Chương 426: Book 7 - Chapter 22 - FUBAR

By the time I arrived on the bridge of Bear Force One, the samurai fleet was already in hot pursuit of the leviathans. I wasn't surprised that the aquatic-focused samurai had access to better aquatic sensor and tracking tech than I did, but I was surprised at how quickly they managed to pick up the monster's trails and chase after them. The samurai scout fleet was fast too. Extremely fast.

Within seconds, it became apparent that they were going to leave my scouts, which were still a few minutes out, far in their wake. They were actually so fast that I wasn't even sure that if I sent my Kodiaks after them that my APCs would be able to keep up. Since the Ursas were still occupied with deploying the sensor net, I didn't have anything that could keep up with the team and I had to rely upon the updates and data streams being shared by the strike team.

Spooky was still occupied with both assembling the sensor net and maneuvering Bear Force One in pursuit of the fleet, so I just ducked into the empty planning room and activated the holo table myself. Based upon the fleet's movements, the leviathans had been moving steadily to the northeast, towards the very heart of the search zone. It didn't seem like they were tracking something; they didn't meander or adjust their paths at all. They were taking an arrow-straight path towards… something.

"Nyx, do I have many points left? Tokens?" I asked, my eyes glued to the miniature coastline projected on the table below me. A few. You used most of it on the Bear Force One and Marsupial upgrades. You might be able to pick up another Class III catalog or two, but not much more than that. Why? Do you want more scouts? I shook my head.

"No, I've been spending my points hand over fist the last couple weeks, and now that the battle has changed from a shooting war to a bug hunt, I need to start saving again. Who knows when I may have to buy some emergency supplies or a new catalog," I said. It sounds like you're expecting the Antithesis to try something, Nyx said.

"Of course I am. The Gene Tender has been far too passive for my liking. I figured that once the Gene Tender found out we were creating a net around it, closing in on its location, it would immediately entrench itself and attempt to create another superhive, but it hasn't. For some reason, it's still hiding. It must have some idea about what's going on by now, so either it's trying to build up forces before trying to strike or…" Or it has a plan to escape, Nyx finished.

"Either way, I have a bad feeling about this," I muttered. On the table the tiny blips that represented the samurai fleet slowly moved steadily to the northeast. I quickly tried to eyeball it and see if I could estimate how far they were from the center of the zone, but when I did, the Command Network kicked in.

The exact GPS coordinates of every buoy dropped, the average speed of each samurai vessel, and the very millisecond the leviathans crossed the net were all pulled up, distributed across the network, and used to calculate exactly how far they were from the center of the zone. Twenty-one point seven three five kilometers, and approaching fast. I bit my lip. According to the readings from the fleet, they were just under 10 kilometers behind and closing fast.

Assuming that was correct, they'd catch the Antithesis and cut them off before the creatures arrived at their expected destination, but I still couldn't figure out what the leviathans were up to. They had the usual single-minded focus that other Antithesis did, but instead of feeding on whatever they could find, they were just traveling. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. As the fleet closed in, two large, red dots appeared.

If the scale was correct, they were far larger than I expected. They were probably about half the size of the Destiny, or Bear Force One, and they dwarfed the pursuing fleet. I pulled up my augs and started connecting to the Samurai chat group, but just as it appeared, everything went dark. The lights flickered, my augs restarted, and the holo table winked out. I took a step back and threw open the door to see many of the bridge crew twitching wildly.

"Spooky!"

"We've been struck by a high-level EMP. I've lost communication with both our scout team and the Ursas who were already in the air, preparing to deploy the next set of buoys," the bear yelled back.

"I thought we fucking hardened Bear Force One against that shit," I replied, storming out of the room and towards the massive window at the front of the bridge.

"We did; that's why we're still in the air. We lost some maneuverability because some of our bridge crew were affected, even through the shielding, but none of our systems went offline," Spooky said.

"Where the fuck did it come from?" I paused, then narrowed my eyes.

"The leviathans?"

"Most likely. We don't have any dedicated magnetic sensors on board, so we have no way to confirm," the gray bear replied.

"I'm still trying to reestablish our connection to the team, but if they were closer to the source and didn't have the proper shielding, they might have gone dark." I stared at Spooky for several seconds, trying to process everything and figure out what to do before finally looking the bear square in the eyes.

"Launch the Marsupial and have it approach the fleet at top speed. Its first priority is to determine the state of the fleet, evacuate any samurai that need assistance, and, finally, spot those FUCKING leviathans," I ordered.

"I'd like to believe the fleet is fine, but we need to confirm."

"Just the Marsupial?" Spooky asked.

"We haven't started shielding the other vehicles yet," I growled.

"I added it to the long list of upgrades I wanted to perform, but I had other priorities, like shielding the Carrier which I needed to do first. Our shielding was fine against most standard EMPs, I didn't expect to need the Class III upgrade so quickly. How long will it take to get Bear Force One into a position where it can perform overwatch for the fleet?"

"Ten minutes, maybe more," Spooky replied.

"The carrier is much faster than it was before the upgrade, but it's still not the swiftest vehicle."

"Then prep the missiles," I said.

"We can't let those fucking things fire another EMP. How long until the Marsupial is in place?"

"Two minutes," Spooky replied.

"Good. Ping me the instant it arrives. I'm going to try and get ahold of the twins and the ships in orbit. We need to re-establish contact with the others and deal with this as quickly as possible," I shouted as I retreated back towards the meeting room.

"I didn't think we needed their help to deal with this, but I guess I was wrong. I'm not going to make that mistake twice." I mentally prodded my augs, trying to force them to reconnect to the comm network, but no matter what I did, they just stubbornly refused. Everything else was working but the augs…

"Nyx! What the fuck is going on?" I shouted. The EMP knocked out the nearby comms repeaters, which should have immediately caused your augs to connect to the nearest satellite, but it seems like that, along with the initial ECM the Antithesis have managed to establish some sort of longer-term residual effect. I doubt it'll block samurai-grade equipment, but terrestrial communications are disrupted, my AI said.

"Well… FUCK!" I shouted.

"Can the bears access the comm network?" I asked. Of course, they all have short-range radios capable of patching into local communications networks, Nyx said.

"Good," I hissed before closing my eyes and searching the Command and Control Network, looking for a bear I could use as a messenger. The first thing I noticed was we lost almost every single Ursa that was in the air. Even though they'd hit the surface of the water at high speed, tore themselves apart on impact, and sunk into the depths, many of the crews survived and were slowly trudging back across the ocean floor. The second thing I noticed is I'd completely forgotten to leave a bear with the Twins.

It had become a habit for me to leave a bear with my friends; it was a far more secure way to talk to them, and in situations like this it would have been a lifesaver. Reaching further, I connected to the bears on the shore, then even back in Great Falls. However, the interference was apparently strong enough that it disrupted communication on the twins' side too. I growled in frustration before getting an idea.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and connected to a specific bear to the northeast, and as soon as I took control and before I could get a good look at my surroundings, a petite woman threw herself across the room and stared the bear in the eye.

"A change! You've been so obedient so far, performing your tasks with clockwork precision. What changed?" the brunette exclaimed excitedly. I forced the bear to step back and give her a small smile.

"Maggie, it's Evelyn," I said.

"I need a favor."