The day wore on with the tour of our primary facilities in New Damond. In peaceful times this would be more of an official meeting, done in no small part but to show foreign diplomats a sample of what we had to offer.

In reality, what we wanted was their input and feedback on our various processes. Each were, in their own right, experts and representatives of a considerable number of people. Impressing them was less about our vanity and more of a temperature check on how we were doing overall in terms of our advancements in technology.

I could call the results something of a mixed bag. There were plenty – more than I’d hoped for – of things that we’d done very well on, but others that left them scratching their heads wondering what we were showing them.

Our construction technology being one of them, though Yamak was the only one who nearly drooled upon seeing it. He quietly assured me that our ability to rapidly manufacture anything was not exactly uncommon, but the rate at which we could roll out such constructions was impressive. Many of our defensive structures came in modular designs, allowing us to quickly create infrastructure in new areas with standardized equipment and fairly strict structure hierarchy. This was what had allowed us to rapidly build new, fairly straight shot highways to Sunvilla and Argedwall, ignoring previous roads that took winding paths that avoided rough terrain. Price was no obstacle for us, and one unsung advancement that had been made was the sheer flexibility of our materials.

The same could be said of our weapons and armor platforms. Extreme concepts were now being considered, given that one of our most successful area defense platforms, The Raijin Field, had begun under one man and largely been considered a flight of fancy by many in Reaper R&D.

Terry had demonstrated that imagination was a weapon in and of itself.

Even so, there were just as many failed projects. Weaponizing nanites in the field, for instance, was met with many unforeseen issues. Mobility being chiefest among them, as the nanites we’d created simply couldn’t move rapidly enough to be more than slimes. Their efficacy was in doubt as well, given that their overall power supply simply wasn’t sufficient to allow long term activity.

However, in terms of utilizing nanites as a defensive tool we’d managed quite well. Now, every mech was rolling out with a small number of nanites that would assist in repairs and would be capable of emergency medical assistance. Some were wary of them, given that our culture had volumes of cautionary fictional tales warning against the use of nanites and their like. I myself now carried four canisters attached to my back, sleek things that fit snugly against my power armor, that contained what might very well be millions of the things. My fear of them was nonexistent, I could flex my will and force them to do anything I wanted, there was no presence within them that was not strictly my own.

Those that were in other suits were beholden entirely on the suit and its own onboard computer systems, and under no condition were they allowed to attack or otherwise smother the pilot.

Already, though, I was considering how best to metabolize such things. If I could use nanites in my own body and in my power armor, how far could I push my capacities? Would I be able to have the power of a mechanized suit even without wearing one? What, then, could I push my suit to-

“So, Reaper, I think it's time for that talk?” Yamak spoke, snapping me from my thoughts. The four of them were allowed now to roam the city, given explicit information on what exactly was allowed - and more importantly, not allowed - in the city. New Damond didn’t have much of a non-Legion presence, but there were still a number of small outlets for entertainment and food outside of HQ. Living quarters were anything but mandatory, and while the trainees were often in the Tombstone, other active and inactive Legion tended to be near HQ to enjoy the amenities offered.

Further out, those amenities were offered by extension, hosted by Legion and often being trusted individuals from Gilramore and a trickle from Sunvilla.

The others had excused themselves, having received all of the information that they needed to roam the city. I could tell, though, that they were restless.

Yamak was no less, in spite of his nonchalant demeanor.

I nodded to him, “Come with me.”

With little other choice, Yamak followed as we moved back into the building. The lobby was as immaculate as ever, a large, red and black marble structure with streaks of gold running along the edges of tiling and blocks. Angular, bold architecture gave the room the appearance of a great yawning maw, and deeper within, alcoves led to different parts of the structure. The first floor hosted no particularly important meetings, more along the lines of renting rooms for Legion teams to utilize for whatever purpose they might need. Above us, though, much more information was being processed and decided in real time by our socio-political arm. Derrick had returned to said areas to keep informed and guide the process while Doug was in Gilramore.

As we entered the elevator, rising rapidly to the office, Yamak broke the silence. “So, not that I don’t appreciate being given insight into your operation…” he paused, “...but there is the matter of my fleet still being out in space.”

“A matter that I take seriously,” I turned to look at him, “while we’ve been touring, the Legion has been mobilizing.”

He sighed, “I get that, and I realize that there’s not much that can be done about it, but at the least I’d like to know what’s going on in relation to my fleet.”

The elevator doors slid open then as we walked through the halls. To be honest, there really wasn’t much to talk about as of yet. The encrypted information I’d pilfered from the satellite was being unpacked carefully. Other satellites were being carefully sought out, by myself and by other A.I. that carefully parsed signals that originated in orbit. Our mountain top observatory and communications base was put to task in this. For the first time, the base was active, though Yamak wasn’t aware of it. I doubted anyone not directly involved in these requests was even aware that the base was even active.

