Chapter Fifty-Seven - Before the Storm
Tis change, weapons change, but the fundantals dont.
You have no idea how hard it is to armour soone up so that a piece of tal moving really fast cant kill them. In the eternal arms race between projectile and armour, the projectile has one hell of a lead.
We keep that race going. This year we introduce civilian-grade class seven armour. Able to stop even a DMR round dead in its tracks. We also introduced a new 9.50mm AP round which can brush through class seven like its tissue paper.
--stle Arms and Childcare Division head, 2039
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You know, Id appreciate any advice you can give, Jimothy said. He rubbed at his chin, where there was a bit of stubble. Not enough to be like... hot guy on a poster stubble. He looked more like soone that needed to shave. Then again, I wasnt really keen on facial hair.
How long have you been a samurai for? I asked. It couldnt be too long if he didnt have a na. Then again, Gomorrah had gone around without one for a bit.
Jimothy shrugged. About... four hours now? Five? I dont know, the days been pretty busy.
Huh, I said.
Yup. Was back ho, minding my own, when so monsters road over. I lived by Hitchens Brooke, out to the east of here. Nice little community. Anyway, I thought we were right done for when the aliens started showing up in the morning.
You decided to stay there? I asked.
We were packing still. We decided to move as a big group. Smart thing to do, you know? More people ans more protection, but also more chances of getting help if sothing goes wrong. But it also ans that we were slow. Couple of retirees over there, you know? Not the fastest tool in the shed.
I wasnt sure if that was how the expression went, but I didnt have the credentials to second guess him. Yeah, fair. So you took a stand or sothing?
Mmmhm, with my great-grandpas Mosin. Took out a few beasties. Then this nasty tentacled fuck, pardon my French, showed up. Ate nearly every round I had. Grabbed by the leg and I only got out of there because I gotta a knife in my pocket. It did let the others get to safety.
Youre a brave one, I said.
He chuckled. Didnt you have to do the sa?
Well, no, I only had to kill two of them.
Just two? You got off easy.
I only had one arm at the ti, and a piece of pipe, I defended.
He grinned. Now that makes for a better story.
I patted him on the shoulder. Its not all about the story. Just getting the job done, keeping your folk safe.
I dont know about that. This pretty samurai lady showed up a bit after. She... gosh, she was sothing else. Jomothy was blushing a bit, which was... sothing alright. We got to talking. Well, she talked and I shut my trap and listened. She said that having a good and proper image is one of the most important things you can do as a samurai, to get recognized easily. She didnt wanna na though.
I frowned. Wait, was that Emoscythe?
Miss Emoscythe Mordeath Noir, yes, he said. The way he spoke her na made it sound like sothing fancier than it was.
Right, yeah, shed say sothing like that. Anyway, my advice isnt about image, alright? Just shoot the enemy dead, then kill the next one. Keep yourself safe too, I guess. Maybe buy a helt so that people dont think youre insane when youre talking to your AI.
Ah, thats a good idea, I guess, he said. Dont know how Ill incorporate a helt into my look though.
Life finds a way, I said. Or your AI can, at any rate. If you want to play into the gimmick... I guess big guns and woodcraft stuff. Knowing how to track and find hives will be damned important in the next bit.
He nodded. Ive gone hunting before. Im a fair shot too.
We both paused as the ground shook. One of the nearby buildings decided to give up the ghost and collapsed. Fortunately there were a few buildings between it and us, so the dust cloud went up instead of out.
Were going to need to get into position. So, you shoot things well?
I try, he said. Might get a thing or two to help my aim.
That sounded like a waste of points to . Get a bigger gun too, I said, thinking of the rifle Grasshopper had.
Im rather keen on keeping this one. Do you think thats alright?
I blinked. I guess? Maybe you can get your AI to modify it a bit? Adding sights doesnt make it a new gun, right?
I guess not.
And switching out a part or two cant hurt either. It can be one of those... ship of Theseus things. Besides, bullets are half the reason guns are good at killing things, right? The guns only the delivery thod. Try firing black hole grenades or sothing out of that thing.
Jimothy blink. I hadnt thought of that. Enyries is saying that its a workable idea. Dont have many points yet though.
Youll earn plenty, I said. I glanced towards the city. Sothing was happening. There was a distant rumble, and I noticed most of the PMCs around us starting to move with a bit more alacrity. Whatever break we had was over. Get to sowhere you can shoot from. And stay alive. You cant try to date the cute goth girl if youve been eaten.
Jimothy grinned sheepishly. Sure thing. Maybe once were done here you can give advice on how to talk to girls, yeah? He waved, then ran off to join so PMCs while gesturing to one of their lookout towers.
Did... I not count as a cute girl? What, just because I was wearing a tric ton of armour? It had boob plates!
Grumbling to myself, and deciding that Id commiserate with Lucy later--because shed think it was funny, if nothing else--I returned to the centre of the area I was ant to protect. Alright, Myalis, we need mortars. Im thinking six or so of them? In a rough line. We can load them up with sothing that goes boom in a big way. Oh, maybe so sort of frag rounds? Really punch holes into the bastards.
There are a multitude of flavours of fragntation rounds. Though, seeing as how youll likely want to avoid collateral, perhaps proximity-detonated macro-fragntation shells?
Sounds hot. And we have plenty of points to spend, I said. More explosions sounded out, from behind and before the gap. I glanced back and spotted a few artillery barrages starting to open up. The arcs they were firing in were landing shells only a few hundred tres deeper into the outer city.
How close was the wave?
Six mortar systems, coming right up.
Six light thumps sounded around , and I jumped back as six boxes, as big as I was--armour and all--appeared next to . Then twelve more thumps sounded and a gaggle of cat chas unfolded themselves and ran around so that there were two per box.
The cats grabbed onto little handles and lifted the boxes up, then started to move across the area.
Theyll set up the mortars. Each team has twenty rounds already, though youll want to replenish those eventually.
Can we auto-buy new rounds as theyre depleted? I asked.
That is certainly an option. Do you wish to?
As long as it doesnt break the bank.
The nearest cats opened up their case, which unfolded into hydraulic legs and a long tube with a case next to it and a bunch of asuring doo-dads and what I suspected were recoil-tubes to absorb any impact when they fired. These were less mortars and more small artillery pieces, I realised.
A bunch of PMCs and militia-folk were staring as one of the cats opened the breach, loaded in a shell, then hopped onto two legs and started to turn a little adjustnt wheel to point the barrel sky-wards.
Nothing to see here, folks, I said. Just so robotic cats about to do so weird shit. That was mostly aid at the one guy who was very clearly filming with the augntation covering an eye.
Cat, you might want to direct your attention to the Familys map.
I frowned and did just that.
There was a lot of red. More than even the initial wave had. What the fuck.
It seems as though this second attempt will be sowhat more nurous than the first. More diffused too. Expect to see an increase in higher-ranked Antithesis.
Shit, I said. Suddenly, I felt like maybe a few mines and so mortars wasnt going to be enough.
I saw Gomorrah running to the front, and within a half-second, I was doing the sa. We needed to break this wave, or else the streets of New Montreal, of my ho, would be flooded with alien filth. Again.
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