Chapter 366: Autobots Attack (Part II)

"NEST will not be disbanded!"

After a long silence, Major William finally spoke.

Captain Robert paused in his motion of rubbing the wound on his cheek and glanced at the "Sea Stallion" helicopter not far away. "Perhaps!"

Saguache County, Colorado, has now become a taboo in the hearts of every NEST soldier; the battle to encircle and suppress the Decepticon Frenzy was so tragic that more than half of the surviving U. S. soldiers have developed "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

But there was no help for it; the fierce battle in Saguache County dealt too heavy a blow to the fledgling NEST.

If one only looks at the loss of equipment, the U. S. military's losses in Saguache County were naturally far less severe than those in the Battle of Las Vegas.

They had only lost two Predators, thirty or forty Apaches, a few armed versions of Black Shadow helicopters, and over a hundred tanks and Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

However, the death of over seven hundred soldiers was a heavy blow to the U. S. military.

One must know that every U. S. soldier selected for the NEST unit was either a veteran with over five years of service pulled back from the Middle East, or a strictly trained special forces soldier transferred from the Green Berets, Delta Force, or Navy SEALs; it would be no exaggeration to say that every soldier was an elite backbone of the U. S. military.

It is conceivable how severe the losses in Saguache County were for the U. S. military, and the newly established NEST has therefore become the focus of controversy in Washington for some time, with rumors of it possibly being disbanded spreading many times.

Had it not been for Optimus Prime, who, out of self-reproach, later personally led an Autobot squad to join forces with NEST to eliminate two groups of Decepticons whose tracks had been captured, and even made some concessions by leaving the remains of the four eliminated Decepticons for the U. S. government to dispose of, it would truly be an unknown whether NEST could still exist today.

The helicopter cabin was quickly opened, and a middle-aged white man wearing gold-rimmed glasses jumped out of the cabin, supported by an attendant who was also wearing a black suit.

"It looks like we have big trouble!"

Captain Robert muttered in a low voice.

Major William's brow visibly furrowed the moment he saw the person clearly.

They both recognized the middle-aged white man who had just stepped off the helicopter; his name was Galloway, the White House Chief of Staff and a core member of the current U. S. President's inner circle and think tank.

However, if one were to draw up a list of the politicians in Washington most opposed to the U. S. government cooperating with the Autobots, Galloway's name would definitely appear on that list, and very high up at that.

"Major, you don't seem very happy to see me!"

Galloway and his attendant quickly walked to the side of Major William and Captain Robert. Seeing the two salute him in unison, he held his head high, revealing the look of a victor on his face, and said arrogantly.

Major William looked at him calmly, his tone flat: "No, Director Galloway!"

He knew the other party was deliberately looking for trouble. Because of the special nature of the NEST unit and the other party's consistent stance, Galloway had been given a hard time by him under various pretexts several times when he visited the temporary base in Nevada before NEST relocated to Diego Garcia.

Now, it can only be said that the tables have turned.

"Hmph hmph..."

Galloway hummed twice, tilted his head at the attendant beside him, and the other party immediately took out a transit document from the briefcase he was carrying and handed it to him.

Then, holding the document in one hand, he raised it directly in front of Major William and said coldly: "This is a special approval document from the President. Can I enter the base now?"

Without waiting for a reply, he shoved the document into Major William's hand and walked straight into the base.

Major William did not stop him this time, but he did pick up the document shoved into his hand to check it. Only after confirming that it indeed had the President's approval and the White House Office's official seal did he put it away.

"How much trouble do you guess it will be?"

Captain Robert leaned in and asked in a low voice.

"I don't know!" Major William shook his head, looking at Galloway, who was about to walk away, with some worry in his eyes. "But one thing is certain: his coming here is never a good thing!"

After speaking, the two exchanged a tacit look and then quickly chased after him.

"Major, Washington's patience for your robot friends is wearing thin!"

Glancing sideways at Major William, who had caught up to him, Galloway suddenly took the initiative to speak, his tone stern: "What do they take Earth for? A garbage dump? In the past six months, NASA alone has recorded over twenty robot arrival incidents. The Pentagon even suspects that there may be even more robots hiding from our sight and lurking on Earth!"

"They?"

Major William frowned. Just as he was about to argue with him, Captain Robert tugged at his sleeve. The muscles on his face twitched, and it was a while before he replied in a stiff tone: "Director Galloway, they are not machines; they are Mechanical Life with high intelligence and civilization, just like us humans!"

"Yes, Mechanical Life..."

Galloway suddenly stopped, turned around with a cold sneer, and looked at him, his face full of mockery: "A pile of metal and electronic components pieced together as a machine deserves to have intelligence... Major, please remember that you are a soldier of the United States of America!"

As soon as these words were spoken, not only did Major William's expression change drastically, but Captain Robert's face also turned gloomy.

After a moment of silence, Major William finally gave up on continuing to speak well of the Autobots and stood abruptly at attention. "Yes, sir."

"Very good!"

Seeming satisfied with his attitude, Galloway did not continue to target him after all. He just stared at his face for a moment before turning around again and walking into the base.

"The President sent me here this time to inspect the current recovery status of your NEST unit and to see if those aliens are behaving themselves. This is so that we can consider whether to continue arranging tasks for you!"

"Please rest assured, Mr. President. In the past few months, our NEST unit has been receiving personnel supplements from the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps. Except for some weapons and equipment that have not yet arrived, our strength has almost recovered."

Major William naturally picked the pleasant things to say first. In fact, the situation of the NEST unit after its reconstruction was very bad. Although they had received some supplements from the Army and Navy in terms of personnel, the quality was no longer as good as before.

