“Can I purchase the Class III bear blueprints?”

  After purchasing the UHR? No, you have a lot of points, but not that many, Nyx replied. And even if you could, you can only produce Class III tech in a Class III Molecular Reconfigurator.

  “I know, I know,” I muttered. “I do have a pair of them sitting on the ship though.”

  I wouldn’t say they’re sitting around; they’re producing your equipment at a much faster rate than their Class II counterparts. How do you think you’re keeping up with the ammo demands of all your forces?

  “So purchasing a couple more might be helpful?” I asked.

  Actually, what you really need right now is better resource collection systems. Now that you’ve got the Class III Molecular Reconfigurators, you’re burning through your supplies. At your current rate of production, you’ll be out of raw elements in one hour and thirty-seven minutes.

  “What? How? I’ve been maintaining continuous production of my bears for pretty much a full year at this point!”

  And your salvage teams were just barely keeping up with the demand. It was actually a very efficient setup, since you didn’t need a huge warehouse to hold onto the excess raw elements.

  “I had a huge storage area though!” I exclaimed. “And you recommended that I install an even bigger one up on the ship!”

  That was for future-proofing, in case you ever decided to expand your salvage teams.

  “Sounds like the future is now,” I grumbled. “I was already planning on upgrading the salvage teams, making them more resilient so they could wander into combat areas and clean up Antithesis biomass. I assume they’ll be able to recover something out of the Antithesis corpses.”

  Everything with mass, living or not, contains elements you can harvest. It’s just far more efficient for you to break down junk and abandoned towns for the metallic elements than it is to break down organics.

  “More effective, for rebuilding and resupplying my forces, but less effective at keeping the Antithesis in check,” I replied. “So, talk to me about upgrades, how can I make my salvaging teams more effective?”

  Well, I’d start with upgrading to the Class II Molecular Disassembly catalog. The Class II equipment can break things down much faster, and with a few upgrades you could even make the collectors more selective, only breaking down specific items or elements, which would be safer if you plan to use them in an occupied, urban area.

  “I only have Class I Molecular Disassembly?" I groaned. “Really?”

  Yes, of course. You purchased it fairly early and never bothered to upgrade. Nyx replied.

  “Ugh… When this is all over, you and I need to go over my complete list of catalogs, figure out which ones I use consistently and need an upgrade but have completely forgotten about,” I said.

  There’s a lot of them.

  “I have no doubt. That’s why I suggested we do it after everything calms down,” I sighed. “Anything else you’d suggest for upgrading the salvage crews?”

  Molecular compression, or subspace storage systems might be useful. That way you can fit more elements into the same storage space. It would cut down on the number of trips your salvage crews would need to make.

  “What about protection?”

  You already have a number of vehicle catalogs. It wouldn’t be hard to modify a Kodiak, or Ursa, to act as a salvage vehicle. There would be plenty of space for storage tanks if we stripped out the weapons, and at close range the improved Molecular disassemblers could cause some serious damage.

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  “As much as a coilgun?” I asked.

  At close range, with a couple seconds of exposure, absolutely. The trick is keeping the disassembler focused on a target long enough to do that damage without getting crushed or ripped apart in the process. I’d recommend only using them as weapons as a last resort.

  “That’s not a problem, I never planned to use them as a front line weapon anyways, just as a cleanup tool,” I replied. “Can we maybe mount the disassemblers on the wall, and use them to break down the Antithesis out in no man’s land?”

  They still have a limited range. If you mount them on the wall they wouldn’t be able to reach most of the corpses.

  “Ugh… I was afraid you’d say that. That means we’ll have to send the salvage crews into the live fire zone if we want to deprive the Antithesis of biomass,” I said.

  You want to focus on the biomass first? Usually you worry about point efficiency and establishing your supply lines first. Nyx asked, surprised.

  “Normally I don’t have an extreme point surplus. Fuck… I probably even have a token surplus if I was getting one for every single Megapede or Scarab kill,” I said.

  You do, quite a significant one.

  “Yeah, I figured. While I’d like to keep my forces self-sufficient, I think it’s far more important to try and cut down on the amount of Biomass the Antithesis are recovering. I’m a little worried the Antithesis attacks might ramp up, and they could either overwhelm our defenses here or strike out in another direction before the Mars fleet arrives. I’d rather spend points on keeping my forces resupplied than let that happen,” I said. “Besides, it’ll only be temporary. Once we expand the scavenging team, I should be able to do both.”

