The contingent's withdrawal was not a rout.
Alistair watched from the settlement's main street as the remaining soldiers moved in formation toward the western perimeter. Their spacing was still professional, their movement disciplined.
These were Therasia soldiers, and Therasia soldiers did not flee, regardless of how the operation had gone.
However, the purpose was gone.
Every soldier in the unit could feel it. The capture objective had dissolved the moment Valve refused the order, and what remained was a force going through the motions of retreat rather than executing a plan.
Silas's disruption had stripped their information flow, and Due's obligation fracturing had broken their coordination at the joints.
And Valve's silent refusal had removed the one thing that held an operation together when everything else failed – the commander's will.
Alistair sat down on a stone step near the junction where he'd fought Valve.
