Milano clapped his hands together, drawing the attention of all those in the room. He looked around.

"I know the news is grim." He said as he gazed at the pictures. "But we will do this like we have done other times before. We destroyed the Mana suppression circles, the Brios cannons, and the siege. Nothing has changed about what we must do. That is why we are all allies, isn’t it? Our goals have not changed, my friends."

His eyes glared coldly at the last picture.

"We either take that monster out of the sky, or we die trying."

For the first time since the meeting started, Tryasche smiled. "Indeed. What have I been thinking? Dwarf King, it is true that no person or entity has successfully defeated an Ark before. These otherworlders possess weapons that even we Dragons fear. Do not dismay, my new friend. I am sure General Milano and his men will find a way to help us own the skies once more."

Lisaeth looked up at the Dragon King. "Surely you jest, Dragon King?" She said, her hands tracing along the pictures. "I have seen the powers of the weapons these men have firsthand. While powerful, none have touched the magnitude your ilk command."

Tryasche shook his head. "What you saw in Dresken were mere trinkets, Lady Lisaeth." He said gently. "They have metal machines that fly faster than we can hope to, and can reach targets far beyond the horizon. They took out an entire legion of cursed Dragons with but a few of them."

Eric watched the interaction between the races and sighed. The meeting was going nowhere at this point, with no concrete decisions being made. He looked out the window. Both suns were beginning to settle.

He cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen. We have strayed off topic." Eric said as he stood up. He walked over to the wall that held the world map.

"The fact is that this Consortium Ark will be hard to kill, but we can do so." He said, his hand tracing over Nedoria. "Before we get to doing that, though. We need to take control of the port. If we can control Nedoria, we control access to the facilities that help build the Ark."

Milano folded his arms. "We have limited manpower right now, Dryer. We siezed Dresken, and have limited ability to push forward towards yet another city."

Eric smirked. "Sir. We don’t need more ground troops for the initial attack. We have a supercarrier and a B-2. I say we have Ricky and his team conduct a recon mission and gather intel on where the military targets are. Ricky tells me that they have been itching to help. We use them to identify where we target, and we have the Navy conduct precision airstrikes to destroy those targets. We would then only need three companies or so to take command of the military nodes before reinforcements arrive to take command of the city."

Milano’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Eric. His finger tapped the desk as he thought over the plan Eric was talking about.

It was Stronmam that spoke up. "Master Sergeant, your plan seems sound on the surface, but I have concerns over the length of time and effort it will take for an Army to reach the shores of Nedoria. It takes an Army an entire week to simply reach Esponia by march. It would take almost two months to reach the city from that point forward. By then, the Empire could very well have three to five of those monstrosities built."

Eric narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Your Majesty, you don’t need to worry about travel. Our machines can cross that terrain in days. We can get there at a very rapid pace."

Eric then paused.

"It only takes them a few weeks to build multiple Arks?" He said, his eyes wide in disbelief.

The Dwarf king nodded. "You have saved merely a small portion of my people that were enslaved, Master Sergeant. The main camps are in Nedoria and Brishian city itself. My father told me that in days of old, we dwarves built each Ark in one week because the various camps would each work on a different part."

Eric looked at Milano. "Sir, we need to find the staging facility for the Arks. If they get one in the air..."

His words trailed off, a trickle of sweat running down his neck.

Milano looked up at Stronmam. "Your Majesty, do they have protection when not fully assembled?"

The Dwarf King clenched his fists and looked down. "They do not have protection until the mana cores are in place. But that takes mere hours. I fear that with the parts I see in these pictures, at least one Ark is near completion."

The room went silent, despair written on some of the staff officers’ faces. Eric rubbed his face in his hands.

"And I thought the Brios was bad."

He groaned inwardly.

Miher leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen against his lip. Before he could speak, a soldier ran into the room. "I apologize for interrupting!" The soldier gasped, then looked for Milano. "Urgent report. Two fractures happened at once, sir."

Milano looked around in confusion. "We didn’t feel the earthquake this time." He said as he looked out the window. There were no changes to the area around Hood Hill.

"What fractured?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Sir... The cities of Killeen, Texas, and a large data center."

Eric’s pen dropped.

"Great."

Stronmam looked at Eric, noticing his jaw was clenching. "What is the problem with those things fracturing, Master Sergeant?"

Eric shook his head. "There really isn’t a problem with the fractures themselves, your majesty. I do not have good memories in the city of Killeen."

Milano sighed as he took his glasses off. He closed his eyes before leaning forward, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him.

"Here is what we will do. Before any actionable plans can be made on Nedoria, we need to know who and what it is we will be dealing with. Dryer, contact Ricky and the team. They are to conduct recon missions on the port. Tell them to find out where the logistical, command, and manufacturing nodes are. Have ISR continue to monitor ships coming to and from the port."

Eric nodded as he wrote down Milano’s orders.

Milano then turned to Michael. "Stryer, take Delta, Foxtrot, and Gulf companies to Killeen. Secure the city. Coordinate with the police. Get on the line with your wife and see if we can get reinforcements from Riemskin."

"Yes, sir."

Milano then turned to the monarchs. "You and your people are welcome to stay here in Freedom town. We just built another hotel strictly for refugees. I hope that we build a strong, lasting relationship with you all."

Trysasche held up his hand. "If either of you wishes to, feel free to visit my land just west of Riemskin City. My people will treat you to a fine feast as a token of our hospitality and friendship."

Milano nodded before looking around the room. "Any questions?"

No one else raised a hand or offered to speak.

"Dismissed."

Eric sat in his truck in the parking lot at Hood Hill. After getting off the phone with Ricky, he sat there, looking at the picture of Liara and Jessica on his screen. Mia had sent a few pictures of their daughters throughout the day, and Eric longingly traced over the cheeks of his two daughters.

"When this is all over, I think I’ll be a stay-at-home dad." He whispered.

Then, he heard a knock on his door. He had been so engrossed with looking at the pictures that he hadn’t noticed General Milano walking up.

He opened the window, looking at Milano.

"Sir?"

Milano regarded Eric for a few seconds. "Dryer, get out of here and go home. I recall releasing you well over an hour ago. Have you been sitting in the vehicle this whole time?"

Eric sighed. "Yes, sir. I simply needed-" his words were cut off as Milano raised his hand to silence Eric.

"None of that. Go home and reset, Dryer. 6-8 is not so weak that you need to hang around HQ if something were to happen. Have more faith and trust that your subordinates will be able to get the job done."

Eric let Milano speak, and he nodded. "Yes, sir. I will keep that in mind."

Milano sighed as he looked out to the west. He could see a starry sky now that the suns were down.

"Dryer. Don’t lose your family because you are too busy working. Oftentimes, you do it yourself by staying back. Don’t make the same mistakes as I did when I was your age. Many men come home to an empty house when they work too much."

As Milano walked away, Eric took one last look at his phone before turning the key. "I know, sir." He whispered. "I won’t do that again."