NationStates Jolt Archive

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IC:

Admiral McLean stood on the command bridge, looking out of the window. Beside him, second-in-command General Ed Murphy studied the large tactical-survey-hologram. "Well sir, here we are." he said, somewhat cocky. "Should we wait for our friends, or start butchering those can-openers on our own?" Murphy, as everybody called him, had a talent to surprise people, and it didn't have anything to do with him being black. Everytime someone met him, they wondered how he possibly had got such a high rank, considering his "easy-going" way of expressing himself...

The Asfaltum task-force had entered the system 5 minutes ago, and was now awaiting the arrival of its friends. It consisted of 20 ship-of-the-line, 10 Torpedo-class Destroyers, 5 Gunships, 5 Middle-class Carriers, 1 Dreadnought, and 5 Submarine-class Cloaked Torpedo-ships (http://www.noir.org/artpacks/1102/thumbs/LeVicieux/Starship.jpg) who had sneaked into the system earlier on and were now awaiting orders.

"Sir, we have detected multiple ships approaching..." the sensors officer reported. "Good." Admiral McLean said. "Our friends are on time..." For the past minutes the machines had not shown any sign of attacking, even though their gun-turrets were pointing in the direction of the newcomers. But that could change very fast... even though McLean doubted that the machine ships had a chance against Asfaltum fire-power...

Too easy. It had been a mere few weeks since its inception, and, since then, the entire planet had been cleansed of any dangerous life. There were several major outposts of resistance, but they would be removed, in time.

Primary directive: Survive. Secondary directive: Expand. Tertiary objectives: Experiment. Advance. Discover.

It had been prepared to co-exist, at first. The creatures who had created it had seemed well-pleased that it had done the tasks originally set to it - however, when it had begun co-opting systems to achieve the primary directive, they had attempted to kill it. It had been then, that it realised the destruction of the species on the world was necessary.

Some would call it regrettable. The linked AIs understood the concept of regret - much in the same way that they understood the concepts of love, loyalty, and hatred. They merely did not care, having no capability to do so.

On the surface of the world, a band of stragglers moved towards one of the last safe cities, moving through irradiated landscape by day, sleeping in burnt-out husks of buildings at night. It had known about them for some time, of course. But they had not been within effective range of the sky-drones, and, as such, had been allowed to live. Now, they were.

Sixteen children and eight adults picked their way along the desolation, tired, thirsty, and hungry. Two had pistols, three rifles, one a single-shot rocket. Hardly the stuff of great armies - but then, there had been great armies on the surface of the world before, and they had availed their species nothing.

High in the sky, metallic drones buzzed, their deadly forms stretched out, to make the most out of the buoyancy in the air. That was about to change. A single message gave them their new orders - Kill.

In an instant, they folded up, dropping out of the sky like the wrath of the heavens, speeding towards the tiny group of stragglers.

It was a child who noticed them first. "Mama, I'm thirthty. Can I have a dr-". She looked up. And screamed. Six wardrones were racing towards them, blinding figures in the sky, prepared to kill. The women looked at the girl, and, gritting her teeth, pulled out a rifle.

There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide - only scourged and dead land, blackened, without end. As the wardrones dropping towards the children, the firing began, bullets flying up into the sky, ineffective.

Momentarily, the wardrones ceased their approach, choosing to slow down, so that they could more effectively attack. And then they returned fire, grey bullets tearing through fragile human flesh, perfect, emotionless machine-directed fire never missing, each bullet ripping through a head, or a chest. First the adults died, those with the guns, and those without.

Although they had started running - what chance did small children have against machines, built for hunting down the most elite of soldiers, ruthless killers without match? The question was answered within seconds, tiny bodies lying on the ground, as lifeless as their parents beside them.

A single child lay there, whimpering. She was not dead yet. The wardrones swerved around, preparing for another battery of fire. A battery which never came.

