“Do most Samurai earn this much on their first day?” I felt like this was a lot, but I don’t really have anything to compare it to. I wasn’t stupid, I knew they were better than gold to most corpos who could actually afford the blueprints or whatever junk samurai were willing to sell. That still left the specific value up in the air. Was I rich, or was I rich? It was an important question.
It is higher than many vanguards, but you are far from even the top ten percent. You have bought more catalogs than most however. Which can be just as valuable.
Though, your first day is not yet over. You still have more opportunities to earn points. There is the hive to consider as well.
“There's a hive?” That didn’t sound good at all. A picture of a kicked anthill, well ants that weren’t extinct yet, flashed through my mind. I could only see one outcome if it was that bad, and with the antithesis it would be best to assume the worse.
Of course, the antithesis do have to come from somewhere. There are additional rewards for destroying a hive as well if you can manage it.
“Well, I can try at least?” It turned into a question at the end, I plodded over to the minivan taking my rightful place behind the wheel. The drones all piled in, with Rogue sitting up front with me. I was ready to run if things looked bad but I could check or send one of the drones to check.
It felt pretty crowded with eight of the drones in here, seven bulky dudes filling the backseats like sardines. At least the front wasn’t that bad since Rogue was pretty small in comparison. Only two inches shorter than me at five foot four from a quick eyeball estimate.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get driving you fancy GPS!” I exclaimed trying to feel some of the enthusiasm I was projecting, and just like that we were off towards the giant hole where the concrete wall keeping out the rest of the world was just yesterday.
We retraced our path through the empty fields to the main road, past lines of dead antithesis that acted as our bread crumbs. Ashlyn clearly did not care about running over crops, though the aliens already did a number to a lot of the crops that were left.
The drive past that point was slow, we had to stop several times just to clear the bodies enough to get the car through. At least there didn’t seem to be any more antithesis around, which was a little odd from what I’d heard of them. They were supposed to be an endless tide determined to eat anything that wasn’t a homicidal shrub.
“Where’d all the plants run to?” I asked worriedly, glancing around for the next surprise. Things were going a bit too easy, especially after that big bastard. The next shoe to drop was just around the corner.
It seems the hive may be keeping its forces close for now, likely to consolidate and grow to attempt a larger assault.
“A larger assault? Wouldn’t they need a lot of, uh, biomass for that?” That word was always tossed around when there was any military talk about them. Like they were some sort of synth meat farm, and everyone they ate was just protein substitutes. I didn’t know how many people the plants got to, but I hoped it wasn’t enough for whatever Ashlyn considered a ‘large assault’. Still made me feel dirty using that word.
That is right, they will either have enough stored for a second push or more likely, gather it from a safer target such as the local wildlife.
I should mention that they will not stop pushing at the town, it is not in their nature to give up. They may try different angles, different strategies, but they will not quit. This is likely the best chance to destroy the hive, while they are focused on rebuilding their forces.
“Head on then. Let's get this over with and check it out” I said solemnly, I had a bad feeling there wasn’t going to be much good news to look forward to. Especially if I didn’t act.
I slapped the side of the truck and Ashlyn got my intention. We were able to drive right through the entryway that the antithesis so kindly left for us. The surrounding forest is scraggly at the best of times. The aliens hadn’t done it any favors, leaving it half chewed and dead.
I always like driving through the areas that still have some decent forests left. It was calming and peaceful, a reminder that things could be better. Bittersweet might be a more apt word. The aliens were literally antithesis to all life, but they didn’t start the downward spiral. Some of the older folk remember life before aliens, and they all said it was going to hell before too.
Bits of concrete and rubble crunched under the wheels, and there were tire tracks ahead. The dirt has been compacted from several hundred aliens making their way inside, I also saw a few tracks lead off southward. Likely the ones I saw at the south gate.
Making our way deeper into the forest there were soon other signs of human life, craters from explosives, bullet holes in a few trees and trucks that were absolutely devastated. The heavy steel armor was ripped open like a tin can, and deep puncture marks were in the roofs and backs.
Worst of all was the trucks were all facing toward the town, like they were fleeing something from the woods. The PMCs logo was clear on the sides, where it wasn’t too damaged to make out. Only traces of the soldiers themselves were discarded helmets and bloodstains.
The damage on the armored vehicles is consistent with a Model Fourteen, using its sharp legs to stab into the cabins and its mandibles used to pry them open.
