“Sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, I’ve thought about setting one of those up at the edge of Auburn. Of course, it would mean that we don’t have comms either, but given that there are more of them to coordinate and they’re entering our territory, they would be the most crippled if they didn’t have any comms.”
“That’s an interesting idea but how would you power it? We don’t have any power cores to spare, not even in the Beast.”
“I can power it with the generators we used to collect the lightning.”
“How quickly can you set it up?”
She snickered. “Come on. Under fifteen minutes, remember?”
“Make it so. I’ll talk to Hammerhand so that we can organize a low-tech comm system. Maybe we can use physical runners to relay messages.”
They moved into the town, where she could already smell the fertilizer being moved from the farming areas and into where Tinker could use it. The man was immediately called away to direct the construction of the bombs created from it, leaving her to start work on the jammer. She picked out the bits and pieces that were needed from the Beast and climbed to the top of the tallest building in the town.
It would be slow work, but with Mini to man the heavier aspects while she worked on the circuitry, it would go quicker than it would otherwise.
"Take cover!"
Someone shouted it from below, and she flung herself prone and covered her head at the sound of rockets fired in the distance.
Mini moved quickly to stand over her body to protect her. The seconds ticked past and she couldn't understand why the town wasn't rocked with explosives yet.
"Look."
The AI directed her gaze to what had been fired from Athena's Artillery mechs. They weren't shells at all. Halfway to the ground, bright white parachutes opened and what looked like cases drifted slowly earthward. At ten meters up, the bottoms opened and a shower of leaflets fell like snow.
"What is that?" Jessica13 asked, scrambled to her feet, and brushed the dust from her clothes. "Why leaflets?"
Mini pivoted and scanned the papers strewn around them.
"It's a message from Athena, or Lady Hoot. The paper states the following—surrender peaceably and you will be spared. Resist and no mercy will be shown."
"Bullshit," she snapped. "She'll kill everyone here like she did in the other town."
The AI turned the mech to pick up the jammer that had fallen when they had taken cover. "Agreed. And yet…if they are within range to strike, why haven’t they done so?"
"That…uh, is a good question."
The townsfolk began to retrieve the flyers and read and discuss them. She didn't need to hear what they were saying to know what they were feeling.
Despair, probably, and a hint of hope in the thought that if they simply followed Lady Hoot’s orders, they would live to see another day. They weren't soldiers and they didn't know the kind of woman they were dealing with. Or maybe they did and refused to face it. They wanted to survive.
Hammerhand knew Athena, though. Based on his knowledge, she knew the woman would kill everyone in the town and make another example of them if she could.
There would be no way to avoid this easily.
"The question," Mini said and sounded pensive, “is why they have sent this kind of message if they intend to kill everyone anyway? Why not simply start shelling the town?"
Jessica13 turned and noticed that Tinker and Hammerhand both inspected the papers.
"This is their way to show that they are close enough to start shelling the town," Tinker said and held the page up for his leader to see. "They're close enough to start attacking. That means they're putting themselves in an attack formation."
The Excalibur zoomed in to see what the papers contained. "Agreed, but if they are close enough to shoot these letters, they're close enough to shell the town. Why haven’t they?"
"Do you think the offer could be genuine? That she would leave Auburn intact in case someone else wants to settle here?"
"You know Athena better than I do,” the Knights’ leader countered. “What the hell do you think?"
All Tinker could do was shake his head.
"No, I think she wants to leave the town intact for some reason. She'll kill everyone here but the structures are not to be damaged. Or maybe something in the foundations. Those waterways, maybe?" Hammerhand turned the Excalibur almost full circle to survey the town.
"I really wish we had something better than your reasoning to go on for this leg, laddie. Basing all our defenses on assumptions is a good way to get ourselves killed. You know that better than I do."
"What do you suggest we do, then?"
"You won’t like this." Tinker looked like he didn't like it either but pressed on. "We could leave Auburn. It would draw Athena away from the town and we would be able to engage in tactics that suit us best. Hitting and running and staying mobile is what has allowed us to stay alive this long, laddie. Entrenched defenses, open warfare…the Knights were not built for this."
"And yet, we must stand our ground," the other man snapped. The people around them had begun to listen and some muttered about the Knights abandoning them. "We will not leave the town of Auburn to the fate this Lady Hoot doubtless has in store for them. We will fight and we will win and take this land back from those who would see them ground under their heel."
Many of the townsfolk had paused their work to listen to him, and a couple of them now moved closer. The despair she had seen before had begun to fade, replaced by a faint glimmer of real hope. The assurance told them they would be able to fight for their town without having to kowtow to the likes of Lady Hoot. The efforts of the various groups resumed with more determination than before.
It was odd how Hammerhand had that effect on the people around him. Only a few words
