“You okay?” Humboldt asked once I stumbled out of the Kodiak a few mier.

  “I’m fine,” I snapped. “Just because I took manual trol of the coilgun and pletely leveled two more pilrs doesn’t mean I’m pissed off or anything.”

  “I know, you’d do that for fun,” she replied with a knowing look. “I’m asking because Bright-Eyes told me what happened.”

  “That overfident asshole not only almost got himself killed, but promised our defenses!” I immediately started ranting. “I have no idea what could possibly have been going through his mind!”

  “Apparently he became a samurai before you, or even I did, but he barely got any kills during that first incursion, and hasn’t had any real ces to fight since,” Sharron said as she rubbed my bad tried to get me to calm down. “Mother said he’s been itg to prove himself, and that drove him to take unnecessary risks while they were expl the tunnels. She’s been trying tn him in a little, but as you see…”

  “He’s an idiot,” I finished for her.

  “He still thinks he o take risks to prove himself worthy,” she corrected.

  “I don’t give a shit. He o learn that risking your life is ohing; risking the lives of others is something pletely different,” I replied. Now that I finished ranting, I took a couple deep breaths to help calm down before looking towards where the rest of roup was huddled together. “What’s going on?”

  “While you were busy blowing off steam, the other team mao crush ahree minor hives,” she said, pointing to the blur of destru at the other side of the room. “Now that more than half of the supp structures have beeroyed, we’re actually seeing a drop in the number of smaller models. We’re actually making progress.”

  “About fug time,” I muttered. “So why is everyone huddled together like a cryo-t pipe broke nearby?”

  “They’re trying to determine if now is the best time to meet up with the others or not,” Sharron replied. “I actually wandered over to collect you, so we could discuss it.”

  “For fuck’s sake…” I moaned. “Why didn’t you mention that before?”

  “Because I wanted you to blow off a little steam before having to deal with Raijin,” she replied. “Otherwise you’d just rip into him every time he opened his mouth.”

  “I do have some self-trol,” I told her as we began wandering over to the others. “I just choose not to waste it while dealing with idiots.”

  Humboldt snorted. “Just py nice for a few mihe pressure may have eased up slightly, but we’re still in a bat situation, and the longer we’re away from the lihe more likely that the antithesis attempt something.”

  “Fine,” I muttered again as we stepped up to the group.

  Broodmother, Bright-Eyes, Hoppy, and Raijin were standing in a loose circle, which opened up when Humboldt and I approached. “Thank you for joining us,” Mother said with a polite smile.

  “I hear we’re pnning to meet up with the roup, and pushing towards the core hive,” I said, slowly turning my head until I was looking at Raijin. “That didn’t really go well st time.” I immediately received an elbow to the ribs from Humboldt.

  “Well… that’s true, but we werely pnning on walking there. We were thinking about using your APC,” Bright-Eyes said. “You mao fly over to us, couldn’t we just fly over to the other team?”

  I just bli the suggestion. It was something exceptionally simple, but had never occurred to me. “Oh, yeah, robably do that,” I admitted.

  “We won’t be shot down on the way over?” Hoppy asked hesitantly. “I kinda have a thing about flying.”

  “We woly be flying, as we will be h just out e of the ground units,” I crified. “Nyx told me the Kodiak is solid enough to resist an attack run from any of the flyers, even those oversized Model Elevens, so there’s nothing to worry about… probably.” Hoppy whimpered slightly. “We’re fighting giant killer pnts, I ’t believe you’re afraid of flying.”

  “I have trol over what happens when fighting,” Hoppy said quietly. “I ’t exactly trol what happens in the back of an aircraft.”

  “Fair enough,” I replied. “So that’s the pn? Just hop in the Kodiak and fly over there? What about this position?”

  “What about it? It’s just a tunnel opening,” Raijin spat out. “It doesn’t matter as long as we take out the hives and elimihe antithesis here.”

  “You’re n… but you never know what could happen. What if we get pressed and have to fall back?” I snapped back at him. “Then again, we’re all samurai, so that could NEVER happen, right?”

  Raijin’s face turned red, and his mouth fpped as he tried to e up with something to say.

  “Enough! This is not the time to fight among ourselves,” Mother said. Her voice was a lot colder than I’d ever heard before a me from saying anything more. “Our priority o be dealing with that tral hive and the monstrosity within.”

  “You’re right, sorry,” I apologized. “You’re sure this is the right move? I alrovide c fire from over here.”

  “You , but none of the others help. I believe our best option would be to solidate our strength and try to take it out with a sirike,” Mother answered. I g the rest of our small group, trying to gauge their reas. Hoppy seemed nervous about the situation but determined, and Raijin seemed excited. I just shook my head.

  “Fine… I’ll trust your judgement, but we’re not all going to fit in a single Kodiak, so I’ll have to buy another. What about ys? Even with another vehicle, I don’t think they’ll all fit.”

  “They’re disposable. I’ll take enough to restart the swarm at our destination, but the others will pletely shut down ohey get a certain distance from me. It’s a failsafe,” Mother said.

  “Great. No problem then,” I said. “If you leave most of the swarm to maintain a perimeter, then we shouldn’t have to worry about the area getting overrun until we’re airborne.”

  “Does anyone have any s before we move?” Humboldt asked, stepping forward and taking attention away from Broodmother and myself. “We may have a pn, but if you have any issues, we should take care of them before we jump into the middle of the a.”

  Hoppy slowly raised her hand. “I’m mainly melee-focused, but I’m not sure I hold my own in the middle of… that,” she said, gesturing to the melee oher side of the room. “Even with the added tokens and points, I doubt I tah Twenties sistently.”

  “That’s fair,” I said. “You never unlocked a ranged on?”

  “I’m an absolutely terrible shot. So I stuck with what I knew until now,” Hoppy replied. I stared at the woman for a moment, then pulled my rifle off my back before it to her.

  “It’s mostly self-targeting. As long as you don’t fire it directly at someone’s back, you’ll be fine,” I said.

  “You don’t ?” she asked, surprised.

  “I’ll just get another one,” I replied with a shrug before turning away.

  “Any other s?” Humboldt asked again. “Once we get over there, I doubt we’ll have time to do much but fight. Last ce.”

  Sino one spoke up, I stepped a few feet away from the group. “Alright. I’ll order up another Kodiak. You guys pile into the existing one, with half my bears, and Humboldt and I will take the sed one,” I said. “We’ll wait until you’re away, because I’ll have to pull Bob and the st of the gunline back.”

  “You’re sure?” Mother asked.

  “As long as the scarabs remain active, there shouldn’t be any issue,” I replied. In the bay mind, I went through every possible way I could see this going wrong, but I still smiled. “It’ll be fine.”

  Whehers turo head to the Kodiak, Humboldt leaned closer to me. “If you want to inspire fiden other people, you should work on your poker face. That was the most forced smile I’ve ever seen,” she said with a small ugh.

  “Shut up,” I muttered. “I was just trying to figure out the safest way to do this.”

  “You think something might g?” she asked, suddenly ed.

  “Not here,” I said. Across the room, I could see the roup smash about. Bursts of light and soued from their location occasionally. “We’re about to fly right into the heart of the battle, and I doubt it’ll be a smooth ride. We better be prepared.”

  Humboldt just nodded in response.