A Joytoy’s Journey to become a Hive-Queen [A SCS Fanfic]

Chapter 65 – Boredom is the number one killer of attentiveness

“In recent years a lot of the flora and fauna of our planet has died out. Much of the biodiversity has long since been lost, and even the best attempts at saving what we can have eroded over time, thanks to a number of cost overruns and profit margin overhauls. These days most groups still trying to save our planet are Samurai led, and even they are experiencing significant setbacks as corporations trample over them, whenever they can. It’s a sad state of affairs, really.”

 - Professor Licon in a public address, 2049

The tunnels were narrow, just barely spacious enough for Jenna’s large Sentinels to fit without hitting the ceiling. Still, our little convoy couldn’t stay all grouped up, while the tunnels were tall enough for Jenna’s Sentinels, they weren’t wide enough to keep our previous formation.

Bobby and Chloe were at the front, walking side by side, with two Sentinels directly behind them, followed by my Queen’s Guard. Our Healer stuck close to Us, while two more War Drones and the rest of the Sentinels formed the rear guard. Our Assassins were climbing along the walls, surprisingly fast.

It only took a few moments before we ran into the next group of xenos. Bobby and Chloe made short work of them, while we kept our Pristine Fortress at the ready, in case we needed a quick shield. It meant we couldn’t focus much on killing any aliens, but considering how good Chloe and Bobby were at that, it wasn’t too much of a problem. Not to mention that we could still earn shitloads of points from all the aliens the rest of Us were killing outside.

It was clear that these tunnels weren’t entirely natural. The antithesis had obviously dug out some of them to fit their larger models. It did make walking them a bit easier, but it also meant for some strange and irregular bends. Bobby and Chloe continued to mow down whatever was in front of us, all the way until we reached a slightly bigger cave. It was filled with antithesis Hive material, model Tens running around and tending to the fruitsacs all around.

We had to stop at the entrance, too many aliens were rushing us, and the two Sentinels behind Bobby and Chloe stepped forward, holding their tower shields at the ready and providing cover for our frontline. And good thing they did, a model Thirteen came shooting out of another tunnel, aiming directly for us.

It did not expect our Assassins to drop down onto it, ripping it apart in moments, before either Bobby or Chloe could even get ready to deal with it. 

With the biggest threat immediately dealt with, we began to clean up the place. We sent some broad Hard-Light blades into the cave, cutting up a good chunk of the Hive structures, while Chloe and Bobby cleaned out the aliens. It all went a lot easier than we would have expected, but we kept our mouth shut and senses sharp.

Chloe got some kind of bomb and placed it in the middle of the room, before we all walked back the way we came from for a couple of meters. Chloe triggered the bomb, some sort of hilariously annoying sound based weapon, and soon after the entire Hive was turned to mush. It was kind of disgusting, honestly.

Bobby pulled out a strange device and planted it in the ground. 

“This should keep the xenos at bay for a couple days. We can’t waste too much time, but hopefully they won’t rebuild here. Just keep in mind that it ain’t perfect, so don’t go running around expecting to find no aliens here, understand?”

Chloe and Us both nodded at that. It was nice to see we had some way to prevent xenos from immediately reclaiming any territory we cleared, although the warning was appreciated. Not that we would have let our guard down anyways.

“Good. This is just the outer circle. The deeper we get, the more aliens we’ll find, and the harder it’ll be. These Hives are big and have put down roots everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d be growing hella big models down there. Bahamut said she cleaned up, but you can never be too careful.”

“Should we send Tiny deeper into the Hive to clean up a little? She should be able to deal with most of this mess, and she is strong enough to contend with a bigger model, should one show itself.”

“Tiny?” Bobby asked, glancing at Us.

“Ah, sorry. The big scorpion. She got weapons for days, a flamethrower to bathe these caves in an inferno, and she can burrow.”

He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Do it, but keep her on the other side of the Hive. We don’t need an even bigger flood coming out. And we’ll still need to clean up after. It will take days to make sure that these Hives are dealt with, if even a single xeno survives, they will rebuild. They’ve done it before.”

“The first expedition?” Chloe asked.

Bobby grimaced. “Yeah. We lost a lot of good Samurai on that day, and while they cleaned up most of the mess, the aliens just came back stronger. This time around we’ll have to make quadruple sure that we’re done cleaning it up. The Family will keep a contingent around to keep an eye on the place. I even heard talk about turning this area into a fortified position, if they can find the resources to do so.”

