“You have been taught that associating with a Samurai can rocket your career. What is the most dangerous position offered by our command? Associating with a Samurai.”

  – Drill Sargent Walters to new recruits of the Desert Dogs PMC.

  After getting out, Private Johnson asked me to follow.

  “Don’t worry. Sargent Higgins will see to your friends.”

  “I don’t really know them. I was just visiting. They’re workers at the plant.”

  “No matter. Well, the captain will want to talk to you about what you saw, and what remains. That was some explosion.”

  “Yeah. I don’t understand it, but apparently I did it. At least I got a lot of points for it.”

  “Great. We can use the help.”

  “Huh?”

  “You can use the points to power up, maybe also help us, and take down these aliens quicker. The Witch of the West is due soon.”

  “Who?”

  “A Samurai from Vegas. She was in the area, apparently… Ma’am, we’re here.”

  After private Johnson knocked, I heard someone say, “Enter.” He opened the door, waved me in, and then left.

  “Um, hello?”

  The man continued to work on his VR, and I saw a display update with all sorts of information. There were three red spots, surrounded by yellow, as well as a large yellow spot. Surrounding the yellow was green.

  Suddenly, I heard, “Please sit.”

  Quickly turning my head, I saw the man had finished and was now looking at me.

  “I am Captain Bryce, of the Desert Dogs PMC. You must be the Samurai, miss….”

  “Jane. Ms. Jane Anderson.”

  “If you’re hungry, there is some food over there. Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You must be new. When did you become a Samurai?”

  “Earlier today. Why?”

  “A real newbie. One moment.” He keyed his headset, and said something too low for me to hear. Then he looked like was listening, before nodding. “Okay, it looks like the witch will be here in less than ten minutes. Best wait for her to help you figure out Samurai stuff. In the meantime, can you tell me the situation back where you came from?”

  I did my best to tell him everything I could recall. The bunker, Roger’s locking us out, the large amount of antithesis I saw. Everything. I didn’t even notice when a woman entered.

  When I stopped, I heard, “Hello captain Bryce. Looks like we caught a lucky break.”

  I whipped around, spooked. The woman was clearly not part of the PMC. She was rather dressed to look like some sort of witch, and even had a pointed hat. No broom, though, but she did have a staff.

  “Welcome, Mori. Please meet Jane Anderson, baby Samurai. Just hours old.”

  “Hello, miss Anderson. Will you help us fight the antithesis, or are you more of a cleanup or support type?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to get anywhere near them, but since I can fight, I probably should.”

  “It’s really up to you. I need to head out soon to direct my forces, but I would welcome your help, however you decide.”

  “… I guess I will fight. But how? I’ve had some self defense lessons, but that’s only supposed to be for emergencies.”

  “I see. How many points are you willing to spend to gear up?”

  “How about 1700?”

  The captain said, “Wow. Sorry, please continue.”

  The witch said, “You have that many?”

  “Yes. Apparently I blew up a landing pod by accident.”

  “Wait, that explosion was you?”

  “… Yeah, kinda. I didn’t know the warehouse was full of explosive.”

  “Oh my. Well, anyway, I would say to set aside a buffer for medicine, and go two to one weapons to armor and upgrades. Call it 1100 weapons, 500 armor and upgrades, and 100 buffer. Less if you want to save for something big. If you want to be more defensive, swap the points for weapons and armor. Why don’t you talk with your AI for ideas.”

  “Okay…”

  “While you do that, follow me to the front, so I can see what’s up.”

  I followed her, and asked, “Ysis? What do you suggest?”

  As the Witch of the West mentioned, it depends on your desires. Do you have a preference?

  I thought about it, and realized I did. “You know the VR game I spend a lot of time on?”

  Yes, I can see you spend about one third of your gaming time in Safari Hunter.

  “Well, my favorite build is Techno-Sheena. Can you suggest something for that?”

