(-37.68964, 147.820953) – ????? – NIGHT.
“Another day, another set of monsters…”
TURRETS LOW ON AMMUNITION. VISIBILITY OF USER IS LOW. EXPENDING CHARGE TO FLOODLIGHTS. CHARGE NOW AT 2%.
The spotlights on her pod clunked on, flooding the area with blue-white light. Ophiuchus blinked automatically, even as her mask adjusted to the sudden change in light.
The landscape in front of her was strewn with fallen monstrous bodies. But more still clambered over their dead, moving in nauseating ways, with limbs that should not move in the way their joints appeared to be laid out. And more. And more. Shapes emerged over the horizon, blacker than the local night around her.
“Resolve, can you…try to highlight individual signatures?”
HIGHLIGHTING.
On her mask, individual shapes were outlined in a flash of grey, darker than the flood-lit area, brighter than the pitch-black outside where the light fell.
Even as the outlines shifted, more still were blinking into existence. They stretched further than Ophiuchus could see. And there were many, many more of them.
“Oh. That’s…not good.”
The shapes in the far distance roared. As had happened more times than Ophiuchus could count, Ophiuchus braced herself. The highest frequencies – the lower – the lowest. Ophiuchus turned around, using her hunk of pod plate as a pivot. All around, all she could see was grey on night. Grey, grey, and more grey.
Dust swept from the grass-equivalents in front of her, clouding her vision. Through it, the grey shapes moved closer and closer, a flood of them, more than her eye could pick out.
Ophiuchus braced herself further, lifting the hunk of metal so that the furthest tip of her lifted off the ground.
“Are we in desperate straits yet, Resolve?”
TURRET 2 FIRING.
BRAAAAAAAAAAAA --!
The turret spat a burst of flechette rounds at the oncoming monsters, puncturing a myriad of holes in their biological armor, until they leaked ichor and toppled. Other monsters leapt the body and slipped – fell – got up – kept coming – less than fifty meters – less than twenty meters.
TURRET 1 FIRING.
BRAAAAAAA -- !
With the turret moving its spray of fire back and forth, the flechettes took out three monsters, forming a small bulwark that other monsters had to climb to overcome. Five clambered over the barrier.
Ophiuchus breathed deeply, and turned around. All around her, monsters clambered over the makeshift barriers formed of their dead brethren.
BRAAAAAAA-- !
With a whirling clunk, Turret 1 ran out of ammunition.
NOW WE ARE IN DESPERATE STRAITS, USER.
Ophiuchus tried to run her hand through her hair, and promptly felt very stupid as her gloved hand met helmet. “Right, then. Let’s…do something.”
She pressed an open palm to her chestplate, feeling for the pulse of biotech within. Her glove interfaced with the tech under her chestplate, which whirred into a glow and a high-pitched hum.
“By the authority of a Knight of Constellation…”
A monster leapt over Turret 1. Resolve adjusted one of the floodlights to shine directly in its ocular organs, making it stagger slightly and shake its head.
SPEED UP THE PASSCODE IF YOU COULD, USER.
“Ophiuchus, User Thirteen, J-X-Z-3-2, commands the Life Insignia to render aid to – “
TURRET 2, ZERO AMMUNITION. TURRET 3, ONE ROUND.
“Unforeseencircumstancesbeyondimaginingsousethe power of TACTICIAN would you stop nagging me?!”
THIS IS NOT A SIMULATION. YOU WILL DIE. YOU WILL BE IN GENUINE PAIN. YOU WILL DIE ALONE ON A BACKWATER WORLD.
“There are so many things wrong with that -”
On her mask, a square bounded by iridescent lines, four by four meters, formed around her. Lines extended off into the distance in all directions, tracing grid-lines with shifting, rainbow-coloured light. Ophiuchus cut herself off, watching as the grid lines extended forty meters out in all directions, forming a 10 x 10 grid of squares.
