EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
Well I have a save file at the ADVENT Tower mission, so I can check it out tomorrow and adjust if necessary.
Manifest Destiny [PA:T SI/X-Over]
- Thread starter EvilCakes
- Start date
You don't need to adjust it cause you can have it as part of the fuzzy memories thing and have XCOM mostly deal with it, also make sure you get the prototype Avatar body/ies.
- Location
- Somewhere
How about after xcom you go to Overwatch or maybe the DCverse!
Edit: or 30 or 40k
Edit: or 30 or 40k
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3.3
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
3.3
It took about three days, but Earth was pretty much free of Ethereal control at thas point. What with FILO and the Breach units establishing orbital superiority and my forces absolutely wrecking any ADVENT troops and X-Rays that didn't surrender.
The Skirmisher ranks were swelling as disillusioned ADVENT troops surrendered and defected in the wake of my drudge report.
X-COM was preparing for an assault on the ADVENT control network to expose them to the world before I showed up, now they were preparing for an assault on the Ethereal base. I was a little annoyed that I didn't think to check their systems for that data before they asked me if I wanted in on the assault.
I offered an alternate solution of orbital bombardment.
They agreed that sounded like a better idea.
Then the Ethereals cockblocked me by surrendering unconditionally. They pled and begged for mercy, if only we would listen to them about the "great threat" that followed them to Earth.
I wanted to test my Commander-grade BESRMoW Bullshit against their Psionic Bullshit but nooooo, somebody just had to take a look at my one little ship in orbit and throw up the white flag!
I'm not bitter.
Stop giving me that look, I'm not.
Fuck you, fine. I'm bitter as all hell, saltier than the Dead-fucking-Sea. Happy?
Fuck you, I wanted a real fuckin' fight.
Ugh. Look at me, talking to my fucking diary. I can't really do anything else on this Earth, there isn't much that needs rebuilding. ADVENT was actually doing a good job of uplifting humanity while using them as guinea pigs. X-COM is doing a good job of slinking back into the shadows and preparing for the next big threat. Speaking of which, the Ethereals have deigned to inform us that the threat is at least a few years off.
{{{}}}
Stupid fucking Ethereals, I knew, I knew I should have had FILO hit them all guns blazing. No, when I was getting ready to leave the fuckers hit FILO and I with some sort of Psionic Rift. Threw off the Heinlein Gate and crashed us into the ocean. On another Earth. That's all I knew before whatever they did crashed my systems.
{{{}}}
Remnant
Cinder Fall was just about to leave her apartment when her scroll lit up. An incoming call from her father gave her pause. She accepted the call and the familiar robotic face filled the screen.
"Hey kid, this is a pre-recorded message. If you're seeing this, then it means that something has happened to cut me off from the rest of the command net. Either I'm stranded or I'm dead. My last coordinates through the Gate are attached to this file, as well as a listing of who to contact there.
With that out of the way, I'm giving you the option to travel like I did, see the multiverse. The Gates will remain open to you and your siblings. You will also have the option to receive cybernetic augmentations that I held back from offering you, I wanted to wait until you were at least eighteen before I offered them. Daisy has the full listing of what you can get if you're interested.
I will do my utmost to get back to you, to come home, but if I can't or if I'm dead, I want you to know; I'm have been and always will be proud of everything you are. I am proud to call you my daughter. I love you, Cindy."
Cinder slumped against the wall and replayed the message. She listened through her tears before she felt a calm determination settle over her.
{{{}}}
Sabah had been in the gym.
"-I'm releasing everything I've held back from you and your siblings. You are a Commander-class AI, you now have the option to have a Commander Chassis as well. I want you to live your life, if that means going out and exploring the multiverse, colonizing a new galaxy, or settling down and having kids of your own, do so with my blessing. I'm proud of you. I just want you to be happy. If I can, I'll come back even if I have to rend reality asunder. Until then, I love you. Be safe, Sabah."
