The Winter Tyrant

Chapter 118: Elysian

Since the first time the Ranger Recon company was spotted outside Elysium’s general vicinity, the Peltasts had been on non routine patrols.

Against such an elite force, they could not settle on specific routes or conduct operations at any given time.

Their job became less of scavengers and more of scouts. Sure, they retrieved equipment and supplies that Elysium could not otherwise produce by its own merit.

But they became increasingly focused on expanding the perimeter. And now that Dean had multiple fireteams of peltasts, one was sent deep beyond the region of contact.

Zach had volunteered for the position. His team by far had the most experience, training, and the best equipment.

Because of this, they rarely spent time in Elysium, instead they only came back for resupply when they couldn’t scavenge or produce anything necessary for sustained operations out there in the wilderness.

And the information retrieved from the Peltasts within the first few months of extended operations confirmed what Dean had suspected for a long time.

There were a lot more people out there in the world than he had initially expected. He had come from a small city to begin with, further north than most other areas. And less connected to the rest of the country.

Under those conditions, it guaranteed that a higher rate of casualties would occur during the first year of the long winter.

But there were other cities, other communities. Other survivors out there. Each trying their best to live another day in this cold and cruel world.

Despite this, Zach and the peltasts never encountered another settlement with the capabilities of those men who had wandered too close to their borders.

And though this was an absence of evidence, it lead Dean to believe that his initial suspicions were only that much closer to being confirmed as truth.

Eventually, he gathered the leaders of every fireteam he had in the agoge. Their numbers and strength had grown considerably since the first days.

New faces stood beside the old, each one as stern as the next. They remained silent with their hands folded behind their backs as Dean approached and placed a series of videos on a projector that flashed them onto the wall so that everyone could see.

He began pointing out the intelligence that had been fully gathered since their first encounter with the Ranger Reconnaissance operators. Then he ended on the final video of the Operators themselves.

"Tell me, what’s wrong with these two images?"

Zach remained silent, he already knew the answer. While Daniel and Todd also bit their tongues. This was a lesson for the new team leaders, their former comrades drawn from the rank and file of their own units, not for them specifically.

Eventually one of them raised his voice.

"The first videos clearly display settlements without the capacity to produce or sustain men in the second. The second video shows men with capabilities at least on par with our own. Which suggests either immense preparations, or larger scale manufacturing capabilities and supply lines than anything we’ve seen so far."

Dean nodded in satisfaction. And was quick to point out what he believed to be true.

"There are two possibilities for men like this to find their way to our borders. Either the billionaires of the old world prepared their own sanctuaries. And their scouts have found us. Or the Union of Columbia has survived in some capacity and now believes they have claim to the world they abandoned...."

These two possibilities were a chilling thought to entertain. But one was clearly worse than the other.

And Dean could practically hear the suffocation it caused the moment he meant that the Union of Columbia had survived in some fashion.

Daniel couldn’t keep his tongue any longer.

"Archon, if the Union of Columbia did survive, even as a shadow of its former self. Doesn’t that mean they’re a significantly bigger threat than anything we’ve ever faced?"

Dean didn’t deny it, he also didn’t confirm it. Instead, he simply pointed to the image. And gave a simple warning.

"It doesn’t matter, in the end, they won’t allow us to remain independent and sovereign. If they have come here to force old claims from a world buried under the snow. Then we can either submit to the authority of those who abandoned us, or we can fight. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to kneel to those who can’t be trusted to govern. So which will it be boys, are you Columbian or are you Elysian?"

There wasn’t a second’s worth of hesitation among them. Every one of them pounded their fists to their chest in a more ancient salute and decried their loyalty in unison.

"We are Elysian!"

That was all the answer Dean needed. At the end of the day, even with the absolute loyalty of his captains. Dean was outnumbered, outgunned, and would be heavily outproduced by the Union of Columbia when the day finally came for them to fight over the ruins of the old world.

He needed to find a way to make smokeless powder in house, and he needed it soon. Creating aramid fiber helmets, composite plates, and cold weather uniforms was already within his wheelhouse.

And as he dismissed his own captains, such measures were under design and prototyping to outfit new hoplites and peltasts. With the objective of eventually properly arming the militia as well.

But for the time being, equipment outside uniform production was sparse. None of that would matter if he could not begin the production of proper small arms, modern munitions, and new drones.

Ultimately, it was a race against time to see if he could get these designs completed, and production lines up and running before he came to clash with the enemy.

And for whatever reason, Dean had the sneaking suspicion that time was running out for him. But regardless, there was nothing more he could do other than continue on his current path.