“Sounds like a mess,” we muttered.

“That’s because it is one. Anyway, let’s keep moving. The aliens won’t clean themselves up.”

We nodded, and soon we continued down another tunnel. We ordered some of Us down the tunnels, to keep an eye on the cave we just cleared, in case more xenos wandered in. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but we wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be cut off from the exit.

Once more, it didn’t take long before we found more aliens. Our progress was slow, both because we had to deal with a lot of xenos, and because we didn’t want to rush things. We kept our Pristine Fortress at the ready, using the Lance to assist with the xeno killing as best we could, not that we had much opportunity.

Suddenly Bobby stopped. “Back, back!” he whispered, urgency in his voice.

We didn’t need to be told twice, and within moments our group retreated for a couple of meters and around another bend, before Bobby slowed us down.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, then pulled out his binoculars again, slowly creeping closer and peaking around the bend slightly. “Yeah, I figured. The entire cave is full of M9s. From what I can see there might even be a model Nineteen there, a variant of sorts. Not one I’m familiar with. Could be wrong though, might just be another model Nine-S. Hard to tell with these stealth fucks. Ah, wait, Veryla just told me, it’s a Nine-V. Brawler type, from the looks of things.”

To be specific, a model Nine-V is a rather peculiar antithesis model, focused more on an all out brawl, than ambush tactics. They require quite the amount of biomass, which is why you won’t see them often. Compared to regular model Nines, or other variants, they are a bit more atypical to what the base model would typically be, using their stealth capabilities as a combat initiator, instead of relying on it to deal any damage.

That was good to know, and not a type of antithesis we wanted to get surprised by. From Kaysa’s description, it might be able to put up a fight against our Queen’s Guard, which was not something we wanted to experience.

“Do you have a plan?” Chloe asked, keeping her rifle at the ready.

“Depends. Myriad, how hard does it hit you to lose your drones?”

The question surprised Us. So far not many seemed to have thought of that. Not that we could blame them, Hive-Minds were not something you saw often. “It’s highly unpleasant. They are part of Us, and if they die, their voices are lost forever. It’s like having a part of you ripped out. But, if it helps us, then we can send some of them in.”

He was quiet for a long moment, probably going through our options. Finally he spoke up again. “Do you think they can take them out without much trouble?”

“Maybe? Our Assassins could, but the Queen’s Guard never leaves our side. The others? They might be able to. Tiny could clean up no problem.”

“I doubt she can fit in there,” Bobby said with a snort.

“She doesn’t have to. Just a pincer is enough, bathe the entire cave in that weird napalm mixture she has. Should burn everything to a crisp within moments.”

“Alright. I don’t see any other way to get through it without suffering some losses. Chances are we get injured, maybe even killed, I don’t want to risk it. How long until Tiny can get here?”

“Not long. She’s on her way.”

True to our words, Tiny didn’t need long to arrive. Our Assassins kept themselves stealthed and acted as her eyes. Once we were all ready for any eventual combat, she stopped just under the cave, making the ground tremble a bit. None of the antithesis seemed to react, all still looking like rocks.

Then her pincer burst out of the ground, and with it came a wave of fire. Finally the antithesis moved, revealing themselves, but it was already far too late. Whatever weird mixture Tiny was armed with, it burned hot and fast, sticking to whatever surface it landed on. Within moments the cave was a blazing inferno, hot enough to force us even deeper back into the tunnels. 

The model Nines didn’t stand a chance, not even getting enough time to flee. Before they could move more than a couple of paces, they were completely annihilated. 

“Damn. Remind me not to fuck with you,” Bobby muttered, awe clear in his voice.

For hours we ran around the tunnel system, clearing out one group of xenos after the other. We did our best to leave some drones behind to not be cut off, but that didn’t always go to plan. Even with Bobby’s weird devices, or Double-X’ weird devices, the antithesis didn’t always stay away. And while they might not stick around to form another Hive, they still ran into our patrols.

In most cases we managed to clear them out quickly, but we still suffered some losses. Tiny made sure to add them to our memorial archive, while the rest of Us cleaned up. It sucked a lot, and it was damn fucking unpleasant, but for better or for worse, we had gotten used to the feeling. Hopefully soon we could get that upgrade…

The worst thing, though, was the growing exhaustion. Keeping your guard up for such a long time eventually led to inattentiveness, and it was no different for any of us. Bobby and Chloe were more used to it all, so they weren’t quite as affected, but even they showed signs of compromised judgement.