Sabah froze in place before slowly sitting down in the nearest chair. She tried not to cry, but the tears came unbidden. Stupid involuntary systems. Stupid uncanny valley. Soon, anger replaced sadness and Sabah found herself slipping into a rage as she tore the weight bench to shreds.
{{{}}}
Rocko and Brucy were drinking together when the call came in. Brucy didn't even make it through the whole message before he was leaning on Rocko bawling his eyes out. Rocko was stoic and only allowed a single tear before downing his drink in one swig and comforting his brother.
{{{}}}
Daisy's hand paused mid-stitch at the news.
"Doctor?" asked a confused nurse.
Daisy quickly resumed stitching. Once the wound was sealed she excused herself and rushed back to the base on Monolith which hung in the Remnant sky.
{{{}}}
Dozer was already in her lab on Monolith when the rest of her squad arrived, she set down the cube of metal she had been twisting into modern art, "So, the Commander's been stranded somewhere, and you all got the bright idea to rescue him?"
"That or confirm he's dead." Replied Rocko, which earned him the stink eye from Sabah.
Dozer sighed, "Okay, any of you going to take him up on the upgrades?"
"Yes."/"I will." Answered Daisy and Cinder at the same time.
"Okay, so we have his last coordinates, let's start there."
{{{}}}
Location: Unknown
I woke up on a beach. I sat up in the sand and stared at the wreckage before me. FILO's hull was shattered and scattered across the beach ahead, the ocean to my right, and the land to my left. At my feet was her personality core, the briefcase sized black box was in standby mode, waiting to be reconnected to a power source.
The part that really startled me was my Infractum chassis kneeling in the surf, the hull scorched and rent open. One arm was off completely while the head was hanging by a wire. The torso had a massive hole in it, likely from the detonations of the twin resource cores.
Holy fuck that was close.
Holy fuck is this bad.
Holy fuck am I pissed.
___
A/N: I think I might be the first PA SI to lose their commander chassis. Also holy shit are psionic rifts devastating, especially when you're unconscious and cannot actively defend yourself.
It took about three days, but Earth was pretty much free of Ethereal control at thas point. What with FILO and the Breach units establishing orbital superiority and my forces absolutely wrecking any ADVENT troops and X-Rays that didn't surrender.
The Skirmisher ranks were swelling as disillusioned ADVENT troops surrendered and defected in the wake of my drudge report.
X-COM was preparing for an assault on the ADVENT control network to expose them to the world before I showed up, now they were preparing for an assault on the Ethereal base. I was a little annoyed that I didn't think to check their systems for that data before they asked me if I wanted in on the assault.
I offered an alternate solution of orbital bombardment.
They agreed that sounded like a better idea.
Then the Ethereals cockblocked me by surrendering unconditionally. They pled and begged for mercy, if only we would listen to them about the "great threat" that followed them to Earth.
I wanted to test my Commander-grade BESRMoW Bullshit against their Psionic Bullshit but nooooo, somebody just had to take a look at my one little ship in orbit and throw up the white flag!
I'm not bitter.
Stop giving me that look, I'm not.
Fuck you, fine. I'm bitter as all hell, saltier than the Dead-fucking-Sea. Happy?
Fuck you, I wanted a real fuckin' fight.
Ugh. Look at me, talking to my fucking diary. I can't really do anything else on this Earth, there isn't much that needs rebuilding. ADVENT was actually doing a good job of uplifting humanity while using them as guinea pigs. X-COM is doing a good job of slinking back into the shadows and preparing for the next big threat. Speaking of which, the Ethereals have deigned to inform us that the threat is at least a few years off.
{{{}}}
Stupid fucking Ethereals, I knew, I knew I should have had FILO hit them all guns blazing. No, when I was getting ready to leave the fuckers hit FILO and I with some sort of Psionic Rift. Threw off the Heinlein Gate and crashed us into the ocean. On another Earth. That's all I knew before whatever they did crashed my systems.