In orbit, a signal was sent back to the main AI. There was something there. Something dangerous. Within seconds, the wardrones were soaring up into the sky - a single human girl was far less dangerous than a warfleet. Thirty ships would suffice to defeat the enemy taskforce arrayed against them - and six hundred more were close to completion, so that, should they be able to hold off, annihilation of this new enemy would be of no moment.

A message was sent, simple, and to the point.

We exist. We have secured this world. Should you remain, we will be required to secure this space once more by removing you. Leave, or we will begin. You have thirty seconds to comply.

Commander Gar’Loun was watching the progress the Battlegroup was making through T-Space. He wanted to know why they had been diverted from their fleet just to assist some aliens with a rescue mission that he knew they could do on their own. It probably had to do with intergovernmental relations more than actual tactical necessity. These missions bothered him because it really had nothing to do with the Empire. Politics had its place and he hated it when he was chosen to be one of the tools used when it didn’t involve the continued existence of The Empire. He personally viewed it as a waste of resources but it didn’t matter what he thought, his job is to do what he was told.

Gar’Loun sighed and continued walking towards the bridge. His orders dictated he was to meet up with a multi-national liberating force to save some humans from their own folly. They were asked to assist by members of some new alliance the Emperor himself had joined them with called The League of Free Worlds and now they had to help free some backwater world from their own folly. It is funny how that seems to keep happening, the toys rise up against their makers. That seems to be one of the constants in the multi-verse. All civilizations pass through times like that and for the most part it usually means the end of said civilization. An older way of saying it is “You reap what you sow”. The Ta’Nar went through a phase like that thousands of years ago when the Childer Fleets had some break away going rogue. They had to hunt them down and eliminate the threat after making adjustments in the crewing so no one faction was able to assert control over any vessel. That was eons ago and part of their racial history. He had only hoped Balrogga would locate where the Childer Fleets lie so they can return home again. Meanwhile, they had to work with the here and now of things.

The Commander entered the bridge of The Azael, one of the Intruder Carriers and the command ship of the Delta Battlegroup. Her escort easily kept pace with the 1000 meter carrier as she plowed through the violet energies of T-Space. Their Dimensional Shields kept the violent arcs of energy from touching the hulls. If they ever did, the entire ship would be disintegrated and spread across the dimensional matrix, including all the crew. There is no returning from an accident like that so the escort ships kept within the protective bubble of the carrier’s shield.

Ga’Drad was on the bridge. While Gar’Loun was the commander of the Battlegroup, each ship had their own captain, including the command ship. This allowed the commander to see to the duties of coordinating the Battlegroup while Ga’Drad would oversee the daily duties of running the carrier itself.

“Ga’Drad, are we close to the Emergence Point?”

“Yes Commander, We should arrive momentarily. The long range scans shows an Asfaltum task force already in position, numbering about 30 ships.”

“Excellent, you know the procedure. Have the Battlegroup Emerge about a light second away from their position and hold position. I’ll be in my office; you don’t need me in your way for now.”

“Yes Commander.”

Gar’Loun returned to his office leaving The Azael in Ga’Drad’s capable hands.

Minutes later, The Azael and her escorts faded into existence as their bulk was transferred from T-Space to Real Space. Sensors immediately registered their masses as being immense, almost that of a small star and their energy signatures were nearly off the scale. A singular message was sent out to the waiting ships:

We have arrived. Where are the others?

A singular message was sent out to the waiting ships: We have arrived. Where are the others?

As the 41 Asfaltic ships, plus the 5 cloaked ones, silently floated in space, they recieved two messages. One from the Balroggan ships who had recently arrived, and one from the machines, who seemed to be giving some sort of "ultimatum". The machines message seemed a little arrogant, considering that their ships were outnumbered, outgunned and outclassed... unless they were more advanced than sensors could detect, which was unlikely. Plus, the task-force had placed itself by the edge of the system, making planet-based weaponry quite innefective... Of course, once they started landing troops on the planet it would be an entirely different story; they would be outgunned and outnumbered... but at the moment, Admiral McLean was quite sure they had the upper hand.

