Embrace The Ether

Two men rolled out a small table in front of Elias, on it sat several little baubles. Two different colors, blue and red. The blue baubles represented friendlies, while red represented hostiles. There sat a single baton on the table, which would go on to represent the Midnight Centipede, or so Elias declared.

"We"ll be taking one of the clan"s desert-sailing ships, it"s designed in such a way that it can quickly glide across the sand while avoiding rocks and debris as it moves. The ship has no guns of its own, however, it"s extremely durable along its bottom bow and sides."

Elias paused for a moment to clear his throat.

"These little things will represent our crew. There are eleven of them in total, however, only six of them are of importance. This one is me, this one is Thaddeus, and this one is Deus." He continued to point from each different bauble one after the other, placing them down onto the table accurately to coincide with their positions on the team, from vanguard being placed in front while the gunners remained in the back along with the pilot and engineer.

"This little thing will represent Droh, our navigator, and gunner. Hmm, I think we"ll keep this one, Mercer, next to him." He picked up the last bauble and looked toward the older man Rufus, "This one will be you. You"ll, of course, be in the back along with the gunners, ensuring nothing goes wrong with our ship."

"Aye, I can definitely do that," Rufus murmured out through his ruffled mustache. "Quick question, you said there was eleven of us, and yet only six of us on this job?"

"Ah yes, right." Elias lifted up the last five baubles into his hand and nonchalantly placed them down on the table around the gunners and pilot. "These five will represent the clansman that I"ll be bringing with me to help oversee the ship and our supplies. After all, I can"t afford to have anything happen to our clan"s precious weapons during all this, so they"ll be responsible for the trivial s.h.i.t."

Everyone nodded in approval. This was Elias"s plan and equipment after all, so there wasn"t much anyone could openly oppose without making enemies.

"These ones, however, will represent our hostiles," Elias pointed toward a pile of red baubles that sat sideways on the table. "The big question is, how many enemies are there and how can we plan ahead for them?"

Mercer coughed out in interruption, "Normally it would be impossible sir, but with your clan"s great power it would be simplicity itself to scout out the enemy."

"Err…" Elias stared at Mercer, annoyed, "I was getting to that… but yes, it"s as you say. In order to prepare for any situation, I had a squad of scouts sent out beforehand to evaluate the area while making sure the enemy didn"t spot them."

He picked up the red baubles and slowly began to place them on the table in an organized manner.

"From our reports, the enemy ranks contain seventeen officers and two heavy weapon experts. Walking drones. We"ll need to make sure our vanguard avoids the heavier stuff while our gunners concentrate fire on the weak spots of armor… if we can"t even manage two of them we"ll be the laughing stock of the clan."

Up until this point, everyone had remained relatively calm and collected. It was only upon hearing about the heavy armored foes did some of the crew begin to sweat.

Rufus simply chuckled under his breath as Thaddeus stared menacingly at the table as if plotting out every fine detail in his head. Deus was double checking the placement to ensure he would be at a safe enough distance from Elias in case he has to send the broadcast. The only two members of the crew who had begun to panic so were Mercer and Droh.

They both seemed to be a bit upset at the notion that they held sole responsibility for dealing with the heavier threats. It only made sense, of course, since the weapons typically used by vanguard operatives didn"t have enough stopping power to cut through heavy armor, to say nothing of the threat of exchanging close-range fire with them.

It had been proven time and time again that the best counter to heavy armor was to hit them with powerful stopping force, which could only be safely delivered from a distance.

There were cases of certain vanguard fighters taking on heavy armored enemies face to face, but those sort of battles could only be described as uncommonly rare. The military captain, Roch, for example, could probably take on that fight. Roland, as well. But such legendary and dangerous individuals were few and far between.

"So, we"ll have the gunners take on the heavily armored enemies, however, while they"re busy with that the vanguard members Deus, Thaddeus, and I will be quite busy ourselves with their ground troops. Don"t get too relaxed, it"ll still be practically a one against five fight for each of us."

Elias looked at Deus and Thaddeus both as he continued, "If you don"t think you can take on those numbers, speak up now. If you die, you die… but if you get someone else killed, well… I"ll make sure you don"t even get a peaceful rest in the G.o.dd.a.m.n afterlife. Each of us has a critical role to play, so don"t squander someone else"s efforts by f.u.c.king up."

