Vingolf Plaza, Utgard, Harvest, Epsilon Indi System
2529
Angela stayed on here hands for a seconds as the world materialized around her, an unusual feeling of sickness washing over her body as the urge to vomit, faint, and fall asleep rushed to her mind all at once. Closing her eyes, she focused on taking deep breaths before eventually the uneasiness started to fade as the world outside began to faze into existence within her mind. The ground was cold and dirty, even with her eyes still closed she could feel the grit underneath her hands as they laid against the floor. The area smelled like sulfur or gunpowder as well as a tinge of molten metal overlayed with the smell of construction or in this case maybe even destruction. Last of all sounds began to formulate, the sounds of screaming, weapons firing, explosions shaking the very earth, there was a battle raging and she was in the middle of it. Looking up towards the man that had entered her periphery, her mind started to race as the surreal reality began to set in.
"War? War with who? With what?" She questioned fervently as she slowly stood inch, her legs not entirely stable beneath her. The man, clearly a solider based on his armor and likely a name imprinted in white print along the front collar of his chest piece, Yu.
He looked at her as if she'd lost her mind, which given the circumstances was very real possibility, "The Covenant…are you alright ma'am, is everything okay?" His words laced with uncertainty as his eyes flicked between her and the warzone outside.
"I…" Her words fell silent as those words sunk in – the Covenant. At any other point in her life she would ask for clarifying, who were the Covenant, why were you fighting them, what was happening, but given the last several months she felt she had more than enough information to understand the nightmare she found herself in. The events that lead to this began to reform, painting a clearer picture as the pieces began to fall into place. The assault on Gibraltar that coincided with Winston's breakthrough regarding Adrian's situation and the great burst of engulfing light that seemed to swallow everyone up within a couple meters of where the odd device laid. As Adrian would say in such a moment, she was, "Stuck in deep shit".
"Yes – I'm…I'll be fine. Just a bit woozy, everything coming back to me." Angela tried her best to give an ounce of confidence, though based on the soldier's face, it only furthered her knowledge that she was a poor actor. Thankfully any further questions were cut off as a soldier in similar battle dress rushed in, though this one's face was covered by a dark mesh balaclava.
"Where the fuck were you William, the Lieutenant's ordered a retreat!" The new soldier shouted, this one marked as Richter.
"I was…wait, the Lieutenant?"
"Captain Slovak's fucking dead and we're getting the hell out of here!" It was only then that Richter seemed to notice her presence, "Is that a civvie?" He seemed surprised before he shook his head, "Doesn't matter we're leaving now, you included." The soldier nodded as Angela.
She was thankful for the break in talking, she still needed time to wrap her head around everything that was happening. Absent mindedly she followed behind Yu, only a vague notion of where they were going, her mind racing a mile a minute until they stepped outside where it immediately grinded to a halt. The scene was unlike anything she'd ever seen, a brutal spectacle of life wasted with the sounds of battle no longer an abstract notion, but a reality brought to the forefront. Directly in front of her was meatgrinder of bodies, human and alien alike, a literal no man's land with corpses piled high enough in some places to reach her thighs. A sickening splatter of crimson liquids splashed with neon guts looked like a twisted recreation of a Pollack painting. To the left laid a mass of Covenant forces, her minds racing back towards the encounters on Earth mixed with the footage shown by Adrian to put a name towards each species. The specific traits, unique identifying features, general cultural customs, and so on helped her to reinforce that what she was experiencing was in fact reality. This was not some haunted nightmare, a darkly surreal thought, but honest to God the living truth, she was experiencing the universe that Adrian had been fighting in for years upon years.
Sangeili, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy filled the Covenant ranks; honor bound, blood-thirsty, and cowardly drew relative comparisons in her mind for each alien respectively. The genocidal invaders that had plagued Adrian's life, that she had previously only been experienced in brief, reality shattering moments on Earth that were quickly swept up. No longer was his 'home', a transcendental thought viewed through a computer screen and intangible ideas discussed together as they lay in bed. No this was real.
To their right, the UNSC, humanity's last stand against the conquering forces fired into the alien horde as they retreated. An even starker reminder to this was not simply a war for territory or wealth, but for survival, a fact that was becoming increasingly less realistic with every passing day according to Adrian and Liam. She stared slack jawed at the scene, her instincts to rush in and help clashing with the shock of a different world, she imagined this was exactly how Adrian had felt when he the reality had settled upon him, except she was thrown into the midst of a bloody, losing battle. A violent shaking drew her attention back to her body, she could just as likely end up as any one of those corpses.
