"We are about to assault those trenches over there. 15,000 of us, I think, are going over the top. But we lack medical supplies. We lack even rations down here - they bombed the roads to this sector. I don't understand why no support is coming our way. We are fighting for you! Where is the damned help?!"

- ROCN Interview of an Orlish Army Soldier in the Löt Axis from the 18th Army Corps.

+++

"At least do your part."

"I'm having none of this, Mr. Porter. I cannot accept this plan, at all. No, you can't convince me otherwise."

William didn't exactly like this situation. During the break of the briefings to Queen Amelie regarding Operation Silent Spear, he approached Minister Allison.

She had arrived in the Queen's Bunker, in the hopes of reversing Amelie's decision of using female doctors and nurses for magical support in the upcoming diversionary counter-offensive.

It was simply unacceptable, according to her.

"Minister Thell, can you not understand? We are at war. This isn't the time for meaningless division. Each sector of society must cooperate, you and every woman included."

She crossed her arms in response, her frown completely perceptible to him. Yet William didn't back down.

"We are cooperating! That doesn't mean I would send the people my Ministry relies on, and this Kingdom relies on, straight to the jaws of war."

"Can you justify that, Minister Thell?"

"Justify what?!"

"Why shouldn't we send your people to support us in this battle?"

"We don't send factory workers to the front, now do we?"

"We did. 30% of young men who worked in the Industrial Sector are now dying full time in the frontlines."

"Still! Health workers are different. We're not meant to be there. We will serve where we belong. Send the injured to our facilities behind the lines, but turn us into glorified combat medics, and no. I won't accept it. If you'd like, I'd even ask for volunteers. But I'm not forcing anyone to go."

Her green eyes already had a slight glow in them. It always fascinated William - how magic would always show up whenever women became emotionally charged. Clearly, Minister Thell believed deathly in the idea that no woman must be forced to war.

This would be difficult.

"But we lack combat medics. And volunteers won't cut it."

"That's the problem of the Ministry of Defense. Not ours."

"So it's our fault that we lack medical support and are suffering extremely heavy casualties?"

She flinched back. Immediately, her defensive voice became apparent.

"I didn't say that!"

"That's essentially where you were going, Minister Thell."

"Enough!" The sudden voice of the Queen pulled William's and Allison's attention to the door that opened beside them. "You two. What are you even arguing about? I don't need further division in my ranks."

"I apologize, Your Majesty." Allison's tone became softer and polite as if she hadn't had a verbal spar with William earlier. William almost wanted to chuckle at such ridiculousness.

But, that was how things were. He was a mere lowly male officer. Disrespect to him was normal - reverence to the Queen however was unacceptable, especially when Amelie appeared pissed.

"She came here to change your decision," William said to Amelie, as Allison spoke up.

"Yes, indeed. I came here specifically for that. Your Majesty, I believe you can understand how unethical it would be to conscript civilian health workers to the front, no?"

"But Minister Thell, as William has said, this is war. We have no other choice."

"But this is unethical. And you would be taking away the same people treating hundreds of thousands of civilians."

Amelie nodded. William however didn't. He didn't like this, not at all. He knew that Amelie had an extremely soft heart for civilians.

"That's the point, Minister Thell." William shot back. "With this counter-offensive, the civilians stuck in Halia would be evacuated, thereby reducing civilian casualties more. And as an addition, significantly lessen the military casualties that we would face."

"But we are treating hundreds of thousands of civilians! We can't just-"

"Hard decisions and sacrifices must be made, Minister Thell. I'm sure you know the idea of triaging. We cannot save everyone. You don't even have the supplies to save those masses of civilians."

"Enough! William, Minister Thell, let's face the numbers in the briefing. I believe Colonel Kleist has gathered the officers in the War Room already. I want to know everything, and I will decide."

William shut his mouth, and so did Allison, as she straightened herself.

With a nod, William spoke to Amelie.

"Alright. But I swear, if you deny this, you will be making a major mistake. This operation is the only way to save the civilians stuck in this city. I'll bet my life on it."

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"We'll hear both sides out, William. Look, let's just go."

…

Colonel Kleist welcomed the three in the War Room. There was chatter on all corners of the room when Amelie entered, as both OAF and RGO officers bickered and argued.

She watched as a high-ranking Knight of the Royal Guard conversed tensely with what appeared to be an Army General as she sat. Their voices were too faint for her to hear, drowned out by the chatter, yet she could imagine that the two disagreed over something.

None of them even noticed her arrival.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, the Queen, Her Majesty, is here." Colonel Kleist announced as all turned to him, then her. "Please take your seats and pay attention. Her Majesty has asked you all not to greet her, and that we shall focus on this Operation."

She smiled at them, although it was more of an awkward one. Quite frankly, she was just tired of everyone bowing before her, as if they were trying desperately to show loyalty to her now that rebels were everywhere, which was why she asked Kleist to announce that.

"Thank you everyone for being here." She said as she scanned each face around her. "May this meeting prove productive."

"Now, let us begin. There are copies of the plan overview on each of your desks. Please check it as we go."

Amelie looked down at her table, and indeed there was a book, with the OAF's symbols printed on its cover. She opened it, and immediately, the words, "Operation Silent Spear" greeted her.

Beside her, she noticed that Minister Thell sat close to her, just as William took the seat on her other side.

