The only reason you and Savoy-Milan are being invaded is due to your backing of Tuscan and especially Roman rebels.
Capto Iugulum: Empires and Nations
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The only reason you and Savoy-Milan are being invaded is due to your backing of Tuscan and especially Roman rebels.
Milarqui
Deity
Chapter 12
Nagpur: For The Empire
Nagpur: For The Empire
"General Narváez!"
I lift my eyes from the map I have been looking at for the last few minutes. I awoke with the first rays of the sun, and I have spent most of the morning reading on the many, many documents and reports my subordinates brought me last night, and now I am trying to trace a plan for the battle that will surely start as soon as the British soldiers catch up with us.
In front of me stands Joaquín, my faithful aide. He seems a bit nervous, and I infer that he brings important news, considering the way he slightly trembles. Hopefully, this time they will be good news.
"What is the matter, Joaquín?"
"Sir, you have to come with me, it is..." He was really nervous now.
"What is the matter, Joaquín!" I shout at him, trying not to convey my irritation at his interruption of my planning.
"It's a message from Jaipur. Very, very, important, Sir!"
"What is it so important that you are shaking like a leaf?"
"You should come with me, they are out there."
I feel intrigued. On the one side, a message has arrived from Jaipur, either sent by Governor Gimeno or by the Generals that are staying in the city, trying to lead the whole front. On the other side, it sounds like either reinforcements have arrived or that the British have arrived sooner than expected. I don't expect the latter: the last report says that they are, at least, at five hours from us. And considering the blockade the British have put around us, I can hardly expect the former.
"Show me the way, Joaquín." I grab his shoulder before he rushes away, and he leads me towards the outskirts of the camp, to the north side.
It cannot be possible.
In front of me stand thousands of soldiers, armed with their Granullas rifles, flanked by several brigades of cavalrymen, and behind them several Mercado artillery batteries.
"What the hell is this?" I ask Joaquín, between angry and amazed.
"Reinforcements," he answers.
"How?"
"General Narváez?" a man says, and I turn towards him. I do not know him, but, given what he is wearing, I can ascertain he is a Comandante.
"It is me."
"Comandante O'Donnell, at your service," he says. I nod.
"I hope that you can bring me an explanation about what this," I reply, pointing at all the soldiers in the plain in front of me, "means."
"Reinforcements, sir."
"How? Did the Navy manage to break through the blockade?"
"I fear not, at least not yet, sir. However, we know that the Home Fleet managed to win against the combined British-Portuguese fleet, and inflicted heavy losses on them. Details are not very good, given that we received these news from a merchant who heard about it while in Persia, but we know that the British lost their flagship, and even then fought like maniacs."
I smile at that. All of us know that the British sailors are probably (and I am sure any of our sailors would readily confirm it) the best in the whole planet. The fact that our own sailors have managed to defeat them and make them get back home is a good sign that, perhaps, we might be able to win this war.
"Then, from where do these soldiers come?"
"They are locals, General."
"Locals?"
"Volunteers from all of India, mostly from the northwest, but there are also a few from the Principalities."
I feel somewhat shocked. I would have never guessed that someone would choose to arm the Indians. The situation must have been quite desperate for the Emperor to approve such a choice. Hopefully, it will not backfire on us when the war is finished.
"Are they well trained?" I ask.
"They are not like our best veterans, if that is what you ask, but they can follow orders very well, they can maneuver very well in the battlefield, and they can fight like demons if it comes to melée fighting."
Hopefully, it will not come to that today.
"They understand Spanish?"
"They know enough to catch on the most simple orders, but for the biggest orders we have several people translating. Mohandas!" he shouts. Who is he calling for?
I have my answer a few seconds later. A man clad in a Spanish uniform, with a ten-bullets Granullas revolver on the side approaches the three of us (Joaquín, O'Donnell and me), and when he steps next to O'Donnell, he puts his hands as if he is about to pray and bows slightly, saying "Namasté."
I nod at him.
"This is Mohandas. He is the main translator of the Indian Army. A very intelligent man, I assure you, and a good soldier."
"That is what my superiors, at least. I am just a normal soldier in the army," Mohandas says, humbly.
"Well, then I hope that you and your fellow soldiers are good enough to fight the British," I say, hoping that the Indians are as good as it seems. "They are at five hours from here, and soon we will have to present battle."
"Everybody will be ready, sir. Just give us the proper orders, and we will prepare for fighting the British."
I turn to O'Donnell. "Comandante, the Indian Army may rest for the next hour and a half. Joaquín! Tell the other Comandantes to come to my tent, we are to start making the plans."
"Yes, sir!" Joaquín rushes into the rest of the camp, while Mohandas leaves to tell his compatriots that they may rest for a time.
"I have a good feeling about today, sir," O'Donnell says, quite unexpectedly.
"You do, O'Donnell?"
"Yes."
"And how do you figure that?"
"It is just a feeling. I think that we might as well win the whole war in here, if we are lucky enough."
I nod, not telling him that it will require more than just luck to defeat the British, who until now have outnumbered us. The Indian soldiers may be the trick that unbalances the war into our favour, but anything can go wrong.
"Only God knows the answer to that, unfortunately. Let's be ready, at least, to ensure that God will not need to help us."
"Yes, sir," O'Donnell replies, and both of us retire to my tent, while my mind starts to go over how to put the Indian soldiers to good use.
Extract of The Indian Wars, the eleventh book of Los Episodios Españoles by Angel Galdós Martínez (1885)
This is the LESS than 24 hour warning for orders.
Luckymoose
The World is Mine
You should get nothing!
Lord of Elves
Suede-Denim Secret Police
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- Oct 31, 2009
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I must voice support for an extension. If I'm able to write up anything that would be satisfactory for the purposes of various factions/the update, it would have to come with an extension.
Luckymoose
The World is Mine
The deadline is the same day every week and you people can't get your business done early?
Milarqui
Deity
I can allow five more hours for orders before cutting it off to revisions, and then maybe another hour for new orders.
OOC: My money is on a Springtime for Scott or something like that.
Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Scotty party.
Circuit
Writing Letters
Milarqui
Deity
OOC: Fun!
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
Ooc: Great scott! What did you do to america!
Lord of Elves
Suede-Denim Secret Police
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2009
- Messages
- 6,976
America was having trouble, what a sad-sad story...
All right, assuming the server deigns to allow me to update, no more order revisions are accepted beyond this point.
Well, it's certainly been like corraling a herd of random loose zoo animals with the server going busy while getting the outline done. I'm only waiting on one unnamed but significant set of orders, and otherwise I've already started on the update itself. If I could get that one set of orders in, we'll be in motion, and the update will be up tomorrow afternoon/night.
Circuit
Writing Letters
Your subtlety never ceases to amaze me, EQ. 