The first man she'd meet, Yu, looked straight into her eyes, "Stay between Richter and me, keep your head down, and don't do anything stupid."
She nodded as the three of them crouched down, walking along a mound of rubble, every step making her conscious if any part of her body was visible to the aliens. Occasionally Richter or Yu would pop up and fire a deafening barrage before ducking back behind their meager cover. She flinched a few times as plasma rounds screamed overhead or landed near them, sending sparks of raw energy splashing in the air. She wasn't sure how long they spent, how many times they ran from cover to cover, or how many times she screamed as she thought she might meet the end. Eventually she started to notice other soldiers, a welcoming sign as any that they'd at least made it out of the killing fields though she doubted that it was any safer here as they ran over sizzling bodies, the disgustingly distinct smell of charred flesh filling the air.
Sliding into down a dip in the Earth, she almost gasped as the sheer scale of the battle began to unravel itself. In front of her a huge swath of land was turned into a makeshift base, thousands or easily even more were spread out through the area, most along the frontlines which comprised the land directly to either side of her. Heavy bellows of artillery and tanks rang off every few seconds, only further cementing the idea of 'safety' being an illusion.
"Mein gott." She uttered.
Richter snorted derisively, "It's the smallest active front, and this is just our sector, we got more boys a hundred klicks down or so. Better than being in the fucking meat grinders up North though."
Ziegler didn't have words with which to respond, the sheer scale was staggering, the Omni Wars were global but if the biggest battles were equivalent to the smallest sector here…it brought on an existential dread for the others. Absentmindedly she followed Yu, her mind overwhelmed with the information being presented, she only began to focus when she'd noticed a pattern of injured, sometimes even dying men laying around the base.
"Why aren't these men being treated?" She questioned, almost furious at the state of things.
"We're trying but were desperately short staffed and low on supplies. Half the medics of the battalion died weeks ago; the few corpsmen that can work haven't had a break in days. We'd love to help, but we've got bigger issues at hand." Yu halfheartedly waved to the side, parallel to the frontline, Angela turned her head to see that they were actually several hundred meters high, skyscrapers towered to either side while reaching equally deep to the ground. It was only then that she started to grasp her position on a massive skybridge connected between half a dozen towering buildings. Far below them, in the general direction that Yu had pointed, it looked like what storytellers described hell as. Flames, smoke, and utter despair. The city was practically ruined beyond any form of habitable recognition, and as far as her eyes could see battles raged across the city. It wasn't that they were one of a couple sectors, no – they were one of dozens, possibly even more, as the war encompassed a city larger than anything she'd ever seen. For all the tales Adrian told her, nothing could prepare her for the reality that faced her.
The chopper bucked wildly underneath Adrian, the raw power threatening to overtake what little control he had over it at any moment. He was quite literally stretching his body to it's limits just to be able to steer the bacterized amalgamation of steel and energy. Swearing under his breath as his grip faltered for a split second, sending the vehicle spurring off to the side for a split second before he regained his hold.
"Still alive back there?" The spartan ahead of him asked, sparing a glance he was only reminded of the fact that Aliza was riding the brute creation as if it was a simple bike, the ease with which she drove it annoyed him just a touch.
"Miraculously yes, any longer though and you might be plying my body from the concrete."
"A tragedy, I'm sure." Adrian narrowed his eyes; he wasn't sure if that was a Spartan's genuine attempt at empathy or some deadpan humor. Honestly it was harder to tell with the green giants than the Covenant, a fact that made him glad Spartans were on their side. "Lucky for you, we're just about at the objective. Follow me and pull off to the side, don't want to attract to much attention."
Adrian uttered a silent prayer as he tilted the steering handles away from the massive stretch of road they'd been riding on. The longer they road on the more labyrinthian in nature the city became, the destruction grew worse the closer to the heart they got requiring a greater number of detours, if they kept going he wasn't even sure they'd be able to make it much further before they'd have to ditch the choppers, luckily it wouldn't come to that issue. Pulling in alongside Aliza, he realized he didn't exactly know how to stop it other than letting gravity and friction take its course. As Aliza stopped, killing the power source in her chopper, she looked towards Adrian only to see him slowly rolling by. She blinked, unsure of what to make of the situation before getting out of the chopper and reaching out, grabbing the back of Adrian's seat with one hand, and firmly planting her feet in the ground. The vehicle stopped immediately sending Adrian jerking forward. Taking a moment to collect himself, he turned to see Aliza gripping the back of his chopper, her likely disappointed expression masked by her visor.
