“I broke some of my squirrels,” Angeline cried. The battle was over, so the group was just ing up the remnants, and taining the breach. Since she didn’t have much to do, Angeli off to iigate what happeo a couple of the scouts she lost track of. “You did warn me about the kickback, but I didn’t expect the shockwave to ftten my new friends.”

  I took a quick look at the robotic corpses, then shrugged. “Sorry about that, I didn’t realize they were that fragile. You could try and drop them in my robotic repair bay in the back, see if that fixes them.”

  Angeline frowned. “You have a robotic repair bay? How e I didn’t know about it?”

  “Well I expected to more. Unfortuhe only ohat I’ve put through it was this big boy,” I expihrowihumb at Bob, “and it couldn’t eve his auto-repair fixed. He was just too plex. It should work fine on your squirrels though.”

  “It’s not like you don’t have the time,” Caitlin added. The woman didn’t even look up, she was busy sharpening her h some sort of futuristic looking whetstone. “We o wait on a repair crew, and sihe closest one is from the army engineering corps we’re going to be awhile.”

  “What, you don’t like the military?” I asked.

  “It’s not that, it’s just without Samurai tech they’re going to have to plug that hole the old fashion way. A shit ton of t trucks. Not to mention they don’t have access to instant drying formus… It’s too bad Teddy’s ser grids aren’t effective against stronger models, otherwise we could just leave a set here and move on.”

  “One of us could just set up the on, and babysit the breach, while the others tio .” Angeline said, while trying to figure out how to strap her squirrels into the repair rig.

  Caitlin gnced up. “That’s not actually a terrible idea, it doesn’t need four of us to keep the Antithesis out. Or, it wouldn’t need four of us, if there weren’t those heavier models running around.”

  “Oh oh oh, I have good news on that front actually,” I said, excitedly. “I talked to Humboldt not long ago, and she said that a couple heavy hitters named Nemo ah Charge came in earlier. The two of them smashed all the aquatic hives in the area, and the -up crew was told to trate oerminating the heavier Antithesis. Without any hives to mind, the weaker stuff flooded towards the city.”

  “Wait… they sidered the Twenty-Threes weak? What the fuck were they fighting out there?” Angeline asked.

  “A lot of stuff in the mid to high thirties. Although Sharron wasn’t on the front line, she saw some real nightmare stuff out there. Apparently those hives had a long time to develop before they sent anything against the city.”

  “Fuck me,” Caitlin whispered. “Wait, does that mean we shouldn’t expey more heavy Antithesis? We should totally tinue ing. Who should we leave behind?”

  I sighed. “Let’s not kid ourselves, I’m the least useful o of rht now. My bears don’t need much ht, Epona and Silent are useful against heavier models, and Bright is o look for lurkers. Angeline take my truck, and keep repairing her squirrels while you advance. I’ll just keep my squad, the on, and rabbit APC just in case I o move.”

  “Are you sure?” Angeline asked. “I know it’s kinda your thing, but I feel bad leaving you here.”

  “Absolutely. The sooner we up here, the sooner we crack all those shelters,” I said. “I don’t really he points as much as you guys do.”

  Angeline didn’t quite seem vinced, but Caitlin was quite enthusiastic. Before anyone could stop her she ran off to get ahold of Silent Saber and ahe bears. I gently id a hand on Angeline’s back, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine here.”

  The girl sniffed, but nodded before wandering off to prepare.

  While her friends were preparing to leave I decided to che the status of my defenses. I had set up several ser grids twenty or so feet out from the outer wall, so the engineers would have a little room to work. Meanwhile my bears were patrolling just ihat perimeter, ing up anything rge enough to survive crossing the barrier.

  “I know the pn was to set up the on, just in case something rge attacks while the engineers are repairing the wall, but space is going to be tight ohey start repairing the wall. I might o i in some alternative options…”

  “Like what?” Nyx asked, borrowing Dusty’s body.

  “I was already pnning on upgrading my produ capabilities, and you mentiohat with Css II Matter Refiguration Maes I could create self replig mine fields. This might be a good ce to test it.”

  “Are you sure? Based on what you said earlier, I doubt you’ll hem.”

  “True, but I have the extra points. I move the replicator after I buy it?” I asked.

  “You …” my AI firmed after a sed. “The main system takes the form of a three foot spike that is buried in the ground. If you want to gh all the work to dig it up, and recharge it again, you could always bury the geor somewhere else.”

  “Well then,” I smirked, “It’s a good thing there’ll be a ton of military engineers around ter, isn’t it?”

  “Speaking of which…” Dusty turned back towards the breach, through which they could see a voy of trucks pulling up.

  “It’s about time, let's go greet uests.” I grumbled, leaving the front lio the bears. As I made my way through the remains of the wall, a couple people jumped out of the front car and saluted. Slightly fused, I saluted back. “What do they say in the movies? At ease? I’ll be ho, I’m not actually sure why you’re saluting me in the first pce.”

  The man in front, probably in charge sidering his uniform was fahahers, looked at her fused. “Aren’t you a Samurai ma’am?”

  “So? What’s that have to do with anything?”

  “All Samurai have a military rank during Antithesis invasions, which gives them the right to take and of local operations.”

  “That’s cool…” I replied, nodding slightly. “Do you need me to take and of p the t?”

  The military officer bnched, “No ma’am.”

  “Then I’ll leave the setup to you. There will be a squad of rabbits on one side of the wall, and bears oher side to protect you while you work. Feel free to deploy your troops as you see fit. I’m not picky.”

  “Yes Ma’am”“And stop callihat, if you o tact me call me Teddy. It makes me feel old when people call me ma’am.”

  I turned away from the trucks, and shut dowernal s on my helmet. “Nyx, do I have access to anything that’ll speed this process up? I don’t fancy being here for days while the t dries.”

  I don’t bme you. You open up an structural engineering catalog, and buy some quick set liquid for the crete. Just have the military spray it over the top of every pour, and it’ll dry within minutes without promising the build.

  “Just keep supplying them with what they need until the hole is closed,” I grumbled, “and tell me the total ter. I know I have the points to cover it.”

  do.

  Between the massive number of engineers, and the samurai assistahe initial framing only took a few hours, and the breach was sealed by the end of the day. Even if the engineers needed another couple days to finish the final touches, they wouldn’t need a Samurai babysitter going forward.

  Unfortuhat was the slowest, most b day I’d had since being a samurai. I didn’t see anything rger than a Model Six all day, and in the end I spent the entire day just sitting there,

  When I finally boarded the Grizzly, ao pick up the rest of the squad, I couldn’t help but wonder how much lohis ter-offensive would st. Even though it had only been going on for a couple days with the number of samurai around, and the speed at which the situation was stabilising, how much longer would they need everyoo stick around?