Chapter 367: Autobots Attack (End)

The images handed over by Galloway's aide were enlarged high-altitude satellite reconnaissance photos.

Although they were not very clear as they had been taken under the cover of night, both Major William and Captain Robert had been dealing with the Autobots for a long time, and thus they immediately recognized several silhouettes in the blurry images.

"Decepticons?"

Major William hurriedly looked up to ask, while simultaneously snatching the images from the aide's hand; after bringing them closer to examine them in more detail for a moment, his expression turned even uglier: "Are they attacking a human city?"

After speaking, he reached out his hand toward the aide again, appearing ready to take the remaining images to examine them carefully.

The aide, having had the images snatched away, looked helplessly at Galloway; seeing that his direct superior had no other instructions, he handed over all the remaining images.

Galloway then answered his question, "Yes, these are photos taken by our spy satellites not long ago. Limited by latitude and weather interference, the photos aren't very clear, but after the images were enlarged, one could still vaguely see at least four aliens attacking a human city of ours, though it's impossible to determine whether they are Autobots or Decepticons!"

"Director Galloway, these must be Decepticons!"

After quickly finishing the dozen or so images and comparing them with the data on Autobots in his mind, Major William answered with certainty: "Optimus Prime once made a promise to us that even if they encountered Decepticons, they would notify the United States government first, and then take necessary measures at their discretion... I trust him; the Autobots could not possibly attack us humans..."

Galloway pushed up his glasses, his expression somewhat displeased.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States had been running rampant on Earth for too long, to the point that for the past twenty years, American politicians had gradually become accustomed to the thrill of bullying the weak, trampling on the sovereignty of other countries at will, while others dared to be angry but dared not speak out.

Therefore, when the Autobots and Decepticons—two types of intelligent beings from beyond Earth that clearly possessed a civilization more advanced and powerful than that of the United States—arrogantly descended upon Earth, it was the reason why so many politicians in Washington still held distrust and hostility toward the Autobots even after they had taken the initiative to show goodwill.

"Major, I don't want to repeat this kind of talk a second time. Washington has no right to interfere with the friendship between you and your alien friends, but please also remember your identity clearly; you are a soldier of the United States of America, and furthermore, America cannot allow the existence of any uncertain factors."

Major William was stunned, then immediately reacted.

His inadvertent remarks just now had clearly once again displeased this White House Office Director who held hostility toward the Autobots.

Although he felt stifled inside, once he thought about how the retention of NEST and its weapons and equipment still depended on him, he could only soften his stance again and take the initiative to apologize: "Sorry, sir, I always keep my identity and duties in mind."

Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly lowered his head to look at the latitude and longitude coordinates in the bottom left corner of the images; after quickly finishing all the dozen or so images again, he looked back at the still-furious Galloway with an expression of disbelief and asked urgently: "Wait, these latitude and longitude coordinates... Director Galloway, is the city being attacked Russia..."

His professional competence was quite good; although Galloway was still furious, seeing that Major William had noticed the problem without being reminded, he couldn't help but think a little higher of him.

"Yes, you certainly won't be unfamiliar with the city that was attacked; it is Severodvinsk, Russia's extreme northern naval port!"

After nodding and casually blurting out this explosive answer.

In an instant, after a series of shifting expressions on their faces, both Major William and Captain Robert became serious.

Severodvinsk, a sparsely populated Russian port city located within the Arctic Circle.

Even for many people who had traveled to Severodvinsk, I am afraid that this would be the only impression they would have of it.

However, mid-to-high-ranking officers of the NEST unit like Major William and Captain Robert clearly knew its other identities hidden beneath the ice and snow.

One of the six major bases of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet, and the world's largest manufacturing base for conventional and nuclear submarines during the former Soviet Union era.

It is no exaggeration to say that if something went wrong in Severodvinsk, Earth might very well face a nuclear war that would destroy everything!

Taking a deep breath, the knuckles of Major William's fingers, which were tightly gripping the images, had already begun to turn slightly white.

