Adminstration hall,Elarion
Lucas sat opposite Lucien with his ledger open. A stack of requests lay beside it, each bearing the seal of one of Elarion’s cities.
"My lord, Dray wants a larger share of the next steel shipment for Seastar."
"Will that delay the work at Titanworks?"
"If I give him everything he asked for, yes, my lord. We can send part now and the rest with the following shipment."
"Arrange that. Give Dray the dates so he can plan around them."
Lucas added a note beside the request.
"Yes, my lord. I will send Ironbreaker a copy as well. I would prefer him to hear about it before he accuses the navy of stealing his steel."
Lucien was about to reply when two knocks sounded at the door.
"Come in."
Cedric entered carrying a sealed folder. He closed the door, nodded to Lucas, and approached the desk.
Lucien set down his pen.
"What is it, Cedric?"
"See for yourself, my lord."
Lucien took the folder and broke the seal.
Commander Karrek’s office had forwarded the latest reports from southwestern command in Avarran, together with a request for help against the demons’ new artillery.
The account from Senn’s tollhouse described a successful defense. Rifles and machine guns had broken the infantry advances, and the launchers had proved useful against the Warhounds.
Lucien had expected the weapons to perform well. He and his commanders had already seen their effect against the nobles’ armies in Asterion.
The reports from the other sectors were less encouraging.
Approximately thirty-five positions had been lost. Some had been overrun after bombardment weakened their defenses. Others had been abandoned when shelters collapsed and connecting passages became impassable.
Lucien unfolded the map.
"Have Malen join us," he told the attendant outside. "And establish a connection to Ironbreaker at Titanworks as well."
"Yes, my lord."
Lucas moved his ledger to make room while Cedric arranged the remaining accounts.
By the time Malen arrived, the communication crystal beside the inkwell was glowing.
"I have moved into my office, my lord," Ironbreaker said. "My supper has followed me. If this meeting lasts much longer than the last one, I shall start charging for cold meals."
Lucien laughed.
"Eat while we talk, then."
Malen drew up a chair while Cedric read the main findings aloud for Ironbreaker. He covered the bombardments, the suspected observation spells, and Vaerith’s discovery of six guns behind a ridge. The dragon had silenced that battery, but other sectors were still reporting attacks.
Lucien waited until he finished.
"Gentlemen, these are the reports we have received. Karrek wants help against the artillery. First, I want your assessment of what the demons have done. Then we can decide what to offer him."
He turned toward Malen.
"Start with the losses."
Malen followed the marks on the map before placing a finger between two fallen positions.
"My lord, they are opening gaps and then attacking the neighboring defenses. The guns are giving their infantry a way through."
"That is southwestern command’s assessment too," Cedric said.
Malen picked up the accompanying sketch.
"The demons seem to have developed a taste for big guns, my lord."
"Apparently they decided the rest of the Warhound was an unnecessary expense," Lucien replied.
He turned toward the crystal.
"Ironbreaker, does the description fit its cannon?"
"There is a good chance, my lord. They already know how to make its ammunition and most of the gun. A separate carriage would save them the work of building another complete vehicle."
Lucas glanced toward the crystal.
"Would that let them produce substantially more?"
"Probably, unless barrels are already limiting their production. I would not assume that is the case, but we have not seen their workshops."
Lucien rested a hand beside the sketch.
"Then we should consider more and more batteries a possibility. Before we discuss their numbers and how are they directing the fire?"
Malen turned to Cedric.
"What distance have the Alliance’s observers established?"
"The estimates place some batteries roughly five kilometres from their targets. They have not confirmed the distance in every case."
"And their mage believes someone was correcting the fire through an observation spell?"
"Yes. Interfering with it reduced the accuracy of the later shots."
Malen returned his attention to Lucien.
"That would explain the shells finding the shelters despite the ridges, my lord. Disrupting those observers should make it harder to correct their aim."
"Probably," Lucien said. "But it will be less useful once a crew has already found its target. They can keep firing without changing the gun’s setting."
"Yes, my lord. The customs house report shows the danger. Repeated hits broke the ward, and the command staff withdrew while the forward companies were still holding."
Lucien marked the account.
"Include that limitation in our reply. Interfering with the spell may help, but commanders should not assume it makes a position safe."
Cedric noted the instruction.
"Yes, my lord."
Lucien looked around the desk.
"Is there anything else in these reports that we should be watching for?"
Malen set the customs-house account aside.
