As a bright new landscape resolved around them, Kori’s mind raced with thoughts on how to face their upcoming future. Once again, the time was 18:47, and they were standing once again before the outpost.

Rosa immediately tumbled to the ground, her prospective having been that she was in a fluid of motion before suddenly finding herself standing on normal ground. Upon standing once again, she quickly determined exactly what had happened. Kori had pulled them into the past, a desperate attempt at fixing the various mistakes they had made. Rosa also had found that Kori had outright removed the holo disguise she had been using, so Rosa too followed suit. Kori then made her way towards the outpost, knowing exactly where to find Velvet. This time, the guards at the entrance actually stopped her, being a suspicious conduit and all. The guard who put an arm to her shoulder was the same one who flipped over it soon after, landing squarely on his back. Rosa rushed to follow, dodging another guard that went wailing past her into the wall. A bit further, she found Velvet’s gathering of makeshift soldiers all over again.. the original speech having been completely interrupted.

“Kori, really, is this really necessary?” “Your stupid plan is about to fail. Your enemy is a swarmer, going to hit you with numbers, and has a huge distaste for high energy sources.. like your stupidly named turret.” “Ah, so this would be a future Kori.. and things went wrong.” “Seriously, I blame your lack of combat training right now too.” “Oh… Shit.” “You said that before, too. Old speech sucks, time for something new. Do you have anything other than this bucket tower that would be good for obliterating our enemy? Do you have any good way to deal with seven threats at once?” “I.. uh.. haven’t gathered enough resources yet for a threat of that scale.” “You light this thing up, we’ll just get another ‘moth to the flame’ incident here. Sadly, this moth doesn’t burn, the thing instead takes out the entire main barrier and starts going to town.” “So we need a way to divide their numbers, then to drive them quite a distance away.” “If you plan to actually use this thing, it closes the entire distance in about fifteen seconds. You’re going to need to take the shot on the leader too, who will ravage the barrier once it finds it a threat. That means it will have to be at least twenty kilometers away when the shot is called, even more would be ideal. This then leaves you fighting a long range battle, about halfway between here and HT.” Velvet considered Kori’s news, visibly considering the best approach for everything. However, that wasn’t even the end to bad news, as a technician rushed into the scene.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to report, but.. we’ve discovered a critical failure in the main turret. Repairs are underway, but may take quite some time.” “Oh hell, that’s even better. Not only are things a lot more questionable, but our equipment is malfunctioning. Does anyone else have good news that I would love to hear right now? Anyone at all? No? Great. This has suddenly become quite the shitshow. Honestly, dealing with DMAs is always a shitshow, but it sucks when misfortune bears its fangs too. I need our turret up quick, high priority. Having seven threats.. we can’t even count on the turret to save us. The thing will be able to deal with only one of them, the rest would need alternate solutions. Quite honestly, that might even include small arms fire whittling the things to nothing. Artillery fire is actually going to count, direct hits would do much more than suppressive fire.” The technician ran off to complete their work as Velvet considered their battle ahead. She knew it was quite the meaningful battle, but not that it would be so crazy. Certainly this was just supposed to be a blaze of glory, right?

“Ma’am, just wondering.. but why are you treating this conduit so highly? They are even armed, too, isn’t that.. illegal?” “I’m sorry, good sir, for your concerns, but is this really the time? Death is on our shared doorsteps, and it simply won’t care which species steps before it. I must then question how me being a conduit plays any role whatsoever. Much like yourself, I’m just another soldier on the front lines, standing in the defense of my home.” “You’re no soldier, you’re an airhead, so you should..ahh!” “Good sir, please do not grab my hand so carelessly. You will find that beyond the typical dual blooded system my kind is so famous for, I’m also powered by something less natural. Anger my mechanical arm too much, and I will be unable to guarantee your safety.” The soldier let go of Kori’s arm, clearly flustered by the circumstances. One of the other soldiers however perked up at this display, having recognized a very similar scene.

“Oh my! Aren’t you that conduit from the terminal before, that enforcer? You really do seem like such an android too, especially with all of that silicon.” “Oh, I’m still a conduit.. in part at least. I guess you could say I was chosen for something.. a little more. Velvet here could probably tell you leagues about it, but probably won’t.. experimental secrets and all that.” “Oh, and so the human with you.. is the same?” “Generally. We are equals in this.. project, after all. I know, it's mind blowing being put as an equal to a human, but if we have any plans to save civilization.. we’re going to need every hand we can get. That may be why mine was chosen, being neither human.. nor conduit.” The soldier turned to Kori’s mechanical arm, not realizing that Kori herself wasn’t even certain which hand she was speaking about. One of them was mechanical yes, so neither human nor conduit.. but the other was forged in chaos.

