Closing Moves, Part 1
The Eastern Caucasus - June 29
“Come on, we don’t have all day!” Gebhard barked at the soldiers going through their final equipment checks and drills. “Put your backs into it! There’s no room for failure!”
The camp was much smaller today, yet Gebhard saw twice as much activity. They had left the civilians behind to the southwest, for their own safety. Everybody here was everybody they needed for tomorrow’s operation.
Except for the small task force Thea requested, but we can work with one fewer helicopter.
“Hey, Gebhard.” Shayan waved from a nearby tent. “We’re just about ready to start the meeting. The others are here.”
“Got it, Shayan,” Gebhard said, “I’ll be right there.”
He walked over to Shayan.
“You know, you’re going a bit too hard on them,” Shayan said.
“We need to maintain discipline, in the absence of everything else,” Gebhard said, “Everything’s riding on tomorrow.”
“If you stress everyone out, they’ll fall apart. Take it from me.”
They took their seats at the table with the rest of the governing council.
“This meeting is now called to order,” Izinchi said, “Let’s get right to it. Shayan, I’d like you to reiterate to us our strategy.”
“Of course, Ms. Ochimeca,” Shayan laid out a map of Baku on the table. “As you can see, Baku lies on the Absheron Peninsula, which sticks out eastward into the Caspian Sea. In the last century, this area produced nearly a third of the Reich’s oil. By the 1970s, though, most of those oil fields had been fully depleted, and production shifted to Arabia, leading to significant labor unrest there. But Baku still produces oil. Just twenty years ago, a new oil field was discovered in the Caspian, revitalizing Baku’s oil industry. As a result, the majority of currently operating refineries in Baku are based in the eastern parts of the city, near the Caspian shoreline. Our objective is to secure those refineries with minimal damage to the infrastructure.”
“However, due to their location on the Absheron Peninsula, that necessarily means we will be going through the city itself before reaching them,” Börte said, “The enemy is aware of this. The peninsula is narrow, making for a good chokepoint. Baku’s Crusader garrison may be small and isolated, but the geography will prevent us from taking advantage of it. Which is why we will not be attacking the Crusaders head-on. General Remmele?”
“My forces will attack the enemy’s defensive line and create a diversion,” Gebhard said, “We will lure the Crusaders out to the west, where the geography favors us more and the Yavdians can reinforce us. Simultaneously, the Persians will attack from the Caspian Sea onto the eastern edge of the Absheron Peninsula.”
“I’ll take the special forces units from all three armies and have them secure the refineries, then push west to hit the garrison from behind,” Shayan said, “We will turn the geography against them.”
“If we move according to Thea’s plan, all should fall into place,” Gebhard said.
“Thea’s plan, you say?” Igre narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure we can trust a civilian?”
“According to the recon teams, everything checks out, Lieutenant Gurkani,” Börte said, “I was just as surprised as you were when they got back to me. But their findings match Thea’s description. I don’t know how she got ahold of all that intel, seeing as she’s confined to a hospital bed, but it’s accurate.”
“I see no reason to doubt it,” Shayan said, “And I saw crazier stuff on April 2.”
“We just have to keep doing as we always do,” Gebhard said, “It’s how we got this far, haven’t we?”
Börte nodded. “Yes, I agree. This is no different from Taurica. We’ll get through this.”
---
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Billy looked at the metal frame and steel cables that reached along the length of his arms. He stretched, feeling the heavy exosuit pull back against him. Then he tried throwing a punch. A light whirring and clicking came from the main power unit on his back, and suddenly the exosuit moved with his fist, adding extra momentum to his punch. The extra force nearly threw him off balance, but he caught himself in time.
From a nearby hospital bed, Thea nodded. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. Right, August?”
August rolled his eyes. “Thea, I'm a doctor, not a military technician. I get you can’t do it yourself, but why make me do it?”
“I needed someone with a steady and precise hand.”
“But I’m not a surgeon.”
“Close enough.”
“So, can I get one too?” Ruby asked.
“Sorry, but I need to keep the other one with me,” Thea said, “I’ve got a great idea for it, and I need August’s help on it.”
“An idea that is, frankly, extremely dangerous,” August said, “Why must you always disregard everything I tell you?”
“Anyways, Billy, I’d appreciate it if you could get me some good combat data tomorrow during the special ops,” Thea said, “It’ll go a long way towards helping my own project.”
“And what
is this project?” Billy asked.
“Oh, you’ll see when I get there,” Thea said, “Oh boy, Alexandra and Magnus are going to be
so surprised when they get back…”
Outside Frankfurt
“Target sighted.” The building in front of the rebel Binar Qazai looked nothing out of the ordinary. If not for the patrols of Hellhound drones roving around the entrances and the constantly buzzing aerial drones circling overhead, she would have thought this was just another office building. But according to the tyrant general, this was where the Panopticon servers were hosted. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Commander Ludolf and Sergeant Moritz. She was sure they were watching her back.
