Chapter 752: War Planning

Before us lay a map of the planet. Most of the planet was tiny archipelagos with its surface being over 95% water. There were, however, two very large continents. One continent was currently completely secured underneath the Spartari fleet in orbit. The second continent, the one we were currently on, and more specifically towards the right of the continent, was a large red perimeter that was actively changing every second.

“Before reinforcements arrived on the planet, the Drakoshi sent in hundreds of ships into low orbit in order to create a heading. Here on the eastern coast of Keffon. Unfortunately, the planetary defence was overrun here, where the bulk of the Drakoshi forces landed. As such, in the two days they were here before the navy arrived, they took thousands of miles of territory and have made it a safe point with their AA and Orbit weapons for their troops to be deployed.”

Cockburn then pointed across the line between the red and the blue terrain.

“The current defensive line is two thousand five hundred miles long and across every inch a battle is ongoing.” He pointed towards the centre of the engagement. “The Emoth clan are the main force this time around. Melee oriented and simple. They use the same tactic every time. Attempt to break through the centre and begin an envelopment. With the amount of ground we had to give for this stalemate so far… That isn’t happening.

While Emoth are easy to counter, the other clans present during this joint clan war pose strategic threat and require due diligence. To the south is clan Oizik. They don’t come out to play much in our territory, the Coalition deals with them the most, but they are a significant threat on worlds with large oceans and archipelagos like this. Their submarine and naval tech is quite advanced and our oceanic navy is doing their best to keep them penned in land for now, where they are weaker.”

He then trailed his finger up to the north of the map, right near the edge of the current border, to a green ping. “This is us. Our opponents up here are a lot more mixed. We have seen Dinnac and their mechs and they have already begun to set up serious defences alongside spotting’s of clan Zolt. The ones that have affinity for fire based weaponry.

Then of course across the entire war front are Clan vim mercenaries who spread out thin to take less casualties. Still I say those will be our enemies to watch out for, but even up here as you all know already. Emoth will still be the Drakoshi we see the most of.”

Cockburn then zoomed in on the map and drew a line to a Drakoshi fortress. Upon clicking the fortress icon a large holographic of the fortress appeared before us. Hundreds of meters tall with layered walls and almost double as wide. All the while being armed to the teeth with weapons on its walls that would tear even the most heavy armour apart.

“While the Drakoshi’s plan is to attempt to breach through our centre, orders from high up are that we are to attempt to break their flanks. Thanks to my elites completing their mission, the Drakoshi in our sector currently have a dwindling supply of ammunition. Making their defences less threatening then they would usually be.

Our current mission now, upon sunrise, is to take this base. This will cut off reinforcements further up north and allow our allies there to easily overwhelm the Drakoshi. As for here though, Phalanx reinforcements with a battalion of heavy class armour are already on their way here and will attack at dawn’s light. You, Psionic volunteers, alongside my elite squad are to commit as much sabotage as you can as quietly as you can before then to ease the losses on our side.

Thanks to the incoming reinforcements from The Order of the Guardians arriving within the hour, they have volunteered a small army of pages and squires alongside two castellan class knights, thanks to the Sentinel’s actions, to act as a fall back point here – three miles away from the base in the highlands. Should things go drastically wrong, you will regroup with them and commit to a fighting retreat until you arrive at the encroaching Phalanx.

How you accomplish your task of sabotage I will leave to your squad Skaja, and like I said, you also have full control of my elites during this mission. I trust their lives to you. A thousand victories to you all, brave warriors. I shall take my leave and meet you again on the battlefield tomorrow.”

“A thousand victories” Then sounded off in unison before Skaja took his place at the top of the war table.

“The main target of our assault will be this. The big boomstick.” She pointed at a large weapon right at the top of the fortress. Judging by its position, it was like the fortress was built to keep that weapon safe

“Those of you that have seen these boomstick in action know how fucking deadly they are and for those that don’t. Here is the summary. These boomsticks are a Thermobaric weapon that fire vortex bombs and use a completely different type of ammo than the stuff that got blown up at the depots. It shoots a very specific gas compound that is not flammable on its own, but when placed inside the weapon and heated up… When shot, it can change terrain instantly. As powerful as it is rare. A Dinnac speciality

So for our mission. Before anything else, we need to make sure that weapon cannot be used against the Phalanx tomorrow. That is priority one.

Priority two. We assassinate the leadership. Since we have no intel on this base aside from scout reports, we will need to find out who is in charge whilst inside. This will be dangerous so only our top fighters will engage the Drakoshi leadership.

Priority three. We sabotage the walls. The sooner our troops can charge into the fortress, the quicker we win and the fewer casualties we take. Fortunately the walls do not look too sturdy, the Drakoshi built this fort quick and skimped, using their secondary wall compound that is to our advantage. We will set up the charges as we go along, but they will not be detonated until tomorrow when the Phalanx arrives.”

Everyone listened to Skaja intensely, but it was at this point someone spoke up.

“Thats all well and good Skaja, but how do you expect us to get to the wall? Between us and every wall for hundreds of yards will be blinding spotlights. You don’t expect us to just walk right up to the walls without them greeting us with slag?”

Skaja nodded. “True. However, I am not planning on doing that. Look, there is a small patch of forest to the south of the fort. We approach from that direction and-.”

Gabrielle then spoke up. “-Won’t work. Drakoshi aren’t dumb they would have riddled that entire forest with landmines, especially if Vim are here. They make them practically invisible too. No, with the river to the north being as wide as it is and the west front being an open terrain. We need to take a detour and find a long path round and attempt an assault from the east. It’s the soundest strategy for the troops we have.”

“Are you insane?” Someone yelled. “That would take hours of time we do not have. We should trust Skaja, bring some minesweepers and try our luck in the forest.”

“No, we should just assault from the front! All glory for the empire!”

“No, we should-”

The tent erupted into a heated debate about the best course of action. The trouble of what happens when those present are not military trained, but volunteers. Their thoughts are a lot more capable of thought.

Skaja looked round, curious about how to proceed until she spotted one individual not arguing but still looking at the map in deep contemplation. Having fought and although technically won, got her ass handed to her by the man. She knew his battle IQ so she spoke up, silencing everyone.

“Sentinel Apollo, you are silent. What are your thoughts on the matter? How do you suggest we get to the walls?”

…

My thoughts were in the past. There I was in Jewel’s loving embrace. I was still a child. A similar layout of a base on the literal opposite end of my perception of the universe. I was using my bio pad, watching an assault from a ripper Freethinker from above.

The Ker’mins held a powerful position that was choke-pointing the hive between two unnatural streams of acidic and fast flowing streams of liquid. The hive had not adapted to the liquid yet, but I had a plan. Go upstream. thousands of miles away and begin to… Build a living dam and replenish it constantly where the liquid was less volatile.

Four hours later the Ker’min were dead. With their advantage gone, it spelt their demise possibly weeks quicker before Jewel managed to get round them at another front.

The point was, fast flowing water makes people relax. It was a natural deterrent. But Science and Psionics mixed together made nature its bitch and as I returned to the present and was called upon a plan began to formulate in my mind, using the natural deterrent and the laxity it brings to our advantage.

“We attack from the North. We use the river.”

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