Chapter 169: Bombardos

I stood before the open hatch of a Steed. Before me, laying on the floor, was the bagged corpse of First Commander Niko. 

My new payload, under my personal responsibility, that I needed to get back to the Stronghold. I’d probably have to get a transport to go back alone and early to take care of it. A waste of a transport, unless I arranged some other goods to travel and make it somewhat worth it, but either way, I wasn’t going to disappoint Brigadier Nonnen. If I fucked this up in any way, he’d be livid, so I’d take care to carry out my task reliably and quickly. 

Even beyond this task though, I found myself staring at the corpse with an undesirable feeling in my gut. I didn’t enjoy looking at these. When I was killing people in the Trenches, I was more detached; they were trying to kill me too. I was very good at staying alive, I learned, and that made corpses a familiar sight. 

But this was a soldier killed by monsters. The situation was different, and while I understood that sacrifices were inevitable, especially given the enemy, I always got flashing thoughts of the sorrows those intimate with this person would feel.

My ear twitched when I heard the crunch of some snow. I turned and saw a woman approach, a warlock guessing by her robes, with the power of an Authority 9, a level above what this man was. 

A pale, sickly face, shrouded in the shadow of a drawn hood and robes, still couldn’t hide her puffy eyelids or bloodshot corneas. 

“Can I say goodbye?”

“… Of course.”

I nodded and stepped away, walking to the side of the Steed where I couldn’t watch. 

I hated this. My thoughts flashed with images of Umara, the speed of my mind not allowing me to force them down in time. I imagined her, or me, in this exact situation. All it did was piss me off. 

Pollux approached as I waited, my mask hiding my tense face. 

“Are we ready, Cooper?”

“Not yet.”

I pointed, to the back of the Steed. 

“She’s saying goodbye.”

“… Oh.”

Pollux sighed, lingering by my side. 

“The Chiefs are ready to go. We’ll go straight back to the Treehouse from here. I’ve forgotten though, so remind me what we’re doing after we get back.”

“Our mission will split from then on,” I leaned against the wall of the Steed, “You’re going to leave with Squads One and Three as soon as you’re ready to go. You’re going to take a much longer route to the eastern crossing, set up camp, and start doing daily recon on everything coming out of the crossing and around the area. Do not reconnoiter the crossing itself. You’ll collect information, and I’m going to head out with Squads Two and Four as soon as we’ve prepared our infiltrators and have briefed the returning Snow Doves.”

“… Alright.”

“We’re going to talk more about it on our way back.”

“Good.”

He nodded in relief. This was a complex and dangerous mission for the Pathfinders, and I hadn’t given him all the information. I was the one with every little detail on it, and it was my job to make sure that everyone involved was completely informed of their parts and prepared to do their jobs properly without also bogging them down with excessive detail. 

I hadn’t bothered explaining things earlier because people would just forget or get confused, like Pollux had. Or he was just using that as an excuse to get more information out of me, probably because he was getting anxious with the second phase of the mission coming up. 

Either way, the in-depth briefings would come later. 

After a few more minutes, the girl stepped out in front of us. 

“Thank you. Please, take care of him.”

“We will. I’ll make sure he gets back to the Stronghold quickly.”

I stepped up and gave my response, the girl shakily nodding before walking off. 

I watched her for a bit before closing up the Steed. Then, Pollux and I gathered our people and got ready to leave. 

During that, we had one final word with Brigadier Nonnen. 

“Since we can’t stay, we’ll try and finish faster. Get back to base safe.”

“Thank you, and we will.”

I shook the man’s hand. He was a couple inches shorter than me. Power did not equate to height. So despite the power he contained and my comparatively pitiful rank, I always managed to maintain some level of my own superiority. I couldn’t help but think about it every time I encountered someone like this, someone who sat at the pinnacle of the world’s hierarchy. 

It was mainly because, despite my rank and Authority, I still managed to develop relationships and garner some level of respect. It was always nice meeting powerful people who didn’t think I was some maggot on the road or some nuisance to get rid of. I was working hard, getting stronger, and doing well. I liked when people recognized that, or at least didn’t default to treating me like shit. 

Our three infiltrators boarded the Steeds not long after. The camp had been completely cleared, all the Snow Doves prepared to depart for their strike. We were going the opposite way. 

Before long, we were on the move. 

There were only a few people in the second Steed with the body, with everyone else in the first Steed. I was with Pollux in the first, and, after settling in for the drive, we talked business. 

