“That’s an interesting thought,” Martin said. “Some of the Paths our people have unlocked show great potential for industrialization and manufacturing. With the right resources - and alien tech - we can turn our lives around.” He looked around the conquered fort. “We can start here. This is a good place for a military outpost. The walls are mostly intact, and with the weapons we now have, it should be easy to defend it.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Diamond said. “We can border up a triangular area with a shelter at each point acting as a forward outpost. With the resources we now have, we can secure the perimeter. Then our people would finally be able to stop living like caged animals.”

“We should definitely discuss it after the funeral. With some of the new Paths, building up walls and watch posts around the zone shouldn't be too hard.”

“You think your guys can take it from here on your own then?” Nori asked.

Martin chuckled. “After taking out about five hundred Warped and a Broodmother, we still have half the ammo you brought us. We’ll be just fine.”

The funeral ended and the people started getting ready for the night. Campfires were built, tents erected, and a crew of several dozen men worked together to seal the wall breaches.

“Let’s get back to Unity,” Nori said. “We can decide our next steps then.”

They followed the tall Navigator down the hill. The miner-freighter was still sitting on top of the Broodmother’s corpse, her six legs embedded deep into the body.

“Ugh, we probably want to pick a different parking spot,” Bulco said. “This place stinks.”

They climbed back into the ship and Nori stopped to pointedly stare at a bloody satchel laying on the cargo hold’s floor. The bag looked like it was about to burst at the seams and several bloody glass containers were visible through the straps “What’s that?”

“That?” Bulco said. “Just a few adrenal glands and other exotic stuff I harvested from the Broodmother.”

“Why?”

“One of my men is a Biochemist. He can whip up interesting stuff from bits of Warped. But that is just a bonus. This is the real prize.” He took out a palm-sized, pearly white orb from his pack.

Essence Core

“Cool,” Lana said. “So that’s the core Alzigo told us about? I wonder what’s it for.”

“I’m more interested to know how much it’s worth,” the large Engineer said. “We need a lot of piTec to patch up Unity, especially considering the damage she sustained during the fight. Between that and the loan, the piTec we have now won’t last us long.”

“Okay,” Nori said. “Then I’ll set course to--”

A piercing noise ran through the ship.

“Ugh, what the hell is that?” Bulco groaned, covering his ears.