It is the year 2273.
Lady Caelyra von Hive stood before the Supreme Commander of the Remaining Armies and stood at attention. Several other Commanders sat alongside His Greatness and steepled their hands beneath their respective chins as they examined her.
It was silent. Too silent. A bead of sweat rolled down Caelyra's cheek, but she ignored it. She would not flinch whilst in the company of these esteemed gentlemen.
At last the Supreme Commander spoke.
"Lady Caelyra von Kael. You have been chosen to lead our citizens back into the world and reclaim it from the vast hordes of infection and plague."
Caelyra blinked, unprepared for such an unlikely statement, then sputtered, "You're joking, surely."
"No. You will choose a Champion with whom to work with and leave, immediately." A heavyset man and lithe lady suddenly appeared. "Whom will you choose? Caelus our greatest soldier or Calliope our greatest Markswoman?"
"Caelus' name is too similar to mine," Caelyra sighed. "If I must lead the people to their deaths, it will have to be alongside Calliope or I will be blamed twofold."
The Supreme Commander smiled.
"You will not be blamed; you will be dead."
Lady Caelyra and Calliope fetched a few other markswomen and set forth from the safety of the Supreme City -- where the last vestiges of humanity remained.
Their destination?
A small valley hidden just outside the city gates. If they could form a foothold here, just outside of the city, and fortify it... then they would be able to branch out elsewhere. Create new settlements. New pockets of humanity.
Perhaps they would actually be able to reclaim a small portion of this hell-hole.
Calliope guided her fellow rangers to set up a hasty command centre in which Caelyra quickly retreated. She would guide her forces from here. And, if the inevitable were to happen, this would be where she would hold her last stand.
The mission would not end until she ended.
The command centre was conveniently placed by a river with which to fish up supplies, and plenty of wood and stone was nearby. There should be no issue in establishing an outpost here.
Unless, of course, a swarm of infected were to rush them.
Caelyra cracked her fingers and rolled out a great schematic upon her desk to begin relaying her plans.
The infected would be no match... she swallowed. Hopefully. There was a reason they had been locked within the city walls for so long, after all.
Lady Caelyra quickly commanded hunting lodges and fisheries be built to feed the incoming people from the city... settlers desperate to reclaim the land for future generations.
They were brave. They were all brave.
As well as fisheries and hunting lodges, she demanded a quarry be placed by some nearby rocks and some walls and gates built at strategic chokepoints, gates that allowed only the daily train from the city to pass. As these deeds were performed, Calliope sent out her rangers to deal with a few infected stragglers that somehow found themselves upon this prime piece of real estate.
After the South end of the outpost was walled and defended, it was time to fence off the North.
No one had died yet. Perhaps the Supreme Commander's great reclamation plan would actually work.
With all possible entrances sealed off, Lady Caelyra ordered more dwellings built. The Supreme Commander would not consider this first outpost a success until at least 300 people resided here in safety. Caelyra would coax them in... and protect them with her rangers' lives. And her own too, if push came to shove.
Many uneventful days passed. The outpost was growing. Everything was going to plan.
Suddenly, a scout raced into Caelyra's office, panting, stuttering, barely able to speak beneath breaths.
"A-a... great horde... is coming from... the... N-n-north..."
"The North?" Caelyra repeated.
"Y-yes, ma'am... t-the North. Maybe t-t-t-t-ten... hours..."
Lady Caelyra whipped out her great piece of parchment paper and quickly outlined some vague plans of defence. She could have her people build up some new walls in ten hours. Some more fortifications. It would be okay. The people would be fine.
"Calliope!" she yelled. "Get your women into position! And quickly train some more up if you have to!"
Calliope merely smiled.
"Way ahead of you, ma'am."
With binoculars clenched tight in both hands, Caelyra stared out the window and watched as two great swarms of infected pushed through her hastily constructed defences.
Calliope waved her markswomen back behind all the walls and instructed them to fire! Fire! Fire their arrows with every beat of their heart!
This base would not fall!
Caelyra didn't have the same optimism as Calliope, and demanded more walls be built... enclosing Calliope's markswomen if the worst were to happen.
But Lady Caelyra's fears were for naught.
Not a single one of Calliope's markswomen fell as they proudly took down waves upon waves of rotting humanoids.
The settlement was secure, the targets had been reached, and a holographic vision of the Supreme Commander appeared before Caelyra as she sat in her office.
"You yet live," he smirked. Snapping his fingers, a map replaced his armoured face. "From what I can see from the vast towers of my city, you have multiple choices ahead of you. Where will you go next?"
Lady Caelyra stared at the map and smiled.
"I think I'll stay right here whilst Calliope goes and investigates that bunker to the west. There may be something important remaining within those ruins. Only then shall we press on."
"So be it."
The Supreme Commander's image vanished, and in his place stood Calliope. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she sighed. "But if I die, my rangers will likely not listen to you. You will all be doomed." And without a backward glance she strode out of Caelyra's office.
"Don't forget to hunt for anything useful in the bunker ruins!" Caelyra called after her.
Calliope didn't respond.
She knew what she was doing; she didn't need some city Lady telling her what to do.
Until next time! 🙃
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 