The Game Plan
The Plan - 2015
THE CAST:
Salvia Kiy/Birjjikk, Premier Gor/Carffekk, Supreme Commander Hallot/Henkk
Salvia Kiy, Premier Gor and Supreme Commander Hallot entered the Trun Council Planning room, locked the door behind them, and activated a second locking system unseen by the building staff. Three drugged soldiers were out cold and sitting up against a wall, the outer two slumped onto the middle one. Hallot initialised a scanner mounted in the table to sever the neural and physical interfaces of their guests’ epidermises. Before the dancing green haze disappeared, all three were time-shifted forward a fraction of a second, where their physical attributes resided. Birjjikk, Carffekk, and Henkk, the last three members of Zerot Cadre 188. If anyone did ever get through the very different, but very efficient security barriers, they would find the room empty, except for three lifelike skin suits.
‘We have three days to flesh out the final phase of our mission to get this world ready for a planetary violation squad, and to gather information the Dynasties need to wager on the Killing Games, and, to cement our place in Zerot history. We have sustenance and some entertainment for when we need a break. So, let’s begin. Master planner,’ she turned to Carffekk, ‘show us your outline.’
Carffekk activated the image scanner, and the presentation began. A holographic image of Preenasette appeared above the table, rotating. slowly. The Trun port town of Santraneed and the Sea of Needles gave way to the Forest of Plenary and the Boronton Mountains, and heading inland. Three Cities, hugging the northwest coastline and staving off the reaching fingers of the Great Desert to its immediate east. The desert covered almost a quarter of Trun, with the central arable farming area to the north. Below it, in the south of the country was the industrial zone, the space hub, and the capital, Rizontella. South of them and skirting the southern coastline was the Long Marshes. Finally, to the east the sprinkling of small cities forming the Scatter District.
The planet rotated further and the Great Sea dominated until Verceti came into view.
Bala Verceti didn’t suffer the harsh environment that Trun experienced. No deserts or vast mountain ranges, or ranging swamplands. Instead, a tropical forest in the centre of the country, with massive agricultural plains to the north, surrounded by six of the nine provinces. Further north, the Northern Wastelands, the only barren area in Preenasette. To the south, the capital Ceti, an industrial area spanning the width of the country, two more provinces, and the military and space complexes. The ninth region was Garin Isle, a broken island only accessible by land for a small part of the year. At the south eastern tip of the country, Verbala nestled up to the Sea of Needles, and on a bright day, Santraneed of Trun Rizontella was visible with the naked eye.
‘As you know, the Zeropeed beetle has been spread over all of the farmland in both countries. In short order, our little friend from home will have laid waste to ninety-five percent of the food production within three months. By the start of the main assault, there should be food rioting aplenty.’
‘Yes, we know that,’ said Birjjikk, impatience etched on her face. ‘I assume your fondness for the little red fiend is the reason to reiterate this?’
‘He is devilishly brutal in his work,’ Carffekk replied.
‘My plan consists of three distinct phases.’ He had picked up on Birjjikk’s restlessness – it was time for business. ‘Two weeks of total destabilisation, a week of festering, followed by the Ten-Day Period – a killing spree, over which our beloved Assessor will judge our time on this planet.’ They all spat at the mention of the despised arbitrator of all Cadre performances.
‘The destabilisation shall comprise visits to both Trun and Verceti, of most of our KBS, Reticent Guard and Sestapol Bondservants. Each will target crowded places in every city with grey matter explosives which will, of course, operate upon activation, rather than use proximity sensors. The latest upgrade that ensures the device goes off automatically if more than sixty of the pathetic creatures are close is my personal favourite touch. That should net us in the region of one hundred thousand.’ Carffekk turned away from the hologram. ‘Not a large number, but it will enrage both populations, which will pay dividends when the final assault begins.’
‘The plan is good so far,’ Birjjikk said, ‘but I want more. What else can we do in this phase?’
‘I have more,’ replied Carffekk. ‘From our base here in Trun, it’s much easier to incite the locals with atrocities we blame on the Vercetians. But we need something special to completely enrage the Vercetians. And the Crossing ceremony will be just the place to do it.’
He pointed to Garin Isle and the seasonal isthmus.
