“What’s this,” I said as Isabelle shoved a tiny model into my hands. A model of myself.
“It’s for chessers!” the girl said proudly. “We now have multiple samurai to choose from at the start of the game.” She ran across the room and returned with a handful of little plastic bears, which she started placing on a nearby chess board. “Wanna play?”
As Isabelle started placing a little plastic antithesis on the other side of the board, Aeonys suddenly spoke up.
There’s a serious situation brewing. Mirage wants to talk to you, ASAP.
The sudden interruption was surprising, since there hadn’t been any incursion alerts. The only emergency I was aware of was the tunnel situation. I suddenly had a bad feeling.
“Maybe in a few minutes, Issi,” I said, trying my best to avoid the tot’s disappointed look. “I have samurai business to take care of. I’ll be back soon.” Once I explained, she perked up, gave me a quick nod, and immediately went back to organizing her board.
While she was distracted, I stepped out into the garage. “Can you connect me to Mirage?” I asked Aeonys. A second later, my augs flashed to life.
“We need you back here, now.” Mirage said the instant the call connected. The man looked rough, like he hadn’t slept in a couple days.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“The situation in the Rockies has gone south. Teddy and Bright-Eyes have been keeping us up to date on the situation, and based upon the most recent data, there’s a huge problem brewing.”
“How huge?” I asked.
“There might be a model forty or higher gestating in the hive hidden there,” Mirage replied heavily before slumping down in a chair. “We’re not a hundred percent sure, but based upon the layout of the tunnel system, it looks like the antithesis has been trying to leech materials out of the mountain in order to kickstart the process.”
“Jesus…” I muttered.
“The staff is now trying to identify exactly what minerals they might have to work with, but we’re not sure what they have access to.”
“So, what are we doing?” I asked quietly.
“We’re calling in all available samurai in order to reinforce the teams already on site. We’re also investigating nuclear options.”
I squinted. “Literally, or figuratively?”
“Both. If we could pull our people out and nuke the site, we would. Unfortunately, based upon our estimations it’s too deep for our bunker buster nukes, and orbital cannons to reach. We’ve contacted some of our other branches to see what they have, but, so far, no luck. There are a couple super weapons available, the precision plasma translocator and quantum lasers would probably do the trick, but we need exact coordinates for them. Since the tunnels are coated by a fucking polymer, we can’t get decent scans for targeting,” Mirage sighed heavily. “Look, I know you hate those tunnels, but you have the most experience with the tunnels, we could really use your help up there.”
“Fuck…” I muttered. “Do we at least have a plan?”
“A very basic one. The antithesis are actually being pretty smart for once, and closing off the tunnels. We’re going to send reinforcements to Jasper with thermal cutting tools to try and catch up. Although the backup team should have time to catch up, Barricade and a couple others don’t think we should completely commit to a single action, so they suggested drilling down into the complex from up top.”
“Is that feasible? Digging straight down in order to connect to the network?”
“Normally? I’d say no, but Barricade and his contemporaries in Edmonton say it could be done by vaporising the rock using a plasma drill. We just need to assemble an assault team to go down there,” he sighed. “I know you don’t want to go down there, but you’re probably both the most experienced and best equipped to deal with tunnel work.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“That’s something I really don’t want to do…,” I said quietly.
“I know, but we’re all hands on deck here. I can’t force you, but if we don’t get down there fast enough, who knows what’ll happen? We need to shut that hive down.”
“Fine… I’ll help,” I acquiesced.
“Good! I’ll send you the details. Barricade is gathering his equipment and getting ready to ship out. Silent and a couple others will meet you at the dig site to join in on the assault.” Mirage twitched for a moment, then gave a small smile. “I’ve got to go, a few others are checking in and I need to coordinate things. Call me if there are any issues.”
“Fine, I’ll talk to you soon.” I shot back. As soon as he disconnected, I checked the data package. The situation in the tunnels wasn’t good.The teams were constantly getting cut off and ambushed by the swarm. At least they didn’t seem to be in any trouble, the biggest antithesis in the tunnels were in the teens, and between Teddy’s troops and Broodmother’s bugs they were strong enough to deal with those. They just weren’t making much progress.
Once I was done, I took a deep breath and returned to the residence. Isabelle was still at the table. She was still carefully balancing miniatures on her board, two or three pieces per space in some cases. “Chessers?” she asked cheerfully as I entered.
“Sorry, kiddo, Teddy needs some help, so I need to go,” I said, patting her on the head. The little girl pouted, but didn’t argue. “Where’s Jane?”
“In my room, talking to Froggington,” the girl replied as she sat down and started to fidget with one of the figures.
“I promise, I’ll play with you when I get back.” I told her as I marched down the hallway.
When I got to Issi’s room, I found Jane sitting on the bed, her knees supporting a small tablet. “That can’t be comfortable,” I said as I walked in. “Why don’t you work in the dining room?”
“Chessers,” Jane replied without looking up. “Anyone who enters that area is almost instantly pulled into Issi’s game.” She paused, “How did you get out of playing?”
“There’s an emergency up north, and they need backup. I feel bad about leaving you all like this, but it’s urgent,” I replied.
“Then go!” Jane said, with a shooing motion. “I know Teddy has been worried about us, especially after dealing with that Helen woman, but we’re not incompetent. We have an army of bears and a literal bunker to protect us, we’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Look, we’ve lived in the undercity for a long time. Even if someone fucked with us, I know how to deal with it. If the other samurai need your help, that should take priority. Deal with the antithesis, or whatever, I can hold things down here,” she replied while standing up and directing me back out of the room. “Just keep in touch if you can. The kids will worry about you.”
“I will,” I replied with a small smile. “Stay safe.”
Isabelle watched me with interest as I came back down the hallway. “Going away?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, but I’ll be back, I promise,” I replied. Issi stared at me for just a moment before turning back to the table, grabbing something off her board, knocking most of the other figures around, then ran over to me.
“Take this!” she said, pressing a small figure into my hand. “Take Bob with you, he’s the best protector!”
“Thank you Issi, but that’s not necessary. I can protect myself, and I’ll be seeing the real Bob soon anyway,” I assured her, placing the figure back in her small hands. “You keep it.”
The little girl looked at me, then at the figure, before finally nodding. “Fine… but I demand hugs for luck,” she demanded, reaching up towards me. I smiled, then leaned down and embraced the tot for a moment. She sniffled quietly, but there were no tears when I pulled away, just a cute little resolute face.
“I’ll see you soon,” I whispered, before releasing Isabelle and heading to the garage.
[Get the assault suit into the armory, and equip a combination of plasma throwers and variable focus lasers.]
The mining rig is slightly faster and more maneuverable, which you might need.
[Maybe, but it can’t equip the plasma throwers, which I may need to melt through the walls, according to the briefing. And if shit goes south, I want the armor.]
Understandable. Command sent.
[Also, please make a list of the possible antithesis they might be birthing, and recommend upgrades to deal with each. Better to be prepared.]
For the larger models, your options will be limited, but I’ll do my best. The file is now available on your augs.
[I’ll review it while we travel] I replied, as I climbed into the driverseat. I set my auto pilot for the coordinates Mirage provided, and as the vehicle started moving, I leaned back to read. If I was going to enter that hell again, this time I wanted to be prepared.