-Excerpt from Mayor Berus of New Phoenix speech after an Incursion was crushed beneath the tracks of New Phoenix's walls
We huddled in the shuttle as we heard the rocks tumble off the armor. I moved to the pilot's chair and jacked in, then was immediately bombarded by warning messages.
We were fully buried, my engines were choked with dust and debris, and we were in complete darkness. There was a small amount of warping on my rear armor, but nothing that compromised it.
“The missile collapsed the tunnel, and I am unable to open the ramp. Phantom, put that blade away. The shuttle is spatially expanded, so I do not know what will happen if you simply carve into it.”
I felt Morrigan request to talk to me
“Close, just need a live trial to test a few things. No, I was calling to let you know that this rubble is not enough to stop you from raising up.”
“They're Class II engines made of Class II materials. Rocks won't do shit.” She left.
“Good news. I can get us out. Hold onto something.” I say over the comms.
I then flex and rise up, feeling my engines chunk up the dirt and rocks, feeling the rocks move across my armor. I burst through the desert floor like a whale, rocks flying everywhere.
“So. New plan. I'm going to fire missiles in a straight line, following the tunnel we were in, and carve a path towards the hive as far as I can. I should be able to carve a few hundred feet of rock out of the way. That alright, Blizzard?”
I see her sigh, then nod. “Do it.”
So, I aligned both myself and the other shuttle at the angle appropriate and timed my launches to dig as far as possible as fast as possible. They fired rapidly, carving deeply into the earth. It takes three missiles to reopen the tunnel, a few antithesis getting caught in the blast radius. I then detonate a missile every seventy feet down the six hundred foot tunnel, creating many dense balls of matter. After the eighth missile, the tunnel stopped collapsing. After the thirteenth missile, I hit the end of the tunnel, as the tunnel bends to the right. After the nineteenth missile, I open into another tunnel. By the time the last forward facing missile is launched, I have carved a very deep scar into the earth. The irony is not lost on me, as I am basically using mini Delete Buttons to get rid of the annoyance that was the hoard of plants.
“Tunnel clear, turning around and opening the ramp. I'm going to back down as far as I can. Please maintain overwatch from the ramp, I have no rear facing guns at that level.”
And so, we head back down into the tunnel. We can already see more waves of antithesis pouring out from below, charging up the tunnels. Blizzard launches orbs of ice that explode in the hoards, flash freezing many of the lower Models and slowing the higher ones. Hunter had a new punt gun, this one with a tripod and a rapid fire mechanism, and he rips into the frozen hoards. Phantom refused a rapid fire upgrade, instead firing super sonic bullets that exploded the Twenty Three that it hit. Herlock's pistols were replaced by plasma launchers, and his backpack now had four tentacle-like arms, each holding railguns. And Jim finally let loose with his massive anti-material cannon, carving deep lines into the approaching hoard, his tanks doing the same.
We made good time, clearing the tunnel and reaching the end of my tunnel in fifteen minutes. And due to the sheer amount of dead antithesis, Fleming and Herlock were able to gather the data they needed to finish the counter measure.
They ended up creating a virus for it, one that thrived in the acidic toxins and targeted the microbes, destroying them from the inside.
Fleming took off back up the tunnel in a carriage to go deliver dispersal devices that both created the virus particles by using antithesis materials, and dispersing it from a chemical sprayer.
Once Fleming started pumping out the virus, the acidic atmosphere died down rapidly. From there, we got back on track, carving our way to the central chamber. We had to slow down, however, as what I did apparently pissed off the, probably, Model Thirty Seven at the hive's heart, as double the amount of Twenties came charging our way. In fact, we were greeted by a new Model. It had eight thick legs that moved slowly, a thick rounded shell that covered its back, and where its head should be was a thick protuberance. On either side of the protuberance were three eyes in a vertical line. It was also sixty feet wide and forty feet tall.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
As it lumbered into view, its legs shifted into spikes that slammed down into the ground. I recognized what it was trying to do.
“Aim at the giant fucker in the back! It's a massive cannon, kill it!” I scream over the comms. I fire a missile at it, but a Twenty Three gets in the way. While it does create a void in the hoard, it also gives the big antithesis time to plant itself. Phantom and Jim fire at it, but its shell deflects the shots. They do dent it, however, and cause its first shot to fire downwards.
The way it fires is by constricting a section of the protuberance tightly around something inside it, then the end of the cannon is squeezed open by a large projectile, then fired at supersonic speeds.
Because Phantom and Jim interrupted its aim, the seed shot slams into the line of antithesis, digging through the ground and exploding in a cloud of bone spike-like shrapnel. They shred all the antithesis in the tunnel around it, and dig a few dozen feet into the tunnel around it. A few pieces of shrapnel hit Rogal's shields that protected the ranged attackers, dropping the integrity by seventeen percent instantly.
