Maybe, desperate planning

"Yes," answered the Overseer.

"That's impossible." I looked at the radar snapshot. The number of red dots was intimidating. "Nova and I wouldn't be able to take on this many demons even if we're at our peak. Doing it alone will be impossible. Even if the Duke wasn't there, the sheer number of demons will overwhelm me."

"I know," said the Overseer. "That is why I invited both you and Cymmand here. We need a plan to survive this."

"A plan? With all due respect, I don't think that is possible." I felt the desperation surfacing. "Seir and four of his followers nearly killed Nova and myself. Expecting to survive such an attack like this with half our strength borders on delusion."

"We have the advantage of knowing what is coming our way. It gives us time to prepare."

"Sir, two days means nothing against an attack of this magnitude. I doubt we'd be ready even if you give us a month."

"I agree with her," said Cymmand. "There was a massive difference in strength between Ronove and Seir. I'd hate to think what a Duke is capable of. And as Vega said, our forces are at half capacity."

The Overseer leaned back in his chair. "Let us then look at the problem from a different angle."

I doubt that will change anything.

"What would it take to combat a force of this magnitude?"

"The original contingent of Angels," I answered.

"Anything else? Will the pulse cannons not help us?"

"They are not strong nor fast enough to swing the fight in our favor."

"So we lack the firepower to engage the demons directly. Then, is it possible to divide and conquer? Can we do a pre-emptive strike?"

"We will fire the pulse cannons as always, but I doubt their impact will be significant," said Cymmand. "We've seen multiple times that the stronger demons can dodge them."

"Do we have any other long-range weaponry?"

"Asbestos has one remaining anti-matter warhead. We used the first one eight months ago. While the explosion killed most of the demons, it also killed two angels, damaged five others, and destroyed the Rehak dome. We deemed the missiles too dangerous and shelved the last one."

"Could we launch it at the demons?" The Overseer asked.

"It's a slow-moving missile. The demons will shoot it out of the sky or dodge it."

Missiles... I thought.

"Could we use it as a mine? Deploy it in a region the demons will come close to it?"

"That... could work." Cymand blew out a breath as she cast her gaze upwards. "We'd be putting Nova at risk. The missile would still be vulnerable to ranged attacks."

"Could we somehow lure the demons to a remote region of Asbestos?"

Lure... The outlines of a plan were starting to form in my mind. What if...

"I don't see how," said Cymmand. "The demons will split into two groups. One group will chase the lure while the other targets Asbestos."

"Cymmand?" I turned to my friend. "How many resources do you have left?"

"What do you mean?"

"Spare parts for the mechs."

"Not a lot. We'll have some motors, and we're trying to see if we can repair some of the damaged ones. Our armor reserves are almost empty. That's why we're opting for repairs instead of replacements. The weapon stocks are equally unhealthy. Cerviel's sword is the last one we have, as is Nova's sniper. We can manufacture its bullets so I'm not too worried there. As for the gauntlet blades, I believe we can manufacture two more."

"And the missiles?"

"We have around one hundred missiles in stock. We load twenty-five per mech per battle, so that's not much left."

"I see. And," I turned to the Overseer. "Has there been any further word from the rescue ships?"

"I have received communication yesterday. Everything is going according to schedule. They are six days away from Asbestos."

"That leaves us four days after the attack until the ships arrive."

"If all goes as planned. Why do you ask?"

"I... may have an idea on how we can fight against the incoming armada," I said. "It's reckless, and I still think survival is a stretch, but we might be able to give the demons some pause. But... the cost of it may be too great."

"The alternative is our destruction."

"This plan might lead us there as well."

"We can iterate on any plan," said the Overseer. "What we need now is a starting point."

"Okay." I nodded before taking a deep breath. "Okay. Let's start with the easiest. I think the anti-matter mine is a good idea. Nova should escape the blast if we time it right, and we'll be able to take down a lot of demons. I agree with Cymmand about ranged attacks. We can compensate by attaching a camera and a low-level intelligence. We can train it to detonate the mine once it senses a threat."

"That makes sense," said Cymmand. "What else?"

"We can also try to the third pulse cannon online again."

"That's not going to happen. Its support column is cracked. One more discharge will blow it apart."

"Okay, so the cannon is a no-go. Now we get to the part I don't like. We were seventeen Angels at the start. Fifteen of us died during the last year. Two were destroyed by the anti-matter missile. Five died when their mech's personality cores were damaged, and the last three sacrificed themselves by detonating their reactors. That leaves five dead mechs lying on Asbestos. Five dead mechs, with hopefully intact personality cores."

Cymmand narrowed her eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

"That we revive them."

"Why? We have neither the resources nor the pilots to get them running again."

"We don't need to pilot them. Those mechs had one pilot each. I'm not about to change that. What I want is their weaponry, especially their missile launchers."

