playwars

Chapter 251 - Parley

Added 2024-04-18 16:00:14 +0000 UTC

Note : Chapters 252 and 253 have been written and added to the queue. By the Gods do I hate patreon's text editor, it's borderline unusable now.

Chapter 251

Red Sands Desert, Duchy of Sarth

In Flight

"We are approaching enemy visual range. Are you sure about this ma'am?" Said Subtlety, as Alexandra looked up from the holographic display, smiling at the AI.

"This isn't a stealth op. I don't care about the advantage of total surprise. There'll be surprise aplenty later. This? This is psychological warfare."

"If you say so ma'am. All launchers are loaded and ready to fire, on your command."

"Excellent. Then lower our speed, send the raiders forward. Let's haul the flags of truce, see if Sunrise wants to talk. And CQ?"

"Yes mom?"

"If they betray the truce, shoot first, ask questions later. This meeting isn't guaranteed by anyone."

"I'll order the cannons loaded with cannister shot."

"Thank you."

"Do I get to pull out Kara?"

"No. Let's reserve that little surprise for when their archmage gets uppity." Alexandra smiled. It wasn't a particularly nice one, and CQ matched it in spades. "Now, we have some slaver scum to talk to."

*****

Alexandra snickered as she watched Sunrise's delegation gathering under the flag of truce.

"I'd forgotten about that." She nodded towards the leader, the so called 'duke of Lorenz'. "I mean, a codpiece? Seriously?" She chuckled outright. "It's ridiculous!"

"Uh uh." Emilia gave her girlfriend a sidelong look. "Some people like that."

"Yeah, right. His ego, certainly. Seriously, this is hugely impractical for armor."

"You're one to talk." Said Emilia, with a pointed glance at her girlfriend's cleavage.

"Okay, first off, I didn't put it there."

"Oh yes, of course, foolish me to assume you could have fixed it in all the time you've had it, it's not like you've built power armor, tanks and your own battlefleet after all. Silly me, a suit of armor without a large window showing your breasts is truly beyond your capabilities, oh mighty terran engineer."

Alexandra took a deep breath.

"So, you're saying I should cover up? Lose you some of the eye candy and, ah, 'access' you make so ample use of when I'm trying to take off the rest of the armor?"

"Well, I didn't say that."

"Glad we are in agreement. Now. Let's see if these maniacs are willing to die for their cause."

"I notice you didn't say 'willing to surrender'."

"They're not going to. This piece of theater isn't for their duke, it's for the officers."

"Why?"

"The morale of their slave troops is irrelevant, because of the brands. But…you've seen the reports of the slaves' debriefings."

"They're tied to their commanders, right?"

"Exactly. They needed tactical flexibility, otherwise there'd be no way to fight a battle, or no need for officers for that matter. And while their soldiers' morale is irrelevant, their officers' isn't. And they're not all mustache twirling villains. As much as I hate to admit it, most of them are just…people. That doesn't absolve them of responsibility, but it also means we don't have to just slaughter them wholesale." Alexandra sighed. "I'd…I'd never have considered that without Ghost, honestly. Plus, there has to be some decent people, like the one we spared from the prisonners. We just need to find them, and apply pressure."

"You want to use them to break the army."

"Yes."

"Why? To save the slaves?"

"Yes and no. We're also running out of time. That Erisian fleet? Something is going on behind the curtains, something we don't know about. Given everything that has happened, I can guarantee you we'll have to fight that fleet. We're already fighting a war on one front, a proxy war on the other, I can't afford to fight off the largest nation on Alcheryos on top of that."

"Or the UDC."

"Or the UDC, yes." Alexandra flicked a glance at Emilia, who sighed.

"You've only ever defended yourself, even if just proactively. If the other dungeons can't accept that…"

"What about your family?"

"They'll…stay neutral. I think. At least at first."

"At first?"

"Most of them agree with you. Moreover, my parents agree with you, and they rule the Westerna Marches."

"Good. Because I'm afraid we're going to need their help."

"You could, well…"

"Unleash my high technology? Yes. But that's a last resort." Because she was more or less certain she'd have to fight the Custodians once she did. Well, 'fight', at the point she was it would more 'be nuked from orbit without being able to do anything about it', but she was working on that. Well, Ghost and Seraph were, but the point stood. "Let's try to finish this the old fashioned way before we pull out the railguns."

"Ah! 'Old fashioned way' she says. You're deploying weapons even the Hegemony hasn't mastered yet!"

"True. But when I start deploying the weapons I have mastered on Earth, even the Eris Empire will weep."

Emilia nodded.

"I suppose, yes." The Raider landed, and the vampire girl looked at the dungeon core. "Come on, show time."

Alexandra nodded, and yelped as her girlfriend slapped her rear. She barely felt anything through the armor, but it was the thought that counted.

She hopped out of her avatar, and focused her full attention on her ambassador golem.

In a second, she was hundreds of kilometers away, looking as the gangplank was lowered to the ground.

Four golems went in front of her. Two were marines, honor guards of sorts, covered in heavy armor and 'state of the art' weaponry.

The other two held banners. One for the heraldry of Rebirth…another for her own.

And the Kingdom's heraldry nowhere to be seen.

As she went down the plank in turn, she saw that the message was received loud and clear by the other side. Sunrise was feudal, after all. Heraldry and banners were everything to them.

A flunky stepped forward to greet her, and she walked past him without even slowing down. One of the delegation's knights stepped forward, but stopped as the duke gestured.

Alexandra came to a stop in front of him, and he inclined his head. She did the same, after a small pause.

"Lady Crystal." Said the duke. "What is the purpose of this meeting?"

"Duke Falmagar of Lorenz. It is remarkably simple. I came here to negotiate terms."

