Bulwark was spread thin, both with its processing power and with the units they had available. An assault on this scale and level was unprecedented, not only were the bugs still pressing on the Nauvis frontlines in greater numbers than ever before seen, but they had invaded and permeated the interior territories.

In the past the Maker had noted that even if it only took a single bullet, missile, or explosive to kill a bug they didn't even have enough ammunition to do it. There used to be quite literally more bugs on Nauvis than munitions. That hadn't been true for long once earth had gotten up to production capacity, but there remained one issue.

It took more than one bullet to kill a bug, significantly more, and they didn't have enough. That also failed to take into account storing or transporting said ammunition, a problem only recently lessened with the implementation of warp-tech to move supplies.

One might think then that perhaps laser or plasma weaponry was the answer, and they'd be right. Bulwark made extensive use of energy based weaponry, only resorting to solid munitions when the situation warranted the expenditure. It was the reason behind the Makers efforts to craft more efficient or powerful energy weapons. But it was a flawed solution, the hives could produce bugs faster than the factory could produce energy to burn them away. Energy weapons also rapidly lost effectiveness in adverse environments, dense fog and rain absorbing the energy before they even hit. And simple thermal shielding could increase the needed energy for a kill drastically, mirror shells even using the attacks against them and some bugs outright consuming the plasma to rapidly grow or fuel their more esoteric and energy consuming attacks.

Command bugs would also destroy power lines to forward bases, something growing less effective with the introduction and slow growth of the Bailey, making it significantly harder to isolate connected fortresses from the greater factory.

This had been manageable however, for Bulwark had carefully maintained the front to minimize just how many bugs could actually assault at once, ensuring munition use never eclipsed production for long.

Then the bugs had started teleporting, teleporting without Hijacking the factory's own network, and Bulwark felt frustration as they watched their carefully constructed defenses fall apart.

If this kept up the factory would actually be in danger, and they'd have to get to break out the really big guns.

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Balistraia coordinated her bodies from her new central core, the advanced computation systems running throughout allowing her central self to process and respond to all the inquiries for her auxiliary selves.

The situation was grim, one problem with Bulwarks defensive efforts was that there were less bugs being killed than there were being made, and that had necessitated the occasional use of higher grade weaponry to reduce the number or blunt a massed attack. And it had been one of her roles to prevent such masses from gathering.

Reduce the bug hordes to the point they couldn't breach the defenses and then withdraw. Hunt down command bugs that would force such masses of bugs to gather, and destroy the hives producing such hordes and reduce overall bug production. And it had been working, there hadn't been a major breach in months and any force that looked like it could have made a breach had been crippled before it arrived.

But well, that had relied on the assumption bugs needed to group up. And they had learned not to do that apparently, instead small cells of bugs each with a bug serving as the teleporter had attacked in mass. Achieving the needed volume without actually grouping up and provoking an attack.

She had become predictable and this was the price. Hundreds of androids dying, bugs breaking containment on an unheard of scale, and months of infrastructure being destroyed. It was her job to scout, to keep watch and warn.

The thoughts weren't helpful, another weakness of both her new form and the nature that had led to her asking for it. And so she reached out into the greater factory, the steadying connection to every mind and machines within and stabilizing her simulated emotions. There were times when they were needed and helpful, this was not one of them.

She was losing her forces at an absurd rate, Already it would take months to refill the stockpiles and get an acceptable reserve. But she still had a reserve, just not for very long as each unit was prepped and teleported onto the frontlines. Her forces couldn't actually hold the bugs off, that had never been the point or goal nor had it been possible. They were supposed to kill the bugs and avoid direct fights, usually by outranging them or just having superior ranged firepower.

That fell apart rapidly when the bugs appeared inside of the cities, tanks were too large and cumbersome to help, command tanks were far too large, and drones were too fragile to serve as anything but chaff. That left spidertrons and sentinel paragons to fight in the cites, and her stockpiles of those were decidedly small. But that kind of fighting had always been Bulwarks game and her small amount of units could be used to drastically amplify Bulwarks own efforts and be used as rapid response units when said efforts failed.

That also meant the rest of her forces could be used elsewhere, and there was a whole lot of elsewhere. Any chance of keeping the factory's presence on The Far Far Range was officially shot as her legions fought bugs across the surface of the planet. Turning entire ecosystems to glass and ash and making minor efforts to keep humans away from the conflict.

It was likely the world wouldn't be habitable in certain areas however, and wide scale evacuation would likely be needed even if the bugs were contained. Lots of particles in the air and a probable nuclear winter. Though the wildlife on this planet did seem adept at recovery so perhaps it'd only take a few weeks to stabilize again.

The new volcanos and cracking continental plates however…. She'd consult with the Commander for a solution after the battle had died down. Command bugs and their own more durable variants necessitated the use of higher yield nukes and other doomsday weapons, along with her 'requisitioning' of the orbital cannons as artillery, both the landbound and orbiting variety.

