Chapter Thirty Nine
The Proposal
We arrived back at camp within a matter of minutes and upon arrival we were greeted by columns of Roman soldiers marching past us on their way to the wall. We came to a stop and watched them until they disappeared out of sight before turning to one another.
"Do you think something's happening?" Mashu asked me.
"No, they're probably just rotating out the guards." I told her.
"That's probably true, but it's been relatively calm since we got here." Jeanne pointed out. "I can't help but feel a bit suspicious that the enemy has something in the works on their side of the walls." Jeanne added.
"You could be right, but we're not going to partake in any defensive battles unless the situation here becomes truly dire." I said which was met by perplexed looks from both Jeanne and Mashu. "I don't want our presence here to be known to the enemy if we can help it until we launch our own attack." I explained. "And the sooner we launch our attack that means we can put a stop to whatever the enemy might be planning. So let's hurry up and make our way over to Nero so we can fill her in and get her approval, and then prepare to set out." I said.
"Right." Mashu and Jeanne nodded their heads in unison, and we proceeded back on track to Nero's tent.
By the time we reached Nero's tent the sun had already begun to set and was sinking back beneath the mountains. Arriving outside of Nero's tent we found a familiar silhouette waiting outside for us leaned back against one of the support poles holding up the cover outside the entrance flap. As we grew closer our footsteps alerted the figure to our presence causing them to turn and face us and revealed the figure to be Scathach as she stood there with her arms crossed.
"What are you doing here Lancer?" Jeanne was first to ask.
"I went out in search of you and I figured you'd eventually make your way here to talk to Nero about our change in plans, so I decided to wait here for you instead of wandering the camp aimlessly looking for you." Scathach replied.
"I'm surprised to see you leave your maps." I joked only to be met with no reaction.
"I see you've already gathered what we'll need." Scathach said, ignoring my joke.
"Yeah we did, Chaldea sent us everything we should need." I said as I slid one of the bags from my shoulder and shoved it onto Lancer. "And now that you're here you can make yourself useful and bear some of the burden." I said and Scathach narrowed her eyes at me unamused as the bag was shoved onto her and she gripped the bag in her hands before hoisting the bag over her shoulder.
"Gladly." Scathach sneered.
"Okay then! Now that we're together, let's all go inside and speak with Nero together." Jeanne clapped her hands together, stepping in besides us waving her hands in front of her in an attempt to fan the flames.
"Lets!" Scathach and I exclaimed together angrily as we turned to face Jeanne in unison who winced in response as she closed her eyes with a wry smile.
The four of us walked up to the entrance of the tent where it was flanked by two of Nero's Praetorian Guards, and one of them proceeded to pull back on the door flap to the tent allowing us entry. I nodded my head passing by before ducking inside of Nero's tent followed by the others. We stepped inside and were greeted by a well-lit enclosure by several oil lamps and candles. In the middle of her tent was a scene similar to what I had found in Scathach's tent where Nero was gathered around a table with maps sprawled out and was flanked by several of her own officers. Our footsteps alerted them to our presence as their heads turned to face the entrance. We stopped in our tracks and I bowed my head respectfully before speaking.
"Pardon the intrusion Empress, are we interrupting something?" I asked and Nero shook her head.
"No, come in, come in." Nero motioned us to come over and we obliged. "We were just discussing the current situation and our upcoming offensive to breakout." Nero explained as her hand waved over the map. "Was there something you needed?" Nero asked.
"Well we've actually come here to talk to you about exactly that." I said, stepping forward.
"Oh, have you really?" Nero inquired with raised brow.
"Yes there are some proposed changes we would like to discuss with you." I replied. "Most of the changes are our part, but there are some adjustments on your part as well." I explained, Nero gave pause before answering as she rubbed her chin.
"I'll allow changes to be made given how the details were never worked out and it's still in the early phases." Nero said. "My only question is what caused this sudden urge to change our plan of attack?" Nero asked next.
"Well there's no rhyme or reason for it." I answered truthfully. "An idea came to me on how we might be able to lure the enemy into the canyon and take them out in one swell swoop while reducing the risk to our own forces. It was simply a matter of trying to come up with a more efficient strategy." I explained. "I mulled over my new plan with Saber last night, and we both seemed to agree it to be a solid plan, but I decided to sleep on it some more. When I came too this morning I went over to Lancer's tent and went over the plan with her where she pointed out several flaws and complications." I admitted.
"I thought it was a good plan at least." Jeanne murmured.
"So after seeing how my plan was overly complicated and the risks posed were greater than I had initially thought, Lancer proposed her own plan." I went on. "Which is the plan we've come here to discuss with you, your Majesty." I said.
