The ground had duracrete paths connecting all the vehicles we had around the camp. Additionally, a modest walkway, I forgot what Squad Leader, err John, called it, was on top of the rampart.
>>Fe, I need to remember to think of him as John now and not my Squad Leader. Yeah, yeah, I know.>>
A squad of 10 synths was constantly patrolling the perimeter on top of the wall. Turning to the central camp itself, Alexandria and Molly had set up an extravagant central congregation area with the typical firepit, along with a substantial outdoor kitchen. They had also arrayed several chairs, couches and stools to provide seating for at least 20 people. I had no idea who they were expecting to show up in the Wastelands of Arizona, but it did look amazingly nice.
I continued with my repair routine eager to get to the external damage on Gretta, and was finishing up with the last vehicular repairs when Molly announced dinner on the campNET. I quickly finished up and grabbed some food but decided to turn in early feeling my sore chest, and aching arms for all the repair work. I had just ducked my head into the hatch on the head of Gretta when I realized I had forgotten to check in with Big Fe.
And with that thought the proximity alarm began wailing Brrrt. Brrrt. Brrrt I reached out with my senses to see if it was a false alarm or if I could tell what our sentries were reporting.
“Unknown bipedal… monster animals? Are attacking from the south.” I yelled.
I couldn't quite figure out what I was looking at through the synth's optics. Each creature seemed to be a blend of an animal and a human. They looked like demented escapees from a chimera zoo. I couldn't imagine that they were naturally evolved creatures. There were bipedal dogmen, catmen, and catwoman, of course. They seemed to have fully developed humanoid bodies with opposable thumbs, but were covered with their animal hides. They didn't have ranged weapons but several were carrying a variety of blunt objects or were equipped with very functional caws or teeth. But I also saw giraffe, elephant, and crocodile hybrids. Or was it an alligator hybrid, I never could remember which was which.
I got a gentle alert ping from <> which shook me loose and I grabbed my pistol. While I prefer my hammer, without my suit of armor I wasn't foolish enough to charge out there.
While the rest were caught off guard by the sudden attack, as well, they quickly sprang into action. Miles and Sunny grabbed their weapons. My sentinel synths had given us sufficient warning. We were quickly able to climb the earthen wall and see the interlopers running toward us more than 300m away. They were skirting the edge of the mine and running straight toward us along the southern side of camp.
I could feel my Squad Leader, John, issuing commands to all able bodied synths who began forming defensive lines along the southern edge, without abandoning positions along the rest of the wall.
My mind was playing tricks on me as I almost felt a sense of frustration from the other Squad Leader, Grace, who was not yet equipped with her entire squad who could take flight and provide reconnaissance and overwatch. Yet more work I had to do. She at least was able to provide overwatch by herself.
Another mental reminder from BigFe and I finally joined the others in shooting the attackers. I raised my phased plasma pistol and shot the golf ball sized fireball at the charging horse-man hybrid. The loud snap startled me as I tried to keep my aim on the charging monster. He jumped straight up and my abysmal shot didn't even come close to hitting him. I fired 4 more times as he continued to charge. Finally when he was 7 meters away I managed to hit him square in the chest and he collapsed. I wasn't going to think about the awful smell of charred flesh and animal scents that were starting to waft over the wall.
Looking around I realized that while the creatures were fast and agile, we were able to hold our own against them. Miles used his energy rifle to take out several of the mutants, while Sunny used his modified mining equipment to knock them off the wall and pierce them with mining lasers. He even crushed one incredibly lucky, or unlucky rabbit hybrid that had jumped up to the top of the wall. His industrial treads destroying any unfortunates who fell beneath him.
My synths were continuing to precisely target and repel any mutant hybrids that managed to jump or climb up the wall. There seemed to be nearly a 100 of them attacking us in the first wave alone, but without ranged weapons they were more like lambs to the slaughter. And yep there was an ovis-hybrid braying on the other side of the swarm.
Instead of my abysmal marksmanship I focused my new telekinetic powers on creating a protective shield around Sunny, deflecting the mutants' attacks and keeping us safe. And for the most part, I kept myself firmly behind Sunny’s massive cybernetic frame.
