Tim had seen quite a few battles in his life; probably not as many as Owin and only a fraction of those Anuis had seen, but enough to appreciate them, and this one was one of the more successful ones.
Not that success had really been in question. He had the advantage in numbers and in levels. He even knew the base they were fighting in (and over), the others had gathered useful scouting reports, and they had information on the golems their enemies were using. No, the real success was in managing to keep casualties down and stray enemy soldiers from fleeing. Now they could get to the more difficult parts.
At least, once the aftermath of the battle was sorted out. Despite his declaration, Tim had sent Zephyr to assist with the wounded before trying anything else. He knew the mage was probably low on mana, even if he didn’t want to show it. So were the rest of them. They still needed to handle triage and help the injured as much as possible before wasting mana on further investigations, first.
In the end, Tim had lost six soldiers and might still lose two more as fighting assets. Several would probably take longer to recover and be only fit for light duty for a while. A few things would be beyond the healers they had here in the field. Tim was confident Regina would be able to heal anything short of actual brain death, but they couldn’t exactly transfer the wounded to the capital right now, anyway.
The casualties were much worse for the losing side, of course. The enemy fighters had lost about a third of their number. Pragmatically, that made it much easier to guard the remaining prisoners, especially since many of them were at least lightly injured. Tim had a feeling that wasn’t the most important consequence, though. Still, he was actually more interested in the golems.
They unfortunately didn’t have any of self-destruct or neutralization mechanism, at least not one that could be used at range. Tim and his men had had to get up close and personal. At least the information Galatea had conveyed from their artificer had been helpful. Right now, it meant that three of them were completely destroyed, three were neutralized and only lightly damaged, and one was more heavily damaged but probably salvageable. That meant four golems they could use in the future. The one the others had captured previously was of course already in use.
Right now, Tim was pacing down in the vehicle bay. It had quickly been chosen as the location of their improvised infirmary and in the process of becoming more than that, given it was the largest available space and close, but not too close, to the outside. Not to mention a hotspot of the fight. No one wanted to carry stretchers down staircases too often, he supposed. Breathing in heavily, the smelled the scents of battle; blood, metal and more pungent odors. They would take a while to dissipate. He could also almost smell the despondent fear of their captives. Tim swept his eyes over them, looking for weaknesses and hidden points of concern, weapons or attempts at resistance. So far, he wasn’t very impressed.
Ash glanced up, then stood to join him. “Looking for anything in particular?” he asked cautiously.
Tim shrugged. “I’d like a report, but it can wait,” he said. “Who is their commander again?”
The other drone pointed out one of them men who looked only barely injured, although his clothing was scuffed, bloody and torn in places. He was middle-aged, dark-haired, pretty unremarkable overall. The System gave his Class as Adept of the Blade, what sounded like a pretty generic Warrior Class, and level at thirty-six.
Tim nodded at two of the soldiers who’d been lingering nearby. Following the unspoken command, they approached the enemy officer and pulled him to his feet before unsubtly chivying him over to Tim.
“Commander Halen,” Tim greeted him. “Or do you have a specific rank?”
The human just stared at him for a long moment, before he spit on the rocky ground. Ash shifted, but it didn’t come close to Tim, so he decided not to take it as an insult. “Lieutenant,” he answered stiffly. “What about you, monsterblood?”
This time, Ash wasn’t the only one who moved. One of the soldiers, who Tim didn’t know although he noted his loyalty, looked like he barely held back from decking the man.
“That would be Prince monsterblood,” Tim replied calmly but with a slight smirk he made sure made it into his voice. “The likes of you may address me formally.”
Ash muffled a snort, and a bit of the tension in the gathered soldiers seemed to relax. The southlander officer just stared at him, before he visibly gritted his teeth and bowed his head. “Understood,” he grated. “What is it you want with me, honored prince?” The emphasis on the last two words was probably not meant to be mocking, Tim decided.
“First, I would confirm that you are the highest-ranking of these prisoners and thus in command?”
The man frowned. “I am, yes,” he confirmed, shooting a wary glance at the Imperial soldiers.
