The morning haze still lingered over the industrial edge of New Albion as Rael pulled the black van into a secluded gravel road. A long-abandoned hydroelectric facility stood like a half-forgotten fossil against the misty forest. Rusted gates, moss-covered walls, broken windows—on the outside, it looked like a ruin.
But to Rael, it was a foundation.
"This is it?" Avery asked from the passenger seat, skepticism sharp in her tone.
Rael stepped out. "Tier 0 workshop. It doesn't need to look good. It just needs to be hidden."
Avery climbed out slowly, scanning the building with a trained engineer's eye. "The structure's old but stable. If the turbines still exist, we could even reconfigure the water flow for basic off-grid energy."
Rael grinned. "That's the spirit."
The system interface pinged softly beside his vision:
[Location Suitable for Hidden Base: Confirm Construction Site?] [Confirming will begin Blueprint Installation for Tier 0 Workshop. Estimated Time: 48 hours. Resources Required: 30 Units Raw Metal, 50 Units Polymer, 10 Units Quantum Circuitry.]
He mentally hit [Confirm]. A translucent holographic outline projected over the building, displaying the modified internal structure: a secure lab, 3D printer bay, drone platform, and internal generator.
"That's insane," Avery muttered, watching the projection through the AR glasses Rael had handed her. "You said you didn't build this yourself?"
"I didn't," Rael said. "The system did."
"And this system is?"
"A quantum AI from a future timeline where we lost the war. It brought me back here to change it."
Avery's silence said everything.
By noon, they had set up camp inside the least-damaged wing of the facility. Dust still filled the air, but with filtered masks and power tools, they began clearing debris. Rael moved with mechanical precision, powered by memories of years spent fighting and building under siege.
Avery was quieter, but observant. She noted structural weak points, marked where the energy cells would go, and pulled out a folded notebook where she began designing an improvised energy flow converter.
"Your calculations," she said during a break, "they're... too accurate for someone making them up. You're not guessing. You've built this before."
Rael handed her a bottle of water. "I built the version that failed. Now I'm building the one that won't."
She paused. "You ever think you might be insane?"
"Every hour. But if being insane means saving the world, I'll take it."
That night, Rael sat alone on the facility's roof, gazing up at the stars.
In his old life, Earth's skies had changed. After the invasion, after the orbital bombardments, after the destruction of half the atmosphere, stars became rare. Now, they glittered like silent witnesses.
[Progress Report: Base Frame Installed – 7% Complete.] [Bonus Mission Triggered: Defend Workshop from Intrusion. Threat Detected. Arrival in T-minus 36 minutes.]
Rael's blood ran cold.
Threat Type: Drone Class – Hostile Surveillance Unit
Origin: Unidentified. Likely Varkel Scout Harbinger.
He bolted upright.
"Already?"
He rushed downstairs. Avery was asleep on a cot, tools still scattered around her. He gently shook her.
"We have company."
She blinked. "What?"
"Drone incoming. Thirty minutes. Possibly alien."
She paled. "What do we do?"
Rael opened a metal case he'd carried since day one. Inside were weapon components—none lethal, but enough to scramble electronics. He pulled out a magnetic pulse rifle and handed Avery a signal jammer.
"We take it down before it sees anything."
They moved fast. On the facility's rooftop, Rael deployed two auto-turret platforms. Each had been custom-built from salvaged military designs and upgraded via system schematics. He synced them with the drone detection interface.
The HUD glowed.
[Target Approaching. Altitude: 400m. Speed: 70 km/h. Class: Reconnaissance.]
A dot appeared on the map overlay.
Rael's pulse slowed. His mind narrowed.
Then he saw it—like a silver insect in the sky, humming low above the treeline. Too fast. Too silent.
"Turrets: Arm," he commanded.
[Auto-turret 01: Online.]
[Auto-turret 02: Online.]
[Signal Jammer Range: 120m.]
Rael crouched behind an old chimney stack. "Hold fire until it dips below 300 meters."
Avery, crouched beside the signal antenna, whispered, "What happens if it sends data back?"
"They'll come early. With fire."
The drone made a slow circle, descending.
[Altitude: 280m.]
Rael's eyes narrowed.
"Fire."
The turrets launched a barrage of magnetic spikes. Sparks exploded mid-air. The drone twisted, trying to bank away.
Avery activated the jammer.
The drone buckled.
[Signal Corrupted – Feedback Loop Detected]
Rael fired his rifle. A pulse of blue light struck the drone's rear rotor. The craft spiraled down, crashing in the forest with a muted boom.
He stood.
"Come on. We need to destroy it before it self-wipes."
They reached the crash site in under four minutes. Smoke curled into the trees, and the wreckage sparked. The drone was sleek, black, clearly not of Earth design—its surface shimmered with heat-resistant nanocoating.
Rael opened his tools. "Help me pull the core."
Avery hesitated. "This is alien, isn't it?"
"Yes. And this time, we're not giving it to the government to lock away."
They tore the paneling aside. Within the casing, a spherical core glowed softly. Rael pulled it free, stuffed it into a lead-lined pouch, and stepped back just as the rest of the drone ignited in a controlled self-destruction burst.
[Mission Complete: Defend Workshop from Intrusion]
[Reward: Alien Tech Fragment x2 | Base Defense Module Lv.1]
[System Warning: Varkel Recon Confirmed. Prepare for escalation.]
Rael stared at the stars again.
"They know."
In Orbit
The Harbinger drone's final burst of telemetry lit up the Varkel ship's array.
Subject RAEL KESSLER – Alive.Unknown Support Entity Detected.Order: Deploy Retrieval Team Class Zeta.
The Varkel did not fear humans.
But they feared the ones who came back.