Chapter 278

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Darthar

There was a knock at the door, and Allya groaned, disentangling herself from Pyn, then taking a few seconds to make herself presentable, before walking to the entrance of their suite.

"Yes?" She said as she opened it. They could have had servants around, but the maids were strictly on call now. They kind of creeped Pyn out, besides which they had to dismiss them every time they wished to do more private things.

"Wow, you look like shit." Said Alexandra, her ambassador golem standing in the hallway.

"Why thank you oh noble dungeon core, you're not looking half bad yourself."

The Earth-born chuckled.

"Alright, I guess I deserved that. Just wanted to tell you, I'm going to send some recon units out, to see what our friends in the North are up to." Allya nodded. That meant she'd probably send one of her blackbirds, but even now and in these halls, the fact they even existed was classified. There was a reason they were only launched in the dead of night if at all possible.

"Sure. Worried?"

"They'd be idiots not to try to use the fortresses, I want to see what we're up against before the army moves out."

"Think they'll be a danger?"

"No. What I want to know is what will happen now that they know we can move this quickly."

"See if they cut and run?"

"Yeah. The fortresses were pretty fucked by the time they took them, so there's no point using them as is. They have the manpower to repair them, but that still takes time. Time they don't have anymore."

"They might think you'll take a bit of a breather." That was one of their little tidbits of deception. The arrival of the dungeon's army had mostly been a PR coup, to truly hammer in the transfer of the city, but it also told their enemies how quickly their troops could move in the wasteland.

What they had done however, was emphasize those troops staying in a camp near Darthar until the fleet transporting the secondary dungeon core arrived, then depart alongside Philia's knights and whatever remnants of royal troops she had left, while in truth, they'd slip through in the dead of night and leave alone. That, combined with the ongoing purge of Sunrise's spy network, might buy them some time.

They might not catch the enemy with their pants down, but truth be told that wasn't actually desirable. The 'Southern Army of Restoration' wouldn't manage to outrun the dungeon core's troops, but if they believed they could, they might leave the half repaired fortresses behind with a sacrificial rearguard…and find themselves in the open desert when the dungeon core's forces caught up, and Sarth's advancing vanguard arrived.

"We'll see. We'll see."

*****

"Admiral on deck!" Called out a skyer, and the admiral returned his salute, before waving everyone back to their stations.

"At ease people." The admiral looked around. She must admit, even knowing what a pathetic shadow of the Old World Erisian technology was, she was proud of her flagship, the Triomphe-class dreadnought Belisarius. Hell, it was far from the best the Erisian skyfleet had to offer, but it was nothing to scoff at either.

The captain of her flagship got up, and went to meet her.

"Ma'am, we have finished assembling the depot, and are ready to depart. Your orders?"

She actually considered for a second, before grimacing internally. There wasn't really a choice, in all honesty.

"We fly south." Flying north would cow the dungeons itching to attack Lesly and Rebirth, but that wasn't her objective.

Right now, she needed to hold the UDC together. Her fleet was managing that by its sheer presence, but the flashpoint was Eternity and the dungeon's standoff with the UDC's forces there. If she didn't head down there, it might go hot unpredictably.

Thankfully, she only needed to buy time. She had to admit, she admired Joachim's craftiness. Young and upstart he may be, he was also managing this madness surprisingly well. Aiding the guild in assassinating their UDC isolationist 'allies' would delay the council's fracturing, even if only briefly, as the isolationists would be too busy getting revenge on the guild to pursue escalation. Without that, she was grimly certain they'd overcome their fear of her fleet within weeks, at most. Lesly sure knew how to pick them.

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"Yes ma'am!"

She nodded, dismissing him, and left the bridge.

She had a report to make to her Erisian superiors...and her actual bosses.

She just hoped everything was going as smoothly on the other fronts.

*****

"This is a lot more practical." Said Emilia as she looked at the hologram, showing Sunrise's army and the wrecked fortresses, with Glitch and Subtlety constantly updating estimates and tagging various points of interest.

Alexandra shrugged.

"It wouldn't have made sense to rely on just observation like previously, now that we have the high capacity data links. Though, there is something to be said for manual observation."

"Admit it, you just want an excuse to pilot your little flying toy."

"Well, maybe, but it doesn't invalidate my point."

Emilia giggled.

"Right, right, of course."

"No, seriously. For example, I can see magic with my avatar, but not other systems. And the golems have some esoteric stuff I can't quite figure out in their sensor packages."

"Didn't you use those same sensors as part of your plane's systems? And you weren't going to send your avatar onboard the plane, right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then I'm correct, aren't I?"

Alexandra sighed, while CQ tried not to snicker.

"Yes, I suppose you are. In this particular instance."

"Uh huh."

"Reminds me that I need to find out how my avatar can see magic."

"I'll be very interested when you do. It's the ultimate weapon in a mage duel."

"Hadn't really thought of it that way but...yeah, it is."

"Still, if you find out how, you'll need to get it in a smaller package. You wouldn't fit in the cockpit, let alone in that 'sensor cluster' you put on the plane."

"Hey! Are you calling me fat?"

"No, I'm calling you obnoxiously tall you amazon!"

"Oh come on, you love my height."

Emilia opened her mouth, flicked a glance to CQ, and closed it, whatever salacious comment about to exit her mouth forgotten. Ah, the burden of flirting parents throughout history.

