TrueGuardian32
Unfinished Writer
- Location
- Arkansas
Based on what we know of the Clockwork Gears they would try to kill the Zerg the first moment they got.
Scattered Gears (Titan of Steel/Multicross)
- Thread starter We Just Write
- Start date
- Original Crossover Superhero
Star Wars 2 (Yarrow, Pseudodungeon)
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
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(POV: Yarrow, Pseudodungeon)
Preparations for purging Tatooine of Slavers took a little while to get ready. First and foremost was actually finding everyone who was responsible for facilitating the slave trade. Shmi's information was excellent for this, but it was clear that her knowledge was distinctly limited. As such, my first course of action was infiltrating the slave markets using rather literal surveillance bugs; bio-engineering wasn't my strong suit, but I'd already got a research and development team of millions of Clockworks happily doing science in the massive underground complex I'd quickly become. Some local insect fauna was quickly captured and analyzed, before the research team came back with a close copy, except that this one had drastically improved sensory organs, and an integrated Mana Comms system allowing for remote direction and sensory data streaming.
I made about ten million of the little bugs in question and surreptitiously scattered them around the various settlements of Tatooine, my insectile observers quickly displacing the unaltered bugs from their ecological niche and settling in to watch the various comings and goings. Very rapidly I started assembling a comprehensive list of everyone who was buying, selling, or trading slaves on the planet. Within forty eight hours I had a hit list of people who I needed to take out, complete with a few exceptions who turned out to be fronts for a secretive 'Underground Hyperlane' that made a point of liberating slaves. I made sure to note down the exceptions, and started getting the forces of every Clockwork Knight who volunteered for the job into position.
I was going to do this quickly and simultaneously. The first that any slaver would know of this would be the receiving end of a quick, clean kill; anything slower and there was a risk that they'd set off the detonators in the remaining slaves. As such, I was getting strategic-range teleporter pads ready for worldwide deployment during the period of observation. Sadly, during this period, I did notice a few slaves being unfortunately detonated. In a couple cases I was able to recover and resuscitate them, but most of the time I would have had to break stealth to achieve that.
One thing I did do while I was waiting however was use a low-yield protonium warhead to kill that nightmarish living execution pit Jabba apparently liked to throw people into. If this planet never saw another Sarlacc, it would be too soon.
Either way, at the end of forty eight hours (about a day and a half local time), I was ready. I sent the command through the tactical net, and every single Knight walked to their teleporter pad. Mere moments later, I flung them all through pseudo-space to their targets. Watching through the eyes of my bugs, I saw to it that justice was done.
(POV: Third Person near Jabba the Hutt)
The sail barge known as the Khetanna gently cruised through Tatooine's atmosphere at a leisurely pace. Aboard, Jabba was smugly gloating to his various subordinates about how today he would get rid of a major thorn in his side. After all, he'd finally caught the pair of vigilante Twi'Lek who had been having a surprising amount of success at stealing his personal slaves. As such, when one of the crew aboard the sail barge informed Jabba <<We have arrived at the Great Pit of Carkoon. Or, well, where it's supposed to be.>> the Hutt simply hummed in acknowledgement, before abruptly starting in surprise.
Immediately snapping to attentively gaze at the unfortunate underling, Jabba asked <<What do you mean, where it's supposed to be?>>
To this, the Rodian answered <<There's only a smoldering crater where the Great Pit was. Said crater is faintly radioactive, suggesting that someone took offense to the Sarlacc's existence and fed it some nuclear ordnance.>>
After a moment, Jabba heaved himself off his seat and began slithering towards the ramp for accessing the top deck, idly asking <<Curiously, how deep is the crater?>>
As he came out onto the shaded top deck, Jabba idly heard his underling comment <<At least a hundred meters, sir.>>
Indeed, Jabba thought, the crater was that deep. In fact, seeing it in-person conveyed a new appreciation for just how big the Sarlacc had actually been. Then he looked up, and saw some of his other underlings looking around in sheer confusion on the skiff, apparently uncertain if they should simply kick the pair of rebellious lesbian Twi'Lek over the side to their deaths by falling.
Groaning in frustration, Jabba called out <<Drop them off the side already! The Sarlacc is gone, so we might as well->>
That's when the Hutt crime lord was treated to a very brief yet incredibly peculiar sight. Namely, a three-eyed combat droid seemingly appearing from nowhere right in front of him. He barely had time to process said droid bringing their arm up in a single smooth motion before he found himself staring down the barrel of the integrated gun on said arm. After the briefest fraction of a second, the combat droid fired, the hypervelocity bullet splattering nearly the entirety of Jabba's head in a massive fountain of gore.
