I call a meeting of the governor and Sean with Chin, Al, Gunther, and me.
“You are all aware of our new situation.
“I’ve given this some thought. Much has not changed. We still need to get the fleet to back off, we still need supply, and we still need to get this civil war to stalemate.
“The best way to get the fleet to back off is to get Johann and Gunther up to them. Once there they can quietly ask the shipboard mercs not to press coming for us and that should defuse that crisis.
“Whatever gets Johann and Gunther up will have brought down supplies for us. We will be as fully equipped as mercs ever get in a situation like this.
“So priority one is still opening up a channel into space. Let’s talk about priority two, getting this civil war to cool down and leave this province a haven for xenophiles.”
“You’ll be fully supplied. You still don’t want to lead the way?” asks the governor.
“Even more so. With the fleet off to other places our threat of raining death down from above goes to zero.
“But,” says Al, “what if you become a demigod instead? Someone who can be anywhere on this world at any time?”
“What are you getting at?”
“These people have essentially no idea of what power armor can do. How about we show them some fancy tricks so they think we have a lot that we don’t? I’m thinking omnipresence is a pretty scary feature for an enemy to have.”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s pick three famous places on this world that are far apart and be there within seconds of each other. If we all wear the same markings on our armor the natives will assume we, Kull actually, can blip around this world at will. We’ve already shown that he can defeat a tank column and gatecrash a rally. If he can do that anywhere in this world at any time that might get some leaders to back off.”
“I like it!” I say. “Governor, Sean, … does this sound like a plan to you?”
“You want to kidnap more people?” says the governor.
“No. We can’t move hostages as easily as we can move ourselves. I think this is a threaten-landmarks situation,” says Chin. “We show up, threaten a famous landmark … maybe just appearing at it is threat enough. Then we disappear and sneak back here. There should be little, if any, shooting.”
Sean says, “It sounds good.”
Governor Algers nods. “Yes, it sounds quite effective.”
“OK, first priority, we need to finish knocking the hole in the planet’s space defense so Gunther and Johann can get out and supplies can get in. Then we move on to Part B, Project Awareness.”
Sean comments, “To finish the hole, we need to knock out the space defense in the base south of here. That one is better defended now. We’re not likely to take it over.”
“Can we raid it? Knock out the defense for a while?” I say.
“That’s what it’ll have to be. We can launch a diversion attack with ground forces or air but we don’t have the resources to make an attack that sticks.”
“If our timing is real good, we need those defenses down for two hours. It will take that long to get a ship down and up again,” I explain.
“If you get it down, it’s likely to stay down for six. However, if they suspect something big is happening they may move a spaceship in to cover the hole.”
“This shouldn’t look big. This is small-scale smuggling.”
“Then I think we have a plan,” the governor agrees.
“We should do this tonight,” I declare. “Our Big Show, Part B, should happen as soon as possible. But it will depend on how quickly Azzeed can muster equipment and transport up top. Al, stay in touch with him and we’ll time our attack on his schedule.”