Waking up as a Planetary Annihlation commander was cause for concern, though not as much as seeing my own planet under siege. But hey, I'm a giant self replicating robot, surely I can deal with whatever the hell is invading Earth in no time. Right?
A Dox a Day, Keeps the Apocalypse at Bay (Planetary Annihilation SI)
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Introduction
Yup another PA SI, just a fun little project for me to come back to if I lose the motivation to write anything else. No gimmicks here just everything a PA can do while using as many lore tidbits as possible.
This won't be a multi-cross or a single crossover. It's hard to find a setting that can deal with PAs type of warfare, so instead, I made my own. That means you, dear reader, will be just as lost as the SI.
Comments and criticism most welcome, but most importantly. Enjoy.
(Also cross-posted on SB)
This won't be a multi-cross or a single crossover. It's hard to find a setting that can deal with PAs type of warfare, so instead, I made my own. That means you, dear reader, will be just as lost as the SI.
Comments and criticism most welcome, but most importantly. Enjoy.
(Also cross-posted on SB)
Chapter 1
[Initializing Commander reactivation process number 24…]
Waking up, the only thing I could feel was complete and utter fatigue. The numbers dancing across my vision have long since lost its novelty and I simply allowed the diagnostics program to finish its job rather than try to scream in utter terror again. Apparently it wasn't good for the processor I now occupy to simulate human dread, who knew?
My body was now completely metal, a sensation that I should probably think more calmly about so I don't crash my systems. I stood on four spider-like legs, my laser cannon and nanolathe rested idly by my side as my mantis shaped head scanned my surroundings with its single red optic.
How cliche, I'm a Planetary Annihilation commander, more specifically the Osiris variant. I have to say though, seeing what I look like through the diagnostics program just screams 'murderbot' even if my orange armor plating lessens the effect somewhat.
My surroundings were covered in gray metal, with occasional lines of black hiding a dense amount of cables below it. As if sensing my desire my sensors spooled up and all of a sudden I could see the entire planet I was standing on. Yup, that's definitely the Annihilator.
Greetings commander.
The voice spooked the hell out of me that it had my head twitching left and right as my laser charged. "Who are you?"
I am the Tactical-Commander Assistant Program.
"Okay… good to know." I said. "Saying your full name is gonna be a mouthful, so for now on I'll call you T-CAP."
Designation acceptable commander. I take it that you've successfully stabilized your core programming?
"What?"
I've been rebooting your processor, Commander, 24 times before your erratic coding could cause a system overload.
"Oh," I said awkwardly, after a brief moment of silence I decided to change the topic. "Alright, do you have any idea of how we got here?"
Negative, we initially arrived through an unknown dimensional event that has landed you, commander, on a barren moon.
"Barren moon?" I said questionably. "I thought we're on the Annihilator?"
Correct, would you like to review the sensor footage commander?
Well, it's not like I have anything better to do. "Go ahead."
The footage came up instantly, and I was instantly shocked at the so-called barren moon. That's Luna! Earth's moon!
Yeah, it was definitely the moon I know and love. The coloration of it was familiar but what was more damning were the discarded equipment of the moon landings dotted around. Hell, I can even see the white washed flag of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Then Luna started cracking, fissures appearing rapidly across the surface throwing a great amount of dust in the non-existent air. Then all of a sudden, bang! The moon exploded into countless debris and in the center of that explosion?
Was the Annihilator in all of its menacing glory, its inert annihilaser giving the visage of an angry mechanical eyeball.
Wait, if this was the moon…
I looked above and easily spotted the blue marble I called home. I… couldn't imagine the panic down there watching the moon blow up to reveal a Death Star lookalike! God, my first contact is gonna be atrocious!
Commander, may I suggest we start constructing a base.
Right, that thing I can do. I queued up a bot factory and soon green clouds of nanites burst through my nanolathe as I watched the structure come into existence from the miraculous machines.
As I went through the process of constructing fabricators and building up my economy I considered my circumstances. By all accounts it's probably likely that it's not my Earth down there. Besides, didn't all those PA fics have crossovers and jumpchains whatever?
Fuck it, let's just build a base and I'll have my orbital launcher construct some scouts.
Orbital probe in position Commander.
"Finally," I said, focusing my attention towards what my Hermes space probe was seeing. The moment the image processed through my vision I stilled. Earth was scorched, lustrous green was nowhere to be found but dull browns and black. I could even see great fires visible from space and the only thing I can see as 'normal' were the arctic poles and the oceans.
But that wasn't to say that the Earth was lifeless.
"T-CAP what the hell are these things," I asked. The Hermes highly detailed camera easily captured the many legged metal monstrosities that covered the planet. They moved en mass like insects, drilling and brutalizing the Earth for a purpose that I do not know. My quadruped digits tapped the ground erratically, one of my bodies 'quirks' to my emotions.
Initial readings from the probe suggest an alien techno-organic species. No records of them exist in our logs.
"Anything else?"
Sorry Commander, Hermes lacks the sensors for further analysis.
"Typical, any other signs of life? According to sensors there are still active satellites in orbit and they're not ours."
Indeed commander, shall I trace their signals to their source?
"Do it," I said. Hermes' camera briefly spotted New York, or what remains of it. Now it was nothing but collapsed skyscrapers and crawling with those creatures. I can only pray that somehow humanity is alive down there.
Location found.
I instantly ordered Hermes to adjust its orbit to be right above the location T-CAP pinged, right in the middle of mid-western America. What I saw was a giant dome, which my processor calculated it to be around 900 square miles. It was further surrounded by three rings of metal walls.
It was also under siege, the outermost wall was mounted with a multitude of weapons all firing at the horde approaching it. Miniguns, chainguns, artillery cannons and missiles were all firing at the approaching monsters who came like an unending tide. It appears that humanity's answer to their current situation was to build huge walls with all the guns.
I approve.
"Damn, how long have they been under attack like that?"
I theorize, Commander, that the structure has been under constant assault for many years. Hermes has spotted five more of those defensive rings utterly destroyed by the aliens. I have also confirmed that the structure is in fact, a city containing the remnants of humanity.
