24 - Farewell
Oh hey, a chapter.

I mean, it's boring, I don't feel I did the characters involved any justice, and I haven't edited it at all because I'm halfway through my exam period and really don't have time to mess around on SB/SV, but it's a chapter.


Mad props to Ovid for reminding me I've had this typed up and ready to post for, like, a week, though.

EDIT: Also, updated the title and threadmark of chapter 18 to properly reflect its Interlude-ness. As if anyone cares.


24 - Farewell


Considering all the shit they'd put up with over the last month or so, the seven people I shared the boardroom with seemed in unnaturally high spirits.

I guess they didn't know the purpose of this meeting, though, so they didn't have much reason to be depressed at the moment.

"Alright, thank you all for coming," I began. "It's been a long month, and I'd like to congratulate TSYGAN and the good General for spending most of that time dealing with political bullshit."

Mild applause from around the room. TSYGAN gave a grim smile, glancing across at Whalebrook. The old general just shook his head wearily.

"And I'd like to congratulate Captain Maller on dealing with Humanity First and getting all the refugees settled in here on Kian Six."

The blonde nodded, lilac eyes glinting in the bright light. "Not a problem. Humanity First did most of the work anyway."

The Avatar unit shrugged. "Either way, it's still admirable effort. Unfortunately, this meeting isn't just an excuse to all pat ourselves on the back."

Haigan scratched at his chin, brow creasing. "Then what is this about?"

"I'm leaving."

That brought silence from every one of the assembled soldiers (plus one terrorist).

"Really?" Skye asked. "Where are you going? Will there be people to kill? Can we come?"

Oh, right. Psychopath.

The Avatar shook its head. "No. Well, probably yes, but just because there are people to kill doesn't mean there are people who need to be killed. And no, you can't come. I'm going on my own. I've got this whole dimensional traveller shtick going on, yeah?"

Maller's eyebrow shot up. "Sorry, what?"

"Oh, right. I'm actually an advanced alien intelligence. From another dimension. Long story."

"Another dimension? You said distant, not inter-dimensional." SiMo pointed out.

Spoilsport.

I quickly looked back through my memories - advantage of being a robot, perfect memory.

"Oh, so I did. Well, I'd say between dimensions is pretty distant, right? Anyway, that's me. Dimension-travelling alien AI."

Ignoring Maller's bewildered looks, I carried on. "Back to my original point - I've lingered here long enough. Your major problems have been solved, your people are relatively safe, and I have... no real reason to stay."

"No reason to stay?" Whalebrook mused. "Well, certainly the rest is true, so if you were only staying for our safety, I suppose it's safe to say you're clear to leave... but why? Why go elsewhere?"

The old soldier vacantly rubbed at his magnificent moustache. "Unless there's other reasons we're not aware of?"

"Honestly, there are a fair few reasons. One, as you've said, no reason to stay. Your problems are solved, your people are happy. Ish. Kinda."

Nods from around the table.

"Secondly, if word ever gets out that I'm an alien AI, that could cause... problems. Lots of them. Your civilisation haven't met any significantly advanced alien life, or anything approaching sentient, so an alien war machine in their midst... yeah. Problems."

More nods. "What, not big on making first contact?" Haigen asked. "The social and political implications..."

"Aha, no. And those social and political implications are the reason I'm not going to announce myself. On a related note, in case it wasn't obvious, Maller, I'd appreciate you keep your mouth shut about this."

The surprised soldier nodded idly. I wasn't really sure how much he was paying attention at this point, but it was largely irrelevant. Someone would fill him in later.

"The third point is that I'm rather needed elsewhere, or rather I suspect I shortly will be. See, the thing about an infinite multiverse is that there is always someone in trouble. Some fragile peace about to be shattered, some ultimate weapon about to be unleashed. I'm... rather uniquely equipped to deal with such threats."

Sweet giggled. "You kicked Lume ass back on Elysion. I feel sorry for anyone else who gets in your way."

Her older sister nodded. "Uniquely equipped is right. You built the refuge fleet in what, a couple of hours. Turn that whole industry to building those bombers of yours..."

