“Sir Sims, what brings you to my office today?” Richard Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, asked.

“I came to ask for something, but I noticed this on the way,” Jonas raised his newspaper.

“Ah, that. Well, it was expected to come out at one point or another.”

“I hope the scandal isn’t damaging?”

“Scandal? What scandal? These tabloids live by the scandal, so any question raised in Parliament is a scandal, no matter what it is. I wasn’t there, but Arthur answered the honoured peer’s questions rather honestly. Without giving away the details that are not related to the British Scouts, that is,” the Duke answered with a small laugh.

“So, Agni is safe, then,” Jonas said.

“One member of the Parliament can keep a secret as long as he’s in solitary confinement in the London Tower,” the Duke quipped back. “I have problems, but constructed scandals are not one is not of them.”

“Problems?”

“Spies, first. We have intensified our spying operations on the Tyrant’s headquarters, but apparently, so have the French. I would hate them learning what I already hide from Parliament.”

Jonas made a face. Spies were the bane of every government. And every military, as well.

“I’ve kept all parts of Agni well isolated, with only a handful of people knowing about all. Some things won’t be hidden, like the mobilization of our armies. If we are ready to pounce, it will be obvious. But there are a few bits that are crucial and must remain secret. I am moving most of the records to the Labyrinth, where at least no non-Professional can get at them.”

“Is that why the High Labyrinth Office now has its own headquarters?”

“Partly. The City Hall employees are good people, but even leaving your zone guides there for the teams might prompt the wrong questions. The Cores are now out in the open, but their original discovery and the trunk has to be secret as much as possible.”

“Including the mobilization of the Professionals.”

“That too, but it’s more of a dispersed thing. Thankfully, no one cares much about the Great Line, and Nindarul is not very popular so nobody notices all the pre-emption going on.”

“That’s good then. Which brings me to my original request.”

The Duke of Wellington leaned back in his chair, waiting for Jonas to start explaining.

“I know we’re an essential resource…”

“Useful, but not essential,” he corrected.

Jonas frowned. Seeing that, the Duke expanded.

“The War Office has been conducting… experiments.”

“With the Gate closing weapons, you mean? Her Highness mentioned something.”

“Well, she wasn’t briefed in full on that. But yes. We checked the weaponry we seized and managed to duplicate it. At a high cost, but it is doable. And we did close a Gate in the Labyrinth with one of those copies.”

“Oh.”

“Both to make sure we had a correct understanding of the closer – which we actually do not, we just know how to make one – and to see what happens on a closed Gate.”

Jonas leaned in instinctively.

“The destabilized Gate and its peer showed a descriptor, just like the Great Gate in London and the one in Grailburg. Using only a single gate closer seemed to do the work much cleaner – the Gate showed a higher integrity level when it closed. Or it might be because normal Gates are smaller than the Gilded Gates.”

“And we have a third type of Gate, with the trunk Gates,” Jonas noted.

“Not even going to attempt to test that one. But anyway, the experimental team just waited. The location picked was between two isolated tier-one zones, not used usually, and both had an exit through tier-two anyway.”

“It regenerated, like the Great Gate.”

“Indeed. And once it was at 100%, it did pretty much nothing. For seven weeks. The team wasn’t actually watching it when it occurred, so they couldn’t witness the full process, but the Gate descriptor vanished, and the Gate went back to normal.”

“So… we’re not needed.”

“Well, you are still very important. Nobody knows exactly how long it would take for the Great Gilded Gate to reconnect on its own, just that it would still take a long time. You can shorten that delay by a massive amount. But even if you were all killed by French saboteurs tomorrow, we now know we can get access to the Labyrinth again no matter what.”

“Well, that makes my question much easier. We want to help against the French. Maybe some of us didn’t lose that much in the attack last year, but London did suffer from their treacherous attack…”

“And you do want in on Agni. Directly, in an operational manner, not merely as scouts and guides.”

“We were ready to have some of us stand aside, to preserve the capacity to unlock Gates. But we owe to Jonathan and all the ones that died back when the Gate destabilized to bring the French to heel and make sure this never happens again.”

