“You really need to take better care of yourself,” Deadbeat mumbled as she poked at Heavy’s severed arm. “You may be built like a tank, but that doesn’t mean you’re invincible.”

  “Can you fix him?” I asked.

  “Of course I can. He uses the same parts as the moose,” the little medical bear explained. “The problem is we don’t bring the parts to perform a major replacement with us into the field. It would take up far too much space in the transports. He’ll have to wait until we get back to the base.”

  Heavy waved his stump of an arm back and forth experimentally, then shrugged.

  “He really doesn’t seem that concerned with the whole situation,” I remarked.

  “That’s why I was berating him earlier,” Deadbeat huffed. “He may have a lump of iron between his ears, but that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of learning. He needs to stop throwing himself directly into the path of every single thing that rushes our lines.”

  “He probably does it because he’s the second line of defense for our squad. If anything gets past Bob, he needs to stop them before they manage to break through to the rest of us,” I said.

  “Well, we have the other moose for that now,” Deadbeat grumbled. She turned and poked Heavy in the center of the chest. “No more fighting for you today! You can’t wield any of your weapons effectively until I replace that arm, so you’re staying here.”

  The oversized polar bear slumped disappointedly but still nodded.

  “How are the rest of our forces looking?” I asked.

  “Bad,” Deadbeat muttered. “More than half of them are out of commission, twenty bears crippled or destroyed. Of the remaining sixteen, we only have one fox, nine standard combat models, and six moose. We piled the rest of them up in the back of one of the Kodiaks. what do you want me to do with them?”

  “Can you salvage parts off any of the destroyed models and get any of the damaged ones up?”

  “Maybe one or two, but most of them will require internal repairs at a workbench,” Deadbeat said.

  “Then do what you can. If this was a standard engagement, I would have just told you to send them back and called in backup. Since that’s not possible right now, I don’t want to risk sending the Kodiak away. We might need that firepower,” I explained.

  “Yes ma’am,” Deadbeat muttered unenthusiastically. “Will there be anything else?”

  “That’ll be all,” I replied. “Ping me once you’re in position. The faster we get in the air, the faster we can catch up with Bandit and finally deal with this oversized worm.”

  Deadbeat nodded, then jogged out the back of the Kodiak. While I waited for her ping, I noticed Heavy just staring at me.

  “What?” I grumbled. He didn’t say anything, just continued staring. “If you’re waiting for me to overrule Deadbeat, you’re going to be disappointed. I may have seen you fire that cannon of yours one-handed, but that doesn’t mean you’re one hundred percent. You’re staying here for now, doctor’s orders.”

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  The bear slumped in disappointment again.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, patting Heavy on the shoulder, “once we finally finish dealing with this fucking Thirty-Two, we’ll get you fixed right up. Then, I’ll get you one of the Class III serums, alright? You earned it.”

  My augs chimed, and a quick glance confirmed that Deadbeat was in position, so I sent out a quick command to the surrounding vehicles. [Advance towards the Command Kodiak’s locator signal.]

  The small squad quickly ascended, falling into a loose formation as they accelerated towards the east. In the handful of minutes that it had taken me to take care of the rampaging Twenty-Threes, the Thirty-Two and its escorts had managed to cover some serious ground. It took a couple of minutes for us to catch up, even at top speed.

  When Bandit’s vehicle and the horde it was chasing finally came into view, I was a little surprised. The command vehicle was being swarmed by fliers; there was even a dead eleven caught on the side of the turret, and the active protection systems, the particle arrays, were firing madly to keep the Model Ones from getting closer. As we got closer, I could see the command vehicle’s armor was scratched in several places. It had apparently taken a couple of big hits.

  When I saw the state it was in, I immediately flipped open my augs. [Bandit, report. What the fuck happened? Why didn’t you report that you were engaged? Bandit?]

  The audio channel crackled and popped. I could barely make out just the faintest hint of words, but almost all of it was lost in the static.

  “Move closer!” I shouted at the driver. “I want the rest of the vehicles to bring their APS systems to bear on those fliers. Hopefully I’ll be able to establish a secure connection to Bandit if we’re closer!”

  The small squad accelerated just a little bit more, closing on the aerial skirmish. I don’t know if the Model Ones even noticed our approach--they seemed fixated on the lead vehicle, but they definitely felt the effect of our arrival.

  Six additional APS ripped into the flock, ripping a hole right through the cloud of tiny fliers. The small Antithesis raged, swarming and swooping en masse, but try as they might, they couldn’t penetrate the wall of particle beams that erupted from the vehicles.

  [Bandit, report! What the hell is going on?] I growled as my vehicle pulled up right next to the command vehicle.

  [Boss? It’s good to hear from you! Things were getting a little hairy there for a minute,] finally came the reply.

  [Why didn’t you report your situation?] I demanded. [I could have sent additional backup.]

  [I tried, several times,] Bandit replied. [But once we were on top of the Thirty-Two the radio signal went to shit. Even the new system couldn’t establish a stable connection. It’s taking everything the system has just to maintain the locator signal.]

  [Why didn’t you pull back then? It’s obvious the vehicle has taken damage in the pursuit,] I growled.

  [Because there was a message on the system, several of the other samurai are attempting to intercept the Thirty-Two just ahead and needed our signal to triangulate. I made an executive decision that the damage was worth the payoff,] Bandit explained.

  [Well, if that’s the case, you made the right decision,] I begrudgingly admitted. [Did they mention where, or when they’d intercept?]

  [Soon,] came the vague reply.

  [Wonderful,] I muttered.

  I grabbed the nearby monitor, taking control of one of the exterior cameras, and zoomed in on the small horde below. The way that Nyx had described the Thirty-Two, as an absolutely colossal beast, I expected it to stand out way more than it did.

  It looked more like a snake than a titanic grub. It was still twenty-five meters long, but it was closer to two meters wide instead of five. Nearly every inch of the creature was covered in thousands of short appendages that, from this distance, looked like hair. The most striking feature was the massive web of pulsing orange and red lines, which I could see glowing underneath its leathery hide. It truly was a horrid-looking thing.

  [Prepare to descend,] I ordered, switching to the command frequency. [Since I don’t know when, or even if, the other samurai will intercept this thing, we’re going to try and stop it here. I’m not willing to risk it getting into another hive complex or disappearing into another tunnel systems. The others can meet up with us here. I want two vehicles to get in front of it, drop the moose, and open up with your autocannons, hopefully it’ll at least slow it down. The rest of us will approach from the side and hopefully get some clean shots along its flank. Ready?]

  Before I could give the order, something came screaming through the middle of the Antithesis. Everything before the giant worm exploded, ripped apart as a single round tore through the entire column before embedding itself deep within the front of the worm. The Thirty-Two stopped cold, and the surrounding models milled about in confusion.

  I flicked the camera forward, concentrating on the horizon where a figure crouched, a massive sniper rifle in her hands. All around her a dozen other figures, charged forward to engage the Antithesis.

  I stared dumbfounded for a second before finally muttering. “That works too.”

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