--Colonel Jeffery Stewart during Team Bravo’s first PTSD debriefing, 2033
***
We landed not far from where the Fifteens had stood and died. On the approach, I saw a massive truck coming down the road. Broad enough to take up two lanes, it stood eight meters tall with wheels larger than some panel vans. On top, front and center, stood a tiny woman in pink.
She waved as we climbed out of the car, but the truck continued down the highway without pause before turning off into one of the fields. It stopped short of where the sweeps had reached and settled with a loud hiss.
“Oh good, Kiri’s here. I wonder if Didir called her?” Gangnam had been waiting for us to land and spotted her too.
“I think Commander Khan sent a request when we realized the swarm was larger than expected,” Rogers said.
A new voice joined the channel dedicated to Samurai. “Looks like y’all have a mess to clean up!” Her voice was high with a Southern drawl tinged with laughter.
“Kiri! It’s good to see you again!” Gangnam greeted her. “You’ve met RAV, but he’s in berserker mode, so, you know...not talking. And the newbie here is Xenovir.”
“Welcome!” I said.
“You’ve left me quite a bit of work here. I hope it did you well?” she said.
“I’ve picked up my share, but you’ll have to give up the goods for my points.” Gangnam said.
“I have some new sculptures on the website. I’m also starting on a really cute line of PJs; you’ll look adorable in them.”
“I’ll have to check it out when I get back. For now, we have a meeting to find out what’s next.”
“No problem, you know I ship anywhere, anytime. Now just send me the details of your kills and if there’s any exotics that I need to watch out for.”
“My AI’s sending the details now.” Gangnam said.
--I just received a request for information from Sentyrisen, the AI for Kiri. It’s asking for a map of our kills in the valley and some other info.
--There’s nothing you need to be embarrassed about. And it will help her clear up any environmental effects of the foggers.
“You’ve been all over, Xenovir! Anythin’ exotic or other trash I need to worry about?”
“All I can think of are some pheromones in aerosol and rounds. Corie can put those in the details too. I haven’t had a chance to look into whether those need special cleaning.”
She paused for a second, then replied. “Naw, the pheromones’re harmless. I’ll have to clean up the remains of the enzyme cleanser you’re using, though. That’s more for urban use, where the remains will be handled by the sewage treatment.”
I also paused, trying to remember if I’d left anything else lying around. “There’s the remains of the combine at the artillery site too. That was used as a ram, so it’s likely contaminated. Any chance you can reinforce an insurance claim on it?”
“Metal scavenging is part of my standard service. It’s how I get materials for my store. And I always report it to insurance. I heard a rumor that loophole got fixed on the claims process, so I’ll make sure it gets an extra special report. The owner helped you? Let’s trade contacts, and I can support you if they balk.
“And thanks for the heads up! Knowing where the bodies are buried, and how, helps a lot in making sure nothing comes crawling out of the grave. Now, I’ve kept you too long. Go on to your meeting and tell Mama Khan I have her mess covered.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The commander stood near the body of a large antithesis amid a crowd of twenty officers. She must have called in most of the force’s leadership.
While we walked over to the group, Gangnam opened up a panel in his armor and withdrew an insulated bottle. When he opened the lid, steam escaped with a rich savory scent. My stomach complained.
--One breakfast burrito filled with all the essential nutrients coming up. Would you like a dose of armor growth with that?
--While the symbionts will grow over time, if you want to rush it, there’s supplements you can buy to accelerate them. How much will depend on the points you want to spend.
A foil-wrapped bundle appeared, and I unwrapped the end and bit into it as we joined the group. A delicious array of flavors burst over my mouth, and I paused to concentrate on the joy of it.
I caught a fleeting look of envy on Khan’s face and offered her a summoned duplicate. She took the meal and looked at it, then around the circle of officers, before returning her gaze to me.
I shrugged back with no intentions of buying one for everyone present; Dougall and his cronies were among the officers present. Khan looked again at the meal. When her stomach growled loudly, she peeled back the foil and bit into the meal.