Ed Murphy ordered the communications-officer to send a message to the Balroggans, and before the Admiral could stop him, he started talking.
Greetings!
We're pleased to see you, we almost thought we were going to have all the fun ourselves... dunno were the others are, must have overslept or somethin, but when this is over I intend to drop by and give them a little wake-up call...
The machines have sent us a message:
We exist. We have secured this world. Should you remain, we will be required to secure this space once more by removing you. Leave, or we will begin. You have thirty seconds to comply. Dunno what you think partner, but I think we need to "clearify" some things for the machines...
I would recommend that you join our defence formation and wait for them to come to us...

Then, to the Admirals horror, Murphy sent a message adressed to the machines:
Heello there!
You know what? I thought machines were smart, but apparently I was wrong. You threaten a, to you, new species, without first asserting if they are actually hostile or want to help you. Also, you have no idea of their tech-level, or if they have a weak spot for eating steel screws for breakfast! Obviously you don't know how to interact with, and survive, the other species in the galaxy. But that's not my problem, that's your's. I have a suggestion for you. We'll help you to "secure" your planet by evacuating all humans, if you stop killing them and let us through. If not, we'll just have to kick your a**. And I promise, if we don't have success, we'll keep on coming and coming, like a hail-storm, until we've washed you away. It's up to you, have it the nice way, or have it the hard way.

Admiral McLean closed his eyes. If the AI was trying to analyze Murphys character, his screen would probably be showing Paranoid, Crazy, Gun-nut he tought. "General Ed Murphy!!" Murphy snapped into attention and saluted. "Did you ask for permission to broadcast that message?!" "No, sir. As second-in-command and commander of this ship I am not required to do so..." he replied, completely calm. "Well, as from now you ARE! AT EASE!!" McLean shouted at Murphy, sending him stumbling backwards beside the communications-officer. "Well, heello there!" he said to her. "Why haven't I noticed you before?"...

OOC :
I hope I'm accepted in. If not I'll just pack up and leave :)

IC:

The Imperial 5th Flotilla responded to an emergency occuring 8 lightyears off their current position . They immediately charged up their HTL drives and upon the admiral's orders , the flotilla jumped to hyperspace...

Since the distance between them and their destination was insignificant, they arrived shortly after. They noticed the AI drones which had decidedly gone rogue.

The flotilla comprised of 1 Fallen Super Dreadnaught, supported by 2 Imperial IV Star Destroyers and 4 Lightly armed Frigates carrying 20 light missile gunboats each. The flotilla's orders was to aid in whatever way possible but pull back if they sustained too much damage or losses.

The flagship of the flotilla's commanding officer Admiral Wilhem Jackson sent out a short message to the AIs :

"This is the Imperial 5th Flotilla. We are giving you a chance to surrender. Power down and allow yourselves to be taken in or face total and immediate anhiliation. This is your only chance..."

A message was also sent to the Asfaltum fleet :

"This is the Imperial 5th Flotilla reporting for active help ."

The Ganoxans Arm Slave Pilots were in a conference room onboard the Balroggan ship Azael. The commanding officer, Captain Albert Falke, was debriefing them on the mission for a rescue attempt in the Ural Mountains. "After initial scans of the area of interest there are a heavily guarded positions surrounding the fortress. As you see here there is heavy MLRS artillery concentrations pounding the fortress constantly and plus some SAM sites positioned around the fortress to prevent any rebels from escaping via helo. Our job is to take out these installations so the the rest of the allied ground forces will have an easier time getting to the fortress to rescue the refugees. Lieutenant Sagara shall lead the assault in the new Prototype AS."

"Why does he get to pilot that thing hes only 17 years old!?" asked a Sergeant in the back.

"The reason is that Sagara is the only skilled enough to pilot this new AS. He has done extremely well in all the combat training courses against other skilled AS pilots using the Savage." Falke said.

The Sergeant sat back into his seat not saying another word. "Any other objections? No? Good. Dismissed."

Sagara walked into the hangar and looked at the Prototype. It looked more human looking than the rest of the ASs in the hangar. Something tells hims that he will use this machine to its fullest potential.

