The main fighting was a lot closer now, and this definitely wasn’t the only place with wall to wall fire. Ah, there we go, strobing laser fire was starting to reach here, harmless at this distance, but still visible and... there we go, it was coming from both directions. They were going to have to be careful they didn’t shoot one another, and as my tac-feed went out and was relayed, I noted that the range of the shots out there quickly shortened.

The spideroids were being pushed back. Some seemed to be trying to exit through tunnels here or there, and I could only hope that those places had been sealed off by sufficient forces, as I didn’t have enough of an overarching map of the area to really attempt any guides... but if the spotters getting the feeds did, they better cross-reference and relay some orders.

But no, the spideroids didn’t keep coming into the burning, stinking mess of their kind and Great Gramma, so I just hung there, recycling my oxygen supply, ignoring the thousand-degree temperature, and just watched as the ends of the fighting happened, and my extended hair was worming through the mess and getting all the nexals I could feel.

Then the spideroids started to scuttle away... I watched them receding as Chalice silently fed me the information in her Banescan, and knew it was time.

“I can bring you down six at a time, if three of you can hold onto the Disk while three are atop it.” They were watching the feed with me, so they could see it as plainly as I what was going on. I scampered up the side of the shaft, my Disk came out, and three of them boarded it immediately, lifted it up, three more grabbed it with power gauntlets locking in place, and without acknowledging the weight, the Disk lowered itself smoothly down into the mass of spideroids burning down, which compressed under the weight of the power armor. The Juris waded through without any problems.

Now the shields finally came out, just in case, and they started popping off fleeing spideroids from a distance. I went back up to get the rest of the squad, who joined in the sniping fun a minute later, sticking close to the liftshaft, but no longer feeling threatened as the spideroids seemed keen on avoiding them instead of swarming them... and they’d have no problems retreating into the burning shaft behind.

I was practicing my marksmanship too, going out further than them to get more angles, skating across the ground, and finally getting a good look down in the other direction. While I was skating across the ground I was collecting nexals from the ones burned down by vivus, and plucking them out of the carcasses of others. The place was carpeted in white fires eroding the spiders, and the Gloam was partially lifted, although the webs which really reinforced it were still in place. They’d have to be flamed down to be removed...

The squads coming in on carriers and foot, the former so they could spray down those on the ceilings and walls better, rolled in about five minutes later, volleys of fire leaving nothing alive behind them.

At my quiet urging, we’d hauled the queen’s curled-up but still massive carcass out of the shaft, power armor muscle being good for something, and it was sitting off to the side for everyone to admire as the boys made a show of securing the loading dock and waiting for everyone’s arrival.

That carcass was probably going to be auctioned off for a lot of money. I made a small frown, thought about all the nexals whose owners I hadn’t actually shot, and all the bounty money I was going to pick up, and the hazard pay, and the hourly rate, and I didn’t feel so bad.

---

“Hey, boys.” I waved them all in. “Recorders off.” I waited a second as they discretely muted such things. “You boys got a favorite place to drink?” I asked carefully.

“The Hammer,” Sergeant Charlz replied instantly, not giving the others time to say anything.

“I had a good payday here. If you want to give me your private sigs, I’ll set you up a tab at the Hammer by way of payback.”

There were some murmurs around, and then a lot of contact cards hit my Band. “Got it. You boys probably don’t need me around stealing your credit now, do you?” I winked at them, and they kind of laughed softly despite themselves. All that mattered was that I was with the squad, my name would be conveniently dropped from any accolades getting handed out for popping the Queen... which was fine. Only those that should know, knew.

“Agent Rantha, we are definitely going to call you up the next time we need to clear out a bug nest,” Sergeant Charlz said in something resembling warm tones.

“You say the sweetest things to girls, Sergeant,” I winked at him, and headed for the shaft. “I’ll make my own way out, kiss a few girls for me!” I gave them some hipswing as I headed into the liftshaft, and bounced my way back up there.

---------------

“What the fuck kind of high-end psion was that, working as a Termite?” swore Geffkli, the gyro gunner. “Guys... she pulled a Five Sun Shot off with me!”

“Five Suns?” The Juris Tactical squadmates looked at one another. That was a hideously dangerous level of skill right there...

“I want whatever gun she’s using,” the mini-las bearer noted. “She was popping spiders almost as easily as me!”

“I want to be able to walk into an inferno and run up and down walls like they are level ground,” grunted Sergeant Charlz. “But you all got her card, so if there’s a problem... well, we now know a really ass-kicking psion that can be called in to handle it, right?” They all nodded. Power armor was good and all, but some things just required having an edge.

Sergeant Charlz definitely put her on his list of people to Follow...

----

The Hammer was a Juris bar in Upspire, near the precinct the Tactical Squad worked out of. True to fashion, there was one fairly near every Spire Precinct House, and they catered to the Enforcement side of the government.

