The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 21 – Meetings and Demonstrations.

Matt woke up bright and early the day after they found the city. He had decided to just sleep in the mech, stretched out on the walkway to either side of the seat. It wasn’t his best night of sleep, but he had worse in the past and he only needed a few hours as of late. He popped the hatch and hoped down from the mech, walking to meet Tobias at the map shack for breakfast. The small building was also where Franklin would be bringing the various leaders at some point that morning.

After the map tour Franklin had given them, Tobias had elected to wander around for a while on his own. Matt originally wanted to follow him, but Tobias said he was just going to walk the walls before crashing at the map building. Matt had let him be, knowing that Tobias could handle himself and they had the radios just in case. He was also still mulling over the System event that was still a ways out.

Opening the door to the small building, Matt found his friend just sitting up from his bed roll on the floor. “Morning sunshine.” Matt said.

“Ah, sup.” Tobias said with a yawn. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Matt then left to set up the cook stove and start breakfast, well he started coffee first since he tried to have his priorities straight. Sure enough, Tobias wandered out and followed his nose to the cup of coffee Matt had set aside for him. The food was just a dehydrated meal of some kind of sweetened oats and left over venison that he fried in a pan with salt and pepper. The food was simple but would keep them going, especially Matt who didn’t feel as hungry after his evolution.

“Thanks man.” Tobias said as he sat and sipped his coffee. “Any sign of Frank or his people?”

“Not yet but it’s still early.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Matt spotted a gaggle of people walking down a road leading to some of the long houses. He immediately picked out Franklin since he stood head and shoulders above the rest. Matt waved as he spotted him and got a wave in return. Matt and Tobias topped off their mugs and waited for the party to come to them since the shack was the agreed upon place.

Matt was the first to greet the group of people, mostly Franklin but the rest were included by proxy. “Morning Chief. Are these the folks you wanted us to meet?”

“Ha, chief. I never thought I would be called that again.” Franklin laughed. “Yup, this here is everyone that has a hand in planning the future of our city.” He went on to introduce everyone and what they did. It was an eclectic group, not only in race but also in the jobs they had. There was a cartographer, black smith, engineer, and other crafting or trade types.

It was shortly after the introduction had finished that Rohm wandered up to the group. He looked tired, ears drooping, and eyelids half closed. Matt felt for the man so handed him his nearly full cup of coffee. Rohm accepted it, sniffed, and then took a little sip before letting out a long sigh. One little sip seemed to set him in the right mood, and he perked up as Franklin introduced his group to Matt and Tobias.

“This here is Matt, a pilot that came to us yesterday and the primary reason that we don’t have to deal with Alfron anymore.” Several in the group perked up, looking at Matt with newfound respect. “His friend Tobias is a forge master and they both have offered their help at the cost of some friendship. I would also like to reintroduce Commander Rohm who has taken over the combatants of our city.”

Several of the crowd looked confusedly from Matt to Rohm before Matt filled them in. “I didn’t want the position and after lord dipshit picked the wrong fight, Rohm was next in line.” A few nods and mumbled words of understanding rippled through them. Matt heard Tobias whisper to Rohm, asking if it was a rough night. The Felid mumbled something about filling him in later.

One of the people in the group went in and retrieved the 2 maps. She pinned them to the wall outside the shack so everyone could see without crowding around a table. Franklin began speaking after she was done.

“Thanks Alyssa. So, Matt, where do we begin?”

“Why don’t you tell me about the ongoing works and what the current priorities are. No sense in covering things multiple times.” Matt said.

“Fair enough.” Franklin began to lay out what the current plans called for. “We have enough long houses to put a roof over our heads but it’s not ideal. Nobody is particularly thrilled about them. We are currently working on some of the crafter’s shops, we wanted to put them near the forge to make a sort of manufacturing district.”

Matt could see the foundation in the distance and now knew what they were. The governor continued his explanation and how the roads were laid out. But stopped after some generalized plans, not anything concrete. The roads were a spoke pattern in the middle with an exterior ring road running along the interior points of the star. Matt noticed that there wasn’t anything planned for the inside points of the star and had some ideas about that.

After a brief consideration Matt broke his plan into 3 main groups. He divided it into military, along the perimeter, and crafter or civilian, in the middle. The third was what he called quality of life, he had to ask about that since he didn’t know about resources just yet.

“Here are my thoughts. Let’s leave the division of combat and crafters like this.” Matt borrowed a pencil and traced a line just inside the ring road. “Everything outside the ring road will be for defenses and everything inside will be housing, crafting and entertainment.” There were a few mumbles at the mention of entertainment. “Do we have any public spaces set up or is it all open air?”

One of the engineers stepped forward and spoke. “There was some debate yesterday about diverting resources from the pilots to helping make some other things.” The man spoke in a quiet voice, his aura showing some fear. Matt smiled and gestured for him to continue. “Some of us proposed the idea of making some bath houses and building some rough pavilions that could act as bars or restaurants for a little while.”

“Great idea.” Matt said, getting a genuine smile in return. “Those will go aways to helping to ease tensions and give our people something to do. Even if these structures become defunct, we can repurpose them later.” Matt looked to Rohm next. “Rohm, you and I will be putting the pilots and other combat classes to work, I’ll detail that later, but the building teams will have no shortage of wood and stone in the near future.”