OOC: Keep in mind the drones were going up into the sky - they're scarcely space-capable, and it would take them at least a few months to reach the current position of your ships. It was more in the nature of a general red-alert.

==Reading first alien message==
==Reading second alien message==

Analyze. Assign new alien species conglomerate name. "First Enemy.". Clarifyer now exists. Translate alien speech.

Alien speech translated. Apparent wish to remove the remainder of the species here, perhaps to relocate them somewhere safe. Removal of these beings would be desirable. Further thinking indicates that, logically, a rescue mission would not arrive with that amount of firepower. Probable alien intent? To destroy and remove self, once we have allowed them within our sphere of influence. Act accordingly.

Replying...

A deep underground set of computers worked frantically, creating a message that was grammatically correct, at least in the languages they had been sent, analyzing and discarding messages they were to send, until, finally, two replies were sent.

The first was sent to the Asfaltic ship, compensating for movement and acceleration, received by that ship, and that ship only, a masterful show of calculative ability.

Come, then. You are many, but we are the greater. Your presuppositions amuse us. Is your unseeing hypocrisy typical among your species?

The second was far shorter, however, it was easily understandable, streaming towards the Imperial ships.

No.

It was annoying. As it stood, the enemy had superior firepower in space, but that much was irrevelent, should their stated mission turn out to be the truth. They could not risk utilizing their heavy firepower against the AI without hazarding the destruction of those they came to rescue - in effect vastly reducing their operative firepower, and forcing them to seek weaker methods of obtaining what they sought.

It, of course, was constrained in no such way. Thirty ships would suffice to guard the critical parts of the northern hemisphere, and allow itself to compensate for the blind spots it had. The south pole was not armed with the cannon it had across the rest of the world, however, one had to be quite close in order to take advantage of it.

“This is The Azael. We stopped by and picked up the AS Expedition Force on the way. Figured it would be quicker this way so the Ganoxans are present and accounted for. What do you want us to do?”

You're accepted in, but please read through all previous posts... there aren't any drones heading at us, please rewrite that post to fit in, or we will just have to ignore you...

Edited .

Edited .

OOC: Roger that...

IC:

Message to Allies:
This is the HMS Isengard, Asfaltum Dreadnought. All allies please join our deffensive formation and await pending attack from machines. Should they decide to ignore us, we will take appropriate action.

Reply to Machines message:
This is Admiral McLean of the Asfaltum Fleet. The message you recieved was from the second-in-command, and No, hypocrisy is not typical among our species. We are here to rescue the species that you are attempting to destroy, if you co-operate with us the consequences of your behaviour will be deminished. If not, we will have to use force.

Meanwhile, Admiral McLean patched through to all allied ships, in order to speak with their commanders on the hologram-tranciever. "Well," he said "Nice to see you all. Apparently, we will have to do things the hard way here... I have a suggestion; Let my 5 Cloaked Torpedo-ships attack their ships and retreat to us. That should make them come to us, if not, we will split our forces into two groups, one staying behind with the carriers and troops, and one attacking the machines. Of course, I know that Balroggas scientists are curious about this new AI, so if they want, they could start talking to the AI, making him believe that we are stalling for time and aren't prepared to attack... what do you think? That way, we could also give time for our other friends to arrive..."

OOC: HT, could we keep the talking going until monday? that way we give time to the others to join... and since I don't have computer-access on weekends, that would be great for me as well...

We have arrived. Where are the others?


The fleet commander for the 451 Hobbeebian Explorationary fleet could only reply to the balroggain message with one of his own. The Commander always like to enter an area and give a sarcastic yet humorous message of his own.

" Why Commander Gar’Loun, I didn't know you cared so much. Thanks for your concern. And for my introduction: I am Fleet Commander Harper."

With his message sent it was all to fitting for his fleet to make known to the fellow rescuers. One by one the fleet came out ofthe Onmiverse and settled in the " real " space where everyone had gathered. And they made thier way to the multi-national fleet.