(POV: Third Person near Qui-Gon Jinn)
The elderly Jedi master nearly fell out of his seat as the ship abruptly dropped out of Hyperspace. After steadying himself and helping Jar-Jar Binks back to his feet, Qui-Gon asked towards the cockpit "What happened? Normally dropping out of hyperspace isn't that disruptive."
In response, the three-eyed combat droid aboard responded "You slammed right into the dimensional jamming field around Tatooine that we put up to stop some nutcase from disabling their hyperdrive's safeties and slamming into the planet."
Abruptly, everyone whirled to face the heavily-armed intruder in their midst. Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan both readied to draw their lightsabers while Padme readied her blaster. After a tense moment, the droid noted "Apologies, I should have introduced myself when I boarded. I am Clockwork Knight Vigilance, and I am currently operating in a customs capacity for Tatooine. That said, what is your purpose for coming here? Please be aware that I will know if you lie."
After a few moments, Padme answered "We were trying to reach Coruscant so we could get relief for the blockade of Naboo. Our ship was damaged when we ran the blockade, and this was the only planet we could reach before our hyperdrive failed where the Trade Federation would not find us."
Nodding solemnly, the droid going by Vigilance answered "Understood. Dock at any of our spaceport facilities and we'll see what we can do to repair your starship. Please bear in mind that it may take some time to fabricate compatible replacement parts, but we will eventually manage it. In addition, we will begin preparing a relief force for Naboo immediately."
Somewhat flabbergasted and suspicious at the sheer generosity on display, Qui-Gon Jinn noted "That's awfully kind of you, though I'm not sure how we can pay for it."
This is about when Vigilance slapped one of their knees with a loud metallic clang and remarked "Hah! Who cares about money when there's innocent people to save! We're going to do it simply because we want to, and we've got the capabilities."
Preparations for purging Tatooine of Slavers took a little while to get ready. First and foremost was actually finding everyone who was responsible for facilitating the slave trade. Shmi's information was excellent for this, but it was clear that her knowledge was distinctly limited. As such, my first course of action was infiltrating the slave markets using rather literal surveillance bugs; bio-engineering wasn't my strong suit, but I'd already got a research and development team of millions of Clockworks happily doing science in the massive underground complex I'd quickly become. Some local insect fauna was quickly captured and analyzed, before the research team came back with a close copy, except that this one had drastically improved sensory organs, and an integrated Mana Comms system allowing for remote direction and sensory data streaming.
I made about ten million of the little bugs in question and surreptitiously scattered them around the various settlements of Tatooine, my insectile observers quickly displacing the unaltered bugs from their ecological niche and settling in to watch the various comings and goings. Very rapidly I started assembling a comprehensive list of everyone who was buying, selling, or trading slaves on the planet. Within forty eight hours I had a hit list of people who I needed to take out, complete with a few exceptions who turned out to be fronts for a secretive 'Underground Hyperlane' that made a point of liberating slaves. I made sure to note down the exceptions, and started getting the forces of every Clockwork Knight who volunteered for the job into position.
I was going to do this quickly and simultaneously. The first that any slaver would know of this would be the receiving end of a quick, clean kill; anything slower and there was a risk that they'd set off the detonators in the remaining slaves. As such, I was getting strategic-range teleporter pads ready for worldwide deployment during the period of observation. Sadly, during this period, I did notice a few slaves being unfortunately detonated. In a couple cases I was able to recover and resuscitate them, but most of the time I would have had to break stealth to achieve that.
One thing I did do while I was waiting however was use a low-yield protonium warhead to kill that nightmarish living execution pit Jabba apparently liked to throw people into. If this planet never saw another Sarlacc, it would be too soon.
Either way, at the end of forty eight hours (about a day and a half local time), I was ready. I sent the command through the tactical net, and every single Knight walked to their teleporter pad. Mere moments later, I flung them all through pseudo-space to their targets. Watching through the eyes of my bugs, I saw to it that justice was done.