‘Here, Domi and the two recently returned Royals in full view of their country. Our Bondservants on the Civil Committee and within the broadcasting company will be perfectly placed to showcase the execution of the youngest princess, to the very best effect.’ Carffekk grinned. ‘We shall decide how we do that over the next couple of days.’
‘Excellent,’ Birjjikk said, ‘though I believe the Bondservants should be held back until day one, hour one. They will be effective riling up the Trun, and more importantly, will kick-start our death rate count.’
‘Interesting,’ the master planner mused, making some notes.
‘So,’ said Henkk, speaking for the first time, ‘we’ll have them all riled up, and ready to exact whatever revenge is available to them. What revenge have you got in mind?’
‘Yes,’ Birjjikk agreed, in a rare moment of unity, ‘get to the good part, master planner.’
‘Patience, my dear colleagues,’ he said with a twisted smile. ‘We have three days for detailed planning. Most of the strategies you are familiar with or we have carried out on other worlds. The difference here is that there are just the three of us, so more enterprise is required to get to the three million dead we need during the Ten-Day period and making the Game play out in our Dynasty’s favour. Unlike the last effort from Hammaraffi’s Cadre, we have a planet with very high resilience. Great for a high scoring Game, but our programme needs to be solid and well thought out.’
‘I have, therefore, a three-point plan.’
‘Firstly, we have the ground assault.’
‘For over twenty years, we have increased the size of the military forces.’ He nodded at Henkk, acknowledging his contribution to this phase of the game. ‘Thanks to the destruction of the Great Shield, we can despatch our forces to engage Verceti via the Ring between Three Cities and Santraneed. We bolster the numbers to maximum, ready for a ground assault on the Eastern coast.’
‘What numbers are we talking about, master planner?’ Birjjikk asked. ‘Can you give me a total?’
‘Henkk and I intend the deployment of all three hundred thousand of our frontline troops, but today’s first discussion will be to find ways of increasing that to five hundred. We have two hundred thousand partly trained soldiers and all the ancillaries – maintenance, domestics and the like – that would make an excellent sacrificial forward assault.’
‘Ah, yes,’ said Birjjikk. ‘The same as on Pylon 3: get the enemy to use up their weapons reserves on the fodder and the seasoned soldiers will be much more effective.’
Carffekk nodded. ‘Exactly. And of course, all the normal tactics will come into play. Targeting high-density civilian areas, kinetic pulse body armour with projectile sensing shielding on as many of our soldiers as possible, phase rifles set to self-detonate at twenty percent power level. Everything to ensure maximum destruction, and leave no soldier alive.’
Birjjikk piercing eyes focused firmly on the Supreme Commander of the Military. ‘And, what are the final body armour numbers?’
Henkk braced himself. He knew this much-repeated question would, at some point, come his way. ‘The final number will be about forty percent of our frontline soldiers.’
‘That’s even lower than the last prediction.’ She stood up and leaned threateningly toward him. ‘I will not accept this, do you understand? I will NOT accept this!’
‘The manufacturing technique has just not been reliable enough,’ Henkk replied, his tone hardening.
Birjjikk shouted, ‘It was our technology!’
‘But we’re missing one vital ingredient. A chemical that does not exist on this planet,’ Henkk shouted back. ‘All of the workarounds have been less than effective. We are there, but too late to manufacture sufficient numbers. You know this!’
In a flash, Birjjikk’s knife appeared in her hand, the blade already extended, and it pressed menacingly at Henkk’s throat. ‘Choose your next words carefully,’ she hissed.
He kept perfectly still, aware that his leader was prone to wild mood swings. ‘Apologies, Madame. My frustration is not with you but at myself and my inability to perform.’
The knife slipped away from his throat as Birjjikk turned away, her frustration eventually taken out on one of the unconscious soldiers as she buried her foot into his side. He would feel that pain when he awoke, but it would be nothing compared to what would follow.
‘So be it.’ She turned back to Carffekk as if nothing had happened. ‘Casualty rate?’
‘Throughout the full campaign, one million,’ Carffekk replied.
Birjjikk nodded. ‘What is point two, master planner?’