“Think there's another one out here?” I asked in a whisper, counting the trucks. Five left out here, did I think I could do better than them? It took almost an hour to take out the last one, if there were more of them I didn’t know if we would even reach the hive.
It is possible, though there is only one set of tracks so far. Caution is never ill advised however.
“Maybe I can buy something to help detect them? Like a scanner or something? I don’t want to run into any more of those living trains but I’d really rather not do it while surprised.”
There are of course many options for locating the enemy, some of which are included in your Utility Garments catalog, however I think an option from the Cog Collective racial catalog would suit your style of combat more.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“What, like a specialized drone of some sort?”
In a way, yes. Though you don’t need to purchase a new drone, just make a modification to an existing drone. The Cog Collective were experts in internal mechanical augmentation, there are a few sensory implants that could help your drones in finding hidden antithesis.
“Oh, that sounds good, yeah, how much would that cost?” I am all for transhumanism, and would have been replacing my own parts if it wasn’t so expensive before I even became a Samurai. It seems like a better idea to wait until after all this settles to get started on that though. So for now I’ll let the drones be the guinea pigs.
For starters I would suggest an improved ear, nose, and an implant to sense changes in air pressure. In total this would cost 350 points, though part of the expense is the instantaneous installment of the implants.
“We don’t exactly have a lot of time until the antithesis comes back with a vengeance huh, yeah lets do it. Give ‘em to Rogue over here.” I gestured at the woman sitting next to me. Seemed like the obvious choice really, a rogue that has trouble spotting a hidden enemy is a dead rogue.
New Purchase: Forest Chime Ear Systems Mk 4
Points reduced to… 925
New Purchase: Hounds Path Nasal Systems Mk 7
Points reduced to… 815
New Purchase: Air Pressure Sensor Suite
Points reduced to… 775
With a whoomp and a sound suspiciously similar to cutting meat the implants were installed. Most of them were internal but one stood out.
“Elf ears?” I asked, while trying not to grin like an idiot. I should have seen it coming, not that I objected of course, elves are great. Rogue for an elf isn’t exactly an obvious choice except for maybe a dark elf, though forest elves are pretty fast and sneaky too. Not a bad choice after all, if that’s what Ashlyn was even thinking in the first place.
In your games elves are superior to humans in almost every way, in reality their ear design at least is an improvement when combined with some internal mechanics.
“Nice.” I nodded. Would I look good with elf ears? Would an elf be too obvious of a choice? If Ash can do elf I’m sure they can do other stuff. Something to consider later.
As this was all happening we passed by a few more trucks, which did not have me feeling any better about our chance, but no other signs of anything bigger than the occasional Model Three was found.
The damage and the tracks all pointed in one direction, and when we finally arrived it was hard as hell to miss.
A giant hole in the ground, big enough to drop a semi down. All the plants I could see around here were left to nothing but wood, even the bark off the trees was torn away. No grass, no leaves, and certainly no animals were left in what must have been a mile radius. My guess was either a cursed artifact or a nuke, or just aliens.
“How didn’t anyone notice this sooner? If that doesn’t scream ‘aliens right here’ nothing does!” I whisper shouted at the voice in my head.
It would seem that the hive was being discreet before it went on a full offensive. All of this was done in the last three hours. The antithesis are nothing if not extremely efficient.
Efficient or not, all it made me feel was unease and dread mixing in the bottom of my stomach. Maybe I was way out of my depth, I didn’t know anything about fighting alien monsters.
That thought had me pausing. I had no experience fighting aliens, but I knew a thing or two about fighting monsters. At least I knew some basic theory, I just hope that applied here.
“We need a more balanced party, right now we have ranged damage dealers and melee, with Rogue we have a decent explorer too. What we need is a tank, or at least someone who can tie up multiple enemies at once. Maybe a mobility focused class? I don’t want to double down when we already got Paul even if he's not here right now. Rogue’s not exactly slow, but definitely more of a nova dps type. I guess a monk might work…” I rant and mutter, thinking through the best way to add to the team. Our party is pretty big, but largely unspecialized. We need rapid response to threats, something that can hit hard and fast.
Ashlyn must have been paying attention to my word vomit cause they piped up.
A drone specialized in mobility is certainly possible, how many points would you like to spend?
“Something close to the paladin or rogue? Before the sensors anyway.” I said. Didn’t want to go over budget if I needed healing again. I didn't want to make a habit of it but I wasn’t going to be a total idiot.
Certainly, the paladin and his equipment cost a total of 560 points. The rogue was more expensive at 655 due to the full cloaking feature of her armor. That would leave you with over 200 points in case of an emergency.