(POV: Third Person near Jabba the Hutt)
The sail barge known as the Khetanna gently cruised through Tatooine's atmosphere at a leisurely pace. Aboard, Jabba was smugly gloating to his various subordinates about how today he would get rid of a major thorn in his side. After all, he'd finally caught the pair of vigilante Twi'Lek who had been having a surprising amount of success at stealing his personal slaves. As such, when one of the crew aboard the sail barge informed Jabba <<We have arrived at the Great Pit of Carkoon. Or, well, where it's supposed to be.>> the Hutt simply hummed in acknowledgement, before abruptly starting in surprise.
Immediately snapping to attentively gaze at the unfortunate underling, Jabba asked <<What do you mean, where it's supposed to be?>>
To this, the Rodian answered <<There's only a smoldering crater where the Great Pit was. Said crater is faintly radioactive, suggesting that someone took offense to the Sarlacc's existence and fed it some nuclear ordnance.>>
After a moment, Jabba heaved himself off his seat and began slithering towards the ramp for accessing the top deck, idly asking <<Curiously, how deep is the crater?>>
As he came out onto the shaded top deck, Jabba idly heard his underling comment <<At least a hundred meters, sir.>>
Indeed, Jabba thought, the crater was that deep. In fact, seeing it in-person conveyed a new appreciation for just how big the Sarlacc had actually been. Then he looked up, and saw some of his other underlings looking around in sheer confusion on the skiff, apparently uncertain if they should simply kick the pair of rebellious lesbian Twi'Lek over the side to their deaths by falling.
Groaning in frustration, Jabba called out <<Drop them off the side already! The Sarlacc is gone, so we might as well->>
That's when the Hutt crime lord was treated to a very brief yet incredibly peculiar sight. Namely, a three-eyed combat droid seemingly appearing from nowhere right in front of him. He barely had time to process said droid bringing their arm up in a single smooth motion before he found himself staring down the barrel of the integrated gun on said arm. After the briefest fraction of a second, the combat droid fired, the hypervelocity bullet splattering nearly the entirety of Jabba's head in a massive fountain of gore.
(POV: Third Person near Qui-Gon Jinn)
The elderly Jedi master nearly fell out of his seat as the ship abruptly dropped out of Hyperspace. After steadying himself and helping Jar-Jar Binks back to his feet, Qui-Gon asked towards the cockpit "What happened? Normally dropping out of hyperspace isn't that disruptive."
In response, the three-eyed combat droid aboard responded "You slammed right into the dimensional jamming field around Tatooine that we put up to stop some nutcase from disabling their hyperdrive's safeties and slamming into the planet."
Abruptly, everyone whirled to face the heavily-armed intruder in their midst. Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan both readied to draw their lightsabers while Padme readied her blaster. After a tense moment, the droid noted "Apologies, I should have introduced myself when I boarded. I am Clockwork Knight Vigilance, and I am currently operating in a customs capacity for Tatooine. That said, what is your purpose for coming here? Please be aware that I will know if you lie."
After a few moments, Padme answered "We were trying to reach Coruscant so we could get relief for the blockade of Naboo. Our ship was damaged when we ran the blockade, and this was the only planet we could reach before our hyperdrive failed where the Trade Federation would not find us."
Nodding solemnly, the droid going by Vigilance answered "Understood. Dock at any of our spaceport facilities and we'll see what we can do to repair your starship. Please bear in mind that it may take some time to fabricate compatible replacement parts, but we will eventually manage it. In addition, we will begin preparing a relief force for Naboo immediately."
Somewhat flabbergasted and suspicious at the sheer generosity on display, Qui-Gon Jinn noted "That's awfully kind of you, though I'm not sure how we can pay for it."
This is about when Vigilance slapped one of their knees with a loud metallic clang and remarked "Hah! Who cares about money when there's innocent people to save! We're going to do it simply because we want to, and we've got the capabilities."
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We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
Legends. Disney's nonsense is being ignored.
- Location
- Puerto Rico
Awesome chapter.
How much time has passed between killing Jabba and the arrival of our Nabboo group?
Woot woot! The only true response.
Hmmmm, i have a question. How would a dimensional jammer make people out of hyper drive, from what it is described
in the main series it would prevent people coming out of hyperdrive.
I think what you want its a gravity based intridiction field.
Likely by disrupting hyperspace within the jamming area, to create ripples that would force a ship in hyperspace back into realspace. Sort of an inversion of how the hyperdrive normally creates ripples in normal space time to propel themselves into hyperspace.
Sure but the dimensional blocker prevent people from coming to the dimension it is in, even if it disturbes the hyperspace they wouldn't drop out, they would just explode in hyperspace or something.