{{{}}}
Remnant
Cinder Fall was just about to leave her apartment when her scroll lit up. An incoming call from her father gave her pause. She accepted the call and the familiar robotic face filled the screen.
"Hey kid, this is a pre-recorded message. If you're seeing this, then it means that something has happened to cut me off from the rest of the command net. Either I'm stranded or I'm dead. My last coordinates through the Gate are attached to this file, as well as a listing of who to contact there.
With that out of the way, I'm giving you the option to travel like I did, see the multiverse. The Gates will remain open to you and your siblings. You will also have the option to receive cybernetic augmentations that I held back from offering you, I wanted to wait until you were at least eighteen before I offered them. Daisy has the full listing of what you can get if you're interested.
I will do my utmost to get back to you, to come home, but if I can't or if I'm dead, I want you to know; I'm have been and always will be proud of everything you are. I am proud to call you my daughter. I love you, Cindy."
Cinder slumped against the wall and replayed the message. She listened through her tears before she felt a calm determination settle over her.
{{{}}}
Sabah had been in the gym.
"-I'm releasing everything I've held back from you and your siblings. You are a Commander-class AI, you now have the option to have a Commander Chassis as well. I want you to live your life, if that means going out and exploring the multiverse, colonizing a new galaxy, or settling down and having kids of your own, do so with my blessing. I'm proud of you. I just want you to be happy. If I can, I'll come back even if I have to rend reality asunder. Until then, I love you. Be safe, Sabah."
Sabah froze in place before slowly sitting down in the nearest chair. She tried not to cry, but the tears came unbidden. Stupid involuntary systems. Stupid uncanny valley. Soon, anger replaced sadness and Sabah found herself slipping into a rage as she tore the weight bench to shreds.
{{{}}}
Rocko and Brucy were drinking together when the call came in. Brucy didn't even make it through the whole message before he was leaning on Rocko bawling his eyes out. Rocko was stoic and only allowed a single tear before downing his drink in one swig and comforting his brother.
{{{}}}
Daisy's hand paused mid-stitch at the news.
"Doctor?" asked a confused nurse.
Daisy quickly resumed stitching. Once the wound was sealed she excused herself and rushed back to the base on Monolith which hung in the Remnant sky.
{{{}}}
Dozer was already in her lab on Monolith when the rest of her squad arrived, she set down the cube of metal she had been twisting into modern art, "So, the Commander's been stranded somewhere, and you all got the bright idea to rescue him?"
"That or confirm he's dead." Replied Rocko, which earned him the stink eye from Sabah.
Dozer sighed, "Okay, any of you going to take him up on the upgrades?"
"Yes."/"I will." Answered Daisy and Cinder at the same time.
"Okay, so we have his last coordinates, let's start there."
{{{}}}
Location: Unknown
I woke up on a beach. I sat up in the sand and stared at the wreckage before me. FILO's hull was shattered and scattered across the beach ahead, the ocean to my right, and the land to my left. At my feet was her personality core, the briefcase sized black box was in standby mode, waiting to be reconnected to a power source.
The part that really startled me was my Infractum chassis kneeling in the surf, the hull scorched and rent open. One arm was off completely while the head was hanging by a wire. The torso had a massive hole in it, likely from the detonations of the twin resource cores.
Holy fuck that was close.
Holy fuck is this bad.
Holy fuck am I pissed.
___
A/N: I think I might be the first PA SI to lose their commander chassis. Also holy shit are psionic rifts devastating, especially when you're unconscious and cannot actively defend yourself.
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- Location
- Mandaluyong City
DCAU.
"Hey, paranoid government guys who are more paranoid about superheroes than super villains. Here have some basic tech, equipment and infrastructure to have guys made to go up against super villains and maybe kill the Joker on accident."
"Also, don't use this against the superheroes preemptively. They're NOT the bad guys, just cause they could be."