The infiltration plan was three pronged. We needed reconnaissance, a diversion, and the insertion itself. The Snow Doves were in charge of the bulk of the diversion, given that they were so powerful, while Pollux would be doing reconnaissance. I would prepare our infiltrators for the insertion. 

We had a couple of neat toys at our disposal for this mission, particularly the vehicle that the we’d be using to drop the infiltrators off in. It was called the Falcon, a land vehicle that was fast but with a short battery life. The infiltrators would use it after getting over the crossing, its speed making it ideal for disappearing. 

However, these toys weren’t why we needed to get the infiltrators back to the base right this moment. 

Since I wasn’t going, I needed to make sure that they could do my job, or at least as best they could. This mission was all about gathering as much intelligence as possible, and while they knew how to do so, I needed them to stay organized in my specific way. After all, I couldn’t expect them to catalog everything they did and saw over a period of weeks and expect it to be usable. 

I had a specific but simple system for them to use, and I was going to teach it to them. It was nothing they couldn’t pick up quickly, and so long as they followed it, we’d have more than enough usable intelligence to get a good idea of what was over there. 

Of course, I was expecting the worst anyway. I was still pissed that I couldn’t go myself. I didn’t trust anyone except an actual intelligence agent to collect detailed information reliably, and only one infiltrator, Chief Reginold, had an intelligence rank. He was only an Officer, a rank below me. It was enough to get the gist, but far from enough to understand why certain pieces of intelligence were important, which might lead him to focus too much on not as useful intel. 

I didn’t blame him, that was the job of a Colonel. But regardless, I was mad about getting rejected and could only hope and pray that they did what I told them to. 

……

…

Another day and a half passed and most of it was spent working. 

I spoke with Chief Reginold and collected as much data about those new behemoth artillery monsters that we encountered on our way over. They had apparently encountered five others, killed four of them, and suspected several in other locations. 

I went and plotted all of the locations that they discovered or killed the behemoths while using what I knew of the recent Scourge movements to plot out where others might be and where they may be going. I wanted to know where they would move to accumulate, somewhere near the Treehouse to be ready for a barrage but far enough not to get easily discovered or decimated by our forces. 

Big targets were tough but they were also just that, big. I was sure they could survive a lot, but unless they could weather the firepower of an entire platoon, they needed to be smart about their movements and their escort. 

These behemoths didn’t move alone. All of them were surrounded by hordes ready to protect them. When they finally decided to emerge and attack, there would be more than enough cannon fodder for our mages and knights to focus on. And unless the Brigadiers were willing to step out by themselves in an attempt to kill them amidst the hordes, they would have free reign to obliterate the Treehouse. 

If we wanted to avoid that, we needed to find them and kill them one by one, group by group. 

It didn’t take long for me to get a grasp on most of the possible locations they could be hiding. There was a lot of land and neither the Stronghold nor the Treehouse had much in the way of sheer manpower. We had sheer strength, but we needed numbers if we wanted to recon every area of interest, numbers we didn’t have. 

I was suddenly keenly aware of our weakness in this battle. The Snow Doves were going around destroying everything they came across. That was fine, except there had to be even more slipping through. The lands around the Treehouse were not as rough as around Stronghold Charlie. Less mountains, less hills, more valleys, and yet it was more than enough to hide an army. The Snow Doves were one platoon. I would need a dozen more to run recon around the clock if I wanted to make sure that our enemies weren’t hiding in nooks and crannies waiting to launch a massive offensive. 

At least, that’s if I was the commander of the base. I wasn’t, and it was clear that Alois had no intentions of being so thorough, nor did he have the bodies necessary. Still, I wanted to try to compensate with a bit of strategy. 

By the time we rolled back into base, I already had a large diagram of a map and all the target areas I had suspicions about, based on their routes, sightings, and existing encampments. I had memorized the map in the war room with Jasmine, so I had no issues piecing things together. 

Thankfully, there wasn’t an ongoing siege, so we slipped into the base just fine after returning. 

I jumped out of the Steed and waited for Pollux. 

“I need to report to Jasmine.”

“Go ahead. What about the Doves?”

“They can get situated here. We aren’t leaving for a few days at least.”

“Mm.”

Pollux nodded, taking my orders while I walked off. I didn’t forget about the body I needed to handle, but that would have to wait for an hour or so. 

I was genuinely worried about this new behemoth and the more I looked at the map, the more I realized that the Scourge was probably more set up for an offensive than anyone realized. 

More than that, I had a gut feeling, and I trusted my gut feelings. 