Eh, more likely one of the side effects is that it simply makes the effects of Tatooine's gravity well more prominent for purposes of preventing hyperspace travel - thus, you can't try and drop out on the edge of the atmosphere, or inside of a planetary shield of some sort, or any shenanigans like that.
The added violence of the transition is likely due to the disturbances in hyperspace - think turbulence on take off/landing for normal aircraft, except with FTL starships in space.
Yeah, but thats never been a thing and i know the author likes to consistent.
We Just Write
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The way I'm interpreting Hyperspace is that it's too tightly bound to realspace to really count as a separate universe. However, it's still not exactly the same spacetime as realspace. Thus, the general effect is that within a dimensional jamming field that hasn't been explicitly tuned to avoid it, Hyperspace and Realspace get kind of smushed together. This has the effect that any ship in Hyperspace that hits a Jamming field will immediately revert to realspace in a rather abrupt manner. The mechanical strain gets worse as the ship doing this gets bigger, meaning a capital ship ramming the field might actually break apart into sections.
Assuming the differential velocity doesn't result in the ship pancaking on the jamming field border, due to the front of the ship slowing down faster than the back of it. At high enough speeds, it'd probably be like they rammed into an asteroid at full throttle.
TrueGuardian32
Unfinished Writer
- Location
- Arkansas
Do I have a go ahead for posting a section for Halo in here?
Yes, please post your own Knights
We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
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ATTENTION: This is a blanket permission for posting your own tales of Clockwork Knights getting into various misadventures in whatever settings you feel like.
If you use a setting that I'm not doing anything with at the moment, you actually get a regular main-line Threadmark. Otherwise it's a Sidestory threadmark.
If you use a setting that I'm not doing anything with at the moment, you actually get a regular main-line Threadmark. Otherwise it's a Sidestory threadmark.
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PyroTechno
The Procrastination Pokemon
There's a millions-strong team of Clockworks working on researching and developing this stuff. However the jamming field works, it is presumably designed to work around any "it randomly kills people we might not want to kill" problems.
Uh... most of the time, I guess.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
...that seems a bit...unnecessary? I mean, the Sarlacc is just a giant, immobile ambush predator. It doesn't have any malicious intent behind it's actions, and they are really not very dangerous once you know where they are. It's just an animal, it doesn't have a choice in or care that Jabba is using it as a execution tool. It probably just appreciates that it's getting food a lot more often than is common for a Sarlacc.
We Just Write
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The problem is that a Sarlacc's digestive system can keep their food alive in agonizing pain for longer than their natural lifespan. Their guts are effectively massive torture chambers.
IIRC this can't happen with Star Wars hyperdrives. Disabling the safeties just means the hyperdrive fails in a more permanent fashion.
The Clockworks might not be able to determine that, though, since they have a solution and experiments would be messy and destructive.
DOOM 2 (Clockwork Knight Adamant)
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Blatantly Plural
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- New England
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(POV: Clockwork Knight Adamant)
It had been about thirty hours since I first met that green-armored individual. Since that time, my children had established a respectable starting fortress nearly a kilometer across, we'd proceeded to flood the environment nearby with so much Holy Mana that Daemons coming within twenty kilometers were starting to physically disintegrate just from being in the area, and we'd organized reconnaissance-in-force in patrols of fifty Knights and a couple VTOL gunships strong out to a radius of approximately two hundred kilometers.
It was on one of these patrols when my unit happened upon a sight that we honestly should have expected. Namely, a Hellrift. Immediately, I did my duty and called back to the Prime Beachhead "This is patrol AC33. We're 2.1 degrees clockwise of north at a range of 211 kilometers. We've found a Hellrift with a radius of 120 meters currently deploying Daemonic forces to another realm. Do we close it, or do we take it?"
It took mere seconds to get a reply of "Take and hold that Hellrift! We've authorized an additional force of a thousand Knights and appropriate vehicle support to come help you dig in, but until then your orders are to kill every single Daemon that tries to go through. Do you copy?"
I sent an affirmative response back, and then all Hell broke as we opened fire, using the tactical net to co-ordinate our fire for maximum carnage. Where before I was hard-pressed to keep up with the neverending tide of Daemons all on my own, now I had backup. LOTS of backup. As such, the searing beams of Holy-charged nuclear fire that carved across the canyon the Daemons were charging through thoroughly obliterated the most serious resistance in mere seconds, hundreds of "Hell Knights" and "Skull Launchers" being splattered into paste before they had any chance to react. All we needed to do now was hold the line against an unceasing stream of Daemons and take out the portal operators before they got the bright idea to close the rift.
