Andy Cerberus's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Andy Cerberus adjusted his glasses and studied the cracked map spread across his desk. The orange tabby had come to Broken Hills with one goal: turn this forgotten settlement into the region's most powerful trading hub. He'd volunteered for this assignment while everyone at Red Hills Traders thought he was crazy. They saw a dying town. He saw opportunity. Three structures would form the foundation of his plan. First, he needed a central marketplace that could handle volume. The old prewar SuperMart sat empty two blocks from his office, its sandstone and white brick walls still solid despite two centuries of neglect. The red tile roof needed patches, but the building's bones were good. Andy had spent weeks clearing debris and reinforcing supports. Blue and white letters now spelled out "BROKEN HILLS TRADING" across the restored facade. Outside, a British Bren Infantry Carrier rumbled to a stop. The 1942 vehicle wore fresh black, grey, and light grey Rhodesian camouflage. Andy had traded three bottles of purified water and a box of Mentats for it last month. The cargo bed could haul twice what a brahmin cart managed, and the armor plating made raiders think twice. He watched a merchant unload crates of clay pottery onto a stone counter he'd positioned near the SuperMart entrance. The pieces were falling into place. Word would spread about the restored marketplace and protected transport routes. Traders would come. Then the real work would begin—leveraging the vault data, the mine caches, and every secret he'd collected. But not yet. Andy had learned patience from past mistakes. Right now, he just needed Broken Hills to look like the future of regional trade.