Velvet prepared for their conflict in the meanwhile, activating the siren again while getting her troops in position. Rosa meanwhile turned to Kori, visibly worried. Kori could tell why, unlike everyone else, Rosa could still remember how much of this next part Kori had struggled with. Kori wandered off, deep in thought, confronting Velvet in her selection of bikes from the outpost’s hanger. Kori paused for only a heartbeat to reflect that maybe Sophie was having a bad influence on her. Pulling a selection of her own choice of bike, Kori set a holo ramp to drift up and around the walls, bursting out from the outpost before anyone could even voice a complaint as she rode astride her latest vehicle.

“Holi, how are remote controls going?” “I’m fully synchronized with the system of your choice of transportation, though it was a rather rough experience. It might be helpful to give me more of a warning about your intentions than just real time movement. Please be aware though that such a design was not intended for remote control, this process is quite difficult. Please consider my support as more of a driver’s assist process than an absolute override.” “So I should do my own steering and the like. How is it like sitting inside a bike anyway?” “Reasonably, I more feel this sudden impulse is quite unlike you, leaving me feeling more than a little concerned.” “Oh, so you would rather do something proactive yourself? Not a bad idea. That stupid turret is such a linchpin to everything here, could I ask you to personally look into it and help figure out a solution to this mess better than the foolishness Velvet is throwing us into?” “Research, that’s much more like you. Don’t worry then, I’ll hold the fort for you in the meanwhile. Speaking of, you’ve left Velvet feeling a bit miffed. It appears that was her specific choice of bike.” “There was more than one, we can’t all play favourites.” Kori laughed at the silence she got from the Holi within her choice of bike. Yes, this was crazy, but honestly it felt at least a lot more sane than Rosa’s solution.

“Hells, you even surprised me there for a moment.” “Ah! Rosa, where did you come from?” “Sorry, I just dropped in. Now you know how it feels to be so surprised, too. So, what’s the plan?” “We’re going to have to start off as before, letting Velvet call the first shot. However, things can’t play out the same way, bugging it endlessly got us nowhere. First step is to drive it far enough away from the outpost, then we need to actually hit it with stuff. I’m.. honestly still working on that second part.” “Okay, sure. Just keep in touch, send me a quick linked message if you really need something. Just make sure to preface with the idea that it’s your idea, somehow. Actually, maybe I’ll just relax here until we get that first shot. Saves me a lot of stamina, you know?” Rosa started to relax on Kori’s bike, just waiting for her second turn to dance around that monstrosity once again. Viably, the stuff that happened to them the first time still affects them for the second, meaning all that running around had left Rosa a bit exhausted with nothing left to show for it. Meanwhile, Kori had achieved very little, something she was certain to also change this time.

A new burst of artillery marked the beginning of the second round. Rosa was already gone as the smoke settled, but Kori would not be left behind. Sure, she still really didn’t know how to actually drive her bike.. but why let that stop her now? She rapidly approached, catching the thing’s fleeting attempts at swatting the bug that kept dancing around it, Rosa’s lasers being visibly annoying for it. Several other members of Velvet’s troop happened to be raining energy upon the thing too. Suppression fire, sensible at getting it to not move.. but unfortunately the stupid thing was far too close to the outpost, again. Kori drove around the fiend, circling it clockwise in the same direction Rosa was spinning it around. Feeling a bit more in position, Kori glanced behind her at HT’s base off in the distance. Good enough, now she would need to figure out how to make her plan work.

Strapping her right arm securely around her weapon, she took her own turn aiming it at her foe. The thing was pretty heavy and hefty, but at least it wasn’t especially bulky. Plasma Particle Cannon.. or, well, more like the small arm blaster version of the idea at least, the wide barrel rifle supposedly was capable of projecting plasma or something. She did know what a plasma explosion looked like, a familiarity that had been her entire confidence in the design. What she didn’t know was how this particular thing worked. Aim, shoot.. that would be the basics, right? Probably don’t want to get caught in any explosion either, though. Finding her opportunity, she centered her sights on the fiend from behind, and fired. The massive spherical discharge propelled her bike to suddenly spiral in a circle, leaving her dramatically disoriented. The whole firing point held two loud booms, the first on departure and the second on arrival not even a second later. Impact with the fiend resolved in a massive spherical burst, decimating a large portion of it’s frosty composition. It wasn’t as much as the artillery would in any of their direct hits, but much more than even armored suppression fire. The fiend likewise seemed well aware of how one particular insect had become much more than just annoying, turning its towering form directly towards her.