I immediately volunteered for this, saying "I'm taking point on cleaning out the portal's operators. More volunteers for that would be appreciated."
Five more Knights came with me for this, and we blinked down into the canyon in search of stragglers. Almost immediately, we came across a tall sinister-looking Daemon with an enlarged cranium and spiky pauldrons. As said Daemon saw us approach, they immediately began trying to conjure up more Daemons. I immediately stated over the tac-net "Found an officer. We're taking this one alive for interrogation."
(POV: Third Person near a recently captured Arch-Vile)
The interrogation room was, generally speaking, rather barren. There were four metal walls, a floor, and a ceiling playing host to lighting strips. On one side of the only table in the room sat a Clockwork Knight. On the other side, an Arch-Vile was cuffed in place to keep them from causing trouble during the interrogation.
As they sat down, the Clockwork Knight noted "Words of Truth is now active. As such, deception will be impossible for the duration of the interrogation. First question, what is your name?"
Immediately, the Arch-Vile replied "I refuse to answer this question."
The Clockwork hummed for a few moments, before noting "Is there any particular reason for your refusal to answer, or are you simply being obstinate?"
Sneering, the Demon replied "We both know that you plan on killing me as soon as the interrogation ends. As long as that does not change, I will provide no useful information."
To this, the Clockwork replied "That is entirely contingent on your co-operation. In exchange for providing all the useful information you have, you will be kept as a prisoner of war instead of terminated. We will ensure that basic survival needs are met, and will only apply the force necessary to keep you confined. This is your final offer; either start talking or we start over with someone who will."
With that, the Arch-Vile grinned before saying "Understood. In answer to your first question, I am Degmanir. I am what is referred to as an Arch-Vile, and here's what I know about the current campaign."
The interrogation continued in this vein for several hours, the Clockworks quickly extracting every single piece of useful information from the Arch-Vile in question. As soon as that was done, Degmanir was shown to the newly constructed prison facility to remain in confinement for the foreseeable future.
(POV: Clockwork Knight Adamant)
While that Daemon we captured was getting hauled off to an interrogation facility and the additional forces we'd called for got to reinforcing the Hellrift, I and the rest of Patrol AC33 got ready to go on an interdimensional excursion. As we approached the portal, I asked one of my great-grandchildren "So, ready to go save a bunch of people from a Daemonic invasion?"
To this, Carrie replied "Absolutely." and with that we charged forwards through the rift. Moments later, we came out in the wreckage of what obviously used to be a city, and immediately got to ripping through every Daemon in sight. We had our beachhead, and we were going to make use of it to the best of our ability.
About twenty minutes of carnage later, I came across the interesting sight of a fireteam that most definitely weren't Clockworks shooting various weapons into the group of Daemons we were engaging from their opposite flank. A quick check of the Thematograph indicated that while they themselves weren't Daemonic, their gear was using tightly controlled Daemon energy for power. Interesting; I guess if they didn't have any better options they might turn to that out of desperation.
A few moments after finishing mulching the group of Daemons in question, I stowed my weapons aside from my shield before walking out into an open sightline. As I did so, I waved and called out "Greetings!"
Casually stepping on the remains of several Daemons and crushing them as I approached, I activated Words of Truth and said at high volume "I am Clockwork Knight Adamant. I've recently arrived in this region of the multiverse and started a campaign against the local hell dimension! I would like to speak with you! May I come up?"
After a few moments, one of the soldiers up on the balcony answered "Permission granted. We've already radioed command, so don't try anything."
With that, I teleported up next to the fireteam. As the troopers suddenly whirled around before lowering their weapons, I noted "Sorry for surprising you with the sudden teleport. Anyway, I've already given the basic introduction, but here's the more pertinent points. I am a Clockwork, a self-replicating sapient combat automaton created by the Socialist Republic of Amali in a far-flung part of the multiverse. We managed to fight off our local hell dimension, but in the process there was an unexpected dimensional anomaly that deposited me in the Hell you're currently having trouble with. My progeny and I are going to do everything in our power to put a stop to the current invasion and save as many people as possible, but we will be far more effective if allowed to co-ordinate with your organization. Yes, I know you've had your radio transmitting for this entire monolog."
