Chương 394: Book 6 - Chapter 55 - Business Call

[Why, if it isn't my favorite half-pint hero,] Benedict exclaimed once the call connected. [What can I do for you today? I assume this isn't a social call.] [Mirage, it's been a while,] I replied tiredly. Even though I really didn't want to talk to Benedict, in the end I had to admit it was probably better to go through him than Charlotte.

While Charlotte did her best to keep the Calgary branch of the Family in order, Benedict had years of experience, contacts within the organization, and hopefully, the pull to get things done. [I need a favor…] [A favor? From me? I never thought I'd see the day,] he laughed. [What is it? Need me to get you out of trouble?] [In a matter of speaking…] I said cagily. [I need your help getting the Family to reposition their surveillance satellites over the Great Falls hive.] [Teddy,] he sighed.

[I may have been slightly out of the loop while I was on Mars, but even I've heard about the shitshow you've landed yourself in. An Antithesis planetary emplacement, heavy carapace plating, and a mold that recycled the dead.] [Nora and I have taken care of most of that, with a little help from Bern and the other samurai around here, but now we have another problem,] I replied. [Ah, I should have known. It seems like every time you solve a problem, you create two more,] Benedict chuckled.

[So tell me, what did you do this time?] [I got my arm ripped off in a fight,] I growled. [With a Gene Tender.] The connection went quiet for a minute. [Please tell me you're joking,] Benedict whispered. [Benedict, you know me. Would I even know what a fucking Gene Tender is, if I hadn't run into one? I don't care enough to find out what something's called until either it causes me trouble,] I said. [That's true,] he muttered.

[It's also an extremely bad habit that's probably going to get you killed one of these days.] [Yeah, yeah. We both know that even if I did study the different Antithesis models, I'd forget half of them before encountering them and would have to improvise anyway,] I grumbled. [Enough about my bad habits. I didn't call to socialize; I need access to the Family's surveillance networks. The sooner the better.] [Evelyn, I'm still several million kilometers from Earth. Why didn't you call Charlotte if you needed help?] Benedict asked. [I considered it, but ever since this hunk of space rock smashed down, it seems like she's been a constant Jurisdictional pissing match with the head of the other Family branches,] I said. [I have no doubt that she'll be able to convince the Family to redirect their satellites over the area again, but who knows how long that'll take. Nora's talking to Charlotte now, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to you too. We need that satellite coverage as soon as possible, before that fucking Tender leaves the area. I figured you'd have a few contacts you could tap into here to get it done faster. If you know what a Gene Tender is, you must know that it's dangerous, and understand why I'm trying to expedite this,] Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. [Oh, I understand alright. Do you know why it took us so long to cleanse Mars? Because there were four of them up there. That's it, four, and they kept the best samurai from earth occupied for months. If one got to Earth, it would be disastrous,] Benedict said. [Oh good, so we both know the stakes,] I said. [Can you please call your contacts now?] Benedict sighed. [I'll try, but I've been away a while, and the power dynamics might have shifted since I left, I can't promise anything.] [Just do your best,] I replied. [I'm still deep in the shit here. The situation may be better, but even after releasing one of Bern's bio weapons in the heart of the hive, Antithesis are still pouring out of it. Either there was a lot of the fuckers just sitting around down there, or the Antithesis somehow managed to evolve fast enough to save the breeding pits, or seed beds, or whatever they fucking use.] [It wouldn't surprise me. Tenders can do some extremely scary stuff in a very limited amount of time. Do what you can to track that thing down. I'll call you back as soon as I talk to my contracts. Hopefully I'll have some good news for you soon,] Benedict said. [Thanks, talk to you later,] I replied, before cutting the line. Although I couldn't hear what she was saying, Nora seemed to be in a fairly heated discussion behind her helmet. I knew the big wigs at the Family wouldn't want to reroute their precious satellites without some serious assurances, but we still needed to try the official channels in case Benedict couldn't get us what we needed.

Hopefully, between the official and unofficial channels, we'd get results soon. While she was talking, I wandered back to the impromptu front line that we'd established on the lip of the crater. Not much was coming out of the crater right now, and even if something did emerge from one of the burrows dotted around the crater's interior, it didn't last long.

Spooky had the Ursas performing constant bombing runs on the crater's interior, bathing the entire thing in M-17, while Dial-up and Lag bombarded the area with extremely large calibre artillery pieces. Even though the hive's exterior was extremely tough, the constant barrage had left the crater looking poxmarked when you could see it through the sea of fire anyways.

No, the Antithesis we had to worry about were the ones that were pouring out of the numerous tunnel entrances dotted around the crater, who seemed intent on removing the small group of interlopers attacking their home. So far I hadn't seen anything too dangerous. I hadn't even seen any twenties since we set off Bern's device, so I wasn't that concerned. We'd just needed a place to bunker down while asking for satellite support. As I wandered up and down the lines, I ran into Deadbeat, leading some troops.

"Hey, how are you holding up? Any issues?" I asked as I walked up behind her.

"Are you kidding? This is a cakewalk. We haven't needed the help of the Moose, Fox, or armor to hold the line for the last little while," she replied.

"It feels just like the old days, before things got complicated."

"Bandit and the foxes have been around nearly as long as you have," I said.

"You know what I mean," she huffed, "Back to simpler times, when we didn't have to deal with titanic threats, when we didn't need long-range artillery or orbital strikes to deal with everything."

"I guess we have been dealing with a ton of strange and terrifying creatures the last few months," I agreed.

"That's why it's so refreshing. Nothing bigger than an Eighteen, which we can easily kill with small arms," Deadbeat exclaimed.

"Now that you mention it… Where are the Twenties? They've been backing up pretty much every wave the Antithesis have sent since we arrived," I said.

"Maybe that part of the birthing chambers was compromised; maybe they got crushed when a part of the hive got hit by those massive cannons. Who cares? I'm going to enjoy this temporary reprieve while I can."

"Right," I muttered as I wandered away. I didn't really think it was strange earlier, but now… the lack of larger models was starting to bother me. The chances of only the Twenties being affected by the phage were extremely low, so where were they all? As I pondered, a tremor shook the ground, causing me to stumble to the side.

"Hey Boss, can I talk to you for a moment?" Bandit yelled.

"We have a problem here!"

"Great," I muttered.

"Now what?"