Another mortar round sailed across the air far above the Culdao Peak forest before slamming into the walled defenses of the first goblin den. As soon as the cloud of dirt and smoke dissipated from the strong wings, the reinforced walls of the goblin outpost still stood strong, bearing the brunt of the attacks.
“Where are they attacking from?”
[They are coming from - ] A sudden splitting screech interrupted the communication, their arctech radio jammed by a wide range disruptor. Adrian quickly shut down the radio, before trying the backup channels, all of which failed.
“Get Sasha up in a hovercraft now! Maximum altitude observation! Mobilize every fighter!” Kyle ordered, not moving just yet until he got a clear picture of what was happening. He did not know if the attack on the first goblin den was diversionary in nature, a ploy to get him to move.
Is this related to me interrupting their mine takeover? Kyle felt that this was far too big of a movement to be a counterattack – it had been planned since a long time ago. “Where’s the last known positions of the Ardent Cretins?”
“Still in Raktor as of one hour ago, sir.” Adrian quickly replied, before continuing to deliver commands to goblin clerks, who passed them down the chain.
“Supplies?” Kyle turned to ask Keith, who was still in the same room, trying to contact Damian and Niko back in Raktor.
“Not enough to last a continuous siege. If the Violet Demons occupy us long enough, we might start to lose ground in Raktor.”
The number of able-bodied fighters and weapons the Seven Snakes had was limited after all. Allocating men to defend the Culdao Peaks would result in less going to Raktor, as well as guns and ammunition sent to the enforcers.
“Not a problem. We knew this was coming eventually.” Kyle replied, knowing that the Culdao Peaks had continuously been under probing attacks ever since the war in Raktor started, all defeated by Sasha.
Yet he did not expect the Violet Demons to be the primary force attacking him. If two major gangs hit us with everything they got, we won’t be able to survive for long. He knew the Ardent Cretins were still being held up by the enforcers and Baron Cain’s private forces, but if the West Sector’s Baron had truly given the Violet Demons complete free-reign, then it would make it even harder for Kyle.
A domino effect… He recalled the assassination attempt by Baron Namor. Has the West already fallen?
[Sir, climbing to altitude now.] Sasha spoke to Kyle via their ‘Designate Follower’ skill, the telepathic-like communication bypassing the strong jamming signals.
“Good. Primary observation to focus on the Culdao Peaks town. Run the lightcapturer.”
“Sir, shouldn’t we be focusing where they are attacking?” Adrian asked.
“The fastest way to stop an invading army is to starve them of resources – I suspect their supplies are coming from the town.”
[Sir, at five hundred meters now. I can see large convoy movements throughout the town. Anti-air weapons have been spotted as well.]
“Stay out of range as much as possible. Estimation on numbers?”
[Close to a division’s worth in total. That’s a third of the Violet Demons!]
Kyle’s heart sank slightly, before relying the message to Adrian and Keith.
“An entire division? What?!” Keith exclaimed.
“No time to be surprised – who’s in charge of the first goblin den?”
“It’s still Merissa and Gulak.”
“Get the tunnel network prepped for mass transportation. I’ll talk to the goblins.”
Kyle headed straight for the palace, meeting with King Sahusa and Orisa. “What’s going on? Who’s attacking us?” Sahusa asked in a panic, already gearing up in his armoury.
“The Violet Demons, they are trying to cut off the tunnel network at the first goblin den. I need you to rally the troops now.”
Sahusa complied immediately, ordering his servants to mobilize the troops, with Qatu taking charge of the entire army. Qatu was far different from he was before – his new evolved hobgoblin body already siginifcantly stronger than when he was defeated by Kyle during the goblin kingdom’s takeover.
The goblin horns blared loudly, resounding through the ravine as its echoes bounced off the terrace farming slopes, prompting a flurry of movement among the goblin army, now wielding arctech guns and prototype arctech armor while they assembled into their various squads of a dozen each.
Kyle and Orisa had reorganized the army into squads rather than a rigid brigade or division layout despite having enough to do so. The main reason was due to the large expansive nature of the Culdao Peaks forest, where squads had to be fiercely independent in the event of an skirmish.
In each squad, yhe evolved hobgoblins stood heads taller than their counterparts, though they both served their purpose in combat, with the original goblins far more nimble and agile. This combination allowed a squad to perform multiple roles, acting as a independent military unit that can make decisions on the ground without having to rely on central command as much.
<GOBLINS! THE ENEMY WANTS TO DESECRATE OUR LAND! OUR GOLDEN ERA!> Sahusa roared into the royal specter, his voice amplified across the goblin city. <WILL WE JUST GIVE UP NOW, LIKE WE ALWAYS HAVE?>
<NO!> The goblin troops yelled back, standing at attention as they looked up at their king and queen, standing above them at the ledge of the palace.
<AND I TOO SHALL NOT GIVE UP! WE SHALL FIGHT IN THE HILLS AND THE TREES – WE SHALL NEVEEEEEEERRR SURRENDEEEERR!>
<HOOO! HOOO! HOO!> A deafening chant rose up from the ranks, the goblin troops stomping their feet against the ground.
“A tenth goes into the tunnels to support the first goblin den – the rest to spread out. Form a defensive perimeter across the entire mountain range and all our territory. Face towards the Culdao Peaks. Do not advance nor retreat until either signal is given.” Kyle explained to Qatu while Sahusa continued his speech.
