Last Minute Plans
Present day
“If you don’t mind me asking, when did you learn about the Key Lake facility?” The reporter asked.
Trimmel placed a hoof on his chin, rubbing it and thinking. “It was back in 1016, just after my 44th birthday.” The reporter stuttered, choking on his words for a moment. “I know, I’ve aged horribly. You actually thought I was a well aged 60 year old, hate to break it to you, but I’m only 50 years young.”
“The Key Lake facility though,” Trimmel continued, enjoying the uncomfortable shifting due to his mistake. “I found out quite unspectacularly, read it in a file. Though I recall my confrontation with Chrysalis afterwards to be quite lively…”
9 months following Trimmels retreat from Equestria.
The tower of Chrysalis was a daunting structure, a black spire which stretched miles into the sky, the greatest feat of Changeling engineering. That was until today at least, the day Trimmel was briefed on the tactical weapon project recently finished at Key Lake. Tactical weapons, just a fanciful dream for the longest time, now a very real, and dangerous tool in the arsenal.
Trimmel stood in a lift waiting, the small metal box shot up the tower towards the peak of the spire, the personal apartments of Chrysalis. Standing next to him was a nervous Synoval, the fez wearing changeling doing his best to straighten out his uniform and look presentable. Synoval always made the best effort to upstage Trimmel at every turn, always desperate to get his old position of Hivesmarshal back.
Right now though, he was actually trying to protect Trimmel in his own way. The Hivesmarshal was seething that the queen had invested in something like nuclear weapons without consulting him, and Synoval was right in thinking that any outbursts would reflect on him as well. It was strange that Synoval was the mediator for once, normally he was trying to incite something.
“Remember Trimmel…” Synoval began, Trimmels eyes swivelled to the side as they tracked the movement of the other changelings eyes. The completely deaf Hivesmarshal watching his lips form words. “Don’t start a fight, be calm and be collected. Remember how trigger happy the queens guard are, they’ll shoot you without hesitation for a perceived threat.”
“Don’t worry Synoval, I’m the picture of calmness and security.” Trimmel assured his subordinate.
Shuddering slightly as it reached the top, the lift stopped. Ahead of the pair, the shining metal doors parted and revealed a large open space. Chrysalis’s apartments were as luxurious as one could imagine, fit for only the richest of lings . Almost everything was coloured in black or dark grey, her signature colours. While all other monarchs had their fancy castles and classical architecture, Chrysalis was a fan of modern architecture: square sofas, hanging glass lights, striped carpets, it was luxurious, but more typical of a millionaire and not a queen.
Sitting on a sofa facing through a window which made up the entire wall was Chrysalis herself. The queen of all changelings was lounging around and staring out to sea, lost in thought. In her mouth, she held a cigarette extender between her lips, gently puffing smoke out from a lit cigarette on the end. She didn’t look much like a queen, she never did really.
Trimmel immediately strode out, ignoring the queens guardsling who stepped out to try and stop him. He made a beeline towards Chrysalis and greeted her in a loud voice as he strode across the room “Chrysalis you old cock! What’s this I hear about you not briefing me on a weapons project.”
If Trimmel could hear, he’d have heard Synoval mutter from behind him “here we go…”
As he strode towards Chrysalis, the changeling queen turned around and caught sight of the approaching Hivesmarshal. The queen visibly cringed; she’d obviously been expecting this kind of confrontation with Trimmel. Sometimes it was hard to tell if those two even liked each other, perhaps it was a love hate relationship.
Before he could reach her, a queens guardsling appeared out of seemingly thin air and stood between them. The matte purple armour of the guard blended very well into the dark room, perhaps it was a tactical choice. The guard lit up his horn, magic pulsing around the grip of his pistol.
“I suggest you apologise to our queen.” The guard growled.
“Let me tell you something son, during the Stalliongrad revolution my team was found out by one of their commissars. To keep our cover, I beat him to death with a folding chair. So what do you think I could do with this knife then?” Trimmel explained.
The guardsling looked down, alarm plastered on his face. Trimmel had drawn a knife from his strap on his leg using his hoof and slipped it between an overlap between two plates of his armour. In one quick movement the knife would be imbedded in his heart. The guardling froze, the magic gripping his pistol faltering.
