TBoB - Book 8 - Chapter 15 - Heavy Weapons (Patreon)

I did it! Two for two... I guess getting half of my regular chapters isn't so bad considering how bad I've been lately. T_THopefully I'll work up the energy to work on some chapters over the weekend. I have some ideas for a snippet I'd like to write and maybe that'll motivate me. We'll see.

Enjoy.

“Everyone involved in that project went to Mars, huh?” I said. “That would how they managed to get such a large structure built in such a short time, and why they’d be willing to invest in such a massive superstructure.”If they manage to complete the project, it’ll be one of the largest man-made structures on the planet, Nyx said. Quite the accomplishment. 

“And all it took to create it was alien super science,” I muttered. I took one last look at the nascent space elevator before leaning forward, flipping the switch on the side of the monitor to switch to the forward cameras, then pushing it back into place. “How long do you think it’ll take them to finish that thing?” 

That depends on how many points they’re willing to dedicate to the project, and what catalogs they’ve unlocked, Nyx replied. The two most important things for the project going forward would be having a station that can maintain a precise geostationary orbit over the site, and deploying a tether that’ll reach from the ground to orbit without collapsing under it’s own weight. Both would be fairly simple to create with the Class of catalog they have access to.

“What, Class IV?” I asked.

Sharron has access to Class IV, and you’re not far off. Most of them have access to Class V or Class IV after the Mars conflict. 

“Some pretty big heavy hitters,” I whistled.

Well, they all either went to or came back from Mars with their own space-capable vessels. You don’t do that if you’re short on points, Nyx replied.

“I’m sure that there are a few zealous samurai with tin-can spaceships around, but I expect for the most part that’s true,” I said. 

I hate how accurate that is, Nyx mumbled.

“I’d say it’s human nature to reach for the stars, but I think it has less to do with crazy ambitions and more to do with the fact that you AI like to choose the most batshit crazy people you can find,” I said.

So what does that say about you?“I run around talking to robotic teddy bears with AI personalities that were developed by working with me. For all intents and purposes I spend a large part of my day talking to myself,” I said. “I’m just as bad as any of the other samurai.”

At least you’re aware, Nyx muttered.

“So, boss, where do you want to go next? Back to town to talk to Sharron?” Dusty asked.

“Nah. Like I said before, I don’t particularly want to drop in on everyone just as the meetup is starting to wind down, and I if it hasn’t ended I don’t want to ruin the mood by dropping in and bringing up work. I can wait until they finish up and ask Sharron when she gets back to the carrier,” I said.

“Did you remember to send her a replacement transport? She did come down to the town with you,” Dusty said.

I looked at the bear for several seconds. “Well, I have now…” I said, digging into the network. “And I’ve rerouted a spare Kodiak down to the entrance to the lab to wait for her. Thanks for the reminder.”“No problem,” Dusty replied. “So, back to the carrier then?”

“Unless you’ve got another idea,” I said.

“Well, I don’t exactly have something that you need to supervise, but I do have something I want to do,” Dusty replied.

“Oh? Do tell,” I said, turning so I could give the bear my full attention.

“It’s nothing important,” Dusty replied sheepishly. “It’s just… when you asked me and the others to sweep the mountains for sleeper hives the beavers were still working on repairing the Mauler, and now that I’m back in town I wanted to take a look at it.”“You really like that thing, huh?” I said. 

“You relied upon either infantry based weapons and heavy emplacements for such a long time, it felt good to have a solid, well armed, armored vehicle to spearhead our assaults,” Dusty replied.

“What about Bear Force One? It’s mobile and can provide suppressing fire on the area, it’s not like we were lacking the firepower,” I said.

“That’s true, but it can’t plug up a street, or go head to head with something like a Twenty-Three,” he explained. 

“Twenty-three? The Badgers can do that, I bought it to stand up to much bigger Antithesis than that,” I muttered. 

“Well, true, but we haven’t exactly had names for any of the bigger models we’ve been fighting lately, have we?” he replied.

“Yeah… I hope that now the Gene Tender is done we won’t have to deal with shit like that for a while. Back to the basic bitch models again,” I said.

Dusty stared at me for several seconds. “Why do you say things like that? Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?”

“What? You know I don’t believe in that shit,” I replied. “Sure, we’ve had some bad encounters with the Antithesis before, but those were going to happen no matter what I said.”

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Dusty muttered.

“I will, thanks,” I replied flippantly. The two of us stared at each other for several seconds before I finally turned away and sighed. “So, anyway, you want to take a look at the Mauler? Where is it parked?”“It’s on the north side of town, just inside the industrial district,” Dusty said. “It was the only place with enough space to put both the Mauler and the repair rigs.”“What? There weren’t any parking lots closer to the town core?” I asked.

“None that were close to the wall. Do you remember how big that fucking thing is? It doesn’t fit down single-lane roads,” Dusty said. “It’s got a big booty.”I looked at him strangely. “Right… Not exactly how I’d put that,” I said. “But I get what you mean.” 

I knocked on the partition between the transport cockpit and the transport bay while sending a burst transmission with instructions to the pilot. The Kodiak banked sharply as it adjusted course, heading toward the super-heavy tank. 

It didn’t take long until we were crossing the perimeter wall and descending into what appeared to be an abandoned construction yard storage area. There were a couple of old, rusted-out bulldozers, diggers, and dump trucks sitting around the perimeter, and right in the middle was my massive twin barreled super-heavy tank. 

“I admit, I’d forgotten just how big that fucking thing was,” I said, glancing at the exterior camera feed.

“She’s a beauty,” Dusty replied wistfully. “I can’t wait to get back in the commander’s seat again.” 

“I think you might have to wait a while,” I said. “I doubt we’ll be facing anything large enough for it to be necessary.”Dusty turned towards me and grinned. “You know boss, I may hate your habit of tempting fate, but if it gives me a chance to take that baby out again…” 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get out there and take a look ‘before something happens’,” I grumbled.

“With pleasure,” Dusty replied. “With pleasure.”