When the first missile barrage fired, it was a lot more impressive than I expected. Eight of the twelve available missiles launched within seconds of each other, shot a couple feet into the air, then tilted forwards just enough to fly over the top of the battlefield, and engaged their engines.

  The six-foot-long explosives spread out before nosediving down onto the far side of the battlefield, once again bathing the area in M17.

  Although I couldn’t see the impact area, I could see the fire surging just over the horizon.

  “Fuck… that’s one impressive fireworks display,” Mud muttered.

  “Yeah, it was also a very expensive firework display,” I said, “but if they landed where we planned, it’ll have been worth the cost.”

  “And where, exactly, were you planning to hit?” Wild asked.

  “I asked Spooky to completely coat the far end of the debris field in M17, so any Antithesis that tried to harvest that metal would get incinerated,” I explained. “They’ve probably already harvested a lot of it, but I figured we should keep as much out of their… maws as possible.”

  “Sensible. I did a drive-by of the front line earlier, and those new Model Fives are no joke. They would have knocked me off my bike if you hadn’t shared your shield tech,” Mud grumbled.

  “Yeah, I can’t believe how quickly they’ve grown in just a few hours. They’d probably be knocking out my bears by now if I hadn’t started mounting shield systems on the moose,” I told them. “Even with the extra protection, I’m still getting reports of damage from the front line.”

  “I suspect that’s not going to be a problem for much longer, now that the front line is covered in napalm again,” Wild said. “How do you think the Antithesis are going to react?”

  “Badly. I doubt they’ll throw themselves against the M17, but I can’t imagine they’ll be pleased with the situation after spending hours and hours evolving a new Antithesis model just to assault our defenses,” I replied. “I expect they’ll either start digging new tunnels or send flyers.”

  “I’m actually a little surprised that the Antithesis haven’t sent that many fliers at us before now,” Wild said.

  “I’m not. The P.A.W.S. defensive systems mounted on all my vehicles rip through flyers, instantly killing Ones and crippling Elevens. If there is an intelligence running that hive, they’ve probably already realized how pointless it would be to throw their flyers at us. Better to have them try and penetrate the perimeter at other points and collect biomass, or try to establish new hives elsewhere,” I said. “I’d honestly like to see them throw some flyers at us. They’d probably come crashing down outside the range of the fungus, and allow us to deprive the Antithesis of some biomass.”

  “That would be nice,” Mud grunted. “Give us a break for once. How often can you fire those missiles?”

  “Once a minute. They have autoloaders, but the tubes take time to reset between shots. I’m sure they’ll be much faster once I upgrade them,” I said. “I totally expect the Antithesis to find a way to bypass the M17 sooner or later. I just hope it buys us a couple hours and deprives the Antithesis of some resources.”

  I glanced out across the battlefield. Even though it was midday, I could clearly make out the glow from the fire just beyond the horizon. There was no way the Antithesis were crossing that line anytime soon.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I’m going to call down some salvage crews to clear up the battlefield. Now that the Antithesis are contained, I’d like to try and recover some of that metal before the Antithesis can break through again,” I told my companions. “Get ahead of the curve for once.”

  “Sounds like a plan. You need any help with that?” Mud asked.

  “I appreciate the offer, but I already have specialized salvage units standing by,” I replied. “You could probably strap some deconstructors on that bike of yours, but the real problem is the storage. I had to buy some specialized trucks to haul it all.”

  Wild stepped back from the wall and looked at me strangely. “Why would you need something like that?”

  “Because I didn’t want to pay points for each and every bear, so I bought these things called Matter Reconfiguration machines and the blueprints required to make them myself. The only downside is I need to gather the raw materials myself, hence the salvage teams,” I explained.

  “You built all your bears?” Mud asked in disbelief.

  “Most of them. It wasn’t a quick process; it took me more than a year to build up my forces, but… yeah. I built them,” I replied. “High up-front cost, but more sustainable over time.”

  While my friends absorbed that information, I glanced up at Bear Force One and sent a quick data burst through the command network. Almost immediately the salvage crews that I’d had sitting on standby sprung into action.

  Half a dozen large, blocky trucks rapidly descended towards the battlefield, stopping just a few inches above the spikes, allowing a small crew of bears to jump out. Each bear had an oversized weapon hooked up to a backpack, and when they pointed the weapon at the nearby spikes, it shot out a ray, which disintegrated the object and sucked up the remains.

  It only took a minute for them to fill up the backpack, and once they had, the bears returned to the truck and emptied their reservoirs into storage, then returned to the job.

  Even with six trucks going, I could tell this was going to take awhile.

  “Those things seem to be brutally effective,” Mud observed. “Why don’t you use them against the Antithesis?”

  “I considered it, but the truth is they’ve got an extremely limited range, and they need to be focused on a single target for a second or two to be effective. By the time they killed one Antithesis, two more would have flanked the team and started ripping into them,” I explained. “A simple combat rifle is far more effective.”

  “What about on the bodies? Something like that could clear up the Antithesis corpses faster than the fungus could recover them,” Wild asked.

  My mouth flapped open and closed for a moment as my brain processed the question. “Uhhhhh… maybe? I’ve just been sending them out to break down old ruined towns for materials. I never considered using them on the Antithesis before,” I finally admitted.

  “Well, at least some of the Antithesis have tungsten in their systems now, so you could recover that,” Mud chuckled.

  “Yeah, maybe I could…” I said, considering. “The trucks would have to undergo a serious redesign. They’re not fit for a combat situation, but I might be able to make use of them.”

  “Just one more tool in our toolbox,” Mud muttered.

  Above us Bear Force One fired another salvo of missiles. These ones spread out, slammed into the far end of the deadzone, spreading the M17 along a wider area. After a couple more volleys, the Antithesis wouldn’t be able to circumvent the wall of fire to get at us.

  Or at least, I hoped.

  “I’m going to take a couple minutes to try and figure out the best way to weaponize the salvage trucks,” I said, turning away from the wall and preparing to jump down from the battlements. “Might as well take advantage of the lull in combat while I can.”

  Just as I was about to hop, a message screeched through my augs. [Commander! We have a problem!]

  The surprise caused me to jolt and nearly pitch myself off the side of the structure. I flailed my arms wildly for several seconds, trying to regain my balance, until Mud reached over and pulled me up.

  “Smooth,” he grunted.

  I shot him a look but didn’t reply. I had something more important to deal with.

  [Spooky, you scared the shit out of me,] I shouted through the network. [We just started spreading the M17. What could be so important that you had to interrupt my jump?]

  Above me the UHR slowly swiveled into position and fired a shot just beyond the horizon.

  [The Antithesis are beginning another assault, a big one. You’ve got incoming!]

  I glanced back towards the battlefield, confused. [They’re going around the M17?]

  [No, they’re creating bridges across it.]

  [Uhhhh…] that didn’t make sense. I was about to ask how, but before I could, I saw the head of one of the megapedes as it reared up and crashed down across the line of fire. It took me a moment to realize that the carapace on those titans must be fire resistant, or thick enough to resist.

  “Motherfuckers,” I hissed as the first wave of Antithesis surged across the battlefield. “Can’t you just give us a break?”

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