CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Some days, as I wake up, I wonder exactly how my mind works. I haven’t been awake for a full five minutes, and yet I already have the plan for my day laid out in my mind. I swear I organize tasks in my sleep.
Heading into the washroom, I start thinking through everything on my magical sleep-designed schedule to make sure my unconscious mind didn’t miss anything. Get the senior officers together for a meeting, sort out mission timing with Kesn, get thirteen more landcraft, verify tactics with the other four mission leaders, get tips from Gimmir or Simon on the best way to run two platoons, grab Sen’s mobile tech for my team, prep the mission, run the mission.
I emerge from the washroom and open my wardrobe to grab a clean uniform. Reaching in, I notice the covered hanger with my dress uniform is there. I feel kinda bad now for making Halder rush on it, but at the time I wasn’t exactly planning on sneaking into the Palace! Oh well. I’ll give him some extra thanks when we leave for Terra and have some time to breathe.
Once I’m dressed, I log into my terminal and scan through messages. I already see a few from Kesn with forwarded mission briefs and location details. I guess she and the Admiral started early today. I send out an alert to the senior officers to meet in the discussion chamber in thirty minutes, then put together a request for the landcraft and send it to Kesn. Once sent, I set my communicator on the table and press the charm. “Kesn Dreadthief”
A few seconds pass, then Kesn’s face appears, but it’s turned to the side and not looking at me. “Ambassador Dreadthief speaking. How can I help you?”
She’s obviously working on something and not really paying attention to me yet. I can’t help myself. Lowering my voice, I reply “Yes, Ambassador. Would you care to comment about reports that you were locked in an office with three handsome men last night?”
Her eyebrows go up as she turns. When she sees me, she laughs. “I don’t remember three handsome men in that room. One… one and a half, maybe, but not three. And you didn’t mention the sexy elf girl, either. Therefore, your report is totally inaccurate!”
I laugh. “Spoken like a true master of politics, Ambassador!”
She grins and turns away. “Good morning, Rylae! I suppose you want to know what we’ve already done this morning.”
Turning on the notepad in my terminal, I prepare to take notes. “Indeed. I saw you were already working, and I’m going to pull my staff together shortly, so I thought I’d get an update from you first.”
She nods. “We have twenty-two locations to raid, not including the five that are on your list. We’re sending squads of four to each location to do a quick scouting run. Since we’re expecting them to all be vacant, it shouldn’t cause much of an issue. The key is making sure everyone knows we’re doing it, so that the information leaks like we want it to.”
Excellent. “Do you know the timeline for when they’ll start the raid?”
She nods again. “I have that here somewhere. Hang on a moment. Ah! There it is. The enforcers are starting their raids in three hours, and the palace guard is… wait… where’s that update… Got it! The Palace guard is starting in three-and-a-half hours. They should both be complete eight hours from now.”
I smile. “I take it this is your first time coordinating a large-scale military operation?”
Laughing, she turns back to me. “I think Bax forgot that I’m an Ambassador, not an Executive Officer. This isn’t something I’m used to doing, but I see why it has to be me. There’s only a few of us who know all the details, and I do have to use my skills to coordinate between the Overseer and the Palace Guard. Thank Damnation that I can at least rely on Rosa and Luis to handle the actual planning for their sections!”
My terminal beeps, and I check the time. “Rosa’s fun. Tell her I said hi. After we’re done with all this, I’ll have to get us all together for drinks or something. I have to run, but thanks for the updates! I’ll connect with you when the meeting’s over. Oh, and I sent you a message about landcraft a bit ago.”
She nods. “I got it. I’ll see what my folk can get done for you. Talk to you in a while.”
I cut the connection and leave my quarters. As I pass the mess hall, I grab a few pieces of fruit and continue down to the 5th level. As I pass the ‘up’ stairway, I see Aelon coming up. He looks tired, and his hair’s a bit of a mess. I guess he didn’t sleep well at the storage bay workstation. I stop and wait for him. When he reaches the 5th level, I nod at him. “Hey, Aelon.”
He snaps to attention and salutes. “Seventy-eight crates, Commander!”
I’m just barely able to contain the chuckle. “Thank you, LC. I appreciate that you kept track of all of them. I’ll be sure to tell the Admiralty about it in my report.”
With that, he seems to shift back into his normal over-confident obnoxious self. Grinning, he struts down the hall to the meeting, leaving me to just stand there and once again wonder if his body is really worth putting up with him all the time. I’ll never understand Tanna’s thinking on that one.
I get to the discussion chamber and salute Cap, who’s already there. Eventually, everyone gets there and Cap starts the meeting. He explains the strategy behind our raid and how the Admiral is coordinating his parts, then turns it to me for detailed bits. I task Aelon with putting together driving directions for each location, Sen for preparing the battalion medics and her mobile tech for my team, and Tanna with the rest of the ship… again. She just shrugs. I can tell she’s really not enjoying doing my job, but it’s only a few days overall. And think of all the supervision time her LC is getting in Engineering!
The meeting ends, and Cap releases those three, leaving the five mission leaders in the room. I look around at Simon, Gimmir, and Lada as they log into their terminals. Cap and I also log into ours. Simon’s the first to speak. “Our standard platoon structure is still good, and I’ve sent you a list of the platoon command ladders for each of your missions. I’ve also informed the squad leaders to shift focus to include more range in their weapon plans. We know the enemy has a dragon’s-loot load of spellshooters, and isn’t afraid to shoot someone with a crossbow, so we need to be prepared to shoot back.”
Gimmir speaks up next. “I looked at the list of locations, and I’m not too happy with it. The warehouse and the temple are easy. Cap’s unit is gonna take the warehouse while Lada’s unit assaults the temple. The underground bunker is Simon’s, and looks to be a tight battle. More face-to-face fighting in that one. The farm’s not gonna be much fun either. They’re gonna see my unit comin’ from kilometers away and be prepared for us. I’m expectin’ a long-range setup there. The only good I see in that one is that we’ll see if they run, so they have no way out.”
