Over the next week we managed to bring a lot of changes to New Lordaeron. Starting with one of the most important features for a functioning society, a working sewage system. With scans from the Probes, my time in trade school, and the Lordaeronian Builders' knowledge we managed to install plumbing in all the buildings. We established both a grey and black water system to improve treatment. While we had no need to reuse the water ourselves, I wanted to make sure we weren't tainting any remaining water tables. The end result was basically using ionization fields generated via Pylons to separate impurities and then exposing those impurities to plasma based treatment from repurposed Photon Cannons. Yes, we were literally vaporizing the sludge using Photon Cannons. The remaining gases were captured with shields and disassembled at the Forges or converted into Vespene Gas. This had taken some trial and error to get right, but ultimately wasn't anywhere near as complicated as it sounded.
This week had also transformed Raynor into a very happy camper, he loved his new armor and the modified rifle I'd based on his old one. He was even showing a happier face while whipping the recruits into a more modernized fighting force. Once the recruits have been supplied with brand spanking new suits of power armor, Raynor had them live in them for the week. He even made the poor bastards sleep in them. I was waiting to design my own suit as I wanted to be able to incorporate all the adjustments and improvements testing was going to bring. It was absolutely not because I wanted to avoid Raynor's training.
All of our budding troops were quickly provided with newly made advanced rifles, also based off Raynor's, with a lot of my own modification. A few hours each day was spent with them at the new shooting range where they were learning to use the new armaments as both battle rifles and assault weapons. Judging by the damage caused to the berm, the average gangoon was going to be about as threatening as a kitten. He taught them different formations and tactics, through endless drilling, and divided them into two five man squads.
The completion of the Barracks hadn't changed his training regimen. However, it did allow each of the recruits to be converted into Footmen which raised their physical performance quite a bit. They also ate a lot more, but that wasn't a problem, we had more than enough rations stockpiled for quite a few months. The end of the week had brought the first three farms' first harvests. We now had fresh corn, potatoes and beef, and I wasted no time in designing a huge grill and smoker for all our BBQ needs. Soon enough, brisket, ribs and steaks were available at meals. The Nomads had kicked in plenty of the synth spices that went into enhancing the flavor of our meals. Though I swore that I would one day have fresh herbs and spices to cook with. So I could knock the socks off of everyone.
Raynor had mentioned that there had never been that much variety back on his family's farm growing up. Worse he later got used to eating army rations, which were almost tasteless cubes of nutrients designed to keep you going and never spoil. While he quite enjoyed the excellent rations the Company sold us, that wasn't enough in my book. Life owed this man a fucking badass homecooked meal of epic proportions, and I would deliver. For that matter, it was way more effective to sway folks' opinions with food, than weapons.
Project Underbridge had completed both of it's first stages. The spiraling road down into the earth and the bridge itself were finished. Both structures had smaller gem sized Psicrystals embedded into the concrete at ten foot intervals both to extend the Psifield and to provide lighting. At night the bridge glowed with a soft blue light. A Pylon extending a cloaking field, at the center of the span, covered the structure from prying eyes. I had taken to going down there a lot with Sally and Megan, just to enjoy a different view of the canyon. From there, I could see the the outflow of water from the Valley had formed a small lake. That lake was acting as the head waters of a stream running off to the northwest. It wasn't much yet, but it was growing by the day, and might eventually rival the Colorado river.
Speaking of Sally and Megan, we continued our new found pastime of making out every chance we got. Our latest date, saw us having a picnic in the middle of the the bridge. We sat on a blanket laid on the concrete while enjoying a picnic together. We spoke of our dreams and goals, and that had led us into another passionate afternoon of kissing and petting. The talking did bring some perspective on a few of the reasons why we were hitting it off so fast.
"We usually find that anybody interested in one of us, is only interested in one of us. We'd decided when we were little, that we'd never be apart any longer than we had to be, and so anybody we were with, had to be okay with that. Surprisingly, most men aren't okay with that, stupid Gonks." Megan explained nearly breathless from the latest round of making out. Her shrug carried a hint of confusion, and more than a little emotional pain. She quickly returned to seeing if she could find all the secrets hidden in my mouth. A bit later Sally added another piece of the puzzle.
