Upon The Quiet Beach

[aimway921]

Kapri was relieved at the arrival of the Royalist convoy. The wait and the loading was the most stressful part of the operation, as they were not on the move, on an open beach - sitting ducks if the Territorials showed up. Still though, Hikva's assurance that the Territorials are busy fighting a diversion has removed some of that stress.

As Hikva snapped to attention, Kapri noticed the officers approaching. She, however, stood at the at ease position, but would still salute the officers when they finally came up close. Being an attache from a different nation, she formally did not need to stand at attention in front of Elenrian officers.

[StaolDerg]

The four officers -two Inselni and two Crown- were dressed rather simply- the only indication of their rank were armbands with the eight-point star, their ranks emblazoned over. Two wore Takpoe Territorial uniforms, the others more rugged clothing, representative of a common soldier. All returned the salute, meeting the Wanderer and Ashigawa officer's gaze. 

One of the Takpoe-dressed Inselni addressed Hikva, their rank that of a brigadier general.

"Wanderer. Good to have you back. I see you took an unexpected detour- nonetheless welcome. Let us make acquaintances aboard the vehicles."

The Wanderer tipped his head in response, only too happy to. "Naturally. We'll be happy to join you in your vehicle, General."

[aimway921]

As everything - and everyone - were loaded aboard vehichles, the column finally started moving. The volunteer human Ashigawans, guns in hand, were standing on running boards of trucks, holding on for their dear life to the doors - being on lookout for any Territorial forces, in case they show up. In one of the vehicles, the officers started introducing themselves. Then it came Kapri's turn.

"My name is Kapri Aporiat. I'm Mr. Hikva's adopted daughter," she said, with an absolutely straight face, before pausing for several seconds. "At least that's what most will know me as for the next several years. For limited circles, including you, gentlemen, as well as other high ranking FNCAE officers, it would be beneficial to know my real identity. Colonel Yarakawa Shizuka of Ashigawa Armed Forces. I have been sent as an attache, as well as acting on behalf of the ambassador, until you regain your legitimate rule of the country and we can send the real ambassador. My country is interested in your success in your struggle against Kumo, and it is that shared interest why I am here with my men and all the equipment we are transporting right now. Personally I have been selected for this mission due to my experience in the Great War in organizing insurgent and partisan movements in occupied countries. I am looking forward to working with you."

[StaolDerg]

"And we you," the 'General' replied, dipping his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Kapri. Welcome to Elenria- I'm sure you'll find there is no shortage of action to be found here. Your presence is much appreciated and beyond needed at such times as these."

The other officers, nodded their assent, though with guarded expressions. Noticing, the general was quick to explain. "You will have to excuse us. The war against our own kin has hardly been easy- for many of us it is personal. Disregard the suspicion my countrymen give you- our honor is dense, but it will enclose your presence as you train and fight alongside them."

[aimway921]

"Understandable," Kapri said. "Honor is the utmost important part of my culture as well. Regardless, we must move with utmost speed. The conflict has dragged on for long enough, and we have no way knowing right now what ways our enemies might be seeking to eliminate us. Hikva has run me down on the basic situation in the country, at least the state of it back when he last heard news, and I have already drawn up some plans of action. They would no doubt have to be modified once you give me a run down on the actual situation today, but irregardless, our first proceed would be to train the soldiers to use the new weapons."

[StaolDerg]

"That would indeed be a most ideal course of action," the General agreed, nodding. "I think in that case, it is a good time to present you with our situation as we make the transit to the base." Pulling out a map of Elenria with colored annotations, he began pointing them out to Kapri. "Our forces are in yellow. We are in the largest cell, in the northeastern island that guards the Hinbury Strait. Our presence is greatest here- a hundred and thirty thousand, concentrated. The rest of our number, the remaining hundred and five thousand, guard the inland bases- some in the Badlands operating out of foxhole outposts, some dangerously near the capital, watching and listening. Our numbers remain few compared to the other factions and our equipment prior to your arrival abysmal. Training and experience, in addition to our successful efforts at obscurity have been the few advantages we have, but beyond that, we are limited by the lack of communication between cells and the earlier issues."

