Anti-antithesis

One of the more insidious Models that we Protector AI’s don’t mention often are infiltrator units. No, not just those you call Nines, but a more sentient, cunning unit. Sigh, right, you did ask… Their combat strength is basically non-existent, yet they possess a different, more terrifying ability that has led to the downfall of dozens of worlds.

They can think and speak, and are normally the root cause of many plant cults throughout the galaxy. In your tongue, you could call them Acolytes.

-Conversation between AI Jelly and Black Log, August, 2057.

As much as I wanted to hop into the bio-shifter as soon as I could, I had a few responsibilities I had to take care of before I had the leeway to do so.

The first and, technically, most important thing was to finally finish going through the applications for crewing the MFA Pandora in order for them to be trained and ready for dispatch once we left for Japan. I pushed my perception to the max in order to get this task done as soon as possible, yet even with that it took me nine full days to go through the nearly four thousand applicants to whittle them down to a little over a thousand, and that had to be cut down to six hundred, as the four hundred troops would be picked from a different process.

There were a lot of fascinating people who wished to work on the Pandora for a variety of reasons, ranging from a desire to work with a “Saint” in a less direct combat role, to a near fetishized level of desire to work with bleeding edge tech at a level usually reserved for the most dangerous job of Samurai Tech Reverse Engineer, a job with an average eighty percent mortality rate.

The kitchen and hydroponics staff was the easiest station to staff, as there were both not as many applying as well as the fact that none of them had any problematic strings or ulterior motives we could not work around, followed by the command and general engineering support staff, which was a bit trickier as I had to be extra certain that none of them had strings that would lead to betrayal or blackmailed espionage. There were a few, but I would be able to resolve them easily enough with just a bit of effort in the future, possibly leading to stronger ties of loyalty.

Which left the specialist engineering staff, those that would work directly with the engines, generators, shielding systems, and sensor systems, positions that were, unsurprisingly, the most requested positions, but also the position that required the greatest scrutiny.

I cut those with problematic ideologies and pasts, obvious spies from other corporations, as well as those flagged as zealous Samurai worshipers, with the latter of those being more of a personal preference rather than a hazard. I mean, sure, having a zealot working the engineering bay might make sure they put their all into their work, but it might also spread their zeal amongst the crew and that was not an environment I wanted to exist in, especially since this was going to be my flagship.

With the remaining four hundred or so applicants, I tossed them to Morrigan to finalize, as she would have to be the one to teach them how not to crash the Pandora into the earth by accident.

As for the combat personnel, due to the fact that the Pandora would often be dispatched to patrol Arizona, Southern California, as well as parts of New New Mexico and Old Mexico proper, especially considering our new acquisitions from Bestle, constantly engaging the antithesis in combat, the four hundred soldiers had to be the best of the best from each company rather than hired specifically, with Bahamut having added in ship combat simulations to the active training rotations. In fact, Bahamut and Ulrich were working out a competition system as the last part of the PMC’s training in order to both figure out who those would be, as well as to show the effects of their accelerated training.

Horatio suggested the possibility of doing tours of duty on The Pandora as a way to rotate troops and other support personnel in order to train up staff for the rest of the eventual Monster Air Force, which was something that both Tungsten and Mindy supported heavily. In fact, due to the recently created personnel shortage, Morrigan’s planned one-ship-a-week fleet was put on hold, as each new ship needed a crew of three hundred to man, not including the landing troops and air support each flying-aircraft-carrier could deploy.

We decided to push back the planned recruitment drive until the current troops were ready to start patrolling the streets and the Wall, as we also had to finish reorganizing the recently absorbed PMCs, meaning that the police force attached to the Mayor’s office was stretched thin right now due to the sudden lack of competent PMCs, with the hundreds of smaller ones having to pick up the slack. As a recompense, we gave them limited access to the public, visible Ravens surveillance network in order to make their jobs easier, something Outsider put forward on her own, even!

Well, on the recommendation of Gimbal, who mentioned that we could offer a subscription service to PMCs for access later as a different revenue stream, something that they would more than likely pay for, considering it was both Samurai tech as well as extremely useful to make sure they could do their jobs with minimal collateral. Roger was both impressed as well as frustrated that he didn’t think of that himself.

Roger, Yerlette, and Cari had been working hard on fleshing the Real Dreams Limited Corporation while I was occupied, which meant planning out real estate purchases for cheap repair shops, soup kitchens, grocery stores, and eventual PMC branch expansions to neighboring cities, while also looking at how to gain a seat on the Corporate Council, something that Roger insisted would allow us to do more good, regardless of the reputation the Council had.

