(Tabula Rasa) Chapter 62: Getting To Work

Light broke over the fortified camp, revealing numerous corpses of dead soldiers. The forces under Fox’s command had begun digging a mass ve as morning set in. Only after the installation was secure would civilians be allowed to enter. 

“So, what do we do with him?” Hawk asked, nudging the quivering General Kent with his boot. 

“Mmph!” General Kent made a muffled shout which was quickly stopped as Bear’s towering figure moved to stand over him.

“I say we kill him… but let’s make it hurt, eh?” 

“That won’t do.”

“No.”

Fox and Visette disagreed at the same time. Clearly surprised by the like-minded sentiment, the former looked to her for an explanation. 

“We need to interrogate him and if possible, use him as leverage in order to secure a steady flow of novidium from the northern mines.” 

“Wow, I couldn’t have said it any better, Visette.” 

Fox smiled, turning to Hawk. 

“Could you bring Marco?” 

“The kid? What does he have to do with this?”

“Well, it was General Kent’s men that made him bait, right? At the very least, he should know enough to tell us if the good general here is lying.”

“Got it.” Hawk shrugged.

As the marksman departed, Fox brought up another issue. 

“So, you said that lab there is a manufacturing station?” 

“Yes, whether it be fortifications, weapons, vehicles, or armor, as long as the proper schematics and materials are used, it can create a large amount of equipment.”

“That is… Wow,” Fox said, nearly lost for words. 

“There is a limit, however,” Visette quickly added before he grew too excited. “It can’t create complicated electronic machines or vehicles that are past a certain size.” 

“That’s it? It shouldn’t matter much…” Fox took a quick scan of the installation. “We need three layers of walls, mounted turrets, a vehicle depot, and lodgings for our people. This camp can hold a few hundred people at most, so we’ll definitely need to expand it.”

“That’s where the general comes in?” Kitty asked, finally seeing an opportunity to add to the ongoing conversation.

“Even I could’ve figured that out,” Bear chimed, drawing a glare from Kitty. 

“Meh,” Rabid grunted, seemingly in agreement with Bear. 

“You too, Rabid?” Kitty frowned. 

Just then, Hawk arrived with Marco who absentmindedly stared at the mass grave being dug.

“Got him just like you asked… Oh, by the way, Fox. I saw Rodent on the way and he says we got about a month’s worth of rations at this camp. If you add it to the supplies we brought in with the caravan, that’s about three or four months if we divide it properly. It’ll cause some discontent, but we won’t have to worry for a while.” 

Fox lowered his head, his eyes rapidly darting left and right as he calculated inwardly. 

“That is… It won’t do. Let’s say it takes us a week to expand this camp, at that time, the people sleeping outside and in vehicles are going to get impatient. There’s also the matter of children being born in the next few months. Our last census put us at around ten thousand infants to be expected. So we’ll need to make sure the mothers are properly fed.”

“So, what are you saying?” 

“We won’t restrict the rations, not yet at least.” 

Hawk seemed to feel differently but nodded. “If you say so.” 

“We still have a few tons of novidium and steel, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Great, have our strength types start bringing it to the lab as soon as possible.” 

“Kitty?” Hawk deferred the task to his friend.

“Fine,” Kitty said, letting out an exasperated sigh as she dragged her feet.

“Now, Marco.”

“Y-Yes?” Marco stammered. 

“We’re going to ask the general a few questions. He may choose to lie, but since you may be privy to some information that we aren’t, we need you to tell us if he’s lying, okay?” Fox asked with a friendly smile.

“Sure… I can do that.” He glanced at Visette who only watched with a calm expression. 

“General Kent, my first question is what city do you serve? If you say anything but the answer, Bear is going to break something, right Bear?”

“Yeah, heh, heh.” Bear cracked his knuckles as he chuckled to himself. 

Bear pulled down the cloth gag and General Kent looked up angrily but spoke anyway. 

“I serve the glorious Far Hill. Rainborough is no more if you were wondering.”

“Did the corrupted appear?” Visette asked. 

“Ha! We appeared. After crushing their defenses, we integrated their people with our own and took over their mines. Of course, that was only after getting rid of the insubordinate types.”

“General, that is very good to know, but since that wasn’t technically apart of my original question, Bear–”

Without needing any encouragement, Bear grabbed General Kent’s index finger and pulled it back until an audible snap was heard.

