Chapter 20
”Since we moved the cosmetics factory down to the main complex in the undercity. Our profits have gone up by almost four-hundred percent” - The CEO of Future Tech and Health to the owners and board of directors.
-2049
I stood there leaning against the back of the hover-truck as Kevin spoke to the people in the shelter. ”Hey Fen this token I got what do you think I should use it on when we get a moment to go through things that is?” I asked as I pulled up my drones camera feed to cover most of my view. Then took full control to see how it handled. Slowly flying it out and up to hover above the warehouse.
That is actually a good question. It really does depend on when and how you have to use it. Saving it for now is a good idea in case something happens were you will need, options. But If nothing like that does come up then I'd say the two best options would be armor or Moonstalkers technologies. As for armor you could go with your current light armor one. But there are options such as a modular version of the one you have. Or semi-powered medium armor. It's armor that act a bit like power armor in how it supports weight and such things. But it's closer to normal armor in size. Not as protective as power armor but a lot cheaper. But your Moonstalkers technologies would offer a few different items. Weapons armor and so on. Based on what you already have unlocked. Not as good as the options if you actually get the Class II catalogs for those things as well. But better then most current Class I.
I kept watching the feed from the drone outside as Fen spoke. Only to notice something around the top of the factory a moving cloud. Zooming in I saw small black things moving out of the cloud a times. ”What is that..” I asked before Fen spoke up.
That's a flock of Model 1's and they are heading this way. You aren't in range with the drone yet. I will tell you when you are and then you can open fire. Sending out your second drone too.
Nodding but before I could speak up Kevin called back to me. ”Hey Wraith. You mind uncloaking. The Floating eyes and grin is scaring the people in the shelter.” He said and I blinked a few times before deactivating the cloak with a frown.
”Is this better? And we got a flock a model 1's on the way in” I asked
He nodded ”Already sent the bike up to support your drones don't worry” He said.
Nodding slowly before tilting my head to the left my right ear flicking a bit. ”Fen how effective will my drone be against that. Flock? Is it a flock?” I asked
It could be considered a flock. But it will act more like a swarm. And your drone will be effective against them, the laser on it was made to shoot down fast moving objects from the sky. That's why it struggles with the more armored targets but win if given enough time. But against model 1's they won't need time at all. Just aim and hold the trigger so to speak. As in just use the fire command and aim. The second drone will follow the aim of the first one slightly above.
I watch as the cloud gets closer and closer, once I can see the wings of the different model 1's I start shooting. I can see the outline of a beam going out from the drone and connecting with the swarm and a second one just above it. Almost instantly small figures starts falling burning and slowly the swarm gets filled with ash. I start by moving the beam slowly across the swarm then I speed up. ”I don't think that this will be enough” I said as it starts to split up in to two large clouds. That's when I see Kevin's bike fly in to view. And something slides down from under it before it fires a bunch of rockets out towards the swarm. As the rockets explode they create black clouds among the flying antithesis. ”Is that flack fire?” I ask
”That it is, if you get a flying combat vehicle of any kind you do need to have something that can deal with model 1 swarms or you won't have a good time. They will clog your engines even with protections against such. So best to have somethings that can deal with them.” He said as he turned away from the terminal by the shelter. ”They will have transports coming down and getting them out and securing this place once the others come down from up above.” He said and I shrugged a bit.
Kevin PoV.
When he went to talk to the people in the shelter.
”Not joining in for the conversation?” I asked her as she stopped to lean against the back of the hover-truck. As she shock her head I shrugged a bit and went towards the terminal. I pressed the call button and waited after a moment the screen lit up and showed the stern face of a guard wearing a combat helmet.
”Wha-.. If it isn't The Arizona Ranger. Please tell me that you have managed to clean up the area so we can get transports out of here?” He asked and I grinned under my helmet.
”Howdy, And not yet. Just checking to see if you all are doing fine in there.” I said and he groaned from the other side of the screen.
“We have food and water for a few more days.. But It isn't the best stuff. And we managed to get most of our people in here. Some of the local workers did rush out in to the undercity when things went down.” He said and I nodded.