Keeping a telekinetic shield manifested for very long, or very large was taxing, but being able to block or deflect at the right moment was much easier. I was able to repel several of the mutant monsters who were attempting to scale the walls. At best I was able to shove and push them, as much as I might be able to do with my real limbs, but I could do it at a distance! I began to see the value in tripping up and unbalancing an attacker at a crucial moment in time.
Immediately in front of Sunny, a heavy set dog-man was jumping off the back of a cow-man hybrid attempting to grab onto the ledge in front of us. But right before the apex of the leap I slammed my kinetic force down on the top of his head. He immediately tumbled to the ground and got trampled by two of the mutant bovines that were following behind him. While I suppose my manipulations were not lethal, they did give the synths time to target and eliminate them before they clambered to the top of our wall.
John quickly took charge of the ground forces and while he kept four synths to watch the other sides of the wall, he had the remainder converge where the attackers were thickest. Right in front of Sunny and me. Within the first 3 rounds of combat the entire initial wave of mutant animals were dead or dying on the ground.
At that point I was feeling incredibly drained and unable to even manifest any telekinetic power. Backing away from the ledge, and the highest concentrations of attackers, I realized that we needed towers to gain greater visibility and to remove us from any attackers who might be able to throw or strike us on top of the wall. I guess that's for another time.
>>Big Fe, add tower construction to the list.>>
With the camp’s entire complement of two synth infantry platoons John began to pick off targets further and further back from the wall. One cat-like mutant was able to run across the 100 meters before finally being shot with a very messy microjet explosive. The 2 meter radius left very little of the corpse behind or the surrounding area intact, for that matter. And now I know I had another image I could add to my more conventional nightmares.
It was a fierce battle, but we were able to hold our ground and defeat the creatures. As the last of the mutants fell, we caught our breath and took stock of the damage. Thankfully, our camp was still standing, and no one was seriously injured.
We all were shaken up by the seemingly senseless attack and the unfortunate slaughter. Sunny rolled over and gave me a hug and checked on me. I felt confused but not as lost as the last fight with the Neamans. Quad, I hope I wasn't getting used to this. First the fight with the Scorpionflies was a non issue, I thought because I was in Grett, but now this seemed to not affect me nearly as much as the first battle.
“Gabby, why don't you get some kaf and sit down at the campfire for a bit.”
While I might not be great with people I could tell Sunny was trying to get me away from the carnage and the smell. I nodded my head and soon Molly and Alexandria were busy making synkaf and talking at me. I tried to respond politely and they didn't seem too put out by my inattention.
Through my synths I saw Miles take several corpses into his RV for study and Sunny had the labor synths carry the rest of the bodies into 2 of our repaired kombis to be hauled away. Sunny had ordered 2 camp synths to drive the kombi’s with trailers outside the wall and around to the southern side. I realized, belatedly, that leaving the dead and rotting corpses right outside our walls might not have been the best plan. I am glad I had folks like Sunny and Miles to think of stuff like that.
Eventually as true night began to fall Miles, Estéril, and Sunny returned to camp. Interestingly John and Grace joined us as well, without me summoning them.
Good initiative on their part. They were programmed for after action reports and assessments, of course.
After grabbing a cup of kaf and kissing Alexandria, Sunny rolled into the circle and said, “Well that was a right fecking mess. No idea what they are, or why they attacked. But you hear about monster attacks all the time these days. Seems the Doorways keep bringing stranger and stranger creatures to our neighborhood.”
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Miles chimed in, “Speaking of, those creatures were obviously not natural. While I have no idea what they are or why they were created, they bear genetic markers and sequences that I am sure came out of an Elvish biomancer’s cauldron. Clearly somewhere someone had created these creatures. I am afraid without a way to cross reference the genotypes, I have no idea who.”
Sunny nodded as if he expected that, “The real question is why. Why attack us at all, and why in such a meaningless manner.” He paused to take a sip of syncaf.
“We collected over 200 corpses and if they had a bit of intelligence or strategy they could have been a real problem. But without weapons or coordination, well, it was a slaughter.”
