Krieger sat at his desk with his arms crossed as he stared at the large amount of papers currently on his desk. Krieger had to admit, Misty Light was very good at gathering together information and organizing it. Already she had recorded the total damage to the town, current resource reserves, and available manpower, or as she put it, ponypower, yet another alternate version of a human word. As he looked at the information, he wasn't exactly thrilled...
From the looks of it, the Caribou raiders had damaged mostly residential buildings, stores, and the city market, ransacking them for loot. The total resources available, while low, would be sufficient to repair most of the damages. According to some of the papers, a nearby quarry was where they got there stone and other resources from, indicating that while they were capable of using excavation techniques, they hadn't exactly mastered it or even created concrete. However, what did make him happy was the available workers, as excluding his soldiers, he had around three hundred ponies and two hundred humans to work with, which would no doubt be helpful in both repairing the town and fortifying it.
As he read, a knock was heard on his door, as Misty Light poked her head in, who looked somewhat surprised at seeing Krieger without his hat on, as Krieger chuckled before she gained her composure.
"I found the construction expert you were looking for, sir."
"Excellent, send him in." Krieger said as Misty Light nodded, the door opening to reveal a human male in French civilian attire wearing a black beret, a mustache on his face as he saluted and took a seat in front of Krieger's desk. "Greetings mister..."
"Joseph Pierre, monsieur Krieger, though you may simply call me Pierre. I understand you require the aid of an expert in construction and architecture no?"
Krieger was surprised to hear the man speak French with it's unique accent, though considering his convoy included several french citizens, he wasn't surprised. Luckily, Krieger knew a bit of french, so he knew how to properly speak with his French comrade, replying in fluent French to Pierre. "Ja my freund, I require someone who can assist in organizing a work force to rebuild this town, as well as help direct further construction and improvements. I trust you are up to the task, mister Pierre?"
"Of course monsieur. After all, I was the head architect of my town's local committee before coming here, and having went to architecture school and taken courses on both construction and management, I believe I will be able to help redefine this town and truly make it great. If you will have me of course."
"Well, I see no better option than to grant you the duty, Pierre. I have no doubt you will make this town a good place to live for both pony and human. Our first goal is to organize all of the able bodied workers into an effective labor force with efficient work teams. You will coordinate with my assistant Misty Light to complete this."
"Yes yes, I understand Krieger... Speaking of which, I just want to say, I do not truly hold any type of grudge against you Germans for occupying my country, as I saw our previous government as weak, but I do not believe that others will see the same thing. I only ask that you treat them with respect, and eventually they will forgive you."
"I will do my best Pierre, as I too wish to see the fence between our peoples mended." Krieger said, shaking Pierre's hand before he got up and prepared to open the door and leave the room, but not before turning around and speaking.
"Also Kommandant, I do have a German friend who went to engineering school, and I believe he could be of aid."
"Really? If so, feel free to have him come in." Pierre nodded, opening the door as a man dressed in more German looking civilian attire with a bowler hat appeared in the door way, saluting as he shook Pierre's hand before walking in as Krieger gestured to the seat in front of him, which the man promptly took and sat down in before speaking in German.
"Greetings Oberst Von Krieger, I am Thomas Maximilian, though everyone simply refers to me as Thomas. I understand you are also looking for someone to assist in bringing the local... Pony populace up to date in terms of technology and engineering, yes?"
"Indeed, Thomas, we are in need of educating the populace about the wonders of German engineering, and I have no doubt that from what Pierre has said of you that you will be successful in doing so. However we are likely to encounter some... Difficulties, due to the more primitive nature of the equines."
"Indeed, no offense to them, but they are within the medieval era while we are in the modern world. It will be a difficult historical and technological gap to cross in the short amount of time we have. I hope you will work with Pierre to help introduce our modern techniques and advancements to the ponies."
"Of course, Kommandant, I will not fail you." He said as he saluted before shaking Krieger's hand and exiting the room. Krieger then went back to looking through his papers. Most of them were just taxes, census records, and order forms for useless golden furniture, but said furniture could easily be melted down for use in electronics, so it's still a win. A few minutes later, Misty Light poked her head in.
"S-sir, Lieutenant Colonel Franz wishes to speak with you, outside..." Krieger nodded as he slipped his officer's hat on and stood up from his chair, before following Misty Light down the stairs and outside. As they entered the town hall courtyard, a dozen royal guards quickly lined up in front of the entrance on both sides, forming a path for Krieger as he admired their ability to maintain formation before seeing Franz standing at the end of the line, saluting, as Krieger and Misty Light saluted back before the Colonel spoke.
"Mein Kommandant, I am happy to report that we have established a military encampment on the eastern outskirts of town. We have already begun unpacking supplies and the construction of fortifications. Any soldiers not assigned to fortification, unloading, or patrolling, has been tasked with assisting reconstruction efforts, as per your orders. We have also made sure to assign our medical personnel to the medical camp at the center of the town so we can maximize our treatment of the wounded populace."
"Good good, your efforts have not gone unnoticed Lieutenant. Due to me now being in direct command over this entire town and thus my promotion to local governor, I have a lot of other things to focus on, and as such, I am promoting you to Oberst so that you command our forces in the case of my absence." Franz looked surprised, as he quickly saluted once more.
"I am honored, mein Kommandant. I will not fail you!"
"I doubt you will. And also, get some uniforms and equipment for these... Town guards. There armor is gaudy and worthless in terms of protection." The guards seemed offended by this.
"Understood Herr, I will requisition new uniforms and equipment for them to utilize, as well as assign them to a proper training regiment. Now then, I will be returning to the camp now to oversee training and logistics, would you like to come along with me, Guvernör?"
"Why yes I would." Krieger said as he and Misty Light followed Franz into a jeep as the driver turned the key and it started up before driving out of the courtyard and into the town streets which had already been cleared of rubble, as Krieger looked out the windows to already see human workers commencing re-construction, carrying beams, hammering nails, and sawing wood as pony civilians looked on in awe at the humans and their tools. Krieger was surprised the ponies didn't even know about the basic tool of a hammer! He and his people had a lot of work cut out for them if they were ever going to modernize the populace.
As they drove by, Krieger could see ponies being assisted by humans whenever they needed help, and surprisingly, the ponies did so in return, as he watched a human carrying a bag of wheat trip and fall, only to caught up in a purple aura as a unicorn helped stop their fall. Misty Light had told Krieger of this... Magic, but he was still skeptical. He also watched as Pegasi helped lift materials into position to allow workers to get the job done much easier, yet another intriguing display of pony biology.
Soon enough, the car began to pull into the military camp, as Krieger watched troops marching and training, setting up tents, unloading supplies from trucks, digging trenches, and setting up sandbags. As he disembarked, he took in a smell of the air.
Dirt, mud, grime, blood, and sweat.
"Ahhh... Just like the good old days."