/THE ENEMIES WILL APPROACH FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF TOWN

The undead cordon of villagers had made no move to stop our entry, but they turned now towards us, staring with rotting and glazed eyes. The bone golems began to march from the opposite side of town, alongside the Templar group. Tobias exited the Church, donning a Black robe and following.

“Offo!” Tobias shouted from the opposite end of town. Mathias stood behind him, wide-eyed. I swiveled my head, pointing it towards them. The Qilin moved beside them.

//TOBIAS

I acknowledged him, continuing to oversee the operation of the defenses. Already, miniature starfish were working together to stake removed boards in the ground, creating a storage area that would be used to hold flammable materials.

“What the fuck are you… doing…” Tobias trailed off as he stared up at 03. His face changed from suspicion, to outright fear.

My display automatically turned on, displaying a smiley face.

// OFF03 CONSTRUCTING PROVISIONAL DEFENSES. SURVEYING TOWN AND HOUSES FOR SUPPLIES

The house closest to us was already almost completely torn in half. Some twenty star fish suddenly ran, fell, or jumped away from it.

A second later, it collapsed.

Tobias turned, eyes wide, head looking around. He followed the starfish with his eyes as they tore apart the house and brought it out, piece by piece. Out front, in the road, materials from inside the house had been pulled free, and 3 starfish were sorting different materials. In one area, dense liquids and powders, in another, metals, and a third pile of miscellaneous junk and cloth.

Tobias was experiencing elevated breathing. My knowledge base suggested reassuring him with calming information.

//PRODUCTION OF DEFENSES IS PROCEEDING AT NOMINAL PACE AND SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY TONIGHT. 03, DO NOT TEAR APART THE CHURCH THAT THE ACOLYTES ARE OCCUPYING. TOBIAS, WE HAVE BROUGHT ADDITIONAL COMBAT READY MECHS. OUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS HAS INCREASED BY A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE.

“What are you?” Tobias asked. “Where did these come from…” Tobias said, still staring in the direction of the rapidly working starfish drones. The wall around the town was rapidly expanding, now stretching a few feet and filling with wood. The three starfish that had been sorting goods from the house separated the various powders and liquids, igniting them one at a time— testing flammability.

//I AM OFFO, M1-615 OFFICER VARIATION 01 DESIGNATED ALL PURPOSE MECH FOR COLONIZATION MISSION 284. DIRECTIVE: PROTECT TOBIAS AT ALL COSTS.

// MINIATURIZED STARFISH WERE PRODUCED AT MY DIRECTION IN THE LAST 16 STANDARD HOURS.

//CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS REQUIRE NO FURTHER ATTENTION. I HAVE BROUGHT A MASS OF NEW CORPSES.

Tobias finally turned away from the quickly working starfish, turning to survey the bodies.

“Where did you get these?”

// BODIES WERE RETRIEVED FROM THE LOCAL AREA AROUND AI615.

“Did you kill him?” Mathias asked, staring at the one human body in the pile. He was heavily equipped for woodland hiking; a huge backpack had been torn open. Blood was dried onto his clothes. Like a monster, necrosis crawled across his skin, black tentacles wrapping around and claiming him. One of his arms was missing.

// I DID NOT KILL HIM

Mathias chewed on his lip, before looking back up. “Are you responsible for him dying?”

“It doesn’t matter right now. We can work with these. We could build another bone golem… maybe two.” Tobias said.

“These things are like demons. They’re lying, Tobias.”

“Even if they were demons—” Tobias spat, before looking up at me. Then he looked at 03. “They couldn’t lie to me. I raised them. I binded them. Are you responsible for him dying?”

/LIE, I transmitted over radio to 03.

// NEGATIVE

Tobias needed to be protected from himself. His fear of us acting on his behalf was unfounded. We would kill all we needed for him.

“See?” Tobias said. “It’s fine. Help me carry these.”

I grabbed a body in each hand, walking with Tobias back to the church.

Mathias’s stare burned into my back as I walked away, then he moved to follow.

We spent the rest of the afternoon raising the corpses. The birds were left in tact, made into flying zombies, while the animals were stripped apart, raised into two bone golems in the shape of gigantic dogs. Tobias had reached his command cap with those.

Over the course of the evening, the wall slowly filled in around the town. More starfish joined us, traveling through the forest away from AI615, bringing with them expanded charging racks. Equipment moved also. Tobias and Mathias stayed awake, Tobias snorting more of his drug— Glory, it was called. The Acolytes rotated in shifts, some staying awake and working to raise their own personal undead. Many failed their first few attempts before succeeding eventually, expanding our collection of undead.

We proceeded as quickly as we could, building new magical circles outside of the giant scrying work. I monitored through the scrying pool, watching as the adventurers stopped to make camp. We would have more time.

We didn’t have time to produce more combat bots, nor could I raise them myself, having hit my Command limit. I couldn’t risk handing them off to these Acolytes, either. They were too powerful of weapons to trust them near Tobias. Starfish were simple and easy to produce, only a foot high, and we could feed the autofactories all the materials needed to produce them from the larger, decommissioned mechs.

Once we had additional autofactories online, we could produce a combat mech a day— maybe two.

But we did have time to transport more and more infrastructure here. Even the mining mechs and equipment and the mining dogs arrived overnight. Slowly, a plan was forming.

At least half a dozen starfish arrived each hour. Each one, individually, meant almost nothing in combat. But swarming, perhaps they could overwhelm one or two enemies, or provide a key distraction. Overnight, metal plating arrived and was bolted around the church, armoring the building. Finished with a black sheen, it gave the church a sinister air. Very few buildings remained standing at that point.

In the middle of the night, 03 sent me an updated report he had received. The stasis pods were online.

When dawn broke, the team of mercenaries shook themselves out of sleep, visible through the portal, and continued their trek here.

We would be as ready as we could be when they arrived.