The Avatar nodded. "Exactly, Skye. I'm not so naive as to believe I'm unstoppable - not yet, anyway, - but quantity has a quality all of its own. And as I've already proved, I'm far more flexible than 'hordes of deathbots'."

I paused for a moment, letting it sink in.

"And the final, and by far the most important point, is that I'm really bored. All the fighting was over in hours, and since then I've literally been babysitting refugees for a month. Time for me to move on."

"You... you're bored?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, faster thoughts mean I experience time slower than you, relatively. Plus I don't sleep. I was bored by the end of the first week, honestly."

"Ah. I see." Whalebrook nodded. "Understandable. In that case, I suppose you're heading off?"

"I shall be shortly, yes. I have a Dimensional Gate set up back in the Loek System, so I'll head through there and then remotely detonate my remaining systems. Don't want any of you getting your hands on my technology. No offence."

Whalebrook shrugged. "Well, as you said it's not as if your presence is really required here any more." He stood from his chair and reached across the table with his unarmoured hand.

The Avatar took it and shook it, careful not to crush his bones. The rest of the Core Guardians followed suit, shaking hands with my Avatar in turn.

"It's been a pleasure, Faith." TSYGAN said. "Enjoy your trek around the multiverse, I suppose."

"I'm certain I will, TSYGAN. Best of luck to you all in your future endeavours. Have fun laughing at the Brightsiders next time you see them in jail, and try not to get killed. Maybe I'll swing back around eventually, or something, but in the meantime... farewell."

---

Five Core Guardians, a robot, and a former terrorist stood silently on the rooftop terrace of the housing complex the Core Guardians had made their new home.

In the distance, a single green starship lifted from the starport, engines glowing a vivid blue. It titled backwards and raced into the sky, engines flaring white hot as the ship launched itself through the clouds.

They watched until the craft vanished, punching a hole through the overhead clouds, before preparing to leave.

Whalebrook and Maller went first, heading off to keep their men in charge. The Autumn sisters quickly followed with SiMo in tow, leaving just Haigan and TSYGAN on the roof.

"You know... for an alien intelligence... she seemed a lot more human than I would have thought."

"Yeah. She was certainly a lot nicer than the Bright Foundation."

"It's strange, though. I can't shake the feeling that there was something more going on."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. Like... there was something else she wasn't telling us."

"Maybe... but then, she didn't really tell us much to start with. Besides, she helped us when we needed it. Like she said, most of our problems are solved, now."

"Still. It's just one of those stupid, lingering doubts."

Haigen chuckled and threw an arm around TSYGAN's shoulders. "Come on, Tsy. Let's go get some lunch."

She smiled up at him. "Okay. But don't bother calling me TSYGAN anymore. That little war is over. 'Char' is fine."

---

The Dimensional Gate was one of the last things on the planet. All of my other units, having completed their task of scouring the world and ridding it entirely of Cores, had dissassembled into clouds of nanobots before scattering to the four winds. My factories had soon followed suit, leaving only the Gate itself and enough generators to run it - most of them, it turned out. I wasn't sure if that was because tearing a hole in the fabric of reality was energy intensive or because ROB didn't want me just running away instantly from whatever world I ended up on, but given this was the same guy who kidnapped teenage girls and put them in control of super advanced war machines... it was probably the second.

The Gate engaged, a brilliant blue glow emanating from the vast ring-shaped structure. Less than a second later, the glow had expanded into a bright blue energy field, stretching across the area of the ring.

My body - that is, the Osiris Commander chassis I'd been basically ignoring the past month - stepped up to the portal.

I gazed into the blue field, red eye unblinking, but beyond its azure depths there was nothing I could make out.

Taking a moment to mentally steel myself, I stepped through.
 
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Faith does not have access to the Titans, on account of the Titans expansion being released after the story started. Like Drich, I'll probably include a world at some point where she fights a PA commander with Titans.

That won't likely be soon, since after the hub the good commander is visiting FTL and then who knows where. I'll probably do a few more setting jumps before that - maybe three or four more after FTL.

