Shadow Slave

Naeve stared at him in bewilderment for a few moments, then glanced at the column of military vehicles that stretched far.

"You are the commanding officer? Things must have changed, then... not that I'm complaining! It's actually great to see a familiar face. I just thought that you were supposed to be in charge of a single cohort of elite Awakened."

Sunny sighed.

"Yeah, well... the situation is a mess, so I ended up being in charge of an entire battalion instead. As well as around twelve thousand refugees. Anyway, thanks for the rescue... I really owe you one, Naeve. That battle could have turned ugly without your ship's support."

He studied the gargantuan shape of the beached vessel, finally recognizing it as the battleship that had delivered his cohort to Antarctica several months ago. Or what was left of it, rather.

"Ah, yes, the rescue... truth be told, it is us who need to be rescued. As you can see, the ship is not exactly in great shape, and the crew - the ones who are still alive - are not in any way prepared for a long landbound march across Antarctica. We are only truly capable at sea, and even then..."

He glanced at the mangled remains of the fearsome vessel.

"...ah, the sea turned out to be more capable than us, in the end. In any case, your caravan is pretty much our best hope. So... do you maybe have space in these vehicles for a few thousand shipwrecked sailors? Give or take."

Sunny stared at him for a few moments, then smiled.

"Sure, no problem. That can be arranged. There's a lot of useful stuff left in those cargo holds, I assume? Come with me, and we can discuss the details. How the hell did your ship end up here, anyway? Wasn't the convoy supposed to be coursing between Falcon Scott and the Northern Quadrant?"

of those that, like Ariadne, had been reassigned to patrol and relocation duty after the situation in the Antarctic Center worsened with the appearance of hostile titans. His last orders were to scout and secure the stretch of the coastal highway between Erebus Field and the northern parts of the landmass, probably for

managed to kill the monstrous jellyfish, whose corpse eventually washed up

spared Naeve a grim

too, leaving me stranded there. What was Army Command thinking, separating individual battleships from the convoy? Wasn't it obvious that it would be too dangerous for them to sail

Nightwalker sighed

dangerous, when compared to the true deep sea. Or at least they used to be safer. There were risks involved, of course, but that is a given when you are desperate. Still... we might have underestimated how much

'Makes sense, I guess.'

some naval support. Logistically, it was a risky, but somewhat necessary decision, considering that the Winter Beast

operated along the coast for close to two months before stumbling on the abominable jellyfish and

was more surprised that the House of Night had agreed to play ball. Since when were the

a conversation for

now, both Naeve and Sunny had a lot to do. The structure of the caravan had to be reorganized to make room for the surviving sailors, the sailors themselves had to disembark and reach land, the maimed battleship had to be

set, refugees needed to be fed

these things

that, he was an

by his side made Sunny feel much more confident in their chances

coming back to a vast arsenal

Naeve with a strange expression

man noticed it and raised an eyebrow