Chapter 322: The Strategy Center - II

Hans left the Engineers at the lane and walked along the long wall toward the front of the building. Up close, the walls looked thicker than they did from the lane.

Two security staff stood on either side of the checkpoint, and both straightened as he came up the approach. The barriers dropped into the road before he reached them.

"Commander." The one on the left gave a short nod. "The current watch is on station."

Hans returned the nod and went through.

The lobby was cooler than the air outside, with camera strips along the ceiling and a scanning arch set into the far wall. A panel opened as he stepped under it.

------

[ Strategy Center — Access Control ]

[ Commander Hans Flemmens ]

[ Authorization: Zone IV — Root / Strategic Control ]

------

Beyond the arch, compartment doors slid open ahead of him one after another and closed again once he was through.

Staff in the corridors stopped what they were doing as he passed and went back to it as soon as he was by. He counted a few dozen before he gave up, then remembered that the panel put this at one watch out of three.

He was halfway down the main corridor when the walls began to move.

It started as a low grinding from somewhere inside the structure, like a door running on a rail, except that it came from every direction at once.

Partitions ahead of him slid apart along tracks in the floor. A row of consoles rose out of the deck behind one wall, and the staff nearest to them moved to the new positions as though this were routine.

The floor vibrated through his boots as another partition moved.

Hans stayed clear of the tracks, watching a staff member carry a tablet through an opening that hadn’t been there a few seconds ago. Nobody else seemed particularly interested in the walls.

------

[ Doctrine Synchronization ]

[ Search and Destroy ]

[ Facility reconfiguring ]

[ Time Remaining: 46 minutes ]

------

Hans watched the sign above the nearest entrance change to Strategic Target Registry, and the section behind it grew into the space where the next room stood a moment earlier.

In the old game, the building itself changed with the plan. He didn’t expect the System to take that literally, or to rebuild the whole inside of the building around the plan while he stood in it.

The corridor ended at a pair of tall doors with Strategic Operations Hall lettered above them. They opened as he reached them.

The Strategic Operations Hall was larger than Hans expected, a wide room with consoles in shallow tiers that all faced one display wall. A few staff at the nearest consoles stood up halfway when he came in, and he waved them back down.

As he passed the nearest row, he could make out what the staff were working on. One station was working through the Saicine harbor reports, while another had the roads around Pylow spread across several displays.

An officer moved between the two rows, checked something on a tablet, and returned to his console without coming over to Hans.

He walked to the center of the floor and stopped in front of the wall, which lit up for him. It looked like the overview he knew from the Command Center, only larger and quieter, with no markers and no formations on the opening display.

------

[ Theater Overview ]

[ Pylow ]

Northern Command in position. PCL repairs ongoing.

[ Saicine ]

Albian Third Fleet berthed. Reception ongoing.

[ Horjus ]

Held.

[ Silverpeak ]

Production running. Hive attack already underway.

[ Needs Attention ]

[ Frequent Unit Requests ]

Marianne Krile, Elise Omikov, Simon Bond, Conrad Halestar. Recommended for Production Authority.

------

Each line opened into pages of reports if he wanted them.

He touched the Saicine heading.

The harbor section enlarged, showing the assigned berths and the reception areas ashore. The other theaters moved to the side, still within reach.

When he closed it, the four short summaries returned.

The process was very convenient. He could look at one place without spending the next few minutes trying to find his way back out.

Hans read the four names and frowned.

"So you’re keeping track of that too."

He opened the item.

The panel opened across the lower half of the wall with all four directives already filled in, using the same default settings as Brandon’s.

------

[ Delegated Production Authority ]

[ Marianne Krile ]

Scope: Pylow Production Hub

Gold Allocation: 1,000,000 (Default)

[ Authorized Production Facilities ]

Barracks, War Factories

Restricted Assets: MCV (by default)

[ Elise Omikov ]

Scope: Northern Air Command

Gold Allocation: 800,000 (Default)

[ Authorized Production Facilities ]

Airfield Bases

Restricted Assets: MCV (by default)

[ Simon Bond ]

Scope: Horjus Production Hub

Gold Allocation: 2,000,000 (Default)

[ Authorized Production Facilities ]

Barracks, War Factories

Restricted Assets: MCV (by default)

[ Conrad Halestar ]

Scope: Saicine Harbor

Gold Allocation: 1,000,000 (Default)

[ Authorized Production Facilities ]

Shipyards

Restricted Assets: MCV (by default)

------

He checked the hubs before approving anything. Pylow’s Barracks and War Factory could supply Marianne, while Elise’s directive covered the Airfield.