"There is another possibility, my lord. If they are mounting the cannon separately, they could do the same with the Warhound’s machine guns."
Cedric shook his head.
"We have no confirmed report of separate infantry teams. The accounts identify guns mounted on Warhounds."
"Then we should ask the observers to look for them," Malen said. "A disciplined detachment could make good use of those weapons."
"The mounting probably would not present much difficulty," Ironbreaker added. "Supplying large numbers would be another matter."
Lucas drew out the ammunition report.
"This gives us an idea of what that supply would involve."
He placed it where Malen could read it.
"Nearly three hundred thousand rifle and machine-gun rounds along one defensive line. That covered eighteen machine guns and the rifle units serving beside them. The launchers and artillery were counted separately."
Malen studied the figure.
"We have sustained our own operations without an ammunition shortage. My men have never had to stop a battle or exercise because the next load failed to arrive."
"That is because you see the ammunition, and I see the bill," Lucas replied.
The corners of Lucien’s mouth lifted.
Lucas tapped his ledger.
"When you ask for full ammunition wagons, I arrange the metal, the wages, the transport, and whatever the workshops suddenly discover they need. Then the wagons arrive, and you tell everyone there is no supply problem."
A brief smile crossed Malen’s face.
"I was not questioning your housekeeping."
"Good."
Malen turned back to Lucien.
"My lord, what concerns me is whether the demons could support those weapons as we do."
"For selected units, probably. Across an army as large as theirs, the demands would be considerably greater. We do not know whether their workshops or transport could support it."
Lucas placed the report beside his ledger.
"The cartridges cost something even when they arrive on time."
"Then ammunition may limit widespread use," Malen said to Cedric. "It would not prevent them from equipping a few elite detachments."
"No. That remains possible, but whether any have received the weapons is still unknown."
Lucien considered the descriptions of the attacking demons. Most of the lesser ones carried crude blades, clubs, or whatever else they could obtain.
"There is also the question of whether their commanders consider the expense worthwhile. They seem to have little difficulty finding more fodder."
"And little reluctance to lose it, my lord," Malen replied.
"If a band of lesser demons costs them less than equipping and supplying a machine-gun team, they may simply bring more bodies."
Lucas rested his quill against the ledger.
"Then the gun may be the expensive part of their formation, my lord."
"Judging by these attacks, probably. That would make widespread distribution less attractive to them."
Lucien turned to Cedric.
"Ask for sightings of separate teams. Until we have them, record limited deployment as a possibility."
"Yes, my lord."
Malen’s finger returned to the tollhouse.
"That reasoning brings us back to the artillery, my lord. More bodies failed to take this position. A gun that breaks the shelter gives their commanders something another wave may not."
"Agreed. What further development would you expect?"
"If their present shells struggle against stronger wards, they may ask their smiths for larger guns."
Lucien glanced toward the crystal.
"How difficult would that be, Ironbreaker?"
"They have more freedom once the weapon no longer has to fit inside a Warhound, my lord. But simply enlarging the design does not guarantee a working gun. They would have new problems with the barrel, the mounting, and the ammunition."
"Moving it would also become harder, my lord," Lucas said.
Cedric looked toward him.
"They have hauling beasts and magic."
"Both may help," Malen added. "A gun intended to spend weeks behind one ridge does not need to move like a tank. Their commanders might accept that inconvenience."
Lucien nodded.
"There is a reasonable probability that they will try. How quickly they can produce a reliable weapon remains to be seen."
He waited while Cedric recorded the assessment.
"Anything else before we discuss our response?"
Lucas turned over Vaerith’s report.
"I preferred this part, my lord. At least the dragon destroyed one of the guns."
"So did the men beneath those shells, I imagine," Lucien said. "Can the Alliance rely on doing it again?"
Malen shook his head.
"I would not count on the same opportunity, my lord. The next battery may have more Nightwings, better wards, or both."
"They may also try using the guns against aerial attackers, my lord," Cedric said.
"In principle, they could. Whether their present mountings and crews could hit a moving dragon is another matter. We have no report suggesting they can."
Lucien placed Vaerith’s account beside the sketch.
"Warn Karrek that the surviving commanders will probably change their protection. That should be enough speculation for the moment. Let us deal with the weapons already firing."
He drew the request into the middle of the desk.
"I propose sending the blueprint for our one hundred and five millimetre howitzer. Malen?"
"That would give them a weapon better suited to this work, my lord. They would still need to locate the batteries and observe their own fire."
