Frozen Flame of Dawn

Aiden gave a dry smile. "Didn't leave a scratch. Not even a flicker."

That got a few hushed murmurs around the table.

"I hit it for two hours straight," he went on. "And after, I learned that the energy needed to keep that shield active—just for those two hours—was the same as what a mid-sized town used in a whole day. All of that for two hours of protection."

Ezzie gave a low whistle. "That's... insane."

"And it gets worse," Aiden added, his voice turning a bit more serious. "It needed constant maintenance and calibration specially their cores and without proper tech crews? It's dead metal after few usage. Same with the plasma rifle. It was more like a stationary weapon than a rifle. Way too heavy to carry anywhere unless you strapped it to a heavy armored tank."

Layla shrugged lightly, not discouraged. "Maybe but think of it this way—those rifles might be impractical for squads on the move... but what if we mount them on the walls? Set them up as static defense units to support our guard posts?"

That turned a few heads.

"And the shield?" she added. "Maybe we don't need it to cover an entire region. But if we could deploy it in emergencies—say, during a beast wave—it could give us the time to regroup, reinforce, or evacuate."

"The shield… maybe it won't be large enough to cover our entire stronghold," she said, nodding slowly, "but if we can deploy it tactically—in an emergency like say, during a beast wave or over a concentrated attack zone—it would give us a window to breathe and regroup while let us reinforce without being overrun."

She paused, eyes scanning the others. No one interrupted.

"And if we can rework the prototype—enhance it, expand its coverage—then we might be able to protect the whole stronghold. Even if it's only for a few hours… that kind of coverage could mean the difference between surviving a beast wave or being torn apart."

There was a flicker of energy in her voice now—subdued, but deeply rooted.

"Also," she added, almost like a secret being revealed, "if we could crack how to properly harness the energy from beast cores… it could change everything."

A few brows rose around the table.

"Beast cores?" Ezzie repeated, straightening a little.

Layla nodded. "As I mentioned in the meeting before this that the energy output from just one core—from a basic mutated beast—is astonishing. Rough, unstable… but potent. From my calculations, a single core of boss level beast could power a small variant of the energy shield which can cover our stronghold for at least an two to three hour easily."

She paused again, letting that settle. "Now imagine what a collection of cores we have from the last few weeks could do."

Even Aiden, who had been mostly quiet during the second half of the discussion, leaned forward now..

"Layla," he said, "do you really think beast cores can be used as energy source to power one of these shields or rifle I mean it yet not even harnessed."

Layla gave a measured nod. "With me and small team we have, what we've salvaged so far is not much but I am sure many qualified scientist and researcher will soon find the answer to this, so we have to work faster if we don't want to left behind. But we're still missing few things." She turned toward Aiden. "One of those are blueprint of the energy shield. Or someone who worked on it."

Aiden met her gaze, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair, thinking.

"Do you remember anyone?" she asked. "Anyone from your time working to test the prototypes? Researchers, engineers, scientists... even the facility locations where they were developing these? Because we've combed through the military compound here, and there's nothing, no hidden advance tech like this place is old-school."

Aiden exhaled through his nose, brow furrowed in thought. The flames played off the side of his jaw as he sat in the quiet for a few heartbeats before answering.

"Yeah… you're right. This compound wasn't where they did the advanced stuff as its a relief station for any accident or catastrophic, due to which the underground area is very large to hold many people comfortably and a self sustained system is much better then other place while no troops stationed here? Maybe a quarter of the province's military, and not the elite quarter either." He gave a small, tired smile. "Good people. Brave. But not the Federation's golden boys."

He leaned forward now, pointing at the map near Vernon Town.

"But if any experimental tech or research blueprints are still around, they'd be in these three places. First—there's a military compound just outside Vernon—mid-level, but bigger than this one but has maybe a quarter of the province's military, and not the elite quarter either. It was known for logistics and tech storage. There's a chance they may have stored or backed up a few prototypes there."

Tommy's brows furrowed. "And the others?"

Aiden tapped further south on the map. "The central compound which is bigger, more secure and holds similar a quarter of the province's military, but they are the elites. There's must be few research program and engineers stationed, its not a research hub, but close enough. If there are few complete blueprint—or even people who worked on this tech—it'll be there."

"And the third near the capital in south isn't it?" Amira asked.

Aiden shook his head. "Forget it, as their the strong military compound and army of the Vandrim province. Almost fifty percent of the entire province's army is stationed just south of the capital and they all are elites. The rest are split between the center and the northern outskirts. If we try to push toward the capital now, it won't be a fight—it'll be a suicide march."

Layla nodded, not disappointed—just processing.

"So Vernon and the central compound are our best bets, for now," Amira concluded. "We'll need to prioritize them in the next phases."

Aiden's gaze shifted back to Layla. "You said beast core energy could work, but even if we do get our hands on the shield… it won't matter unless you can stabilize the extraction process."

Layla smiled slightly—quiet, confident. "I'm close. I haven't cracked it yet, but I've narrowed down the instability issues. The core output isn't consistent—it fluctuates depending on nature of beast core, how long the core's been inactive, and whether it absorbed any elemental charge. But I've got a prototype stabilizer in the works."

"And how long do you think?" Amira asked.

"A few more weeks for a crude prototype," Layla said. "A couple of months for a refined, usable model. Its won't be 100% efficient and lot of energy will be wasted but once I have it? We won't just be surviving beast waves anymore. We'll be building a real line of defense."

The room fell into a contemplative silence as on one argued while absorbing her words. The consensus was clear: without risk and experimentation, progress was unattainable. Trial and error were necessary steps in pioneering new defenses.

Elias finally leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms behind his head as he muttered. "Nothing worth building ever comes perfect the first time."

"Exactly," Layla said with a small nod. "Like they say experimentation fuels progress, even when starts with failure."

The air in the room felt heavier, but not with doubt it was with something closer to acceptance—a resolve.

Amira nodded, summarizing their collective resolve succinctly while sitting at the head of the long stone table. "We'll take that route, though we can't afford perfection—we need progress."

"Aiden," she said, turning to him. "We've already have 200 kilometers around our walls secured and though its not a massive stretch, but stable. I'd like you to take a team of builders with you—engineers, support units, and materials and while you scout ahead another 100 kilometers beyond our secured zone on north and evacuating people in the villages in that area or the people who are scattered and hold up somewhere in that area."

She pointed to the area on the map they had just been discussing. "In those 100 kilometer area up north while doing the mission, find a spot—a secure and hidden one—and construct a underground bunker, big enough to comfortably hold a thousand people in two days. It'll serve as an emergency fallback in case your team gets stranded or needs shelter during recon at night but also a transmission hub for our wired network to connect our radio from our base to up further north."

"We'll get it done." Aiden agreed, recognizing the strategic advantage. This task would also serve as a warm-up for the team, ensuring they were prepared for upcoming missions. Completing a temporary bunker in two days was ambitious but feasible.​

Then Amira turned her gaze to Layla. "While the bunkers are being constructed, can you start working on those Heavy Armored RV Bunkers as I want at least two of the bunker RVs ready—if not fully optimized, at least operable. Something that can move with our squads and serve as mobile shelter while complete the rest while Aiden's team is out."