“Believe it or not, Nevada has a lot of Antithesis activity going on. They love it here, large chunks of land with no Samurai to bug’em. Not a lot of humans either though, so what they do is dig into the earth with roots and suck up all the natural minerals and what not. They also purge the surface of all plant life, and on top of all that they get almost non-stop sun light to provide free energy.” Hank said, while we stare at him absorbing every word.

“Right, so we got us some Samurai secret satellites that a few of us popped up yonder. Once we see a hive get a certain size, we go kill the lil’uns and burn down the hive for a fat pay-day in points and tokens.”

Huh, that sounds like cheating? Can you cheat in this? I never thought a Samurai would try to find a way to cheese the system.

“Aren’t you worried about them growing out of control or hitting small towns?” I ask.

“A little.” Hank said. “But we keep a close eye on them and keep the satellites checkin’ all the human inhabitants several times a day. That’s actually why I woke you both up. Got a little town called Beatty that we have been watching for a few months now. Hive has finally grown enough to be a threat to the town.”

Hank said collecting our empty plates and trays, “I reckon this is a perfect chance to get some time together and grow as Samurai.”

Devoy and I look at each other, I raise an eyebrow making him grin.

“I’m down, are you in, Little Witch?” Devoy asks.

“I guess so, are you sure you are up for it though? And as long as I can be back by tomorrow for class and work.” I say.

Hank nods. “I spent a good amount of points and resources getting him right as rain. Bobby and Pyllonia both agree he’s at about 90% effectiveness. As for time out there, I guess that depends on how quickly y’all can kill the hive and remove the Antithesis models in the area. With your car it should only take you maybe 15 minutes to fly there. I suggest you get some gear, Devoy, and head out here soon. I’ll have Bobby send over the info.”

Hank walks out with all the empty dishes leaving us to our own planning.

“So-o, what did you want to buy gear wise?” I ask awkwardly.

“Like I said, defensive stuff primarily, and of course a weapon of some kind that will be able to take out most Antithesis. Let me converse with Pyllonia a bit and see what we can come up with.”

“Sure, let me know if I can help.” I say.

Would you like to offer them access to your catalogs to help them along?

I sit there quietly pondering what sort of gear Devoy will actually get, I know he has about a thousand points, so he can get some decent gear.

I can’t hear him talking at all, so I’m guessing he has some decent augs with communication abilities. Which make sense, if he’s a commander of a squad. He would need to talk with HQ or base or whatever somehow.

After a few minutes waiting, boxes start appearing on his bedside. In all, five boxes pile up at his feet, most of them are no bigger than a shoe box, only one is long and narrow, maybe four feet long.

He opens the first one, and it has a familiar 2-liter bottle in it. He sticks a finger into the bottle causing the dark goo within to swarm over his body like a river of ants.

It quickly forms into a deep gunmetal black armor with red lights, it covers him from head to toe. Looks like he’s going with some decent personal protection right off the bat.

Ah, Class I Phalanx armor combined with your nanite tech, good stuff! It should withstand some serious abuse from most of the common models.

The next box he flips open contains a round puck thing the size of a dinner plate that is glowing a faint red, he slapped this onto his left forearm.

Another solid choice, Class I Extendable Aegis Energy Shield Emitter, can shield a small area around the user, should stop nearly anything for at least a while, until it’s overloaded.

Third box opens and he pulls out an injector, the armor around his neck peels back and he injects it into his neck.

Aug upgrades for combat integration, simple but good.

The last small box he opens and in it is a sword hilt with no blade. He presses it up to his right arm and it gets sucked into the armor.

Now that is a statement piece, Monomolecular-Nanite Thermal blade.

The last and biggest box he opens has a sleek rifle with a scope attached. The rifle matches his armor, being a deep black with red lights.

Class I DMR with a 30x scope with predictive analytical targeting assistance, and a fifty-round magazine of 7.62 APHEI.

“Anything else? Looks like you had a better set up than I did for my first encounters.” I say smiling, a bit jealous at him starting out with so much more than I did.

“No, that’s about all I can afford for now. I really need to get some body enhancements soon, but Pyllonia assures me that this gear will be good enough as a base to build from. Apparently, your Nano and Warcaster Catalogs help a lot with customization and direct upgrades, helps save wasted points on gear you can’t use later on.” He said.

“Well, I’m glad you found a good use for them. Are you ready to go then?” I ask, standing up, switching my pajamas into my active armor mode.

“No time like the present. Lead on, Little Witch.”

He swings his legs out from the bed and hops onto his feet. I watch wondering if he will collapse when he takes a step.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Thankfully not, it’s almost like he was not fatally injured just yesterday.

The miracles of Class IV medical care.

I turn, grab my staff, and walk out to the front door where Hank is waiting for us.

He takes a look at Devoy, nodding at his new gear.

“That should do you well for now, I reckon. But I have here two more emergency teleport pucks for you, this time. Just like before, they will activate if fatal damage is detected or expected to happen.”

“Thanks Hank.” We both say at the same time. We look at each other and I roll my eyes. If I could see his I bet he is too.

“Right.’ He laughs. “I also let the Foxes know where you’re heading, they are gearing up now and should make it up there in about four hours or so, I told’em not to hurry too much. Give you both some time alone to figure out stuff.”

