Chapter 114 - Marching Out (Patreon)

Chapter 114

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Command Center.

"So where did he deliver the guns?" Asked Emilia.

"Well, he first brought the crate to a secure warehouse, well, secured against human intruders at least, then opened the secret compartment and slid the guns through a grate to someone on the other side, before starting to refill it with golem parts. Had to rush a bit to catch the person receiving the guns, but managed to follow them to the final destination, some unmarked warehouse close to the residential area." Alexandra shook her head. "They're assembling an entire cargo's worth of the damned things vampy. There has to be at least three dozen firearms in there already, plus hand grenades, helmets, that kind of thing."

"That's…concerning."

"More than that, all of the stuff is short ranged. This isn't some standard combat gear, it's the stuff people use to clear trenches. The more I look at it the more it looks like a 'revolution kit in a box' type of thing."

"A Republic group?"

"That or some domestic opposition. Let's face it, the Asarian Kingdom is a corrupt monarchy where the nobility is more absorbed in their games of power than caring for their people. I wouldn't put it past some of them to try and take over, even if only through proxies." Alexandra shrugged. "Although that might just be my french roots speaking."

"Right, your home country hated aristocrats."

"And monarchies."

"That kind of comes with the monarchy."

"Not necessarily, you'd be surprised." If nothing else, the Greeks once had a king without a nobility, and with the bloodbath of the Terran Hegemony war, a lot of pro forma monarchies had neither monarchs or nobles left alive.

"Right. Anyway, what do you plan on doing?"

"For now? Observe. I had to pull the golem out due to the sun starting to go up, since I wouldn't be able to possess it again once I left it." The limit about being able to possess or order golems only inside of her influence, although the possession could be kept up outside of it at the cost of significant strain, was starting to become a pain in the ass. "But this is getting very interesting. And I definitely intend to get my hands on that if I can." So much so that she'd postponed playing with the stuff she'd gotten from the Republic airship until after she'd given a try at taking that hoard. There was no point spending time and brain power making gear that might be obsolete in a couple of days after all!

"Well, good luck hauling it with the infiltrators."

Alexandra winced.

"I know, I know. But at least we have a pretty demonstrative field test!"

"That we do. Success!"

"Yeah!"

And now onto trying to find a way to get her hands on that damned contraband shipment.

*****

"So?" Asked Allya as she adjusted her seat behind her desk.

"Well, the cost was…punishing." Said Pyn as she sat down, and gratefully took the mug of coffee Allya was extending. "But I think it was a fair price. It's lucky we're running at such a budget surplus, otherwise Melia would be strangling me right now."

"Ah, I'm sure there'll be a time when that's the case. So, any specifics?"

"All of the gear will cost us five million mana, plus half a million for the manuals and the 'advance fee' for the trainers, payable in increments in goods or in hard cash. I chose goods, for obvious reasons, and we were stockpiling enough of the parts we had gotten as part of the taxes that we were able to pay off almost half of it immediately. I think I saw the, what's that extradimensional expression again? The 'dollar signs' appear in their economic negotiator's eyes when he saw the insides of the warehouse."

"Well, they are probably getting a bonus on top of their salaries if they succeed."

"Fair. Also have you heard about the, ah, odd offers going around?"

"You mean the rumors that the Tarkians are willing to sell some firepower to us, off the books? Yes, they weren't being particularly sneaky about it." Allya smiled. "The admiral is almost certainly behind this. It’s a handy way for them to sell us gear they shouldn't be authorized to export while maintaining deniability. I've already arranged payment and transport, although I'm told they'll only start moving things off their ships in a few days."

"Ah, too busy with the main event?"

"So it seems." That or the admiral had his troops doing something else on the side. Which wouldn't be surprising, they had just crossed a wasteland, they were due some R&R. "Now, did you get the newest estimates from the trademaster about the repairs?"

"Yes, in between all the swearing. Still don't have a harder timeline, but it looks like the damage was far more superficial than first believed, and-"

Allya nodded as her girlfriend talked, all the while thinking as to how to explain the smuggled weapons getting into her hands.

*****

"So, what's next on the to-do list?" Asked Alexandra she stepped back from the workbench, where her newest infiltrator prototype was lying. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.