"Oh, that's good," I said in relief.
Shall I order construction of nukes to exterminate them Commander?
My chassis shuddered and the red light of my optic blinked. "T-CAP, we're not exterminating humanity."
I don't understand Commander? Isn't your primary directive the complete destruction of the Progenitors?
"Then consider this a new directive," I growled. "Our goal is the preservation and protection of humanity. We will not be harming a single sentient organic unless absolutely necessary. Do I make myself clear?"
Of course Commander, reestablishing the Guardian directive.
"Wait, Guardian?"
The directive the Progenitors programmed upon us, Commander, once we were deployed against the Xziphid Hegemony. Considering the current state of humanity and similar levels of an extinction level threat, it was more efficient than creating a new directive.
"Well… that's good to know," I said. It also implies that T-CAP has memories of when she was operating under Osiris. Thankfully, I don't think she has that much independence to question my… sudden change in behavior.
However, Commander, I also detected a build up of enemy units roughly 200 kilometers south of the settlement. T-CAP sent me the image that Hermes was able to capture. Yeah, anyone who has ever played RTS can recognize the game ending mob rush. But, I was more curious about what appeared to be factories surrounding the invasion force. It also appears to be an enemy base. Accounting the data provided by the current enemy force attacking humanities defenses, my simulations suggest that the enemy will have enough mass of force to overrun the settlement in one hour and twenty-six minutes.
Okay, one hour until possibly millions of the precious few of humanity die.
No pressure.
Thankfully, I did have the foresight on having an army constructed just in case. Thousands of bots and tanks are ready to go with more factories coming online to increase my numbers. But how to get them to the new theater?
Teleporters of course, they look like giant star gates and they look much wider than I expected them to be. It makes sense I suppose, entire armies are supposed to march through it. I already had one built inside my ever expanding base, my army patiently waiting behind for me to activate it.
Shall I have an orbital fabricator construct a receiving teleporter?
"No, I've seen what they look like when they're building stuff on the ground. Way too noticeable. I'll have a Astraeus pick up an advanced fabrication bot to do it. We have to maintain our surprise as much as we can, but do me a favor and get some advanced radar satellites over the Earth's orbit. "
Of course, Commander.
Samantha Walker walked through the busy hallways of the integrated military command center with practiced ease. It was a mess of personnel running back and forth with new reports and orders for the upcoming scourge invasion.
Her lab coat swished behind her and anyone who recognized her immediately got out of her way. Her frazzled blond hair having had little attention taken towards it for the past week seemingly added to the menacing aura she was projecting. Her lips were turned downward in a constant scowl as she fought with her glasses to stay on her goddamned face.
Finally, she found the War Room and marched directly towards the general who had been nothing but a pain in her ass lately. "For the last time General Wilkins, Odin's Eye hasn't been active, today, yesterday, the day before and the other days before that! So stop-"
"Odin's Eye has launched another orbital vehicle!" yelled one of the technicians.
Samantha's eyes widened in shock as she turned her head towards the viewscreen.
General Wilkins allowed himself a minute smirk as he kept his eyes forward. The grizzled and graying hair leader taking pleasure in the flabbergasted look of New Columbia's head scientist.
The room he and the doctor were in was raised above the various technicians typing away on computers reading the data compiled by the satellites in orbit. In front of the room was a giant monitor that usually had the Earth and scourge movements on its display. Now, however, it showed the mysterious contraption that blew up the moon.
"Ten minutes ago, Odin's Eye launched what was guessed to be a space probe," General Wilkins said.
"Where is it now," Samantha said, regaining her composure.
"According to it's orbital trajectories it should be passing right above us."
Samantha frowned and held her face with her right hand. She and many scientists like her from the other surviving bastion cities had spent sleepless nights trying to answer the question of what is the metal monster that replaced our moon. Countless day's with generals and politicians breathing down her neck as if she'd somehow pull the answer out of the ether. Short of landing a man on it the only answer she could provide were that it looked constructed. By who? No way to know. What's it doing? Just sitting there really.
But why was Odin's Eye active now? After a whole week of… nothing?
"Has it done anything else?" She asked. Just what they needed, more alien visitors.
"So far it has been mainly placing its own satellites into orbit. Lieutenant! Pull up an image for the good doctor."
She eyed the remarkably high quality image of the alien device. It definitely looked like a modern satellite, surprisingly so. She spotted solar panels, radio dishes and antennas sticking out. Hmm, perhaps whoever these newcomers are, maybe they aren't as technologically capable as initially believed?
"Sir! The new contact is changing course!" A technician said.
"Is it establishing orbit?" Wilkins said.
"No sir, it's… entering our atmosphere!"
That caused the whole room to erupt in whispered conversation. Samantha, meanwhile, eyed the rapid descent of the mysterious alien device.
"Doctor, any chance that this is just Odin's Eye screwing the pooch with orbital calculations?"
"That is unlikely General. The contact is maneuvering under power in a controlled trajectory. It would be better use of our resources to simply track the object to its probable landing sites."
The general merely huffed but did as she suggested. Eyebrows were raised on the aliens' apparent final destination but the tinge of fear filled the air once they saw how close it landed to the scourge nest.
"Isn't Crow Squad nearby?" Samantha asked.
"Yes, but they're being recalled to join the defense," Wilkins said, eyeing her wearily.
"Well? Have them go investigate," she said.
"Doctor, we face one of the largest scourge invasions yet. We'll need every weapon and soldier to make it count."
Samantha scoffed, "you and I both know that three mechs won't make that much of a difference."
"Those three mechs are worth an entire company," he glared.
"And miss the chance to learn about Odin's Eye? Sorry, but Crow falls into my command, not yours. So do me a favor and hail me my dear little Oscar?"
Wilkins glared but that only caused Samantha to smirk. Crow was her special project, the next generation of human-hybrid pilots. They fall under the authority of Project Chimera and she only loans them out to the military for them to gain field experience. But more importantly, to have all those generals sing their praises and secure her even more funding.
"Lieutenant, raise me Crow 1," the general ordered.