A lunging monster, less than eight meters away – or two grid squares away – dug its talons into the ground, then lunged. An iridescent wall of light formed in front of its head, and it went headfirst into the barrier with a loud thunk. It slid down the iridescent wall in a gesture deeply similar to the entertainment genre known as slapstick.
“Ophiuchus, User Thirteen, J-X-Z-3-2, assuming command.”
FIRST ACTIVE LIVE USAGE OF TACTICIAN COMMAND. DEFINE LAWS OF TACTICS.
Ophiuchus turned a full circle, looking at her available assets, the tide of monsters beyond her grid, the tide of monsters smashing their heads into the iridescent walls at the boundaries of the grid.
USER, DETECTING THREE TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNATURES. DETECTING INFRARED SIGNATURES COMPARABLE TO TERRAN NORMAL.
Ophiuchus chewed the inside of her lips.
“Define laws: Entry One. In all battles, three maximum parties, defined as “Sides”. Designate self and allies as “Allies”. Designate all opposed parties as “Enemies”. Designate neutral parties as “Others”.”
No advantage gained to any side. Acknowledged.
“Define laws: Entry Two. Each grid square can only contain one party. Each individual party is allowed to make one movement and one action command. When an action command has been committed to, that is defined as a “Turn”. After their turn, individual party is no longer allowed to move beyond their grid square but may move freely within it. Talking or communicating may be done freely and has no range restriction.”
No advantage gained to any side. Acknowledged.
The iridescent light faltered and the monster eight meters away lunged through, only to slam head-first into the grid field directly next to Ophiuchus’. She flinched, and began to talk faster.
User Thirteen is defining laws. She is not to be disturbed. BE STILL.
“Define laws: Entry Three. All parties within a Side take their turns one after the other. No party may move simultaneously with another. When all parties within a Side have completed their turns, a party designated as “Commander” may end their Side’s turn. If there is no recognized Commander the turn ends automatically. All Sides must take a turn before the turn order repeats.”
Ophiuchus swallowed, her throat getting a little dry.
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No advantage gained to any side. Acknowledged.
“Define laws: Entry Four. Ranged weapons have a limited range of up to two grid squares. Melee weapons have a limited range of up to one grid square. Exceptions may be… appealed for if all present sides agree.”
No advantage gained to any side. Acknowledged.
“Define laws: Entry Five. If there is no recognized Commander on one side, approval is automatically granted.”
Advantage given to one side. Entry denied.
Ophiuchus closed her eyes and thought furiously.
Period closing in 3…2…1…
“Define laws: Entry Six! When attacking, an individual party may only make one attack. The other party is allowed to defend and to attack back but may not move from their grid square!”
No advantage gained by any side. Acknowledged.
“Lock entries one to four and six, close laws of tactics, I assume command of Allies!”
Entries locked. Laws of Tactics defined. TACTICIAN: OPHIUCHUS defined. Command of Allies given. Scanning for Commander of Enemies Side. Scanning for Commander of Others Side. No Commanders found for either. Overlay granted. As privilege of Commander, Allies side begins first.
The presence of the Life Insignia fell away, and Ophiuchus breathed a deep sigh of relief. She hefted the hunk of plate metal and stared down the monster prowling around inside its grid square.
“Targeting adjacent grid square!”
Grid square targeted. Releasing boundaries.
The iridescent wall fell away, and Ophiuchus stepped over the grid line, already swinging. The momentum of the hunk of plate metal swung Ophiuchus more than she swung it, but she contacted firmly with the monster, which was sent skidding half a meter back. The monster lunged forward, and Ophiuchus backpedalled into her own grid square. She raised the plate metal up to block, and the monster’s talon smashed into the metal, tearing it loose from Ophiuchus’ grip and sending it flying. The monster lunged again and Ophiuchus leapt to the side, stumbling over a loose rock and sprawling on the ground. The monster opened its maw -
Speed estimation complete.
