Mission 8 - Campaigning - Part 2

  TA 419 - 30/03,

  Warship ‘His Majesty's Axe’ - Corridor Outside Meeting Room.

  Commander Sef Abey shuffled on his feet. It was always like this whenever they met.

  “How goes it, do you think?” Lt. Jasta murmured, standing across from Abey.

  “Well, we’d hear something if it was going too badly,” Lt.Benson smiled.

  “We would? That room is pretty soundproof, though,” the youngest of the four, Khufu, asked with a quizzical expression, his long-styled cyan hair drooping with him.

  Abey sighed.

  The four had little in common aside from each being the second in command for one of the Five Great Aces. They were required to be on hand during large meetings, lest their input or expertise be required, but really, that just meant standing here awkwardly.

  Khufu was what Abey would call ‘nice but dim’, young and slow on the uptake. A fantastic pilot, mind you. Generally seen as the best of those trained by Lady Sesha, he’d risen to be the third-ranked’s second-in-command impressively fast. Abey and Sesha had worked alongside each other as teachers, so he was well acquainted with Khufu but in a stern headmaster sharing a pew with his former rambunctious student kind of way. Not ideal.

  Lt. Jasta presented a similar issue; a nice guy, sort of larger-than-life type, loud voice, louder laugh. He was also ‘a Sergeant’ through and through. Abey had no issue with NCOs of course; many he’d trained had stopped at that rank, and many of his most valuable subordinates were of that level - but like the student-teacher relationship, officer and NCO made this awkward. Jasta had most likely only been prompted to make the Scourge’s transition from squad leader to battalion commander easier.

  Lt. Benson was the one Abey should have been able to find something to talk to about, but alas. Benson was the oldest and most experienced of them for certain; moreover, as Commodore Kigen’s second, he was the admin for more battalions than the others and also took a fair degree of command over Kigen’s special force units. The jobs of Jasta and Abey combined and then some - and well, perhaps such responsibility simply came with a man like Benson - quiet, stern, straightlaced, duty bound.

  Abey wondered if perhaps they had a fifth member it would somehow ‘complete’ their dynamic and generate some merciful kind of banter, but that wasn’t meant to be. The fourth-ranked had no battalion and thus no second-in-command. He all but stuck to the hip of the third-ranked. So it was just the four of them, standing in this corridor awkwardly.

  Abey sighed again. Lady Sesha would no doubt tease him all the way back to the ship when she caught sight of their dreary display. The Five Great Aces were holding council, and thus the four ‘extras’ were stood waiting.

  Thankfully, these meetings were rare, especially given everyone was currently split up, raiding multiple installations a day. Still, periodically the fleet would come together away from prying TSU eyes, and a general meeting called to update everyone and make any changes to the plan required. After this larger meeting involving Admiral Agiate and strategists, intelligence people and whatnot, the five aces would hold a second meeting.

  This might have sounded strange to an outsider of Abhailen culture but was actually something of respect within the organisation. Before the war and occupation of planet Abhaile, they had been ruled by a Democratic-Monarchy. A council of three hundred appointed ‘experts’ in as many fields as possible held one ‘vote’, the reigning Monarch another and finally, the public elected six hundred everyday people to parliament with the third vote.

  Well, that was all they’d taught Abey in school. He imagined it was rather more layered, but that was the layman's perspective.

  During the war, parliament was dissolved and replaced with what the enemy called ‘The Cult of Magi’, as the King and military were forced to take a firmer grip on the planet in order to wage war.

  When the fighting ended, the King dead, most of his family and the nobility having already been assassinated or died in battle; there had been the possibility of the ragged Abhailen army eating itself. Its retreating forces: damaged ships having to crash land in the frozen wasteland because the port had never been designed as more than an emergency hideout for the King and with no objective leader.

  Admiral Agiatate was the highest-ranking person there, but he held no rank of nobility, being only the husband to a Vi-Countess. Kiyo Kigen was himself a Vi-Count and held the odd rank of Commodore, below Admiral but not by much. These two had formed the most prominent factions. Most of the officers firmly looking to Agitate, most of the pilots and rank & file to Kigen. Smaller groups were aplenty, but these two had mattered the most.

