Alpha Strike: [An interstellar Weapon Platform’s Guide to being a Dungeon Core] (Book 2 title)

Alpha chuckled to himself as he watched the hundred or so tracking dots scatter around the village. A few of them were already gathering to discuss how best to use the "presents" he'd given them.

It wasn't anything complicated or even malicious, but to the children who'd never known more than simple village life, it must have seemed like magic. Even if it was just a civilian standard nanite HUD injection. Most Federation children got their first HUD within their first three years of sapience, and it would follow along with them throughout the rest of their life, regularly updating and evolving to better suit their user's needs.

Thankfully, the HUD seeds were pretty cheap to build. Most of the actual components would be built inside the body itself to better let the HUDs interface with each person's unique biology. Thus the cost, even for over a hundred of them, hadn't been too bad.

The HUDs would let the children communicate better, track each other, and even send video and audio files. They could even be customized in certain ways that the children would discover as they grew older and their HUDs matured.

And what use would a HUD be if they didn't have something to play with?

The stripped-down [Wasp] drone accompanying each child had most of its functionality removed. He didn't need the ethics board breathing down his circuits because he handed military-grade hardware to underage children… again.

That being said, it could still do a lot, like recording and cloaking. He'd even left the injection function in a few of the older ones who'd shown interest in becoming a "healer," though that would only unlock later when the onboard AI deemed it necessary.

Stripping out many of the toys came with some added benefits, however. Without the need for a supporting skeleton, the modified [Wasps] were cheaper to make, and became nearly indestructible, as a drone, if struck, could simply break down into a nanite cloud and reform elsewhere. If the nanites were destroyed, the child's HUD could reconstruct the drone based on the stored blueprints, though it would take time to avoid harming the child. Like the HUD themselves, the children could even customize the drones to a minor extent as they grew more skilled.

Of course, Alpha's "gift" wasn't just a kind gesture on his part. Each HUD contained a small backdoor he could use to monitor the children's activity. He'd see what they saw, and the onboard AIs would alert Alpha if they gathered any information that could be useful. Alpha had found that such… outsourcing had been very effective in the past, so the question of its expense wasn't much of an issue, even if it might take a while for it to pay dividends.

Then again, with how much trouble this particular group of accomplices seemed able to get into, maybe shorter than he suspected.

Alpha was so proud of them!

Time passed, as it was wont to do, and soon the humans were ready to leave.

The turnout for the group's departure was greater than Alpha would have expected. Whether that was because the village was rather tight-knit or some suspected there was more going on than the leadership, let on was hard to tell. Regardless, Alpha was eager to get moving.

The TAWP still wasn't in full working order, but the last few days of repairs had been enough to bring several important systems back online, the most critical being the TAWP's internal nanite factory. It was far from being as effective as a dedicated nest, but he no longer had to worry about burning through his supply so quickly. He'd contemplated hiding a proper nest in the village, but decided against it. His Nest Seeds were extremely limited, and he had to be selective about where he placed them.

The mobile nature of the village meant even if they stumbled on a resource cache he could use, he wouldn't be able to make full use of it. As for surveillance and info gathering, the children would suffice for now.

Thus, with much fanfare, Alpha departed the Slatewalker village, passengers in tow.

—

The young pup struggled against the binding cloth for what had felt like hours, even long after she felt her shiny friend and tiny humans vanish into the distance. She'd never spotted the thing that took her. One moment she was keeping the tasty birds from getting at the tiny humans, and the next, she'd been trapped by something she didn't have a name for.

She'd tried to call for help, but her shiny friend was busy, and the humans couldn't understand her. Well, not that her shiny friend could, either. He'd never responded to her Spirit words, after all. The young pup suspected he was a bit stupid if she was honest, but he was good at fighting, so she forgave him. Besides, she was his smart older sister. It was ok to be a little stupid. She could do the thinking for them both!

Though she worried a bit about her shiny friend. What would he do without her? The humans were smart, but they were weak, even if Mother always said they were stronger than the others gave them credit for.

Thinking about her mother made the young pup's heart hurt.

Soon, the jostling stopped, and the pup was thrown to the floor with an oof. The strange bindings keeping her restrained unwounded themselves, and she burst free, her teeth barred and fur bristling. She snapped at a nearby figure, lunging at their squishy hand, only to find the hand hard as a rock. She yelped and leaped back, still on guard, as a familiar voice spoke flatly.

"I'm glad to see the young miss is as… energetic as always…."

The pup tilted her head and really looked at the figure. Hey! She knew him! That was grumpy mustache! He always got mad at her when she chewed on the pretty wall things! Why did he make them out of tasty stuff if they weren't supposed to be chewed on?!

But what was he doing here? Grumpy mustache lived in the big temple. In fact, where was she at all? The pup turned around and took in her location. It was a giant, somewhat familiar room filled with shiny, colored furniture. She wasn't home. The pup knew that much; mother never liked the colorful and bright fabrics, calling them "gaudy," whatever that meant.