“Good. Then, let me first assure you that you will be treated with all due courtesy and respect,” Tim said evenly. “Our standards of prisoner treatment will be adhered to. If you have questions, see my officers. In short, it means your needs will be seen to, you will not starve unless we do, and you will not be mistreated. Interrogations are not precluded. Understood?”
Now the prisoner was definitely staring at him in surprise. A few of his own soldiers also seemed surprised, Tim noted.
“Understood … my Prince,” the lieutenant nodded, with noticeably more respect in his voice. He still seemed dubious, but that was fair enough.
“Now, what was your mission?”
Like clockwork, he stiffened again. “To take and hold this base,” he said after a moment.
Tim resisted the urge to give an outward sign of what he felt. That answer was expected, and nothing anyone couldn’t have guessed. “That was all?” he prompted.
The man met his eyes. “That’s all.”
Tim suppressed a sigh. He almost wished he could just torture the prisoner to get answers, regulations or not — he was pretty sure no one would stop him if he gave that order — but that wouldn’t even be a practical solution. No, they’d just have to try with repeated interrogations, he supposed. More detailed ones, so they could catch other details, like proof that he was from Iliucin. Separate interrogations of other captives, too.
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Tim tried a few more questions, getting bland and unsurprising answers, before he let it be for now. There were probably soldiers under his current command with more training or at least experience in interrogation.
He stepped away, keeping an ear peeled for Halen’s reactions, but the enemy officer was quiet. He settled down again on the spot assigned to him, turning to look at his men, and didn’t say anything. Tim shook his head and moved on. There were other concerns to focus on, after all.
He called another quick meeting with Owin, Anuis and Dan, as well as their seconds, to decide their guard rotation and positioning. Anuis had already prepared a suggestion, which he signed off on with only minor tweaks. It helped that they’d seen this base before. Tim now had more men at his command than their opponents had previously had, but it was still too big to effectively position guards everywhere. Instead, they had to focus on the entrances, scouts on the outside, and a few select spots inside the base. Plus, many of their soldiers were still tired from their trip here, so they should have a watch rotation that allowed them plenty of rest. Tim wasn’t sure when the next chance for proper rest would be, after all.
“Any other news?” he asked. “Enemy movements?”
Dan shook his head. “Our scouts don’t have anything to report,” he said. “There is no more movement in the tunnels than expected, as far as we can tell. No reaction from Iliyan, so far. And Iliucin probably hasn’t gotten word yet, anyway.”
Tim nodded. The golem artificer these people had worked with apparently claimed to be from Iliyan, although he also claimed to be rogue and working with them on his own terms, probably along with a few other people. That didn’t necessarily mean the government of the city was completely blind to what was going on here, though.
Well, especially after the message he’d sent them, they’d better not be.
Tim was still waiting for a real response to that, though, and it looked like the city-state would take its time. That was fine. More time for them to get entrenched here and work on more pertinent goals.
To see about those, he went looking for their mages, including Zephyr. The Thaumaturge had helped heal the wounded, but he was now sitting at the rough camp they’d made with their supplies, on an overturned crate with legs stretched out. He didn’t look injured, but was clearly tired — low on mana, presumably.
“My Prince,” he greeted Tim as he approached, half-bowing from his seat instead of getting up.
Tim nodded and leaned against a pile of scrap metal beside him. “Thaumaturge. Have you had a chance to look around the base for a possible way down yet? It’s fine if not,” he added, “I’d just like to get an initial impression.”
The man shrugged slightly. “I can make the rounds later, but honestly, I don’t think the precise position matters. There is clearly no entrance present. You need to get down by other means.”
Tim nodded. If there had been an easily findable entrance, their opponents would have found it already. “Then how do we get to it?” he asked. “I don’t suppose teleportation is an option?”
Zephyr grimaced. “I suppose it’s possible, but even if we had a specialist, there might be concerns about attempting to teleport into this presumptive area. Given what little we know of it, it might be bad for one’s health, or at least risk getting one stuck there unable to teleport back out.”
