Kaleb kicked a stack of junk over as he moved through the back half of one of Rhot's APCs. This was the second one he'd crawled into and found similar piles in both. The largest section of the vehicle, designed to carry troops, had been stuffed full of scrap metal or whatever else Rhot's clan thought was interesting. Kaleb, however, was much more interested in the weapons attached to the vehicles.

The twin-barreled energy turrets were massive, powerful, and highly delicate, apparently. He sighed as he made into the interior chair where the gunner for the APC sat. Already he could see the bottom housing for the turret's innards had been ripped away. Cables were everywhere and drooping down to the floor. Pushing another stack of scrap metal away, Kaleb crawled over to the turret and gave its control panel a once-over. He sighed in defeat when he noticed that most of the panel had been broken into pieces. The interface and the readouts were now lost in the random detritus on the floor.

"That bad, huh?" Roy called from just above him.

Looking up, Kaleb spotted his sidekick looking down into the APC from the roof. "Yeah, the internals on this one are fucked. How do the barrels look?"

"Decent. These aren't melted into oblivion like the first one. They may be salvageable."

"So we just have to hope that the control panel on the third one is partially intact." Kaleb sighed as he pulled himself out of the gunner's seat.

As he cleared the APC's roof, he spotted Elder Rhot standing nearby. The big lizard was watching them with that manic smile of his. He'd said nothing after pointing out the APCs to them. Then again, Kaleb hadn't really been listening. The vehicles and their weapons were a fantastic find. However, given the state they were in, he had a question.

"Did y'all tow these down here or drive them?"

"Drove them. Until the wheels went flat. The bumpy ride into Under-Town took what was left out of the wheels." Rhot answered.

Kaleb nodded before catching Roy by the arm. The boy was about to jump off the roof and hurry to the next APC.

"Roy, go back and check the engine on that first APC. If it's still good, we may have a solution to our power problems."

His sidekick nodded and then flipped off the side of the vehicle. He hit the dirt at a run and made it to the first APC in record time. Kaleb finished pulling himself onto the roof of his APC and then rolled over the edge. Hitting the dirt with a solid thud, Kaleb came up and was soon face to face with Aqwen. The female lizard warrior wasn't scowling exactly, but she didn't look pleased.

"Elder. May I ask what you hope to achieve?"

Kaleb nodded as he turned toward the last APC. His mind raced with ideas. "Well, these vehicles are kaput. Not beyond salvageable, but we can make better use of their parts."

"Such as the guns?"

"Hopefully. But the metal and the engines too, if we can get them to the front gates."

Aqwen nodded slowly. "I can see a case for the metal. But the engines, Elder?"

Kaleb winced slightly at the Elder title again, but carried on. "These are your standard Energy Cycler Engines. They take a chemically volatile compound and expend it to push the APC forward. Now, normally that compound would have to be reinserted at regular intervals. Much like the old gas cars of the distant past."

"And your current car!" Roy shouted from within the first APC's cab.

"We retrofitted that one with a Cycler engine, Roy! And you know it."

"Doesn't change the fact that your car used to run on fossil fuels, you mad scientist."

Kaleb gave Aqwen a shrug as he shook his head at the teen. "Sidekicks."

Aqwen narrowed her eyes at the interaction before dragging Kaleb back to his point. "Well, my rather vocal compatriot and our friendly gnome have created an alternative. Well, not really created. More like found again. A fuel that should power the engines and the mansion for a good long while."

Aqwen's eyes flashed with understanding before they dimmed again. "Yes. About your gnome friend. What's he doing?"

Kaleb cracked open the passenger-side door of the last APC before turning to look at the first again. Roy was still digging through the cab. But Daivor was on the roof, his sleeves rolled up and his arms elbow deep in a turret barrel. He could feel the magic flowing off his familiar even at a distance as the Master Builder did his thing. Their hope was that the gnome could scrape some of the melted metal off the thing. Judging by the look of concentration on the gnome's face, Kaleb didn't think it was going well.

"Trying to salvage what he can." Kaleb said before jumping up into the APC's cab.