“If you’re quite done traumatising my guards Trimmel…” an indignant voice drawled.
The marshal gave a smirk to the still frozen guard before withdrawing his knife and sheathing it. He stepped past the guard and approached Chrysalis, Synoval quietly apologised to the guard. Chrysalis took another drag from her cigarette and exhaled it into the air as Trimmel sat across from her.
The queen of all changeling lifted a silver cigarette case and offered it to Trimmel, the marshal picked one up in his magic and placed it in his lips. Synoval arrived as well now and took one for himself, he sat down next to Trimmel. Taking a box of matches from the table between them, Synoval struck one and lit both of their cigarettes before placing the matches on the table separating all of them.
The trio remained in silence for a few seconds. Each composing themselves before the upcoming argument. Chrysalis held up a hoof and shook, as she raised her voice and addressed the room “everyone get out.”
Guarlings seemed to appear out of the shadows and folds in the curtains as no less than a full platoons worth of guards seemed to stream out. As they were leaving, Chrysalis pointed at one of the guards “except you Vaspier, you stay.”
The guard in question stopped, then was surrounded by a green flame as he transformed. The form of a changeling guard slipped away as Vaspier, the great imperial nobody, appeared before them. Chrysalis, thoroughly unimpressed, gave him a bland look “don’t you have something else to be doing, like your job?” She asked.
“Probably, but I felt obligated to be here, what with my role in all this.” Vaspier countered. The nobody made his way over to their sofas and took a seat.
“We all know you just wanted to watch the chaos unfold. Bloody parasite you are.” Synoval blandly stated.
“What can I say, I’m a habitual anarchist.” Vaspier chuckled.
“Didn’t you shoot every anarchist in the country.” Trimmel asked.
“If he didn’t then he’s possibly the worst Spymaster I’ve ever appointed.” Chrysalis chuckled. “Could you use the door next time as well instead of sneaking in here. One of these days someones going to get trigger happy and put a bullet in your head.”
Vaspier chose to totally ignore Chrysalis’s comment on him sneaking in as he addressed the queen “Just eliminating all the competition.” Vaspier explained. The great nobody pulled a flask out of the folds of his great coat and started to sip from it “don’t let me interrupt you.”
Blowing a puff of smoke into the air, Trimmel spoke up “I loathe to admit it, but the bastards right. What the fuck Chrysalis?”
“It’s your highness and…” the Queen of all changelings started before being interrupted by Trimmel.
“We’re in private, I’m not calling you that.” He angrily muttered.
Chrysalis let out an angry breath through her teeth “I’m not inclined to brief you on every project my teams are undertaking. You may be the supreme commander, but this is my country, so don’t you dare to assume you can order me around.”
“If I recall Chrysalis, you gave me total military authority. That project was designed with military application, why wasn’t I even briefed on its existence?” Trimmel seethed, using his magic to push the cigarette into an ash tray.
“This isn’t military, this is research. You could argue that toaster production has military applications and start sticking your hooves into it if you wanted to. I have to draw the line somewhere Trimmel, otherwise you may as well be king.” Chrysalis snorted.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” Trimmel sniffed.
Before Chrysalis could shout an angry response, it was Vaspier who spoke up “ohhh they’re getting personal now.” He let out a loud laugh.
“Vaspier…” Synoval spoke up for the first time in a while “I’m going to remind you that you’re within punching distance and Trimmel has a hitting things when he’s pissed habit. In fact…” the other marshal shifted away from Trimmel and sat on the far side of the sofa.
Getting past the others brief interaction, Chrysalis returned to her Hivesmarshal “Don’t you dare to assume you could rule the hives, you’re nothing without me, I made you. You shouldn’t assume that you’re so irreplaceable to me as well, I can get any number of lings to replace you, some of who are in this room right now!”
Trimmel suddenly let out a hearty laugh “You think Synoval could do what I do! That’s a good one, that really is.”
“Yeah not to take sides here” Synoval interjected “but I don’t want his job. I want to be Hivesmarshal yes, but Trimmel does so much extra on top of that and basically runs the military economy, I can’t do that.”