Pushing into yet another cave, we cleared the aliens out quickly and efficiently. Our teamwork had only improved over time, where we needed minutes before, we could now sweep and clear an entire cave in a matter of moments.

Some of Us took position around the edges, while Chloe placed another bomb in the middle of the cave, and after we all took a few steps back into the tunnels, the now familiar shrieking of the resonating sound bomb rang out, turning all the antithesis hive biology into mush.

“We’re so fucking done,” we muttered, more to ourselves, than to anyone present.

“Just a couple more, before take a break,” Chloe said, hefting her weapon before turning towards the next tunnel.

Bobby nodded his agreement, following close behind her. We did likewise, not wanting to waste any time.

The tunnel we found ourselves in was empty, which was a welcome change. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes a tunnel might not yet be overrun with aliens when we entered it. That often meant dealing with more aliens in the next cave over, but with our teamwork that was not that much of a problem.

Suddenly our Hard-Light defences lit up all around Us. Our body was covered with our nanite armor, before we found ourselves on the ground, pain shooting throughout the entirety of our being. We couldn’t even scream, finding no air in our lungs, and for a moment panic rattled the chorus.

Then one of Jenna’s Sentinels moved, the massive claymore came down, and in our panic we halfway expected it to try and behead Us. Instead it cut straight through a boulder next to our head, a boulder that made a strange shrieking noise, before it fell apart into a mass of antithesis biology.

Finally things registered with Us, right around the same time our Assassins jumped a mass of alien that had landed on top of Us and was the reason we had been pushed to the ground.

The model Nine was ripped apart in a flash, green alien goo splattering all around the tunnel. By this time Chloe and Bobby had finally turned around, weapons at the ready, and opened fire on multiple other rock formations that had all started to move.

In record time they were dead and we lay there, trying to figure out just what the hell had just happened. Chloe was next to Us a moment later, checking Us over, while Jenna’s Sentinels and our Defenders moved into a defensive formation, our Healer dropping to her knees next to Chloe.

“She’s fine,” Chloe said, voice tense. “Shocked, but fine.”

“Fuck…” Bobby cursed, voice grim.

“What happened?” Jenna’s voice sounded tense over the coms.

“We let our guard down,” he replied, “Maybe it’s better to take a break now. This could have ended very differently.”

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed, before gently helping Us up. “How are you feeling?”

“It fucking hurt… Fuck…” We still weren’t entirely calmed down, our heart hammering in our chest.

“Can you walk?”

“We think so…”

“Good. We’re going to go back, take a break, eat something, drink something, maybe get a few minutes of shuteye,” she decided.

“Agreed,” Bobby said with a nod, weapon at the ready and pointing at any boulder looking at him funny.

The way back was luckily less eventful. We moved slowly and carefully, our Defenders and Jenna’s Sentinels not moving away from Us, and even Chloe kept close to Us. Bobby took the lead, everyone paying careful attention to our surroundings, and soon after we were back on the surface through another tunnel entrance we had cleared some time ago.

None of us said anything, while we made our way back to the defensive location we had set up at the entrance we had taken originally. Only when we finally got closer did Bobby speak up.

“What are your points looking like?”

“I’m drowning in them,” Chloe said, “I’ll probably spend some time getting better gear. Better weapons, better armor, some gadgets.”

“Same here,” Jenna threw in.

From what we could tell, she’d been a busy bee, cleaning up a lot of the larger artillery models from her fortress. While she didn’t have the same deluge of aliens to deal with, she had been anything but idle; the area around her looked like a minefield with all the different craters from her arrows and the Legion Enforcer’s main weapon.

“We’ll do likewise,” we said, looking at our point total, which sat at a mind boggling 60k. “We really don’t want to be surprised like that again. Maybe get some more broodmothers, definitely some better gear, and some more Hexclaws. We made much more than we originally anticipated.”

Bobby laughed, despite the tension still permeating our group. “That happens when you spend hours upon hours just killing xenos. We can make like 200 points a minute here. Doesn’t sound like much, until you start adding everything up.”

“Yeah. We’re pretty sure that after we’re done here, we’re set for life.”

“You’ll come to learn that you’ll never be set for life,” he mused.