“Aaah!” The general screamed. “You–”

“Bear.”

“Aaaagh! Fuck!”

“Bear.”

“Wait, wait– Ah! I said wait!” 

With four fingers broken, General Kent was already a disheveled sweating mess.

“He’s talkative, eh?” Hawk mused. 

“General Kent, how valuable are you?” 

Panting heavily, the General raised his head once more. “There are many who would rather see me dead than alive.”

“Oh? Please, continue.” Fox gestured.

“There is infighting between factions in Far Hill. I came here in order to gain a foothold on a resource that would bring the expansion faction to prominence.”

“He’s telling the truth! It’s why I was split up from my friends. T-The generals split up the captives to do as they wish.”

“He’s useless then?” Hawk questioned. 

“Bah! Even if your pitiful militia managed to bring me to Far Hill, they wouldn’t give a single grain of wheat to you.”

“General, if that’s the case then why would we keep you alive?” Fox asked. 

“I know Far Hill better than most. I can give up the layout of the bases and fortifications owned by rival factions. As long as you promise to allow me some benefits and control over Far Hill, I will more than gladly throw those scheming rats aside.”

Fox took a few moments to think before turning to Visette.

“What do you think?”

Visette silently stepped forward and placed her hands at General Kent’s temples. 

“We don’t need him,” she said coldly before the glowing psionic light erupted from her fingertips.

Psionic energy burrowed into General Kent’s body, reaching his neurons. A reaction took place inside of Kent and he began to thrash around wildly while muttering incoherently.

After a few seconds, Visette staggered backward, gripping her head as she winced. Meanwhile, Kent’s eyes were rolled back and his body had slackened with drool pouring out of his mouth as he shivered.

Visette tried an information extraction method that she had put little practice into. By overstimulating the General's neural receptors, Vis was able to force his brain draw out memories in order to produce the information she required. The only problem lay in the fact that she had opted to use a brute force approach due to her lack of experience and patience. Her forceful extraction had overloaded the man's brain and essentially ruined him, not that she seemed to care. 

“Okay… That happened.” Hawk took a step back.

Bear looked at his own hands before looking back to Kent, muttering, "I wonder if I could do that?"

Rabid seemed unmoved while Fox was clearly surprised and even a little afraid after seeing what the general had been reduced to.

“They have a large portion of their soldiers stationed outside of the city. Air support is minimal but they do have numerous armored trucks as well as tanks.”

“Well… I won’t ask about that, but are you certain?”

“It may vary due to the time the general has been away from the city, but I doubt there will be a big difference.”

“Good… I have an idea–” Fox paused, looking at Kent’s body uncomfortably. 

The twitching shell of a man was a pitiful sight, to say the least.

“Hawk?”

“Got it.” Hawk drew his pistol and immediately put a round into Kent’s head, making Marco flinch. “Better?”

“Oh, and Marco–” Fox started.

Just as Hawk had started to draw his gun, Fox hurriedly finished. 

“No! I meant he can leave now... By Anton’s name, Hawk.” 

Marco scurried away without reserve after sensing his life was in jeopardy causing Bear to laugh. 

“As I was saying, Kent possessed a clear understanding of the structure of the other factions. If we send a small team in and attack a faction, we may be able to incite a conflict amongst them. At that time, we can swoop in with an organized force and possibly ally with a faction before we raid the city.”

“It sounds good, at least,” Hawk replied. 

“I agree,” Vis added. 

“Then we’ll hash out the bigger details later. For now, we need to expand this camp and be on the lookout for any counter-attacks.”

“Understood, I’ll take Rabid and a few others to keep a constant patrol. Bear can handle leading the guard work here… and Visette?”

“I’ll be at the manufacturing station if you need me.”

“Sure thing.” 

Visette moved with purpose as she approached the laboratory. The blast doors were fully open leading to the low-lit interior of empty corridors. She carried several ideas with her as she went deeper into the lab. 

As her psionic power grew, ordinary weapons, no matter the firepower, would become less useful. Although she hadn’t found the robotics or cybernetics labs, she could still create custom tools.  The first thing she had in mind was nothing more than a blade, a weapon that would allow her to use her psionic power to its full capacity.

As the machines whirred to life, Visette’s became driven with focus. 

‘It shouldn’t take longer than two weeks,’ she thought, shutting the door behind herself as the buzzing of manufacturing equipment rose to its peak.