Chapter 254: First Day Reports

By the time they reached the larger road, dozens of people had already gathered along both sides.

Golden Eagle soldiers and several civilian volunteers kept the road clear while traffic from the smaller streets was temporarily held back.

Nick and the group waited for a few minutes before the sound of heavy engines reached them from farther up the road.

The first vehicles appeared around the distant bend.

Armored reconnaissance vehicles came through first, followed by Guardian APCs carrying infantry farther behind them.

Then came the tanks.

Vanguards rolled south in spaced groups, their tracks grinding against pavement that looked almost new beneath them.

More Guardians followed.

Trucks.

Engineering vehicles.

Medical and recovery vehicles.

Another large command vehicle moved somewhere near the middle of the formation, surrounded by its own security element.

Nick stopped counting after the first few dozen. More vehicles were still coming around the bend.

Some of the vehicles looked almost untouched, their armor clean apart from road dirt. Others showed much more use.

A few carried the same Golden Eagle markings Nick had seen on yesterday’s column.

The people around the road watched with far less surprise than Nick and his companions.

Some waved in excitement. Several children shouted toward the passing soldiers.

A few soldiers returned the gesture before their vehicles continued south.

Joe stood beside Nick with his mouth slightly open.

"The fuck?"

Nick didn’t answer and watched silently as more armored vehicles passed.

Joe finally looked toward one of the nearby men.

"Didn’t they just send an army south yesterday?"

The man glanced at him.

"Yeah."

"Then what’s this?"

"It’s another one. Why do you sound so confused?"

Joe wondered if this person was making fun of him or not. The man seemed more amused by his reaction than anything else.

"Where are you people from?"

"South. Silverpeak road."

"First time in Grefort?"

"Yeah."

"That explains it."

He looked back toward the procession.

"This one’s going to Horjus."

Nick’s attention returned to the road. He remembered what the soldiers told him yesterday. Their column was heading for Silverpeak.

Joe looked between the vehicles and the man beside them.

"How many soldiers do they even have?"

The man shrugged.

"I have no idea."

Another group of Vanguards rolled past before he continued. "What I’ve heard? Too many to count."

Nick remained quiet.

Yesterday, an army large enough to frighten his entire settlement passed them on its way toward Silverpeak.

Nick had thought that was the army that cleared Grefort. Now it was obvious that it had only been one part of it.

...

Back at the Main Base, Hans watched the synchronized Radar picture as the new southern Battalion continued through Grefort’s southern districts.

Its markers were already approaching the outer side of the city.

"What’s the situation on Brandon’s side?"

Dianne stood nearby with a folder open in one hand.

"Brandon kept part of his rear elements around the junction for temporary containment. The Horjus fire mission started before dawn, and nothing has broken toward the main corridor."

"How much have they used?"

"Most of the MLRS and Hellhammers have gone through their current ammunition. Several promoted during the bombardment and continued firing after the others stopped."

Hans looked toward Horjus on the map.

The city had never been particularly large by Ashington’s standards. Around two and a half million people lived there before the Event, and most outsiders knew the place more for its hot springs and nearby hiking trails than anything else.

"And the new Battalion?"

"Still moving south. They should reach the junction soon."

"Good."

The rest could stay with Brandon and the officers already handling the southern advance. Hans had no reason to interfere with every decision just because he could see the operation from here.

"What about Saicine?"

Dianne turned a page.

"All of the harbor sectors have been cleared of the dangerous marine contacts we’ve found so far. Conrad resumed the outward sweep after the platform situation was secured."

"Platform?"

"Personnel inside called it ASR-003."

Hans remembered the designation from the previous report.

"The extraction platform?"

"Yes. The Engineers completed their first inspection. Parts of the lower support frame are badly damaged, along with several extraction modules. They believe it can be repaired, but not quickly."

"And the people?"

"Twenty-three survivors were accounted for when we found them. Five needed medical attention. One was in critical condition."

"Still alive?"

"Yes. He’s stable for now."

Hans relaxed slightly.

Dianne continued.

"They lost several people before we arrived. Sickness in some cases. Infection in others. The survivors had nowhere safe to keep the bodies, especially the infected ones, so they put them overboard."

