In 1986, Aldira sought to further develop and accelerate the Nova Project and required scientists with exceptional depth of knowledge and technical expertise from across the world. At that time, some of the most radical and unorthodox scientists were located in South America.

  After 1968, the continent had descended into ethnic conflicts and systemic instability, and Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador formed a political union inspired by the Inca legacy. Claiming historical entitlement to southern territories, this union attacked the Chile–Argentina alliance and expanded its borders southward. In doing so, it became one of the principal geopolitical actors on the continent. It styled itself the Andean Empire of the Divine Mandate, emphasizing both its Andean geographic foundation and its adoption of reconstructed Incan mythological frameworks as a state ideology.

  On paper, its governance system was presented as a theocratic and astrological utopia under a guiding and unifying one-party regime; in practice, it developed into a dystopian police state deeply hostile to science and intellectual autonomy. Tradition and belief were placed above all else, and reason, empirical inquiry, and independent thought were actively suppressed. Scientists of all disciplines were declared “devils” and were either executed or imprisoned. The ruling elite, meanwhile, were immersed in corruption and conspicuous hedonism. By claiming divine authority, they consolidated vast political and symbolic power, and a rigid cult of personality formed around the ruler. Mass rallies and highly choreographed ritual ceremonies were routine, functioning as both ideological indoctrination and public demonstrations of loyalty. Yet even the ruler himself was less concerned with elevating the population than with exercising absolute control and personal gratification. A private inner circle maintained structures of exploitation in which socioeconomically marginalized girls were sexually abused by the party members and later erased from administrative records to prevent institutional accountability.

  Thus, the AEDM became a post-apocalyptic nightmare regime in South America, blending historical romanticism with claims of divine legitimacy and ritualized authoritarianism.

  Aldira regarded this state as backward and primitive due to its extreme religiosity and traditionalism, and therefore underestimated it and selected it as a suitable target. Imprisoned scientists could be forcibly extracted and indoctrinated far more easily than free academics embedded in stable states, making the Andean Empire a strategically convenient source. To map its internal structure—and because Aldira possessed no existing intelligence infrastructure in South America—it acquired information from Cuban and Soviet intelligence agencies in exchange for technological insights. Through this channel, Aldira was able to identify even the precise detention locations of imprisoned scientists. Preparations began immediately under the code name Operation Zero.

  The principal challenge was not only the Andean Empire’s pervasive surveillance culture and institutional paranoia, but also the thousands of kilometers of the Pacific Ocean separating the two regions. Maritime transport was assessed as slower and more vulnerable, so air transport was selected. Lacking a domestically produced aircraft capable of transoceanic flight without refueling, Aldira acquired a single Tupolev Tu-95 from the USSR in exchange for financial and material concessions. Thirty specially trained Aldiran commandos were embarked, and the aircraft departed with the objective of reaching the Peruvian region. To reduce weight and maximize range, all heavy ordnance was removed; the mission was conceived as covert extraction rather than overt military assault.

  The flight lasted approximately eighteen hours, requiring the crew to sleep in rotation while pilots alternated duty, but the aircraft never landed. During the journey, the unit refined operational contingencies and extraction protocols. Equipment was carried in sufficient quantity, but strictly limited to avoid degrading performance and range. The objective was to infiltrate the prison facility, secure the detained scientists, obtain fuel, and return to the Aldiran mainland.

  When the aircraft entered Andean airspace at night, it was detected by regional radar stations and interception procedures were initiated. However, the response proved fragmented and poorly coordinated, as ideological purges had degraded professional military continuity and technical command structures. The Aldiran aircraft maintained high-altitude flight and later descended over a remote Andean rural zone where radar coverage was limited and terrain interference reduced tracking reliability.

  As the aircraft descended, ground-based air defense units attempted to track it, but targeting remained inconsistent and no sustained radar lock was achieved. The aircraft, repainted in low-visibility matte black and operating without external navigation lights to reduce visual detection, descended toward a flat grassland plateau. The terrain was unsuitable for a strategic bomber, and the landing placed severe mechanical stress on the landing gear and airframe, but the aircraft remained structurally functional.

  A small Andean patrol unit reached the landing place afterward. A brief firefight occurred as the patrol attempted to report the incident, but their communications were disrupted and the patrol personnel were neutralized before they could transmit confirmed information. Some personnel hesitated to escalate the event, fearing accusations of false reporting, ideological deviation, or incompetence under the regime’s punitive system. Consequently, due to the remoteness of the area and the elimination of the local security detachment, the incident was not immediately escalated to higher authorities, allowing the Aldiran commandos to establish a foothold in Andean territory without immediate large-scale response.

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  The aircraft touched down in eastern Piura, near the transitional zone where the coastal plains gave way to the forested foothills of the Andes. To the west lay the Pacific lowlands; to the east, the rising Andean ranges marked the beginning of the Cajamarca highlands. The landing site was selected for its relative flatness, low population density, and access routes into mountainous terrain.

