Phase 2 (Jaela, Moore)

[Corwin]

"Also, something Afina said to me earlier. That while one of us might take a city, we won't be able to hold it without an army. But what if we didn't need to hold it?" Jaela muses. "We could project our forces rapidly through the ships to assault Fairwater while Aurora holds Elons Rapid. In the meantime, we can send Baleruk to burn Liber's defenses to the ground. It will keep them occupied and demoralized, so when we're ready to move in on the naval base we may well be spared a serious challenge. Alternately, crush the base with all we have minus the garrison for Elons Rapid, and Fairwater only has nominal forces and terrified collaborators. Adrian, how was the surrender rate among the collaborators here?"

[Anastasia]

"About one in four," Adrian says, "With wild variance as well. Sometimes there were too many devils and those that surrendered were summarily executed by the devils."

"Closer to three in ten," Tepen interjects, "Otherwise yes. Some have embraced Hell while others simply feel they have no choice out of fear."

[Corwin]

"Let's take the naval base with our ships and Baleruk," Jaela proposes. "Aurora itself will keep Elons Rapid pacified. A good ratio of soldiers to civilians is one per eighty, I believe? How much of a tax on our troop strength does that put?"

[Anastasia]

"We have approximately two thousand refugees," Tepen says. "There are doubtless more coming and more being counted and processed."

[Corwin]

Jaela coughs into her fist. "We're occupying Elons Rapid, not our own ocean demiplane. I was talking about keeping the city occupied. Can we afford it? What's the estimate for population?"

[Anastasia]

"Approximately five thousand, pending revision," Tepen clarifies. "My apologies."

[Corwin]

Jaela does some quick math in her head, before rounding things up a bit.

"Let's detail a hundred elven soldiers from the reserves for the task of patrolling Elons Rapid in groups, and put Rosa and Tannin on them. After all the battles fought to take the city, we can't let things fall through now. The reserves will have the best concentration, which is really what we need for the task."

Jaela nods to herself, adding, "We'll use the infiltrators to fill up the reserves and the siege groups back to full strength. They can appreciate the chance to wash up the most, I think. Aurora and the reserves will then remain here, while our ships head out for Liber."

[Anastasia]

"What about Afina's operations?" Tepen asks, "Currently, they're seeing to an underground fortress beneath the city."

[Corwin]

"She's with the Infiltration group? Right, no real change there. We'll wait for them to mop up and then break the group up accordingly. If Afina thinks it will take longer than another quarter hour, we'll reconsider."

[Anastasia]

Okay then, going to do anything pending sewer group finishing up?

[Nephrite]

Moore will just help out as he can for the time being.

[Corwin]

Since there are no objections, Jaela proceeds to outline Operation Silver Chain to those present!

Upon the conclusion of combat operations within Elons Rapid, there is to be a recall of most forces while a hundred elven warriors from the reserves under the shared command and oversight of Tannin and Rosa are deployed to keep the city pacified. The Infiltrator force is to be dissolved, its members returning all other contingents to full strength while the remainder ensures the reserves are back to their original levels or beyond. To account for the losses amongst officers, Ebony is detached from Vanguard to Blocking Force.

Aurora's fleet of ships is left behind to support the pacifying force and serve as a force multiplier for them stationed above Elons Rapid, while Aurora itself heads towards Liber via a pair of lined up gate to and from Astral. The Blocking Force's task will remain the same as it had been for Elons Rapid, and deploy to surround the naval base. The Vanguard task will be rebranded as a Rapid Response Force, and used to clear any stiff resistance to the main drive by the three Siege forces, lead by Adrian, Mirima and Cresiel each.

Any specific information Tepen can share about the base that will customize the assault further? Once we have an acceptable plan of action we can see where each PC wants to go.

[Anastasia]

"My main suggestion is one overwhelming strike. The base is set up to resist, shatter through and it'll be over quicker," Tepen says.

[Corwin]

"To use my earlier suggestion, Siege will follow Baleruk into the breach," Jaela responds with a grin. "I suspect everyone will enjoy this turn of events, except the holed-up devils."

[Anastasia]

Sounds like a plan, go ahead and give it a quick writeup.