"That's a tall order." Cymmand shook her head. "Even if their personality cores are undamaged, you're talking about a shitload of equipment to get them armed. The logistics of that will be a nightmare, and you're forgetting that we only have two days."

"I know, which brings us to my next suggestion. Time is not our friend. Repairing the mechs in the field is too difficult, so we must move them. The repair bays are in the Raifin dome."

Both the Overseer and Cymmand's eyes widened at the same time. "Surely you're not suggesting..."

"I am." I blew out a breath to calm my thundering heart. "We evacuate everything and everyone from the Raifin dome and willingly breach its exterior shell. We place the five mechs around the repair bays and turn Raifin into the biggest missile launcher we can make. One hundred missiles, all fired simultaneously with the pulse cannons. We might not kill the Duke, but we might kill off his entourage. We don't know how strong the Duke is, but facing it alone sounds more manageable than taking it on with his entire army."

"But... what about the people?"

"We'll have three working domes, each with two functional vaults. That's about three hundred people per dome and half of that per vault. It will be tight, but it is possible. We move everybody in the Kaif, Patlix, and Muthufa domes and divide the food and oxygen tanks accordingly."

"And power? Raifin houses Asbestos' power core. Surviving for four days without power will be a nightmare."

"But it will be survivable if we prepare," I said. "Everybody in Asbestos has an EVA suit. We make sure they take it with them to the vaults. Three or four days inside the suit will be uncomfortable, especially if the power gives out. But it will be survivable."

"We also have the cryo protocols if oxygen starts running row," said the Overseer.

"That's even more risky than what Vega is suggesting." Cymmand turned her attention to our boss.

"It would be a worst-case scenario."

"I..." Cymmand stayed upright for a few more seconds before retreating into her chair. "What Vega is proposing is madness."

"I know." I agreed. "Believe me, I know, but it's the only thing I can think of. I'd love to hear other suggestions." I altered my gaze between the room's occupants. The Overseer met my gaze as Cymmand returned hers to the ceiling. The gears in her mind were probably spinning at full speed. I really hoped they would reach a different conclusion than mine.

"The logistics of what you're proposing..." She said. "It's... staggering."

"Break it down into steps," said the Overseer. "What would we need to do?"

"We'd need multiple teams and a shitload of volunteers. Losing some of my engineers means less work on Cerviel. We can't afford that, so we'll draw on the population."

"What would they need to do?"

"Prepping the missile is easy." Cymmand scratched her chin. "A technician can have it ready the next day. So, the first thing would be the notice of mass evacuation, which I assume you'll send via your display."

"I will inform the public in an hour."

"I propose a twenty-four-hour window before we blow the dome. We'll need a team to move every bit of edible food and water to the vaults. Just moving it into the domes won't be enough. We need to prepare for the scenario where Asbestos loses its power core. The same goes for any oxygen tanks lying around. Refill all the empty ones, and program the mass fabricators to produce as much as possible."

"We can use the population to help with that." The Overseer nodded. "The women and children will be helpful with this."

"That fits with my idea of the second team. We need several smaller groups to investigate the fallen mechs. Their job will be to determine whether the personality cores are indeed intact. It will be a waste of resources to haul an inoperable mech to the repair bays." Cymmand switched her gaze between the Overseer and myself. Neither of us replied. "The third team would be the scavengers. They would need to haul the mechs back to Raifin."

"Do the scavengers have the tools to do that?" asked the Overseer.

"I'll let them determine that. We do have some heavy loaders I can loan to them."

"Understood. What else?"

"The last team will need to prepare the Raifin dome itself. They would need to strategically place several missiles along the dome to ensure we clear as much of it as possible. I'll allocate four missiles from the inventory to them."

"Won't we need the missiles for the demons?"

"I'm hoping the dead mechs will have some in their tubes," Cymmand said. "All of this will need to happen in twenty-four hours. After that, we vacuum the air out of Raifin and blow it up. That is where the hard work starts. I'd give the scavengers six hours to haul the mechs back to Raifin. Only then will I split off some enginers, two per mech. Loading the missiles isn't very hard, so the scavengers should be able to help with that. The rest of Asbestos can continue sorting the food. Nova should land around this time. We'd need to set up an infirmary if he needs treatment, but we can assign a team to deal with that. After that, it's a race to see how much we can prepare until the Duke arrives."

"You're forgetting the last team," I said.

"Which is?"

"Somebody to oversee all of this."

"I assumed that to be me."

"Vega is right," said the Overseer. "It's obvious you are operating on a lack of sleep. You need a team to take over while you are busy resting."

"I can do--"

"That's an order, Cymmand. I want you to form an oversight committee. Choose four or five people from your team and assign them to watch over a specific group. You won't be able to do everything by yourself."

"I... yes, sir."

"Good." The Overseer leaned back in his chair. "I do not like this plan but fail to see any alternative. I'd ask for some simulations if we had more time. That is a luxury we don't have. It might be our hail mary, but at least we'll go out with a bang if it fails. Let's make it a good one."