Edward wasn’t overtly fond of conferences. There was nothing more boring than sitting around a table with a bunch of old generals rehashing the same tired tactics over and over again.

He hoped this one would be different.

The Stratospheric Guard MPs at the door saluted him. “London Defence Conference,” he said, showing his ID.

“Right this way, sir,” replied the first MP, punching in a code that let the door slide open.

Edward strolled in. Only a few of the invitees had arrived so far - made sense, he was at least half an hour early because he wanted to get the good seats.

Alas, they had fixed seating. The UK officers’ table was right next to the dias, with the French and Germans on either side, and the Americans towards the back - stupid idea, that. The Americans would be supplying a huge chunk of the equipment. They should be up front when he presented his report.

Speaking of Americans ….

There was a single officer at their table. A four-star general.

Normally, this wouldn’t mean much - most nations these days had at least five or six four-stars, the U.S. had nearly fifty. The U.S. European Command was headed by one such officer, General Tony Hagman, who also served as the commander of NATO forces in Europe. Edward had worked with him several times.

The general at the table wasn’t Hagman, though. The newcomer was tall, silver-haired, and wore a severe expression.

Might as well introduce myself, thought Edward.

“Good morning.” He extended a hand and a smile. “Edward Windsor, Royal Army. I haven’t had the pleasure of your acquaintance?”

The officer stood up and shook his hand. “Walter Xavier, U.S. Army. Nice to meet you, General Windsor. I’ve heard of you.”

“And I of you. Don’t you lead the U.S. Northern Command?”

“Yes. We had New York recently, so we learnt a few lessons there. Didn’t you lead the Liverpool defence?”

“I did. How did you handle the aftermath - the cleanup and the recovery? Anything that can support Liverpool or prep for London would be useful.”

“We have extensive documentation on that. I’d be happy to share it.”

Windsor nodded. “Say, isn’t Belessar from your area?”

“... Yes, he is.”

“He’s a good man. And your officer, Lieutenant Doyle - very effective, from what I recall.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that on, General.”

The American officer was definitely holding back something, thought Edward…. nonetheless, calling him out would be too rude. He’d put the matter on hold - for now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By evening, the presentations had wound down and General Fontaine had taken the podium for the last session of the day.

“We have commitments from the various forces to the defence of London,” he summarized, “as follows. The British Army, Navy and Air Force will focus their deployments in and around the city of London, with all foreign commitments and bases being stripped down to a minimum. NATO forces will deploy the bulk of their air power in the airfields near Calais, maintaining readiness to launch as soon as the shield is confirmed as breached. Four thousand fighters to reach London within twenty minutes of the breach. French, German and Irish troops and tanks will be stationed in bases within twenty kilometres of London, ready to motor into the defence of the city - all will be under the command of the Theatre Commander, London Defence, for the duration of the operation.

“The U.S. Navy will be stationing eight carrier strike groups and associated air and ground components offshore, ready to fly into London. This will constitute the bulk of NATO forces for the deployment.

“Additionally, allied troops from the Commonwealth nations of India, Australia, Canada and New Zealand will be stationed in bases in southern England. To avoid panicking the population, this will be labelled as a military exercise.

“In summary, to fight the alien attack, we will have six thousand five hundred fighter aircraft, two hundred forty-six surface warships with missile batteries, and close to a million soldiers of various nationalities.

“We now come to the session on ultrahuman forces available. I invite Admiral Scharnhost, planning coordinator for SURGE, to explain.”

The German naval officer who stepped up to the podium wasted no time getting to the point. “Fifty-seven of the top two hundred ultrahumans have been convinced to relocate to London for a period of six months,” he said, “either by directly contacting them, or by reaching out to them in their civilian identities. The remainder - excluding the out-and-out villains - have indicated a willingness to participate in the next raid, and we have identified pickup points for another seventy-two, as indicated in the dossier shared with all of you on page 6.”

“What about Belessar?” asked an officer in Italian uniform. “He is not in the list. He is not in the top two hundred.”

