......
Well, you have the authority for it.
-Part of the transcript of the conversation between Vanguard Gunny and Vanguard Senestera, 2057
There is, of course, the Class II Chassis Strengthening, which will increase their tolerances for damage. The Class II Communications Network, which will help them bypass EMC effects from within their own cloud, meaning the swarm will not lose connection with itself, but if it is too far from you, you would lose connection if you didn't have Class II mental Augs. Instead, orders will simply be slower to take effect. Class II Temperature Shielding works like the Chassis upgrade, but for extreme shifts in temperature. The final Universal Upgrade I would recommend is the Class II EMP Redirection. While I do not foresee you running into a Model Fifty and above down here, it is a legitimate threat to your swarm.
and, while not a swarm upgrade, in the Class II War Swarm Utilities is a Command Pylon, an item that acts as a point to point communications equipment, allowing you to send orders from an extended distance, while also bypassing a majority of the EMC generated by Models Twenties through Thirty Nine.
Purchased Class II War Swarm Chassis Strengthening Blueprint
Purchased Class II War Swarm Temperature Shielding Blueprint
Purchased Class II War Swarm Communications Networking Reinforcement Blueprint
Points reduced to 35830
I turned towards the Fabricators in the network and had them switch from creating more Combat Swarms to upgrading the current swarms with the three new upgrades. The queue estimates full Swarm conversion in almost ten hours, which was fast, but based on how fast we were traveling we would reach the first suspected hive structure in thirty minutes.
I kept the queue as is, but I knew it would not be enough to do any really good, but it's not like they could make any more combat swarms in that time, either.
The pace continued, with Heracles and Laser taking a stroll, and The Mole digging its own tunnels to head off ambushes, until eventually Laser Lasso called us.
“So, we're getting pretty close to the first point. Games, are we in range for your Scouts to see what's ahead?”
Running some quick calculations, I confirmed that the cavern was well within my new range of six thousand feet.
“Easily. I'll send them ahead now. Linking visual feed to the call.”
As we stopped moving, my Scouts flew ahead rapidly. Once they entered the chamber ahead, I heard Shrew gasp.
The map had stated that there were three pockets where the antithesis hives could be. Instead, there was one huge mile wide cavern filled to the brim with hive structures. Thirteen to be precise, with two huge central pillars and tens of thousands of single digits, hundreds of tens, seventy four Twenty Threes, fifty Model Twenty Eights, and hanging from the room were three masses of what looked like tube corral anchored to the ceiling. Each bunch had eight tube-like structures that moved independently of each other. Finally, in the middle of the entire room was what looked like a giant cabbage.
“Model Thirty Fives, T Variants.” Shrew said. She quickly connected the call to the other team. Senestera was about to say something, but then saw the feed. “Fuck! That's a Thirty Seven Variant in the middle, with two Forty birthing pods. Not to mention the Thirty Fivess on the roof. Fuck it, new plan. Calling Gunny. Get your strongest defenses set up.”
Heracles and Laser Lasso reconvened with Shrew and I and I saw Betsy start opening up and transforming into something.
“With the new upgrades, twenty, with five Generator Swarms.”
Purchased Class II War Swarm Upgraded Defence Swarm 20x
Purchased Class II War Swarm Upgraded Generator Swarm 5x
Points reduced to 32510
I condensed my other swarms to be just within one hundred feet of the group, covering The Mole as well, then let Rogal set up our defence.
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He has the Assault swarms dig a wider cavern for us, then sets up a complicated, three dimensional barrier that surrounds us like a bubble.
Senestera calls out, “Are you good? Cause Gunny's firing in ten seconds.”
Betsy finalizes her transformation into a bunker that we all huddle into, and not a moment too soon as, through the feed from my Scouts, the area outside the barrier goes dark.
It's not a dark like an absence of light, as my swarms could still see through that. No, it was a dark that was filled with something that ate the light. Then, a defence swarm broke, then another, and another. And the worst part was that it wasn't just that their integrity broke, but the signal connecting them to me simply ended.
By the end, sixteen of my newly purchased swarms vanished. Then, the darkness receded, physically pulling back into the cavern where the hives were. We were no longer in a tunnel, just a massive cavern that we were floating in.
We watched the feed as the darkness condensed to the center of the cavern, revealing nothing but a big, empty hole. Then, the darkness disappeared entirely.
Points awarded 34,210
13 Tokens awarded
“Fuck, what the fuck was that?” I whisper out.
“That was Gunny's Delete button.” Heracles replied. “A mass of antimatter set to expand, wait for three seconds. then retract.”
Laser claps my shoulder. “I'm impressed Betsy didn't need to blunt that impact, Games. How expensive was it, I'll cover you.”
“No, no need. I can just rebuild new swarms.”
“Just tell her, War Games,” Shrew said, “She doesn't do debts,”
“Exactly, Games. You're the newbie here, so you need more points than we do. Saved me from repairing Betsy, so she can take me home later. Come on, tell me,” she puts me into another head lock.
