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So Armageddon was upon us.
There was no point in contacting the rest of the Advancement teams; they’d all received the same message we had. They’d know what it meant, same as we did: The war we’d all been preparing for was upon us. Imperial Intelligence – the Eyes and Ears that were the reason for Bolthole Base’s existence – had discovered that the demons were on the move, and their armies would be pouring through the Seven Gates soon, as well as any other means of access to the Empire they might have.
Asina’s hand tightened in mine. Thanks to our rapport, both of us knew the other was scared but determined. A few more years would have made an enormous difference, but we didn’t have them. Might as well wish for something we could get, or at least hope for. Any chance of getting action out of the Guard before the demons actually show up? After so long together, most of our communication was telepathic.
I can try, but without evidence to lay before the officers it’s not likely to happen. Not to mention that without the other cities helping, all we’d be doing is making them a target.
We don’t need them to take the field early. We just need them to be ready to take the field. With modern transport, Calmenan troops can outmaneuver most demonic armies.
But the homefront is easy prey for any demons their nobles Gate around our interdiction.
Suddenly, I had a realization. We’re talking here like we can defeat the demons in the field. If they’re bringing the massive numbers the Empire has been finding in their rear areas, our strategy is going to have to be survival, not victory. Try to defend the people of Calmena, and make it easier for the demons to find prey elsewhere. Yalskarr was barely an isquare from the Karnel Gate, closest of the seven permanent Gates the demons had built upon Calmena. Humans could walk that far in four days easily. If they had a reason for haste, a day and a half. Demons would move faster.
I think our only chance is defense-in-depth. Start hitting them right away, trying to channel them away from the city while we build defensive lines to make it more difficult to reach the city with large numbers of troops.
So how do we get the Guard to cooperate? There’s only a few square of them to defend the city. Their official complement as of right now was six legions of regulars and a dozen of reserves. A legion, true to Calmena’s history with the demons, was a sixty-four of sixty-fours – the humans of Calmena used demonic base eight numbers for everything because the demons had kept them as slaves, laborers, and food sources for thousands of years before the first humans had escaped or broken free, permitting them no other way of doing things.
A good question. It costs money for them to take the field, so they don’t want to do it if there’s any doubt. Similarly, it costs money to build defenses, even temporary ones. Hard to explain extinction was expensive, too, if you didn’t have any evidence you could show them that it was coming. But it doesn’t cost much money to get ready so the Guard is in the field immediately when the evidence comes. If necessary, we can guarantee them the funds. Calmena was still on a precious metals standard for money. There was paper currency, but it represented real obligations of the government to come up with actual metal. Given that we had Imperial converters, we could produce as much of any element as we wanted.
Asina was right, as usual. Politics of any sort wasn’t about good solutions – it was about making those in power happy. The only solution was to keep as much as possible away from government and therefore out of politics. Unfortunately, only government commands the resources for things like massive military. Even in the Empire, none of the House contingents could have challenged the Imperial military as a whole. Then better get to work on it. Do you want me involved?
She shook her head. This isn’t your area, and you don’t know the people involved. I was the technical side of our partnership; she was administration, which included people. I’ll let you know if anything pops up.
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