Ch.209Failure Means War, Success Means…. (3)

# Chapter 209: Failure Means War, Success Means… (3)

About a month passed since then.

“Don’t we need additional fleet reinforcements?”

“If we get directly involved, it would undermine Ambassador Samiya’s legitimacy, so that’s not feasible.”

“Ah, I see.”

While waiting for the technology development to finish, I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing.

My Diplomatic Enforcement Agency was busy formulating and reviewing the detailed operation plans for Ambassador Samiya’s coup.

Of course, the specific plans had already been created by staff members much smarter than me, so there weren’t any obvious flaws.

But having learned the hard way over the years that life rarely goes according to plan…

I conducted multiple additional reviews and revisions.

Only after creating contingency plans B and C for any possible situations could I finally relax and lean back on the sofa in my office.

And just as I was about to enjoy the comfort of the sofa…

-Ding♪

[Event: ‘Electronic Warfare Assault Craft’ Technology Development Complete]

When this one-line notification appeared without any further details,

I realized it was time to seriously begin stirring up trouble within Prosnack.

Or to put it nicely, I could now proceed with the detailed operation to support Ambassador Samiya’s coup.

“Riel, it’s about time for us to make our move.”

“Wow.”

“Contact Ambassador Samiya and tell her the time for her return has come.”

———————————————-

Naturally, the core of this operation was the electronic warfare assault crafts equipped with signal jammers.

The problem was that Prosnack’s territory was so vast that if we only deployed assault crafts, the coup might fail before they could spread throughout the mainland.

And above all, there was a serious issue with deploying only assault crafts…

“Wait, are you saying once we turn on the signal jammers, we can’t turn them off again?”

“To be precise, you can turn them off, but you can’t turn them back on.”

Through extreme optimization and upgrades, we managed to fit the power-hungry signal jammers into small assault crafts.

The problem was that due to the limitations of the assault crafts, they couldn’t handle the power consumption when the jammers were activated.

This meant the assault crafts would be like crazy insects flying around broadcasting “Here I am!” in all directions due to the jamming signals.

As a result, radio silence and any concealment activities would be completely meaningless.

Because of this, the purge units and marines who were supposed to execute this operation initially resisted with uncharacteristic rationality and composure, setting aside their usual madness.

“Won’t we just melt away as soon as we’re deployed?”

“I don’t think so. If the signal jammers disrupt and eliminate the mind control waves… the shock will immobilize Prosnack’s fleet and forces in that airspace.”

“Oh?”

“If we were being deployed from the border, it would be different, but since we’ll be transported by motherships deep into Prosnack territory, the additional risk is much lower.”

“Ohhh.”

With the nonchalant response from the technicians dispatched to the Diplomatic Enforcement Agency, the rational resistance crumbled.

“This might actually work well.”

“I acknowledge it.”

“Technicians… fighting spirit!”

Where resistance once stood, madness was once again taking root.

Anyway, we allocated stealth destroyers as motherships for the electronic warfare assault crafts.

And then mobilized Levia as the mothership for those destroyers to execute our infiltration plan into Prosnack territory.

However, a small problem was pointed out with this approach:

No matter how impressive the Leviathan-class’s cloaking system was,

We couldn’t be certain that a kilometers-long vessel could remain undetected by Prosnack’s border patrols and surveillance systems when they were operating normally.

And indeed, Levia, the biological terminal core of the Leviathan, also…

“With the current infiltration plan, the probability of our ship being detected despite the cloaking system is approximately 15%.”

Since this probability was much higher than expected,

We had to immediately implement an additional plan to ensure the infiltration operation would proceed smoothly.

————————————

And that plan involved our coup protagonist,

Moving Ambassador Samiya Halabi’dus’s fleet near the border with Prosnack.

To be precise, this included the diplomatic vessel Ambassador Samiya had arrived on, along with the marine escort ships that accompanied her.

“Oh, we’re just hunting pirates~”

“…”

Following them, we gradually advanced a fleet of 3,000 ships toward the border under the pretext of pirate suppression in the north.

Naturally, Prosnack Union’s border patrol was horrified by our actions, but

By the time our fleet arrived at the border with Ambassador Samiya…

-“Warning to the advancing Sebelli fleet: this is the legitimate territory of the Prosnack Union. Further approach will not be permitted!”

“As expected of our Prosnack fleet’s swift action, they’ve already assembled their fleet to respond.”

“…”

Prosnack ships could be seen gathered at the border, aiming their guns at our fleet.

However, compared to our size, the Prosnack fleet was much smaller than expected.

“They appear to have about 2,500 ships.”

“Our number is 3,000, and Prosnack brought fewer than us?”

This caused a small commotion among our frontline fleet.

For us, however, the size of the Prosnack fleet confirmed that the intelligence obtained through Ambassador Samiya was accurate.

“It seems true that fleets from all directions have been diverted.”

“I heard they took away half of the border patrol fleet from our Empire’s direction.”

———————————

At the same time.

The commander of the Prosnack border patrol guarding the Prosnack-Sebelli border felt his blood running cold.

‘Of all times, the Sebelli Empire chooses now for a show of force…!’

Recently, on the orders of Supreme Commander Fern’dus, the main forces from each region had been withdrawn.

Followed by the frontline fleet for border defense.

And lately, even more than half of the border patrol forces under his command had been pulled to the front.

From what he heard, other regions hadn’t had their border patrols touched…

‘Argh, this is infuriating.’

Since this Sebelli Empire sector was deemed a rear area with no risk of war, too many forces had been withdrawn.

‘The fleet numbers are too few. Even if I try to come up with countermeasures, we simply lack the absolute numbers! Damn it!’

If the Sebelli Empire launched an offensive with their fleet?

According to staff assessments, if the Sebelli Empire began an offensive, the power difference between friendly and enemy forces would be at least 5:1.

In that case, with his handful of forces, they would be crushed by the overwhelming numbers despite their homeland’s proud mobile defense tactics.

Border Patrol Commander Mesh’Rakar had been sending repeated requests for additional support to central command, spending each day with a sinking feeling.

But the central command’s answer to his support requests was always the same:

“The Sebelli Empire won’t stab us in the back.”

“There’s no problem, Commander, so rest assured.”

‘Is that supposed to be reassuring right now?!’

Every time Commander Mesh received such responses from central command, he felt like another clump of his already thinning hair was falling out.

But in the end, the commander was only human.

“Are they really not coming?”

With the Sebelli Empire—which had been conducting internal genocide, having fits about some Papal State or whatever, and forming something called ISTO aimed at his homeland Prosnack—suddenly going quiet,

He had unconsciously let down his guard, believing central command was right.

But that behavior ended today.

“Damn it all.”

“Sebelli Empire fleet count confirmed! Radar detection shows 3,154 ships!”

“All border detection systems focused, tracking the fleet’s movements!”

‘They said they wouldn’t come.’

As a fleet far exceeding his own scraped-together forces (except for a few patrol ships for pirate response) gathered at the border,

Commander Mesh felt his recently subsided gastritis flaring up again as his blood ran cold.

Yet he couldn’t act rashly, as any misstep would give the other side that damned ‘justification.’

Unable to move freely in this situation, the commander’s hair fell to the floor with his flowing sweat, representing his burning anxiety…

But at that moment.

-Beep beep beep… static!

-Communication connected

-“To the commander leading this fleet, I am Jad Samiya Halabi’dus, daughter of Supreme Commander Fern’dus and appointed plenipotentiary ambassador to the Sebelli Empire.”

When he heard the all-too-familiar voice of the Supreme Commander’s daughter, a ray of hope shone in the commander’s heart.