《Auto War Earth (A Lit-RTS story)》


 Chapter 1: Impact

    <u>Hays Landing, Near Brisbane</u>


    ¡°Over the course of a year, about 1 000 tonnes of rock hit the Earth every year, about the mass of 5 or so, cars.¡± ¡°And how much is going to drop on us tonight?¡± ¡°Dunno.¡± How do you not know you study this shit?¡± ¡°Just because I study space, doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m a¡­¡± Kaylee and Garrett¡¯s quibbling was halted by a third voice echoing off from the road ¡°ha, left you two for a minute and your already arguing?¡± Garett flashed a grin, ¡°Ay, Laura, I was starting to think you were dead.¡± There was a laugh from the night ¡°You¡¯re not that lucky.¡± Stepping into the light of the campfire, Laura dropped the bag she¡¯d been carrying, the tinkle of glass indicating the contents of several bottles. Flopping back into a camp chair she ran her fingers through her shoulder length black hair, letting out a low sigh as she did, the chair creaking slightly as she sank into it. The act eliciting a slight chuckle from the older of the two Smith siblings, ¡°What, got tired hauling beer? Should¡¯ve spent more time in the gym then in the labs.¡± Laura growled at her boyfriend¡¯s jab and retorted with her own. ¡°And perhaps if you¡¯d studied a little harder in school you could find a safer way to almost qualify for Centrelink.¡± Before the man could respond, his brown-haired younger sibling cut in: ¡°Ok, I¡¯m just gonna drink the pack and stare at the sky and if one of you two brainlets survive you can have whatever is left, sound good?¡±


    The two glanced at her, glanced at each other, before taking a dive for the bag, Laura made it first, hooking onto a handle and yanking it towards her, only for Garett to crash into her, scrabbling past and grabbing the bag, with a laugh, Laura rose again, trying to leverage her size and strength to gain control of the bag, it would have worked, if not for Garrett whipping her legs out from under her with a quick and efficient swipe. Now on his feet, Garrett took a step forward and with an efficient twist pried Laura¡¯s hand open, pulling the prize free and slinging it over his shoulder. ¡°Ha, guess there are some perks of almost qualifying for Centrelink after all, eyyh?¡±


    The bag suddenly disappeared from his grip courtesy of the blond astronomer, who proceeded to scurry back to her chair, yanking a bottle free as she did, a bubbling giggle sounding in her wake.


    Half chuckling, half sighing, Garrett lent down, offering a hand to his fallen friend whilst quipping. ¡°Well, I say I won fair and square, K cheated, wouldn¡¯t you agree Laura?¡± Rising to her feet and dusting off her jacket, Laura grinned and with a horrible pantomime of a British accent replied. ¡°Why absolutely G my dear, a filthy cheater through and through.¡± Unperturbed Kaylee replied, ¡°Cheat, not cheat, the only thing that matters is that I, not either of YOU¡¯S got the objective so therefore¡­ I win.¡±


    ¡°Oh, get hit by a meteor.¡± Laura snapped, a wide grin stretching across her broad features.


    ¡°Not likely.¡± The waifish Smith sister replied, an Impish smile appearing. ¡°The closest thing in history to an asteroid induced death was a dog in Egypt.¡±


    After some negotiating, the three friends divided up the spoils, albeit somewhat unevenly and sat back to watch the ¡®fireworks¡¯ the only sounds being the crackling of the fire, the chirping of frogs and bugs, and the gentle sloshing of the water.


    ¡°There!¡± Kaylee¡¯s shout cut through the serenity the gunshot


    ¡°Where?¡± came Garrett¡¯s slurred, bleary reply.


    ¡°In the sky dickhead!¡±


    ¡°Holy ¡­¡± Garrett¡¯s voice choked off as his eyes found their bearing, Laura swore under her breath, above them, to the northeast, the sky was on fire. Across half the sky green and purple flame swirled in a silent, fluid dance, broken up by brief white streaks of light. Almost reluctantly Laura turned her eyes away from the magnificent conflagration and glanced to her friends, the two of which were both sitting transfixed, their faces bathed in the unearthly light from space.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Laura tried to speak, her brain struggling to generate a single meaningful remark to the display before her, but no sound came, what could be said. Whilst she struggled to speak the light began to change, slowly going from purple to green and then slowly to bright, burning white, snapping back to shower above her Laura felt her heart hammer with terror. One of the bright white lights had grown considerably larger, no, gotten significantly larger. ¡°Guys!?¡± Garrett¡¯s voice yelled back, ¡°BITE FUCKING DIRT!¡± Advise that Laura didn¡¯t quite register, instead running away from the incoming projectile which slammed into the ground with such force that Garrett and Kaylee were both lifted a good couple meters off the ground by the impact, before being thrown a couple more by the blast of dust.


    Wheezing Garrett clambered to his feet, blinking the dust out of his eyes and looking around. The fire had been completely snuffed out and anything that hadn¡¯t been tied down had been thrown dozens of meters. Looking down at his sister he tried to ask if she was OK, and at that point noticed the shrill ringing that was humming away. Opting for a physical approach, he grabbed his sister by the jacket and rolled her over, quickly giving her a once over for injuries, plenty of bruises on her face and arms, doubtlessly more on her back, a nose bleed and by the looks of it a concussion, leaning down a placing his hand under her nose his worries were somewhat assuaged by the presence of breath, albeit shallower then he would have liked, but it was there.


    However, his relief was quickly crushed as the condition of the third member of their group overtook his sister¡¯s in terms of urgency, standing and spinning around, his gut churned as he failed to spot her, turning to face the impact site Garrett swore, stumbling towards the cloud of dust and the pit that had opened up mere moments before. Taking a few moments to catch his breath Garrett pulled his shirt up and over his face.


    Choking on dust and smoke Garrett plunged forward, stinging eyes squinted against the detritus. As he pushed forward his foot caught on something, sending him stumbling. Reaching down his hand grasped the leather of Laura¡¯s jacket, throwing her over his back firefighter style and began stumbling out.


    As Garrett and the unconscious Laura cleared the haze, Kaylee was slowly leveraging herself into a sitting position, blinking dust out of her eyes she watched in slack jawed silence as Garrett deposited his girlfriend on the ground before collapsing himself. After several seconds of silent wordless eye contact, they both turned to look at their friend, her clothes had been utterly ripped and singed beyond recognition, with small puncture wounds from the shrapnel running up and down her body, her face was several different colours of purple with a black chunk of¡­ Something embedded just above to her left eye, stick outward like a horn. But it was her arm that drew the most attention as ? of it was wrapped in some sort of bluish silver metal, seemingly having formed around her extremity in the vague approximation of a hand, 3 crude stubby fingers and a thumb extending from the ¡®hand¡¯


    Rising unsteadily to her feet, Kaylee soaked in the scene around her, to the North, the distant glow of bushfires was already rising over the trees, the area around them had been obliterated with several smaller craters dotting the immediate landscape. Turning to the closest crash site, she took one step forward and immediately took two steps back, a yelp slipping from her mouth. The noise jolted Garrett from his triage who also turned to the crash site¡­ and the object that lay within it.


    Lying in the hole, staring back at them almost judgementally was a metal head the size of person, its dead eyes shining black despite its recent introduction to atmospheric friction.


    [New Operator connected¡­ Nervous system integration 8% and rising.


    > Commencing Assessment


    > ENERGY Storage¡­ 6/10


    > MASS Reserves¡­ 5/10


    > Mission Directives¡­ MEMORY CORRUPTED


    > Accessing Warchive¡­ ELITE UNITS UNAVAILABLE¡­ ADVANCED UNITS UNAVAILABLE¡­ BASIC UNITS¡­ AVAILABLE


    > Commander Status¡­ PENDING.

 Chapter 2: Awakening

    Normally Laura didn¡¯t dream to much, frankly she would have preferred that to what she was currently experiencing. She was floating in¡­ not quite a void more of some limbo full of staticky television screens, all around her all of them showing some form of action. Rows of faceless machines, spider-like robots swarming over burning citylike structures. A titanic metal monster roving in the distance, its steps shaking mountain ranges into gravel, a world of blue-silver metal, and through all of it there was an itch, a buzzing clawing at the back of her mind. As the scenes played out the buzzing got louder and louder, reaching a fever pitch in a mind rending shriek. Laura screamed, jolting upright.


    Wide eyed, Laura shook her head trying to clear the phantom pain from her head. ¡°Holy Shit! Laura you OK?¡± Blinking dumbly in the direction of the voice, Laura¡¯s eyes locked on to Kaylee¡¯s. The slight woman was standing near the far wall, a book lying where it had fallen after she had shot to her feet. Swallowing, Laura nodded, turning her attention to the rest of the room. It was clean, painted a sterile white of a hospital wing her bed one of several empty ones in the  long room. Looking down at the gown and bed she had woken up in, Laura released a shuddering breath, ¡°Yeah, just¡­ Just had a really bad dream¡­ w-What happened?¡± straightening the cardigan she was wearing, Kaylee padded over to the bed side. ¡°What do you remember?" Furrowing her brows, Laura lay back, staring at the white ceiling, ¡°I remember¡­ heat, sound¡­ Something hit us? Then¡­ wars, fire machines.¡± She trailed off. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about the last part, but good news is you now share an injury category exclusively with a dog.¡± ¡°I got hit by a fucking meteor?¡± ¡°Well¡­ not a meteorite per se...¡± ¡°the fuck you mean not quite?¡± At that there was a zip as the curtain surrounding the bed was yanked open and an utterly exhausted looking doctor stumbled in. Straightening his glasses he glanced at the chart. ¡°Miss¡­ Irons. How are you feeling?¡± Laura winced. ¡°Well apart from a pounding headache, I¡¯m feeling pretty good.¡± The doctor nodded, ¡°and how is your arm?¡± Laura blinked, what about my¡­¡± her question trailed off as she looked down, until now she hadn¡¯t noticed but her right arm did not seem to be moving. ¡°Whatthefuckisgoingonwhycantimovemyhand?¡± For several seconds the doctor and Kaylee simply stared back at her in silence. The later pulling back the covers to reveal what used to be a flesh and blood arm, now replaced by a metallic, biomechanical limb, layers of blue grey armor covering black, synthetic sinews, rotating her forearm she gazed on the blue, ribbed ring that was embedded into her palm. Its surface reminiscent of a brain or some sort of coral. The pads of the four fingers also seemed to be covered in a similar substance, also a glowing shade of blue.


    Slightly shaking, Laura slowly ran a thumb up her arm, feeling as the metal and artificial muscle transitioned to skin and bone just past the shoulder. Shaking even harder she ran her hand across her face, only for it to find another chunk of cold metal, now hooked around the edge her left eye socket.


    Dropping her hand, she lay back, staring at nothing, the shear shock of the change leaving her reeling, her mind trying to process new, impossible information. ¡°This can¡¯t be real.¡± The words more of a plea then a statement. The doctor coughed, ¡°well based on about tss, tss, tss¡­ 87 hospital admissions in the last 48 hours for various cases of self-implanting metal fragments. This is very much real.¡±  Kaylee sighed, ¡°Sir if you could give me a minute?¡± The doctor nodded and slipped out of the room. Turning back to the bed Kaylee leaned over, grabbing Laura¡¯s metallic hand. ¡°Look, I know it sounds like a shit deal, but most of the others who¡¯ve come through got discharged¡­ After a while, until then it was army and hazmat suits and all sorts of shit. Your actually one of the last, and one of the most interesting.¡± Laura¡¯s head rolled sideways, her eyes, one green, one a chilling icy blue, locked onto Kaylee¡¯s brown eyes. ¡°That does nothing to make me feel better. Also, where¡¯s Garett even at?¡± Kaylee smiled, focussing on something other than Laura¡¯s new body parts. ¡°Garrett got his leave cancelled, again army and hazmat suits and shit.¡± ¡°So have you heard from him then?¡± Kaylee¡¯s smile dipped. ¡°No, phones been straight up disconnected, has been since he was called back. Ahh but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be callin¡¯ any minute now.¡±


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    >New Commander Online¡­ INITIALISING


    [GREETINGS COMMANDER]


    Laura yelped ¡°Ah Shit what the fuck?¡± as she jumped up and backwards, tumbling out of the bed. Kaylee jumped as well, shooting to her feet before rushing around the side of the bed to her fallen friend.


    [I am the Advanced Logistical Assistant. Compiling HUD]


    Laura winced as her vision was assaulted with a barrage of visions as numbers, words and wireframe models of a complexity beyond her understanding swarmed her vision even as she squeezed her eyes shut. The information pilling up like water behind a dam, mere litres from bursting. Until it wasn¡¯t, the pain subsiding. Opening her eyes, Laura found herself staring at the concerned expression of her friend as well as the doctor. She opened her mouth to speak, only for nothing to come out. A message flashed across her face [Operational security must be maintained]


    ¡°I uh¡­ (Fuck you stupid disembodied voice) ¡­ I think I saw a spider. I kind of overreacted¡­¡± The onlookers looked back at her with varied expressions of incredulity. Laura smiled, that Advanced Logistical something was gonna get it.


    After being VERY hesitantly allowed to leave, Laura was deposited into the back of a van. A van with the notable presence of quite a few extra holes from the last time she¡¯d ridden in it. Her vision was still filled with various readouts including what was probably supposed to be some sort of mini map, however almost all of it was blank.


    Trying to break the somewhat palpable silence, Laura spoke. ¡°So maybe I didn¡¯t see a spider.¡± Kaylee¡¯s head slowly rotated to look at Laura. ¡°Sure, so what did you see then?¡± Laura shrugged. ¡°Well not so much see as heard, and also saw.¡± Kaylee¡¯s eyes rose ¡°Oh?¡± [ALERT Operational Security Must Be Maintained] ¡°Oh shut up, anyway there is a voice in my head screaming at me about keeping something a secret. [Operational secu..] ¡°Shut it! Anyways I don¡¯t know what it is, I have a pretty good idea where it comes from and there¡¯s two numbers flashing in red in the corner of my vision.¡± Kaylee at the very least didn¡¯t laugh, call her crazy, or drag her back to the hospital for being crazy. Instead, she hesitantly spoke: ¡°Have you asked the voice what it wants? ¡°No¡± ¡°Maybe you should ask it?¡± ¡°Ok, Advanced thingy what do you want?¡± [Accessing mission directory¡­ ERROR No mission parameters Available. CAUSE: Unscheduled removal of core memory slates.] ¡°Well bloody outstanding, is there anything you remember?¡± [ACCESSING RECORDS: basic logistical and combat databases are available.] Laura¡¯s eyebrows rose at that, so you can kill things, but you don¡¯t know what to kill!?¡± that outburst was successful in drawing a very concerned look from Kaylee. Realising what she had said, Laura quickly added. ¡°Apparently the voice knows how to build ¡®logistical¡¯ things¡­ whatever that means.¡± Kaylee¡¯s eyebrows dropped. ¡°And weapons.¡± Laura nodded. ¡°And Weapons.¡±


    ¡°So you want to build em?¡± Laura jolted up. ¡°Wha¡­?¡± ¡°You want to see if the voice is full of it?¡± Laura shook her head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to ¡®build em¡¯ the last thing I need is to start dumping nukes around my house!¡± [No blueprints for weapons utilising any combination of fusion or fission reactions are available in my database] ¡°Well that¡¯s a relief, yeah sounds great let¡¯s go build bombs then, I¡¯m not up to anything, how about you guys?¡± [your words indicate an eagerness to begin construction, however current context suggests otherwise] ¡°Congratulations¡± At this point Kaylee had burst into fits of laughter. Catching sight of the death glare that her friend was giving her she held her breath, stifling the laughter. ¡°I say we should test it out, look it¡¯s going to become a problem eventually so we should figure it out before then.¡± Laura glared back the proverbial cogs ticking away as she tried to think of a way to counter what Kaylee was saying. [ALERT. MASS and ENERGY reserves are low, build structures to refill reserves.] ¡°Fuckin fine.¡± Lets go somewhere quiet, the last thing we want is  to have to explain why there¡¯s a bloody terminator in the middle of a macca¡¯s parking lot.¡± Kaylee grinned. ¡°How about the Uni carpark?¡± ¡°FUCK no, head out mountains way. TOMORROW.¡±

 Chapter 3: Field Test

    Laura was awoken by the sound of someone thumping on wood, squeezing her eyes shut in protest against the sounds she rolled over, in the process her metal arms struck the table beside her with a solid ¡°THUNK¡±. Jolting awake at the noise Laura tried to rub her eyes, in the process clobbering herself with the clumsy metal chunk of a hand. Swearing she shoved her own arm away and stumbled out of bed. Yanking the door open, Laura glared at her friend who didn¡¯t even have the decency to even look slightly apologetic. As opposed to the bedraggled cyborg, Kaylee was far too alert for 5:30 in the morning, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, she looked like she was ready for a full day of either lectures or digging through a pile of compost. Before Laura could wipe Kaylee¡¯s grin off with her metal hand, Kaylee shoved a cup of something into Laura¡¯s left hand.


