My council had many suggestions in the coming hour, some of which we executed immediately. Giving information to our allies was a given, and ensuring that Fran had a direct line to me was likewise no question. Other aspects that we’d long established in the event of an emergency had already gone into effect. The Legion, Bulwark, and Artorian forces stationed globally went to high alert, working in tandem with local forces. Given the potential response, we held nothing back.

The Legion wasn’t just a governmental body anymore, it was now technically our job to take care of this. However, nobody was naive enough to believe that they wouldn’t also need to be ready to put their own forces to work. Contrary to what many expected, we were transparent about our expected capacity to protect them.

In short, we didn’t know.

We referenced local documentation, our own studies, and theoretical spread to try to pin down exactly what we might expect from any given location's biotic presence. However, it was Charlie Song’s suggestion to treat any potential reading we had as absolutely false, given the fact that there appeared to be a patient, intelligent mastermind behind the biotic presence on Earth now. That much was relayed to our allies, and after stressing the gravity of the threat, I was pleased to hear from Fran that the vast majority of the Summit’s member factions were mobilizing fully.

What I was less pleased about was our disagreements on the finer points of how the defense should be carried out.

“We should be moving forces further out into settlements,” Doug met my gaze placidly, “There are too many people who have invested in these areas to simply pull up and move into major cities without knowing more about the situation.”

Charlie was less mellow about the matter, glowering at the map, “The kind of evacuation we’re talking about isn’t going to be easy. Most places don’t have the kind of manpower or infrastructure to move literally everyone. Given that, it might be better to mobilize forces that can help support them as the fighting gets rougher.”

Uthakka shook his head as he listened, but remained silent. He, Princess Arianna, and Querax were mostly here for observation, ostensibly, but that didn’t keep them from voicing their thoughts or concerns.

“That’s a horrible idea.” Yamak gave Charlie and Doug flat looks, “You just got done saying that we can’t assume we know how many biotics are in any region now. If we end up with hordes, we’re not going to have the ‘manpower’ to protect them further afield.”

“It’s just property,” Peter spoke, “Argedwall is already evacuating into New Damond. We’ll consolidate power and see what we can if anyone is attacked en route during evacuation efforts. No matter what, these settlements are useless if everyone in them is dead.” The Lord-Knight of The Wolf had made all haste in getting here as soon as he could. As far as I knew, the rest of the Lord-Knights and the Knight-Commander himself were heading evacuation efforts with several of my Legion. There weren’t many small settlements near us, but we quickly moved everyone in Sunvilla towards New Damond. Gilramore was secure, having built itself up dramatically, and they had several smaller cities beyond them.

“Yes, I know that,” Doug’s voice betrayed irritation. I'd known the man for a long time to understand that he’d never put property over people. “What I’m concerned about is whether or not people will voluntarily evacuate.”

“So we make it mandatory,” I cut in before anyone else could speak, having heard enough to say I had a firm enough grasp of what others might be thinking, “Anyone who doesn’t evacuate to a major settlement is going to have to deal with the outcome on their own. I won’t throw Legionaires out to save people who won’t try to save themselves.”

“We…” Charlie started, before he seemed to forcibly clamp his jaws shut with a loud click. It turned to him, seeing wrestle down whatever he was going to say. When he remastered himself, he began, “We have an obligation as Bulwark to protect people. I have to put forth that I think abandoning people is exactly the wrong move.”

It was an odd moment, I thought, that I could almost hear what the old me would have said in this position. Years ago, my response would have been caustic and abrasive, pointing out his naivety.

Now though, I only could shake my head steadily. It was different when you put your life to a cause, something I understood better than most, I think, considering that I’d probably already died for it once. Bulwark was no different, their entire purpose was to help and protect the people from biotics.

“Charlie, you know as well as I do that we don’t have enough information. If this was some standard horde of weak biotics, this wouldn’t even be a conversation. But you know what this biotic has at its disposal, and you know that protecting a civilian population without the benefits of a highly entrenched position is a massive vulnerability that this biotic will exploit.” I met his gaze trying to seem as sympathetic as I could, “The Bulwark is responsible for protecting people, but…”

I could almost see the choice warring within him. He’d been military before all of this happened, someone who had made plenty of hard choices before. Honestly, it surprised me that this was a question at all for him. Though, the fact that they’d managed to spread and remain fairly unchallenged for so long probably played a lot into this.

There hadn’t really been a situation where Bulwark had gotten overrun, the closest being when Wolven literally tore down our walls in the early days of the Legion. They’d earned some level of pride, but I hoped that Charlie would see the fact that the odds were not in our favor.

Because there was the possibility that he was right. They might well be able to hold isolated communities, potentially grinding down any potential hordes from multiple angles. Perhaps they’d be able to save everyone and their homes.

‘But what if I’m wrong?’ Was the thought I could almost see play out behind his eyes.

Finally, he nodded with a sigh, “Alright, we’ll double down on evacuation efforts. Can you spare any Legion to keep the evacuation lines safe?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Honestly, I didn’t want to spare anyone from New Damond for the cause, as callous as that might have seemed. But I also knew among my own people there would be many who would not view my recalcitrance to send personnel for the effort poorly.

“We’ll make it work,” I nodded, knowing that I’d be leaning heavily on the Determinators to pick up the slack.