I had already called Jasmine beforehand, so she was in the war room when I walked in. Shedding my snow coat, I walked around the large table and shook her hand as she stood from her seat. 

“Good to see you in one piece, Cooper.”

“Likewise.”

“You had some concerns about those behemoths? Let me hear them.”

Jasmine was quick to get to the point. I had made it pretty clear that my information had a certain level of urgency attached. I wanted her scrutiny though, because I didn’t necessarily trust my analysis completely. My gut feelings didn’t make me a prophet, at least not in the matters of wartime strategy. Not yet, at least. 

Either way, I was quick to get to the point. I handed her my Orb, with positions, trails, and encampments all marked out. She took it, and it flashed the moment it touched her hand. She was already sifting through information.  

“It turns out that the Snow Doves have encountered several of those Behemoths. I don’t know what’s been going on here, not completely, but I’ve surmised over the past day or so that the Scourge already has a sizable group of those behemoths ready to deploy for a siege. For now, I’m going to call these behemoths ‘Bombardos’.”

“Interesting name. Go on.”

“The Snow Doves, even being as nomadic as they are, have encountered 5 Bombardos along with several suspected Bombardo sites. Now, assuming that even more have slipped by in the prior month or so, we can assume that there are at least a dozen, probably two dozen. On that map, I’ve marked out potential locations where they might be hiding. If they’re getting ready for a siege, then they need to be close enough to act quickly when the time comes and yet far enough not to present an easy and obvious target. Not only that, but each one of them has an army around them. We encountered one on our way out, which means that if we want to make sure this place doesn’t get caught off guard, we need to find them and start picking them off.”

“Hmm…”

Jasmine went through the Orb before looking back at the map in the war room. It had more updates and she knew more about the ongoing battles here than I did. 

My concerns lay in just how little information we had on these Bombardos, though. The fact that we were only just starting to discover these things meant that they’d either just started coming over the crossing, or they’d been gathering for a long while. I wouldn’t bank on the former, so I was preparing for the worst. Jasmine spent a couple minutes simply looking and thinking. Then, she nodded. 

“Your analysis has some merit. I’m not inclined to believe that they’ve managed to get a large amount of those things all the way here yet, but no matter what, they’re a problem that needs solving. Whether it’s a new one or an old one doesn’t matter. The Snow Doves have been out there for about a week, and the fact that they’ve encountered five means that there are plenty more… Alright Cooper.”

She clapped, turning back to me with a small smile. 

“Time to draft an operation plan.”

“Roger. I’ve only got a few days though. As soon as the Snow Doves get back, I’m leaving. Plus, Pollux is going to be taking his two squads out to begin the first phase tomorrow. If we want to use them for a quick confirmation, we need to draft something now.”

“Then we should get on it. I’ll start compiling data that we can present to the Brigadier General.”

“Got it. I have something I need to take care of first though. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Mm.”

She nodded, the two of us splitting off with tasks in mind. 

Heading to our Steed, I hoisted the body of the late First Commander Niko. He wasn’t the first who had died and this base, like all others, had a place for the dead. 

I went over to the warehouse where several transport trucks were sitting around. I talked to the clerk there and arranged transport for the body back to Stronghold Charlie. Thankfully they were about to send some trucks back so they could bring in more supplies. It wasn’t an issue to send orders and add a body to the nearly empty trucks. 

For good measure I sent Polly a message notifying her about the shipment. With all that, I covered all my bases and took care of my tasks. A simple followup the next day would ensure everything went smoothly. 

Then, I went and talked to Pollux, as well as the three infiltrators. Pollux needed to get his squads ready to head out for recon tomorrow. They would be out there near the eastern pass for up to two weeks, so they needed to pack accordingly. 

Finally, with everyone moving, I was able to focus on helping Jasmine draft up a plan. It didn’t have to be nearly as thorough as the mission I was here running now. We just wanted to recon and make sure we weren’t crazy. If we were, then nothing would come of it. If we weren’t though, Alois and his generals would have no choice but to do something about it. 

And so we readied our presentation. The only tricky part about this was the fact that we were going to use the manpower and resources of another base, not our own. We’d have to convince them to muster up the soldiers and act on our analysis using their own intelligence. Not to mention the fact that, while Jasmine was a Colonel, she was below the higher intelligence agents in this base. Hopefully, they would listen to us. I had a feeling that we’d have to avoid getting Alois involved to that end. It’d have to be a private summoner-to-summoner chat. 

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