He figured he'd check the engine first rather than dig through the back of another truck. To Kaleb's surprise, Aqwen shoved him from behind and forced him into the driver's seat. Once she was fully inside, she shut the door and glared at him. To his credit, Kaleb maintained eye contact with her for two whole seconds before his mind became a whirl of ideas again. If the engines worked, that was a lot of horsepower they could put into something.

His fingers were searching for the button or lever that released the hood. The APC compartment was large enough that he didn't think it was a rear-mounted engine. So that meant it had to be crammed into the front. He found a switch and lever combo that had to be operated simultaneously when Aqwen spoke up again. Her voice hard.

"I do not like this."

"The APC, the plan, or me."

"The APC is old, the plan is half-finished, and you… You are going to be killed in a month."

"Love the confidence." Kaleb joked as he pulled the rusted lever hard with his non-cybernetic hand.

The metal rod cracked and came off when he pulled it back. His elbow hit the back of the seat and punched forward again. Making him drop the lever. But he heard the sound of the hood unlatching. So at least he succeeded. Smiling at Aqwen, he found the lizard woman still scowling and looking at the broken bit of metal. She seemed really upset with her lot in all this.

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"Look," Kaleb started. "I know I am going to have to defend my leadership at some point in the future. That's a given. But that's at least a month away, and I have plenty of time to prepare. What could happen at any moment is another attack. That should be the priority."

"So you should be out there with your Clan, preparing! They need to see you training, fighting, ready to lead from the front! But instead you sit in here and toy with machines!"

Kaleb flexed his cybernetic arm. "Hey, my machines are not toys. They have defended the wall well enough."

Aqwen scoffed. "That was as an outsider. Now you are a Clan Elder. You must prepare and fight like an Elder."

"Will that make the rest of my clan members less likely to kill me in a month?"

"Unlikely."

"Then you'll excuse me if I don't do that. I am not a member of the Brute Clan, Aqwen. I don't think like you or act like any of you. So why should a Clan led by me be anything like the others?"

"So that you don't lose members! An Elder without a clan is nothing. You barely rank as an Elder with twenty-two members!"

"So we'll just have to get more."

"How do you intend to do that?"

Kaleb smiled as he kicked his door open and jumped out of the vehicle. Over his shoulder he called.

"By showing them what I can do besides fighting."

Aqwen hopped out of the passenger side and scowled at him again. "Fighting is all the Brute Clan cares about."

Kaleb sighed and rolled his eyes. As he did, he caught sight of Rhot again. The big lizard was over by Roy looking into the first APC's engine. He waved a tired hand at the big Elder as a question rose to his lips.

"What about Rhot? He doesn't seem all that interested in fighting."

Aqwen glanced over at the big Elder cautiously. "That's because he's weird… and he has already distinguished himself. So his clan knows who they follow."

"Then why don't you gather the rest of my clan and I'll show them who they now follow."

Aqwen rolled her eyes. "They will see it as weakness."

"Let them. Gor'kinak underestimated me."

"He still almost killed you!"

Kaleb shrugged off her words as he opened the APC's engine compartment. Inside was a slimmer than expected engine sitting behind a wall of reinforced metal. The cycling chambers sat completely still and empty as he reached down to touch one. The six cylinders spun easily at his touch, though. Which was promising. He checked the mounting brackets for each section of the engine before calling out to Roy.

"The cycler looks clean! This one even has some fuel still in it!"

"Some?! This one was damn near full in all six chambers! Daivor says we should get a bucket. Good fuel is still good fuel."

Kaleb gave a half nod at that. The gnome wasn't wrong. "I count six mounting brackets! You?!"

"Six! But one's cracked. Rhot wasn't kidding about having a rough ride down here!"

Kaleb didn't want to wonder long about what could crack the mounting bracket of an APC. Apparently, Rhot's journey to Austin hadn't been an easy one. But it was irrelevant. The APCs were here, and the engines needed to come out. He was looking for a way to remove the thing when he spotted another problem.

"Shit! The turret is wired into the sixth chamber! You see that?"

"I see it. What does that mean?" Roy called back, Rhot watching the conversation with interest.

"The engines run on a five-to-one cycle. Five run the car, and then when someone wants to spin up the turret, they have to switch on the sixth. I'm gonna have to write up a wiring diagram as we go. That way we can see how the turrets are wired in!"

