The Guardian stood and stepped up to the map to better understand the distances involved and the routes he'd need to take, and to get a better sense of the geographic and urban nature of the areas he would need to thrall, while everyone waited patiently for his assessment.
Turning back to Kian, Yamanu nodded. "I can handle it. I suggest we predefine the routes and have Roni on standby in case we need to reroute traffic or any other agency that may hinder my ability to make it to all four locations in the time allotted. Having another car driving the route with me might be prudent, just in case the car I'm in is disabled."
"Great points, Yamanu. Roni, can you please meet with Yamanu to coordinate?" Kian asked.
"Naturally." Roni smiled at Yamanu. "Don't worry. I'll have you covered."
"What about government resources?" Kian asked, looking at Andrew. "Should we let them know?"
"If we fail or succeed only partially, I will inform the local authorities. They will need to block off the areas and get a massive emergency response put together."
With so many tons of advanced explosives under the control of terrorists, many things could go sideways, fast.
"So the humans, both the terrorists and the neighbors, will be out of the picture courtesy of Yamanu," Max noted. "That leaves the three or four Doomers at each location for us to deal with. Should be fun!"
The comment got laughs out of some of the Guardians, and Kian noticed the shadow of a smile on Turner's face.
"How many Guardians can you spare for each location?" Turner asked Onegus.
The chief consulted his notes. "Considering we'll need at least three transports per site, need to secure Julian in the warehouse where we'll be scanning the scum for trackers, and still need to protect the keep and the village, the maximum team size we can allocate to each cell is twelve Guardians including the team leader."
"You insult us, chief." Anandur held a hand to his chest, feigning great offense. "Are you suggesting that twelve of us are needed to take down three Doomers?"
Turner answered for the chief. "We cannot allow any of the Doomers or Revolutionary Guards to slip by us and disappear into the night. We also cannot allow enough time for anyone to get to the explosives, which might be rigged and ready totrigger. That means securing the perimeter, which means more Guardians than would be needed just to neutralize three or four Doomers. We also have to be ready for the unexpected. So, if twelve is the best we can do, I'll take it. If we could spare twenty per cell, though, I would have preferred it."
"Actually, we can improve our odds still. While I can't give you twenty Guardians per cell, I can give you twelve that will perform as twenty, or better," Kian said.
"Don't say Kra-ell," Max murmured.
Kian smiled. "No, not the Kra-ell, though they've certainly proved themselves. They are not trained for these kinds of operations." Kian looked around to see if anyone had picked up on what he was thinking. "Guardians have bested the Kra-ell once, and they can certainly best these Doomers."
That was an elephant-sized hint, and Kian could see they all got it.
"Hell yeah!" Anandur enthused. "It's been a while since we played with the exoskeleton suits. I hear we have upgraded them lately." Anandur raised an eyebrow, looking at William.
"Yes, we improved the electronic package, the battery efficiency, and the external coating. These suits are now barely visible at night. We used a special matte coating that is almost light inert."
"We will need to train on the new features and get comfortable with the suits anew. It has been a while," Bhathian said.
"I will arrange for a two-day refresher for everyone." Onegus turned to William. "Can you spare a couple of hours to walk us through the changes you implemented?"
William nodded. "Tell me when and where and I'm there."
"There's the issue of the aftermath," Kri said. "Even if we successfully neutralize all four cells, the Brotherhood will know it was us because no one else can pull off an operation like that against Doomers."
"They know we are here," Kian said. "It will confirm it for them, but I'm not too worried."
Kian had already decided he wanted Navuh to know who had thwarted his evil plans and let him wonder how the clan had discovered them. He wanted the despot to lose sleep, wondering who'd betrayed him and how.
"We may be able to clean up the scene so it looks like there was no struggle if we can neutralize all of the Doomers before they can react. But that is not likely to happen. Besides, it is time to put the Brotherhood on notice—come too close and suffer the consequences. In this city, we call the shots. I want Navuh to get this message loud and clear. Moving forward, he is no longer the hunter but the hunted. We will hunt the Brotherhood at will."
Onegus arched a brow. "We didn't hunt them. We discovered the plot by chance."
Kian smiled. "That's the beauty of this. Imagine the resulting paranoia. They will be running around looking for the traitors."
Given the chief's thoughtful nod and Max's grin, it seemed that he was not the only one thinking that was a good idea.
