Night had already settled across Grefort City, but Site Three no longer disappeared with the buildings around it.
Work lights covered the distribution yard.
Several had been mounted above the warehouse entrances, while others stood along the loading area and the roads leading toward the eastern Wall. Their pale light reached across the freight containers, parked vehicles, and soldiers still moving between them.
Beyond the perimeter, the surrounding district remained dark.
The seven Pillboxes stood along the eastern and southeastern defenses, visible whenever passing headlights crossed their armored fronts. Soldiers remained inside the Wall line, while the reserve squads patrolled between Trailblazer Two, the warehouses, and the open vehicle lanes.
Hans watched the southern road from outside the main storage building.
The first headlights appeared several minutes later.
Bastion One entered through the marked lane, followed by the other Guardian APCs returning from the commercial center. Recovery trucks came behind them with their cargo sections covered, while the Engineers’ vehicles carried the crates and smaller containers that had not fit inside the armored transports.
The convoy continued arriving for several minutes.
Some vehicles turned toward the maintenance area.
The rest stopped beside the warehouses. The APCs’ rear ramps lowered.
Soldiers began unloading immediately.
Sealed crates came first, followed by bags, lockboxes, jewelry cases, and containers holding the valuables recovered from the banks, pawnshop, stores, and corporate offices.
Everything intended for conversion entered the main warehouse.
The rest went elsewhere.
Food recovered from stores, restaurant storage rooms, and the commercial center’s stock areas was moved into another building.
Medicine and first-aid supplies remained inside sealed containers until the Medics could inspect them. Tools, batteries, usable electronics, clothing, and hygiene supplies were arranged into separate rows instead of being added to the convertible haul.
Hans watched another truck turn toward the second warehouse.
The separation mattered for more than the conversion.
Gold could provide more soldiers, vehicles, and structures. Food and medicine served another purpose entirely.
There were survivors along the secured routes. Some had accepted evacuation. Others remained inside their buildings.
Whether they eventually joined him or not, the supplies could keep them alive.
Matilda approached with a thick folder beneath one arm.
"The final inventory is complete, Commander."
Hans accepted it.
The first section covered the valuables recovered from the streets and buildings cleared during the southern advance. Jewelry, precious-metal pieces, gemstones, and other eligible materials recovered from stores, offices, and secured commercial buildings made up most of it.
The next section covered the commercial center.
Banks.
Jewelry stores.
The pawnshop.
Corporate offices.
Storage rooms and reinforced sections that the recovery teams opened after the fighting ended.
Hans moved through the pages slowly.
"They kept these separate from the survivors’ belongings?"
"Yes," Matilda answered. "The platoon leaders checked the collection points before transport. Anything identified as belonging to survivors remained with them."
Hans nodded.
That maintained the same separation used during the earlier sweeps.
He closed the folder and entered the warehouse.
The convertible haul occupied most of the loading area.
Crates had been arranged in rows instead of piled together. Jewelry occupied the first sections, followed by precious metals, loose gemstones, bullion, and the other mineral valuables approved for conversion.
The commercial center made up the largest share.
Hans approached the first row.
The conversion interface appeared.
------
[ Convert all marked materials? ]
------
He looked across the warehouse once more.
"Convert everything."
Green light spread across the warehouse floor.
The southern-route collections disappeared first. The effect moved from one marked section to another before reaching the larger commercial-center haul.
Jewelry vanished beneath the light.
Precious metals and gemstones followed.
One row after another disappeared until the marked area stood empty.
The light faded.
Then a System prompt followed.
------
[ Industrial Storage Yards conversion bonus applied: +40% ]
[ Gold: 34,965 (+104,720) => 139,685 ]
------
Hans stared at the balance.
One hundred thirty-nine thousand six hundred eighty-five Gold.
The number remained beneath the conversion notification until he dismissed it.
A few days earlier, ten thousand had been enough to force him to reconsider an entire defensive plan. He had delayed structures, divided purchases, and waited for another sweep before committing to anything that could not immediately protect the army.
