The Engineering Bay was cold potential. It hummed with raw, unfocused power, waiting for a design to give it purpose. Isaac stood in its center, the scale of the space emphasizing how small his ambitions had been. This was where he would build not just weapons, but the means of conquest.
The first step was not the Ironclad. It was the foundation. The 'Anvil' Foundry Module required a baptism of resources to calibrate its molecular forges. He fed it the last of the mundane stone and metal salvage, along with a trickle of Essence. The massive hammer fell with a CLANG-WHUMP that shook the floor, not crushing, but re-ordering. Out came a slab of uniform, dense Vehicle-Grade Composite Plate. It was tougher than anything his Manufactorum could produce, with a layered structure designed to deflect and absorb.
One slab was a novelty. A hundred would be armor.
But to make a hundred, he needed an economy of scale. He needed to turn the Blasted Plain itself into his raw material feed. The Salvage Drone, SD-001, was a child's toy for this task.
"Sergeant, design a heavy extraction platform. Based on the Mule's chassis, but larger. Purpose: strip-mining and bulk transport of low-grade materials. It must be able to defend itself against incidental threats. Designate: 'Bulkhauler.'"
While the Sergeant worked, Isaac turned to the Vehicle Bay prerequisite. The Engineering Bay unlocked it, but the cost was a cliff: 100 Advanced Salvage, 200 Essence, and a Tertiary Leyline Nexus.
He had 18 Advanced Salvage left after the Bay's construction. He needed another 82. The Tertiary Nexus meant finding and securing another Gloom-infested energy fracture. His map showed several faint, distant pings, but each was a potential replication of the Gamma-7 nightmare.
The Bulkhauler design finalized. It was a monstrous, six-legged walker, wider and lower than the Mule, with a front-mounted rotary rock-crusher and a vast, open cargo bed. It had two light, pintle-mounted repeater cannons for clearing vermin. It was not a combat unit; it was a mobile factory intake.
Design: 'Bulkhauler' Heavy Extraction Platform. Cost: 25 Advanced Salvage, 40 Essence.
He couldn't afford it. Not yet.
The arithmetic was a closed loop again. To get the salvage for the Vehicle Bay, he needed more efficient harvesting. To get efficient harvesting, he needed the Bulkhauler. To build the Bulkhauler, he needed salvage.
He needed to break the cycle with a windfall. A bigger, riskier Cuckoo operation. But the Reclaimer Beast was likely wise to the decoy trick. He needed a new distraction. Something that didn't just taste like salvage, but threatened the Convergence's core interests.
His eyes went to the new Secondary Power Conduit, humming as it drew energy from Nexus Gamma-7. The Nexus was a purified wound in the Gloom's body. What if he made it bleed more?
"Sergeant, can we overcharge the Nexus? Force it to draw energy more aggressively from the local leylines? Create a massive, disruptive power surge that the Convergence would have to respond to?"
The unit processed. "The Nexus regulator protocols can be bypassed. A controlled overcharge would increase Essence generation by 500% for approximately six minutes, after which the Nexus would enter a destabilized cooldown period of forty-eight hours. The energy signature would be equivalent to a new, aggressive Bastion outpost activating. Probability of drawing a major Gloom response: 97%."
It was perfect. He wouldn't be stealing salvage; he'd be waving a red flag in front of the bull. While the bull charged the flag, he'd empty its pen.
"Plan 'Stampede.' We overcharge the Nexus. When the Reclaimer—and every other mobile unit—rushes to investigate, we send three Wisps into the ruins. Maximum load. We take everything not bolted down. Then we collapse the access tunnel behind the Bulkhauler's crusher to cover our retreat."
It was the biggest gamble yet. It risked his only stable power source for two days. It risked his entire drone fleet. But the payoff could fund the Vehicle Bay in a single stroke.
He spent a day in meticulous preparation. The three Wisps (he built a third, SD-007) were given reinforced clamps and sleds. The Mule was re-armed as Grenadier G-001, providing heavy firepower for the extraction team. The two other Grenadiers and all Scouts would form the quick reaction force at the Bastion, ready to sally if the Gloom somehow turned toward home.
At the appointed hour, Isaac stood at the Core, his hand on the Nexus control interface. The Sergeant manned the tactical overview.
"Initiate Nexus overcharge in three, two, one… now."
He pushed the system past its safety limits.
On the plain, Nexus Gamma-7 erupted. The calm blue glow turned into a searing white pillar of light that lanced into the hazy sky, visible for kilometers. The ground around it vibrated. The air filled with the ozone stench of raw, unleashed power.
The effect on the Convergence was instantaneous and total. The pulsing red mass convulsed. Every mobile signature on the map—Stalker packs, Amalgam clusters, and the unmistakable, massive icon of the Reclaimer Beast—broke from their positions and surged westward, toward the screaming energy beacon. It was a full-scale, panicked response.
"Stampede is live," the Sergeant reported. "All major hostiles en route to Nexus. Harvest team, go."
The three Wisp drones, hidden in their ravine, shot forward. With the guardian gone and the lesser creatures fleeing, the ruins were eerily empty. They fell upon the wreckage like locusts. One team ripped a second giant support arch from its moorings. Another dismantled a half-melted Spiker Nest, harvesting its reinforced bio-chitin plating. The third scavenged piles of crystalline slag.
They loaded their sleds to absolute capacity, their motors straining at the edge of failure. Then they fled, not toward the Bastion, but on a wide, circuitous route back, avoiding the path of the stampede.
At the Nexus, the overcharge peaked. The pillar of light began to flicker, then collapsed in on itself with a thunderous implosion of sound. The Nexus went dark, entering its forced cooldown.
The Gloom force, led by the furious Reclaimer, reached the site. They found nothing but a temporarily dead node and scorched earth. Their rage was a physical tremor in the world.
But by the time they turned their confused anger back toward their own ruined fortress, it was too late.
The three Wisps scurried into the Bastion, their sleds piled high with glittering, dark treasure. The Manufactorum and the new Anvil Foundry began processing the haul immediately.
The numbers scrolled, a cascade of wealth.
Total Advanced Salvage Acquired: 127 Units.
Isaac let out a breath he felt he'd been holding for days. One hundred and twenty-seven. It was more than enough.
He ignored the Vehicle Bay for a moment. "Engineering Bay. Fabricate the Bulkhauler. Now."
While the massive extractor began to take shape in its assembly jig, a titan being born, Isaac allocated the remaining salvage.
"Engineering Bay. Initiate Vehicle Bay construction."
The final, monumental investment was made. Essence flooded into the project. Advanced Salvage was consumed. In a corner of the Engineering Bay, heavier machinery was assembled—suspension rigs, tread forges, turret rings.
Facility: Vehicle Bay (Level 1) – Construction Commenced. ETA: 72 hours.
In three days, the Bay would be online. And the first schematic waiting was the MBT-1 'Legionnaire' Land Ironclad.
Isaac walked to the outer battlement. The plain was quiet again, the Gloom forces slinking back to their plundered, leaderless ruin. The Nexus was dark, but its silence was temporary. The Bulkhauler's frame rose behind him, a shadow of industry against the Bastion's lights.
He had risked everything on a single, audacious theft. And he had won. The anvil was hot. The hammer's design was loaded.
The siege was not over. But the balance of power had just shifted on a foundation of stolen stone and audacity. The Bastion was no longer just defending. It was gearing up to roll out and meet the war on its own terms.