And then there are those who don't seem to fit and Model, like the giant mantis shrimp seen in the Seige of Seattle months ago, and we have to ask, how much of our world have they taken from us to kill us with?
In this class....
-Excerpt from Dr. Olivia Barnum's opening lesson on Xenobiology: A look into our past to guess our future, 2057
I opened fire into the pitch black swarm with my point defence guns, ripping through them as a vibro knife does through bread. I descended towards the center of the mass on the ground, spotting a clearing that had Rogal and Leman. I flexed my chest and my main gun began to rotate. I circled the reticle around the clearing and opened fire, aiming to give us a bit more room to maneuver. Then the first bullets fired and I felt myself slow slightly. The burst lasted for a second, but I expended hundreds of bullets in an instant, and each bullet was a miniature Collapsing warhead. The area was clear, and a shallow moat was formed around their position. I slowed down to a halt and opened my loading ramp, and a thick cloud of nanites spread from within, seeking to devour the antithesis everywhere.
The storage compartment emptied in seconds, hundreds of Model Ones slamming into my body, yet feeling like nothing more than a breeze. The Model Elevens were too big to dodge my sight and were shredded well before they reached me.
Points received, New total 48329
Tokens 7
Unlocked Class II War Swarm Utilities
Purchased Class II Command Pylon Blueprint
Purchased Class II War Swarm Plasma Swarm 12x
Purchased Class II War Swarm AI personality Seed 3x
Points reduced to 35829
Tokens reduced to 6
The new swarms entered the battlefield and as I closed my ramp and angled upwards, lines of white shot through the antithesis lines.
I launched up through the airborne antithesis, tearing through them with my top mounted guns. The flock was shrinking at a noticeable rate, especially as I targeted Elevens and Twelves specifically. The EMC radiation on the cloud was thick, and besides my visual sensors, nothing else worked.
I kept my eye out for the scale spreader, but there were too many others in the way. So I launched out of the dome and fired four missiles from my rear pods, one for each cardinal direction. Then, I turned on a dime, refacing the swarm, and fired a very short burst at the head of the cloud chasing me.
The results were devastating. Seventy percent of the remaining fliers evaporated in an instant and I accelerated my perception to the max, scanning the swarm for anything out of the ordinary.
Over here.
Synaptic highlighted a space next to four Model Twelves. They had ruptured from a missile shockwave, but there was something in the middle of them, something that shimmered. I locked on to the shimmer and set my main gun to fire, then resumed normal time.
The bullets ripped through everything in their path, then slammed into the shimmer. The scales were ripped off the antithesis as a giant moth was revealed. Its wingspan was dozens of feet wide, and it had four massive compound eyes along its body. Its thorax was filled with holes that were spewing shimmery scales.
Why did it have to be a moth? No, it could only be a moth.
The bullets ripped into three of its six wings, all on the right side, and it began to fall. I fired a missile at it, hitting it dead center. Flesh was ripped off its back as its other wings were burned off, but it maintained its general structure. Then, I saw tentacles erupt from its center, latching onto a bunch of Elevens. They then began to carry the moth body away, but I didn't let it. I maintained fire with my main gun and destroyed the Elevens. Then, after depleting my remaining reserves, I finally got a notification of its death.
Model 39 Type M eliminated…. 2000 points
That was the first kill notification I received, and boy was it a doozy. A Model 39, and it took hundreds of Class III bullets to kill it.
It only took hundreds of bullets because they were a prototype from Morrigan. If you bought them from me after I optimized them, it would have gone down in a single burst.
Okay. Terrifying. Fuck the moth.
Shortly after my victory, I felt explosions rock the sky as the city’s defences finally reacted to the wave of antithesis. I flew high and looked down, seeing that Leman had led a charge into the hive tunnel, and I saw no further antithesis flown from the ground.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I descended to Rogal and accepted a call from Doma.
She appeared on a screen in the corner of my vision, black suit, hair in a bun, the wall behind her was showing the aftermath of the battle from a distance.
“Good morning, War Games. I was going to be very upset with you for causing a sonic boom within city limits, but seeing as how you revealed an army of antithesis not ten miles from our walls and thinned them out considerably, I will let it slide. This time.” Doma said, maintaining a professional tone.
“I won't lie to you, Doma. I only learned of this mass myself ten or so minutes ago. Rogal had led a hunting party two days back and only just recently was able to report back to me, requesting reinforcements. The sonic boom was… unintentional, but avoidable. Sorry about that.” I say. “That said, Rogal and the others discovered vital intelligence about an antithesis threat, and once I get it, I will send you a copy.”
She raised an eyebrow, “How critical?”
“Tonto State Reserve critical.”
She clicked her tongue. “Will you be available for it?”
“Give me a day to build up my forces, then yes.”