The room went quiet for a moment as Elias"s words seemed to soak into the air.

His main point, of course, was "don"t f.u.c.k up."

"Now, let"s move onto the actual plan, shall we?" Elias finally spoke up, interrupting the silence. "For the first stage of the plan, we"ll be sailing over toward the primary location quietly. We"ll stop approximately three hundred meters away, hidden behind a large overhanging cliff. From there our vanguard, myself, Thaddeus, and Deus will take our spots ahead of everyone. On a single command, we"ll all charge over the hill and take on their ground forces directly, while being provided covering fire by our gunners, who"ll be Mercer, Droh, and some of the clansmen I"ll be bringing along with us."

He paused.

"Hmm, the main point is to provide a covering fire to allow our vanguard to approach without being caught up in the open. If we can manage that without mistake, we"ll be in a much better situation once we"ve actually begun to fully engage."

Everyone nodded in approval, showing their understanding of the plan.

"Good. After we"ve covered the distance and arrived before our enemies, our ship will be commanded by Rufus here," Elias gestured toward the older man, Rufus, "He"ll sail the ship over the cliff edge and down toward the main battle. By doing this our vanguard will draw their attention and fire as we would"ve already taken cover behind some crates or rocks, but once our ship arrives, their attention will be practically evenly split."

"I see, so he intends to use the art of overwhelming his opponent quickly to win? It could work, but it"s relatively random… it"ll all depend on the mentality and fort.i.tude of the soldiers who we"ll be fighting." Deus pondered to himself as he listened.

"Our gunners will be protected by the main hull of the ship, providing them with the superior height advantage, while our vanguard will be given covering fire, which will comfortably allow us to take on our opponents directly. You see, this should all be done and over with quickly before they can even manage to send out an alert."

The man who stood in the corner spoke up in a rough and cold voice, "What happens when they call for reinforcements?"

Everyone glanced over at the man, Thaddeus, and awaited Elias"s response.

"You seem confident that they"ll be able to send an alert… do you know something that I do not?"

"Hmph." Thaddeus chuckled in a sinister tone, "We should always be prepared for anything and everything. To simply neglect that side of things because we"re confident in ourselves is the definition of foolishness. Tell me, do you have a plan for such an inevitability?"

"I do," Elias spoke out sternly, "Since you"re so interested in the fine details of this operation, I"ll explain."

Elias took something off his belt, a miniature electronic device with only a single b.u.t.ton sitting atop it. "This here is a jam-"

"An electronic jammer?!" Mercer shouted out in interruption, to the annoyance of Elias.

"Yes… it"s as you said, this here is an electronic jammer… an EMP pretty much. They"re rare, immensely so. After all, there"s not much out there that can completely negate the use of powered weaponry. I had to get this little fellow from Roland himself."

Everyone present simply sighed. Such an item was above most people present, and the very idea of it being used during this operation could be very beneficial to their success rate. Clearly, Elias cared deeply for this job and had thus invested quite a small fortune into it.

Electronic Pulse weapons designed to negate or even fully disable electronically powered weapons and armors are rare, so rare that only high ranking officers and powerful clans even have them, and only those with extraordinary positions would be permitted to use them freely.

There are electronic weapons which the common-folk can use, such as the electronic grenade which Droh has equipped, but these two weapons vary significantly. For starters, the grenade Droh has is only capable of creating a tiny electronic explosion, which at most can freeze and rupture computers and electronic devices, not disable them. Also, an EMP device is not simply a single-use item. The only thing preventing Elias from continuously using the weapon is its charge, which needs to be reset after each use.

"So now you all understand… yes, I"m confident in our success rate as a team. You see, even if one of them attempts to call for help, which they will, I"ll move in myself and activate this. The device itself is relatively short-ranged, so our gunners should be fine from a distance to continue attacking." Elias glanced over at Deus and continued, "Thankfully it seems our vanguard forces have all picked melee weapons that don"t rely on electronic energy to function, so our fighting force shouldn"t take too much of a hit. Our opponents, however, will be practically crippled. h.e.l.l, I"m hoping this bad boy can even disable those heavy armored drones they"ve got, just long enough for our shooters to take them out."