Synoval made a good point, despite wanting Trimmels position as Hivesmarshal and supreme commander, his job had expanded so far beyond that. Trimmel basically ran the military economy, he had his say in every aspect of production and manufacturing in the entire queendom. Any other ling would have buckled under the mental pressure of running everything at this point, every ling except Trimmel. The pressure was taxing on his health, and he was ageing horribly, but he was running it. Synoval wanted to be military leader, but not leader of the economy.
“The nukes are of military application, they’re a military tool, I should have been included, let alone briefed on its existence!” Trimmel shouted.
“They didn’t even start as a weapon! It was just a power generation tool meant to take strain off our: oil, steel and coal resources. This whole weaponisation of it came about in the past year.” The queen of all changelings explained.
“And let’s not even get into its usage, you made a strategic weapon! This weapon destroys whole city’s, if you want to rule equestria, then blowing it up isn’t the way to win this war.” Trimmel exclaimed as he slammed a hoof on the table separating them.
“I agree! They failed as strategic weapons, the ones we’re building are designed as tactical weapons, drop them on an airfield or mountain you can’t get around.” Chrysalis shouted.
Trimmel picked himself up and strode across the room. He picked up a chair in his magic and started to smash it against the floor again and again and again. Splinters flew everywhere as it broke under the immense pressure of his attack. Once it was thoroughly destroyed, he turned around and roared “that makes so much fucking sense!”
Silence reigned in the room as everyling waited for Chrysalis or Trimmel to make the next move. One of them was going to do something, it was just a question of which one. Chrysalis sighed as she held out her cigarette case once again “want another one?”
Trimmel straightened out his jacket as he walked towards her “please.”
The Hivesmarshal sat down in his original seat as he took the matches off the table and lit his cigarette. “So then, what are the details of this project.”
Vaspier began to cackle, slapping a slightly disturbed Synoval on the shoulder “mum and dad have such a toxic relationship don’t they. You two are perfect for each other!”
“And you are still within Trimmels punching distance.” Synoval warned “could I also get one of those?” He gestured to the cigarettes.
The queen of all changelings lifted the box of matches in her magic and struck one. The flame lit up as she offered the match around. The various changelings leant forwards in their seats as they lit the cigarettes. Pulling back and collapsing into their seats, the changelings engaged in another round of total silence as they fuelled their collective nicotine addiction.
Chrysalis stumped her cigarette down on an ashtray and waved a hoof “Synoval, get us glasses and a bottle of Port from the cabinet.”
The changeling marshal made absolutely no complaints as he stood up and made his way across the room towards a drinks cabinet. Although he made the best possible effort to be quiet and keep an ear on the conversation.
“Pooling together our fissile material into a series of reactors across the country, we’re able to build a tactical nuke every month. I’ve already built up a small stockpile on the weapons, 1 city buster and 2 tacticals.” Chrysalis explained “They’re airdropped from strategic bombers onto any targets we can mark. The impact radius is about 150m, though the radiation and full blast radius could be a few km, we’ve only tested a city buster before, so info on the tactical’s is only theoretical.” chrysalis explained.
At this point, Synoval returned with the port and glasses for all the lings. He placed the four glasses down on the wooden table and delicately poured the Port into the glasses. Each ling, even Vaspier, took one as they waited for Trimmels obvious question.
“I see the validity of the tactical nukes, I do. However, I’ve now read the reports and watched the tape of the detonation, I flatly refuse to drop one on other soldiers.” Trimmel said, swirling his port around.
“Won’t be entirely up to you, I’ve created a four-person system for deployment of the weapons. Each ling needs to be in unanimous agreement for the deployment otherwise it doesn’t go through.” Chrysalis spoke as she took a sip from her port.
“Who gets a vote?” Trimmel inquired, he took a sip from the port before having a drag from his cigarette.
“Me and you obviously.” She pointed out “Apangesis also gets a vote, it’s his pilots who’ll be dropping the bombs so he has the yes or no with weather or security. Last is Lysander, he doesn’t have any particularly strong views on the matter, but I wanted each armed forces branch to have a say. The city buster is off the table though, I’m keeping that one permanently in reserve.”
Trimmel nodded in understanding “why make a city buster if you aren’t planning on using it.”
“Rumours, nothing you need to worry about.” Chrysalis tried to deflect.
