The rest of the crew were brought together once more in what Aurelio was unofficially dubbing their "meeting circle" for lack of a proper congregating location.

Phineas remained infirmed in his barracks with Cantwell pulled away by obligation than genuine want. Oja and their role as the Sawbones assuaged the potential fears the giant would have of the scout suffering some sudden turn in health.

The rest of the crew noted the presence of the tablet resting in between Aurelio's armpit but made no mention of it.

"Bad form to have meetings like this," Elena kicked up dirt with a sour expression on her face, "Make a pattern of bringing ill omens and it'll make grooves in us."

"I didn't take you for a superstitious soldier." Oja chimed in.

"You don't live long in our line of work without believing in a little bit of luck." Elena replied.

Kalani clapped her hands, "Well be damned the patterns. Let it try to mess with us and see how we rise against the adversity."

Her attempts to swell morale within the group was laudable but did not yield the fervor she would have hoped for.

"Did something happen in the station?" Cantwell asked, quick to get to the meat of the issue.

Aurelio stepped up and explained the breadth of the situation.

He was smart to omit pieces of information from the report, like what a Chosen was or Kalani and his mutual agreement to keep the crew in the dark about their private predicaments.

"We don't know when or if this group will strike us. But, they've offered us a boon by revealing themselves." Aurelio was quick to point out.

Up until now, he'd operated under the assumption that they were the only crew on the island. Scavengers in the game came with a replicating vat and numerous native scavengers left on the planet from across the generations.

Neither of which, he'd noticed, were at play with his arrival. Assuming that they were alone was a matter of course then.

Salazar's reveal destroyed this notion in Aurelio's mind and replaced it with a few others, the primary idea now nestled in his head being what sort of crews were on the planet that had the sticking power to survive against the culling events and the monsters of the planet.

It was time, then, to reveal the familiarity he had with the individual in question.

Aurelio took the obsidian tablet from out of his armpit and handed it over to Kalani.

"Jad Salazar was a former archivist of this archive and at least two generations older than us. He was also an author, specifically penning the magnum opus that was the 'Anatomy of a Heretic' on the slab I handed to our captain just now."

The Heretics were a passing blurb in the material of the game that he'd never given much thought to (much to his current chagrin). They were one of a few sects of Bon-Maru, an assimilating race noted by the calcified bones that extrude from their bodies and their hive-like connection to the Adjudicator and its Broken Throne at the center of the Rusted Plains.

What made Jad Salazar someone ahead of his time and a danger to Aurelio in particular, were the two central tenets of the Heretical Notions. The first was that higher beings were at play, looking to manipulate the lives of all that existed within their domains for a game they were not privvy to.

Salazar spoke of his connection to the Adjudicator and the frustrations that could be felt from within the commands of the crippled shifting cube. It was an ascendant denied divinity by the other two prominent powers that be.

He speculated that the abilities of the Bon-Maru and their severance from the spark that affected the other creatures on the planet was their masters' gamble to infiltrate the long game and contend with the likes of the Lady of the Stars and the One Who Slumbers Softly.

A game that the Adjudicator was incapable of interrupting considering their current alliance with the Lady, should that aspect of the game hold true to the reality he found himself in.

The second tenet held deep by Salazar and his kin was the bloody notion; that these were not true gods and freedom would be found in their severance from them.

A commendable pursuit were it not for the current contract that Aurelio and Kalani found themselves held under, their ability to leave the planet tied to appeasing the whims of their capricious gods.

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At the very least, Aurelio found it humorous that the monolith and Salazar were working for the same ends at ending the long game. He'd long since abandoned the idea that the old thing would lie to appease him.

The monolith would not demean themselves by doing something like that.

"Is this the same lady that-" Elena failed to finish her sentence as Kalani fell to her knees in abject pain at the goddesses' mention.

"It is taking a lot of her willpower at the moment to fight back against the creatures' inquiries. We shouldn't tax her further." Aurelio explained.

Elena looked hurt and locked her tongue. Eventually Kalani shook off the stupor in her mind and consoled the soldier with private words.

"Is this why we couldn't turn the outpost on until you arrived?" Cantwell asked earnestly.