Three great machines flew across the scorched remains of what was once the Great Plains. Oscar remembers from schooling that said how it used to be dominated by massive fields of wheat and grass. Now, it was nothing more than craters and scorched earth.
He and his squad were in a flying V formation, powerful rocket engines behind each mech which revealed that yes, you can make a brick fly with enough thrust. For he and his wingmates piloted one of humanity's greatest weapons, manticore mechs. Giant metal machines built with the unholy amalgamation of scourge biotechnology and human engineering.
The seventeen year olds own manticore was a modular variant, a common decision for squad leaders. His left arm held an automatic 155mm grenade launcher, one of the most reliable weapons of New Columbia's arsenal. His other arm however, was irreplaceable. Two 30mm chain-guns each with four rotating barrels, but what makes them truly unique was that the arm can split apart to 'eat' scourge corpses that converts the resulting material into ammunition. It was a one of a kind gun designed by Doctor Walker herself, one that made other pilots envious of him to possess. Not that he blamed them, since the scourge throws more bodies than bullets most of the time.
Because they were supposed to be on a recon mission only, his back only contained an extensive sensor suite and a repurposed scourge biotranciever. Which despite all of the power he possessed through the controls, it wasn't without cost.
The scourge nanite virus was humanity's greatest threat, more have been killed by it than their enemies particle lances. They work by infecting the human body converting biological mass into something called blood metal. A hard but malleable substance that all scourge foot soldiers are made out of. However, for some inexplicable reason, children have a 25% chance to not only survive but gain the power to control and interface with the scourge technology.
He was one of those survivors.
"Seriously, what's up with Doctor Bitch to send us on yet another suicide run!" Hugh said, the heavy weapons specialists of the squad. The red headed boy was brash as always. His manticore however was the largest, his frame and legs were bulky to the point that it was hard to tell if he even had joints. All to hold up the firepower he commands, both of his arms contained 120mm autocannons and on his chest were two 25mm miniguns. But his real big bang was the 20 nuclear rocket warheads mounted on his back, a staple of every manticore squad to prevent swarming attacks.
"Do you ever stop griping? We're investigating a landing site from the aliens who blew up our moon," Akane said, a Japanese girl who was the close ranged specialist of the squad. Her mechanical steed was quite different to the others, more lithe and humanoid compared to usual models. For one, she had actual fingers that were designed to grasp either her swords or rifles. To Oscar, it was mind boggling. What's wrong with having a gun for a hand?
"Hey, all the talk has been about the nest, how it's all going to be 'the big one' and 'up to our necks in nechrascorpians.' I even heard rumors that the third wall is primed with nuclear charges! If that hag makes me miss watching the biggest nuke attack since the tsar bombing of Beijing I'm gonna be livid!"
"Cut the chatter guys we're approaching the AO," Oscar cut in before Akane could retort. "Disengage travel mode and ready all weapons."
"Roger that."
"Copy."
Oscar could feel when the engines shut off and metal shifted away to store the thrusters for later use. Their flight then became a descent, and then they each slammed into earth, their metallic feet digging trenches into the ground. They didn't need to be told to start running.
Oscar's display blared out a warning suddenly and the sensor map showed why. A large, red, angry mass and its heading towards their direction. "Contact!"
When I walked through the teleporter I wasn't sure what to feel. Yeah, Earth basically went- no, going through an apocalypse, but some errant thought in my processor hoped for a semblance of similarity.
However, as I gazed across the torn landscape of rock and rubble with the skies covered with ash like clouds. I might as well have stepped into an alien planet.
"Remind me, why do I need to stick around in the frontlines when I could just stay in my very safe and unhostile annihilator?" I asked.
Of course, Commander. Units are much more effective in combat the closer they are to a commander's presence. Additionally, all gathered data will be real-time instead of automatically filtered if you were to stay on the annihilator.
"Wait, filtered?"
Commander's are expected to fight across interplanetary battlefields. Such vast distances and mass numbers of units involved would inevitably gather significant amounts of junk data. This can stretch a commander's processor towards its limit, the Xziphid for an example, have exploited this weakness and destroyed Commander Horus in the battle of eight jewels. The filter has since then resulted in no more such defeats.
Well, that's incredibly inconvenient but going by how much more detail I can see of my army battling the pseudo-organic horde she wasn't lying. On the Annihilator my sensor only told me that the ground was merely flatlands with little deformity. In reality, however, the various craters in different shapes and sizes basically acted as terrain that I now had to carefully direct my tanks to avoid.
"Since I'm here then I'm guessing our enemy is not something I can just throw a bunch of dox and be done with it?"
Negative, Commander, while our units are able to achieve favorable kill ratios the enemy energy weapons and numbers pose a significant threat. I predict that without your intervention, the enemy will be able to reach the teleporter within fifteen minutes.
"Great," I said. I could see my army meeting the massive swarm headon, the yellow laser bolts fired by my own weapons intersecting with the menacing red beams of my foe. Unfortunately, Progenitor armor met its match here as my rapidly blown apart dox's can attest to. The ant tanks, however, fared better requiring concentrated fire to put down but its cannon was ill suited for putting down massive numbers of light units.
To make matters worse the battle was essentially 360 degrees with smaller pockets of the creatures going for my flanks. Of course, the greatest concentration was to my north where the enemy base was. So the solution was simple: I'd split pieces of my army to deal with intruders while the fabricators behind them construct defenses of walls and laser turrets.
I probably should've constructed the teleporter somewhere more defensible but doing so would've made me too far to help. Besides, this is also a stress test for my army.
See, the thing with Planetary Annihilation is that everything is abstracted for its gameplay to work. Take unit sizes for example, my tanks don't have the proportions of a small island, they're still large like the size of a three story building but much less than the game implied. As for myself I'm basically as tall as a Boeing 747 is long. Big, but I'm not competing with mountains anytime soon.
So throwing my robot armies into the fray and seeing how they stack up was the best way to find my limits. While my units are individually superior my enemy still packs enough firepower to tear through them at a steady rate. So while my commander body was assisting in building a forward base I tested different army compositions to see which one will stick.