Whatever, specifics are unimportant. Long story short, no titans - yet.
 
I'm liking the nonchalance here, it might be a relatively boring or short tie-off chapter but this one comes off as a brief epilogue headed to the next story arc. Nice to see a simple transition sometimes, also appreciated is the lack of crazy coincidences and artificial tension/drama in general.

Pacing is a bit slow in places, but there's a good level of detail per event over time. There could be more character interaction and the like, but a solid technical foundation and general story-flow makes it enjoyable to read regardless.

Main piece of advice I'd give is that if certain scenes don't want to play out properly, change the rules or the scenario. Trying to force things to go a certain way is where the most OOC sequences pop up. The better stories I've read all involve a sort of adapting to or twisting around characters to get them to do what you want, rather than writing them into a corner.
Basically, there are always several ways to get to the same result, so getting too invested into one path can make it harder for the muse to work things out.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next dimension and further updates, the story so far is pretty entertaining.
 
That won't likely be soon, since after the hub the good commander is visiting FTL and then who knows where. I'll probably do a few more setting jumps before that - maybe three or four more after FTL.
The nice thing about your second setting being FTL (among a number of your choices) is that it has, well, FTL travel. This SI a more versatile transport mechanism if she gets hold of it. At the moment Commander Faith seems to be limited to PA's Teleporters or any local existing jump gate system for long-distance travel, acquiring other FTL technologies will make it easier to achieve interplanetary or interstellar travel because SI doesn't have to slowboat through space and build a teleporter network across every planet.
Long story short, no titans
:(
:D
 
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Heh. My pleasure to help out Faith. For something you weren't fully satisfied with, I quite enjoyed this chapter/update, even if it was very calm.
 
Agreed. It wasn't particularly exciting, but, then again, there was no reason for it to be that way. It was a nice transition point, and as well written as previous chapters.

The only suggestion I have would be to put a bit more focus on character interaction. That, I feel, will end up being the biggest aspect to stories like this one.
 
25 - Swamp
Hey, look, another chapter I finished and forgot to post after proof-reading.

Man, I need to stop doing that. This chapter is just a quick stop off at the hub world because there is nothing exciting there right now. Also it's a little short, for the same reasons, but oh well.


25 - Swamp
After an indefinite period of time, I finally emerged from the swirling blue space, dropping a couple dozen feet to the earth below.

Well, mud. Under the great weight of the Osiris, the ground beneath me gave way, and my legs sunk into the marsh.

Had I a mouth, I would have sighed as I looked around. I'd landed - arrived, whatever - in some kind of swamp clearing. There was about ten metres of open space on each side, and beyond that point a thick layer of trees and other plants obscured all vision. Looking down, I noted that the whole place was largely submerged, as well. Huge pools of swamp water and thick mud were spread over the ground, small ridges of solid earth and the occasional tree root emerging from the surface of the murky liquid.

It was worryingly deep, too. The Osiris, standing about fifteen metres tall, was buried up to the waist. That was around... seven metres of mud?

Was that even possible? Something about that seemed unlikely, but then again, I woke up a month ago and found out I'd become a giant death bot, so I was hardly one to talk.

According to the message I'd received from ROB back when I'd first awoken, this would be my 'hub world', whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. Presumably it was a place for me to set up a base of sorts between dimensional jumps, but since, as I now realised, that my economy didn't carry through, I wasn't sure exactly how useful that was going to be.

I'd find a use for it later, though, no doubt. ROB seemed like the kind of person who would plan that kind of stuff well in advanced.

Then again, he also seemed kind of a dick, so there was that.

I pulled my legs out of the mud, a slow and painful process that resulted in much squelching, and dragged myself over to the nearest solid-looking island. A cloud of nano-bots hastily re-purposed as cleaners circled the lower half of my body, rapidly stripping away layer after layer of mud and gunk. Within seconds, my entire body was spotless and shiny.

Although I had to wonder how long that would last in this environment.

I quickly began construction of a Radar station and a Generator, using up a majority of the limited ground available to me.

As soon as it finished, I wanted to cry in anguish.

