Chapter 846: War Strikes

If one were to speak of the department within the United States that knows the most about extraterrestrials and has had the most dealings with them, it would undoubtedly be Tombstone.

The predecessor to Tombstone was NEST, which was once a military organization established through the cooperation of the United States government and the Autobots.

Following the complete breakdown of the relationship between the United States government and the Autobots, NEST, which was a product of politics to begin with, was disbanded.

Not long after, the Decepticon invasion caused the United States Army to suffer repeated blows, making the reconstruction of a brand-new armed force targeting extraterrestrials an urgent matter.

Thus, Tombstone was quickly rebuilt on the foundation of NEST veterans.

Within the initial Tombstone force, almost everyone was a NEST veteran.

They understood extraterrestrials, held extremely high goodwill toward the Autobots, and felt great hatred for the Decepticons.

However, with the transfer of several former Commanders and the death of more and more veterans in battle, the current Tombstone force has long since changed its appearance.

The propellers gradually stopped spinning, and six Chinook transport helicopters belonging to the United States Army landed steadily within the river valley.

As the cabin doors opened, squads of fully armed Tombstone soldiers quickly walked out from the cabins of the transport helicopters.

Two middle-aged men wearing black suits walked out from the cabin of one of the Chinooks; as soon as they emerged, they shivered from a gust of wind that suddenly blew through the river valley.

"This damn weather!"

"I reminded you, you should have added a thick coat!"

The two complained and chuckled as they followed the Tombstone soldiers toward the military camp that had already been established in a corner of the river valley; they came from the United States' intelligence agency—the CIA—and were military combat commanders heavily cultivated by the CIA.

As the most important intelligence agency of the United States, the CIA has nearly ten billion dollars in overt intelligence appropriations alone each year, and when added to their special appropriation mechanisms and various slush funds, it is conservatively estimated that they have over thirty billion dollars in funding annually, which is more than the annual national defense budget of the vast majority of countries on Earth.

Having received the benefits, one naturally has to do the work; the CIA is the sharp sword of the United States directed outward.

They spy on the intelligence of other countries, bribe and cultivate opposition parties and so-called democratic figures in hostile nations, smuggle drugs and even manufacture turmoil through arms, kidnap and assassinate scientists of other countries, and even directly dispatch military personnel to participate in wars.

Because their 'business' is truly too extensive, the employees within the CIA include not only weapons and equipment researchers, scholars proficient in the languages and scripts of various countries, and financial and corporate management experts, but also professional swindlers, fraudsters, drug lords, killers, retired special forces soldiers, and so on.

This is also the source of the confidence the CIA has always had in vying for command of the Tombstone force; the CIA has a large number of military personnel all over the world, the vast majority of whom have rich military combat command experience and are far more cold, cruel, and unscrupulous than officers from traditional military backgrounds.

Compared to that batch of Commanders from the NEST era, the CIA clearly believes that the Commanders they cultivate can secure more benefits for the United States.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year has passed, and the CIA has now basically achieved its wish.

Although a portion of the officers within the current Tombstone force are still dispatched by the military, the command has almost fallen into the hands of the CIA.

The reason is none other than this: despite the fact that over the past half year, the scale of casualties in the Tombstone force has far exceeded that of the NEST force period.

However, under the command of the CIA, the Tombstone force successfully launched several military operations against the Decepticons.

Concentrating all the active-duty advanced equipment of the United States Army, plus filling the gaps with the lives of soldiers, all the operational targets of the Tombstone force were wiped out, save for one Decepticon that luckily escaped.

As for the remains of those Decepticons, except for one that was taken away by the CIA's own equipment research institute, the rest were all transferred to the military's research institutions or to the American arms dealers who had been heavily damaged by the Autobots last year.

That group of people at the CIA is clearly excellent at playing with human nature; everyone who received a piece of the cake is very satisfied with the current Tombstone force.

As for those sacrificed soldiers, apart from their families, the politicians and arms dealers of the United States would never care about those American soldiers who sacrificed themselves for 'national interests'.

The CIA is nibbling away at the command of the Tombstone force bit by bit, and they are already close to success.

The new President currently in the White House, as well as those arms dealers behind Congress, already have the intention to completely hand over Tombstone to the CIA for command.

The only ones who have not yet relented are the military, but the CIA can afford to wait.

This inconspicuous river valley located within Niusheng has suddenly become lively recently following the discovery of a special type of metal ore.

Regarding the gold mining company that took the initiative to report the discovery to the state—Carson Mining—the United States still gave some return.

Carson Mining obtained a gold mine located in the state of Alaska that had been surveyed by the state government a few years ago.

Then Maisel and the others were all sent away by military transport planes; currently stationed in the river valley are hundreds of soldiers from the Tombstone force, as well as a mining and extraction company hired by the CIA from within the country.

After all, the metal within the river valley is very special; it is inherently harder and more corrosion-resistant than the special steel developed on Earth.

Although some laboratories in the country have only just received the metal for research, they have already reached a preliminary consensus.

"This metal can greatly reduce the weight of tanks, aircraft, and warships, while simultaneously enhancing their defensive capabilities... even the artificial mechanical warriors we envisioned before can be completely manufactured using this special metal."

Because of this consensus, the United States needs a reliable company to mine the ore for them.

Thus, a mining company that had cooperated with the government many times and had previously conducted the mining of some sensitive ores was selected, and in a very short period of time, it dispatched hundreds of workers and several batches of machinery to Niusheng in Great Canada.

The arrival of a new batch of Tombstone force members did not make the river valley lively.

The Tombstone soldiers, having been trained by the CIA, have a bit less humanity than in the NEST era, and instead are more like professional mercenaries and killing machines.

Dozens of meters above the river valley, several dozen Tombstone soldiers were dispersed, in groups of two, with each group about twenty meters apart, standing there constantly looking left and right, remaining vigilant.

Ever since extraterrestrials were discovered on Earth, the frequency of satellites launched by various countries on Earth in these two years has doubled compared to a few years ago.

Especially the few competitors who are also among the 'Big Five', the frequency of satellites launched in these two years has been even higher.

Therefore, the United States is also clear that this river valley could be photographed by the spy satellites of other countries at any time.

In order to prevent spies from other countries from coming to cause destruction or discovering the secret here, necessary patrols and vigilance are still needed.

This day was sunny, a very comfortable kind of weather.

However, just as the Tombstone soldiers stationed near the river valley were slightly slacking off, one soldier inadvertently looked up and his expression changed instantly.

It could be seen that above the sky, there were at least dozens of meteors heading straight toward the direction where they were located.

After all, Tombstone had received professional training; they still had memories of the tactics used by the Decepticons, who had once launched a high-altitude surprise attack on the Second and Fifth Fleets, causing the strength of the United States military to decline severely.

He immediately shouted loudly: "Watch the sky, enemy attack!"

Accompanied by his shrill cry, another war between the Decepticons and humanity had begun!