TBoB - Book 7 - Chapter 69 - Fire support (Patreon)

I was beginning to think that we’d be stuck here, fighting the Antithesis’ reinforcements until the hive ran out of biomass, or the snake-heads finally cut through the armour on my bunker, when something huge passed overhead, causing the entire battlefield to be draped in shadow. 

[Attention all samurai engaged below. Using Teddy’s devices, the fleet has managed to clear enough of the surface contamination to give us a rough view of the situation below. The Retribution is now on station and will provide fire support. Please move away from the large Antithesis model so we can begin bombardment,] Warspite declared over the network.

I backed out of my little bunker and looked up. The absolutely colossal shadow could only have been created by the Retribution, the Destiny, or Bear Force One. Since the Destiny wasn’t designed for front-line combat, and last I heard Bear Force One hadn’t crashed into the ocean, that meant the shadow had to be the Retribution.

“I know they had to clear the surface, but isn’t parking above the battle counterproductive?” I muttered to myself. “I mean, naval cannons typically don’t work that well when your target is directly below you.”

A second later, the area was lit up as the Retribution’s main batteries fired, and after that, a deep rumble echoed through the area. Even this deep underwater, the shock of the cannon fire sent vibrations through my bones. 

I stared at the rounds, more out of curiosity than awe or fear, as they sailed towards the horizon.

At least at first. 

As I watched, the glowing rounds slowed down, then reversed direction. From where I was standing, it looked like they just barely missed slamming into the Retribution's hull as they spiralled downward.

“FUCK!” I shouted, diving into my bunker. Although it didn’t look like they were going to come down directly on my position, they were glowing so brightly that I was half convinced they were going to just vaporize everything in the area. 

I peeked out the front window just in time to see the rounds smash directly into the snake-heads. There was no explosion, just a flash and everything within ten feet of the impact was gone. The neck stumps thrashed about, slowly splitting down the middle as they attempted to form new heads, but before they could, the Redemption fired again. Just as eyes started to developed on what was rapidly turning into a head, the second barrage struck. This time it hit the creature about twenty feet further down, severing the section which had been poking out of the oily abyss.

“Okay, now you’re just showing off,” I muttered as the Redemption slowly moved onward, clearing the area and once again letting the sunlight through.

I waited a moment to make sure that the severed part of the snake-heads weren’t going to get up and attack me, like a worm cut in half, before I finally decided to step out of my bunker. 

The battle wasn’t over; there were still a lot of lesser Antithesis pouring into the area, but without the Snake-head to distract us, the combined firepower of the moose and the remaining samurai was more than enough to keep them under control.

“Is everyone okay?” Sharron asked once we started gathering.

“Yup, I even managed to save my left arm,” I declared. “Thanks for keeping those bastards distracted long enough for me to triage.”“We should be thanking you,” Depthcharge said, his voice echoing out of his heavy helmet. “Every time you popped your head out, those things instantly focused on you. What was that about anyway?”“Since I not only helped shut down the Tender’s operation in Grand Falls, but followed it here and cornered it, my AI suggested that Gene Tender might have made it so its strongest creations would prioritize my elimination,” I said. “It’s possible that it started doing it as far back as Grand Falls but never noticed because, you know, fuck the ocean.”“Yeah… I guess having the Antithesis prioritize your elimination the instant you step into the water probably didn’t help with your phobia,” Mako said.

“Actually, I’m so used to the Antithesis trying to kill me, that it really didn’t affect my impression of the ocean at all,” I replied. “I found the fact that if I ascended too quickly I could get a brain hemorage and die, or if I went too deep the ocean would crush my internal organs far more horrifying. I can’t believe you lot come down here voluntarily.”“Someone has to do it,” Mako replied. “And I feel more at home out here than I do back on dry land.”

“Good. That means I can leave it to you in the future, because if I never come back down here again, it’ll be too soon,” I grumbled. 

“Did you switch weapons?” Sharron asked. “I thought you’d changed to one of those coil guns you’ve been equipping your forces with, but that looks like the weapon you were using when I first met you. The watchamacalit.”“CARS,” I muttered. “And yes, I did switch back during the fight. Before anyone asks, no, I don’t want to go over why. It’ll just enrage me.”“OOoookkkaaaayyyy…” Mako said. “Well, even though part of me really wants to bother you until I hear the story behind that, I think we have something far more important to discuss. What do we do now? Do we follow the Retribution to the hive, and risk it losing targeting data along the way, leaving us in a worse position than we are now? Or do we secure this position and see if we can find anyone who may have been injured but survived the explosion?”

“While I’d really like to continue rescue operations, I don’t think we can afford to ignore that hive,” I replied. “If we do, the Antithesis will keep flooding the local area, attacking whatever they can get their fangs into. If anyone else survived that explosion, and is still alive at this point, they’re probably not going to bleed out or anything. We should do whatever we can to prevent them from getting overwhelmed, then perform the search afterwards.”“Agreed,” Depthcharge declared. 

“And what if Warspite loses track of that monster while we’re following behind?” Sharron asked. “We’ll be at a serious disadvantage if we have to fight in the oil.”“That is a problem,” I muttered, taking a step back and looking at the nearest purifier. The thing was around the same size as a heavy-duty hover engine, so they weren’t exactly the most mobile things in the world. Still… “What if we strapped a couple aqua scooters to one of the purifiers, and had the moose push it around?”

“Are you serious?” Sharron asked. “That’s your suggestion?”“It would solve our problem, slowly clearing the area around us so we’re not lost in the goo,” I said. “And since Warspite is clearing the surface area, it might clear enough of that chaff shit out of the water for us to maintain communication with the surface.”

“That would be helpful,” Mako admitted. “But couldn’t we create a sled or something? Strapping a bunch of jets to the side sounds so unstable.”“Well, we could always go the extra mile. Strapping jets to the side of the thing was just my first thing that popped into my head,” I grumbled. “Honestly, I’d rather mount a couple in the Marsupial, but since it requires serious repairs after the explosion, that’s not an option.”“I have the perfect thing,” Depthcharge declared. “I occasionally deploy aqua sleds to carry my excess equipment when I dive into the abyss hunting Antithesis.”“Why wouldn’t you just put it in a submersible or something?” I asked.

“Because I don’t have anything in my catalogs that would survive that pressure. They’d be crushed like a disposable soda can in a car crusher at the depths I traverse. The best way to avoid that is not have something vulnerable to pressure differential,” Depthcharge replied.

I just stared at the man for several seconds. “That’s horrifying,” I finally said. “It’s shit like that that makes me hate the ocean.”“While you may hate it, I love it down here. The quiet, the sense of achievement when I exteminate something that no one else could even reach,” the man replied quietly. “It brings me a sense of peace.”“Then I’ll leave the aquatic exterminations to you in the future,” I replied, before turning towards the nearest purifier. “If we’re going to do this, we should move quick. If we wait too long Warspite might get too far ahead, and who knows what’ll move into the area after he clears it.”“Whatever it is, we’ll handle it,” Sharron declared. “We always do.”