The room went quiet except for the sound of papers being shuffled. Leaders and assistants alike were comparing pictures of Earth taken via satellite, to pictures of Brishan where the Earth cities had fractured.

Nieto took his glasses off and rubbed his face between his hands. "What happened to the ships in the gulf? I don't see them here."

Mia pointed to a spot in the ocean near Riemskin city. "From what we have gathered, most of the ships in the Gulf of Mexico and those in the Atlantic merged into the Cassianic sea. Of the five ships we contacted, three of them had damaged cargo."

Nieto closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers along the top of his head as if trying to ward away a headache. "I see." He turned to Milano. "Have the the fifth fleet escort those ships to the largest port available. From what I can recall, Captain Midelgard was in charge of the carrier, is he back with his fleet?"

Milano nodded. "Yes Sir."

"Then have the fleet escort those ships."

After a brief pause and the sound of typing on keyboards filled the room, Nieto looked up at Mia. "Mrs. Dryer, has Cartharic made any military actions?"

Mia looked down. Her eyes were somber as the slides changed.

"As you can see, aside from Earth infrastructure merging..."

She spoke softly, nearly whispering as her professional bearing almost broke.

"Some of the Earth cities fractured into Cartharic territory. We have assets verifying real time locations, but satellite imagery is picking up large plumes of smoke in the atmosphere. We currently have members of a special operations team investigating the area, and preliminary reporting suggests that Cartharic has begun large military operations near those cities north and west of Dresken. We have been unable to get close. From what the drones have detected, Cartharic was able to move millions of soldiers towards the major Earth cities that fractured."

She held firm, but her voice had begun to tremble as she finished explaining the pictures. No one was taking notes. The air felt cold and cruel as they observed the images.

Milano spoke up. "Are those large plumes of smoke from them setting cities on fire?" He asked, his voice laced with poison.

She nodded. "We can say with medium confidence that Cartharic is setting cities on fire, General. We have no verification as of yet, but assets in the area will be able to pinpoint exactly what is happening."

She then tapped two spots on the projection. "You will find this on page 12 of the files I gave to each of you." She said with cold eyes.

"Analysis of these areas points to them building two more Arks. We have tried to get ISR assets out there, but so far two drones have been shot down."

The room became dead silent. Leaders stopped reading documents, tapping on the desk ceased, and soldiers stared at the map in disbelief. Even the ancient beings had no words for the situation.

Milano stared at the map intently. His hands were folded across the desk, his pen sat unused to the side. He started to reach for it, but his hand stopped. He looked around the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think Mrs. Dryer has painted a clear enough picture for us." He said as he stood up. "The information she just provided leads me to believe that pushing into Cartharic will not be wise."

Nieto nearly jumped to his feet. "General. You can't be serious. American people are on the other side of Esponia. Allied nations could have people trapped. We can't simply..."

Milano took a moment to look at the president, and then sighed. "President Nieto. As of now we don't have the full tactical or strategic picture for what is going on over in the Cartharic Empire. If we send forces in right now to try to battle Cartharic for those cities, it would likely be suicide."

Nieto clenched his jaw, and everyone tried to avoid eye contact with each other. Mia stood at the front, maintaining a calm expression, but Eric could see her trembling hands.

It was Tryasche that stood up.

"It would be pure folly to attack a prepared enemy when we ourselves do not know our own backyards, Mr. President. I say that we do not give up on those beyond the reach of Esponia, but as of right now we must gather more information. We also must see which other nations from your world still function within all the chaos."

Eric narrowed his eyes as he watched the back and forth from the leaders.

"This is why I hate politics."

After another hour of back and forth yelling between the various leaders, Miher stood up and clapped his hands for attention. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are leaders of an alliance."

He said calmly as he walked to the middle of the room. He stood in the area between the two large tables and looked around. "We cannot be childish and bicker at a time like this. I suggest we reconvene tomorrow with rational heads."

"Very well." Tryasche said. "It is true that no plan made whilst in a state of ire pans out well."