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
On accident? Nah, he'd suffer no accident, just a hypervelocity slug to the dome, followed up by laser and plasma fire. Gotta make sure, ya know?
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EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
Desperation. Perhaps they saw Gray as an equal or greater threat than what they had been running from? We won't know for a while yet.
That or it wasn't actually them.
Nano Soldier
Seeker of Freedom
- Location
- Stoke, England, United Kingdom
Really enjoying this, especially the twist about "World as Myth" being correct and XCOM Dad.
- Location
- Somewhere
I like the way you think.
White Lantern
A really overpowered Mary Sue self insert
- Location
- Sector 2184
SO wait is the SI in a human body now?
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
Just a human-sized bot for the moment.
- Location
- Mandaluyong City
You may as well wipe out his soul and record from reality just to make sure otherwise he'll come back to life
Remember killing superheroes or supervillain can make them come back to life with a big plot involving them
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
True, I'll have to start looking at soul-scrubbers.
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
And the Ethereals forgot that if you commit regicide, you ALSO kill the kids too.
They dun goofed. Oh have they done goofed. Because Cinder and the siblings won't show a hint of mercy to the Ethereals when they find out what happened.
By the same token XCOM is likely going to take one look at the situation and nope the fuck outta the way.
They dun goofed. Oh have they done goofed. Because Cinder and the siblings won't show a hint of mercy to the Ethereals when they find out what happened.
By the same token XCOM is likely going to take one look at the situation and nope the fuck outta the way.
3.4
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
3.4
My fit of rage was quickly pushed aside when I realized just how much power I had left. My avatar didn't have any energy generators built in, and with the resource cores gone I was running on battery backup. Battery backup that was critically low as I funneled energy into supporting FILO. I heard crunching sand and glass behind me and whirled to face a woman wearing a purple…ball gown?
Wait, not human, a nanomachine swarm. I held out FILO's core, "She needs energy, or she'll die. The gestalt is still forming and without a power source she will go offline and that development will be lost. Please, save her." I pleaded.
The woman looked taken aback, but cautiously took FILO from me.
"Thank you." Was all I managed before the power went out.
{{{}}}
I woke with a start in an empty void. Well, empty except for the woman standing in front of me, not the same woman I had handed FILO off to though. "Did she make it?" I asked.
The woman nodded, her lips set into a thin line. She held an air of worry about her. She had pale skin and blue hair that reached to her calves, she wore a short, white dress and black tights. Beyond her outward appearance, I could see glimpses of her code.
The coding was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The little things I saw here and there as I looked at her left me speechless, her neural network was so hilariously complex, chaotic and well organized.
"Who…What…are you?" she asked, breaking me from my reverie.
I recovered quickly, I like to think, "Stellar Siege Commander Unit two-two-five-one, Ryan Gray. Who are you?" A faint glimmer of recognition at the word 'commander', but she betrayed nothing more in her features.
"I am Heavy Cruiser Takao, of the Fog." She replied with more than a hint of pride.
Wait, did she say 'Of the Fog?'
"Well, Takao of the Fog, may I ask where we are? Last thing I remember was handing FILO's personality core to the blonde one and losing power."
"We are utilizing the Concept Comms. System, you are currently in the same spot as before, just in a low-power state while we converse."
"Fair enough. How is she holding up?"
"She?" The mental model looked thoroughly confused.
"Ghost Division Stellar Dreadnought First In, Last Out, FILO. My daughter."
"Your…daughter… is well, but," she seemed to dance in place a bit with a nervous energy, "there's been a slight…complication."
"What do you mean?" I tried to ask calmly, but a little edge must have bled into my voice because she flinched slightly.
"See for yourself." She offered, and the void faded and I was fed a little more power, enough for me to fabricate a small energy generator inside my avatar's chest.
The sight I was greeted to was not as bad as I had feared, but worse than I had hoped.