He turns to look at me and continues. “The one that really bothers me is the one Rylae’s takin’. It’s in a shoppin’ area. I know it made sense at the time you were sendin’ Zaxn in there, but I don’t like it now that we’re assaultin’ it. Cap, are you sure we shouldn’t change this around so someone else takes this one?”
I glance at Cap, and he’s thinking it through. I wonder what he’s going to say. I obviously can’t take the bunker or the farmhouse – too much assault for me to handle. The temple and the warehouse are easier straightforward battles, but they’re larger and likely to have a lot of enemies. They’ll require tighter coordination of the squads, which I can’t do. The shopping area… there’ll be a lot of regular folk there. A lot of chance that I could get someone hurt who’s innocent. We’ll have to be quieter, more controlled, with more individual squad management.
Just as I realize how it’s going to be difficult, I also realize it’s the best one for me to manage. I excel at separating out and assigning tasks, and prioritizing items quickly without losing track of the bigger items. I’d be horrible in an all-out assault situation, but in a scenario like this, I might actually be able to do it.
Cap s
till hasn’t said anything, so I look over at him to see him looking at me. Dragons be damned, he’s waiting for me to decide! He knows he could just order things to be whatever he wants, but he also knows I’ve already thought it through and made a decision about myself. I nod at him, silently thanking him, then turn to Gimmir. “I think the shopping area is still the best option for me. The squads will be able to manage themselves individually without waiting for me to figure out what they need to do, and I’ll be able to direct multiple processes simultaneously. I’m more likely to fail in one of the other four location scenarios.”
Simon looks at Gimmir and nods. The Battalion Major sighs. “You have a point about failin’ at the other locations. I guess we can’t risk that. Best to leave things where they are and hope you don’t accidentally kill any families while they’re out buyin’ food for their little ones.”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks, Gimmir. I’ll do my best to limit my family killing.” Deep down, though, I don’t feel like that’s a joke. That’s a valid worry, and I’ll need to be extra careful making sure I’m pointing my soldiers at the gang members and not regular folk.
The others start discussing strategy while I take notes on things that are important. I can’t follow most of the terminology they use, or the specifics of how one of their tactical changes affects someone else at a different location. If I had ever spent any real time in a battalion, things would be different, but I haven’t. I have to rely on an entirely different type of focus for this mission. I really, really hope I don’t screw it up.
Once their strategy session is complete, Cap looks at me. “How much time until mission start?”
I check my terminal. “Seven hours from now. The Admiral’s side should be finished by then, and we should be good to start.”
He nods. “Okay. Battalion will be ready and deployed outside in six hours. Let’s go down and take command of our units. Rylae, have your platoon leaders get ya fitted for leather armor and set aside some weapons for ya. Get ‘em to show ya how the helmet communicators work, too. I don’t think ya’ve ever used ‘em before, have ya?”
I shake my head and try very hard to stay calm. I’ve never worn actual armor in actual combat, or worn a helmet at all. Well, I guess if I want to be a captain, I should have actual combat experience. I just wish I had more time to sort everything out before rushing out as a unit commander in just a few hours! All the missions I’ve been on, I’ve never had to run into a large combat zone.
Then again, I’ve never lost my Ambassador before this mission, either. A lot of things can change based on the circumstances. I know that all too well already. Guess I should get over it and get moving instead.
We walk down to the battalion area and Gimmir calls the platoon leaders together, then assigns them to unit commanders. My leaders are a female elf, LC Alayna Rhuviel, and a male goblin, Sergeant Storx Bigstink. Looking at the LC, I can see now why Simon said I wasn’t built to masquerade as an elite. Alayna’s built like a brick shed with short blonde hair. Storx isn’t small either, about 10 cm taller than I am and with shoulders about 20 cm wider than I am.
I’m not normally intimidated by anyone I’m supposed to be in command of. I handle command situations rather well. These folk, though… they intimidate me a bit. I need to get control of myself, and I need to do it right now. I push intimidated Rylae aside and pull out XO Westiel again. Rylae’s good at being friends with everyone and can use that for a lot of command situations. XO Westiel, however… she just gets things done. Now’s a good time for that.
“LC. Sergeant. Before I brief you on our target, let’s get some personal logistics out of the way. I need a set of armor and weapons, and I need you to show me how the helmet communicators function.”
LC Rhuviel’s eyes narrow. She turns to Sergeant Bigstink, and they share a look. I know exactly what they’re thinking – if I’ve never used a helmet communicator, then how am I qualified to lead their platoons? I need to stomp that flat quickly. “Lieutenant Commander Rhuviel. Is there a problem?”
She doesn’t back down. She nods and looks directly at me. “Yes, ma’am. I’m concerned about your readiness to lead our folk in battle.” Sergeant Bigstink nods in agreement.
I also nod in agreement. “Your concern is valid. I’ve never led a platoon in battle. Additionally, our target is potentially in an area full of non-combatants, and we have a crew member to extract. It requires our unit to be prepared for anything, and ready to do what needs to be done. As such, I’m going to rely on you and your squad leaders to make effective decisions where I can’t. My job is to direct and plan. Your jobs will be to alter the plan as circumstances require. I don’t plan to overrule your decisions. My job is to help you do your jobs as best I can, not to fight with you about details I don’t fully understand.”
The LC’s eyes soften slightly. “I can accept that answer, ma’am. If you can trust us to do our jobs, we can trust you to point us at the enemy.”
I smile back at her. “Thank you, LC. Now, let’s go through the armory and I’ll brief you while I’m trying on armor.”