by Marcus Sloss
“Get your sexy wings over to the vault and grab a mind orb. You’re moving into your battle body, over and out,” I said closing the connection before she could reply. Being the boss was the best.
“Sally will be pissed,” Willow said with a raised brow that I shrugged off.
If we lost the mind orbs then the demonix could implode the divine planet in a suicide run. Shit after we nailed the damn mother ship we could build nukes again or whatever ancient owls could come up with. While I was contemplating how to destroy a planet I adjusted my overly large cock.
“Can I easily get out of this sex toy for that body?” I asked pointing to the real anfrilia body that was not combat ready.
“That sex toy still weighs four hundred pounds and I don’t want to drag it to the vats to return the acrium. So yes and no. At any time you can return to your body or shift. Just know someone has to carry that inert hunk of meat if you do,” Nancy said, running a finger up and down my frame.
“That would be fun to watch. I guess I could carry myself,” I said with a muttering.
“Head to the vat by your real body. Step in a tube and then transfer consciousness. It will give you an option,” Nancy informed me. “I will be waiting at the platform so we can attend this meeting with Perci. Hurry up you three.”
“Wait! One more question? We don’t need these limited mind storage devices inside Bastion?” I asked.
“Going to Mansion or Aspen, yes. Inside this cavern no,” Willow said. “Do you want the fairy or the demonix for my combat body?”
“Fairy, without a doubt and not because it is sexier. The demonix are potentially unstable and you don’t need to be stirring that pot,” I said and she nodded.
“Perfect. See you on the platform Nancy,” Willow said heading for the body chamber. I followed her with Everly. “Excited to be a human Everly?”
“I will miss my tail and enhanced hearing, so not really. I will make a crixxi clone if I have to later,” Everly said and I rubbed her back.
“We will get this figured out. For now, let’s protect our lives and go see what Perci has to share,” I said with a smile as we arrived at the mind projection room.
I had already been on one combat mission without my human body. I felt it was the right thing to do. Protecting our family had taken a new meaning to me, especially after almost dying, twice. I was hoping for a slowdown in combat, somehow I didn’t think I would get my wish.
CHAPTER 14
“Ugh, Eric. You threw my whole meeting off by letting Longoria get into a synthetic. She was supposed to be covering air upgrades before I went,” Perci said with a gruff tone. I had found her on a stage in a theater sized room with a lecture platform. She was wearing acrium that barely covered her nipples and left so much bountiful cleavage exposed. I may have zoned out. Okay, I totally did. “Eric, I am glad you like this design, but this is not the time.”
“I mean, you just told me we had five minutes because of -” I was saying when her finger pointed up at my nose to silence me. My clear acrium cover was poked. “Fine, then tell me about the chickens?”
“When the briefing starts,” Tina said from Willow’s side. Oh, when did she arrive in the auditorium? This briefing room was huge and the number of people I recognized was a lot. Tina didn’t let our distant stop her from hollering at me. “Hi Eric, sorry for your loss. Norm left.”
“Wait, what? Come here Tina,” I said and she squeaked slightly. The woman was normally so chatty. “Sammy Slister was a dear friend. I… She will not be forgotten. I too am sorry for your loss. Now, why did Norm leave and where did he go?”
Tina went to speak and glanced at Perci for permission. I spun on my wife who gave an exhausted sigh.
“Best if she tells you, but there is more to it,” Perci said, gesturing for Tina to go on.
“Well, he went to Teton Fortress. Norm thinks his wife would be alive if it wasn’t for you,” Tina said and I scoffed. I was about to rebuttal the ever-living crap out of that statement when Tina went on. “What Norm fails to see is that his wife was a warrior, and that never changed. She never would have been a farmer or a casino worker or... She loved what she did.”
“Okay, okay. I don’t have much to add to that because I will start getting all sappy. I like Norm but alien tech put him out of work. Hopefully, his four masters degrees will help him in his new home,” I said bitterly. He was hardly the first loved one to lay blame on me for their losses. I was not a hero to a lot of soldier’s families. “I am not angry at him, I actually mean him well. Hurts he blames me but I’m the boss. All fault rolls to me.”