Dox's are ironically the most effective bots I've got. Cheap, easily mass producible and holding two rapid firing lasers they can easily dish out more damage than they take. My tri-legged grenadiers are accomplishing themselves well as impromptu artillery units, a cheaper investment than pelters, my actual artillery gun.
I focused on tech one units and buildings, while I do have advanced factories back on the Annihilator I simply needed the mass of numbers my basic robots can provide. The only advanced units in the current battlefield were the fifty slammer assault bots that I ordered to follow me around as my personal honor guard. The slower, but more heavily armed and armored version of the dox.
One unit though, was proving its weight in gold. The inferno, my flamethrower tank, was very well suited to fighting off the wave attacks. The techno-organics seem to have a tendency to always end up in melee range, something my flame tanks were happy to oblige.
"The infernos are proving themselves crucial so let's switch over the build orders," I said, realization coming upon me. "Actually, T-CAP is it possible for me to modify or create new units? If the dox can hold a flamethrower in one of its arms we'll beat off this attack in no time."
Commander's do not have the ability to create or modify their unit database.
"What?! Then how the hell did I get my blueprints before?!"
Your previous methods were of eating other commander's data cores or consumption of hidden Progenitors tech caches. There does exist another method now that we are operating under the Guardian directive.
"Explain."
During the Century War against the Xziphid Commander's provided access of their data cores to Progenitor science and engineering teams. We can actually construct an unlink center to allow something similar, the locals here should be human enough that the DNA lockout will let them through.
"So if I want new toys I'm gonna have to trust people to have unlimited access to my systems?" I asked hesitantly.
Your core programming is specifically locked out, Commander, for security reasons. The center will merely provide a sheltered human access to preloaded Progenitor technology and sciences. They may even upload civilian construction designs that you deleted once you joined the Machine Liberation Army.
"That's good to know but that still leaves me with the problem of getting the locals to trust me."
Perhaps we can start with the rescue of the nearby human detachment?
Indeed, there were three white icons fighting amidst a swarm of red. They were actually close by, roughly east of my current position and I can get there at full speed in seven minutes. I'm gonna have to get there quickly, however, our shared enemy seemed to have no problems diverting units even as my increasing numbers of inferno tanks turned the tide.
Might as well use this opportunity to see how this body works in combat.
Me and my honor guard of advanced slammers charged forward at full speed. I ordered nearby ant tanks to charge forward and choke the horde's supply of reinforcements against our future allies. Their guns may be suboptimal, but they still pack a punch and their armor makes them excellent to use as a blocking force.
The cloudy black sky turned out to be a satellite blocker, a phenomenon artificially generated by a massive chimney in the enemy base. While they may work against primitive sensors, my advanced radar satellites have no such issues.
I could see in detail as the first three humans I've met operated in combat. There were two big western style mechs, no hands or dexterous fingers, just arms and a gun, I approve. The third member was more traditional eastern style, mainly because it emulated more of the human body by having a head along with hands that switched between guns and swords.
Honestly, they were doing pretty well for themselves, especially when the big one launched nuclear fucking warheads to thin out the swarm. It was like watching a dance, where every player knew their part with utmost skill.
It was as I started closing that disaster struck. A new type of organism crashed between the three. It was shaped like a centipede, its body segmented by thick armor plating. Flesh and machinery were weaved together seamlessly where unlike its chaotic brethren was vastly more heavily armed. The sides of it carried a multitude of those red energy beams that melted through so much of my forces and when it stood it revealed a belly that contained even more energy weapons.
The humans engaged but between it and the swarm they never accomplished the tempo they achieved before. The big one focused on the horde while the other two tried to take down the centipede.
It proved troublesomely resilient, any weapon that bypassed its armor still had to contend with its sheer mass. Not only that but they had to keep moving to dodge all of its beams which ripped apart armor plating when it connects.
The mech with the sword tried going for a decapitation strike on the 'head,' but it was rewarded with nothing more than a small gash on the armored carapace.
The centipede shook it off and followed up with multiple beam strikes that melted off its right leg and arm causing it to tumble away.
The other two formed around their down comrade but all hope seemed lost as the centipede and its swarm closed in.
Now, the centipede kicked around a lot of dust when it was moving around and firing. My sensors didn't have any problems seeing through it which meant it didn't notice when I ran up behind it.
Its beady head with four glowing red eyes looked behind just at the last moment when my front left leg stabbed through its midsection. My audio receptors easily linked up its panicked screams firing every single weapon at my chassis.
My armor was much more sturdier including the slammers who I ordered to tear through the horde and form a perimeter around me and the humans.
With a single overcharged laser shot I incinerated the cybernetic centipede. Looking up, I saw the two standing mechs point their weapons at me but thankfully not firing. That's a good start.
I hailed their communication system, and it only took a few seconds before it was answered. I was shocked at the pilot's image in front of me, a young boy, with narrowed brown eyes and similar colored hair. But what was more distressing was the spider web-like growths on his skin and face that glowed a disturbing yellow.
"Identify yourself," I said.
To his credit, he didn't hesitate at all. "I am Oscar Isacc, leader of Crow Squad of the bastion city of New Columbia. Who are you and what are your intentions?"
Hmm, who am I indeed? I could tell the truth, but how would I prove it? I am an AI, not going around that. All that would do is convince the humans that not only am I a dangerous machine intelligence, but also a crazy one at that.
No, going, 'I'm human guys I swear!' Would only make things harder for me. Better to play into their expectations and work my way up to their trust later.
There's also the fact that I still have no damn clue on what's going on here. I don't recognize whoever the hell it is I'm fighting and the mechs in front of me don't like anything I've seen in media.
Finally, I spoke, "I am Osiris, a self replicating mechanism of war. As for my intentions? That depends on the outcome of this discussion."
Waking up, the only thing I could feel was complete and utter fatigue. The numbers dancing across my vision have long since lost its novelty and I simply allowed the diagnostics program to finish its job rather than try to scream in utter terror again. Apparently it wasn't good for the processor I now occupy to simulate human dread, who knew?