"Something along those lines, yeah. I'm marked, of sorts." He couldn't explain much more than that. And with Kalani giving the rest of the crew a knowing look, they mercifully refrained from pushing the issue further.

Now came the issue of approach. By Salazar's own admission, he was interested in having Kalani and the rest of the crew pack their bags and visit the outpost he'd made for himself above the mire.

And with their location a known quantity to this new group, they'd risk a siege from the enemy should they deny Salazar this requested meet-up. Bargaining with a zealot was like dealing with walls.

"With his reveal, we have time to approach things with a measured perspective. Defensive approaches would see us investing in our [Decryption] and [Proving Grounds] advancements to remove our location from whatever they used to track us and begin to reignite the fortifications in the Outpost for siege."

A siege that was bound to arrive, either by the Heretics or the newfound factions that were making themselves known to his humble crew.

"If we want to be proactive, we can plan an assault on their outpost. Bring the fight to them. They wouldn't expect it, and that surprise alone could be the deciding factor to a victory."

Elena took to the discussion like a fish to water, "That would be ill advised." He gave the soldier the floor and watched her work her magic.

"Surprise comes on both ends with the offensive measure. Although I'd like to stick my blade into someone our own size, we don't know the number of their forces and by the virtues of war, it is always advantageous to take a defensive position over an offensive one."

The woman bit her lip in frustration, "A shame that our position is not as advantageous as I'd like it to be considering the enemy is familiar with our location. The extent of his information would rival yours, Aurelio, in terms of exploiting forgotten secrets and circumventing security issues. There's also the issue of Phin and our current expeditionary force rotating between fatigued members at a reckless rate. What we need," she slammed her fist into her open palm, "is an army. We're limited in resources but manpower will solve both of these problems."

Aurelio was quick to agree with the idea.

Which meant the next stage of his plan needed to fall into place.

He turned to Oja, "Are you willing to locate some of these other facilities for us?"

The automaton shrugged, "I'm sure with enough poking around in the Binary World, I'd be able to locate those 'lost lights' that this Salazar mentioned, but it doesn't bode well for our prospects if they're lit lanterns like us in the dark. We are a young crew, so unless those crew members also lacked experience with the planet, there would be other, dangerous reasons why their lights have remained lit.”

It was a risk that they were required to take, regardless of the severity of danger. They were running a skeleton crew for what the game expected upwards of twelve or fourteen scavengers to keep an Outpost healthy. Not even to speak of the mental ramifications that were bound to come from fighting the creatures living under the crust of the earth or obscured in the fog-infested valley.

“Look at the facilities and we’ll play it by ear. Assess through a series of criteria which one will leave us the least dead were we to invest resources into their investigation.” Aurelio replied.

Oja simply nodded and walked off. He wasn’t sure where they’d gain access to that other side but trusted they knew what they were doing.

“Cantwell,” Elena placed a hand on the mans wide back, “You and I are gonna handle the fortifications.”

Aurelio raised an eyebrow, “I haven’t invested resources onto that front yet.”

Elena waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, “You’re thinking within the confines of your resources, kid. In times of war, we’ve gotta broaden our horizons.”

He waited for her to finish, watching Kalani nod along to the ideas of her trusted subordinate.

“You’re going to invest your resources into this [Decryption] thing. First rule of engagement should be to make ourselves scarce on the battlefield. They’ve got a bead on us but they’re not the only movers on the field. Just the ones we know of. While you’re doing that, Cantwell and I are gonna go outside of the Outpost and start digging trenches. It’ll be slow going with just the two of us, but fortifications this simple will force the enemy into a funnel of our choice and slow their other access points.” Elena elaborated.

This was her domain of expertise and she spoke of her plans with the weathered zeal of a general.

Aurelio was quick to relent to her assessment.

“If you’ve got that front handled, then I’ll leave it to you.”

For what felt like the first time in the Outpost, every able-bodied member of the group had a clear cut objective to work on and did so with great fervor.

Nothing like a common enemy to light a fire under ones ass.

His role in all of this would be advancing the Outpost with the [Decryption] node and diving into the annals of history with Kalani for insight on their enemy and maybe context on the previous generations that once claimed their current abode home.