They have called on their volunteers to arm up and join in the active suppression of antithesis activity worldwide and are forming up assault teams for training as we speak. The organization, already declared a terrorist organization in thirty city-nations, is rumored to already have six thousand trained and armed troops working under them.
In the press release they continue to condemn large corporations in the harshest terms and, tellingly, did not remove anyone from their list of active opposition. But they admit that many of the latest studies show that the Aliens have had a much greater impact on the climate and ecology than all of the corporate interests combined.
In keeping with the change, they have announced they are rebranding the organization to Green Pax.
--National Audubon Society newsletter, 2035
***
“Yes, I do have an option that will meet the commander’s needs.” I replied back to Carlson.
“Okay, once you have that, we’ll head out. Decurion Martin, do you have a route for us?”
“Yes, sir, it’s a straight march down the road about six kilometers. That should take us about 45 minutes at a fast march. But we’ve walking wounded that will slow us down.”
“We’ll have them stand guard over the Combat Engineers and the lure until the main army comes. If push comes to shove, they’ll be better off catching a ride with the engineers out of here anyway.”
I tuned out the details about the march and ordered the drone and lure.
"Catalog Unlocked: Class I Biochemical Warfare
Cost: 250 Remaining points: 1,025
"Purchased: Scarlet Macaw Mid-mid drone with Chemo Lure
Cost: 250 Remaining points: 775
"Purchased: Synthetic Pheromone Attractor Station
Cost: 125 Remaining points: 650
"Purchased: High Explosive rounds
Cost: 3 (qty:3) Remaining points: 647
"Purchased: Napalm rounds
Cost: 2 (qty:2) Remaining points: 645
"Purchased: Sampler magazine of exotic rounds
Cost: 10 Remaining points: 635
"Purchased: Hyper Compression rounds
Cost: 5 (qty:2) Remaining points: 630”
The Pheromone Station came in a fancy Samurai box. The lid had a seven-sided design on it, forming a slightly domed box made of a clear plastic the color of cobalt glass. On the side were instructions for activation etched in white letters. Clearly Kaitlyn had been talking with Corie, who confirmed my suspicions.
--Before you ask, by necessity, the lure itself is unimpressive to look at. Kaitlyn and I have been talking about presentation and how that affects people’s trust. The fancy Vanguard box is designed to increase the commander’s confidence in the lure.
As beautiful as the box looked, the Scarlet Macaw drone stole everyone’s attention and raised eyebrows. Another airplane-based form, stripes of primary blues, reds, and yellows covered the fuselage and wings. When it took off, streamers extending from the wingtips and tail flapped in the wake. As I watched it climb in a loop to the south, I snatched magazines out of the air and attached them to my harness.
“Well, that certainly is eye-catching.” Martin broke the short silence that had fallen. “How much can it delay their travel time?”
[“We’ve been planning out a path that almost doubles yours in length.”] Ginny answered. [“There’s only so much we can twist the path without coming too close to you, especially at first. The valley is not that big.”]
[“I found the local community’s alert net.”] Kaitlyn added. [“It’s already alive with the reports of antithesis moving in the area, and people are panicking. I’m directing them to head south and east. You might get some traffic on the road.”]
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“I thought this area was abandoned?” I asked after reporting the planned path for the antithesis.
“There’s a few scattered farmsteads. We sent an evacuation warning days ago, and as far as I know, there shouldn’t be anyone left,” Carlson said.
[“Like anyone’s going to listen to official statements,”] Kaitlyn replied. I glanced at the Dragonfly floating nearby, through which she watched the conversation live while recording me for both the stream and my own review. [“From the valley’s forums, most of the people evacuated weeks ago, but there’s been small crews keeping the farms going. They’re appreciative of the Samurai support but wish we’d given them more warning.”]
“My social manager’s reporting that the last few people in the area are heading out. We might run into some vehicles on the way.” I said to Carlson with a shrug.
He opened his mouth to say something, then glanced at the nearby drone and shut it again. “We need to get going.”
Fifteen minutes down the road, my mini-map lit up with hundreds of antithesis locations. [“We have a problem—the bloaters have dropped their jamming.”] Tara said right away, using the nickname she'd made for the bulbous M-12s.
