After the meeting concluded, Michael sat in silence at his desk. He checked the notes he had taken and shook his head. "None of them wanted to be leaders." He grumbled. After Dreil had told Michael that he no longer wished to be a ruler, the other two men agreed. Michael sighed as he looked at the growing list of things that needed to be done around the city.

Milano called, and Michael answered. "Sir?" Michael said, his fingers tapping against the desk.

"He’s about to tell me some bullshit, isn’t he?"

"I am calling to inform you that Riemskin officials will be there within the day. You will hand command of the security forces over to Captain Rima from 4-1, and come back to Riemskin."

Michael exhaled sharply as he looked back over his notebook.

"Sucks to be her." He thought.

"Yes, sir." He responded.

The line went dead without Milano responding, and Michael stared at the phone for a brief moment. "Always gotta have the last word, don’t ya, sir?" Michael grumbled before texting both Erica and Justin:

"Drop what you are doing, and come back up to the command room."

After texting his two subordinates, Michael stared at his messages. Underneath the Intelligence chat was his chat with Ayeolla. His thumb traced over her name. "I’m coming home soon." He whispered before putting the phone down.

Michael stood up and groaned, his back cracking in various places as he stretched out. He walked over to the window and looked down the street. Movement caught his eye. A young woman was running down the street, tears rolling down her cheeks. She held a poster in her hands and showed it to every soldier she saw. Michael grabbed the radio. "Team Hotel, Chaos one. Approach the black-haired woman running down Main Street. It appears she is looking for a loved one."

"Roger Chaos one."

Justin and Erica arrived a few minutes later. Michael looked up, and frowned at their appearances. Both wore haggard and pale expressions. Erica’s usual bright smile had been replaced by a deep scowl, and Justin held a one-thousand-yard stare. Michael sighed.

"Shut the door, and sit down. What happened?"

Erica was the first to speak after they sat down. "We set up a shelter so that families could be reunited." She whispered. Her voice was barely audible over her leg tapping on the floor. She tried to talk more, but only broken words came out. "Some of the families that were separated were reunited."

Her voice trailed off as tears began to fall down her cheeks. She shook her head and leaned on Justin’s shoulder.

Justin finished her sentence. "Most have not. We have also begun to find evidence that many women have ended their lives. The number is growing by the hour. Most of the slaves and..."

His voice trailed off, and he clenched his jaw before continuing. "Most of the victims have been accounted for. Giving them access to healthcare is proving to be challenging. We do not have enough medics or healers to accompany all the civilians that are suffering."

Michael grabbed a report, and his eyes narrowed. "Alright, here is what we will do. There is a hospital here in Dresken. Go there. Inform all the doctors and healers to head down to the area where the slaves and victims are held. If they do not comply, tell them they will not be able to practice medicine in Dresken."

Justin’s eyes widened. "Can we do that?"

Michael nodded. "Yes. Now that they are under Riemskin territory, they fall under Riemskin law. Since I am married to the princess, I am a noble. "

Justin blinked. "Sir..."

Michael looked down. "You’re right, bud. I’m sorry. Just because I can do that doesn’t mean I should. Okay, do this instead. Go to the hospital and inform the doctors that we need help over at the triage area. Offer a monetary incentive. We will pay for their time. If they refuse, documentation will be provided to Riemskin officials for their review."

Justin nodded. Erica was still staring listlessly out the window. Michael slammed his hand on the desk.

Erica jumped in surprise. She looked up at Michael. "I’m sorry." She muttered, looking down. "I just..."

Michael stood up. He placed his hands on both of their shoulders. "I need both of you to get it together. This is ugly, but it can get a lot uglier quicker. We need those doctors, and we need you to be focused on what is happening right now."

Erica wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay. I’ll do my best."

"Good. Now go to the hospital."

After Erica and Justin left, Michael looked down at his hands. They trembled, and his vision was blurry. "What am I doing?" He grumbled to himself. "For a second I really thought..." He slammed his hand down on the desk. "That’s not me." He clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. "I will not use power to get people to obey me." He growled before looking at the reports of Lirel’s seized assets. "That’s how I become like them."

