The forest was no longer just a hiding place; it was becoming a cradle.
Under Alan's guidance, the village—now renamed Sentinel Prime—had transformed. While the rest of the world fought over Supply Boxes and scorched earth, Alan's people were harvesting abundance.
[System Milestone Reached: Civil Infrastructure Level 2][Points Awarded: 10,000][New Expertise Unlocked: Neural-Link Education & Automated Logistics]
Alan didn't just build machines; he built a future. When he introduced the Automated Harvesters—sleek, multi-legged walkers that looked like a cross between a Resistance Dragonfly and a harvester—there was an initial wave of fear.
"If the machines do the work, Alan, what happens to us?" Marek had asked, looking at the mechanical limbs effortlessly tilling the soil. "Do we become like the Pitfallers in the Confederation cities? Useless? Begging for scraps?"
"No," Alan had replied, tapping his temple. "In the Confederation, you are a tool. If a better tool comes along, you're discarded. Here, you are the Architect. The machine is your hand."
He used his System points to unlock Retraining Modules. Using a simplified version of the knowledge-transfer technology he possessed, Alan established the First Sentinel Library. Villagers didn't just read books; they used "Learning Pods" that helped them understand the complex coding and mechanical engineering required to maintain the automation. The farmer who once swung a scythe now sat in a climate-controlled hub, monitoring a fleet of drones, earning the same—if not more—income than before.
Within months, the results were undeniable:
Agriculture: Vertical hydroponic towers, powered by his fusion generators, produced five times the yield of a standard Resistance farm, hidden entirely underground to avoid satellite detection.
Medical: Alan synthesized advanced medicines that could heal wounds that would usually require a Confederation Medical Center.
Education: Children were learning physics and chemistry at a level that would rival Confederation elite academies, but with a philosophy of Human Rights and Neutrality.
The "Sentinel Organization" was no longer a dream; it was a functioning society. But as the lights of the city grew brighter and the libraries filled with students, the thermal and electronic "silent zone" Alan had created became too perfect.
On the maps of the Confederation High Command and the Resistance Council, Alan's territory appeared as a "Dead Zone"—a place where no signals went in or out.
To a general, a "Dead Zone" is more suspicious than a battlefield.
"Marek," Alan said, looking at a hologram of a modified Shield Unit. "Send word to the settlements in the North and West. Tell them the Sentinels are forming. If they want a world that doesn't force them to choose between a cage and a battlefield, they need to come to us."
[System Alert: High-Altitude Reconnaissance Detected][Detection Source: Confederation 'Falcon' UAV]
Alan looked up at the sky. He knew the Falcon was the Global Confederation's premier scout—small, stealthy, and persistent. If the Confederation's sensors picked up the immense power signature of his Fusion Generator, they would send a Hammer squad to investigate. Conversely, if the Resistance spotted the anomaly with their Hawk bombers, they would see a golden opportunity to "liberate" a new supply hub for their war effort.
Alan didn't just scramble the Falcon's sensors; he rewrote its navigation path. With a few keystrokes via his System-linked terminal, the drone began transmitting coordinates for a barren ridge fifty miles to the east. To the Confederation Command, it looked like a Resistance staging ground. While their Hammer squads moved to investigate the ghost signal, Alan turned his eyes to the village's underground foundries.
"The ruse won't last," Alan said, the blue light of his interface reflecting in his eyes. "We need a wall that doesn't just hide us—it hits back."
[System Notification: Military Infrastructure Unlocked][Points Expended: 15,000][Drafting Schematic: Sentinel Vanguard Series]
The first of the Light Vanguards stepped off the assembly line. Unlike the Confederation Assaults, they weren't wearing thin ceramic plates; they were encased in thick, matte-grey Power Armor. The whine of their Gatling Railguns echoed through the training grounds as they shredded Resistance-style Jaguar plating used for target practice. The addition of Corrosive Grenades meant they could melt through the heaviest Confederation armor in seconds.
Next came the heavy hitters. The Heavy Vanguards were walking tanks. Their HHB Launchers hissed as they released the Hovering Homing Bombs. The spherical drones drifted through the air like predatory bubbles before slamming into a mock Resistance Hawk drone, detonating in a fierce cocktail of high explosives and incendiary white phosphorus.
"They're incredible, Alan," Marek whispered, watching a Heavy Vanguard pilot calibrate his HUD. "But where did the villagers learn to pilot these?"
"The Library pods," Alan replied. "While they were learning to manage the farms, I was uploading combat reflexes and tactical synchronization. They aren't just villagers anymore. They are the Sentinel Vanguard."
[Sentinel Army Status:]
Light Vanguard: 200 Units (Active)
Heavy Vanguard: 50 Units (Active)
Logistics: Fusion-Powered Reinforcement Loop
As the first battalion formed up, Alan received a ping from his long-range sensors. A Resistance recon team had stumbled upon one of his expansion outposts. They didn't see a village; they saw a tech-treasure trove.
The Resistance recon team was moving with their signature speed, three Coyote buggies and a handful of Riflemen weaving through the dense foliage of the valley's edge. They were seasoned scavengers, looking for the source of the thermal anomalies Alan's masking couldn't entirely hide.
"Don't kill them," Alan commanded through the neural-link. "I want them alive. Use the Sentinel Suppression protocols."
[Objective: Neutralize and Capture Resistance Recon Team][Status: Sentinel Vanguards Deployed]
Suddenly, the forest floor erupted. Twenty Light Vanguards emerged from their concealed electronic camouflage. They didn't open fire with their Gatling Railguns. Instead, they launched Corrosive-Shock Grenades. The specialized shells detonated in a cloud of emerald gas that didn't just melt through the Coyotes' light armor—it released a targeted electromagnetic pulse that seized the buggies' engines and fried their comms.
The Resistance Riflemen scrambled, reaching for their grenades, but they were already surrounded. Five Heavy Vanguards stepped out from behind the trees, their massive power-armored frames towering over the humans. Their HHB Launchers hissed, but the Hovering Homing Bombs didn't detonate on impact. Instead, they hovered inches from the scouts' faces, emitting a low-frequency sonic hum that brought the veteran soldiers to their knees, clutching their heads in agony.
"Drop your weapons!" Marek's voice boomed through his armor's external speakers. "You are entering Sentinel territory. Resistance or not, you are trespassing."
The Resistance commander, a scarred man who had survived a dozen Confederation Hammer rushes, looked up in terror. He saw infantry units that didn't belong to any faction—soldiers in heavy power armor that shouldn't exist, wielding technology that made their Resistance tech look like scrap metal.
"Who... what are you?" the commander gasped as a Light Vanguard soldier expertly zip-tied his hands.
"We're the solution to your war," Alan's voice came through the Vanguard's helmet comms.
[Mission Success: Recon Team Captured][Intelligence Gained: Resistance Movement Patterns in Sector 4][Points Awarded: 8,000]
Back at Sentinel Prime, Alan stood before the captured scouts. He didn't put them in a cage; he brought them to the Library. He wanted them to see the schools, the fusion-powered labs, and the people living without fear.
"You have two choices," Alan said to the Resistance commander. "You can tell me everything about your Syndicate benefactors and go back to your cells with a message... or you can stay here and learn what it's like to actually win a peace."