Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 89: "Don’t do that."

The day after Josh and Justin were summoned, the two were sitting in a small conference room alongside Hoaz, Greq, and Loath. Mithrael sat at the head of the table, a frown on his face as he looked at the map.

"Sir, with all due respect, the enemy has us outclassed in everything but numbers." Justin began as he looked at the current positions drawn on the map. "Your idea to not engage them was the right choice. The wise choice on their side was to do a ’defense in depth’. They have likely set up as many mines as they have, with killboxes pretty much exactly where these troops are near the Esponia foothills are."

He circled an area just south of what remained of Esponia.

Justin then noticed the arched eyebrows of the Brishan residents.

"A killbox is essentially what it sounds like. We outline an area where if the enemy walks into it, we can target them without being seen. For example, the enemy’s killboxes are likely right here where your 5th and 7th armies are."

As he spoke, pens scribbled on paper. Mithrael studied the map with a clenched jaw, his finger tapping the desk. "What would you have us do, then?"

Justin chuckled. "Bait and switch. If there are any pieces of equipment you can afford to lose, you leave it there under ridge lines. That makes the enemy think you still have units there. Then you use this forest to the west and flank them. They likely already have units in the forests, but from what I can remember of what has fractured: they wouldn’t have enough units to cover the entire area."

The Generals all looked up, their pens stopped scribbling.

"My liege, permission to speak." Hoaz said while looking up at Mithrael, his eyes shining with a cold light.

"Granted."

"What if we send the scouts through the forest and use vision magic to scan where the enemy is?"

Mithrael paused, looking at Justin.

"I wouldn’t do that." Josh said, looking up from his own notes. "One thing my friend forgot to detail is that they have capabilities to see anything from anywhere in the sky. They can detect body heat from thousands of feet away. Your air defense systems as you described to us would be useless in targeting those systems. Some of them are too high in the sky, and others fly too fast to be intercepted."

The room went quiet. The Generals began taking more notes as Mithrael sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We will move the armies that are in these ’killboxes’ back. Once again, I want to make it very clear to all my Generals, you are not to engage these otherworlders. We will not force this war to progress. Until such time is decided that we can crush these otherworlders, or they surrender....

We will not move towards them."

Eric sighed as he stared at the map. It had been a few weeks since the Empire had first showed signs of mobilizing towards Esponia. ISR were now flying nearly 24/7 to conduct recon missions. He sat with the rest of the command staff as no one spoke. Milano and Miher sat at the head of the table, studying the map themselves as they flipped between notes and the map.

Mia sat next to Eric, her jaw clenching and unclenching as her eyes became slits.

"Sir, I am going to suggest something that may seem foolish." The S-3 commander spoke up, his voice cutting through the silence weighing down the room.

"What if we wait for more fractures?" He said as he looked at the Phase Lines. "Cartharic moved back to Phase Line Yankee, and have not mobilized to engage. We know now that Earth and Brishan are going to fully merge." He looked over at Eric. Dreha sat on top of Eric’s shoulder in phoenix form. The Phoenix whistled as he looked around, pretending not to hear.

The S-3 commander continued. "I think we should wait for more capabilities, and then push forward when we have the assets to make a final push."

Eric shook his head. "That wouldn’t work." He said as he stood up.

"They have an army numbering somewhere in the millions, and have already shown they are adapting to our tactics. They are also studying our tech. Who knows how long the fractures will take to fully integrate both worlds? We have been here for one year now. Thus far, there have only been ten total fractures. How long do we wait? If we keep waiting, we will end up starving ourselves and running out of supplies before Earth can fully cross over. Sieges are used to starve the enemy and force them to make rash decisions such as ’waiting for reinforcements’. We do not have that luxury. If we continue as things are...

We will force our own extinction."

Milano stood up, looking at the two men. "Both of you, quiet." His voice was barely a whisper, but the authority behind it carried his tone throughout the entire room. He walked to the middle of the room, his hand tracing along the Phase Lines nearest to Esponia.

"You are both wrong, but at the same time, both right." He said as he sat back down. "We are currently not in position to push forward. They have mana suppression circles that not only affect people, but affect technology as well. That means we cannot push forward."

"But at the same time, if we sit here and wait, we are playing into the Empire’s hands."

Milano sat back in his chair, looking at Miher. "We can’t simply rely on air superiority. We don’t have the assets to erase them with fires."

The room went quiet again as the Generals looked at each other.

Miher sighed as he tapped Esponia on the map. "With the canalizing terrain being gone, we have no other option than to wait." He said quietly. "We know peace is not an option. Peace means chains, and I am sure no one here wishes to be chained in a world where we have gotten a second chance at life. I think that if push comes to shove, we evacuate everyone to Austin. That is a much easier defensive position, and holding one city is easier than fighting on a twenty five mile front."

Silence answered him.

Eric held Mia’s hand as she leaned against him. She stood up and walked over to the map, he eyebrows arched. Suddenly, the door burst open. "Sir, the Dragon King and elders are here!" A soldier said, holding the door open.

Milano nodded at the four men standing outside the door. "Come in, your majesty and Elders."

As the Dragons took their seats, they regarded Mia and Eric before they noticed the bird on Eric’s shoulder. Their faces went pale. "Oh Great Phoenix, thank you for gracing us with yo-"

Dreha shook his head. "Ignore my presence. I am merely here because this human amuses me. Assist the mortals. Their survival is linked with your own. Amuse me more."

The dragons each gulped as they nodded. Tryasche turned to Milano. "General Milano, I come bearing news. And the news is not good."

The already tense atmosphere seemed to tighten around Eric’s throat as he heard Tryasche speak. If the situation was already this bad, how much worse could it get?

He held Mia’s hand in his, squeezing it while he looked at Dreha. "Your claws are digging into my shoulder."

Dreha chuckled, but stayed on Eric’s shoulder. "You survived a shot from the Brios, but are worried about a few claw marks? You mortals are so fickle."

Eric shook his head, ignoring the Phoenix as he turned towards the Dragons.

The elders kept stealing glances at Dreha, sweat trickling down their necks as they did their best to ignore him. They whispered back and forth while the Phoenix smirked. "

Tryasche began explaining. "It is now time for us to fully commit to the alliance." Tryasche said as he looked among the soldiers in the room. "There was a wave of mana from beyond Esponia, deep in Cartharic territory. There is only one event that generates that much mana:

A hero summoning."

Pens dropped, sodas were slammed down, murmurs quieted, and every head turned to the king.

"We have been able to divine that this was no mere hero summoning either." The Dragon King continued. "From what we could gather..."

He paused as he made eye contact with Eric.

"They summoned two soldiers this time."

Eric groaned as he heard those words. He slumped against the desk, his body shaking. "Well isn’t that just fucking great." He mumbled. He meant for it to be under his breath, but the whisper was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Milano arched an eyebrow at Eric’s eyebrow, but ignored the man’s antics as he turned to Tryasche. "How were you able to tell so specifically?"