"Not good." Arnold grunted. "I want to make good stuff, I really do. I want to use advanced alloys and composite materials. I want to build military-grade airs.h.i.+ps like the Red Fang and the Red Helm. But we don't have the technology or the equipment or advanced materials of that caliber. The best I can do is use wood!"

"Wasn't that the material we agreed upon when designing them?" Remian blinked. "I mean… advanced materials sound great, but I really can't afford them."

"But Andros gets to use Fire Copper and steel alloys to build the new Tier 4.7 spears and ballistae bolts." Arnold grumbled.

"The stuff he uses need to be able to at least hurt Tier 5 Wilds. We know there's at least one Tier 6 coming, but what does that tell us about the number of Tier 5's to expect?"

"At least six. Maybe ten. Maybe more." Arnold subsided. "But I have to warn you, using cheap materials for airs.h.i.+ps mean they're going to be fragile. Not as fragile as the net-and-crate set-up you used before - the Sky Barge was a floating death-trap back then – but I wouldn't recommend taking it into battle or even into strong winds."

"They're not expected to take hits, Arnold. They just need to carry stuff. Weapons and people, mainly. We'll be shooting Wilds from the air. None of them will be able to reach high enough to threaten the airs.h.i.+ps." Remian reminded him.

"That leaves me with the problem of the weapons you want." Arnold s.h.i.+fted from complaining about the airs.h.i.+p materials to complaining about the ballistae materials. "Do you know how much force it takes a ballista bolt to nail down a Tier 4 Wild from the sky?"

"I am a.s.suming you do."

"It depends on the exact height and the exact Wild, but generally speaking, it all comes down to range." Arnold grunted. "Long story short, what you're asking me to build are fast-firing, long-ranged Ballistae. Given the materials I have to work with and the strain they're going to take, I can't do it! It's impossible! I can give you fast-firing crossbows, or long-ranged Ballistae, but I can't give you a weapon that combines both! Not without more advanced materials on a level with Tier 5 bones!"

"What about the Ironwood trees?"

"Ironwood only matches iron. It can't stand up to quality carbon steel!" Arnold shook his head. "You're asking me to do a Tier 5 job with Tier 3 materials!"

"Fine. Use your expensive composite materials." Remian sighed. "I'll… figure out a way to get the money."

"That's not the problem. The problem is making those materials." Arnold grimaced. "Back in college, I had a friend… or a college-mate, really… we had to pay him to help us with our projects. But when it came to composite materials, everyone knew the best person to call was Cerend."

"So call him."

"I've tried. He's disappeared."

Remian's face fell. "So… no super-weapons? No matter what?"

"Fast-firing, or high-powered. Pick one." Arnold gave him the bottom-line.

Of course, when it came to shooting from airs.h.i.+ps, high-powered was the only way to go. Shooters from the ground, however, especially those sheltered in KarGoth, could use fast-firing turrets to clean up some of the Tier 3 and 4 hordes.

"Why can't we stop the Beast Tide the way we stopped the Beast Waves?" Arnold grouched. "Take down whoever is calling them?"

"You do know we found six communication crystals in the Black Ruins excavation camp the first time we raided them?" Remian pointed out. "Doesn't that tell you something?"

Arnold grimaced. "If the Desert King was just one of them, guessing who the other five are isn't hard. It's the Coalition of Six, isn't it?"

"You wanna try taking them down?" Remian asked.

Arnold shook his head wordlessly. If you put Khar'al-dras aside, Fal'Herim was easily the weakest of the Coalition of Six. The other five were much, much stronger. There was a reason why the Crown Prince had such confidence in Foreign Aid.

"High-powered, for the airs.h.i.+ps. Fast-firing types for the ground turrets."

***

Over the next three days, KarGoth became a hotbed of activity. Packs of wolfcats dug to expand the pit day and night, with Foresight-cla.s.s guns.h.i.+ps helping to haul dirt and debris up and away.

On the fourth day, two brand new Sky Barges arrived to take their places and all of a sudden, every Foresight-cla.s.s guns.h.i.+p disappeared right off the map.

By that time, the first Sky Barge and accompanying Tug had completely evacuated both the Ravine camp and the Craggy Falls settlement. A second Tug was commissioned and immediately sent to help the big dig at KarGoth.

But the first Sky Barge did not join the dig. In fact, it, too, practically disappeared all day.

The next time Remian saw it, the Sky Barge had transformed overnight.

"You stuck some things on it. Are those… Foresight guns.h.i.+ps?" Remian asked, peering at it.

"Six Foresight guns.h.i.+ps and a Tug." Mindy grinned broadly. "Fully armed and loaded with ammunition. We attached those to the Sky Barge. Between the Bellower Ballista, six of the new Fire Javelin Ballistae, and a Tug locked onto the front, we have ourselves a mobile Sky Fortress that's bigger than a Sky Galleon and could challenge the Red Fang in terms of firepower any time. It's barely Industrial-grade in terms of technology, but the weapons use Fire Copper alloy, and they're designed to hurt Tier 5 Wilds from nearly a kilometer away.

It wasn't as pretty or as tidy as the Red Helm, but its size was good for cargo and supporting the firing crews of the six gunboats attached. Having the guns.h.i.+ps attached to the Barge like this instantly solved two of the biggest problems faced by the smaller Foresight-cla.s.s; ammunition capacity and crew exhaustion. With a Barge, they could easily carry plenty of ammunition and replacement crews to relief tired firing teams.

"How many Sky Barges can we outfit like that?" Remian asked.

"Just that one. Plus, we need to train up the Adventurers to handle the new ballistae."

"Adventurers… you want teenagers and children to handle the airs.h.i.+p weapons?!" Remian hesitated.

Mindy scowled. She herself wasn't yet a teenager. What she said, though, was, "When the Beast tide hits, would you rather have them in the air, or down on the ground?"

Remian fell silent for a minute, then, "What about the other two Sky Barges?"

"We don't have that many more Foresight Guns.h.i.+ps to stick onto them, and we only have this one Tug, so… floating weapons platforms is the best we can do. I suggest we leave them over KarGoth and load them up with ballistae, crossbowmen and scroll-casters. What's the latest on the Tide?"

"Over two thousand and rising. Seven Tier 5's. No sign of a Tier 6 yet." Remian informed her.

Mindy shuddered. "We're already outmatched in terms of Tier 5's. All we can do is hope and pray the Tier 6 really does fall for the Pit."

From the south, a red light rose up.

"It looks like we're about to find out." Remian told her grimly.

"What? Already?! But there's no tier 6, and only two thousand…" Mindy protested.

"It doesn't matter. They're on the move." Remian said, eyeing the warning flare. "They're coming, and they're coming now."

"But the Pit… the evacuations…" Mindy protested. "We're not ready!"

"They're not going to wait." Remian said grimly. "We should have expected this. They know we're not ready. That's why they're rus.h.i.+ng the Tide."

"What? But… but we defeated the Desert King!" Mindy spluttered. "How come…"

"He wasn't the only one controlling the Beast Waves." Remian summarized. "Why haven't the evacuations of the other settlements been completed yet?"

"We all thought we had more time! A few days, maybe even a week…" Mindy trailed off.

"Well, we're out of time. Everyone needs to get out of those camps right now."