The Falcon lifted from Cinderrow the next morning.
Kimmy sat beside one of the windows with Yunera beside her, both secured into their seats while the helicopter climbed over the fortified streets surrounding the Core.
Hans watched her from across the cabin.
"Well, how’s the promise holding up?"
Her head turned slightly toward him.
"This is strange."
"You wanted a flight."
"I remember."
Yunera looked toward Hans. "She remembered longer than you did. When she was told about it yesterday, she—"
Kimmy instantly covered her mouth. Yunera continued talking, but Hans couldn’t understand any of it.
Hans shook his head and leaned back against his seat.
The Falcon continued climbing.
Kimmy could perceive the helicopter easily. Its frame surrounded her in layers of metal, machinery and moving components, with the crew farther forward and the other passengers seated around the cabin.
The ground was different.
At first, streets and rooftops remained within reach as the Falcon rose, but they quickly became less distinct. Buildings that had occupied her awareness seconds earlier fell away until only their upper sections remained.
After another climb, even those disappeared.
"I can’t reach the ground anymore."
Hans looked outside.
They were already several hundred meters above Cinderrow.
"What can you see?"
"The helicopter. Everyone inside. Some things below us when we pass close enough, but they disappear too quickly."
The Falcon banked north.
A cluster of rooftops briefly entered her awareness before sliding away again. Another building replaced them, followed by an open yard and part of a road, but none remained long enough for her to properly understand what she was sensing.
Kimmy frowned.
"This is worse than walking."
Hans laughed.
"You wanted to fly."
"But I thought I would be able to look around. And enjoy it... with you."
"Your powers will grow soon enough. You’ll be able to see more later."
"My world will become better, huh?"
"That’s up to Tyrus. If he’s slow, you cannot blame me."
"Hmph. Of course I’m going to blame you. He works for you, not for me."
Hans looked toward the cockpit.
"Falcon One, can we go lower along the secured route?"
"Affirmative, Commander."
The helicopter descended gradually over northern Ironford.
The two Strikers accompanying them adjusted with the Falcon while the Raptor pair remained much higher, following the same northern corridor.
As the ground moved closer, Kimmy straightened.
"Oh, I can see it better now!"
Roads returned to her spatial vision.
Buildings followed, along with vehicles moving between checkpoints and construction sites. She could finally distinguish larger structures for more than a passing moment, although the Falcon’s speed still carried each one away before she could examine everything she wanted.
Kimmy turned from one side of the cabin to the other.
"It’s still changing too quickly."
Hans smiled.
"Then we’ll fly slower when we’re not going somewhere."
She looked toward him.
"Another promise?"
Hans shrugged. There was nothing else he could do about that.
Yunera laughed before Kimmy could answer.
...
Saicine appeared beyond the coastal ridge later that morning.
Hans already had several other things running before they arrived.
Felix’s proposal had given him enough information to know what Saicine would need if the harbor operation worked. Matilda’s original expedition plan still included producing an MCV near the city, but that part was unnecessary now. The expedition had enough PCVs to extend the construction network forward, while the Construction Yards farther south could handle the actual queues.
Hans had assigned six Primary queues before leaving Grefort.
------
[ Primary Structure Construction ]
[ Heavy Manufacturing Complex modifiers applied. ]
[ Shipyard x2 ]
[ Total Cost: 108,000 Gold ]
[ Parallel Construction Time: 3 days, 9 hours ]
[ War Factory ]
[ Cost: 27,000 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 40 hours, 30 minutes ]
[ Airfield Base ]
[ Cost: 36,000 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 54 hours ]
[ Barracks ]
[ Cost: 4,500 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 6 hours, 45 minutes ]
[ Power Plant ]
[ Cost: 7,200 Gold ]
[ Construction Time: 10 hours, 48 minutes ]
[ Total Construction Cost: 182,700 Gold ]
[ Primary Queues Assigned: 6 ]
------
Most of the northern city had changed since the expedition first entered. Military traffic moved through the secured roads, Guardian APCs occupied several intersections, and the staging network had already expanded well beyond the transport yard Felix first established.
The Falcon descended toward a cleared position overlooking the lower city.
Beyond it lay the harbor. The water looked considerably less peaceful once Hans noticed several artillery positions overlooking it.
Felix Voss was waiting near the temporary command post when the Falcon landed.
"Commander."
Hans stepped down with Callum while Kimmy and Yunera went around for sight-seeing. Two squads followed after them, while Hans let them be.
"Matilda said you’ve been throwing parties for the fish."
Felix looked toward the harbor.
"Yes, but the bastards stopped attending after a while."
"Your party must have been boring then."
"That’s the consequence of being smart."
"It’s that bad?"
"They’re adapting faster than we first assumed. These are no ordinary mutations."
Inside the command post, several photographs and recordings had already been arranged around a large map of Saicine Harbor.
Felix pointed toward the first set.
"We tested bait after reaching the waterfront. Infected bodies."
"Did it work?"
"Very well in the beginning."
The first photographs showed several mutated marine creatures entering shallow water near one of the loading areas. Another showed one of the bodies torn apart near a concrete ramp.
"First attempt brought three. Second brought more. We killed what came close enough, wounded another one, and the others started eating it. They saved us the trouble of disposing of the body."
Felix moved to the next photographs.
The bait remained untouched.
"Third attempt took considerably longer. Fourth got almost nothing. We tried every kind of scenario. It seems that being ugly doesn’t make them stupid."
"Looks can be very deceiving." Hans nodded. "Any injuries?"
"None for our soldiers. Can’t say the same thing for them."
Felix turned toward the harbor map.
"And so we stopped fishing around."
Several shallow-water sectors had been marked across the inner harbor, cargo berths, repair approaches and the water around the future Shipyard area.
Hans studied them.
"This is your proposal?"
"Yes."
"What am I looking at?"
"A very expensive way of doing dynamite fishing, Commander. Fishery unions would go crazy about us if they heard this."
Hans looked at him.
Felix pointed toward the first sector.
"Twenty-four Hellhammers. High explosive. We register the shallow harbor and start working through it section by section. We aren’t trying to hit individual creatures underwater. That’s unreliable. The plan is to make the shallows miserable enough that the fishes don’t want to be in it."
Hans looked toward the deeper water marked beyond the harbor.
"That may work for the small ones. How about the large contact?"
"Nothing we can solve for now. We don’t have depth charges, but the Engineers improvised."
Felix tapped the inner harbor again.
"We only need this water. Cargo berths, repair slips, drydock approaches and enough space for a Shipyard. Anything that wants the open sea can have it for now."
Hans studied the sector divisions. "When do we start?"
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