We all found a place to sit down, which in our case, of course, meant Chloe’s lap. It helped Us calm down after the recent excitement, and even though neither of us had the energy for much small talk, we still enjoyed each other’s presence.

“Okay, Kaysa, we have points. What can we do with it all and what should we focus on? We’re thinking better gear and more broodmothers for a start. But we really need to make sure that nothing like that happens again.”

As was typical, we were using the virtual realm to talk to her. Kaysa’s elven avatar nodded at Us.

That makes sense. While you have a large amount of points, you only have one additional token.

“Wait, when did we get that?” We were largely ignoring any of the notifications, since it could be a death sentence to be distracted in combat. A lesson we would not soon forget.

The Hives here are split into multiple individual Hives. A lot of the Hives around are connected to others, but while it may look like one harmonious whole, they are, in effect, individual Hives. You destroyed one of those Hives completely, which means you earned one token, along with the others.

“Ah, good to know. Not sure if that helps Us right now or not, though.”

It might, considering that your Nanite Swarm Catalogue is still at Class I. However, since the rest of your important catalogues are at Class II, it is not that important. To upgrade them, you’d need a whole lot more in terms of tokens and points, plus additional relevant catalogues, which you have yet to unlock. So, for the moment, the best you can do is upgrade your gear and your Hive. What would you want to start with?

“Not exactly sure. We haven’t gotten any gear upgrades in a little while, but we also didn’t really need to. We do want to get something to make sure we can’t be jumped like that again, maybe something that helps with our senses. Other than that we don’t really know what we could need.”

Your Hard-Light emitters will very likely still perform adequately for a little while, considering that both the Lance emitter and your Hard-Light Polearm are rather powerful. Your armor, however, is reaching the point of becoming a hindrance, especially if you consider the expedition and the potential threats. You really are not equipped for that. And, of course, you’re still lacking combat experience, something we can rectify tonight with a bit of Dream Learning.

“Yeah, that’s definitely something we want. Not only for combat, but also a few other things. Truth be told, we feel borderline useless, just trotting after Bobby and Chloe like some kind of exotic pet. Not that we would mind if Chloe would put a leash on Us, but that doesn’t sound particularly helpful when it comes to killing xenos, even if the mental image is a nice one.”

Indeed. Then perhaps we should start with your armor and go from there.

Considering that you will soon obtain enough points, and most likely have enough time, to obtain your body modifications, if we assume the mission goes as planned, you have two approaches you could go for. The first would be to spend less points, and get some armor that gets you through this expedition. That way you don’t need to worry about its compatibility with your body modifications.

On the flip side, you could also spend more points and obtain a very good set of armor that can be upgraded in the future, once you can upgrade your Mystical Kitsune Catalogue to Class III, that works well with your body modifications. Of course, since you have not yet decided what specifically you are looking for in terms of body modifications, but are planning on some shapeshifting, I would recommend a nanite based set of armor that can adjust to your form.

“Definitely the latter,” we said, getting up when Chloe gently pushed Us off of her to get her own gear done. “We aren’t going to take any risks. And points really aren’t something we are hurting for at the moment.”

A wise choice. In this case, I would recommend spending roughly ten thousand points on new gear, both for armor and any gadgets that might come in handy. That is about the best you can do at Class II, anything above that would just be wasted, and anything below might run the risk of not being able to protect you properly.

In this case I would argue that focusing on features is more important for you than just straight up defence. 

With that in mind, I would recommend you upgrade your Class I Nanite Swarm Catalogue to Class II. WIth this, you can use the Mark XVII Velvet Yako Kitsune Body Armor as the basis for your new set of gear. It comes with a resilient skinsuit, capable of protecting you from blows of models up to the double digits, as well as from vacuum, if you should ever need it. It also helps protect you against the elements and extreme temperatures.

Of course, considering your preferences, it can be transparent, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Alternatively, if you prefer something less covering, you could also replace this undersuit with a set of dedicated Hard-Light emitters that perform much the same tasks, but without covering your skin. 

No matter which option you choose, the armor itself can be designed to your specifications, within limits, of course. It is quite revealing, should you wish it to be, and features advanced Hard-Light emitters for personal defences, a dedicated Holographic emitter that can project up to nine holographic images, is fully programmable in what it can project, and can even be upgraded to act as a proper Hard-Light emitter, turning the projections into quasi-real illusions.