    ¡°Come on sleepy bot¡­ we got machines to build.¡± Laura shook her head and took a swig of the cup.


    ¡°Are you going to keep calling me bot.¡± Kaylee grinned even wider.


    ¡°Oh absolutely¡­ Bot.¡±


    [Good morning Commander. Your systems are operating nominally.]


    ¡°Well, good morning to you too¡­ Alan.¡±


    [Correction: Advanced Logistical Assistant.]


    ¡°Yeah, well I¡¯m not going to repeat that every time I need to acknowledge you so its Alan now.¡±


    [Very well]


    <u>Somewhere near Oxley Creek</u>


    After leaving the van at the edge of the tree line and trudging through knee-high grass and lantana the pair, or trio found themselves stumbling upon a small clearing about 5 meters wide. [This area appears to be a sufficient area for construction].


    ¡°Alan says this is a good spot.¡± Laura stated, relaying the information to her friend. Taking a few more steps and spinning around Kaylee spread her arms, a massive grin plastered across her face. ¡®Well then. Shall we begin?¡±


    Sighing Laura nodded, I suppose


    [Assessing Current reserves:


    > ENERGY Storage¡­ 6/10


    > MASS Reserves¡­ 5/10]


    Laura stared at the indicators as they flashed across her vision.


    ¡°Ok show me what I can build?¡± she asked uncertainly.


    [ACCESSING


    > Basic Energy Generator


    > Basic Material extractor


    > Basic Storage


    > Basic Assembler


    > Basic¡­]


    Waving her hands at the words in front of her Laura yelped. ¡°Enough, enough. Just the absolute ABSOLUTE basics.¡±


    [All of the above are the basic components of a base.]


    ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡± Kaylee interjected.


    ¡°Fucking¡­  Alan, can you do something about this, I can¡¯t keep playing telephone for you two.¡±


    [Negative, such an operation is outside of my parameters.]


    ¡®Well, thanks a lot you useless...¡± Her retort was cut off by a bought of laughter from her friend.


    Turning around she glared at her friend who had taken to crouching on a nearby log. Laura pointed her flesh arm at the offending woman. ¡°I¡¯m trying to get you into the loop y¡¯know!¡± to this Kaylee shrugged ¡°Yeah but havin¡¯ you repeat everythin'' is funnier. You gonna keep procrastinating or you gonna build a tank?¡±


    ¡°FINE!¡± Laura snapped, turning her attention back to the HUD.


    ¡°OK, wait how do I avoid getting soft locked if I use all my resources?¡±


    [Define Soft lock.]


    ¡°Basically, where you can¡¯t do anything due to previous actions, I think.¡±


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    [Understood. MASS can be recovered from any nearby objects at the cost of ENERGY. ENERGY however can only be recovered from existing generators or stores.] Nodding slightly Laura focussed on the HUD, selecting the energy generator. The tag disappearing and being replaced with a slowly rotating wireframe image of a pyramidal structure. As soon as she mentally confirmed the order the image disappeared. Looking around in confusion at what had happened she glanced down to her metallic right arm. The construct now being projected from her palm. Raising her hand, she watched as the projection tracked with it, settling on a spot in the center of the clearing.


    Inhaling Laura mentally pushed, the effect was immediate as a stream of blue light burst forward from her hand with an electronic hum, lighting up the 1X1 base of the structure. Even the ever-talkative Kaylee had gone quiet, watching in silence as the base of the structure slowly began to materialize, the internal structure slowly snaking its way upward, followed closely by the outer metallic skin. For several minutes the two watched as the structure completed itself. As the whine of the arm died down the pyramid clicked before slowly opening like a geometric flower, revealing the reflective arms as well as the clear inner prism. As the petals settled Laura felt a phantom hum as the generator came online. With a growing smile she mentally summoned a mine and directed it towards another point about 10 feet from the generator, pushing again the satisfying whine didn¡¯t come instead Alan spoke:


    [Insufficient MASS, reserves: 0/10]


    ¡°Fuck, ok how much do I need?¡± Laura replied. [10 MASS required¡­ Required ENERGY: 6]


    ¡°Alright let¡¯s dig some up then.¡± Laura muttered focusing on the ground again. Instead of the steady hum the arm emitting a pulsing wail as orange light was spat forward, the ground seemingly receding like a sandcastle in the rain. The suction continued for a couple of minutes until once again, with a clunk the operation ceased.


    [Energy reserves expended. MASS: 6/10]


    Several Minutes later.


    [ENERGY: 4/10 Ready For construction]


    The whirring began again as the ¡®mine¡¯ began to take form, unlike the clean 1X1 size of the original structure, the mine was 2 meters tall with a 1X1 base appearing to be a simple rectangular box made from the same blue silver material as Laura¡¯s arm. As the arm powered down, a red line flashed on Laura¡¯s HUD connecting the two structures with Laura¡¯s energy stores dropping from the six it had built up to over the couple minutes it had taken to build the mine down to four. Laura groaned ¡°the mine actively drains power?¡± [Yes.] The utterly emotionless statement leaving Laura quietly scowling.  Despite how much she¡¯d been complaining the previous day, she was now itching to see what the ¡®fabricators¡¯ could do, but apparently her dreams of a tank would be put on hold for quite some time. Turning back to Kaylee she smiled.


    ¡°Ok I¡¯ve got the basics down, we may be here for a while though.¡± Hearing Laura¡¯s voice Kaylee jumped up from where she had been lying, several pieces of wrapped-together grass falling from her hands as she bounced over.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine, what you think you can build?¡± Laura shrugged, turning her focus on the build list she noticed that the actual fabricator seemed to be scalable. As the power available was so low for the time being she figured she probably wouldn¡¯t be able to build anything to impressive, with that in mind she instead focused on something smaller. With some fiddling she found that the smallest setting  to be about 0.8m<sup>2</sup>. With that in mind she started constructing not the fabricator, but another one of the energy collectors, whilst she hadn¡¯t yet checked the exact cost of the fabricator nor the units it produced, she could be certain that her little solar farm would not be able to keep up.


    With the power issue hopefully out of the way she turned back to constructing the fabricator with a whine the hand began to glow the fabricator began to take shape, as the machine took shape, Laura was somewhat disappointed when the fabricator, a device designed to print 3d objects, looked exactly like an exceptionally cheap 3d printer, though significantly bigger and the head was glowing an ethereal shade of blue. As soon as the structure was completed Alan chimed in.


    [Small Fabricator completed; limited Unit selection now available.] His words coincided with a new list of blueprints filling Laura¡¯s screen, this list was slightly more extensive then the structure list, and this one seemed to consist of primarily variations of a baseline quadcopter. One was listed as a drone ¡®fabber¡¯ which carried a printer head on the underside, another was some sort of single-use drone with a warhead, another with a small gun on an arm hanging from the underside and several others.


    Electing for something that wouldn¡¯t be an immediate crime, Laura elected to queue up a couple of the compact ¡®recon¡¯ drones. With a whine the machine jerked to life, unfortunately it appeared that the printer didn¡¯t go by half measures and so under the narrow beam of blue light, Laura watched as four rows drones began to take form in front of her. As the hum of the fabricator died down, it was replaced by the whirr of dozens of tiny rotors as one by one the drones began to lift off, adopting a holding pattern several meters above the head of their creator.


    "Shit Laura.¡± Kaylee blurted, you planning on spying on the whole city?¡±


    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t know the machine would use the WHOLE plate.¡± Laura retorted. ¡°Anyway now I have spares in case something goes wrong.¡± With that Laura turned her attention to the HUD she began trying to see how to control her new swarm of privacy invaders. It happened almost by accident with Laura finding her vision filled by a semi-translucent bird¡¯s eye view of the encampment, the three buildings each displayed with a symbol denoting their purpose, another significantly more detailed symbol denoted Laura¡¯s location and 16 more smaller dots indicating the locations of the drones. As it turned out, mentally focusing on the formation was enough to select them, from there thinking of a spot relative to them could make the drones move. After several attempts at directing the drones Laura gave a new order, creating a 5 km radius around the initial base. The effect was immediate with the tiny machines zipping outward like shrapnel, the terrain rapidly being rendered in wireframe on Laura¡¯s HUD.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s interesting.¡± Laura stated as she turned to her friend.


    ¡°But in all seriousness why did whatever these things are end up here, I mean¡­¡±


    [Warchive Located. Hostile Units Detected. Unit Lost.]

 Chapter 4: First Contact

    ¡°What¡­ Where, WHO.¡± The birds eye view filled her vision once again, this time focused on a seemingly random piece of scrub land. For a few seconds there was no action, at least until another drone flew overhead highlighting something Laura very much wished she hadn¡¯t seen. The creature was comfortably the length of a car and just as wide if not more, its body was held up by six chitinous legs with a pair of massive mothlike wings attached to its back. That would have all been mostly fine if it weren¡¯t for the face, the body of the monstrosity was capped with a dozen or so black eyes as well as a massive pair of spiky mandibles. A moment later her views blurred as it refocused on the ¡®warchive.¡¯ It appeared to be some sort of obelisk jutting at an old angle from the crater it had been partially buried in, expanding her view Laura¡¯s heart sank as more creatures were highlighted in red as they skittered back and forth under the view of the recon drones, occasionally leaping at them as they flew overhead cursing Laura¡¯s soul with still images of chitinous maws and fuzzy clawed appendages. ¡°Alan, what in the B-grade Alien Horror hell am I looking at?¡± [A warchive is an external repository of schematics, information and advanced technology, they are of absolute value for all sides of all conflicts.] ¡°Conflicts? You mean you¡¯re at fucking war with giant moth monsters?¡± [The Biomorphs are one of several factions seeking to control the galaxy. The Biomorphs operate by assimilating and modifying local biomass to create their units. They are one of the Core¡¯s greatest threats.] Blinking through the literal lore dump Laura decided to press the most important issue.


    ¡°So what are we going to do about it Alan?¡±


    [Without the warchive invaluable information will be captured by the enemy. Furthermore, if the biomorph continues to self-replicate it will be impossible to prevent expansion by any meaningful metric.]


    ¡°Laura what the hell¡¯s happenin¡¯?¡± Kaylee jutted in.


    ¡°Ahh¡­ Big fucking moth spider for one thing, also alien weapon cache.¡± Kaylee nodded.


    ¡°Well this might be a bad time to let you know but I¡­ Really, REALLY hate spiders.¡± With those words, Kaylee seemed to shrink into herself somewhat. Noticing the change in demeanor, Laura placed a comforting metallic hand on her friend¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Look this isn¡¯t our fight, we can let some dumb bug keep some magic obelisk, it doesn¡¯t know where we are, we can just avoid it. Leave it for someone competent to deal with it OH FUCK!¡±  Her attempt to put her friend at ease was interrupted by the very rapid intrusion of a hairy little horror. Little being a rather subjective term considering the thing was about the size of a pig, one with eight clawed legs and a face full of soulless eyes. The monstrosity was sailing through the air towards the two humans. Without thinking Laura shoved her friend sideways, bringing her metallic fist upward towards the airborne horror. There was a crack as fist met face, the force of the impact sending Laura stumbling backwards. The creature, though dazed was already on its feet and pounced forward once again. Laura raised her arm in a clumsy block. The force overcame her already unstable balance and tipped her to the ground, head cracking painfully against a rock. Clicking the spider thing lunged at her throat with its mandibles and Laura only barely managed to leverage it away. Black fangs smashing together mere inches from her face. Yelling Laura threw it off of her sending it bouncing off the dirt.


    ¡°Alan, what the fuck do I do?¡± She bellowed as her foe scrabbled to its feet in possibly the most nightmarish way a creature of its appearance could move.


    [Deploying weapon]. There was an electronic whir and Laura suddenly found a very large ¡®pistol¡¯ rapidly assembling itself in her palm. [Weapon charged and ready commander.] Swinging the device upwards, Laura clumsily aimed the device towards the now-righted spider and fired. There was an electric shriek, pop like a water balloon. And then silence. Opening her eyes, Laura saw a steaming puddle of green goop where the bug had once been. Glancing up Laura found Kaylee now pressed up backwards, an abject look of terror plastered over her face.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Hey, hey K you all good?¡± Kaylee¡¯s eyes shot from the remains of the biomorph to her friend¡¯s face.


    ¡°Laura.¡± Kaylee stuttered. ¡°We need to go now.¡± Laura nodded, lifting her friend upright while at the same time opening the bird''s eye view and winced. Red signatures had lit up all over the drone¡¯s detection zone and were all heading directly for her base.


    ¡°Kaylee, you can stand can¡¯t you,¡± Laura stated and her friend nodded dumbly.


    ¡°OK get going, you should have a straight shot.¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡± Kaylee squeaked. Laura grinned and raised her already glowing hand. ¡°Just a sec, I gotta leave a note y¡¯know.¡±


    With a whine, the fabricator started again, as it began to produce a new drone from the list. Whilst this was happening Laura set about printing a third energy collector along with a second mine, while she definitely didn¡¯t have the resources or the time to repel the veritable wave of claws and teeth that was about to come crashing down upon her position, as a result, the only tactic was delaying. With a far throatier whine the first of the Basic Combat Drones lifted off, a black gun unfolding from its belly as it did. It was soon joined by a second the third and more until over a dozen were hanging in the air right above Laura¡¯s head. Just as the last drone rose from the assembly line there was a skittering, with a grin Laura raised her hand and waved her metal hand, as the first of the critters began to appear from the underbrush, Laura¡¯s new toys burst into action, fanning out into a battle line and unleashing a barrage of energy blasts on the encroaching enemy force, bugs popping in a foul tide of viscera Laura laughed as another flight of drones formed up behind her. she mentally commanded them forward, black forms streaking over the canopy unleashing their mechanical wrath upon the monsters below them, their course singled in on the bugs¡¯ commander. The drones came down on it, energy bolts peppering the creature in a hail of azure death and for a moment Laura wondered if she could win it here, that there would be no need to retreat. And then she looked at the drones¡¯ stats. Besides the list of metal and energy requirements, there was a whole host of other stats from speed to subspace relay range, and then she got to offensive weapons.


    Damage:10


    Ammo Capacity: 10.


    With a horrible sinking feeling Laura brought up the display, searching for an assessment of her foe¡¯s ¡®health¡¯. Her hopes of a quick victory were quickly quashed. ¡°two fucking thousand? Fuck.¡± A moment later she swore even louder as a drone reported expenditure, then another and another as the barrage of fire slowly whittled down to a pathetic spatter of bolts from the few drones with some leftover juice. Hissing the moth creature rose from where it had been curled protectively and shook its wings. With a growing pit of dread, Laura watched as the moth¡¯s abdomen swelled, four armoured tentacles, their heads expanding steadily with an unnerving green glow. And then they burst, blasting globules of sparking green¡­ goo? The first volley struck true, the goo bursting, bathing the drones they hit along with those in the immediate vicinity, destroying half the flight in a single volley. With a victorious shriek, it stretched its wings and with a singular powerful beat launched itself skywards. The surviving drones trailed after it, still following their last command despite their expended ammo cells. With a yelp Laura turned and bolted, ordering all drones still alive to follow her as she dashed into the undergrowth, the monsters following close on her tail. At first Laura thought the commander had taken to retreating, licking its wounds.  Well apparently, not because the thing came crashing down right in the middle of her little base, the landing smashing the two energy collectors into a cloud of sparkling shards, it then turned on the fabricator. A green bolt turned it into slag a moment later, the mines followed a moment later in two more sparking flashes. Laura swore again and issued a new command to her drones. The whine of their rotors spiking as they reversed their flight, hurtling back towards the crumbling base while Laura continued her mad dash for the van. Somewhere in the distance, there was a crack and the shooting fell silent, still in a dead sprint Laura burst from the underbrush about 50 feet, bolting the final distance, ripping the van¡¯s door open and diving headfirst inside. A wild-eyed Kaylee already in the driver¡¯s seat nursing a wound on her shoulder.