John indicated he wanted to speak, “If I may, while our response time and accuracy was sufficient for today’s engagement our early detection and notification was woefully late. I would like to work with Grace to identify means to better monitor and secure our outer perimeter. If we had been any slower we could have had the alien creatures inside our camp wall, with much more uncertain results.”
Rolling back on his treads, Sunny hummed, “Ah, that is a good point John, we would have had a right mess if those numbers had made it over our walls. I thought the 4 meter tall walls were overkill, but with how fast and good at climbing they are, I am now afraid you are right to be worried.”
With that unsettling thought, I asked, “Well not much we can do about the walls now other than harden them to make them more difficult to climb. We could make the approach as steep as possible as well.” Pausing for a moment, I continued, “Grace I know you were frustrated with the conflict, what are your thoughts?”
John usually seemed to take point on coordinately the synths and reporting, but I wanted to know what my other Squad Leader synth thought as well.
“Humm, well frankly my scout platoon is much less effective than John’s Infantry when on the ground. Our armor is less effective and our weapons while similar and more suited for ranged attacks and arial deployments. Of course right now, I am the only synth equipped with a functional jetpack.”
I flushed at that comment. I had meant to get more of them suited up, but right now the Infantry had taken priority, with beneficial results. “I am sorry Grace, I realize that is concerning for you, for us really. But I don't have the budget or ability to rectify that in the near term. We do have one other jetpack, not sure what you could do with two of them but perhaps you could create a long range patrol team, a bit like those smarmy American Empire soldiers?”
While it is hard to tell body language through power armor, and not that the synths could emote very well in the first place, I could tell Grace was at least a bit mollified by my comments.
John resumed reporting, “Secondarily I would like to develop better muster procedures and drills,” I began to nod but John quickly continued, “and include all of you in those as well. We need to work as a team and be prepared to respond to any type of incident as a group, and not as individuals.”
While that sounded nice in theory it also sounded a lot like work in practice.
John seemed to understand my hesitance and he continued unperturbed, “We need to integrate as a whole team, of course the synths have the role as both defensive camp guard, as well as force projection when we leave camp, but the more variables and miscommunications we have during times of stress the greater the consequences.”
I was starting to realize John actually knew what he was talking about. And that made it much harder to argue with him.
Sunny was the first to respond, “Well, John that seems to make a lot of sense. We appreciate what you all do for the camp and it would make sense to practice our response drills until we all know our roles and places. Please work something up for us all and we can review it when you are ready?” Sunny glanced at me and I meekly nodded.
Miles chimed in, “Indeed that is a very good idea. Practice makes permanent and we are in very tenuous circumstances. I would be happy to offer what little I know of asymmetric operations from my time in the Assembly Exploration Corps. While a far cry from the front lines of the Assembly Orbital Troops, or the elite Jesuit Commandos, we did excel at integrating magical, techno-enhanced and baseline inhabitants into cohesive units.”
John seemed to perk up at the idea, “I would very much appreciate your input Dr. VanBright.”
Miles smiled and nodded as he leaned back into the camp chair.
John was about to continue when he looked around the campfire at our tired faces. “Indeed, Prime, with your permission we can call it quits there and I will have some plans drafted for your review first thing in the morning.”
Yawning and stretching out my back, I nodded. “Sounds good John, thank you and the entire team. You really saved us there.”
With that everyone broke around the camp fire and returned to their various beds, All told it was less than 2 hours since the alarm had first rang, but it felt like an entire day with the amount of adrenaline and energy I had expended. Gretta’s protective pilot compartment had never looked more welcoming as I climbed the ladder up the back of Gretta. I was far too spent to use my telekinetic powers and my back and arms ached from the evening’s exertions. As soon as I made it across the lip into the small passageway, I stumbled down into the passenger chairs and crawled into my hammock, I was asleep before I finished rolling over.
The next morning I managed to snooze my alarm and wake up at a much more reasonable hour. I was pleased to say I was up and coherent before noon, and that was all we were going to say about that.
