CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The Mouth of the Pass.
We all stood on the fore deck with the rest of the kobolds, looking over the side as the Hugo and the Astoros, the second ship in our fleet, slowly descended.
We had decided to hold off on the rest of the class and skill upgrades with the group until we could get things established on the ground.
I was surprised by how soft the touchdown was. There was only a slight shudder as the massive airship dropped down into the grassy meadow at the mouth of the pass. Dust rose from around the airship’s skirts as the massive turbines wound down. The kobolds didn’t bother waiting for the air to clear, and had already started lowering the ramps from multiple decks as they began to unload the cargo and supplies. The crews began to pass materials down to the legions below.
Some of the troops immediately moved out and formed a perimeter while airship gunners manned the steam-powered autocannons and aimed the barrels down toward the valley. The entire sequence of events played out like it had been practiced countless times, and the precision and professionalism that these soldiers demonstrated was impressive.
“ARi, I have a plan if you’ll indulge me,” I said, turning and putting my back up against the railing.
“Why don’t we start with a large version of Big Gus, maybe without the cannon, though? Start it really simple with just a platform. I’m thinking maybe we place that mobile control node right onto it.”
“You’re thinking that if we have a temporary control node, you might be able to throw down a permanent one on the ground,” ARi said.
“I am. It did mention that it was compatible with other territorial skills. If it works, then while they’re unloading the supplies, you and I can rest and recover. Once we have our reserves and stamina back, we could actually build some real fortifications here.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Tonya cut in. “Even if we were able to just establish the major parts of the infrastructure, walls, and the outer shells of buildings to get them started, that might speed up our time here so we can actually get back on the road a lot sooner than we were planning.”
“Hell, you guys,” Kyle said. “We’re only about two hundred yards away from that river. While you’re resting, as long as Tim, Tonya, and Hannah have my back, I’ll start carving a trench to bring water to the build site. If we can give them a steady supply, they could put one of those reactors right into the fort itself!”
“I think that’s a brilliant idea, you guys,” ARi said. “I’m thinking we do three total Gus-sized constructs. That should be enough for us and the Legion to ride. With my new control points, that even leaves me enough to arm them and create four of our smaller constructs with the gun mounts.”
“I’ll have to pull some of the Velites out of stasis,” I said.
“If we’re going to make those things again,” Yumi cut in. “Can we build them so the poor guys inside are actually enclosed this time? I know we put some bars and simple cages over them when we were marching to Meilun, but I always thought we could do it better. Besides, look what you were able to do with Hannah’s armor.”
“I think I can do that,” ARi said.
She seemed to zone out, and I could tell that she was looking at system windows.
“Speaking of which,” she said, “Gavin, I want you really thinking about that setup we came up with for Hannah’s armor. The joints, the movement, and what it would be like to have a kobold in armor like that.”
“I’ve been thinking about it since the first time I saw Hannah get into that armor. Honestly, I’m really hoping the system agrees. That’s the direction our forces need to go. Those fights we had on Earth were pretty eye-opening.”
“He’s right,” Kyle said. “By the time we get back to Earth, if we have to fight on the surface, we’re going to run into some real issues if we haven’t figured out a way to shield them from the radiation. Or ourselves, for that matter.”
“More than that,” Hannah said. “Didn’t you guys say that as the competition progresses, we could end up fighting, or find ourselves on a planet that’s not as hospitable? I’m not saying we all need powered armor, but we’re definitely going to have to figure something out.”
ARi leaned over the railing and continued to watch them unload.
“It’s not just that, you guys. Remember, they’ve already started trying to stack the deck against us. What if we go to spawn on the next world and it puts us on a moon or something with no atmosphere?”
“Could they actually do that?” I asked. “I mean, I guess if it’s contested, but that sure doesn’t seem very fair.”
“Honestly, Gavin, I don’t know. But it’s definitely something we should be watching out for.”
Our conversation was interrupted by Tony, Maddie, and Erica, along with nine other Wraiths as their squads filed in behind them.
“Architect, Warden. Our squads are prepared to move forward and start scouting the pass whenever you’re ready.”
I looked over at the others, and everybody seemed to be in agreement.
“Take your Wraiths and push forward no more than a few miles. Don’t take unnecessary risks. I want you to scout out the area and get back here by tomorrow. We need to know what kind of obstructions and obstacles we’re going to face before ARi builds all of the constructs, okay?”
The Wraiths tapped their chests, then turned and filed down the ramp toward the valley floor, disappearing into the tall grass as they made their way toward the pass.
I turned to look back at the others.
“You guys, this has been too easy so far. We haven’t seen any system announcements about our competition either, and I highly doubt that the other races got the same system-blocking abilities as the Reapers. My guess is we just made a little more progress than the other groups. I expect to start getting some of the system announcements within the next few days.
