Chapter 7: They wanted a Legend, they got a Platoon

When Elias woke up, he wanted to jump back into battle review. He had found it interesting. But he had kept to both the letter and the spirit of the agreement he had made with Amy the night before. He was ready to go to work.

But before he got into the battle reviews, he checked the guild mailbox that Marcus had set up. Separate from the signups link, Marcus had posted a general inquiries email address for the guild. So far, most of the emails received had been spam of dubious provenance, or requests for Adrian to join this team or this guild, or media requests to ask ThunderRoad why he hadn’t joined any of the top teams but was going with a new guild. Elias noted with a crooked grin that they all thought Adrian was running the guild.

I almost wish he was, but no, he had to tell me that he would do all the fun bits, and I’d get all the grunt work, Elias thought to himself, with no heat to the thought. He knew he was better than Adrian at this part of the job, and while he might gripe at Amy and Adrian for running off and dueling while he did the scut work, it was really putting the people in the roles that they were best suited for.

But he really wished Adrian had been awake to read this one.

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Assistance with a UaW battle

Hello, Reforged General Staff,

Our guild, Maximum Boom, is preparing to launch a Universe at War operation on Mackenzie’s Roost in the Trithkin system.

We’ll be blunt. We’re a mid-sized guild, not too big and not too small, and we need something that gets us noticed in the wider game.

We considered hiring a mercenary unit, but we’d rather work with a smaller guild that’s still getting established and hopefully get both sides some attention in the process.

We’d like to hire Adrian Mercer for the battle.

He would remain under the Reforged tag, and we would publicly classify the operation as a joint Maximum Boom-Reforged action.

I’ve attached the proposed battle details. Let us know if this is something you would consider.

Thanks,

Alexander “RageQuake” Tompkins Guild Leader, Maximum Boom

Elias read the message again. Maximum Boom wanted Adrian. That made sense. ThunderRoad was the recognizable name. If they wanted attention, bringing in the first champion was an obvious way to get it.

Adrian probably wouldn’t go alone, of course. If Reforged was going to put its name on the operation, he’d likely bring a few people with him.

A platoon, maybe.

Small enough that Adrian could command it himself.

Elias forwarded the message to him and went looking for coffee.

Fortified with caffeine, Elias started his next battle review. This one was much larger, with the two sides roughly equal and nearly a battalion of forces on each side. In Universe at War, a platoon was the basic battlefield formation, five WarMACs under a platoon leader. Three platoons made a company, and three companies made a battalion.

Which meant Elias was now trying to keep track of nearly a hundred WarMACs.

It took almost two and a half hours to get through the battle review, and Elias had to stretch to quiet the protesting muscles in his back when he finished his final notes.

Larger Universe at War battles were far more spread out, with several different fights developing at once. One side could have a clear advantage in one sector while, farther down the line, the exact opposite was true.

That made reserves important.

A commander needed forces available to reinforce a weak point, exploit an opening, or plug a hole before it became a disaster. Elias had already seen what happened with Everloathing when a force that was supposed to be guarding a flank simply wasn’t there, and nobody realized it until the enemy was already pouring through. So having a reserve was not just about protecting against disaster. It meant keeping forces available to reinforce a weak point or, just as importantly, turn an enemy mistake into a breakthrough.

He made several notes. Reforged simply wasn’t big enough to need that lesson right now, but Elias believed it was better to have the information and not need it than to need it and not have it.

He looked up.

Adrian was standing there, tapping one foot, apparently waiting for Elias to notice him. Elias grimaced. Adrian was doing that more and more. What was he, a goddamned ninja?

If this kept up, Elias was going to find a bell and put it on him before Adrian started showing up in hooded black pajamas and carrying throwing stars.

Adrian looked at the battle Elias had just finished critiquing. “Ooh. Battalion-sized. Did you start looking it over because of that email?”

Elias frowned. “Um ... what?”