General Ambers waited for her senior staff, quietly contemplating all possible courses of action she could think of. And all possibilities of what had gone wrong. Hilaron City... one of the oldest cities in the world, capital of the Mundir Empire. The jewel in the Empresses crown. And now it was under attack. By whom? If it was a ground siege, she could bring 20,000 soldiers of the empire crashing through whatever cordon the besiegers had established. Her eyes traced over the map on the table in the center of her tent.
The Empire had four standing armies, but a quick review of logic told her that, none of them were important right now. Whomever was attacking the capital hadn’t broken through one of them, she would have heard by now. They were all at least a day away by rail. A week away for an army on the march, and that if it faced no resistance. This attack was completely without warning. That left one possibility: attack by the sea.
How had the enemy bypassed the fleet? Had they brought transport ships full of troops for a quick siege? Was the city being shelled, or had it been conquered? Where it’s ancient wall being fortified right now to withstand a counter siege? The capital had no garrison, and it’s police force wasn’t trained for war. IF the enemy had attacked with an invasion from the sea, the city would be in enemy hands by now. her mind was raceing with questions as her senior staff came in.
Lt. Generals Oscar, Drummel, Victor, and James, as well as Lieutenants Peters and Zau. Everyone look disheveled and a bit shocked, just as she had been. No one had been expecting this. Good, she noted, not an inside job then. Peters came in holding telegrams crunched in his hands, and so she addressed him first. “Give us a situation report Peters.” She said formally, as the generals circled around her table.
Peters opened his mouth, closed, it gulped, then after a painful pause continued. “At 0113 hours, we received this telegram; ‘Musra warships firing on Capital. Where is fleet? The crown wonders. To all points.’” He paused, and after a moment it become clear that this was all anyone knew. ‘to all points’, that meant that telegram had been sent to every point in the empire, she reflected. The palace had panicked. She frowned. A sovereign should behave with more dignity. “Do we have any other information?” She asked the obvious question, knowing the answer would probably be no. It was 0126 now, Peters must have come to ring at her tent right after receiving the telegram. On cue, Peters shook his head. “I had the telegraph room ask for conformation. None has been received. That was ten minutes ago.”
“Gentleman, recommendations?” She asked looking around at her subordinate officers. Lt .General Victor was the first to speak. He commanded her cavalry units. “I recommend we wait for confirmation from the capital before committing our troops. If we move to soon, we’ll be walking into an ambush.” She nodded. “Other opinions?” Lt. General Drummel, the commander of the artillery and logistics, spoke up: “I say we commit all our forces. We have no idea what is happening, but every second we stay up here, innocents may be dying. The empress herself must have ordered that distress telegram sent. She is not known for rash actions. I believe the capital is in immediate danger. If Musra has attacked with an invasion from the sea, they could capture the empress and force her to surrender. We must prevent that at all costs.” She nodded, recognizing that she had heard his opinion.
She looked around at her staff, all disheveled and tired eyed. Musra had been wise to attack in the night indeed. General Oscar, commander of the vanguard, opened his mouth to speak his mind “I say Drumell is right. we need to rush down there. By my calculations our first units could be at the Capital by dawn. If there is no invasion, or if this is a false alarm, it will be training exercise. If Musra has indeed troops, we will drive them into the sea.” He ended on a defiant note, the fire of patriotism in his eyes. She nodded, again showing that she heard him.
“James, what’s your recommendation?” She looked at the somewhat distant commander of the rearguard. He looked up at her, tearing his eyes away from the map. “The real question was in the telegraph. Where is the fleet?” He paused, breathing. “All we know for sure is that ships flying the flag of the Kingdom of Mursa are in Hilaron bay, and have fired at the city. We also know that the city is completely defenseless. No coastal artillery batteries. It was supposed to be safe from just this eventuality, because of our fleet patrolling the coast.”
She looked at him, thoughtful. “Very true James. But we can’t know where our fleet is. We only know that the Empress sent an all points telegram, and now can no longer be reached for comment. I think Drumell and Oscar have a point. We had better respond with full force as soon as possible. We are the greatest empire the world has ever seen. If we do nothing in response to our capital being fired upon, even if it’s just one or two shots, we’ll be the worlds laughing stock. “ She finished, looking each staff member in the eye. She was met with nods of agreement. “Alright gentleman, we have our plan. Began loading the troops onto the trains. half of our numbers, leave the rest here in reserve incase this is a diversion. I want our vanguard marching through the Palace courtyard by noon tomorrow. Siege, no siege, or even as a show of force to remind the people that the Empire exists after a little bombardment.” This got a chuckle from her generals. She then briefly looked them all in the eye.
“Began the operation.”