It didn't smell right, either. Instead of the familiar, comforting smell of her mother, and gentle incense, this place almost overwhelmed her with a thick, flowery smell. It was sweet and spicy at the same time and made her a little sleepy if she stopped thinking for too long. She turned around in circles, taking it all in before the sight of a figure caught her eyes. There, lounging on a soft-looking cushion, was a woman.

Mother?!

No… not Mother. She looked like her mother, but she didn't smell like her mother or even feel like her. This woman also wore a robe of that same bright "gaudy" color. A cloudy memory surfaced from when the pup was young and less "her" of another woman standing beside her mother. The gaudy woman smiled gently at the pup and spoke, her voice calm and soothing, making the pup feel like she'd jumped into a warm bath.

"Oh? Do you remember your Aunt Hera, little Athena? Why, the last time I saw you, you were this small. Come, come, let me get a better look at you. You must have had a terrible time. Come, rest, and tell me all about it. You're home now; you're safe."

Athena yawned, the thick scent coating the room and "Aunt Hera's" soft voice making her feel safe and sleepy. She teetered over to the large woman and only realized how large she was when she picked the pup up and set her in the crook of her arm.

Not large like the friendly sister that used to let Athena sleep on her soft belly, but big. Like someone had taken one of the tiny humans and stretched them out in all directions. Even Athena's head was smaller than Aunt Hera's hand as they gently soothingly stroked her fur. She'd found that many adults liked to take human form, though Athena couldn't understand why. Humans were squishy, and they didn't have any claws or teeth. Sure, it made talking easier, but she still thought it was stupid.

She'd never seen other adults take such an enormous form, though, and she didn't know why. Even grumpy mustache looked as small as she did when compared to other adult's beast forms.

Those thoughts quickly left the pup's mind as Aunt Hera's soothing voice pushed out all the other worries.

"Oh, you poor child. The things you must have suffered. Why do you tell Aunty all about it? Tell me if there's anything I can do to help my cute little niece."

Athena yawned once more and nodded. Ya, that's right. The humans and her shiny friend had been worried about things. Maybe Aunt Hera could help them?

So she told Aunt Hera her story.

Athena had been excited when her mother told her she would spend the Darkest Night with Aunty Snake-Lady. Aunty was funny, and the pup had never been outside the grass before. Besides, the place they normally spent it was always so… boring. Everyone was tense and worried, and no one ever wanted to play. She bet she could get Aunty Snake-Lady to play!

Then the big bird attacked. This wasn't her first trip or the first time the tasty birds thought they would be tasty instead. She always thought it was unfair that she didn't get to help, though. Athena could fight too! Yet, mother always said to leave the fighting to the adults, so the pup had stayed back like she'd been taught.

But… there had been so many this time… so many. When the nice guard uncle who'd always sneak her treats was buried under the tasty birds, the pup was worried, but not too much. The guard uncle was strong. He wouldn't be beaten that easily, right?… right?

But he'd never come back up like she'd thought he would. When the guard uncle fell, her mother had told sister big nose to take Athena and run. Sister big nose never liked it when she called her that, but it was! It was enormous! And shiny! She would always yell at the pup and tell her to call it a "horn," but Athena thought big horn sounded stupid.

Sister big nose grabbed up the pup and ran from the group, using her big nose to batter her way through the surrounding tasty birds. The last sight she had of her mother was the woman in her beast form and the last guard, fighting the big bird, surrounded by smaller tasty birds.

Athena didn't know how long sister big nose ran for. Her mother had tried to teach her "tell time," but it never made much sense. She could no longer see her mother or even sense her. Eventually, sister big nose had collapsed, lots of strange, shiny thorns poking out of her skin. The pup had tried to help, but the sister had yelled at her and told her to keep running. Of course, Athena wasn't having any of that. She'd stayed until the tasty birds caught up with them. There weren't as many as before, but more than enough to scare the pup.

Sister big nose had tried to get her to flee, but Athena was no coward, even if she was scared! She'd pulled tasty bird after tasty bird off of the sister, but for everyone she did, two more arrived. What's worse, they started trying to bite at her too. How rude! The sister lost patience with her and erected a stone wall between them, stopping the pup from helping, no matter how much she yelled at the Sister.

Eventually, the tasty birds started popping up on the other side of the wall too, and she had no other choice but to run. After that, she'd collapsed, met her strong, shiny friend, and even rescued some humans from the bad tasty birds!

Aunt Hera nodded along with her story, smiling the whole time, gently stroking her fur.

"Why do you tell me more about this 'shiny friend' of yours? He sounds strong."

Aunt Hera's melodic voice soothed the young pup further, and she nodded, eyes drooping ever so slightly. He was! He was the strongest! Even if he was a bit stupid.

As Aunt Hera gently stoked her fur, Athena continued her story, telling her about her adventures with her shiny friend.

She barely noticed when grumpy mustache left the room, closing the doors behind him. The last thing Athena saw before she gave into the soothing allure of sleep was her aunt staring down at her, a wide grin splitting her face from ear to ear, filled with pointy teeth.