The final briefing on the Verdant Dominion began three days after Operation Lantern.
By then, the rescued prisoners had been treated, fed, clothed, and separated into smaller recovery groups based on medical condition. Some had slept for nearly an entire day after returning to Atlas Base. Others had refused to sleep unless another person remained in the room with them. A few still woke in panic whenever machinery started outside, unable to separate the sound of Atlas vehicles from the thunder of the helicopter that had torn them out of the forest.
Marcus had expected that.
Freedom did not erase captivity overnight.