As I climbed down Gretta after my morning routine I found John pacing back and forth at the bottom of my giant mech.
“Alright John, seriously,... pacing? How much time and effort did you put into developing and refining a routine to walk back and forth!” I mean it was fine for the synths to appear natural and as humanoid as possible, but to actually take the time to develop nervous ticks or mimic human weaknesses seemed a bit much.
John stopped immediately, “umm, I am not sure, I guess you could ask Big Fe. I apologize Prime I had not meant to distract you, I simply wanted to present you with our new training routine and plans of engagement. I have reviewed all the materials you had found for us before we left Neu Caňon but it took me several days to internalize and integrate the varieties of material into actionable tactics and procedures for our two platoons.” Seeing that I was listening closely he continued.
“I have now developed several contingencies for varying levels of internal support. We are of course prepared to operate without any backup from the inhabitants of the camp, but the more we can understand the strengths and predilections of you all, the better I can integrate it into our routines.”
I thought that all sounded reasonable, and I asked “We sure that sounds nice, but I cannot imagine it's all that easy in practice.”
Continuing to calm down, John relaxed his massive cybernetic frame and said, “Indeed, I discussed small team tactics with Miles, and it seems like the variety of skills and abilities makes any cohesive integration a challenge without an entire army’s training program behind you. Miles and I agreed that Molly and Sunny are more conventional and easier to integrate into our operations, but in hindsight, we decided that instead of fully attaching you all into our battle plans it would be best if we could ensure that you don't become a liability.”
Seemingly realizing that he misspoke he quickly continued. “Sorry, Prime! I don't mean to say that you are all liabilities at all, rather I meant that perhaps at best it would be important to ensure we don't need to divide our attention between protecting you as well as repelling whatever assault or attackers we are dealing with. Similar to how we protect you when we go out on our, ‘adventures.’”
“Hey they aren't adventures, they are field tests!” I said a bit testily.
“Of course, of course. To that end I have developed primary, secondary, and tertiary, roles for VIP protection, that would be all the camp inhabitants, and depending on where you all decide to place yourselves we can have the remaining platoons exclusively repel any invaders.”
Not sure I was fully understanding, I clarified “Wait, so with Miles and Estéril, Sunny, Alex, and Molly, and me, you are taking 18 synths off the line?!”
“Ah, no no, Gabby, I mean, Prime” He stammered. “What I mean is that each synth fulfills multiple roles, we could conceivably have 3 synths cover all of you if you are positioned in an optimal manner. Furthermore, synths can and do play multiple roles and need not exclusively focus on one task or the other. Even for the more” he paused and seemed to struggle to find the right word, “straightforward, brethren you have created.”
“I see,” I really didn't, but that's fine, I trusted John, I made him after all.
<
Sensing my hesitation, John continued “Think about it like this Prime, if we are able to split our attention in multiple directions as synths, we can have some synths, worry about you, but the others are free to solely focus on the attackers trusting in their companion synths to protect the VIPS while they deal with the aggressors. Ideally we would have a red blue campaign to test our planning and responses, but we don't currently have the equipment or capabilities to fully do that. To that end, I will spontaneously call out battle drills to ensure we all are prepared for subsequent attacks.
Groaning internally, this is what I was afraid of, “Alright John I get it, but not too much disruption okay?”
With John’s ambush out of the way I headed over to the central camp, just in time for lunch! Molly and Alexandria were presiding over a stirfry on the outdoor griddle that smelled heavenly. “You know Alex, with how many cyborgs we have in camp I am not sure we need to have as much food as we do?”
Looking up and smiling she replied, “Well I suppose that is true Gabby, I believe Miles and you are perhaps the least modified of us all. Even I have had esophageal and digestive modifications. But you are only thinking about food from a fuel perspective, the social and morale aspects of food persist regardless of how many calories your organics need to actually consume. Plus, I have lived with too little to eat, I will never do that again.”
Realizing that I had inadvertently hit on a sore topic, I quickly nodded and grabbed a plate and headed over to my engineering trailer. I didn't notice Molly attempt to call out to me to only have Alex smile wistfully and hold her back.