Interlude 8

Red Sands Desert, Republic Province of the Great Dunes

Trading town of Erakis, Northern Wasteland Expeditionary Force HQ.

"Well colonel. This is a…surprising development."

Colonel Orzal Vek, who was seriously starting to wonder if he should find a new line of work, rose an eyebrow at the fair haired and purple eyed woman seated in front of him. She looked to be definitely on the more petite side, but there was a solidness and assurance to her that almost made her seem bigger. Like she was absolutely confident in her decision and leadership. And, little as he would like to admit it, despite his cynicism even Orzal was affected by it, if only a little bit.

"I beg your pardon general?"

"Come on Orzal. How long have I known you? Fifteen years? Better make that twenty, actually. You've always been terrible at hiding the fact that you dabble in…behind the curtains operations. And quite frankly, given the recent business in the senate, as well as your…patronage, not to mention your sudden reassignment here, it doesn't take an adjudicator to join the dots."

Orzal lifted his mug and took a sip, before shrugging.

"Assuming that, for some reason, I was involved in covert operations in the region, you know I wouldn't be authorized to discuss them with you, unless specifically told otherwise general."

The woman's gaze hardened…but she nodded.

It was, after all, nothing but the plain truth. There had been a time when that wouldn't have been the case, where the proper chain of command would have been respected, but ever since the disaster in the Far Reach, officers' comissions and generalships had been awarded on merit, not just political influence or generous financial donations. And that meant that while the army's effectiveness had skyrocketed, so had the senate's distrust of it. There had always been some animosity between the politicians and their armed forces, but most of it was kept in check by having some fat cat senators or their relatives strewn about the entire structure, keeping the entire edifice loyal to the Republic, or more accurately it's how so humble and gracious senate. After the unmitigated disaster that had been the invasion of the Far Reach and its mountainous hellscape, the army had rebuilt itself on a more or less meritocratic basis. Oh it wasn't immune to political influences or the corruption that permeated every aspect of the Republic's society at this point, but it was no longer solely controlled by them.

And that meant that generals, however brilliant, were often kept in the dark about what more well connected, or loyal officers did, even their own supposedly direct subordinates. It was always explained in terms of 'need to know' or 'operational security', but in truth it was simple, brutal paranoia.

"I see. Well in that case, I'll have no choice but to speculate that the reason you moved here with only three of your four units is that the fourth one had a…misadventure, which might or might not have involved attempting to kidnap a dungeon core. And that the small core of 'unknown' and disposable soldiers that you kept on the side might have disappeared due to the same reasons, although a little bird whispered in my ear that some came back, and disappeared just as quickly as their comrades. Albeit in a bit of of a different fashion than the dear senate would have wished.

Orzal stiffened. He'd told no one -no one!- that he hadn't executed and 'disappeared' the two survivors of his 'jewels' unit as the senator had wished. And he'd been extraordinarily careful to make everything in his power so that his two subordinates made it out of the Republic safely and undetected, with cover identities so deep no one would ever find them again. Then he'd destroyed any paper trail or evidence, and almost hesitated to have it erased from his memories as well, although that would have required trusting a mage not to actually read the memories he wanted gone, and in the Republic, especially for a high ranking officer, that would be a non trivial challenge.

Besides, memory manipulation was a very tricky proposition at the best of times, even for such a minor erasure, and he'd rather not risk his life for something so relatively minor.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said plainly, internally wincing at the almost text book guilty response and robot like tone.

"Oh, of course you don't. Regardless, I doubt anyone else would have noticed, I just happened to have…contacts in some of the shipping conglomerates who just so happened to be watching for peculiar passengers, and accidentally noticed a pair that felt out of place. Your secret -provided there is one, of course- is safe with me colonel."

Orzal eyed the woman suspiciously, before relaxing slightly. Amelia Loveheart wasn't above blackmail -hell, she might be a paragon of virtue by the standards of the Republic, but she was far from untouched by its political games and corruption!-, but she also wasn't going to betray her word…or be crass about said blackmail. Most likely this was some kind of show of good faith.

"Alright. Now that we are done speculating about what may or may not have happened." He said, almost brusquely. "I assume you wish to talk about the future."

"My my, how astute? Yes, I very much wish to talk about the future. Notably, what you think is going to happen…and how you think my army is going to fare against the 'treacherous' Asarians who are, as we speak, undoubtedly massing their army in that new town, Rebirth, to come rampaging across the border."

The woman's voice was practically dripping with irony, and Orzal winced. Oh, he had little doubt that some of the populace bought that story, but truth was the Republic was far past the point where its propaganda, especially if it emanated directly from the senate, wasn't treated with a vast dose of skepticism by the vast majority of the population. And the higher you went up the echelons, the bigger the grain of salt it was taken with. It was part of the reason the senate was so careful for there to at least be a kernel of truth in all of its schemes, as those which had been completely made up and not…creatively misconstrued had an unnerving tendency to blow up in their maker's face.

