We crested the tracks to the south of the settlement and I was able to get a solid view of how the settlement had grown through my own eyes rather than the view I had gotten early from the mental representation. The thing that stood out was the five story apartment block that towered above the rest of the settlement. The now stone walls stood at ten feet and I made a mental note to Veep to raise that to fifteen as I was just barely able to get sight on the Market and training grounds. I was pleased to see several dozen people sparring from my vantage point. Gonna need more if I plan to conquer the Universe, heh. The corners of the wall held simple stone towers that stood at roughly 30 feet tall and were capped by a double thick wall of sandbags for shooters to rest their rifles on and reposition as needed.

We approached the southern gate and I noticed the gate was now made of solid timbers banded together by wide iron straps. A small wood gate shack stood on the outside with two guards manning it, one with a rifle, another wearing a metal breastplate and a short sword on his hip.

“Halt! State your name and business!” The man with the sword challenged firmly without sounding too aggressive.

I smiled at the man and thought about messing with him then decided he was only doing his job and slid off the back of Kaia to properly greet the man.

He gulped up at me as I approached radiating casual violence though didn’t reach for his sword like I expected. “Karl Brunett, and what remains of the Correctional Officers from the prison. My business is, well, I’d like to rest in my own bed and see to my settlement” I spread my arms wide at the last, letting the shit eating grin that was forming on my face break free as the man realized who I was.

His eyes widened at my proclamation and the guard behind him muttered “Told you it was him, we were told to expect him.”

“My apologies, Sir. We were directed by Miss Devers to challenge everyone that approached.”

I allowed my smile to fade and looked at him directly, “You did good, what’s your name?”

“Thank you, Sir. Gary, Sir.” He responded crisply.

“Thank you, Gary, now I’m going to go in here and try to quietly check on things, please don’t announce my presence.” I clapped the man gently on the shoulder as we walked past him and entered my settlement.

Kaia shot off towards the kennels to reconnect with Lulu and Brother Coyote, as well as assert his dominance over the newest members of the pack, to which there seemed to be four. Not enough to make some badass coyote cavalry unit, but they could make good scouts. I was startled to see a pair of giant mountain lions also lounging in a corner of the kennels. Wonder how we managed that? I filed it off for later questions and waved everyone towards the Market and gave them directions to where to find me when they were ready.

“I will go see if I can speak with Alyssa.” Junipher informed me and I nodded in understanding. The urge to see her was overwhelming but I also felt I had a responsibility to see what my settlement had been up to over the last couple of days since I left to solve the prison problem.

I walked east along the wall and saw that there were proper ramps rather than ladders to get up on the walkway. I walked past the south side of the Admin building and observed a surprisingly bustling market filled with mostly food goods as well as a weapon and armor stall. The stalls were covered with brightly colored canopies that provided shelter from the sun and all ringed the kiosk. What shocked me more was that many of the shops were manned by various members of the Daemons. Why bring your goods to market if you aren’t going to try to sell them, right?

They all nodded respectfully to me as I passed the stalls and found myself standing before a little red skinned imp man who was cooking barbecued meat on a stick. As I had been living off of protein bars and things only attained from a wrapper, my mouth was drooling at the scents that assailed my nose. I quickly bought a skewer of the juicy meat, not bothering to ask where it came from. Though the meat was gamey in texture it was tangy with a pinch of heat to round out the flavor. It wasn’t the best thing I ever tasted but it was well worth the 10 credits I paid for it and I considered going back for another as I scarfed down the first one.

Instead I turned to the East and took in the Apartment building. It was a simple brick affair that rose five stories tall and held five apartments on each floor. I saw some older women tending a small flower garden at the entrance and watching as several small children played in the empty space between the market and the apartment. I checked my settlement interface and saw that the apartment building was currently only at about half capacity. The guard bunk house was full and I checked the total number of guardsmen we had registered and found that number to be 110. Which meant 10 were sleeping on the ground or they were hot bunking. I checked the gender split and determined they were likely hot bunking. Gonna have to fix that. One for the ladies, one for the boys.

I walked past the apartment building and saw the space inside the walls I had to work with was about a few hundred square meters. Enough room for a couple of average sized buildings or facilities. Have to think on it. I decided to leap onto the walkway overlooking the gate rather than using the ramp. I landed with a silent thud between a man and woman that were watching the East side for attack.

“Who da fu-”,“What the!?”, they exclaimed in unison at my sudden presence.

I chuckled and raised my hands in a placating gesture, “Relax, I just wanted to see what my settlement was up to.”

