Anglestan

Janus 17, 1923 A.V

Sol SkyForce, Solstice Flagship

Colonel Camryn Thatcher

“Hold position,” the colonel said, taking a sip from her coffee. “We got them running—how many did we take out?” She set her mug down on a coaster and stood from her seat, looking out the ship’s windscreen. A small smile curved up from the corner of her lips as she watched her handiwork. The enemy skyships had been reduced by a significant number, several of them crashing down to the ground. 

“We took out fifteen of them, five were able to escape.” 

“Did the scouts follow them all the way out? Give me a status report, this place looks worse for wear.”

“Yes, Ma’am. They’re building a trench out by the bay. They took out the coast guard and some of our navy ships on the way in. Half of New Lundun has been decimated by their earlier bomb raid, and ground troops are causing havoc. We may have come a bit too late.” 

“We didn’t expect them to do such a bold attack. The news came too late too. New Lundun isn’t really the military capital either, the leeches have chosen their targets well. even if we mobilized the moment they set foot on our shores, it still would’ve taken us time to respond.”

“They took out mostly radio towers and steelwork factories. Some food factories were hit too.”

“Hmm,” Camryn hummed, pondering what the strigoi might be up to. “They mean to cripple us before the war starts. Gathering a fighting force would be more difficult now, especially with our factories in ruins. Still, we have reserves and a few more tricks on our sleeves. The aquilas were a big surprise to them, and to think we just mass-produced them for military purposes a decade ago.” 

Her high boots clanked on the floor, her uniform crisp, flowing behind her, rapier sheathed on her hip. She walked with an air of confidence, her chest puffed out as she kept her hands behind her back, observing the devastation below. She then moved toward the captain’s chair and sat down comfortably, letting a deep sigh escape past her lips. She looked up at the ceiling humming a soft tune. 

“Waaaaaaagh!” she suddenly cried out in a breathy voice, stretching her arms out before coming down to cover her face and kick her legs up in the air. None of the crew seemed to pay her any mind. They were used to the Colonel's random noises and tiny outbursts. 

It wasn’t unusual for her to make random noises and unorthodox actions.  It was what made her so disarming. She was quite eccentric, but a brilliant military strategist. Finishing top of her class as young as eighteen. 

A long silence followed with the Colonel reaching out to the ceiling as if to grab something. She stretched her hand out and groaned, shaking her head. “Alright, here’s what we do.” She suddenly jumped out of her seat and nodded to herself. 

“Orders Ma’am?”

“We need to split the city in half.”

“E-excuse me, Ma’am?!”

“Yeah, that’s what we’re doing,” Camryn said with a confident smile. 

“With all due respect, but why? We’d be essentially giving the city away.”

“Not exactly,” the colonel cleared her throat before taking another sip of her coffee. She set it down and placed her hands behind her back. “The strigs have already set down ground troops, and we’re in the blind. We have no idea how many are down there causing havoc, and we know from the direction of their skyships that they’re heading toward the capitol building. Most likely to capture it, yes?”

The operator frowned a bit, confusion written all over his face. 

“Uhm… yes?”

“Precisely! So that means the majority of ground troops will be converging there as well. We’re at a clear disadvantage right now. We definitely cannot retake the city in the middle of the night, this is their greatest strength. Furthermore, strigoi are sneaky and slippery snakey fucks! They’ll hide and use ambush tactics against our own ground units. We’d be sending our men into ‘unknown’ territory. However, if we deploy the Jotunn… Yes. That would work.”

“S-so why split the city?”

Camryn flashed a grin and spread her arms wide like a bird showing off its wings. “Don’t you see?!” She giggled. “We’ll lock them in! We let them get close to the capitol, then make a line across the city splitting it in half! We’ll lock them in and close the book on them, while they’re stuck between the pages. The majority of their forces will be stuck on one side, and the remaining few on the other side of the divide. We’ll wipe out the bulk of them that way. This would also severely cripple the other side’s ability to properly defend should we retake it in the following days. Oh, and we’d also still keep half of the city!”

“But Ma’am, we’d allow the enemy to take hold of the other half, and would most likely give them enough time to build up their army and establish a proper foothold.”

The Colonel clasped her hands and giggled. If the crew wasn’t accustomed to her antics, they would’ve thought her insane. Perhaps they still did. She rarely acted normally around anyone, afterall. That is, except in front of the generals are other high-ranking officers. Even still, the occasional slip-up would appear now and then. 

“That’s the thing, Chester!”

“Please just call me airman, ma—”

“You see Chester,” The colonel cut him off, waving her hand. “That’s what we want to happen. We want them to take the other half of New Lundun.” She grinned.

“W-we do?”

“That’s right!” She smirked. “Think about it. They have the other half that’s already blown to bits with nothing important left. It’s a hollow victory, if you could even call it that way. Now, we want them to establish a foothold so we can fight them properly. If we were to send our own troops to their land, we’d be at a disadvantage, but here, they’d be fighting on an isolated part of home turf! We would be able to gain the upper hand eventually while recovering at the same time. If you don’t know, Chester, sending troops to an island nation takes time. Besides, we’ll have the two most important parts of the city over on our side.”

“The capitol?”

“And..?”

The airman gave it some thought. There were definitely still some facilities near the capitol that they could use and repurpose as factories. Perhaps some of the food shops around it, but it wouldn’t be enough to support an army. There weren’t any other strategic points that he could think of. 

“You lost me, Ma’am.”

“Dante! We’ll keep Dante with us! It’s perfect!”

The airman’s eyes went wide, he cleared his throat and began to protest when the colonel placed her hand in front of him. Stopping him in his tracks. 

“No, no. Give it some thought. With Dante on our side, we’ll have the advantage when we launch a counter-attack,” she said with a soft giggle, placing her hands on her hips. “It’s the perfect solution. If we play our cards right.”

“B-but ma’am, we’re at war with the strigoi. Why would the duskwalkers fight their own kind? Let alone help us? I don’t see any incentive for them to assist us.”

“Because,” she whispered with a soft smile. “They’re Lunduneers too.” 

“That… t-that gives us no guarantee!”

“Oh, ye of little faith! There’s a reason they’ve never fought against us.”

“T-they’re biding their time?”

“No.” She chuckled.

The airman looked down, his face scrunched up in an odd way. He let out a sigh and nodded, he faced back to the radar monitor. The Colonel could tell he wasn’t convinced. She nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder, and nonchalantly laid her chin on his head. “I have a plan. Don’t you trust me, airman?”

“I do, ma’am.”

“Then radio the mayor of Dante. Put him through the speakers.”

Chester sighed. “Yes, Ma’am. Calling up the Mayor now. Patching it to the speakers, now.” 

A faint buzz filled the room, as they waited. A soft ‘ding’ sounded. The airman handed the radio speaker to the Colonel. “Line is open. Colonel,” he said with a nod. 

“Thank you, Chester.” The colonel smiled, taking the speaker from him. 

“Hello! This is Colonel Camryn Thatcher, commander of the Solstice flagship. Please come in. Over.”