The fallout from Herm's lies lasted a little while, a few people decided to just not talk to her anymore. Though it was decided almost unanimously to continue calling her Pahhur. I however needed to deal with Anatos; he would be waking up soon, and I needed to make sure he didn't explode like that again.
“Wh... Where am I?” He finally sat up from the basin we had laid him in.
“It's alright. You're safe.” I said, trying to keep him calm.
“Herm. Where is he?”
“You mean Pahhur. She is currently getting chewed out by everyone who knew her.” He seemed to diffuse a bit from that.
“Oh. It's not fair is it?”
“What is?”
“I mean, he lived, and so many others died.”
“Everyone is carrying that weight bro.” I said casually. “Our mom's gone, we all shared a lot of family, that are now gone.” He bit his lip. “We're all that's left, I don't think it'd be prudent to go reducing that number anymore.”
“I... I guess not.”
“Look, it's alright, Pah was being dumb, and she deserved what you did. But she's been punished, so lets move on right?”
“Alright, we do have more important things.”
“Right, we've got a lot of families here, I'd rather not let someone else experience the same things we did. So, you wanna come down and hear the plans in action?” He seemed to be brighter suddenly, and got up.
“Sure, just let me get a drink.”
Things moved quickly from there, in a matter of days everyone had acclimated to the base, and Tech had new resources to work with. Thorium in particular could produce large quantities of metals, Pah had enough firepower to generate a forge, and Leukos could provide plenty of energy. Tech had already begun installing various computers and hardware into the mountain, and had plans for some even larger enhancements. However, more importantly was the map, the ATLAS as Tech named it.
“I know it's early.” He said proudly, as we wobbled into the room. “But I think I've located our enemies base of operations.” He tapped the table we were sitting around, and a hologram burst forward, large enough for all of us to see the map of the globe.
“Earlier, we determined that there were seven active bases, judging from Solarus movement. Six form an outer-ring around the planet's equator; meanwhile one seems to serve as the central hub at the southern pole.”
“So we destroy that place, and we win then?” Pah asked.
“Looks like it, now, I've been working on a bomb, should be able to launch it straight over to the base, nuke it from orbit.”
“No.” I said.
“What but.”
“I'm almost positive they are holding things in that base, like the wildlife of this planet, we can't risk blowing it up.”
“But I could.”
“No.” Tech sighed.
“Alright, what do you propose?”
“I think if we rally up our strength, and make a heavy push through one of the six outer bases, we could take the central base fairly rapidly.”
“I don't think so, this map doesn't do it justice, but the scale of this planet is enormous. There's no way we'd be able to trek with an Army all the way around.” Neko said.
“Food, water, and moral would deteriorate too quickly.” Jato said.
“Maybe if we just send in a small team? We should be able to provide enough food and water for that.” Pah pointed out.
“We'd get overwhelmed.” Anatos retorted. I however had an idea.
“Tech, how were you planning on getting a nuke around the planet?”
“Well, I was building a missile, and it might not have enough fuel to get there on its own, but if Zephos and Leukos rode it most of the way, the could keep it afloat more than long enough.”
“Rather than a missile, build a ship.”
“I don't... Oh...”
“You're thinking of loading up a team and flying them in?” Jato asked.
“I think we could managed it.”
“What if there are air defenses, I don't think I can control something that large well enough.” Zephos pointed out; I however did not answer first.
“How about we only fly most of the way there, that way we preserve our energy.” Lark said.
“I'll do you one better.” Vyrse started. “We send a whole team on the ship, once we get within about a hundred miles we land the thing and split up. Attack 'em from two sides, classic pincher.”
“Or we could hit them from the ground and the sky.” Odin pointed out. “If I can get close enough I could tunnel under the base.”
“The advantage we have is strength.” I said, silencing the rest. “We need to spread the Solarus out, try to keep conflicts short and small. Why don't we use the pincher technique, and add a twist. First, we'll only send the Gods. Sorry Vyrse, you guys can get taken down by one stray bullet. Tech will stay here to coordinate the strike. That leaves us with twelve. If we divide into six teams of two, we can hit them from all compass directions and the sky and underground.”
“Sounds solid enough, it would spread the Solarus out far enough, I think we can each handle a couple hundred.” Pah said.
“Okay, but design that ship with a strong front.” Zephos said. “I'm gonna just crash it in.” Tech nodded and moved off while I determined the rest of the teams.
“Odin, you and Pah are underground. Anatos, you're with Lark; you can play off each other well. I want you two to attack from the east. Jato, you and Moot can strike from the south. Neko, you go with Thorium and hit them from the west, while Asuka and I attack from the north. We will attack in two weeks. Train with your partners until then, I want all of you to be completely in tune with each other.”
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