“Nyx, do I have enough points to purchase a copy of both the chem- chemmelons, and new transports, or do I need to purchase the plans and wait for them to be produced?” I asked as we headed out to the hangar floor.

  “Well, you can afford to buy one of each, but if you buy an Ursa dropship to inspect, you’ll have to cut back on some of your other plans. Even if you’re not using Class III materials, vehicles are expensive,” Nyx replied. “I had to cut your list of missile weapons down to a single portable and a single vehicle-mounted missile weapon to make enough room in the budget.”

  “If they were so expensive, why did you bother to ask if I wanted a Class III version?” I grumbled.

  “Because you could technically afford a Class III assault transport, you just would have needed to abandon your other purchases. I needed to know your priorities,” Nyx explained.

  “Right…” I muttered. “If I can’t afford an- what did you call it? Ursa? How am I supposed to evaluate if it’s worth the cost to swap over?”

  “Oh, that’s simple. I can use the holo emitters I used to show the layout of both the Marsupial and the Strato Carrier,” Nyx said. “You won’t be able to fiddle with all the dials, but it’ll be good enough to show you the major details.”

  We jogged across the busy material collection lane and found a relatively clear section of the hangar floor. I quickly sent out a message to the surrounding bears to let them know we needed the space for a couple minutes before turning to Nyx. “Alright, what shall we review first?”

  “How about the Chameleon,” my AI replied. “If you really plan to add one to nearly every squad, we should adjust production as soon as possible.”

  “Makes sense to me,” I agreed. “Let's see one.”

  Nyx nodded once, and a new bot popped into existence a couple feet away. The thing was… unique. I could tell it was based upon the basic bear chassis--it was the same approximate size and shape, but that’s where the similarities ended. It had a massive head with two fist-sized eyes that protruded from its round head. One of these orbs seemed to focus on me, while the other surveyed the room. The bot’s body was also covered in these lime-colored scales, and for some reason it had a long tail rolled up like a spiral.

  As I watched, the bot shot its tongue out and started cleaning each of its giant eyeballs with it.

  “This is the next step in stealth and recon technology, huh?” I grumbled. “Somehow I’m just not seeing it.”

  “Patience, Evelyn. This is one bot you can’t judge by appearance alone,” Nyx declared.

  “Isn’t it supposed to change color or something?” Spooky asked. “I’m no Bandit, but I don’t think I’d have a problem spotting a lime green lizard running down the street.”

  “Uhhhh… I forgot all the bots take after you, one way or another,” Nyx muttered. “Yes, yes. Lime green isn’t the most stealthy coloring. That’s because it’s not in infiltration mode. Go on, ask it to move somewhere.”

  I quickly glanced around the area, looking for a good place to test the thing. There was a long line of the older Grizzly APCs lined up not too far from us. They weren’t exactly retired, but they weren’t on active duty either. They’d make a fine objective.

  “Alright, you lizard, bot, thing,” I started, causing the Chameleon to jump to attention. “Sneak over to the column of Grizzlies and find a good surveillance location.”

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  One of the bot’s eyes swiveled to check out the objective, while the other kept an eye on me. After a second its mouth cracked open, revealing this creepy half smile, its tongue snaked out, and it was gone.

  This wasn’t the glitchy half invisibility that model nines had when they stopped mimicking an object and changed to attack mode. It was completely transparent.

  I managed to track the thing for a couple feet when it started moving, just barely able to catch part of its outline or a slight distortion in the air, but I lost it after a couple feet. Frustrated, I turned towards Bandit. “You still have it?” I asked.

  “I got it,” he replied. “But I’ll admit, the bugger’s good. Minimal visual traces and artifacting. If it wasn’t for that, I’d swear the thing had a full-blown cloaking field.”

  “Those exist?” I asked, surprised.

  “Of course they exist,” Nyx said. “You just need to unlock the right catalog, just like everything else.”

  “Right. Of course, how stupid of me,” I muttered, before turning back to Bandit. “How well is it hiding from your other sensors?”

  “On the one hand it has minimal heat dispersion and olfactory emissions. On the other hand it’s got some giant feet, and despite being careful, I easily tell where it’s stepping,” the fox replied. “Barring some super specialized hunter model, the Antithesis are going to have a real hard time catching a Chameleon.”

  “So I guess the bright green coloring isn’t going to be an issue after all,” I said. “Is it on station yet? I want to test its climbing abilities.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be an issue either,” Bandit said.

  I gave him a strange look before turning towards the line of APCs. “Alright, tests over. Reveal yourself!” I shouted.

  I expected the bot to immediately jump out of whatever corner it was hiding in, but it didn’t, so I slowly scanned the armored vehicles, looking for any sign of it.

  “Look up about forty-five degrees,” Bandit said quietly, “between the wall and the pillar nearest to the Grizzlies”

  It took me a couple seconds to spot the thing, even with Bandit’s instruction. The Chameleon had somehow managed to climb about thirty feet up the wall and tucked itself between the metal wall and one of the braces. It casually sat there, holding onto the wall with nothing but its feet, and waved when I finally noticed.

  “You did tell it to find a good surveillance location,” Deadbeat said.

  “That I did. I guess I just didn’t expect it to find wall climbing so simple that it would default to it,” I replied.

  “You can come back now!” I shouted at the scaly green ninja before turning back to the group. “Well… Anyone have any concerns?”

  “It has target designators in its eyes, correct?” Spooky asked. “How accurate?”

  “They’re the equivalent of low Class II tech, and they can be improved if Evelyn invests in the tech, but they’ll be extremely accurate for your purposes. It’ll provide multiple different ways to track the target, from laser designation to GPS coordinates,” Nyx explained.

  Spooky nodded appreciatively. “Then I have no concerns.”

  “What about the signal repeaters?” Deadbeat asked.

  “They’re independent from the chameleons, so they’re not as important for this discussion,” Nyx explained. “I recommend the Class II Cat-Eye comm network boosters. They use the same catalog that Evelyn unlocked during the global incursion and are a combination of signal booster and point-to-point laser communicator. Each one is the size of a paw, and when set up properly, they’re extremely hard to disrupt. I recommend equipping each Chameleon with five or six.”

  “We can review them later,” I said sternly. “I know they’re important, but we can mass produce them prior to combat if we need to. We need to make a decision on the Chameleons today, though. Any objections?”

  The bears all shook their heads.

  “In that case, Nyx, please purchase the chameleon plans and put them straight into production. I doubt we’ll be able to ramp up production enough to get one in each squad before Phobos arrives, but we can hopefully get enough to produce a robust comm network when we need it,” I said.

  Nyx nodded. “I’ve already revamped the queues for all the molecular assembler machines. Chameleon production will start with the next cycle.”

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  When the Chameleon climbed down from its hiding place and walked over. I looked it over.

  “Well done, soldier,” I declared. “You proved your worth. Report to the first available squad for immediate deployment.”

  A half grin formed on the lizard’s face, and it saluted before running off.

  “That was unnecessary,” Spooky said. “You could have given it a mental command.”

  “Maybe, but sometimes I like to do things the old school way,” I replied. “Besides, it’s the first of its kind; it deserves a little respect.”

  I watched the little bot until it finally disappeared among the sea of bears near the front of the hangar. When it was gone, I turned back to the squad.

  “Well, that took longer than I expected, but I’m glad we put the Chameleon through its paces,” I announced. “So, what’s next?”

  This arc features Spark from 'A Spark of Sylvan Flame' - Go give them some love!

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