They sat back, awaiting Kapri's input. The other officers, Hikva included, looked on in earnest.

[aimway921]

"We should test our new weaponry here," Kapri said, pointing at the map on the North-most sector, after thinking for several minutes. "You said the Takpoe won't dare move into the jungle - so they won't interfere. We shall move a limited number of equipment and train the fighters. You need to be able to use the new weapons. We shall not reveal the tanks just yet, but we'll train to use them nonetheless. Meanwhile, we should distribute radios to all outposts - start listening to both Takpoe and Greatfern transmissions, start cracking their code. We also need to have spies infiltrate both their factions. More importantly, we need to make sure we don't have enemy spies among our own ranks."

[StaolDerg]

"There's a sizable chunk of open plain for the tanks to train," the General noted with a nod. "I expect Hikva will be able to provide a full inventory of the supplies delivered, but radios are indeed vital. We'll have them distributed to the major field outposts, but I expect a period of time prior for them to first train with them. With many of us already part of the Territorials, it is merely matter of time before we make off with their codes or reach a breakthrough of our own. Though I highly doubt we have the numbers to conduct a full espionage campaign, you are right that we need to clean our own ranks of enemy agents. By no means will it be a simple task, but necessary nonetheless. In any case, we should prioritize the training of forces first. We've a few bases to train from, but the most ideal location is probably Camp Ipavi, located within the local rainforest. I hope you are not predisposed to overseeing the training of forces with the equipment?"

[aimway921]

"Of course. That is one of the main reasons why I'm here," Kapri said, as she leaned back on the seat, folding her arms. "Now, the main threat to us remains Kumosenkan. I wager we can can hold our own against both Greatferns and Takpoe. However, if we provoke the Kumo to intervene directly, we are doomed. This is why I suggest we keep to small skirmishes with Takpoe, while focus our offensives on the Greatferns." She took another long glance at the map. "On second thought... We might convince them to join us, if temporarily. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all. What do you think are the chances the Greatferns would agree to a parley?"

[StaolDerg]

The officers among the truck's occupants exchanged looks of mixed feeling- Hikva himself frowned at the thought as Kapri raised it. The General shook his head. "Small-scale guerilla warfare we can do fine as we've been doing mostly that whenever possible to begin with, mostly owing to our now-previously state of equipment. But a parley with the Greatferns? They number well over several million. We Royalists are centralized by our small numbers, but they have no such limitation- or advantage, depending how you view it. The point I'm trying to make is that even if we manage to secure a parley with a single faction of the Greatferns, it would either quickly collapse from the inside or be mobbed by the rest of their kin. While possible, a parley is undoubtedly fruitless to our endeavors."

[aimway921]

"Hmm," Kapri bit her lip, thinking. "That option is not a variant, then... We are really in a tough spot." Kapri put her hands on her legs as she slouched down over the map, carefully looking for something on it. "In that case, we shall focus on increasing our underground movement. Training, growing numbers, infiltrating every level of Takpoe and Greatfern government and military in every major city. We need spies in high places. We may not have the numbers, but we mast make it seem to the enemy that we do - while at the same time remaining unseen. If we get the workers on our side, it would be of the greatest benefit. Then we would gain direct access to the Takpoe industry - and sabotaging the right thing at the right time would not be a problem in that case."

"And then we shall wait. Wait and prepare, growing our strength. With the climate on the Mainland, I am sure a major war will break out soon. That will keep Kumo distracted. Then it will be the time to strike. In the meantime, my government back home is looking into alternative means of supporting you, and not only you. I know for a fact that there were plans of contacting New Horizon. We are also opening relations with multiple nations here on Touli. If those are a success, we shall have a new lifeline for equipment and communication."

[StaolDerg]

"While the former we certainly already do- many of our number, as you have noticed, are Territorial officers- but the opportunity to appear larger is simply not viable anymore. Takpoe knows damn well that they heavily outnumber us with their regular forces alone. Our advantages alone lay in our ability to remain hidden as you have mentioned, in addition to the individual cells of the royalist forces scattered across the country that provide safe havens for our operatives. The ability to bring the local population under our influence depends entirely on whether we can convince Crown humans of the Expeditionary-styled honor to defect from their current Nameholder to our ranks instead. I will bring up what you have suggested to High Command, of course, but it remains to be seen what can be done. So far a propaganda campaign may be soon in order, but it will undoubtedly take," -he took a scornful breath- "a specially extensive deliberation by the officers to come to any conclusive plan."

