“Do you need anything else from us?” Deadbeat asked as Heavy packed up the holo projector.

  “Not right now. We’re kind of stuck on standby until we know exactly where, and when, Phobos will arrive. I guess we could start assembling a number of garrisons, or fast response teams, and figure out where to deploy them,” I said.

  “We could certainly do that,” Spooky replied thoughtfully. “However, if Phobos changes its trajectory, or it breaks up in a strange way, we’ll have to redeploy them all again.”

  “Until we have a good idea of where it’s going to land, we’re probably just better off pushing the Molecular Reconfigurators as hard as we can to make sure we’re as prepared as possible,” Bandit added.

  “Ughhhh… I know it’s the right move, but it feels so passive,” I groaned. “I wish we could do something more.”

  “You could have contributed some points to the super gun,” Deadbeat pointed out. “Or tried to assemble an alternative anti-phobos project.”

  “If I was anywhere near home, or at least a city I was familiar with, I may have tried. I’m not going to ask a bunch of unfamiliar samurai to help me bankroll and assemble a super weapon in their backyard. They live right next to the Ohio Exclusion Zone, for fuck’s sake, a near-permanent reminder of how utterly devastating weapons of mass destruction can be. I doubt they’d be that thrilled with the idea of building a samurai-grade one on their doorstep,” I explained. I paused as a thought occurred to me. “Shit. Alan was looking forward to getting a look at that wasteland. Guess he’s never going to get a chance now that we’ve already turned back towards home.”

  “We could send a squad back to explore and broadcast the experience back,” Bandit suggested. “The Kodiaks are significantly faster than the Carrier. Even if they spent a full day wandering around, they’d be able to get back to the Carrier before we arrived back home.”

  “You know what? Fuck it, let’s do that. It’s only one squad, so even if they don’t get back on time, we won’t be that short-handed. We can even send them in a Grizzly so we’re not wasting the Kodiaks,” I said. “Not only will Alan be thrilled, but I’d kind of like to see what the exclusion looks like.”

  “You should make sure you pull the lures out of the Grizzly before you send them out. We may need them in the coming conflict,” Spooky suggested.

  I blinked. “Fuck… I keep forgetting I have those. We used them a ton when I only had like twenty bears, and we couldn’t afford to clear an area room by room, but now that we have thousands of troops and everything is regimented… the old, unique tools just aren’t getting used as much anymore.”

  “Why not deploy them in every squad again?” Bob asked. “That would make searching easy again!”

  “Because I’m not made of points, and lures are expensive as fuck,” I grumbled as I stared at the Grizzlies. “Maybe we should install them around the Strato Carrier so we can draw out the Antithesis in the area as we fly over.”

  “Although that’s an intriguing idea, I doubt it would work very well,” Spooky said. “I believe the lures had to be within a couple hundred feet of the target to work. Excellent when we’re rolling through the middle of a city in an armored column, but significantly less effective when mounted on a fortress flying through the lower atmosphere.”

  “We could fly lower,” I replied.

  “Even if we did, the Carrier has to maintain a minimum safe flight altitude to avoid trees, buildings, and other obstacles. It would never be able to use the lures efficiently,” Spooky countered. “It might work if you invested in a higher tier of lure…”

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  “Which, again, is expensive as fuck,” I muttered. “There has to be something we can do with the lures. Now that I’ve remembered they’re here, I hate the fact that we just have them sitting around.”

  “We could just send them out to constantly patrol the area around the Strato Carrier,” Deadbeat suggested. “It wouldn’t be super efficient, but I imagine they might be able to uncover the occasional Antithesis infestation.”

  “I guess that’s better than having them just sit around the hangar gathering dust,” I said. “Spooky, can you take charge of setting that up? Since they’ll be patrolling around the Carrier it makes sense to me if we added them to the onboard security forces you’re already managing.”

  “Consider it done,” the bear declared. “Would you like me to start deploying them now, or wait until we get home?”

  “It can wait,” I replied. “We’re traveling too quickly to use them effectively right now. At our current speed the Antithesis probably wouldn’t even be able to respond before the patrol left the area. They might catch something if there were Ones or Elevens in the area, but those assholes usually only show up in active hives.”

  “It’s your call,” Spooky replied, with a small shrug.

  “And I put you in charge of the ship,” I pointed out. “I uplifted you all to be my command staff. If you disagree with my decisions, feel free to call me out on them.”

  “In that case,” the little grey bear said, adjusting his command cap. “I’m going to send them out now. Even if the chance of finding something is exceptionally rare, there is a chance. We can always send a strike team back to deal with anything that shows up, then have them catch up again after destroying the infestations.”

  “It’s your call,” I replied, with a small smirk. “Do any of you have something else you want to cover before I head back to the residential area? I may have had to cut the family vacation short, but I can still take advantage of the short time we have left.”

  “Oh. Oh, oh, oh, me!” Bob exclaimed, raising his hand excitedly.

  “Yes, Bob, what is it?” I asked. “And just so you know, you don’t have to raise your hand when I actively ask for your feedback.”

  “I have a super important question,” Bob said seriously. “What are we going to call the ship?”

  I just stared at the big bear for a minute. “That’s your question?”

  “Of course! We’ll be taking it into combat soon, and I need to know what to call it when people ask,” Bob declared. “You’ve been calling it the Strato Carrier ever since Spooky took command, and I think it needs a proper name.”

  “What? You guys don’t like ‘Strato Carrier’?” I asked.

  “That’s like calling your car ‘car’,” Bandit muttered. “You can do better than that.”

  “I don’t know. I never really thought about it. I didn’t think it was that important,” I sighed. “Do you guys have a suggest…”

  “Bearforce one!” Bob declared before I’d even finished.

  “Why… Why do you love that cringy name so much?” I asked.

  “It’s not cringy; it’s dignified,” Deadbeat declared. “And it lets everyone know exactly what we’re about.”

  “I’m pretty sure the fact that they’re up to the armpits in bears would do a better job of that,” I grumbled.

  “You don’t deploy the bears at every single annoyance anymore,” Spooky said. “So there’s a small chance they might not know.”

  “Exceptionally small with how far my reputation seems to have spread,” I said.

  “Then what better way to strike fear into your foes than a name that personifies your position?” Deadbeat grinned.

  “I honestly don’t get why you love the name. There must be some pun or acronym that I’m not getting,” I muttered before sweeping my gaze over the team. “You’re going to use that name, even if I choose another one, aren’t you?”

  “Probably,” Bandit replied. The others nodded.

  “Then fuck it, we’ll call it ‘BearForce One’,” I declared. “The vast majority of the people we meet are either going to be talking to Spooky before me or to troops you guys control. Everyone’s going to end up thinking that’s what the Carrier is called no matter what.”

  “Hooray!” Bob cheered. “Bear force one!”

  “Yeah, yeah, hooray,” I muttered, glancing at my team. Most of them seemed to be either smiling or smirking in my direction. “I can’t believe Nyx thinks that you take after me.”

  “What? Enjoying victory and getting your way? That doesn’t sound like you at all,” Bandit chuckled.

  I narrowed my eyes and searched for a comeback. “Shut up. It’s different when I do it.”

  Deadbeat snorted in amusement.

  “Shut up!” I repeated. “I’m going back to the residence. Enjoy your victory.”

  “Oh, we will,” Bandit declared as I turned away. “Thanks for agreeing with us, boss. Don’t worry, we’ll make you proud. Bearforce One will be the most well-known ship in the world!”

  “I regret this already,” I muttered quietly as I walked away.

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