Again, everyone present nodded their heads in approval, to show that they understood everything up until this point.

"Now, onto the last and most important part of this operations," Elias spoke out clearly, to redraw everyone"s attention back at himself. "The centipede."

As he said that, several of his clansmen gave out verbal grunts and sighs, while Droh and Mercer gulped down a deep breathe. Fear spread quickly at the thought of it, after all, the centipede wasn"t designed for aggressive combat, and would thus be ineffective against their vanguard force. The ship, however, was a prime target for such a large worm designed to quite literally carve apart metal.

Droh, Mercer, Rufus, and the five clansmen would have to face the midnight centipede off directly, while also providing covering fire for the vanguard forces so they weren"t wiped out. This entire job needed to be meticulously planned and executed. One mistake could cost the operation and their lives.

What would happen if Elias failed to stop any outgoing broadcasts? They could quickly become overwhelmed and executed for treason against Direfell and it"s lord commander.

What would happen if their gunners failed to provide sufficient covering fire for their vanguard forces to move in and take out the ground troops? The vanguard would be overwhelmed and captured, thus ending once again, in execution for treason. Even if anyone managed to get away after the failure of this operation, Roland would most definitely hunt any survivors down and kill them for abandoning his second-in-command, and a war may even break out between the two factions.

This entire operation could either spell disaster for everyone involved, or it could signal the rise of a new powerful force with the wealth to back it up.

There was an issue, though. Elias"s jamming device would completely block all broadcasts, regardless of who sent it. Meaning, of course, that Deus"s backup plan could easily be uprooted with a single press of a b.u.t.ton. All his planning could be ruined in an instant.

Elias continued with his explanation, "The centipede will absolutely focus on the ship as its primary target, after all, it"s just a machine designed to take the most logical step. The big question is… how do we deal with a monster like that which is known to be able to regenerate itself over time using the metal it"s eaten and stored within its metallic stomach?"

Mercer gave out an audible gulp as he heard this. "I-it can heal itself?"

"Mhmm." Elias nodded.

"Usually it has no reason to, after all, no one would be brave or stupid enough to attack them… well, until later today that is. Roland so kindly explained to me exactly how they worked so that I wouldn"t get myself killed doing something stupid. From what I"ve been told, those worms aren"t built to fight… only to eat. So, I thought… why not give it something to fill up on?"

"Wait, you"re going to feed the d.a.m.n thing?" Deus spoke up in confusion.

"Hah, indeed so. In fact, I"m going to give that thing a feast it"ll never forget." Elias smiled as he gestured towards one of his clansman, who in turn brought over a moderately sized crate.

"In here is what I"ll be feeding it. We"ll put it inside some metal and drop it directly into its fat gullet. As it chews down… boom."

"Boom?" Droh mimicked in question.

"Yep, boom. The d.a.m.n thing eats any metal we throw at it, right? So why not let it eat a d.a.m.n bomb? h.e.l.l, the dumb thing will do our job for us if we simply let it. It"s designed to chew down any metal, even if we end up missing its giant mouth, it"ll still dive for the metal crate eventually."

The room quickly filled with silence as everyone processed the plan.

So stage one was rather straightforward. Charge in, and overwhelm their enemies with firepower. Stage two, however, was a bit more difficult. Not only that, but it just kept getting more difficult the further along they"d get. Could it all work out in their favor? Absolutely. Would it, though, was the real question. They"d have to be gambling with fate for everything to go off without a hitch.

Elias chuckled under his breath as he glanced across the room. Everyone seemed a bit shaken by everything, from the dangerous plan all the way to the thought of facing off against the thrashing mawed midnight centipede. Every person here had an important job, even the clansmen they"d be bringing along would be responsible for dropping the explosive payload down onto the worm, if they failed, it could result in everyone on the ship"s gruesome deaths.

It was all so risky. So much so that some of them even questioned if the potential pay was even worth everything. Those thoughts disappeared quickly, though, because Elias had already told everyone that their decisions had been made the moment they stuck around.

Cutting through the silence that had bled through the air, Elias asked, "So, who"s ready to get started?"