The next couple of days were hectic. Slim had a second wave of more detailed interviews to determine what skills the recruits had and whether they would be suited to an ongoing role in the military arm of the settlement. She hadn't underestimated the work and had built up a much better understanding of the entire group and their strengths. Spending an hour with each recruit she had worked through from dawn until dusk. Even though the work was mainly sitting and listening it was hard and she was worn out.

Mouse had spent the time putting up another two buildings and a workshop. He was becoming more and more creative with his use of the ziggurat that he was taking great delight in deconstructing it in a haphazard way that only made sense to him. He had arranged a second salvage of the Swarm carcasses to collect the glands that secreted the liquid that hardened and fused the Crust together. It was harder to extract than simply cutting off limbs but meant he could turn the blocks making their outer wall into a more formidable layer of protection. From the outside there was now an eight foot wall with double height towers in the corners. An inner parapet allowed the patrolling recruits to look out as well as protect against anything seeking to attack the settlement. Outside this were two rings of smaller walls and ditches to break apart any attacking Swarm as they approached.

Due to the nature of the Crystal there were inevitably going to be Swarm coming in their direction but they had a few days grace as the Hive would have kept the immediate area free from competition. This did not mean that Elias allowed the recruits to rest. He pushed them back into a regime including early morning PT and basic skill training. Squads were allocated to Mouse at times to help with the building; rest periods or they were consolidating the skills they had activated while fighting to take the ziggurat. Only one recruit had managed to activate all five basic skills: Rifle, Armour, Shield, Blade and Salvage with others varying between having one and four activated. Though the training would not activate any skills as it did not apply them in a true combat scenario it would improve the chances of gaining the skill when they fought again.

His favourite new exercise was using the cleared ziggurat as a training ground to practice fighting in an enclosed space. Normally they went in to reap the valuables and then leave the empty structure and instead Elias had the whole thing as a playground obstacle course to train his recruits. They learnt how to clear a room, safely move through the corridors and what to do when they came across different combinations of exits from a given position.

Even though he knew that the ultimate plan might be to allow some of the recruits to renegotiate their contract and not fight they were all put through their paces. The first day Elias drove out in the carrier five kilometres from the settlement and dropped off the five squads one by one as they spotted Swarm. Fifteen Swarm were killed between the groups, all picked off at a distance by rifle. They salvaged the bodies and found a single minor shard to add to the kitty as well as collecting three hundred credits worth of parts. On completing the circuit he left the recruits to run back to the settlement as he drove on ahead. They were fine but did not appreciate his response when they arrived in dribs and drabs rather than together as a unit. The next day was more fruitful in terms of kills and resources from the Swarm. This time, despite increasing the distance they were running from the group all appeared together as they entered the settlement.

It was only in the evenings that Elias, Mouse and Slim took time to talk together over their final meal of the day. The ration packs that Gary had supplied were standard issue so didn't entice you to sit and enjoy your meal. There were four breakfast menus, six lunch and six evening meal menus. The second they had all chosen black beans and rice followed by a chocolate pudding. Better to suffer together rather than select different options and argue over which was the worst. There had not been much to say on the first evening. The day had flown by and each of them was also coming down from the high and mental fatigue of the journey to and fight over the ziggurat. By the second evening, with a little longer to perform their roles and rest through the day they were feeling more talkative.

"Can I have squad five most the day tomorrow?" Asked Mouse wiping pudding off his moustache.

"We've been over this Mouse, they're all on a rota. You'll get them when you get them." Elias replied.

"But," he started to reply.

"No Mouse. You just want Ty really and just so you two can joke around." Slim cut him off.

Mouse tried to give puppy dog eyes to Elias, it really didn't work when coming from a large middle aged man with a paunch. He just looked sad. Being Mouse it didn't last long and he broke into a big smile.

"Did you like the section of the ziggurat with the different wall heights I left for you to train?" Mouse asked Elias.

"Oh, that's what that was for. I thought you had just been practicing cutting techniques on the walls." Came the reply.

"Well we were," Mouse scratched his head, "but then I thought it might be useful so we cut a few more pieces out in the same area. It looked pretty fun."

"Ok, I'll check it out tomorrow." Elias said, not wanting to tell Mouse to stop trying to 'enhance' the training area.

"Also I was thinking about tomorrow." He went on to say. His more serious tone got the attention of the others.

"You said that the recruit allocation is done at the end of the month, and it's based on our settlement level." Elias waited for confirmation.

"Yes." Said Slim cautiously.

"Well what if we used the major shard to upgrade the settlement just before the allocation. We would essentially get an extra recruit for free." They could hear the same excited tone in Elias's voice that had been there when he had told them how they could use the ziggurat to establish Libertas.

"That's a nice idea Elias, but we need those 10,000 credits for the drop ship fee." Slim said, the cautious tone in her voice increasing.

"Well I've been thinking about that." Countered Elias. "With the extra Swarm kills over the last two days we only need seven hundred more credits to do both."

"And where are we going to get that from?" Asked Slim.

"Swarm hunting." Said Elias with a grin on his face.