After everyone left, Milano, Eric, Mia, and Miher were the only people left in the command room. Milano looked up at the young couple as they began to pack Mia's papers back into her folders.

"Here I was, thinking that this war would go smoother when we had all our capabilities left." Milano said with a groan.

Eric chuckled. "Sir, this was never going to be easy. Even without their new technology, Cartharic was always going to be a tough fight. Pre merge it was ten times larger than Rus-"

Eric looked at the map.

"Fuck."

Milano and Mia looked at Eric with confusion laced all over their face.

"Of all the countries to have cities fractured inside of Cartharic." Eric murmured, pointing to a specific area on the map. "Compare that light signature to that of old Earth. That's Moscow."

Mia tilted her head in confusion, while Milano and Miher narrowed their eyes coldly.

"Tomorrow, during the next briefing we will inform the other leaders how bad that could potentially be." Milano said with a sigh.

That night, Eric and Mia tried their best to pretend everything was okay, but it was clear Jessica didn't believe them. Instead of the teen grumbling about changing diapers or feeding her sister, she was offering her assistance before Eric or Mia could say anything.

Once Liara was in her crib and asleep, the older adults sat down with Jessica and Liam. Eric had called the young man and told him to come over.

The air was tense and somber. No one spoke at first. Mias tail flicked back and forth, and Eric kept trying to drink from an already empty glass of water.

After a few minutes of silence, Jessica tapped her feet against the thick carpet.

"Would you two just spit it out already? I'm not a child, you know?"

Eric exhaled sharply. His poker face dissapeared, and he took Jessica's hand.

"Jess, we have been through some tough shit in the last year. We had a lot of close calls, but this time might be the most dangerous of all. Cartharic had a lot of Earth cities fracture into it's territory."

Jessica looked even more confused than before. "What are you saying?"

Eric sighed. "We all need to promise each other that the hero shit stops here." He grumbled. "We have too much to lose now. I know you and Liam are planning on getting married after the war settles down."

The two young adults blushed, neither of them looking at Eric.

"Liara is now walking and talking. She is going to need all of us in her life. So let's all promise not to do the hero shit, okay?"

Jessica looked down at the ground, her eyes closing. "I will not do the hero shit, unless if I know I can make it out alive. I am stronger now, Dad. Kamer has been training me even harsher these days, and pushing me to be stronger each day."

Eric smiled, and Mia smacked his head.

"Your turn, you big oaf." She said before hugging him from behind. "Please promise me again." She whispered.

Eric sighed and took both of their hands. "I will not do any hero shit. I have a teenage daughter that needs daily teasing when she gets out of bed and looks like she walked into a hurricane. I have a beautiful wife who is the crown jewel of my life. I can't leave her alone to raise our baby, and walk down the aisle with our teenager. And finally, I can't be the hero anymore because of our little Liara. If Mia is my crown jewel, Liara is my magnum opus, the culmination of everything that has happened in our lives. Little Liara will need all of here to make sure she grows up strong, loved, and protected."

The family played board games all night after talking their hearts out. After Jessica went to bed, Mia kissed Eric when everything was cleaned up. "Thank you, Eric." She whispered. He smiled back and hugged her tightly. "Anything for you, my love."

That night Eric slept the best he had slept in a long time.

After their usual morning routine, Eric and Mia headed back to HQ. Jessica would be watching Liara since she was off. They noticed that something was wrong before walking in the front door. a tense silence hung over the base. Soldiers walked around, doing their tasks silently. Jokes died half-heartedly, and NCO's were more harsh than usual.

If the mood outside the building was grim, the meeting room was apocalyptic. As Mia and Eric walked in, no one nodded or looked up, each dignatary or aide was typing away at a computer or taking notes while reviewing the reports that had come in from Ricky last night.

"Twenty Mumat systems, Four hundred Llrathels, Eight Sraiaz systems..."

Eric finished reading the report out loud.

"And one Brios cannon."