THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 23: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - The Mouth of the Pass

Read chapter 23 of THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA by JE PAYNE on NovelPedia.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Mouth of the Pass. We all stood on the fore deck with the rest of the kobolds, looking over the side as the Hugo and the Astoros, the second ship in our fleet, slowly descended. We had decided to hold off on the rest of the class and skill upgrades with the group until we could get things established on the ground. I was surprised by how soft the touchdown was. There was only a slight shudder as the massive airship dropped down into the grassy meadow at the mouth of the pass. Dust rose from around the airship's skirts as the massive turbines wound down. The kobolds didn't bother waiting for the air to clear, and had already started lowering the ramps from multiple decks as they began to unload the cargo and supplies. The crews began to pass materials down to the legions below. Some of the troops immediately moved out and formed a perimeter while airship gunners manned the steam-powered autocannons and aimed the barrels down toward the valley. The entire sequence of events played out like it had been practiced countless times, and the precision and professionalism that these soldiers demonstrated was impressive. “ARi, I have a plan if you’ll indulge me,” I said, turning and putting my back up against the railing. “Why don’t we start with a large version of Big Gus, maybe without the cannon, though? Start it really simple with just a platform. I’m thinking maybe we place that mobile control node right onto it.” “You’re thinking that if we have a temporary control node, you might be able to throw down a permanent one on the ground,” ARi said. “I am. It did mention that it was compatible with other territorial skills. If it works, then while they’re unloading the supplies, you and I can rest and recover. Once we have our reserves and stamina back, we could actually build some real fortifications here.” “That’s actually not a bad idea,” Tonya cut in. “Even if we were able to just establish the major parts of the infrastructure, walls, and the outer shells of buildings to get them started, that might speed up our time here so we can actually get back on the road a lot sooner than we were planning.” “Hell, you guys,” Kyle said. “We’re only about two hundred yards away from that river. While you’re resting, as long as Tim, Tonya, and Hannah have my back, I’ll start carving a trench to bring water to the build site. If we can give them a steady supply, they could put one of those reactors right into the fort itself!” “I think that’s a brilliant idea, you guys,” ARi said. “I’m thinking we do three total Gus-sized constructs. That should be enough for us and the Legion to ride. With my new control points, that even leaves me enough to arm them and create four of our smaller constructs with the gun mounts.” “I’ll have to pull some of the Velites out of stasis,” I said. “If we’re going to make those things again,” Yumi cut in. “Can we build them so the poor guys inside are actually enclosed this time? I know we put some bars and simple cages over them when we were marching to Meilun, but I always thought we could do it better. Besides, look what you were able to do with Hannah’s armor.” “I think I can do that,” ARi said. She seemed to zone out, and I could tell that she was looking at system windows. “Speaking of which,” she said, “Gavin, I want you really thinking about that setup we came up with for Hannah’s armor. The joints, the movement, and what it would be like to have a kobold in armor like that.” “I’ve been thinking about it since the first time I saw Hannah get into that armor. Honestly, I’m really hoping the system agrees. That’s the direction our forces need to go. Those fights we had on Earth were pretty eye-opening.” “He’s right,” Kyle said. “By the time we get back to Earth, if we have to fight on the surface, we’re going to run into some real issues if we haven’t figured out a way to shield them from the radiation. Or ourselves, for that matter.” “More than that,” Hannah said. “Didn’t you guys say t