The two stared at each other for a few awkward seconds, "So that objective…" He coughed as he got out, stumbling a bit as the vehicle was very clearly not meant for human-sized occupants – normal human occupants he clarified as Aliza walked on by him, her for towering several feet above him. Drawing the M392 DMR, he pressed the stalk against his shoulder as the two moved through what appears to have been a sizeable market. It made sense, Harvest was an agriculture world, they were huge in supplying food to much of the outer colonies and outposts that might not have such an ideal climate.
Back home on Kholo, they'd had something similar to this though far smaller, it used to be every other Saturday at the crack of dawn. Farmers in their local community would come in from beyond the city proper, set up shop in a sizeable, all glass pavilion where you could get just about anything you're heart desired. As a kid he remembered heading down with his parents, the pavilion so immensely large to such a small child it felt like it would swallow him whole. He was given free rein to go wherever as long as he was back at the front in an hour, so he'd spend his time running around, talking to the other kids, and trying to snag a Vrushka fruit for free. A local fruit that didn't exist anywhere else, it always made him a bit sad that he would never be able to taste it again, feel the familiars textures upon his tongue or relish in the sweet delights. Walking through the market, he swore he could almost hear the sounds of a bustling crowd, vendors hawking their wears, children laughing. A deep, reverberating explosion snapped him from his almost pleasant memory, forcing him back to the cold reality.
"Been fighting for so long, sometimes I forget to remember that a world exists outside the war." Aliza titled her head as she looked back at him, Adrian caught himself, "Or it feels like ages."
"We'll end it one way or another." She replied.
Adrian almost snorted derisively, but held his tongue, it wasn't his place. Silence fell between them as they continued to read lightly, Aliza clicked the comms drawing his attention towards her. She pointed straight ahead towards a building that was mostly intact, flashing five fingers she waited on him to confirm, 'go up to the fifth floor of the building straight ahead'. Adrian nodded in return as they speed up slightly. Walking into the derelict first floor, they cleared the area in synchronization before heading upwards, the stairwell took up the very center of the building, looping around with plenty of space in the center to be able to look upwards and see the wrapping stairs like an optical illusion. They similarly cleared each floor, the last thing they needed was a surprise because they hadn't bothered to put in the extra time to secure their space. On the fourth floor they found that the stairwell connected to the upper level had collapsed. The gap wasn't huge but just enough to make him think twice about trying to cross it, as if reading his mind Aliza kneeled at the very edge of the crumbled stairs, hands cupped low with fingers tightly interlocked. Flicking her head towards the gap, Adrian hosted the DMR on his back as he took a few steps backwards, an act that he would find would be largely unnecessary. Running forwards, he timed his actions so as his boot would land squarely in the palms of her hands, before he knew what was happening, he felt himself launched through the air like a toy. He landed far past the edge of the fifth-floor steps, landing with a rough tumble as he groaned in mild pain. The wounds that he'd sustained earlier had finally begun to fade into obscurity, only now they felt worse than ever.
Pushing himself up, he was prepared to spot his companion only to look up and see a two-ton green beast flying with ease as if she did it every day. Taking a few wide steps to the side to avoid becoming roadkill, she landed with a heavy thud, causing the floor to slightly crack beneath her. The building ground under the brief bit of stress before quieting, causing Adrian to release a breath he didn't know he had.
"What's the plan from up here?" Adrian questioned as he looked around, this floor was far smaller than the previous ones and was completely open. No side rooms or walls to hide any Covenant, what made it unique was the unbroken line of windows that wrapped around all the walls, giving them a clear view of the world around them.
"We wait. From here there is a clear view of the factory." She motioned towards the north end causing Adrian to peer out of the surprisingly intact windows and sure enough, the factory he'd previously only seen a silhouette of was sitting their clear as day. At the most only a mile or so out, he didn't have a view of the factory proper, but the massive building stuck out far above the rest of buildings. If there was covvie activity in it, he couldn't tell, and as much as military intelligence was often a crock, he couldn't imagine they'd waste a pair of spartans unless they absolutely knew they had proof.