  A small Andean logistical and security facility was located nearby, originally intended for agricultural administration, internal transport, and regional security coordination. Several utility helicopters were stationed there for administrative flights, inspections, and rapid response operations. The Aldiran unit seized the facility with minimal resistance, neutralized its personnel, and appropriated both ground vehicles and rotary-wing aircraft.

  Rather than conducting a prolonged overland movement, the extraction team used three helicopters, each configured for approximately ten personnel, to traverse the foothills and enter the Andean highlands within a few hours. Flying at low altitude through forested valleys and mountain corridors, they avoided major population centers and primary military installations. As altitude increased, the environment shifted from dense forest to rugged Andean slopes and highland terrain. The prison facility, positioned further inland and at higher elevation, lay beyond the foothills, concealed within the mountainous geography of the Cajamarca region.

  Upon sighting the facility, the helicopters continued directly toward the elevated landing platform instead of loitering. Such arrivals were routine, and the crew relied on the assumption that local personnel would interpret them as internal flights. This assumption proved correct. No fire was opened, and the helicopters landed without challenge on the platform atop the complex.

  Immediately after landing, the commandos exited and neutralized nearby Andean personnel using suppressed pistols before any alarms could be raised. They entered the facility through internal access points and stairwells, maintaining operational silence.

  Moving through the corridors, the unit attempted to reach the detention sector covertly while limiting overt engagements. Personnel assessed as likely to raise an alarm were quietly killed, and bodies were concealed in storage containers and maintenance areas to delay discovery.

  The facility’s layout was complex and partially outdated relative to Aldiran intelligence maps. Several commandos became disoriented, but by following signage, structural patterns, and internal markers, the unit regrouped and reached the detention sector with minimal delay. The guards stationed there were neutralized immediately.

  With the guards eliminated, a brief silence settled over the corridor, interrupted only by the stares of the eight scientists behind the bars. They did not know who their captors were, but a faint sense of hope emerged—if nothing else, this represented a rupture in the static terror they had endured.

  One man among them, as if such raids were routine occurrences, asked calmly, “Who are you?”

  No answer came. Instead, the doors were opened using the guards’ keys.

  This was not a liberation operation but an abduction. The scientists’ hands were shackled, cloth hoods were placed over their faces, and they were forcibly extracted.

  Meanwhile, Andean personnel finally noticed the sudden disappearance of operators. Alarm sirens began to echo through the complex. Armed response units began ascending stairwells and sweeping corridors. The Aldiran unit had to accelerate its movement.

  As they reached the upper levels, they encountered Andean forces at a doorway. Weapons were deployed, and both sides opened fire from behind cover. The Andeans had numerical superiority—the facility belonged to them, and several hundred personnel were present against only thirty intruders.

  After the Andean special response unit was neutralized, Aldiran numbers dropped to twenty-six. One scientist was accidentally killed in the crossfire. Nevertheless, they managed to reach the rooftop and board the helicopters before larger reinforcements arrived.

  Andean forces continued firing from surrounding structures and perimeter positions. As the helicopters began to lift, one was struck by a shoulder-launched rocket and exploded during ascent, killing everyone on board and leaving only two aircraft operational. Even after takeoff, suppressive fire continued, and the Aldirans returned fire until they cleared the engagement zone.

  They quickly crossed beyond the mountain ridges, using the terrain to mask their retreat, and headed back toward Piura. At that point, eighteen commandos and five scientists remained.

  After several hours of relatively uneventful flight, the helicopters landed near the aircraft. The Aldirans refueled it using fuel taken from the seized facility and transferred remaining fuel reserves into the bomber. Shortly afterward, everyone boarded.

  The aircraft struggled during takeoff due to the absence of a paved runway. It nearly failed to achieve rotation, but a narrow stretch of open terrain allowed it to lift off at the last moment. Within minutes it climbed to altitude, leaving the surface far below and setting course for Aldira.

  After approximately a day and a half over the Pacific, the aircraft—unable to reach Ordostok due to fuel limitations—landed at the airport of the port city of Kushiro, east of Hokkaido. When Aldiran forces located them, they were immediately transferred to Ordostok. Upon arrival, the scientists were first presented before the Sublime Council and then before Arnold, the head of the Aldiran Academy of Sciences.

  There had to be a reason for Aldira’s extraordinary effort, and there was. These scientists were internationally recognized figures with exceptional expertise, and their forced relocation to Ordostok constituted an invaluable acquisition for the Aldiran scientific establishment. They were offered a simple choice: integration or execution. All chose integration. They were already aware of Aldira’s reputation as a scientific center and expected a degree of institutional respect; compared to the Andean Empire, they perceived it as comparatively tolerable.

  The five scientists were eventually subjected to a structured indoctrination and re-education process before beginning their work. This process lasted for months. In the end, they were formally Aldiranized, renounced their former names, identities, and credentials, were admitted into the Academy of Sciences, and began working on the Nova Project.

  When the Andean Empire determined through intelligence evidence that Aldira was responsible, the regime’s immediate response was to inflame its already isolated population against the external world. The raid was integrated into state propaganda as evidence of foreign decadence and corruption, and under the pretext of security and stability, repression and terror were intensified, further consolidating a climate of fear characteristic of the totalitarian state.