"Dragons, balloons, and observation spells may help with that, my lord," Cedric said.
Malen nodded toward him.
"Where they can obtain a clear view. A report saying the guns are somewhere beyond a ridge will not give their crews enough to work with."
"And their present artillery cannot suddenly become precise at that distance," Lucien added.
Lucas examined Karrek’s request.
"How soon could the new design help, my lord?"
"That depends on their workshops. Ironbreaker, review the blueprint before we transmit it. Make certain the material requirements and ammunition design are clearly shown."
"I will check it, my lord. Whether their forge masters can reproduce everything with the methods available to them remains to be seen."
"They managed the infantry designs," Cedric observed.
"Yes," Ironbreaker replied. "And I hope they can manage this as well. But I would want to hear from the men making the gun before promising what their workshops can achieve."
Lucien nodded.
"Then the blueprint is our offer. They must manufacture the guns and ammunition themselves."
Elarion’s working artillery, trained crews, and production workshops could not accompany the design. The Alliance would have to build and operate the weapons with its own people.
"Ask their forge masters to explain any difficulty they encounter," Lucien continued. "We may be able to help them adapt it."
"Provided they explain more than the fact that something broke, my lord," Ironbreaker replied.
Lucas smiled.
"I shall ask them to be more specific than some of our own workshop reports, my lord."
Lucien waited until Cedric had written down the instructions.
"That settles the artillery proposal. What can they do while their smiths work on it?"
Malen gathered the reports describing collapsed shelters.
"My lord, they need better protection from the bombardment itself. Several positions were abandoned because the shelters and connecting passages failed. Even effective interference with an observer will not stop every shell from reaching them."
"What would you suggest?"
"First, we should ask how those defenses were built, my lord. Their depth, the ground around them, what supported the roofs, and which parts collapsed first."
Lucien studied the account of a blocked connecting passage.
"You are considering deeper trenches and underground shelters."
"Where the ground permits it, my lord. Their troops must still be able to reach their firing positions when the demons advance. A shelter is little use if its only entrance collapses and traps everyone inside."
"Depth alone would not settle it," Lucien said. "They may need a different layout as well."
He remembered the field defenses of Earth: trenches broken into sections, protected shelters, and routes arranged so that damage in one place did not necessarily make the entire position unusable.
He understood the purpose of those features. Choosing the right design for unfamiliar ground, hostile magic, and the Alliance’s mixed forces required more than memory.
"A trench with bends and separate sections might limit how far fragments travel through it," he continued. "Stronger overhead cover could help where men have to wait through bombardment."
"It could, my lord," Ironbreaker said. "But poor support might bury them beneath that cover."
"And deeper digging could leave them standing in water, my lord," Lucas added.
Lucien looked toward Malen.
"Then what information would you need before recommending changes?"
"Drawings of the positions and descriptions of the ground, my lord. We should not send one design and tell every commander to dig the same thing."
"Their earth mages may be able to help with excavation," Lucien said. "But they would still have to judge the ground and support what they build."
Cedric lifted his quill.
"Shall I request drawings of the surviving positions as well, my lord?"
"Yes. We need to know what held as well as what failed."
He placed the customs-house report beside the others.
"I will look for trench and shelter designs. There may be something better suited to the threat they are facing."
"Do you expect to find something they can use, my lord?" Lucas asked.
"I have not searched for them yet, but there is a reasonable chance."
"Whatever you find would still need to suit their tools and magic, my lord," Malen said.
"Exactly. A design that depends on materials they cannot produce would do them little good."
Lucien paused, giving the others a chance to add anything further. When nobody spoke, he turned to Cedric.
"For now, tell Karrek that we are preparing the howitzer blueprint and examining possible improvements to their defenses. Request the drawings and ground descriptions Malen needs."
"Yes, my lord. I will also ask for confirmation of separate machine-gun teams and any artillery larger than the weapons already reported."
"Keep those possibilities separate from what has actually been observed."
Ironbreaker spoke through the crystal.
"The howitzer blueprint will be ready by morning, my lord."
"Good. We will transmit it once you have checked it."
Cedric gathered his notes. Malen remained beside the map, reading the account of the collapsed passage once more.
Lucien addressed him before he could leave.
"Bring our field-defense plans here in the morning. We will compare them with the Alliance’s reports and see what we have to offer."
Malen folded the map carefully.
"I will have them ready, my lord."