“I did set the bar high enough for a reason. As I said, we do have slightly better intelligence than we used to on the defences at the Chateau. And the goal is still to kill the Tyrant at least or his key people at worst.”

“Not to capture?”

“Can’t hold a tier seven Professional, not really. We thought we could hold his henchman in the Tower, and look where it led us. No. We need to take them out, and use the disruption for an all-out attack before the Dominion reorganizes. That's what happens with tyrannies when you don't have a proper succession or order. I might use you, but not on the assault itself.”

“Well…”

“It would take a hundred tier-three like you to take down a tier seven. And he has an entire team to assist him potentially if it’s there. Even mid-tier four is a small help, but not that much.”

“We can be mid-tier four by early 1820.”

“And you’re not going to get that much.”

“Uh?”

“We now have that new access in the upper tier. I’ve already redirect all the upper tiers there since they can get enabled for the trunk far faster than from your old zone. I can only stretch that much of my recruitment efforts. And at this point, I’d much rather speed up the time table rather than accumulate more teams. Too many spies sniffing.”

“You’re moving the assault? When?”

“Before this winter instead of after. No sense risking a winter campaign – the Professionals won’t care across the Labyrinth, but the conventional forces will. We all use Crystal Power for our armies, but the French’s Land Cruisers have the advantage in that kind of weather.”

“Do you have enough Professionals to do so?”

“I think so. Some of my staff had a bright idea, and that also helps. But the first rule of warfare is that you can’t have everything at the perfect time. Once I have enough, I have to strike the iron while it’s hot. So, early November or late October. I wish the last Skyship was launched and ready for the campaign, but I’ll do without it.”

Jonas almost swore but stopped himself just in time.

“Talk to Jack Millard of the British Scouts. Or Garrett Thorebourne. They’re both in charge of the assault on the ground. Garrett isn’t officially on the High Office roster, but you can get hold of him at his current company, Fortescue’s Valliants. Yes, two ‘l’. Don’t ask,” the Duke said.

Jonas realized that Millard telling him to ask the Duke wasn’t entirely random advice. If the two Professionals – and he could guess that Thorebourne would probably be well advanced in levels – were in charge, then he had to work it out with them. The Duke was, of course, going be focused on the Earth-side operations, which meant… what? Negotiating with seasoned Professionals instead of politicians? That did not seem like an easier trade-off.

Most of the team was restless in the early morning. Enormous pots of both tea and the rarer coffee were on the table at the Frozen Boar, as Jonas explained the change of plans.

“What the? He’s planning to attack in early November?” Jonathan blurted.

“The longer it goes, the more risk the French get a sniff of the plan. I mean, we knew the French were planning something in London last year. The teams deployed failed to anticipate everything, but we knew about something coming. If the French figure out we’re coming, and how, it’s doomed. They can set a blockade at the Gate between Argentmart and Brocarres and pick the teams one by one as they cross,” Jonas explained.

Alton raised his hand to interrupt, before adding, “But we now can participate.”

“The Duke says we’re still too low to be really useful. We can participate, but on the side-lines. Tackle mundane guards while the main teams go on to the assault.”

Jonathan sighed heavily.

“How do we qualify for better options?”

“The Duke implied that, unless we could get mid-tier four like the minimum, there’s no way they can work us in for the primary assault. That’s up to the commanders, but he’s talked with them extensively. And given that it will take us up to November to even be tier four, that’s pretty much impossible.”

“Bollocks. Levels take too long now. Once we’re tier four, the early levels will go fast, but the last of tier three are getting longer and longer.”

Jonas’ brow furrowed. The remark about early levels triggered something but what. Before he had any chance to think about it, Jonathan pounced on the idea.

“If being early in the Profession is all it takes to speed up levelling… why don’t we switch?”

“Uh? What do you mean?” Guss asked.

“We qualify for pretty much all of the tier-three useful for our builds. In fact, we qualify for quite a lot of other tier-three Professions.”

“Not that many,” Jonas countered, remembering the trunk Plaza.

