. Cooperation with local forces was only the first step. They needed to understand the anomalies of this world as soon as possible and find a way to report more valuable information to Osiris.
——
The UDF's forward command post is located in a reinforced semi-underground bunker.
Lieutenant White led Maine's squad through the defensive fortifications made of sandbags and concrete obstacles. Along the way, UDF soldiers stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on this strangely equipped team.
They paid particular attention to the two "Iron Guards" following behind, their heavy footsteps echoing through the bunker passage.
The command center was dimly lit, and the air was filled with the smells of sweat, dust, and heat from electronic equipment.
Various display screens are hung on the walls, showing war zone maps and troop deployments.
A middle-aged man with the rank of major general on his shoulder insignia stood in front of the central tactical platform. He was tall and straight, with a serious face and sharp eyes.
Lieutenant White stepped forward and reported in a low voice.
"General Briggs," Lieutenant White introduced, "this is Captain Maine, they… are willing to provide assistance."
General Briggs' gaze swept over the members of Maine's squad, lingering briefly on Maine's terracotta body, Dorio's superhuman physique, and the heavy weaponry on Rebecca's back, before finally returning to Maine.
"I am Richard Briggs, frontline commander of the UDF European theater." His voice was deep, carrying the authority cultivated from his long years in a high position. "White reports that you have dealt with an entire swarm of mimics with zero casualties of your own."
"Confirmed," Maine' synthesized voice responded. "The threat has been eliminated."
"Your equipment doesn't belong to any known military system," Briggs stated directly. "Origin?"
"Independent research and development." Maine avoided the core issue with his usual brevity. "Our focus is on the current threat—'mimics,' and sharing intelligence is in the interests of both parties."
Briggs stared at Maine for a few seconds, seemingly weighing his options.
Finally, he nodded slightly.
"Very good. In the current situation, any force that can effectively kill the mimics is worth winning over." He turned to a staff officer, "Give them Level 1 theater intelligence access."
He then said to Maine, "We have a hangar area where your... heavy units can rest and refit."
"I accept," Maine said.
Guided by a junior officer, Valerie and Jackie piloted the Iron Guard to the designated hangar area.
The hangar originally contained several UDF main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers, but the space suddenly felt cramped as two nearly four-meter-tall dark red Titans stepped in.
UDF's ground crew and technicians watched from a distance, not daring to approach, whispering about the Iron Guard's sharply defined armor and the weapon interfaces they couldn't understand.
Valerie, speaking calmly through the Iron Guard's external loudspeaker, informed the UDF personnel: "Please maintain a safe distance. We are about to conduct a system self-check and weapon status verification."
She and Jackie then began to perform standard maintenance procedures.
The armor plates on the back of the Iron Guardian slid open, revealing the complex internal energy circuitry and heat dissipation structure. A robotic arm extended from the side of the body to perform module diagnostics.
The deep rumble of the plasma reactor and the high-frequency hum unique to the energy weapons during charging echoed in the hangar, eliciting gasps of amazement from the UDF technicians.
Jackie, piloting the standard Iron Guard, demonstrated the versatility of its hardpoints, quickly adjusting the configuration parameters of auxiliary sensors and secondary weapon systems based on local map data downloaded from the UDF database.
Meanwhile, in a temporary rest area assigned to them by the command post, David and Lucy were analyzing previously collected mimics samples.
The sample was placed in a portable isolation box, with Lucy's quadruped robot standing by, its sensors also aimed at the sample.
"The biological structure is extremely unique," David said, operating the analyzer as data scrolled across the screen. "The tissue contains a high-density network of metal filaments that serve both nerve conduction and structural support functions, and the cells exhibit a degree of mechanosymbiotic properties."
Lucy retrieved basic information about mimics from the UDF database for comparison.
"The UDF report describes it as a collectively conscious organism, with low intelligence in individuals but extremely high efficiency in group action. Their core driving unit is called 'Omega,' possessing advanced intelligence and some kind of… special ability."
She pointed to the energy readings on the analyzer, "A continuous low-intensity energy signal was detected inside the sample, unlike any known bioelectric or chemical energy, and the signal pattern has non-local correlation characteristics."
"It resembles some kind of biological telemetry beacon," David speculated. "This may be related to their group coordination. More samples are needed, especially comparative analyses of samples from different individuals and suspected command units."
Sasha chimed in, "My spacetime reading instrument is still showing background fluctuations. Whether these fluctuations are related to the mimic energy signal is still unknown."
Sasha and Kiwi focused on electronic warfare.
Using the limited network access granted by UDF, Sasha quickly browsed the theater communication records and combat reports.
"The UDF's combat record against mimics shows that mimics learns and adapts extremely quickly. They can rapidly adjust their tactics to counter human weapons and deployments."
Kiwi is trying to track down communication frequency bands that the mimics may use that are not identified by UDF: "If they use quantum entanglement or other non-electromagnetic wave communication methods, they will be difficult to detect using conventional methods."