Cataphractoi

If you'd like to read more, please consider checking out my other works!

A Magical Journey Through Outer Space (Space ships and aliens- but with magic!)

Mistworld (Exploring a world stitched together by isekai!)

Slaying Aliens and Infringing Copyrights (A Stray Cat Strut Fanfiction)

Like the gunships we’d been using, the Sparrowhawk was primarily built for air support, not transportation. The cabin I’d added was small and cramped; essentially just eight seats packed as closely together as possible along a corridor that ran straight down the gunship’s center. That was a slight departure from the older human-built gunships, which had their seats back-to-back in the center of the cabin facing outwards towards the side doors; the Sparrowhawk had a rear door instead, so the seats faced each other instead.

Of course, that left only exactly enough seating for a single squad in either model. Once I get around to adding proper dropships to our arsenal I’d make sure they had enough space for more personnel, but for now, there was enough space in the Sparrowhawk that I could stand near the door, even if it was a bit awkward. I joined Alvarez’s squid in the Sparrowhawk for that reason while Alana’s took one of our older gunships. It would be another two weeks until we had a second Sparrowhawk available.

We’d split ourselves between the two gunships because that was we weren’t putting both Samurai in a single basket. It was unlikely for either to be shot down, but better safe than sorry. As soon as everyone boarded we took off and were on our way to Jones Mill. It would take us a few hours to arrive even with a pair of supersonic gunships, so we just had to hope they managed to hold out that long.

From what I understood their defenses amount to a makeshift wall constructed from old boxcars and a number of cheap, refurbished turrets purchased second- or third-hand that had, despite their low price tag, nearly bankrupted the town to acquire. Really, their greatest defense was the fact that the nearby hives were both young and had been discovered almost immediately. They'd probably been formed by escapees after other hives in the region were destroyed.

I chatted a bit with Alvarez on the way in, but to be honest, we didn’t have a whole lot in common, so the conversation didn’t last long. I managed to learn his name was Raul, but other than that, he was just a career military man with a passion for sports. I was glad when we finally arrived in the airspace over our destination.

“Go ahead and drop us in the courtyard,” Alvarez instructed the pilot, but I had other ideas. Through Juny’s sensors I could already see what we were up against and I was sure I could handle the low-tier models attacking right now.

“Before that, hover over the main gate for a few seconds. I’ll hop out and clear’m out,” I overrode Alvarez. He looked at me, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking through the helmet.

“You sure, ma’am?” he asked neutrally.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this,” I assured him as the Sparrowhawk dropped low above the school courtyard, its rear end hanging over the front gate. With one last nod at Alvarez I turned and hopped out, dropping several meters to the ground. Even being this high up would have chilled my spine not long ago, but apparently I was getting used to it.

While I fell I snatched my SMGs off my thighs, and when I approached the ground, my jump-jets kicked in to soften the landing. I landed with Model Threes charging at me from ahead and turrets rattling behind me as they fired into the crowd, keeping the Threes at bay but not quite managing to reduce their numbers. Compared to the Siege of Boone, this was nothing.

Taking full advantage of my combat implant I opened fire, tracking targets separately for each hand. For the first time in nearly a month I watched as Antithesis blew apart in sprays of vegetable gore, their attack immediately faltering as they struggled to replace the fallen fast enough now. It was a matter of moments before the Antithesis wave petered out, but as the Model Threes fell, Fives and Sixes stepped up to take their place.

I dropped my spent SMGs and they vanished before they hit the ground, teleported back to the armory in Boone. Then I reached for my shotgun and brought it straight to my shoulder as I walked forward, taking aim at the closest Five. Quills bounced off my shields, but there weren’t enough Fives here to deplete my shields before I could kill them all, and my aim had had two full weeks to improve under Terry’s guidance.

It only took four shells to slay all four Fives. I moved onto the Sixes, all two of them. Usually I just unloaded on them and counted on volume of fire to do the job, but with them charging straight at me I found I didn’t have any issues lining up a shot on each of their heads and pulling the trigger…which was a new and refreshing experience. It was nice to see my training paying off already, even if it was still at relatively close range.

“Juny, can you highlight anything above a Three in town for me?” I requested as I looked around. As always, her response was so quick it was hard to tell if she was just that fast or if she was already prepared for the question and just hoping I’d ask. Eager as she sounded, I couldn’t determine whether it was because she was happy to help or because she was pleased I’d thought to ask on my own.