Instead of Trimmel who asked the next question, it was in fact Vaspier. Acting like a good friend and laughing up until now, he suddenly turned serious and demanding like the flick of a switch. It’s why he had such a horrible reputation among the military, with his seemingly endless personalities and perfect control over his emotions, you never knew what he was going to do or what he was thinking.
“I find it strange that your spymaster hasn’t heard these rumours. Do enlighten us your majesty.”
“It’s none of your concern Vaspier, remember your place.” Chrysalis warned.
“My place is hearing rumours just like Trimmels is shooting things. You’ve hidden weapons from him and now information from me.” Vaspier continued, his voice low, tone dark “We need to know what’s going on.”
Chrysalis sighed, she probable regretted inviting Vaspier to this conversation. “This doesn’t leave the room, if it does, then you’re dead. Vaspier, don’t send any spies there or I’ll tear off your wings and throw you through the window. Are we clear?”
Vaspier and Trimmel nodded, confirming they knew how serious Chrysalis was. The queen only ever made threats she would keep. Nothing was a bluff when it came to her death threats. Synoval meanwhile shifted uncomfortably, no longer sure he was meant to be here. Nether the less, he nodded for the queen to continue.
“In the far north of the Griffonian continent is the dread peninsula, home of the undead. As a backer of the arcturian order, they pass information directly to me of any happenings in the north. Nothing concrete has been confirmed yet, but the dead are moving. Increased sightings, more guards going missing, flashes of necrotic magic rising higher out of the magehold. It might be nothing, just rumours, but that’s not a chance I’m willing to take.” Chrysalis said slowly and deliberately, she made sure that each ling understood exactly what she was saying.
Vaspier remained silent, his expression unreadable. Trimmel meanwhile took a drag from his cigarette, then a sip of port. Synoval just continued to shuffle uncomfortably, probably working up the courage to ask something.
“So then…” chrysalis began as she turned the conversation back on track “what’s your plan for the second invasion, the details I’ve been getting are sparse at best.”
“Well…” Trimmel started.
Present day
Trimmel concluded his story, the Longswordian reporter nodded in understanding. The pony gave a small smile as he continued to take notes and write down points on the conversation. The reporter then reached out to the tape recorder on the table between them. He flicked it off and took the tape out, stashing it off to the left he placed a different tape inside and readied himself to click the record button again.
“Shit, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about that.” Trimmel placed his face in his hoof. Although the Dread League was public knowledge now, what with their war against the Arcturian order a couple years back, but Chrysalis didn’t want anyone to know that the Changelings had some forewarning.
“Its fine, I already knew.” The reporter reassured with a smile “I was the correspondent in the Arcturian order before it collapsed.”
“Really? Well colour me surprised; I didn’t think any of you lot made it out alive.” Trimmel exclaimed in surprise.
When the Dread League invaded the Arcturian order, the Griffon knights fought back valiantly against the undead horde. But they were quickly overwhelmed and totally collapsed under the pressure of an undead army, vicious mind control magic turning knights on each other as ghouls ripped the living apart. Most publicised of all, the Arcturian order had allowed a few foreign reporters in country, hoping the images of the undead would garner international support. When the order collapsed, the few reporters had suffered a gruesome fate, forced by their undead captors to film Undead atrocities before being dragged into the magehold and never seen again.
“Me and my cameraman were the only survivors.” The reporter confirmed.
Trimmel was about to ask a whole load of questions, almost no one had gotten out of there alive. How in the world had a reporter and his cameraman gotten out alive when hundreds of thousands of experienced soldiers and civilians were doomed. The Dread league had immediately solidified their lines on the modern Arcturian borders where they remained today, monitored by the Griffon empire. So how in the world had this pony and his cameraman managed to cross miles of dead ground and get past the roving hordes of Vamponys.
“Yes the cameraman was recording the whole time, yes the tape still exists, yes Grover VI has it, yes you can probably request a clone of it, yes it will probably be denied.” the reporter answered pre-emptively.
Swinging the conversation back on track, the pony flicked the tape recorder back on “So you had just began to tell Chrysalis the invasion plan, what was the plan?”
