“Shipping Samurai has become its own form of genre. If you search long enough you will find every possible ship out there, no matter how bizarre. And that is the beauty of this genre, no matter what you are into, you’ll find something enjoyable to read. Some Samurai have expressed a deep dislike for that kind of thing, but that’s their problem. Samurai are in the public domain and can’t expect to have control over any of this. I’ll be defending my right to ship whoever I want, however I want!”

- Deceased Reddit User, defending his right to ship Samurai to a very unimpressed Blood Widow

“Plans?" I asked, keeping a close eye on the empty brothel below us. We had taken position on a roof across from it, mainly to have some peace and quiet from any possible xeno attack. It afforded us a good position to plan from, which we really needed. There wasn’t really much going on on the streets below, most of the xenos had already cleared the area, and all the bodies of course, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

The way here had been… interesting, to say the least. Snuffles was hard at work thinning the herd and birthing new Hatchlings, but despite her best efforts more and more xenos were out and about. By this point she needed a break, so she was laying next to me on the roof, resting, a couple of Hatchlings resting next to her.

“I mean, we got points now, so we have options," Chloe said, “The question is, how do we want to approach this. Generally, I mean.” She looked at us, “If we are going to work together for a while we can afford to specialise a bit more, since we can cover each other’s weaknesses.”

I nodded, not having anything against working with the both of them. I liked both and we did make a good team, Chloe and me especially. I mean, maybe that was because I liked her a lot, but I felt like we worked well together. Jenna still needed a bit of time to properly adjust, she was still struggling to really find her specialisation. She got her Sentinels, but that was it, besides. Hell, she didn’t even have her own weapon yet, only something from me.

I hadn’t spoken much with her yet, but I think her major problem was being a bit clueless on what she should focus on. Her early experience had stuck with her and she didn’t want to waste points again, so she probably was a bit more cautious with spending them than she should be.

“I don’t mind working together,” Jenna said, although a bit more hasty than I would have expected, almost as if she had been waiting for the question. Or was afraid of being left behind, maybe? Her expression remained impassive, at least outwardly, but with my senses I could tell she was… I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nervousness. Maybe a mix of both?

“Yeah. It sounds like a good idea honestly, especially if it allows us to be safer.” I added, smiling at both of them.

It would also enable you to punch significantly above your weight class.

“That too,” I agreed, “If we work together we can take on much bigger threats while coming out unharmed. Question is, what should we focus on specifically? I think for me it is time to get the Nanite Swarm thing finally, it would allow me to do quite a bit of support which I mostly already do with my Pristine Fortress.”

Indeed. Kaysa began, and I raised a hand to let the others know I was listening to her. What you lack in direct offensive capabilities you can offset with versatility and utility. I didn’t want to bring it up, since it is your choice, however I noticed you are… perhaps reluctant to get more weaponry. You’re good with people, inspiring them and giving them hope. It might be a good idea to lean further into that.

I shook my head, “I am not reluctant to get weapons. It’s just… With Snuffles I didn’t really need more until now, and I definitely needed to get better clothes and armor first. It also doesn’t help that I don’t know what to focus on weapon wise.”

Jenna nodded at that, “I am in much the same boat. Cleopatra and I have been talking at length about what would work for me. I’ve never really been a fighter and I am not really a big fan of guns, hence why I decided on my Sentinels. Technically they can work at range without my direct help. It’s something I should probably focus on a bit more. I’ve also already decided that I want some body modifications at some point, mainly to be more durable, but also to… change… some stuff. So far I’ve worked under the same mindset of never really wanting to use weapons, but the more we fight the xenos, the more I realise that that just isn’t a viable option.”

I could understand her, in a way. In some way I felt as lost as she did with what to go for, just for different reasons. I had a path I wanted to pursue, it was the details of that path that eluded me. How could I properly integrate the whole Kitsune shit into fighting antithesis? The more I thought about it, the more I was thinking of a two thong approach: The Kitsune side for dealing with people and doing my job, and the Hexclaw side for killing aliens.

Jenna was a bit different though. She seemed to lack the idea for a path in general. She had Sentinels, so that was what she relied on, but she also didn’t really know how to properly integrate herself into that plan.

“That’s about what I thought,” Chloe said with a nod. “Neither of you are the typical guns-blazing type of Samurai. I’m already pretty focused on direct combat, pistols, rifles, explosives. I’ll also get a catalogue with stuff like turret emplacements, barricades, lures, the likes. I can be the front line fighter.”

She looked at Jenna, then to me, “I think your idea with the whole support stuff is useful and all, but you should at least have one thing on your person that can really punch something if it is needed. You can’t always rely on me, Jenna, or the Hexclaws, and in that case you should have at least one option available to you to deal with any immediate threats. Similar goes for Jenna. I don’t know you well, so I don’t know what exactly you have in mind, but I think you can do a pretty similar split to Seraphine if you want to. I have an idea of what you could do, if you are fine with weaponry.”