For the next few hours, Michael read through reports and issued orders over the radio. "Chaos one, this is Charlie." Michael groaned and grabbed his notebook.

"I feel like I am taking more notes than when I was in college." He grumbled.

"Go ahead, Charlie."

"Sir, we have the final count. All civilians are accounted for except for ten. Standing by for further guidance."

Michael held the radio against his head, looking out the window as he thought. He then flipped a few pages in his notebook and traced his finger on something he had written a day ago.

"Charlie, continue assisting with triage and treatment. Alpha team, go back to the areas around Dresken Lake. Conduct a search of the area. Make sure the entire area is thoroughly searched. Delta, go to the mountains to our east. Look for caves along the routes leading to the city."

Erica looked up from her reports. She had a radio next to her to coordinate with the triage unit. "Why are you having them conduct more searches?"

Michael set down his notebook and took off his reading glasses. It was getting dark, so the only light in the room came from the dim lamps that decorated it. "We may have missed something in the original searches. At the time of our initial investigation, we were also setting up perimeter defenses. I want to ensure that every nook and cranny of the areas where the camps were located is searched before I announce to already grieving families their loved ones are confirmed as missing."

The search continued well into the night. Erica, Justin, and Michael rotated sleep shifts so that incoming reports could be annotated. At five am, Michael was on shift and heard the radio cackle to life. Michael had to stop himself from running over to the radio.

"Chaos one, we found the missing survivors. Taking them back to the triage unit."

Michael leaned back in his chair, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Goddess." He whispered.

Erica heard the radio call and sat up from her spot on the floor. "Do we get to go home now?" She said wearily, her eyes half shut.

Michael chuckled while he annotated the time. "When Captain Rima and the Riemskin delegation arrive, yes."

She fell back to her spot on the floor, wrapping Justin’s jacket around herself. "Good. I can’t wait."

In the afternoon, the delegation from Riemskin and Captain Rima’s team arrived. Michael received them in the command room. He handed each leader a copy of the reports he had compiled and sat at the front of the table. "Ladies and Gentlemen, as you can see, the Dresken operation was successful. We were able to liberate it with very few casualties and have already begun rebuilding the city. Contractors from Austin, Vegas, Washington D.C., and Riemskin will all arrive within the next few weeks. We also successfully located and rescued all survivors from the camps. Some of the victims did unfortunately succumb to their mental illnesses, but most are expected to make a full physical recovery."

A liaison from Riemskin raised her hand. "Captain, one of the reports I received said that the former leaders of Dresken did not wish to hold any power in the new governmental system. Is that correct?"

Michael nodded. "Yes. They voiced their concerns the day before yesterday, and told me to inform you that they wish to have none of it. As a good measure of faith, they have even offered up a large donation to the citys treasury."

Murmurs echoed throughout the room, and Rima looked up from her notes. "Will the assets deployed here stay here?"

Michael nodded. "Yes. Every piece of tactical equipment that is here in Dresken will stay here. We will likely send additional units to reinforce the city at a later date. That has yet to be decided."

Rima nodded.

Michael looked around the room. "Are there any further questions?"

No one spoke up. "Very well. Thank you for your time. If you do have any questions, feel free to contact the 6-8 headquarters at Hood Hill."

Michael headed back to the command room after his brief. Both Erica and Justin were curled up together and snoring. Michael shook his head. "Unbelievable." He grumbled, but he grinned as he looked down at them.

He took out his phone and downloaded an airhorn app while he packed his belongings. After the app downloaded, he held it over the sleeping couple’s faces and pressed play.

"BLAMP, BLAMP, BLAMP... "

The couple jolted up, looking around in panic before noticing Michael roaring in laughter. Erica huffed, and Justin rolled his eyes.

"You’re driving, Justin," Michael said with a smirk and threw Justin the keys.

Michael slept the entire drive back to Hood Hill.