Lightning Clan members came to us the very next day. They were right on the border due to the hanger mishap. With the settlement, they were in a good place. Having a pair of hangers in their territory, they could launch a big confederation. There was a small problem with it though. Their territory encompassed the desert. Other than the refugee camp that they took over, they did not have enough population density to get a confederation off of the ground. It was a major clan. That meant all they needed to do it was vassalize 3 clans. Since we were allied with them now, it was not a surprise that they would want more help. I did not care that much. I was willing to part with a couple of blue prints. I gave them the power core and the chassis. Paul and I went over to the surrounding area outside of Dwan Town. We had to find some PEP units willing to move to the desert. It was tough. They did not like the sand blowing into their bodies and causing problems. Hostile creatures would also make it tough. I did not envy them. Still, it was way too easy to bribe them. They all wanted the same things.
Promising them a clan building and an X-frame was enough to get them to do practically anything. The first PEP units that they found actually were deviants. There is not a lack of low principled people willing to harbor the cyborgs. There was a decently wealthy corpo's daughter that was living with 4 of them. Having 4 sexy boy toys willing and able to fuck her whenever and however she wanted was a great deal. All she had to do was serve them all lemonade, let them charge up at the many outlets of their house and clothe them. Being in the mid tier of PEP units, it was not likely they would be able to earn much of anything in the suburbs. They each had names that she gave him. That was good. Krista was also willing to move out there with them for their adventures. Even though they were not doing any missions from the transmission hub, they were working her over. The 4 had her wrapped around their fingers. It was a marvel. Paul added a short dirt path to hair salon with a luxury apartment on top. It looked pretty trendy. Krista could live and work there. Under it was the clan building.
It was in the desert. Degen clan would survive. We would give them guns. The clan buildings that Paul would put down would have dojos and trade buildings. That was all in addition to the PEP labs. Lightning Clan's promise to roam the desert to protect vassals would be in place. Another group was able to man a spa. Paul put it directly across the dusty highway. Another apartment was set above it. This would see much less use. Clan Sparkle took it over. Refresh Clan was 10 miles down the road from them. They manned a big food court. People driving through the desert could rest there. Clan Shock was also going to run an establishment. This time, it was just a gun store. Bringing actually economy to the region was a great way to give Lightning Clan more cash. Part of being a confederacy meant they would all get the lightning AEP unit blueprints unlocked for one gender. They would still need to appoint a clan engineer and research them in the labs. They had time. Because each of the clans were getting PEA units from our lab they did not need to worry about it. It would be great.