However, these were still acceptable. The most troublesome thing now was that because of the final explosion during the encirclement of Frenzy in Saguache County, they had lost almost all their equipment as a formed unit. Now, except for some individual equipment that had been approved by the Logistics Bureau of the Pentagon, all other requested equipment and military aircraft had been withheld by the Ministry of National Defense under the pretext of needing further study.

As a result, the NEST soldiers currently stationed on Diego Garcia even needed to use the weapons and equipment of the Marine Corps originally stationed on the island for their daily training.

Galloway listened to his introduction seriously, occasionally interjecting a word or two, but for the most part, he did not express any stance.

Major William was, after all, far less sophisticated than someone with a political background. After the two were at a stalemate for a while, he finally took the initiative to speak and brought up the current predicament of NEST.

Unfortunately, Galloway acted as if he hadn't heard, only urging: "Please take me to inspect the base first!"

"All right!"

Calling for a Humvee to be brought over, he simply acted as a tour guide himself, carrying Galloway and his attendants, and incidentally bringing Captain Robert along. The four of them spent over an hour touring the military base, which originally belonged to the U. S. Navy, before finally stopping in front of a building that had clearly been built not long ago.

"... Director Galloway, this is the communication office for holding remote Joint Chiefs of Staff meetings. We use a dedicated military satellite for encrypted transmission, which can effectively ensure the confidentiality of the meetings!"

The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a direct agency usually used to review and approve the actions of the NEST unit, composed of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, reporting directly to the President.

Under normal circumstances, the Joint Chiefs of Staff rarely meets.

Major William remembered that the last time it was convened was after the Battle of Sawatch, when the NEST unit was almost wiped out, causing a shock to the U. S. high command.

Since then, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had not met even once.

This newly built communication office for the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Diego Garcia had actually only been opened experimentally for a few seconds.

Galloway toured the communication office with great interest for a while, and it was only after a long time that he seemed to suddenly remember something and asked: "Major, why didn't we see your alien friends in the base just now?"

"Uh..."

Major William hesitated for a moment before replying: "Optimus Prime felt very guilty about the losses our NEST unit suffered in Saguache, so for the past few months, he has been personally leading an Autobot squad to track down information about Frenzy everywhere. Besides that, Ironhide is also with Sideswipe hunting down other Decepticons who have infiltrated Earth... As for Bumblebee, he is currently in the United States, protecting a friend of his!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Captain Robert knew it was going to be bad.

Sure enough, Galloway, who had already shown a slight smile on his face, saw his expression darken in an instant after hearing this.

He practically lunged in front of Major William and roared at him through gritted teeth: "Dereliction of duty, Major, this is a serious dereliction of duty on your part!"

Major William was almost sprayed in the face with his spit, but despite his very ugly expression, he could not make any response, because he himself knew clearly that this was indeed a dereliction of duty.

When the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime first took the initiative to contact the United States government, because the tragic events of Sector 7 and Las Vegas were right before their eyes, the majority, including intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, and the White House, had a hardline attitude demanding that the Autobots not be settled within the United States.

Consequently, after the NEST unit was established, it was first temporarily settled at a former nuclear weapons testing site in the sparsely populated Nevada.

Afterwards, they even went so far as to painfully choose the former Diego Garcia island in the Yindu Yang, an important naval base far from the United States mainland, as the location for the NEST base, and after finishing the arrangements, they notified NEST and the Autobots almost immediately, telling them to get out quickly.

It can be said that from the very beginning of the cooperation, the American policymakers in Washington were dealing with the Autobots with fear and distrust.

Although the establishment of NEST was to eliminate those more bellicose and tyrannical Decepticons, the United States government was also looking to use this to manage and supervise the Autobots, and even eventually achieve the effect of complete control.

Now, things were even worse; Galloway was originally one of the politicians in Washington who distrusted the Autobots the most, and now he heard from Major William, the person in charge of NEST, that those Autobots who were supposed to be staying obediently on Diego Garcia were now wandering all over the world, and what's more, there were even Autobots still staying within the United States.

In an instant, Galloway was like a powder keg that had been lit, and he exploded!

One after another, all kinds of harsh reprimands erupted from his mouth.

Especially when he heard him mention preparing to send Major William to a Military Tribunal, Captain Robert, the black captain standing to the side, finally could not hold back and interrupted his rage.

"Director Galloway... we admit that there are indeed some problems in the management of the NEST unit, but this is also something that cannot be helped... You should know that the Autobot Leader—Optimus Prime—only cooperated with us in the first place to unite our human strength to eliminate those evil Decepticons that threaten the peace of Earth. However, the equipment that NEST applied for has never been approved by those above, and now with only some individual weapons, we simply cannot engage in combat... Perhaps the Autobots saw this as well, which is why they chose to hunt down the Decepticons on their own..."

It must be said, don't look at how he seems more like a roughneck than Major William, but his emotional intelligence is much higher than his.

After Robert finished speaking, although Galloway still did not give them a good look, and even snorted coldly at Major William, his attitude softened once again.

The silence lasted for quite a while before Galloway slowly opened his mouth.

"... Regarding the re-arming of NEST, I will bring it up to the President after I return to Washington... The President sent me here this time, actually, for this very matter..."

He gave a wink, and the attendant who had been following closely behind him immediately stepped forward, took a stack of photos from the briefcase he was carrying close to his body, and handed them over.

Major William glanced at the bulging briefcase he held tightly in his hand; it was obvious that besides these dozen or so photos, there were other things inside.

He returned a military salute before taking the photos.

Captain Robert also leaned in to look, and as the two of them looked together, their expressions changed in unison.