Growing from inconsistent leaks to a consistent stream flowing through the breach was a serious problem. The antithesis were probably taking five times as many losses to Skyler’s torpedoes, but they could afford those losses. Skyler and I, on the other hand, were just two people, and we were slowly starting to fall behind.

  {Sky: Two more Fours just made it through the breach, heading east.}

  {Rei: I’ll get to them when I’m done with these Threes!} I replied as I pushed my aquapack to its limit, trying to catch up to the latest pack of antithesis that slipped through.

  Although some of the creatures continued to engage, some immediately scattered, making it much more difficult for me to keep them contained. As soon as Rending Wave found its mark, ripping the errant Three apart, I immediately flipped around and headed back to the breach.

  The Fours were heading directly for me, which made it easy for me to intercept them. I plunged Rending Wave into one on the way by while darting the other. I barely even needed to change course.

  {Rei: I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,} I admitted. {If anyone has an idea, I’m open to suggestions.}

  {Arty: You and Skyler have earned quite a few points over the last hour or so. Unfortunately, even with your shields, you’d have to stop bombarding the breach long enough for someone to get close enough to plug it.}

  {Athy: There are some temporary options that could be fired from the drones, like expanding foam rounds, but these would be quickly destroyed by either the concussive torpedoes or the antithesis’s relentless assault. Likewise, I wouldn’t recommend using your regular tactic of flooding the area with enzymes. Although we could create a more concentrated formula, it would still get diluted to the point of being ineffective within seconds by the seawater. The concussive rounds would be more effective.}

  {Rei: I’m hearing a whole lot of what we can’t do. Not a lot of what we can.}

  {Arty: Our apologies. Normally we’d recommend that Skyler invest in additional drones to help deal with the volume of antithesis pouring through the breach, but we would highly recommend augment upgrades before attempting to control more. Although it would be possible, it would cause immense stress on both her body and hardware. Instead of attempting an emergency aug upgrade, something we really do not recommend, you can instead invest in Class I Automated Aquatic Defenses Catalog.}

  {Athy: Within this catalog are a range of static torpedo drones. They’re far larger than Skyler’s mortar drones, need to be anchored, and are far harder to manually aim, but they could be used to take over the suppression role Skyler is currently attempting to perform.}

  {Sky: Yes, those. All of them. Now.}

  {Athy: We also…}

  {Sky: No, forget the other options. I want enough of those static drones to keep this breach clear of antithesis until this siege is over. Reina and I have been struggling to keep this area clear for the last hour, and we really need to check the rest of the wall. I don’t care what it costs, drone me!}

  Several massive drones materialized around Skyler. They were closer to Arty’s original form in size but didn’t appear to have any engines or means of propulsion, just a central cone-shaped hull with two large torpedo turrets branching off the top.

  Four of the massive drones appeared in front of the breach, immediately opening up on the area. Although they didn’t seem to be doing as much damage as Skyler’s mortar drones, their numbers and rate of fire more than made up the difference.

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  The tiny, momentary gaps which the antithesis had previously exploited closed, and the leak stopped.

  {Rei: We could have used those half an hour ago.}

  {Arty: You wouldn’t have been able to afford them half an hour ago These drones are expensive, and you both spent most of your points on aquatic gear and upgrades before coming down here.}

  {Rei: In the future, please be more proactive about suggesting upgrades like this, even if we can’t immediately afford them.}

  {Sky: Also, please just jump to the most reasonable options first in the future. Although I don’t mind hearing about your thought process outside of battle, it’s a little more stressful in battle.}

  {Athy: Noted!}

  {Sky: Thanks.}

  {Arty: Now, even though the torpedo turrets help with the most immediate issue, they do not help with the fatigue issue. Based upon the latest reports, the horde has been cut down by about half. Although this is great progress, it also means that it’ll take at least another hour before the assault ends.}

  {Rei: Wonderful.}

  {Athy: Normally we’d offer you a vitaminenriched meal at this point to help you keep your strength up, but since that’s not possible, we have two options.}

  {Arty: First, a nutrition booster shot, which will keep you both going for the remainder of the battle, but will do little to alleviate your current fatigue.}

  {Rei: or…}

  {Athy: A stimulant cocktail using some of the less extreme options from Class I medical utilities. It’ll not only alleviate your fatigue but also keep you sharp for the remainder of the conflict.}

  {Arty: Although there are no long-term effects, you will certainly have to crash afterwards.}

  {Rei: That doesn’t sound so bad.}

  {Sky: No long-term side effects, but what about short term? Is it addictive or anything?}

  {Athy: Slightly, but considering the stimulants would last far longer than necessary, we would recommend taking a full system flush to completely clean out your system before that becomes a problem.}

  {Sky: Let’s start with a nutrition shot each, and we’ll discuss the stimulants after.}

  {Rei: Agreed.}

  A small package appeared right in front of me. Unlike the regular plastic boxes, this one had a rubber balloon attached to the top. As soon as I grabbed the box, the balloon expelled all its gases, allowing me to maneuver the thing like usual. Inside the box was a standard auto-injector unit.

  {Rei: Is it really safe to inject this thing underwater? Will it penetrate our suits?}

  {Arty: The auto-injector creates an airtight seal around the puncture site to keep out contaminants so you don’t have to worry about the sea water. As for puncturing your suit, it is possible, but we’d actually recommend you pull down the neck on your suit and inject it there. There’s less chances of something going wrong with direct skin contact.}

  {Rei: Right.}

  Pulling down the collar of my suit, as instructed, I pressed the injector to my neck. As it spread through my system, the solution gave me a slightly warm, energized feeling.

  “Feeling better?” Skyler asked as she swam over to me.

  “A little, my muscles are still sore, but I’m a little less exhausted now,” I replied. “How about you?”

  “I feel like I could take on a million antithesis!” Skyler joked, flexing an arm.

  “That’s great. We might actually have to do that before the day is done.”

  I glanced over at the breach. Nothing had managed to sneak through in the last two minutes, so the situation had improved, but we’d been stuck here for so long I worried about what else could have snuck through elsewhere.

  “We really should check the rest of the area and make sure there aren’t any problems elsewhere,” I grumbled.

  “You’re right, we should,” Skyler agreed quietly, before reaching out and gently grabbing my arm. “Are you going to take the stimulants?”

  “Only if absolutely necessary,” I assured her. “I don’t feel like I need it right now, but if I get too tired, I’ll probably take a dose. I’d rather do that than risk both our lives by becoming too slow and sloppy to prevent the antithesis from getting through.”

  Skyler hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Do what you think is right.”

  “I’m going to patrol to the east and double-check the rest of the wall quickly. Can you contact Ghost-Light and Limelight and see what their situation is? I know they’re probably just busy, but if there are any issues, we should probably find out ASAP.”

  “Right, I can do that. Message me if you find anything,” Skyler replied, throwing me a little mock salute.

  I immediately took off again. From what I could tell, the wall was pretty much intact, although the links were looking a little worse for wear. The smaller models couldn’t penetrate them quickly, but they did make a little bit of progress from gnawing on them constantly for over an hour. It would still take them days to cut through at this rate, but their persistent attacks were getting results.

  As I jetted back and forth, not locating anything super critical, I started to feel a little better about this defense. Things were stabilizing.

  Unfortunately, that didn’t make me feel much better. The antithesis had a habit of springing something new on us every time we thought we’d gotten a hold on things, and right now, they were overdue.

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