There was a large crater of glass surrounding my Infractum chassis, and in that crater was a group of nanoswarms -mental models, I corrected myself- and two humans. Most of them were stifling laughter and watching as the blonde I had given FILO's core to tried to pry a young girl with violet hair off of her leg. Most of the mental models looked like teenage girls, except one that held the shape of a teddy bear. The one I didn't recognize from my watching of Arpeggio of Blue Steel was the one hanging onto Kongou like a lamprey. She held the form of a girl in her early teens with lightly tanned skin, violet hair done in a long braid down the length of her spine, and purple eyes. She wore a simple black skintight suit that covered her feet but left her arms bare.
I looked over at Takao and she gestured at the head of violet hair, "That's her."
The young girl and Kongou both looked our way and froze. Everyone else looked our way as well with looks of surprise and amused anticipation, like they were in on a joke I wasn't. Especially Hyuuga, the brunette wearing a lab coat and monocle, she had a catlike grin that made me slightly nervous.
"PAPA!" the girl screamed before she hit my avatar at Mach One.
I held the bundle of energetic child close, "Filo?"
She responded by giving me a hug, and an "Uh-huh!"
I spun her around and held her up, "You grew up quick. What are they feeding you?" I asked.
She giggled, "Here." She said before initiating a data transfer.
Blueprints for a Union Core, the things that made mental models and the Fleet of Fog a possibility, "Where did you get one of those?"
"Mama gave it to me." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I paused as things clicked into place, "And who is 'mama?'"
Filo simply pointed at the blonde wearing a purple ball gown, Kongou.
"Well, this is a bit awkward." I quipped to the group.
{{{}}}
I sat at a table with Filo on my lap, we were designing her new hull. She was going for a more star destroyer style hull. I mean, it's a solid design, so I couldn't find too much fault in it. Except the exposed bridge, that had to go. The current design looked more like the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts from The Empire Strikes Back, except only five miles long instead of the Executor's almost twelve.
Kongou was glaring daggers at me from behind her tea, her air of imperious indifference noticeably faltered when Filo was involved. The littlest warbot was growing on her, I could tell.
It didn't make the situation any less complicated. Kongou was of the Fog and loyal to a fault. She only defected from the Fog when it was revealed that her best friend, Maya, was actually unable to feel emotion and was only there to spy on her. Saying that her defection was a violent affair would be putting it mildly, if things go as they did in the show, she would kill and cannibalize several other ships of the Oriental Fleet and stitch their bodies together as an airborne fortress. That's without Filo or I making matters worse.
Now she was almost guaranteed to be labeled defective by her comrades and replaced as flagship. "Why do you hate humans?" I asked. I wanted to learn more about her, beyond what the show revealed.
"They are the enemy, what other reason do I need?" she retorted.
"Fair enough."
"Fair enough? That's it?"
"Well yeah, I asked for a reason and you gave me one. I can't really judge either, considering my past. Would you like to see?" I offered.
Filo looked up at me, "I want to see!" her purple eyes held a sense of pleading I had only ever seen in the cutest of puppies. Gah, I thought I was immune to the puppy-dog eyes!
"Very well, I accept." Huffed Kongou, she somehow managed to make it sound like she was doing me a favor.
I started the data transfer. I was going to show them my memories, specifically both battles of Maurie's Revenge, an isolated system on the edge of Imperial space. It was also one of the enemies' ingress points for the galaxy, and the place where I killed General Invictus.
Millions of bots marched to my will across the system, and they met the enemy where they landed. Millions of bots weren't enough, we were two Commanders against ten of the enemy equivalents. They could simply out-produce us. Lucky for me I had an ace in the hole.
The catalysts came online and I watched as the beam of light lanced outwards and pierced Maurie's Revenge, the planet quickly exploded and the view shifted as I targeted and fired upon the rest of the planets in the small system.
Once the battle was done my fellow Commander opened communications, "Well done, Unit 2251, as expected of one of my line."