Jenna for her part looked… pensive. She wasn’t disregarding the idea, but she also visibly wasn’t happy. Not hearing any reply, Chloe continued. “We need something that can punch something really hard from a distance. I know you don’t want to be next to the enemy, so that would probably be the best idea for you. Stay away, have your Sentinels run perimeter patrol, and shoot something with a really powerful weapon from afar.”

That seemed to get her attention. She still wasn’t the biggest of fans, but it was much more in line with how she held herself so far. Always to the back, always out of the way of harm if possible.

“I think that is a great plan,” I said with a nod, “But you shouldn’t just go for weapons. What do you want to do?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, a bit confused.

“What do you like? Hobbies, things you like to do. Weapons and shit are awesome, but you should also think about what you want to do outside of that. Maybe integrate that with what you will be getting? If you can, that is.”

It was how I approached things, and while I had my shortcomings, maybe it could help her find some headway in figuring out what she wanted to ultimately do.

Regardless, Jenna seemed to think about my idea, talking softly with her AI. I nodded to Chloe and focused on my own plans.

“Well, Kaysa, weapons. Chloe is right. I need something that I can use to properly defend myself. Also Nanite swarms, they sound useful and are probably something I should consider getting soonish.”

Right now you have two options. With your point total you can either go for something small, or for another big purchase like Snuffles, although, of course, with a different priority. Snuffles is meant to be the basis from which to build up a swarm, but there are other Hexclaws available as well. You could also focus on a personal weapon, in which case it might make sense to talk about what you want to achieve with your body modifications. We have touched upon the subject before, but we haven’t spent the time to dive deeper. It could make a significant difference to the weapons you could, or maybe should, be getting right now.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I thought about that. I had a general idea, but then again, that general idea was no longer sufficient. It was the exact reason Kaysa brought it up. What did I want?

Hm… I mean, I liked the idea of body doubles and shapeshifting, like I had mentioned earlier. The question was, how far do I want to go? Especially since Kaysa had mentioned that Hexclaw forms, even if they weren’t aesthetically pleasing, were quite powerful for combat. Maybe I could use that?

“How exactly would a designated Hexclaw Combat form look? If I went ahead with the whole shapeshifting thing and try to do both. Can I do that?”

You can, of course. It would be on the more expensive side, roughly around twenty to thirty thousand points since you need some significant Class II equipment for that, but it is possible. The best example for a truly combat focused Hexclaw form that you could achieve would be the Hexclaw Hive-Queen.

A 3D render appeared in my virtual room and I quickly ventured over. The form was… Impressive, if a bit hideous. Actually, no. Hideous was the wrong word for it. It was terrifying, but it had its charms, in its own weird way.

Generally it was humanoid, which surprised me. Surprise that apparently registered, as Kaysa cut in.

I have changed the general design to be appropriate for a human form. In reality it has much more resemblance to six legged insects, but I doubt you would want to go for that kind of form.

That made sense, I guessed.

Regardless, the form was humanoid, but only in the rough silhouette. It had two digitigrade legs with long sharp claws, flowing up into two powerful legs. The torso was… Actually, it was much more accurate to say it resembled a skeletal structure of a human torso than the actual torso itself. It had eight arms, two normal ones, and six smaller ones. The six smaller arms could seemingly form into the body, hiding them. On its back were four powerful limbs, although instead of them being claws that could help you climb they resembled batwings or something similar. The head was generally humanoid, but with the same strange features the Hatchlings had. Two trios of eyes, a mouth too wide to be real, but instead of the chitinous mask, this one looked like it had skin.

From the coccyx grew nine long tails with a variety of features, such as claws, poison injectors, blades, and other things. The body shape was very obviously female with a visible chest that was quite sizable, actually a bit too big to be natural. Kaysa noticed my noticing that detail.

The Hexclaw Hive-Queen has its own bionic healing nanites, usually stored in a rather bulbous section towards the rear. With the constraints of the human form I thought you might appreciate this design, as it focuses more on your femininity.

I nodded, one eyebrow raised in surprise, it did make sense after all.

Personally I don’t think I would have designed the combat form this way, but it would work for what I needed. There was a question though.

“How big is this? Would I even have enough… body mass? To shapeshift into it, if I stuck to a normal human, or maybe Kitsune, form?”

Yes, which is why it is on the more expensive end. Part of the biomass used to form the body can be stored in dimensionally shunted storage areas. Technically, if you really pushed the ability, you could form into your own version of the Progenitor Reaver, although to achieve that there would be some other upgrades you would need to get, pushing the price up considerably.