    ¡°Shit K, what happened?¡± Kaylee shook her head as she put the van into gear.


    ¡°I got bit on the way, I¡¯m fine.¡±

 Chapter 5: Breakout

    An alarm blared, coinciding with the rhythmic metallic rattle of the airtight door sliding open. Stepping through into a short hallway Garrett sighed, watching the plastic of his face mask fog up. ¡°Just another day on the job.¡±


    Picking up one of the sterilized rifles from its rack along the wall. He continued into the facility proper, ignoring the sterile suit-wearing scientists that split apart like bait fish before a shark. Proceeding deeper into the lab he passed the various containers, freezers and and various samples of both mechanical biological natures. The back third of the room was closed off by a thick glass wall. Approaching the barrier Garrett swiped his card again, causing the door to hiss open. Inside this lab within a lab was the ¡®main attraction¡¯ A large featureless sarcophagus lay in the center of the room. Almost perfectly rectangular it¡¯s sides were the same silverish blue as the other metallic oddities though unlike the rest of the items however this one was obviously built to last on account of the extensive burn marks on every side from the box from when it had come tumbling through hundreds of kilometers of atmosphere before embedding itself several meters into the side of a mountain, the government, along with quite a  few other powers were rather intrigued to say the least. And because it was of ¡®high value¡¯ Garrett was now stuck sitting in an overgrown esky recycling his own breath. Scowling under the mask Garrett assumed his post near the doorway, taking over from the previous guard. The scientists continued unperturbed, moving around in a constant dance of analysis, fiddling and recording. Resigning himself to another shift of adult daycare he leaned back against the wall, letting a sigh slip from his lips


    Millions of dollars of cutting-edge equipment and they couldn¡¯t afford a proper clock? It had taken about an hour for Garrett to realize the damn thing was shot, figuratively speaking, but considering the fact that the slippery hand had made him abundantly aware of every single second, he was half tempted to take a potshot at the damn thing as well, not that he actually would, but it was certainly tempting. scanning the room he noted that the scientists had begun acting strange, that is stranger then usual. They had by this point attached half a  ozen machines and doohickies to the box. Several of them had crowded around a main monitor and were gesturing excitedly, leaning over Garrett caught a glimpse of the screen which appeared to show a grainy image of the apparently hollow interior, along with its¡­ occupant? Despite the fact the object had no apparent seams or door to allow the figure in or out. As a result, the scientist had apparently taken to attaching the box to a car battery in the hopes of making something happen. Turning his eye back to the hateful clock, he shifted his on the balls of his feet as he tried to find some way to slip out of the boredom, he had found himself in.


    Fortunately for Garrett, a distraction came, heralded by the excited babbling of the egg heads along with what sounded like flowing sand. Snapping out of his anti-time piece trance he turned his attention to the scene in front of him where the sarcophagus appeared to be¡­ melting? No, crumbling.  As the gathered people watched the walls of the box steadily broke into smaller and smaller pieces that piled on the floor. Unconsciously, Garrett leaned forward, flicking the safety on his rifle as he did. As the freshly disintegrated metal settled the chattering of the scientists died down. Before them lay the occupant of the box, stepping forward Garrett scanned the subject before him. The figure was proportionally quite similar to a human, maybe half a head taller, it¡¯s feminine body was covered in some sort of dark green carapace running from the base of it¡¯s chin and over the rest of its body in a series of overlapping pieces that left no apparent gaps or weaknesses. The alien¡¯s unprotected head was compared to the rest of it extremely strange, where there would have been hair was instead a nest of tendrils that hung to its shoulders, its slender face was a significantly lighter shade of green and the eyes¡­ the burning purple eyes were open! The being threw its hands up and shrieked, and impossibly all near it were thrown backwards, the remains of its container swirling around it in a cyclone of metal particles. Somehow through this Garrett had managed to keep his footing and he immediately levelled his rifle on the alien and loosed a burst of fire. The echo of the gunshots silenced all other sounds in an instant as everyone, the researchers, the assistants, even the reinforcements that had just burst through the door, for a moment Garrett thought he had one, but then he saw his handiwork. The three bullets were hovering mere millimetres from the alien¡¯s face, still spinning. There was a loud ping and Garrett was forced to his knees as all the air was driven out of his chest by the sudden return of his three bullets.  Forcing his lungs to expand he glanced up just in time to watch as the woman rose to her feet and reached out. There was an ear-piercing shriek, and the metal plating slowly peeled apart, bolts bursting outwards as the wall parted to reveal the exterior, the sky and the ocean. The whistle of the wind was drowned out by the staccato sound of gunfire as the reinforcements opened fire to similarly little effect, the bullets either curving around their intended target or stopping just short. Ducking his head to avoid the fire above him, he grabbed one of the egg heads who was not moving and started dragging him back through the shattered barrier by his collar. Glancing up, he saw the being turn and glare in his direction, Garrett froze, instinctively grabbing his rifle and levelled it one-handed towards the figure, for a heart-wrenching second, he thought he could feel some invisible hand reaching out to crush him, then it was gone as the alien stepped over the edge and slipped from view. Garrett leapt forward, dashing to the edge and looked over the side. He got to the edge just in time to see her disappear into the spray, grabbing his radio he bellowed: ¡°We¡¯ve got a breakout in the lab, get the fucking birds in the air!¡± jumping to his feet he began sprinting out of the lab, tearing off the respirator and mask as he did. Taking the stairs two at a time he burst onto the top deck of the container ship that the lab had been hidden on sprinting to the bow of the ship he heard a whine as the helicopter began to spool up commandos having already piled on board, diving into the open doorway he waved to the pilot to take off. The hum of the blades peaked as the chopper lifted off, and turned towards the mainland. Leaning out the side of the aircraft he found himself drawing breath, the escapee was already a  good halfway to the shoreline and by the ridiculously large wake behind her, she was making extremely impressive headway powering towards the shoreline at a speed seemingly impossible for her physiology,  specifically the chitin armour. His question was quickly answered as the helicopter swooped down until it was speeding mere meters from the water, leaning from the side of the chopper Garrett got an explanation. The waist and legs were wreathed in a froth of bubbles streaking behind her. For a moment Garrett simply sat there, his mind weighing up an incredibly stupid idea, then he acted on said idea and to the shocked yells of the other occupants dove out of the doorway and into the water below. Hitting the water headfirst he forced his eyes to stay open as he slammed into the back of the alien, coiling his arms around it as she bucked trying to eject him. She went almost completely vertical, ploughing into the sea floor, spinning and smashing Garrett into the sand. She then shot upwards towards the surface, blasting clear in a rainbow of sea spray whilst Garrett desperately attempted to draw some breath only to have it be knocked again as soon as they hit the water. For a moment he felt his grip slipping, and then it broke. For a moment he lost his grip, spiraling in the wake, he threw out his arms as he tumbled in the backwash. After several seconds of tumbling, he somehow found himself somewhat not experiencing the inside of a washing machine, spinning around he somewhat managed to right himself and push up towards the surface. Reaching air he began wheezing, coughing up lung fulls of water he spun around trying to find the shoreline through bleary eyes. Finding his bearings he found that he had gotten within a hundred meters of the shore before he had been bucked off, forcing his noticeably aching muscles to drag him towards the shoreline, ahead he could see the alien bursting from the water, the helicopter trailing close behind her. Battling the breakers he scrambled over the slick rocks and onto the grass, rising to his feet he began sprinting in the general direction he had seen his quarry fleeing. Crashing into the undergrowth he quickly picked up a trail of cracked sticks, trampled brush and the odd clawed footprint in the mud. As he continued to sprint through the bushland, he could hear the steady thump of the helicopter and the crackle of rifle fire.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

 Chapter 6: Breakout Pt2

    Bursting out from the tree line Garrett found himself staring at the source of the noise, the helicopter was hanging in the air at a wild angle that should not have been conducive to flight meanwhile the woman stood on the ground arm outstretched towards the floundering aircraft, hand curled in a clawed fist, the soldiers, at least those who were in a position to do so were raining hellfire upon the being, though as to be expected, next to no effect. The one effect being irritation indicated by the alien¡¯s increasingly clenched fist and the steadily growing dents in the aircraft¡¯s fuselage, the metal groaning as it gave way to the being¡¯s power. There was a crack as something in the engine broke, sending gouts of flame pouring from the exhaust ports, the rotors howling as the machine gave it¡¯s death rattle. The woman twisted her hand, causing the bulletproof windscreen to shatter, the armored hull buckling further, just a little further and the skeleton would give. With a yell, Garrett slammed head-first into the alien, knocking her to the ground, above them the chopper lurched, smoke billowing as the pilot wrestled the dying bird to the ground. Garrett drove his elbow into the alien¡¯s face, smashing it''s head into the dirt, she reciprocated, raking her claws up, drawing four thin red lines across his face, wincing through the pain, Garrett rose his fist, aiming to strike the temple and knock the escapee out quick unfortunately, he didn¡¯t come close as the alien¡¯s had whipped back around and grabbed the side of his skull. There was a flash of agonizing pain. Then darkness.


    Nidi was running, clawed feet clacking against the monolithic branch she was sprinting along. Behind her she could hear the whines and shrieks of pulse cannons, along with the far less frequent shrieks of shredder fire spitters, as she reached the edge of the branch she leapt, a psionic pulse giving her a kick of extra momentum, her arc taking her over a gap that plunged down hundreds of meters down to the forest floor. Hitting the ground she turned back to see the rest of her clan also making the crossing, the ungifted making the crossing using the thick vines that hung down from the dark canopy far above them. Turning back to the direction of flight she spied a figure ahead of them. Even with her night vision, Nidi couldn¡¯t make out more than a vague outline, one with the distinctly chunky form of the dreaded machine, with a grim snarl she pulled the energy into herself, preparing to strike the enemy down. But before she could turn the aberration into a pile of scrap there was a crack followed by yelps from the rest of the clan, followed in turn by the clatter of metal from behind them. Spinning on her heels Nidi watched as one of the man-sized arachnid minions of the machine crumpled to its knees and slid forward off the branch and down into the abyss. Turning back towards the figure she stepped forward as they did the same, as the figure stepped closer she found she could discern a few more characteristics of the being. As it turned out it was not a machine, in fact it was a biological being, the blocky silhouette apparently the result of the equipment it was wearing. Some sort of full body armour of unnatural materials not unlike the metallic plates of the enemy, though the smoking projectile weapon and the now silenced monster behind her suggested that at the very least this being had no loyalty for the aberrant machine. Stepping forward herself, Nidi began approaching the figure. For an agonising minute, the only sounds were the clattering sound of footsteps amongst the shallow hum of the jungle. As she continued to walk forward she began to discern more of  the man¡¯s features. He was extremely heavy set, an extra half wider then even the strongest of her clan, on the other hand he was a good head lower then her and even more so when compared to full warriors. To add to the strangeness of this being only became more apparent, the skin was unnaturally pale, it¡¯s head lacking any apparent tendrils. At only a dozen meters the two stopped, the air falling silent around them. For a moment they held each other¡¯s gaze, and then she spoke: ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The man blinked, eyes widening, ¡°you speak English?¡± It was now Nidi¡¯s turn to be surprised, ¡°No you are speaking¡­¡± Her voice trailed off, she looked around, she listened. Nothing, the cataclysmic battle, the screams even the wildlife had gone silent. Nidi turned to her clan and her suspicions were confirmed, they had frozen like water in the frost, their features becoming indistinct and blurred like smudged clay. A convergence then, but why? There was a flash and things began to trickle back to her, the capture, the escape¡­ the fight, the Convergence. Just like a dream, most would not be able to identify it as a dream. It would require a considerable deviation from the established norm for someone to notice, good thing being that the alien she was facing didn¡¯t know the norm, which meant she could play this how she wanted. Stepping forward again she spoke; ¡°thank you for your help, but our battle is not finished, the enemy is on our backs.¡± The human nodded, then he spoke again, slowly. ¡°You speak English?¡±


    Nidi¡¯s faltered slightly at that, most who had been subjected to the convergence shouldn¡¯t be aware enough to ask such a question, the implications of that were not good. Regardless hesitation could only increase the certainty of this going horribly wrong so she had to persevere. ¡°Of course I do, we are allies, its important that we understand each other.¡± For a moment there was a pregnant silence for several seconds. Fortunately, the human apparently accepted the excuse. ¡°Right, I¡¯m Garrett by the way.¡±


    ¡°Nidi¡± Nidi reciprocated, bowing her head in greeting. With introductions out of the way Nidi considered her options, in all likelihood she would be captured quickly, which meant she had at best a few minutes to acquire as much information about these aliens as possible before that happened. Fortunately, her ¡®friend¡¯ seemed to be more then happy to offer that information as he immediately started prattling;


    ¡°We need to get back to our secondary lines, rest, regroup and wait for new orders from Command. Where is the nearest fob?¡± Nidi blinked, ¡°fob?¡±  Garrett¡¯s eyes furrowed. ¡°Forward Operating Base, did you hit your head?¡±


    Nidi blinked, ¡°No, I. I¡¯m new, I was recruited today.¡±


    The man¡¯s eyes rose in shock, how badly are you guys getting pummelled then?¡±


    ¡°Severely actually.¡± Nidi admitted the words tasting like acid on her tongue. The memories of that day roiling upwards like a tidal wave, the fire, the flight¡­ the defeat. The rage boiling within her, the forest shuddering around her as if in sympathy. No, it was in sympathy, the Convergence was responding to her emotions, stretching, trying to bend to her mind, about to collapse from the strain. Something grabbed her hand and yanked her forward.


    ¡°Whatever the hell that is, we need to go!¡± He barked, rifle raised toward the canopy, there was a mechanical screech as an aberration burst from the darkness above them. There was a warbling howl as the machine¡¯s claws clashed against a shimmering green barrier that Nidi had brought up at the last possible moment, the robot bounced backward, crouching as it began to circle the pair, behind the machine, more were descending upon the rest of her clan, claws meeting chitin in a dizzying dance of meat and metal. The machine, a massive cat-like quadruped with two looming cannons mounted to its back continued to circle waiting for some sort of opening¡­ or reinforcements, from behind the pair came an impossibly soft clatter as another robot cat dropped behind them.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Garrett hummed as he slowly turned to face the new threat. ¡°I take the one on the left, you take the one on the right?¡±


    Nidi snarled, energy coiling in her hands. ¡°Just make sure you destroy one of them.¡±


    Whilst she couldn¡¯t see his face, his response gave all the confirmation:


    ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am.¡±

 Chapter 7 Battle

    Garrett watched his opponent as it circled him, gun levelled towards its eye, hopefully, that would prove to be a weak point, he could feel the alien¡¯s spiny back pressing against his, noticeable even through the ballistic plate. This place, it was odd, almost dreamlike and yet not quite. For a single moment, his rifle wavered and the monster struck. With a triumphant howl, it lunged for him, metal teeth glistening in the ethereal light of Nidi¡¯s¡­ whatever it was. Garrett fired and dove. Three bullets struck the beast, two plunging into its more, a third striking the eye. The robot howled as it barrelled through the space he and his new friend had just occupied, the alien having apparently taken to flight and was now trading blasts of lighting with the cat. Turning his attention to his own fight he snapped off another three rounds into the machine¡¯s side. The shot ricocheted in a shower of sparks. The machine spun around, one eye sparking, the other gleaming with icy blue malice. Garrett felt something inside him twist like a part of him wanted to break out and escape. Running on years of training he ripped a grenade from the webbing and jammed it into the underslung launcher. The monster turned, coiled up to strike. Garrett slammed the breach shut. The monster pounced; Garrett fired. There was a deafening crack and a flash. There was a ringing in his ears. There was pain, though less then he expected. Prying his eyes open he found himself lying on the branch, blood leaking from his ear. With an unheard groan, he lurched to his feet and glared at his handiwork, the monster¡¯s skull had been ripped open from the inside, its last good eye dangling from a smoking eye socket by a single dangling wire. Looking up he caught sight of the alien as she dropped from the sky, slowing at the last possible moment to come to a gentle landing. Reaching out a clawed hand she yanked him to his feet, a stony expression on her face, frowning at the expression, Garrett turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield, and his heart dropped. The rest of the clan lay still in a pile of scrap metal, blood mixing with rain and oil that slowly spread and dripped off the branch and into the inky darkness. Brushing his pants off Garrett scowled, these¡­ things (what were they?) things had slaughtered these people, and for what reason?  He couldn¡¯t guess. But he should be able to, the briefing would have mentioned some objectives, given objectives to take and defend. So why couldn¡¯t he even recall his commanding officer? He felt a chill, what the hell was going on?  The woman, she was kneeling next to the bodies of her comrades, for a moment Garrett thought she was in shock, as to be expected from someone who had never seen a fight. Except that wasn¡¯t what she was doing, her face was a stony mask, not of pain, but of frustration, resignation, the look of someone who had seen this before, not casualties, THIS was something else entirely. For a moment he stood still, weighing his options, if he moved now¡­ he had no idea, but if he waited¡­ he also couldn¡¯t know either. But if he took the hostile route, he could be certain he would lose an ¡®ally¡¯ in a hostile environment, but play along? He could always deal with the threat later. With that in mind, he trudged forward and placed a gloved hand on the alien¡¯s shoulder. She turned her head to stare at Garrett, her eye smouldering with a dark, cold rage. Weighing his words, Garrett spoke.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Nidi frowned, ¡°not really, you know I thought this would get easier a second time.¡±


    ¡°Second time?¡± Garrett pushed.