I moved just a bit as I asked. “And no glaring faults in the security systems or any such things. I know how corporations can be. Skimping out on construction and so on” I asked as T?v spoke up
According to the records from the construction of this place and from records within The Family's own data bases this shelter is up to code. The company even requested for The Family's aid in inspecting it to make sure it was up to standard.
I took a step to the side “I see. That is quite unusual” I said before the man could say anything. As I looked back to the screen I saw the man's face having gone a bit pale, as he stared at the screen on his side.
“W-what is that. Please tell me I haven't been effected by something and seeing things” He said. I blinked once.
“T?v can you show me his view please” I said and even before I had finished my sentence a screen appeared in front of my eyes showing a view of the slightly dark warehouse. I saw myself half covering the screen and behind me two floating soft cyan eyes and a white grin with the edges pulsing a soft cyan with the backdrop of the hover-truck. “No. you aren't seeing things” I said before turning back towards Rafaela ”Hey Wraith. You mind uncloaking. The Floating eyes and grin is scaring the people in the shelter.” I called over after a second I could see her again.
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”Is this better? And we got a flock a model 1's on the way in” She asked and I nodded as I gave the command for my bike to head up to join in the defense.
”Already sent the bike up to support your drones don't worry” I said as she tilted her head to the left the right ear flicking a bit with its cyan tuft moving slightly before I turned back to the screen. “Just a fellow samurai nothing to worry about.” I said in a calm voice as the man on the other side nodded slowly. “The others should be done in the city proper soon. And then they will send down reinforcements here.” I said before sending a ping out to their servers within the shelters with the information. “Send this to your people up there and they can come in behind them” I said and he nodded. I then heard Rafaela's question about flack. ”That it is, if you get a flying combat vehicle of any kind you do need to have something that can deal with model 1 swarms or you won't have a good time. They will clog your engines even with protections against such. So best to have somethings that can deal with them.” I said as I turned around and walked over before motioning to the doors ”They will have transports coming down and getting them out and securing this place once the others come down from up above.” I said as she shrugged. “Lets get to follow that trail the plant-life left behind for us” I said as I walked towards the doors.
Rafaela PoV
I turned to follow Kevin out of the building as I set the drone to auto target again. Keeping an eye on the footage of the the sky. And how quickly the large swarm just melted away until there was nothing left.
Enemies eliminated
236 x Model 1 = 236 points
New total = 5535 points, 1 token.
Large swarms like that can be quite dangerous. Not because the model 1's are any strong the number is the real problem. Might be worth getting something for that in the future!
I nodded slowly “Sure thing Fen. We will have to look in to that for the drones at least if I keep using them” I said walking out the side door of the warehouse. Looking around quickly I found that nothing had really changed on the ground as we were inside.
Kevin looked over and spoke “The trail leads towards factory complex but not to the actual gate. Seems the antithesis did create their own opening. It might be worth checking the gate itself. According to T?v that one should have a reinforced guard post.”
“It does. With a small shelter like bunker attached. With enough supplies to last a few days.” I said only to shrug at his turned head. “I did look in to what my family was doing down here before.” Shaking my head. “They asked me to do a few things that I did think could improve the work that was being made. I tried to improve the living conditions for the workers. They thought it a waste of time and credits.” I said with a shrug. “I guess that's how New Tucson Corpo's think” I said with a sigh
“No. That's how most higher up Corpo's think doesn't matter if they are here or anywhere else in the world.” He said before chuckling a bit. “And those that don't tend to be Samurai or get ganged up upon in a corpo war.” He started walking along the still well lit roads between the warehouses.
Following behind him I took another chance to have a look at the streets. Well maintained streetlights that were evenly spaced. The buildings being numbered and named. As we got to a cross road I saw the only few exceptions to this order. A few abandoned cargo-walkers standing around in the roads. Towards the back wall I saw a building that looks a lot like an old apartment building. “Seems they did take the idea of on site living quarters” I said as we turned down the road away from the apartment building.
“I did have T?v look in to the company a bit. And they are doing some shady stuff. But they did implement a few things you suggested.” He said as he stopped and knelt down to check the ground at the next intersection. “Made it in to one of those huge look at us we are good kind of deals” He then shook his head “No-one really did buy it.” He stood up and started walking down the street towards the Factory.
