***

George stared at the map on the table in front of him, rubbing tired eyes. In his hand was breakfast, an Ashdale style plate of hash browns, eggs, and sausages.

The images and icons in front of him seemed to swim for a moment. George shut his eyes tight for a bit, and wondered if perhaps maybe, just maybe, he should have slept in this morning.

"Not today." He decided, gathering his guts and his willpower. "Tomorrow. Today, we need to face another Beast Wave."

What should they do? Should they evacuate the mines, or just keep them running? Except maybe for the copper mine at Deadly Sands. And maybe the silver mine at the far southern end of the Misty Heights. Maybe even the Misty Steel mine at the source of the Three Forks River, at the heart of the Misty Mountains.

Right. Misty Steel. That was a water elemental metal, similar to Fire Copper. It was located right next to a wolfcat den, but those wolfcats were their friends now, so they had access that n.o.body else had had before. The Misty Steel lode didn't seem as rich as the Fire Copper deposits at KarGoth, but elemental metal was still a high value a.s.set.

Compared to the mine just south of the Three Forks River source at Misty Heights, the tin mine across it to the north was a lot lower in value. There were also two gem mines at the Amber Gorge…

Should he call for a total evacuation of all the mines? That was the safest option for the miners. But George felt that it wasn't necessary. It would totally disrupt production and cause a lot of bother and most of the time, the Beast Waves wouldn't even leave their habitual route.

There was only one mine in their route, and that was the copper mine at Deadly Sands. Everything else was so far out of the way George didn't think the Beast Wave would ever bother them.

"But just in case… let's evacuate the silver mine and double the guard on the Misty Steel mine." George told himself, making notes in a little booklet he kept in his pocket all the time these days. That little booklet was proving to be his most helpful tool.

Things might not go so easily next time. Once Rocky Ford was removed from the picture, there was no telling how the Beast Waves might wander. For today, though, they could expect the Beast Wave to come up through their normal route from Craggy Falls, through Deadly Sands and Rocky Ford all the way to KarGoth.

"Again, the Pit is the key." George muttered. "Hidden trapdoor flaps on the edges… smoke bombs… do we need bait? But the Waves are already following some Wave Call Crystal somewhere… what other bait could we need?"

But the Wilds these days seem smarter than the ones before, able to think clearer, protect themselves better. Enough, at least, to know that it was dangerous to tick off a sleeping dragon. Maybe whoever made the Wave Call Crystals had improved the design?

More importantly, what was he missing? It happened every time there was a Beast Wave. They always missed something, or something new happened that they hadn't expected, and then they always suffered for it. George was determined to try to avoid that this time. There was no Remian to fall back on today, no Charlie coming to reinforce the defenses. Neither of them would be back until tomorrow.

Heck, even Song Chen was still in the hospital.

Today it was all on him. George felt the weight of it on his shoulders and wondered if he should borrow Remian's prosthetic frame.

Speaking of which, the armored version should be about ready. George made a note in his book to go find Arnold and test it out.

"What should I offer the mercenaries?" George pondered.

There were dozens of them around KarGoth, now. Most of them were from Fal'Herim, having come for the bounties on the Wilds around the farm. They were good at their jobs, and they kept the farm and the mines safe. Should he try to involve them in the defenses? Offer them a bounty on Beast Wave Wilds? Something like double the normal price, today only?

No. He didn't have much of a budget left. He'd spent six million of it on buying out Charlie. George didn't regret it; Charlie's 10% shares were a permanent drain on KarGoth's profits that would never ease and only grow bigger with time. To George, saving KarGoth from that drain was more valuable than hiring mercenaries to stave off the Beast Wave.

The FDF would just have to make do with what they already had. Barring any surprises, it should be enough. Theoretically.

Maybe he should just keep the standard prices but include the Wave Wilds in the bounties and see if the mercenaries would go for it.

Knocking sounded on his door.

"George?" It was Arnold. "The Exosuit is ready."

"The what?" George blinked.

"That prosthetic armor you wanted."

George practically bounded to the door and ushered Arnold in hastily. "Really?"

"See for yourself." Arnold opened a chest and took out pieces of armor. "I used quality steel for the armor, and reinforced the frame, so that… well, in short, you should get motion enhancement to twice the strength of an average man."

"Nice!" The armor was fas.h.i.+oned in the uniform shape and colors of the FDF, black, white, and blue. George figured that with him wearing it, there would be no doubt in their minds that he was one of 'theirs'.

He tested it out, moving around the room. It wasn't perfect; George felt a bit awkward and clumsy, often making movements bigger and wilder than he'd intended, but he figured that with practice, this could work out very well indeed. "How much?"

"Let's peg the price at 63,000 lir and leave it at that." Arnold suggested.

"Is that your cost price, or did you include labor?"

"Don't ask." Arnold said evasively.

George considered for a moment. "Let's make it 83,000. You deserve good pay for a good job."

Plus, Arnold himself was invaluable. George simply could not afford to lose him.

"Uh… actually, I was thinking, what if we could basically sell these suits?" Arnold asked. "Jim says that we could replace a lot of the Fire Copper veins with silver or even normal copper, so we could actually build cheaper but weaker versions. I have some other ideas to adjust the suit's design that would cut cost more and more. I think it's actually possible to end up with a suit that costs only half as much."

"Half the cost?!" George stared. "And just as strong?"

"Err… probably not. It'll definitely be weaker, but not by much. I think." Arnold cleared his throat. "The point is, we might be able to sell it for a profit. If you could provide me with the materials, you could have a fifty percent share."

"That's nice, but do it tomorrow. Tonight, we need to focus on defense."

"About that… I think if I had more time, we could use a lot of the same design methods in the Repeating Crossbow Carts. I have some ideas that could help them fire faster, hit harder, and even move around more easily."

"How much time are we talking about?"

"A few days?"

"Next week, then."

***

George went to find Markus. "Can the Iron Legion help out the defense against the Beast Wave today?"

Markus considered it. "Officially, no. We took a lot of losses during the Beast Tide. We've been directly instructed to focus on building the road north and leave your troubles to your people. But as for myself, I could come by and lend a hand personally. If anyone else wants to volunteer, I wouldn't stop them either."

"That would be great. In fact… could you take command of the mercenaries? I'm extending the bounty on the Wilds to include those in the Beast Wave, so quite a few of them want in on the action."

"You're paying your way out of this Beast Wave? In that case, I think a lot of our guys would want in too." Max jumped in.

"Max, we can't get them involved in this…"

"Oh, we're not. It's just that they might want to earn a little extra doing some mercenary work on the side." Max mentioned casually. "There's money involved, you know? HQ can't fault us for that."

"Just… make sure it doesn't interfere with their training. And keep everyone alive!"

"That should be up to you. You're the one in command, remember?"