Chương 428: Book 7 - Chapter 24 - Aftermath

By the time Bear Force One arrived on site, the fight was already over. Once the leviathan fell, the samurai below smashed into the steady stream of Antithesis, which had been attacking the boats. Between them and the ship-bound samurai, they managed to slowly whittle the creatures down. The Destiny and its support fleet arrived around the same time we did, approaching from the opposite direction, and between our two forces, we were able to quickly wipe out whatever Antithesis remained in the area.

However, despite our relatively swift response to the situation, the damage had already been done. More than half of the response fleet had been sunk by the leviathans, and even though most of the samurai involved had survived, we had taken several casualties. As I took a Kodiak down to the Destiny, which quickly became the central hub of the relief efforts, I had an excellent view of the devastation.

The few vessels that had survived the Antithesis assault had taken heavy hull damage, and from what I could tell from the air most of them would require extensive repairs before they'd be fully functional again. We'd most likely be without a fast-response fleet until the reinforcements from Vancouver arrived. When the Kodiak touched down, I found Sharron and Macy standing on the landing pad, waiting for me.

"How are things below?" I asked the instant the ramp cracked enough for me to see them.

"Stable," Macy replied tiredly.

"We've eliminated all the Antithesis in the area and have a couple people patrolling the area, making sure there aren't any more lurking nearby."

"Do we know what happened? I've only encountered an EMP of that magnitude once before, back at Great Falls, and that was a result of the Gene Tender creating a root network capable of accumulating and releasing a massive amount of energy. How the fuck did a random Antithesis in the middle of the ocean manage the same effect?" I asked, jumping up the half-lowered ramp and hopping out onto the deck. I could have waited an extra two or three seconds for it to lower properly, but I was too anxious to sit still.

"We're not sure. I only managed to talk to a couple of the samurai who were present when it happened, and it sounds like when they started to close in and engage the leviathans, the bulbous one just sort of… popped," Sharron explained.

"What do you mean popped? They didn't kill it?" I asked in surprise.

"No, it apparently inflated like a balloon, and when it exploded, it not only let out that EMP but it expelled this… metallic pollen shit… into the air," Sharron said, swatting at the sparkly particles floating in the air. I frowned and reached out to grasp some of the minuscule, dust-like particles, but when I did, they flowed through my fingers like they were avoiding my touch.

"Don't worry, they're apparently harmless," Macy grumbled.

"Or, I guess I should say they're not actively harmful. While they lack the usual mutagenic properties that most Antithesis spores have, these will still settle in your lungs and cut them up." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"I'm guessing this is what was disrupting our comms?" I said.

"Seems like, its some sort of organic-mineral chaff that absorbs and distorts communication signals," Macy said.

"Not just radio either, but several low-tier samurai techs too."

"Can we get rid of it?" I asked.

"We don't know yet; we prioritized eliminating the remaining Antithesis and haven't looked into it yet," Macy replied.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," I said, wincing slightly.

"Of course you were busy." I glanced around the area awkwardly before looking back at the pair.

"We should probably head up to the meeting room so we can discuss what to do next. Unfortunately, if the destruction of the fleet, death of several samurai, and creation of the chaff cloud weren't bad enough, we have even more to deal with."

"You have to be joking, how could this situation get any worse?" Macy asked.

"The EMP did extensive damage to the sensor net," I replied.

"We've lost containment."

"So the Gene Tender is loose? We took those losses for nothing?" Macy asked angrily.

"Relax. The net may have been damaged, but my forces were already sitting near the southern breach, and even though my scout forces were too slow to make a difference in the fight, their slow movement speed did have an advantage. If the Gene Tender did want to take advantage of the disruption and escape out that way, they blocked the way. Besides, with so many samurai vessels traveling through the area, I suspect someone would have spotted a third leviathan if the Tender was hiding in the area," I said.

"So what? How is the net only being broken on the North Side a good thing?" Macy growled.

"Because the majority of our reinforcements are coming from Vancouver," I replied.

"And once I was able to regain long-range comms, I was able to confirm that Warspite and his escorts were only an hour out. They're establishing a secondary perimeter in the north so if the Tender DID sneak out that way, it doesn't get a chance to escape."

"You did?" Sharron asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Yeah, I did. I also sent the Ursas out to fix the southern breach and complete the net once we finished off the leviathans," I replied.

"Even though saving lives was my priority, I also realize that letting that thing run loose would be absolutely disastrous, so I'm doing my best to minimize the damage."

"I didn't expect you to think that far ahead," Sharron said, causing me to turn towards her and raise an eyebrow.

"Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. I'm just used to you acting first, thinking after."

"I'm leading an army of thousands, and even though I have lieutenants to help me, I've learned I can't just smash my bears into everything and expect to come out ahead," I huffed.

"Don't get me wrong; I do it whenever I can, throwing a thousand killbots at something solves a surprising number of problems, but they don't solve them all."

"Awww… listen to you. It sounds like you grew up a little while I was gone," Sharron said, rubbing the top of my head. I swatted her hand away.

"Alright, enough of that," I grumbled.

"We should catch up with everyone else. Figure out how to adjust our plans."

"Fine, you're right," Macy said, turning towards the access door. She seemed to be agitated, and I couldn't blame her. The people had died, probably a couple she knew, and the situation had gone to shit in an instant. We'd done our best to minimize the damage, but it remained to be seen if we'd manage to salvage the situation. After a second I followed her, passing the security team and traveling into the bowels of the ship.

"I do have a quick question for you," I said after a minute.

"How did you arrive here so fast? It seems like you arrived before the Destiny, but to the best of my knowledge, you weren't with the recon fleet either."

"Oh… I'm capable of propelling myself through the water at extreme speeds, faster than most ships, so I prefer to swim everywhere. When the EMP went off, I knew something was wrong; I felt it, so I headed in that direction as fast as I could," Macy explained.

"You felt it?" I asked, confused.

"Of course, I've undergone multiple genetic enhancements," she said.

"You didn't think the grey skin and gills were natural, did you?"

"No, I just never really considered that you might have other, even more extreme genetic enhancements," I admitted.

"I'm not really into that sort of thing."

"They're useful… especially when you come up against something that's designed to fight mechanical devices," she said.

"LIke… well, what happened. I kind of wish I'd been there when it went off."

"Don't blame yourself. You did what you could, and your intervention probably saved lives," Sharron said.

"Instead of worrying about what you could have done, think about what you can do going forward." Macy hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"That's the spirit," I said, patting Macy on the back.

"Now let's get to the others. We've got planning to do."