Chapter 108

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

Dungeon Factory, Command Center Corridor.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Said Alexandra as she waved off the vampire girl and sat upright. "I just got a bit…out of control."

"Out of control? You ran through one of the doors!" Emilia threw her hands up. "So once again, what the hell happened?!?"

"I…" Alexandra sighed. "That woman, on the screen? The one in the armor?"

"Yeah?"

"She's the one that commanded the people who captured me. Who took out my party."

Silence descended upon the corridor, broken only by the hurried steps of the praetorian guard squad responding to the door breach.

"Ah." Simply said Emilia. "So you were heading out to kill her."

"You're assuming I would have allowed her to get the easy way out." Alexandra sighed. "But yes, effectively. I've…calmed down."

"Yes, crashing face first into the ground will do that to you."

Alexandra blinked, and looked around, only to realize that she'd just dropped like a puppet with its string cut when her other self had pulled her into the simulation.

"I suppose so." Alexandra gritted her teeth and got up. "Alright. So, I'm still getting that bitch."

"Attacking straight up would-"

"Be a bad idea I know." Alexandra smiled to soften the harshness in her tone…while wondering if the young woman she loved, the one she was going out of her way to avoid hurting her feelings, was here as her guard, the person with the button to blow her core to smithereens if she stepped too far out of line. "But fortunately, we've just started making a stealthy golem, haven't we? Well, I suppose its time to see if we can turn a messenger into a spy."

"You want to…spy on her?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong, this will end with that bitch's head on a spike. But there's no reason I can't gather as much intel as I can before that happens."

She could see Sarah nodding in approval in the corner of her vision.

"I suppose that's fair. But…Alex, are you sure you're alright? You're feeling…strange."

Alexandra suddenly realized that the vampire girl could feel her emotions through their links, and took a deep breath, silencing her doubts about her advisor.

"I'm fine. I just have some things to chew through." Alexandra cracked her neck, or at least the gesture would have if she had spinal discs to crack. "Alright, let's get to work." She smiled wolfishly. "I want that bitch drawn and quartered ASAP."

"As long as it doesn't make you take too many risks."

"Relax, when is the last time you've seen me act irresponsively?"

Emilia's dubious look was all the answer needed, and Alexandra sighed.

"Alright, I'll watch out. Besides, it’s a question of finding dirt on a merc and burying her, with how many skeletons these kind of scumbags have, it should be a relatively simple endeavor."

"Right."

*****

"You do realize that all of this is…concerning." Said Dominique as she raised her mug of tea to her lips.

"Yes, I do realize. But I -and Crystal, let's not forget- have done everything in our power to assuage the guild's concern. Quite frankly, if this is not sufficient, nothing will ever be."

Dominique chuckled, taking a sip from her mug.

"Don't worry, the guild master, not to mention his own bosses, understand the efforts you are making to accommodate our concerns. If you hadn't I would have been far more strident, believe me." The guild attendant sighed. "It just a mess. This is…almost unprecedented."

"Almost."

"Well, yes, but ever since the UDC came to be, there has been no need for dungeons to ally with surface dwellers and take part in surface wars. Honestly we would have been far more suspicious of it hadn't been Crystal that had initiated contact. That and we've had ample and incontroversible evidence that she has been under serious attack, what with the one our guildmaster helped stop and the entire dungeon self destructing." Dominique winced. "We are not keen on having the dungeon close again for weeks on end for repairs."

" 'We'?"

"The guild." Dominique chuckled. "Now that I am liaising with you and being a neutral observer of a military operation, I am technically a full representative of the adventurers guild. And guildmaster Starvak has been coaching me on the proper forms for that."

"Right. Say, I've been planning something of a shopping trip with Pyn to get my mind off of recent events, and to gear up for a dungeon delve. Would you care to join us?"

"Sure." The attendant chuckled. "I do hope it doesn't end up like your previous shopping trip however, fighting sand spirits and a demon."

"I'll endeavor to have it be calmer." If nothing else this time she wouldn't bother going incognito, with an entire squad of guards at her back…and two of Trira's assassins shadowing her, just in case. "And also dedicated to adventuring equipment only."

"Well, if you manage to convince your girlfriend."

"I can be firm with her."

Dominique didn't even bother with a verbal answer, her look said it all.

*****

"I beg your pardon?"

General Amelia Loveheart wasn't in the habit of having people repeat themselves, but this time sheer surprise made her blurt out the words.

"I said that I have received critical intelligence." Repeated colonel Orzal Vek. "Several sources, both trusted and…less reliable, have stated that Rebirth has started construction on an airship docking tower."

There was no need to mention that his 'trusted' sources were basically commercial espionnage established in Gorromar itself, and had only stumbled upon the information by pure chance, as well that the 'untrusted' sources were spouting complete nonsense like the dungeon having allied with the town.

"That…changes everything."

Orzal raised an eyebrow, and the general laughed harshly.

"Right, you probably think it is important, but you don't quite realize how important." Continued Amelia.

"Well, they will be able to dock their airships more easily, and in greater numbers."