An iridescent cage formed around the monster, and dragged it backward into its original grid square. Heart pounding fiercely, Ophiuchus crawled toward where her hunk of metal had contacted an iridescent wall ninety degrees away from the monster. It had slid to the ground, an edge leaning on the iridescent wall it had come into contact with. She heaved it up again and looked around. The monster was clawing at its blockage, but making no progress forward.
“Resolve, your turn!”
RECOGNIZED. TURRET 3, FIRING.
BRAAAAAAA - !
As the monster clawing at the iridescent wall was shredded by flechette fire, the turret whirled to a stop, its ammunition empty.
“Allied commander ends Allies’ Side!”
Acknowledged.
Ophiuchus turned around slowly, watching as the monster’s reinforcements closed in, grid square by grid square.
----------------------------------------
MIDDLE OF PLAINS – 2047 – NIGHT.
As their skimmers, back in the silent formation, crested a hill, Hal repressed a curse. In the valley below, his visor picked out at least eighty red infested signatures, with more still loping past them and coming from all around them. Even though it wouldn’t do any good if the infested did notice, Hal couldn’t help but press his body close to the skimmer to minimize his profile. He put a hand up to signal a stop, and the three skimmers arrested forward movement. Hal magnified his visor’s vision.
At the center of the mass of red signatures, shimmering iridescent force-fields separated at least ten infested, divided into a grid. One infested per grid. A patch of blue-white light revealed the infested features, and a lone figure in a body-hugging spacesuit, lugging a piece of metal larger than her torso. As Hal watched, the figure bonked a red-outlined infested in the face, then jumped backward to dodge its swipe. He watched as the infested was dragged backwards into an empty grid square.
“What…the hell,” Melinde breathed. “Sis, are you seeing this?”
“Opening a live feed to Anda now,” Melissa whispered. “This is astonishing.”
Hal spotted the infested surrounding the grid rise up. “Shit – brace for roar.” His visor automatically started muting the high frequencies that the infested roars most commonly used. His circuits started to glow a dim gold.
The infested roared – more than fifty of them at once. The infested loping past their skimmers only increased their speed, even as the frequencies buffeted the grass-equivalents around them, tearing flora out by their roots and sending bits of greenery flying. The skimmers drifted sideways, carried by the force of the frequencies alone. Hal kept his jaw loose, even as the lower frequencies rattled his teeth, and the lowest frequencies hit almost like a hammer blow to the side.
At the edge of the iridescent grid, force-field walls flickered into existence, and rippled as the frequencies hit it. When the roar ended, the force-fields remained standing, still present.
“What…the fuck,” Melinde whispered. “I want that tech.”
“Anda, present,” Anda said quietly over the comm.
“Anda,” Hal said. “Are you seeing this?”
“Crystal clear,” she said. Hal could just about imagine her eyes narrowing. “What’s that white light in the middle?”
“Increasing magnification,” Melissa said.
Anda made an audible intake of breath.
“Hal, new priority, fuck the readings. Get that woman back to the colony.”
Another group of infested reared up. “Brace for roar,” Hal said.
As the roar passed over them, another group of infested reared up. Hal gripped the handlebar of his skimmer more fiercely until the handlebar compressed under his grip, thinking.
“Brace for roar,” Melinde whispered. They braced.
“Keep the feed open,” Anda said. “And get inside that grid if you can. I’ve seen something like it before.”
Another roar passed over then, and Hal made his decision.
“We’re gonna play Red Light, Green Light. Melinde, take rearguard. Melissa, behind me. Melinde, weapons free – Melissa, try to cover both your sister and I. We’ll move only when the roars are happening, hope that the frequencies disguise our engine noise.”
“Transferring feed to your skimmer, Hal.”
“Roger.”
Breaking the formation, Hal eased his skimmer forward as a roar passed over them. Melissa drifted into place behind him, and Melinde locked hers last. Hal’s assistants slaved their engines to Hal’s, and he squinted down at the valley, judging their route, trying to find a path with as little infested in the way as possible.