“You’re- oh! Of course, Sir.” the young woman to my left said as she gathered her wits.

I looked down from the vantage point and saw the four farms stretch to the limit of my eastern border that conveniently ended at the now burned out Flying J. One plot was clearly growing wheat, another corn, though I couldn’t identify what the other two were. Each farm had a simple wooden fence marking its territory and a small cottage in the corner with a small shed that I assumed contained the tools of the trade. I was pleased to see a small group of people working each plot and what looked to be a patrol of Guard on the outer edge of the farms.

“Have we been attacked from this side since I left?” I asked the woman next to me.

“Uh, no, Sir, if you have high enough Perception, you can see that the wash further east is still flowing strong. I think it’s a proper river now, though no one can guess how long that will last.”

“Indeed. Any sign of that big fucker that wrecked the highway?”

“None, sir. Most of us are hoping it’s moved on into the desert somewhere.”

“Let’s hope.” I lied through my teeth. A primal part of me wanted that fucker to come back so I could test myself on it.

I jumped off the wall with a light thud and continued my exploration along the northern wall and stopped when I reached the training yard. It was a simple affair of packed dirt with medieval training dummies sticking out of the ground on one side, archery targets against the West wall and a sparring area in the center. This is where most of the work was being done as men and women with wooden weapons engaged in mock battle. A stiff backed man who looked to be in his 50’s walked back and forth through the formation of fighters, correcting posture here, adjusting someone's grip there, demonstrating proper footwork, etc.

The man noticed me watching and ordered a break in the training. He walked forward with his arms behind his back and a smile on his face that radiated as much violence as I assumed I did. He wore a simple leather breastplate and a plain looking rapier was strapped to his hip. Someone into fencing before the system hit?

We stared at each other for a long moment before he chose to speak first, “Interested in joining the Guard?”

“Hah, Thanks, but, it’s kinda hard to join it when I’m the one that created it.”

Recognition spread on his face and his demeanor changed slightly, “Oh my. They told me you were a big one. What can I do you for, Sir? The name’s Eli, by the way” He asked and extended his hand.

“Heh, I get that alot now, Karl.” I took his hand and noticed a surprisingly firm grip and silently approved, “I was just watching you train. Was curious, why all the form and grip and footwork stuff when the system handles much of the mechanics of that?”

“Oh, that’s simple, because the system doesn’t actually do that unless you activate an ability, and abilities burn stamina. For someone like you or me, we are overflowing in Stamina because of our life experience bonuses, but the younger men and women don’t have the benefit of our experience, so they have to learn how to be effective without spamming their abilities.”

“Shit, never thought about that. I did just get an Axe fighting skill and abilities to go with it, gives me something to think about.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re a leader who thinks.” He said with a small smirk.

“How do you keep the kids from using their abilities?”

“Oh, that one’s simple, the training yard has a nullification field. Can’t use any abilities within the confines of the yard.”

“Nice.”

“Oh, it comes with even better benefits though, you can develop new Skills within, and current Skills develop faster when you actually have to learn the basic method of their employment.”

“Double Nice! So who appointed you to the job?”

“No one actually, Miss Devers has been running the show while Miss Nightraven recovers from her injury. Though…” He left the last unspoken and I finished it for him.

“With the system healing she should have at least been back up and about?”

“Exactly. I saw her fight, she has the spirit, though it seems to have been broken.”

“I suspect I’m going to have to beat it back into her.” I said as I looked to the Admin building and the corner she occupied within.

“Good luck, it’d be a shame for such raw fighting potential like hers to be lost. If you ever fancy a spar, I’m here all day.” He said and turned back to training his people.

I nodded and decided it was time to meet with Johnny and the others and figure out what to do with Alyssa. I turned and entered the Admin building and climbed the stairs to my office/apartment. I paused monetarily and thought about knocking on Alyssa’s door then decided now wasn’t the time and pushed into my office and found Samantha sitting behind my desk with stacks of paperwork.

Samantha was startled by my entrance and stumbled out of the chair to greet me with a sheepish look.”Karl! Bout damn time you come up!” She blurted out and charged me with a gentle hug.

She beamed up at me and her shoulders sagged in relief. I looked around at the mess of paperwork on my desk and gestured with my hand. “Da fuck is all this?”

“Oh, petitions, requests, reports, stuff like that. Johnny’s stack is far larger, trust me!”

I sat behind my desk and glanced at a few of the pieces of paperwork then scooped them into a pile and placed them on the corner of the desk. I looked at her thoughtfully as she took a seat across from me.