    ¡°My clan was attacked one the way here¡± she stated, her tone notably defensive. Electing not to mention that fact Garrett continued. ¡°The enemy will probably send another patrol if they haven¡¯t already, we should get out of here.¡± Nidi remained still for a moment and Garrett had a brief flash of concern at the idea she may decide to stay, but instead she silently stood up, turning her back to the battle with a stony look on her face.


    ¡°Come.¡± she stated. I know of a place we can take shelter.¡± Garrett nodded, and they were off.


    Christ this woman can run. Garrett thought as they sprinted across the forest, ducking under branches and leaping over yawning depths. Ahead of him the alien moved with frankly unnerving fluidity, slipping through the forest with barely a whisper or a disturbed leaf. The strange sounds of battle had long faded from the ambience of the forest. The shrieking of those robot bastards had carried on far longer then these aliens¡¯ weapons had. The echoes of battle had since been replaced by the gentle chorus of this planet¡¯s wildlife. Despite the omnipresent danger, Garrett had to admit that this place had a certain beauty to it, albeit one that seemed quite eager to eat him, that fungus was definitely giving him the evil eye. In fact it DID have a translucent starburst eye, and it was slowly tracking him as he bolted past, the tree it was attached to seeming to writhe in the darkness, he began to run even faster, trying to close the distance with his ¡®friend¡¯.


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    After what felt like several hours of running through a wonderland of potentially carnivorous flora and God knows what else that crawled, scurried and waited in the darkness. Nidi for that matter appeared utterly unperturbed by any of this and had continued at a punishing pace, though for some reason Garrett was sure that she could have run significantly faster if she wanted to. Fortunately, she appeared to have reached their destination as she suddenly skidded to a stop before turning right and diving through a curtain of glowing moss with Garrett diving through after her, and banging his head against something as he came through, swearing he pressed his forearm to his head, eyes squeezed shut against the pain. Fortunately for  his bruised ego, Nidi had apparently also fallen victim to the same woody lump as she sat just inside the hollow with a handful of leaves pressed to her forehead. ¡°Got you too?¡± She muttered as he stood up.


    ¡°What is this place?¡±


    ¡°It is a hollow, normally used by travelers seeking shelter from the elements, and now holes for my people to cower in.¡± the final words of that statement being spat out with incredible venom.


    Garrett sat down, weighing up how to pursue the subject, on account that he couldn¡¯t really think of any way he could defuse the subject effectively, electing to attempt to gather intelligence he decided to push along a tangent. ¡°So the enemy, who are they, and what are they after?¡±


    Nidi sneered, ¡°The Auto Wars, we call them the Scourge or the Aberrations, they came from the stars and have consumed my Clan¡¯s land along with our neighbours'' they have destroyed our lands and burned our groves. We have been fighting them for about a dozen cycles and not. For. A. moment. Have. We. Stopped. Them.¡± Garrett nodded grimly, if individuals like the the woman before him had failed to contain this threat then they must have had some pretty serious forces. Whilst Garrett was no rocket scientist, he was pretty certain that unless these ¡®AutoWars¡¯ had some sort of teleportation such numbers would have been incredibly expensive, not to mention challenging to even get off whatever planet they came from. ¡°So how did they get here, how many were in the initial attack?¡± Nidi frowned further. ¡°One.¡±


    Garrett chocked. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I thought  you said one?¡± Nidi glared at him. ¡°Yes, a great iron egg that fell from the sky in a ball of fire. When it hatched it unleashed the first and the greatest of those monsters rose from it and began to spread its influence from there, it began to create more young that did it¡¯s bidding, it tore up the earth itself and twisted it.¡± Finishing her diatribe Nidi noticed that the man across from her had gone pale. ¡°Are you familiar with such creatures, Garrett?¡±


    ¡°Yeah where I am from we call that a grey goo, they are machines that can infinitely self-replicate on an accelerating scale¡±


    ¡°You have a name for them, how did you create them, HOW DO WE STOP THEM?¡± She had grabbed him by his plate carrier.


    Delicately placing his hands on the alien¡¯s Garrett slowly pried himself from her grasp.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can. The whole nature of grey goo is that it self-replicates endlessly, you literally can¡¯t kill them faster than they self-replicate. There is probably is some way of fighting them but I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Then how do you know of them?¡±


    ¡°They are a common thing in lots of stories, kind of a warning of technology going haywire. I¡¯m sorry but if this thing is what I think it is then this planet is probably gone.¡± He immediately regreted that statement as Nidi¡¯s face went slack, she sat back as she grasped her head with both hands, a low whine of pain emanating from her. Sitting back Garrett hissed, inhaling the cool, damp air.

 Chapter 8: After Action.

    Kaylee flopped backwards into her chair, releasing a hiss of pain as she did, fortunately, that pain was coming from her legs and not from anything more vital, by the grace of what could only be assumed to be God she had managed to avoid catching any flak during her sprint to the van, Laura had been slightly less lucky with something getting a nip on her. Kaylee was personally not entirely certain that it was one of those ¡®biomorphs¡¯ but Laura was pretty shaken up so Kaylee had dropped her off at the nearest hospital before driving home herself, now she was slumped in her apartment staring up at the roof and the fan that slowly rotated above her. Sitting up, Kaylee directed her attention to her desk, more specifically the computer that sat open on her desk, the screensaver at the moment was just a screensaver, a still image of some idyllic stream in the middle of a dark pine forest, opening a new document, she sat for a moment, staring at the glowing screen for several minutes she maintained that position, trying to think of what to write, she growled in frustration and slammed the computer shut and leapt out of her chair.


    ¡°Alan, wake up.¡±


    <Bzzt¡­ How can I assist you commander?>


    ¡°What do we do?¡±


    <Elaborate>


    ¡°There is a giant spider monster making babies in the forest right on top of an alien arsenal what do you think I want to deal with?¡±


    <The Biomorph infestation is a serious threat. Unless it is eliminated shortly it will continue to exponentially¡­


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah.¡± Kaylee jutted in, but how are we planning to DEAL with it?¡±


    <In previous engagements the on-ground commanders primarily utilised overwhelming force against freshly landed biomorph concentrations through either sustained bombardment or defeat in detail. In the event that biomorph forces reached a critical mass then biosphere destruction is the primary means of suppressing the threat.>


    ¡°Holy shit did we give the bugs a planet nuke?¡±


    <No, any such data store was specifically designed to be easily destroyed, such sensitive information would have been destroyed upon re-entry, the warchive you have allowed to be captured was more likely to contain specialised units that would have been immensely useful in ongoing operations.>


    ¡°Am I sensing condemnation Alan?¡±


    <I am simply stating that your operational failings have left you unable to recover technology that would have been invaluable to further operations.>


    ¡°Operations that I still know NOTHING about, what the hell are you even doing here?¡±


    <As I previously stated, I have no access to any of the Autowar military intelligence, therefore I am unable to recall any information on planned operations.>


    ¡°Well that¡¯s fucking brilliant how the hell you aren¡¯t just gonna invade us?¡±


    Alan replied in his normal flat tone; <The Autowars do not invade, we exist to prevent the spread of the Biomorphs along with other exponentially growing threats, by pure necessity we land on any planet that has been infected and we eliminate any threats that we encounter, we gather the necessary resources, and we move on to the nearest planetary bodies.>


    Kaylee nodded slowly, it really wasn¡¯t that much of a convincing statement and she couldn¡¯t really get any convincing proof that these robots wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but so far Alan hadn¡¯t been a problem and the bugs absolutely had been. Resigning herself to the fact that she might have to keep working with the machine, at least until a better option made itself apparent.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°So what about something more surgical, a small force that can get in and get the job done quickly and quietly?¡±


    <While such operations have been attempted, such operations are rarely deployed as they are rarely an effective means of eliminating Biomorph threats.>


    ¡°Well, what about just getting the warchive? Then we can try to use something that we get to come back at em.¡±


    <Such an operation may be useful. If it can be successfully conducted.>


    Laura smiled as she rose to her feet and strode to the doorway.


    ¡­.


    Garrett watched as the alien woman came to terms with the nature of her enemy, as far as he could tell the reaction had been completely genuine, at this point he began to wonder what exactly his situation in this strange limbo was, for some reason, he couldn¡¯t really tell what this was all for. The woman seemed to have been trying to get information, though that quite apparently hadn¡¯t gone the way she had planned. Garrett lent forward in the enclosed space and rested a gloved hand on the Alien¡¯s carapace-coated shoulder. She stared at him through bloodshot eyes, for a moment the two stared at each other for several seconds, the silence broken only by the steady hum of the oncoming monsoon and the periodic crack of lightning. Sitting back against the rough wooden wall, Garrett spoke.


    ¡°What is this place, really?¡± The alien jumped like someone had jabbed her with a tazer, she stared at him, the pain in her eyes draining away to be replaced with shock.


    ¡°What?¡± She spluttered. ¡°As I said this is a hollow that is commonly¡­¡±


    ¡°No¡± He interrupted, ¡°What is this place? Everything is off.¡± She stayed silent, the cogs clearly churning behind her head.


    ¡°Nidi, who is the highest-ranking human on this planet?¡± Nidi continued to stare at him, and then she spoke.


    ¡°I needed to know. I needed to know what you knew of the enemy¡±


    ¡°And what have you found?¡± Garrett asked his tone even.


    ¡°Whilst you and your world is plagued by machinery, you seem to be unfamiliar with this particular scourge, the weakness of your weapons is something that the machines would never tolerate such lacking equipment.¡± Garrett opened his mouth to retort, only to close it when he thought of his bullets bouncing off the robots that thing was probably on par with a BTR in terms of armour, the minimum weaponry that implied was like a punch to the gut. Steeling himself he continued; ¡°So what does that make us?¡±


    Nidi exhaled, ¡°I do not know, we have never met other beings besides the Machines and the Guardians, I do not know how we are supposed to deal with such things.¡±


    Garrett smiled slightly. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t seem to be going anywhere, so how about you tell me what you can and we¡¯ll figure it out from there.¡±


    Nidi¡¯s face hardened, ¡°I can just show you.¡±


    There was a jolt and Garrett swayed, as if gravity had, for a moment been thrown off centre, fortunately, it just as quickly righted itself, his stomach settling down. Nidi stood up in the suddenly much larger space, Garrett stood up as well as Nidi raised her hand. There was a woosh as dust was suddenly whipped up from nowhere the dust coalesced in the centre of the room in a tornado of dust.


    ¡°We will begin from the beginning.¡± Nidi intoned; her eyes half closed as she raised her hand. The tornado coalesced as a flat ¡®table¡¯ the surface twisted into a topographic map. Leaning forward Garrett could see a series of tiny structures, dozens of tiny structures hung from trees, for several seconds the map slowly rotated between the two. The peace was suddenly broken as the land suddenly erupted in ¡®fire¡¯, and in the centre of the fire stood a figure, the recording sped up, the flames vanishing in a blink, on the other hand, the figure remained, now moving as a blur, the landscape churning, the trees were flattened and the ground torn up as new buildings rose from the scorched and churned earth, from these buildings came a torrent of tiny creatures that continued their progenitor¡¯s work, grinding the surface down into nothing. Garrett¡¯s eyes widened and his heart dropped, he recognised the designs, the semi-organic machinery that crawled and flew over the crumbling landscape, the commander especially was the most familiar, with its massive steel limbs, he spoke:


    ¡°I do however recognise this technology, my friend  was merged with some of it.¡± The alien became completely still, the colour slowly draining out of her face at those words and she slowly stepped around the table and stood over him?


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°My friend, her name is Kaylee, she somehow ended up with a robot arm. As far as anyone can tell it isn¡¯t harming her, or any of the other people who got struck with bits of metal.¡±


    Nidi ran a shaking hand through her hair, a completely dead expression on her face.


    ¡°Oh, Garrett¡± stated ¡°Was that wrong?¡±

 Chapter 9: Basement Battle Bots

    ¡°Fuckin what is this?¡± Laura¡¯s head jerked up at the voice of her friend, wiping a layer of mud and powder off her forehead she threw her hands out in a circus performer¡¯s stance. ¡°Just the beginnings of an evil lair, what else.¡± Still scowling Kaylee slowly scanned the low space, it was barely enough height for the two of them to stand with several pillars dotted throughout the space, by the look of them they were just leftover from the excavation process, making it seem like the structure had been grown rather than built. The organic appearance ended however with the presence of a fabricator and two more mines, along with several boxes of some sort that were barely visible in the dim light.


    ¡®And just what the fuck is this all for?¡±


    ¡°Well we need that warchive back, and if I can¡¯t get it with a hammer, I¡¯ll just run em through with a sword.¡± A low chuckle slipped from Laura¡¯s lips. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to do it a little more tactically.¡± At that there was a clacking and from the darkness emerged a crouched figure, standing about 6 feet tall, its lanky body was a mixture of skeletal armour over bundles of artificial muscle one of it¡¯s arms was replaced by a large blocky barrel, it¡¯s end casting a dull blue glow on the floor, there was hum as the fabricator started up again, slowly constructing a cube-like shape.


    ¡°So Kaylee, I was wondering if you could help me with a couple of things?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Kaylee growled her face dark.


    ¡°I need a ghillie suit, or six. And also I¡¯m gonna need your van for  a bit longer.¡± Kaylee continued to glare at her.


    ¡°I get the feeling you aren¡¯t fully on board with this.¡± Laura stated.


    ¡°No! I¡¯m not in any fuckin way on board with this shit! We got chased out of a forest by a horde of spiders for fucks sake. I am fuckin out!¡± With that, she turned and stormed away out of the cutout space. Frowning, Laura turned back to the fabricator, a snarl crossing her face.


    <It appears that Individual Laura is unwilling to assist us in our operation.>


    ¡°Yeah, but what can you really do? Anyway are you sure these bots are up to the task?¡±


    <These ¡®bots¡¯ as you refer to them have been enhanced to your specifications, though the increased power draw will reduce their operational range.>


    ¡°Power issues we can deal with.¡± Laura snapped. ¡°Can they achieve the objective or not?¡±


    <It is unlikely that these ¡®tactical bots¡¯ will be able to successfully recover the warchive data. However, it has a higher probability of success then any other proposed strategy>


    ¡°In that case the main issue is transport.¡±


    Meanwhile.


    ¡°Sir, we have uncovered a ¡®warchive¡¯, just as you described, however at the current time it is well out of our reach, at least not without attracting considerable attention. At this time it is recommended that we remain undercover until the situation becomes more favourable¡± The balding technician trailed off as he completed his report, he swallowed as the figure before shifted, before rising, and continuing to rise. Its shadow slipping over the quivering man.


