Two days earlier, the two of you had analyzed the storage core of the defeated pursuers and uncovered intel.
By analyzing the storage core, we found quite a bit of information in our favor.
They can't communicate long-distance under signal jamming, so they still have no idea this squad was taken out.
Exactly. Their encirclement has a weak point now. Maybe we could break out the other way? Circle around the outer edge of their formation?
You both open your terminals. You sync your revised route with Rosetta. A new blue path appears beside the original red one.
The red route would get us out the fastest, but we'd run straight into the main pursuit force.
I can still manage... if it's only a little longer...
Blue paths appear and vanish across the small map as you plan and re-plan. But every plan ends the same: the enemy's leaky net of encirclement will seal shut before you reach the safehouse, leaving no path for a clean escape.
You fall silent, thinking hard over the terminal.
Just like during the polar night zone, visibility under five meters makes it impossible for you to plot a precise, safe path.
Every calculation ends the same: you'll run into the pursuers at close range.
[player name], we need to decide soon. The snow is getting heavier.
You snap to attention and look toward the cave entrance, where the wind and snow are intensifying.
Snowfields
Arctic region
Day five of your trek
The safehouse is close—that much is true, even if it can't be seen. The snowstorm and the enemy's routes have turned the snowfields into a giant maze, and for two days, you and Rosetta have chosen the correct fork every time.
The snow has already blurred earth and sky into one smear of white, but the worst has yet to come. The foretold blizzard is waiting for its grand entrance.
The maze offers one last challenge: survive the blizzard and reach the extraction point. This place is the final rest stop before you reach the final destination.
