Anti-antithesis

A unique effect of Samurai who have a public address that is close to the general populace is the birth of a unique, homogeneous culture amongst those who could be considered neighbors. In Calgary's Undercity, Samurai Teddy has fostered an environment of peace, forcing local gangs to give way to her and her bears. In Indianapolis, the Family's Magical Girl group has made it so that Corporations have to obey basic human right and welfare laws, much to the chagrin of said corporations. And in the Independent City State of New Phoenix, Samurai Doma, Bub the Worker, Blizzard, Shrew and Phleming has done everything they can to make the citizens lives comfortable, with the Fog Cloud being the greatest example of local non-invasive terraforming that led to a massive influx of funds to the local economy.

-Excerpt from Samurai and Their Influence on Local Economies: How to avoid bankruptcy, 6th edition

As Maniac and her wife teleported away, I released a huge sigh. “How much did she go through? Any systems compromised? And what the hell, Synaptic? I thought you would prevent her from probing!”

Synaptic's avatar floated over from somewhere. “I did, as I had marked most of the network for Vanguard Maniac, requesting her to leave it alone while directing her towards the relevant documents for the meeting.”

I sighed again as I leaned back into my chair. “And did she?”

Synaptic rolled her eye at me. “Of course she did, Victor. Even if I had to heavily encourage her.”

“So, let me get the current schedule straight.” Roger said as Cari took a seat next to me. “We have an attack on a space station in… about twenty four hours, with an orbital drop pod reinforcement taking place shortly after, while we also have a parlay with the Four taking place sometime in the next-” he paused as he checked the new email we received from Ephemeral Gravitas, confirming the time of the appointment. “Starting at about the same time as said raid, which does complicate things slightly, but not overly so, considering-”

“Considering Victor would not be taking part in the space station raid, regardless.” Cari interrupted while placing a hand on my arm and squeezing slightly.

I ran through a pro and con list at lightning speed, weighing what advantages my being on the station would bring versus simply improving the EMC countermeasures on Leman, Rogal, and whoever else would be going to space, as well as if it would be worth angering Cari about if i argue for the pros.

“As much as I would love to head to space, I do, indeed, have to be there for the parlayance.” I say, nodding sagely.

“This also means that we cannot send everyone we intended.” Roger pointed out. “Considering the now expedited time table we find ourselves under, only Vic and Cari are slated to be there, with a shuttle, maybe two.”

Shit, I had forgotten about that. I ran a few sims, and based on the current calculations of the speed of our Shuttles and the distance they had to travel, it would take them at least four hours at full sub orbital speeds to arrive at the satellite. Meaning they would be long gone well before the parlay.

The good news is that we never confirmed who would be going, so we could simply show up with Cari and I and my Swarms, however, considering my Commanders were now public knowledge, not having them there would raise alarms with the other PMCs…

As I was starting to spiral into my thoughts, Cari poked my forehead softly, pulling me back. I saw her smile softly at me as she leaned to her side, hanging off the office chair. “Love, it's not that complicated. While the situation is a bit more… annoying, you are a Samurai. While it is nice to follow the rules, you are not beholden to them.”

Roger stood up and stretched. “She's right, Vic. If they have a problem with it, remind them of the fact that you are far stronger than all of them. Bahamut, how many shuttles do you expect that we need to send to the station, and how many can we leave here to act as defense?”

“With the sixteen we have now, only six need to go at the minimum, while I would prefer ten.” Bahamut answered.

Roger nods. “So, we send two to the Niltmore as a just in case, two with Vic and Cari, and two remain here on standby, while everything else leaves for the assault.”

“Everyone else, Roger.” Jill corrects. “No way in hell am I sitting here at home when I could, instead, be fighting on a damn space station.” Her smile widens. “One that will be ours after the fact.”

Cody rolled his eyes as his chair floated up and moved to leave the Screen. “Right, so my job here is finished. I'm heading to bed.”

That seemed to be the cue for the end of the meeting, as we all stood and made our way out. Cari decided to go find Opal and make plans to check in on Yerlette and Alice, the former of whom was in class, while the latter was doing… something. Cari was being purposefully cryptic about what she did, but I didn't pry.

No, instead, I made my way towards the confusingly labeled fifteenth floor, which was thirteen levels below me. I shook my head as the elevator descended, amused once more at Morrigan’s choice. I did shift my armor to something inconspicuous, at least for the Monster Box floors Jim would be taking through.

Which meant dressing in tan slacks and a red polo shirt with a tablet, the staple of the support staff, or Cody's Gremlins, as they were now officially called.

The elevator door opened into a plaza of sorts, modeled after one of those old mall food courts. Large marble pillars rim the rounded plaza, with a few different restaurants and shops set up between them. Above was a large glass dome that showed the sky above the Tower, from which you could sort of see the Pandora. Taking up the majority of the floor were a small copse of oak trees and grass, with benches and tables scattered sporadically for families to enjoy nature.

There were three hallways leading out from the plaza, heading towards some residential sections, another plaza at the far end of the tower, and a few other shops, if the floor plan I pulled up was correct.

I saw Jim walking out of a Shawarma shop with two bowls in his hands. The corner of my mouth tilted in amusement at his current attire, as well as the attitudes of those around him. Much like myself, he is in Gremlin attire, but unlike me, he is currently surrounded by women in their sixties, each of them trying to sell their daughters or grand-daughters to him.