“Yeah, well he didn’t even say goodbye to Derek and I. Left a note and caught a trade flight to Teton,” Tina said and Willow gave her a hug. “With Gary and a few others.”
“Wait, Gary, as in Earl Gary our builder?” I asked and suddenly Perci’s guidance made more sense. “In the briefing?”
Perci nodded. I was about to force it out of her when Longoria arrived in a new elegant gown. This one flowed nicely and I loved the design of the blue with white. She always looked so regal. The room quieted at her arrival and the lights started to dim.
Longoria fluttered her pretty wings toward the podium with a holographic display while I shifted to a seat in the auditorium in the middle of the stands. There was no epic spot for me to sit in. I was another Bastion member among the leadership. My large form folded into an egg shaped seat. Oh, this was comfy. I guess everyone sat in a throne of sorts.
“For the community,” Longoria said and the motto was echoed back.
She stood in front of a digital display that tilted to give us a topographical image. Her wings fluttered when she tapped a series of buttons from a top down projector. The terrain shifted and aircraft populated. Four vessels were on display, each image the size of a person.
“This will be the last change of our military makeup for quite some time, and not because the grand market is gone. This is in-home manufacturing, built by arguably the best minds in the universe. While there will undoubtedly be modifications down the line, each aircraft serves a specific purpose. Also, please note, nothing is to scale,” Longoria said pointing to the display.
She swiped three of the four aircraft off the view. A single-seater populated from the roof. There was no front or back, merely a middle ball with six propulsion motors on it; one for each direction. The motors were small but still an eyesore, and probably much worse for the actual pilot.
“We start with the SS01,” Longoria said, and Eddy raised a hand from down and to my right. “Yes, Duke Eddy?”
“SS was the acronym for some bad -”
“Carry on,” I said, halting the interruption. I wanted to not get the meeting dragged into debates of human history. SP would work fine instead of the SS. “SS is now SP01, easy fix, and thank you, Eddy.”
Longoria was a professional and didn’t get flustered. She said, “The SP01 is meant for,” She pointed at the ceiling. So these were the anti-mothership vehicles. They certainly brought out the inner child in me wanting to fly one. “Less gravity than we are used to. It is a bit clunky on earth and will not be used beyond specific situations. The VirtaBox has a working simulator that is perfect for the SP01. Expect assignments to the VirtaBox for training purposes soon enough.”
The ball spaceship was removed and an aircraft akin to a fighter jet populated, but three times bigger and boxier.
“FP02 is a fighter that is meant to spin, turn, and orient on the enemy. It packs a mighty punch and requires a crew of two. A pilot and a gunner. About the size of the RV, some of you were used to aerodynamics and those days are going. The FP02 uses its size to increase its shielding and hull integrity. This may look like a looting ship but I assure you it is not. This has rapid firing cannons and a massive artillery gun. These are the future of our warfare. Hit the enemy hard from a distance so they never have a chance.
“It has a hover capability that is easy to use so you can glide it into a portal. Do us al
l a favor and avoid trying to fly through a portal at height, for whatever reason, go low to go through. Now, I am going to hand off the briefing for Willis to explain our new power sources before I continue,” Longoria said, indicating to a busy Willis who tapped on a device that it was his turn.
Willis rushed up to the stage in his crixxi with a lab coat. The holographic projector displayed the new cylinders I had on my body. “Our ground gear is getting upgrades but the platforms are staying the same. What does that mean? No new tanks, a few new mech suits, and everything about five times more powerful. We have streamlined the elemental power generators to provide more shielding and weapon output. Our factories are working full time to increase production. Basically if you have a boxy device providing power get a cylinder. Got it, good. Willis out.”
