Chương 781: Chapter Fifty-Five - Home Before Bedtime

"In Australia News today, dire information has surfaced near the small town of Min Min in Queensland as previous reports have finally been confirmed. The Antithesis have copied local wildlife and are now creating spiders. We expect the death toll to be in the millions." --ANT News, report, 2057 I wheeled the Bastion around, then brought it to a nice, safe landing a ways behind the last row of artillery.

The big guns were firing at a steady rhythm, and I found myself watching as soldiers loaded new shells into the complex auto-loader system at the back. One of them was wearing an exo-skeleton to lift the shells out of a large crate while two more were around, opening breaches and helping. They were firing one shell every thirty seconds or so.

Probably only a third as many as they could if they pushed themselves, but I imagined that this kind of slow, steady rate was better for ammunition conservation. The rest of the backlines seemed relatively calm. Soldiers were milling around, a lot of them around this huge tent and... oh, right, it was well past noon, wasn't it? My stomach twinged and I realized that it had been a minute since I last ate something.

"What's that old expression, about two birds and one stone?" I asked. Crisis Mode turned my way.

"You mean... two birds with one stone?"

"Oh... yeah, that one," I said.

"Anyway, what I was trying to get at is that I'm hungry as hell. You?" Crisis Mode glanced down, then touched her stomach.

"I suppose, yes? I have had breakfast, and a snack bar since, but that's not quite enough."

"Cool."

"What's the other stone?"

"Oh. I was going to invite the other samurai as well. Actually... Myalis, can you send an invitation out to the others?" Consider it done. I blinked.

"Wait, what did you send?" It only took a moment for a screen to appear on my aug's overlay, with the message that Myalis had sent to Princess, Shy, Hedgehog and Gomorrah.

"You are formally invited to join me for a late lunch in the mess hall. The purr pose of the meeting will be to paws for a meal while discussing tactical matters concerning our near-future operations. Attendance is not strictly mandatory, but I would consider it a rather serious cat astrophe if everyone decided to wander off and do their own thing. Come hungry, bring any relevant tactical concerns, and try not to start any hiss terics before dessert. Samurai Stray Cat""I fucking hate you," I whispered.

"Are we... are we really sinking this low? Puns? Like, that's some low-effort shit, Myalis." One does what they can with the opportunities provided to them. Give me better materials and I'll provide something better, but this is what I'm working with.

"The fuck are you inning the blame on me for?" I asked. I was interrupted when I heard some giggles from nearby. The only other person in the ship at the moment had a hand over her mouth and was looking away from me, but there was an unmistakable shake to her shoulders.

"Sorry," Crisis said.

"It's just, ah, the relationship you have with your Protector AI is very unique. Crylin always comes off as helpful and polite."

"You cannot imagine how envious I am." I received a ping a moment later, then a second. Princess had accepted. Gomorrah wanted twenty minutes to arrange things so that the wall wouldn't get flooded while we were distracted. Nothing from Hedgehog or Shy, but I didn't expect much from either. So, I stood and made my way out the back.

"You know, in an ideal world, I'd be back home being lazy right now," I said.

"I think most would want that," Crisis said.

"Eh. Most. Not all. There are some weirdos that enjoy working themselves to the bone. I'm sure as shit not one of them," I replied. We stepped out into the open air, and I walked towards the mess tents. We got some looks as we approached, but I didn't mind them. It only took a bit to find the corporal in charge of the entire thing and a few words were enough for him to set aside a space for us to meet in. It was just a second tend, pitched up behind the kitchen trailers.

It would give us some privacy, but we'd still be able to see the back of the wall. For food... well, I wasn't going to have them relocate their entire thing. We'd just have to cut in line with a tray. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Hedgehog was, surprisingly, the first to show up. He nodded to me and Crisis Mode, then went and gathered some food. He returned with a tray loaded high and clattered it onto the table we'd set up.

"Afternoon," he said as he removed his spikey helmet and set it down next to his tray.

"Hey," I said.

"I take it this isn't an urgent meeting?"

"Not that urgent, no," I said with a shrug. I looked up when I saw a flash of colour. Princess and Knight were coming over, and so was Gomorrah. Gom had three soldiers with her, all of them wielding datapads instead of guns, so I figured it was some logistical crap. Then Shy showed up. She just rounded the corner, head down, a tray clutched in front of her and... when did she even get that? I should have been able to see her standing in line. It wasn't too long before we were all seated.

Gomorrah frowned as she poked at her meal. It was... slop. All of the options were one flavour of slop or another. The most food-like of them was the vegetable mix, and that was just seven unpopular veggie options mixed in a large bowl and steamed until semi-soft. I had a 'steak' which I was pretty sure had never been within a hundred kilometres of a cow. It might have been a tire once, however. The sauce was a banger, though. Shit was salty as hell, and I liked it. Not that I'd admit the fact to anyone.

It didn't matter. The food was warm and it had calories. The average soldier wasn't going to complain when the option was between this and an MRE. Hedgehog was leading by example, digging into his slop-bowl with gusto.

"So, what's this all about, then?" he asked as he came up for air.

"Right. So, Crisis and I handled the logistics problem. Kinda. We'll get the ammo we need back, with a slight delay. I think it'll all work out in the end. Libre is... on leave, right now. We're not taking orders from him, and nor is anyone else. I gave Juno the task instead."

"He's overworked already," Gomorrah said.

"Then he'll have to call in for more help or figure it out," I said with a shrug.

"I like him, don't get me wrong, but we can't afford to fuck around too much. How's the front?" Gomorrah took the change of topic in stride.

"Well enough," she said.

"The number of Antithesis charging over has petered out to a trickle."

"But it hasn't stopped entirely?" I asked.

"No. I had a second wave of drones sent out. They died before getting too far, but it looks like the Antithesis are gathering in a large mob about thirty kilometres out." Hedgehog hummed.

"That's right out on the edge of our main battery's range," he said with a gesture to the artillery guns nearby.

"We'd need to bring in extended-range howitzers if we want to hit them. And even then, if they're not standing still, it'll take a good number of tries to nail them."

"We might have options for that," I said.

"I do," he confirmed. Right, he'd been playing with all sorts of thorny stuff lately. That was cool.

"Okay. So, that's great. But I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to stay here forever. Libre's plan was heavily reliant on us sitting on our asses. Since we're not doing that, I propose the opposite?"

"The opposite?" Princess asked.

"Sitting on our... huh?"

"No, I mean... sallying out. We're six samurai. That's a good bit of firepower. We grab a few mechs, some tanks, and head out, make a push towards the hive feeding the current bunch of Antithesis, and blow it the fuck up." Surprisingly, Hedgehog was the first to agree.

"I like that. Though I'd suggest going by air. Travelling overland has some advantages, but they're outweighed by the difference in speed. A few helicopters, your own transport, and we can be over the hive in under an hour."

"Nothing says that we can't land near it and occupy the area," Gomorrah said.

"But that kind of movement would be leaving the soldiers and army behind."

"Is that bad?" Crisis asked.

"I'm all for fewer dead soldiers."

"Fewer points," Knight said.

"Fighting all the way over would give you that many more opportunities to gain more."

"There are always more enemies," Crisis argued back. Hard to argue with that.

"Okay. Cool. So, finish up lunch, then tap out an alien hive, then back home for bedtime."