There was a brief pause as the three men and two women in the squad stared at me for a brief moment. Then one of the men (blonde hair barely visible beneath helmet visor, green eyes, power-lifter's physique) hesitantly introduced themselves as "Sergeant Rod Jones. I'm with ARC; basically when the Demons invaded Doctor Hayden got all the militaries together and rolled us into ARC, and our clusterfuck of a military has been fighting an ever-encroaching Demonic force ever since."
Interesting, slight terminology differences regarding hellspawn. Well, I suppose I might as well use the local term.
Simulating a nod, I asked "Would you mind putting my patrol in contact with your high command then? There are Demons that need killing and the sooner we get properly co-ordinated the more good we can do."
With that Marie (one of the gunships attached to my patrol) landed and opened her side bay doors, revealing a good twenty Clockworks sitting on the benches inside. As she did so, she asked "Hey gramps! Made some new friends?"
As the five ARC soldiers looked on in total confusion and disbelief, I noted "I probably should have mentioned that my patrol is fifty Knights strong and has attached air transport."
It had been about thirty hours since I first met that green-armored individual. Since that time, my children had established a respectable starting fortress nearly a kilometer across, we'd proceeded to flood the environment nearby with so much Holy Mana that Daemons coming within twenty kilometers were starting to physically disintegrate just from being in the area, and we'd organized reconnaissance-in-force in patrols of fifty Knights and a couple VTOL gunships strong out to a radius of approximately two hundred kilometers.
It was on one of these patrols when my unit happened upon a sight that we honestly should have expected. Namely, a Hellrift. Immediately, I did my duty and called back to the Prime Beachhead "This is patrol AC33. We're 2.1 degrees clockwise of north at a range of 211 kilometers. We've found a Hellrift with a radius of 120 meters currently deploying Daemonic forces to another realm. Do we close it, or do we take it?"
It took mere seconds to get a reply of "Take and hold that Hellrift! We've authorized an additional force of a thousand Knights and appropriate vehicle support to come help you dig in, but until then your orders are to kill every single Daemon that tries to go through. Do you copy?"
I sent an affirmative response back, and then all Hell broke as we opened fire, using the tactical net to co-ordinate our fire for maximum carnage. Where before I was hard-pressed to keep up with the neverending tide of Daemons all on my own, now I had backup. LOTS of backup. As such, the searing beams of Holy-charged nuclear fire that carved across the canyon the Daemons were charging through thoroughly obliterated the most serious resistance in mere seconds, hundreds of "Hell Knights" and "Skull Launchers" being splattered into paste before they had any chance to react. All we needed to do now was hold the line against an unceasing stream of Daemons and take out the portal operators before they got the bright idea to close the rift.
I immediately volunteered for this, saying "I'm taking point on cleaning out the portal's operators. More volunteers for that would be appreciated."
Five more Knights came with me for this, and we blinked down into the canyon in search of stragglers. Almost immediately, we came across a tall sinister-looking Daemon with an enlarged cranium and spiky pauldrons. As said Daemon saw us approach, they immediately began trying to conjure up more Daemons. I immediately stated over the tac-net "Found an officer. We're taking this one alive for interrogation."
(POV: Third Person near a recently captured Arch-Vile)
The interrogation room was, generally speaking, rather barren. There were four metal walls, a floor, and a ceiling playing host to lighting strips. On one side of the only table in the room sat a Clockwork Knight. On the other side, an Arch-Vile was cuffed in place to keep them from causing trouble during the interrogation.
As they sat down, the Clockwork Knight noted "Words of Truth is now active. As such, deception will be impossible for the duration of the interrogation. First question, what is your name?"
Immediately, the Arch-Vile replied "I refuse to answer this question."
The Clockwork hummed for a few moments, before noting "Is there any particular reason for your refusal to answer, or are you simply being obstinate?"
Sneering, the Demon replied "We both know that you plan on killing me as soon as the interrogation ends. As long as that does not change, I will provide no useful information."
To this, the Clockwork replied "That is entirely contingent on your co-operation. In exchange for providing all the useful information you have, you will be kept as a prisoner of war instead of terminated. We will ensure that basic survival needs are met, and will only apply the force necessary to keep you confined. This is your final offer; either start talking or we start over with someone who will."
