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• 535. Now Hiring

  There was quite a bit of shrieking and screaming going on over the comms after Remian explained to Phoebe and the rest. The Dras Clan were in a hurry to move on, and the Mitigok after them were likely to eat everyone and everything here on the way.“We’re not ready!” Ermine protested. “There’s not enough time! If we fled now, we’d only be able to bring a few hundred people. Everybody else will die!”“What if we rented the Quarin ships…”“Maybe just tens of thousands, and only to another nearby world, where we’d be stuck, with no Migration fleet to bring us any farther, and no infrastructure to build more ships!”“What if we bought Enetari ships and retrofitted them with warp drives…”“Or fled to Enetar entirely and set up shipyards there to modify their ships…”“What if we called for reinforcements? This isn’t the main host of Mitigok, this is just a single Hive. Maybe we can fight them off?”“And who’s going to help us? The Dras Clan aren’t going to stick around, and even if they did

• 516. Changing Gear

  “Go, go, go!” green light flared in the bay of the Dropship as the floor fell away. George and twelve other figures were unceremoniously dumped on the ground nine feet below. They landed with heavy impacts.George staggered, realizing the gravity on this world was at least twice what he was accumstomed to back home. For a moment, he regretted leaving his Frame back on the ship, but they were here to clear the bandits out from a city center, meaning tight spaces, narrow access points, and needing to take care to avoid civilian casualties.Or at least, that was the plan. George and his squad had been deposited on the outskirts of the city, at the very border of a suburban district.“Incoming!” someone yelled. George crouched as something exploded; the ground shook and chunks of dirt flew through the air.“Get to cover! Return fire!” George called, even though he wasn’t entirely sure where the attackers were, exactly.The guys diving behind nearby garages and a public toilet clued him in

• 533. D-Frames and Warp Engine 2

  Su Jin, Bai Hua and Lan Shan, these three who were previously colonels under the command of General Chuan back when the Undead first overran the Dragon Empire, reunited at the lobby of J&J United with sombre expressions bearing the weight of years and Tier 7.5 Undead attacks.“How’s the general?” Bai Hua asked Lan Shan.“Happily retired. He’s gone fishing with the Old Fishers.” Lan Shan shrugged.“People are still fishing?! Aren’t they in danger?” Su Jin asked.“With the general there? They’ll be fine. Even if he’s not, there’s Doom and the others. Plenty of old, overpowered retirees in their ranks.”The agenda of the day was the latest, and probably last product launch of Jamie and Juni United. New weaponry to deal with Tier 7.5 Undead were on display, including the latest JJS16 Gauss Rifle, the heavyweight shock-and-shock ‘Mjollnir’ electro powered sledgehammer, and the ‘White Fire’ plasma grenades. New armor was on display, particularly those using Junkdura, whether heavy plating f

• 515. Kelso III

  It was past midnight in the Wildlands by the time George and his battle group arrived at Star System Kelso. George was in the VIP guest quarters of the Kara when they burst out of warp with a burst of spatial and stellar phenomenon which alerted every single Woofer sensor scanning local space that someone had arrived via Bubble-type Warp. Of course, that wasn’t saying very much. Practically all the Class 5 Star Civilizations in this stellar region used Bubble-type Warp. It would take a Class 6 power like the Draconians, the Tuskans or the Quarin to use the more advanced Warp Jump. Seven ships departed from Star System Sorrel; only six arrived at Star System Kelso. The seventh, a Tau-origin Recon Frigate named Misty for Misty Heights, had been tasked with looking for a certain lost Woofer Patrol Squad. “Incoming hail from the Orbital Space Station.” Grace reported. She was the Comms Officer of the Kara, from where George commanded his fleet. “Have the Distant Bark take the call.” G

• 532. Progress of a fortnight

  After the Zhao and Xue Clans completed their migration to space, Starbright finished its next phase upgrades.There were two starship yards running at full capacity. One was specialized for Long Hauls, Galleon-sized, both DE and H1 versions. The other was Frigate-sized, specialized for Turtles of any kind, whether Artillery Turtles, Utility Turtles or Star Turtles, it could do them all. Dozens of ships had been churned out by them, and were surrounded by modular scaffolding, being outfitted, or painted with protective layers, or having some sort of work done on them.There was an orbital Lynxmice Habitat, where around forty Lunar Lynxmice clans enjoyed moon-like artificial gravity. Right next to it was the Drone Hive, where hundreds of thousands of Drones were housed and maintained.Between them and the shipyards was the 3D Megaprinter. Rather than call it a factory, it was better described as a single huge machine in itself, one big enough for mechs to fly into for work. Just below i

• 531. Cybermedical

  One week passed.“You’re those alien alarmists, aren’t you?” Dinah Serjei guessed with some resignation. “The ones going around medical organizations offering to evacuate them and their experts because super alien monsters are coming to kill us all.”“We’re quite human, I assure you.” Tim answered. “And the Mitigok are real.”“But does it matter?” Remian asked bluntly. “You’re on the verge of bankruptcy and debt collectors are lining up at your door right behind us. We’re offering you employment with higher pay and benefits, debt-clearance and a whole new life.”“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Dinah mused. “You must be desperate enough to scrape the bottom of the barrel to recruit the likes of us.”“Perhaps a little desperate.” Remian admitted. “But I’m hoping for more than just Teddy Junior Pediatrics Cybermedical. You have friends, don’t you? Maybe once you’ve seen how good life is in our employ, you could convince others.”“Your employ? Some backwater planet out in the Dark Regions, a