01.49 - Ascendance of a Sword Saint

“Win an entire war on our own?” I asked. “Maybe. But one step at a time. Let’s start with a battle and then see where things go from there. We just need a platoon or two and a chance to put it to good use.”

“You want to lead a guard of my best men into certain doom?” David asked. “Not happening.”

“Your best men?” I asked. “Nah, screw that. Give us your worst, your disposable, your huddled masses yearning to return home in one piece.”

“Huh?” David asked. “You want our cannon fodder?”

“You heard me right,” I said.

“You must be joking,” David said.

“We're serious,” Tia said.

“We'll take the front lines,” I said. “Whats the worst that could happen?”

“the worst that could happen? You’ll all die,” David said. “Then your front breaks down, and we all die too. Are you suicidal? Cause I am not.”

“Do we look suicidal?” Tia asked.

“Listen, you should know by now that it's pretty hard to kill us,” I said. “At worst you'll lose a platoon of people you would have fated to fall sooner or later anyway. We don’t want to be tested at the next regular skirmish. What about an enemy outpost? Or their supply chains… There must be some crucial targets you don’t want to attack quite yet because you fear their resistance, or think they are not worth the sacrifice.”

“‘Shareg Ex,’” David said.

“What?” Tia asked.

“That’s the name of an outpost,” David said. “Heavily fortified, on ground and in space. It sits in the center of three of their main front supply routes. There are good reasons we haven’t tried to attack there. But in case you fail, you could maybe still make it out alive. Most of their defenses are stationary. Both in space and on the ground, so there won’t be many pursers.”

“Sounds good,” Tia said.

“What about our troops?” I asked.

“I could give you the remnants of the 37th, the 42nd and the 69th, and fuse it with the 73rd,” David said. “Some veterans, whose main accomplishment is taking their boosters in their hands and turning tail. Plus a number of new recruits that failed to make a name for themselves, and will probably die trying."

“Great,” Tia said after following my train of thoughts on the matter.

“Though we won’t make this official,” David said. “Whether you win or run, no one will know, and if you fall, you’ll be forgotten.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “History won’t forget us. I’ll make sure of that.”

—

“You’re a fiend, you know?” Tia said as we finalized the plans for the attack.

“Hey, I am just playing their game by their rules,” I said.

“But if we destroy their base, there will be nothing helping us to defend that place against a counter attack,” Tia said.

“Not our problem,” I said. “David said he wants us to get rid of their supply route, he didn’t tell us to hold the fort. Besides, we can and will still have to capture their ground bases.”

“But to blow the whole thing to the high heavens…” Tia said. “That sounds more like one of my plans.”

“I’ve learned from the best,” I said with a grin.

Maybe the chaos had left the dragon and attached itself to me.

My plan to deal with the base was pretty simple. I’d mirror Seth’s attack on ‘Neu Waldland’. Not the planet destruction part of the plan. The one where he used guided sub lightspeed projectiles guided by people.

We won’t attack the planet with it, just the space station. And I would personally guide a payload that was way, way slower than anything close to lightspeed.

We’d need something strong enough not to get instantly destroyed by the defenses, but also light enough to get up to speed with regular measures.

Luckily, there was an asteroid belt right in that system.

According to our intel, the mining operations on it were spread out and only lightly defended. Not much to get. Raw materials are a dime a dozen in space. At least around star systems.

The few miners were captured without much resistance.

We had prepared boosters beforehand.

All that was left was to attach them to a suitable metal asteroid and get the approximate coordinates of the target.

I had intended to see this through and steer the payload into its target, only ejecting at the last moment. Soon enough not to get obliterated by the enemy fire or the aftershock of the collision, but not so soon that our opponents would be able to significantly alter the projectile's course.

It was 4.2 astronomical units to ‘Shareg Ex,’ I had a full tank of propellant, half a dozen shield batteries, it was dark... and I had forgotten my sunglasses.