Vanya's Journal, Part 38: A PlanThe journal continues, without any indication of how Vanya felt as she was writing it. Though you've decided she wrote it all long after, you're not sure how or when. You think it's possible that she wrote it when she returned to Spearbreakers, but nothing you've read has indicated that it might be the case. In fact, you think it's just as possible that she was actually at Ballpoint when she wrote it... possibly even somewhere close to where you are now. As soon as I said I thought we could win the battle, everyone started telling me it was impossible. I didn't even have a chance to begin.
"If you think I can just fire at the portal, you're wrong," Hawkins said, tilting his head with an amused smile. "It's mag-shielded. Anything I shoot at it curves away. Trust me, we've already tried. It's not something we really wanted to do, but! We did try."
"There are other limitations, too," Lieutenant Almory said coldly. "They've jammed our interdimensional communications, and we have no way to contact Parasol. Our short-range communications systems don't reach any farther than twenty miles. Ballpoint has Portal Interference Generators set up at different points around us, and we can't portal out, or in."
Jonah nodded in agreement. "If there was anything we could try, I've already thought of it," the dwarf said apologetically. "No offense to your kind, but I doubt you could come up with anything I haven't, anyway." This last came close to ticking me off.
Trebor laughed and folded his arms behind his head. "Jonah, remind me to stop by your place later for scones and a cup of ego." His jest went unnoticed.
"I may be an elf," I said, trying my best to remain calm, "but that doesn't mean I'm stupid, or that I'm madly in love with nature. If you'll just give me a chance, I'll -"
"You're an elf?" Trebor seemed surprised, sitting up and cocking his head sideways. "Kinky. As you're not 'madly in love', then perhaps -"
"Trebor," Almory scolded, "Time and place. You're here because you're my brother, not because I want you to hit on women."
Trebor laughed dismissively. "Sorry, sis." I was starting to feel very uncomfortable around the man.
"If you'll just give me a chance," I repeated slowly, "I'll explain." I took a few cautious steps towards the table, and upon reaching it, I pointed at the trench in the clay model. "This is us, right?"
The lieutenant nodded. "I'll humor you for now. Tell me your thoughts."
I moved my finger from the trench to the other side of the megaportal's hill. "And this is where Ballpoint is? Behind the hill next to the trench?" At Almory's nod, I continued, moving my finger back to the trench and tracing a path as I spoke. "If I was to start here, at the trench, and walk around these hills to the side, coming up on the back of the Ballpoint camp... they would think I was with them, since I'm wearing Ballpoint gray. If you created some sort of diversion or distraction, I could get over here, to the megaportal.
"Mr Frog taught me a lot about portals," I went on. "If you gave me the right coordinates, I could open it to somewhere in Parasol, so our troops could come through."
Hawkins swore under his breath in Human, a smile breaking over his face. "
Mon rithma... I think she's really onto something!"
"It won't be enough," Jonah pointed out. "You might be able to get into their
camp if they were distracted enough, but not to the portal."
Frowning, Almory spoke harshly. "It won't work at
all."
Everyone stopped and looked at her.
"Ballpoint will be on her in seconds. She's an
elf. She can't blend in well enough to fool them, and there's not a tree in sight."
I looked at her indignantly. "I've lived in dwarven fortresses all my life, and no one ever knew I was an elf," I stated with a touch of pride. "It's not that hard."
She ignored me, gesturing in my direction. "Anyone can tell an elf from a dwarf just by looking at them, anyway, and Ballpoint has so few elves employed that she'll stand out."
With a dramatic flourish, I snatched Jack Magnus's cap out of its pouch and placed it on my head, pulling it over my ears, and stared at her.
Hawkins gaped, almost laughing. "
Mon Rithma," he said in awe, "Almory, she's right. Look at her now. With the ears covered, she looks just like a dwarf. Well..." He paused, tilting his head slightly. "She's a little skinny for a dwarf, but still. Wow."
A triumphant smile crept across my face. I was fine with "skinny".
"Call me 'Lieutenant' while we're not alone, Hawk," Almory told him quietly. To me, she argued, "It still won't work, Sleeper. If we make a distraction of any sort, they'll just be on the alert, and even more likely to find you."
"What if we draw them towards here?" I asked, running my finger down the hill, between the portal and trench. "You've already implied that they can't break through the shields, so it would be safe."
Jonah shook his head. "They wouldn't attack at all," he countered. "They'd see the shields were up, and they'd ignore us."
"What if we lowered them?" I asked.
Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Not like that!" I added quickly. "Just long enough to draw them closer. Then we put them back up."
Hawkins was against it. "They'd shoot my turret, first thing," he said, crossing his arms.
Quickly, I thought up a way around it. "Then we do everything while it's still dark, and we move the turret to the other side of the trench."
"Have you looked at it??" he asked incredulously. "Do you have any idea how much that thing weighs?"
I'd seen it. "Not too much for fifteen people to move, I bet."