Now, he could afford several of those decisions at once.
Hans opened the Secondary Structures interface.
------
[ Garrison Post ]
[ Construction Cost: 6,000 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 10 hours ]
[ Energy Consumption upon deployment: 60 units ]
[ Confirm construction? ]
------
"Queue it."
------
[ Garrison Post queued. ]
[ Gold: 139,685 (-6,000) => 133,685 ]
[ Construction Time: 10 hours ]
------
The completed Pillbox line had already removed one problem from Site Three. The Garrison Post remained next on the defensive plan, followed by the Sensor Tower and Field Hospital once the Engineers finalized their locations.
Those were local needs.
Hans returned to the Primary Structures interface.
The rest of the army had another problem.
Every advance still depended on roads.
The commercial-center operation had required two armored columns to clear several blocks before either could reach the actual objective. Abandoned vehicles, collapsed intersections, and narrow service routes had dictated where the Vanguards could move and how quickly the squads could reinforce one another.
Farther inside Grefort, the roads would only become worse.
Hans moved through the available Primary Structures.
The Airfield Base remained near the lower portion of the interface.
He selected it.
------
[ Airfield Base ]
[ Requirements met. ]
[ Construction Cost: 40,000 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 2 days, 18 hours, and 40 minutes ]
[ Required Deployment Area: 1.5 kilometers × 1.0 kilometer ]
[ Energy Consumption upon deployment: 300 units ]
------
Hans stopped at the final line.
Three hundred Energy Units.
He opened the current energy panel beside it.
------
[ Energy: 1,223 / 1,600 ]
------
The Garrison Post had not been deployed yet, so its consumption was not included.
Once both structures became operational, only seventeen Energy Units would remain. That problem could be solved with another Power Plant.
The location was less convenient.
Matilda entered the warehouse several minutes later.
"You called for me, Commander?"
Hans looked toward her.
"Yes. I was considering about the Airfield Base just now."
Matilda stopped beside him and studied his face, then gave a smile.
"The additional mobility would be useful."
"I know it’s useful."
"Then what is bothering you about it, Commander?"
Hans remained silent for a moment.
He had set the Airfield aside several times while Gold went toward soldiers, vehicles, and the defenses Site Three still needed.
That was no longer the problem.
"The problem is where to put something that needs one and a half kilometers by one."
He moved the map away from Site Three.
The distribution yard did not have that kind of uninterrupted space. Its open sections were already divided between storage, vehicle lanes, defensive positions, and the roads leading through the Wall.
The main base already occupied several industrial lots, but it had not exhausted the northwestern sector.
The problem was finding one continuous stretch of ground large enough for the Airfield. Warehouses, roads, old industrial facilities, and uneven sections could divide an area that otherwise appeared open on the Radar.
Hans shifted the Radar west of Grefort.
The city’s western edge curved away beneath the map. Site Three remained near the upper section, while the road leading toward the captured military base entered much farther south.
Between them lay a broad tract of mostly unclaimed ground.
That was where the Airfield belonged.
Not inside Grefort.
Not beside the distant outpost either.
Somewhere between the two, close enough for the main base or Site Three to reinforce, but far enough that its flight paths would not cross the city’s western edge.
"The problem is choosing the exact ground," Hans said.
Matilda studied the open area.
"Within the Radar?"
"Should be."
Hans panned the Radar map across the northern part of the exterior tract.
Several positions appeared large enough on the map. None showed whether the land was flat, stable, or clear beneath the surface.
"Trailblazer Three can inspect them," Matilda said.
"And expand the construction area once we choose."
Hans looked at the Airfield’s dimensions again. One PCV could cover the structure itself if placed properly.
It would leave little useful space for the defensive perimeter.
"We still need Trailblazer Four."
"For the surrounding structures?"
"And enough room to defend the place without putting every Pillbox beside a runway."
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