I sat quietly with my fellow users, watching the video clip again as a pair of SU-34s went in for a gun run on a creature straight out of a fantasy novel.
"We in some wack movie or something?" Jake asked, breaking the silence.
"Oh yeah, let's slam a two headed dragon in front of our cast, it'll make for great character development… I'm gonna throttle whoever decided this was a good way to take the plot." I grumbled slowly. Watching the film again as it played in slow motion, the analyst having watched as the streams of cannon fire stitched the beast. It didn't look like it was doing much… but they claimed the rounds weren't bouncing off… so there was that at least.
Well… I grabbed the remote and switched to the series of images of Palawan and Mindoro. "Itnel claims that islands have minimal undead infestation, sizable survivor groups, likely around twenty or thirty thousand by the observations they made, survivors could number as high as eighty or ninety thousand though…"
"We've got some pretty good images of northern Palawan and Mindoro…" I started.
"Are we just going to ignore the giant dragon?" ak asked.
"Unless the two of you have something to deal with? I was just going to assume it was something for the carriers to deal with." I said, looking between the two of them. I wasn't really trying to outshine them, but they really didn't have the capability to deal with it. Hell, I wasn't sure if the fleet could. And if that thing was going to set the bar for the monsters we'd have to kill to take Manila then this little invasion was going to take a brutal edge. Their silence was answer enough.
"Do you have a plan to kill it?" Li asked, a few tense seconds having passed. I sighed, flipping the screen back to the dragon.
"So far no. I don't even know if the beast calls Manila its home or if it was merely hunting there. I'll have my aviators look into it and see if they can't put that damn thing into the ground permanently." I answered.
"What will you have us do then?" Li asked.
"Shit… best I figure we have a few islands we can look into for setting up a forward staging area… Palawan, Culion, Busuanga, Lubang… and if we hate ourselves… some spotty images from the mouth of the beast. Corregidor, and the dozen or so leviathans that seem to make the bay its home…"
"Are we talking of the potential islands for staging? If so, why even bring up Corregidor? Its right there yes, but if there's any intelligence behind the undead any landings we attempt will be met by an entire city's worth of undead." Li spoke up.
"I only brought it up now because sooner or later we'll need to clean the bay of its new leviathan inhabitants and frankly… to our knowledge a leviathan can't sink an island." I replied.
"So we just need to pick a couple places for fobs right?" Jake asked, leaning forward. I shrugged, nodding.
"Land and secure what's needed, build whatever temporary facilities we need and prepare for Red Comet. That'se the whole point of Operation Silence…"
"I think our Pacific Alliance should take point on this, preserve the greater strength of your forces for the fighting in Manila itself." Li brought up. I just shrugged.
"I'll ensure naval and aerial superiority over whatever rock you two chose to take then." I nodded to them, ceding the floor to them and tossing the remote across the table. Jake leaned forward, grabbing the remote.
"Lubang, I'll take that, there's already a small airfield. Once we get engineers forward they can build a few more and a hospital to evacuate wounded to. Should be a good forward staging base for the invasion of Luzon." he looked between Li and I and we nodded our assent. I turned to Li as she began mulling over the other options. Not like it was an easy choice either.
"There's no real cargo port that takes our largest transport or cargo ships… so either we'd have to load them onto smaller ships here… or make do with building out whatever harbor we elect to use…" Li mused aloud.
It's going to be two to three days transit from here, let alone whatever I'm having brought over from LA, that would be about two to three weeks behind depending on when the convoys departed. Li's face scrunched naturally as she looked at her two options.
"We'll make due with Palawan for now… Andrew, could I make use of some of your engineering brigades to build up the forward supply depot?"
"Sure thing, you're going to make use of what's already at Puerto Princesa?" I asked.
"That is the wisest option, I'll draft up plans to build a wall across the peninsula the city rests on, that should allow us to leave a minimal force behind and move most onwards for Red Comet." she nodded.
"Great. I'll pass my instructions along to General Muller, she'll be my representative while I return to LA for a week." I said, standing slowly, gathering my files and slipping them into a folder.
"You're leaving? Just like that? Before anything's really started?" Jake asked. I smiled wryly as I looked at the two of them, there was a hint of worry in their eyes.
"The race for the elections is heating up, I also have quite a bit of work I need to get done in LA, it turns out the military works best when the commander in chief is in his headquarters, not off on the far side of the world." I joked lightly.
"Muller's got a good head on her shoulders, she'll keep everything running smoothly until I return on the 10th.
"Well, I wish you luck with your elections, hopefully you walk away with the victory." Li's smile was slightly strained.
"I'm just returning for the last debate. I'll probably on Luzon when the election ends." I gave them a nod and took my leave, I had a plane waiting on me.