[X] Leave Alex
It pains you to do this after the battle, but it must be done. "Alex, remain here with your mount. Just in case."
If you thought this would upset your sister, you are immediately proven wrong with her bow. "Of course, sister." She moves back to Terras Lightning.
Vali speaks up somewhat awkwardly. "Are you certain, Princess. I would assume you would be more comfortable with your sister than me." You hear some bitterness, but it is mostly covered by genuine curiosity.
You smile. "I trust you completely, Sir Vali, your honor is without peer." You bow to him. "You are the hero this day, without you, we would have all been slain by the Orks. You deserve recognition for this."
Your move proves worth it simply for the opportunity to see Vali blush like a Schola-boy. "You honor me, Your Highness. How could I deny such an offer." He calms swiftly and walks beside you.
X9-A appears from behind a corner and joins you. "Princess Genevive, Sir Vali. It is good to see you," she says in her soft voice.
"A pleasure, X9-A. I hear you conducted yourself quite well in combat," you say. "Sir Vali tells me you fought with valor and skill."
You hold back a giggle as the Admech woman looks over to Vali, who flushes slightly. "I thank you for your praise, though all I did was my function." You think you catch a slight decrease in volume in her voice, though it is tricky to tell.
Sir Vali bows to the woman. "That is all any of us does in battle. Your skill in combat impressed me greatly, milady, its an honor to fight by your side." He clearly means every word.
X9-A moves her face to the side. "You are too kind, Sir Vali. As I said, I only performed my function as assigned by my progenitor." Emperor, reading Admechs is difficult. How are you supposed to gather whether or not there is something between your companion and X9-A if you can't even read her face? No matter, there is time, and you are patient.
At last your strange group arrives at Helios's command tent, miraculously none the worse for wear despite the combat around it. Pythos and Triptocles stand by the entrance, having survived the battle. You return their nods of greeting as your odd group enters.
X9-A moves immediately to Valmanar's side after a quick nod of farewell. You and Vali return it, and you nudge Vali, who only gives you a rather confused look. You roll your eyes at him just before General Helios breaks the silence. "Ah! And here is the hero of the hour." The Kratosian General moves to Vali, holding out his hand. Vali takes it somewhat awkwardly. "You saved my command squad today, Sir Vali, as well as the entire damn fight. If you were a Guardsman under my command I'd slap you with a medal and give you a promotion on the spot."
Vali steadies himself before speaking. "The honor gained from this day is reward enough, General." The man seems awkward about the sudden attention, and you give him a comforting smile. He deserves this praise. The entire command tent, which you realize currently contains not just yourself, Vali, X9-A, and Valmanar, but also Damocles and Lukanos, give Vali a round of applause. The knight takes it with stoic grace, though you can see a faint blush. You smile to yourself as you consider that Vali seems to blush quite often.
At last, Vali's round of praise ends, and Helios speaks up. "Alright, to business." He returns to his position at the front of the tent. "Those damned Orks hit us hard, we've lost a quarter of our armor and have many dead and injured. We still have the force needed to push forward...but we have another problem."
Valmanar speaks up as if on a queue. "Our scanners still detect light seismic activity, we believe that this is caused by more diggers. The epicenter is moving. We believe they are headed directly to Citadel Solannor."
Helios continues. "Currently, we have some forces posted there, under the command of Major Ajax. He is a good man and experienced, but we don't know the exact numbers of the Ork forces moving towards him, and he will have no warning of the attack."
Lukanos speaks up. "Just send one of my guys, boss. We can get there quick enough to warn the Major before the Greenskins show up." He picks casually at the skin between his metal joint and leg. You feel a twinge of disgust. How in the Emperor's name did a man like this get any form of leadership over literally anything?
You are disappointed when instead of telling the Scout Lieutenant off, Helios merely nods. "That is an idea, but it leaves the problem of numbers. If the force proves too overwhelming for Ajax to handle with his current garrison, it won't matter if he has a warning or not."
"There is also the matter that this was not the main force, there are more Orks out there, and we must seek them out," Valmanar says. "Princess Genevive battled a Stompa, if the Orks have one of those contraptions, they are close to something quite big."
You say under your breath. "The Ork said something about a...Mekboss Slugjaw Dakkablud. I...I think that it might be some kind of tribal leader." You shudder, you still can't help but think that perhaps the Ork's mad speech was just a nightmare.
Helios lets out a rather loud oath. "A Mekboss. Well, that is a damn problem. We can't stop now, but I'm not one to leave my men behind without aid. Do you have any suggestion here Princess?"
You are a bit surprised by the question, but General Helios seems genuinely interested in hearing your input. You take a breath and say, "Well General, I believe that we should..."
[] Move all forces to Citadel Solannor
[] Send a single scout to Citadel Solannor
[] Split our forces in half
[] Focus on hunting down the Mekboss with all available resources
[] Write-in