“Oh. Maybe, since you are at the Adjustment V Milestone only. But you do qualify for the other Profession of your main build, the one we didn’t take. We all did already when we choose which tier three we wanted.”

“So, you’re suggesting we swap to our other choice. Which would put us at level 1 in a good Profession for our build, and shoot us in levels at fast speeds, and get us to tier four in, what?”

“Three weeks,” Jonas said, before explaining, “because also requires us to suffer one new round of Adjustment. Which is like bypassing an entire Milestone and its vitals.”

“Well, the goal is to get higher tiers as fast as possible, to get more vitals out of each level, right?” Jonathan countered.

“True. We are well ahead of anyone for the levels we have, but we slip further and further behind when it comes to the same tiers.”

“The only thing that matters is our preparedness for Jack Millard or that other guy,” he replied.

“Maybe. Millard, at least, sounded okay-ish when talked with him at the Plaza. In that case, we can get faster tier four for Laura, Guss and Alton. If you add the next Adjustment VI value with the fact that you three are only two Milestone from tier four… then yes. We might potentially get you three to tier four in three weeks. I’m only two levels from my Milestone, so it makes more sense to get that one in my current Profession before I switch the same as you did. But it will take a lot longer for the others…”

“You’re just behind, I understand, but what about Ira and Jonathan?” Laura asked.

Jonas turned toward the two Defenders.

“You two are early in your Milestone, so it makes sense to switch immediately, rather than finish that third or fourth. But you’re both in an awkward position in base Potentials. So you both need to do two Milestones in the new Profession rather than one.”

“Wait, what?” Ira said.

“You need exactly 14 more in Constitution for tier four. Adjustment VI will give you only 6, and each Milestone in Calculating Barrier gives you 7.”

“Dratted! One lousy Constitution point?”

“Well, yea. I’m sorry, gear doesn’t help. It’s just about the exact margin. One point changes everything there. And Jonathan may have one more Adjustment already, but he needs 15, not 14.”

“But we can switch over and get tier four faster?” Jonathan replied.

“Faster than mid-November? Sure. June or July for most of us, early August for you two.”

“So, what are we waiting for?”

Jonas thought about it, before cautiously answering.

“The thing is, even for normal Professionals, the Professions feed on each other. Like, for me, the Solid Aethershaper based on Strength I currently have does give me more Constitution anyway, and the Massive Aethershaper based on Constitution would give me Strength. So any normal Professional can do that same switch, even without Adjustment.”

“So why don’t they do it?” Guss asked.

“There must be a catch that I can’t see.”

“You should ask Babbage, I think,” Laura added.

“I will probably do that. If I can find him today,” Jonas answered.

“So we really are moving?” Ira said.

“Yes. Guss, you should probably check…”

“Will do.”

“But otherwise yes. We now have our own private compound. And a dining room, and bar and all that. So, let’s move.”

“Dwight will be disappointed,” Laura said, referring to the Frozen Boar innkeeper.

“I’ll settle with him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be truthful if I said it didn’t matter. Fact is, having the Adapted Team staying here made me a good run. People are always superstitious, they think being there make your luck rub on them.”

“Are we that lucky?”

“You are. That special Milestone marks you as fated ones, or so everyone thinks. Plus of course, you have the favour of every major Professional organization. I’m sure that’s you who told the Wellesleys about that Core thing.”

Jonas grimaced a bit, before acknowledging.

“Not exactly me, it’s Jonathan, but yea. We found that out.”

“Lucky.”

“Thanks. We’ll make sure to come for a good one from time to time, though. When the mess hall of the headquarters is a bit too familiar.”

The innkeeper laughed, before adding.

“Oh, and before you go, there’s been someone from the United States looking for you.”

“Who???” Jonas said, perking a little.

“Man didn’t leave a name. He’s one of them islander folks like in the Atlantic or the Africans. All black skin and weird hair, even if he looks like a real gentleman. But he was asking for the Adapted Team or their lead.”

“Oh,” Jonas said, deflating slightly. Not Sylvia, then.

“Told him you probably would be there this weekend, per the schedule you gave me.”

“Well, I will try to swing by this afternoon then. If he shows up, tell him I’ll be there.”