  Kigen had the numbers, Agitate the bulk of strategists and surviving leadership figures. It could have ended in backstabbing or sub-factions. It could have been quite bad in Abey’s opinion, so it was perhaps a small miracle that they simply weren’t that type of people. Kigen had made absolutely no moves to undermine the Admiral’s authority; likewise, the Admiral never made big decisions without the ace’s approval. Neither of them had changed rank; it was the people, the soldiers, that referred to one or sometimes both as ‘Supreme Commander’. A man who disliked the limelight himself, Abey appreciated that humility rather a lot.

  When the idea of five top aces had been floated, apparently, both Kigen and the Admiral had been firmly against it being a purely propagandistic move. Ultimately, the admiral had landed upon the idea of the chosen aces talking the role the council of experts once had in domestic Abhialein affairs. In doing so, he gave Kigen power equal to his own as the substitute King of the equation.

  This was all lovely, Abey felt. He was glad their forces didn’t have any deadly internal divides, and he felt the intended patriotic twinge of having something similar to their old political system within the faction’s leadership - but the special-ops commander did have to wonder if those five were really the best fit for it, nor if his standing here had to be the way.

  As though picking up on his thoughts, Jasta chuckled, “My lil’ Lady is always complaining about snoozing off in these meetings,” he smiled fondly.

  Abey had heard Jasta was The Scarlet Scourge’s ‘Nakima’, a mentor of sorts. The two had survived much of the war in each other’s company, including both surviving the ground invasion of Bhiale. Abey, too, had been on the ground and remembered it well. What they were doing now, these daily raids on TSU, were tough, but they didn’t hold a candle to the things he’d seen and done during the ground war.

  The way Jasta smiled like a proud father whenever he mentioned Scarlet, well, Abey would have been more surprised if they’d survived all that and not ended up with such a bond.

  “I’m not sure my lords are the best suited for it either, haha…” Khufu said, rubbing a hand through his scruffy hair. Abey would have to agree; the third and fourth-ranked were incredible pilots, no doubt, but their oratory skills were not so renowned.

  The Commander clapped his hand on Khufu’s shoulder, “Your old teacher is pretty great at ‘em thought.”

  Khufu smiled a big toothy grin, “For sure. Mistress Sesha is great at everything!”

  Abey returned the smile. He frequently thought of the fifth-ranked as an insane lunatic, but he was proud to serve someone as incredible as her in his own way.

  Absently, the three found themselves looking to Benson, the old man’s eyes closed in thought, “I know not if my Lord enjoys such conferences, but they are a duty like any other.”

  Jasta grinned, “Ah, but a burden taken on gladly is no burden at all, right?”

  Benson’s leathery old face brightened at that, “Quite right, lieutenant. There is a pride to our duty, one I would like to hope my master feels keenly, too.”

  Khufu's young features smiled brightly again, “Me too! It’s an honour to serve Lord Apathe and Lord Sturman. I mean, it's barely a duty or a burden or whatever at all! Am one step closer to being like Mistress Sesha, ya know.”

  Jasta and Benson both nodded in concert with that. Young Khufu’s words were a little rough, perhaps, but the sentiment was one all three felt deeply.

  “What about you teach?” Khufu added, looking at Abey.

  “Hmmmm,” the Commander mused. He had to think quite seriously about it; duty? Was duty a burden? That was hard to say.

  “I really liked teaching.”

  Jasta tilted his head forward, “Aye, I feel that. The time I’ve spent mentoring people like my lady, it's pleasurable naturing growth like that.”

  Abey nodded, hand on his chin, “If I had to say being on the frontlines again was a burden or not, probably yes. An honour, huh? To me, Lady Sesha is a friend, a comrade. But then again, I’m not a pilot like you three. Hmmmm, I guess it is a burden, ya.”

  Khufu’s brow furrowed, “If you prefer teaching, why not stay doing that? Why choose to return to the front,” his tone was earnest, the student asking for one more lesson.

  Benson was the one to answer it, “Hoh, the choices a man has aren’t so simple as that, you know, lad.”

  “They're not?”

  “Our Commander Abey might not be a pilot, but he’s no less our equal as warriors. If our duty is welcome, his is one of necessity, one his blood won’t let him turn from. There is honour in that, too, Sir.”