“Very good. I await your report.” She said, then disconnected the call.
I sighed, feeling the nerves I didn't realize I had fade.
Good job, Victor. Short, professional, to the point. Small talk can come once you are not in combat.
I smirked, the tension fully fading from me.
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks Synaptic.”
Landing in the camp Rogal created, I lower the ramp and engage the disconnection protocols. Morrigan wrote a very clear, very threatening explanation for what would happen if I didn't do that, and it boiled down to me being out of commission for eight to twelve hours.
As I finally pulled out the jack and stood up, Rogal and Leman were waiting for me on the ramp. “Excelent shooting, General. I'm sure Commandant Jill would be thrilled at your above ninety percent accuracy rating with this engagement.” Rogal said.
Now, Rogal only had a helmet. He never took it off, even when eating. So I could only speculate the shit-eating smirk on his face.
“Yeah, sure. Great work surviving. Never do this shit again.” I said, my anger rising. “You want to hunt, sure, hunt surface hives. But if you want to pull shit like this on me, deciding on such a dangerous mission without reporting it to me again, I will pull out your AI core and lock you up in a damn toaster! What the fuck were you thinking, Rogal! I could see Jill or Cody pulling this shit, but you? Get the fuck on the Shuttle, your relieved of command.”
“Here.” He said, marking a point on our map. He was near her, or she was moving towards him. “It will take a few minutes to extract her without alerting the hive network below. Is that acceptable, General?” He asked.
“Do it. I don't want more antithesis pouring through the ground right now, especially when I'm out of ammo. Once she's out, everyone loads up. Baba Yaga, you stay here and collect as much of this stuff as you can. Make a stock pile that we can pull from instead of digging up the desert. Also, take a Command Pylon to stay in communication. Report the moment something changes, understood?”
Purchased Class II War Swarm Command Pylon
Points reduced to 74587
I had expected a huge crystalline pillar with golden loops to appear, considering my association with the word Pylon. But no, instead the thing that appeared was a boxy case. Baba Yaga absorbed the case, and I felt a stronger connection to her through the network.
She smiled, “Understood General. I will be keeping some Builders to make the depot. With the mass here, we should be able to finish up the top seven floors and a decent amount of the next seven.”
I decided to stand at the entrance to the cave, waiting for Outsider. It didn't take long for her to arrive with Leman. They both stood in front of me as swarms of nanites flowed into and out of the cave, devouring the antithesis materials within.
I signal for Leman to leave for the shuttle, and just stare at Outsider. She stood there, hands folded in front of her, head slightly bowed.
We stood like that for a while as I breathed, trying to reign in my anger. I stared at her face, right into her black eyes.
“Explain.” Is all I could make out.
“I convinced the others to assist me in a recon mission that I believed was of critical importance to your safety. I calculated very limited risk to myself and the others in comparison to the value of knowing how extensive the hive was.”
“And why didn't you report in to me? Why did you decide, on your own, to undertake such a dangerous mission with no way to call for reinforcements, and no guarantee of extraction?” I say through clenched teeth, my anger straining against me. I was struggling to maintain reason.
“I thought-”
“The fuck you did!” I exploded. “You didn't think at all! You didn't think about how your disappearance could affect me, you didn't think about how, if you fucked up just a bit, you could DIE! How you could have set off the entire hive network and killed Rogal and Leman, all due to your own pride! Fucking shit!” I slammed my foot into the earth, cracking the stone beneath me. I could feel tears in my eyes, memories of the past spilling through me. Of Jill laying broken on a table, of Buddy desperately patching her together. Of Roger with half his thigh missing, bleeding out on the linoleum floor, gun in hand. Of Cody and I raiding a med bay for everything that could help. Of that sleepless night and morning where we could do nothing but hope Jill would pull through.
“Get the fuck on the Shuttle, Outsider. Give me your data, and say nothing else.” I seeth.
I got a ping as I received the data packed. I forwarded it to Doma without checking it.
Of course, Victor.
“Won't be long, General.” She said.
The journey home was quick, not sonic boom quick, but it took a few minutes.
We all piled out of the Shuttle, and I made my way to the pool. “Synaptic, does this suit have an air tank in it?”
Class II Commander armor created breathable air for you.
“Please and thank you,” I say. My voice drained.
Purchased Class II-
I ignored the message consciously, feeling the suit shift a bit. I walked into the pool and just sank to the bottom. I could feel a slight pull upwards, but I willed the armor to keep me at the bottom of the pool. I laid down on the floor, staring through the water and my facemask, and just cried.
It was a bitter, ugly thing. Snot and tears streaming as I curled myself up at the bottom of the water. I could feel Synaptic adjust the armor, embracing me once more as she is able to do. The pressure was calming.
I cried for a few minutes, then I laid in silence for an hour, mesmerized at the surface of the water above.