Resource Gathering Outpost

Several days later. One and half a month after planetfall.

Julian was locked and loaded, domineeringly strutting out of the Mecha Bay Hangar inside the MD-101. Today, they were going establish their first resource gathering outpost. He opened his VNI and connected to Intellus.

"Intellus, are the building templates ready?"

Intellus's robotic face was displayed on the top-right corner with an uninterested look. "Avina has received the relevant information through the CA-101. The prefabricated turrets, walls, and resource gatherer building have also been added to the CA-101's subspace storage."

Julian turned around and saw a huge black and yellow striped mecha suit, at least a meter taller than the MD-101, walk out of the Mecha Hangar Bay in an unhurried fashion. The dangling small crane on its back would swerve for every step it took.

PMS-CA-101. Considered a mobile construction yard that can store all prefabricated buildings on its limited subspace storage and deploy it anywhere. Packed with arms and feet that could scale cliffs and jump over dangerous rivers, the CA-101's only weakness was its complete lack of combat capabilities.

"No dilly dallying now Avina. I don't want to wait for dusk to fall.", Julian sternly reminded and turned around.

The poor girl straightened the CA-101's back and hurried after the MD-101's fading figure.

"I will patrol the area again and you'll come over once I say it is clear. Got it?"

"Avina affirms, successor."

Both of them enthusiastically ran and headed into the area 200 meters northeast from the Base Complex Facility. This was the first area where both the ferronium and oxydium deposits were marked on the digital map.

Halfway, Avina strode to the sides and constructed a network relay tower that extended the E-CONN coverage from the Base Complex Facility.

Meanwhile, Julian circled around the area.

"Release the reds."

The compartment on the MD-101's upper left chest opened, releasing a red mist that quickly disappeared followed by indistinct buzzing. Julian constantly observed the map as the red proto insects slowly spread around.

An entire minute passed, and Julian stopped lurking under the dense cover of the trees. The network relay tower was also finished as well. It was a communication mast with several antennas built at the top.

Small green and red lights could be seen flashing on the antenna's ends from time to time.

"Area is clear. Avina, go ahead. I'll monitor until you are finished."

The CA-101 headed to the edge of a cliff and vertically slid down for 25 meters before reaching the bottom.

"Ferronium and oxydium deposits detected underground and cliff side. Initiating deployment protocol."

"Building template found. Employing template."

Julian stood above the cliff, watching as an antenna protruded at the back of the CA-101, emitting a solidifying greenish digital link that soon built the outline of multiple turrets and walls, including the area beside him.

The two boxes beside the dangling crane suddenly opened, releasing four clouds of yellow mist and swarming to every turret or wall outline in the area. The yellow proto insects buzzed as they moved around, reconstructing the digital outlines into a physical structure.

Julian couldn't help but gulp with starry eyes, "If the Machina race would know about this... Another war may endanger the Convention again."

"No, I have to stop it. If the Machina race wants this, then I'll give them the war they need."

Amidst his self-retrospection, the yellow proto insects had fully built all the turret and wall outlines and proceeded into the large structure with a large chimney at the top surrounded by antennas all over.

Exterior pipes hugged around the building, connecting to a large furnace compartment with two drilling arms targeted at the cliff in front and the ground below. These large drilling arms were backed by several brown proto insects that would actively seek out any ores found by the resource gatherer's scanner and extract its contents in the most efficient way possible.

The 3-meter-tall structure was finished in half a minute, furthering the praises that Julian sang about the Ancien Regime's proto insect technology.

Intellus patched a connection into his VNI. "Detecting external outpost near the Base Complex Facility. Havier is now routing energy into the resource gathering outpost through the E-CONN."

Before Julian could reply, another connection barged in.

"Successor, this is Secturus. Integrating new defensive turrets into my command. Will automatically adjust placement and count on several factors. Will automatically engage on hostile creatures."

Julian nodded, "Thanks, you two. This won't be easy without your help. And you too, Avina. Good work."

The CA-101 jumped onto the cliff and landed on his side, bowing in grace. "Avina is content if the successor is content."

"Secturus, can the E-CONN replenish the ammunition of our turrets now?"

"Affirmative. Can control fabrication buildings to craft needed ammunition. Recommend to build additional fabrication buildings. Turret ammunition expense cannot be met by current setup."

"Intellus, you heard that?", Julian delegated the task to someone more competent.

"Instructions received. I am now formulating a solution to the turret ammunition expense. It should be ready in a minute. For the meantime, the successor can proceed in constructing the rest of the resource gathering outposts."

"You just want me to get busy, don't ya?"

Julian chuckled and signaled for Avina to move on. "Next target, 400 meters, a little northwest from here. The valley from before."

"Let's keep walking and preserve energy."

The red proto insects released by the MD-101 earlier encircled Julian with a radius of 200 meters. With that distance, he would be able to react on time and change their plans accordingly.

