CHAPTER 31: Emergency summit
Hawkon, Fludgeon, and Gustav, the three of them meeting up together in a last-second summit, were all gathered for one specific reason; the unexpected capturing of Guddorn, the architect to the initial defence program involving a dragon deterrent, (which was destroyed by the Hooligans), but also Hawkon's right hand viking.
The single Mentranian boat that managed to sail back, the defenders who were able to survive and return home, had informed Hawkon of what happened to Guddorn and their failure of success.
The three prominent vikings were situated in a giant hall on Mentra, nearer to the borders of the island. Sat in front of the three were the defence force generals, the ones Hawkon would give his commands/orders to when it came to combat or war, and behind the Mentranian generals were regular defenders. The hall was packed, and there wasn't a single regular Mentranian viking here.
The paranoia of Hawkon was because of that. But his paranoia had just taken a surge due to the unexpected capture of Guddorn by the Hooligans.
"How did this happen?" the dictatorial youngster in Hawkon asked, as Fludgeon and Gustav sat on either side of him.
"Our armada came across those outcasts. Initially, we pushed them away and sent them retreating on the seas, but then we were completely taken off guard by the Hooligans flying onto our boats from their wing suits. In the end, they caused us quite the hassle, then the outcasts joined them, and then...they grabbed him, from what I could tell. We had already sailed away with the intent to return home at that point, so it was hard to see." the Mentranian armada captain said, sat amongst the generals.
"I just don't understand...Guddorn was an asset to us...his ethic...his competence...and once again, not a single one of you had the capability of fulfilling what should've been a straightforward mission, a crucial one, in this war, especially?"
"With all due respect, sir Hawkon, the loss of Guddorn shouldn't be thrown down to our feet entirely.." one of the generals echoed, as the regular defenders behind kept their heads down; they all wanted to avoid being executed on Hawkon's orders for the failure of Guddorn.
"I beg your pardon?" Hawkon questioned, surprised at the general talking back at him.
"You may be our leader, but you rely on us to defend Mentra. Therefore, our words matter as much as yours. Your lack of detail, your inability to grasp the aspects you should've picked up at the start..I think we can agree that you've led to this loss as well."
Subtle, silent gasps were seen scattered amongst the hundreds of regular defenders behind the generals in the hall. They were...actually giving attitude to the Mentranian leader. If that was a regular Mentranian or the low ranking defenders themselves, they'd have been executed or sent to an isolation camp by now.
"Just who do you think you are?"
"Forget the intimidation attempts, Hawkon..." the general uttered, having the audacity to call Hawkon by his name, not 'the father', or 'sir Hawkon' this time.
The Mentranian cult of personality had required EVERYONE to refer to the leader as their 'father' or 'sir', or even 'dear leader'. This was totally unprecedented for a defender general not to do so, but Hawkon wasn't backing down.
Fludgeon the Feared and Gustav Larson were both sat with pure dignity, looking straight in their expressions as if a split wasn't emerging between their leader and one of his generals.
"We've just lost one of our most competent leaders in this war, general, and here you are, attempting to undermine me. I'm sure you're fully aware of what happens on our great island, for those who betray me and seek to undermine me?" Hawkon said, leaning up on his chair, "there will be dire consequences awaiting you."
"We hold the combat experience. We hold the weapons. We are your keys to destroying our enemies, and to winning the war. But whilst you continuously inflict plans and missions upon us that border on being absurd, we struggle. With all due respect, sir, not once have you stepped out on the forefront. We are respectfully serving you, for we all share the same goal of conquering the Hooligans and their allies. But I need not remind you, that we laid down the gauntlet for our previous dear leader too."
"Laying down the gauntlet? you're clearly overestimating your powers here, general?" Hawkon chuckled, "are you trying to threaten me?"
"Of course not. Not yet. But as I've said already, take into account that we hold the keys to the success The Viking's Mentra is seeking to achieve in the war. Take into account we are the fighters. You may be our leader, but your father knew there were boundaries that we drew. We're simply holding you to account. We seek competence, much like you saw in Guddorn. His death was down to your incompetence, and I reiterate once again, in your long goal of victory, that should our island suffer significant losses under your watch, on a constant basis, we, in our positions, will have an obligation to act."
It's just as Blavery and Hiccup had discussed in the past, and was now coming to fruition; Guddorn's death has led to a questioning of Hawkon's leadership by the defender generals, and that was truly unprecedented in the Mentranian regime. Hawkon's father, when he was leader, knew that the generals had expected from him what he expected from them, so it could work both ways in terms of cooperation and unity; competence.
Guddorn's death to the generals was down to Hawkon's random, aimless plans he had provided on a constant basis. It was eventually going to lead to something like this.
"And let's be clear. The Mentranian vikings see you as their god, their saviour, and their father. Letting them down will only add to the consequences." the general defender uttered.
Hawkon was speechless. His own generals just now had threatened to topple him from power, if he supposedly continues to get his prominent Mentranian men killed during the war. There was now no question about it; Mentra was split right at the top, and that split was between Hawkon and his own generals, the exact men he relies on to carry out his upcoming plans and actions in the war against the Hooligans.
As Blavery said to Hiccup when they were discussing this happening in the event of Guddorn's death, the generals were the hard-liners in the regime; even though the leader held power, the generals, with their hard-line stances, kept the leader up to account. Whilst Hawkon's father accepted that, it seemed like Hawkon was outraged internally.