The duke looked at her ships.

"I assume not yours."

"You assume correctly."

"Why would I possibly want to surrender to you?"

"Because you are outmatched, and you know it."

"The scattered wrecks of your previous fleet says otherwise."

"Do they?" Alexandra gestured at her vessels. "Yet brand new replacements are already here. And for every vessel I lost, two of yours fell. Tell me, duke, where are replacements of your own?" Only silence answered her. "Thought so. Tell me, how do you expect this to go after another battle? Two? Three? I will grind you into the dust, no matter what."

"But not before we take Darthar."

"Ah! If only." She smiled, and saw various nobles and commanders -for what little difference there was-, shiver at her wolfish grin. "You know my reputation. More importantly, you know my accomplishments. If even the army of the Republic declined to face me, what makes you think you will succeed?"

"We need not throw ourselves at the defences of Rebirth."

"Eventually you would have to…were I in any mood to let you attempt it. You may notice that general Coledar never even made it to Rebirth to begin with."

"Perhaps. But do you have a proposal, besides threatening me?"

"Threats? My dear duke, I don't make threats. I simply outline facts. But so be it. Here is our offer: leave. Your slave troops will be left and surrendered, but all other units and officers will be allowed to leave. We will not ask for your parole to not face us again, or anything like that. We will simply let you go."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

The duke frowned, before tilting his head.

"I'm sorry, 'we'?"

"Me and the baroness."

"I see…And why is she not present?"

"Because she has important business to tend to and a town to manage."

"Right. And because none of her forces are fighting her own war."

"That is where you are quite mistaken." Alexandra's smile returned, its wickedness amplified a thousandfold. "It's our war now."

"Sunrise has no quarrels with your dungeon."

"Oh but I have some with you."

"The United Dungeon Council-"

"Won't survive the year, and we both know it. In the eyes of what will rise from its ashes, where do you wish to be positioned, oh duke?"

She saw him hesitate, as she clearly implied that whatever came of the failing organization, she would be leading it.

"That is the duchess' decision to make."

"Then do ask her. You have six hours. My ship will remain here until then."

Alexandra turned around, and left without another word.

Meanwhile, her vessels continued marking and ranging targets for the coming bombardment.

******

Alexandra watched as the golem walked back up the gangplank.

The duke hadn't even taken three hours to give his answer.

The golem came to a stop, and knelt in front of her ambassador.

"My lady, they refused your terms." Said the automata.

"Cowabunga it is then. Helm, take us out of here. Subtlety?"

"Yes milady?" Said a voice over the radio, as the ship began to take off.

"Prepare to attack, three launchers, maximum rate of fire, bombardment pattern theta. One quarter of your missile load for now, standard warheads. Let's splatter those bastards."

"Aye aye, bombardment pattern theta, one fifty foxtrots. Firing in?"

Alexandra looked at the assembled Sunrise delegation, walking back to their lines.

"Let's not be too cliche. Three hours." A dozen minutes or so before her original deadline was set, when they'd expect her to attack.

"Yes milady." The AI hesitated. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"I am glad they refused. I want…I want to kill every last one of those bastards." Said Subtlety, as CQ nodded behind her.

Alexandra smiled.

Yep, she was an Arcadia alright. And CQ…well, she did take after her mothers.

"I know you do. We'll see if you'll get your wish."

*****

"Three…Two…One…Launch." Subtlety ooked up as the ship shook around them. "Launch successful. Impact in one minute, thirty six seconds…mark."

Alexandra winced as she felt the ship move.

"Really should have worked more on the recoil compensation." She'd have made the ship to be effectively a giant collection of recoiless rifles, but that wasn't practical for a whole host of reasons, least of which the fact that the ship would become a massive hazard to anything below it. That wasn't even getting into the possibility of a missile's engine misfiring or detonating.

So, instead, she'd used the good old solution of the space navy: shoot it the fuck out and away from the ship. As a bonus, it even got it an appreciable starting boost in velocity.

It also meant that the ship had six fixed giant pulse cannons, since railguns were out of the question. She was glad she'd figured out the kinesys runes when she had however, because making those launchers hadn't been pleasant.

If she was exceptionally lucky, she might even be able to use them to directly attack a ship stupid enough to hover on top of the giant missile boat, though she doubted it'd come to pass.

"Our flight characteristics are nominal. We can take it." The AI looked at the hologram of the ship's status in the middle of the bridge. "Launchers have cycled. Firing second salvo."

Three of the launchers on the hologram flashed, and the ship shook again.

The other three were being kept back. Wouldn't want Sunrise getting a full demonstration of her capabilities too early.

Besides, they were loaded with a special surprise, for when the duke came after them.

Alexandra looked to the side at one of the screens, showing the take from one of the Raiders. With their delay, she'd finally solved the bandwidth problem. Well, mostly. Enough, at least, to get a continuous feed from every ship in the squadron.

And, more importantly, detailed targeting data from forward observers.

It would take five minutes to fire out a hundred and fifty missiles with only half the launchers, even on maximum fire rate.

Sunrise would get a foretaste of her power long before that.

The hologram began to swim in front of her vision.

Suddenly she was surrounded by high tech consoles and the staff of a flag bridge, clad in the familiar black and gold of the EFSN.

"Thirty seconds to impact, enemy launching counter missiles." Said her tactical officer as she stood on the bridge of the Dawnstar.

"Launchers have…everything alright milady?" Said Subtlety.

"Mmmhhh?" Alexandra blinked, realizing she was drifting off. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just…Just old memories."

Old, old memories…

"...Affirmative. Firing third salvo." The AI paused. "Do you require assistance?"

"No, no. Just a bit of time."

"Understood."