"We love each other, but neither of us are into girls really. We fool around sure, but we're just the best of Chooms. So we figured we'd be able to share a serious partner if it came down to it. Plus, getting attached to non-Nomads wasn't ever going to be a good option, until we met you. Nomad society has some odd rules about the whos and hows of relationships in the Clans." Sally plowed into the topic full speed ahead. Words were snapped out between our lip wrestling and her version of sensual massage jujitsu. Later still Megan fielded an expansion on Sally's explanation.
"You're the first input we've met that hasn't tried to cut one of us out. Usually, it's because they want to take one of us back to their family." Megan expounded, with her swollen lips and shimmering eyes full of pleasure.
"Of course, it helps that you make us feel special and new to all of this." Sally liked to run hands over my new abs. I whispered a thank you to my Paladin class.
"I am new to all of this, and just so happy to be here with you ladies. I was starting to think I'd end up alone for the rest of my life. I enjoy being with you both, and would be overjoyed if we could be together as long as you two can stand me." I had a smile on my face, but I don't think it was a happy one. Wistful maybe. Basically this was working because I wasn't trying to tear them apart, though I still couldn't understand how anyone wouldn't want to be with both of them. Eh their loss, my gain.
"Oh you are just sooo hard to get along with Ryan." Megan chuckled as she hugged me, pulling my face down to demand another round of deep kissing. She was eager to get back into our current session. She also had a thing about running her hands through my hair, she liked the texture, and I liked the feeling of her fingers carding through my locks. They both really enjoyed that I had figured out how to trickle my mana into my kisses and caresses, they said it felt like a shot of pure joy. The reality is that I figured it out because I was trying to mitigate the after effects of our fun times on my anatomy. Running mana through my body slowly helped out when it came to dealing with the pain of being overly simulated. It was like trying to cast a spell but stopping right at the cusp of ignition. Soon I had both of them purring to my rhythm. I found that I relished taking the lead.
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Sally slugged my shoulder, "I still don't believe you weren't fending girls off all the time." She had recently become fascinated with my ears and more specifically nibbling on my earlobes. It never failed to bring a shiver to my spine. She whispered, "We're going to make you all ours, and too bad for all those other bitches." As she started to nip at the rim of my left ear, I could feel her sincerity.
What a fun date.
The start of the second week since the arrival of the Aldecaldos brought good news. Amanda had arranged a meeting with the other leaders of the families making up the Aldecaldos. At this get together we should be able to ratify some kind of treaty. She had set the time for the meeting as today at Dakota's. Which would allow us to drop off lumber and some of the excess fresh food.
Nolan, Guzman and I had been working on some of the cars, while groups of Nomad teens were loading lumber onto Nolan's flatbed. Megan and Sally had loaded themselves into Sally's Mackinaw, the bed of which was weighed down with 10 full 55 gallon water barrels. Amanda spent a few minutes speaking to Raynor before she got into her Javelina. Hmm, what was going on there? Seems that my earlier suspicions were well founded. If they were seeing each other, good for them. I grinned at the thought of the two stern personalities finding each other to be pleasant company.
Speaking of Amanda's Javelina, I was almost comfortable enough with changing its schematics to attempt my first Khalai/Terran tech hybrid car. It would have to wait a little longer, since I wanted to nail down a few more small details. Above all I had to really capture the power and style of the Javelina while utilizing the Protoss tech to it's fullest, in the hope that a great beast of a car could be born.
One of the Sentinels, that I had dubbed Rick because he hummed the Rick Astley song, would be guarding us today. He was one from a batch of newer streamlined models, and fit nicely on top of my Villefort Columbus V340-F Freight. Buzz and Jitters along with two new knuckleheaded Probes, were riding in the van itself. One of the new Probes was named Mort, because he always seemed depressed. the other was dubbed Glen, because he seemed to like the Valley's trees often just floating there staring at them.
Thankfully, nothing much happened on the way to the isolated garage. We pulled up to find the area awash with Nomads and their vehicles. These were just the leaders close enough to get here in a single day, and their closest advisors and a few extra gun hands to keep things civil. That ended up being more bodies than I imagined would show up. I parked at the edge of everything and slowly got out. My clothing and armor would set me apart, and I didn't want an incident before we'd even had a chance to start speaking. I walked slowly towards where Sally had parked her pride and joy. I figured hanging around the ladies would at least buy me a moment of talking time before any trouble kicked off.