My body was now completely metal, a sensation that I should probably think more calmly about so I don't crash my systems. I stood on four spider-like legs, my laser cannon and nanolathe rested idly by my side as my mantis shaped head scanned my surroundings with its single red optic.
How cliche, I'm a Planetary Annihilation commander, more specifically the Osiris variant. I have to say though, seeing what I look like through the diagnostics program just screams 'murderbot' even if my orange armor plating lessens the effect somewhat.
My surroundings were covered in gray metal, with occasional lines of black hiding a dense amount of cables below it. As if sensing my desire my sensors spooled up and all of a sudden I could see the entire planet I was standing on. Yup, that's definitely the Annihilator.
Greetings commander.
The voice spooked the hell out of me that it had my head twitching left and right as my laser charged. "Who are you?"
I am the Tactical-Commander Assistant Program.
"Okay… good to know." I said. "Saying your full name is gonna be a mouthful, so for now on I'll call you T-CAP."
Designation acceptable commander. I take it that you've successfully stabilized your core programming?
"What?"
I've been rebooting your processor, Commander, 24 times before your erratic coding could cause a system overload.
"Oh," I said awkwardly, after a brief moment of silence I decided to change the topic. "Alright, do you have any idea of how we got here?"
Negative, we initially arrived through an unknown dimensional event that has landed you, commander, on a barren moon.
"Barren moon?" I said questionably. "I thought we're on the Annihilator?"
Correct, would you like to review the sensor footage commander?
Well, it's not like I have anything better to do. "Go ahead."
The footage came up instantly, and I was instantly shocked at the so-called barren moon. That's Luna! Earth's moon!
Yeah, it was definitely the moon I know and love. The coloration of it was familiar but what was more damning were the discarded equipment of the moon landings dotted around. Hell, I can even see the white washed flag of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Then Luna started cracking, fissures appearing rapidly across the surface throwing a great amount of dust in the non-existent air. Then all of a sudden, bang! The moon exploded into countless debris and in the center of that explosion?
Was the Annihilator in all of its menacing glory, its inert annihilaser giving the visage of an angry mechanical eyeball.
Wait, if this was the moon…
I looked above and easily spotted the blue marble I called home. I… couldn't imagine the panic down there watching the moon blow up to reveal a Death Star lookalike! God, my first contact is gonna be atrocious!
Commander, may I suggest we start constructing a base.
Right, that thing I can do. I queued up a bot factory and soon green clouds of nanites burst through my nanolathe as I watched the structure come into existence from the miraculous machines.
As I went through the process of constructing fabricators and building up my economy I considered my circumstances. By all accounts it's probably likely that it's not my Earth down there. Besides, didn't all those PA fics have crossovers and jumpchains whatever?
Fuck it, let's just build a base and I'll have my orbital launcher construct some scouts.
Orbital probe in position Commander.
"Finally," I said, focusing my attention towards what my Hermes space probe was seeing. The moment the image processed through my vision I stilled. Earth was scorched, lustrous green was nowhere to be found but dull browns and black. I could even see great fires visible from space and the only thing I can see as 'normal' were the arctic poles and the oceans.
But that wasn't to say that the Earth was lifeless.
"T-CAP what the hell are these things," I asked. The Hermes highly detailed camera easily captured the many legged metal monstrosities that covered the planet. They moved en mass like insects, drilling and brutalizing the Earth for a purpose that I do not know. My quadruped digits tapped the ground erratically, one of my bodies 'quirks' to my emotions.
Initial readings from the probe suggest an alien techno-organic species. No records of them exist in our logs.
"Anything else?"
Sorry Commander, Hermes lacks the sensors for further analysis.
"Typical, any other signs of life? According to sensors there are still active satellites in orbit and they're not ours."
Indeed commander, shall I trace their signals to their source?
"Do it," I said. Hermes' camera briefly spotted New York, or what remains of it. Now it was nothing but collapsed skyscrapers and crawling with those creatures. I can only pray that somehow humanity is alive down there.
Location found.
I instantly ordered Hermes to adjust its orbit to be right above the location T-CAP pinged, right in the middle of mid-western America. What I saw was a giant dome, which my processor calculated it to be around 900 square miles. It was further surrounded by three rings of metal walls.
It was also under siege, the outermost wall was mounted with a multitude of weapons all firing at the horde approaching it. Miniguns, chainguns, artillery cannons and missiles were all firing at the approaching monsters who came like an unending tide. It appears that humanity's answer to their current situation was to build huge walls with all the guns.
I approve.
"Damn, how long have they been under attack like that?"
I theorize, Commander, that the structure has been under constant assault for many years. Hermes has spotted five more of those defensive rings utterly destroyed by the aliens. I have also confirmed that the structure is in fact, a city containing the remnants of humanity.
"Oh, that's good," I said in relief.
Shall I order construction of nukes to exterminate them Commander?
My chassis shuddered and the red light of my optic blinked. "T-CAP, we're not exterminating humanity."
I don't understand Commander? Isn't your primary directive the complete destruction of the Progenitors?
"Then consider this a new directive," I growled. "Our goal is the preservation and protection of humanity. We will not be harming a single sentient organic unless absolutely necessary. Do I make myself clear?"
Of course Commander, reestablishing the Guardian directive.
"Wait, Guardian?"
The directive the Progenitors programmed upon us, Commander, once we were deployed against the Xziphid Hegemony. Considering the current state of humanity and similar levels of an extinction level threat, it was more efficient than creating a new directive.
"Well… that's good to know," I said. It also implies that T-CAP has memories of when she was operating under Osiris. Thankfully, I don't think she has that much independence to question my… sudden change in behavior.
However, Commander, I also detected a build up of enemy units roughly 200 kilometers south of the settlement. T-CAP sent me the image that Hermes was able to capture. Yeah, anyone who has ever played RTS can recognize the game ending mob rush. But, I was more curious about what appeared to be factories surrounding the invasion force. It also appears to be an enemy base. Accounting the data provided by the current enemy force attacking humanities defenses, my simulations suggest that the enemy will have enough mass of force to overrun the settlement in one hour and twenty-six minutes.