“If the Reapers were the only other champions on this continent, that means the others must be on the islands the Matriarch had told us about. The introduction of this new invasive species doesn’t change the original rules. We’re still going to have to take them out,” ARi said.
We all made our way toward the ramp and started moving down toward the grass below. It reminded me of the grasslands before we had established the keep. The grass was tall and sharp, with bands of orange and purple that seemed to flow throughout. I could smell the freshly torn turf under the bottom of the heavy ramp. From where the airship had landed, we could also easily make out the riverbank. We tried to get out of the way and move away from the airship as quickly as possible. The sound of commotion flooded the area around the bottom of the airship.
“I know I’m not a tactician,” Tim said, “but with the way everything’s been going, I don’t think the others are going to attack us from the sea. In fact, I don’t think they’re going to attack the Meilun Valley at all. If something really is working against us, I think they’ll manipulate the others to attack from the mainland. We’re more vulnerable out here. We don’t have established fortifications or Meilun to reinforce us. The very fact that Jack and Sawyer didn’t return has been kind of leading me toward this conclusion.”
“Yeah, I’ve had some time to really dwell on that as well,” I said.
“You don’t think that we’re going to have to cross the oceans and fight them on an island?” Tonya asked.
“I don’t,” ARi said. “And if this entire competition really has been stacked against us, then I have a sneaky feeling that the other two races were isolated on those islands for a reason.”
“Wait, did you say islands?” I asked noticing that it was the second time that she had mentioned more than one.
“I don’t think they were put on the same island. In fact, I don’t even think they were pushed to fight each other at all. How could they, without either knocking each other out or leveling up high enough for class announcements?”
“Speaking of which,” Yumi interrupted, “how come it didn’t make a big announcement about your class choice?”
“I think it’s because I didn’t get a class choice. It was a subclass choice, and so was Gavin’s.” ARi said, looking over toward the others. “However, all of you ‘do’ have class choices to go over. But I’d like you guys to all hold off so we can try to do them at the same time. Not just so we can go over everybody’s options—”
“You only want it to make one announcement,” Tim cut in.
“I do,” she said. “The class choice announcements were vague. They’re going to announce your class and that you reached level five. Most of you are higher than that at this point. I don’t know how much of an advantage it’s going to give us, but if it’s going to announce everybody, I would rather have it happen all at the same time and let our enemies think that you just hit level five.”
I stretched my arms out and adjusted my shoulders under my armor. “It makes sense to me. Especially if the Ascended have no way of watching us right now after what you changed. Still pretty safe to say that they could see the announcements, though.”
ARi waved her hand, and I watched the outline of a large construct start to form.
The construct was massive and had six legs. Its rear legs were positioned closer to each other and farther back than the front. The joints were protected by overlapping layers of thick bronze armor that gleamed in the late afternoon sun. It stood about three stories tall and had a head with a single glowing inset eye. The back of the platform had an articulated tail piece that was just big enough for a gun position. Toward the middle, a strange pedestal shape formed on its back. The pedestal was the only shape protruding from the platform, though, and the entire creation was a perfect starting point to build on.
ARi crumpled to her knees. Tim and I were barely able to catch her.
“I’m afraid that’s all I’m going to be able to do for a bit,” ARi said.
We could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
Tonya raced over with Hannah and helped ease ARi down.
“Tim, you better come with me. Someone is going to have to drag my ass back to the ship after I throw this node down.”
We moved toward the center of the camp, where the kobolds were still erecting their tents and laying out provisions. I brought up my menu and found the option to drop the control node, then looked back to Tim to make sure he was ready.
“Go ahead, Gav. I got you.”
I raised my hand, and the ground tore open as a now-familiar obsidian column reached up toward the sky. My mouth went dry, and the taste of metal sat on the back of my tongue before my knees tried to give out.
Tim already had my arm around his shoulders, bracing me before I could even stumble.
“All right, big guy, let’s get you back to the ship.”
I was barely able to walk, but I did manage to stay on my feet with his help. It still took both Kyle and Tim to get me up the ramp.
When I woke up, I had no idea how much time had passed, but I found myself lying in a comfortable bed in a well-adorned stateroom next to ARi. She was awake and softly smiling at me, and I just nuzzled closer to her to put my forehead against hers.
“Should we tell them that we’re awake?” I asked.
“Tonya already came in to check on us about half an hour ago,” she said. “The kobolds have already set up camp and have sentries guarding the perimeter. The Wraiths came back and reported what they found as well. They didn’t find much for any real threats. They did find a couple new types of raptor, though, but Tony said they were too small for game.”
She leaned up and kissed my cheek, then turned and pressed herself into me, forcing me into the bigger spoon. She grabbed my arm and pulled it over her waist.
“I think we’ll start in the morning,” she said.
With that, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me again.
