Chapter 166: Diverging Paths
When Hali offered the Sapphire Armada’s unconditional surrender, Coop held reservations. He couldn’t help but feel skeptical toward her self-professed authority. Coop may have been the Champion of Ghost Reef, but he didn’t think he would be able to offer his residents’ complete surrender after convincing them to fight for a specific purpose. The human residents fought with their own personal motivations driving them. At most, Coop emphasized the features of the island settlement that were worth defending given the scenarios of the assimilation. The phantoms were another matter altogether. He doubted they would ever consider submitting to an opponent as an option at all.
Coop wasn’t in the business of enforcing such strict discipline on those around him, though they were influenced by his behavior all the same, he still wouldn’t expect them to lay down their arms if his resolve flipped so quickly. He imagined the vast majority of his comrades would fight to the death to defend the settlement after everything they had been through, even if Coop advocated for surrender, and no matter what she said, Hali was just a kid. Could this girl really claim to have so much authority?
Coop was proven to be overly pessimistic toward Hali. Apparently, her bratty attitude was backed by actual power and respect. Upon the defeat of the Armada’s Champion, the soldiers within the invasion force had promptly thrown down their weapons and ceased fighting, openly accepting their loss with a level of discipline that continued to surprise Coop.
The assimilation had barely begun, in the grand scheme of things, and yet, the Sapphire Armada had managed to instill a shocking level of trust among its members. If they hadn’t aimed to take down Ghost Reef first, he really believed they had a chance to be an influential force within the competition between settlements. The whole scenario surrounding the Sapphire Armada’s settlement would have been a shame if the assimilation was really the only threat to humanity. They had managed to establish a force with the kind of dedication that had only been demonstrated by the phantoms themselves.
Guard Captain Alaric and the 300 phantoms honored the attempt at surrender by ceasing their hostilities as soon as the invading soldiers threw down their weapons. Naturally, Ghost Reef’s residents had inherited Coop’s general hesitance to kill, so they gladly held back on further bloodshed and accepted the reprieve in fighting, abrupt as it was. Their primary goal was the defense of the fort, and with the threat of the invaders openly withdrawn, there was no more need for their immediate elimination.
The fact that there were only 300 phantoms hidden within Coop’s Fog of War put them in an awkward spot. How could they be expected to take control of almost 70,000 surrendered combatants? If the roles were reversed, the residents of Ghost Reef would take any opportunity to turn the tables. With those considerations, before the fog dissipated and the defenders revealed themselves, they sent messengers to call for reinforcements from the fort.
The Armada’s troops waited patiently in the fog even without any form of contact from the opposing force, fully submitting themselves to the victors. The fact that they weren’t still being killed by the guerilla tactics that the phantoms had adopted meant that their gestures of surrender had at least been noticed. Certainly, there were a few silent prayers being sent, but otherwise, they sat tight while the victors judged them.
By the time dawn was breaking, Ghost Reef had mobilized as many residents as they could comfortably spare, presenting a united front so that the massive number of captives wouldn’t get any ideas about how much they outnumbered their guards. They didn’t need to worry too much. The phantoms that had been most involved in the defense had all eclipsed level 110 and if anyone in the Sapphire Armada identified them, they would only see question marks. The imposing presence of numerous overwhelming individuals reinforced the invaders’ submission.
The lower level members of Ghost Reef remained at a distance, far enough away that they couldn’t be identified by anyone without specific skills, but the fact that there were more than 15,000 phantoms and 5,000 human residents of Ghost Reef was already an unexpected surprise for their would-be invaders. Crowds that large were difficult to comprehend and the Sapphire Armada had only anticipated meeting a force of less than 1,000 individuals since they had concentrated on the results of the siege event for their intelligence gathering. The Armada hadn’t accounted for the reinforcements Ghost Reef had collected in the weeks after the siege. Instead of finding a depleted settlement, ripe for conquering, they found a fortified city bolstered by highly motivated reinforcements. The only spy able to successfully infiltrate the fort’s walls and return safely was Hali, and by the time she had gathered enough information to show that they were misinformed to the state of Ghost Reef they had already committed to the ground assault.
While the residents of Ghost Reef organized another major undertaking, receiving prisoners rather than new residents, Arthur spent quite a bit of time with Hali. The Ghost Reef intelligence advisor wanted answers regarding her abilities. Coop expected them to have a hostile relationship. They gave off completely opposite first impressions. Arthur was a prim and proper older man, always properly groomed with ramrod straight posture and a polite but formal way of speaking while the young girl lacked any sense of etiquette. Of course they ended up quickly finding common ground with Arthur doting on her like she was a long lost grandchild. They ended up exchanging trade secrets rather than conducting an interrogation.