  Of course. However, that game is set in the dense jungle, and not what’s around here. Might I suggest the longer range Overwatch rifle with variable ammo. It will let you shoot things at a range of up to a mile with reliability. With self aiming ammo, you can shoot farther. It is a heavy weapon, with a big kick, so I would also recommend some body reinforcement of some type. We can go genetic, biological implants, or cybernetic. Your Techno-Sheena character depends on her mobility. Including vertically in the jungle. Here, height can give you unobstructed sight lines for shooting. For that, we can have a hard light armor system that can also generate platforms you can stand on to shoot.

  “Oh, that sounds nice Ysys. Will I look buff like the character?”

  If you wish. In fact, both the genetic and implant catalogs include body sculpting. It would not add much to the point costs.

  “What about the armor? I want to look sexy.”

  As I said, the hard light system should protect you well into the teens. You will only see it when it blocks an attack. Otherwise, wear what you will, and that will be seen. It also includes a small air supply, should you be subjected to a gas attack, such as what the model fours have.

  The witch cuts in, “Oh yes. A gal should be sexy when she wants.” She then winks before turning away.

  “I’ve decided, sort of. Let’s go the gene editing route, but I want to retain my humanity, as I may want kids in the future. I can use implants later, if I max out the genetic ability. What about appearance?”

  Suddenly, I had the Safari Hunter avatar creation pop up on my augs, and to one side was me, on the other was my favorite build, and in the middle was the avatar. All three were nude.

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  Since you are familiar with this setup, it should be easy to design your new look. However, if you focus on a control, you can expand it with additional options to fine tune the appearance.

  “Oh! Great.” I then started customizing everything. But I didn’t make my character, since I had options the game didn’t have. One I was surprised to have was a height adjustment. Even at 5’4”, I didn’t dominate a room by entering. Likewise, I was small in front. While the game let you choose cup size, this allowed far more customization for shape, placement, and everything. I must of spent ten minutes before I hit the accept button, and half of that was deciding on the outfit.

  This will require the Class I Super Soldier Body, the Class I Hard Light Systems, and the Class II Advanced Kinetic Weapons catalogs. Additionally, you will replace your skeleton and eyes, enhance your muscles and metabolism, sculpt your new body. The equipment will be a Field Medical System to handle the body upgrade, the rifle, armor, and mobility package. All for 1408 points. Given how new you are to this, I’m leaving a larger buffer, in case you suddenly find that you need something important right now.

  “Let’s get it.”

  Okay. Please locate a place for the body upgrade, which will need an hour to process. A quiet place will be useful, to avoid interruption.

  “Mori? Ysys indicates I need someplace to get my upgrade, and that it will take about an hour.”

  “Give me a moment.” She concentrated, and suddenly an odd hover car came over. “This is my witchcraft. Get in, and it will take you back to the infirmary, and reconfigure into a tent you can use. Just call me when you are ready, and I will have the witchcraft bring you to the front lines.”

  “Thanks.” I got in, and suddenly, I was whisked towards the infirmary. It landed behind it, but before I could get out, it started flowing into a new shape. In seconds, it looked like a tent, and I was sitting on the only seat left. I got up and told Ysys to start.

  Opened Class I Super Soldier Body catalog – 100 points

  Opened Class I Hard Light Systems – 80 points

  Opened Class II Advanced Kinetic Weapons – 500 points, 1 token

  Field Medical System – 200 points

  Nutrient Supplement – 5 points

  Body Sculpting Nanites – 20 points

  Gene therapy for Enhanced Muscles – 30 points

  Gene therapy for Enhanced Metabolism – 20 points

  Synthetic Skeleton – 100 points

  Synthetic Sharpshooter Eyes – 80 points

  High Mobility Medium Armor – 100 points

  Hard Light Skypath – 20 points

  Overwatch Mk 4 Rifle with smart targeting – 150 points

  50 round magazine of Armor Piercing HE – 3 points.

  Class 0 Real Cosplay outfit – 3 points

  New Total – 444 points

  A large box appeared in the middle of the tent. It opened, and unfolding from within, a hospital bed appeared. Ysys told me to undress and lie down, and it would take care of the upgrade. I left my clothes on the chair. From the side arose an arm with a small injector. It approached my arm, and moments after it injected me, I fell asleep.

  Waking, I felt a little off, but I quickly noticed I could see far more detail. “Ysys, can you explain all this?”