More than that, though, was the fact that the Legion was upgrading, metamorphosing once more. Small upgrades here and there, but enough of them that most teams were on standby as existing weapons were upgraded, new kits rolled out, and, soon, new teams issued to the field.

Remembering that, I idly set a few processes in motion to make sure Phalanx Gamma would be outfitted appropriately for being tasked with my team.

“We’re narrowing down possible locations for where the nearest uplink point is,” I gestured to the holographic display as we walked into the office, the hologram surging to life. A replica of Earth and the continent we were on spun in our vision before pulling away, showing several exaggeratedly large models of satellites over the surface of the planet. One such satellite was red with an “X” through it, being the one I was responsible for destroying.

“So far, these are the satellites that we’ve detected that are suspect. Over here, we’ve detected some of the orbital defensive stations.” I gestured to one in particular, “it’s fairly more robust than I’d expected. And close to your landing point. I’d guess that this was the one that shredded the Python.”

Yamak has a sour expression on his face, “do you have any idea where the uplinks are yet?”

I shrugged, “Some, but nothing concrete, yet. There seems to be one in Sunvilla, but I doubt that’s more than a relay. However-” I gestured farther up the coast, near the city of Basilisk Port, “-there’s a port city here. There’s no relay there, but farther off their coast to this island out here-” at that I pointed out Basney Island even further northeast, “-does in fact have a large structure, one that isn’t on any records that I can find. We’re fairly sure that, if this was part of some defensive network project, this would be the place it would be.”

“A start, then.” Yamak stared at the image for the port city perplexedly, “what about this city? Are they friendly?”

“They’re at least neutral,” I sighed, “they don’t recognize themselves under any authority, not their own, but they’re willing to negotiate terms for an alliance. Which makes them a far cry better than the United Governments Coalition.”

He tilted his head in question at me for that, to which I only smiled helplessly.

“Recently we’ve received responses from several groups nearby and farther afield. This is our Legion-Bulwark initiative; find and consolidate communities outside our own, or outfit them appropriately, so long as they’re willing to work under Legion direction.” I explained briefly, “There are a few holdouts, but so far we’re seeing very positive responses. But there are other large organizations out there that we’re still learning about.”

Yamak didn’t say anything, finding himself a chair and asking for a beer from the A.I. of the room. I chuckled to myself, sitting and getting water for myself.

“Basilisk Port, originally of a different name, is under the organization Basilisk,” at this Yamak gave a small smile, “and sports half-a-million citizens under its banner.”

At this Yamak whistled, “So they’re larger than you twice over?”

I nodded, unashamedly, “Exactly, though I wouldn’t want this to come down to blows in the first place. To be brief, our military mights are designed in entirely different directions. Most of their biotics are larger, sea-borne variants, and their population swelled from several settlements further up the coast that were under constant assault by these creatures. They’re a fairly powerful organization, all told, but reasonable enough. I’d prefer to keep our relations above water, so-to-speak.”

“The problem isn’t them, though. As I mentioned, the United Government Coalition has been seeing more activity. They were an eleventh hour formation during the apocalypse and given vested powers, officially, in every country. Of course, that was a token gesture at the time, intended to soothe the masses.”

Yamak arched an eyebrow at my flippant manner regarding them, no doubt realizing I had no particular love for the group.

“But, enough of the organization survived that they’re using the Old-World orders to take over their nearby territories. So far, they’re too far in the west to be an issue, but eventually I suspect that they’ll come here. And, if what we suspect is true, they may have something to do with the orbital defenses being as touchy as they are.”

“Ah,” Yamak sighed, seeming to realize where this was going, “they’re trying to keep away any curious groups while also keeping the weapon system in their back pockets.”

“Yes, but also,” I nodded to the hologram, “I think the native government is fighting back against their control. Likely, they’re blocking each other from accessing the network, but who can say how long that will last? Of course, we’ve only just stumbled upon this, but I’d much rather not allow either of these organizations to control them. The last thing we need is someone ready to push the big red button on anyone resisting their control.”

“So,” I met Yamak’s eyes straight on, “if I gave you two hours without that orbital platform shooting at you, how many strike vessels could you get in the atmosphere?”

The Artorian Company President seemed to glow at my question, a wide, toothy grin spreading across his face, “Well, we’re no slouches. But that’s one helluva flight to make in two hours. We’ll have to get closer, past the asteroid belt…”

We talked of the plan, and what I intended for his vessels to do once they were fully in orbit. Tomorrow, we’d have more information to work with. Until then, though…

“Cheers!” Yamak clinked his glass of alcohol against mine, whilst simultaneously pushing another one into my free hand...