I thought about hiding behind a tree, but decided against it as I approached, smiling. “Excuse me, ladies, but would you mind releasing my friend here? We only get so long on lunch, you see.”

This seemed to work, as they smiled and walked off. Though I do see a few of them size me up as well.

Jim sighs, then chuckles at me. “Thanks, Chief. Saved me from breaking some hearts there.”

I rolled my eyes as I took a bowl from him, savoring the smells of the spices. “What, you don't want to be like Outsider? Take a paramour or two?”

He laughed heartily at me. “Stars, no. I don't see myself getting hitched any time soon, Chief. Let alone to more than one person. No, I'm satisfied with my work at this time. Now, come on. You need to see the people you are helping simply by existing.”

I took a bite of the shawarma as I rolled my eyes at Jim. I have seen the reports of how the floors have been doing, on how basically every shop space available had been filled. I thought that this was a waste of time, a distraction from the training I could be doing with my Swarms or time on a TacSim table.

But I made a promise. And I would never break a promise if I could help it.

Walking around the floor was an experience. In the past, anytime I had to explore a megabuilding's residential sections, I had to force myself to ignore the misery and garbage that pervaded the area. Strung out junkies, miles of gang graffiti and hate slang, literal piles of shit and garbage everywhere while children scuttled through the utility corridors to avoid the sight lines of gangers and slavers.

But here? Clean, bright hallways with open storefronts. Families talking with neighbors about their children in the school that was retrofitted far below. The smells of meats and spices wafting out of homes as they had their doors opened to the world!

And many, many more examples of safe, happy, and content civilians in the Tower Morrigan developed. A few people recognized the uniforms Jim and I were wearing, and offered us gifts of hand made crafts and foodstuffs. We were stopped quite a few times and asked about future deployment zones and rules on targeting civilians or taking contracts or bonuses and other things that I thought I had read on the recruitment packet we sent out.

Still, we answered all their questions honestly and openly as best we could, which seemed to do something good for those we spoke to, as they continued to invite us to meals and events planned with the community at large. I did clock a few people recognizing me, yet they did me the kindness of not calling me out.

As we descended to a training and SimTac floor, I was able to see how hard my troops trained, which concerned me slightly. We have, on a few jobs, infiltrated PMC training centers in order to “sabotage” some equipment or food storage, so I know the average level of intensity that is expected of a soldier.

What I saw made me wonder if I was breaking some labor law, if they still existed.

The prescribed daily workout was set to last two hours and was, at least, double the average intensity of weight, stamina, and mobility training. Some were carrying at least one hundred and eighty pounds of gear unassisted while sprinting through obstacle courses, while others were doing speed trials in a randomly generated CQB course.

I found Ulrich with some of his men doing weapon striping drills on what I could only call bolter weapons, considering the size of the bore the weapons have, and asked him what was going on with the crazy level of training happening.

“Well, with the new Gene lab, a huge number of troops have volunteered to undergo enhancements. This led to normal training doing nothing for them, so they increased their own training intensity after getting approval from Bahamut. After all, the higher the training results before graduation, the better the starting gear they get.” He explained while finishing the assembly of his cannon. I refused to call it a gun as the barrel was three inches wide.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. “Alright, this is where I admit to not paying as much attention to things as I probably should. I thought Morrigan was doing something like a full army upgrade? Keeping all the gear standardized and rolling out gear after certain milestones?”

Ulrich guffawed at me, putting his cannon down. “That was what she wanted to do at first, but Horatio and I managed to convince her otherwise, moving to a merit point system for upgrades for gear. For the beginner starting gear, it is based on how much they have improved from their baseline from joining.” Ulrich turned and pointed his chin towards one of the others in the room.

“Ben over there is a good example. He was a twig when he first arrived, could barely lift forty kilos and was a shit shot. Now? He is someone I have picked out to be on my personal squad, easily able to wrestle with me and is able to hit a target dead center at two hundred meters consistently. As for any gear in the future, they are priced with internal points, which can be earned through missions, antithesis kills, and acts of meritorious service, like civilian rescue and mentoring newbies.”

I pulled up Morrigan's internal store at Ulrich's prompting, scoffing at the name. Morrigan's Ossuary of Fun Times. There is a helpful graphic, breaking down how to earn “MP”, or Morrigan Points, penalties for breaking the internal code of conduct, and how to cash in for new gear. While a majority of the weapons and armor were set, they will be custom fitted for each soldier, and also have modularity options to allow for extended use.

If you outgrow your gear, you can turn it in for half the points that were spent to help buy new upgrades. Body mods and cyberware was also available, but they had the caveat of having to have your CO sign off on the timing, as there was still some level of recovery time that would pull them off mission.

I did notice that there were no vehicles, but Ulrich informed me that those were things handled internally by the Commanders and always the best that could be made. That, and the fact that Mindy was constantly developing and testing new designs daily, making any standardized vehicles besides the Shuttles impossible to pin down.

Regardless, I was impressed at the current state of the PMC, even though it had been… less than a week since the recruits arrived. Huh, maybe I really should be concerned, instead?

Please consider supporting me on my ! It is 10 chapters ahead of public release and I will do my best to keep it that way.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!