  Certainly. Your muscles are already half again as strong as they were, and over the next several hours they will continue to get stronger. Your bones are becoming tougher, and will handle far greater stress than before. While you don’t see any new height now, over the next two weeks they will lengthen to your target height. Your eyes, in conjunction with your augs, can see ten times farther, and in more far more detail, than the standard human eye. It also can see in infrared and ultraviolet. Your augs will filter out the additional spectrum unless you ask for it. It will take a few hours to get fully used to your new muscles and shape. However, you only need a few minutes to get used to long range fighting.

  As soon as I got up, several boxes appeared on the bed. The top box had my new soft leather outfit, just like the game, but so much better. The metallic highlights were perfect. It emphasized my curves, while showing off where my six-pack would soon be. I was lacing up the leather sandals when I remembered last nights outfit was commando. The new one did have a skirt like loincloth, and a top that was somewhere between a bustier and a crop top. It had no shoulder straps, only a wide tapering back strap. The edges of both were ragged, as though made by an amateur. As long as I don’t fall over, I should be fine. The outfit came with a small backpack, and that was also in the box. I stuffed my old outfit in it, so I wouldn’t leave a mess.

  Next, I opened the large box (it was almost as long as the bed), and inside was a rifle. The next box held a belt. When I picked it up, I got a notification it was the hard light armor. I put it on, and a momentary glow appeared all over me. Then my augs got a message that a new device was linked. Checking that out, I saw it was the armor, and had the controls for it, as well as its status. Currently, it showed full power, and two hours of oxygen. The last box held a pair of leg bracers. Picking them up, I was notified they were my Skypath. Again, my augs informed me about them.

  As you have seen, these devices are hard light emitters, and connect with your augs. The rifle will take a bit more time to learn, as it supplies your augs with a HUD showing what it is aimed at. However, it should only take a few minutes for that. Now, go back and sit in that chair, and we will be on our way.

  As soon as I sat, the hospital bed refolded itself into the large box, and the tent flowed back into the witchcraft. I didn’t see what happened to the hospital bed, but Ysys must have guessed what I was thinking.

  Don’t worry. The Field Medical System was packed up and placed in the trunk of the witchcraft for safekeeping. Later, it can be delivered wherever you want.

  Even as she talked to me, the witchcraft headed towards the front. I saw a lot of dead antithesis on the way, that seemed to be slowly disintegrating.

  When the craft landed, the witch made a brief appearance, saying, “Call me if you need anything. I want you to concentrate on the big stuff, but let the PMC handle the little stuff. Stay near that squad. They can help you keep on top of everything, and you can keep the big stuff off their back.”

  “Okay. I’ll do that.”

  “Their leader is Sargent York. Give him a call, and coordinate.”

  Suddenly, she portaled out. So I called the Sargent. I introduced myself, and asked where I should start. Then I went there, and started looking for the bigger models. I felt useless for ten minutes. That was how long it took before a larger model came. After spotting it, I realized I was too close to the action, and that with the squad running about, I might fire just as one crossed in front of me. So I turned back and started climbing using the skypath. Once I was five feet up, I turned back, and sought out the one I spotted before.

  I raised the big rifle, and activated my augs to aim it. The model six was close range for the weapon, so it was an easy shot. Taking care to fire correctly, I took my first shot. The kick sent me tumbling to the ground, and I nearly missed, because I didn’t take account of the reaction. Fortunately, it was close enough that the self aiming HE tore it apart, and I got the message:

  Target eliminated

  Model six – 15 points

  New Total – 459 points

  Feeling good about the kill, I again used the skypath to get above the squad, and looked for another to eliminate. I spotted a model five. This time, I made sure to have one foot forward and down, and the other backward and up. While most of my weight was on the forward foot, I planned for the backward foot to take most of the kick from the weapon. When I fired, it still kicked like a mule, but I didn’t tumble, and my aim was better. Still not perfect, but that would come with practice.

  Target eliminated

  Model five – 20 points

  New Total – 479 points

  I had Ysys turn off the notifications until after the battle.