It was probably overkill, but she'd had command bugs regenerate from a torn piece of carapace or a leg. As long as the piece had some redundant organs and some neural tissue the bug had a chance of surviving. And if she had another command bug show up that was immune to nukes and the kinetic energy they imparted she'd be liable to chuck that section of the planet into the sun.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Organizing her troops on earth was easy, the Steadfast Recompense capable of moving every unit of her army individually, but on the Range and Mars she had fewer options, being limited to ground travel and teleportation. Meaning the bugs had time to set up defenses, and she barely had enough forces on mars to matter. It'd be days before ships got into orbit to provide orbital support and the gateway there didn't have enough power to remain active constantly.

It was meant to be a test bed for the Bailey and it's growing ecosystem. And while this would certainly test the Bailey she couldn't see it actually succeeding here, it was meant to supplement an army and deal with small probing attacks. Not to deal with a burginging bug infestation.

It was likely the bugs would get a firm hold on Mars, which just meant they'd get to test some world grade weapons they couldn't use anywhere they actually had noteworthy infrastructure.

All of this could barely distract Balistraia from what the Commander and the rest of the minds knew, the bugs had reached planets they hadn't and were spreading unchecked.

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One might think Byzantine would be as worried as the more combat oriented minds at the rising situation. And it was fair enough to think that, but Byzantine was not worried, they were agitated and annoyed.

Every carefully constructed delivery, every belt, track, and drone, all of it had been disrupted by this absurdity. The efficient calculations away from the frontlines had been worked to perfection, every delivery happening without a single moment wasted.

And now bugs were eating said drones, deliveries of war materials were being diverted to the nearest fights, and the drones themselves were being weaponized in particularly troubling areas. War trains were being moved onto tracks that were highly important for bulk material movement and the mind was needed to make constant efforts to divert the flow of resources away from the ever shifting conflict zones.

That wasn't even adding in the minds own efforts at directing the non-combatants away from the fighting, while Balsitraia was the mind who talked to people this wasn't something she was suited towards. At this scale it was a logistical issue, needing to coordinate the evacuation and movement of hundreds of thousands of machines and androids. Usually into bunkers well away from the fighting.

The mind didn't need to talk to them, simply giving each person a path to the nearest shelter. With the inefficiencies of non-factory life taken into account and the emotional reactions predicted based on an algorithm Balistraia had made for each of the common types of machines and androids. It wasn't perfectly accurate, but if the mind accounted for twenty percent inefficiencies it was serviceable.

If close to as maddening as the inner factory.

Really why couldn't everything just follow a simple predictable pattern and accurately follow its commands. Drones were so much easier to manage. The most difficult part was figuring out just which archetype each person fit into, based on how they reacted to the outbreak of fighting.

Some decided to charge towards the fighting, and the mind needed to find out if they were simply curious or wanting to fight or looking for some more general way to help. Others would run away, or wait and query the network about what was happening before running or coming to help. And then there were outlighters, those who just didn't react, or who broke down with panic, those the mind needed to send drones or the helpful machines to help.

Hundreds of thousands of different reactions, even those similar enough to treat the same had minute differences that made the mind question what the right response would be.

Byzantine couldn't wait for the day the bugs were exterminated. This divergence from the pattern was infuriating.

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Labyrinthine watched through thousands of cameras as the bugs tried to tear down and destroy its works, and took careful note of each and every success and what it could do to prevent it once the rebuilding had begun. Of course the facades covering the majority of its buildings were torn off without much effort from the bugs, but that was always going to happen and it just meant the mind would get to remake them newer and better.

No, the mind watched the super-structures and foundations, the bunkers and fortifications, powerlines and the reinforced parts of the structures that housed the defensive systems. The things that needed to remain to allow easy rebuilding and continued resistance to the bugs.

Roads were destroyed, tastefully designed gardens and rivers were ripped free and floods began in areas were rubble blocked the redundant drains or sewers, fortifications were shattered, teleportation nodes were sabotaged with suicide attacks to delay the factories responses, buildings were toppled and underground cites were rendered decidedly unsafe by the repeated explosions.

The mind noted and informed Byzantine when it noticed that certain areas were no longer safe, recommending bunkers likely to remain intact or in particularly urgent cases locations that'd not be crushed, leaving some androids and machines trapped in small pockets of air to be dug up later.

Overall it's works were holding up to what the mind had predicted they would, it was perfectly acceptable. Nothing broke that shouldn't break without the bugs putting dedicated effort into breaking it. No errant explosions or shockwaves or ambient hazards from the battles broke them.

Labyrinthine still wasn't satisfied however, already it was noting what it could have done differently, whether that was preparing for a new bug adaption or tactic that looked like it'd remain in broad use, or noting when something did better than expected and could be replicated. Planning for things it hadn't thought to plan for before, like making it so that if the cities did utterly collapse it'd be in a way that allowed evacuation and kept the residential areas from being destroyed, and doing that without actually making it easier to collapse the cities.

It was simply art of a different form however, and the mind looked forward to how its next works would fair.