Each off-island site shall have no less than one Grade 1 weapon per three persons, distributed such that they are within ready reach in the case of an incursion.

Each site shall further be guarded by a complement of no less than...

--Scanian resource camp regulations, clause 41a-b

***

I was proceeding down the corridor with the drone scouting ahead of me, closing in on the door that lead to the outside and towards the compound's Shelter.

"You're still going to need to explain to me why you cannot control my drone for me, though."

[I am a Class XII AI, and have enough computing power to take over the entirety of this world's computer systems and connected infrastructure. Even without doing so, I could bootstrap a takeover of the world from simple manufacturing facilities. I choose not to. I am here to help you help yourself, not coddle you. I will instruct, and provide and interpret information for you, but any actions upon such must be yours.]

"Well. When you put it like that it sounds all reasonable, but I still find it highly inconvenient. Oh well, Father always said that it being inconvenient was how you could tell if something was really a good moral or not."

I then reached the door, and stopped to listen at it. No screaming, no gunfire. So, did that mean it was all over already, one way or another? I checked the local net for messages, something I probably should have done sooner, and found a flood of pings, requests for help and status updates.

"Ooof, that's a lot. Can you make sense of this?"

[Most certainly. Done. Based on this information, here is a heat-map of reported Antithesis activity, as well as flags for people with still outstanding requests for aid.]

Said map appeared in my augs.

"That was both fast and very helpful. Thanks!"

It looked like the area I was in was pretty far from the hardest hit, and the path to the shelter looked relatively clear, too.

I hesitated. Was that where I wanted to go?

"Eyon, I'm a Valkyrie, right?"

[Indeed you are.]

"That means I... need to protect the weak and all that? I can't just go hide in the Shelter and wait for all this to blow over?"

[That would be the normal expectation, yes. But, you can go about it in a safe and controlled manner. Indeed, it is encouraged that you don't immediately rush out and get in over your head. Not that we always have much luck convincing new Vanguard of that fact.]

"Ok. Safe and controlled. I can do safe and controlled, those sound like nice, safe words. And controlled. Eyon?"

[Yes?]

"Please make some kind of armour a priority purchase, would you?"

[Excellent idea, Sylvi, I shall make a note of it.]

"Okay, here we go. Safe and controlled."

I opened the door a crack, enough for the drone to slip out, then closed the door again. A quick scan showed that the immediate area, an open space in the corner between three greenhouses and an administrative building, was clear of both Antis and people. I had the drone perform a more thorough circular scan, then when that still came back empty, slipped outside after it.

"Let's see if we can't help some people then."

I re-checked the heat-map and noticed a few things had changed.

[I am keeping the map up to date as new information becomes available.]

"Thanks, that is most helpful. Let's see, there's one flag just a few greenhouses down, in 14A. Looks like someone is stuck in one of the supervisor offices there."

I headed in the the indicated direction down the side of the massive greenhouse, careful to have the drone scan ahead of me. As it reached an intersection, I spotted a dog-plant sniffing around down one of the side alleys. I carefully crept up, stuck my hand around the corner and pointed the Hummingbird in the correct direction, then pulled the trigger.

One dead dog.

Target Eliminated!

Reward... 10 Points

"Safe. And. Controlled" I muttered under my breath.

I carried on and reached the correct greenhouse, as indicated by the large 14A painted on the blue door, without further incident, except for a faint smattering of gunfire in the distance which I studiously ignored.

I looked around cautiously, then slipped the drone in through the door to take in the scene. Three dogs sniffing around, none of them looking in my direction, and none of them were especially close. One of them was busy scratching at the reinforced door to the local supervisor's office a ways down the corridor, the other two looked to be harassing some innocent zucchinis.

I could do this.

I slowly and silently pulled the door open and pointed my Hummingbird towards the closest plant bastard. Took a deep breath, and squeezed, moved to the next, repeat, next, repeat.

Twelve thin lines of smoke shot through the air and connected with the Model Threes.

Office-dog slumped to the ground, dead with holes in its head, the other two, the zucchini-botherers, turned on me, lamed by strikes to their hindquarters.

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Fuck.

I aimed at the closest again, then shot them both again, in sequence. Another 8 micro-missiles flew out, this time striking them in the head and chest.

Targets Eliminated!

Reward... 30 Points

I let out my breath, somewhat shakily. Right. Time to see if there was anyone in that office over there.

I sent over my drone first, of course, scanning along the plant rows, before following along.

Outside the office, office-dog was slumped up against the office door. I pushed it aside, before knocking on the door.

"Anyone in here?" I called out.

"Who's that? Is it safe now?"

"Safer than it was. It's Sylvi, and I've shot some dogs, but I've yet to clear the area."

That sounded professional, right? Clearing the area was something professionals did, I was sure.

"Oh thank you, thank you! Should we... come out?" came the somewhat hesitant reply.

"Give me a minute to make sure it is safe first."

I cleared the immediate area using the drone, then started clearing the building more thoroughly. I had a feeling clearing areas was going to be a prominent thing in my future.

"I need a way to clear spaces of Antis that's better than this." I muttered quietly so as not to appear like a weirdo to the people I'd just rescued.

[Rapid wide area reconnaissance requested. Noted.]