Kori moved in a direct retreat, trying to put distance between her and her threat. The fiend meanwhile lashed out in a generic side sweep as it lunged towards Kori. While trying to get a second shot in on the thing, Kori discovered that her weapon was sort of single shot before it needed to recharge, she would need to bide her time a bit before her next shot. Recharging wasn’t automatic either, she would have to disconnect the current charge first, an operation she wasn’t exactly in a good position to figure out. Making a wide drift she suspected Sophie would have been proud of, she managed to avoid the fiend’s lunge while also slipping a moment beyond its awareness. Artillery fire raged around her as her support found new opportunities. Taking advantage of the resulting confusion, Kori managed to get her weapon reloaded, slipping behind the thing’s attention, and fired once again. It was just unfortunate that the thing didn’t actually have eyes, the fiend lashing out at Kori even while the plasma was in flight with a quick sweep. Repeating her initial trick from the outpost, Kori produced a quick ramp to throw her into the air with a quick spin, catching her descent in the process. Spinning hard around, she then moved sideways as the fiend had a follow up slam towards the ground. Suppression fire hounded the fiend, providing her an opportunity to retreat and reload once again.

The fiend however wasn’t impressed, going still for a second of contemplation. Then, much like the two girls had seen before, it began weaving white around it again. Kori knew what this would mean, the thing was about to produce backup again. She extended her retreat in time for the six underlings appearing for the chaotic leader. Kori knew, with how much such a swarm reduced the effect of Velvet’s suppression tactic, the most important goal would be to first reduce numbers. Following one of the six that rushed towards some of the artillery, Kori found an opportune shot and blasted the thing from behind again. In her hurry, she actually managed to wipe the entire bike, falling into the snow.. but her target wasn't very viably doing so well either. Plasma licked all over the thing, a direct central shot having burst across its entire form. Pausing in confusion and.. maybe a little agony, nearby artillery took the opportunity to finish it off. The leader meanwhile was not impressed, dashing directly towards Kori with more wisps of chaotic frost. Kori however.. found she was suddenly no longer on the ground.

“First, you steal my bike.. then you pull a stunt like that. Was the goal really to piss it off so much?” “Killing it would be better, I’m still working on that.” “Shit, it smashed my bike. That was my favourite, you know? This one doesn’t handle nearly as smoothly.” “It didn’t have very good handling when firing plasma. If you expected more, actual training might have been really nice.” “I know, I know, hell. At the very least, don’t go firing on this bike too, wiping out would make things pretty rough.” Velvet steered the second bike away from the accident, Kori gradually getting back her bearings in the process. The fiend had managed to smash the bike successfully, which had frozen solid before shattering into shrapnel. Not seeing any more plasma threats as a result, the leader then turned to support its remaining minions in sweeping strikes towards the artillery.

“Kori, are you okay? I noticed you switched bikes.” “Hey Holi. I’m alright I guess. Possessing another bike now?” “Maybe. At least this one has a skilled driver, meaning I can focus on other areas.” “About that, how are those other areas doing?” “Repairs of the main turret are going smoothly, things should be ready soon.” “Good, but we still can’t depend on it yet, far too many things could go wrong if we just use one big solution.” Holi’s voice was echoing from the second bike now, at least providing Kori with some good news of their overall progress. Kori knew Holi could be trusted to get some proper work done in situations where average people would just panic. In light of that same thought, Velvet herself wasn’t taking kindly to the idea that her bike was suddenly possessed by stray nanites, parking to a stop in her own fit of panic.

“Holi, get out of my bike.” “I’m sorry Velvet, but I have no reason to take any orders from you.” “Fine, I’ll just shut it down, the two of us can go for a walk.” “Now you’re being unreasonable. You might be a safe distance away, but it isn’t like you could do anything useful on foot.” “There, off, no more stupid ghost...” “Also, it isn’t like I need your bike in order to be present either, my holo form works just as fine too.” “Shit…” Velvet fell backwards when Holi’s casual holo form simply appeared standing before Velvet. Holi even had her hands on her hips, not in the slightest looking impressed by this show of attitude. Kori couldn’t hope to stifle her own laughter at the display. Sometimes, Holi seemed capable of some really impressive acts. Kori felt plenty of pride in accepting that Holi was her own nanite culture, grown to such impressive ability. Velvet however appeared far less impressed.