Jonah stepped forwards quietly, scratching the bridge of his nose and staring at the model on the table. "There is another option we have," he began cautiously, glancing up at Almory. "It's a bit of a secret, but... we have a prototype mag-deflector shield here... It's ancient technology, but... it might offer us a little protection against long-range weaponry. Even though we're right at the base of their hill, we might manage to throw them to the side."
"I know how to work it," Hawkins offered. "Figured it out last summer."
"It still won't be enough." Almory shook her head slowly, still against it. "There's a
reason we use the energy shield instead of the mag-deflect." She seemed to be growing very annoyed at my persistence.
"What about the scythods?" I offered, brainstorming. "If they dug a long tunnel right beneath the hillside, Ballpoint's tanks would fall into it as they rolled over."
Everyone stared at me quietly, deep in thought.
"Okay," I started again, laying it out for them from the beginning. "Tomorrow, we help the scythods dig a tunnel under the hill. They dig, and we take out the dirt."
Jonah raised a cautionary finger. "And dump it where?" he asked, pointing out a potential problem.
"The caverns, maybe," Trebor joked. "Or just up here. Whole place is a dump anyway, right?"
I went on, tracing my finger across the surface of the clay model. "Tomorrow night, we move the turret from one side of the trench to the other. Then, Lieutenant, you lead a small squad of people over to the Ballpoint camp and do little things to make them angry. Little things like blowing up vehicles and tents, and drawing their attention back and forth from one side of the camp to the other. Then you get back here as fast as you can, making sure they follow you. You lower the shields and turn on the mag-deflector, and Hawkins mans the gun until they figure out where we moved it.
"Meanwhile, I take a long path around the hill and come up on the other side. While they're launching an attack on the trench, they'll be distracted enough that I can get to the megaportal and open it up for reinforcements. Ballpoint is destroyed, and we win."
Almory's face twisted as she started to hyperventilate with anger. "Do you have any idea who we are?" she asked.
"Calm down, Almory," Hawkins said, stepping towards her carefully, trying to put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be all right."
She smacked him away, seething with rage. "Can it, Hawkins. Sleeper, this is Parasol's Auxiliary Squad 48D. We're not elites. We're not extensively trained. We're not even
soldiers. We're misfits; a cobbled-together squad of filler soldiers to make Parasol's ranks look bigger and more intimidating. These people were never supposed to see combat at all! Before the Time War, Trebor was a medical student, Jonah was a theoretical physicist, and Hawkins was a shuttle pilot."
Hawkins raised his hand with a smile.
Almory went on, fuming. "Katie - Katalina Okablokum was training to be an archiver at Parasol, and Saemin Lo is a construction worker. The only people here who have any military background are Tames, Martin, and I, and Martin hasn't even been able to get up for months! He's a biomech, and his legs are malfunctioning." She stepped forwards and slammed her hand fist on the table, seemingly ready to bite my head off. "These are
my people, Sleeper, and I will
not needlessly put
any of them in danger!!"
Silence fell in the little office, everyone hanging their heads in shame, except me. I stared Almory in the eye. I could see the pain there; I thought I knew why she was lashing out at me.
"You've lost someone close to you, haven't you," I guessed quietly.
Hawkins jerked his head up quickly and started mouthing, "Don't go there!"
The lieutenant looked at me strangely, her voice deep with restrained fury. "...What."
I looked downwards at the table with my eyes, careful not to meet her gaze, to keep from angering her. "I've lost someone close to me, too," I said softly, idly tracing my fingertip across the clay model. "I lost my sister, during a mission against Ballpoint. There was nothing I could do to save her." At the memory, I stopped, looking back up at her face. "I can repair Martin for you," I offered. "Mr Frog taught me as much as he could about electromechanics and bioneurology... And during the battle, if Ballpoint gets too close, all you have to do is turn the energy shield back on. I'll die, but you'll be safe. If I can't get the megaportal to open, I'll blow it up. I'll die, but you'll be safe."
Almory's face was expressionless as she bored into me with her eyes, but the others seemed more emotional: Jonah gently shook his head in dumbfounded shock, Trebor fell back into his chair, and Hawkins whispered, "
Mon rithma..." It seemed I'd gained a measure of respect from them.
"And Lieutenant," I continued quietly, looking around at everyone, "If we sit here and do nothing... your people are going to die anyway. My people will, too." I looked back at her dark, brown eyes. "Do you really want all of us to die without putting up a fight?"
Another awkward silence hung thickly in the air, everyone unwilling to talk after I'd been so bold, possibly for fear of angering Lieutenant Almory. After several minutes, Jonah spoke to her. "Captain, if she repairs Gearbox, he could be our ace in the hole... Ballpoint doesn't know he's here. And if Katie was to teach Vanya her deflection spell, Vanya would have a much greater chance of success... I think it could be done."
"I'm for it," Trebor put in, getting up. "It sounds like a good plan to me."
