Rasputin of the East

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Baikonur Space Station, Russia.

Baikonur Base, which is now a giant airport rather than a space base, and hence more appropriately called a space airport, was one of five private space airports in the world.

It was a transport plane going to the Mars Shuttle and where the SSTO was launched… but it was quite vague.

This was because it was a method of loading a shuttle onto an airplane, flying to a high altitude, and then injecting an engine into orbit.

Therefore, the exterior was a combination of an airport and a space center. The existing rocket launchers were still in operation, as the conventional rockets continued to be launched.

In any case, this large base, which was reminiscent of any city by itself, was a chaotic situation.

“Damn it.”

Armed multi-legged robots roamed the station where the maglev train was supposed to travel, general infantry clad with rifles and body armor, and soldiers wearing rudimentary reinforced exoskeletons.

All of them had a patch of the Russian Empire flag on their shoulders and wore a distinctive titanium helmet.

And, it was a woman who led them.

“This is from Vimpel. None.”

“Isn’t that f*cking gang of machines fooling around?”

“It’s in the form of a small capsule, so it will be harder to find.”

“The radiometer doesn’t even make a sound.”

“On the other hand, wouldn’t it be possible to be in a place with strong radiation? If you want to hide a tree, you have to hide it in the forest…”

“There are only nuclear reactors and maintenance depots for that. There is a problem with the NTR (Nucler Thermal Rocket) propulsion system, and when the shield needs to be removed, radiation is emitted, and above all, it is a place that cannot be accessed unless someone is involved.”

Items such as plutonium and enriched uranium are managed by the United States and Russia, but not all radioactive materials are subject to such management.

The nuclear power generation using the thorium breeder is something that has devoured all the positions occupied by thermal power in the world’s electricity production right now and has made the rest of the power plants an endangered species with the exception of a very few such as hydro or tidal power.

Thorium itself does not undergo fission, but as a by-product it produces protactinium 233 and uranium 233. And it is extremely difficult to make a nuclear weapon out of this object. This is because protactinium is a highly radioactive material and uranium 233 emits a large amount of gamma rays.

Russia and the United States actively supported and supported the development of thorium reactors in each country, but this was only a plan to make nuclear fuel reprocessing impossible structurally, and the light reactors have been used well for military purposes. Rather, if the two countries did not accept the ‘favor’, including the nuclear inspection, of course, through the UN, they were considered to be trying to develop a nuclear weapon immediately, and physical pressure was put in.

There was not one or two such countries, and they all surrendered. There were even countries that were actually invaded while secretly researching light water reactors.

Russia and the United States still produce nuclear weapons, but since the Cold War is over, they are not produced as weapons in the first place, but are mainly consumed as fuel for spacecraft bound for Mars. Even decommissioned nuclear weapons were turned toward it.

But, if it’s something other than a nuclear weapon, it’s different. Toxic gas is not a big deal because of its limited destructive power, although it cannot be established that no matter how much the eyes of surveillance are flashed in the first place, as long as the chemical industry exists, it is not a big problem. It’s out of control, so it’s something that terrorists will like, and even if they want to make something like that, no matter how smart they are, it’s difficult for terrorists to use it because they need high-level facilities.

In other words, if terrorists use weapons of mass destruction, it must be considered poison gas, and there have been several terrorist attempts. Almost all of them were caught in advance.

But this time it was different.

Radioactive cesium was legally imported and exported from Russia, the United States, and other countries.

Its uses were as a radioactive source for medical, sterilization, non-destructive testing, and especially for the treatment of terminal cancer patients. Because it is an item that can affect development, customs clearance itself is permitted, but the watch of the International Atomic Energy Commission is dazzling, and it is so careful that it is requested several months in advance and the transportation process is tracked in real time by satellite.

However, these medical radiation sources are relatively poorly monitored. In the first place, there is nothing you can do with radioactive materials for CT scans or luminous materials.

But radioactive cesium is a different story. This is a stricter regulation than a CT drug or tritium fluorescent substance that is sold almost without regulation, but if you are determined, you can break into a hospital and get your hands on a medical device.

In fact, it is said that the stolen cesium also fell into the hands of terrorists in this way.