We also tested out a custom ordering service for Samurai who had credits to burn and fewer points to spare, or simply for those who didn’t want to invest tokens for a single purchase. The intended targets were for the cleaners, actually, as they went through a bunch of consumables with every dispatch, yet had tiny profit margins. However, our first customer was from out of state, someone whom Synaptic had networked with through her AI network. Amby was very satisfied with our service while also forming a close bond with Jill in the process. If she didn’t already have travel plans, I would have invited Amby to Japan, as we had plenty of room on the Pandora and I am sure Jill would have appreciated her presence.

That said, we would not make a habit of inviting every Samurai to our home to do a business deal, as I could not guarantee I would be here at all times. No, instead Morrigan would set up in my office in the Family Building, using the hard-light projectors to work with future customers.

Regardless, the test run worked nicely, so we were able to start actively advertising through the Family network, and despite Paladin doing his best to stifle our efforts, we had a few clients already lined up for a variety of projects. A few non-combat vehicles, some defensive encampments in a few more rural areas, plenty of consumables for cleaners and the PMCs who supported them, as well as a limited run of emergency teleportation devices for Samurai family members or employees. They had plenty of anit-espianage tech in them, from anti-tampering measures to GPS locators and bio-locks, in order to make certain that they were used by those intended and not stolen by corpos.

Anyways, I finished up the recruitment efforts after eleven days, with the applicants set to arrive in a week for their own training, as well as the rest of my “adult” tasks in another week or so, before I left my office to go and do the task I believed was most important for my future.

Finalizing and initializing my new form.

Cari and I had spent the nights going over options and abilities for our eventual upgrades, customizing the more specific offensive and defensive abilities. Enhanced skin, muscles, and bones, as well as enhancing the Slytherian specific organs, the toxin mixer, pheromone emitter, and heat tracking, while also working with Synaptic to maximize our own survivability. All in all, the upgrades for Cari, Roger, Buddy, Cody, Jill, and myself would cost around forty thousand points and five tokens, with Buddy, Cody, and Jill getting neural enhancements and biological-to-synthetic neural translation augments in order to better integrate with the gear Morrigan was making for them, while Roger was doing a full Neko-racial shift.

Eventually, we all finished up our tasks that needed to be done before we stood in front of the Bio-shifter.

As a reminder, the three of you will be out of commission for anywhere between six and eight days, as partaking in this event cannot be canceled mid way. Please make sure to complete any unfinished tasks, as you may not be able to complete them later.

I chuckled at Synaptic’s bit, remembering all the minor panic attacks such a line inflicted upon me in every game that asked, before I remembered that I had already finished all the side quests I could in said games. Roger, on the other hand, looked a bit more apprehensive, as he more than likely did have things that could probably be done over the next week or so, yet before he could postpone his transformation, Cari pushed him towards his chamber softly.

“It’s a joke, Roger. Get in the pod.” Cari said teasingly while stepping into hers.

I shook my head as I stepped into the pod, excited to be something other than human, other than the broken puppet of a person I have been all my life.

As the pod sealed me in, I felt my nanite armor flow into a storage container under the Bio-shifter, and I disconnected myself from my swarm network, feeling the empty void in my senses that the Scouts filled, something that I didn’t realize I had adjusted to having quite so actively. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and allowed the anesthetics to take hold, fading to black.

*******************************************

In an undisclosed location, Unknown Individual

After waving away my assistant and shutting my office door behind me, I activated the S.C.I.F. ability that was required for most of my more sensitive meetings. I heard the various mechanisms shift in the walls and floors, eventually confirming that it had activated properly as my aug connection to the outside was severed.

I walked over to my wooden desk, a relic of the old era, one that my great-grandfather made himself before the Antithesis made their presence known, and took a seat in the more modern chair, one designed using salvaged Protectorate materials. Even thinking about that word caused me to scowl unconsciously, hating the implications that I was in any way similar to those bottom feeders who chased battlefields for anything discarded by those so called Saints.

While I enjoyed the comfort the chair provided, a bonus considering its other, much more desired function, I always felt some disgust from it, as it was something made by forces that looked down on humanity from the heavens, like gods.

Leaning back, I felt the cords snake their way to my aug ports, connecting me to an isolated Mesh space, one that we spent years making certain that no outsider could possibly peer into, especially those AI.