Almost absent-mindedly, Hal watched the woman bonk another infested in the face.
A roar passed over them.
Hal surged their skimmers forward.
----------------------------------------
VALLEY – 2115 – NIGHT.
Hal surged directly at a pack of four infested, letting the frequencies of a group’s roar drift them off course just enough to miss them entirely. He swung the skimmer to the right almost by manhandling the skimmer’s weight, dodging an infested which was crouched underneath. Hal increased power to the skimmer Y-axis engines, bringing the skimmers higher over the ground, which pushed the infested flat onto the ground, its limbs caught underneath its body. As Melinde’s skimmer passed overhead, Melinde directed a burst of focused frequencies into the infested, until it went limp.
“It’s nice feeling like I’m growing stronger,” she whispered into the comm.
Hal had lost track of the woman in the center of the mass of infested long ago. The only thing he saw in his visor was masses of outlined neon red, and a glimpse of an iridescent wall, up ahead, occasionally revealed as the mass of infested roiled.
A pink-white line of light, almost like a perfectly straight cable, surged out from the iridescent wall, running along the ground and knocking loose rocks to either side of it. It split off every now and then into crosses, which ran horizontally, and split, themselves. At the outmost edge, the original neon-rainbow cable took a sharp right turn and began splitting off again, until it formed another two rows of grid squares.
“Get inside the grid, Hal!” Anda’s voice cut through Hal’s concentration, even as an infested swiped a claw at an iridescent wall that sprung up from the outermost edge of the newly formed grid squares.
“Brace for ramming,” Hal growled into his comms, then swung the skimmer around until they were head-on to one of the grid squares. He gunned the engines, accelerating the skimmer up to full speed, and tapping into the power lying dormant under his circuits. A hemispheric dome of golden force popped into existence, focused on a point twenty centimeters ahead of the nose of his skimmer.
All at once, the infested surrounding them turned around to focus on Hal. Even the infested within the grid itself turned around.
By then, the world had already become a blur, as the three skimmers knocked aside any infested, even those with dense skeletal structures, on a straight line into the grid.
The iridescent walls flickered as the three skimmers crashed through five grid squares in a row, smashing aside the infested that were within them. Hal felt energy flicker through the nanites within his muscles, even as the strain of maintaining his forcefield made his head throb. The nose of his skimmer crossed a grid-line and smashed into an iridescent wall that suddenly flickered into life, bringing the skimmer to an abrupt stop. The jerk of sudden deceleration made Hal lose concentration. The golden shield flickered and died, leaving his body feeling drained.
“Weapons free,” Hal gritted out, and fished around in his skimmer’s storage compartment for a nanite package. Slapping it onto his arm, he hissed in relief as the biochemicals released by the package relieved his headache and pumped his body full of energy again.
Commander of Others assigned.
(-37.68964, 147.820953) – ????? – NIGHT.
TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNATURES WITHIN ONE HUNDRED METERS AND CLOSING.
“Good,” Ophiuchus wheezed. She’d been extending her turns as long as she could, to give her arms some rest. Even so, the strain of repeatedly swinging a large, heavy hunk of metal was taking its toll on her. Her mask fogged up, and she blinked away the acidic twinge of her sweat entering her eyes.
She let her breath out in a controlled exhale and picked up the hunk of metal again, both her arms protesting. She eyed her surroundings – three monsters, one to her front and one on each side. Probably manageable. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, ready to rotate to block a lunge from any direction.
“Commander of Allies, end turn,” Ophiuchus said, gingerly. All the monsters lunged at once, but iridescent walls sprung up on all of them, and they fell back, snarling at the walls that blocked them.
RAPIDLY CLOSING.
Commander of Others assigned.
THERE IS A LOCAL BROADCAST ATTEMPTING TO HAIL US. OPEN COMMUNICATIONS?