Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 42: Outposts

In the week following the battle, Eric rested with Mia. The two reveled in the discovery of their child, each gloating. Eric often held Mia’s stomach, kissing it before kissing Mia. "Kamer bets it will be a boy." Mia said while lounging back in her chair. She was watching Eric building a crib, and sighed. "I am not that far along yet!" She groaned. "I can help." Eric shook his head, looking up at her. "Absolutely not. Today is the last day of my recovery. I am not letting you do anything physically laborious." She threw a flipper at his head while Kamer walked in. The flipper hit Eric and bounced off him, striking Kamer in the face. "Well good morning to you as well." He grumbled while sitting down. He handed Mia the flipper back while looking at Eric. "I remember when my wife was pregnant with our first." Eric chuckled "Yeah, one hundred years ago." He interjected. Kamer glared at him before continuing. "I did the same thing you are doing now, BOY." He grumbled. "That is just how us men are, Mia." He sighed before turning back to Eric. "Milano said that he would leave for Riemskin by 0600. He said that you are coming along."

Eric sighed before while he felt angry glare from his angry wife cutting into his back like daggers. "Dear?" She said, a smile not reaching her eyes plastered on her face.

"Oops." He said in response, sweat trickling down his back while Kamer retreated back to his house. He heard the explosion of words while chuckling. "Ahhh... Young love."

At 0500 Eric’s alarm woke both of them up. Mia crawled on top of him, her body pressed against his as he stroked her hair. They both knew the hard truth: War doesn’t stop just because you found happiness. "Come back to me." She whispered quietly. "We need you here." She put his hand on her stomach. "I need you here." They kissed, and Eric got up quietly. "I will always come back." He answered, kissing her head before getting dressed. He grabbed his go bag and walked out the door towards the staging area. She sat there crying, but she knew that it was necessary. They both wanted a war free world for their child to grow up in, and the only way to build that life was to fight for it.

Milano waited for Eric at the front of the small convoy they would take to Riemskin. Five up armored Humvee’s stood behind him, each outfitted with a small team of soldiers. Eric approached, a grim look on his face as he saluted Milano. "Good morning sir." He said while setting his bag in the truck. Milano returned the salute as they convened. "Good morning Dryer. I assume you are ready for duty?" Eric nodded, "Yes sir." He said while the soldiers started their vehicles. "Good, let’s go. I informed the King that we would be there by 1100. I assume that this will be an all day event."

At 10am, they arrived at the gates of Silver Castle. The castle had become their permanent embassy, which had been one of the conditions Eric had negotiated with the king. He knew they needed a fixed staging area. Liron was waiting for Eric and Milano at the front, receiving them with a bow. "Welcome back to the Riemskin alliance, Master Sergeant Dryer." He said to Eric while turning to Milano. "That must make you Lieutenant Colonel Milano. I graciously welcome you to the kingdom. My name is Liron Brason. If there is anything you need during your stay here, please notify myself or one of my staff, and we shall assist you to the best of our abilities." Milano shook hands with the envoy. "Thank you for your hospitality, Envoy Liron. I will do so if the need arises." Liron nodded as he motioned towards Riemskin castle. "Follow me then, Gentlemen. His and Her majesties are awaiting in the meeting room."

Lilith and Remory sat in the meeting room as they waited for Eric and Milano. "I can’t believe one of them seduced our daughter." He groaned, but a smile betrayed his real feelings. The queen stared at him while sighing. "It was time for Ayeolla to find herself, darling. And I know you are proud. Even now, your smile is likened to that of a court jester." Remory chuckled while grasping her hand. "I know, but I still don’t want to imagine her married yet. I still remember her frothing around in the puddles and crawling into my lap for bed time stories."

There was a knock on the door, and they sat up straight. The king folded his arms on the table while Lilith crossed her legs, placing her arms at the armrests of her chair. "Enter." The king said in a somber, commanding voice. The gravity of this meeting took firm control of his thoughts.

Liron showed Eric and Milano to their seats as refreshments were offered. Not wanting to show bad faith, the pair accepted water while exchanging greetings with the Royals. There was a tense silence as each side measured the other up. Reports sat in front of each person untouched. Most of the information had already been memorized. Finally, the king sighed.

The dam broke.

"It seems both you and I are at an impasse here, commander." The king started. "The results of our last stand speak for themselves. The combined training is working as our men are learning more of your tactics and weaponry, and we have been able to replicate some of your technology. The problem still remains, however. If I may be so frank as to say:

We are both sitting still and waiting for extermination."

"Yes." Milano said as he nodded. "I think that both you and I agree on the basis that if we remain still, and wait for the empire continually, neither of us will exist. We have now routed two enemy units in combined warfare, your soldiers magic greatly assisting our capabilities. I believe it is now high time that we push forward. I cannot do it alone as we risk further degradation of our supply and logistics chain."

King Remory thought for a moment before responding. He stood up, walking towards a window that overlooked the city. "I will assist however I can. You must know, however, that I am constrained within the confines of bureaucracy. The nobles seek to control your technology in aims to steal the glory for themselves. I believe young Michael has informed you of how the rest of our aristocracy views your unit." He sighed as he sat back down. "There are three mountain ranges that serve as the kingdom borders. Each time the empire launches an offensive, they must come through those valleys."

"Canalizing terrain." Milano murmured while looking at Eric. They shared a grin together while Milano turned to the king. "In that case, your highness, I believe we have the perfect assets to set up new outposts.

Remory’s eyebrows arched as the soldiers grinned. "What is it you have in mind?" He said while leaning forward. "Can your machines traverse that terrain easily?!" The descriptions of their power that he had heard from Ayeolla were enough to cause him terrors at night. Imagining just one of them marching on the capital had filled him with dread, but if they could traverse mountains as if valleys were paved highways? Hairs on the back of his neck began to raise.

Milano chuckled at the king’s outburst, then realized he was laughing at a king. "Apologies, your highness. I am not laughing at you. There are two answers for your question. The first answer is that not all of the vehicles we have in our possession can navigate terrain. The tanks, which your world calls Llaurels, should only navigate slopes up to 30%. Most of our equipment could traverse the terrain, but it would be slow and take more risk than we would benefit from. They would move slower than an infantry unit on foot. We do not simply have ground units though. Our air assets were made explicitly for missions such as this."

Remory sat in shocked silence as he thought over what Milano was saying. "Does your world have an answer to everything?" He muttered before realizing he spoke out loud. "Forgive my idle thoughts. I meant not to utter them. " Milano waved his hand in response. "I understand your wariness, your majesty. We may seem overmatched, but logistics strain still effects even us." He sighed before addressing the king again. "We can claim those mountains, but we cannot hold them. Would you be willing to occupy the outposts we claim if we push forward with this plan?"

Lilith spoke up in place of the king as she had her own concerns. "If it is as you say, then we can maintain the outposts. However, we will likely need your arms. The empire will attempt recovery of their outposts once we lay claim to them. To ensure we retain possession of that terrain, we can man the outposts. We will simply need your weapons to hold it."

Milano looked to the Queen and nodded. "That can be arranged, your majesty. Depending on the size of each element, I can supply your kingdom with the appropriate amount of arms needed. In exchange, I will need the raw materials provided as outlined in our treaty since the weapons will have to be reproduced by our merchant."