Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 12 - Announcement (Patreon)

                                                       Alexander North

“As many of you well know, there has been a change in leadership of this base,” the Doctor says, her voice resonating through the area. But when some people begin to look my way, she continues, “I will now take full command of the base, with the Princess being the second in command, and the General’s son taking over the military forces of the base.”

Waves of whispers run through the gathered people with more than a few shocked looks amongst them, some sent towards me others towards the Doctor. But the shocked looks don’t exactly seem displeased. More just plain surprise.

If I had to guess, they probably expected me to be taking over the base after dealing with their last leader.

“Please, Second Lieutenant North, come up here,” the Doctor says, and I immediately jump up, flying straight over the heads of all the people before eventually landing on the wall of the base myself with slightly unsteady legs that I manage to steady quickly enough.

Still not used to this strength completely I guess.

Unfortunate.

Been getting used to it a lot faster than I probably should’ve been though, so I can’t really complain.

|You are correct. Your body has adjusted faster thanks to the cold energy inside of it than a regular organic body should’ve been able to adjust to large changes in physical form.|

Thought so.

“And the Princess,” the Doctor says while waving her hand to the entrance leading to the top of the wall near us where Cynthia walks out in our direction.

The whispers go silent at the sight of the two of us joining her. And the Doctor uses that silence to spread her arms out on both sides and declare, “Now that our previous leader is no longer amongst us, we must continue pushing forwards! To a new light! To the dawn of a new era here! We must all survive, whether that means through the help of those outside of this planet should they ever arrive… or on our own.” A note of tension fills the area at this, but she breaks it just as quickly, “We will survive. And with the second lieutenant’s assistance, we will thrive!”

Whispers once again fill the area.

The Doctor lets them go on for a bit before she turns to indicate me with her hand and says, “I have seen it myself! The young second lieutenant here, one of the very few frost infused living to this day, is as powerful as a Tier 3 Symbiont Host!!”

Now that makes the whispers ratchet up to full-on conversations, making the base grow louder in the process.

“With his help, we can finally clear out all of the nests in the surrounding area.” She continues, a note of relief and hope in both her voice and eyes as she meets my gaze. “With his help leading our base’s military, we will thrive.”

Not really knowing what to say as the conversations begin to morph into cheers, some excited, others unsure, but all loud, I focus on the people with my gaze before raising a fist into the air without a word.

And that turns out to be all I need when everyone’s cheers grow much louder in volume.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You are as strong as a Tier 3 Symbiont Host, right?” The Doctor asks after we enter the chairperson’s former office, which was actually her office before he took over as it turns out.

I raise a brow at that and ask, “You only ask this now?”

“Well? You are, right?” The woman repeats, avoiding my question.

“Yes, I am a little stronger than a Tier 3 Symbiont Host,” I answer, deciding not to push it. Because even if she isn’t in my chain of command, and if I’m far stronger than her, she is still a superior officer.

Plus I’ve learned to give respect to doctors from my time stuck living in a hospital at the capital planet of the Empire for who years thanks to my heart. The time before I had the surgery for my artificial heart.

“That’s good,” the Doctor says from her place seated in the office chair behind the desk. Then she leans back a little and looks up at the ceiling while muttering, “Strong enough that the other bases won’t be a problem, not strong enough to deal with the main nests…”

“The main nests, ma’am?” I ask with a frown.

She looks at me again as she answers, “From what we’ve been able to gather, the power of the frozen ones in the nests all grow stronger the further away from the capital they are. And of the nests far away from the capital, there are about ten of them that are considered ‘main’ nests. Each one having a frozen one on the level of a Tier 4 Symbiont Host.”

My frown grows deeper.

“How did you get this intel? From the radio stations at the bases?” I ask while crossing my arms a little and glancing at Alexia to find the girl just having fallen asleep in one of the comfortable chairs on this side of the desk.

“You’re correct,” the Doctor says, drawing my gaze back to her. “One of the first things we replaced the battery of was the radio station, and most of the other bases still running did the same. We were able to maintain limited contact with each base on this side of the planet thanks to them. But the radio stations don’t have a good enough range to go any further than that, and sometimes the storm messes up the signals, making the calls cut difficult to manage.”

That’s to be expected. After all, regular storms can cause interference, so supernatural ones will probably be worse.

I can’t help but frown a little at the thought of frozen ones on par with Tier 4 Symbiont Hosts though. And at this point, I’ve realized the Doctor doesn’t care much for the chain of command, and I don’t really think I can say that I care any more than she does right now either. So I uncross my arms and ask, “You want me to take out the nearby nests myself and grow stronger from the frozen ones inside?”

The Doctor directly meets my eyes as she nods, “Yes, I do.”

Not unsurprising. But I’m not complaining.

More personal power is always nice, and in this case, it’s necessary. And Alexia can stay safely at the base as I fight. She can even help defend it.

“Very well,” I answer with a nod of my own. “I’ll get ready to leave immediately. But first, I would like some new armor.”

“That can be arranged,” she answers with a faint smile.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

Discord Invite

Top Web Fiction

Table of Contents