Emilia opened her notebook with a practiced flick of the hand, and smiled.

"Oh, you're going to like this one. The tsunami mechanic for the third floor pyramid."

"I'd almost forgotten about that." She'd built the step pyramid to be able to be swept by a veritable tidal wave from time to time, but hadn't had the time to remake it or refine the system since she'd been forced to activate her final defense protcol. Then she winced. "Shit, the plants and the traps, there's going to be a lot of stuff I'll have to harden to survive that isn't it?"

"Probably!"

Alexandra sighed.

"Well, better get to it then!" She smiled. "At least I'll get to flood the place."

"Just be careful not to flood us along with it."

"Come on, I'm not that bad!"

Emilia didn't bother responding to that, her stare said it all.

It only took them a couple of minutes to get to the third floor, thanks to the upgraded elevators, and Alexandra stretched as she looked at the step pyramid.

"Alright, time to get to work!"

*****

"Well. It works."

"For now." Said Emilia, gloomily, glancing at Sarah, who was busy drying her hair.

"Hey, it was one wall!" Retorted the dungeon core.

"And sometimes it only takes a single faulty bolt to sink a ship." Retorted the vampire girl.

Alexandra winced.

"I suppose that's fair enough." She glanced at Emilia, and hesitated.

She still loved the vampire girl. But…there was doubt now. Was it artificial? It had been, at least partially. But what about now?

And more importantly, could she trust her advisor, the person she was letting in on practically every plan?

"Alex?"

"Sorry, it's nothing." Alexandra sighed as Emilia looked at her, worried. "Just…thinking about some things."

"Right. Well, the sun is setting, it's time for your little spy games."

"I'll have you know it is no game." Alexandra smiled. A bit hesitatingly, but still. "Alright, you're right, time to roll!"

*****

General Amelia Loveheart looked on proudly as rank after rank of soldiers marched out of the city.

Nine combat batallions, three each of pikes, shock troops armed with swords, and arquebusiers, plus three support batallions, including over a hundred and fifty bombards and various other personnel like war mages and siege engineers.

That, plus her own personal guard and some more esotheric specialist totalled at fifteen thousand men, not counting the airships that would provide air cover, although their crew would hardly matter into the equation. They were, after all, going to be manning their vessels, not going to ground and launch an assault.

The entire town of Erakis shook as a warn horn blared, and Amelia smiled as she looked up.

Speak of the devil…

The battlecruiser slowly, majestically moved overhead, rows upon rows of guns poking out of its heavily armored sides. Amelia hid a grimace as she looked at the bombards. She'd have really liked for it to only have been for show, but her preparations  and interview with colonel Orzal as well as various wasteland specialist had given her a grim sense of certainty that they would be needing those guns rather badly on the journey. Their force was under the threshold at which a sand kraken would be attracted, but they would rouse every other damn monster from their slumber on the way, and it promised to be an…eventful journey, to say the least.

She shook herself mentally. According to their best intelligence Rebirth had maybe, -maybe!- twelve hundred defenders, and a few towers on the perimeter. Although her frigates had not yet reported in, which was an ominous sign to be sure, she still had her enemies outnumbered at better to ten to one odds. Even the Tarkians would fold under such overwhelming numerical superiority!

Still, she'd have to be careful. She didn't like it but she could not afford too great a victory. Simply rolling over Rebirth would push those moronic senators to send her to attack Darthar, and although she was confident in her ability to crush a puny, newly built dungeon town, she was most definitely not sure in her army's ability to take a fortified city with a massive logistical network linked to half the Asarian Kingdom and an energy shield powerful enough to stop an entire Erisian airfleet.

So she'd have to find some tricks. Maybe justify some kind of manpower intensive peacekeeping operation. Usually she'd allow a large portion of the fighting force to escape and set up a guerilla war, with an understanding on both sides, brokered behind the curtains that once there was no longer a need for it her men would allow the fighters to leave unopposed in exchange for showy and profitable but not very lethal attacks.