Trimmel gave a snort, amused by the pony’s slick manoeuvring of the convoy back on topic. He leant back and crossed his forelegs “Well its easier to explain how I told the generals under my command. We were in a bunker…”
2 months after meeting with Chrysalis, 3 days before the second invasion
Trimmel stood over a large map of the frontline with Equestria, generals and officers surrounded him as he laid out the second invasion plan to them. The army heads listened intently, each waiting to hear what role they would play in the initial battles.
The room they stood in was slightly cramped and wasn’t the most comfortable. But it was secure, this particular room was a cleared-out storage room in one of their border forts, fort EB-211, and shielded by meters of solid concrete.
A cloud of smoke had pooled near the ceiling and circled the single lamp which illuminated the room. The 25 or so assembled lings and few Olenians from the three main branches of the military were almost all smoking, be it pipes, cigarettes or cigars, they were almost all adding to the cloud in the ceiling. Trimmel was among the few without, his own discarded in an ash tray just a moment ago.
“It starts in three days.” Trimmel began loudly to the room “the attack will begin with wing week, our friends in the airforce will fly a week of sorties against the pony forces and target their logistical infrastructure. At the same time, General Lunason will begin a bombardment of Equestrian positions on the border. Some 20 thousand guns in all will keep up a continuous rolling bombardment for 5 full days, it will be the single largest artillery barrage in recorded history.”
General Lunason was probably the youngest Changeling or Olenian in the room. At just 25 years old, the artillery commander was a somewhat unpopular choice of leader. But he’d proved in the ongoing war that no one could match his understanding of artillery. As head of the Royal Vestiopolis artillery corps, he was the head of all divisional artillery corps, and it would fall to him to coordinate strikes between the regiments.
“On the 5th day of this attack, General Larynx and the 5th army will begin their diversionary offensive out of Vanhoover.” Trimmel pointed towards the extreme right of the changeling lines.
The 5th army had encountered some trouble withdrawing a few months ago, and had ended up digging into positions around Vanhoover. The troops had held their ground and found the area to be well suited for a prolonged defensive battle. They were the only salient still across the old border with Equestria and in the perfect position to launch an attack. Larynx himself was also a good choice, the general was the poster boy of the Heer, loved by his men and well-liked by the media. He had a personal charisma that Trimmel and Synoval just lacked.
His 5th army also had a very high number of Olenian soldiers in its ranks. During the invasion of Olenia, the general was known by the Olenians as being very fair on prisoners of war. Later when he’d served as an advisor to the protectorates crown, he’d helped modernise their army and become quite well liked by the Olenian soldiers and generals. Olenian soldiers worked better under his command than any other Changeling in the Heer.
Larynx was also a component and reliable leader, easy to work with and capable of an extended independent command. While slightly unremarkable in his career compared to the other generals, his steely disposition and reliability made him an indispensable general.
“General Larynx and the 5th army have been reinforced with 4 divisions of Panzers and 6 light panzer divisions from the Olenian protectorate, they will be tasked with drawing as many Equestrian forces onto their offensive as possible to make way for the main thrust. General Haakon Lurswig from Olenia will command the panzer forces in this sector.” Trimmel gestured to Larynx and the Olenian next to him.
“To go along with this, we’ve started a buildup of: inflatable tanks, aircraft mock ups, and in this area several fake bases. Our airforce friends will let equestrian recon aircraft through the defensive screen to see the supposed buildup, and agents in equestria will push their high command towards the buildup. This should hopefully culminate in the Equestrian army diverting many of its reserve troops and response armour to stem this attack. 5th army and its attached armour should be heavily engaged with the Equestria army by the time of the main offensive 2 days later.” Trimmel explained in depth as his aids pushed around models on the map for effect.
General Fultoni raised a hoof into the air and drew Trimmels attention. Trimmel swivelled his eyes and locked them onto the other General who now began to speak allowing Trimmel to read his lips. “What sort of casualties can 5th army expect?”
Trimmel cast his eyes over to General Larynx who sighed “Depends on how many of their reserves we absorb. I expect around 5% KIA with a total of 15% casualties. But if we absorb the full weight of their counterattack…” Larynx paused and silently winced at the mental numbers “KIA could be up to 15% with some 35% casualties.”
A wave of unease passed over the room. Those were easily the highest casualty figures anyone had heard on the entire southern front, and that was just for a single regional offensive. The northern frontline against the communist griffons did regularly see upwards of 30% casualties, but they were close range battles in extreme conditions. Given that Northern force was also made up of Brigade sized formations and not Division sized, it meant that less lings actually died.
