TFA2 1.6 - Tiger Leap

Main Meeting Room, Amethyst Merchant Marketing Complex.

10:12, 28 Sept 2025

After the meeting with Merry Gold Union, Lt. Colonel Slane did not leave the main meeting room. He stayed while study the last update about the Guests From East.

The last time he studied about their progress, they had succeeded in establishing four fort cities each of which was 100 km away, heading west to Terry Hill. And now, they have succeeded in establishing another three fort cities.

In short, the Guest From East had already advanced 600 km from east coast of Amstell Continent, or about one-third from the total distance before they could launch a serious ground offensive to Harley Quinn. And it was a solid and calculated marching. In contrast to the sloppy advance of Northern Coalition when they attacked Magwurt City.

TF Amethyst's higher-ups decided to stop the Guest From East by setting up Gandalf MOB, in a mountain range 500 km east of Harley Quinn. Then, they would wait for Amphibious Strike Group to enter the operational phase. After that, an offensive to east coast of Amstell Continent would be launched, or to the guests from the east's homeland if necessary.

Unfortunately, Major Petrov sent an intel that Kingdom of Makai would launch a retaliatory invasion on Kingdom of Buriek, right when Gandalf MOB fully entered operational status.

As TF Amethyst was low on equipment, spare parts, and ammunition, the situation became tricky. Fighting both Guest From East and Kingdom of Makai at the same time would be too heavy for current TF Amethyst.

The only option was to beat one of its opponents as fast as possible. And for now, the opponent within TF Amethyst's reach was Kingdom of Makai. The problem, if Kingdom of Makai refused to back down and got destroyed, it would disrupt the plans to make the kingdom as main market for Amethyst Merchant's commodities. So, consent from Lt. Colonel Slane was needed.

Last night, General O'Neil and Vex asked Lt. Colonel Slane to make an assessment of whether it was possible to exclude Kingdom of Makai from Amethyst Merchant's marketing plant, and Lt. Colonel Slane would only give the answer after a meeting with Northern Coalition and Merry Gold Union.

---

With a casual step, Vex passed four guards at the door and entering the main meeting room. Inside the room, he saw Kim Dong Ree and several Lt. Colonel Slane's security details were happily enjoying the leftover snacks from the meeting. Meanwhile, Lt. Colonel Slane was already in the isolated cubicle in one corner of the room.

As he recalled Lt. Kim Dong Chun’s message, Vex took the time to approach Kim Dong Ree. "Dong Dong, you'll get fat if you don't stop eating the pound cake."

"Shut up, Vex." Kim Dong Ree took a big bite on her pound cake before continuing, "Also, my name is Kim Dong Ree, not Dong Dong."

Vex took a slice of pound cake from the service table before asking, "Dong Dong, why are you so fierce? You'll never marry if someday Slane dumps you."

"He won't dare or he will die while trying."

Vex slightly smiled before saying, "Well, I just want to deliver a message from Lieutenant Kim Dong Chun. He is worried because you stopped calling him."

"I already told him that I would only call him when there is an emergency."

"I see." Vex nodded slightly, and then continued, "I don't mean to interfere with your personal life, and this is just a bit of advice from someone who doesn't have parents anymore. At least call your father once a month or a week, even if it is only to say a simple hello."

"I will try it."

"Good, and I truly thought that Dong Dong sounded very cute."

"As if."

As Kim Dong Ree rolled her eyes, Vex happily hurried to the isolated cubicle. Inside, the cubicle Lt. Colonel Slane was busy studying his laptop, while on the table before him stood a statue of a dove which was perched while carrying a wheat stalk in its beak. The statue was made of pure silver and has a dimension as big as an adult fist.

"Nice bird," Vex said as he closed and locked the isolated cubicle's door.

Lt. Colonel Slane nodded and said, "Yeah, a gift from Pavel Terrek. The value is about 500 thousand USD, but the meaning behind this gift is what we should appreciate for."

"I see."

Wasting no time, Vex then activated the curtain that fully closed the isolated cubicle from outside view, along with a counter-eavesdropping mechanism.