Scharnhost’s smile became fixed. “There is some debate about Belessar’s participation….”

“No debate,” interrupted General Edgar Curry, the British Chief of Army Staff. “It is the judgment of His Majesty’s government that Belessar was essential at Liverpool, and will be essential at London. We insist he be made available.”

“Apart from Belessar, there is no justification for a Traveler to be tasked to go to Tanisport,” said Scharnhost. “And we are desperately short of Travelers. We’ve sent them in the past because we could expect ten or more ultras from Tanisport, but now the active ultras are down to six….”

“And two of them are Belessar and Nanocloud,” said Curry. “If only those two show up, we will still designate a Traveler for Tanisport.”

“Then we have to drop a location.”

“You can drop Mumbai,” spoke Lieutenant-General Hargobind Singh, the Indian Army representative. “We’ll send our proposed ultrahuman contingent to London for the time period.”

The German officer stared at Singh. “Will your thirty ultrahumans agree to stay in a foreign country for an indefinite period of time?”

“For London? Definitely! The Brits will have to pick up the tab, though.”

“Why do we have to pick up the tab?” asked Curry.

“I suppose you could return the stuff you took from the Mughals, like we’ve been asking for a while,” replied Singh.

“We’ll bear the costs,” interrupted Windsor, before any of the other nations suggested that the idea might be reasonable. “And I recommend that a Traveler be specifically assigned for Tanisport - to pick up Belessar and Nanocloud, and any others who come with them.”

Scharnhost looked puzzled, but nodded. “Adding in the UK’s native ultrahumans, focusing on those who are willing to participate, we have an estimated three thousand ultras available for the defence, from nineteen countries.”

“How many is less important than what skills they bring to the table,” General Hagman commented. “At Liverpool, there were less than three hundred ultras deployed in total, yet it remains one of the most successful battles we’ve fought against the aliens.”

“We’ve factored that in,” Scharnhost said. “The major difference at Liverpool was that the ultrahumans were willing to fight in an organized manner. Work with the military, instead of at cross purposes. They respected the unified chain of command. For which the credit must go to the CO on the spot.”

Windsor felt mildly irritated as several other generals turned to stare at him. Scharnhost continued, “Considering the seriousness of the situation, we have to ensure that the ultrahumans follow orders. We have seen how effective ultrahumans can be when coordinating with regular forces at Liverpool…”

“Assuming they cooperate,” pointed out Lieutenant-General Bellas, the Greek representative. “They never follow orders. That was always the problem.”

Scharnhost’s expression didn’t waver despite the interruption. “We have reviewed the records of Liverpool, and found what we believe to be an effective solution. Assign a company of troops to assist each ultrahuman, and allow them significant operational independence - with the caveat that the company commander steers them towards relevant targets.”

“And what happens if the company commander can’t?” asked Admiral Dubois of the French Navy.

“For the ultras who are staying in the UK, we propose to have an officer assigned in advance to build a working relationship with them. Build friendships, engage with them based on common interests. The company commanders assigned are the ones who’ve been handpicked to build that relationship.”

“How do you know that will work?”

“It worked for Belessar,” said General Xavier. “Lieutenant Omar Doyle, the platoon commander, was ordered to build a stable working relationship with him. Between Doyle’s efforts and the camaraderie of the regular troops - who have been ordered to cooperate with him closely - they have been able to expand the relationship to more than just sporadic coordination. Belessar has helped with intelligence gathering, technological research, even medical aid.”

“That’s quite an achievement,” commented Singh. “Especially for one lieutenant.”

“The working relationship was further expanded by multiple officers up the chain of command - military intelligence and DARPA were also involved, so now Belessar has friendly relationships with PFCs and Colonels alike. But the unit commander is the linchpin. He plans the entire relationship and works to develop the asset. And slowly inculcates the ultra in how to work with the military.”

“Does that actually work?”