Scanning his eyes around the room as his wings fluttered, Trimmel noted the cool understanding in the room. They all understood the stakes of this attack, even if they didn’t like it.
The first invasion, while initially successful, was a rush job. Units weren’t at their rally points when the invasion began, areas of command were poorly defined or overlapped, logistics weren’t set up properly. Every Changeling and Olenian here knew that this time it had to be perfect, otherwise they were first on the chopping block, be it from Chrysalis or the vengeful equestrians.
With no more questions forthcoming, Trimmel continued. “The main thrust will come here and here. Straight through the Frozen Butterfly Forrest’s. Generals Pharynx and Roland will lead the 12 panzer divisions in 2 columns through crystal lines. Kampfgruppe Pharynx will proceed east to Quebuck before splitting into two groups, group 1 will establish a new line while group 2 under lieutenant general Peiper will proceed south and cut the railways out of the crystal empire at Hedgewarts and Chicoltgo. Kampfgruppe Roland will cut west after their initial drive and aim to cut off and encircle elements of the Crystal fire army and whatever units of Stalliongrads revolutionary guard are in the area.” Trimmel continued, when no objections or questions were raised, he continued again.
“General Lore will take the 1st Jaeger army through the breach created by the Kampfgruppe and set up a perimeter behind the frontline to secure their flanks while the 4th engineer corps under General Erebidae will begin construction of a road across the area. The 1st deep penetration and infiltration regiment will accompany them and begin to cut all equestrian supply lines available. Meanwhile the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th armies will begin a general assault on the frontline. While initial resistance can be expected, the pony forces will easily break under the pressure and begin a managed retreat.” Trimmel continued.
As he was about to keep going, one of his aids tapped him twice and gestured off to his left. It was the signal for the deaf Changeling that someone out of his line of sight was trying to talk to him. Craning his neck left, he saw the ever-cautious general Araxis begin speaking to him.
“How can you be sure the Equestrians will break so easily; they’ve had months to prepare and entrench their position. They won’t just leave after we fire a few shells at them.” Araxis argued.
The Changeling was known for his caution in battle, having received an injury long ago, he’d stopped leading from the front and prefered his meticulously planned set piece battles which he deemed as far safer. However, Araxis was still a good leader and level headed under pressure.
Trimmel actually made sure to place Araxis next to his more hotheaded and reckless generals. The cautious Araxis often managed to balance out his wildcard generals and smooth over ruffled feathers. But he wasn’t well suited to high command, he just lacked the initiative to be a truly great general.
“Our informants in the Equestrian military have revealed that the units manning their frontline are already suffering from supply problems. When the supply lines to the crystal empire are cut and the railways to Canterlot bombed, the Equestrians will have to give ground or suffer the greatest military catastrophe in history; either way, we win.” Trimmel huffed.
Satisfied with the answer, Araxis nodded and seemed to shift back into the crowd and out of sight. Seeing that Trimmel was scanning for anymore questions, General Uptrich raised a hoof for Trimmels attention. Flicking his eyes over to the other ling, Uptrich started to speak as well.
“How will we be reducing any pockets we create, is it up to the frontline troops or do we have an active reserve for it?” The inflexible general asked.
Uptrich was a fine leader, good for leading infantry and arguably the Heer’s best logistician. But he was inflexible and lacked creativity, totally unsuited to independent command. He’d never deviate from a plan, even if it was a matter of life or death. However he did bring up a good point, almost every single unit seemed to be somewhere on the frontline.
“Marshal Synoval, who isn’t joining us today, is currently overseeing the final formation of the army of the interior. This group will be acting as our active reserve for the foreseeable future. The attached PanzerGrenadiers will oversee the reduction of any created pockets under General Bit.” Trimmel nodded and pointed towards the centre of the map.
“Wouldn’t General Vect be a better choice?” Uptrich asked, confused at the absence of the Panzer leader. Although the comment did cause General Bit to turn his head and glare at Uptrich.