"I see, I see." Nero nodded her head as she listened. "But do tell me, is Lancer's plan just as complicated as your own plan, Chris?" Nero asked and before I could answer her, someone else answered for me.
"No your majesty, my plan is just a modified version of the original one that was in place." Scathach answered and Nero turned her attention towards her. "Although be it there wasn't much of a plan to begin with, I believe it should suffice however as a means to break out of this deadlock we find ourselves in." Scathach stated bluntly.
"If it will help me get back my Rome, then I'm all ears. We need to break this stalemate so we can go on the offensive and retake Gaul, then we can turn our attention to the rest of our lost lands, So offer up whatever ideas you may have, that's why you're here after all, to offer up fresh ideas." Nero seemed unfazed by Scathach's blunt comment. "Proceed with your explanation then Lancer." Nero commanded and Scathach nodded her head.
"Thank you, your Majesty." Scathach cleared her throat. "Now then, as mentioned earlier, the plan we're proposing is just a modified version of the original plan. Which was for a small team consisting of Mashu, Christopher, and myself to scale the mountains and slip in behind enemy lines. Then we'd launch a sneak attack on the enemy fort and take out their commanders while Her Majesty would funnel her forces out of the pass and out into the open to launch an attack on the enemy. " Scathach said. "Now much of the plan remains the same as before, our team still is still slipping in behind the enemy and launch an attack on them from behind to take out their commanders and provide a distraction for your forces. However, one of the modifications to the plan is we will no longer be launching the attack at day break, but instead we will launch it at night." Scathach said, which was met by a mixed response. Scathach was unfazed however and continued on with her explanation. "Our team will slip into the enemy camp under the cover of darkness and take out their commanders before setting off several explosions to cause maximum chaos at the base, which brings me to the second change which is that we will be taking Saber along with us since we will be taking the brunt of the attack." Scathach went on. "Your forces will be able to utilize the darkness to assemble outside the pass and wait to launch your attack on our signal. Hopefully they'll be too preoccupied with us to notice your forces, but the darkness should provide an additional layer of cover for your men." Scathach explained. "Once you've launched your attack, make your way into their base and help us secure the area by finishing off whatever remains of the enemy's forces." Scathach said. "And that pretty much wraps it up. Our changes are the time of day of the attack, bringing Saber along with us, the addition of explosives to wreak havoc on the enemy, and instead of having to funnel your men out the pass to face the enemy you'll have your men already outside the pass ready to converge on the enemy fortifications and take them out. This in all should reduce the risk to your forces, which is the aim of these changes." Scathach finished her explanation. Nero, who had remained silent for the entirety of Scathach's explanation, took a few moments as she seemingly processed the proposed changes before she finally spoke up.
"First impression is I think these are some sound changes, but I need to take a few moments to discuss things over with my generals." Nero said and we nodded our heads. "But I do have a few questions of my own before I converse with them." Nero stated.
"Go ahead." Scathach said.
"It will take some time to assemble our forces outside the pass, how will we know when you're getting ready to launch your attack if Saber will be with you?" Nero inquired, and shit she was right. "We cannot simply wait outside of the pass for your attack, such a thing would only draw suspicion and leave us susceptible to attack." Nero added.
"That's true." Scathach acknowledged. "I see two solutions to this problem, we can give you a walkie talkie that can be used to communicate to you when we will be launching our attack giving you time to assemble your forces outside the pass." Scathach said.
"A walkie talkie?" Nero tilted her head confused. Seeing this as an opportunity to step in I reached into my bag for one where I found it and took it out to present to her.
"It's one of these, your Majesty." I said holding it out to her. Nero's attention turned to me and saw me holding out the walkie talkie, she took the walkie talkie in her hand and turned it over examining it.
"This is a device from your time period?" Nero inquired.
"Yeah it's from our time." I nodded my head.
"Will it be okay for me to use it?" Nero asked next. "More importantly, how will I know how to use this device to contact you?" Nero followed up with another question.
"It should be fine so long as it gets returned at the end of this mission." I said. "As for how to use it, it's rather simple really. I'll show you how to use it before we set out." I reassured her.
"Thank you Chris." Nero nodded her head. "You mentioned another solution, Lancer?" Nero inquired, turning her attention back to Scathach.
"Well, given you have a walkie talkie now; it's not so much of a solution to a problem as it is an alternative method of attack." Scathach said. "My other "solution" was that when you see the signal flare launched by Christopher or see the explosions set off at the enemy base, that would be your signal for you and your men to mount up on horseback and launch a cavalry attack." Scathach explained. "Now that you have a walkie talkie you can take either approach I suppose, but I would recommend the cavalry approach as it is a safer option and will allow you to cover the distance in a short period of time. Attacking with cavalry also might allow you to overwhelm the enemy's defense, especially in the midst of the chaos." Scathach suggested.