“Of course!” Juny exclaimed as a number of silhouettes appeared on my HUD. I was currently standing in an open section between the school and town that wrapped all the way around, providing clear lines of fire for the turrets. The rest of the town was densely packed; there were no yards, really, just houses and businesses that were built wall-to-wall. From where I was standing it made the town- a village, really- look a lot larger than it was because my brain just automatically assumed the buildings were so close together due to a need to conserve space.

I noticed as I scanned my surroundings that a lot of the Antithesis were indoors, having invaded the homes of the locals. While I knew someone had to do something about that, I also knew destroying the hives was a priority and we didn’t have the manpower to go door-to-door while also defending the school. I hadn’t forgotten mom’s advice, however.

“Go ahead and buy combat drones with the points we get as we go and send them to clear out the houses,” I instructed Juny as I started walking towards the cable plant. “…try not to cause too much collateral damage.”

“Gladly! I have many designs I’d like to try out,” Juny chirped happily. We already had enough points for a few so she went ahead and bought some…all of which were modified Eyebots.

“We do have other drone bases now, you know…” I said tiredly as the Eyebots zipped away as a group. I saw one with gimbal arms hanging from its bottom tipped in laser weapons, another with small-caliber miniguns mounted on either side of its face at the end of more humanoid arms, and a third with a strange contraption protruding from its face plate. It was sparking.

“You cannot improve on perfection!” she insisted cheerily.

“Isn’t that literally what you’re doing by making new variants?” I pointed out futilely. “Oh, whatever. Just go ahead and add any survivors to the tower’s security back home when we’re done here.”

With that taken care of, I went ahead and opened a channel to Alvarez.

“All good, ma’am?” he asked immediately. “My squad is in position and have pushed the Antithesis back from the walls.”

“Good to hear. I cleared out the Antithesis at the gate and I’m deploying drones to clean up any models hiding indoors. I’ll be moving on to the cable plant now, but let me know if you need anything,” I informed Alvarez as I sped up to a job. My destination was a fair bit outside of town.

“We’ve got the Sparrowhawk on station so I think we’ll be fine, but I’ll let you know if anything comes up. Good luck out there,” Alvarez replied, ending the call.

Soon another pack of Antithesis came into sight as I ran to the edge of Jones Mill and out into the largely abandoned part of town outside. Deciding now was a good time to field test the other function of the teleporter, I stopped and put my shotgun back, then glanced over to the list of icons at the side of my HUD, blinking twice over the pictured assault rifle. At the same time I set my hands into an approximation of how I held the weapon.

Just like back at home, the gun I’d selected materialized in my hands already loaded. I took aim at the approaching Antithesis, little more than a small group of Threes and Fours led by one Six, and opened fire. The rifle kicked against my shoulder, which I could only barely feel through my suit. Bullets flew downrange and tore the approaching aliens apart. This time the range was a bit further, so I thought it would be a good test, but I quickly realized that there just was not enough left of my targets when I was done to determine how accurate I’d been.

“Those were standard rounds, not guided, right?” I confirmed with Juny.

“Yes! Just like you wanted!” she answered.

“And how was my accuracy?” I asked, figuring that even if I couldn’t tell, Juny would know.

“A significant improvement compared to past performance. Only a small number of rounds missed their targets and most struck close to vital points!” Juny announced proudly. This time she didn’t even suggest a learning package.

Honestly, learning how to aim the hard way was mostly a matter of pride, but it seemed to be working out. I was now at least semi-competent, well on my way to actually knowing what I was doing. With a few more weeks of training I’d probably get to the point where I was reliably accurate at medium range and mostly accurate at longer ranges- maybe I could even pick up a sniper rifle or something, though I wasn’t sure there was a point in using one against Antithesis.

With no Antithesis left to slow me down I moved on, jogging down an old country road that had begun to fall apart, leaving the pavement fragmented and with large gaps between some sections. It was like the potholes had grown so large they were now eating the road. I passed by houses that were succumbing to neglect, their rooves caving in and their walls rotting from the inside out.

Occasionally Antithesis rushed out of those buildings to meet me, but Juny was keeping me appraised of anything bigger than a Three and I could sense those myself using the motion tracker. I picked them off and kept going. This many Antithesis were probably terrifying to the local townsfolk, but at this point it was a walk in the park for me. Honestly, their numbers were low enough I probably could have handled them around the time I first bought my upgraded SMGs, though, so it wasn’t as if I were achieving anything incredible right now.

All that said, I needed to really make sure to impress in my mind that sooner or later I’d be up against a bigger threat than models below ten. Arrogance would only get me killed.