Trimmel bit his lip, fangs digging into the flesh there and nearly drawing blood. General Vect was dead as of yesterday. The generals communist leanings were tolerated by Chrysalis and Trimmel, but his recently uncovered connections to the Thoraxian resistance had sealed his fate. With Trimmels approval, Vaspier had Vect commit suicide by being raked with machine gun fire in a bathroom.
“General Vect won’t be joining us, he was assassinated yesterday by the Thoraxian resistance.” Trimmel lied through his teeth, it wasn’t even very convincing. The generals around him all knew about their comrades opinions on communism, it wasn’t exactly difficult to piece together what happened.
As the uneasy silence permeated the room, Trimmel decided to break it by coughing before continuing on “our objective with this offensive is to advance onto a new defensive line stretching from Quebuck in the north to Prancisco in the south. We’ll hold there and build up our logistical infrastructure, give the men a chance to rest, then make another drive east towards the crystal city itself.”
“What sort of timeframe are we working with?” General Cardon inquired.
“5 weeks.” It was general Qwiksis who replied for Trimmel.
General Qwiksis was a strange one among Chnageling high command. He was promoted under Trimmels insistence and made a general just before the war broke out. Qwiksis had been a brigade commander see before, aggressive on the field, but unremarkable in his career. The ling was however a very talented coordinator and had a knack for organisation. The other ling also had a good memory and sharp mind.
Although officially a general, Qwiksis acted more as a glorified secretary for Trimmel at this point. He translated the Marshals sometimes vague commands into written orders and made sure arrived to their intended recipients. Qwiksis was crucial for coordinating between the various generals and Chrysalis herself. Occasionally he was called Trimmels shadow, but the Hivesmarshal knew the value of a good Chief-of-staff and was always quick to defend him.
“We’ve built up enough resources for a 5 week push. The main issue is fuel, our domestic production is up and those new Synthetic refineries keep on pumping, but it’s not enough to sustain a continuous push.” Trimmel explained.
It was general Uptrich who threw the next question at Trimmel. Unsurprising given his affinity for logistical matters. Whatever could be said about the ling, his troops never went hungry, and his guns never went silent for lack of ammunition. It was almost a shame that Trimmel couldn’t assign him to manage all of the Heer’s logistics.
“Why only 5 weeks? At our predicted levels of consumption, we can maintain combat for 3 full months.” He asked. The General did bring up a good point.
General Qwiksis was fast to shoot down the infantry leader. Sometimes there was something of the rivalry between the two, the Chief-of-staff perhaps seeing it as encroaching on his turf. “You haven’t factored the airforce into that, add them and you lose a month. We need to maintain a reserve for obvious reasons, defence, manoeuvring and the like. But half of the available fuel is reserved for the navy, Admiral Mimic is going to undertake raiding operations again, and Admiral Lysander is anticipating an Equestrian sortie at some point during the offensive.”
A series of groans sounded throughout the room. Admiral Lysander wasn’t particularly loved by the Heer, a relationship which went both ways. His fleet had a debatable impact on the war so far, and the absurd amount of fuel he’d requisitioned time and time again had caused some issues for the vehicles of the Heer.
Another point of contention between Admiral Lysander and the army came with his naval infantry. Initially, Lysander had been loaned infantry from the Heer for amphibious operations, it was an arrangement which everyone was fine with.
But Synoval, on his own initiative, had withdrawn all infantry from Lysanders command for operations elsewhere. As the navy was just days away from undertaking a major amphibious landing at Las Pegasus, the decision understandably outraged him. In a rare moment of unity between the surface and submarine fleet, Admiral Mimic joined his protests.
The naval branch had then established its own naval infantry branch independent of the Heer. They were solely under navy jurisdiction and couldn’t be moved without the admirals approval. The Heer had obviously launched their own bout of protests, but they fell on deaf ears. Chrysalis stepped in a ruled that the Kriegsmarine could fields its naval troops, dubbed the Seebataillon’s.
Relations between the Kriegsmarine and Heer had remained frosty ever since then. There was almost no trust between the two of them, the navy and army simply refused to cooperate after the incident. Squabbles over resources were an unfortunate norm.
Trimmel personally had no problem with funding the navy. Having never actually met Lysander or Mimic, he also had nothing against either of them. Privately he’d scolded Synoval after he withdrew the infantry, and publicly remained silent on the issue. In the eyes of the Hivesmarshal, every ship the equestrians commissioned meant 100 tanks weren’t shooting at the Heer.