"I do, I love every sarcastic, sassy square centimeter of you, but Gods help me if you keep teasing me I'm dragging you back to our quarters to make you pay the price."

Alexandra held her hands up.

"Alright, alright!" Her face smoothed out into seriousness, and suddenly she was all business. "About time we got started anyway. Glitch, Subtlety, report."

Both AI's holograms turned towards her.

"The enemy has halted their main force and is undergoing considerable activity related to reconstruction efforts for the fortresses." Said Subtlety, as several images popped up, zooming on certain sections of the blackbird's take. "The fortresses are dispersed, and so is the army. We estimate eight major enemy groups, one for each fortress, one centralized supply unit, and a mobile reaction force."

"Ah. The latter is for reacting to an airborne raid, I assume?"

"Data indicates as such, this formation has a high concentration of heavy artillery and airships."

"Well, maybe they're not completely stupid. Unfortunately for them, neither are we. Numbers?"

Glitch took over.

"Numbers are difficult to estimate. Their force is dispersed, and slave troops will put up with conditions that would be unacceptable to normal infantry. It is also impossible to estimate how many soldiers are housed within the fortresses themselves. Estimates indicate three hundred thousand to three hundred and fifty thousand enemies."

Alexandra whistled softly. That was the kind of military power the roman Empire could bring to bear at its height. Of course, most of the force in this case was slaves, the lowest possible form of conscripts, but still.

It was also roughly the size of Coledar's 'expeditionary army', the one he had been planning to ram down her throat before he turned against the senate and instead lead it to free his homeland.

Given how problematical fighting Sunrise's was proving, she was glad she hadn't had to engage them. They'd have won but damn, three hundred thousand professional soldiers would have ruined her day, even with her tech advantage.

"Breakdown of their forces?"

"Regulars and elite units number between thirty and thirty one thousand soldiers. The slave troops number between two hundred and seventy thousand to three hundred and twenty thousand."

"Logistical elements?"

"Those seem to be entirely slave troops with regular officer support, that can also be deployed in combat roles."

Alexandra blinked.

"What? Why?"

"It makes sense." Said Emilia, and everyone looked at her. "I mean, pilfering happens. Like those Tarkian guys that sold off the stuff meant for the baroness. Or Sarah and my iced tea." The advisor threw out an accusatory glare, but her vampire maid wisely decided that the ceiling was suddenly the only things worthy of attention in the room. "But the slaves can't go against their brands."

"Ah! So they're more reliable than the actual professionals. The irony."

"To be fair, you have exploited that, what with targeting their officers and regulars to break their morale."

"True enough. Anything notable?"

"Affirmative." Said Subtlety, as another set of images appeared, ones taken before the plane had arrived at the fortresses. "Patterns indicate several units deployed in forward reconnaissance roles. Extrapolating from their positioning, it appears that the fortresses are screened by a loose circle of skirmishers."

"Probably one meant to collapse if it comes into contact, a tripwire." Alexandra frowned. "They're not here for the airships, they want to prevent a marine ground assault like we did during the siege of Darthar."

"The data supports this theory. A successful air raid or marine assault seem highly improbable, given enemy dispositions."

"Well, they were going to learn sooner or later. What about a missile bombardment?"

"It would be successful, but..." The AI stopped, searching for words. "Not to disparage my own capabilities, but my vessel is not the most mobile. Furthermore, it has undergone substantial repairs. An attack before they are warned of the army's impending arrival or the fleet's seems unlikely."

"At which point they'll have either left or dug in."

"Affirmative."

"Does it look like they are taking measures to counter your bombardment?"

The AI nodded, and Glitch took over.

"Analysis of the efforts on the fortresses indicate the creation of multiple artillery emplacements designed to resist missile attack."

"Good luck doing that with a trebuchet."

"These emplacements are not made to survive a direct hit, ma'am. They are meant to contain it." New images appeared, showing what looked like deep, reinforced pits. "In effect, any missile would only take out a single enemy artillery piece. Furthermore, some construction indicate that they may be construction special covers, meant to be rolled on top of the pits, to allow for greater survivability and concealment."

"Forcing us to get forward to threaten them with a more direct assault to open up. Clever."

"There is also a final factor to consider."

"Which is?"

"Enemy air units appear to be undergoing modifications."

"Field refits? That's crazy. Why would anyone..." The images updated, and Alexandra licked her lips. "Oh."

On the image were crews of slaves delicately loading familiar barrels onboard some of the ships. Fucking hell, just how much explosives did that army get sent with?!?

"They appear to be converting several vessels into fire ships." Said Glitch, before her avatar vanished, replaced with a six armed and six eyed abomination for a split second. "They shall burn, only brighter for their folly!"

"Cool it friend."

The AI returned to normal, and bowed, while Emilia and the maids exchanged worried glances.

"Apologies."

"So, they're planning making suicide rammers? Sneaky bastards..."

"They would not need many explosives to inflict catastrophic damages at short ranges, and their monster hunter vessels are remarkably agile."

"Yeeeep. That's going to suck. I guess they did the same math as the Japanese."

"Ma'am?"

"Country from Earth. During a war they realized that using aircrafts as suicide ships rather than for traditional combat yielded more damage per aircraft lost."

"It appears to be the same reasoning. Without their archmage, their fleet would serve little purpose save for reconnaissance."

"Indeed. Now, the big question is, will they run, and if they don't, how do we crack them with minimal cost? Ideas?"