Kyle did not expect to have the ability to control each squad uniquely – he would have to simply hope for the best. It was hard to performing signalling through the dense foilage of the Culdao Peaks forest, and the goblin army was hardly trained for it as well, only having been recently re-trained by the Seven Snakes a few months ago. Better to stick to the goblin horns that they know for now.
As the goblin troops kicked into action, Kyle raced back to Adrian and Keith, who were still waiting for observation reports from Sasha.
[Currently right over the town of Culdao Peaks. Two brigades are besieging the first goblin den on both the main entrance and the side entrance. Our forces have already retreated into the den.]
“Where are the other two?”
[One is defending the town with an Ardent Cretin garrison. As for the last brigade, I do not have eyes on it…]
Even with the hovercraft, it was near impossible to peer through the trees and spot individual humans moving through the undergrowth, so Kyle did not worry too much. “Okay, begin observation sweep of the following Sectors.”
The four of them got to work, Adrian and Keith laying out the markers on a spread-out map to visualize the enemies position, updating it in realtime as Sasha continued to move back and forth. Due to the nature of the Designate Follower, Kyle had to stay here to relay the telepathic communication.
Of course, using the lightcapturer array, they could do the same thing by having the hovercraft do a single sweep before returning to hand over the light-thrower film. However, that would result in a response time delay.
The lack of communication irked Kyle significantly. He called for Orisa over, asking her directly. “Any working communicators left behind by your previous owners in the chambers?”
“Per Protocol 138D, all communicators and device capable of transmission has been destroyed automatically.
Kyle grimaced, thinking quickly on whether he could retrofit a quick communicator using scrap metal and leftovers from degraded exosuits. If I made a simple morse-code device, the receiving end would still have to be trained to read it. And it would take far too long to design a receiver that can translate the morse code into a visual display.
Computers and binary storage systems have yet to be invented in full yet, so displaying such technology right out of the gate would be catastrophic. The Wardens had yet to catch onto the existence of the Oracle, and Kyle preferred to keep it that way as much as possible until he learnt more about the enemy.
He racked his brain, trying to think about who else was able to perform long-range communication that could circumvent the current jamming. Kyle examined Orisa, realizing that she was still linked to the A.I. core despite being out and about. “You mentioned you had a radio range of ten kilometers. How are you communicating with your A.I. core now?”
“This body is implanted with inbuilt cybernetics that can receive and decode radio signals. However, I do not know the design nor am I able to manufacture new cybernetics.” Orisa replied.
“Is this your only body?”
“I have fifty more avatars, though they are not of the hobgoblin nature, but rather a simple goblin.”
“Doesn’t matter. I need you to activate some and have them serve as communication points to relay information. Can you do that?”
“Affirmative. I can infer that you want me to perform hovercraft observation. However, my clone will no longer be able to operate out of range.” Orisa pointed out.
“Can your bodies act as repeater relays?”
Orisa remained silent for a while, before nodding. “It is possible, but each body can only communicate in a ten-kilometer radius.”
“Not an issue.” Kyle quickly calculated the distance from here to Raktor. Fifty kilometers from the iron ore deposit to the factory, and roughly twenty kilometers from here to the Culdao Peaks town. “Activate fifteen for now.”
While Orisa prepared her clones, Kyle continued mapping out the combat area, getting a full detailed layout of the battle now. “They must be holding the supplies in the town. If we can cut them off from Raktor, we will be able to stall them immediately.” Adrian pointed out.
“Cutting them off won’t be enough. They will still be able to keep up a siege for a week or even more, and then we will be trapped fighting to maintain the blockade.” Kyle shook his head, calculating what he had on hand now.
I only have two hovercrafts – one being retrofitted by Reese and Gordon, the other used by Sasha.
Orisa soon showed up with her clones. Kyle quickly ordered one of her clones to head towards the first goblin den, moving with the first batch of reinforcements. “Sasha, return back now. We have a replacement solution.”
As soon as Sasha returned, Kyle replaced her with another of Orisa’s clones, having her perform the observation instead, while attaching two more of Orisa’s clones to the goblin squads and spreading them out to cover the Culdao Peaks’ forest. Another ten of Orisa’s clones were sent into the tunnel networks, accounting for the possible attenuation of the mountains.
Kyle did not want to use all of Orisa’s clones just yet – they were irreplaceable, so Kyle had to use them sparingly. The new clones were also far weaker than the hobgoblin avatar that Orisa used as her main, meaning that they could be killed easily as well through their arctech armour.
As such, Orisa became the main communication relay system, reporting observations to Adrian and Keith with precise accuracy. Kyle went over the first batch of aerial observation captured by the array, examining them closely.
His eyes widened as he zoomed in on one of the anti-air weapons mentioned by Sasha. What is that sensor? The weapon had four machine gun barrels aimed up at the sky, something that seemed like a 20th century version of a C-RAM, albeit with arctech weaponry. Kyle did not know anything about its effective range, but decided to play it safe anyway.
Kyle was now freed up, quickly heading over with Sasha to the goblin factory where Reese and Gordon were retrofitting the hovercraft to a higher altitude ceiling.
“Boss, it’s going to take more than a week to get this hovercraft to a higher altitude.” Reese shook his head in disappointment.
“Never mind that, there’s no more time. Fit as much frontal armour as you can on the hovercraft, along with point defense engravings. Remove the stealth engraving panels.”
“But that will drop the altitude ceiling! Everyone would be able to see you clearly and shoot at you!”
Kyle walked over to a workbench in the factory, hefting a triple-barreled machine gun, a modified version of Hayden’s design, but upgraded closer to what Kyle could recall of the Galactic Era.
“Who said anything about not shooting back?”
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