“Where are you getting these materials from?” the cartographer asked.

“We will be clearing a much larger perimeter around the walls. The 300 or so meters from wall to woods is not enough. I think we should make use of the materials rather than just burning it all back or something.”

Franklin gave Matt the side eye. “What do you mean 300 meters isn’t enough?” Rohm also looked interested in the answer as he moved around to join the crowd.

“Why would it be?” Matt asked back.

Rohm was the one to answer. “That’s as far as our weapons are effective to. Sure, we can lob rounds farther but not with any accuracy.”

Matt and Tobias shared a look before the forge master took the reins. “Matt’s personal weapon can engage targets accurately to 1000 meters. In his mech, we engaged golems past 2 kilometers, with effective accuracy and damage.” Matt summoned his rifle and held it for the crowd to see.

“I’m calling you out on that one.” One of the acolytes from the forge said. “There is no way that is possible. Our weapons are highly advanced already and can’t manage that.”

Tobias was the one to respond. “Advanced for you perhaps, not for us. We come from a very technologically advanced world where some fights were settled from dozens of kilometers away because of the weaponry available.”

Franklin, who had witnessed the duel proposed a solution. “Matt, would you be willing to give us a demonstration?” Rohm also looked excited, wanting to see the results.

“Sure, lets head outside and I’ll show you.” Matt said as he started walking to his mech. The crowd followed along mumbling among themselves about how it was a lot of big talk. Matt went to his mech while the rest of the group continued to the nearest gate. He briefly explained what was going on to Van as they followed behind. A few of the pilots also got curious and trailed behind, wondering what was going on.

Once they got outside the gate, Matt hopped out and wandered over to Franklin. “So, pick a target out there, probably something that would show a hit well.”

“How about those rocks, over at the edge of the woods.” Franklin pointed to a few boulders sticking out of the ground, moss covering most of their upper surface. The pile of stone was a little over 400 meters by Matts estimation.

“Which one?”

Clearly not expecting the question Franklin hesitated before responding. “Um, the 2nd from the left?”

Matt nodded and stepped away from the group of pilots and city planners. He gave them a little distance while he put his helmet on, not wanting to deafen them. Raising his rifle, he aimed at the fated rock. Pulling the trigger once, a shot rang out and a splash of steel and copper hit the rock dead center, sending moss flying out. He looked back to the spectators.

“Lucky shot!” one of them yelled. Matt just turned back to the target and proceeded to slow fire 20 rounds into the rock. Every single one hitting the middle, spraying dust and moss everywhere. He only stopped at 20 because the rock cracked and broke apart. He slung his rifle and walked back over.

“So, just luck huh?” He asked the man that had called him out. From the edge of his vision, he could see the pilots had gathered and were muttering amongst themselves. One of them looking at his own rifle with a frown.

“How about you show the autocannon?” Tobias prompted. “Next rock to the right and work your way down the line if my prediction is accurate.”

Matt just climbed into the mech and raised his cannon, sighting in on the boulder. One round and it split down the middle, he moved to the next and repeated the process. 10 shots later, he stopped and ejected the magazine, setting it on the ground. He climbed out and waved the crowd to approach, pilots included.

“This is only a fraction of the technology we want to employ, there are many other arms that will allow men on foot to take down a construct.” Tobias said to the gathered people. “Matt, since you have a good number of them already, do you want to do your thing with the pilots?”

Matt nodded and waved them over before talking to Franklin who still looked stunned. “Hey Frank, I’m going to chat with the pilots now and ill circle back to you. I want to go over some ideas I had about the combat area of the city.” He looked to Tobias. “You are too. Go check out the forge and I’ll call you on the radio when I’m done here.”

Tobias agreed and departed with the rest of the group. Matt heard him trying to explain what a radio was as they left. Rohm walked over to Matt and told him that he had sent a runner to get the rest of the pilots.

“That was quite the demonstration.” Rohm said. “I am very interested in the details of this autocannon I think you called it.”

“I can show you some time. I want to do a review of your weapons as well. I know of their type but never used one in person where I come from.” Matt said. “Our world developed guns like your hundreds of years before I was born, much less before I enlisted. It turns out one thing our world was good at was making weapons.”

“I am both intrigued and horrified.” Rohm said with a chuckle. “I must ask. Does it bother you, the whole killing a man thing.”

“Huh?” Matt did not expect that question. “Being honest, the circumstance was weird but no. I killed men before the System and I’m sure he won’t be the last.” He considered his next words and how he wanted to express them. “There will always be people that need killing. All kinds of them. Bad people, good people and those that are somewhere in between. I would prefer to do things peacefully, but I don’t think that will always be possible with how this System has arranged things.”

Rohm didn’t say anything for a minute but then seemed to come to a decision. “I think you are right. I pray to find the courage of my convictions when the time comes.” As he walked away to greet the pilots, Matt was deep in thought. I might have to introduce the concepts of chaplains. Mental health is probably going to be a problem, a big problem.

