C05: The Flow of Water

To all our loyal soldiers,

I have to congratulate you all for making such a bold choice, I was honestly nervous about this but I steeled my nerves and boldly took credit for your idea.

Our scouts were able to infiltrate the border of Rivers End, mapping out weakpoints and setting traps near the main entrance.

With that, our troops were able to drop in small pockets, targeting their least defended areas. However, they saw us coming, spotting the drop ships almost immediately.

From there, they pelted us with lasers and mortars. We had effectively dropped our troops into a blender. However, we were able to send a battalion of androids from the Smoke into the south of Rivers End. They took out many key mortar positions, allowing our troops to advance into the main water pumping station.

After hours and hours of fighting, we were down to one squadron. The workers were too exhausted, allowing us to take the central control room and raise our flag over the territory.

Now that we own Rivers End, we have just put a massive target on our backs. The Council of 20 have ordered that we fortify our territories before we can claim any others. From here, we need to choose which territories to prioritise.

We can choose to prioritise fortifying: the Smoke, Atlas, or Rivers End.

The Smoke is currently producing androids for us at full capacity. Losing this territory would mean that the bots can turn against us, leading to an additional front opening and our military severally weakened.

Atlas, being our capital, is of major strategic importance. Containing the majority of our population (and more importantly, my penthouse), it would see our citizens plunged into unrest and potentially revolting. We fortified it before when we pulled out of the Reeds but that may not be enough if Atlas is directly targeted.

Rivers End desperately need fortification, with the battle devastating a lot of it’s defences, it would be considered vulnerable. Fortifying it will allow us to build it’s defences up at a faster speed. We know both the Cultivation Society and the Underworld Collective are likely to attack it, considering that we now control the flow of water.

In a few days, we will send out a public address to both factions that their water will be shut off if they do not surrender. We know they’ll refuse but what we’re betting on is that the cultists and the rebels will scramble to take Rivers End, leaving their other territories weaker. From there, we have two additional targets: the Circuits and the Reeds.

Both territories will give us access to the capitals of their respective factions. This threat will be enough to force them into submission (theoretically). From there, all that’s left is to choose which one we target first.

I leave the choices in your hands, as always.

Jerit | Head of Public Relations and Target Elimination