At the same time, Lt. Colonel Slane turned the main screen on. "I will connect us to General O'Neil."

"Okay," Vex replied as he sat in one of the chairs.

A moment later, the main screen in the isolated cubicle displayed General O'Neil, and he calmly said, "Let's start the meeting."

"Okay," Lt. Colonel Slane nodded before saying, "I already gave some delicious offers to Kandez Region and Regions around Desolate Land's entrance, that's more than enough to show our good intentions. So, if in the future they choose to side with Kingdom of Makai and even try to stab us, feel free to destroy them."

"Good, that will make our job easier," General O'Neil calmly said.

"I also already drafted a plan to buy food staples from Kandez Region as much as possible, around five times from what I had submitted to Osvik. So, if Kandez Region becomes hostile after we launch our offensive on Kingdom of Makai, at least we have secured the food supply for Kingdom of Buriek."

"I see," Vex nodded and said.

"As for Kingdom of Makai, yes, it is a market several times bigger than Kingdom of Buriek, but I don't mind if we let it go."

"Slane, are you sure?" General O'Neil curiously asked.

Lt. Colonel Slane firmly replied, "I'm. I mean, even if Kingdom of Makai disintegrated and civil war or territorial dispute break out, I believe there will be some Regions that are not dragged by the conflict and can receive Amethyst Merchant's commodities via Merry Gold Union.

Moreover, with a reduced supply of Iron ore, the price of military equipment will rise dramatically, so only war maniac nobles will throw their Regions into civil war.

Or, we can also exploit the civil war and give an assistant to Regions that rich with natural resource. Though this option will eat a lot of resources and need complex planning."

"Whatever it is, for our current circumstance anything is feasible as long as we don't need to fight two titans at the same time," General O'Neil then turned to Vex, "I need your opinion."

"The elements we temporarily deploy in Sandhur Region and Kingdom of Buriek are sufficient to buy some time." Vex paused for a moment before continuing, "So, we only need to launch a tiger leap on Makai Royal City. We can use Woodpecker MOB as a launching pad, considering that Makai Royal City is only 800 km away from this base."

"Then, I will move assets and personnel from Gandalf MOB to Woodpecker MOB as soon as possible." General O'Neil took a deep breath before continuing, "As for the Guest From East, we will let it advance to the west until we put Kingdom of Makai in our grip."

"One more thing," Vex said, "I already finished reviewing TF Amethyst's assets, so I will go back to earth tonight."

"Good." In an instant, relief was visible on General O'Neil's face.

Initially, Vex would need about three weeks to finish the review. He had to do it carefully because the result of the review would dictate the final posture of TF Amethyst and how they would fight in the most effective and efficient way. Not to mention that the addition of TF Amethyst's strength must also be based on the review.

But if he already finished it, it meant TF Amethyst had no fundamental problem with the asset, command system, doctrine, and basic tactics. In short, as long as TF Amethyst received the remaining asset, spare part, and ammunition, conventional warfare at Amstell Continent was no longer a challenge.

Vex then casually added, "I will also recruit the personnel and assets for deployment in Kingdom of Buriek."

"The new budget I drafted a week ago, do I need to revise it? I can finish it tonight," Lt. Colonel Slane said.

"No need." Vex slightly smiled and continued, "The deployment only consists of 6800 combatant and 8500 support personnel. Their equipment and weapon system were also already being covered under the new budget."

"Wait, why are the number of support personnel bigger than the combatant?" Lt. Colonel Slane curiously asked.

"Majority of the combatant is elite personnel capable of various missions and deployment, while the support personnel are designed for specific jobs. For example, mechanics for Humvee will not be able to handle a Chinook. And unlike ground vehicle where one maintenance crew can handle a dozen vehicles, every aerial asset has to be handling by one permanent ground crew.”

"I see."

"Well, without Vex around, I will have a lot of things to discuss with others. So, have a nice day, gentlemen," General O'Neil said before he cut the connection.

After a small talk with Lt. Colonel Slane, Vex then also leaved the meeting room.

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