"But thus far, sir, Operation Catafly is sounding rather promising." the general said, completely reverting back to the type of language the cult of personality requires everyone on Mentra to use; to refer to the leader as 'sir', or any of the other things listed already, as if the brief exchange just now never happened.
"We have planned extensively for that." Hawkon said, and although he sounded relaxed, he really wasn't.
The anger was like a flame in him. The despot viking was now, in light of the verbal exchange he's just had with one of the Mentranian generals, keen on reinserting his power. How? that was already in his head, and it was for another time.
"Well men, Guddorn's capture and presumable death means we ought to make more advances." Hawkon uttered, his strong voice echoing out to the entirety of the hall, to the normal defenders all sat behind the generals.
"In the mean time, sir Hawkon, I ought to remind you of the progress on our construction of the numerous wing suits we'll need for Catafly." Fludgeon said, as the grey-haired Berserker Chieftan sat with a solemn demeanour, his eyes firmly focused onto Hawkon.
"That can be reviewed at some point. What areas have we not yet captured, gentlemen?" Hawkon said, trying to maintain a calm tone in his voice, from the rage rife in him from that verbal exchange with one of the generals.
"It is an unfortunate situation for us to have lost Guddorn, the architect of what could've been our dragon deterrent, before Hiccup and his tripe lot emerged and ruined it for us all, on dragon island," Gustav Larson said, the second-in-command of Mentra finally speaking up in the crucial summit, "speaking of which, I think we're very much in a position to retake that island."
Hawkon nodded at his second-in-command viking in Larson.
"Whilst we sailed the archipelago, father," a regular defender intervened, the generals moving out of his way so Hawkon could glance at the defender making the point, "we happened to stumble across a boiling, almost...tropical type of island whereby its rocks were reddish...taking over that could prove to be a beneficial thing for us, not only because we'll have thrown our weight onto the archipelago even more, but also...the pure heat of the water...it could possibly be used in some way?"
"He makes a valid point, sir Hawkon," Gustav uttered, using his memories of being amongst Hiccup & co to recall that island, "that island, if I'm remembering correctly, was one the dragons would always emerge to...during Snoggletog, the holiday celebrated by the Hooligans, to the utter cringe of ourselves, and essentially the island was the breeding grounds for the reptiles during that holiday."
"Hm. Then that'll be one of the ones we'll be taking." Hawkon nodded, still unable to calm himself internally.
"Supplies, in our whole overtaking of the archipelago, will be something we will have to improve on if we're wanting to succeed, as well." Fludgeon the Feared said, "as things stand, my men and our allies in your men, sir.." Fludgeon pointed to Hawkon, "are stretched out from the prison bay, or the edge as it used to be called, to the former island of the outcasts that our men now occupy...we have to get those supplies to the men quicker and more efficiently."
"Agreed." Gustav nodded.
"It takes us a whole week to go back and forth between the prisoner bay and Mentra, that appears to be the problem here." the general said.
"Very much so. But I've said on numerous occasions, we're working on the supplies situation. But we cannot distract ourselves with it in its entirety. We have to focus on defeating the Hooligans, we've already decapitated the wife of their chieftan, and if we can do that, we can most certainly defeat him and his allies, and take over his island subsequently as apart of our ultimate goal of 'Mega Mentra'."
"We need supplies, sir. Winning the war won't be as much of a walk as we're hoping without that situation improving." the general said.
"General, I advise you to listen. I'm not going to repeat myself."
Tensions were rife at the top of the Mentranian regime, between the leader and the generals. That wasn't good at all, because it meant Hawkon was facing scrutiny and humiliation he'd have never expected to come across, given how powerful he was in the regime. It was causing a troublesome thunder of paranoia in his head, which was why he wanted to deal with it sooner rather than later.
"So as things stand, men, and to everyone at the back, we are fully memorised with the current plan? we'll be retaking the island that the Hooligans initially took from us when they ruined our dragon deterrent program, we'll be making that other island that Larson's spoken about ours, and ultimately, we shall be reviewing our progress on the construction of the wing suits needed for Operation Catafly."
"Affirmative, father." the regular defenders nodded, where their chant echoed loudly in the hall.
The generals were the only ones who didn't respond. This wasn't good at all.
"And I suppose we ought to ensure we're all familiar with the secretive aspect of Catafly that'll lead to us getting onto 'New Berk' as their island is called, when the time comes for it?" Hawkon asked.
That part of the plan was still being kept under a top secret status within the regime, and in the overseers party of Mentra.
Throughout this whole summit, Hawkon & co have mentioned Guddorn's death with casual, formal tones and demeanour, which might be odd considering how much Hawkon admired Guddorn and everything he did with his competency for the benefit of Mentra, but ultimately, if somebody as high ranking as Guddorn is killed by the enemy, despite their efforts and their contributions, time couldn't be wasted on mourning them. The regime felt that it needed to move on, regardless of the significance of losing Guddorn, in a manner where it looked as if they didn't even care.
As the emergency summit, held due to Guddorn being captured and killed, a significant blow to the Mentranian regime, came to its conclusion, Hawkon wasn't going to let his humiliation go that easily. No way. He was, after all, from what we've seen of him, a despot.