"I concur, Lancer!" Nero exclaimed. "With a cavalry attack we can overwhelm their defenses and crush them before they even know what hits them." Nero balled her hand into a fist. "Although I will need to confer with our Master of the Horse to see if we have the appropriate number of horses to launch such an attack." Nero stated.
"Very well, the decision is ultimately up to you." Scathach nodded her head. "You said there was another question you had?" Scathach asked.
"Oh right!" Nero exclaimed. "Since one of these changes involves launching our attack at night, a concern of mine is the visibility of my troops. We will have the element of surprise, but at the cost of our visibility whilst fighting." Nero pointed out.
"Also true." Scathach acknowledged. "We can try and coordinate our attack when the moon is at its fullest, but I think that once Christopher set's off the explosions and the ensuing fires that spread it should help mitigate the visibility issues. I also believe attacking on cavalry should help lessen the impact of the dark." Scathach explained.
"Umu, I think so too." Nero nodded her head. "That was it for my concerns on the matter, allow me to take some time to confer with my generals here." Nero said.
"Of course, your Majesty." I said, and the four of us bowed our heads.
"It won't take very long, so you can remain here." Nero stated. "You can wait there while I talk with my generals." Nero said before turning to her generals around her. We were left with no choice but to stand there and wait as Nero began to speak with her other generals in Latin. Obviously none of us could understand any of what was being said, but I could guess what she was saying to them. She was retelling them what Scathach and I had told her just moments ago. I watched their faces as they listened to Nero tell them the revised plan, and they all seemingly nodded along for the most part. There were times when some of what Nero was saying we met by surprised or concerned looks and I could only wager that it was the parts about launching the attack at night or perhaps it was that they would be launching a cavalry attack at night. I wasn't too sure, but sooner or later Nero was finished speaking and the other Generals spoke and went back and forth with her.
"Comrades!" Nero exclaimed at us after what had felt like an eternity. "I've talked it over with the others, and we've come to an agreement on the proposed change of plans." Nero said. A good thing too because I was starting to think I might fall asleep standing up, which would have been slightly embarrassing. "This revised plan has its own risks, but we all agree that it's better than the plan we started with and should reduce the risk to my forces and we'll need all the soldiers we can get if we want to successfully retake Gaul all things considered." Nero said, slamming her fist into her open palm. "I still need to check with my Master of the Horse to see if we have the required number of horses to launch such an attack, but otherwise everything should be good." Nero added.
"Thank you, your Majesty; I'm glad that our changes were approved." I bowed my head in thanks and the others followed suit. "It's best not to waste any time so we'll take off at dawn tomorrow." I said. "I'll radio you when we're in position so that you can get your troops mounted up or out the gate, whichever approach you decide to take." I said.
"Wait, you still haven't shown me how to use this… walkie talkie you called it?" Nero said.
"It's easy enough, I can show you real quick." I said holding out my hand to her for the device, Nero turned the device back over to me and I took it from her as I brought the other walkie talkie out of my bag and tuned both of the devices to the same frequency before handing it back over. Nero, still looking confused, took the walkie talkie back and looked it over. "You turn it on and off by pressing the button on the side, and you hold up close to your ear or face to hear someone talk, like this…" I said as I pushed down onto the talk button and transmitted my voice. "Hello Empress, can you hear me?" I asked.
"Oh WOW!" Nero exclaimed and even the other Generals seemed amazed. "Your voice is coming from inside the box!" Nero pointed at the walkie talkie as if not believing it herself.
"Now press down on the talk button, and you try." I told her and Nero did as instructed and pressed down on the button located on the side.
"Hello, Hello! This is your Empress speaking to you, can you hear my beautiful voice on your end?" Nero asked into her walkie talkie.
"Yes, your majestic voice is loud and clear, your Highness." I affirmed and a large smile broke out across Nero's face.
"This technology is most fascinating!" Nero chimed.
"Now just keep it on your person for the next couple of days, and keep an ear out for when I try to contact you." I told her and she nodded her head. "I'll contact you when we're in position and try to contact you right before we set off the explosives, but may not be able to depending on the situation." I explained.
"Just make sure to give me ample time to prepare my forces." Nero said.
"You'll have your time, it should be a few hours between when I radio you that we're in position to when we set off the explosives." I nodded my head. "Barring any complications of course." I added.
"As long as I have my time to prepare I have no issues." Nero said.