When he quickly fled the stage in his new body I stood and clapped. He gave me a scornful look and I cupped my mouth and yelled, “That is how all briefings should be, not kidding.”
Longoria rolled her eyes and went back into her aircraft lecture. “The FP02 can easily swap out elemental power sources. The boxy generators that weighed a bunch are gone for efficient tubes of power we term elemental canisters. Sorry reading off lines and I expected Willis to flake,” Longoria said to laughter through the room. “The aft containment unit can hot-swap hydrogen for nitrogen and then to oxygen in minutes which is huge. Basically these fighters are bulky partially because they can go on any planet and still be a fabulous killing machine. There is minimal storage that is filled with survival gear. They do not tow sleds or have attachments for looting. Every part of this fighter is built around victory. Again the VirtaBox will get you trained up on these.”
The fighter was replaced with the dropship I had already flown in. The sleek design was leaps and bound nicer than the old animal haulers. The people around me were talking positively in hushed tones about the fighter. Longoria cleared her throat before continuing.
“DS77 is the main staple of the fleet. We purchased everything we could in this design from numerous sellers. We are still modifying these to have quick swapping elemental canister power plants. With that said this can hold a hundred infantry or a dozen small tanks inside the hangar. The bottom has two quick connects and disconnects for towing TG99s under it.
“The DS77 is overpowered with excessive cylinders, overprotected with intense shielding, and thickly armored with its multi-layered hull. If it is dragged to the ground, expect the ground to break. These will need designated gunners, give me a moment to explain why.
“The DS77 is a power hungry killing machine. First and foremost is the gravity sled. This amount of weapons, crew, armor, and interior doors weighs a lot. That means it needs to be able to power an anti-gravity sled with excessive amounts of energy. If a gunner pulls too much power they will bring the aircraft out of the sky. If the accelerators are in motion expect those to get drained too. Which could lead to mid-air collisions and so forth.
“Basically, this is a highly automated aircraft that still needs input and tough decision making by a crew of twelve. Yup, twelve is what we recommend. Again the VirtaBox will not only train our troops on these, it will test them. Flying aboard a DS77 is a really good job that pays well, but demands a lot. Moving along to our very own AC66.”
The dropship was replaced by a fifty foot wide aircraft that resembled a brick on its narrow edge. There were hangar bay doors all along the sides that rose three hundred feet into the air. The entire length of the ship there were entry and exit points arranged by size as well as by level. You could immediately tell where a fighter was docked versus a dropship. The image showed DS77s and FP02s swarming off the carrier as they raced to war.
“AC66 is designed to be the ultimate portal carrier. We have two, and only one is active. The other is… hidden and empty. This is very straight forward. You glide into a portal to land your grounding forces. All these lower bays fill with infantry, tanks, and powered suits. Above it your support and fighter aircraft launch. Enemy farther than you like? The AC66 can get you there in a hurry. Crew of up to two thousand and can be run by a skeleton crew of a dozen. This is a flying city that is akin to a spaceship. There are problems, of course, it is bulky, so clearing an exit is normally required. That and you're putting a lot of souls in one target. Most species tend to avoid these because they are easy to defeat by the bigger species. A third was requested but I denied it not knowing our grand market was coming down. I knew it would not get filled until production of smaller aircraft increases and now that we can’t use the grand market; that means mining operations really need to kick into overdrive. A goal for another time. Questions will be done via Gpad for recording purposes and to move the briefing along. Queen Perci is next.”
There was a pause and the four ships returned to holographic viewing. Perci strolled onto the stage tapping away at her tablet. The image of the aircraft shifted to a rendering of Bastion. There was a flick of her finger that moved the display over to the side, a few more taps, and we had the entire population of Bastion broken down by species lined up from short to tall. Um…
Okay, I was not expecting to see hundreds of new alien types. I scanned the seating and still only saw mostly the races I knew. Heck, there was only one demonix and she was jotting notes. I recognized her as the one who I saved, wait she got a cybernetic hand. The fuck… There would be an interrogation later.