Almory turned her head to glare at him.
Hawkins stepped forwards, too, although he was visibly nervous. "Almory -"
"
Lieutenant," she corrected him under her breath.
"Lieutenant," he began again, "I think it's a good idea, too..."
She rolled her eyes and directed her glare toward him, instead.
Hawkins held up his hands in a "don't shoot" gesture and blurted, "But that's just my opinion! Perfectly fine if you don't take my advice."
"It has
no chance of working," she warned, frustrated. "I am
sure of it. I'll bet my finest sword on it, even: she will die before she ever reaches the portal."
Trebor raised a hand. "I'll take that bet," he said, grinning sheepishly.
"I don't think it's so hopeless," Jonah admitted, wary of Almory’s wrath. Hawkins nodded in agreement.
Almory glanced around at everyone, seemingly a volcano ready to erupt. Finally, she sighed and gave in, to my immense relief. "Fine. We'll try it. But we won't tell anyone else the whole plan until they need to know; it would lower their morale. We'll let them believe that the visitors will be enough to turn the tide. And you," she said, pointing at me, "If I get the
slightest idea that the mission is at risk, I
will be closing the shields and leaving you out there. Understand?"
"I understand, sir," I answered, nodding.
"You are all dismissed. I'll join you at the mess hall in a moment."
"That was gutsy," Hawkins said after we left, shaking his head at me as we walked back down the stairs to the base of the trench. "I thought she was going to shoot you. Gotta be more careful around her, okay?" He halted on the steps, sniffing the air. "Mmm, smells good!
Mon rithma, what has Katie cooked up for us this time?"
"Smells like rations, steam-broiled," Trebor joked loudly. "If I had amnesia, I could say it's been longer than I could remember since I had it last. Hmm... I wonder what she's cooked us for dessert," he said with a sarcastic smile.
"Likely more of the same," Hawkins laughed, "but it smells different this time, somehow." He and Trebor rushed ahead, leaving Jonah and I alone on the steps as we descended.
I looked over at him nervously. "Is Hawkins with Almory?" I asked, worrying I was being too nosy.
He laughed at my question, folding his glasses and putting them into his shirt pocket, beside his gray-edged beard. "Are they together, you mean? No, they haven't even admitted they like each other yet; everyone seems to know they're in love but them. We don't say anything about it, though. I doubt the captain would have it, anyway. She's too 'by the book' to have a military relationship, and aside from that, she's already openly against Katie and Saemin being together. Being with Hawkins would be hypocritical of her."
The mess hall was bigger than I thought it would be... but it wasn't nearly as ornate or impressive as the dining hall at Spearbreakers. As I looked about, I saw that it had long plastic tables, metal folding chairs, and walls of dirt instead of stone. It had a homey feel to it, a sort of comfort, like they had tried to fix it up. There were odd decorations here and there, like a plaid white and green cloth hanging against a wall, a few plastic wreaths of holly, and a candle stub in the middle of every table.
John, Tedaz, and Strohe were sitting quietly at one of the tables, slumping in their chairs and looking around awkwardly, as if they felt they didn't belong. There was another table pushed up end-to-end against theirs, and the Parasol employees sat at that one, chatting. I recognized Trebor, Hawkins, and Saemin, but the other man at the table - a human - was unfamiliar. He had scraggly brown hair and a stubble of a beard, and was wearing a dark leather trench coat. Though he looked battle-worn, he seemed comfortable where he was. While the other three cracked jokes, he sat silently, watching a doorway at the far end of the room. There was a window next to it, and through it I could see Katie, walking hurriedly back and forth.
"Go sit down," Jonah prodded me, going on ahead and taking a seat by Hawkins. Feeling nervous, I pulled out the chair to the right of John and sat down, scooting forwards under the table. It was so silent at our table that even that act alone seemed intrusive. John only turned his head towards me, and then looked away.
"Where is Reudh?" I asked.
Across the table and to my left, Tedaz raised his head. "He's been in the kitchen with Katie," he answered, pointing at the window on the far side of the room. "He thought the soldiers could use some of our food."
"Katie cooks?"
The swordsman shrugged. "I guess," he answered, and changed the subject. "It feels odd being here, one of only a couple humans."
"
We're all humans," Strohe pointed out, meaning him and John.
"But look at the Parasol troops," Tedaz said. "Only two of them are. The rest are dwarves."
"Katie's pretty tall for a dwarf," Strohe chuckled.
I looked at him with a quizzical expression. "You think she's a dwarf?"
The odd little farmer laughed. "Being human myself, I can tell ya for sure that she ain't one."
For a moment, I puzzled over this. After living around dwarves my whole life, I could tell that she wasn't a dwarf... but I'd thought she was a human. Being one-third of three species, everyone seemed to think she was of a species different from their own... With racism and prejudice as big of a problem as it is these days, I couldn't imagine how much trouble that had given her as she’d grown up.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2279028 times)