RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

For the last four days, reports had arrived from every side of the containment line. Northern formations pushed out from Cinderrow.

The eastern sectors joined through Aldermere, while western companies worked around Kingswell and the southern formations finally closed the remaining gap through Rushfield.

When the last section connected with the southern line, a long-awaited report reached Hans early that morning.

Grefort’s Core was fully surrounded within the deployed PCV network.

He was already halfway to Cinderrow when Kimmy spoke from the seat beside him.

"So what happens now?"

Hans looked away from the Armored SUV’s window.

"Now? We’re about to find out."

The road toward Cinderrow had changed considerably since his last visit. New checkpoints occupied several intersections, while Walls and fixed positions closed routes that once remained open toward the Core.

Farther ahead, another military column crossed the junction before disappearing between the buildings.

The SUV continued south.

Hans opened the Radar map.

The Core occupied the center of the linked coverage, surrounded now from every direction by friendly positions and overlapping construction zones.

The Great Wall of RTS Turtling. Or whatever came ouf of Hans’s mind.

Millions of infected still crowded the inner districts. The sparse region remained exactly where it had been, but now, Hans had a complete picture.

The Radar map had never glitched. The center was the same as before—a huge hole in the red markers, save for a few near the middle.

Kimmy tilted her head slightly.

"Are you... reading one of your reports?"

"A report?" Hans paused. "Yeah, something like that."

The SUV entered the Cinderrow FOB several minutes later.

Most of the people Matilda wanted were already inside the forward command building.

Anton and Sabine occupied one side of the long table with several of the newer Company Leaders, while two Flight Operations officers sat closer to the communications equipment. Engineers had spread printed sector maps and several storage drives across the remaining space.

Johannes was there as well.

Hans entered with Kimmy beside him, while Callum remained near the doorway.

Matilda looked up.

"Commander. Oracle."

"What do we have?"

"The perimeter closed at five-forty this morning. Every planned sector is connected, and the fixed Radars are giving us coverage from all four approaches."

Matilda changed the display. The sparse region remained at the center.

"Four days of movement records. North, east, west, south. Same result."

Anton pointed toward the northern edge of the hollow.

"They keep turning before they reach it."

"Same from Aldermere," Sabine added. "Different streets, same boundary."

One of the Engineers brought up another overlay.

"No road collapse or major structural obstruction explains the shape."

Johannes stared at the map.

"So whatever they’re avoiding, they’re avoiding it from every direction."

Hans looked over the hollow again.

"Anything crossed it?"

"Not ours," Matilda answered.

He leaned closer to the display.

"Then I think we’ve stared at this thing long enough."

Matilda looked at him.

"I already prepared a reconnaissance package."

Hans’s eyes remained on the center.

"Let’s hear it."

"Not yet."

Hans looked at her in confusion.

"There are still too many infected between us and the center. Any reconnaissance team we send now will spend most of its time fighting through them."

"So we clear them first."

"That was the conclusion."

Another overlay appeared over the Core.

The pale region had shifted outward across each of the previous four days. Hans’s expression tightened.

"That wasn’t this wide before."

Johannes leaned closer to the display. "A few skyscrapers uptown blotted the sky south yesterday. Now..."

Matilda brought the earlier overlays back beside the current one.

"It has advanced by several meters."

One of the Flight Operations officers looked toward Hans.

"Visual reconnaissance gets worse the deeper it becomes. The fixed Radars are still giving us the biological picture, but aircraft aren’t seeing much once they reach the thicker sections."

Hans stared at the widening haze.

"So it’s moving, and we still don’t know what it is."

"Correct."

"How long before it reaches the containment line?"

Matilda shook her head. "We don’t have enough data for that yet."

Hans looked back toward the mass of red surrounding the hollow.

"Then we clear the Core before we send anyone toward the center. What are our options?"

Matilda changed the display again.

Four approach sectors appeared around the Core.

"Artillery bombardment. It’ll make the area ugly, but we have no choice. Infected density is not something our soldiers can face head-on."

"The defense schematic has been updated, Commander. A new plan was sent to your folder a day or two ago."

"I’ll check it when I come back later. What are the company status?"