"Wait for what? Seems as good a time as any." Adrian quipped, wincing as he walked back to the center of the room."
"For the signal from the others, until that happens, we keep tabs and wait. Besides your injuries are getting worse, you're only at risk if we run head long into battle."
"I'm still fit to fight, not gonane be left here on my ass while you take all the glory."
"Didn't plan to, what you do need is some treatment. I assume you already injected the knitting polymer?"
"Yeah, a few hours ago when we meet." Adrian said as he took a seat, grimacing as he began to gently remove the armor on his left shoulder. The raw, singed skin was partially fused to the fiber of his under suit, nothing serious but it'd be a bitch to deal with.
"The slower you do it, the more it'll hurt." Aliza said from her spot a few feet away, methodically laying medical supplies that he'd be likely to need.
Adrian didn't reply, instead taking a few deep breathes before grabbing his under suit and yanking it away from himself, the sound of ripping flesh echoed throughout the room for a split second as Adrian clenched his teeth, exhaling after a few seconds as the pain started to subside. Without wasting any time, Aliza crouched by him, a packet of burn gel in one hand and a roll of gauze in the other. The burn gel would not only keep the wound from getting infected like a typical antibiotic, it would also prevent any new cells from fusing to outside material such as clothing or armor. After slathering the wound with the gel, she carefully but tightly wrapped his shoulder in gauze until she couldn't see any hints of blood seeping through.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Adrian said as he slid his under suit and armor back over the left side of his body. Aliza simply nodded as she set about repacking all the medical materials left out, grabbing one however she tossed it to Adrian.
He glanced down at the small package, "Painkillers? Fucking Christ you're a life saver. I'd kiss ya if I knew you wouldn't crush my head like a grape."
"Good choice."
Adrian snorted as he downed the pill, grabbing his helmet he slid it back on and laid himself out on the floor. Stretching his legs he wrapped his hands behind his head, "Don't worry, if I hear anything serious I'll be up." Before Aliza could even wrap her head around what Adrian meant by that, she heard muffled snoring coming from the ODST's position. Staring at the napping marine for a few seconds she shook her head in disbelief before performing routine maintenance on her weapons, how ODSTs got as good as they did, she'd never know.
A few minutes or an hour, she wasn't sure how much time had passed before she heard three clicks come over the comms in a distinct pattern, her head snapping towards the factory. Quickly reassembling all her weapons, she stood to her full height as she turned to wake Adrian, somewhat surprised to see him already up and about, performing a quick look-over of his gear. His visor briefly depolarizing to show a smug solider, "Told you I'd wake", she rolled her eyes in a rare act of exasperation, she was starting to regret saving his life.
…
…
…
Dusk was beginning to set over the city of Utgard, the sun was barely peaking over the bifrost as Adrian and Aliza made their way towards the Covenant stronghold. The warmth of the sunset gave an unusual attachment to the city that Adrian hadn't expected. Covvie patrols had been surprisingly light, a few grunts here and there with the occasional jackal, nothing they could handle while keeping their cover, though it did raise questions in his mind.
"Seems a bit on the light side all thing considered, I would've thought we'd been running into those bastards every other step."
"Their either trying to keep their position hidden, which failed, or they're pulling in most of the patrols to prep for the assault."
"I don't like the sound of that."
"Which is why we're going to prevent it."
"Right – boom and shoot."
"A simplified understanding of the plan…but…yes."
Adrian grinned, "Wonderful."
She shushed him with the closing of her fist as they came to the end of a tight alleyway. Several meters past a staggeringly open parking lot filled with vehicles and equipment laid their goal, a massive factory that far into the air. Up close he could easily see the Covenant influence, the transparent blue and purples of energy barriers covered most of the broken windows, doorways, and entrances into the building. A few floating sentry towers dotted the perimeter with a handful of covvie forces patrolling the exterior though if Adrian squinted, he thought he could see a frighteningly large number of covvie forces operating within the building. The energy shields made it hard to make out anything clearly, but it was obvious that Aliza's second theory on the light Covenant patrols was right, they we're preparing their attack.
Looking towards Aliza, he saw she was staring deadest across the factory yard towards something he couldn't see. Flicking on his VISR, pushing the zoom of his helmet to its limit, and adjusting to the increasing darkness of his surroundings, he could briefly make out a faint green outline marking a friendly IFF. It was hard to make out specifics but based on the size he guessed it was the other Aliza's partner. The other spartan made a number of hand gestures that Adrian was surprised to find he didn't recognize. When he turned to see Aliza engaging with similarly unfamiliar sign, he blinked in surprise before resigning himself to waiting until the two were done conversing.