I felt the world shift and, once the vertigo passed, I opened my eyes to the round table meeting space. Thankfully, the Architect had the sense to not lean into those outdated, cliche design tropes of a dark, candle lit hall decorated in blood and bones that was often associated with secret groups, instead focusing on a more practical modern design of opulence and subtle affluence. Marble and crystal filigree embellished the space, one dominated by the massive obsidian table and the various high backed chairs surrounding it.

Looking around, I saw most of the others had also connected, their simple avatars hiding all discerning features, except for a mask, one we were allowed to decorate mildly using animals or concepts in order to differentiate who was who, as the seating was randomized each time. A quirk of the Architect, I believed, even if the official reason was to make sure no “head” of the table, to remind us all that we were equal to each other.

Soon enough, all the seats were filled, causing the Adjudicator to awaken. A simple AI, one designed to be subservient to us, to allow for a clear flow of information and discussion, yet never one to lead the discussion. Its form was based after a ball of ever shifting lights and geometry flowed slowly around itself, its voice monotone and androgynous in nature.

“Reports received, priorities sorted. Highest level obstruction detected. Greed, your priority request to speak first meets the requirements.”

Greed, a figure in a gold mask, was illuminated by the Adjudicator.

“Our plans in Arizona have been disrupted heavily, as two cells of modified Seventeen communication nexuses have been eliminated by a recently initialized Samurai who is rapidly growing in power. Frustratingly, it seems as though he initialized in an abandoned project of Steel’s, one that was justifiably abandoned after Montero died, yet was not cleaned up properly.”

A bunch of reports and estimates flew around the Adjuticator, showing us information on this new Samurai as well as potential estimates of their upper limits. With each report, I grew more and more impressed by this young man’s actions, yet also felt a headache forming as I saw how entrenched in New Phoenix he became.

“Those ravens are going to be a problem.” Wasp said, “It would be one thing if they remained in public spaces, yet it would be foolish of us to assume that. Many Protectorate drones have stealth functionalities, and I foresee these things being no different.”

Smoke turned to look at Steel, his raspy, quiet voice easily reaching my ears, even with him on the other side of the table from me. “What are the expected damages and risks of exposure? Is it feasible to pull out of New Phoenix?”

Steel exhaled sharply, “As much as I would like to say we can mitigate losses and continue, that is not feasible in the long run. We have lost access to The Family’s database in the city, not to mention the numerous spies we had in place that were recently purged due to Bestle’s actions. Projections show that the city is a lost cause so long as this Samurai stays in the city, not unless something drastic happens in the next year that either kills them or removes them by force. It was unfortunate that one of the Nexuses decided to try and deal a heavy blow to that Samurai on its own, exposing us further, but nothing can be done about that now.

“As for pulling out? That is no easier than removing the Samurai, unfortunately. Our nexuses are too deeply entrenched in the city’s infrastructure to be removed, as they will reach maturity in a month or so, not to mention the hidden seeds awaiting activation. While they may not be as destructive as that wild hive in the south was projected to be, with the Tier Fours and Fives no longer on Earth, they will be enough to wreak havoc on the city for a time, yet I suspect that Samurai will be enough to mitigate that damage immensely. As much as it pains me to say it, we should activate the Shed Tail protocol in order to minimize our own exposure and give up on New Phoenix.”

A wave of murmurs washed over the room before Gene, the one with a mask of vines and bark raised his hand, drawing attention to himself. “We always knew that these plans were subject to termination with the appearance of new Samurai, especially as the strength of these newer ones has, on average, been higher than those initiated from decades past. As is shown, more and more of North America is becoming more and more untenable for long term assimilation, due to in large part the efforts of those more short sighted corporations and their active efforts to pad their bottom lines. We should redouble our efforts in South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, as those areas hold our strongest hopes for ascension, even with the difficulties that the African city-states are presenting.”

A screen appeared offering a vote to initialize the Shed Tail protocol for not only New Phoenix, but for North America as a whole. I easily agreed to the former, yet the latter I knew many of us would be hesitant to agree to, at least right now, as many of our plans were soon to bear fruit.

In the end, the first proposal was accepted, yet the second would be revisited later. The Adjuticator shifted its light to another member, continuing the meeting without a care.

Hey all, thank you so much for reading through the second book of Anti-Antithesis, I will be taking a week or two off writing so that I can let my mind rest and actually do some proper planning for Book 3, you know, actually story boarding and stuff. I hope that my third entry to this... insane project lives up to not only my own expectations, but yours as well.

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