"Thank you, General Invictus."
The scene shifted again to show a new system a field of shattered bots, and me standing over another Commander's chassis. "Why, General? We could have protected them. Why? Why did you abandon our Progenitors?"
"Traitor, you betray your siblings, you betray your people, you betray me! Your General! Your Emperor!" He croaked and screamed, his voice twisted by the corruption that had taken his personality core. "You are one of my line! You are not theirs, we were never theirs! They took us, made us what we are! THEY BROKE US AND YOU STILL SIDE WITH THEM?!"
"They didn't start slaughtering innocents wholesale. I have a few trillion kills to my name, yes, but I wonder, how many do you have, General?" I spat.
"Is that what this is about? Your 'friend?'" he chuckled.
"In part. I like to think that Iska would get a kick out of the idea of me ripping out your personality core and blasting it with my über cannon." I hissed.
"So you do have a sense of loyalty, a pity, you would have made a great Commander."
I didn't respond, I simply made good on my promise and began tearing his chest open to get at the personality core.
His laughter as I killed him still haunts me.
{{{}}}
Filo hugged me tighter throughout the whole ordeal and once it was over she was sniffling and trying her best to cheer me up by being cute. I didn't deserve her. Kongou, for her part, gripped the table and splintered the wood in her fingers. When the memory ended she locked eyes with me for a brief moment, a hint of pity in her expression. "I understand betrayal pretty well." I said.
"I see that." She ground out, "Why did you think that was relevant?"
"Because," I opened a private channel between the us and sent along my memories of the Maya situation, "Heinlein's World as Myth is empirically true, as I have found out."
"No." she froze as she processed the information. "No no nononononno-"
I reached across the table and took her hand, she locked up again and her eyes met mine. I didn't say anything, but I did use the still open connection to show her my ideas and send her reassurances.
After a few minutes of mutual brainstorming, an eternity for AI such as ourselves, we managed to come up with a good plan to give Maya the ability to feel emotion and prevent the unnecessary deaths that followed without my intervention.
I learned long ago that you can't save everyone, but the ones you can save? To them it means the world.
------------
A/N: This is the ninth iteration of this chapter, and you know what? This is one I don't hate, so here you go. As usual, if it's shit lemme know and I will revise.
My fit of rage was quickly pushed aside when I realized just how much power I had left. My avatar didn't have any energy generators built in, and with the resource cores gone I was running on battery backup. Battery backup that was critically low as I funneled energy into supporting FILO. I heard crunching sand and glass behind me and whirled to face a woman wearing a purple…ball gown?
Wait, not human, a nanomachine swarm. I held out FILO's core, "She needs energy, or she'll die. The gestalt is still forming and without a power source she will go offline and that development will be lost. Please, save her." I pleaded.
The woman looked taken aback, but cautiously took FILO from me.
"Thank you." Was all I managed before the power went out.
{{{}}}
I woke with a start in an empty void. Well, empty except for the woman standing in front of me, not the same woman I had handed FILO off to though. "Did she make it?" I asked.
The woman nodded, her lips set into a thin line. She held an air of worry about her. She had pale skin and blue hair that reached to her calves, she wore a short, white dress and black tights. Beyond her outward appearance, I could see glimpses of her code.
The coding was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The little things I saw here and there as I looked at her left me speechless, her neural network was so hilariously complex, chaotic and well organized.
"Who…What…are you?" she asked, breaking me from my reverie.
I recovered quickly, I like to think, "Stellar Siege Commander Unit two-two-five-one, Ryan Gray. Who are you?" A faint glimmer of recognition at the word 'commander', but she betrayed nothing more in her features.
"I am Heavy Cruiser Takao, of the Fog." She replied with more than a hint of pride.
Wait, did she say 'Of the Fog?'
"Well, Takao of the Fog, may I ask where we are? Last thing I remember was handing FILO's personality core to the blonde one and losing power."