"Most excellent. The situation on the mainland has been long deteriorating- Encore clashing with police by the day and Greatferns lighting base after base alight- so we've kept a rather sizable force ready to make the trip to the coast to set up a beachhead. The question is whether we can decrease the morale of Takpoe Inselni to a point where they will no longer honor their oaths to keep vigilant and allow themselves to be captured... but that remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it's indeed great news to hear that more roads may soon open. Any channel to our kin in the Horizon would be most beneficial to our cause- in fact, I don't think it'd be difficult to ask for troops from there. If a communication line of some sort could be established, we'd deeply appreciate it."

[aimway921]

Several weeks would pass after Hikva and Kapri's arrival. They have mostly been spent in distribution of equipment and training.

A cell in one of the cities has reported a military convoy to depart by rail and would pass nearby the outpost Kapri was at in several days. Kapri has seen in it the perfect opportunity to test the mettle of the troops she had to work with.

The plan was simple - put up an official Takpoe "Stop" railroad signal on the the train's path. Wait for it to stop. Kill the machinists to prevent it from going anywhere, then the guards. Loot military equipment, lock up any other military personnel that surrender inside the train, and if any present, let the civilians go, but not before trying to win them over for the noble cause of freedom for all Elenria. Then blow up the train engine, clogging up the rail line for the immediate future."

"So what do you think?" Kapri asked, leaning over the table with the map, after explaining her plan the ENCOR officers.

[StaolDerg]

Some of the officers seemed rather skeptical. Hikva looked concerned, speaking up first. "There's an issue with that. This is assuming that there aren't Inselni aboard, and the civilians aren't going to just join us. They've got family who'll get sent to the prison camps if they don't show up. Not to mention, shooting the machinists themselves won't exactly help our cause. What about just destroying the engines and looting the equipment? We needn't bother with the civilians. In fact, we're better off just posting posters in the cities instead. The anti-armor equipment your forces brought should be more than sufficient for this job."

A few other officers murmured in agreement.

Another officer spoke up- a Crown. "No, 'Kapri's got a point. The machinists are just casualties of war- we have to make sacrifices if we want to win. Why stop with the train? Blow up the rails too. Stagger their lines. We can't let the soldiers tell what happened- they're the only ones who know what we probably look like. Lock them in the cars when we blow the engine. Let the civilians go. We can pass blame off to the Greatferns."

Hikva shook his head. "You forget that the reserves and military rotate. a bunch of the civilians can clam up and still know what happened. Plus, Takpoe will just spin this on us. They'll say we starved the civilians and whatnot. We could just make off with a few guns and leave with our hides in the process by holding up the train and leaving with the guns. They know we're here anyway."

[aimway921]

Kapri listened to all the input she was given on her plan, and after a minute of thinking, began addressing every point.

First she addressed Hikva. "And what message will that send to the families and the public? That the Kumo oppressors are going to punish people for events outside of their control. Destroying the engine I think will be too loud, even for our ambitions. The machinists - unless you can think of a way of capturing them alive before they restart the train and our target runs away - we can't let them live. Propaganda posters in the cities is obvious - of course we will do that as well.

The she turned and pointed at the Crown officer. "I like the direction you're thinking in, but not the distance you're going. The disabled train we leave behind us will stagger the lines enough to be an inconvenience to them, but not enough to bring more attention than needed as blowing the rails would do."

She then turned back to Hikva. "I understand that. But if we continue being entirely idle, we shall not survive. So what we shall do, is round up all the Takpoe soldiers at the train that would be smart enough to surrender. In front of the civilians ask them a simple question - would they rather support Kumo oppressing all the civilians standing in front of them or freedom for all Elenria. Execute the ones who chose the first option. Let everyone else go. This will show people that we are not just words in the wind - we stand by what we believe, and we fight for freedom! With enough luck, they shall join our cause. Weather they join us directly or form their own resistance cells, well - time will tell."