Quickly stepping around the corner to follow him and stopping as I saw that the street was filled with left over bits of bags and other scraps left behind after the antithesis made their passes through the area. I could see Kevin lift his revolver and firing once just as a model 3 came around the corner then he repeated it five more times. Downing as many enemies four model 3's and one model 4.
My ears flicked at the sound then, the silence that followed. Walking up to stand beside Kevin with my rifle raised one drone at my back the other darting forwards towards the fallen part of wall at the end of the street. “Think more will show up?” I asked only for my drone to spot movement before the shield icon went yellow and it shoot down towards the model 5 that had been rushing at the front of a pack of antithesis within the factory grounds.
“Never mind a group is coming” I said as I sent the second drone in to join the first after it killed the first model 5. Then they started working on the rest of the group. Some model 3's managed to get around the corner and we opened fire.
“Move up quickly and get around the corner. We get in find a good place to stand and then thin them out a before moving on.” He said as he begun running towards the opening in the wall. I followed him quickly to jump around it and scan the walk way beside the factory building and the wall. Industrial lights lining the wall casting a warm light down on to the pile of dead antithesis and the gray wall on one side and dull steel on the other. Further down was the actual road leading in from the warehouse area. The road ending in what once was a set of doors. Those doors looked like they had been smashed open at some point during the evening.
Enemies eliminated
3 x Model 5's = 60 points
4 xModel 4's = 60 points
10 x Model 3's = 100 points
New total = 5755 points, 1 Token.
I took a look around as Kevin tossed out some flesh-melters around us to take care of the different dead antithesis. I then took one look up at the massive building beside us the only thing I could really see was this one windowless wall reaching an edge up quite high above us. “This place if I remember. Got a few large rooms and a lot of hallways in between them.” I said as Kevin walked up beside me. I had to surpress a yawn and quickly shook my head. “Think its starting to wear off that energy thing” I said.
“I had T?v look up the schematics for the place.” He said then turned his head towards me “I will lead you just make sure to keep our backs clean and I will handle the rest.” He said and I nodded before he started walking his gun drawn. I had one drone fly over and in through the smashed doors.
Inside was a large loading bay clearly meant for ground vehicles from the warehouses. A few of the trucks were still there one of them had the drivers cabin half smashed open as of something at ripped in to it. A few mech-loaders were standing around and a lot of boxes littered the raised platforms behind the trucks. Clearly having been in the process of unloading or loading when things went down. Four large doors leading in to the factory could be seen above the raised loading area,
Most lights in the room were still functioning casting a cold light on to the floor. A floor that had clear marks of something being dragged along them and up one of the two ramps that went up to the loading area from ground level. The right door that led in to the factory was held open by some odd material similar to the one we had seen in the first hive. On the center was a large pile of everything from plants to fertilizer bags among other items that the antithesis had gathered. Around the pile were quite a few model 8's, A few model 3's moving around along with a group of model 6.
“A few of them in there mostly 3's and 6's along with 8's” I said as I had the drone start attacking the model 3. Just before we got around the corner. I quickly took up aim at the model 3's and started shooting as Kevin shoot the model 6's with his revolver. Each of them exploding in to plant matter before they could even get the chance to charge. The model 3's on the other hand managed to start moving towards me. My drones took down three and I managed to get two before Kevin turned and took care of the rest of them.
“This looks like one of the entrances to the hive. I would suggest that its just a pick up point. But we have hive material covering the wall and floor of the hallway back there. Quite similar to what they use when propping up tunnels.” He said as we walked around the pile of material. He then shrugged and shot each of the model 8's “Might as well make sure our way out won't get blocked.” He said as we went up the ramp leading to the loading platform.
Enemies eliminated
4 x model 6's = 120 points
7 x model 3's = 70 points
5 x model 8's = 25 points
New total = 5970 points, 1 token
Stopping in front of the dark hallway I took a deep breath and activated the night vision again. “So think this will be like the other one?” I asked
“Oh this one will be a lot worse. But we will make it through it. Worst comes to worse we blow it all up.” He said before stepping in to the hallway.