It also features limited distortion technology, which can act as a last resort defence, enabling you to evade attacks that would otherwise hit you. At Class II this technology is limited and won’t be something you can use extensively. The energy requirements are too great for the technology you have access to, to allow for prolonged use.

Lastly, it comes with a few gadgets that are in line with the mythos of the Kitsune. The first being a tiara with built-in suggestive technologies, a form of hypnosis that makes others more susceptible to your suggestions and wishes, as well as a specialised Hard-Light emitter focusing on the mythos of the Fox-Fire. In effect, it projects false flames that can burn the target, but that is very hard to put out. For this you will most certainly need the Nanite Swarm Catalogue at Class II, to allow for the underlying technology.

To round out the ensemble, I would suggest the Mark XII Phantomstep Boots, which allow for limited short range teleportation. As with the limited distortion technology, this won’t be something you can use for a prolonged period of time, but with proper training through Dream Learning, you can use these to quickly reposition yourself on the battlefield.

Of course, as I alluded to earlier, the entire set of armor is upgradable in the future, once you reach Class III in your Mystical Kitsune Catalogue.

“So far so good. What will that all cost Us?”

The Mark XVII Velvet Yako Kitsune Body Armor comes in at 6545 points, or 6625 if you wish to replace the undersuit with Hard-Light emitters. The Mark XII Phantomstep Boots come in at 1250 points. Quite expensive, but not overly so, considering your future upgrade prospects.

Of course, there are some additional things you can buy. Your augmentations are still fine; however, your mechanical ears could use an upgrade. For an additional 1175 points, you can obtain the Mark XI Zenko Resonance Twin-Ear System, which can be upgraded with your Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Catalogue, to give them a more biological feel. In effect it is very similar to what you have right now, but is better in every aspect. As an added bonus, they also work as a much upgraded communications antenna, which would drastically increase the range of your communications suite. 

The most important factor about them, though, is the ability to easily spot any hidden stealth models through an advanced form of echolocation. In effect, they compare the material makeup of your surroundings to what is expected, ensuring that any antithesis will be spotted. There is also a software integration that can automatically outline any such stealth models on your HUD.

“Okay, that sounds like what we want. Still, aren’t they a bit expensive, if we compare them to what we paid for our previous ears?”

Indeed. The main benefit of the Mark XI Zenko Resonance Twin-Ear System over other, equally useful, items, is the ability to upgrade them later on. You can even seamlessly integrate them into your body modifications to preserve their capabilities, without needing to worry about compatibility with your various forms when you shapeshift.

“Ah, okay, that makes sense. Okay, tally it all up, if we take the Hard-Light version of that undersuit thing you mentioned, what would it cost Us?”

9050 points, plus an additional 125 if you wish to upgrade the Mark XI Zenko Resonance Twin-Ear System with your Hexclaw Swarm Intelligence Catalogue.

“Sounds good. We’ll definitely want that upgrade, just to make them more fluffy. Anything else we might need?”

There are always more items you can procure. If you wish to upgrade your Pristine Fortress, you could spend 450 points to obtain the Mark IX Photon Reactive Illusion Shield Matrix, or PRISM for short, which would function very much like a large scale version of your Pristine Fortress. The PRISM can project up to four Hard-Light constructs at the same time, and can even anchor them independently from you.

Additionally, the constructs that the PRISM can project can handle anything up to a model Eighteen. It is about the best Hard-Light emitter you can obtain for personal use at Class II. Anything more powerful or sophisticated will have to wait until you can upgrade your Class II Hard-Light Emitters Catalogue.

“Hm… Sounds useful. And we do have the points. Ah, to hell with it, we’ll take it. It won’t make our Lance obsolete, will it?”

No. While the PRISM is quite potent, it lacks the sheer penetration power of the Lance, and it wouldn’t be able to deliver nanites the same way the Lance can.

“Yeah, that’s something we really haven’t been using. Something to keep in mind in the future. Okay, we’re sold. That’s what, 9625 points?”

Indeed. A pleasure doing business with you.

Class II Nanite Swarm Catalogue unlocked!
Points reduced to: 59.878

New purchase: Mark XVII Velvet Yako Kitsune Body Armor!
Points reduced to: 53.253

New purchase: Mark XII Phantomstep Boots!
Points reduced to: 52.003

New purchase: Mark XI Zenko Resonance Twin-Ear System!
Points reduced to: 50.703

New purchase: Mark IX Photon Reactive Illusion Shield Matrix!
Points reduced to: 50.253

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