If so, where did the cesium go? As a result of analyzing the propensity of the terrorist suspect, it was speculated by Ogas that it was most reasonable to go to the Baikonur base.

Of course, we don’t know what they’re going to do with the cesium, but Ogas strongly warned that the suspect had acquired Austria-Hungarian plastic explosives and detonators. It meant that a rare dirty night terrorism could occur when combined with cesium.

Ogas has already analyzed the terrorist’s motives carefully, that he headed to the space center, and under various circumstances, Baikonur was the most likely reason among the five space centers. It didn’t happen.

The only reason Ogas couldn’t suppress this in advance is that the drones, which are her right hand, are not active offenders, but are simply planning or highly likely to commit crimes. It would be an outrage for Ogas to think that she could not take any action and that even monitoring failed due to the negligence of the police organization, which should have moved her with her left hand.

Anyway, the woman was so hot that Ogas had a fever, and she shook her head. She was a typical female soldier, cut short, but the ranks of majors and unit captains, which contrasted with her childish face, meant that she was not a normal person.

In a different direction from Spetsnaz, in particular, the Alpha Team, which is in charge of direct security of the imperial family and key factors, the commander-level officer of Vimpel, who can be said to be the best.

Yelena Ivanovna Bagration. It was the name given to her from the time she was born. A former royal family of Georgia, a duke who produced one of the greatest masters in the history of Russia even after its incorporation into the Russian Empire.

Of course, she was not a direct line of the splendid family, but a collateral, but there was no particular concern for that.

Her eyes looked suspiciously where they wanted to be. I thought it was in vain, but if she puts a bomb, and that’s a dirty night that should scatter radiation as far away as possible…

‘No, you’re not sure it’s going to happen here, are you?’

Baikonur is certainly a tasty terrorist target, but what if Baikonur is just a stopover? And the destination of the goods departing from Baikonur…

“Mars frontier?”

“Yes?”

“Damn, I was short on ideas!”

The amount of explosives identified is insufficient to blow up the roof of the building and spread the radioactive material widely. So, the search for Spetsnaz was mainly focused on a wide place, a place where the wind would spread radiation even if it was just blown off. If it’s an enclosed space, even if it explodes, there’s a good chance it’ll end up polluting only one room in the worst case.

But what if we don’t want to explode now, we just hide it, and the hidden bomb is delivered to the Mars colony?

An alarm rang in her head. The things I need to look for right now are the luggage, and…

-This is Servant 2, this is Servant 2, we have a suspect… Huh? no!

There was a loud noise from the radio, followed by a thump.

There was noise for a moment, and then a communication sound was heard.

– This is Servant 2. The suspect was thrown away. Repeat. The suspect was thrown away.

“what……”

It was a series of perplexities. Is it a sudden jump?

But worse news came later.

-This is Overwatcher, and the superior has issued an order to withdraw. Repeat. withdraw

***

GRU headquarters, Moscow.

The GRU headquarters is not simply used as a headquarters. As it is also a department in charge of inspections within the military, there are several facilities including a courtroom that holds military trials and a military law office.

Now, the court was not for a military trial. It was open, and she was sitting in the seat originally used for the accused.

Objectively speaking, if you ask me what is the worst experience you can have as a soldier, you would sit here without any hesitation.

“Major Bagration.”

The courtroom prepared for the hearing, originally held in secret, is held here.

Her Majesty, the founder of both the GRU and FSB, Her Majesty Mikhail, designed this structure, which, although she may be outspoken, was a lauded human, but at the same time possessed a great stench.

The overall dark room is illuminated and directed towards her, so the temperature is high, sweat flows and the heart beats fast. In addition, beings designed in a position looking down could only know that they were sitting there by shadow, and it was difficult to recognize their faces or positions.

A number of other well-combined elements were optimized to psychologically corner the person sitting in the seat. It may have been more so because it was a space where the dust was once purged to purge those who were disturbed, and if it did not come out, a bucket full of dust was poured over it and then dusted off.

“Your mistake puts the empire in jeopardy.”

There were hundreds of rebuttals, but not all of them were wise to bring up now.

