Bandit ran the lures continuously through the night, causing wave upon wave of Antithesis to throw themselves against the walls. We didn’t run into that many issues during that time. There was a flock of Model Elevens that did try to rip my bears off the walls partway through the night, but I had enough firepower to take down the oversized vultures before they caused too much damage.

  It took hours of constant fighting before I saw any significant drop in the Antithesis’ numbers, and just like Bandit predicted, it took more than half a day before the lures stopped being an effective way of fighting.

  As soon as I was confident that we’d killed most of the horde, I gave Charlotte a call.

  [I think you can start sending in the clean up crews into the incursion zone. I’ve been running my crews through the night, and they’ve barely encountered any Antithesis during their last few runs,] I reported tiredly.

  [What? Already?] Charlotte exclaimed in surprise.

  [My bears can function without sleep. I could run them days straight if I needed to,] I explained.

  [They may be able to function without sleep, but what about you? You sound terrible,] Charlotte exclaimed.

  [I’m fine… I got a couple minutes sleep between the waves,] I grumbled. [It was enough to keep me going until this point.]

  Charlotte sighed. [You didn’t have to run yourself ragged to get this done. The incursion has been a major concern, but it was contained by your forces.]

  [And that’s exactly why I pushed myself to get it done. I have too many forces tied up just keeping this incursion contained, and I really wanted to reassign some of them to protect the surrounding towns and city walls before I passed out. I got a bad feeling while clearing those hives yesterday,] I explained. [I’m planning on pulling about a third of my bears out of the perimeter, that should be enough to keep things outside stable until I have a chance to recover.]

  [Do you think that’s wise? That’ll leave significant gaps in the perimeter,] Charlotte asked.

  [The foxes should be able to detect movement down adjacent streets, and the Kodiaks can reposition fast enough to prevent anything from escaping the area. The only issue would be preventing people from trying to re-enter the area before it’s been completely cleared, but as far as I’m concerned, the area outside the walls is a bigger threat at this point,] I grumbled.

  [I’ll have to take your word on that,] Charlotte muttered. [If you think it’s that important, I’ll bully the city council into assigning PMCs, Police, or even fucking security guards to fill the gaps in the perimeter until the Family can verify that the situation is under control. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but since Angeline crashed a couple hours ago, I don’t have a way to independently verify the antithesis’ numbers right now. I’ll have to rely on the ground crew reports.]

  [No offense taken. If this was a standard incursion, I’d leave my forces in place for days, or weeks, until we cleared the area, but since we’re fighting a two front war, I need to send my bears where they’re needed.]

  [It’s fine, even if you only cleared ninety percent of the antithesis, that’s more than enough for our support teams to start performing a deep clean,] Charlotte said. [I’m guessing, based upon how tired you sound, you’re going to take a rest soon?]

  [As soon as I’ve reassigned those units,] I confirmed. [I also have a couple things I want to buy, but I’m too tired to deal with Nyx’s sass right now. If you run into any issues feel free to call, I trust Nyx can decide whether it’s important enough to wake me up, or pass on the message when I wake up.]

  [Alright,] Charlotte replied softly. [I appreciate all your help today, have a good rest. Talk to you tomorrow.]

  [Later,] I mumbled, before hanging up.

  Letting out a long, low breath, I leaned back against the Kodiak as my tired brain tried to work through all the things I needed to do before collapsing. Despite knowing that there should have been several important checks and additional steps, the only thing I could think of was ‘move bears.’ Since the near-constant sound of gunfire that had kept me awake for the last day had petered off, I needed to sort everything out fast, or I’d risk falling asleep where I stood.

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  “Bob, Bandit, front and center, please,” I croaked out as I tossed my hair in frustration.

  The fox appeared almost instantly, gliding silently across the enclosed intersection. Bob, on the other hand, took a couple of seconds. Leaping off the wall, leaving potholes in the street where he landed, and slowly trudging his way over.

  “What’s shaking, boss?” the massive bear asked brightly.

