"D-Do we have to fight it?" Eleanor asked, fear apparent in her voice.
"We don't have to do anything. We could sit this out, let someone else take care of it. However, there's a catch to that," Lucius explained, before standing up.
"For one, we would lose the trust of the forest creatures, since they're expecting some sort of opening on the enemy front lines today. Secondly, we risk the necromancer destroying the dark forest resistance, as I'm calling it. If that happens, we'd be left alone in our fight... which leads me to number three," he said, stopping for a moment.
"We have no idea just how powerful his units will continue to become. Last time I checked, his units weren't as powerful as they are now, but in a matter of days that changed. We aren't becoming stronger at the same rate as them... time is not on our side," he continued.
"Besides, we aren't planning on killing the necromancer. Only crippling it enough to give us time to catch up. I highly doubt we could kill it even if we wanted to," he finished off.
"What exactly is the plan?" Hannibal asked, his tone showing that he had accepted the reality of things.
"Before that, I want your answers. The plan involves sending the rest of the commune a little into the forest. Those of you who don't want to be a part of this can join them. And don't worry, we've surveyed the area multiple times and there aren't any threats close by that you won't be able deal with," Lucius replied.
"Move the rest of the commune? Why would we need to do that?" Alpha asked this time.
"My plan involves using the Radiant Tree, and I'll need to draw enemy forces a bit too close for my liking. I'm not risking any of the non-combat members getting in the cross fire," Lucius replied.
"The Radiant Tree! Right, with that... maybe we have a chance," Hannibal blurted out, Asclepius quickly covering his mouth before he could continue his wild ramblings.
"Ahem. So those of you who don't want to be here are free to leave. I won't blame anyone, this plan is so short notice, and the stakes so high. If anything, I blame myself for letting it get to this point," Lucius announced.
For a moment he waited to see if anyone would leave, but all he saw were the faces of his soldiers harden to their reality. They accepted that if they had to... they would die, none of them giving way.
With an almost pitying smile, Lucius remembered how his comrades on Earth were like this too. At the end of the day, he would always be the only one left... he wouldn't allow that to happen this time around though.
"Here's the plan. We'll start off with how we initially wanted things to go, a forest fire. We'll start the fires at key points," he said after a moment of silence, before walking towards the white board on the wall.
"We will start several small fires on the front lines using solar beam, solar burst, and fire torches. This will hopefully distract the front lines of defence long enough for the second part of the plan to come into effect," he said, marking out the points on the front lines where they would start the fires.
"I don't have much faith that those first few fires will grow into full scale forest fires, so we will set fire to several structures within the necromancer's camp. At least if everything else fails, this should be the one thing that succeeds," he explained.
"Aren't the internal structures protected by those.... creatures?" Eleanor asked.
"Exactly. It'll get a little tricky once we get in, that's why only Pagan and I will be going," Lucius replied.
"What about me?" Hannibal and Alpha asked simultaneously.
"Alpha, you and the security department will round up the straddlers of the initial attack on the first line and lure them to the dummy camp," Lucius replied, turning to Alpha.
"There you will lead them into the pits we created, and the chieftains will fill the ditches with poison."
"Make sure to use your strongest toxins," he added looking towards the chieftains now.
"Pagan and I will make sure to stop as many of the stronger units from following you as possible, but even then, I doubt that you'll be able to get all the straddlers into the pits. But don't worry about that, once you've finished your part run into the dark forest and wait for my signal," he continued.
"Signal?" Alpha asked.
"A blue pillar of light. Trust me, you'll see it," he replied.
"What about me?" Hannibal asked.
"You'll be setting up the playing field for the final step of this mission," Lucius replied with a smile.
"Once I send the signal, I want everyone to withdraw and come back to camp. Make sure you aren't being followed. The forest creatures will probably be leading their armies towards the necromancer's camp at this point, so be careful not to be attacked by accident as well."
"If the forest creatures are going to be fighting shouldn't we be helping them?" Alpha asked.
"Pfft, as if they deserve our help. The Lighted One has already helped enough, let them deal with the rest," Pagan said in a knowing tone. Almost as if he thought that it was exactly what Lucius was about to say.
"Aren't I right, Lighted One?" Pagan asked, mimicking the look that Hannibal usually had on his face when he was discussing important matters with Lucius.
"Idiot," a voice whispered. The entire war room looked around to see who it had come from, but were unable to find the owner. Luckily, she was a few meters up in the air, hidden behind a ceiling.
"No, not exactly, Pagan. I highly doubt that the forest creatures will be able to defeat the four problem units within the necromancer's camp. However, I trust they will be able to deal a good amount of damage before they are defeated," Lucius replied.
"Defeated? Isn't that more reason to help them?" Eleanor asked, her tone showing slight concern.
"I see," Hannibal whispered to himself. "You plan on using this mission to have them weaken their own forces."
"But why would we want that?" Eleanor shot back.
"Because Lucius plans on dominating them after this," Asclepius replied in a sort of faraway tone.
"The Chosen One plans to take over the crippled remains of the forest creatures," the chieftains added.
Lucius couldn't deny that this tactic of his was ruthless. But it was a win-win. With this, their commune would grow whether they failed this mission or not .
"Anyway, the final part of this mission is the most dangerous. We will be taking on the four problem units," Lucius announced.
"Aren't the other three steps enough though?" Hannibal asked. He was clearly still frightened at the prospect of engaging those creatures in battle.
"Not nearly. If we can take a few of them down, that'll mean that the necromancer will have to replace them, crippling him even more. That also means we might learn a little more about the necromancer's magic," he said out loud.
~Not to mention that if I can taste a bit of their flesh, I can use their genomes in Pagan's evolution. I would've liked to get the necromancer's flesh as well, so that I could use it for my evolution, but that's too risky,~ he thought to himself.
Though he knew well not to tell anyone about this, as it would bring the issue of devouring sentients under scrutiny. Sometimes being a leader requires hypocrisy.
"But how exactly do we do that? Didn't you say they are stronger than all of us combined?" Asclepius asked, noticing that everyone else was a little afraid to question Lucius's logic.
"They are only stronger than us in our natural states, but not with the Radiant Tree by our side. Using Elmando, and the moon cores, we can defeat them if we take them on one by one. Sure it'll still take a lot of solar energy and mental strength, but the Radiant Tree can help us there," he explained.
After this he went into the finer details on the roles to be played in the third phase. This involved teaching Pagan how to cast the moon core, which was relatively easy using the Radiant Tree.
Afterwards, he presented the Elmando skill to the members of the security department and had them and Hannibal prepare a few traps, and advantageous areas of battle for the upcoming fight.
By the time they had finished all this it was night time. While the others rested, awaiting the start of the mission, Lucius began leading the evacuation of non-combat members.
**
"So there really is something going on," the conspiracist whispered, as he followed the security staff who were designated as his group's leader. There were no named laeyves among them, which meant that what ever was going on required every bit of help they could get.
"Oi, I'm going back. I have to see what's going on," the conspiracist whispered to his friend -the female laeyve responsible for one of the F and C groups.
"Stop this crazy talk. If Lucius sent us away, it must've been for a reason," she shot back at him, gripping tightly onto his wrists to make sure he didn't sneak off.
**