Matt zoned back into Rohm talking to the pilots. “…He has some plans for how things are going to progress, and we will be part of it. As a reminder, he has my full backing in the development of our defenses which includes us.” He looked to Matt who stepped forward to address the gathering.

“Here is the deal, we need to make a larger exclusion zone around the walls. This 300-meter range we have is nowhere near enough. Frankly, I would like to get a few kilometers but I don’t think that’s going to happen right away so I will settle for doubling our current amount.” Matt said. He saw a few starting to question him but the pilots that witnessed his demonstration filled them in.

“The crafting focused people will need a lot of timber and stone for their construction so we will be helping them. We will be using our constructs to aid in this process.” Matt paused to let that sink in. just as he was about to continue a hand raised. Matt pointed to the man and gestured for him to speak.

“Why are we helping them? Can’t they do it themselves?”

“They could but not as fast. Besides, this whole combat versus crafter divide ends yesterday.” There were some grumblings, but he pressed on. “Tell me, who built your barracks? Who is making the products that you will use? The food you will eat?” He paused again. “Just because they don’t focus on combat doesn’t mean they don’t contribute, this city needs to grow stronger and quickly, giving them materials helps their classes and gives them stats.”

“I will also be meeting with non-pilot combat focused people and roping them in to all this. Where I come from, our constructs would be worthless without infantry and artillery supporting them. After we settle our perimeter, I plan to introduce all of you to what is called a combined arms strategy.” Pausing once again to gauge reactions, he pressed on. “Just because a fight isn’t happening now doesn’t mean it won’t.”

Rohm decided to be the new front man for the pilots. “Lord Matt” He began but back tracked after the look Matt shot him. “Eh, Matt. How should we organize?”

“Let’s do it this way. Anyone that has a melee weapon for their construct fit for felling trees raise your hands.” Matt counted 13 hands raised above the crowd. “Alright you 13 front and center. Everyone else will form groups evenly amongst them. Half of each group will be dragging felled trees inside the walls; the other half will provide security in case we stir up and critters.”

Rohm stepped up and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “I can lead this operation and direct the materials toward the sawmill. There should be a group amassing made up of those combat focused people that are not pilots. Franklin was having them meet at the forge for you to talk to.”

Matt thanked him and climbed back into the mech, making his way inside and toward the forge. He hoped Tobias would be there with good news. He wasn’t looking forward to making it up on the fly for over 10 thousand people and would have to organize them into groups to train individually. Maybe I can get Frank to help me with this.

Matt made his way to the forge, he had to circle around the ring road to get to it since he didn’t want to cut through all the people in the center of the city. This gave him a chance to see the living conditions. It wasn’t great.

He passed dozens of the long houses on his way. Each one looked to hold at least 100 people if not more. Spaced around were several pavilions acting as kitchens for the people, covering the work area but no seating for dining. He remembered one of the city planners mentioning a shortage of wood for building and it seemed that Matts plan would help in more than just the security of the city.

When Matt actually arrived, he was somewhat stunned at the size of the building. It was at least 5 stories and ran almost 200 meters per side. There were a series of large hangar doors running down 2 neighboring sides of the building. Each door large enough to fit his mech with plenty of room to spare. He stopped outside one of the open doors and dismounted to walk in on foot.

The inside of the forge was absolutely breath taking in more than one way. Inside each of the doors was a large rectangular pad that looked just like the one from the exchange. Connected to the pad was a series of display and control terminals. He looked up and, on the ceiling, there were many manipulator arms set on tracks. A low railing separated each pad from the rest of the work floor.

Beyond the high visibility safety railing, Matt saw an open area which was clearly designated to be a machine shop. Unfortunately, instead of the lathes, mills, saws, or C&C equipment he expected, there were rows of cots. Dozens upon dozens of cots stretched over the area. In the corner, near what looked to be an office, stood Tobias with a cluster of people gathered around him.

Tobias was in the middle of a planning session with those gathered around him but noticed Matt approaching. “Ah Matt, just in time. We, um, need to have a talk with Frank about this forge.”

“Is it a forge, warehouse or barracks?” Matt quipped back.

“Well, what it is and what it’s supposed to be are kind of linked.” He pointed to the office. “If you will join us in there, we can go over what I discovered.”

Matt wasn’t sure about what had been “discovered” but from the tone of his friend’s voice, it could be amazing, bad, or both. He managed to pick his way through the crowd and followed Tobias into the office while those outside disperses a little. Inside was a few desks with monitors atop them, white boards of some kind, and a few waist high black tables. Around one of those tables sat Franklin and a lizard person that Matt didn’t remember seeing before.

“Matt, glad you could join us. I would like to introduce Mike, our lead forge acolyte, and the senior representative of their group.” The green scaled man offered a hand to shake, Matt took it, noticing it was rather warm to the touch.

“Pleased to meet you. I hope we can finally make some progress on gods be damned building. We have been scratching our heads for weeks trying to figure out how to access the systems in here.”

Tobias wandered over with a couple stools to sit on. “It seems we need to have a discussion about credits. The news is, not the best but not the worst either.”

Franklin and Matt sighed and at the same time asked the question. “How much?”