    ¡°That is all right, whilst it is far from optimal, it is wise to only pursue resource streams that can guarantee a proportional return. As such we shall stay the course, at least as long as we are able.¡±


    The figure stretched to its full height, its mass balanced delicately on three gangly mechanical legs, its body shrouded by a long, sweeping cloak that hung from its square shoulders. As it turned, a single glowing red eye appeared. Its banal eye scanning over the quivering man.


    ¡°How does production progress?¡±


    The man swallowed. ¡°We have successfully produced over 2000 units produced as of  the last count with production continuing at a sustained rate, though we have no way to expand production at the current time due to a lack of space for more energy collectors.¡±


    ¡°No matter, we should be more than capable of acquiring the necessary area for further operations. Continue as you have been, call me if anything changes.¡±


    The technician nodded briefly before practically sprinting from the room. As soon as the door was closed the figure hissed and lowered itself back into its seat. Turning towards the back of the room the figure waved a hand and a looming screen lit up, bright blue light washing over him and highlighting his face, or the lack thereof. Opening it¡¯s fanged ¡®mouth¡¯ the creature inhaled the cool air, tasting the sterilised dryness of it all. Flicking its hand again it activated one of the many cameras lining the facility, the screen revealing rows upon rows of robots, simplified designs of course, stripped of most of the armour, the manipulator arm and the legs had been replaced with a monowheel configuration. ¡°Rise¡± It intoned. There was a low hum as the machines suddenly jolted to their feet, visual receptors lighting up blue as row after row of robots began rising to their ¡®feet¡¯, they straightened up and raised their blaster arms into a ready position. The Commander leaned back in its chair, causing the mahogany and leather to creak under its weight, it threw its arms out and roared in laughter. The machines began to perform a series of movements, shifting their torsos and stretching their limbs experimentally. All of a sudden there was an electronic whine followed by a clunk coinciding with the lights flickering and then dying. The Commander remained completely still for a moment then waved its hand the screen flickered, before producing a flickering statistical display.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Of course, the power supply, that technician understated the issue it seems. That will have to be dealt with. In time.¡± Leaning forward the Commander sent another mental command, cancelling the start-up sequence. For the most part, as the lights came back on, several rows of bots continued their system checks. He was interrupted by the sound of the door bursting open and the technician¡¯s ensuing babbling.


    ¡­


    ¡°Yes, that is absolutely wrong you steel-loving fool! If one of those ¡®infected¡¯ starts spreading, then your world is already doomed!¡±


    ¡°Calm down, its not like she¡¯s going to take over the world. She¡¯d get sick of it way to quickly.¡± He let out a low chuckle. Nidi continued to stare at him with burning eyes, her face a cool mask hiding a raging storm.


    ¡°That .¡± the alien intoned. ¡°Is even worse.¡±


    ¡°How is it worse?¡±


    ¡°Lack of responsibility, no ability to control the machines and the intrinsic corruption of their nature, would you like me to continue?¡±


    ¡°No, no I¡¯d like to stay innocent of the universe¡¯s horrors thanks.¡±


    The alien seemed even less impressed.


    ¡°Anyway, we need to figure out how we¡¯re going to deal with this, I don¡¯t think my commanders are going to be particularly with, well any of this.¡±


    ¡°Then we will not involve them.¡± The alien insisted, eyes still burning with that conviction. Garrett released a low sigh and shook his head. ¡°that won¡¯t work out the way you¡¯re hoping.¡±


    Nidi¡¯s eyes narrowed and Garrett continued.


    ¡°As much as it is a pain in the ass we don¡¯t really have any other choice, they have tonnes of resources and it would be a lot better pointing the artillery than having the artillery be pointed at us. Which they will be if we decide to try to go around them, if we go to them, it will take a stupid amount of time but we can get something done.¡±


    Nidi continued to stare at him, her mind clearly weighing up what Garrett had said, she exhaled heavily. ¡°Can you be certain they will act?¡±


    Garrett smiled grimly, ¡°If even half of the shit you showed me is shown to them then I think we can get even their fat asses into motion.¡± The alien nodded, and reality crumbled to dust.


    Garrett gasped as his eyes flew open, sucking in lungfuls of air as he found himself lying in the grass, for the briefest of moments he allowed himself to breath. Only for said breath to be slammed out of him when a medic jumped on him, yelling something about him not breathing.


    ¡°I¡¯m not fuckin dead yet get off me!¡± he bellowed, shoving the well-meaning medic off of him he rose to his feet. Turning around he caught sight of Nidi, now surrounded by over a dozen very nervous-looking soldiers who seemed to be quite divided between covering her and gaping at the wrecked chopper, Nidi, on the other hand, was mercifully not force-choking anyone or throwing around aircraft, which was unfortunate as someone he was absolutely not prepared to deal with, with a dull repetitive roar a Seahawk swept over the battlefield, it performed a sweeping half orbit of the clearing and settled at the edge of the clearing. Straightening and trying to appear at least somewhat presentable, Garrett stepped forward towards the opening rear ramp. From the ramp spilled a full squad of marines, followed by two significantly more important-looking individuals, as the squad of marines set up a cordon around the helicopter, the two officers, a very heavy set American and a slightly smaller Australian Colonel. Stepping forward Garrett snapped a salute, the officers responding in kind. Inhaling he was about to give a report only for him to cut off by the colonel launching into a diatribe:


    ¡°Jumping out of a helicopter, completely separating from your unit and fighting?! I am speechless.¡±


    For someone who was supposedly ¡®speechless¡¯ he went on for several minutes, lambasting every moment of the incident, American on the other hand stood there with a slowly growing grin on his mug, mercifully the officer¡¯s wrath subsided and Garrett began his report.


    Basic Infantry


    Speed: 6 m/s


    HP: 100


    Damage: 10


    Capacity: 60 shots + 6 hours operation


    Modified Basic Infantry: Tactical.


    Speed: 6 m/s


    HP: 90


    Damage: 10


    Capacity:60 shots + 4 hours operation


    Improved processor and sensor package: Increased situational awareness, increased energy demand, slightly decreased armour.


    Modified Basic Infantry: Economy


    Speed: 15 m/s


    HP: 50


    Damage: 10


    Capacity: 40 shots + 12 hours operation


    Reduced processing: all non-vital operations (communication, threat id, planning) outsourced to central computer, reduced power draw, reduced reaction speed.


    Reduced  armour: lower hp, increased speed


    Optimised supply: reduced ammunition, increased operation length

 Chapter 10: Attempt two, Electric Bug Goo.

    Now that Kaylee had apparently called it quits on interstellar bug warfare, Laura had found herself in a very interesting situation. Fortunately, she still had some assets available, for one Kaylee either by accident or on purpose had left the van behind. The second issue she had was logistics, the problem being of supply, 60 shots a piece wouldn¡¯t do her troops much good if they got stuck in proper, especially against an enemy that could simply replace their troops faster than her bots could shoot, or had shots for. For that reason, she had a constructor bot set up about 2 kilometers down the road, in the process of setting up a little ¡®base¡¯. Normally the term ¡®base¡¯ would have been far to generous a term, but with three collectors, a couple of mines and a fabricator it was pretty much a capital city by Laura¡¯s standards. At the moment she was now parked along the main road, eight bots standing vigil under the shadow of the tree line. Mentally scanning the battle net she gave a small smile, that smile slowly stretched into a grin as a cloud of the minuscule recon drones along with a scattered number of the combat drones drifted over her head. Checking once again that she had set them to only engage defensively Laura gave the mental command and the swarm rose and scattered over the area. Closing her eyes, Laura ¡®saw¡¯ as the drones saw, the landscape slowly coalescing, points of interest, hostiles and most importantly the warchive lit up. Turning back to the ¡®squad Laura focussed on the one at the head of the line, ¡°your mission is to navigate your way to the target, avoid detection as much as possible, keep low, stay quiet, get in, get the data and get out.¡± Despite the fact they were still to simple to have a personality, at least according to ALAN, she could have sworn that the bot nodded slightly. As soon as Laura marked the target location the robots spun on their heels and strode into the underbrush, with the robots on the way, Laura set about ensuring that the route was quiet. With the mental flick of a switch, the drones opened fire, dousing the bugs below with bright blue fire, flicking her hands, Laura directed the drones to begin moving perpendicular to the road, the effect was immediate with the aliens immediately rising and scattering, some going to ground while those that could began to fire skywards, stepping back into the van, Laura gave a small smile, this time the prize was her¡¯s.


    <UNIT ID: SPECIAL TASK UNIT 001.


    /DIRECTIVE:  RETRIEVE INTEL


    /MISSION: IN PROGRESS>


    The robots swept through the underbrush, footsteps padded by the sacks they had wrapped around their pads before moving out, photoreceptors scanning all around for any hint of the enemy. They would complete their mission, not that they wanted to, they didn¡¯t hope to, it was simply a fact. It was what was going to happen.  001 was right in the middle of the group, as the designated ¡®squad lead¡¯ it was 001¡¯s directive to acquire the warchive data, and so it was the most important element, the only one that needed to stay functional. Regardless the Commander had decided that they should ALL avoid destruction where possible and so in spite of their programming that dictated a full assault, the bots moved to the will of the Commander. As the group egressed the first hill a silent alert past from the first along the chain, simultaneously the entire unit crouched, servos whispering as they slithered onto the mud. The reaction had not come a second to soon as the light above them was suddenly cut as a massive¡­ something swept over their position, followed by a chittering swarm of smaller entities. This time the robots could get an ID, those smaller bugs that had attacked in the previous engagement, easily identified by their incessant chattering. The robots lay still for several seconds, waiting for their processors to calculate the point of acceptable risk. For several minutes all was still, then the command came as silently as the warning and the robots began to crawl forward, their forms indistinguishable from the bushland floor. While the bots proceeded in silence, the situation in the air was very different as Laura poured wave after wave of drones into the melee, beams and bolts streaking past each other in a dizzying dance of fire and chaos. Meanwhile, Laura was rattling down the road back towards the fabricator, half focussing on the road and half on the battle raging above and behind her. Skidding into the path that had been cleared by the fabricators, Laura came to a stop between the two sentry guns that were holding security on the road. Stepping out of the van, Laura took a look around at the base, already three more solar arrays, two more mines and a fabricator. All the while the first fabricator was still spitting out wave after wave of drones towards the battlefield. Frankly she was a bit worried, this battle was starting to drag on and every minute increased the chance that one of those bugs would stumble across the ground team. As if in an attempt to soothe the human, Alan spoke up.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    <It appears that the Bioforms are not maintaining a sustained presence on the warchive, based on analysis of the enemy force, it appears that they are maintaining a rough perimeter around the warchive. The biomorphs do not approach closer then a 50 meter radius.>


    Laura nodded, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s a warchive and not a nuke or a reactor or something?¡±


    <No. Maybe. Data unclear, it should be a warchive based on the design of the container, however the nature of the contents cannot be guaranteed though it would be exceptionally unusual for the design of the container. Laura nodded as she took a quick chance to check up on the bots which were making surprisingly good time on the objective.


    Unit 001 raised its head out of the brush and scanned the environment, not even 100 meters from their position lay the target that was the warchive container, scanning the surroundings further it found that the area was for the most part clear of bugs. With a mental command the group rose and started sprinting towards the warchive. As they continued running they continued to scan their surroundings, whilst their ¡®eyes¡¯ couldn¡¯t identify any hostiles, meanwhile their hearing systems could pick up the sounds of battle, slowly drawing away. Stepping to the computer 001 scanned the object whilst the rest of the unit fanned out to protect the clearing. Slowly, almost¡­ cautiously the bot placed its  palm on the structure, there was a  click and Laura was suddenly assaulted by a rush of data. Laura dropped to her knees, grasping her skull, emitting a growl of pain as she tried to squeeze out the pain. After a moment the sensation cleared, and Laura rose to her feet.


    ¡°Alan. Report.¡± She barked.


    <Download is currently at 15% and rising.>


    Laura stood up and waved a hand, there was a whine, and the second printer began its work.


    001 rotated its optics, it could hear something, with a mental command two of the escorts turned their weapons in the direction of the noise, and at the same time Laura was assaulted with half a dozen more alerts. Swearing through the blaring alerts Laura opened a view from one of the recon drones that was hovering above the battlefield. From its point of view Laura could see a new contact, this one highlighted by a blinking red icon. Laura ordered the drone to approach the contact, the machine immediately began moving, its speed and direction matching the little machine below it. For several seconds the drone scanned its target, and then it got a match.


    <It appears to be a reconnaissance drone. It appears to be a modified variant.>


    ¡°Wait is there another Commander on the planet?¡±


    <Any sufficiently large exposure to Autowar Commander material could result in a similar hybrid Commander as in you¡¯re case.>


    ¡°Outstanding so what are we going to do about it?¡±


    <Unsure, recommend proceeding with caution.>


    ¡°Thanks for nothing Alan.¡± Laura muttered as she turned her attention to the conflict. At the moment the bugs were making progress, steadily beating back her forces with a barrage of fire. Laura grimaced, even though at this rate the bugs were putting more distance between them and the warchive was expanding, the last thing she wanted was for the moth-spider to stumble across it. Good news was it wouldn¡¯t get the chance, bad news is something else did.

 Chapter 11: Enter the third

    Their arrival was heralded by then a hum that slowly got louder and louder, becoming a booming, resonating hum that Laura could hear all the way from her base, swearing Laura started looking through various recon drones, trying to find a view of whatever was making that noise. Finally, three blips came up, dwarfing every other blip besides perhaps the spider moth, and it was moving fast and high. Laura swore.


    The transports powered over the trees, their ducted fans beating the bush flat underneath them, the stretched and skeletal tri-copter design bristling with the hanging forms of dozens of war bots their skeletal frames swaying and rattling in the wind. Reaching a crescendo the transports swept down upon the roadway, hovering a few meters above the ground the magnetic locks released, dumping their payloads onto the ground. For several seconds the robots remained still before jerking upright, red eyes bursting into cold red light as they raised their weapons at the ready. Tens of kilometres away the Commander smiled, not that anyone could see, with a mental command the bots surged forward, their monowheels humming as the robots sped into the underbrush.


    ¡°All personnel report to rally areas, we have multiple unknown airborne contacts. Aircrews get the choppers in the air. This is not a drill.¡±


    Laura swore as she watched the veritable horde of new robots enter the field.


    ¡°Alan what am I looking at?!¡±


    <It appears that another human has been exposed to Commander material. Communication should be attempted to achieve cohesive operations.>


    Laura¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°But we don¡¯t even know what they want, what if?¡± her question was cut off by Alan¡¯s voice.


    <It is a Commander for the Autowars. YOU are a Commander for the Autowars. You will operate to the directives of the Autowar war effort.> Laura¡¯s jaw dropped at the AI¡¯s sudden outburst and the out-of-character forcefulness on top of that as well.


    ¡°Ok.¡± Laura said, trying to reason with the irate voice in her head. ¡°I¡¯ll contact them. But we can¡¯t be certain if the other Commander is actually on our side, so how about I handle meeting them MY way, ok?¡±


    <Acceptable>


    Choosing to ignore how humanly curt the AI sounded, Laura turned her attention to the issue at hand. ¡°002 take two of your squaddies and head to the designated coordinates, I need you to make contact with the new guys, lets see what they want.¡±


    The Commander watched through the eyes of his drones as they banged and rattled through the trees, wheels crushing brush and churning up mud as they pounded through the underbrush, weapons raised, eyes scanning the surroundings for movement.


    Their advance suddenly halted, ahead of the group stood a bot, by the look of it a standard model. The Commander frowned, he couldn¡¯t command this one, it wasn¡¯t one of his, another Commander? The robot stepped forward, each footfall echoing in the dying light as it drew closer, its glowing blue eyes against the crimson of his soldiers¡¯ the silent standoff continued until the machine was standing just a few meters from the head of the group. There was an inaudible click and a connection was established.


    A woman¡¯s voice crackled into his mind ¡°This is Commander¡­¡± there was a pause. ¡°Hera, who am I speaking to?¡± The Commander grinned, then he spoke.