  Abey thought about that - ignoring the ‘Sir’ at the end, for it seemed implausible this wise older man was his hierarchical junior - “Ya know, ya, something like that sounds about right.”

  “I could really go for a smoke,” Jasta murmured as their conversation's easy flow began to wane. Khufu looked deep in thought, considering their words. Benson closed his eyes again, posture still perfectly at attention, his face smiling a slow smile.

  Not every soldier could be a living legend; most weren't even such in death - that was just common sense. Their reasons for fighting, their stations in life, age, personality - all differed - but, Abey felt, these meetings weren’t all bad. Those inside the room might be legends without peer, but those out here had their place, too. Whether it was a place born of duty or an ambition to someday be one of those legends, it didn’t matter, not really.

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  The Great Aces were in council, and thus the four of them would wait. That wasn’t so heavy a burden, now was it.

  In years to come, the Five Great Aces would be viewed as something of an institution. During the TSU-s - IAFS conflict, just two of the aces would appear, causing total chaos in the closing months of that war. After that all five would go on to partake in almost every major battle to come. There would be discussion and heated debate over its members, over who was strongest, over which had the most impact on the solar system; but all told, these meeting, of the Five Great Aces collected in one room, where the stuff of legends to the average Remembrance soldier and even to any TSU trooper who heard the rumours.

  However, for Kiyo Kigen, they didn’t change anything. He was still just himself. Being a so-called ‘living legend’ was just one more burden on his shoulders. He imagined Sesha and Scarlet had similar feelings.

  He mused that the two other men in the narrow, beige room might be different in that regard.

  Aphathe Paneb was a mountain of a man. Taller than even Kigen and far broader, the barrel-chested ace was an intimidating presence for most. His skin-coloured and short-cropped black hair framed a face that betrayed nothing. Aphathe was the highest ranking Vijiak-Knight still alive, which gave him a loose connection to Kigen, although it was one he didn’t feel too keenly.

  The Vijiak-Knights had been any bodyguard of the Abhailien nobility and royalty that had taken up a mech in their defensive duties. The organisation was gone now, or at least they had no royals left to guard. TSU had gone so far as to appropriate the term as an award for their own aces.

  The Knights had been commanded by their own general, long dead, so it wasn’t that Kigen had met Aphathe much, even during his brief time as commander of the Knights-Brigades, a sub-faction of the Vijiak Knights. Kigen imagined Aphathe felt nothing about being a living legend, good or bad. Aphathe was impassive; such things were titles bestowed upon him, and he would only take pride in them so much as it pleased his lord to do so. That was the type of man Aphathe was.

  Kigen could envy that a little, such straight forward dedication to a single path. No doubts, no wavering, no questioning one's morality. A man like Aphathe handed that all to his lord and was content to do so.

  That ‘lord’ was as ever sat next to Aphathe . Third-ranked of Five Great Aces, Seth Struman was an impressive young man. The young heir to a Count had been a junior infantry officer just five years ago when he’d been taken under Aphathe’s wing. He had trained extremely hard to reach such a skill level in that time. He was the sole member of the group under thirty.

  He was also… ‘Well’, Kigen had often thought, ‘perhaps that's just how young people are?’

  Seth was the one person in the room who seemed to gain something from their legend status; to feed his ego off it. Taller than Scarlet but shorter than Kigen, thin but undoubtedly fit, golden hair combed back ‘stylishly’. A uniform embossed with fine details like those of the old Abhilien noble officers. He was rather garish to look at when all was said and done.

  “My accomplishments have been truly dazzling!” the lad pronounced seemingly at random.

  Sesha smiled smugly across the table. The Scourge looked tired. Aphathe didn’t budge a muscle.

  “Except that one time you nearly got my dear Khufu killed and ran away with your tail between your legs,” Sesha added across the table from Seth.

  The young man’s face flared, “Th-that was the plan, was it not? I, in my mighty Casnel, engaged the Troy-look-alike so that it would not interfere in Lady Scarlet’s attack on Platform 3!”