Tim pinched the bridge of his nose. That makes sense, unfortunately. “I see,” he said. “Well, we’ll have to keep looking, and considering options.”
He tried to exercise his patience as he waited, after that. It took a few more meetings with various people. Ash and a few of the more engineering-inclined soldiers, including some Hive drones, started to draw up tentative plans for digging into the ground to try and get to the hidden chamber they were now pretty sure was there.
“We’d probably be the best suited for it,” Ash told Tim after a few of the others went off to gather tools. “I mean, with the Ground Excavation Ability the Workers have, it’s the best way to dig a small tunnel without disrupting the structure or disturbing whatever is down there. It’s just a shame we don’t actually have any here.”
Tim sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose again. He was trying to stave off a headache, but suspected he might just be picking up a bad habit. “I see,” he said. “We knew where they were going, when we called for reinforcements. Are you seriously telling me they didn’t think to bring anyone who might be useful in an old underground structure like this?”
“Well,” Ash grimaced, “we did, but not any Workers? I mean, they did have to go over the mountains, bringing civilians along would be iffy.”
“I get it.” Tim paced up and down a few steps, running a hand through his hair.
“It might not be the perfect answer, anyway,” he finally muttered. “Considering, we still don’t know if the System …”
“Why not?”
Tim glanced up at him. “If it really does totally impede mana flows, that might be an issue,” he said. “I’m not an expert, but this place wasn’t detectable to any of our mages, who would usually get something like that in the ambient mana, which means it has to be completely shielded and redirecting all mana or something, to hide that there’s even a … void, or whatever, in there. Or maybe an actual lack of mana just doesn’t twinge in their mana senses, I’m not sure how it works.” If mana worked like sound instead of light, then not getting anything would just mean there was nothing there, and it wouldn’t lead people to suspect that there was a sound-absorbing material present — it was just a random underground spot in the middle of earth and rock, after all. Tim shook his head. “Either way, our Class Skills rely on the System and the System seems to work on ambient mana. I guess? There are definitely issues with, like, twisted mana, just ask Galatea.”
There was a swish from behind him, and a voice before he’d turned fully around. “Ask me what?”
“Galatea!” He relaxed the tension in his spine and smiled at her. “Where have you been? Dan said you would have looked for me, but I haven’t seen you.”
“I decided to change my plans,” she said, smiling faintly. “As I can see, I was right to think you had everything under control. Although more of your people really should have caught me walking in.” She nodded at Anuis and Nucme, who had been hovering near the doorway.
“I’ll make sure to tell them,” Tim said a bit drily. Not that he wasn’t going to have a word with the soldiers. “Though I somehow doubt you just walked in.”
Galatea shrugged elegantly. “I went on a more extended trip, a little further afield,” she said instead, answering his question. “It occurred to me there was one person I knew, an old acquaintance, who might be able to answer a few questions. Someone with a chance to maybe know a little about these things. Well, besides the obvious.” She gave him a meaningful look.
“The obvious?” Ash asked.
It took him a second. “Leian,” Tim muttered, keeping his voice quiet enough no one would overhear.
Galatea didn’t confirm it verbally, but that was confirmation enough.
“Who is it, then?” Tim asked.
“An elf from a settlement further to the south than those you’re familiar with,” Galatea said. “Beyond that, I don’t think it’s my place to tell you. I also haven’t told her much, about the situation, or where this place is located. It — well, I decided not to do that unilaterally.”
Galatea didn’t want to betray Regina again by giving too much information to someone with ulterior motives, he realized.
“How nice,” he said drily. “Let’s go sit down and you can tell me what you think we should know. Unless there’s other important news to go over first?”
Galatea turned to go, then paused and smiled. “Before I forget, it did look like Iliyan was sending a team to talk to you. You should perhaps prepare your diplomacy hat again, Tim.”
He clenched his fingers together behind his back and smiled tightly. “Wonderful. I’ll get right on that. Let me just check if we packed a welcome mat to roll out. Never mind the signs of combat everywhere.”
At least it was better than just waiting around, he supposed.