    ¡°This is Commander¡­ Odin.¡± He replied, his voice coming through as a slow, hissing growl. ¡°Why are you here?¡± The woman hesitated before replying. ¡°Grabbin¡¯ the warchive, you can have a copy when we¡¯re done with the bugs, ¡®Odin¡¯ considered it, just for a moment. It could work, he would have to dispose of this competitor later, but such ideas were crushed by a not voice, a feeling in the back of what was left of his skull. ¡°A good offer, but I have a counter.¡± He replied, and his robots opened fire. The effect was immediate the robot before them being immediately cut down in a hail of fire, only for a response to come in kind as blue bolts rained down from the tree line, striking his bots in a barrage of highly accurate fire, his own troops were significantly less accurate, Odin cursing the decision to remove the bot¡¯s ability to individually designate targets as he directed them to begin firing on the two hostiles, the brainless machines hosing down both positions with iridescent energy. Even more infuriatingly the enemy was beating a rapid, organised retreat, one putting down fire while the other bounded back to another position before switching roles. Growling angrily, he directed half his force to head off the retreating bots while the other half drove forward into fire.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Laura swore, a long barrage of curses as she ordered her robots back, ¡°Alan you better have a REAL good explanation right now!¡±


    <I do not have an explanation for the Commander¡¯s disposition, it could be a mistranslation of Autowar directives, however any number of other causes could have contributed to this.>


    ¡°Great well until you figure that out, I¡¯m gonna beat this prick into  the ground, sound good?¡±


    <I concur Commander, proceed as you see fit.>


    ¡°Thank you.¡± Laura snapped as she turned to focus on the battle.


    ¡°Ground team, we got some bad guys heading your way. Make sure the data is recovered, then DESTROY the warchive.¡±  Her order was confirmed with a single affirmative beep. As she turned to the airspace battle, she could see the bugs were en route, the spiders scuttling back into the scrub and disappearing. Laura frowned, chances were that they were regrouping for a counterattack, not that she could really do anything to stop them either way if they did.  With that in mind, Laura directed her drones in the direction of the new threat. Meanwhile, the robots were struggling, 003 tried to break for the next point of cover, one of the enemy robots finally managed to land one to many clean shots, the armour finally surrendered to the fire, its servos melting, circuit boards curling and blackening and dying. 007 Dropped back as the drones turned their full might on its position. It came to a conclusion. it was going to be destroyed. It would not be able to complete the Commander¡¯s order to retreat though it had succeeded in delaying the enemy. That fact did not calm it, nor did the previous fact upset it, they were facts. 007 Rose to fire, only to take a direct hit to the chest forcing it to duck back behind its barricade of roots. Its health was in the red at 25% one or two more direct hits and 007 would cease to function, assessing its situation the robot peaked over the barricade. Over a dozen hostiles fanned out across the entirety of its field of view with more probably moving through the tree line. 007¡¯s ammunition was down to 14 shots and at 4-5 shots per hostile the numbers simply did not add up, which meant 007 was soon to be subtracted from the equation. Popping back up 007 put two bolts down range, pinning a hostile and sending it crashing into the scrub, three more taking its place and pushing 007 back into cover.  Just as 007 coiled up, preparing to make a final stand, its sensors picked up a low hum, jerking its optics up it watched as a wave of drones descended upon and over its position, their arrival coinciding with a sudden reattachment to the battlenet,¡±007, move and regroup with the main force.¡± The Commanders orders echoed in 007¡¯s skull, the command compelling the machine to rise on heat-weakened legs and begin to lumber up the hill whilst the drones pummeled the enemy into the ground.


    ¡®Odin¡¯ bellowed as he watched his robots go offline, their fire overwhelmed by the drone¡¯s fire. With a mental swipe he directed the main force to retreat whilst the flankers pushed forward with renewed speed, the voice in his mind blaring at him to destroy the enemy.


    Stumbling back into the clearing 007 observed the rest of the unit that had now dug themselves into more defensible positions, several robots had even dragged several pieces of lumber to the side of the hill to form a barricade. Meanwhile, 001 was still attached to the side of the pod, according to the readouts it was up to 80% download. Looking up 007 watched impassively as a looming shadow descended upon the clearing, the shadow belonging to the frame of a combat drone with a large metallic box hanging from the underside, as the drone drew close to the group, the subspace link opened, allowing fresh energy to flow into the bot¡¯s systems, refilling its ammunition and extending its operation time. Rising slightly 007 stepped up to the barricade, resting its rifle upon the barricade. Meanwhile, Laura once again sat in the idling van, breath caught in her throat as she waited for something to happen, either for the bugs to attack or for the enemy commander to make his move. Unfortunately, no one got a chance to make their move before the newest party¡¯s transports erupted into flame to the symphony of a gunship¡¯s beating rotors.

 Chapter 12: Intervention

    The first to react was the bugs, the chitinous creatures surging forward on both of the machine forces, ripping into Odin¡¯s robots as they reeled from having their main processors being cut from the primary command system, meanwhile, Laura¡¯s aircraft scrambled to reorganise and lock down the bugs¡¯ lines of advance that appeared to be cropping up from three randomly placed points surrounding the crash site of the warchive.


    ¡°Status report?¡±


    <Download has reached 95% and rapidly rising.>


    ¡°Fuck! Well, there¡¯s nothing for it, what about those gunships?¡±


    <The attack craft are currently engaged with the biomorphs and the remnants of ¡®Odin¡¯s¡¯ force, for the time we remain uncontested¡­


    Download complete>


    ¡°Out Fucking standing then let''s get moving.¡± With that Laura pressed the pedal to the metal and tore out of the base. 007 watched impassively as 001 stepped back from the warchive, the data now successfully retrieved, stepping forward 007 along with 5 and 1 formed a firing line, raised their rifles and laid their fire on the pod. The outer armour bubbled and slewing off in chunks as the robots rained fire into it, only stopping when they had completely exposed the now melted internals of the device. Stepping back 001 sent transmitted a report before dispatching another command to its troops which immediately stepped back from their entrenched positions and encircled the leader.


    <All bots, advance on extraction point. Defensive formation. Maintain combat readiness.>


    Its order was responded to with a series of affirmatives from the other robots, and the group began to march into the scrubland.


    The van continued to rattle as Laura tore up onto the dirt road, waves of dust trailing behind her.


    ¡°Alan, how are we going?¡±


    <The ground forces have commenced extraction; they should be ready for extraction within the next two minutes.>


    ¡°Thanks.¡±


    With the confirmation, Laura scanned through the battlenet, her heart crashing as she did. One helicopter swept low, unleashing a stream of rockets as it did, ripping apart the bushland as arachnids scattered below them. There was a green flash, and a bolt of crackling energy streaked from the tree line and ripped through the tail, sending the craft tumbling downward in a ball of fire. The second helicopter met a similar fate, the bolt striking the chopper square in the cockpit turning it into a shower of sparks and burning metal, the third apparently not liking its chances turned tail and streaked away. Hissing, Laura selected the entirety of the drone force and launched them towards the origin of those bolts. Meanwhile, her troops continued to bolt through the undergrowth.


    Laura was actually starting to think that she was going to make a clean get away Scott free, and that¡¯s when it went to shit, the lead bot took a hit from somewhere in the tree line, causing it to stumble, the rest of the unit immediately opened fire into the brush. The counterfire revealed the forms of dozens of arachnids as they swarmed over the ground towards the running robots. ¡°Fucking run assholes!¡± the robots ignored their leader¡¯s ever-so-helpful instruction and continued to sprint through crisscrossing bolts of energy that shredded the brush around the fleeing robots. Unfortunately, these bugs were a lot better at shooting then the discount battle droids from before with 4 quickly going down in a hail of fire, 5 was the first to fall, overwhelmed by the green plasma and toppling into a slowly collapsing mass of metal, 6 and 8 fell immediately after, 3 crashed sideways into four. Seven stopped and for  a moment seemed to hesitate before diving for Four as the melting carcass of seven wrapped around the fallen bot¡¯s leg. Arriving at the Robot¡¯s side 7 fired on the cooling mass, shattering the cooling slag before lifting 4 up to its side as the two half ran half hobbled through the fire.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    A couple hours earlier.


    ¡°Sir I swear I am not some sort of zombie. Or anything else that the brain trust has put forward.¡± Garrett protested from under a veritable rat¡¯s nest of wires that were stuck to nearly every inch of his body, while several machines sat around him, most of which he¡¯d been jammed in by now. The technicians mercifully didn¡¯t have anything to add, apparently trying to avoid becoming a party in the conversation.


    ¡°We know that Corporal, however until we can accurately determine that it is still you, we are not taking any chances.¡± Garrett groaned at the voice of the Colonel and let his head flop back onto the bed.


    ¡°Garrett, hello? Garrett!¡± A familiar voice echoed into his mind.


    ¡°Oh Fark¡± Garrett whined, squeezing his eyes shut and causing the technicians to stiffen slightly and the colonel to rise from his seat.


    ¡°Everyone get out.¡± Garrett mumbled, ¡°The voices have an urgent call.¡±


    Quite surprisingly, the people in the room actually took him somewhat seriously as within a few seconds the room had been cleared of all except the colonel. As he stepped out of the room he looked over his shoulder and spoke.


    ¡°We will be watching.¡±


    Garrett nodded.


    ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°Ok Nidi, I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°Excellent, I have something to warn you about. I have received a message from an allied Commander, they only just reached me. Apparently, they have recovered one of the aberrant machine¡¯s structures. Apparently, the machines tried to attack and retrieve it. They have been repelled, however they have been maintaining reconnaissance and seem to be preparing to attempt an attack.¡± Thinking back to the visions from before, Garrett found his heart drop.


    ¡°Where? And what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what, but it is almost certainly is better in our hands then theirs.¡± Garrett frowned, ¡°And where is this structure?¡±


    Back to Present.


    We have reports that helo 1 and 3 are down, 2 is returning to base.¡± Garrett swore under his breath as the report came in. It was soon followed by the barking of the colonel as he began sending and receiving orders up and down the chain of command.  Garrett, sensing that his presence was quickly becoming more of a hinderance then a help to the bustling officers in the centre made to quietly exit the room, he¡¯d almost made it to the door when his commander¡¯s voice called him out by name.


    ¡°Corporal Smith! Get your ass down to the pad. Get down there and figure out who we¡¯ve been shooting at.¡±


    Garrett nodded sharply and began to sprint, taking the stairs three at a time, after a brief stop by the armoury he burst out onto the tarmac, a Blackhawk already spun up and the half dozen strong section scattered beside it. Seeing his approach the men began to pile into the chopper.


    Meanwhile inside the facility, in a locked room, Nidi smiled.


    Kaylee slumped back against the tile wall of her bathroom, her breath ragged. Yanking off the sleeve of her shirt she angled her body so she could get a look at the bite mark, whilst it had previously cleared, it had now flared back up, her shoulder and upper arm were criss-crossed with dark green veins with the space between them was slowly being covered by a faintly shining metal like coating, all the while  a  thousand tiny not-voices chattered away in her head.

 Chapter 13: Chaos

    Laura slammed the brake, causing the van to screech to a stop on the side of the road. Bringing up the battle net, at that moment she watched as 1 took several direct hits and erupted into flame. Laura swore as the robot crumpled down, its head toppling from its melting shoulders, Laura watched dumbly, feeling completely numb as all her plans melted before her. And then her spirits spiked again as two more robots burst out of the undergrowth, one leaning heavily on the other, as they barreled down the hill, as they passed where 1 had fallen the one with the bunged leg leant down and scooped up the head. Laura whooped as she yanked the side door open, watching as the two surviving robots tumbled out of the tree line, barely stopping they crashed in through the open doorway, Laura barely diving out of their way. As she scrambled to the driver''s seat, a bolt streaked from the trees and skimmed past the windscreen, with a yell Laura drew her pulse pistol and turned the offending bug into steaming paste, her fire was joined by a barrage of fire from the two surviving robots. Jumping into the driver¡¯s seat, she slammed her boot on the accelerator. As the van rattled down the road, one of the robots reached forward, handing Laura the head of 1. Raising the head up almost reverently Laura stared into its dead eyes.


    ¡°You did well my friend, goodbye.¡± With that Laura¡¯s hand glowed, the light breaking down the object into pure mass for storage and downloading, the data onboard integrated into her mind.


    <Data integrating. Advanced Fabricator. Advanced Power Generator. Ion thruster. Light transport frame. Data integrated> Laura¡¯s mouth stretched into a grin, ¡°Light Transport?¡± Alan chimed in.


    <The Light transport frame: A basic blueprint with a wide capacity for modification regarding storage propulsion and munitions. It is designed to fulfil various operational roles such as patrol, transport and command operations> ¡°Outstanding, how much does it cost oh Fuaark¡­¡± 7 Lunged forward and grabbed the wheel whilst Laura swore as she found that value. At 150*20*10 meters, the basic frame alone would cost about 60000 metal and 270 000 energy, Just to build the thing!


    <Commander, I recommend you withhold further analysis until we have ceased travel>


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true, thanks Alan¡±


    <That was not me commander>


    ¡°Wha.¡± Laura¡¯s head swung around and she found herself staring into the glowing eyes of 7.


    <Commander is there a problem> it enquired with the same monotone voice. Processing the fact that one of her machines had spoken, she numbly nodded at it and turned her attention back to the road, once again Garrett found himself sitting in a helicopter, its rotors humming in the darkening sky, leaning out of the window, Garrett stared down at the dark canopy sweeping below him, interspersed with the odd glowing windows of homes. The was a weight on his shoulder, he turned his head and the man crouching behind him grinned.


    ¡°Before you thought about jumping again.¡± He stated as Garrett scowled at him but elected to not add fuel to the flame.


    ¡°We¡¯re coming up on the target, 15 seconds.¡± The pilot¡¯s voice crackled through the radios prompting the troops to quiet down and give their weapons a final inspection. Swooping low over the trees, the helicopter came in low over the burning wreckage of the unknown aircraft, as far as he could tell they were all thoroughly dead. Dropping his NVGs Garrett scanned the treeline, once again revealing no movement of any kind In some ways that was good, some ways it was bad, and frankly the perfect silence alongside the destruction set his nerves on a razor¡¯s edge. Moving again the helicopter swept low and hovered over the road several kilometres from the battlefield. Almost silently the ropes were dropped and the troops slid down to the gravel below, their forms indistinct against the darkness and the brush.


    ¡°1-1 to command, boots on the ground, pushing to battle zone.¡±


    There was a quick double beep of confirmation, and the troops began to disperse and creep forward.


    Odin leaned back in his chair, letting his mind collect the shattered pieces of data still filtering in from the battle net. Its biomechanical body was completely still while the various technicians maintaining the hybrid human/ Autowar tech that made up the core did their best to avoid catching his attention, not that such a thing was possible, in his realm none were beyond his vision. And so it infuriated him that the borders of said realm were apparently far smaller then he had believed. With access to security systems, traffic cameras, internet routers and more it should have been easy to pick out, yet the thieving rat that was this ¡®Hera¡¯ had completely disappeared along with his data. With an electronic shriek the man-machine leapt up and slammed a fist onto the mahogany table before him, breaking it in half and reducing the legs to splinters. The scientists all leapt and quickly withdrew into the false security of the shadows.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Commander. not that I would ever tell you what to do with your money, but I doubt that desk was cheap. And it looked quite nice.¡± A low, oily voice trickled from the unlit back of the room. Odin turned his burning baleful eyes towards the source of the voice and its optics narrowed.


    ¡°Mr Melnic, how kind of you to show up. Fashionably late I see.¡± The Commander¡¯s voice dripped with venom as the insolent speaker stepped forward from the darkness. He was an older man, passed the better part of his 50s, despite that he carried himself with a mercurial, almost predatory gait. Coming to a stop he rose to his full 6,2 height and stood at rest. With the brown leather jacket that disguised his muscular frame along with the cargo pants, boots and close-cropped greying hair he struck the appearance of a retired soldier. Of course, ¡®retired¡¯ was used quite loosely, considering the purpose of Martin Melnic¡¯s entrance.


    ¡°While you have been dragging you¡¯re feet we have already lost precious intelligence to some uppity girl and half a dozen robots!¡± The mercenary smiled stiffly. ¡°With all due respect sir, my ¡®feet dragging¡¯ was necessary, neither I nor any of my fellow employees can be expected to fight with out guns now.¡±


    ¡°I can supply you with weapons far superior to anything on the market!¡± the machine man bellowed. ¡°All you have to do is follow MY orders and get paid.¡±


    ¡°With all due respect.¡± The mercenary replied coolly. ¡°One should always take the time to get acquainted with the local topography and supply lines. And by the chatter on the radio, you should be glad you didn¡¯t send anyone who could speak.¡± Martin paused, before continuing. ¡°The local military have the area locked down with operators already inspecting the wreckage, frankly this is the best it could have gone, the military is scared and on alert. If any of my men had been present they would have either been dead and the military would be picking him clean for intel, or even worst, asking him directly. I hate to break it to you but this is frankly as it could have gone.¡± The commander continued to seethe. ¡°Sir¡± the man continued ¡°Now we know that there is an active third party and the good news is that we are now aware of her presence. And more importantly, we have some idea of her disposition; she made use of a small force supported by air elements that do the majority of the fighting, she is lacking in resources or industrial bases.¡±


    ¡°So we have the advantage in a war of attrition then.¡± The commander hissed, finally smiling.