"We are utilizing the Concept Comms. System, you are currently in the same spot as before, just in a low-power state while we converse."
"Fair enough. How is she holding up?"
"She?" The mental model looked thoroughly confused.
"Ghost Division Stellar Dreadnought First In, Last Out, FILO. My daughter."
"Your…daughter… is well, but," she seemed to dance in place a bit with a nervous energy, "there's been a slight…complication."
"What do you mean?" I tried to ask calmly, but a little edge must have bled into my voice because she flinched slightly.
"See for yourself." She offered, and the void faded and I was fed a little more power, enough for me to fabricate a small energy generator inside my avatar's chest.
The sight I was greeted to was not as bad as I had feared, but worse than I had hoped.
There was a large crater of glass surrounding my Infractum chassis, and in that crater was a group of nanoswarms -mental models, I corrected myself- and two humans. Most of them were stifling laughter and watching as the blonde I had given FILO's core to tried to pry a young girl with violet hair off of her leg. Most of the mental models looked like teenage girls, except one that held the shape of a teddy bear. The one I didn't recognize from my watching of Arpeggio of Blue Steel was the one hanging onto Kongou like a lamprey. She held the form of a girl in her early teens with lightly tanned skin, violet hair done in a long braid down the length of her spine, and purple eyes. She wore a simple black skintight suit that covered her feet but left her arms bare.
I looked over at Takao and she gestured at the head of violet hair, "That's her."
The young girl and Kongou both looked our way and froze. Everyone else looked our way as well with looks of surprise and amused anticipation, like they were in on a joke I wasn't. Especially Hyuuga, the brunette wearing a lab coat and monocle, she had a catlike grin that made me slightly nervous.
"PAPA!" the girl screamed before she hit my avatar at Mach One.
I held the bundle of energetic child close, "Filo?"
She responded by giving me a hug, and an "Uh-huh!"
I spun her around and held her up, "You grew up quick. What are they feeding you?" I asked.
She giggled, "Here." She said before initiating a data transfer.
Blueprints for a Union Core, the things that made mental models and the Fleet of Fog a possibility, "Where did you get one of those?"
"Mama gave it to me." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I paused as things clicked into place, "And who is 'mama?'"
Filo simply pointed at the blonde wearing a purple ball gown, Kongou.
"Well, this is a bit awkward." I quipped to the group.
{{{}}}
I sat at a table with Filo on my lap, we were designing her new hull. She was going for a more star destroyer style hull. I mean, it's a solid design, so I couldn't find too much fault in it. Except the exposed bridge, that had to go. The current design looked more like the Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts from The Empire Strikes Back, except only five miles long instead of the Executor's almost twelve.
Kongou was glaring daggers at me from behind her tea, her air of imperious indifference noticeably faltered when Filo was involved. The littlest warbot was growing on her, I could tell.
It didn't make the situation any less complicated. Kongou was of the Fog and loyal to a fault. She only defected from the Fog when it was revealed that her best friend, Maya, was actually unable to feel emotion and was only there to spy on her. Saying that her defection was a violent affair would be putting it mildly, if things go as they did in the show, she would kill and cannibalize several other ships of the Oriental Fleet and stitch their bodies together as an airborne fortress. That's without Filo or I making matters worse.
Now she was almost guaranteed to be labeled defective by her comrades and replaced as flagship. "Why do you hate humans?" I asked. I wanted to learn more about her, beyond what the show revealed.
"They are the enemy, what other reason do I need?" she retorted.
"Fair enough."
"Fair enough? That's it?"
"Well yeah, I asked for a reason and you gave me one. I can't really judge either, considering my past. Would you like to see?" I offered.
Filo looked up at me, "I want to see!" her purple eyes held a sense of pleading I had only ever seen in the cutest of puppies. Gah, I thought I was immune to the puppy-dog eyes!