Charlie seemed satisfied enough by that, and quickly we turned the topics to other issues. All the while, orders were moving from us to those behind the scenes. The entire floor just beneath us was a communication hub, filled with our people as they relayed the general plan and more specific orders. Amidst it all, Fran updated me about the general feeling of the international scene.

I wasn’t pleased that not everyone was taking the threat as seriously as they should, nor about how our neighbors were working political angles amidst this danger. None of the organizations that were a part of the Terra Union was small, and luckily this helped to mitigate some of the issues we dealt with. They’d already gotten to this stage after fighting out their own territories, or received assistance from the Legion to secure their borders.

For the most part, good will and trust kept anyone from raising any complaints at such a large threat so early on, especially one that could be construed to be instigated by us.

I believed that a large portion of their willingness to look past that was due in no small part the potential behind the project. The threat of what may well be the apex biotic on our planet helped; if that thing was taking an interest, that might well mean we were on the right track.

That, or it was playing us and we were going into lockdown for no reason.

I highly doubted we were so lucky.

Yamak stiffened, and I recognized the way his eyes flicked across the air in front of him that he was reading a report. Moments later, an update went to me.

I cringed.

Yamak met my gaze, even as it seemed that the others of my council received similar reports.

“Basilisk is reporting heavy biotic movement in deep sea areas previously thought contained. They’re giving ground,” Yamak spoke aloud before glancing at me, “Looks like your girlfriend has her hands full.”

I let the comment go by in regards to Adira, “Gen Two and Three,” I grit my teeth looking at the sheer number of them. “Get information to every coastal-facing nation, make sure they’re watching the deep ocean. Especially in the gulf.”

“I’m also reading some light contact far south of Gilramore near the township of Hammond,” Charlie spoke with a confused expression, “Just Gen One’s for now, though.”

I frowned at that, but before I could speak up Uthakka spoke up for the first time, “Then you have an infestation type down south. There’ll be more powerful ones coming up behind them, and likely some kind of Broodmother.” He looked to me, “Murder that one early and the horde should fall apart.”

“Thanks,” I nodded to him briefly, turning my gaze to Charlie who had a sour expression on his face. “I’ll divert some of my teams to perform a surgical strike. Can your people continue evacuation efforts?”

He nodded, “We’re setting up temporary defensive constructs along the way. Those are more than enough to handle a few Gen One.”

I glared at the map as more reports streamed in, not just in our area, but all over the globe. The only location that was mostly dark was South America. There simply wasn’t enough human habitation left there, and somehow I doubted that the environment there would support a significant wave of biotics. It’d been picked clean of biotics thanks to the efforts of the Zombie Lord and my Legion, more thoroughly than most anywhere else on the planet.

“I think it’s safe to say that this biotic isn’t feinting, then.” Peter spoke, gesturing to some significantly larger hordes that were putting themselves together in several rural locations across the world.

“They’re gathering up before attacking,” Charlie clicked his tongue before looking to the nearest zone. Besides the Broodmother, there was another horde building some hundred miles to the north west of that, almost directly west of Gilramore. “We should crack that wide open before they start moving. Whether or not we can deal with hordes of low-gen biotics, these look worse.”

I blinked and brought up the image on the main holographic screen in front of us. I wasn’t the only one who glowered at the fact that there were several Gen 2 and 3 biotics there, and of varieties we’d either thought had been destroyed or that we’d never seen before.

“How the hell did these ones hide under our noses?” Yamak took the words out of my mouth, looking equal parts dismayed and annoyed.

That was a good question, too, because to my knowledge Legion, Bulwark, and unassociated groups had combed the area around Gilramore for a hundred miles and more for any indication of biotics.

“A question for later,” I shook my head, knowing that the answer was important, but not more than making sure that we were ready to receive them. “It looks like they’ll most likely move for Gilramore. Get every scout we have running reconnaissance, preferably by air, for as far out as we can get. One force is bad enough, let's make sure there’s not a second hiding in plain sight.”

Even as I issued orders, I could feel the movements of my Determinators in the background as they mobilized. New Damonds defense-grid came to life, turrets on walls and buildings presented a city ready to fight to the death for every inch. Our Reaver flight teams, now numbering just under five hundred in the city, geared up to assist any teams that called for aid in the field. Lumbering mechs as large as The Dauntless clattered into position along choke points, and a sizzling, crackling array of power conduits delivered untold amounts of energy to Raijin Cannons and Fields amidst the terrain around the city. Beneath the city, another form of defense was engaging, long, thick rods of metal that grounded the rest of the cities grid and helped defend from an attack beneath the ground began to superheat, leaving the deepest bowels of the earth below just above melting, supported by hundreds of columns that sank into the bedrock below.

Everywhere, new defenses came online with every passing minute. In all, the full suite took more than an hour to fully engage, and there were yet more features that we could put into effect the moment it was needed. So far, the non-combatant population had only been moved into defensive structures, some of which were simply their homes. They would be pulled beneath a five meter thick steel barrier if biotics managed to breach the outer walls, leaving a wide, open space between the outer walls and interior, towering buildings.

Which would leave plenty of field of view for snipers or artillery to punish any biotic that sought to approach.

This was why I was so proud of this city. Not just because of it being my headquarters, but because it represented our unwillingness to go down without a fight. Because at the end of the day, preparation was worth more than well-wishes and hopes for a better future.

Those thoughts comforted me as I thought about how many wouldn’t enjoy such defenses.

‘Let’s see what you have in store for me.’ I thought to myself, glaring at the map and trying to guess what would come next.