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General Ambers walked through the hustle and bustle of her army’s camp. Around her men rushed. Some held holding bolt action rifles, other had them strapped on their backs. Her officers had no rifles, just the handguns at their sides. It Already the first trains engines were building up steam. Once they left, they would be completely out of contact with the main camp.
She surveyed the camp in-front of her, her eyes tracing over all the soldiers under her command. If Musra had indeed landed troops, many of those she now saw would be dead within 24 hours. There was still no word form the capital, none at all. This told her the telegraph lines had been cut. She Would not wait one minute. Her armies were marching, and she would not hold back. She would be on the vanguard. The noise in the camp was horrendous as troops shouted and officers gave commands. Metal clanged as soldiers gathered equipment, and assembled into brigades. The clear sky shone with uncounted starts as she looked up, and she contemplated for a moment the enormity of the decision she had just made. She scanned her forces again. They were being loaded into train cars in the distance. The first train would hold a brigade of 1,000 troops. And it would leave in less then an hour. In four hours it would begin unloading those troops in the village of Harvy, the last stop before Hilaron City. Following the first train would be an artillery unit with 5 pieces, incase there was a need for fire support. Then another infantry unit... 10,000 troops would be deployed in Harvy within 12 hours.
War was not for the timid. She frowned as she stared at one soldiers particularly fresh face. The naivety shined through his eyes, and she imagined that he was only 16 years old, and frwsh of the farm. With no idea of what he had gotten into, only dreams of glory and th tall tales farmers told of war and heroes. And tomorrow, he may be dead. She looked away. ‘War is not about people, it’s about numbers.’ She reminded herself of the old proverb in the officer corps. She hoped though, against all hope, that none under her command would die.
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The green robed man Sat on the edge of the cliff now, watching. He didn’t know why he wasn’t doing anything. Perhaps because there was nothing to do. The 7 dreadnought, those seven deadly warships had ceased their firing, and now lay at anchor. To all the world, they looked like they were hear to stay. Strange behavior considering that the Imperial fleet was reputed to be the strongest in the world. And they should be showing up before long...
But no. The steel monsters just sat there. Their guns silent, as Hilaron city burned to the ground. Screams echoed across the water, and the green robed man just sat still, his feet dangling off the edge of the cliff. Watching the the city that had once been called ‘the light of the world’ light up the night. He ran a hand absently over his robe, feeling the course wool fabric. Yes, this was real. He had the sensation of touch, there was no reason to believe he was hallucinating. Even though nothing made sense.
The out of the corer of his eye, way out to see, he saw movement. At first he thought it was the Imperial navy, come to save it’s Empress. But as he turned his head and focused on the distant objects on the water, he realized that was not the case. The two dozen medium sized ships slowly making their way into the harbor were not Mundirs famed dreadnoughts, ride in like cavalry in some story. Instead they were what looked like cargo ships, flying the flag of Msura.
Troop transports. He thought absently as began to prop himself up off the cliff edge. Well, there was nothing to be done then. He briefly considered shoving himself into the sea below. Form this height the waves would be like stone, and he would surely die. But no... he had a duty to the crown he had sworn to protect. And far more important, to the people of the burning city he now turned his back on. He walked the ten feet to his cabin, not even thinking about his actions. He knew what he had to do. Once inside he rummaged around in the dark for his old chest.
He yanked it out from it’s hiding place under his bed, and opened it up slowly. Inside was his old rifle, carefully laid out. And cartridges... and his old sword. From oh so long ago, a time he had tried so hard to forget. Yet he had kept the sword. The bellow of another barrage from the ships in the harbor jolted him out of his nostalgia. Quickly he slung the rifle over his back, and fitted the old sword belt around his waist. Then he said a quick prayer, couched in the symbolism of a cult that had died out more then a century ago. “Oh blue one, watch over me. What I do is for the right. Not the base.” He grimly reflected that no one living but him would know its meaning, then he began to walk off into the night.
The Imperial army would most likely mass at Harvy.... he did some quick calculations. If they left now they wouldn’t be able to mass for at least 24 hours? He wasn't certain about this, they new railroads were still a bit of a mystery to him. He shot another glance behind him at the bay, it’s seven ugly metal monsters sitting there as what looked to be several dozen troop ships came in to land an invasion. And then he drew his feet back to the path. He would meet the army at Harvy and report for duty. He was a citizen of the Empire, he could do no less.
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Chapter notes: This one is a bit longer. I'm not sure if the story is moving too slow or too fast, so that must mean I'm getting it just right! Haha. I hop ya'll enjoy!
Chapter end notes: I'll try to work on another chapter before the week is up. Got a lot of school work though. Also I wouldn't mind knowing what ya'll think about this story and world!