With that, the Arch-Vile grinned before saying "Understood. In answer to your first question, I am Degmanir. I am what is referred to as an Arch-Vile, and here's what I know about the current campaign."
The interrogation continued in this vein for several hours, the Clockworks quickly extracting every single piece of useful information from the Arch-Vile in question. As soon as that was done, Degmanir was shown to the newly constructed prison facility to remain in confinement for the foreseeable future.
(POV: Clockwork Knight Adamant)
While that Daemon we captured was getting hauled off to an interrogation facility and the additional forces we'd called for got to reinforcing the Hellrift, I and the rest of Patrol AC33 got ready to go on an interdimensional excursion. As we approached the portal, I asked one of my great-grandchildren "So, ready to go save a bunch of people from a Daemonic invasion?"
To this, Carrie replied "Absolutely." and with that we charged forwards through the rift. Moments later, we came out in the wreckage of what obviously used to be a city, and immediately got to ripping through every Daemon in sight. We had our beachhead, and we were going to make use of it to the best of our ability.
About twenty minutes of carnage later, I came across the interesting sight of a fireteam that most definitely weren't Clockworks shooting various weapons into the group of Daemons we were engaging from their opposite flank. A quick check of the Thematograph indicated that while they themselves weren't Daemonic, their gear was using tightly controlled Daemon energy for power. Interesting; I guess if they didn't have any better options they might turn to that out of desperation.
A few moments after finishing mulching the group of Daemons in question, I stowed my weapons aside from my shield before walking out into an open sightline. As I did so, I waved and called out "Greetings!"
Casually stepping on the remains of several Daemons and crushing them as I approached, I activated Words of Truth and said at high volume "I am Clockwork Knight Adamant. I've recently arrived in this region of the multiverse and started a campaign against the local hell dimension! I would like to speak with you! May I come up?"
After a few moments, one of the soldiers up on the balcony answered "Permission granted. We've already radioed command, so don't try anything."
With that, I teleported up next to the fireteam. As the troopers suddenly whirled around before lowering their weapons, I noted "Sorry for surprising you with the sudden teleport. Anyway, I've already given the basic introduction, but here's the more pertinent points. I am a Clockwork, a self-replicating sapient combat automaton created by the Socialist Republic of Amali in a far-flung part of the multiverse. We managed to fight off our local hell dimension, but in the process there was an unexpected dimensional anomaly that deposited me in the Hell you're currently having trouble with. My progeny and I are going to do everything in our power to put a stop to the current invasion and save as many people as possible, but we will be far more effective if allowed to co-ordinate with your organization. Yes, I know you've had your radio transmitting for this entire monolog."
There was a brief pause as the three men and two women in the squad stared at me for a brief moment. Then one of the men (blonde hair barely visible beneath helmet visor, green eyes, power-lifter's physique) hesitantly introduced themselves as "Sergeant Rod Jones. I'm with ARC; basically when the Demons invaded Doctor Hayden got all the militaries together and rolled us into ARC, and our clusterfuck of a military has been fighting an ever-encroaching Demonic force ever since."
Interesting, slight terminology differences regarding hellspawn. Well, I suppose I might as well use the local term.
Simulating a nod, I asked "Would you mind putting my patrol in contact with your high command then? There are Demons that need killing and the sooner we get properly co-ordinated the more good we can do."
With that Marie (one of the gunships attached to my patrol) landed and opened her side bay doors, revealing a good twenty Clockworks sitting on the benches inside. As she did so, she asked "Hey gramps! Made some new friends?"
As the five ARC soldiers looked on in total confusion and disbelief, I noted "I probably should have mentioned that my patrol is fifty Knights strong and has attached air transport."
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- Location
- Puerto Rico
Awesome chapter.
First Contact has been established. Wonder how the meeting with Hayden will go.
The Knights will probably be a little confused as to why Hayden pings as Clockwork and Human for a bit. Of course, once Hayden realizes the bullshit that is mana, and Protonium-based power generation in particular, he'll probably happily do his best to convince the Clockworks to help Earth change over to Clockwork-tech, because not relying on Argent Synthesis for power is probably a good idea - and it will also mean that the Slayer is even less likely to wind up in conflict with humanity over the use of Argent energy in the future - after all, if humanity no longer uses Argent, then why should they care about getting rid of it's source once and for all?
verycoolname
Not actually cool
"So, you are Samuel Hayden, correct? The man who decided that shoving a live badger into one's underwear was a good way to keep warm?"