  That’s true. So, do you want to go ahead with the upgrade?

  “Absolutely. Can you design a new armored vehicle with both the upgraded Molecular Disassembly and Molecular Compression tech, and show me a mockup?” I asked.

  Of course, it’s already done. Check the AR file I just sent to your augs.

  As soon as I pulled up the data file, my vision flashed, and the previously empty space that had been sitting in front of me was filled by armor plating. I blinked in surprise, then took a couple steps back.

  The vehicle was huge, easily two to three times larger than the Kodiaks. The sides were lined in thick armor plating, but there appeared to be a series of armored hatches spaced around the hull. When I reached out to touch it, forgetting for a moment that the thing was just an image, the nearest hatch swung open, revealing something that appeared to be a mix between a firefighter’s hose, a vacuum cleaner, and a ray gun, all rolled into one.

  “Why did you integrate the collection rigs into the truck this time?” I asked.

  The improved molecular disassemblers can strip a house down to the foundations in minutes, and if you stuck to the backpack version, the bears would have to come back and empty the tank every minute or so. Connecting them to the truck makes the entire process much more efficient, Nyx explained. There are still a couple of portable packs in the back in case the crew needs to go into a more confined area.

  “Uh huh,” I muttered, stepping back and taking a look at the full vehicle. “And why does it still look like a garbage truck? An extremely well-armored garbage truck to be sure, but a garbage truck nonetheless. Didn’t we just discuss repurposing the Kodiak’s hull?”

  We did, but in the nanosecond I took to design this, I came to realize that repurposing the Kodiak’s hull was inefficient. It’s too small, and too much of the space would have to be dedicated to transporting the salvage team. Even with the matter compressors, the main storage tank would be filled in moments. Best to design an entirely new vehicle to deal with the load.

  “An entirely new vehicle? It looks like you strapped armor plates on the old vehicle and replaced the alcoves where the packs were stored and emptied with a built-in system,” I grumbled.

  That’s not true. I also upgraded the engines to handle the excess weight, weapon racks so the team can defend themselves, shield generators to help mitigate incoming fire, and point defense systems. I tried to maximize the vehicle's carrying capacity, but since you didn’t ask for any weight mitigation tech, there’s a limit to how much even the Class III hover engines can support. It turns out that between the armor and the compressed storage tank, the optimal size and shape is that of a garbage truck, Nyx explained.

  “Right…” I muttered. “Will it hold up against the modified Model Fives?”

  This puppy can take even more punishment than a Kodiak, and the shields will help keep the crew on their feet, Nyx replied. It’s your most advanced vehicle yet, except for maybe Bear Force One.

  “Ugh… why did you have to put it that way? It makes the rest of my forces sound like a joke. The APCs are outclassed by the garbage trucks,” I grumbled.

  How is that a surprise? You’ve purchased a number of new technologies since this battle started, and I expect you’ll be purchasing dozens more before it ends. Everything’s going to be out of date before long. It doesn’t mean they’re ineffective, just that they’re not top of the line.

  “I know, it still stings,” I replied.

  You could just retrofit the blueprints with your new tech. The better engines, shields, and such, and put the upgraded versions into production. It’s not like you don’t have the points, Nyx pointed out.

  “That’s true…” I muttered. “Let’s do that. Do you need my input, or can you do a blanket upgrade on the vehicles?”

  I’m already finished. I just need your go-ahead to implement the changes.

  “Then do it,” I confirmed. “And while you’re at it, get me those new catalogs, a dozen new vehicles, the bears to crew them, and the blueprints required to manufacture them.”

  Really? Usually you want to try one or two vehicles out and build up your forces from there. You want to start with a dozen? Nyx asked.

  “We don’t have time for field tests. We’ll have to jump right to the live-fire ones,” I said. “Besides, if I don’t get a significant number of collectors out there, we’ll never make a dent in the Antithesis.”

  It’s your choice. Where do you want them?

  “Right on the front lines. It’s time to show the Antithesis that I’m not going to take their recycling bullshit sitting down.”

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