After I was pretty sure the building was safe, I called out through the door again.

"Okay, I think we're good."

The door unlocked and clicked open, revealing three women within. Two of them were wearing the same blue standard issue overalls I was, although theirs didn't have one sleeve all torn to shreds and bloody. The third was in a red Supervisor set. They actually looked pretty chipper, all things considered. One of them even hugged me in thanks, which was nice. Good to be appreciated.

"Would you rather move to the shelter, or stay here?" I asked them.

"Well, the alert is no longer a full incursion alert, just a shelter in hard space one, so I think we should be good here. No need to risk moving around if we don't have to." the older Supervisor answered for them, and the other two, around my age, nodded.

"Thanks for the help, though, it was scary what with that Model Three scratching at the door. Not that it could really get in, but, you know..."

"Of course. Oh, one more thing. Think I could swap this H-bird for a fresh one? If you don't mind?" I gestured with my two-thirds spent Hummingbird.

"Sure!" one of them said, and gave me hers, leaving me with one in each hand. "Good luck out there, and thanks again!"

I held out my hand, but they didn't seem to want my half-used gun. Cool. I shrugged and put it in my other pocket. Better to have it and not need it, after all.

"Oh, are you sure you don't want to stay here with us?" the other one asked, clutching her Hummingbird to her chest.

"No, I'm on a bit of a mission. Someone has to clear the area, you know?" I said and smiled what I figured was a pretty confident smile.

They looked at me with some mixture of respect and bafflement.

"Cool. Well, we'll be here."

They filed back back into the office and shut the heavy door after themselves.

I took a deep breath. Okay. One down, however many was left to go. I opened my map again. The number of Flags for assistance requests had gone down quite a bit.

[It would seem you're not the only one helping people out.]

"That's good to know. Well, let's get a move on, these people won't help themselves!" I paused for a moment. "That sounded worse than I meant it to."

[Indeed.]

I cleared my way towards another flag without any incident, and this time found myself at a door to a combination workshop and break room building. The door was already open when I got there, so I snuck my drone inside. What met me was... well, it was seven dead people. Real dead, with their blood spread quite liberally over the floor and walls. Some on the ceiling too.

I fought to keep my lunch down. It helped that I was seeing it through a camera, somehow, but still, this scene kinda made it all a bit more real. I'd also spotted some of the culprits, four Anti-dogs prowling in-between the couches and the foosball table.

I moved to the door and was met with the rather thick metallic scent of blood. I fought through it, then started dispatching the bastards. I was almost happy when one of them survived the first salvo; I got to shoot that one twice.

Targets Eliminated!

Reward... 40 Points

I was standing in the doorway trying to work up the nerve to walk inside when I heard a scrabbling behind me. I turned just in time to flinch out of the way of a dog jumping for my face. Instead, I managed to get away with a claw across the shoulder and down my bad arm, before getting the H-bird in line and squeezing the trigger. This one I shot twice even though I was pretty sure it was dead the first time.

Targets Eliminated!

Reward... 10 Points

"Fuck. That was way too close. Eyon, I need a bandage and eyes in the back of my head."

[Certainly.The eyes might take a bit of work, since they would require...]

"You know what I meant!"

[Of course. Might I then suggest another drone, to cover your blind spots? And maybe a Nano-Regenerative Suite to help speed along the recovery of both this and the previous wound you took. 20 points.]

"Do it."

New Purchase: Class I Autonomous Light Aerial Drone. -15 points

Points reduced to... 86

New Purchase: Electroactive Polymer Bandage. -1 points

Points reduced to... 85

New Purchase: Class I Nano-Regenerative Suite. -20 points

Points reduced to... 65

Three white boxes appeared on the ground in front of me. That was still kinda freaky. Anyway, I opened the biggest one and out came another drone. I synced my augs with it, then told it to hover above and behind me, covering my blind spots.

I then made sure to check the room thoroughly for Antis using a drone, before closing the door behind me. I'd leave the cleanup for someone else. I updated the request for aid in the local net, marking it instead as casualties.

I swallowed. Not a great outcome. I checked the adjoining covered workshop with a drone, then moved over into it with the other two boxes and settled down on a stool next to a counter full of various tools and half-finished machinery. I took a deep breath to clear my lungs and stretched my legs, then stripped my overalls off of my shoulder and started to bandage it. It was a bit awkward with only one hand, but, well, it got wrapped. The pain even started to numb after a short while. I suspected techno-medical-bullshittery, but wasn't going to complain. I then looked into the third box. It had what looked like a very fancy inhaler.

"I just... inhale?"

[With the inhaler in your mouth, yes.]

I did so. It felt like sucking down dust, if the dust was particularly animated. I coughed, but the dust didn't seem to care.

[Excellent. You should now be healed in a three to five hours.]

I shook my head at that in disbelief, then opened my map and had a look. It looked like things were calming way down, which was good to see.

Then my drone noticed a person striding down the road between two greenhouses, clad in red power armour, carrying a couple of stubby rifles, one in each hand, and with what looked like a gun mounted on their shoulder. They stopped in front of the break room, looked straight at my drone and waved.

No way. Was that an actual to goodness Valkyrie?!