This was a town of the ancients. Massive concrete structures that rose out of the ground like perfect cubes, perforated with far too many windows that had long been missing. Trees and ivy and moss had reclaimed much of the town, and many of the buildings had already sunk into the ocean. This was not a place fit for living.

Along the shore, there were the ruins of an old shipyard. A series of concrete drydocks lined the far end, and in the middle of town, there were three huge hangars that formed a semi-circle, each pointing inward. They were more than 100 meters long and maybe half that in width.

Nearby, the smoking, smoldering ruins of the airship--the same airship that had escaped from the rebel village. Now it had spilled across the sand in pieces, a long trench dug along from its crash landing, and nearby, some countless small craters scorched black.

From the distant warships, no doubt. Using my binoculars, I could tell that they were imperial ships, the little blurs of the crew sporting the same colored uniforms like all the tryhards imperials so far.

A gunshot.

A bullet plinked in the dirt nearby.

I looked out and spotted--yes!--a rebel. He aimed a gun from behind the hangar door, and in the darkness of those things, I could tell there were others too. Maybe more survived.

I climbed out of the hatch and stood proudly atop my tank.

There was movement out there.

The mage behind me whispered. "They seem to be talking. They're bringing a scientist out. The scientist is looking at you now, and--he nodded. Yes, he's confirmed something with the others."

"Redrim!" a voice shouted in the distance. It was Doc Jackelope! "Stop fooling around and get here! It's not safe out there!"

I dropped back down the hatch. Vil put it in gear, and we moved forward, driving past the burning airship, over the dips and bumps of craters, and finally among the three large hangers. A rebel waved us into the one on the left. The door creaked and popped as they slid it open, and Vil turned and drove us in.

The sunlight faded as we crossed into the shadow of this massive warehouse. It was several factors larger than the one we fought Jessie in, and it was almost completely empty.

There were a few crates scattered here and there, and a few tattered rebels milled about to watch us.

The tank engine whirred to sleep. The metal clicked and crackled as the tank cooled, and we began to dismount. The adventurer party eased the wounded knight out of the hatch, and with the rebels' help, they carried him away. Right behind, Vil and I hopped off to see the now-cautious rebel faces.

"Ah, yes," said Doc. "Bravo. You've brought the prisoner back."

"He's not a prisoner," I said. I nodded at him. "He's with me."

"Ah. Of course."

Footsteps pounded and stopped at the doorway. We looked over and saw Lara, the bread girl. She was still in her farm dress with her hair tied up with a ribbon. The sunlight scorched behind her, and she seemed to glow from it.

They hurried into each other's arms and almost immediately ran to first base.

Gross.

"What's the situation?" I asked Doc.

"I hate to say, Redrim, but you've come at both the best time and the worst." He turned to leave. "Come, come. Allow me to show you."

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I walked beside him through the length of the long hangar, and the rebels escorted us. Our footsteps echoed up and down this massive open place, and on the far end, pillars of dusty light fell from ventilation fans on the ceiling.

"I must say, Redrim. Bravo indeed. Although we unfortunately had to leave you behind due to a surprise attack on our flanks, I was certain you would somehow return to us. I had no doubt that you memorized the precise location on the map for our rendezvous and even calculated the most effective time to arrive."

"Of course," I said. "Who do you think I am?"

The nearby rebels chuckled.

Doc smirked back at me. "Unfortunately, fate has now dealt us a bad hand as of late. The rebels hurried ahead and cracked open the side door to allow us through. A haze of glittering blue shone in. The ocean. We stepped out onto the edge of a concrete dock. From here, I could see the distant warships idling at the mouth of the harbor.

"We arrived early this morning before the sun had risen. Our objective was simple: obtain the ancient warship hidden in the drydock. Unfortunately, we were not the first ones here, and the empire had ambushed us upon landing. The airship was ruined, and her captain was killed. It took us an hour of grueling combat to fight off the enemy, all while under artillery fire from those warships. Once we secured the town, we were able to man the shore batteries to force them back. And thus, the status quo."

"What about the ancient warship?" I asked.

He pointed at the enemy ships. In the very center of them, a grey, metal beast. I couldn't tell much about it other than the color and material--based on its shine--and since it faced directly at us, I could only guess its size. "They were able to steal the ship before we could even hope to board it. There is yet another ship they left behind, however."

"Why not use that one?" I asked.

The rebels scoffed and shook their head, and Doc nodded at me to follow him. We walked along the concrete docks beside the wall of the hangar, and I could see that it wrapped around to the other hangars. There was probably a long network of wooden docks to walk across, but given the age of this place, it was probably a miracle that even the concrete remained.

We turned a few corners and walked into what I thought was another hangar, but it was a drydock. Or at least, it used to be a drydock, but the walls and the pump had eroded, and now it was filled with seawater. Docked here, however, was the leftover ship.

It was a trash barge. Ironic, I know. Basically, it was just a short container ship, maybe 100 meters long--almost the length of the hangar--with a flat deck filled to the brim of old garbage bags and crates of trash. On the far end of the ship was the bridge, a metal tower with windows wrapped around it, so that the captain could look around and feel sorry for himself for his poor life choices.

The entire ship tilted at an odd angle, and I knew it was partially flooded inside. Damn. It wasn't even seaworthy.

Doc sighed. "As you can see--"

"--you're fucked," I finished.

"We're, as you say, fucked," he corrected. "The empire had been sending reinforcements from every direction, mechanized assault forces to surround us in a siege."

"We ran into one," I said. "Destroyed the entire camp."

Technically we didn't destroy the camp, but I knew that the unit would not be an effective fighting force since they were probably still too busy fucking each other. And maybe even the dragon at this point.

"Bravo, Redrim," he said. "And while you have captured an enemy war machine, we will no doubt face dozens more in within the hour."

"Hour?" I grunted out an annoyed sigh. "They're that close?"

Doc nodded. "Your timing was incredible. Tragic. But incredible."

I said nothing. I just stared at the barge in thought. Doc stood beside me doing the same. One of the rebels lit a cigarette. Another kicked around what looked like a metal octopus.

Doc noticed it. "Ah, yes." He gestured for the rebel to hand it over, and dutifully, he did. Doc turned and presented it to me. "There are several of these old things lying around. Perhaps you could find a use for it."

I gave it a good look over. It wasn't so much an octopus as it was a metal spider. It had an oval body, flattish on the tops and bottoms, with several legs on its sides. On the front, there were these little eye things that I sort of recognized. Wait. "Lasers?"

Doc flicked out a knife and dug into the metal spider's body. He worked through the wires and the chips and the electrical guts, and he ripped out a sphere. The core. He tossed it to me.

I caught it and ate it.

> +1 Arachno-Constructor Core

>

> New recipe unlocked: Arachno-Constructor

"The ancients used these for constructing large structures," Doc said. "Perhaps you could use them as well to help build defenses if you wish to fight back."

I scoffed. "Who do you think I am?"

No one chuckled this time.

I gestured to the ship. "You have no options, a garbage ship, and one recycler." I bumped my chest, and the metal of me clacked. "We're gonna recycle this floating trash, and we're gonna make it our flagship."