Speaking around a full mouth, she started the meeting. “Now that everyone’s here, we can get started. We’re pushing forward to the hive right away and not pausing to regroup. That means we’ll be reorganizing on the fly, but I’m sure you all can keep it together.” She gestured to another officer while she continued to eat her meal.
“The hive is only fifteen kilometers away, which makes it our next objective. We’ve pulled its teeth; now we strike at the heart. We’ll be going mounted to point 223, inside the destruction zone of the hive. Once there, we will perform a minor regroup and attack immediately. 63Alpha has point, and 42Delta Armored will be supporting. With them will be the Samurai, in case of resistance.”
Master Centurion Rogers took up the figurative speaking ball. “You worked well with them yesterday, Xenovir, so we’ll put you with 63Alpha Recon in the front. Gangnam, you’ll be with the Armored division. That will let you support each other if need be. Second and third will be 96Gamma and 34Delta, using the secondary route in the same configuration. The rest of the units will fill in as they are ready. It’s unclear whether the Samurai RAV will be joining us or not, and we can assign them on the fly if they do.”
Gangnam cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. “I’ve worked with RAV in the past. It’s unlikely he will be in any shape to fight for hours. He might catch up, but I wouldn’t plan on it.”
“It’s twenty-seven kilometers on dirt roads.” Khan took over now that her burrito was gone. “Even with the mud and the rain, if we can’t get there in two hours, the whole brigade is on KP, officers included. G-maps says it should take forty minutes of travel time. Two hours to transit over, then a half hour for organization. I want to start the assault no more than 3 hours from now.
“Intel: Dougall, what does the threat profile look like?” She looked at the centurion, who had his back stiffly pointed at the M-15e’s body.
“Unchanged. We had a satellite pass twenty minutes ago, and the hive’s valley is still the same. There are no signs of any new models larger than a Model Six. Our estimation is that most of the larger models came out with this force. We can expect communication interruptions from Model Twelves, but only smaller models beyond that. We have zero indication that they are readying a never-before-seen magical attack method.”
Khan stared at Dougall for a minute, and he fidgeted with a medal on his chest. “Are there any new reports on what’s in those holes?”
“We still can’t get an angle to see into them, ser.” Dougal paused ever so slightly before adding the official gender-neutral honorific. “Our algorithms still say that they will not be a factor due to the distance from the main hive; it’s well beyond the reach of an M-15.”
“Can you tell me what that is behind you, please?”
“It’s a body.” Dougall looked nervously at one of the other officers beside him. “Uh...a large one.”
“Yes, a rather large antithesis body. Do you know what model it was?” Khan’s voice was smooth, almost contemplative, and in direct contrast to her sharp gaze drilling into the centurion.
Dougall swallowed hard before answering. “It’s tentatively been identified as a Model Fifteen variant. A new one.”
“Yes,” she answered. “One that we were warned about last night, if I recall, and that you didn’t think mattered. Decided it was an impossibility.” She turned to the rest of the officers, her voice growing sharp. A hand thrust out, pointing over the field. “Do you see the damage on that Model Twenty-Two? How many types of damage did it take before falling to this very “impossibility”? I counted at least six different types of rounds impacting it, maybe more.
“We need to always remember that the antithesis are…How did your father describe them?” She turned to me.
“Multifarious and multitudinous, they adapt by creating new models. And I’ll add my two bits by pointing out that the antithesis have eliminated thousands…”
--Tens of thousands
“Or even, as my AI just informed me, tens of thousands of worlds already. There’s nothing on Earth that they haven’t seen and dealt with before.”
“Exactly. And if they have records from those other worlds, which they seem to, there’s countless kinds of antithesis to pull from. Our current index has around three hundred variants, including the direct aquatic equivalents and some from our own planet.”
Khan paused, scanning every officer’s face. “Pass the word down to all your troops to stay loose and watch for unusual attack methods. While it’s impossible to be “ready for what you don’t know,” it is possible to stay flexible enough to adapt quickly when it arrives. And any command I have will do their ungodly best to be ready to react instantly.
“We’ve wasted enough time here, and you all have people to herd. Get at it, and let’s get this over with.”