The extermination war on Larkspur Haven was still going on.
Elowen had reached an agreement with the Whiteheart, but even that success didn't change anything overnight.
The giant silver tree could provide what they needed, and Elowen had already begun preparing the sap mixture for wide atmospheric dispersal, but producing enough of it to affect a planet on that scale still took time, more than anyone would have liked.
Until the first artificial rain began, Aurelian's mech forces still had to do the hard work the normal way, without shortcuts.
They had to hold the survivor zones, keeping them from collapsing under pressure.
They had to break infected concentrations before they formed into proper swarms, cutting them apart early.
They had to escort evacuation convoys out of collapsing districts, moving people through areas that were already half lost.
And they had to keep the remaining human pockets alive long enough for the larger plan to matter, buying time where they could.