“Hm…” I thought for a moment, “I do like the idea. Be a cute, sexy foxgirl normally and turn into a supernatural killing machine when fighting xenos. I guess this would also make me much more resilient and give me better senses as well?”

Both could easily be fitted into the form itself, yes. The details would need to be hashed out once you get the points for it, there are quite some options available to you, of course.

“Yeah, about that. How would body doubles work with that?”

Honestly, the best option might actually be nanite swarms. If you wish to go that far it would be quite point intensive to get more bodies to work with, and while you could get there eventually, you can also achieve a similar and much cheaper result with nanite swarms. Of course, they would not be as powerful as you, or as resilient, but until you get the amount of points you need they would serve as a possible alternative.

“Okay, sounds good. It isn’t something I need now though. For now I need weapons, since I can’t afford that kind of crap yet.”

It did help drastically narrow down your options. Generally it would be a good idea to have both a powerful melee and a powerful ranged option available to you, if needed. Would you prefer these weapons to come in one single package, or rather two dedicated weapons? The first option is a bit cheaper, but two dedicated items could improve the effectiveness.

“I don’t want a cheap copout,” I decided, “This should last for a long time and should be able to pull me out of anything I could get into until I can get my other, more permanent upgrades.”

Very well. In that case two dedicated Hard-Light weapons would be your best option. At first the Mark V Variable Hard-Light Lance Emitter, costing 400 points. It can come in different forms of jewellery and is capable of launching high powered Hard-Light Lances with an integrated targeting system that can work off of any enhanced senses you might have or obtain. It has enough firepower to deal even with higher models of antithesis and can fire modified Hard-Light Lances packed with nanite payloads from your Nanite Swarm catalogue, once you obtain it. It is a very straight forward weapon focused on piercing the carapace of durable antithesis and killing them in very few hits. The downside is a rather high energy cost, meaning you will only be able to fire a couple of shots before you need to recharge it. For a small markup you can buy an additional dimensionally shunted battery pack, extending the use time and increasing the price to 500 points.

Secondly I recommend the Mark VI Dusk and Dawn, a Hard-Light emitter that produces a polearm roughly six feet long, costing 350 points. It is a very simple weapon, with not a lot of features. The reason for the pricing is its high durability, capable of holding up to even higher two digit models, as well as its piercing capabilities. Similarly to the Mark V Variable Hard-Light Lance Emitter it is meant to deal with any models you could reasonably come across, but it also has the same increased energy cost. With a similarly dimensional shunted battery pack to the Mark V Variable Hard-Light Lance Emitter it would cost 450 points.

Those are the most powerful options you have available to you at this time. For anything more powerful you would need to upgrade your Hard-Light Technologies Catalogue, which you currently can’t do.

I whistled. Those things were expensive. But they sounded like exactly the thing I needed.

I had 1612 points at the moment, those two things would cost me 950 points if I went for the battery pack which it sounded like I needed. The Nanite Swarm Catalogue would cost an additional 150, making 1100 points. If I took into account my 100 point medical reserve I had 400 points to play with for the Nanite Swarms.

“Okay, put those on the list with the additional batteries, but before I buy them, what can the Nanite Swarm catalogue do? By my calculations I have 400 points to spend there, ideas?"

Certainly. Again you have a few options, dedicated support with healing nanites, variable utility, or offensive usage with flesh-eating nanites. There are also Nanite Swarms focused on hacking, Material Decomposition, Repair Nanites, and of course Nanites that could be used later on, once you start your body modifications.

“Hm… I need a bit of everything. What options do I have for a Jack of all Trades kind of thing?"

For one the Mark III General Utilities Nanite Swarm AIO at 270 points. It is the best option available for an equal coverage of all the fields you could need. It produces its own nanites internally that can be programmed to fulfil different tasks depending on use case. It has limited holding capacity for nanites, as they are general use models which usually aren't very effective on such a small scale.

“Hm… What exactly does limited holding capacity mean? Like, in terms of use.”

Any given swarm you send out with the Mark III General Utilities Nanite Swarm AIO can complete their task in a reasonable time, but you need to wait for reproduction before you can send the next swarm out. It will also cost materials per swarm which can be bought for 5 points in a capsule that has everything any one swarm needs. Production time of a new swarm is on average a minute.

“So one swarm every minute. And more specialised thingies are faster?"

Not faster on production, but they can hold more nanites at any given time as they are purpose built for one task and don’t require the same amount of complexity.

“Ah, so easier and cheaper to make, so they cost less points per nanite, hence the model being cheaper for the same effect?"

Correct.

“I’ll take the general thing. Later on I can upgrade, and if I understand the Mark V Variable Hard-Light Lance Emitter it would make sense for me to have different nanites available.”

A sensible decision.

“Aight, bundle it all up, time to get moving.”