The action moved quickly as the beasts pounced upon them. They moved with speed and ferocity, and after firing on the encroaching creature’s legs, Vreta had only seconds to react. They were seconds which Rhia intended to use wisely. Her processor clock ticked over from one nanosecond to the next as she watched the creature inching steadily closer through the air through Vreta’s eyes. The neuron connections between his artificial eyes and brain had been replaced with higher speed connections, so his vision could actually update their mind fast enough to take advantage of her processing speed. And of course, she had his other sensors available to feed her data. Between his vision and echolocation data, she had precise measurements of the position and velocity of every part of the creature they could detect. 

Naturally, trajectory calculations were trivial to Rhia. Even the simplest of AI could handle basic physics calculations. What was more difficult would be making accurate analysis of their strategic options based on the observational data she had collected so far. Regardless of how quickly she could think, Vreta was still limited in how well he could react to her recommendations in the seconds he would have. She had to make sure that every bit of the information she gave him was accurate. 

[i]Let’s see, what can we do about this?[/i] Rhia thought as she took a good look at the numbers the physics algorithms were giving her. Plotted out visually, the creature would be landing pretty much right on him, spiked legs first. [i]Okay, not a great start. Need some penetration values; what have I got?[/i]

The likelihood of armor penetration would be given by the force that would be applied on the contact area, combined with the estimated strength of the spikes’ material composition, compared to the known strength of Vreta’s armor. Luckily, Rhia did have a few points of reference to estimate the material density and approximate strength of the carapace. Assuming this creature was not exceptionally different in composition from the female, she had observed values for its impact force against 595, as well as its speed and resistance to changes in motion. From that, she could get a reasonable estimate on its mass and density. The carapace’s strength was harder, but between the two creatures, their legs had taken three shots of known power from Vreta’s weapon. That provided enough data points for her to make a ballpark estimate of the material’s durability. Combined with the velocity calculations, the lower end of that range would still have Vreta’s armor holding, though the upper end became more worrisome. Of course, that would not do. 

[i]Okay, definitely got to do something about that. Start strafing right, rotate the hips, and…[/i] Rhia projected a few of the possible positions Vreta could take before impact. With quick enough movement, he could angle his torso so that the spike would strike a glancing blow against his armor, while still keeping in a position to defend Freyr. Adjusting for the force of the new impact, the armor would hold for any values within the range of Rhia’s estimates. [i]Better. Now for the counter[/i]


Rhia did not estimate that Vreta could overpower the creature, but he did have the strength to fight back. He would just need to leverage the creature’s momentum against it. Based on the position he was going to move to, Rhia identified the points to grab on the beast’s underside so Vreta could duck underneath and throw the creature mostly in the direction of its own momentum up against one of the columns behind him. From there, Vreta would have a chance to open fire. 

Rhia had the plan set, and so she projected each recommended action on Vreta’s HUD from moment to moment. She also spurred his muscles to move at the right times in the right ways to make each motion seem almost like instinct. Still, regardless of how much detail Rhia put into planning, they were still limited by Vreta’s ability to execute on that plan in real time. He could think quickly, but not nearly as quickly as her. 

To Vreta, following Rhia’s instruction was like following a sixth sense. It felt like his subconscious guided him from one movement to the next. He started to strafe and turn his body so the spike would glance off of his armor. He let go of his rifle, ducked down low, and went to grab the creature as it flew overhead to throw it up against the column behind him. At the same time, he used his tail to push Freyr out of the path of danger. If all went well, he would draw his pistol and open fire into the creature’s underbelly at full power until it died, or something else happened. A Rothian sidearm did have comparable power to a rifle, but merely lacked in the versatility of firing modes and long range accuracy.