The briefing lasted for a while longer. The seven Ascended of the First Irregular Company had a lot of things to discuss, and while a few nuances went over Sunny's head, he slowly gained a better understanding of the upcoming ordeal.

That said, each of them had way too much to do before the naval convoy left for the Southern Quadrant, so wasting precious time on long conversations was not in anyone's interest. Eventually, the five Masters left, leaving Sunny and Jet alone in the meeting room.

There was a grim expression on his face.

Sunny sighed, then glanced at his superior.

"I am not going to lie… all of this seems a bit overwhelming."

Soul Reaper smiled and shook her head dismissively.

"Don't be too concerned. You already have the necessary experience and qualifications to make things work. It is not like the others are better prepared to deal with something of that scope… above all, we will need the ability to swiftly learn and adapt. That is how we will survive this unprecedented mess of a disaster."

He looked at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. Well, when Master Jet put it like that… yes, it made sense to say that he was qualified to face the challenges of the Chain of Nightmares. The other irregulars might have been older and more experienced, but no one had ever lived through something like that. In the absence of relevant experience, adaptability was arguably more important.

In that regard, his young age and flexible mindset could even be called an advantage. Plus, Sunny had always excelled at being able to adapt to anything.

Soul Reaper stood up and beckoned as she headed for the exit.

"Come on. Let's get you settled."

They moved to a different level of the bunker, where some sort of administrative center had been hastily established in recent weeks. The military admins were even busier than the soldiers above ground. An atmosphere of feverish, barely contained chaos hung in the air as hundreds of officers tried to juggle tens of thousands of issues as they prepared the army for departure.

Maybe because of this haste, or maybe because of Master Jet's presence, the paperwork did not take long. To Sunny's astonishment, it took less than half an hour for him to officially become a government agent and an officer of the First Evacuation Army. He was issued the rank of a captain, along with all the status and privileges of one.

Sunny couldn't help but blink a couple of times.

'Captain Sunless… damn, it has a nice ring to it.'

Without wasting any time, they moved to another level, where Sunny was issued with a basic set of gear corresponding to his rank. Among other things, he also received the ubiquitous black bodysuit. His communicator was already of a high-grade government model, so it simply received an extensive software upgrade.

As they waited for all the routine procedures to be performed, Sunny and Master Jet quietly discussed business.

"So… what exactly happens now?"

She looked at him for a few moments.

"Well, you will have to do a lot of things to get ready for Antarctica. Don't worry too much and take it one step at a time."

Soul Reaper paused.

"First things first. In the next few days, you will have to make several important decisions. Don't rush and really think matters through before committing to a choice. However, don't wait too long, either. The longer you take, the less time you'll have to accomplish other tasks."

She gestured to his communicator.

"All the necessary features and permissions have already been added to your comm. Your credentials should have been added into the system, as well, so you can access the data through it."

Sunny checked the new features added to the operating system of his communicator and nodded.

"So what exactly are these decisions?"

Master Jet smiled. © 2024.

"First of all, you are an officer of an elite combat unit now. The members of the First Irregular Company are entitled to receive a fair share of rare equipment and precious resources that the government has to offer. That said, each cohort is unique and has special demands. To make sure that you and your soldiers are outfitted with not only great tools, but also ones that suit them best, a very generous amount of contribution points has been added to your personal balance."

She gestured to one of the symbols on the screen of his communicator.

"Your cohort will be provided with a basic set of assets, but on top of that, you will be able to customize them or acquire additional equipment yourself. You can peruse what the logistics and supply has to offer through that interface, as well as claim whatever you choose. Of course, the inventory available to the First Irregular Company is much more robust and exclusive than what mundane units have access to."

Soul Reaper sighed wistfully.

"What you settle on is at your discretion. You can decide to upgrade your personal gear with powerful tools, Memories, or even Echoes. You can choose to equip your soldiers with better equipment instead. You can assign most points to comprehensively upgrade the technical assets provided to your cohort. Hell, you can even convert all the contribution points into credits and transfer them to your personal account… not that I would advise doing something like that, of course."

Sunny's eyes glistened.

If there was one thing he loved, it was receiving free stuff! Even if most of the contribution points would go into strengthening his cohort, it was still a great opportunity to soothe his greed. He was sure that the government had a lot of amazing stuff in its coffers…

The decision to enlist was already starting to look much more appealing.

…There was one problem, however.

He gave Master Jet a curious look.

"I can't really fine-tune gear and equipment to the needs of my cohort if I don't have a cohort, though. Right?"

She nodded.

"Indeed. Actually, that is the second set of decisions…"