It was only a 20km hop at max from the old folks home, to reach the cheese factory. That didn’t leave much time to make anything resembling a plan.
“Eris, ping the Beaver Tails. Let them know that I’m inbound to extract the employees from the top shelter, and get its location from them if they have it. Then hook me a screenshot from the Ghost-rider’s sensors, so I can see what I’m working with.”
Message sent, putting the screenshot on the Deep Breath now.
Someone had really leaned into the meme of building a cheese factory on Cheese Factory Corner. The building had been built in the style of a factory from the 1900’s, complete with what looked like windows on every floor, and a pair of comically large smoke stacks that tower over the 25 floor factory.
Down at the ground floor of the factory, what I assumed was a flood of antithesis was pouring out of what looked to be the main entrance into the factory.
Set back by 200 yards was the main Beaver Tails battle line of infantry, with 4 Bradleys in support, with another 2 tanks that I couldn’t ID set back slightly from the Bradley’s.
Behind the tanks was the Beaver Tails main effort in clearing the hive. Two more of the tanks were leading 6 Bradley’s into the counter mine that the Beaver’s had dug, with a final 2 Bradley’s acting as rearguard.
“Eris, weapons free for the Ghost-rider, minimum distance to friendly's is each weapon's danger radius plus 5’. Do not engage the building unless something engages the Ghost-rider from within. Put me down on the roof by the access point, ramp leading, and then continue to provide support fire to the Beavers until it’s time to leave. Kindly also close the screenshot.”
The 75mm is engaging now, 30 seconds to touch down.
True to their word, a silent rhythmic thumping started to vibrate through the frame of the Ghost-rider. It was faster than I had anticipated it would be, putting the fire rate of the cursed Automalair 76 super rapid equipped tank to shame.
They’d been trying to sell it to the local army HRT group, as a “Dynamic Environmental Entry Device” when I happened to be on site. I was trying out for a transfer to the HRT from the reserve’s, doing a Killhouse run at the time.
The thing threw a track on the way through the hole it had blown in the outer wall.
I chuckled softly at the memory, as I went over the Lib-VRRRT-tea to ensure that the feed was fully engaged, and that the selector was in the single position. I’d ended up making the team, just not in the context that I had originally planned on.
15 seconds, insertion turn complete, both 30mm rotary’s engaging. You’ve got a message from the Beaver Tail’s, along with the shelter location. “Good hunting, you want in on the hive afterwards?”
The rhythmic thumping was joined by a constant vibration in the frame, and as the rear ramp swung open the muted sound bushmasters found its way inside.
“Eris, please send back the following. Sorry, dance card’s full, maybe next time. Close the ramp behind me once I’m out, and hold all non critical notifications.”
With that, the ramp kissed the roof of the factory, and I was down it and on my way to the access door, as the Ghost-rider gained a bit of distance from the roof.
The shelter is located on the 24th floor. Last report from it included that it had gone through 25% of its ammunition. This was 5 minutes ago.
Due to the design of the building you’re going to have to cross the entirety of the 25th floor, before you can get to the stairwell. The 25th floor contains a pair of large pens for goats, with the 24th being empty except for the shelter.
I nodded my understanding of the information, and made my entry into the building. Luckily the door had been unlocked, with two squeezes of the trigger causing flames to dance across the Hush Puppy, ports opening and closing as it controlled the recoil.
The mass of tentacles that had been trying to attach itself to the ceiling in the alcove behind the already open lower door, fell to the floor, its writhing quickly coming to an end.
That was an unfortunate development, as I had hoped to be able to ascertain the exact situation of the 25th floor before proceeding. Now though, I was assuming that I was on the clock, before the hive realized that I was relatively exposed. Especially compared to those in the shelter, or the Beavers outside.
So, speed and violence of action it was. Questions about what the mass of tentacles had been, or why the single shot mode fired twenty rounds, would have to wait. Preferably until after I had at least a nap.
“Eris, Flashbang with a button activator, four second fuse, left hand.” I called as I went down the stairs, holding out my left hand.
It landed with a pop in my hand as I approached the door, the button on top was quickly pressed, and the grenade tossed low through the door.
2 seconds later, I followed it in. I was banking on the sound protection feature, and the fact that the Deep Breath didn’t seem to be affected by rapid changes in lighting, to keep me from being affected.