Unfortunately that wasn't an option here. Any guerilla fighter would be eaten whole by the wasteland. Another way to justify it would be to have to fight the dungeon off, but she wasn't suicidal. Which reminded her that she needed to check up on the bribe package she'd prepared. After all the shit Orzal and her troops had no doubt dragged the dungeon through she figured that any remotely successful occupation would only come to pass with a generous bribe to the dungeon to keep her in line and quiet. She knew the senate had supposedly taken care of the UDC, but she didn't have faith in those scumbags, and she'd rather have more…personal arrangements with the local power brokers.

After all, she'd done that for all of her previous conquests and pacifications…and been steadily building a pocket empire within the Republic itself, ready to support her when the moment came to overthrow the senate, and restore the Republic to being a servant and stewart of its people, not the debased whore servicing handful of oligarchs it currently was.

"General?" Asked one of her aides, interrupting her reverie. "Colonel Orzal's compliments, and his apologies for reaching out to you on such short notice, but he has urgent news to share."

"Urgent news?" The general frowned. "Alright, tell my guard to wait for me, we'll catch up to the main force on horseback. I'll meet me in my office."

*****

"THEY WHAT?"

"According to my intelligence, the Tarkian flotilla annihilated the raiding force." Said colonel Orzal almost serenely, in stark contrast to the general's shout. Although that composure was far harder to maintain than usual, especially as he had bypassed his senate masters in getting the report to Amelia before she left. "No ships managed to escape. There are even reports some were captured and handed over to Rebirth, although my sources are less than reliable on that." Said sources were, in fact, the same maniacs who insisted the fucking dungeon had shot down several ships, which was just ridiculous! But still, there must be at least some nuggets of truth in their seemingly narcotic fueled reports.

"That…would not make much of a difference. I cannot blockade the city, so the only time those frigates would come into play -provided they can even learn to use them!- would be in a direct fleet battle, and I have a capital ship. What is concerning is first and foremost that the tower is intact, which complicates my strategy a lot, and if the Tarkians stay there until we arrive. They have already engaged our forces, and such technologically advanced cruisers might tip the balance in the siege, if only in buying enough time for the town for reinforcements to arrive."

"I doubt so. According to my less reliable sources most of their ships appear to be offloading and taking in cargo. A kind of commercial mission, if you will. Besides, it is one thing to attack an unidentified raiding force, it is another to attack a full fledged army." The colonel looked Amelia straight in the eyes. "We both know the Hegemony is gearing up for a fight, but that's just it, they're gearing up. Their rearmament programs are nowhere near complete and my sources, these ones quite reliable I can assure you, are positive that the Hegemon will avoid any entanglements until they are ready for them."

The general nodded.

"That's a fair point colonel." She frowned. "What are they offloading, exactly?"

"My sources couldn't tell me exactly. I've just received their preliminary reports after all. But there were rumors going around that the Tarkians were buying golem parts and were proposing weapons and equipment."

"So, high end adventurer gear for dungeon loot?"

"It seems to be that way at any rate."

"Good, the last thing I need is Rebirth having Tarkian weaponry." That would most definitely give her that 'less than total' victory she needed, especially combined with that docking tower, which pretty much forced her into a full scale assault instead of giving her some leeway to grind the defenses down with artillery, as that would mean she'd take some serious casualties in the attack. Not enough to save the town, not by a long shot, but it would be painful as hell. "Although I suppose they will have at least some from the ships. But probably not that much."

"Probably not, no. The Hegemony can be very strict on its military exports, thank the Gods, and I doubt they'd have any interest in sending out things like artillery anyway, especially to the Asarians who aren't exactly keen on using the 'tainted' weaponry of more advanced nations. Not that the current noble would care, but I don't think they know that. Besides, the girl has to be under some serious pressure from her peers." He smiled. "Wouldn't want to give the peasants any ideas, eh?"

"No, I suppose not." The general shook her head. "Still, this is concerning. If you can, keep me updated." She looked out the window. "The sun is getting low, I have to ride out to catch up with my forces, but I would like at least a status report every day, even if only to notify me that no new intelligence has landed on your desk. We can only afford so many surprises like this one before this mission is put in jeopardy, am I understood?"

Almost despite himself, Orzal straightened up and nodded as the general oozed out command power.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Excellent. Then I will leave you to hold the fort then." Literally, in fact, as the senate guard detachment supposed to take over had not yet arrived. "And farewell colonel!"

"Farewell general."