Apocalypse: The Stronghold System

Chapter 072: Rocket Launch Failure

—Empire— City

Top echelons from the country gathered in a special office with dozens of computers monitoring data on the rocket to be launched.

Everyone seemed nervous, especially the Scientists and Engineers sitting in a chair in front of a computer monitor, monitoring any changes in data. They were afraid of the punishment if they failed the launch, especially General Fan who was in this room with a fully armed force.

Academician Ying, the Astrology Scientist was observing the data change, when suddenly there was a change of wind on top of the rocket launch for a moment. He frowned, justifying the glasses he was wearing. "Did I see wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

Academician Ying rubbed his barren head without turning his head and replied, "The wind speed around the rocket underwent a slight change."

"Is there anything wrong with that? The wind, the rain, no one could have predicted it. Mutant Beasts could do anything."

Academician Ying pondered, then turned his head to look at the middle-aged man and nodded. He looked at the monitor and sighed, he took off his glasses then cleaned his glasses with a fine cloth. "I'm too old for this, I'm seventy years old ..." He took another breath and put on his glasses.

Everyone here sees the data change on the monitor and feels there is nothing wrong with the data, but there are already 132 Scanning Drones carrying EMPs circling the rocket to scan the circuitry inside, then fly to their respective positions.

"Is it not finished?!" There was a loud shout in the back row where an old man was standing high up on the podium (this room was like a university classroom, where the more forward, the more down).

The man wore a military uniform with the rank of Main General (Bintang 5) on both his shoulders; many accessories on the chest that clarified his achievements in the military. He had white hair, his face had wrinkles on his forehead and nose, his eyes radiating deep hatred and cunning.

The man was General Fan, the person in charge of the coup and leading the military to take over the leadership of the Imperial City.

One of the people sitting in the front row, looked back after doing the calculations. "Through calculations, the rocket will be launched in two minutes."

General Fan clucked in annoyance, but he did not say anything more, just tapped his feet on the floor, making a sound that exerted pressure on the Scientist and Engineer.

...

Finally, two minutes had passed, General Fan hit the red button protected by the glass so he smashed it. He pressed the button even before there were any other clues from the Scientist and directly activated the rocket launch.

The large screen in front of everyone showed a vibrating rocket with a rocket engine part that was emitting fire from the combustion between liquid oxygen and hydrogen. Liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are pumped around the nozzles and combustion engines to turn them into gas, then the turbine moves the gas to the combustion engine to propel the rocket.

As a result of the high-pressure thrust, the rocket began to rise slowly leaving the ground.

Everyone who was monitoring in the room, had yet to show a calm expression, their nervousness clearly visible. The most thrilling thing is not when the rocket is ignited, but when the rocket starts flying.

But suddenly, the monitor showed a warning sign in red; a loud alarm also sounded that made everyone nervous.

"What's up?!" General Fan shouted in a loud voice as he slammed both his hands on the table.

The engineer who was involved in planning and designing, suddenly stood up with a troubled expression. "No way! All the circuits inside the rocket suddenly die."

The others were stunned, then looked at the monitor where the camera that was following the rocket kept trying to zoom in, and there was faintly visible an electric spark. Not long after, they noticed there was an explosion from dozens of different places around the rocket.

As the rocket continued to fly, the damage became more severe and before the explosion, it instantly exploded into an enormous flame, forming a gigantic mushroom in the sky.

General Fan was stunned, then his body trembled with mounting anger. He punched his fist on the table, destroying the electronic device. It took a lot of effort to build the rocket, thousands of his subordinates were killed just to carry the materials from the mine, and countless slave workers died in the mine area.

"Who can explain it?!" General Fan kicked the table in front of him to the point of disintegration.

"General Fan, I caught something wrong." The middle-aged man with fine hair on his face, was wearing a white suit like a doctor, but on the belt around his waist was mechanical equipment.

He pressed a key on the keyboard, rewinding the rocket's destruction and retreated a second before the rocket exploded. Then he pointed at the big monitor in front of everyone and said, "Try you guys observe around the rocket, although it's not very clear, but it's a picture of a bomb explosion. I'm guessing someone spied on us and launched a sneak attack, destroying all the circuits inside the rocket before activating self-destruction."

"You mean ..." The electrical engineer did not continue his words.

"Yes!" The middle-aged man nodded his head firmly and said, "Electromagnetic pulse! Some set up a formation between the launch areas of the rocket, and this formation placed an enormous electromagnetic field in the area of the rocket's launch path and destroyed the circuit inside."

General Fan gritted his teeth with clenched hands, he was furious, not expecting anyone to dare interfere with his plan. "Do you know who attacked him?!"

The Scientist and Engineer looked at each other, then shook their heads.

General Fan turned his head to the right looking at his confidant who was from the State Intelligence Department. "Do you know anything?"

The middle-aged man beside General Fan who was wearing a uniform, saluted and replied, "Don't know!" He lowered his hand and added, "Our Intelligence Department continues to monitor electromagnetic waves every day and night, but we don't find anything wrong."

Right after he said that, suddenly the communication device he was carrying rang. He looked at General Fan who was looking at him sharply.

General Fan nodded his head to grant permission.

When permission is obtained, the Director of the State Intelligence Department receives a message: “Report! We found something, all the Alpha Team members had left the Imperial City last night. We only found out when we got reports from all levels of society: relatives of Alpha Team members simultaneously resigned, whether from the military, hospitals, companies, factories, schools, universities, security guards, etc, even the newly-raised businessman chose to sell all shares!”

Suddenly the atmosphere became silent, and the person who gave the report remained silent after saying everything in one breath.

General Fan was silent for a while, then he took out a communication device from the Director of the State Intelligence Department and slammed it to pieces. He turned to his heavily armed subordinate. "All of you! Go and work them all, and make an announcement! Anyone who left the Imperial City from now until the next week would be branded as a traitor cooperating with the Mutant Beasts!"

Scientists and Engineers were stunned speechlessly when they heard General Fan's orders.

Soldiers who got orders, saluted the military and taught it without asking anything.

...***...

—Mingyue Defense—

Fan Chen was sitting relaxing in the Supervisory Room to observe the Controlled Heavy Nuclear Fusion that was still in periodic check, and suddenly Xiaochu beside him gave a report:

"Master, the rocket was completely destroyed, and the debris fell 30 kilometers southeast of the Imperial City. As for the Scanning Drone we sent, the 66 Scanning Drones still survive in the air, does Master want to destroy it or bring it back?"

Fan Chen looked at the holographic image of the exploding rocket in the sky that Xiaochu had shown. "Let the 33 Scanning Drones blow themselves up in the Imperial City after releasing an electromagnetic pulse, we will cripple all the networks there. As for the rest, keep a close eye on Team Alpha who's rushing in here."

Fan Chen pondered for a moment, then added, "Then, send again the Scanning Drone carrying the 1K-20AM Laser Gun. If there's a chase and it goes within range that could harm Team Alpha, fire the shot."

"Good, Master."

...

***

*Connected...