Carffekk was also taken aback by his leaders’ unexpected and unaccountable behaviour of late. She was haunted by the stranger that assisted the Princess in defeating Cumbajj on Earth, and her state of mind was erratic. She also looked older. He knew he needed to stay on the ball. ‘The next phase is the aerial assault. As you know, this is Henkk’s little project, and he will outline this strategy.’
High above Trun, the remains of the giant space station were still in geosynchronous orbit. A week earlier, Henkk had teleported to the station to check all was in order.
The space war had been a controlled and very one-sided affair. With the upgrades the Zerot had brought to the conflict, the enemy’s fate was sealed from the off. After the Vercetian space station was destroyed, the remaining Trun ships, not forming part of the future strategy, were destroyed, together with non-essential elements of the space station. Yes, it looked derelict, but deep inside, one of the hangars was far from lifeless.
Henkk materialised in his natural form. Any respite from the epidermis he wore was always welcome. No one here was remotely concerned that he was not Supreme Commander Hallot. He admired the sparkling battlecruiser and the four Bifighter gunships, then the forty stasis pods containing the crew. When eventually awoken, they would think they were still engaged in the war in space, but with new orders to attack the planet.
He summoned the facilities maintenance droid.
‘Status?’ barked Henkk.
“All systems working within acceptable parameters.”
Henkk needed no other information. He would spend the rest of the day going over his plans and enjoying his freedom for a while longer.
‘Secondly, the assault from space.’
‘We will target the more remote provincial cities, in both Verceti and Trun,’ Henkk said, marking points around the revolving holographic globe. ‘The armies of Trun will not reach these cites.’ He pointed to Dorn, Trent, Grant Ike, and Grant Foodick. ‘The Vercetian cities will be targeted first, under the guise of taking out guerrilla cells with surgical strikes from precision cannons mounted on the Bifighters. What they’ll be targeting are the points of highest population. A high yield blast cannon will be employed, with the uprated super-charged neutron missile payload – another of our favourite enhancements – for the infliction of maximal misery. The strikes on Trun cities, I think the three Tilian districts, have required a little more effort, but I’m happy with the results. I’ve replaced the programme in the navigation computers and linked it into the targeting system. When they think they are bombing Vercetian cities, they will be over Trun, targeting their own.’ He awaited approval from his two colleagues.
‘Projected number of dead?’ enquired Birjjikk, looking at the big picture.
‘As you would expect,’ he replied, ‘this is a big numbers gambit. I would estimate 1.5 million plus. Much more than this will detract from our Game strategy, the majority of which should be geared to as much death by individual combat and violent means as possible. 1.5 would be deemed acceptable.’
‘That still leaves us half a million under our f target,’ Birjjikk said, turning toward Carffekk. ‘Will your final plan make up this shortfall?’
‘It’s risky and needs all of our attention over the next three days, but done well it will get us closer to a million,’ he replied. ‘The third and final phase is what I call natural disasters.’
‘Natural disasters?’ Birjjikk asked, scepticism in her voice. ‘What sort of disasters?’
‘Well,’ Carffekk replied, ‘Floods, quakes, landslides, blizzards, hailstones, volcanic eruptions, storms, droughts, sinkholes. You name it, I’m planning it.’
Even Henkk was sceptical. ‘We’ve tried these before, and the amount of time we need to spend on even one is excessive, to say the least. There are only three of us. It’s impossible to achieve any of this in the time left.’
‘He knows all this,’ said Birjjikk, the doubt in her voice changing to excitement. ‘What aren’t you telling us, master planner?’
‘We blow up the moon.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped. ‘We haven’t got the power to destroy Big Stanfort. At best we will only marginally affect its orbit.’
‘No, one of the smaller moons,’ he smirked. ‘Two 5B3C Velocity Standstill targeting devices on opposite sides of the moon, converging on the moon’s centre will obliterate it! Debris will rain down on them. The world’s tides and weather patterns will be drastically altered.’
Birjjikk smiled, yellowing needlepointed teeth glinting at him. ‘Excellent, let’s get planning. The Assessor, as always, will want a detailed agenda – one we can deliver on.’
Carffekk leered back. ‘And I have one more treat for you both, to finish things off.’