I banked right.
The three Model Three’s that had been heading to investigate the noise caused by the death of the tentacle mass, were wobbling dazed by the flashbang.
The other two Model Three’s had been dragging the bodies of a pair of goats towards the main staircase, and had been looking down when the flashbang had gone off.
Their attempt to reach me ended in the dancing flames coming from the Hush Puppy, with the other three joining them in the embrace of the dancing fire.
“Eris, contact whoever is in charge of the shelter, and tell them to get ready to move. I’ve just got to clear the stairwell and then I’m on their floor.”
Message sent.
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Each of the Model Three’s got another ‘single’ shot to the head to make sure they would stay down, as I quickly checked the room to ensure nothing was hiding in an attempt to attack me in the rear.
Finding nothing waiting for me to turn my back to it, I continued my push to the stairwell. Two more of the tentacle masses were attached to the ceiling, clearly waiting to ambush anyone coming up the stairs.
They joined the Model Three’s under the dance of the flame.
The door to the 24th floor was laying on the landing across from where it should have been, with both it and the wall next to it bearing the signs of bullet impacts.
Peering inside revealed a small pile of dead antithesis. The Model Three’s and the tentacles I recognized, but the dead armoured gorilla was a new one to me.
“Hey!” I called into the room. “The stairwell is clear, so unless someone needs medical attention or is missing we should get going. Don’t want the hive to start trying to figure out what killed the thing’s up here.”
“No Saint, everyone that was assigned to this shelter is accounted for. We are on the way out now.” Came the reply from inside the room.
Leading the group of employees was a person wearing what looked like a business suit, complete with what the wireframe showed to be a skirt.
She, and the group paused in the doorway, and started to make a bowing motion towards me. I quickly pointed up towards the stairs, and said. “Ma’am, I would appreciate it if you could hold off on the thanks until we have landed at Shearwater, and everyone has been cleared by their medical team. Floor 25, and the roof access stairway is clear of any antithesis for the moment. I would recommend that we leave before more of them come up the stairs, or the tentacle masses try their luck scaling the outside of the building.”
The group stopped mid bow, and the women leading them turned towards the stairs, replying as she started climbing them. “Of course Saint. Come along then flock, up to the roof we go.”
“Eris, sweep the roof with the Ghost-rider, then put it down close to the door.” I instructed, as I took up the Tail End Charlie position in our little column. “Also, flag this saint business for later.”
The reply came as we were nearing the stairwell leading up to the roof.
Noted. Ghost-rider has finished its sweep of the roof, no antithesis detected. Ramp opening now.
“Roof is clear, and the dropship has landed on the roof. Strap into a seat once you’ve climbed aboard.” I called out to the group, who had halted at the bottom of the stairs to the roof.
They gave a collective nod, and then headed up the stairs to board the dropship. Surprisingly, the woman in the business looking suit wasn’t the first person to board. She had remained at the base of the ramp until I had reached it.
“Everyone’s aboard?” I asked her.
“Yes Saint.” She replied, nodding her head. “No one is unaccounted for.”
“Excellent, find a seat and strap in. Eris, close the ramp once I’m in, then go airborne once they all have a seat.”
Understood, the ramp is closing. Would you like a rundown on the number of antithesis killed?
“Not at the moment, let’s save that for the morning.” I replied, taking the seat across from the business woman, as the Ghost-rider took off. “Send over to the Beaver Tails. Mission accomplished, all accounted for. Thunderchild off station, Good Hunting. Then let’s talk about Aug's.”
Message delivered, securing weapons.
Now then, assuming that you plan on continuing to grow your aircraft fleet, I would recommend the FACOM MK 3 command, control, and pilot system. It will allow for you to not only exercise command decision making for the aircraft, and a limited number of combat bots you may acquire, but will also allow for you to use the sensors of any aircraft you plug into. It will also remove the penalty to your point gain that you had during this operation, on the kills made by the Ghost-rider, or others like it in the future.
For the training, I would recommend going with the Sleep-rider training augment. This will enable you to train while you sleep, without having any intrusive thoughts during your waking hours.
Both systems will require a class 1 general purpose augment to serve as a base, so the other augments can hook into it.