“Ultrahumans have very human emotions,” shrugged Xavier. “Rewards, like medals, get them to work harder. Friendships make them want to reciprocate. Belessar has saved the lives of men in that single rifle platoon many times over; and it’s all based on his personal friendships with them. I believe you saw the benefits of that at Liverpool.”

“It’s not that simple,” Windsor found himself saying.

The other officers were looking at him, again. “Go on,” Curry encouraged.

“I observed Belessar closely at Liverpool. Most ultrahumans, as General Bellas pointed out, only look out for themselves. Belessar appears to be focused on some greater objective, and willing to listen to sound advice.”

“Ultrahumans don’t listen to others,” Bellas agreed.

“Also, at Liverpool, most of the ultras didn’t have a coherent plan on how to attack the stadium. Nor were they willing to listen to us - who have the expertise - suggest one. When Belessar stepped up with a plan, I was grateful for the opportunity.”

“His plan was nothing short of lunatic,” Scharnhost said. “It was fortunate that it worked.”

“I wasn’t too impressed by the idea of chucking people over the walls with trebuchets either, Admiral. The important thing is, when he pitched it? You could see the reactions from the other ultras in the room. Half of them loved it at first sight.”

“Why?” asked Bellas. “It was crazy!”

“I’ve come to believe that most ultras are a little crazy. It’s their culture - larger-than-life, superheroes who single-handedly fight off armies, better than everyone else. We plan operations conservatively - seeking to preserve the lives of our men, minimize the risks, and plan for everything. Ultrahumans just charge in. No planning, a general attitude of punching their way through resistance, and an attitude of ‘we can take anything they throw at us’.

“What struck me, however, is that when Belessar proposed his plan, some ultras were all for it… and the others sort of followed suit. All of them wanted to be part of it, part of the glory. And it was an ultra pitching the plan, not a soldier, so they bought into it.”

“Ultras buy into the myth of their own invincibility,” added Fontaine. “Belessar’s plan gave them that - an opportunity to be glorious.”

“That is one of the reasons they followed, yes.”

“That’s all very good,” commented Dubois, “but how do we use this?”

“We create an informal chain of command for the ultras,” Edward said. “And we run it through Belessar - have him influence the rest.”

“Why him?” asked Dubois. “Why not one of the more powerful ultras?”

“Because he listens to us, and we can - in a manner of speaking - get the other ultras to listen to him. Plus, his sister Nanocloud - she has the ability to monitor the entire battlefield herself. And communicate with everyone simultaneously.”

“Comms are critical,” Dubois agreed, “but most ultras won’t understand that. Still, shouldn’t we go with a higher-ranked ultra?”

“You mean one with a higher rank on the leaderboards, right?”

“Yes. At New York I understand Dr. Magnetic was in charge of the defence.”

“And at Liverpool, Chikaradzuyoi’s endorsement made a huge difference to Belessar’s plan being accepted. I agree. The trouble is, the ultras near the top of the leaderboards aren’t that good at coordinating and following orders. We’ve seen that happen before.

“Belessar, on the other hand, does know how to listen. So, we use runners.”

“Pardon?”

“Before radio, orders used to be conveyed from commanders to their subordinates by runners. The runner would be an enlisted man who would have to narrate orders to a much higher ranked officer; so they had a format for saying it.”

“Commander’s compliments, sir, and he requests you to move your unit into the line of fire,” Curry remarked deadpan. “Worked well, even for the Light Brigade.”

“We still communicate by radio, but we have an NCO - or an officer - designated as runner for each ultra. Give them a sense of their importance, and have the orders delivered as suggestions. Articulate each order with an explanation of how that particular ultra is the only one who can save the day - by doing what we are ordering.”

“That’s a pretty tough ask in the middle of a battle,” remarked Fontaine.

“We’ve nearly a million men who’ll be going into the fight. Having a few hundred smart NCOs assigned as runners won’t be much of a challenge; and if we can actually get the ultras to coordinate, then it’ll be worth it. I’d request the most socially adept NCOs from each country to be assigned to their nation’s ultras.”