Trimmel shook his head and cast the thoughts away. The Hivesmarshal used his magic to draw a pipe out of his top pocket. The pipe was one already stuffed with tobacco and lit, as the various personalities and officers in effect watched, Trimmel put it back in his mouth and started to tamp down on it with a tamper he also heard in his magic. After a few moments, he dropped the tamper and leaned towards the nearest person in the room.
General Pagala, the pink changeling with a love addiction, picked up the closest box of matches and lit Trimmels pipe. The Marshal nodded in thanks and started to puff on it. The smoke rising to join the haze created in the room. “Is everyone clear on the wider plan?.” He asked, briefly taking the pipe out with hoof.
“Good, now then, let’s get onto the finer details…” Trimmel announced
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Not much more to say other than, pretty good! Interesting takes on some of the characters, I will admit.
Wait… something doesn’t seem right here. This is the same Chrysalis we’re both talking about, right? There’s no way any authoritarian monarcho-fascist dictator like her gives her subordinates that much power.
Ah, how do you do, fellow wiki-diver?
Kill Pagala. Behead Pagala. Roundhouse kick Pagala into the concrete. Slam dunk Pagala into the trashcan. Crucify Pagala. Launch Pagala into Sol Invictus. Stir fry Pagala in a wok. Toss Pagala into an active volcano. Judo throw Pagala into a wood chipper. Twist Pagala’s head off. Report Pagala to the Vesalipolian Office of Public Safety. Karate chop Pagala in half. Trap Pagala in quicksand. Stab Pagala in the middle of the night. Crush Pagala under a dragon. Exterminate Pagala in the colosseum. Stomp Pagala’s skull with iron boots. Cremate Pagala in the kiln. Lobotomize Pagala. Load Pagala into a mortar. Drown Pagala in liquid gold. Incinerate Pagala with Nimbusian fire. Throw Pagala into the Dark Sea of Darkness. Feed Pagala to the lions. Slice Pagala with a broadsword.
11889390
Chrysalia giving each branch an equal say keeps them at each other throats and forces compromises. One of the changelings which gets a vote is her in particular, so she always has a veto on this military matter.
As for Pagala, I completely agree. She never made an appearance in draft 1 of this, in draft 2 there were 3 paragraphs of basically nothing but Trimmel saying how much everyone hates her and hopes she dies. Then in this draft she does literally nothing but smokes. She’s going to survive the war (she has to unfortunately), but she’s not going to have a good time post war… (roundhouse kicked to death)
Trimmer: "I was actually thinking about doing exactly that. If used correctly toasters can be quite effective against ponies."
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Source.
Okay, that's reason for concern. Even Celestia would agree to that.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/8/28/2130240.png
Source.
How long until the Heer decides to establish their own naval ships, independent from the Kriegsmarine?
Then the chaos would be complete.
Since you are already asking:
In the game you have to decide between Lysander and Mimic.
Since both are still around Chrysalis either didn't favor any of them or convinced them to (mostly) work together?
Mimic looks cuter by the way.11889680
It’s always possible that he never promoted one above the other. I didn’t do that for my most recent one, and let them prove their worth. I gave Mimic all the dockyards she wanted for submarines, and left Lysander on defence. When Mimic lost all her submarines, I immediately gave Lysander everything he wanted, promoting him to Hivesadmiral. I tend to not do anything with the Naval tree pre-war anyway, there are many better foci to take.
11889680
Since everything in this series is based on my own decisions in a campaign a while back, I’ll tell you how it went. I built up to about 40 dockyards and heavily invested into battlecruisers. Although I kept about 15 on building subs. Never promoted one over the other until late into the war, Lysander had just won a big battle against a fleet of: Equestrians, New Mareland, Stalliongrad, and the Purto Calabo and I didn’t have anything else to do, so I did the focus which promoted Lysander to Hivesadmiral. Although in the beginning of this series in stories of the Great War (set years after the end of the Great War and events seen here), Lysander is killed. He’s still alive at the moment though, and neither has been promoted. Although I am going to keep mimic around later on as well, she’ll have a role to play when I finally get around to the post war arc.