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?"

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

they had managed to kill the monstrous jellyfish, whose corpse eventually washed up on the shore, but not before sustaining catastrophic damage. With no friendly port nearby, the vessel drifted along the coast for a while before encountering

spared Naeve a

tip of the region by a vessel called Ariadne. It was destroyed, too, leaving me stranded there. What was Army Command thinking, separating individual battleships from the convoy? Wasn't

Nightwalker

coastal waters are not usually that dangerous, when compared to the true deep sea. Or at least they used to be safer. There

'Makes sense, I guess.'

divisions spread across the Antarctic Center some naval support. Logistically, it was a risky, but somewhat necessary decision, considering that the Winter Beast had shut down the

along the coast for close to two months before stumbling on the abominable jellyfish and suffering a Pyrrhic victory that led to its

House of Night had agreed to play ball. Since

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 scoured for anything

that required time, which meant that the column would remain static for a while. A proper defensive perimeter had to be established, guard duty shifts had to be set, refugees needed to be fed and cared for. Sunny might have as well given an order to make camp, but he was extremely reluctant to remain on the

all these things had to

an Ascended... more than that, he was an Ascended from a great clan. The Nightwalker was an absolute elite among fighters, with long years of battle experience under his belt and a vast arsenal of powerful Memories

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

back to a vast arsenal of

looked at Naeve with a strange expression on

handsome man noticed it and raised