Hmm.
“Bastion is a huge success. Our population numbers have surpassed anything I could handle on my own. Not to mention the logistics of not just handling immigrants but the sheer work done to support them. Bastion’s community has really been amazing the last few days. Now onto rescue operations. Our human numbers have soared to over three hundred thousand. I know some in this room find that hard to believe. That is almost the entire west coast of the United States rounded up and brought here. That number was staggeringly low when you think there were over two hundred million in that zone.
“We forecasted many more and because of that, our building printers are way ahead of the game and they are already being prepped to move north. Yup, we’re expanding to Banff and more. Which I will let Queen Nancy brief about next,” Perci said and the screen went into a top down view of Bastion.
I saw the left side jungle with the lake and river. The northern bend had our castle soaring to the cavern’s sky… Fake sky, and I needed to explore the castle. I rubbed the back of my neck guiltily. Too much sex and work. I should probably take a breather with Mary soon and just walk and talk. I returned my focus to the map. In the middle there was the tri city area, the massive metropolis with its skyscrapers. There was the vault burrowed into the northeastern corner by the mines. A new mini forest for the fairies in the south. And the eastern side contained a jut that was being carved out for expanding.
Everywhere else where there was not a designated superstructure was housing. The printers had done a fantastic job at littering the floor with residences. Oh there were a few warehouse districts for manufacturing and an airport with a military base but there were no roads. There was no need for any. There were only walkways between the home and residential apartments. Everything was moved via lifts. Bastion was a city of the future. When I saw how many people were living here I understood the need to expand. We had tons of room to build vertical but that would kill the vibe of the residential areas. We needed those parks and ponds.
“So let me go over a few things. The species we acquired during the last grand market are all part of the Owlvini Alliance and are dedicated to the cause. They will bring a lot of change to our society. The start of which, is nudity. Hurrah, or boo!” Perci said playing with the crowd. She smiled brightly and when our eyes met hers sparkled. “Just a single example of many to come. We are not going vertical or adding more people to Bastion due to infrastructure demands. Bastion is doing well as it is and the last thing we need is back flowing waste or water turning off. Banff and other expansions will have their own challenges and help spur our economy.
“Among humans there has been a culture shock. Many of the older folks we rescued are turning young again and there is a lot of friction between couples. We weathered this issue back in Mansion and Aspen because things had deteriorated to the point we clung to each other. I am sad to say that has changed. As of today there has been an exodus of divorcees fleeing for a new home. Some are leaving due to our sudden influx of exotic species. Others because their spouse they fought to stick by is now wanting different tastes… Taste kind of works. We’re dealing with a massive societal upheaval.
“Not only has humanity gone from here before the Xgates.” Perci held her hand at her chest level. “To here, with the loss of all technology.” Her knees were indicated. “To here, with advanced technology and infinite life. I chose my spouse as a forever kind of deal. Some of these couples had kids and were stuck together. Suddenly they have a whole new life with a lot of exciting options. So it's a change for us humans. Expect more ripples in the water before it smooths. As far as housing goes I have left twenty percent blank so people can rotate and expand. Make no mistake, we are going to need to keep building. The virum will only slow if our babies start dying, so… that is not an option. We’re not halting saving people, merely preparing new homes for them and that can be done rapidly. Please treat the new arrival as all citizens deserve.”
Perci went to walk off the stage. “Your highness, how many humans have shifted back to Teton Fortress?” I asked.
“Almost five thousand. They are having their own internal issues. We almost traded one for one on the second swap. Sinclair is bitching and moaning about needing this and that. It gets irritating, extremely so,” Perci said realizing she was rambling a tad. Her curtsy was flawless. “I hope that answers my king’s question fittingly. I secede the floor to Queen Nancy.”
The image washed away in a green flickering. A display of Calgary Alberta was shown and there were gasps. It survived. Not only that it was a mega city with towering walls, layered defense, and platforms flying around. Whoa! How was this missed?