Simon would draw from the nearby base inside Horjus that Hans had set up for him long ago. This would prevent the units from walking so far, allowing Simon to make use of them as quickly as he could.

Hans let out a breath.

These four asked him for units more than anyone, and approving each request himself was getting old. This took all four off his approval list.

He changed nothing and approved all of them.

------

[ Production Directives approved: Marianne Krile, Elise Omikov, Simon Bond, Conrad Halestar ]

[ Initializing production protocols... ]

------

The four names disappeared from the panel. Hans opened the section again out of habit, then closed it when he found the requests filed under the new directives.

...

In the far seas up north, Conrad stood on the bridge of Triton One and watched his ships hold the line against several approaching hostile aquafauna. Gunfire carried over the water, and a burst of spray briefly hid one of the nearer ships.

He was weighing the next move when something rang in his mind.

Conrad went still to read the notice.

------

[ Production Authority Granted ]

[ Scope: Saicine Harbor ]

[ Production Facilities: Shipyards ]

[ Gold Allocation: 1,000,000 Gold ]

------

"High Command has spoken!"

He stood up in surprise, then opened the production queues. This time, he could do more than put together a request for the Commander.

Both Shipyards appeared, with the work already assigned to them and the available production choices underneath.

Conrad checked the ships on his tactical display before returning to the Wraith entry. The screening vessels were spread ahead of the heavier ships, and the cleared water behind them still needed watching.

More of those would be useful.

He added the ships behind the existing work and confirmed the order. The available Gold changed, and completion estimates appeared beside the new entries.

The gunfire continued outside. Through the bridge windows, Conrad could see the wakes of the screening vessels as they moved ahead of Triton One.

Conrad kept one hand on the back of his chair as Triton One shifted beneath him. He left the production estimates beside the map and turned his attention to the outermost contacts.

...

In the dry, cold lands on the outskirts of Pylow, Marianne stepped out of the command tent and looked south. A gust caught the flap behind her, and she held it aside as one of her officers followed her out.

"Ma’am..." The officer saluted beside her.

Marianne was still looking through the authority notice. The Pylow Barracks and War Factory were listed beneath her name, along with the Gold that Hans allocated.

"Bring me the replacement list. Add the Engineers needed by the PCL repair detachment. We can start producing them here."

"Understood."

The officer left at a jog.

Marianne pulled her collar higher and looked across the vehicles parked outside the tents.

The Barracks, War Factories, Power Plants and other System structures spread across the horizon.

She could arrange the replacements while her main force stayed near Pylow, instead of putting every request back in front of Hans.

As she returned inside, she set her tablet on the table and opened the latest report from the Pylow forward recon squads.

...

At the Saicine airfield, a pair of patrol aircraft were coming in toward the runway when something rang in Elise’s mind.

She stopped halfway through a sentence to the flight officer beside her.

------

[ Production Authority Granted ]

[ Scope: Northern Air Command ]

[ Production Facilities: Airfield Bases ]

[ Gold Allocation: 1,000,000 Gold ]

------

"Commander Omikov?" the flight officer asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Elise smiled, and she didn’t hide it. "Something is very right."

The lead aircraft touched down, its wheels trailing a brief puff of smoke. The second followed while the flight officer checked the recovery display.

Elise waited for him to finish, then brought her pending aircraft request back up. She had already worked out what she wanted for the northern operations. The request was there, along with the assignments she meant to give the aircraft.

Elise scrolled past the explanation she had written for Hans and went straight to the list.

"Pull up the Airfield queues. I want the next aircraft package started."

The officer switched displays. Elise compared the queue with the package she had prepared, selected the aircraft, and confirmed the order.

The first entry changed to production in progress, with the rest waiting behind it.

Outside, the patrol aircraft turned off the runway and taxied toward the apron. Ground crews were moving out to meet them.

Elise watched them for a moment before returning to the northern map. Her smile returned when she checked the completion estimate. She moved the planned patrol assignments beside it, then picked up the discussion she had abandoned halfway through.

...

Inside the Horjus headquarters, Simon Bond’s brows furrowed as he read the notice. Horjus’s production queues were open to him, with two million Gold allocated for his command.

"The Commander has given me his trust. Start preparing the mobile elements."

The officers around the long table turned to the eastern side of the operations map.

"I want the eastern roads checked again before we move. I assume the garrison posts are already in place?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Hmm."

Simon drew the replacement list closer. Most of the city was secured, especially after the new force had arrived days ago.

He opened the Barracks and War Factory queues inside Horjus and began with the replacements.

The officers beside him worked through the posts around the junction, checking which ones could be handed over first.