312 Worldwide Chaos (2/2)
”You wanna tell Mindy that?” George shook his head. ”I wouldn't.”
”Mindy would have to understand. With the Church guarding the borders, we could just leave the Spectres alone until after we ensure the safety of the Industrial District. Keep in mind, this includes her own shipyards. As for the south, clearing out the remaining Spectres could take years. In order to deal with them, we need reliable supply lines, and a strong industrial base. Otherwise, if we have no way of replenishing our losses, after taking enough casualties, we would practically lose both the north AND the south.”
”Half.” George bargained. ”We send half our forces north, but we keep half here. I don't want to rely entirely on strangers for our security.”
”Half, then.” Remian relented. ”But the new stuff built at Fal'Herim stays there to defend it.”
George paused. ”Mindy has fifty Wasps at the Speckled Highlands. Her Moon Owl Lord prepared a plateau for three hundred, and she had a hundred before, but we took heavy losses since then… a good many of them had already been sent back to Fal'Herim for repairs.”
”We can leave the fifty to help clean up the Spectres. The ones sent back for repairs will suffice.” Tim nodded. ”What about your gunboats?”
”I have twelve active, forty in the drydocks.” George grimaced. ”They weren't very tough to begin with and they don't have the kind of speed that Mindy's Wasps have. Would you believe it? I only have the crews for five of them. They keep coming back with badly damaged ships and just swap damaged gunboats for fresh ones on their next patrol.”
”How did Mindy get the crews for hundreds of Wasps?”
”She hired Adventurers. Thing about Adventurers is they love flying the Wasps. Something about them being much faster, more maneuverable and less likely to get shot down than my gunboats.” George grumbled. ”They wouldn't crew one of my gunboats unless I offered triple pay.”
Remian sighed. ”George, we need new airship designs. Designs that don't rely on mana, or use as little magic as possible. Whether your Gunboats or Mindy's Wasps… they're all going to have to be replaced.”
***
Tim headed back to Fal'Herim with Salim's ex-mercenaries crew and Marcus' tattered remnants of the Iron Legion, leaving George with Song Chen and the Wildlands Defense Force and Mindy's fifty Wasp fleet.
To be honest, the majority of Salim's crew and Marcus' Iron Legion remnants all ended up brought into the city for the sake of better medical facilities. Between the two of them, the remaining combat-worthy members only numbered thirty in total, and these in desperate need of rest.
But that was fine. Tim wasn't planning to rely on them to fight off Paleres any way. He was reasonably sure that these raiding bands were just the start of the conflict. In time to come, they might very well have to face the full might of Paleres' military proper. No, these guys were here just to fill in the ranks and gaps for the time being while he worked on his real plan.
Meanwhile, Remian showed George some rough sketches of his plan to replace the airships.
”This… this isn't an airship.” George gulped.
”No, without magic, using airships with our current level of technology is just too risky for comfort.” Remian grimaced. ”What you're looking at is a land-based mode of transportation. While it's originally meant to be a transport, it's possible to add arms and armor.”
”What do you call it?” George asked.
”It's called a train.” Remian explained. ”To use it, we're going to need to lay out tracks.”
***
It wasn't what Remian dreamed about, but given the current available materials and engineering capabilities of Kara-Goth, it would do as a temporary measure. At least for the next twenty to forty years or so.
Jim actually wasn't unfamiliar with steam engines, and Arnold was very interested in Libertaria's designs. It seemed that outright buying parts for railway tracks and trains might even be possible… at the right price.
”I'm so glad Libertaria's already developing steam power.” Remian heaved a sigh of relief. ”What kind of prices are we talking about?”
Jim told him and Remian choked.