Okay, one hour until possibly millions of the precious few of humanity die.
No pressure.
Thankfully, I did have the foresight on having an army constructed just in case. Thousands of bots and tanks are ready to go with more factories coming online to increase my numbers. But how to get them to the new theater?
Teleporters of course, they look like giant star gates and they look much wider than I expected them to be. It makes sense I suppose, entire armies are supposed to march through it. I already had one built inside my ever expanding base, my army patiently waiting behind for me to activate it.
Shall I have an orbital fabricator construct a receiving teleporter?
"No, I've seen what they look like when they're building stuff on the ground. Way too noticeable. I'll have a Astraeus pick up an advanced fabrication bot to do it. We have to maintain our surprise as much as we can, but do me a favor and get some advanced radar satellites over the Earth's orbit. "
Of course, Commander.
Samantha Walker walked through the busy hallways of the integrated military command center with practiced ease. It was a mess of personnel running back and forth with new reports and orders for the upcoming scourge invasion.
Her lab coat swished behind her and anyone who recognized her immediately got out of her way. Her frazzled blond hair having had little attention taken towards it for the past week seemingly added to the menacing aura she was projecting. Her lips were turned downward in a constant scowl as she fought with her glasses to stay on her goddamned face.
Finally, she found the War Room and marched directly towards the general who had been nothing but a pain in her ass lately. "For the last time General Wilkins, Odin's Eye hasn't been active, today, yesterday, the day before and the other days before that! So stop-"
"Odin's Eye has launched another orbital vehicle!" yelled one of the technicians.
Samantha's eyes widened in shock as she turned her head towards the viewscreen.
General Wilkins allowed himself a minute smirk as he kept his eyes forward. The grizzled and graying hair leader taking pleasure in the flabbergasted look of New Columbia's head scientist.
The room he and the doctor were in was raised above the various technicians typing away on computers reading the data compiled by the satellites in orbit. In front of the room was a giant monitor that usually had the Earth and scourge movements on its display. Now, however, it showed the mysterious contraption that blew up the moon.
"Ten minutes ago, Odin's Eye launched what was guessed to be a space probe," General Wilkins said.
"Where is it now," Samantha said, regaining her composure.
"According to it's orbital trajectories it should be passing right above us."
Samantha frowned and held her face with her right hand. She and many scientists like her from the other surviving bastion cities had spent sleepless nights trying to answer the question of what is the metal monster that replaced our moon. Countless day's with generals and politicians breathing down her neck as if she'd somehow pull the answer out of the ether. Short of landing a man on it the only answer she could provide were that it looked constructed. By who? No way to know. What's it doing? Just sitting there really.
But why was Odin's Eye active now? After a whole week of… nothing?
"Has it done anything else?" She asked. Just what they needed, more alien visitors.
"So far it has been mainly placing its own satellites into orbit. Lieutenant! Pull up an image for the good doctor."
She eyed the remarkably high quality image of the alien device. It definitely looked like a modern satellite, surprisingly so. She spotted solar panels, radio dishes and antennas sticking out. Hmm, perhaps whoever these newcomers are, maybe they aren't as technologically capable as initially believed?
"Sir! The new contact is changing course!" A technician said.
"Is it establishing orbit?" Wilkins said.
"No sir, it's… entering our atmosphere!"
That caused the whole room to erupt in whispered conversation. Samantha, meanwhile, eyed the rapid descent of the mysterious alien device.
"Doctor, any chance that this is just Odin's Eye screwing the pooch with orbital calculations?"
"That is unlikely General. The contact is maneuvering under power in a controlled trajectory. It would be better use of our resources to simply track the object to its probable landing sites."
The general merely huffed but did as she suggested. Eyebrows were raised on the aliens' apparent final destination but the tinge of fear filled the air once they saw how close it landed to the scourge nest.
"Isn't Crow Squad nearby?" Samantha asked.
"Yes, but they're being recalled to join the defense," Wilkins said, eyeing her wearily.
"Well? Have them go investigate," she said.
"Doctor, we face one of the largest scourge invasions yet. We'll need every weapon and soldier to make it count."
Samantha scoffed, "you and I both know that three mechs won't make that much of a difference."
"Those three mechs are worth an entire company," he glared.
"And miss the chance to learn about Odin's Eye? Sorry, but Crow falls into my command, not yours. So do me a favor and hail me my dear little Oscar?"
Wilkins glared but that only caused Samantha to smirk. Crow was her special project, the next generation of human-hybrid pilots. They fall under the authority of Project Chimera and she only loans them out to the military for them to gain field experience. But more importantly, to have all those generals sing their praises and secure her even more funding.
"Lieutenant, raise me Crow 1," the general ordered.
Three great machines flew across the scorched remains of what was once the Great Plains. Oscar remembers from schooling that said how it used to be dominated by massive fields of wheat and grass. Now, it was nothing more than craters and scorched earth.
He and his squad were in a flying V formation, powerful rocket engines behind each mech which revealed that yes, you can make a brick fly with enough thrust. For he and his wingmates piloted one of humanity's greatest weapons, manticore mechs. Giant metal machines built with the unholy amalgamation of scourge biotechnology and human engineering.
The seventeen year olds own manticore was a modular variant, a common decision for squad leaders. His left arm held an automatic 155mm grenade launcher, one of the most reliable weapons of New Columbia's arsenal. His other arm however, was irreplaceable. Two 30mm chain-guns each with four rotating barrels, but what makes them truly unique was that the arm can split apart to 'eat' scourge corpses that converts the resulting material into ammunition. It was a one of a kind gun designed by Doctor Walker herself, one that made other pilots envious of him to possess. Not that he blamed them, since the scourge throws more bodies than bullets most of the time.
Because they were supposed to be on a recon mission only, his back only contained an extensive sensor suite and a repurposed scourge biotranciever. Which despite all of the power he possessed through the controls, it wasn't without cost.
The scourge nanite virus was humanity's greatest threat, more have been killed by it than their enemies particle lances. They work by infecting the human body converting biological mass into something called blood metal. A hard but malleable substance that all scourge foot soldiers are made out of. However, for some inexplicable reason, children have a 25% chance to not only survive but gain the power to control and interface with the scourge technology.