"Well if there's nothing else Empress, may we excuse ourselves to prepare?" I asked.
"You haven't said how you plan on infiltrating the enemy base." Nero inquired.
"Oh, well…." I was unsure of myself how we planned on doing so since Scathach hadn't detailed out that part.
"Leave that to us, your Majesty." Scathach spoke up, placing her hand on her chest. Nero looked at Scathach with a glare of suspicion, but Scathach's look of resolve won out in the end as Nero's suspicion eventually wavered and disappeared. I'm pretty sure that was just Scathach's normal poker face at work, but whatever.
"Hmm very well. I trust that you'll find a way." Nero nodded her head. "Go and prepare! Bring Glory to me and my Rome! I still have work that needs to be done and details to be flushed out." Nero proclaimed.
"Thank you, your Majesty." I bowed my head and the others followed in unison. The four of us turned around and ducked out of Nero's tent one by one leaving her behind with her other generals to discuss the battle ahead.
The four of us now gathered outside of Nero's tent after what had felt like an hour-long meeting, as the sun had set even further since when we had entered. The sky now bathed in orange as what remained of the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The outline of the moon was vaguely visible high up in the sky beckoning for night to begin.
"Well that went smoothly." I said as I placed my hands on my hips.
"Surprisingly smoothly." Jeanne mused.
"Although there were some hiccups." I glared at Scathach.
"I handled them, didn't I?" Scathach eyed me back.
"Yes I suppose so." I murmured. "Although there are still some details that need to be ironed out on our end as well it seems." I pointed out.
"We'll handle it." Scathach said.
"I thought we didn't do things by the seats of our pants." I mocked.
"I'm not." Scathach turned to me as she narrowed her eyes at me.
"Alright, that's enough!" Jeanne exclaimed, stepping in between the two of us and glaring at me and then back at Scathach. "I swear you two act so immature at times." Jeanne scolded both of us. Scathach and I both crossed our arms and let out an hmph in response to this accusation.
"So what shall we do now, Senpai?" Mashu asked, doing her best to change gears.
"R-right." I said and cleared my throat. "Well we need to get our gear ready for the climb, and I need to make some adjustments to my rifle…" I listed off things to do, but was cut short.
"I think first we should get some dinner!" Jeanne proclaimed.
"I couldn't agree more with Jeanne-san, let's get some food!" Mashu nodded her head in agreement.
"Y-Yes I suppose that would be a good start." I murmured.
"Come on, let's go Senpai!" Mashu exclaimed, grabbing me by my arm pulling me along.
"H-Hey Mashu!" I stumbled as I tried to keep up.
"Boudica said she was making dinner remember, and I think it's about time you tried it out, it really is delicious." Mashu said as she trudged me along. "Her food will leave you full and feeling sleepy!" Mashu added over her shoulder.
"Even so Mashu, your grip is too tight…!" I exclaimed.
"'And Spartacus is quite the chatterbox surprisingly. So come on Senpai, let's go!" Mashu said.
"Spartacus? Chatterbox?" I said bewildered.
"I'm going back to my tent…" I heard Scathach murmur behind me.
"Oh no you're not, come on." Jeanne told her. Jeanne had a tight grip on her arm and prevented her from running off. Jeanne started pulling
"Tch, let me go blondie!" Scathach sneered.
"Let's go, we're all getting dinner together." Jeanne ignored her complaints as she carried forward pulling a struggling Scathach behind her. It didn't do any good as it seemed Jeanne's refusal to let go proved too much even for the queen of stubbornness herself…
I lifted the flap to my tent and headed inside with my bags over my shoulder where I made my way over towards my cot where I plopped down with a groan. I've never felt fuller before in my life than I did now after eating Boudica's Britannia cuisine. Contrary to my prejudices, it actually ended up being really tasty just like Mashu had said. So I guess I shouldn't stick my nose up at food just because it's British cuisine, because it might end up actually being good. Not that I had really held any strong feelings about their cuisine either way, but I had never heard good things about the food and strayed away from trying it whenever presented the opportunity. I guess once again my Mother was right that you should always try something at least once. Either way it had ended up being a fulfilling dinner and we chatted amongst each other and with Boudica, and there even was conversation to be had with Spartacus. Although I still found conversing with him as confusing as ever, but I guess it made a little bit of sense when you really listened. Even the sour puss that was Scathach found some solace in drinking with Boudica, the two of them were still drinking when I had taken my leave. I had a good time chatting and sharing a few laughs with Jeanne and Mashu along with the occasional conversation with Boudica who was delighted to hear when I complimented her cooking skills. She looked so proud of herself when I told her that the cuisine was fantastic. Nero came to join us later on during Dinner and chatted it up with us and proposed a toast to our upcoming victory, causing song and cheers from all the men at the mess tent. It got a bit hectic after that happened with everyone singing and drinking, well except for Jeanne, Mashu, and myself. I still had to make sure that I didn't let Mashu drink any alcohol given her age and well Jeanne didn't seem to show any interest in alcohol anyway. It was not long after that I called it a night and went to bed, and said my goodbyes to Jeanne and Mashu along with Nero and the others. Jeanne and Mashu promised they would be heading to bed shortly as I reminded them we set off tomorrow, and Jeanne informed me that she'd ensure Scathach made her way back to her tent.