    ¡°Correct sir. If I am to be honest, I am slightly confused as to why you even required my services.¡±


    ¡°I have made the decision to centralise control to maximise my available forces unfortunately, that means that my troops are somewhat lacking in the field of general intelligence and decision making. And that is why YOU are here. You and you¡¯re men will be my battlefield commanders. But before that you need to clean up a certain mess.¡±


    ¡°The girl?¡±


    ¡°The girl.¡± The Commander affirmed. ¡°Find her, get the information if you can¡­ and eliminate her.¡±


    At that the old soldier smiled, a faint one but a smile none the less. With that he turned and strode back into the darkness from where he came. As the footsteps receeded, Odin turned his attention back to the battle net.


    ¡°Launch drones, I want full coverage for a 60km radius, Find this ¡®Hera¡¯.¡±


    <u>Meanwhile.</u>


    ¡°Sweep complete, moving on the detonation point¡± The radio crackled as Garrett dropped the blackened remains of a robot¡¯s head back into the dirt, where he stood was in the middle of what haf obviously been a firefight, over a dozen of these bots had been dropped over the hillside, obviously with a fight on the rest of the hill being covered in a layer of ash and splinters, the ferocity of the damage in that direction there was next to none back down the hill. Such precision that implied was unpleasant to consider, especially considering Nidi¡¯s visions. Facing back towards the hill he began to hike further up to where another of the commandos was standing next to a smouldering ridge, in his hand he held what appeared to be a thin, futuristic rifle, hopping the rise Garrett took a moment to quickly inspect the ¡®rifle¡¯. It¡¯s form was akin to that of a DMR, though significantly sleeker with the end tapering off to a single lens a couple centimetres across, whilst it did have an apparent grip where a rifle would be expected to have one though it lacked any observable trigger or magazine. Handing the rifle back to the Commando he crouched down to inspect the weapon¡¯s user. Unlike the one-armed wheel robots down the hill, this one was quite close to approaching a humanoid robot. Albeit one with a not to pleasant visage that reminded Garrett of a spider with its two bundles of receptors. Unlike the apparent opposition that had been brought down with unnaturally accurate control shots, these ones had been figuratively pumped full of lead, most of its body was blackened and heat warped, leaving most of its electronics completely ruined, though with the opposing scrap heap Garrett figured the brass wouldn¡¯t mind to much, with that thought Garrett moved onto something they would definitely be upset about. Stepping up toward the centre point of the apparent battle he eyed the still-smoking heap of metal.


    ¡°So¡­ what have we got?¡± he asked, almost sarcastically. The soldier shot him a filthy look.


    ¡°Another pile of alien scrap.¡± The soldier snarked, ¡°By the look of it some sort of data storage.¡± He added as he stood up, holding in his hand something resembling a broken slide of glass, taking the item he noticed the kaleidoscope of colours that danced across its cracked surface.


    Garrett let loose a sigh. ¡°Gentlemen, I think we have found what this was all about.¡±

 Chapter 14: Rehousing

    ¡°Well, the boys in the lab have come to an agreement, this pretty little slab is indeed some sort of data storage. Unfortunately, we can¡¯t decode it, even worse, this is the most complete piece, which means that any data we can recover is probably incomplete.¡±  The group of officers that occupied the room simply stared at the speaker, completely silent as the nature of the statement sank in.


    ¡°With that in mind, our resident Teal¡¯c knockoff has been more than willing to¡­ overshare in the field of intelligence.¡± The screen behind the colonel flickered as the original image of the slide was replaced with a mug shot of the alien woman, apparently in the process of arguing of arguing with someone off-camera. ¡°as a result we have a pretty good idea as to what we are dealing with, which is to say an incredibly aggressive grey goo scenario that has been spreading across the entire galaxy and has now made its way to our corner of the universe.¡± That revelation of course sent a jolt through the room. ¡°Fortunately we have an edge, as of now local authorities have begun a staged round-up of individuals with exceptionally high exposure. Unfortunately, bits of metal have gone down all over Eurasia.¡±


    ¡°In even worse news the Commander of the ¡®bugs¡¯ has escaped.¡± The screen flickered again to reveal the image of a gaping hole stretching deep into the ground.


    ¡°So we haven¡¯t been able to get anything of value?¡± A greying American asked.


    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t say that.¡± The colonel snapped, ¡°With consideration of the variation of exposure we have elected to begin targeted operations on a selection of people, chief of which is one Laura Irons, exceptionally high expose with an entire arm being converted, at this point she is our primary target.¡± The colonel relaxed as the officers sat back, apparently accepting his answer.


    With a protracted screech, the van came to a halt with Laura flopping out of the door like a limp fish. Getting up to her knees she stared at the place where it all started. Before her was the crater, although the lump of metal had long since been removed. Trudging over the clinking carpet of shattered bottles, Laura came upon one of the small sheds that dotted the edge of the dam. She slumped onto a chipped plastic bench as she let the data finish settling in. Laura gripped the table, feeling as if the land itself was rolling from side to side. Squeezing her teeth together until they felt like they were about to crack, the robots behind seemed to stiffen at the behaviour of their commander, though their programming didn¡¯t allow for such responses, at least in theory. After several seconds Laura sighed, her whole body slowly unwinding as she rose to her full height, turning back to the cluster of robots she eyed the two fabricators who she had saved from her FOB. With a mental command, the two robots lurched into a forward march. Laura grimaced, far too much time had been wasted. In a game of exponential growth deciding to wait before taking meaningful action was a death sentence, Laura¡¯s grimace turned into a scowl, and now there were at least two other competitors loose on the city outskirts, not to mention the military actively hunting her, with that in mind there was no choice but to go to ground. After several minutes Laura ceased her brooding to observe the task at hand, accessing the ¡®eyes¡¯ of one of the fabricators, she watched as it deployed its beam, the murky water boiling along its path as it slowly laid down the beginnings of a solar panel, albeit a slightly modified one, with a click the process completed and the solar panel zipped out of view, appearing ton Laura¡¯s real eyes a moment later as it breached the surface of the water about 500 meters from shore. While the first was laying down more solar panels the other had completed two mines and was now moving onto the beginnings of this project¡¯s central purpose, the robot started by clearing the mud away, recycling the mass for later use, after clearing a 8X4 meter box it began to lay down the basics of walls, the alien steel growing over the exposed bedrock, turning away from the dam, Laura spoke.


    ¡°Alex, you know how you said you couldn¡¯t construct a com device for Kaylee?¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    <I do recall that interaction Commander> the AI replied evenly. <Why do you ask>


    ¡°well, can you build an external device for me?¡±


    <Yes Commander. Individual Kaylee was a non-operative and therefore should not be given Autowar equipment, as the Commander you are not subject to such to such restrictions>


    ¡°Outstanding!¡± Laura crowed, a low, ominous laugh following a moment later.


    <Commander what are you planning? Commander? Commander!?>


    <u>Half an hour later</u>


    ¡°Sir, we have swept the building.¡± Martin rose from the desk and turned to face the source of the distraction, the mercenary, like the rest of the dozen or so men in the immediate area he had taken to the local wardrobe, one with a minor alteration in the nature of the heavy jacket that disguised a holstered pistol, along with a variety of other tools. Martin smiled. ¡°Have you found anything?¡± The soldier nodded and strode out of the apartment, motioning for his commander to follow as he did. As they descended into the building Martin glanced across the several other men who had taken positions around the elevator, foyer and in the ¡®basement¡¯ and more specifically the hole burrowed into the side of the wall, stepping through he smiled, so this was where this rat had been hiding.


    ¡°Alright, log it, bug it and watch it. Ok team, let''s get out of here before someone starts asking awkward questions.¡± The several men that were currently scattered around the room gave quick nods before bundling their equipment up into their packs and concealed pockets rapidly clearing the space within a few seconds. As soon as the room was empty he turned to one of the fabricators, reaching into his pocket he retrieved a small etched disk from his pocket that was smaller then his hand. Placing his hand along with a small limpet-like device on the side of the machine. Withdrawing his hand he watched as arms extended from the device and the machine got to work. As he watched several stubby arms extend from the device, there was a hum and the lights along the machine flickered before becoming still. With that, Martin turned and strode towards the exit, humming a low marching tune as he went.


    From across the street Laura  watched as the men filtered out of the building and dispersed into the crowd, pulling the coat she had pilfered from a bargain bin she quickly jogged across the street and shot through the doorway into the apartment block, padding up to her room Laura gave the space a quick scan before relaxing slightly, as far as she could tell the room was unchanged. Not that she was inclined to trust that there weren¡¯t any ¡®surprises¡¯. Closing the door behind her, Laura flopped down into the chair and let out a sigh, quickly opening the computer she began flicking through the computer and started quickly downloading documents onto a hard drive, jumping up she began to pile some clothes into an old duffle bag. At this point, she figured that she was definitely being chased, the men that had filtered out of the apartment were proof enough, the only question being; who else? Odin definitely was, the bugs possibly could if they figured out how to move freely in cities. Laura shivered slightly at the idea of unknowable creatures crawling through the sewers, peeking out of drains and¡­ Laura quickly quashed that thought as she continued to pile up a spare jacket. Zipping the bag shut Laura shot up and began striding towards the exit.


    ¡°Sir, the target has arrived.¡± Came the report, inside the van one Maxwell Archer leaned back in his seat, so far his stakeout had already been crashed by a mob of men who¡¯d apparently also had the bright idea to bug the joint. The paperwork for that alone was going to be a problem in of itself on top of the mountain of paperwork that was inevitably coming his way. As if that wasn¡¯t enough of a problem there was a screech from behind as the back of the van, turning around, Max frowned as Garrett clambered into the vehicle.


    ¡°And what the hell are you doing here?¡± He snapped, already feeling something of a migraine already ensuing. ¡°Hi Max, just popped in to see how it was  going, figured that I could lend a hand.¡± The man replied, mouth stretching into a slightly to stiff grin. ¡°Garrett, you can¡¯t be here!¡± he hissed, a vein on his head observably pulsing. ¡°that¡¯s your girlfriend. You can¡¯t be here doing the fucking surveillance.¡± At the very least Garrett had the common decency to look a bit sheepish. ¡°Look mate, I¡¯m sure my girlfriend isn¡¯t some world-class threat, she just got sprayed with some weird goo.¡± Max rolled his head back.


    ¡°Whatever you think, our. MY orders are to track her, figure out her supply centres, and bring her in. By force if necessary.¡±

 Chapter 15

    While it is common knowledge that one should never look a gift horse in the mouth, Martin was starting to wish that this job would be a little harder, not second Chechen war hard, but when jobs got this easy it did feel like something was going to go horribly wrong in the immediate future, but that¡¯s what pay checks were for. Getting up from where he was sitting, he stepped over to the window and looked out over the street. At the moment he and his posse had planted themselves in an empty office space further up the street. From where he stood he observed the target¡¯s home, according to the bugs she was in the process of packing up to leave. ¡°Alert out employer that the target has come home, and we will have her base of operations shortly.¡± The mercenary slowly scanned the street, searching for anything that could cause any problems, apart from a van parked up the other end of the street along with a few dozen individuals moving up and down the street. Michael was about to turn away from the window however something caught his eye. Turning back to the street, his eyes were pulled towards one of the pedestrians, for the most part she was not to different from the other people on the street, all hurrying from one point to another. However, this one was different, she was moving with considerably more purpose then the rest, slightly less noticeably was her clothing, significantly heavier jacket with cargo pants that looked simultaneously far to loose but also appearing to tight in others. Michael frowned; something was off. ¡°Get a team together now. We¡¯ve got a problem.¡±


    Meanwhile


    ¡°Hey Garrett, isn¡¯t that you¡¯re sister?¡± Max¡¯s voice caused Garrett to jerk up from where he was sitting.


    ¡°What?¡± He said as he stumbled over to the monitor, one of the cameras was focused along the length of the street, the camera shook slightly as it zoomed in on one particular hooded individual. ¡°Oh shit.¡± He muttered. Jumping to his feet he jumped out of the van only for Maxwell to grab his arm. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± he hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to stop my sister from wandering into the middle of an operation.¡±


    ¡°If you do you will be blowing our cover and probably putting your sister in more trouble than she already could be in.¡± Max growled; hand still locked in a death grip around Garrett¡¯s arm. Garrett stopped pulling, finally looking Max directly in the eye.


    ¡°If Laura is as dangerous as you think, then I can¡¯t go having my sister in a room with her.¡± Max was about to speak, however his eyes twitched sideways, his eyebrows furrowed, and then shot wide in surprise. Garrett followed his gaze to the monitor, just in time to catch his sister slipping into the apartment. Max pushed past him, shoving the man on the cameras to the side and tapping away on the keyboard. The video quickly started reversing, rewinding for several seconds. Max hit a key to pause the video before straightening and swearing before grabbing the radio from his belt. Garrett stepped forward as well and scanned the screen, for a few seconds the problem eluded him, but then he caught it and his pulse spiked. In the image was Kaylee in the process of scanning the street, her eyes seeming to burn from the inside. And peaking out from the edge of her coat was what appeared to be some sort of barrel, like if HR Geiger had reimagined a rifle or an SMG with its swirling chitinous exterior with bits of mechanical tubing and other parts that blended with apparently biological elements, turning to Max who was in the process of reporting to someone up the chain of command.


    ¡°Permission to interfere?¡± He inquired, his normal light-hearted tone replaced with deadly seriousness.  Max looked at him and simply nodded, at that Garrett grabbed a pistol from a rack and tucked it into his pants, throwing his jacket over it to conceal the weapon, with that he jumped out of the van and began to jog across the street.


    Kaylee stepped into the shadow of the lobby, shifting the coat to disguise the ripper. Approaching the lifts she pressed both the elevator buttons and stood back and waited, for several seconds she let the silence wash over her, there was a beep and the doors slid opens. Raising the weapon, she let off two bursts, the weapon shrieked, tearing the cabling along with drywall and aluminium apart in a shower of sparks and dust. With that out of the way, Kaylee opened one of her pockets allowing about a dozen dragonfly-like creatures that began to scuttle out of her pocket and began to flitter away in various directions. With that Kaylee began stepping up the stairs, ripper rifle raised.  Laura turned the corner head down, a nervous frown on her face as she half walked, half jogged to the elevator, giving the recall button a tap she began to nervously look back and forth along the hallway, half expecting dozens of droids to begin pouring out of the doorways and pummelling her with bolts, there was a ding and the door opened. And Laura yelped as she almost took a dive down several stories, grasping doorway Laura swore before quickly backing into the hall. As she was starting to make for the stairs her phone began to hum.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Laura, where are you.¡± The voice of Garrett came through the second Laura accepted the call.


    ¡°Um, yeah I¡¯m at my apartment.¡± Laura cringed, immediately realising that maybe answering that question was a bad idea when the person she was talking to worked for the same government she was trying to evade.


    ¡°Laura, you need to get somewhere hidden. Now.¡± The tone immediately had Laura backing away from the stairwell and creeping back towards her apartment, with a mental twitch her pistol assembled itself in her hands and she warily raised it. Six meters, 5 meters, each step took her just a bit closer to safety. Her heart leapt into her throat with a shriek and a crack as the door was demolished in a shower of splinters. That was enough for Laura and she turned and bolted inside, slamming the door behind her.


    Stepping out of the stairwell, Kaylee scanned the hallway, stepping towards the apartment she began to stride towards Laura¡¯s apartment, as she reached the door she gave the handle a quick jerk, unsurprisingly it did not give, with that she raised her weapon and let loose a barrage of fire.


