Intuitions of War- chapter 11

Intuitions of war

11: Arrival at Newgate

*11:00 AM, NEWGATE*

Harper was finally back at Newgate, and the damage was seemingly catastrophic. He was still a couple of miles away, but he could see the city from the outside.

'It's been decimated, completely…' This thought was on repeat in Harper's mind, and nobody could really blame him for it.

You couldn't even make out the streets anymore, many buildings were knocked over and blocking the streets, there was water flooding in from what seemed to be the sewers, and the few people left in the city were really few, he could only see a couple of groups here and there scavenging the city.

'Life has become pretty desperate here in Newgate.' Harper acknowledged the damage that Newgate had taken during the raid. It used to be such a decent looking city, and now it was reduced to rummel and scavengers.

'Hard to believe I once lived here.' Though it wasn't that long ago that he lived here, Harper still felt surprised that he somehow lived here before. Before all of this happened, before what he considered doomsday happened.

"Well, for now, I'm going to stay here for a few days and check it out, I need food anyway." The only reason he was still going was because he was used to starving, and when it came to water, he tried to drink as much rain as possible when it rained, and tried to get any and all water from the farms.

'For now, I can actually find some food here, although it probably still isn't good.' Harper sighed, and walked into the ruins of his old city. He looked left and right, and saw people scaling buildings, people camping inside the remains of buildings, and more.

'When the motherland fought back against the French invasion, I guess that they really did force the French out somehow, considering there are still random civilians here and there camping.' Harper smiled out of happiness for the first time in a while.

For once, there was actually some good news concerning the war and civilians. Sure, the city was in ruins and completely decimated, and that was terrible, but at the very least, some people survived, so it's not like it was completely a lost cause.

'That's right, the people can rebuild, or move on or something.' Harper kept walking through the wreckage of the city, and finally settled on a house to stay in, or at least, the ruins of a house.

'Now, time to go raid some other houses for their food.' Harper thought to himself, and with a wicked grin on his face, set out on his mission for food.

--- sequence 2 ---

*2:00 PM, LONDON*

"We've made it back, sir!" One of the soldiers yelled out in the direction of Caecca, who simply showed a thumbs up.

"You never were one to be a normal commander, were you?" Lucy asked Caecca. Throughout all of the time that she had known Caecca, he was definitely not a normal commander. He treated many of his soldiers with respect, and tried to spread positivity.

It was completely unlike other commanders, who thought of the soldiers as fodder and didn't respect them at all, just training them into emotionless beasts that kill.

"The war is already enough to stress them out, and I'm not like most generals, I worked my way up here, I didn't just inherit the position from my father or something, so I know the struggles of a soldier." Caecca replied, a small grin forming on his face.

He was back in London, the most beautiful place in the world in his eyes. It was a decently sunny day, with most clouds out of the way, and there were children, people, and more walking around on the streets.

'This is a sight that I'd be willing to throw my life away to protect.' Caecca thought to himself, but immediately began to focus on the big issues.

'If I want to protect this sight, I have to prepare for the upcoming invasion, I'd expect it to be sometime soon, though I don't quite know.' Ever since the Germans retreated back then, he didn't know what to do anymore.

They could have gone up to the North Sea to try to group up and infiltrate from there, but that was only if there were soldiers at the North Sea to group up with in the first place. They could have also taken a long round-about, and could be trying to infiltrate from the west or north side of the island.

'The Germans have multiple options that they could take, and we have no idea which one they'll pick. If we were to randomly send out soldiers, we'd weaken the defenses in London, and if the defenses are too weak, they can easily take over London. Even if we were to get lucky and send the soldiers to where they were invading from, if I don't send enough, they'll all just die.' Caecca was thinking rationally, but no matter how much he thought about it, the best idea was the one Lucy proposed.

"For now, I'll have to propose our plan to the other generals of the army, and hope they'll agree to it." The British military was pretty normal, but because of that, it was complicated for Caecca himself as a general.

The other generals were pretty annoying when it came to agreeing on topics. Specifically, Lisander was annoying because he was extremely offensive.

'Lisander will be the biggest hurdle to overcome when I propose this idea to the other generals, but the rest should be on board with this idea.' Caecca sighed, and moved into the city, while dismissing the soldiers.

"Came on Lucy, we got work to do." Although Lucy was someone he didn't know the origins about, or anything, she came to be his, you could call, secretary. She seemed to be his own military advisor and assistant.

Other than that though, he still knew nothing about her.

"Sorry, but the queen wants to meet up with me, so I'll be gone for a bit." Lucy retaliated, and began walking away.

Caecca just stared at her back as she walked into the streets of London, slowing getting more distant.

'Still quite the confusing one…' Caecca sighed again, and began to walk in the direction of the base.

'Still, I have my own issues, so I can't deal with her.'

--- sequence 3 ---

'Now that I've gotten away from Caecca, I'm gonna have to go up to Scotland.' Lucy was assigned by the queen to head to Scotland and negotiate some terms with them.

In reality, Britain wasn't quite united. It was more split up then it was united.

When it came to the queen, nobody really believed in her power. Most people just thought of her as the person you had to go to for permission, and that was all. However, the queen was definitely the one in power, no matter what topic it was.

On the way back, Lucy got a radio from one of the other generals, specifically Lisander, that the queen had this request of her. She confirmed that she would set out on this mission, and told Lisander to report to the queen that she could expect it to be done in a week or two.

'Still, the position of the queen itself isn't good.' When it came to allies, the queen only had Lucy and Lisander who were true allies who believed in her power. The other generals only thought about her as the permission lady.

When it came to Caecca though, she didn't know his thoughts.

'He doesn't speak a lot when it comes to personal stuff such as this. He seems like a nice person who just wants to keep the peace, but that isn't enough to guarantee what he thinks of the queen.' Caecca was quite the confusing one to Lucy. He wouldn't admit his personal thoughts much, and when he spoke, he wouldn't disclose any actual information.

The real issue with all of this was power, which was the main issue with everything within this world. In reality, the queen was losing power, and others were beginning to gain power. More specifically, the generals were beginning to gain more power.

'Since the war has been going on for so long, more and more people are beginning to think with a military mindset, while the generals are giving them what they want…' Lucy sighed, and just kept walking.

"For now, let's get this mission out of the way."