"Not just that. Gorromarian towers come with logistics handling systems, and air defenses. Now, that doesn't mean those military worshipping psychos will sell them said anti air systems, but unless they're terminally stupid they'll still put artillery in the emplacements. And that means that, effectively, we'll have a fortified, secure docking space for resupply ships to quickly unload troops, weapons and all manner of things, that we can't possibly hope to attack."

"I see…why not blockade the whole city then?"

"Blockade? With our ships?" The general chuckled. "A blockade requires several things: enough ships to generate an interception on every possible enemy approach…and enough firepower in any given interception group to survive a breakout by the enemy's fleet or, you know, beat the incoming fleet. We have the former, not the latter. I could spread my ships out to intercept any incoming ships, but only by separating them into squadrons small enough for even the local airfleet to shred them, and let's not even mention reinforcement battlefleets. Remember, the kingdom might have a shitty air fleet, but they've just hired Grant the fucking Giant and his fleet to cover their northern border. Not to mention, this town is backed by Elkaryos, a member of the Omega consortium, the second largest weapons manufacturing and airship building conglomerate in the world. So no, a blockade isn't possible."

"Ah. I hadn't considered that."

"You're special ops and intel, not strategic command, it's not your job to consider these things." The general got up, and started pacing back and forth behind her desk. "Without a blockade, our next best solution would have been raids on their airfield. Without a tower to safely dock at, they would have to spread the airships over a vast area, which they couldn't possibly cover with artillery, and offloading would be slow, giving us a large window of opportunity. And like their fleet could overwhelm our blockade squadrons, we can mass enough airpower to overwhelm whatever picket they might have had."

"Right, because they couldn't possibly keep all of their warships up in the air all the time."

"Exactly. They need maintenance, resupply, all of those things. Besides, taking off from an airfield like that takes time and coordination, both of which they won't have against a surprise night air raid. But with a tower? Our ships might approach it stealthily, but they could locate it in the middle of this mesa mess, smack dab in the center of their defensive perimeter. Our ships would get spotted minutes before they could get in range to attack the tower, largely enough time to have the duty crews man their guns, and even get everyone at battle station. Then it'd be a slug out fight against a fortified tower built by Gorromarians. That's a losing proposition at the best of times, let alone when sandwhiched between the tower and whatever artillery they have on their defensive perimeter. And with the quick detach available from the tower, their warships could either intercept us short, or wait and pin us against the tower."

Orzal looked at the general, a hint of respect and even admiration entering his eyes. He didn't dislike Amelia per se, but there was no doubt after his discussion with the senator that the senate didn't trust her. And he could see why. She was good at her job, and charismatic enough to command the respect and the obeisance of her troops.

That meant that if, say, the senate was to order said troops to arrest her, they might simply decide to side with their commander, in full knowledge of what it would mean.

Fortunately, that eventuality was unlikely. First and foremost because if they rebelled they'd be at the end of a very, very long and suddenly cut supply line, caught between the fortifications at Novarch and the Asarians at Rebirth, but also because a regiment of the senate guard was on its way. Their loyalty was beyond question, and they would take over the fortress at Erakis and its supply dump as soon as they arrived, making sure that any…adventures, per say, would be short lived.

"So, what you are saying is that any prolonged siege would be impossible?"

"Yes. Although I would like to avoid a true, drawn out siege regardless. They are sitting on a dungeon core, and we don't really know what force the kingdom could mass to relieve the town before we get reinforcements. We know the royal army definitely doesn't have that kind of manpower, but what about the duchy of Sarth? Or hell, Sunrise? They're far off but they have a substantial airfleet of their own."

Orzal nodded. The problem with the kingdom was always that it was absolutely huge, and had it been united it would have been able to crush the Republic like a fly. That's why the Republic had ended the first war with Tark so hastily, the threat of a unified kingdom from the north had simply been too much to ignore. But in the century and half since then royal power had waned and without the support from their nobles, the crown had but a shadow of its former military force. Predicting the cut throat currents of the kingdom's internal politics and thus getting accurate force assessments was more an artform than a science at the best of times, and here with a dungeon core on the line it became borderline impossible.

"So, it limits our options."

"More than that, it cripples them. With that tower they'd be able to get fast resupplies from Darthar whenever they wanted, while we'd still be depending on land convoys through the wasteland. We would have overwhelming numerical superiority, but that doesn't necessarily mean much when assaulting a terrain dotted with those damned mesas. We can only jam so many soldiers between them or send people to climb them after all. So a frontal assault without sieging down their fortifications with artillery would be a bloodbath. Unless…"

"Unless?"

"A lightning air raid would work against their airfield, but it should also work against the tower construction site." Amelia made a throw away gesture as she turned her back to the colonel, contemplating the map on the wall of her office. "Oh don't get me wrong, we wouldn't be able to destroy the entire site or stop the construction entirely, but we could slow it down enough to make sure it wasn't operational, even if only partially, when the main force arrive."

"That's…risky."

"It is. But sometimes you have to take risks to get results." The general turned back towards the colonel, smiling. "Thank you for this information Orzal. You might have just saved a lot of our men today."

"Thank you gen-Amelia."

Orzal bowed slightly…and didn't mention that he had only given her that information because the senator had authorized him to. Although he was fairly sure he would have found a way for an 'anonymous tip' to make its way to her otherwise. He was just lucky his political master hadn't been terminally stupid on this issue.

This time, at least.