“Fine, fine! Eight thousand points! Sixteen swarms!” I cave instantly. I learn that I don't do well being held by an older woman. Not the time to contemplate that.
Heracles whistles, “Damn, Games. That's quite a bit for a new blood Samurai. Especially since we survived that. That's about the cost of one of my health packs.”
“Alright, easy enough. Ask your AI to give me permission to your Catalogs and I'll get you the sixteen you lost.” Laser Lasso says.
I just nod and give affirmation towards Synaptic. Sixteen purple dice appear on the floor.
“Now, let's get out of here and regroup with Senestera. We can send the cleaners in after we head out.” Heracles says as he opens the bunker door.
We all step out onto my hardlight barrier, and I see the devastation left behind. A perfect, solid two mile wide diameter hole left in the Earth. At the top of the new cavern is an opening to the sky above, which was crumbling a bit as wind rushed down to fill the new hole. I float us over to where Senestera is, and we all make our way up in silence. Well, Magical Girl Chocolate Thunder and I are silent. The others are talking about after action reports, new geological surveys, new adaptations for the soil acid, and other things that I tune out. I just focused on the widening hole in the roof as we ascended, realizing just how much more the ceiling of power was than I expected.
Class IV, bordering on Class V.
I nod to myself.
**************************************
The journey back to Payson was uneventful. The PMCs were finishing cleaning up the antithesis matter on the field, and we all piled back into the meeting room.
“Thank you, everyone, for your contribution towards this successful extermination mission.” Senestera begins, “Fleming and Shrew. I'm sure the two of you will be sticking around for a while to run some more experiments.” They nod, Fleming working on a tablet as Shrew sat at attention. “Heracles, Blizzard, thank you for taking the time out of your social season to help with this. Things went far faster with you here.”
“Of course, Senestera, this is an important hunting ground for The Family. Plus, we got to see our juniors in action.” Blizzard says.
“Speaking of, Magical Girl Chocolate Thunder and War Games. Thank you for participating in this operation. Neither of you had to, but thank you for being here nonetheless.”
I nod, feeling drained, yet Magical Girl Chocolate Thunder still had that smile on her face.
“Things should be quiet for a bit if you wish to stay here to rest. There are rooms available here if you desire, and the officers mess as well. If there is nothing else, the meeting is adjourned."
Senestera leans back in her chair and closes her eyes. Fleming and Shrew begin to discuss project details. Blizzards stands up first.
“It has been a pleasure to meet you both. I would like to invite you to a get together that takes place next Thursday. A few of The Family's Samurai will be in attendance, both locals and those from other branches nearby. It will be a good opportunity to meet others who have awakened recently, as well as your seniors. I do hope to see you both there.” She goes to leave, then pauses at the door. “It is a black tie event, so please dress appropriately.” Then she leaves.
Heracles is next, as he stretches, then stands. “This was a nice outing, new bloods. I hope you have learned something from this, and that one of those lessons is to always be prepared. If you discover a stealth hive like this, make sure you can fight a Thirty normally, or call for help to fight one. See ya round!” He was out.
“Well, I for one think we could have succeeded without the Delete Button. It may have taken longer, and we might have come out injured, but-.”
“No buts, Lasso!” Senestera cuts her off. “Two Forty pods plus rapid fire heavy hitting Thirty Threes. Heracles would have been fine until those things hatched, but Fleming, Shrew, either of the newbies? No. It would be a miracle if we had less than two deaths. It's why Doma set up an SOP for us. I know you don't like it, but our goal is less deaths, less risk.”
“The Delete Button is plenty risky.” Laser Lasso mumbles.
“Get out of here, Bo. Get home safe.” Senestera says, a bit of affection entering her voice.
And then there was two. I look to Magical Girl Chocolate Thunder and rub my head. I meld my hood, revealing my face.
“Uh, good work, I guess.” I said awkwardly. “I'm Victor. You can call me Games, on the field,” I reach out my hand.
She takes it and gives a vigorous handshake. “HI, Yes, my name is Claire! You can call me Chocolate in the field!” She says giggling. It's a bit of a dichotomy shift, seeing this amazoness of a woman giggling in her pink dress. “So, when did you awaken? I did a month ago, out in Williams. Dropped a truck on a Five as it was shooting at me. It was a rush!”
Her eyes bore into me, and she was still holding my hand, so I had to answer. “I awoke yesterday, in a megabuilding as an Incursion happened. I had to beat three Model Threes to death with a really cheap axe trying to rescue my older siblings.”
“And you're already this strong!? Amazing! I'm sure you will be able to save so many people!”
She kept me hostage for another hour, peppering me with questions about the most mundane things. Eventually, Senestera rescued me.”Girl, can't you see how tired he is? Let alone the fact that you haven't let him go yet?”
She looked down, seeing the fact that she was, in fact, holding my hand in hers, then panicked and flew back. “I'm so sorry! I just get so wrapped up in conversation.” She stands in a hurry, “I'll talk to you later!” She blurts out as she rushes out the door.
Senestera chuckles as I finally feel like I can breath.