“Veep, call a meeting for five minutes from now, Johnny, Alyssa, Junipher and…” I looked at Samantha, “Eli?” She nodded approval, and Veep seeing through my eyes confirmed the guest list and was about to send it out when Samantha added to it.

“Also Choox’il Thrub, she’s the healer that Shubin sent and also their liaison.”

“Sounds good. Now, you got five minutes, gimme the short version.”

She smiled and gave me a quick rundown of the refugees they had taken in and the condition of the settlement from her perspective and what she had been doing to guide the Guard in Alyssa’s absence. Overall the biggest issue we were facing was the lack of bedding for the Guard members, and refugees approached the gates at regular intervals over the last couple of days. After we successfully repelled that first attack the groups of arrivals had gotten larger. The other issue concerning the Guard was that of getting equipped. Some of this was solved by sending groups out to kill monsters north of our position but we had only sent out a few patrols in the few days the settlement stood. By the time she had finished I was starting to form a build priority in my head that would be fleshed out when I got Johnny’s take on it.

Soon everyone I requested for this meeting shuffled into my room. First Johnny, then Eli knocked gently on the door almost exactly at the five minute mark. He ducked in looking a bit confused as to why he was invited and I advised him to hold tight and all would become clear. Junipher entered from across the hall next and looked at me with concern on her face, when I asked if Alyssa was coming she shook her head in disappointment. Before we could get into it further Choox’il Thrub squeezed through the entrance, gave a short bow and settled herself in the corner of the room. I made note of the painted nails and realized this was the spider lady that was eye fucking me a couple days ago. She seemed to preen when she realized I recognized her and then we got the meeting underway.

“Alright, I’ve already gotten a report from Samantha, Johnny, how about you finish painting the picture for me.”

He smiled and launched into his own report that included details of the non-combat classers whom we were referring to now as the ‘civilian’ population. These people included various crafting and construction classes as well as the all important cooks. I thought with my stomach before the system, sue me. Overall we were sitting at about 30 persons with varying skill and ability that ranged from general handyman to plumber, electrician, and carpenter. He also noted that many of the combat classers had life skill to varying degrees in construction jobs.

“Veep, are we allowed to do raw construction within a settlement?”

“Yes, though you have to gather the material and provide the labor yourself. Most settlements allow this and simply zone the land for what they want or need in specific areas. In fact, when you meet the requirements to advance to the rank of Village, a City Planner office will be made available to you. Though for right now you are sitting on over 200000 Settlement Building Points so it should be easy to expand with just that.”

With that news we hashed out what facilities we felt were necessary for our expansion. Another Bunkhouse was placed on the list which would allow us to give the men and women of the guard their own sleeping quarters. Eli requested an Armory and a Firing range, which I heartily agreed should be built as soon as possible. Johnny wanted a couple more Farms, a Granary, and a Craft facility. All of this ate up barely 100000 points which left me slightly more than that remaining. So I decided on adding a Tavern for travellers and a dedicated Militia headquarters building at the south end of the bunkhouses. Choox’il suggested space for an infirmary be made which I realized I should have thought of before.

After all of this was settled the discussion quieted as those of us in the know knew what the next subject would be.

“So, about Alyssa., it’s been two days since the attack, how is she?”

Junipher looked at me waiting for someone else to speak and the first response I heard came from Choox’il.

“The woman’s body is healed as much as possible. It would take a Master Class or better healer to regrow the missing limb. Though there are options on the System Kiosk to fit all kinds of mechanical or cybernetic options in its place. The problem isn’t her body. Her spirit has been broken, and it will take some time to restore, though she will probably never be the same if something isn’t done soon. On my planet if such a thing had happened we would heal the wound then throw the warrior back into the fight. They either lived or died by their own action.”

“She’s right, Karl. I sat with her briefly and she barely moved, even when I sang one of my songs to bolster the spirit she barely stirred. And her eyes were so vacant.” Junipher lamented.

I looked at Eli, “We already had this conversation out on the yard, you know what I think. If she don’t snap out of her funk that’s alot of wasted talent.”

“Sam?” I asked the woman who had remained silent.

“No idea what to do for her. I went to school for business, not psychology.”

“Johnny?”

“The spirits suggest extreme action be taken or she will be lost to the people forever.”

I leaned forward in my chair, swung my feet off the desk and stood up and stalked past the group. “Tough love it is then. Hey, Captain Eli, that suppression field always on in the Training Yard?”

“Capt- eh, yeah, what’re you planning?” He stumbled to keep up with the conversation.

“I’m going to fire your predecessor and clear out your new office.”