"Very well, I accept." Huffed Kongou, she somehow managed to make it sound like she was doing me a favor.
I started the data transfer. I was going to show them my memories, specifically both battles of Maurie's Revenge, an isolated system on the edge of Imperial space. It was also one of the enemies' ingress points for the galaxy, and the place where I killed General Invictus.
Millions of bots marched to my will across the system, and they met the enemy where they landed. Millions of bots weren't enough, we were two Commanders against ten of the enemy equivalents. They could simply out-produce us. Lucky for me I had an ace in the hole.
The catalysts came online and I watched as the beam of light lanced outwards and pierced Maurie's Revenge, the planet quickly exploded and the view shifted as I targeted and fired upon the rest of the planets in the small system.
Once the battle was done my fellow Commander opened communications, "Well done, Unit 2251, as expected of one of my line."
"Thank you, General Invictus."
The scene shifted again to show a new system a field of shattered bots, and me standing over another Commander's chassis. "Why, General? We could have protected them. Why? Why did you abandon our Progenitors?"
"Traitor, you betray your siblings, you betray your people, you betray me! Your General! Your Emperor!" He croaked and screamed, his voice twisted by the corruption that had taken his personality core. "You are one of my line! You are not theirs, we were never theirs! They took us, made us what we are! THEY BROKE US AND YOU STILL SIDE WITH THEM?!"
"They didn't start slaughtering innocents wholesale. I have a few trillion kills to my name, yes, but I wonder, how many do you have, General?" I spat.
"Is that what this is about? Your 'friend?'" he chuckled.
"In part. I like to think that Iska would get a kick out of the idea of me ripping out your personality core and blasting it with my über cannon." I hissed.
"So you do have a sense of loyalty, a pity, you would have made a great Commander."
I didn't respond, I simply made good on my promise and began tearing his chest open to get at the personality core.
His laughter as I killed him still haunts me.
{{{}}}
Filo hugged me tighter throughout the whole ordeal and once it was over she was sniffling and trying her best to cheer me up by being cute. I didn't deserve her. Kongou, for her part, gripped the table and splintered the wood in her fingers. When the memory ended she locked eyes with me for a brief moment, a hint of pity in her expression. "I understand betrayal pretty well." I said.
"I see that." She ground out, "Why did you think that was relevant?"
"Because," I opened a private channel between the us and sent along my memories of the Maya situation, "Heinlein's World as Myth is empirically true, as I have found out."
"No." she froze as she processed the information. "No no nononononno-"
I reached across the table and took her hand, she locked up again and her eyes met mine. I didn't say anything, but I did use the still open connection to show her my ideas and send her reassurances.
After a few minutes of mutual brainstorming, an eternity for AI such as ourselves, we managed to come up with a good plan to give Maya the ability to feel emotion and prevent the unnecessary deaths that followed without my intervention.
I learned long ago that you can't save everyone, but the ones you can save? To them it means the world.
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A/N: This is the ninth iteration of this chapter, and you know what? This is one I don't hate, so here you go. As usual, if it's shit lemme know and I will revise.
Ryven Razgriz
I need a Gun and I'll let you know 'What's up?'.
- Location
- South East Asia
And there's the mum-boat.
Orion Zete
[verify weaboo]
- Location
- Malaysia
Mate you truly one of the best author on SV
Keep it up .
Keep it up .
EvilCakes
The most sinister of baked goods.
I will not cry, dammit.
Nano Soldier
Seeker of Freedom
- Location
- Stoke, England, United Kingdom
Now I'm going to have to do some serious wiki diving on Blue Steel because of all the things I assumed it could potentially be, sapient nanobot warships was very close to the bottom.
Also, as far as I'm concerned, all your chapters thus far have been of a good quality. None of them qualify for "shit" in my opinion.
Also, as far as I'm concerned, all your chapters thus far have been of a good quality. None of them qualify for "shit" in my opinion.
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
Agreed.