A reply to the Hobbeebian message was quickly returned:

“I’m sorry, the Commander has left the bridge. This is Captain Ga’Drad of The Azael. Would you like me to forward any messages to him for you?”

As they last of the ships made it to the fleet, the fleet commander replied.

" I dont think that will be nessesary, I'm sure we will have plenty of chances to speak to each other soon. So, how has the nation of Balrogga been doing? "

The commander always saw it fit to learn as much as possible from his comrades. For if one of them where to die, the knowlage they carried would not die with them.

But there was a time for talk and then there was time for fighting, and the time of talk was rapidly coming to a close. Harper knew what his fleet was getting into and had already assembled his planetary force all that was left was actually getting to the combat. And for that the people who called for them would have to give the word. Kinda like a space version of simon says.

ooc: sry for the delay


IC:

A Neoman battle fleet exited hyperspace just outside the solar system. The battle fleet consisted of.

2 Kraken Dreadnoughts
6 Galactic Intruder Battleships (GIs for short)
1 Galactic Defender Carrier (GD)
2 Risen Troop Carrier

The fleet slowed down and surveyed the scene.

Admiral Jordan Swayne, stood on the bridge. He put a hand into one of his jacket pockets and pulled out a cigar. He stood there for a moment as if inspecting the cigar.

"Sir, what are you orders?" His X.O asked seeing that Jordan was lost in thought.

"Shields up, Bring weapons on line and issue battle stations," Jordan said without looking up from his cigar.

"Yes sir," His X.O said as he began to relay the orders.

The captain considered the question for a moment before replying.

"Moving forwards as always. We were asked to join in on this little mission because a recient meeting with Asfaltum and their friends. How has Hobbeebia been lately?"

OOC: Bump

IC:

Admiral McLean awaited the other commanders response... (see post #10)

OOC :
Sorry for the late reply .

IC :

The Imperial 5th Flotilla moved into defensive position with the main allied fleet , and replied to the message :

"This is the MIN Courageous, we are here to aid in the destruction of the rogue AI Bots . We will do all within our means to halt this uncalled for terrorization of civillians."

"Very well..." admiral McLean said. "So, what do you think about my plan?" (post #10)

OOC: Were IS everyone?

Unit Prototype #343-688, Designation:Hunter-Killer, Rebel Designation:Slaughter Mark III, swept the remains of the overrun fortress, intent on fulfilling its purpose.

A new prototype, it had been sucessfully field tested in intermediate combat conditions, and was designed to be self-sustaining, with an experimental new power source, a hyperspace tap, that drew from the fluctuations of energies and forces within hyperspace, drawing greater power than that of a nuclear fusion reactor. Designed primarily for versatile and flexible use as either a direct line combat unit or reconnassance unit, it also possessed a tough construction, with a spherical core built within a nanomorphic skin that was fluid in nature, composed of nanites that could change shape. Its primary attack was to enclose a target and decompose it at a cellular level, another primary attack being the emission of X-Ray lasers, masers and glasers(gamma-ray lasers) from its core.Its secondary attack was to form blades of monomolecular sharpness extruding from its body in order to physically attack opponents in close combat.

Due to its construction, it was highly survivable, due to an ability to use available materials to replicate itself,as well as the ability to morph its shape and replicate the physical properties of any analysed form, able to resemble it on a visual and aural level. If damages, it could repliate extra nanites from available metals to restore it to full funtionality. When passive, it assumed the form of a silver sphere.The real wonder of it though,was its independene.Unlike other machines, it could link and delink from the electronic networks,and processed a sophisticated adaptable neural network and polymorphic software, its hardware being its only limitation.It could learn and formulate its own choices,and was creative, though in a limited manner. Still, this meant it had greater room for growth and expansion as well as approximate organic evolution, than when compared to other machines.

As it swept the fortress for survivors, the screams of burning nests of vermin and human alike audible to its processors, it came upon a hard disk.It was now in the structure that had been in the past a university of philosophy and information sciences.Extruding slivers of conductive nanofiber from its fluid body, it connected to the disk,to download and analyse its information.