  “If you say so,” Sesha replied, her noble face looking unconvinced. That attack, Kigen would agree, had not been great. Seth had sent Khufu and a small squad to attack a Nation-State’s barracks. The Curadh had appeared, killed the bulk of the squad, and Seth had been forced to show both his prototype Chevalier unit and Aphathe’s shield-shaped Fortress in order to save Khufu. All before rather unceremoniously retreating. Sesha had not been very pleased when word had reached her.

  Kigen sighed, "Yes, Seth, you’ve been performing admirably,” he said patiently, and for the most part, he did mean it. Seth’s raids had been as successful as any of the other forces with the exception of that one blip - still the gloating he could have done without.

  “Status report if you would, Sesha,"

  The fifth-ranked, still with that feline smile, rustled some papers, "For today’s operations, Seth and my own battlegroup both succeeded unimpeded in destroying our targets, while a group C was repelled by TSU Casnels.

  In the broader scheme of things, we have been facing some notable but expected setbacks. Our enemy seems to be the TSU Homefleet Commander, Grand Admiral Columbae, and he has employed some respectable tactics," Sesha softly moved to place four plastic printed models on the map at the table’s centre, pointing first to an octagon with two sides stretched out;

  "The carriership LongParish, of one ace pilot, Major Elton, and the TSU ninth patrol fleet under Vice Admiral Louise, have been used to reinforce positions with pre-existing defences. Since Scarlet’s first encounter with Elton at Platform 3, their hit rate has been irregular. Unable to move freely is my guess, presumably because of TSU bureaucracy. These two forces stop around two to three of our raids a week.

  An anonymous lone unit has also been spotted on several occasions; little is known of it, but its specs make it most likely an experimental Casnel of some sort. Its irregularity makes it ‘kinda random,” Sesha added with a shrug. The meeting before this Kigen had had with the Admiral and other senior officers had been a little more detailed on this strange lone mech, but so far, none of the aces had met it, so he was forced to agree with Sesha’s assessment of it being a moot point for now.

  Sesha placed the single mech-shaped piece out of bounds, finally pointing to the sphinx-shaped item, “More pressing is the ‘Cheval de Troy look alike’, which intelligence says is known as the 'Curadh'. This ship has been labelled rouge by TSU, and while at first its appearances were sparse, it now regularly stops one attack by us a day.

  This rouge unit has been the only genuinely unexpected piece in play. Columbae being our enemy, was planned for even if we'd hoped otherwise, but this rouge force has managed to stop nearly a third of our attacks single-handedly. It is an impressive force.

  Thankfully, this is all within our extravagantly detailed plans. We hit three installations near daily; on the worst days, two are stopped, most just one. The planning has proved quite worthwhile,” Sesha smiled. Kigen, too, concealed a small grin.

  Remembrance’s strategists had come to hate him and Sesha in the lead-up to the war, for they had constantly pressed for more and more minute detail and contingencies.

  He was glad it had paid off.

  "Our current number of destroyed enemy bases and ‘stuff has hit one hundred now ‘ight?," Scarlet added.

  "Yes, one hundred and three,” Sesha replied.

  "Excellent, even against the worst circumstances, we are on schedule! How goes the information war where we are not privy to lending our splendid aide?” Seth said, a smug expression as though all one hundred and three raids were of his personal achievement.

  Kigen cringed a little at the young man’s way of speech, but the question was apt, and thanks to having been in the meeting prior to this one, he had an answer at the ready;

  "Quite well, apparently. TSU did an impressive job covering up the destruction of Defence Platform 3, but the cracks are beginning to show. One too many housewives whose civilian sons have returned unemployed following the destruction of their listening station.

  A lorry driver union strike in one country, spurred by soaring oil prizes thanks to our destruction of various refineries and refuelling stations. A couple of news programmes even doing live shows speculating the loss of various satellites in the night’s sky as spotted by amateur astrologists,” Kigen chuckled himself a little at that one, “The TSU net is slipping, they may not know what exactly, but the public can feel something is wrong."

  "Fantastic," Seth nodded like some bobbing desk ornament, "And everything is in place to go live once phase three is complete?"

  "Yes, our tech people believe we will control around sixty-seven per cent of airwaves in the solar system for ten full seconds when the time comes.”

  There was a general murmur of content from the small group at all this good news. Kigen folded his fingers as he approached the bit of the meeting he feared could be the most tedious.