When she finally turned to him, she pulled a heavy satchel of her hip and gently laid it onto the ground; flipping it open Adrian spied a dozen C-12 shaped charges. Instinctively taking a step back he swore under his breath, "Just one of those can level a five-story building, were we carrying that around the whole fucking time?!" He seethed.
"I was carrying it yes; it's how we're going to complete the mission." She responded coolly with no hesitation. "Besides we want to make sure nothing inside survives."
"Christ…alright what's the plan for this?"
"Pari and I will take plant explosives along the sides of the factory, meeting up at the back before making our way towards the company of marines kept in reserve. You'll lay a handful of charges along the front before popping up one of those grav-towers and provide overwatch."
"And if the Covenant start to move before we're done placing the explosives?"
"Then we detonate what we have."
"That – you'd probably die."
"I know." She said emotionlessly before gently handing a few of the C-12 cubes towards Adrian as well as the necessary components to make sure they'd be able to use remote detonation, who then promptly placed them in one of his empty pouches, hoping that they stayed in place. Before he could say anything, the Spartan dashed out of the alley way, under the cover of night she was practically invisible, her steps unnervingly quiet – practically a phantom in everything but name.
Grumbling to himself he stood up, glancing up at the dark sky he inhaled a deep breath as stared at the spackles of light throughout the night. Seeing the stars brought on an oddly melancholic feeling, because he knew that in only a few years of those star systems would be ravaged by war, death, and destruction if they weren't already. Sometimes it was hard to wrap your head around the fact that this conflict spanned lightyears on a galactic scale few would ever truly understand. Bursts of light filled the night sky, drawing his attention from the distant stars to the pressing reality; each of those eruptions of illumination was a shot fired, a ship destroyed, or God knows what else. A battle raged above as below; his memory knew that Preston Cole would achieve victory albeit an extremely pyrrhic one. Bringing himself out of his reverie, he shouldered the DMR and carefully stalked across the factory lot. Making sure to stick to the darkest shadows, he made slow but steady progress towards the nearest grav-tower. Taking care of the jackals in each tower would make his job of planting the explosives easier. Sliding across the broken pavement, he pressed his body weight into the passenger door of an abandoned car, the force of his body denting the thin metal. Peering up through the shattered window, he rolled his eyes as he saw the jackal wasn't even paying attention, it's focus entirely on some local rodent it caught.
"Fucking animals." He whispered under his breath. Inching out from the cover of the vehicle, he slowly made his way over to the base of the watch tower, a trio of small ramps leading up towards the pulsing center. Walking of the ramps, he holstered his DMR and drew the SOCOM from his hip, not wasting any time he walked into the grav lift core. Ignoring the feeling of his body losing all its mass as he was tossed upwards, he landed with a soft clank as his boots landed upon the floating platform. The bird-like alien snapped it's neck at the sound, the dead rodent falling out of its claws with a plop as it saw the black armor of an ODST. Adrian fired three quick shots to its narrow head, the jackal stumbled backwards almost falling off the edge before Adrian grabbed one of its lanky arms and yanked it back onto the platform, the less of a mess the better.
Turning around he walked to one of the protruding edges that acted as a thin sliver of cover, he waved his hand pulling up a holographic panel. Staring at it he tried to rack his brain around his training, they learned at some point what glyphs to push that would reverse the polarity of the lift allowing him to get to ground, but the memory eluded him, and he didn't have time to figure it out. Clicking his tongue, he moved away and instead peered over the edge of the lift to the ground some fifteen or twenty feet below. Throwing a glance towards the alien corpse, then back towards the ground, an idea sprung in his mind, 'So much for avoiding a mess', he thought to himself. Holstering the pistol, he hooked his hands under the jackals arms and ragged it towards the edge before pushing it over the edge. It landed with a muffled thud and maybe a crack or a splat, he wasn't paying much attention. Stepping over the edge he landed with a tight roll on the corpse, it's body splattering under the weight of Adrian and his armor, painting the ground and himself with fluorescent blood and guts. Pushing himself up he flicked the excess blood off his hand and pulled a string of innards from a between his shoulder plates, muttering in disgust.