Hans remained quiet for a moment. There was nothing they could do for people they never reached.

"What about the rest of the offshore area?"

"Conrad continued north after the evacuation was under control. His group is extending the cleared waters and checking whatever structures or contacts they encounter along the way."

Hans looked toward the northern edge of the operational picture. One Task Group was enough when Conrad was only checking the waters outside Saicine.

That, however, was no longer the case.

The coastline kept going, and ASR-003 had already proven that useful infrastructure and survivors could be waiting beyond the first cleared sector.

Conrad could not search all of it with five ships forever.

Hans opened the Naval roster.

Triton One remained with Conrad alongside Sentinel One, Sentinel Two, Wraith One and Wraith Two.

Three Sentinels and three Wraiths remained elsewhere in the Naval inventory, along with the five Amphibious Assault Transports.

Two more Tritons would give him the search core for another two groups.

If both started with the same basic escort and hunting balance as Conrad’s current group, he was short one Sentinel and one Wraith.

Haven One had also finished long ago.

Conrad could use it now that what started as a short sweep was turning into something much larger.

Hans added two more Havens to the order.

The five Amphibious Assault Transports could stay outside the search groups. If Conrad needed them for a landing or evacuation, Naval Command could assign them later.

------

[ Naval Expansion Order ]

[ Triton ASW Frigate x2 ]

Current Cost: 45,000 Gold each

Current Production Time: 6 hours, 45 minutes each

[ Haven Fleet Support Ship x2 ]

Current Cost: 40,500 Gold each

Current Production Time: 6 hours, 4 minutes, 30 seconds each

[ Sentinel Destroyer x1 ]

Current Cost: 18,000 Gold

Current Production Time: 2 hours, 42 minutes

[ Wraith Stealth Submarine x1 ]

Current Cost: 9,900 Gold

Current Production Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 6 seconds

[ Naval Commander x2 ]

Cost: 6,000 Gold each

Training Time: 45 minutes each

[ Total Gold Required: 210,900 ]

------

Hans distributed the hulls between Saicine’s two Shipyards. One received both Tritons followed by the Wraith.

The other received both Havens followed by the Sentinel. The last hull would finish in just under fifteen hours.

The two Naval Commanders were queued at separate Barracks. Conrad could handle one Task Group, but he could not command three separate operations at the same time.

Hans confirmed the order.

"Have Haven One join Conrad. Once the first new Triton finishes, we can start separating the northern sweep into more than one group."

Dianne wrote it down.

"And the other new ships?"

"Build two more independent search groups around them. Don’t lock every ship into one formation permanently. If one sector needs more Sentinels or Wraiths, move them around."

"Understood."

Hans closed the recruitment interface.

"That should be enough for now. If Conrad needs more after that, tell him to send another request."

"I will."

Dianne did not move to the next report. Hans noticed.

"What?"

"There is one other issue from ASR-003."

"How bad?"

"Not immediately dangerous."

Dianne lowered the folder slightly.

"Some of the platform personnel became worried when they heard the Golden Eagle callsign."

Hans frowned.

"Why?"

"They thought we might be Valerian."

Hans stared at her, then the thought clicked.

"The eagle."

"Yes."

Hans leaned back and let out a long sigh. He had chosen Golden Eagle because the name reminded him of an old game from Earth.

At the time, that had been the entire thought behind it.

"It seems I did something stupid again."

Dianne wisely said nothing.

Hans looked at her.

"Should I change it?"

"You can."

"But?"

"Grefort already knows you by that name. So does Saicine. Our soldiers use it over radio, civilians use it when they talk about you, and anyone we’ve contacted outside those areas may have already heard it."

"So changing it now won’t fix anything."

"Not immediately. Changing it right after somebody questions it may also create more confusion."

Hans stared at the map for several seconds. He had somehow turned a game reference into a geopolitical problem.

"Keep it for now. Tell every formation making first contact outside our territory to watch for that reaction. If somebody thinks we’re Valerian, correct them before anyone starts doing something stupid."

"Understood."

Hans shook his head.

"I have a feeling that name is going to cause me problems later."