Violently. There was a reason so many of the senators were worried about rebellions and enemies within after all, although a fair amount of that was their constant paranoia, there were a lot of people chaffing under their high taxes, capricious judgements, and overall corruption, and those people were only waiting for a spark to set the country alight.

"Well, and understand that this is purely my personal opinion." Translation, he'd tell her what he could without betraying his true intelligence. "I think you would be able to take out the town in its current state. However, that is unlikely to stay that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Our enemies aren't stupid, general."

"Of for the love of the Gods, call me Amelia."

"Right, of course. Regardless, as I said, as much as we might wish it to be, our enemies aren't drooling morons, far from that." Farther than he was prepared to admit actually. Digging into the leaders of the town and those associated with them was starting to give him some serious worries. Enough to fuel part of why he was thinking of a new line of work. A Master Merchant, an ex-Erisian special operative and a fucking Knight-Valiant?!? That was enough to give anyone nightmares, before factoring in the fact that they were seated on top of a link dungeon, and had the single most populous realm on the continent behind them. "And that means that they know what is coming. And they'll be doing everything to even the odds. Hiring mercenaries, shipping reinforcements, gathering allies, you name it, they'll do it."

"So, what you're saying is that we need to strike fast?"

"As long as we don't overextend ourselves, yes." He smiled at Amelia's questioning gaze. "Look, you never had any experience operating in or through the wastelands, I do, and believe me, just overstretching your supply lines, or taking an unprepared force through that inferno will be far more deadly than any normal enemies. Especially when moving an army. You'll need to travel carefully, in relatively small batches, lest you want to…awaken something you'd really rather not."

Amelia nodded at the not so oblique reference to the Sand Krakens, the abominations that haunted so many wastelands around the world, including the Red Sands Desert separating the Republic and the Kingdom. These creatures generally slumbered beneath the sands, but if a large enough concentration of people -essence, really, since the monstrosities didn't appear to need physical sustenance as most people understood it- came through their territory….well, they'd wake up. And kill everything in their path.

At least the old world ruins, not to mention the dungeon itself, should keep them at bay. For some odd reason the sand krakens were unwilling to approach either, and hopefully the 'repulsive' effect would be amplified by having both at the same spot.

Hopefully.

"I see. So careful preparations, but still move with haste whenever possible."

"Yes. Plus, let us be real, we will are already starting with an advantage in terms of build up, we can afford to lose some -not much, but some- time. Of course, that would prevent us from having enough troops to say, push to Darthar to further pre-empt the kingdom's aggression, but you can't have everything."

"Mmmhhh…" The general tipped back in her chair. The colonel made a valid point. What he'd just said was an oblique reminder that should the victory at Rebirth be too quick or devastating her forces would almost certainly be sent to siege Darthar by the same strategic geniuses that had ordered the invasion of the Far Reach.

And the end result would be very similar, she was sure. If Darthar had stood off the Eris Empire's Sky fleets as a city state, then there was no way her pitiful forces would manage to take it with the kingdom reinforcing it. Not to mention the little problem of how to besiege a walled city whose walls were impervious to any kind of artillery or bombardment thanks to an invulnerable energy shield.

"You make some very cogent points colonel." Said the colonel as she leaned forward once more. "And I thank you for your insights, they have proven…informative. Very much so. Very well then, I will formulate my strategy based on your recommendations. I can't truly tell you when we will be able to move out -that will depend a lot on my quartermasters it seems-, but I would be astonished if we will be able to earlier than within a month, honestly."

"I would personally think moving earlier than that to be folly, with all due respect gen-Amelia."

The general chuckled.

"Right, of course, and I will try to bear your concerns about proper preparations in mind as well. In any case, it has been a pleasure talking with you. Hopefully we will have the chance to meet and discuss again sometime. Especially should any other…unexpected events come up."

Orzal met her eyes…and nodded. It was pretty much an informal demand for reports on his more secret activities, and he knew that he really wasn't in a position to say no.

He exchanged a few more niceties with his nominal commanding officer, before shaking her hand and exiting her office, sighing internally.

It was credit to carrots that he'd be meeting with the senator soon. If there was anything he'd learned out of this mess was that him or his committee couldn't leave well enough alone. Which, given how horribly the last few operations had gone, wasn't an enticing prospect. In fact, he was amazed he hadn't been quietly 'retired' by now, given his failures…or rather, he would have been if he wasn't seriously starting to suspect that failure was exactly what the senator was looking for, especially how prepared he had been for the 'outrageous accusations' by the Asarian Kingdom.

This was going to be a very, very long month.