First of all, if it weren’t for the incompetence and outdatedness of the local police, the police would have arrested him right after the cesium capsule was stolen.

And the Spetsnaz, who received Ogas’ cooperation, requested a way to suppress him by sniping and retrieve the cesium capsule. It was rejected for not being able to show a person in a car dying instantly.

They even said that it would interfere with the take-off and landing procedures and did not give permission to fly near the space center, so they had to leave the helicopter and get in a van and move, and the Vimpel unit, tied up on the road, gave up too much time.

“We haven’t been able to arrest the suspect, we haven’t been able to interrogate him to find any reason to arrest those suspected of being involved, and most importantly we haven’t found the cesium capsules, neither are the explosives and detonators.”

The more absurd administrative treatment is that, because they do not want to admit that such an incident has occurred in the United States, etc., the operation of Spetsnaz is called an unannounced exercise, and the takeoff of the spacecraft was re-authorized even though no radioactive material was found.

Another voice cut off.

“Okay, Brigadier, let me tell you another story, I’ve read all your reports and speculations, and that’s a pretty reasonable guess, but on Mars, where everything isn’t quite there yet, detonating it at the poles for example would be a very serious problem, you can get it from Mars. Most of the water that exists is supplied by melting the polar ice sheets. If it is contaminated with radiation, it cannot avoid significant damage. If the worst and the worst overlap, this will spread negative public opinion on terraforming, and the pioneering itself may go to nothing.

“And, I’ve really searched, but the radiation meters haven’t been able to find it, you know, cesium naturally emits radiation, and even if the capsule blocks it, it emits enough radiation to measure with a Geiger counter, and causes Cherenkov. , and given the premise of a well-ventilated area, there are limited places to place bombs in Baikonur, and none of them contain cesium. That means you are somewhere in an enclosed space with good radiation shielding.”

And now that commercial operations have resumed, the bomb is likely already flying towards Mars.

“So we have to be prepared for both the possibility that cesium is still on Earth and the possibility that it is going to Mars. However, the personnel on Mars are probably unreliable, because there are no Alphas or Beampels there.”

In the end, it is she who has to take responsibility for the mission failure. And starting with how he was evading CCTV, anyone could see that he had a bigger background. At least, there are at least one or two collaborators inside Baikonur, and it is highly likely that there are collaborators on Mars as well, given that they did not care about their back, as seen in the fact that they jumped without hesitation when the siege was narrowed.

In other words, we need to send personnel to Mars, but…

“But I can’t make a big move, because I can’t let the Americans know, and I don’t want my allies to know. The leadership of the Russian Empire has already been tested once.”

That goddamn pride, the leadership to fight the plague.

“So you can’t move on a large scale, you have to go to a small group, you have to actively seek help from the locals, and you have to have someone who moves informally and controls them all. A person whose work rating is not bad, his rank is not low, and his ability has been proven.”

She closed her eyes. There was always someone jealous of her. Being too young to make a career too fast at a young age invites jealousy. Even if she had never done any harm to her opponent, it was an unavoidable fate.

And she is not an imperial family, but only a side aristocrat. Although her name is engraved in the genealogy of one of the few families that still receive special treatment in the Russian Empire, and although her blood is mixed with the blood of noble families such as the Romanovs and Wittelsbach families, Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov-Kim , it was an unavoidable fate unless he himself was close to perfection, like the second richest man of the Russian Empire.

One day, if you make just one mistake, if you don’t sew seven needles with one thread at a time. In the end, I knew this was going to happen.

Commitment to a suicide mission, or relegation to a place far enough to never return to the center, or other means of purging.

I was riding on a tiger’s back even though I didn’t want to, so I ran away at random, but this happened in the end. No, not yet. It’s still barely hanging on the edge of the cliff, but it hasn’t fallen yet.

But there are a lot of people who want her to fall, so there’s probably very little support.

In the first place, the Russian Empire was not enthusiastic about pioneering Mars, so it would not be possible to know whether the pioneering itself would be destroyed or not. I would like to use those resources for the modernization of Siberia.

So, it is not known whether the terrorism will succeed or not.

‘It would be nice if you let me carry a pistol by myself.’

She sneered coldly.