“Thanks really, you have been more help than I could have ever hoped for, Hank.” I say, giving him a quick hug.

I release him and we walk out to my car, I crawl in and open my augs to see what info Hank has sent over to us. I send the location over to the car’s navigation, while Devoy climbs into the passenger seat and adjusts his armor into some desert camo type fatigues.

It’s a bit of a tight fit with our gear, I think soon I will need to figure out a better transportation method other than my sports car.

Of course, Morigana, I have several ideas noted for later.

With your completed augs you should be able to link with it and control it easily now. I will highlight the pathway in your augs to its controls.

I sense in my augs the correct pathway. With my new augs it’s less of a computer system, like I don’t really “see” things, I have more of an instinctual sense of things. Like my mini map isn’t something I can see anymore but I can see it in my mind’s eye clearly. It’s a bit to get used to, but not having to look at it makes comprehending and processing the data almost instant.

I follow the mental pathway to my owl drone and see that it’s currently dispersed in a cloud surrounding the car. I “click” through its options mentally, reforming it into an Owl and bring it into the car. Closing the car doors, I activate the autopilot setting off towards Beatty.

“Nice piece of tech, bet it cost a bit.” Devoy said eyeballing the Owl.

“It’s been helpful, I’m going to launch it once we get a bit closer to Beatty. And yeah, it was four hundred points, but well worth it.” I say to Devoy.

“Awesome, always pays to have eyes in the sky, situational awareness can be more valuable than an entire army.” He said, nodding his head approvingly.

“So, as you know.” I say with some reservation. “That last, uh, mission. Did not go well, and I have decided to avoid weapons like the one used, and only use things I can guarantee won’t hurt others.” I say to Devoy.

He looks over at me with a frown, his lips pursed with concern.

“Look Morigana, I understand your feeling of hesitation, but I do not blame you for what happened. You are dealing with alien tech beyond normal human understanding. Please don’t let this stop you from doing what needs to be done.” He said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“But if it makes you feel better, I will buy into weapons if we need larger destruction and let you focus on precision. As a commander I have to make calls that cost people their lives. It never gets easier, but if we don’t take the risk humanity as a whole could fall.”

I feel tears welling up in my eyes, I try to will them away but one manages to sneak out down my cheek. I feel grateful that he understands and will take up that responsibility.

“Let’s change the topic, Mori. Let’s build a plan for this attack. Every good operation has a basic plan for engagement and contingency.” He said, switching from a soft supporting voice to his commander voice.

“With the information Hank sent over, we have a visual of the hive.” He points at the screen on the car’s dash, linking his augs to it. A map of the area over Beatty springs to life.

He zooms into an area just Northeast of the small town of Beatty, showing an outcropping of greenery. The map helpfully displays the name of the area as “Revert Springs” dead center of the green area is what looks like a mutated tree towering over the rest of the natural trees.

I needed to get access from Bobby, the encryption was set by him, and while I could crack it, asking was easier, but yes, here is a live feed.

The image shifts slightly and a live feed appears.

“Right, that’s helpful.” Devoy said. “Any way, it looks like this is where our hive has rooted. I also notice that there are two smaller hives growing up as well.” He said highlighting the areas.

“We can also see that the entire area around it is infested with Antithesis, I think they are trying to build up before attacking the town. The immediate area has been stripped of most organic material, seems they left some tree cover to hide from above.”

He draws an orange circle Southwest of the town next to the court house. “let’s swing around the town and insert here to prevent the Antithesis from detecting our approach from the air.”

He then draws a blue line up the street, and to the state route 374, then merging into the 95 North. “We walk up this road on foot, it’s about a mile and a half walk. Not too bad really, but this will let us surprise the Antithesis, and sweep any of them on the way North.”

He looks at me, giving me the “are you following look”, I nod and he continues.

“This will hopefully keep any from getting in behind us and as we move up, we will be pushing them away from town. We should also use weapons that are quiet, do you have any?” He asks.

“I do, my whip is quiet and can go out a good range, I also have acid spray, and a freeze ray that are close range weapons. I’m guessing my fireball and lightning will be too loud?” I say going over my weapons.

“Those are good options; I’m going to stick to my sword and shield and let you handle anything at extended range with your whip. If something beyond that range engages us, we will evade their detection and try to sneak closer. Once we are on the hive, we will let loose with everything and prevent any from getting past us.” He said.

“I will create a separate plan for the PMC, for when they arrive, and handle the communications with them when they show up. If we clear it before they get here, I will have them sweep the town for residual Antithesis. Any questions?”

“No?” I don’t know half of what he said, I’m just going to follow him and try not to be loud.

I have adjusted our course to align with his plan, we are arriving at his insertion point in a moment. I will keep your mini-map updated with satellite data. Would you like me to take over the drone? I will spread it across the road going north, and a bit east and west of it scanning for Antithesis that could flank you.

Of course, I will naturally refill weapons as needed and warn you if I notice something you may have missed.

We don’t really pass over much of the town on our way in thanks to the insertion point Devoy picked. But the town seems dead, I don’t see any vehicles operating, or noises, it is eerily quiet.

Yes, a moment please. Aaand done, however something is amiss. I got delivery confirmations from my message but no replies. Something is wrong, be alert.