“It’s a bold idea,” said Singh. “The Indian Army will be happy to offer.”

“Yes, we all know you have troops to spare,” joked Major-General Lars Olsson, commander of the Norwegian Army.

Singh shrugged. “We do have the largest standing army amongst the free nations of the world. Size does matter, after all.”

“Let us return to the topic.” Scharnhost sounded irritated. “How would we communicate this informal chain of command to the ultras? Why would they follow the same? And what would place Belessar - the one who listens - in charge of them in the first place?”

“We don’t make it explicit,” Windsor replied. “We’ll have to play the whole thing like a fiddle.”

“Politics in the battlefield gets good men killed.”

“Politics at Liverpool saved lives. We can’t very well tell the ultras the plan in detail - not that they’d bother to read an ops order. So, we massage egos, play the game, and keep them focused on their goal - personal glory.”

“And if they retreat like cowards when they’re most needed?”

“Use the journalists for that. Let them know who’s going in and who’s running away.”

The room went silent for a moment.

Xavier was the first to speak up. “You’d transmit live details of a military operation in progress?”

“We’d do that and more, if it forces them to behave. The aliens won’t have time to use our news media to relay actionable information to their troops - but pressure from their fans will force the ultras to stand and fight.”

“SURGE contracts prevent us from using drone camera feeds for this purpose,” pointed out Fontaine.

“We don’t need the drones, we have Nanocloud. She’ll be in the support tent, sharing information on ultra moves and monitoring the battlefield, and a couple of picked press officers will be with her - relaying the information of who’s brave and who’s a coward to the reporters.”

“The aliens could hijack your information to ambush the ultras….”

“I hope they try. I’d love to see a Sarnak patrol walk into the crosshairs of a tank squadron. Whose locations will, of course, not be mentioned in any of the press reports.”

“I believe we have the beginnings of a plan of action,” Curry spoke up. “I suggest we have a smaller working group - perhaps eight to ten officers - work out a detailed operations plan for the ultrahuman deployment, and nominate General Windsor to chair the working group.”

“Seconded!” cheered Singh.

As the other officers all started to nod or make signs of agreement, Edward felt only a mild irritation. He’d been hoping to avoid even more committee work….

As the attendees broke up for dinner, Windsor decided to stay back from the main throng of the buffet. Too much jostling. Especially considering that it was British food.

It looked like the Americans were not too fond of it, either. General Xavier was standing off to the side, surveying the buffet line with the disdain normally merited by a cloud of poison gas.

Well, growing up royal had taught Edward the importance of networking.

“Evening, General Xavier. I hope the cuisine isn’t too off-putting.”

The General acknowledged his words with a slight nod. “I’m afraid I’ve no stomach for a heavy meal right now.”

“Understood. Long journey, longer day.”

“That must be it.”

“What do you think of our readiness?”

Xavier shrugged. “We won’t know if it’s enough until the aliens actually hit the ground.”

“That’s true of every battle. At least with this one we have warning.”

“Do we actually know that London is up next? And that there won’t be another attack before that, somewhere else?”

“Three separate precognitives have provided corroborating evidence since Belessar’s prediction.”

“Which ones?”

“Kaleidoscope claims London is ‘red’ for the next three months - that’s her description of a city, or area, in a heightened state of danger. Another precog, Structural Stability, has the ability to see when a building will suffer structural damage in the future; he’s checked seventy buildings in London randomly and predicted most will collapse within the year. Lifetime Value is an ultra who can see how much more money people will earn in the rest of their lives; we’ve had her check about a hundred Londoners randomly, and almost a quarter of them won’t earn more than three months’ pay.”

“That’s a … creative use of powers.”

“We have less, so we try to use them more. Precognitives are exceedingly rare.”

“That’s true. Do you really think the ultras will follow Belessar?”

“We’ll have to hope they do. He’s our best chance for a coordinated counterattack.”