So now I sit here alone in the dark of my tent with cheering and dancing still going off in the distance. I felt my eyes growing heavy and felt myself starting to nod off and the weight of the bags still on my back were pulling down on me. I grabbed the straps of the bags from Chaldea and slid them off my shoulders where I placed them gently down onto the ground one by one. I undid my shoe laces and pulled them from my feet where I pushed them back underneath my cot. Undoing the buttons to my jacket I pulled my arms out from my already ripped jacket and put it off to the side of my cot, and proceeded to undo the straps on my plate carrier where I proceeded to pull it over my head and put it away afterwards. Still not feeling ready to go to bed yet I figured I might as well get prepared for tomorrow and looked around for my rifle until I found it resting up against the end of the bed where I had left it. Reaching over I grabbed my rifle and laid it out across my lap. I thumbed down on the magazine release ejecting the magazine out with a thunk and proceeded to pull back on the charging handle ejecting the live round. I picked the live round and magazine up off the ground where I set them off to the side for later. Pulling back on the charging handle consecutively for a few moments I made sure the gun was safe before placing it butt first on the ground and pointing it up towards the sky in between my legs. By my feet still laid the bags from earlier and I unfastened the strap keeping its contents from spewing out and flipped it over where I proceeded to search inside. Eventually finding one of the items I was looking for was a black box bearing a familiar looking logo and I placed it off to the other side for later as I reached back into the bag for something else. It didn't take long for me to find the other thing I was looking for and grasped it and proceeded to take it out. Out of the bag came a long black cylinder which I took in my hand and unscrewed the ring on one end. Next I fixated the cylinder onto the end of the rifle's flash hider, lining it up with the appropriate spot before pulling down on it and clamping it into place where I tightened the ring and locked the suppressor into place.
With the suppressor securely fixed in place I turned the rifle over pointing it towards the ground as my hands went up to the holographic sight fixed to the rear of the gun. Using my thumb I threw open the quick detach lever on the sight and removed it from the rail before putting it off to the side. Now that the front sight was out of the way I picked up the black box from earlier and using both my thumbs I disengaged the locks to the side and lifted up the cover to be met by styrofoam padding that was easily removed to reveal a metallic black cylinder tucked inside. I pulled the magnifier from the box and gripped the quick detach lever with my fingers, pulling back on it I placed the magnifier on the very end of the rifle towards the stock. Guiding it onto the rails I asserted downward pressure and pushed forward on the magnifier once it was in the rails before throwing the lever shut all the way and locking the magnifier in place. Picking up the Holographic sight I placed it in front of the magnifier and repeated the process over again until the magnifier was locked into place. Raising the rifle I took aim down the sights and saw the magnified view that was provided, and I flipped the magnifier over to the side and went back and forth between the two just to be sure everything was working as it should. Once satisfied that everything was in order, I lowered the rifle to the ground and reached over to my side where I grabbed the magazine I had ejected earlier and thumbed the loose round back inside. Magazine in hand I guided it back to the magwell and shoved it back into place until hearing a click. With the magazine loaded I pulled back on the t-shaped charging handle to the rear and it was ready to go. The rifle was now configured more appropriately for the operations ahead and I was more or less ready to go to bed now, all this work on my rifle had made me start to feel sleepy. I'd organize the rest of my gear tomorrow morning when I woke up. Flicking the safety on, I returned the rifle to the bed of my cot where it had been originally before laying down on the cot itself where I laid looking up at the empty ceiling before eventually drifting off to sleep…
Hello there Readers and Happy belated Happy New Year, I had wanted to get this chapter out last month but things took longer than expected and I got this one out pretty late as well on a Tuesday. Nevertheless I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did feel free to let me know. As always leave a favorite and follow the story to be notified when the next chapter drops. If you want to keep more up to date on what's happening with Fated Destiny you can head on over to the Discord using the Invite Code below. I usually try to get one chapter out per month and it usually drops on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday so just check in on those days.
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