  A few hours in, I was alerted to a model eleven heading this way. It was heavily obscured by a swarm of model ones. Apparently it had some experience with people, as it kept jinking to one side or the other to avoid giving a predictable path to aim at. It had to close in before I could be sure of a shot.

  I asked the squad to clear the screen of model ones so that I could take care of the big one. Soon half the squad was taking down the model ones, but I had to wait a bit for the model eleven to be visible enough to accurately target. Finally, as it was about to fly overhead, I shot. That’s when three unpleasant things became clear to me. The first was that HE ammo and flying antithesis makes for green rain. Ugh. The second, and far more dangerous, was that it was carrying a hover car to drop on us. Dying, it still dropped the car, and unfortunately, my hit knocked it off course and right onto the PMC’s fire support vehicle. The one with the very large flame thrower on the back. The third unpleasantness was that there was a second model eleven hiding close behind it.

  Shit. “Take cover!” I yelled.

  I ran, but tripped. That was enough to delay me, and get covered in burning plant. At least the armor kept the flames off, and let me breath. But I could feel the heat, to I did my best to get out from under the pile of roasted veggies.

  “Is everyone okay?”

  A few moments later, I heard Sargent York completing a check, and he then said, “Shaken, but fine.”

  Then the PMC flamethrower exploded, sending the hovercar into the second eleven at speed. Combined with the flames, it died in the air heading our way.

  I didn’t even think, I just rushed to get between the squad and the fire. While they had some cover, I gave them much more cover just as the flames reached us. Then came more green rain, and we all got splattered. The only good thing was the notification:

  Target eliminated

  Model eleven X 2 – 73 points, 1 token

  Model four X 3 – 17 points

  Model three X 12 – 44 points

  Model one X 17 – 6 points

  New Total – 3361 points, 1 token

  The PMC quickly got back to work, and I took a few steps up. Once up, I said, “Ysys, I need meds for the burn. And why did you notify me? I thought I asked you to turn those off.”

  I recommend the Nano-Regenerative Suite for 15 points. I decided to notify you since there was a short lull from the explosion, and more importantly, you earned a token for the double kill of the elevens.

  I held out my hand, and said, “I’ll take the meds. But why the screwy numbers and total?”

  When vanguards work together, you share the points between you. We reward teamwork with a bonus 10% to encourage this, rather than trying to steal each other’s kills. In addition to the Witch of the West, Mordred is also involved. They often work together. With their kills added in, your total is higher that what you did by yourself.

  An hour later, I got a call from her. “Hey, we just took down the hive. Just have to clean up the leftovers. The Family will send some Samurai to do the final cleanup. If you want to get some rest, we can take care of this stage.”

  Between the hunger, the weariness, and the intensity, I was ready to go home. So I said, “I’m wiped. Where should I go?”

  “Just have Sargent York take you back to their field headquarters. You can rest there, and even get somewhat clean, while waiting for us to finish up. I expect it will be less than an hour. Then I can drop you off at home.”

  I went and told the Sargent my desire to return to the field HQ, and he just yelled, “We’re done here. Time to head back, but keep your eyes peeled, it ain’t yet over.”

  Just then, I got a message:

  New Total – 4128 points, 2 tokens

  While we lost the flamethrower vehicle, we were able to all climb in or onto their other vehicle. They took it easy back, since it was overloaded. On the way, they decided to grab a bite. Accepting their invitation to join, we soon were quietly eating. I listened to Sargent York make his report, even as he ate. The food only took ten minutes to eat. Afterwards, as we drank some beer, they started talking about today’s mission.

  I didn’t pay that much attention to their talk, so I was surprised when I heard the witch exclaim, “So that’s what the explosion was.” Seeing my attention on her, and the man with her, she said, “I have have the perfect name for you.”

  “Huh?”

  “Calamity Jane. It seems Mordred here is an old west aficionado. Your name is Jane, and this town is where your namesake became famous as Calamity Jane.”

  “But…?”

  “Twice now, you have made a big explosion without meaning to, and without your own explosives. Yet, both times, you killed a lot of antithesis. I think the name fits.”

  I don’t think I can get out of this name. It is too spot on. Sigh.