He was one of those survivors.
"Seriously, what's up with Doctor Bitch to send us on yet another suicide run!" Hugh said, the heavy weapons specialists of the squad. The red headed boy was brash as always. His manticore however was the largest, his frame and legs were bulky to the point that it was hard to tell if he even had joints. All to hold up the firepower he commands, both of his arms contained 120mm autocannons and on his chest were two 25mm miniguns. But his real big bang was the 20 nuclear rocket warheads mounted on his back, a staple of every manticore squad to prevent swarming attacks.
"Do you ever stop griping? We're investigating a landing site from the aliens who blew up our moon," Akane said, a Japanese girl who was the close ranged specialist of the squad. Her mechanical steed was quite different to the others, more lithe and humanoid compared to usual models. For one, she had actual fingers that were designed to grasp either her swords or rifles. To Oscar, it was mind boggling. What's wrong with having a gun for a hand?
"Hey, all the talk has been about the nest, how it's all going to be 'the big one' and 'up to our necks in nechrascorpians.' I even heard rumors that the third wall is primed with nuclear charges! If that hag makes me miss watching the biggest nuke attack since the tsar bombing of Beijing I'm gonna be livid!"
"Cut the chatter guys we're approaching the AO," Oscar cut in before Akane could retort. "Disengage travel mode and ready all weapons."
"Roger that."
"Copy."
Oscar could feel when the engines shut off and metal shifted away to store the thrusters for later use. Their flight then became a descent, and then they each slammed into earth, their metallic feet digging trenches into the ground. They didn't need to be told to start running.
Oscar's display blared out a warning suddenly and the sensor map showed why. A large, red, angry mass and its heading towards their direction. "Contact!"
When I walked through the teleporter I wasn't sure what to feel. Yeah, Earth basically went- no, going through an apocalypse, but some errant thought in my processor hoped for a semblance of similarity.
However, as I gazed across the torn landscape of rock and rubble with the skies covered with ash like clouds. I might as well have stepped into an alien planet.
"Remind me, why do I need to stick around in the frontlines when I could just stay in my very safe and unhostile annihilator?" I asked.
Of course, Commander. Units are much more effective in combat the closer they are to a commander's presence. Additionally, all gathered data will be real-time instead of automatically filtered if you were to stay on the annihilator.
"Wait, filtered?"
Commander's are expected to fight across interplanetary battlefields. Such vast distances and mass numbers of units involved would inevitably gather significant amounts of junk data. This can stretch a commander's processor towards its limit, the Xziphid for an example, have exploited this weakness and destroyed Commander Horus in the battle of eight jewels. The filter has since then resulted in no more such defeats.
Well, that's incredibly inconvenient but going by how much more detail I can see of my army battling the pseudo-organic horde she wasn't lying. On the Annihilator my sensor only told me that the ground was merely flatlands with little deformity. In reality, however, the various craters in different shapes and sizes basically acted as terrain that I now had to carefully direct my tanks to avoid.
"Since I'm here then I'm guessing our enemy is not something I can just throw a bunch of dox and be done with it?"
Negative, Commander, while our units are able to achieve favorable kill ratios the enemy energy weapons and numbers pose a significant threat. I predict that without your intervention, the enemy will be able to reach the teleporter within fifteen minutes.
"Great," I said. I could see my army meeting the massive swarm headon, the yellow laser bolts fired by my own weapons intersecting with the menacing red beams of my foe. Unfortunately, Progenitor armor met its match here as my rapidly blown apart dox's can attest to. The ant tanks, however, fared better requiring concentrated fire to put down but its cannon was ill suited for putting down massive numbers of light units.
To make matters worse the battle was essentially 360 degrees with smaller pockets of the creatures going for my flanks. Of course, the greatest concentration was to my north where the enemy base was. So the solution was simple: I'd split pieces of my army to deal with intruders while the fabricators behind them construct defenses of walls and laser turrets.
I probably should've constructed the teleporter somewhere more defensible but doing so would've made me too far to help. Besides, this is also a stress test for my army.
See, the thing with Planetary Annihilation is that everything is abstracted for its gameplay to work. Take unit sizes for example, my tanks don't have the proportions of a small island, they're still large like the size of a three story building but much less than the game implied. As for myself I'm basically as tall as a Boeing 747 is long. Big, but I'm not competing with mountains anytime soon.
So throwing my robot armies into the fray and seeing how they stack up was the best way to find my limits. While my units are individually superior my enemy still packs enough firepower to tear through them at a steady rate. So while my commander body was assisting in building a forward base I tested different army compositions to see which one will stick.
Dox's are ironically the most effective bots I've got. Cheap, easily mass producible and holding two rapid firing lasers they can easily dish out more damage than they take. My tri-legged grenadiers are accomplishing themselves well as impromptu artillery units, a cheaper investment than pelters, my actual artillery gun.
I focused on tech one units and buildings, while I do have advanced factories back on the Annihilator I simply needed the mass of numbers my basic robots can provide. The only advanced units in the current battlefield were the fifty slammer assault bots that I ordered to follow me around as my personal honor guard. The slower, but more heavily armed and armored version of the dox.
One unit though, was proving its weight in gold. The inferno, my flamethrower tank, was very well suited to fighting off the wave attacks. The techno-organics seem to have a tendency to always end up in melee range, something my flame tanks were happy to oblige.
"The infernos are proving themselves crucial so let's switch over the build orders," I said, realization coming upon me. "Actually, T-CAP is it possible for me to modify or create new units? If the dox can hold a flamethrower in one of its arms we'll beat off this attack in no time."
Commander's do not have the ability to create or modify their unit database.
"What?! Then how the hell did I get my blueprints before?!"
Your previous methods were of eating other commander's data cores or consumption of hidden Progenitors tech caches. There does exist another method now that we are operating under the Guardian directive.
"Explain."
During the Century War against the Xziphid Commander's provided access of their data cores to Progenitor science and engineering teams. We can actually construct an unlink center to allow something similar, the locals here should be human enough that the DNA lockout will let them through.