Good enough.

I set up a 5k credit account for each of the squad, non-refundable. They’d be able to eat really well there for the next couple years if they wanted to. It was a nice reward for a job well done. After all, accolades might or might not include a bonus...

Yeah, it was a lot of credits, but I’d swept up a whole lot of nexals that they’d had the kill on, and since they couldn’t cash them in and I could, feeding it back was only proper.

There would probably be questions about where so many of those Nexals had gone, aie, burned away in hot plasma and point-blank detonations, so unfortunate...

Damn, I still had so much stuff I had to buy. That yawning black hole that was Gear upgrades was snuffling pitifully at me. I was holding onto a fortune which would stir entire gangs down here to kill themselves, and all I could do was sigh...

Paten had shown me that I definitely needed some ranged punch with speed, as just tossing Chalice’s blade around or Sharding wasn’t going to cut it here in the future. Really, twenty shots a second wasn’t going to cut it with the numbers of things I would probably end up fighting. Also, twenty seconds of sustained fire was nowhere near enough. I needed like, um, unlimited sustained fire.

I looked down at Paten, who seemed to quiver eagerly at my stare. Yes, having a Compressed mini-las attached to him was definitely something I wanted to happen at some point. And a gyro-launcher. And a grenade launcher. And a plasma flamer, and a missile tube...

No, no, I didn’t want much. I’ll just plink with my little autobolts, and that will surely stop that giant whatsit charging my way, sure it will. And that tank, and that Mech Walker, yup yup...

The far future was definitely a place to challenge your personal weapon load-out, that was certain.

Well, at least I had enough nexals to do a lot of empowering for a while, given the per-day limits on such things. I’d just have to figure out what was important, get that done first, and then work on the rest as time passed.

So annoying... and I laughed at myself. Those Juris had been staring at Paten with outright envy, dreaming of affording a weapon which could do what I did. Paten was actually more valuable than that mini-las if I put it on the market, from a collector’s standpoint. Who made hand crossbows with underslung military-grade autolasers?

Of course, I was creature-hunting, not on a battlefield, and it was a mass-slaughter tool of small creatures, not a proper combat tool... until it was Enhanced to +IX and ripping crap apart, that is. Main-Gauche was such a wonderful effect for the price...

Still, I was going to need more than a handgun, in time. I guess I was going to have to have a separate long-range attack, and just upgrade Paten with mass firepower effects. Mmm, that meant a whole arsenal of various types of Bolts to shoot, adding to my ammunition woes.

Money, ah, a brutal thing you are...

Still, I had earned me some relative downtime.

I cloistered myself away up on Floor 161, which I had taken as my personal demesne, to the misgivings and annoyance of the dead... until I started Crafting. Just nexal imbuing, nothing that important, but there was no doubt whatsoever that I had a lot of very curious ghostly eyes on me very quickly, which I serenely ignored as I stayed at work.

Still, it gave me an idea...

======

A day or three ago...

“Question for you all,” I asked in Necrus, and just like before, shock riffled through them at the fact they could understand me so clearly.

I held up my Sword Focus. “Chalice gave me this idea. I know you can see her just fine, and given how active she is Scanning, I think she’s having quite the fun time being hauled around with me.

“I was thinking to myself, ‘Self, would one of these ghosts wandering around up here aimlessly maybe want to get the frak out of here and see some new sights?’ Self replied, ‘Damn, there’s a hundred thousand of them, there’s got to be at least one who wants to leave here with you, Sama!’ I nodded to Self, and have decided to give one of you an opportunity. That was Chalice.”

Rustling wavers from the dead, speaking at levels I couldn’t hear... unless I really tried to. If I concentrated, I could see them, but not wanting to see the sight of umpteen thousands of dead people staring at me, I was not doing so.

“In addition, if this works... there’s going to be opportunities for the rest of you. You all want revenge on the forces that did this to you. Well, I hate to tell you this, but they aren’t coming here. If you want to find them and get your vengeance, you’re going to need to go out to them... and you can’t do that if you stay here.”

More quavering in the eye, and waves of hate rolling past.

“I’m eventually going to be bringing people here... young men and women, who’ll be like me.” Chalice flared up, sparkling gold, driving them back with the threat she represented. “Not as strong, not as smart... they could use some help, a guide, and they’ll be happy to bring you along as they start trying to fix some of the worst parts of the shitass world that got you all killed.

“So, here’s my offer. I’m gonna start looking for people. Are any of you willing to help the kids out? You help them, they help you, and you get to get the fuck out of this place you’ve been condemned to.

“You think on that. I’m taking no more advantage of you than you are of me. If you don’t want to help, no skin off my bones. If you do... then you’ll be taking a step closer to revenge, and getting out of here.

“Be back soon!”