Captain Robert was not the supreme commander of NEST and was under far less pressure than him; seeing his old friend unable to speak due to sudden agitation, he hurriedly asked on his behalf: "Director Galloway, when did this happen? How is the situation in Severodvinsk now?"

"The images were taken in the early hours of eleven days ago, as for the result..."

Director Galloway paused, then nodded to his aide, and the man immediately understood and took several more images out of his bag to hand to the two of them!

Major William took all the images from Galloway's aide with almost snatching speed.

Then, after quickly finishing the few images, his eyes suddenly widened, "It disappeared?"

Captain Robert was also very concerned about this question and hurriedly leaned over to take a look; it turned out that large black areas had appeared on all the images, as if someone had splashed pitch-black ink on them.

"Yes, it disappeared!"

Galloway nodded, his expression also looking bad, "These images are the result of the military mobilizing several different satellites to photograph Severodvinsk; this situation only started appearing one day ago!"

"Including that Sagittarius that replaced the Dark Spectrum Scan system?"

Captain Robert asked.

"Including it!" Galloway nodded heavily.

The communications office was deathly silent; the silence lasted for a full ten seconds or more before Major William finally raised his head from the images he had flipped through over and over again.

He suddenly seemed to remember something, waving the dozen or so images he had received first, and asked Galloway with an ugly expression: "Wait... you just said these were taken by satellites over ten days ago... then why do we only know about this now..."

He picked out the later images and asked sternly and relentlessly: "And these, since they only started being taken by satellites one day ago. That is to say, our satellites were able to photograph Severodvinsk in the previous ten days, so, where are those images?"

Perhaps because he had suffered too much frustration from Galloway before, Major William finally got angry at this moment.

"The establishment of the NEST unit was to unite with the Autobots to deal with alien invaders who might threaten Earth. But why are we being pushed aside now!"

After all, he was a mid-to-high-ranking officer who had climbed up through the most elite special forces in the United States; perhaps his emotional intelligence was slightly inferior to Captain Robert, but in terms of courage and spirit, after being appointed as the commander of the NEST unit, Major William had met with the President, the Defense Minister, and the group of military bigwigs from the Joint Chiefs of Staff more than once. Now, in a fit of rage, he immediately roared at Galloway with a flushed face.

Galloway clearly did not expect him to have the guts to lose his temper with him, and for a moment, he did not react and was immediately sprayed with spit all over his face.

"Major, do you know who you are talking to right now?"

With a livid face, he took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his face and asked coldly.

Major William was clearly truly angry this time; he took a step forward, ignoring Captain Robert's obstruction, walked straight up to Galloway, and relying on the fact that he was half a head taller than him, he stood his ground and confronted him sternly: "I know. If the White House needs me to get out, I will obey the arrangement. But until I see the President's signature, I am the commander of NEST. So, please answer me, why did our satellites photograph the Decepticons attacking Severodvinsk over ten days ago, and I only found out about all this over ten days later!"

The two were almost nose-to-nose; facing a pair of eyes that were glaring at him as if they were about to spit fire, Galloway, who came from a political background, had been pampered for too long after all. After struggling to confront Major William for a few seconds, he was the first to lose.

He first took a step back and took a deep breath while using the handkerchief to wipe his face.

Only then did he answer in a calmer, cold, and hard tone: "Alright, Major, this is the President's intention. Because we cannot determine whether it was the Decepticons or the Autobots who attacked Russia. After all, you as a soldier should know better than I do what Severodvinsk means; the United States will not fight a nuclear war that would destroy Earth with Russia for the sake of a few aliens!"

Galloway had ultimately covered up some things vaguely; not only did Major William hear it, but Captain Robert did too.

However, seeing that he had softened his stance and did not intend to keep clashing with him, Major William, whose emotional intelligence was actually not too low, knew the principle of stopping while ahead without needing his old friend to play the good guy again.