I fire two more missiles at the artillery antithesis, one of which was once more intercepted by a Twenty Eight, but the other hits true. Its armor cracks, being ripped off its body, the protuberance bends, snapping sounds echoing down the tunnel. Once the effect ended, the antithesis was heavily damaged, but still standing. Then, Phantom lands a shot down the center of the protuberance, bursting a seed shell within it.
This causes a chain reaction within the antithesis, the bone spikes explode from within it, tearing it to shreds.
Model 35-T killed
20,000 points earned
1 token received
“Fuck! That thing was a Thirty?” I hear Hunter shout.
A city breaker artillery type, designed to, of course, break entrenched structures. Pay attention to the shrapnel in the walls, Victor. They are coated in a potent acid
I focus on Outsider’s eyes in the walls, and notice that some have been damaged. I then see liquid pouring through the many hundreds of holes in the tunnel. It pours onto other antithesis, and they melt.
We pause our advance to let the liquid finish dribbling out of the walls, which takes nearly an hour. A terrifying thought hits us all, thinking of the walls protecting New Phoenix. They would not last long against more than three shots.
“Easily. Buy me a Fabricator swarm out there and I will give you the blueprints and reloading protocols.”
Purchased Class II War Swarm Fabrication Swarm
Purchased Class II War Swarm Recombinant Swarm
Points reduced to 113,766
I stared at the number for a moment. What the fuck could I buy with that many points that Morrigan couldn't make for me, other than more Catalogs?
In your case, Victor, there are a number of Hero Unit Upgrades that can be purchased. Alternatively, you could save up for a Class IV Catalog. The War Swarm Catalog is in the top tier of cost, at one hundred thousand points and four tokens to unlock.
As Synaptic finished, I could feel a burning desire from Morrigan, and considerably reduced desire from my other commanders.
Hero Unit upgrades, huh. Yeah, that makes sense, all good RTSs that had heros had special upgrades for them. I knew Morrigan can give the Commanders simple structural upgrades, like the audio/visual camouflage Outsider had, but substantial, qualitative upgrades? Of course it was something I had to buy.
There is indeed a gestation period, as you put it. The shortest of which is several hours long for Bahamut, and the longest is a full day for the combat Heros. These are full structural changes from the Quark level, as well as to their very core coding. It is not something I am comfortable rushing, so you cannot pay to speed it up.
I could feel the disappointment from Morrigan bearing down on me.
I refocus on the battle raging outside and see that we have reached a comfortable setup with the plants, advancing at a steady pace. Leman and Vulkan were still in the thick of things with their squads, but the rest were staying on the loading ramp, firing into the hoard. Rogal had created a barrier a dozen feet from the ramp, allowing our shots to fly through while blocking the Fives and Fifteens.
Over the next six hours, we advanced further and further down the tunnels. A few times the antithesis attempted to ambush up from behind, but they were shredded by my main cannons in moments. We ran into two more Thirty Five Type Ms in a cavern, but I didn't take any chances and bombarded them with missiles until they ceased to exist. Each missile took three minutes to build, so I had plenty to spare.
According to the plan, we had another hour before we reached the chamber. My second shuttle had just returned from dropping off materials at a safe depot Rogal made about two hours back. Baba Yaga had been able to have a constant line of Collection vans make it safely that deep into the network and back to Garrison One, so that was nice.
Herlock woke up from his quick nap and rejoined the front. He was the last to get a break due to his own insistence, and we all knew that we would not be getting another.
“Attention all Samurai. This is Doma. We are less than an hour from entering the hive structure proper. Once we engage, do your best to group up. The drilling team will meet up with the North and East teams as they are closer to where they will enter from. West and South, do you best to group up and make your way counter-clockwise around the chamber to regroup with up. If that is not feasible, you are free to engage at will. Doma out”
And now we had our marching orders. I moved to the ramp and set up with my Maelstrom, and Sands was this thing huge. It was longer than I was tall, with a support arm attached to my hips and shoulders. I had my bullets set in a pattern of tracer, HE, piercing, HE, concussive, HE, piercing, then repeating back to tracer. The bullets themselves are built using Class III Materials, so I should not have any trouble dealing with a majority of the antithesis.
I remember the last stealth hive like this, remembering the defences I saw on the ceiling. “When we enter, focus on the ceiling first, look for Thirteens and Thirty Threes. I will focus on any more Thirty Fives aiming at us. Once the heavy artillery is clear, I will have a shuttle move over to grab the south team. Once we regroup, we will see if it is possible to meet up with the others.”
“More than likely we will remain separate, as there will be high leveled gestation pods we will need to focus on.” Blizzard said. “Last chance to buy any upgrades, so spend those points”