As far as the Radar could detect, which was a not-insignificant part of the planet, there was nothing but swamp.

Fucking swamp. Everywhere.

There was, however, a place nearby where there was enough space to build a factory. I wanted to roll my eyes as I shut down the Radar and waded back into the gorram mud.

---

Once the Air Factory was up and running, I sent out a single Fabricator - all I could afford with my incredibly limited metal reserves. It flew in an outwards spiral, building Metal Extractors whenever it passed over a valid location. Once I'd built up enough resources for a second, it began construction, quickly flying off to start work on an Orbital Launcher.

The other thing the Radar had revealed about the system, and the one thing I'd forgotten to check at the time, was the status of other planetary bodies. Whilst the detailed radar was limited in range, the basic radar could give a rough idea of what the terrain would be like from across the solar system. Which was rather useful.

Not that there was a lot in this solar system.

The planet I was on was orbited by two moons - both lifeless grey rocks, but infinitely better than this stupid freaking swamp. Which, for what it was worth, was also lifeless - baring the obvious abundance of plants. Lifeless in terms of animals. Which wasn't really buying it any favours from me. All I wanted was to get off this stupid rock.

And once the first Astraeus finished, that's exactly what I did. Leaving the two Air Fabricators to continue spreading around the planet and building Metal Extractors, I moved myself over to the closest of the two moons. The furthest one could wait, for now. It wasn't like I had particular need for it, at the moment.

Whilst my Astraeus flew me over to Moon Number One, I had the Orbital Launcher construct a queue of Orbital Fabricators - If this was going to be my 'hub world' I may as well get established.

Once I had seven Orbital Fabricators and twelve Orbital Factories (and an empty metal reserve, unfortunately), I set the whole lot to construct solar panels. It wouldn't help the Metal problem, but it would pre-emptively solve the power issues - and prevention is always better than cure.

The Astraeus, meanwhile, had finally arrived at its destination, dropping me once again from an uncomfortable height onto the surface of the moon. I landed with an earth-shattering thud, kicking up a cloud of dust. Which I promptly ignored in favour of building another Metal Extractor.

Commanders are such bullshit.

---

Once I had more Air Fabricators, and their advanced cousins, than I could be bothered to count flying around the moon, I decided to call it a day.

One of the other fun subroutines I'd found pre-installed - PlanetaryAssimiliation_AdvancedAir_(Ver_ResourceGeneration)

It wasn't the only one, obviously - there were others, for bots, vehicles, and mixed tactics, and different goals - resource generation, maximized production, etcetera. But my need for resources and my love of aircraft sort of cemented that as the clear winner.

It was beautiful. I had no idea what the hell I was going to use a planet-sized mass of Factories, Generators, and Extractors for, but damn if it wasn't impressive. Well, it wasn't quite planet-sized. Moon-sized, more like. And it had yet to cover the whole surface, but that was likely going to change very quickly.

Of course, my Orbital had not gone unattended, either. Hundreds of platforms orbiting the swamp world, dozens more over the moon. A few in deep space, far enough away from the star and planet that they weren't bothered by gravity. More for variety than any tactical purpose.

Sue me.

Back on the swamp planet - man, these rocks needed names, - I had my Air Fabricators throw together another Dimensional Gate.

After all, there was a grand total of shit all to do in this empty system. Maybe once I got some cooler or more efficient terraforming technology, but until then I had... cores. Great, for altering atmospheres. Useless for everything else.

As the gate began to charge, I noticed... an options menu, almost, with a list of... settings, I guessed. Sanctum was one entry, the second (and only other) being Random.

Easy choice.

As thousands of Generators and Solar Panels fed energy into the Dimensional Gate, beginning the lengthy charge process, I looked over the blueprints for the Osiris Commander - one of the few things I hadn't yet bothered looking at.

It was an incredibly complex design - the number of systems all cleverly integrated together and fit inside a chassis hardly suited for such purposes was mind-boggling. I doubted I could do a better job of building a Commander than the Progenitors, but I did have a few pieces of technology that they didn't. Timestops, Friendship Lasers, even the only-marginally-useful Mind Control technology. I wouldn't be able to build a better Commander. A better equipped Commander, on the other hand, was relatively simple by comparison.