Anton pointed toward Cinderrow. "North is ready."

"East too," Sabine added.

One of the Flight Operations officers shifted several markers over the outer Core.

"Aircraft can work the visible sectors. Once the haze becomes too thick, they turn back. We’re not sending anyone into that blind."

Hans looked over the four approaches for another moment.

"Proceed with the operation. I’ll leave you to plan the rest."

He stood up and left the area with Callum. Kimmy remained, insisting to listen over what everyone else was saying.

Johannes had his own reasons.

Hans didn’t really bother as long as he wasn’t disrupting the planning.

...

Later that afternoon, Hans opened the Company interface.

The numbers had changed again.

Several squads that had entered the Core perimeter without a single promotion were already carrying stars beside their names, while the older formations were becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from one another at a glance.

There were still fresh squads in the army, but considerably fewer than before. That was a problem he could actually solve.

Hans scrolled farther down. His Gold balance sat high enough that the number barely felt real anymore.

------

[ Gold: 67,765,898 ]

------

He opened the Barracks production list.

Hans glanced through the wider force roster first.

------

[ Operational Mobile Companies: 24 ]

[ Total Infantry Personnel: 12,600 ]

------

Twelve thousand six hundred.

He scrolled back into the Barracks.

There were plenty of stars across the company rosters now. Too many, if he intended to make proper use of what was sitting inside the Core.

Hans selected the Standard Infantry Squad and entered a quantity.

------

[ Standard Infantry Squad ]

[ Quantity: 120 ]

[ Total Personnel: 1,440 ]

[ Total Cost: 1,140,000 Gold ]

------

Hans looked at the cost and realized it barely costed him anything anymore.

"Confirm."

------

[ 120 Standard Infantry Squads queued. ]

[ Gold: 67,765,898 (-1,140,000) => 66,625,898 ]

------

The Barracks queues began filling across the network.

Hans moved on to the War Factory. He spent considerably less time there.

Another two hundred Guardian APCs joined the queues, followed by two hundred Vanguards and eighty Hellhammers. The twelve War Factories divided the orders among themselves before Hans confirmed the batch.

Even that barely made the Gold balance uncomfortable.

He stared at it for another second.

Having more than sixty million left after ordering hundreds of armored vehicles was becoming a problem he did not know how to properly appreciate.

Hans moved to Structures next.

Four more Airfield Bases entered the construction queue, one more expansion he probably would have considered ridiculous a month ago.

Now he was looking at fifty million infected. Four more sounded reasonable.

Hans closed the System.

That left the folder Matilda mentioned. It had been sitting on the side of his desk since yesterday.

He pulled it over and opened the first page.

------

GREFORT CORE — REVISED DEFENSIVE SCHEMATIC

------

The previous perimeter was still there. What Engineering had added behind it was considerably worse.

The first revision did not replace the perimeter but it rather multiplied it.

Each approach had another defensive line marked farther inside the Core, with Walls closing exposed streets while Pillboxes and Garrison Posts covered the larger intersections.

Artillery positions remained well behind them, along with Field Hospitals, FSV holding areas, and the routes needed to keep ammunition and personnel moving.

Hans turned the page.

The next diagram pushed the line farther inward.

Once artillery reduced a sector and the companies cleared the remaining infected, another PCV would move into the secured ground. Engineers would establish another line, the formations would reorganize behind it, and the process would repeat.

and the process would repeat.

Hans turned another page.

Another line.

The next one showed the same thing again.

By the time he reached the wider projection, several fortified belts had been drawn through what was currently a solid mass of red.

Hans stared at it for several seconds. "We’re doing this now, huh?"

The Great Wall of RTS Turtling was apparently no longer enough. Engineering wanted to turtle through the Core itself.

He reached the final page.

------

GREFORT CORE — REVISED CLEARANCE PLAN

Artillery Reduction

Ground Clearance

Forward Construction

Previous Defensive Lines Remain Active

Repeat Until Inner Haze Boundary

------

Hans read the last line twice.

Fifty million infected on one side.

More than sixty million Gold on the other.

He picked up his pen, signed the approval, and closed the folder.

"Alright."

Tomorrow was going to be noisy.

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