Summoning America

Chapter 113: Justification

August 24, 1640
Runepolis, Holy Mirishial Empire
Albion Castle

The past few days were hectic, and the disheveled appearance of the castle's war room served only to emphasize this fact. Even the regal appearance of Emperor Mirishial himself had deteriorated, leaving him baggy eyed and slumping from exhaustion. His subordinates were no better; they too had worked hours upon hours to coordinate their military and ensure that the ambush on Admiral Tachyon's fleet would be a one-time mistake.

As the sun rose, so too did these dutiful leaders. After a mere 4 hours of rest, they reconvened in the war room to go over new updates to their fleet deployments, as well as the implementation of new strategies to help defend against the Gra Valkas Empire's tactics. Using light healing spells and endurance spells, the group freshened up for yet another day of stressful discussions.

Emperor Mirishial eyed the men who had come in. Among them were Agra Brinston, Arneus Freeman, Liage, and Birkburn. Together, they oversaw the nation's defense, intelligence, foreign affairs, and secret research projects. Once the men were all present, Emperor Mirishial proclaimed the start of the meeting.

"Now that everyone is here, we shall begin," he said as everyone took their seats around a large circular table. "Agra, what is the status of the armed forces?"

"Your Excellency," Agra bowed, "The Army reports success in training our current forces on American doctrines. There may be some uneasiness as our officers adapt to these new tactics, but the Army Chief has completed education on basic squad tactics and logistics."

Emperor Mirishial nodded, giving a hand gesture that implied for Agra to continue.

"As for the Navy, they have completed training for three more crews on radar and sonar. In light of the ambush on the Death Bar Fleet, the Navy Chief decided to reduce the extent of our patrols, keeping them near our territory for now. He also reorganized our fleets, placing at least one sonar-capable vessel in each carrier and battleship group."

"Have the Americans agreed to selling us guided torpedo systems yet?" Emperor Mirishial asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Agra responded with a somewhat disappointed look on his face. "They've said that they are open to distributing the technology in due time, but not quite yet."

Everyone in the room knew that it was a stretch, but coming face to face with their failure still inflicted distress, no matter how expected it was. Emperor Mirishial gave an understanding nod, "I suppose it can't be helped." Then, transitioning into an expression of slight surprise, he asked, "They really turned down our offer of gold?"

"They seemed interested in the offer, according to Phiam," Liage answered, "They just needed some time to discuss a revision to their technological outflow policy. Most of their executive leaders seemed to be okay with the idea of sharing more technologies, but they won't be able to act until their Congress settles on an agreement."

Emperor Mirishial frowned. He heard stories of the indecisive American congress, which was currently locked in a tripartisan struggle. Bickering politicians were no stranger to him, and this was why his predecessors had always opted to consolidate power on the emperor, rather than distributing power amongst congresses and senates. "That's... a real shame."

Hoping to turn the atmosphere around, Liage gave some good news, "On the bright side, I've heard that once this new bill goes through, the United States will sell basic computers, targeting systems, torpedoes, and missiles to us and to Mu. There are even rumors that they'll be willing to sell jets as well. I don't know how long it will take for this to come to fruition, though."

Mirishial remarked, "Missiles and jets, eh? Well then, I suppose we should be grateful for what they've given us so far."

"Indeed," Brinston nodded in agreement. "Without their sonar systems, the entire Death Bar fleet, including the Cosmo, may have been lost entirely. Even now I shudder to think about the tragedy we just avoided," he said, referring to the exorbitant development costs of the Orichalcum-class battleship and its armaments.