I'd have to look at that idea later. Maybe something bipedal - although I was starting to get use to the quadrupedal design now. Something to think on.

The blue portal burst into life and I stepped through.


This chapter is so pointless that if you were to somehow miss it, you probably wouldn't notice, since Chapter 26 starts the exact same way as this one did (on account of this one ending exactly as 24 did). Still, some stuff will be relevant later.

Probably.
 
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It was only a giant genetically engineered planet-killer dragonfly, there's far more disgusting things out there. I think.
Oh, I was thinking of the Mantrid drones. And Prince. And...

You know what? That universe is in a grand-scale time loop, repeating the same events over and over again. It'd be nice if Faith could mercy-kill it.
 
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Hey, look, another chapter I finished and forgot to post after proof-reading.

Man, I need to stop doing that. This chapter is just a quick stop off at the hub world because there is nothing exciting there right now. Also it's a little short, for the same reasons, but oh well.


25 - Swamp
After an indefinite period of time, I finally emerged from the swirling blue space, dropping a couple dozen feet to the earth below.

Well, mud. Under the great weight of the Osiris, the ground beneath me gave way, and my legs sunk into the marsh.

Had I a mouth, I would have sighed as I looked around. I'd landed - arrived, whatever - in some kind of swamp clearing. There was about ten metres of open space on each side, and beyond that point a thick layer of trees and other plants obscured all vision. Looking down, I noted that the whole place was largely submerged, as well. Huge pools of swamp water and thick mud were spread over the ground, small ridges of solid earth and the occasional tree root emerging from the surface of the murky liquid.

It was worryingly deep, too. The Osiris, standing about fifteen metres tall, was buried up to the waist. That was around... seven metres of mud?

Was that even possible? Something about that seemed unlikely, but then again, I woke up a month ago and found out I'd become a giant death bot, so I was hardly one to talk.

According to the message I'd received from ROB back when I'd first awoken, this would be my 'hub world', whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. Presumably it was a place for me to set up a base of sorts between dimensional jumps, but since, as I now realised, that my economy didn't carry through, I wasn't sure exactly how useful that was going to be.

I'd find a use for it later, though, no doubt. ROB seemed like the kind of person who would plan that kind of stuff well in advanced.

Then again, he also seemed kind of a dick, so there was that.

I pulled my legs out of the mud, a slow and painful process that resulted in much squelching, and dragged myself over to the nearest solid-looking island. A cloud of nano-bots hastily re-purposed as cleaners circled the lower half of my body, rapidly stripping away layer after layer of mud and gunk. Within seconds, my entire body was spotless and shiny.

Although I had to wonder how long that would last in this environment.

I quickly began construction of a Radar station and a Generator, using up a majority of the limited ground available to me.

As soon as it finished, I wanted to cry in anguish.

As far as the Radar could detect, which was a not-insignificant part of the planet, there was nothing but swamp.

Fucking swamp. Everywhere.

There was, however, a place nearby where there was enough space to build a factory. I wanted to roll my eyes as I shut down the Radar and waded back into the gorram mud.

---

Once the Air Factory was up and running, I sent out a single Fabricator - all I could afford with my incredibly limited metal reserves. It flew in an outwards spiral, building Metal Extractors whenever it passed over a valid location. Once I'd built up enough resources for a second, it began construction, quickly flying off to start work on an Orbital Launcher.

The other thing the Radar had revealed about the system, and the one thing I'd forgotten to check at the time, was the status of other planetary bodies. Whilst the detailed radar was limited in range, the basic radar could give a rough idea of what the terrain would be like from across the solar system. Which was rather useful.

Not that there was a lot in this solar system. Besides the lovely yellow sun a cruisy

The planet I was on was orbited by two moons - both lifeless grey rocks, but infinitely better than this stupid freaking swamp. Which, for what it was worth, was also lifeless - baring the obvious abundance of plants. Lifeless in terms of animals. Which wasn't really buying it any favours from me. All I wanted was to get off this stupid rock.