At that moment, he lowered his head again to look at the images in his hand, and after carefully and earnestly reviewing each one several times, he turned his head to look at Robert and ordered: "Captain, send someone to the garage to see if Optimus Prime is there. If he is not there himself, have Ironhide come over immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

Robert gave a military salute and ran a few steps to leave the communications office.

Galloway did not stop his arrangement; clearly, he had come from Washington this time because the United States had been deliberately keeping NEST—which had connections with the Autobots—out of the loop, and after privately investigating the invasion incident that occurred within Russia for over ten days and still finding nothing, they had no choice but to put the almost-moldy NEST back on the front stage.

"Major, can you guarantee that it wasn't the Autobots who attacked Russia?"

The waiting time was exceptionally boring; although Galloway disliked Major William very much, after irritably checking the time for the third time, he still took the initiative to chat with the Major.

"Yes, I am very certain!"

Nodding heavily, Major William had dealt with the Autobots for so long, and he still admired their Leader, Optimus Prime, very much.

Therefore, he gave an affirmative answer almost without a second thought, and immediately, he was just about to ask Galloway again whether the military had discovered anything in the satellite images from the missing ten days.

Just at this moment, accompanied by the low roar of an engine, a red and blue Peterbilt 352 heavy-duty truck slowly drove into the communications office.

Galloway turned his head toward the sound, the muscles on his face twitching, and his eyes could not hide his look of panic.

He clearly knew this Peterbilt 352 heavy truck, which was only a tractor unit; it was none other than the Autobot Leader who claimed to be from the planet Cybertron—Optimus Prime.

Optimus Prime, who had transformed into the heavy truck form, slowly drove into the communications office; it seemed he had also discovered an uninvited guest next to Major William, and as a sound of metal Gear friction accompanied his body, a tall and sturdy mechanical giant quickly appeared before Major William and the others.

"The Captain said you were looking for me, William!"

Although it was a cold mechanical voice, Optimus Prime's tone sounded kind and gentle; he was a very charismatic Leader and liked to make friends with humans, and Major William was clearly one of the few friends he had made on Earth.

"Yes, Optimus Prime. Let me introduce you; this is Director Galloway, National Security Advisor and Presidential Envoy!"

Galloway was the current United States President's confidant and advisor, and he indeed concurrently held the position of National Security Advisor.

Optimus Prime nodded slightly at him; although it was their first meeting, he had heard of this person, a human who was very unfriendly toward the Autobots.

For now, he ignored him and looked at the Major again.

William stood on tiptoe and handed the dozen or so images he had just obtained from Galloway to Optimus Prime, and after Optimus Prime bent down and extended a palm, he placed the images into that broad mechanical palm, then continued: "This is a raid incident that occurred within Russia not long ago, detected by our satellite reconnaissance; Director Galloway needs to confirm with you whether it was done by you Autobots?"

Upon hearing this, Optimus Prime raised his alloy eyebrows and looked at Galloway with some displeasure, saying: "We once signed an agreement with your government that we would not easily set foot in the five permanent member states without your consent. Sir, the Autobots keep their word. My Warriors have only been to Southeast Asia and Aodaliya recently..."

Upon hearing that the Autobots had gone to Southeast Asia and Aodaliya recently without notifying the United States government, Galloway could not help but loudly interrupt him, "Excuse me, according to the Autobot and Human Alliance Act, you promised to share intelligence with us, but you refused to share your advanced weapon manufacturing methods, which caused our soldiers to suffer heavy losses in Saguache County. Now, you have entered the territory of other countries without notification again..."

Optimus Prime: "We have witnessed your human wars; possessing advanced weapons will only be a disaster for Earth and humanity."

As for why he entered other countries without notifying the United States government, he did not answer.

Perhaps it was because after staying on Earth for a period of time, as the Leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime had already realized that the United States government could not represent all of humanity.

Or perhaps, he was simply displeased by the United States' greedy attempt last time to force them to hand over the remains of two Decepticons killed by Ironhide's squad.

——

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