With this sector clear, he had the leniency to run to the front of the factory as long as he kept himself out of plain view. Reaching the brick and metal exterior, he carefully reached into the previously empty pack and pulled out the five cubed C-12 charges Aliza had handed him. Placing the first one against the wall, he then pulled out a tiny electronic signal receiver and a bundle of wires. Placing the signal receiver into the malleable charge, he stuck one end of the wire into the cube and began to unspool the sire as he made his way down the factory side. Every five meters or so he'd place a charge down and connect it stick it with a wire. He did this five times until all he had left was an excess of wire, they he tossed onto the ground beside him. Just as he was about to head back towards the empty grav-tower, he instead walked to one of the energy barriers covering an old window. Inside was a whole god damn battalion of Covenant forces backed with heavy artillery and air support, backing away he swore to himself as he saw on the Phantoms that had been loading troops begin to power up.
"The Covenant are leaving; we need to blow this place fucking now!" He shouted into the mics as he turned, running as far away from the detonation that was meant to level an entire damn factory. Behind him the tip of a phantom began to peak its way through the energy shield but didn't make it any further before a string of explosions rocked the earth. The C-12 explosives placed around the building exploded all at once, sending a massive shockwave of energy outwards sending Adrian flying through the air as he could feel the heat of the explosion on his back. Landing with a clumsy roll, he turned towards the factory which at first still seemed to be standing but only for a split second before it started to collapse in on itself. A thousand tons of metal feel inwards, its support groaning under the immense amount of weight as it crashed to ground with unbelievable force. The phantom that had been leaving rammed into the ground as the factory brought it to earth causing another ear-shattering explosion as the warp core short circuited into oblivion followed by every other phantom, piece of powered artillery, and God knows how much ammunition, explosives, and raw power they were housing in there. The second wave of explosions caused by the Covvie tech sent huge chunks of rubble flying into the air only to come crashing down way outside of the factory proper. Rolling out of the way as a melted chunk of steel landed only a few feet from him, he struggled to push himself up as his legs felt like jelly underneath him. His radio was abuzz with comms chatter as the marines tried to figure out what had just transpired. All around him a storm of dust, smoke, and fire filled with air, he couldn't see a foot in front of him. The miasma of death was practically impenetrable, the haze was even beginning to obscure some of his equipment, it was like he was blind out here.
Ignoring those calls he opened a private channel, "Aliza, you alive?"
He was met with stuttering static, swearing to himself he tried again, "Aliza? Spartan-054 do you copy?" Still nothing, "Dammit."
Taking a few uncertain steps forward he swapped back to the open comms channel, "All UNSC forces in the area this is Inferno 1-1, be advised we have Covenant forces incoming. Seems we pissed them off something good."
Adrian's walking hesitated as he instinctively drew the DMR off his back, if some other poor bastard's were pulled into this world with them, he could only hope they'd been lucky enough to avoid the hell of this war.
Shobu556: I'd hope that was the reaction I was going to get, things in the future should also keep getting interesting!
Keywielder: Andrew-054 is not apart of canon, I generally try to put in as much time and effort as I can into making sure things I write don't clash too egregiously with established lore. Andrew-054 is a part of halofanon, a non-official website that serves a wiki for fan-made creations and fanfiction, such as Andrew-054. In official lore there is no spartan filling the role of 054, from Margarte-053 to Linda-058 there's no official Spartans that fill that space. For the Spartan-II's I made sure to find a number that didn't have an associated character, Andrew-054 is no more official than Aliza-054.
ArbyandtheChief: As always thanks for the support!
Sm0keyPanda: Writing the dialogue between Adrian and Aliza has been a highlight of these recent chapters and frankly I'm surprised as the positive reception she's gotten. I was unsure if I was doing Spartan's justice and there's always a fear of introducing a new character so late that they might no mesh well with the established roster but I'm pleasantly surprised to see her get such positive reception. Thanks again for the correction, I'm always glad to have feedback that helps to correct mistakes in my work. Thanks for the continued support!
Rook435: Glad to hear from you again! You're reviews are always appreciated especially with the detail you go into, I always enjoy hearing what specifically people like or don't like in chapters and also what people's favorite parts were. You bring up a lot of great ideas such as Adrian potentially altering the war for the better and that's definitely been an idea in my head though I've been unsure if I want to go that route and how large of a deviation it would make. Regardless always glad to hear your thoughts and I appreciate the continued support!