Luckily for him, everything on the road was as tranquil as a pond. But this serenity irked the unsteady nerves on his hands.

"This feeling... I've felt it before."

The birds chirped on the skies followed by a small wind breezing through the valley from the south. Small critters could be seen gnawing on seeds and plant stems. Everything seemed to perfect for the veteran Julian.

"Avina, once you're done with that network tower, come here and deploy the building templates ASAP."

"On my way, successor."

The CA-101 landed on the torn mountainside and opened the hatches on both its left and right chest. Thick purple mist filled Julian's entire vision, forcing him to unconsciously step back in fear.

These purple proto insects rushed on the outline of the hole, eating away the earth into nothingness. Once a large enough entrance was created, the purple proto insects headed further inside, enlarging the closed-in environment as a preparation for the deployment of the huge resource gatherer structure.

"Successor, all fabrication buildings have been accounted and deployed inside the Base Complex Facility. The base has expanded and the affected walls and turrets have been properly re-deployed under the assistance of the E-CONN."

"Okay, that's good to hear."

Julian praised the workaholic Intellus. Meanwhile, his digital map suddenly released several beeps at once. The intensity of the beeps were so high that he could see the red proto insects hurrying back to the MD-101.

"Avina, no time now! Deploy those turrets and walls!"

The CA-101 jumped out from the underground and released the turret and wall outlines as prepared by Intellus. Some were placed atop the mountainside to provide high ground cover, and the rest surrounded the entrance in a semi-circle fashion placed several meters away from each other to prevent misfire from occurring.

The 10 machine gun turrets and 3 rocket launcher turrets were quickly deployed into action. Secturus patched through Julian's VNI and delivered good news.

"Detecting newly deployed turrets. Integrating into base defense system."

"Integration completed. Secturus will now take command."

"Detecting extreme threats in the east and northeastern direction. Acquiring targets."

The cold eight-barreled machine gun turrets locked onto the beasts two hundred meters away. They slowly spun into maximum rotation speed and started firing off countless .50 cal bullets that sent the beasts flying or being turned into sieves.

Julian couldn't help but fly away into the higher ground where the two machine gun turrets and one rocket launcher turret remained on standby.

"My ears hurt, damn... Don't initiate the BIAAS. Avina, continue what you were working on earlier."

He could see the bullets travelling far and fast, accurately hitting the targets despite the distance and visibility issues.

'This is like cheating... AIs have their advantages, I suppose... No, that's only the case with this one. Those robots in the Federation aren't a match to this.'

For some reason, cursing his mother faction seemed to be not that degrading anymore. If not for him stopping himself, he would've said a few more.

The skies were suddenly blocked out when a large group of flying beasts arrived opposite the mountain he was in. Some of them had streamlined bodies with sharp beaks that could pierce the air, generating shockwaves as they passed through in an almost sonic behavior.

There were some with mace-like tiles, carrying countless spores that could regenerate when thrown. Julian almost puked at the sight of such a disgusting creature, "Secturus, shoot those damned beasts down!"

The two machine guns beside him moved and fired at the flying beasts faster than the turrets below were doing. When the bullets hit the spores, a small explosion would reverberate, showering the ground with disgusting liquid that was no different from a mixture of vomit, feces, and acid.

'These fuckers would even cry like a baby!'

Seeing that the volume of the flying beasts would not drop soon, the rocket launcher aimed and Julian could hear Secturus muttering something on the VNI.

"Arming with cluster warhead. Firing at targets."

Two 80mm rockets were launched into the air. After travelling for a few more meters, the large rocket split itself into two, exposing six smaller rockets that pursued the quick aerial beasts with sharp beaks.

Julian narrowed his eyes while looking at the chaotic battefield once more.

There were large four-legged beasts with thick spiked carapaces on their back, slowly increasing their speed as they continued their charge into the tall concrete walls. One of the machine guns changed its target and aimed at that beast, chipping off the thick carapace and revealed a soft layer of skin underneath.

The beast wailed in pain but did not last long as its mates ran over it with no care, setting their eyes straight into their objectives. If one looked closely, a stream of blood could be seen flowing from their large ear canals.

The last two rocket launchers finally made their move, targeting the area at the center of these charging beast's formation.

Four rockets propelled straight into the charging beasts. Upon impact, the explosive blast disoriented these beasts, forcing them to turn in every direction they could and trying to rid themselves of the pain.

With these beasts in front suddenly out of track, the rest at the back collided with them and caused a massive collision, hindering the once-most unstoppable charge that could've gave them a slight advantage in this conflict.

As the last beast made its way on top of the bodies of its brethren, Julian charged at it and cut it into two using the MD-101's concentrated laser cutter. Looking at the pile of fresh carcasses in front of him, he couldn't help but grin.

"I am going to have a feast with Avina-2 once I'm back."