“Are we positive this is it?” Ludolf said. “I do not want to waste ammunition on the wrong target.”
“Yes, we shouldn’t,” Moritz said, “You can’t trust anything a heathen says.”
“Excuse me?” Binar said.
“Enough, Sergeant Moritz,” Ludolf said, “We are under a truce right now.”
Moritz crossed his arms. “Commander, with all due respect, you know the instant the truce ends, they will stab us in the back, right? Like they’ve always done, time and again, in Friedrich’s time, in Saint Wilhelmina’s time, in the Anarchy, in the Great War…”
“Moritz, you are out of line!” Ludolf raised his voice. “I apologize, Ms. Qazai.”
Binar continued looking at the compound. “Save your breath for something you truly mean,
shaytan. Let’s focus on the mission. It seems the majority of security here are drones.”
“I see no human guards,” Ludolf said, “Do you, Moritz?”
“No, I do not,” Moritz said, “If there are, then they make up a minority.”
“Then that could be our way in,” Binar said, “Do you have any way of hacking those things?”
“Normally, Hellhounds and other Crusader drones would be configured for autonomous operation,” Ludolf said, “But if we had a scenario that required direct control of a drone, we can connect our Panopticons to them.”
“Good, then do that.”
“I can’t right now,” Ludolf said, “General Dandolo disabled the option when he took our P’s offline.”
“Then call him up and have
him do it.”
“Why should we take orders from you?” Moritz said.
“Thought you guys
wanted your Panopticons back,” Binar said, “It only benefits you.”
Why am I even suggesting this? I can’t give them this much firepower. Binar thought about the other rebels in her group.
I know what those Hellhounds are capable of. She recalled a hundred incidents, a hundred deaths over the last two years as the Crusaders hunted down her comrades, the last of the previous wave of insurgencies that had very nearly freed the western provinces from Jerusalem.
Oh, who am I kidding, we were nowhere close to doing that. The French kept killing each other, the Basques cared only about themselves, the Andalusians were too far away, and the Hibernians were stuck on their island. By the end of the crackdowns, Berlin had replaced the human Crusaders pursuing them with drones. And this was before the war started moving men to the east.
They thought us worthless enough to not even waste Crusaders on. Not human enough. She remembered the screams of her colleagues, the cracking of bones, and the whirring of sawblades.
So why am I now helping Crusaders get more of those damned drones?
“She’s right, Moritz,” Ludolf said, “We can use the drones against Moria.”
“But it could be a trick!” Moritz said. “You know as well as I do that’s what
they do!”
Ludolf lost his patience. “If it
is a trick, then explain to me, right now, how this benefits them instead of us!”
“I…” Moritz’s face remained angry, but his mouth couldn’t find anything to say. “Uh…you see…if you look at it this way…”
“That settles it. I’m calling the general.”
Ulm
“And you’re sure?” Heinrich said.
“Positive, sir,” Ludolf said, “By taking control of the enemy’s drones, I believe we can not only minimize casualties but add valuable assets to our forces.”
“Yet you would be bringing your Panopticons back online,” Heinrich said, “I disabled every Panopticon under my control for a reason.”
“I knew there was a risk,” Moritz said.
“Did you say something, Sergeant Moritz?” Heinrich said.
Moritz snapped to attention. “Uh, no sir!”
“Good.” Heinrich turned to Frederica. “What do you think, Frederica?”
“I think we should go for it,” Frederica said, “We need more firepower to take on Moria. And after we secure the servers, we won’t have to worry about Panopticons being at risk anymore. We can safely commandeer more drones.”
“Sir?” Ludolf said. “We’re not going to get a better chance.”
“How is the security of our network?” Heinrich asked. “I need to be sure we are in the clear.”
“As long as we maintain separation from the main network, we should be fine,” a technician said, “Though we need to be careful with the configuration of the drone connections.”
Heinrich nodded. “As to be expected. I will review the configuration myself.”
“So we are a go?” Ludolf said.
“Yes,” Heinrich said, “But hold off and scout the area today. We will send you the proper configuration tomorrow. Do not engage before then.”
“Understood, sir.”
“That will be all. Thank you, Commander Ludolf. Dismissed.”
Ludolf hung up.
“Well, let’s get to it, then,” Heinrich said, “Get me that configuration by 1700 hours.”
“Yes, sir.” The technician saluted and left.
“I sure hope this works,” Frederica said.
“Me too,” Heinrich said.
---
The name Binar Qazai was initially supposed to be used for a new character in Samir’s circle, as someone rescued from one of Jerusalem’s concentration camps, but that role went to Igre, so I reused the name here.
