Shadow Slave

The situation was both clear and grim. Sunny already knew some of the things that Jet told them, but some were a complete surprise.

The First Army was planning to withdraw from the Antarctic Center, taking its entire population with them. The previous plan of hunkering down in a number of fortified siege capitals for gradual evacuation had been abandoned, or rather postponed - it was going to be enacted eventually, but not before everyone was safely relocated to Eastern Antarctica.

Eastern Antarctica was doing much better than the central region of the Quadrant for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was much larger and more densely populated than the Center, with better terrain. That was why the First Army contingent sent there was several times more powerful.

The field army Sunny was a part of numbered a hundred thousand soldiers, with around five thousand Awakened accompanying them... or rather, had numbered. Now, there was maybe half of them left. The three field armies operating in Eastern Antarctica, on the other hand, had three hundred soldiers and fifteen thousand Awakened, not counting the local forces.

If that was not enough, two of the three Saints participating in the campaign were stationed there, as well. The emissary of the Song clan and the government Transcendent were both assigned to the larger landmass, with Sky Tide alone responsible for the whole of the Antarctic Center.

The Chain of Nightmares also seemed to be hitting the central region especially hard...

Lastly, and perhaps most pivotally, the Antarctic Center was where the Winter Beast had appeared. That titan alone was responsible for numerous deaths, since its influence had collapsed the communication network across the entire landmass. If it were not for the fact that Saint Tyris was a direct counter to its powers, the situation could have been even worse...

Sadly, she could only contain the Winter Beast, not slay it.

In any case, Army Command had decided to cut its losses and concentrate all the remaining human forces in the Quadrant on defending a single region. The first detachments of the Second Army were scheduled to arrive at the end of the month, so their decision at least seemed prudent.

...The problem, of course, was that the battered defenders of the Antarctic Center had to survive the relocation first.

There were close to two hundred million people in Falcon Scott, and relocating them to Eastern Antarctica was going to take at least three weeks. The strait was not very wide, so ferrying refugees across it would be ten times faster than trying to evacuate them all the way to the Northern Quadrant. Still, there were just too many of them to accomplish anything in a timely manner.

So, the remaining members of the field army had to make sure that the siege capital would survive those weeks under constant siege by the Nightmare Creatures.

Master Jet leaned back.

"We resisted three large-scale assaults yesterday, and there are probably going to be four or five today. That number will only increase in the future. We will have to stop counting them eventually, I think, since it'll just be one uninterrupted onslaught of abominations, twenty-four hours a day."

Winter and Dale glanced at each other. Eventually, the Ascended sharpshooter sighed.

"...It's not the number of Nightmare Creatures that worries me. It's the particularly powerful bastards that have nowhere to go but here, now."

Soul Reaper shrugged.

"We'll have to develop strategies against each one. That is what the big meeting is for, though, so let's not speak about it yet..."

Sunny checked out of the conversation a little, looking at the empty chairs around the table.

Davis, Randall, and Jesse... three of the six Irregular captains were now dead. He did not know them too well, but their loss still seemed like a bad omen. Especially Randall. Somehow, Sunny imagined that the grizzled veteran would be the last of them to go.

Jesse had seemed like a very nice person, too.

'Curse it...'

It did not slip his attention that the three fallen Masters were the ones who specialized in direct offense - be it frontal assaults, hit-and-run tactics, or stealth operations. The ones who survived were Sunny, Winter, and Dale - a utility specialist, a ranged fighter, and a defensive powerhouse.

If there was a philosophical lesson in all that, he was too disturbed and saddened right now to figure it out.

"...speaking of that... hey, Sunny, are you listening?"

Sunny glanced at Master Jet and blinked a couple of times. "Yeah, a little."

Soul Reaper chuckled, then threw something at him. He caught it, then looked at a small box in his hand in confusion. Opening it, Sunny saw an iron medal with an image of a burning heart etched into it.

The medal looked very ostentatious, if a bit solemn. Much more elaborate than the previous one he had received, with the attached ribbon painted in rich red. However... it was made of simple iron... so it couldn't be too valuable.

He looked at Master Jet with a silent question, making her laugh.

"Gods, don't you know anything? That is the Order of Humanity, Sunny, the highest military honor a person can receive. Congratulations. You are officially a hero."

He frowned a little, prompting Jet to smile.

"...And yes, it comes with contribution points. Lots of them. You have also been promoted to major. That comes with an increased stipend, too."

Sunny relaxed, and then looked at the iron medal with a bit of fondness.

"I do know some things, actually..."

He doubted that he would be able to use his considerable amount of accumulated contribution points in Falcon Scott, since logistics here had to be under dire strain. Most resources would instantly be distributed to those who needed them, including valuable Memories... or not-so-valuable Memories, for that matter, considering how many new Sleepers had to be armed.

Once they reached Eastern Antarctica, however...

Master Jet glanced at her datapad and sighed.

"It's time for us to head to a bigger office. The strategy meeting is about to start."

Sunny stood up, glanced at the false window one last time, and headed for the door.

'If we reach Eastern Antarctica, I mean...'