The sea was steel that morning.

From horizon to horizon, the Northern fleet drifted like a swarm of iron birds across the frost-choked waters of Eridan's Bay. The waves were slow and tired each one dragging itself toward the shore as if mourning what it knew would come.

Noah stood at the prow of the lead airship, Eclipse. The biting wind tugged at his black coat, the silver insignia of the Northern crest glinting faintly beneath the clouds. His cane was anchored against the deck, his gloved hand tightening around it as he looked down at the distant coastline ahead white sand, jagged black rocks and the faint glimmer of ruined fortresses once belonging to Central.

They had arrived.

---

"Wind steady, pressure stable," came a crisp voice beside him.

Captain May.

She was younger than most officers in the fleet, her auburn hair tied neatly under her cap, eyes a calm shade of grey that rarely betrayed emotion. She had a reputation for being unshakable under bombardment, but it wasn't stoicism.

"...batteries fully loaded," she continued.

"The fleet stands ready to engage upon your command, Commander."

Noah didn't answer at first. His eyes stayed fixed on the coastline.

May tilted her head slightly. "You're thinking of the reports, sir."

"Three divisions lost contact," Noah murmured.

"That was before the storms even cleared. They'll expect us to hesitate here. We can't afford that."

May's lips pressed together. "Then we don't hesitate."

Noah glanced at her.

"That's what I like about you, Captain May."

---

Below deck, Colonel Ren Harven leaned over a table cluttered with maps, coordinates, and hastily scribbled supply routes. A thin-framed man with sharp cheekbones and weary eyes,

Ren was a strategist through and through one of the few who could make Noah's impossible demands seem achievable.

"The coastline's shallow," Ren muttered, running a finger across the map.

"If we deploy artillery here and here..."

He circled two bluffs near the bay.

"...we can form a temporary line before Central sends their counterforce.

It'll buy us thirty hours at best."

"Thirty hours," Noah repeated as he descended the deck stairs, "is all I need."

Ren looked up, studying his superior. "You mean to push inland already?"

"I mean to make them think we will," Noah said.

"We'll fortify, bait their cavalry, then strike their rear flank with the shock corps."

At the mention of the shock corps, a shadow crossed the room with loud, confident steps echoing off the iron floor.

"About time we get to play bait," drawled Major Barn, better known to the men as Wolf.

His silver hair was half-shaved on one side, his left cheek marked by a faint scar. He clapped a hand onto Ren's shoulder with a grin.

"Don't overthink it, Colonel. You draw the pretty lines...

...I'll handle the messy part."

Ren grimaced but didn't pull away.

"Your 'messy part' tends to cost me supply trains, Major."

Wolf laughed, low and coarse.

"And your supplies tend to arrive after we're dead if I wait for you."

Noah allowed them their bickering. There was comfort in it, strange as it was.

These were the last few souls who still felt real to him in this endless game of deception and survival.

He turned to the maps again

"We land within the hour. Ren set the logistics chain through the bay's ridge.

Maya, coordinate with the artillery wings for overhead coverage.

Wolf, I want your shock corps ready the moment we touch ground."

Wolf's grin widened. "Aye, Commander."

Maya saluted sharply. "Understood."

Ren sighed. "I'll see to it before the supplies freeze solid."

As the three dispersed, Noah's hand lingered on the map on the red lines drawn toward the heart of Central's territory. His reflection shimmered faintly on the metal table, eyes hollow and unreadable.

---

By the time they reached the beach, the air was thick with the hiss of steam and the grind of landing gears.

The Eclipse's shadow passed over frozen sand as the fleet began descent massive airships lowering steel cables and anchor talons that crushed into the icy ground.

The sound was thunderous, mechanical, alive.

Noah stepped off the ramp.

All around him, the Northern banners unfurled fluttering.

Soldiers poured from the ships, their armor glinting with frost and determination.

"Fortify this position!"

Maya shouted over the wind, her voice crisp, cutting through the chaos.

"Deploy the emplacements...no gaps!"

"Shock corps, on me!" Wolf bellowed, slinging his rifle across his back.

"We sweep the southern ridge, clear any hostiles before they can ambush the artillery teams!"

Ren barked orders into a communicator crystal. "Supply lines move now! We lose even one train to the cold, we'll be eating frost for the week!"

Noah stood amid the noise, his breath clouding the air. His cane tapped once against the frozen ground—clack—a small sound drowned by the war machines around him.

He inhaled deeply.

He had dreamed of this before—of standing at the head of a fleet, of leading men toward hideeply

But the dream had never felt so heavy.

---

Night came quickly in Eridan's Bay. Fires flickered against the snow, throwing orange light over weary faces. The fortifications were nearly complete, walls of steel plating rising like jagged teeth from the shore.

Maya stood by one of the watchtowers, her hands clasped behind her back, eyes fixed on the distant dark of the sea. Wolf was beside her, sharpening his blade on a whetstone, humming off-key.

"You ever wonder what happens after?" Wolf asked suddenly.

Maya didn't look at him. "After what?"

"All this." He gestured vaguely toward the soldiers, the ships, the stars. "If we live."

Maya exhaled through her nose. "Then we keep living."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Wolf chuckled softly. "You sound like him."

Maya finally glanced his way. "That's why we follow him."

Across the camp, Noah sat by a dim fire inside the command tent, a single candle burning beside stacks of reports. His hand trembled slightly as he wrote, though he didn't notice.

...the March has begun.

The North stands unbroken.

We will claim this war not as survivors but as victors...

He paused.

He heard laughter outside. Maya and Wolf, bickering again. Ren's dry voice calling for silence. Soldiers singing half-forgotten songs.

He knew, deep down, that these were the moments he'd lose first.

When the sun rose, some of those faces wouldn't.

Outside, the campfires burned against the cold, the banners of the North snapping proudly in the wind.

Noah closed his eyes

He dreamed of home...