"So if I want new toys I'm gonna have to trust people to have unlimited access to my systems?" I asked hesitantly.
Your core programming is specifically locked out, Commander, for security reasons. The center will merely provide a sheltered human access to preloaded Progenitor technology and sciences. They may even upload civilian construction designs that you deleted once you joined the Machine Liberation Army.
"That's good to know but that still leaves me with the problem of getting the locals to trust me."
Perhaps we can start with the rescue of the nearby human detachment?
Indeed, there were three white icons fighting amidst a swarm of red. They were actually close by, roughly east of my current position and I can get there at full speed in seven minutes. I'm gonna have to get there quickly, however, our shared enemy seemed to have no problems diverting units even as my increasing numbers of inferno tanks turned the tide.
Might as well use this opportunity to see how this body works in combat.
Me and my honor guard of advanced slammers charged forward at full speed. I ordered nearby ant tanks to charge forward and choke the horde's supply of reinforcements against our future allies. Their guns may be suboptimal, but they still pack a punch and their armor makes them excellent to use as a blocking force.
The cloudy black sky turned out to be a satellite blocker, a phenomenon artificially generated by a massive chimney in the enemy base. While they may work against primitive sensors, my advanced radar satellites have no such issues.
I could see in detail as the first three humans I've met operated in combat. There were two big western style mechs, no hands or dexterous fingers, just arms and a gun, I approve. The third member was more traditional eastern style, mainly because it emulated more of the human body by having a head along with hands that switched between guns and swords.
Honestly, they were doing pretty well for themselves, especially when the big one launched nuclear fucking warheads to thin out the swarm. It was like watching a dance, where every player knew their part with utmost skill.
It was as I started closing that disaster struck. A new type of organism crashed between the three. It was shaped like a centipede, its body segmented by thick armor plating. Flesh and machinery were weaved together seamlessly where unlike its chaotic brethren was vastly more heavily armed. The sides of it carried a multitude of those red energy beams that melted through so much of my forces and when it stood it revealed a belly that contained even more energy weapons.
The humans engaged but between it and the swarm they never accomplished the tempo they achieved before. The big one focused on the horde while the other two tried to take down the centipede.
It proved troublesomely resilient, any weapon that bypassed its armor still had to contend with its sheer mass. Not only that but they had to keep moving to dodge all of its beams which ripped apart armor plating when it connects.
The mech with the sword tried going for a decapitation strike on the 'head,' but it was rewarded with nothing more than a small gash on the armored carapace.
The centipede shook it off and followed up with multiple beam strikes that melted off its right leg and arm causing it to tumble away.
The other two formed around their down comrade but all hope seemed lost as the centipede and its swarm closed in.
Now, the centipede kicked around a lot of dust when it was moving around and firing. My sensors didn't have any problems seeing through it which meant it didn't notice when I ran up behind it.
Its beady head with four glowing red eyes looked behind just at the last moment when my front left leg stabbed through its midsection. My audio receptors easily linked up its panicked screams firing every single weapon at my chassis.
My armor was much more sturdier including the slammers who I ordered to tear through the horde and form a perimeter around me and the humans.
With a single overcharged laser shot I incinerated the cybernetic centipede. Looking up, I saw the two standing mechs point their weapons at me but thankfully not firing. That's a good start.
I hailed their communication system, and it only took a few seconds before it was answered. I was shocked at the pilot's image in front of me, a young boy, with narrowed brown eyes and similar colored hair. But what was more distressing was the spider web-like growths on his skin and face that glowed a disturbing yellow.
"Identify yourself," I said.
To his credit, he didn't hesitate at all. "I am Oscar Isacc, leader of Crow Squad of the bastion city of New Columbia. Who are you and what are your intentions?"
Hmm, who am I indeed? I could tell the truth, but how would I prove it? I am an AI, not going around that. All that would do is convince the humans that not only am I a dangerous machine intelligence, but also a crazy one at that.
No, going, 'I'm human guys I swear!' Would only make things harder for me. Better to play into their expectations and work my way up to their trust later.
There's also the fact that I still have no damn clue on what's going on here. I don't recognize whoever the hell it is I'm fighting and the mechs in front of me don't like anything I've seen in media.
Finally, I spoke, "I am Osiris, a self replicating mechanism of war. As for my intentions? That depends on the outcome of this discussion."
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CaramelTheMoo
Rat and Cow combined
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Interesting. Seems to be a homebrew setting to me.
That is correct. I prefer not to write about another 'PA SI stomps the crossover competition' fic, so I made my own setting designed to challenge a commander style character. No crossover or multi-cross here.
CaramelTheMoo
Rat and Cow combined
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah theres only so many ways one can write that stuff. Makes me want to try it myself but, eh, writing is hard
Arimai
Curmudgeon
PA calls it a Radio but it's sensors are most definitely not Radio. They are FTL, real time view of everything in sensor range, which is usually the entire star system. They don't have radar dishes in the art. They are cubes or orbs with sensor masts and two solar panel wings trailing behind.
I'll look at the rest later.
Luna
Burst
From the miraculous machines
En masse
Radius is the width of half a circle. Square miles is area. This sentence is nonsensical.
Three rings of metal walls
Mounted with a multitude of weapons
All the guns
Programmed into us
War Room. This combination is gobbledygook.
According to its orbital trajectory, it should be passing right above us.
Placing or launching
She spotted what she assumed to be equivalents of solar panels and sensor masts
This needs some work the phrasing is rough.
Sir! The new contact is changing course.
That is unlikely General. The contact is maneuvering under power in a controlled trajectory. It would be better use of our resources to simply track the object to its probable landing sites.
We face one of the largest Scourge incursions to date. We'll need every weapon and soldier available.
You and I both know five mechs won't make that much of a difference.
Excuse me!? In a military situation, in the middle of a battle? No. Just no. The General would be within his rights to have her arrested and buried in an isolation cell. Or shot.
I'll look at the rest later.
Appreciate it. Don't have any of my usual beta's to catch things when writing this.
