Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Five - Logistics

“A plan’s complexity is tied to a logarithmic increase in the difficulty to provide logistical support to the pawns involved in said plan.”

--Tin Man, professional RTS player, 2025

***

It was incredible how a meeting that would literally determine whether hundreds of millions of people lived or died could devolve into something so incredibly boring in the span of a couple of minutes.

Jolly Monarch and his AI had scanned the environment around the city and had plotted out the best locations for fortifications, outposts, defensive structures and rally points. The plan looked pretty sound to me, but a few of the generals and military sorts had questions about it.

The biggest problem was that the plan assumed that every available soldier, police officer, and hired gun in the city would be willing to man the walls. That was almost stupidly optimistic. Of the two dozen groups in the room, about a quarter were vocally reluctant to participate at all, another quarter would only work for good pay, and yet another quarter were being real quiet about their opinions, and I had the impression they were as likely to bolt as they were to stay and help.

Interestingly, the plan didn’t give any of the samurai present fixed locations. Instead, we were told that we’d be called in, as available, to handle any large surges in the oncoming incursion. Jolly Monarch had some sort of Family-based system that could predict who would be best where, more or less.

So, I could expect to either volunteer to stem the tide, or be called over to wherever things were at their worst to take some of the burden off the normal folk manning the walls.

The meeting was supposed to last an hour. By the third, I was practically nodding off in my seat.

Jolly Monarch knocked his knuckles onto the table. I wasn’t the only one to jump. “And that’ll be the end for the meeting today. We have nearly every construction crew in the city heading to the outskirts in the morning. If things go well, by the end of next month there should be a wall all the way around New Montreal. Payments, shifts, and deployment orders will be sent out from the offices of the Family. Feel free to email us any additional concerns and needs.”

The older samurai adjusted his crown, then with a nod to the lot of us, backed away from the table.

I was caught a bit flat-footed by the sudden end to the meeting.

Generals and PMC leaders stood up, some forming little cliques that whispered between each other. In the centre of the room, an AR hologram of New Montreal continued to circle around slowly.

It only took me a moment to spot the museum. It was clear that the projection was somewhat real-time. Half the upper floor was outright missing, and I could make out tiny pixel-wide figures moving around.

The museum wasn’t on the edges of New Montreal, but it wasn’t in the centre either. Jolly Monarch had highlighted areas of higher and lower risk, and we were bordering one of the higher risk parts.

That last incursion a few days ago had wrecked that part of the city, and any defences that might have been there were in bad need of replacement or repair.

“Cat?”

I glanced to the side and found Gomorrah standing next to me. “Hey,” I said.

“You alright?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, just a lot on my mind. Sorry. I think it’ll get easier in a few days, you know?”

“Once all we have to worry about is an unending tide of man-eating monsters pouring out of the countryside to eat us all?” Gomorrah asked.

“Yeah. That’s a lot easier to handle. Mentally, I mean. Just kill the aliens. No politics, no dealing with people, no making hard choices. Well, not super-hard choices, at least.”

Gomorrah tilted her head to the side, just a little bit. It was a gesture I’d caught her doing a few times, her thinking pose. “I guess so. There is some beauty in simplicity. I’m not sure if it’s okay to look forward to such a destructive event. But I’ll admit that I’m itching for a fight too.”

“More things to burn?” I asked.

She sniffed. “I’m not some barbarian.”

“You’re a burnbarian.”

Gomorrah stared at me. I could feel the judgement wafting off the mask.

I can say with rigorous certitude: that was terrible.

I chuckled and got to my feet. “Well, that lifted my spirits a little. So, you brought Franny along? Is this your idea of a date?”

“It’s nothing like that. I think she was as nervous about staying at the church as I was. Heavy as the conversations here are, they’re still less stressful than dealing with the people back home.”

“Ouch,” I said. “You need a place to stay? We can kick some of the kittens out of their room at the hotel.”

“You’d evict a child from their room so that I have a place to stay?” Gomorrah asked. “I don’t know if that’s cruel or hospitable, honestly.”

“I mean, you could have the couch too. They’re kids, they can sleep on the floor.”

“Truly you are the embodiment of motherliness,” Gomorrah said.

I snorted. “Fuck off, I’d make a great parent and you know it.”

“I shudder to imagine.”

“So, that kind of shit aside, I think I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to be spending a whole lot of points tonight. Going to secure that museum, make it a safe spot for the kittens and Lucy. Maybe something of a base, you know?”

Gomorrah nodded. “That’s not a terrible idea. I don’t think this situation will end in us losing the city, but if it comes to a protracted siege, then a samurai-secured place or two wouldn’t hurt.” She went quiet for a moment until I received a call from her.

I answered while shutting off the exterior mics on my helmet. “Yeah?”

“Also, between you and me. I suspect the meeting tomorrow morning between all the local samurai will be putting a lot of pressure on us to perform the way the Family thinks is best. They can’t force you to spend points you no longer have though.”

I hadn’t considered that. For that matter, I didn’t think the Family would really push us that hard. Then again, they did have something of a stick up their asses sometimes. “Thanks for the heads up.” I said. “I’m heading back there now.”

Gomorrah nodded and extended a hand to shake.

I pulled her into a quick hug instead, with a few good pats on her back for good measure. “Give Franny a hug for me,” I said as I started to head out.

I could feel her eyes rolling behind me.

Sam-o-Ray gave me a nod on the way out, but other than that, no one slowed me down as I headed out of the hotel and to the parking garage where my hoverbike waited for me.

What sort of big purchases are you aiming to make?

“That depends, I guess. What’s my point total at?”

Current Point Total:
10,494

I nodded as I swung a leg over the bike and made sure my coat was sitting right. “Alright. First priority is the museum. I want it secure as hell. Did you get into contact with Lucy about it?”

She’s been playing with designs for the last few hours, between watching over the Kittens and asking me about your status. She has more or less chosen one design and has been making minimal adjustments to it for the past hour.

“Cool,” I said. “Tell her to finish it up. We’ll be installing it tonight. Right, after that... I want construction and repair drones. Maybe with their blueprints? I want to be able to fix the rest of the building up. It’s less urgent, but it’s still a priority.”

You don’t own the rest of the building. It’s possible that the other owners will complain.

“Let them,” I said.

Noted. A single construction drone provided with limitless resources could properly reinforce the tower in the span of several weeks.

“I want to do more than that,” I said. “Turrets. We need a blueprint for something small and easy to install. Maybe something that doesn’t need to be reloaded? Like lasers or something.”

A small laser emplacement, with a solar-cell for power generation and a connection to the city’s grid might work. A blueprint can be drawn up for something small enough to be built from your fabrication machine.

“That sounds perfect,” I said.

Though something so small will have a difficult time against anything in the third tier and above.

“That’s fine. We’ll upgrade things as we go.” I shot out of the parking lot and beelined for the sky. “For now, let’s just get a good, secure place where we won’t have to worry about aliens.”

***