“Not as much as I’d like to have saved, but I probably shouldn’t skimp on this stuff.” I reluctantly accepted, knowing I would need all the help I could get down there if I wanted to keep all the drones and myself alive.
New Purchase: Standard Cog Drone (Human)
Points reduced to.. 605
New Purchase: Wrappings of the Calm Breeze
Points reduced to… 405
New Purchase: Staff of Falling Stars
Points reduced to… 255
The new drone was another woman like the rogue, though the two were almost comically different. The rogue was a short pale woman with dark eyes, and darker close. The monk on the other hand, and there was no question that she was a monk, was tall much taller than me with a deep tan and bright near golden hair tied in a loose ponytail. She was nearly as muscular as the male drones, with very clearly toned arms and legs.
The robes she's wearing are a light sky blue with shifting images of animated clouds floating through a serene sky. Its sleeves are cut short to expose her arms, with her hands and her feet wrapped in bandages. The blue garment trails down to her knees, and is tied off with a golden cord of rope.
More interesting than the robes though is the weapon, the main body is a plain looking dull metal staff. Not too interesting on its own, but on either end of the staff are two connected chains each with spiky brass spheres. The whole thing kinda looks like a double ended flail, but its exotic design works well with the whole sky aesthetic the monks got going on.
Not to brag, as braggins is beneath an AI as advanced and wonderful as me, but I am quite happy with this one. It uses much of the same gravity tech that your robes defenses use. Though for different purposes, as the calm breeze robe assists in movement. The monk can jump great distances by lowering their gravity, or climbing walls or ceilings by changing their subjective gravitational forces. The staff is similar, though it functions by drastically increasing the weights of the flails on its ends.
“Very good work, do you want a treat, a pat on the head maybe?” I tease. It was kinda cute how Ash went on about all the stuff I buy.
“Very well, I will accept the head pat. You should consider buying yourself some food soon, though. It has been over half a day since you’ve eaten anything, much longer since anything with actual nutritional value.” The monk speaks in a voice that is vaguely similar to Ashlyn.
“Are you possessing the monk? Do I need to grab an exorcist or something?” I quip, though I guess they also talked with the paladin earlier, that was way more mechanical sounding though.
“No, I thought you might appreciate speaking to someone with an actual face. Also having a body is amusing, and the drones core makes it simple to use them.” They sound amused, that's for sure. They walk up and crouch waiting for their reward. Feeling pretty awkward, I hesitantly pat Ashlyn(?) on the head.
“You are a weird AI aren’t you.” I state more than ask. I had a gut feeling I was stuck with the AI equivalent of a troll. Whether it was more rpg or lol was yet to be seen.
No comment.
Yeah that was a pretty damning yes, though I can’t say it wasn’t endearing in its own way.
“Alright, let's have Rogue go in and scout with those new ears of hers. Give me some food while you’re at it, I am feeling pretty damn hungry now that you mention it.” I told Ash, and near instantaneously a cherry red lunch box dropped on the dirt next to my feet. Opening it up I see some sandwiches sliced into triangles, and some veggies with an orange sauce on the side. There's also a can of pop, I don’t recognize the brand. It has a clown lady on it and its apparently cotton candy flavor.
While I do that I see the Rogue use their two weapons to climb down the pit, hopefully there's nothing too crazy down there.
I grab one of the sandwich slices and dig in. I realized I still had my mask on but I got the food through just fine, it seemed like it was at least articulated enough to open around the mouth. Made sense since if the mask could look like a face it should be able to act like one at least this much.
“Oh shit, that's real good.” The bread wasn’t dry, and it had some sort of mustard that burned just right. It all practically melted in my mouth like lunchroom ambrosia. I finish the rest in just a few bites, and wash it down with the pop. Weird flavor, but it works as a drink and dessert in one. I grab the next and it doesn’t take long till I’m searching for any crumbs I missed, but my investigation is interrupted when Ashlyn gives me an update.
Paul has reached the temporary shelter and should be inside soon. What message would you like delivered?
“Everything alright over there?” I demand, not trying to hide the worry in my voice as I rub at my face. My leg may have been bouncing faster than my heart but nobody can prove anything as long as Ash didn’t snitch.
Yes, there was a small attack from antithesis that had made it from the west gate but the defenses were more than enough to handle it, and there hasn’t been any more enemy sightings since you cleared the horde.
“Good, that's good.” I sigh and set down the little bento box.
“Alright, tell them this.”