“Holi, why are you suddenly making everything so much harder here? We had everything under control.” “Really? Where? You have a turret here that failed due to an improper maintenance procedure, you have a bunch of forces who are currently scattering around in what looks like a bit of a panic, you were just complaining about having lost a bike while telling your best shooter to stop shooting.. a shooter you also neglected to properly train. That same shooter couldn’t even drive properly, I had to take care of that as well. From my perspective, the only things under control are the things you have the least impact upon. Rosa, for example, is doing very well at providing suppression fire and has saved thirteen artillery in the time we’ve just wasted.” “You still don’t understand, this is a complex situation, you’re hardly grasping much of what is really involved here. Control here is a very difficult thing, that’s why we just can’t have you running around taking control over all of my stuff.” “Oh, perfect, that gives me an idea.” Velvet looked really frustrated at Holi blatantly ignoring everything she was trying to say. Holi herself didn’t appear to be doing very much, but such was just her holo. After a minute of silence, Velvet got a notification come in by holo, one which made her instantly go pale.

“A security alert.. intrusion detected in the main cannon’s interface control unit? Holi.. what are you doing?” “Making sure there is a central point of control over the entire situation.” “Okay, you’re blowing this completely out of perspective. You have your stuff, I have mine, please don’t mix them up.” “Yes, that actually would make everything even better. Thank you for the idea, Velvet.” “Shit, what? Security breach on ATA-LS’s main server? What the hell are you doing!?” “Sharing, obviously.” “Thermal uplink accomplished with an undesignated region. Wait, that’s Hypertech’s new place. You’re filtering thermal energy from the relay? Seriously, Holi, stop, you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” “Actually, you’re wrong. I know exactly what I’m doing. Activating combat model protocol.” Velvet fell into the snow as Holi’s appearance shifted to the one Sophie had prepared earlier. Kori remembered Sophie saying something about it being an alternate option.. a combat model. Maybe.. she should have looked into exactly what that might have implied a bit more.

“Calibrating and synchronizing defense grid. Committing newly supplied resources to weapon output. Selecting targets from remaining enemies, isolating designated targeting points for long range barrage. Preparing to fire all weapons. Kori, I might recommend making an immediate retreat. Things around here are going to get.. pretty hot.” At Holi’s warning, a horn blared across the snowy landscape. “Wait, no, this is what we did last time. That monster will just rush the outpost again, even if it is much farther away.” “Kori, don’t worry, I paid attention to your assessment of the situation. Your enemy is drawn to areas of concentrated energy, having one such location would then be a liability. Having two, however...” Kori noticed Holi pointing in the area behind them, towards Hypertech itself. Off in the distance, the base itself was lighting up like a great christmas tree, visible even this far away in the flurry of snow. The fiend leader itself was also at attention.. but caught in a state of indecision between two threats in opposite directions. Velvet was quick to act, activating the bike again and grabbing Kori as they drove as far away as possible. The second horn blew. All of the forces on the front lines began to rapidly scatter in an attempt to make as much distance as possible too, the fiends remaining at a loss for what would be a sensible course of action. The third horn, the last ten seconds, the outpost’s main cannon was glowing brightly at this point too, ready to scorch the fields in glory.

Velvet had expected a blaze of glory, but this certainly wasn’t the ferocity she had in mind.

Ionic beams from the ionic laser batteries scoured the field first, lighting the air with blue sparks of ionized oxygen. Plasma particle cannons rippled in volleys of bursts that tore through the ranks of fiends in vicious intensity, leaving only an area in the very middle untouched. The area with the leader. The final horn sounded off, and all hell was unleashed. The area of the fiend leader was instantly replaced with a surging inferno, the intensity of heat obliterating everything in its wake. When the blaze died down, a five kilometer radius around the central point of impact was left as nothing but charred dirt, the snow completely evaporated with flames licking the stones scattered around.

Suffice to say, there weren’t even traces of their enemy to be found after that, with all seven DMAs being completely obliterated. Glancing at the time, Kori found that it was exactly 19:52, eight minutes before lunch, right on schedule.