[“That’s good. It’ll be harder to loose the swarm, right?”]
[“But they won’t be stopping to feed, so they can move faster.”] Ginny said.
[“The Albatross behind them has several worms moving alone--not even any doggies to protect them. Without the slow worms, the whole swarm can move faster.”] It took me a second to realize that Tara was talking about Model Eights. [“We can’t change the route much, or the swarm can cut corners and catch up. No matter what we do, they will get there faster. We must have made the lure too tasty.”]
[“Understood, do what you can. Once someone has an idea how soon they will be at the quarry, let us know.”]
I sent a note to the captain, even as I continued down the road. The professional soldiers ran long distances on a regular basis and set a grueling pace. While I was faster on a sprint, thanks to my enhancements, this long forced march drained all my energy, and my legs felt like they were filled with lead.
--There’s a limit to how many you can take before there’s long-term consequences.
In my to-do lists I added a note to look into boosting my endurance.
--Purchase incoming. There’s some options for accelerating the growth of your Erythrogloblin Secretion Gland we can look at.
I grabbed the energy bar and ate it on the move. I had a vague sense that it tasted good, but I was starting to reach that stubborn, drained-but-determined-to-keep-going hyperfocus that happens at the bottom of my reserves.
The bar did its work, and I was able to keep up, though I was dragging at the back of the company by the time we reached the quarry. Several of the troopers smirked at me as I stumbled in. Despite the heavy rain that came and went partway, they all looked as fresh as this morning, and it no doubt amused them to see a Samurai driven into the ground by exhaustion.
The rock quarry was dug back into the hillside, forming a broad, flat space leading to a twelve-meter cliff. A dense growth of trees and brushes crowded the top edge, but we could clear that easily. The sides of the quarry also formed triangular cliffs, as the hillside sloped down beyond them. A row of trees and brush shielded the quarry from the road, cut by the single entrance, and another line of trees shaded the bank of the local river where it meandered beyond some overgrown fields.
As I entered, Carlson was already passing orders for defenses and set a team to sweep the hillside behind the quarry. He stopped me and asked for some signal cable, which I supplied from the Combat Engineering catalog. “Thanks, now the EMI can’t interfere with our explosives. They’re still going to be coming around in a loop from the east, right? I’d like you to focus on that flank if you do anything. It’s closer to them and closest to a straight line. I expect it to get a lot of heat.”
“She’ll try to bring them around to due north if possible. We could cut out that loop so they can come in straight to us, if you want, but they will be here quicker.” I checked a counter that Corie kept up-to-date in my visor. “Current ETA is around thirty minutes.”
He shook his head. “That’s short enough already, and we’ll need all of it to get ready.”
As I made my way up the flank, I talked with Corie about my options.
--Any idea what effect you want to achieve?
I glanced around me. The dense undergrowth filed in under the trees, blocking all visibility.
--For the brush and the terrain, the Treecutter Cannon is a one-time device that will emit a cone-shaped cutting plane. It’s strong enough to take out any vegetation under half a meter in diameter.
--A quarter circle out to one hundred fifty meters. It should reach from the top corner almost all the way to the road. And all the debris should slow them down considerably.
--For the entry denial, you have new options, from which I suggest a Phero-repulsive Atomizer. Toss a few of these out, and the antithesis won’t want to come anywhere near you.
--Exactly. Each atomizer spreads out a scent that has a thirty-meter range. Spread them out and you get an effective temporary wall. The scent only lasts for about an hour, though.
I let out a sigh.
--They are light enough that a Chibat can place them. We can remotely detonate when it’s time too.
A window popped up in my visor. “EYRIE stuck, please retrieve.” I looked back to where the bot sat, tangled on a root, a dozen meters behind me. The little walker had been keeping up on the road but struggled with the dense brush. With a sigh, I slumped my way back and pulled it free. After the third time it got stuck, I decided to carry it the rest of the way up. Fortunately, it had a convenient handle for that purpose.
At the top, the troopers had built firing positions along the edge of the quarry, out of reach of most of the aliens. I chose a spot near the eastern end, where I could see the whole quarry, but also the right flank. Then it was time to settle down and wait.
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