It's been a while, i got stuck with studying, christmas, etc... I hope to update a few times before break ends.
This chapter took forever, because it seems like filler, but it's MUCHO IMPORTANTE. That was some bad Spanish for y'all.
Over time, there will be more coverage of the home front, but for now i'm trying to get back to the bread and butter.
Elias was pleased with himself; the HQ tent was finally up to his standards. It was plain on the outside, but the inside was a different story. They had finally carted in the last few portraits, and the sculpture sat lazily in the corner. A proper headquarters for a prince; he had finally become used to the royal lifestyle, and now loathed the lumberjack life of old. The most important addition was the large screen suspended in front of his desk. He motioned to one of his underlings, and shortly after the screen flickered to life. A few tentative moments later, a face appeared. Elias took a bow.
"Your Excellency"
"Ah, Elias, I see that you finally managed to set up communications." His aged father observed.
"It took longer than expected, the engineers here are… inexperienced with this type of technology." He shooed the others out of the room, in order to have a private discussion. "Our base camp is fully operational, and we've commenced small scale operations."
"Small scale?" King Max raised an eyebrow.
"Yes… I-" Elias was cut off.
"I thought that we would implement 'The plan' as soon as possible." Max was not a fan of disappointment.
"It was, father. But it turns out that the intelligence we received from the Sand Blasters was less than reliable. We do not possess the oil refinery, yet" He quickly added the last word. He looked down, away from the intense gaze of his father.
"Those mongrels! I ask of them one simple task, to acquire RELAIBLE information, and those simpletons fail at even that!" The king pounded his fist on the desk in front of him.
"Do you want to cease aid?" Elias secretly hoped for a yes.
"No! They may be complete fools, but those are the best type of servants, believe me, they WILL be useful to us, eventually. I will MAKE them useful, even if I have to k-" The General needed to change the subject, Father could get drastic if he didn't calm down.
"Is the equipment arriving soon?" It was a rushed question, and the King had to pause and process it.
"Yes, we are sending some rifles and artillery pieces over soon." He dismissed the question with a wave of the hand, but before he could continue:
"What type of rifle?" Elias needed to keep talking.
"Some new high-powered rifle. "Max held one up to the screen and read the small plate on the stock: "SR-13 service rifle" It was a beautiful rifle; Elias had never seen anything like it. In fact, he remembered something.
The general took the conversation into a dangerous area. "Where did we get those?"
"What do you mean, General?" He didn't even call him 'Son'.
Elias looked around, to see if anyone could hear when he was sure that he was alone, he leaned in and answered: "There's no way N.I.C.O.L.E allowed weapons to be made here.I can't believe we're still buying guns from Eggman! The last thing we need to do is fund the enemy's war effort."
The King played dumb. He knew that his son, while headstrong, knew when to stop. "Whatever do you mean, General Acorn?"
"When we hand these out to the troops, who we just ripped out of the city, don't you think they'll find it odd that a city with absolutely NO factories is suddenly producing weapons?" He leaned in even closer, "When we buy these weapons from Eggman, it's on the down low, and if it goes public…"
Max jumped up. "It won't go public! Do you know why? Because as long as you don't run around telling everybody about the arms dealing going on then we'll be fine! So keep your mouth shut and do as I say! We WILL use the S-13s and you WILL keep fighting and you WILL succeed because if you don't I think the Kingdom WILL get its first Queen!" The discussion ended, Elias was taken aback, and the King had once again asserted his authority. He thought himself a gracious ruler, so he quickly moved on. "How is the situation with your officers? I trust that you at least have them under control."
The young prince was still dumfounded, he knew this conversation would be difficult, but he didn't expect to be threatened with losing his title! "I… It's going well. Most of the officers are willing to co-operate. But some aren't."
"Solman?"
"Solman."
"He knows what he's doing, the old bastard. It's better to keep him around." Max had genuine respect for the old wolf. He continued with his inquisition. "Any other officers we should worry about?"
"It's weird to say this, but I am starting to have problems with Lieutenant D'Coolette. First he gave a subversive speech to the troops, and he's been outspoken against our policies. " Elias still liked the coyote, but he had to do his job.
"Well then just demote him." Max favored this solution; it put people 'in their place' as he said.
"I'm trying, but I've given him a choice, front lines or sniper duty."
"What? Why give him a choice? You could just throw him out. I'm sure that most of the men don't care for him."
"They didn't, but now he's a hero. He singlehandedly saved his unit, and he got the first four kills of the war, getting at him might upset the others." He stated, trying to spare his old acquaintance.
"True, you can't risk the operation as a whole…"
"Yes, you se-"
"But you can't let anyone undermine our authority." The old monarch made a suggestion. "Let the problem solve itself, a soldier can only be so lucky in the field."
"Are you suggesting that we simply let Antoine die?"
"No! That sounds so… savage. We will simply deploy him more and more, if something happens, that's war." There was no emotion in his voice, he was plainly condemning the Lieutenant.
"But the D'Coolettes have faithfully served our family for generations! The young General was disgusted. "I understand reprimanding him; I've been doing that, but sending him to his death? That's just wrong!"
"There is no place for right and wrong in war! If we want the monarchy to survive, we cannot back down; we cannot let anyone stand in our way! I understand and respect the service of the D'Coolettes, but we cannot let personal feelings get in the way of protecting our monarchy!"
"Personal feelings? He's the best one for the job, I trust him!" Elias was desperate.
"Trust! We trusted Nagus, we trusted Julian, we trusted Amadeus, and you saw what happened. I'll be damned before that ever happens again!" King Max stood up. He was serious. "I am willing to squelch any threat to this kingdom, and I mean ANY."
"I understand…" Elias' voice trailed off. He wanted this conversation to end, now.
"Since it seems that you are unwilling to take charge I will issue new orders. You will take the Oil refinery NOW. When that is done, you will immediately commence the assault on the city, is this clear?"
"Yes, sir. I will do as you say."
"Good, I expect results, and failure will not be tolerated, even by a son." These ominous words hung in the air, amplified by the following silence. Without warning, the call ended.
A few long moments passed. Elias sat back in his chair, he ran his hand through his hair. What the fuck just happened? He went from top of the world to potential exile! The General stepped out of his tent, and grabbed the nearest soldier, he barked an order. "Get my vehicle ready, and get Antoine here NOW."
That's it for chapter 11.
Just what on earth is that crazy Prince planning? Just wait...
I hope chapter 12 doesn't suck!