    Laura slammed the door shut, locking the door as she went. From outside she could hear the steady footfalls of whoever this assailant was. Withdrawing the pistol she quickly began fabricating a small drone while sending a series of commands to the fabricators down stairs. Garrett¡¯s voice burst from her phone and Laura swore realising she was still on the call.


    ¡°Garrett I¡¯m here, someone is shooting up the place.¡± Laura feeling oddly detached from the whole experience.


    ¡°Laura. Keep quiet, I¡¯m on my way up.¡±


    ¡°Wait how are you already here?¡± Laura butted in, the concern of being hunted suddenly resurfacing.


    ¡°I was coming in anyway when I saw Kaylee and now I¡¯m on my way up.¡± Garrett¡¯s voice maintaining a level calmness that Kaylee honestly would have been surprised by if she weren¡¯t distracted by the rattling of the door handle. With that Laura ended the call before letting loose the drone with a few quick instructions, it hovered for a moment before orientating and zipping out a window just as the door exploded inwards, unlike before when she had been jumped by the spider Laura found that time didn¡¯t slow down nor did she feel more aware, instead it felt like she was watching a movie at 5 times speed. As the shooter burst through the doorway Laura¡¯s mechanical arm rose, the pistol unfurling in her hand, the shooter was striding into the room, a twisted alien rifle sweeping the room as she entered. The pistol went off, there was an electronic shriek and a flash. The assailant jerked as the bolt struck true, sending her tumbling sideways and to the ground. The pistol shrieked again, missing the prone attacker by several feet and ripping a hole in the floor. Trying to steady herself, Laura resighted on the now rising attacker and fired again, nocking her opponent down again, this time she did not rise.


    ¡°FREEZE!¡± the order had Laura snapping her head around almost instinctively bringing her pistol to bare. Standing in the doorway with a pistol levelled at her head. For several seconds the two stared each other down, then Laura dropped her hand, the pistol retracting into her arm once again.


    ¡°Hi Garrett.¡± She laughed a giddy laugh.


    ¡°Hi¡± he replied, as he stepped to the side of the attacker, reaching down to check her pulse.


    ¡°And by the way, how did you know Kaylee would survive being shot?


    Wait Fucking Kaylee? Laura immediately jumped forward, lifting up the head and almost passing out, it was indeed Kaylee, as the pair flipped the unconscious woman, Laura finally got a good look at her face. Parts of the nose, around the eyes, forehead and lower jaw had been coated in some sort of chitinous armour, inspecting Kaylee¡¯s arms more of the chitin was apparent, not quite complete but spreading across her entire body. Sitting back Laura sat back, feeling oddly calm, Laura picked up Kaylee¡¯s hand. As she ran her thumb along the smooth contours, she lifted up her own mechanical hand, admiring how different and similar the two limbs were. While Laura¡¯s hand was blocky and mechanical while Kaylee¡¯s was smooth like a beetle¡¯s shell, sparkling brown with half a dozen hues. There was a sudden intake of breath from Garrett, looking up Laura realised she had been ignoring the reports from the fabricator downstairs, and the readiness reports of the three bots now crowded into the corridor.


    ¡°Garrett its ok.¡± She whispered, the man re-holstering his weapon after a second¡¯s deliberation. Standing up Laura gave a mental order to the robots. The one at the back rotated and began to stride down the corridor followed by the second, the lead on the other hand stepped further into the room and took position watching the doorway.


    ¡°So, you¡¯re actually the commander of a robot army?¡±

 Chapter 16

    ¡°So, you¡¯re actually the commander of a robot army?¡± the question ran slowly down Laura¡¯s spine, making her stiffen. Slowly exhaling Laura replied.


    ¡°yes.¡± The confirmation seemed to drain Garrett, his shoulders slumped and he rolled his head back, thinking.


    ¡°Well after you¡¯re little party out West, the entire damn country is on edge, we got raids all over the damn place and the Americans are lending a couple of their spy sats to try to  get a bead on you.¡±


    ¡°Am I really that important?¡± Laura quipped, still enamoured with the apparent mutation of her friend.


    ¡°That¡¯s seriously what you¡¯re thinking about?¡± Garrett fumed.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m thinking about how Kaylee here got infected, and that you guys weren¡¯t the first to find me.¡± That statement caused Garrett to stand upright, now very interested in every nook and cranny of the room, looking for bugs.  Meanwhile, several floors down a group of men were making their way up the stairs, turning a corner of the stairwell, the lead of the group gave an audible gasp and jumped back, almost bowling over the half-a dozen men behind him in the process.


    ¡°1 Contact, looked like some sorta robot, guarding the stairs.¡± The commander nodded. ¡°is it hostile?¡±


    ¡°Guess who made it, do you think she is hostile?¡±


    ¡°Holster your weapon, I doubt it will open fire if it doesn¡¯t think you¡¯re a threat?¡±


    ¡°oh f. Fine.¡± Holstering his weapon, he took a quick step forward before immediately ducking back, no shooting, no sound of alert. Taking a slower step forward he stared down the robot, the machine stared back, robotic ¡®face¡¯ perfectly concealing whatever thoughts were going on behind that metal skull. As he slowly made his way up the stairs, the robot¡¯s moved its head to track him, scrutinising him, as he came to the top of the stairs he went to push past the robot. The moment he reached to push it, the robot raised its gun toward him, a low hum emanating from the weapon. Pulling his hand back he instead went to step around the robot, squeezing around the robot he watched as the robot lowered its weapon and returned to its resting state.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t touch it and you should be fine.¡± He hissed back down the stairwell. As he turned back towards the hallway he noted that a second robot standing near an open doorway further down the hallway.


    Laura sat up slightly, a report flash in her mind. An attempted contact. Opening the view of the robot she watched as a man pushed his way past the robot, as she watched several more began slipping around the robot, as she watched she caught sight of a flash of metal. Slowly standing up Laura gave a mental command to the robot to take up position to guard the door.


    ¡°Garrett, we need to go.¡±  Laura¡¯s statement had the man straightening from where he had been inspecting the underside of Laura¡¯s desk, why what have we got?¡± we have some men coming up the stairs, they seem to be armed.¡± Garrett nodded, carefully unholstering his pistol and stepping over to the windowsill.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°How many and how close?¡± he asked as he opened the window.


    ¡°Just coming up the hallway, about half a dozen.¡±


    ¡°Shit, ok get out the window and get down to the road.¡± As he spoke, he went to pick up Kaylee, only for Laura to stop him.


    ¡°She tried to kill us, she is infected.¡± She hissed as she directed the first robot down towards the underground bunker while the second robot retreated back into the room and closing the door behind it.


    ¡°As you put it she is infected, and so we can¡¯t take her with us.¡± Laura continued towards the window. Garrett grunted before picking his sister up and throwing her over his shoulder, Laura didn¡¯t bother to comment. As the two began to push Kaylee through the window, someone knocked at the door.


    ¡°Shit.¡± Laura muttered as she went to yank   Kaylee in, only to suddenly feel something latch onto her arm. As she looked down her eyes locked with her friend¡¯s electric green ones. With almost impossible flexibility Kaylee curled her legs up and kicked Laura, sending the two tumbling apart. Laura fell back hard against the railing of the fire escape, a grunt of pain escaping her mouth as she did. Garrett on the other hand immediately dove for the rifle, his sister not far behind. Garrett got to the weapon first, trying to throw the weapon further out of Kaylee¡¯s reach, he was unsuccessful as she landed on top of him and grabbed hold of the weapon with a seemingly impossible strength and jerked it up into Garrett¡¯s jaw with a crack. Garrett growled as he tried to pull the weapon away only for Kaylee to yank it again, sending stars through his eyes. Kaylee stood up, ripping the rifle from her brother¡¯s hands. Garrett twisted, kicking into the woman¡¯s knees as she turned, sending her tipping forward. One of the robots jumped up and threw itself at Kaylee. At the same time the door was kicked in a black cylinder flying in. There was a bang followed by the thumping of a dozen boots on the ground. The robot at the door let rip a barrage of fire, nailing two of the assailants that came through the door, its fire mostly missing as it¡¯s optics attempted to refocus. The response was immediate with a barrage of highly accurate fire. The barrage lit up the robot as bullets bounced away in a shower of sparks. The robot fired again, joined by its counterpart that  had now climbed through the window, now bracing its weapon on the sill, Garrett leapt up, leveling his pistol he took a few shots as he ran for the window. As he bolted past he grabbed his sister by the arm and glared at her. She stared back, her eyes still unnaturally cold.


    ¡°Kaylee, can you hear me?¡± the woman nodded slightly. There was a crack and she jerked, the distinct ping of a spent bullet bouncing to the floor. Before he could shout she spun and opened fire on the doorway, shredding the doorway and a considerable part of the wall as well, eliciting a pained scream as her shots found their mark.


    ¡°Go.¡± The woman muttered. Garrett straightened.


    ¡°No¡± he said.


    ¡°Go.¡± She growled as her eye twitched slightly. ¡°It fears her, it wants me to STOP her. And I¡¯m only keeping it back because someone else is trying to kill us. So go, before I change my mind!¡± her final words steadily rising in tone. Taking the hint Garrett bolted to the window, the robot stepping aside to allow him in. Looking down he could see that Laura was making good time down the stairs, the robot from the stairwell already standing at the ready. Turning his head he watched as a grenade flew through a hole in the wall and bounced to the feet of the robot there was a crack and the robot jerked and collapsed. Several more came bouncing in, clattering around the room. Garrett ducked as more explosions rang out. Kaylee stepped forward, weapon unleashing another torrent of fire from her alien weapon. For a moment her head half turned and caught his eye, a small spark of something flickering in her eyes. Garrett spun and leapt down onto the lower level, the robot at the window laying down a barrage of fire into the room, as he clambered down there was an echoing boom and the machine was slammed into the wall, a shower of sparks streaking out of the crater, a second shot struck true, blowing a hole through the armour and disabling the robot.

 Chapter 17

    The robot jolted as the second shot hit, its body collapsing into a sparking heap. Half climbing half tumbling down the stairwell, Garrett ripped the radio from his belt and started yelling into it.


    ¡°Max. Max where you at over?¡± he shouted as he came crashing down into the brush. As he leapt to his feet a shot rang out with the wall behind him erupting outwards in a shower of shrapnel. Garrett immediately dove behind a parked car, making sure to position himself behind the engine block as another shot smashed into the bonnet.


    Ducking down Garrett quickly scanned from underneath the car, his heart slowed slightly as he noted that Laura and her pet robot had taken the wise decision to take cover behind a car on the opposite side of the street. Drawing his pistol Garrett went to take a quick peak. The building opposite him was an old brick construct, about 4 stories tall, perhaps some sort of office or factory many years ago, now it was just another old building the whitewash patchy, the exposed red brick coated in a thin layer of graffiti, scanning the dark windows Garrett let his breathing slow. After the shooting the foot traffic had completely vanished, even the birds had fled leaving Garrett with only the sound of rustling leaves and his own breathing. There was a flicker, a shadow amongst shadows. Garrett ducked as another shot rang out, biting another chunk out of his cover.


    ¡°Laura, second story, third window from the left.¡± He hissed. He then repeated himself into the radio, his report being answered by a quick double click over the radio followed by an answer.


    ¡°Understood, reinforcements are two minutes out, for the love of God don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± Garrett frowned.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking fire, I¡¯m taking the initiative.¡±


    The reply came. ¡°Take care.¡±


    With that out of the way Garrett refocussed on the main issue at hand, there was a series of electronic cracks and the windowsill burst apart as the robot opened fire on the marked window, its brilliant shots giving the shooter ample warning against poking their head out again. Taking the opportunity, Garrett bolted forward, moving across the street as quickly as he could. As he bolted across the street he continued to watch the windows, breath almost hitching in his throat as he imagined taking a bullet from a random direction, mercifully no such thing transpired and Garrett quickly pressed himself against the wall of the building, pistol up and pointed towards the window. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the howl of police sirens. Focussing on the shooter, he began to inch along the wall, reaching a doorway he gingerly turned the rusting handle. Wincing as the door squeaked he gently pushed it open, allowing the sunlight from outside to filter into the musty space, advancing up the stairs he slowly scanned the building. As his head peaked over the edge of the stairwell there was an ear-splitting crack that reverberated inside his skull. Leaping up he squeezed off a quick series of shots in the direction of where he hoped the shooter was, bolting forward he dove behind a pillar as another shot rang out. Garrett grunted as chunks of concrete struck his side. Spinning around he fired of a couple more shots, the bullets, scoring chunks out of the old table, the man had been crouching behind. The shooter ducked and bolted for cover behind another pillar. As Garrett tracked the man he fired another burst, and the slider locked back.


    ¡°Fuck¡± Garrett hissed as he ducked back behind cover, quickly ducking back into cover Garrett began patting down his pockets.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± he growled, realising that he¡¯d forgotten to grab a spare magazine. From somewhere behind him he could hear the steady footsteps of someone who had already figured that they had already won. There was a series of clinks as the man stepped across some shattered glass. Garrett tightened his hands around his pistol and tensed, preparing to lock hands with the gunman. Another crunch, only a few feet away. There was a low humming, causing Garrett¡¯s to twitch slightly, the sound began to escalate into a whine loud whine, Garrett¡¯s head jerked up as a barrage of blue fire ripped through the wall, turning the man into dust. From the new hole in the wall, Garrett caught a brief glimpse of something before it streaked up and away. Gingerly stepping from his cover, Garrett scanned the ground bellow him, no  trace of Laura was present, apart from the smoldering robot on the fire escape and large hole where a storm drain cover  should have been


    <u>Meanwhile.</u>


    Laura crawled out of the storm drain, boots splashing in the thin layer of foul water that steadily trickled out of the mouth of the aperture, dropping onto the rocks she scanned the river, they had exited the system right underneath the main highway, the noise of the traffic masking her movements from the occasional pedestrian that jogged back and forth across the shared space only a few meters above Laura¡¯s head, now with her home shot up Laura figured she should have probably been distressed, scared, something. Instead, she felt strangely calm. sitting back on rocks Laura watched as her last surviving robot hauled itself out of the hole, its frame coated in the muck of the tunnel as well as dust from the battle. Resting her head back against the rock, Laura allowed herself to let out a low sigh as she felt her body relax slightly. The robot dragged itself to its feet and stood to attention, eyes glowing a dull blue. Laura raised her metallic hand and clenched it, watching the sunlight reflect off the metal.


    ¡°Fuuuckk¡± she intoned. ¡°That was to fuarking close.¡± The robot did not reply. ¡°Oh yeah you¡¯re one of those normal ones aren¡¯t you. Could have used Seven¡¯s commentary.¡±


    <I am also present commander if that is of any help.> Laura pushed herself up to her feet and scanned the street above, as far as she could see there was a bit of a gap in foot traffic.


    ¡°Remain here, stay in cover.¡±


    The robot turned and began clambering back into the pipe with that, Laura turned and began to walk down the street making sure to keep her arm covered as she disappeared into the city centre.


    A couple of hours later, Laura finally made her way to her objective, a largely empty construction site. As she sat down she slowly scanned the surrounding terrain, fortunately she didn¡¯t see any movement, that gave her some peace of mind as she mentally reached out and connected to what she was looking for, a small drone, lying on top of a crane a few hundred meters away, it lifted off and sped away with a message, after several minutes a low hum began to emanate from the west, Laura stood up and watched as a dark shape rose above the horizon and swept low over her head. The machine was a dropship akin to the ones she had dealt with that morning, albeit with the original armour still attached and the turbines replaced with the new ion thruster. But what interested Laura the most was the cargo of the ship, hanging from its magnetic claws was a pod, about the size of a small shipping container though with somewhat rounded sides. As it landed the front ramp unfolded and from the internal bay leapt Seven, quickly scanning the area around the landing zone with its weapon. Striding forward, Laura patted the robot on the shoulder and hopped up into the ribbed interior. Laura sat back, wincing slightly as she tried to get comfortable in one of the chairs that had quite literally been molded out of the wall, Seven also took a seat, though with significantly less fidgeting. With a rising roar the shuttle craft took flight and began to speed out and away from the city.


    The drone watched as the dropship vanished in a North Westward direction, its eye cluster  rapidly gathering as much information as it could, dimensions, thrust characteristics as well as any other information it could gather. As the craft disappeared from sight the drone lifted  off and began to move back towards the city centre, on the way passing several assault craft that were hurtling after the dropship.