Chapter 569: Tactical Operation Center (TOC) (1/2)

After a five-day break, Inferno went back to work. Nix released Jiggs from his petrified state before stopping to see how Barnabas and Nightmare were doing. His stablehand Rand was sitting on the fourth rail of the corral.

”Hey, Boss.”

”How's Nightmare doing?”

Rand shook her head slightly. ”It's like you said, she's in heat. All indicators point to her being bred... I'm just not sure how.”

Nix chuckled and kept walking toward the Keep. ”I'll explain how everything works later.”

Rand stared at her boss as he walked away before feeling her face slowly turn red. ”I know how that works, ” muttered to herself before looking at Barnabas. ”He's got no thingie!”

Leva was waiting near the entrance to the Dragon Fir tree. Her dark eyes followed Nix's every step. ”I've got preliminary scouting reports from Colonial and Oasis.”

Nix's hud buzzed for a moment. ”Sounds good. I'll look at them in a bit.” The Inferno Leader offered Leva a smile and then opened the door for her. ”After you.”

The first level of the TOC was divided into three nearly identical sections. Rows of tables and chairs surrounded a central area where the Command staff could give briefings. Most of the seats were already filled when Nix walked in. Semmi, Jun Li, Commander Mtui, and War Leader Mortimus stood in front of a large circular platform where a holographic map of Colonial was displayed.

/Inferno: Nix: Take your seats and pay attention. We have our work cut out for us.

Nix paused until he had everyone's attention. ”Let me start by introducing the tasks of our key players. Warleader Mortimus will be heading up the Everspire Offensive. The Titan clans have the strength and manpower to deal directly with the threat to their lands. Unless they ask for assistance, we will leave that to them for now.”

Mortimus raised a large hand. ”I'll give a short briefing when Nix finishes up the overview. The Everspire Offensive will be on the second floor.”

Nix gestured toward Commander Mtui. ”Commander Mtui will be in charge of logistics. This means cycling fighters and supplies where we need them.”

Mtui bowed slightly. ”Logistics will be on the third floor.”

Nix uploaded the data Leva gave him to the displayed holo-map. ”As you can see, the major landmasses in Colonial all have a monster mark on them. This signifies what I'm going to refer to as a regional boss. There are four of these guys in Colonial; located in Jhabi, Escavar, the Central Kingdom, and Broyan.” The Inferno leader turned toward Leva and gestured for her to take over.

Leva's dark eyes stared at the members of Inferno for a moment before she stepped forward. ”The regional bosses are very strong, too strong for the 50 level heroes who make up most Colonial. A few guilds attempted to take them down, but they were wiped out.”

”Our objectives have names.” Nix highlighted the regional bosses; ”Barrot, Chenzo, Lessard, and Parux.”

Commander Mtui held up his hand. ”May I ask a question?”

Leva nodded. ”Of course.”

Mtui placed camp markings on the map close to the bosses. ”What are the Colonial Guilds doing now?”

”The Regional bosses are surrounded by low and mid-level creatures. The guilds have been thinning them out.”

”We need to establish footholds for these guilds.” Mtui pointed to the marks he made on the map. ”We'll set up war camps and steady supply lines. That will give the guilds a chance to hunt.”

Nix studied the map, the monster mark for Broyan was actually in the water between Safarza, Broyan, and Glory city. ”Are the oceans freezing? Why is this regional boss here?”

Leva nodded. ”The oceans in close vicinity to the regional bosses have frozen over. This also happened between North and South Jhabi.”

Nix zoomed in on Glory City. ”Our first objective in Colonial is Barrot. We'll take back Glory City and clean out the trash from Safarza and Broyan.”

Mtui opened his personal hud. ”I'll establish the Warcamp for Safarza immediately.”

/Inferno: Semmi: Most of the major cities have been overrun; however, we were able to evac the non-combatants to the Nether.

/Inferno: Jun Li: We haven't mentioned Oasis. That's because Inferno has decided to take back Colonial first. Southern Ain'Dhassi and the Izzin territory are the only allied holdings left in Oasis. The 12 Pillars are in Avalon; they will start clearing out the Oasis trash.

/Inferno: Ronnie: No word from Parliament?

/Inferno: Jun Li: No.

/Inferno: Fajii: What about Raine? And the Fir'Dhassi?

/Inferno: Jun Li: Nothing.

[Whisper Fajii to Nix] We can't let anything happen to Raine.

[Whisper Nix to Fajii] I won't. She's resourceful; the Fir'Dhassi aren't helpless. I'll go get her myself if we don't get word from her.

Nix held up his hand to get everyone's attention. ”We'll be breaking off into ten-person teams to take down the Regional bosses. All available combatants are to standby here in the TOC on the Fourth or Fifth level. If you're someplace else, then you won't get a spot on the offensive.”

***************

Chiba threw an arm around Nix's shoulder. ”I missed my apprentice!”

Nix shrugged out of her grip. ”You seemed pretty content to help Mtui in the Bone Fortress!”

Chiba's old face broke into a creepy smile. ”After this is over, I'll want a favor from you.”

Nix shook his head. ”Denied.”

Inferno: Nix: We'll be in five-person groups for hunting. Once the surrounding mobs are cleared away, the two groups will unite and take down Barrot.

[Alpha]