Dóchas
Ryze stroked his beard in thought before turning his gaze to the map, 'if we house your men in these three stations here,' he indicated a trio of stations marked as 'Dóchas Buffers', 'then we shouldn't have much of a problem housing that many. My reasoning for choosing these three in particular is their location, their not frontline with the CSH, one covers our flank if the CSH ever takes Frontline station off the Brotherhood, and it's close enough to use as an easy location to reinforce our main line from if and when the Communists come crawling down our tunnels. You'll be able to rotate your men and allow them to get plenty of rest, and you have access to the surface from each of these stations. The added benefit of them being buffer stations is they're already fortified as well, although you're free to add any extra modifications you can. Does this arrangement sound agreeable to you?'
'Usually between one and two hundred men, and when it comes to the surface they'll send their best, well armed, well trained and often veteran troops. So some help will be appreciated, the Stalkers are tough and have a similar level of gear, but they're not trained for warfare against mankind, their specialty is the retrieval of surface supplies. But don't doubt their skill, they are all good shots and know the basics, but they're no Order Rangers.'
'Regrettably I can't send more than a platoon of my men to the airfield,' Yalin's father added, 'we're stretched thin as it is, and I'm not desperate enough to send unexperienced men on a mission like this to fight, I may as well shoot them now if that were the case.'
'Agreed. Surface warfare is always messy by nature, as is any warfare I suppose, but the surface has a way of complicating things. Back to the topic at hand. Our Stalkers and anyone from the initial team that volunteers to remain behind will help your marines garrisson the airfield,it'll be a shared base and maybe in a few weeks, perhaps months, we'll have it up and running again for aircraft. Although I think we'll leave that decision to your aerial technicians. After all, they know their craft and their capabilities far better than any of us here.'
'The offer of support is greatly appreciated and I'm sure it'll come in handy when we engage the enemy. I'm also looking forward to see if there's any servicable ordenance at the base, some Howitzers on the surface could certainly come in handy. And I doubt anyone's plundered any shell stockpiles around, no one else would have use for them to my knowledge.'
Leofric cleared his throat, 'forcing them to the surface is easier said than done. The CSH owns plenty of territory, much of which has access to the surface, so even knowing exactly where they are when they come up is difficult, they'll probably have their pick of locations whenever they wish to send a surface team. Although I'm curious what kind of plan you think we could use to funnel them onto the surface where we want them.'
Listening Post Able
'I'd suggest aiming for the head, it's always a good option, crippling limbs and wings is always a fantastic backup plan. These beasts can take a beating and slowing them down always helps.' The Able Station Stalkers took up firing positions all over the front of the building and before the door even opened they began pouring fire onto the assailants.
A pack of Howlers had been chased by the Demons into the street, right into the armoured vehicles parked in front of the Embassy. When the mounted machine guns opened fire, the noise only served to draw more creatures to the fray. Fortunately the Demons had extracted all the food they wanted out of the Howlers and had retreated to the far end of the street to enjoy their meal.
But that was only a small consolation prize, more Howlers were pouring into the street drawn by noise. And the moment the reinforcements from within the Embassy appeared in the street, they saw a pack of stick thin humanoid like mutants leaping from the shadows to drag unwary Howlers into their den.
Roves swore something about needing to deal with those at some point.
The engagement turned into a swirling close quarters fight. Mutated beasts swirled all around, clashing with each other as much as they threw themselves at the Embassy, it was pure chaos.
'How are you enjoying your stay so far?' Roves called over the din of battle to Martin, 'the wildlife's something else isn't it?'
Reich Station, The Brotherhood MZ
After listening to Dart's translation, Reuman grinned, 'The Reich station is truly a glowing jewel in the midst of a wasteland. I am glad you found it to be the kind of marvel that it is. Although it grows emptier every month I'm afraid, although I think it is important to highlight why.' He tapped the side of his nose as a sign of how important his next words were going to be as they made their way through the station. 'Many months ago we discovered a true gift from our forefathers, an enormous, well stocked bunker built well beneath even this part of the Metro system. It's only a short surface trip away from here no less, and it is cut off from any other location underground, the perfect place to hold our noncombatants. We've been slowly transfering our womenfolk, young children and the elderly there to keep them safe, while the unmarried, fighting men continue to stand on the front lines. It's important for our survival to keep those necessary for our continued survival safe and in secure comfort do you not agree?'
As they continued, it became apparent that at least some of what Reuman said was true, there almost seemed to be a ten to one ration of men to women in Reich, and many of the men were in prime fighting form, either labouring away at jobs necessary to keeping a war going, such as farming or crafting weapons, munitions and other gear, or actively preparing for a fight.
The few women tended to perform secondary duties, such as operating businesses within the station or in a few cases performing scribe duties for the government.
They proceeded up a flight of magnificent marble stairs and into a large foyer where a troop of Honour Guards stood at attention. 'The offices to the Autarch and his council are that way,' Reuman pointed to the finely furnished, as Heldur went rooms to one side. They continued forwards however towards what must be a meeting room.
Inside there was a large oval desk, at one end a burly man in a military uniform sat with his hands clasped on the table, he looked like a military man through and through despite the lack of medals pined to his chest. On either side of him sat a pair of his councillors who were whispering quietly among themselves while the man, who must be the Autarch stared at a map of the Metro system in front of them all.
When the door closed he rose from his seat and grinned, 'welcome to my humble station,' he indicated the seats all around the table, 'please take a seat wherever you please, I'm sure we have plenty to discuss!'
