Calculating Losses

With the battle at the stage concluded, the military rushed to the source of the explosion. They found a mini winter wonderland in the center of campus. More fighting broke out as they attacked the confused and disorganized True Order remnants.

Hostages were rescued, and the intruders captured. Fortunately, no students were in the library at the time of the explosion. The university's defenses quickly came back online without True Order interference. With the situation on campus contained, the military split to clean the campus and pursue those who fled.

The university's losses were staggering so far. Most of the faculty and staff were severely injured, dead or missing. Over three quarters of the students were also missing. Eventually, most of the staff was found trapped in various sections of campus. The missing professors and students were not with them.

The tomes, research and other knowledge stolen was staggering. Most of the books could be rebought, but many unpublished reports, prototypes, designs and other sensitive materials were stolen. With many professors still missing, the True Order could monopolize that information. This struck at the very lifeblood of the university.

Since the magic formations of the True Order were flash frozen, they were in surprisingly good condition. Along with some highly unauthorized interrogation techniques, the military managed to locate several points where the missing people could be held captive.

While fresh military units from Forest Waypoint set out to rescue those students, the investigation continued at Nafriton. The more the military found, the worse it got. Deliberate and systematic acts of sabotage and espionage littered the campus. There had to be traitors. Many of them, with at least some in the upper ranks.

This could be the end of the university. Heads would roll at the Forest Waypoint garrison, since investigating the True Order was technically their responsibility. The headmaster had even requested for military reinforcements, but they only sent a quarter of the requested amount.

A cold sweat broke out the soldiers' backs. How could they miss such a massive raid on the top university of their nation? Of the entire planet?! This could destabilize the nation internally and internationally. Patrols were quickly sent out to scour the campus for any threats or hiding civilians.

One such patrol carefully checked the outskirts of campus building by building. They almost walked right into a True Order ambush. After killing or capturing their enemies, the unit found the trace of some suspected saboteurs that the True Order was tracking down.

Hoping that the saboteurs, no the heroes, were still alive, the patrol sent a message back to their superiors and continued following the trace. Whoever they were had some skill. The furious True Order agents hadn't even realized that the trail had branched off, and that they were on the false path.

The soldiers snickered when the still living True Order agents realized that they had been tricked. Again. By saboteurs who were probably college students. Another unit arrived just in time to take their raging captives back to base.

As they tracked the real trail, the patrol was stunned to find that the heroes appeared to have vanished into thin air. They were still on campus, but there were few places to hide. The forest was too far away to disappear into. Did they fly away or something?

"Is anyone here? We are here from the military garrison at Forest Waypoint. A Nafriton professor is with us."

"Students, it's safe to come out now! The intruders have been delt with!"

"If you are not a student, then you have one minute to surrender or we will kill you on sight!"

Sounds of footsteps, yells and fighting flowed into the pitch-black room. Jacki and Aayla stayed concealed in their hiding place. Aayla's face twitched. She wasn't a child. These search parties were too unbelievable. Which kind of idiot would come out of hiding just because someone claimed it was safe?!

Apparently, the kind of idiot sitting right next to her. Jacki carefully listened to the voices of those outside. Aayla quickly stopped her before Jacki got out of the cabinet.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed.

"You heard them. They have a professor with them!"

Aayla resisted the urge to smack Jacki upside the head.

"First of all, they could be lying. Second of all, the professor could also be a traitor."

Jacki was pulled back down and Aayla carefully shut the cabinet door behind her.

"Let's just wait here until the unit passes. We can take a look at them from behind to see if they look legitimate."

The anxious Jacki shuffled in her spot while waiting for the unit to pass.

"How can you be so scheming and so naïve at the same time? Your plan put a serious damper on the True Order's plans, yet you want to just jump out whenever some random person says that its safe. You do hang out with Chris, right?"

The young lady blushed and pulled her blanket around herself.

"I just want to go check on everyone. Chris says that the first thing that you need to do in situations like these is to meet back up with your group."

"True. I'm looking forward to laughing at them saying 'Ha ha! You all fell into a trap and we didn't`."

"By coincidence and sheer luck."

"That still counts!"

"Chris says that success by sheer luck is not true success for a tactician or a detective."

"Hmph. I never claimed to be either."

Aayla put her hand on her chin and glanced thoughtfully at Jacki.

"You two seem awfully close. 'Chris says this', 'Chris said that'. Sounds like a certain someone has made quite the impression on you."

"We've been talking a bit. Nothing serious. We're both from Halcyon and our parents distantly worked together. Chris asked me to take care of some things when the drama about Sir Forolan's schedule started. We just kept talking so our parents set a tentative engagement. The full ceremony will be held when we return to Halcyon in a couple of days."

Aayla nodded her head. So, that's what happened? Good for Jacki. Wait, something didn't seem right.

"Hold on. I think I missed some details. You started dating a couple of months ago and you're getting married in a few days?!"

"No! The engagement ceremony will be in a few days. The wedding will be at the end of summer at the earliest. I want to graduate a year early, so at the latest we will wed in a couple of years. It takes time to put together a good wedding ceremony. Out of my five siblings, I'm the only girl so my wedding is my parent's only chance at doing the parents of the bride parts."

"You've only known him for a few months and you're already getting engaged? Isn't that too fast? Look, from one girl to another he's got issues. I'm not trying to sabotage your relationship, but the guy rarely comes to work and is always running off with some cloaked figure. A few of which are men."

A blush crept its way along Jacki's cheeks. She awkwardly coughed.

"… Those figures might have been me. I've been practicing my disguise techniques all year. Besides, getting engaged quickly and early is normal. Technically we're both late."

"So, he has been skipping work to go on dates," Aayla grumbled. That sneaky jerk.

"Don't you have someone special? Sir Forolan's pretty cute. Your parents must be pushing you by now."

"Eh? Not really. It takes a couple of years to really know somebody. I still have my entire life ahead of me to find someone that I like. Daren's a good friend and coworker though. He's really good with paper work."

Jacki sighed and silently lit candles for Chris and Daren in her heart. The poor young master has a long road ahead to reach his love. Chris's attempts to give Daren and Aayla space were interpreted as skipping work. The most tragic part of all is that Aayla seems oblivious to Daren's affections.

Who is the real naïve one? The oblivious one or the one who can't flirt to save his life?

"Captain! I think I found something!"

One of the scouts pointed back towards a nondescript building.

"It was just for a couple of moments, but I felt a mana signature from over there a few minutes ago. When I check closer something's absorbing the mana from my spell."

The captain's eyes lit up. There could be some hidden civilians, or enemies. Personally, the captain would prefer the former.

"Good. Listen up! We're checking out that building over there. Stay sharp, and restrain your spells. There could be students in there!"

The patrol stealthily moved towards the building. The door was quickly broken down as a small team entered the building. Each room was systematically inspected as the team made its way to the back of the building.

Jacki and Aayla shut their mouths as they realized that they were not alone. Was this new person or group friendly? Or did the True Order finally hunt them down?