And once the first Astraeus finished, that's exactly what I did. Leaving the two Air Fabricators to continue spreading around the planet and building Metal Extractors, I moved myself over to the closest of the two moons. The furthest one could wait, for now. It wasn't like I had particular need for it, at the moment.

Whilst my Astraeus flew me over to Moon Number One, I had the Orbital Launcher construct a queue of Orbital Fabricators - If this was going to be my 'hub world' I may as well get established.

Once I had seven Orbital Fabricators and twelve Orbital Factories (and an empty metal reserve, unfortunately), I set the whole lot to construct solar panels. It wouldn't help the Metal problem, but it would pre-emptively solve the power issues - and prevention is always better than cure.

The Astraeus, meanwhile, had finally arrived at its destination, dropping me once again from an uncomfortable height onto the surface of the moon. I landed with an earth-shattering thud, kicking up a cloud of dust. Which I promptly ignored in favour of building another Metal Extractor.

Commanders are such bullshit.

---

Once I had more Air Fabricators, and their advanced cousins, than I could be bothered to count flying around the moon, I decided to call it a day.

One of the other fun subroutines I'd found pre-installed - PlanetaryAssimiliation_AdvancedAir_(Ver_ResourceGeneration)

It wasn't the only one, obviously - there were others, for bots, vehicles, and mixed tactics, and different goals - resource generation, maximized production, etcetera. But my need for resources and my love of aircraft sort of cemented that as the clear winner.

It was beautiful. I had no idea what the hell I was going to use a planet-sized mass of Factories, Generators, and Extractors for, but damn if it wasn't impressive. Well, it wasn't quite planet-sized. Moon-sized, more like. And it had yet to cover the whole surface, but that was likely going to change very quickly.

Of course, my Orbital had not gone unattended, either. Hundreds of platforms orbiting the swamp world, dozens more over the moon. A few in deep space, far enough away from the star and planet that they weren't bothered by gravity. More for variety than any tactical purpose.

Sue me.

Back on the swamp planet - man, these rocks needed names, - I had my Air Fabricators throw together another Dimensional Gate.

After all, there was a grand total of shit all to do in this empty system. Maybe once I got some cooler or more efficient terraforming technology, but until then I had... cores. Great, for altering atmospheres. Useless for everything else.

As thousands of Generators and Solar Panels fed energy into the Dimensional Gate, beginning the lengthy charge process, I looked over the blueprints for the Osiris Commander - one of the few things I hadn't yet bothered looking at.

It was an incredibly complex design - the number of systems all cleverly integrated together and fit inside a chassis hardly suited for such purposes was mind-boggling. I doubted I could do a better job of building a Commander than the Progenitors, but I did have a few pieces of technology that they didn't. Timestops, Friendship Lasers, even the only-marginally-useful Mind Control technology. I wouldn't be able to build a better Commander. A better equipped Commander, on the other hand, was relatively simple by comparison.

I'd have to look at that idea later. Maybe something bipedal - although I was starting to get use to the quadrupedal design now. Something to think on.

The blue portal burst into life and I stepped through.


This chapter is so pointless that if you were to somehow miss it, you probably wouldn't notice, since Chapter 26 starts the exact same way as this one did (on account of this one ending exactly as 24 did). Still, some stuff will be relevant later.

Probably.
I like it anyway. Good to see this running again.
 
And it shall be named Dagoba!

It would be cool if you were actually in the Star Wars universe.
 
Oh, I was thinking of the Mantrid drones. And Prince. And...

You know what? That universe is in a grand-scale time loop, repeating the same events over and over again. It'd be nice if Faith could mercy-kill it.
Even without having watched Lexx, I know enough about the setting to agree with you. It's just one of those worlds where burning everything down and leaving the ashes to smoulder isn't necessarily an evil choice.
 
Maybe once I got some cooler or more efficient terraforming technology, but until then I had... cores. Great, for altering atmospheres. Useless for everything else.
Actually you should be able to get more usable land fairly easily with your industrial base. Either start digging holes to make deeper oceans, or start shipping a bunch of water off to your moon.
 
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