  “I’m moving forces off the perimeter to reinforce the towns. And by I, I mean you,” I said wearily, pointing at Bandit. “I don’t trust myself to do the logistics right now, so pull twenty to thirty percent of our forces out of the incursion perimeter and send them to reinforce the town garrisons. Once that’s done, I want the two of you to swap jobs. Bob, you’ll be in charge of maintaining the perimeter around the incursion zone. Keep the lures going, sweeping the streets so you can pick up any Antithesis stragglers. Bandit, organize the town defenses. I encountered some pretty screwed up shit while raiding those hives today, so I want you to be prepared for anything.”

  “Awww… I’m terrible at multitasking,” Bob whined.

  “I know,” I grumbled. “You just have to maintain the current orders and watch for any issues for a couple hours. Once I get up I’ll probably uplift someone else, and they can take over from you. Maybe Deadbeat.”

  “Really? Alright! More conversation partners!” the big bear cheered.

  “That’s not really the reason I’m doing it, but sure… I guess technically that’s another advantage of dropping ten thousand points into a single bear,” I muttered. “Do you two think you can handle the transfer without me? Or do I need to stay awake and supervise?”

  “I can handle this, boss, no problem. I’ll even check in on the big boy’s forces occasionally, just to make sure things are running smoothly,” Bandit declared.

  “Great. In that case, I’m going to collapse in the back of the Kodiak. I’d head home, but since it’s already morning, and the kids would just be getting up, I doubt that I’d be able to get the sleep I need right now,” I yawned. “Remind me to stop in tomorrow to prove that I’m still alive. Otherwise I’m sure I’ll end up on the wrong end of one of Jane's lectures again.”

  “Oh, I can do that. I’m good at remembering,” Bob declared.

  “Fine,” I whispered before pushing myself away from the side of the armored vehicle. “Wake me if there’s an emergency.”

  Even though I was a little unsteady on my feet, I did manage to stumble around to the back of the armored vehicle. The Kodiaks weren’t designed for comfort--hey weren’t even really designed for regular-sized people. Sure, they could carry me and my comrades or be used to evacuate civilians in a pinch, but the vehicle’s main purpose was to transport bears.

  The two benches lining the side of the transport were somewhat comfortable to sit on but would be far too narrow for me to lie on, which meant I’d probably be lying on the cold metal ground. I’d slept in worse places. I’d regularly bunkered down in a dark undercity alley if I couldn’t get back home in time, but it’d been quite a while.

  As I settled into the corner of the cab, drawing my cloak around me for warmth, Nyx’s avatar sprang to life. “What are you doing down there?”

  “Sleeping,” I mumbled. “Or, at least I’m trying to.”

  “Why aren’t you using one of the bunks?” Nyx asked.

  I looked up at the panda bear with blurry eyes. “What bunks? I didn’t ask for bunks.”

  “When I designed the Kodiak, I did so with full access to all the other samurai who participated in clearing the Jasper tunnels, remember? Well, Magpie had quite a selection to choose from. That’s where the majority of the comfort and survival features come from,” Nyx explained.

  “I thought the seats were the only comfort features,” I said blankly.

  Nyx sighed. “Did you not read the manual I sent you once we got out of the caverns?”

  “It was five hundred and eighty pages! Of course not,” I replied grumpily. “It would have taken me a year to go through it!”

  Nyx's bear kneeled down and pulled at something under the seat. The bench pulled away from the wall, and the section behind it folded out, more than doubling the width of the previous bench. It was still a little narrow, but it was still wide enough for me to lay down on.

  “Could it always do that?” I asked blankly.

  “Page one hundred and sixty-three,” Nyx replied, fishing a blanket out of the small hollow behind the former bench and handing it to me. “There’s approximately five hundred and seventy-nine pages of other important features. You really should take a look at that manual.”

  “Later!” I promised, collapsing on the much more comfortable cot. “I’m sure I’ll find the time to glance at it before it becomes important.”

  I felt Nyx’s gaze stay on me as I slowly drifted to sleep. “I’m sure I’ll be telling you about the rest of them later,” the AI mumbled. “Have a good sleep.”

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