Roy was quiet for a few seconds, and Kaleb turned around to see if his sidekick had anymore questions. Roy and Rhot were looking up to the first APC's roof as Daivor said something to them. Kaleb could barely hear the gnome. But Roy helpfully filled him in.

"Daivor says it also means we have three five-cycle engines and three one-cycle. If they detach, that means we can save on space for whatever we're planning."

Kaleb nodded, but he didn't really like the idea of paring down the engines. Running one-cycle was hardly worth it. But maybe if they strapped them together and used them to power something else. Kaleb's mind once again spun off somewhere and didn't come back until the sound of thudding feet filled the cavern. Aqwen was back, and she brought of load of lizards with her.

Kaleb had to blink as the motley crew of lizards presented themselves. Initially, he and Aqwen had been worried that most of Gor'kinak's old Clan stayed around to challenge Kaleb later. That may have been true for some of the twenty lizards. But most were simply old and scrawny. He looked down the line of lizards as Aqwen got them lined up. Maybe three of them were young and in their prime. But the rest were clearly the runts of their litter.

He had an uneven split of males to females. With thirteen being male and the remaining seven females. But both the males and females were almost as short as he was. At least compared to the other lizards. They all had the same muscular physique of the Brute Clan, but they were clearly smaller and older. Kaleb spotted one that looked almost as old as Wulkun. The angry-looking alien woman met his stare with one of her own before snorting derisively.

Those problems aside though, the sorry state of his clan made it easier to spot the power-hungry ones. Two of the male lizards and one female were staring at him like he was the answer to their prayers. And not in a good way. He could see a thirst in each of their eyes. A thirst that matched Gor'kinak's in intensity. That thought brought another worry to the forefront of Kaleb's mind. As Aqwen moved closer to him to present his clan, he whispered.

"Are any of them Gor'kinak's direct family?"

Aqwen shook her head as one of the older Lizard cackled.

"He would have had to have lain with a woman for him to have offspring!"

The elder female lizard laughed herself into a coughing fit at that one. Most of the other members of his clan scowled at the woman. But she simply brushed them off. The group arrayed themselves before Kaleb with the bare semblance of military precision. He noticed that the three who were shooting him the evil eye were slightly apart from the rest. A statement to him or a rift he could make use of later? He wasn't sure.

Once everyone was lined up before him, Kaleb had flashbacks to his first class in-game. Although these looks were a little hungrier. He clapped and rubbed his hands together as he tried to think of what to say.

"Hello! I'm the Professor and apparently I am your Elder now. Yay."

The problem lizards rolled their eyes and scoffed at his tone. But Kaleb ignored them. They were already on the shit list. He wanted to see about the others.

"As you can tell, I am not a member of the Brute Clan. I am, in fact, a refuge from the Basilinoid conclave. So you'll have to forgive me if I don't know your customs or ways yet."

"And don't bother to learn. You won't be Elder long," snapped one of the problem lizards.

Kaleb simply grinned as the obvious threat slid off him. He'd expected something like that eventually. Which made the next part easier.

"It is already clear to me that some of you are unhappy about this. That's fine. I hereby release you from any obligation toward the Clan until you can submit your challenge."

"Professor!" Aqwen hissed as his assembled Clan sucked in a collective breath.

Kaleb shrugged. "Let me be clear. What I mean is this: I will expect nothing from you. You can go and do your own thing until a month is up. I am too busy to scream at people who won't listen. So you can pick up your damn tails and go roll around in the training area until it's time to try to take my throne."

The two biggest members of his Clan scoffed and shared a look before they turned and ran out of the cave. The third hostile member oddly stayed. Kaleb could feel Aqwen fuming at his side and knew that he was going to have to answer for that later. Probably in a training match at some point. But for now, he needed to work with what he had.

"For the rest of you, welcome to Clan Pack Rat, and I hope you're ready to work. Cause I have big plans and most of them are going to be done at a run."

That got him a cascade of odd looks from the members of his Clan. But Kaleb simply walked over to Roy and Daivor's APC. Rhot was standing there happily, shuffling from side to side. He gave the big lizard a curious look, but said nothing before turning and addressing his new Clan.

"Okay! First off, what do any of you know about automotive engineering?"

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