  “At the Admiralty meeting, I raised and got approval for one small change to Phase Three. Vice-Admiral Yoist and Admiral Agiatate gave their go-ahead. Seth, I would like you and Aphathe to take over protection of the cobal, while Khufu will take your duties, for that time.”

  A stir ran around the table - Scarlet, who’d look liable to fall asleep, sat back up, Sesha grinned, and a tantrum began to form on Seth’s face - but Kigen didn't wait for discussion, "The rouge unit, if anyone could find the true element of our plan it's them, and they have two ace Casnels. Khufu is a good pilot, but a Vijaik ace team can't match this ‘Curadh's’ forces; we’ve already seen it match Sesha in equal combat.

  Seth and Aphathe, however - between your unparalleled team coordination and lower tier Casnel and Fortress, along with your superior vessel as flagship - could handle it."

  Seth looked flustered, which had been the point of laying on the praise, "I-i agree that I, er, we two, the mighty third and forth-ranked, are the best suited to the role of defending against those feeble TSU aces, but mightn’t this be too cautious? My glory will be wasted on guard duty.”

  “It’s only for the final stage kid; you’ll still be doin' daily raids with the rest of us until then,” Scarlet spoke lazily, her first words in a while. Seth flushed, though it was unclear to Kigen why exactly. For some reason, the third-ranked always seemed to back down when Scarlet was involved; perhaps he looked up to her?

  “I… I accept this honour, then! I will make sure not to besmirch our honour in this endeavour!” Seth added.

  Kigen was surprised at how smoothly that had gone; it hadn’t been his plan to have Scarlet chime in, but now he wondered if her doing so in future councils like this might be a wise idea.

  "Then that's settled, leaving only tomorrow’s mission to discuss,”

  "Are you sure you won't reconsider first-ranked," Sesha purred from her side of the table. There had been a lot of debate amongst the aces and the other officers in past meetings about this topic, but Kigen had no interest in rehashing that now.

  Shaking his head lightly, "Talking out Platform 3 worked on the surprise of the infiltrators alongside the distraction of the Admiral's fleet. That won’t work so easily again. This mission relies on the opposite: as few people as possible, I will be the spearhead ensuring it succeeds."

  "He's right, you know," Scarlet said, though she looked uncomfortable herself, "Platform 2's forces have increased massively; patrol fleets three, four and five are all there now - sixteen of the surviving ships from the battle at Platform 3 to boot - that’s around one hundred and seventy warships. Our enemy probably thinks we’ll use our full forces, giving away our true vessel count, to take it. Kigen’s plan is by far the best."

  "But to risk sending him as good as alone..." Seth murmured more caringly than Kigen knew the young man was capable of.

  "You'd rather we risk even more aces?" Scarlet shot back

  "Well, no but--"

  "What of the leak plan?" Kigen interjected, shutting his eyes sternly.

  Sesha looked a little put out at the mention of that, "A half success, I suppose. The LongParish took the bait of our 'leaked' attack on the outer-rim patrol fleet. There is no way for Major Elton's ship or Casnel to make it back in time. That said, he managed to dodge the trap Scarlet left for him even after I leant her Commander Abey to lay out the bombs."

  Sesha moved the stretched octagon piece to the far side of Abhiale's orbit, “However, the Curadh did not take the bait I left out there; its two Casnels will be plenty in range of the Platform," she placed the sphinx piece next to a menagerie of others in Bhaile's orbit.

  Pensive looks spread around the table, but Kigen alone was unfazed, "It matters not if they send one Casnel or ten; my blade will cut them all down. I will hold as long as it takes. The plan will work."

  "Very well," Sesha nodded, her gaze firm, not allowing the others present any more worry,

  "Good hunting to you, Bane. Make it an utterly spectacular one," Scarlet grinned with false confidence at his side. Aphathe remained stoic, offering nothing but the slightest tilt of his chin in recognition of Kigen. Seth still looked unsure.

  Kigen alone was certain of his words. Being a ‘Great Ace’ or a legend, those things didn’t matter. What did was doing a job only he could succeed at, no matter the cost or dishonour. After all, that was the role of a Kigen, and he would see it through.