Chương 410: Book 7 - Chapter 6 - Undersea Adventure

The main conference room on Bear Force One was only a couple of steps away from the residential area, right next to the kids' activity room. It wasn't fancy; a large faux wood table, a dozen comfortable chairs, a holo projector in the roof, and a couple of display screens along the wall. When Nyx and I first designed Bear Force One, I'd pictured it as a place where I could meet with, or contact, other samurai. However, whenever there was a fight or another emergency, I always defaulted to using my augs.

Maybe one day I'd have enough time to prepare for a meeting ahead of time, and I'd actually use the room for its intended purpose. As I pulled out one of the chairs and plopped down, I connected to the command network and pulled up the data feeds from the bears on the Marsupial. I'd forgotten how claustrophobic the vehicle was. The oversized delta-winged vehicle had originally been designed to transport bears to the battlefield, so in order to save on points, I'd made it bear-sized.

To make the Marsupial fit for aquatic operations, the Beavers had to remove its drop pods, seal the numerous openings, and add another layer of armor plating to ensure it could survive the extreme pressures at depth. That extra layer of armor made the interior of the Marsupial even narrower than before. Thankfully, the bears didn't seem to have any problems with the cramped space as they prepared for launch. It didn't take them long because all they needed to do was load the ammo for the ships' new weapon systems.

Once they'd finished, the crew settled down at their stations, ready to begin. I waved my hand at the hologram projector and mentally redirected the Marsupial's camera feed to it. I could have monitored everything through the command network, but if I did that, I wouldn't have had a reason to be in the conference room. Since I was already here, I might as well make use of the facilities. With a quick mental nudge, I sent the crew scrambling about preparing for launch.

Since the Marsupial was so large, it couldn't fit into the hangar like the rest of my vehicles; Instead it sat underneath the hangar, clamped to Bear Force One's hull. When the bears finally released the clamps, Bear Force One shuddered slightly. I shouldn't have been surprised, considering how large the Marsupial was, but I was, because it was still only a fraction of the Strato Carrier's size.

It had never caused a disturbance when taking off or landing before, so either the addition of all the new armor and weapons had added a ton of weight to the vehicles, or the new control systems made it more difficult for the Bears to take off. Maybe it was a bit of both. I made a mental note to check on that later, after the Marsupial returned from its first aquatic foray.

Once the Marsupial disconnected from Bear Force One, it quickly accelerated, following the latest group of Ursas as they went to deliver another batch of sensor buoys. The oversized ship was surprisingly fast. Not only was it able to easily keep up with the much smaller ships, but based upon what I could tell, it could easily overtake them if necessary. That was probably due to the fact that it had the newer Class III engines, instead of the Class II ones that the Ursas had been designed with.

After a few minutes, the little squadron approached the drop zone, and as they did, dozens of small flying Antithesis that looked like oversized rays burst out of the water, intent on intercepting them. The ships didn't give them a chance; The Ursas opened up with their PAWs systems, swatting the creatures out of the air before they got close.

The Antithesis that took off further away came at the ships from the front and the side, apparently intent on clogging up the Ursa's engines no matter what, but the smaller ships simply picked them off at max range, then either ascended or descended to avoid the viscous clouds the Antithesis left behind. Once they got to the drop zone, the Ursas lined up and started methodically deploying their payloads. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

It took them less than a minute to extend the sensor grid, and when they were done, they turned and headed back towards Bear Force One. Not the Marsupial though, I had other plans for it. After a little mental nudge the bears sent the Marsupial into a steep dive. The small Antithesis threw themselves at the ship, but the ship's multiple PAWS systems blew them out of the sky. Unlike the Ursas, the Marsupial didn't try to avoid the clouds of gunk.

It was far too large to maneuver out of the way the same way that the Ursas had, and besides, the more advanced engines didn't require air intakes to work; So while the hull might have ended up splattered with their goo, they couldn't slow the ship down. The Marsupial slammed into the water's surface at almost top speed, but instead of coming apart at the seams due to the massive stress, it smoothly slipped under the surface.

It seemed like the aquatic Antithesis fliers didn't know what to do with the oversized ship now that it had followed them down into the water. They swarmed around it, circling until a few grew brave enough to attack the vehicle directly. The first wave of Antithesis managed to get within a few feet of the Marsupial before the ship's new aquatic defense systems kicked in. Bolts of electricity erupted from the ship's hull, frying the nearest Antithesis, then arcing to the creatures that were farther away.

The Arc Wave system might not have had the range of the PAWS systems, but as long as the ship had enough power, it was one hundred percent effective. It electrified the Marsupial's hull, then polarized the surrounding water so that anything that approached the ship would immediately become a valid target for the electricity to arc to. I wasn't sure if it would be effective against the larger models, but it ripped through the swarm.

Once the water settled, the bears set about trying to track down where the Antithesis were coming from. It wasn't difficult since they were arriving in a near-constant stream, so the bears turned the Marsupial towards the source and gunned the engine. The Marsupial was far slower below water than it was in the air. I hadn't needed any aquatic tech until yesterday, so the Marsupial served as sort of a test bed.

It had several different types of Class II aquatic weapons, Class II aquatic sensor systems, and a Class II aquatic propulsion system. Although it was far from the most advanced weapon in my arsenal, it was leagues ahead of the rest when it came to aquatic combat. After a few minutes of travel and near-constant Antithesis frying, the Marsupial finally emerged over a massive crevasse in the ocean floor. With a little bit of maneuvering, the bears managed to get the cameras pointed down into the Abyss.

Although it was apparent that this was where the Antithesis were coming from--they were still pouring out of the crack--it was so deep that I couldn't make anything out. The bears started by switching on the floodlights, trying to illuminate the area, but when that didn't work, they engaged the sonar imaging system. A wave of color erupted out of the ship, penetrating deep into the cave, briefly revealing the layout of the crevasse.

The system didn't actually illuminate anything; it was just a visual representation of what the sonar detected and how the computer interpreted the data. Once the pulse hit the bottom, the computer reassembled the data into a full 3d render and overlaid it over the camera feed so I could get a look at what we were dealing with. The crevasse went down about fifty feet, and although it was wide enough for the Marsupial to descend into, it would be tight.

The sides of the crevasse had not only been picked clean of ocean life, but it appeared to have been smoothed off by something. I kind of expected some sort of oversized, blobby, Antithesis hive sitting at the bottom, but what we found instead appeared to be an old derelict container ship which had somehow sunk directly into this small aquatic area. The small Antithesis were streaming out of holes in the ship's hull, so I quickly ordered the bears to deal with it.

The crew quickly maneuvered the Marsupial to a position where they could get a clean shot, slowly tilted the ship downward until some of the unsecured cargo began to slide along the deck, and opened fire with the ship's new primary weapon. The Marsupial shook as the oversized coaxial cannon fired a single heavy round deep into the abyss.

Normally, it would have been a bad idea to fire a kinetic weapon deep underwater like this, but thanks to a few adjustments and Humboldt explaining the concept of supercavitation so many times that I managed to remember the basics, the round struck home, ripping a massive hole into the side of the ship. I expected hundreds of Antithesis to come streaming out of the wreck, but that's not what happened. Instead, the wreck rocked back and forth a couple of times before being torn out of the ocean floor.

It slowly rotated, revealing an oversized crustacean with two long, strangely thin claws. It looked at the Marsupial for a moment before rushing towards the wall and quickly climbing upwards. I stared at the hologram for several seconds in disbelief before finally shaking my head.

"Why can't anything be simple anymore?" I muttered.