Megan had spent an hour or so briefing me on these families of Aldecaldos, and how they all had more than a few veterans from some war down south. Militech had screwed most of them over and they were rightfully twitchy about unknown faces sometimes. She suggested that I be on my best behavior until introductions could be made. As I altered course to join the ladies, a woman launched a flying hug at Megan. "Megan! How've you been?"
She was about 5'10" with deep brown hair and dark eyes. Her hug crushed Megan with boa constrictor levels of power. Megan expelled all her air rapidly and flailed her arms ineffectually. She tried to say something, but couldn't draw enough breath to form words. Seeing the commotion, Sally howled with glee, "Panam you ol' witch leave Megan alone and come get a real hug." She stood in a heroic pose, back braced with her enhanced arms opened wide.
"Oh hell no, you boar bitch. I'll stick with miss soft and squishy here." Panam rubbed her face against Megan's, which was starting to turn a worrying shade of blue. I cleared my throat. Panam pulled away from crushing Megan to get a look at me. Megan gasped for air whispering, "I thought that was going to be the end..."
"Well, hello there. You must be Ryan. I'm Panam." She thrust her hand out while stepping towards me, "Any friend of the terrible twosome is alright by me." I raised my eyebrow at the new moniker, glanced at Sally to see her blushing in embrassessment. Oh ho! That was some major ammo for later teasing. I locked that tidbit up safe in my mind's vault. I firmly shook Panam's hand. It was rough and calloused, this was a Lady not afraid of hard work. My favorite kind of person.
"I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you." I gave her my best smile.
"Have him heal you! Come on! You'll love it!" Sally slapped Panam's shoulder knocking her into me. Sally always wanted me to work my magic on people, she thought it was so funny to see the look on their faces. I usually decided to oblige her, this time was no different. A Regrowth was shaped in seconds and soon sent a small surge of mana deep into Panam's body.
"Ooooooooo!" Panam started convulsing. Her face screwed up in a beautiful combination of pain and pleasure. This was a type of expression I was becoming very familiar with from my ladies. Panam's was maybe the best reaction I'd seen to date. She must really have been pent up, her sexual response was through the roof. Sadly, her body was full of micro fractures and muscle tears, all signs of hard living that had built up over the years. Now it was all being washed away in a steady stream of my mana. While something about this felt wrong, I had to admit, I was starting to enjoy the overwhelmed expressions on her face. Especially the moment when she stopped resisting and gave in to the pleasure. Perhaps it was wrong to indulge Sally's mischief, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't also find it amusing.
A moment later, Panam slumped over into Sally's waiting arms. Sally giggled while wrapping her arms around her friend. All the while whispering something into Panam's ear. Panam's eyes snapped open, and her cheeks flushed bright pink. Her eyes fell on me, "B-b-buy a girl dinner first! Whoo, I don't have any socks left." She turned her face toward Sally, "You lucky bitches having this preem input whenever you want."
I hummed a question. Megan leaned into my side, "Don't worry about it. Those two have had a rivalry for years. Same kind of truck, same kind of rifle, same sassy attitude. If it wasn't for the hair, eyes and slightly different taste in fashion, you'd think they were clones or something." I snorted in amusement.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to let you heal me after all Medicine Man." A flat and deeply sarcastic voice sounded behind us. Yeah, of course, it was Dakota. She had been with Amanda, and a few other serious looking people. My guess, these grim looking folks were the leaders of their families. Panam's little episode had attracted more than a bit of attention. Judging by one older man's expression, I say he was her leader and likely more. Nah that glare was too personal, her father perhaps. How unfortunate.
I sighed. "Sure, Dakota whenever you're ready." Don't think I'll hold back on you either, you crazy wench. Some evil little gremlin in my head longed to hear her scream my name. I might have a problem.
"Perhaps when the moon glow covers the land's face." She half laughed at her own cleverness. Okay, whatever that meant. I was going to enjoy scrambling her brain. Well, scrambling it a bit more anyway.
I really needed to have my head examined. I was getting villainish.