“Alright, this is sounding fine for the moment. What about an IFF system?” I responded, making my reply over the radio so as to not disturb the other passengers.
It would require the purchase of the class 1 cyberwarfare category, which would allow for you to purchase the Interrogator IFF system. It can hook into the Deep Breath, and project its findings over the heads of people in question.
“Let’s hold off on getting the items themselves until after everyone else has disembarked, but go ahead and get the categories now.”
Very well, there is approximately one minute left until we land at CFB Shearwater.
Categories purchased:
Class 1 augmentics: 50 points
Class 1 C&C utilities: 100 points
Class 1 Dream learning: 100 points
Class 1 Cyberwarfare: 100 points
Class 1 Aircraft Piloting: 100 points.
Total cost: 450 points.
With that, I stood up, walked to the ramp, and turned to address the other people on board. “We will be landing at CFB Shearwater in roughly 30 seconds. Please remain seated for the moment once we touch down.”
Ellis, the Ghost-rider has detected no signs of Model Seven’s among any of the employees. Landing imminent, opening the ramp. Lieutenant Monroe and a squad of MP’s are waiting for you.
Sure enough, standing in front of the opening ramp was the Lieutenant, along with a squad of 5 MP’s. They saluted when they saw me standing at the top of the opening ramp, which I returned, and moved to meet the lieutenant halfway down the ramp.
“Welcome to CFB Shearwater sir, what can we do for you this morning?” The lieutenant asked, offering a hand.
“Glad to be here lieutenant.” I replied, taking the offered hand in a hand shake. “Take these people over to medical, and have them do a quick once over on them. Their shelter door didn’t close correctly over at the cheese factory, so I had to pull them out before it was overrun by the Antithesis. No Model Seven’s have been detected.”
Both the Lieutenant, and the MP’s had gone tense, when I passed along that I had pulled the other people out of a non working shelter. They relaxed though once I passed along that there were no Model Sevens.
“I’ll meet with the base commander once I get up, lieutenant, would you mind posting a guard to insure that no one tries something silly?”
“Of course sir!” He replied, turning to the MP’s. “Sargent Harris, you’re on guard duty until the samurai wakes up.”
The lieutenant, and the remaining MP’s were soon guiding the employees towards a bus that pulled up, as the ramp closed on a confused Sargent Harris.
You're going to have to correct them eventually.
“I will Eris, just gotta get my beauty sleep first.” I replied, laying the Deep Breath on one of the seats. “Go ahead and purchase the item side of things, Eris, along with a cot.”
Very well. Before that though, I have a suggestion for a purchase for you.
“Alright, let’s hear it then.”
It would cost nearly all of your remaining points, but agreeing would allow me to track down your home planet’s location within a year’s time. That estimate is an absolute worst case scenario, with only a 2% chance of needing that long.
I probably should have clued in that something was odd at the time, but I was just really wanting to hit the rack.
So I answered. “Go for it.”
Thank you Ellis, purchasing items.
Items purchased:
Class 1 generic augment: 100 points
Class 1 FACOM system: 50 points
Class 1 Interrogator system: 50 points
Class 1 Sleep-rider implant: 150 points
Class 1 lesson - Ghost-rider mastery: 600 points
Class 1 cot: 5 points
Eris’s project: 7.8 billion points.
Total cost: 7,800,000,855 points.
With that, a cot with a small box on it appeared in front of me, and I sat down on the edge of it.
Lay down, and place the box over your head. The process will begin once you fall asleep.
The Mad Minute, and the Lib-VRRRT-tea were taken off, then laid on the seats beside the cot. Tiredness began to rapidly overcome me, and the last thing I heard before the black claimed me, was Eris’s voice.
Good night, Ellis.
**********************************************************
Sargent Harris wasn’t sure that the dropship he had been told to guard needed it.
After all, the damn thing was playing pranks on him.
The pattern was always the same, there would be a beeping sound behind him, and when he would turn around, the only thing there was the dropship.
Except, it would never be in the exact same position that it had been in before. Sometimes it would be slightly closer to him, well other times it might have rotated slightly. The weapons also would move ever so slightly as well, and occasionally he would catch the faintest glimpse of words on the dropship. But they would fade before he could read them.
He really hoped that he wouldn’t be the one to knock on the ramp of that monster, should something requiring the samurai come up.