“Mor, can we send a live feed from the Deep Breath to whoever is calling, once I accept the call?”
That is doable.
“Let’s set that as standard then, at least until this swarm has been dealt with.” I said, taking the headset from the radio bot, and placed it once again to the side of my helmet, wondering who exactly was calling me.
Unlike the last call, this time a small video appeared in the lower left corner of my hud. Seated behind a desk, dressed in a black business suit was a balding man with an angry scowl on his face. It turned out that the Interrogator IFF system not only worked, but it also worked over video calls, as the name Victor Ward appeared over his head.
He started to speak, but his voice died as the call fully connected, and his expression changed from an angry scowl to a very nervous one. So, I took the opportunity to get things moving, and learn what exactly The Family was. “Mr Ward, you are currently disrupting a combat operation. You have one sentence to explain what The Family does, and then I expect you to answer any questions that I might have.”
“We operate as a support network for Samurai in North America, such as yourself.” He replied, having taken a second to nervously wipe the sweat that had appeared on his forehead.
“Well Mr Ward, today is your lucky day, seeing as I’m currently in need of support, for a couple of problems that I have.”
His roller coaster ride of emotions continued, as his expression shifted once again. This time, he gained the look of a man who had just been told that he was no longer going to the block. “Of course. How can The Family assist you today?”
“Problem 1, I need the source of this Antithesis swarm hit, preferably before the count of Antithesis in the swarm crosses into the millions territory.” I said, watching as he started to type on a keyboard, nodding his head while doing so. “Problem 2, I need you to get Bell to scrap their authentication ping to Montreal system. The entire province of Nova Scotia is currently unable to communicate with anyone, because the wire got cut somewhere along the way.”
The sheen of sweat had started to reappear on his brow with my second problem, and the Antithesis had managed to make it to the ¼ mark up the hill, through a wave of Model Six’s. It was time to wrap this call up. “That will be all Mr Ward, I have a battle to get back to.” I said, placing the headset back on the Type 75.
As I looked back towards the swarm, a little nugget of information formed itself into a question. “Mor, how is ‘limited combat bots’ defined for the FACOM system?”
For every unit of airborne transportation you control, you can efficiently control 25 non airborne bots, up to a maximum of 6 transports with the MK3. You can still control, build, or purchase more than 25 bots per transport. However you will begin to take a distance penalty, along with an additional degree of separation penalty to your points gain.
“Penalty to my points gain? Why would there be a penalty to the large-scale deployment of war fighting equipment during a war of extermination?” The idea simply didn’t compute.
The idea is to prevent the rapid destruction of the resources of the planet in question, and to ensure that the population can live on the planet. Forcing Vanguards to be close by their automated forces, tends to help prevent mistakes stemming from bad instructions, from escalating into tragedies.
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Let me put it this way, Ellis. If allowed, I could very easily transform this planet into a bastion that would be nothing but a drain on the Antithesis. But there would be no place for humanity on that world, not with it being reliant upon everything working exactly as needed, until either the end of the Antithesis threat, or the destruction of the planet.
“What even is the point of being able to purchase the autonomous technology catalogs, if they come with a built in points drain?” I asked, shaking my head at the information. The part about preventing tragedies made sense, but the ability to fall into what were effectively trap catalogs was not a happy revelation.
Because Ellis, there are situations where the deployment of large numbers of autonomous weapons are required, such as your current situation. The Beaver Tails PMC has only just finished cleaning out the other hive, and requires time to recover before they can deploy again in force. Meanwhile the 12th Wing out of Shearwater is also currently unavailable to render assistance at this time. Their aircraft’s startup process requires an authentication check with the manufacturer’s headquarters, to verify that it has not been modified outside of its original specifications.
Currently, you are the only force able to respond to this swarm before it reaches Amherst. It might not be point efficient past a certain level, but your current catalogs are along the lines of what is required at this moment in time.
“Going forward Mor, inform me if any catalogs that I inquire about will run into a similar problem. Will I run into a similar problem with CAS aircraft?” I asked, a new plan starting to form, as I eyed the 24,485 points that I currently had.
I shall do so going forward. As for the other question, provided that you issue commands via the FACOM system, you will not suffer any loss in points from aircraft, gun ships, dropships, or armed transport aircraft. Might I recommend unlocking Class 1 Laser Weapons for 160 points. If you’re planning on using CAS aircraft, this will help prevent your ammunition costs from rapidly outpacing your ability to earn points, due to the increased cost of distant reloads.
Then I would recommend getting the ‘Swordfish’ CAS aircraft for 5,000 points. It trades the ability to perform VTOL operations for a nose mounted continuous laser weapon capable of damaging models in the twenty range, and also features 6 hard points to allow for righteous chemical experimentation against the Antithesis.
“Alright, lets ring up four of them, two with cluster munitions, and two with a FOOF/chlorine trifluoride napalm mixture for their bombs.”
Your righteous deliveries of fire shall arrive shortly.
Catalogues unlocked:
Class 1 CAS aircraft - 500 points
Class 1 Cluster munitions - 50 points
Items purchased:
2x ‘Swordfish’ CAS aircraft (cluster) - 5,000 points
2x ‘Swordfish’ CAS aircraft (Zorg’s fire) - 5,200 points
Total cost: 20,750 points
Points remaining: 7,200 points.
The air got marginally more busy, as the four Swordfish flew over in a V formation. From this distance they looked like over sized F-22’s as they passed through the light generated by the star shells.
I ended up opening the FACOM system by accident. As it turns out, thinking about it was enough for my augmentics to bring the program to the forefront. Seeing as how thinking about something had made it work, I thought about the two fire bomb armed Swordfish, then thought about them dropping their payloads in a wall along highway 104, and then coming back to get rearmed for minimal extra points cost. The same thought process repeated, only with highway 2 replacing highway 104, and then a laser only general attack order.
The two cluster Swordfish got a combined cluster and laser attack order, with the same resupply order, finished with an until further notice command.
Immediately after I had finished thinking about my orders, and having the FACOM system minimized again, were the Swordfish reacting to them. Two of the Swordfish came back through the light of the star shells, before breaking overhead and heading towards the highway. At the same time, in the darkness past the light of the shells, a pair of dark red beams split the darkness, and were soon followed by the multiple explosions characteristic of cluster munitions.
The darkness off to the left was soon broken, as the Firefish started to drop their payload in the forest along the highway. Great gouts of flames started to periodically appear in the darkness, and the roaring of the flames was already starting to be just barely audible over the gunfire, even with hearing protection.
Ellis, I believe that it’s time to leave this position.
“I’m in agreement with that assessment, Zorg. Let’s fall back to the next hill on the way to Amherst.” I replied, before deciding to experiment with the FACOM system, by issuing an order vocally. “Alright, once the dropship lands we are going to board, and then redeploy on the next hill. MG’s, you stay on the ramp and continue firing while in effective range.”
Once the ramp touched down on the hilltop, all of the bots stood as one from their firing positions and moved to board the dropship. Only the bots with the MG’s waited until I had climbed aboard before they stepped onto the ramp, still firing into the swarm.
20 km’s remaining to Amherst.