Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 393 - [C] A Panopticon For The Pawed People

Chapter 393: Chapter 393 - [C] A Panopticon For The Pawed People

***[POV: Woman In The High Tower]***

"Claire. Status on Grid Sector 7’s sweep?"

I pulled up the relevant feed as soon as I heard Luca’s voice. They were supposed to still be gathering data through Kyrie alone for the next month, but that idiot went and let them stick one in his skull too.

His excuse was good, at least. They usually are. The city’s automatic signal targeting adjustments needed refining as much as the distant one I’ve been doing manually to hear their Alpha better.

"Your experienced Deltas all across the board finished thirty minutes ago, but lets see. Forty survivors were recovered, seventy three confirmed dead. They’re marking the block as cleared and moving toward Sector 8."

"Copy that. How many other teams do we have out right now?"

"Twelve less experienced. Six werewolf-hunter pairs, six of the new three-member wolf patrols."

"Them, huh..."

I understood his frustration quite well. After all, I can see it on the video feed. Playing more than helping, after being locked away by the blizzard for the first two weeks of their new state.

"Sent them into the easier terrain. Being shepherded by hunters operating drones. It’s kind of silly that in the years I’ve known about this, you all get what... like five Omegas to join the full wolf club? Now the Rimecoat specifically get twenty six in the absolute worst conditions to train them in."

I zoomed in on one feed, watching a white wolf lope alongside a human in heavy winter gear. Keeping track of all their names is not my strong suit, but luckily they all have transponders with IDs coded to their pack and hunter profiles in the system.

"The pairing is at least working out. Hunters handle the fine motor stuff and the talking. Wolves provide extra muscle, scent tracking, and just the general ’don’t fuck with us’ intimidation factor that the military hardware of their partners might not do. Especially the ones who insist on hybrid over four legs."

"Any incidents that they’ve needed to be that intimidating?"

For this, I didn’t have to look further than monitor number four. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Two attempted ambushes on Picker teams. Both resolved with minimal violence. Turns out people don’t argue much when a seven-foot hybrid is holding them down while a drone belts out a recording of the city ordinances on authorized disaster relief efforts."

I marked the incident log at the top, that I’d passed the gist of this one on over voice, before looking at one I didn’t want to discuss aloud. But I had to, because it was my job. Also - if I’m made to do it, they are made to suffer with me.

"They found another carbon monoxide poisoning house. Family of four that let in six neighbors. Closed windows, no chimney. Kids... included."

The pause on his end lasted three loud ticks of the stupid analog clock. Long enough for him to process and compartmentalize, like I’d had to do when reviewing the drone footage.

I know he’s seen some bad things out there on the ground. But I’ve seen a hundred times that up here on cameras. Removed from it in a way, but not unaffected by it.

It’s so bad that I just want him to come back all so I can cuddle. Well, I tell myself that now, but history tells me my body will find a way to want more once he wraps those biceps around me.

"Mark it for the cleanup crews."

"Already done. We’re only averaging about seventy houses per team per day for the knock test. That’s not enough coverage or speed. It will take us three weeks if we were really hitting every house."

"We don’t have that long, but we don’t have more trained teams to deploy. Everyone’s already pulling double shifts and Kyrie approved the use of the few infrared camera drones we have. We have to make it work."

Clenching my teeth until they hurt, I grab the cup and swirl around the sip or so left of congealing coffee.

"I know. I make the schedules. I can still complain. I’m prioritizing high-density residential areas where each knock could draw the attention of multiple people and having those ex-mil girls do patterns in the drones over the thinner areas that still have mid-range survival values."

"Then we’re doing our best. Anything else?"

I hesitated, then glanced at monitor number four. I had it tracking Kyrie’s estimated movement patterns and running software to mark keyframes on what Lunarizon Tower’s newly refitted reflector telescope could discover when examining those areas.

Fancy air blade tech to keep the ice out of the aperture, floating frame to lessen the effect of skyscraper sway, hard controls if ever necessary. The ability to reach out thirty miles or more with clarity is a kind of power I didn’t know I wanted.

The Omega engineer teams had rushed the final deployment after the storm ended, since they are a bit heartier than humans. Though I had a few of our human IT members finishing up cable management busywork inside.

And three or four working the sensor and postprocess software checks, using the usual Lodestone integration process I’ve used on traffic cameras and making adjustments along the way. There are just too many things to do on my own.

"The rogues are out after the storm. Looks like fifteen to twenty individuals broke from the main group at the Silvertrap Caves. Some are heading toward the city, some are moving away entirely."

I have to say, the city has always kind of been a surveillance state as far as I was concerned. I could get lots of data, evidence, and footage easily. But I never had what is essentially an Eye of Sauron reaching out across the distance.

Most of our drone fleet is basic commercial gear. Fine for close-up work within five miles, but useless for tracking threats across the frozen wastes. The telescope gives us eyes on the horizon without lying out drones on battery-draining, long-range missions.

If we get those LEO satellites she secured launched effectively, that would also be great. Though I wish boss lady had listened when I told her I could probably take over some of them already up there.

"Chad’s group? They are splitting up?"

"Who else? Two weeks trapped in caves together probably showed a lot of them exactly how fun pack life under a narcissistic asshole would be. The ones heading to the city are our immediate problem."

"They’re not coming to help, they’ll come to raid. I’ll coordinate with the hunters when I return. Keep tracking them."

I hum a noise. What else would I be doing beyond keeping track of literally everything? Kyrie is lucky to have both of us... or I guess her people are.

"This place would have fallen apart without us."

"It’s falling apart slowly anyway. But good work, Claire. We need all the little wins we can get to stall it."

Taking off the headset for the first time in... I don’t even know how long, I rub my ears and messy hair. Little things are fine and he’s right, they are what is keeping things together.

But I’d love a big win.

As it is, everything is turning into a terribly grim efficiency game. We might be the good guys saving the people remaining, but to claim I’m not helping set up a benevolent occupation force would be wrong.

"For their own good is the propaganda call of marching boots on concrete, on snow, and on backs. Though I guess it’s not always boots. In our regime it will be clawed paws."

I shake my head at the dim thought. Or rather, at the thought that having Luca step on me might not be so bad.

Really need to stop mixing cold realities with sudden fantasies...