Great, surround me for your respective sides. I should be used to this…

"Your Majesty, I assure you, this is a mist-"

"Just listen to Colonel Kleist, Minister Thell."

Allison frowned at William, but she abided and decided not to press any further.

"Well then, let us begin. Please turn your papers to page 4, casualties overview."

Amelie quickly turned hers into page 4, and immediately her eyes widened at the data before her.

78,000 in the Ludendorf front?!

"For the past few weeks, heavy casualties had been recorded by the OAF, mostly in the Army, around this Duchy. Much of the casualties had been a result of the heavy battles west of Heiflitz and Halia in the Ludendorf River, and the bridges and towns around it."

The breakdown of unit casualties was eye-watering to Amelie. One by one, each unit, many of which she had heard about earlier appeared one after another.

5th Mechanized Regiment - Shattered (3,233 KIA, 255 WIA)

7th Mechanized Regiment - Shattered (2,657 KIA, 899 WIA)

123rd Air Assault Brigade - Heavy Casualties (3344 KIA, 355 WIA)

54th Light Mech Regiment - Heavy Casualties (24 M20 LSS Destroyed, 15 Disabled)

She had heard of these units merely weeks ago. They were the first to rush to defend her and the city. Yet…it seemed that most of them won't live to tell the tale. She didn't even see or hear a single one from these units. She was too far, too detached.

Away from them, as they died under her.

"As you can see, most of the formations sent in the early days of the battle had been decimated. This has been a result of determined enemy assaults, last-stand directives, lack of air support, and lack of medical supplies."

There was a marked silence in the room, that even Allison beside her turned pale.

"Turn to page 6. Even here, we still see in the breakdown of unit casualties that secondary responders are seeing more KIAs than WIAs. Again, this is a result of many combinations of factors, but this is mainly a result of a severe lack of medical support. Wounded troops are not being treated on time, nor are we able to evacuate them from the frontlines quickly enough. As a result, many of them would die before any medical intervention could arrive. So far, we have attempted to address this by sending more combat medics, but it won't be enough. Thus, we have resorted to merely sending more combat units to the front in order to keep the frontlines stable. In other words, we are feeding more bodies, to replace the pile of dead."

His voice was still cold, neutral, and almost clinical in nature. There were some grumblings from the OAF officers around, while Allison and many RGO officers seemed…ashamed.

"With the casualties report out of the way, please turn to page 24. The overview of Operation Silent Spear."

With a heavy heart, Amelie turned the pages. She skimmed through report after report about the casualties and the statuses of every unit.

She didn't want to look at the numbers any further.

"With the mounting civilian casualties in the city and the failed evacuations, Her Majesty has asked JTF-Ludendorf to devise a plan to speed up our evacuation efforts. Major William Porter, the Head of JTF-Ludendorf, has constructed 'Operation Silent Spear', a scheme to divert hostile artillery and air assets away from the evacuations, and straight into our troops."

She looked back at the units highlighted in the pages. They were the same units highlighted earlier by William and Kleist. Each of them even had a projection of the casualties they would suffer beside their names and insignias.

"Colonel Kleist…I'd like to ask." He stopped his presentation and turned to Amelie. "Are these projections accurate? How did you calculate these?"

"We based that on the positions that these units would assault, the possible opposition they would face, and the length of their planned combat deployment."

"I see…"

"Is there a problem, Your Majesty?"

She looked around at everyone, and with a sigh, she placed down the papers that she held.

"Major William advised me that we could use the health workers of the city, mobilized by the Ministry of Health, to aid in this offensive and provide magical support, especially in medical matters. Colonel Kleist, will it help?"

He didn't even have a chance to answer. An army officer stood up and took his chance. He seemed old, with an ugly scar that ran through his eyes.

"Yes, Your Majesty! These fine young men are dying like flies all around us. Half of the brigades of my damned-"

"General Fraser, please show respect." Kleist tried to intervene, but Amelie stopped him.

"No worries, Colonel Kleist. General, please. I'd like to hear your words."

He calmed down a bit, yet venom still dripped from his words.

"Half of the brigades in my division have been decimated, Your Majesty. I ask this, as this is a war both for us men and you women. Why is it only us still dying? Where is the Royal Guard? Where is the support? Is this another Great War? Where we all die alone in the cold trenches as you all order us around like pigs?"

"General, my units have been manning security posts around the city." The Duchess of Lievelen replied from the other side of the room. She was the current head of the RGO East Coast Command and reported directly to the Archduchess herself. "Don't you dare accuse us of not doing our part."

"Duchess Evelyn! Your women are only manning rear echelon posts. The RGO suffered what? 800 casualties? While we're here closing a hundred thousand?"

"Everyone! Lady Lievelyn. General Fraser. Please cease this bickering. I have heard enough. I can see enough. There is no more need for further division."

She turned to Allison, then to the Duchess.

"Minister Thell. Lady Lievelyn. Please, our brothers are dying. The numbers don't lie. We shall support them, and this time not leave them alone. This is our fight as well, and if we shall share the victory, we shall share the pains as well. Is that clear?"

Reluctantly, the Duchess gave a bitter nod. Allison seemed ashamed, yet it was clear that she feared seeing civilian health workers being forced into the fight - even in this immense emergency.

But…the Queen held the final judgment.

"I…I shall do my best to follow this new directive, Your Majesty."

"Good."