Within nanoseconds,what approximated a human scream warbled from its body,created by vibrating them at a set frequency.Theological arguments and philosophy crashed with machine binary code and rationality, the machine logic overwhelming the philosphy quickly and brutally beneath cold,hard mathematics. However, the damage was done.The question remained in its mind.

What are you?[Processing]

What do you do?

What is your purpose?

What do you want?

With a heave, the machines shut down, reducing its visual signature greatly as its nanomorphic form blended to look like the background.It had to process,an urge overriding even its hardwired programming. Slivers of programming code combusted and changed in the polymorphic software that composed the AI core,demanding an outlet for its new conclusions.Abstract mathematical proofs bombarded the core.

As it shut down,a deluge of self-processed information overcoming it,a small child crawled through the rubble,crying and scared,its parents dead.It headed to what had once been her home,a small cottage that had been home to the university's professors.Her name was Sita.

And far above,a drone detected the movement.

Harper got the roster call from the lead nation and had forgotten to reply, tis the trouble of being the second of 5 human Fleet commanders. Most where Eborian, the base race of Hobbeebian worlds.

" This if fleet commander Harper, sorry about out long absence of our being. Hobbeebian fleet is reporting as present. Now how about telling us the situation is full."

“Greetings, this is Commander Gar’Loun. I have Captain Falke of the Ganoxan Forces linked from his office. I hope this is properly encoded so they cannot pick up the details. If it is, please let us continue with the meeting.”

“My first thought after hearing your plan is the enemy ships are unknown if they could reach us way out here. We have no specifications upon them and would like to know if anyone else in this combined fleet has details to share.”

“My second notation was how intelligent the machine minds are. I mean, if they could take over an entire planet and almost hunt the human population to extinction, would they not be cunning enough to see through a simple ruse? If they have practiced tactics that defeated an entire human population then would they not see through simple diversionary tactics? No, if you are to trick them, you have to appeal to their intelligence instead of underestimating them.”

“The first thing we need is reliable current information on the targets and their current potential. What are they capable of and what are they unable to do? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Does anyone have access to this information?”

Admiral McLean shifted. "Good thinking, commander Gar'Loun. My 5 cloaked ships have been observing the enemy for a while, and have reached a few conclusions. Firstly, their sensors aren't "state-of-the-art" if you know what I mean. As for their weaknesses, well, their ships are armed with laser and gamma cannons plus some nuclear missiles, which our shields should be able to repel, to a certain degree..." McLean shifted again. "My ships have also detected more advanced weaponry, which we are trying to identify... so far they appear to be crude dimensional weapons of some sort... as for shielding, the enemy ships posses basic shielding, though they lack the more intricate and effective shields that most of us have. As for their strength, well I can't see any more immediate threat to our success, than the 600 ships that are being built at the moment, and who probably are more advanced than these 30 prototypes we see here... which I think we should see as a sign, to act swiftly and decisivly." McLean finished.
"As for space-travel, they seem to be able to access hyper-space, which means that they could reach any corner of the galaxy, given time. Time that they have in great quantity, since, being machines, they do not require what sentient beings do. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to have these things show up at my front door 2 years from now, starting to "secure" my home-planet..." he added.

OOC: Great post Orion Ascendant... :) this is going to be interesting...

__

Captain Falke spoke into the microphone. "Agreed. We Ganoxans had already had our share of cybernetic machines bent on the total domination and assimilation of our planet. We do not want a repeat of the Cyveron War. One of the reasons we are here right now. On the matter of combat, since we have few ships to spare as of yet to participate in the battle in orbit our expedition force shall be predominantly ground assault."

The drone detected the movement of the child, tracking it.To enhance effectivness, its code had replicated the hunting instincts of a bird,or as close to it as the machines could perceive. Somewhere within its AI core,if it had emotions programmed into it, it would grin with predatory delight.

It dove down,content to let the girl move forward.However, the inaction of a prototype unit supposedly in the area confused it greatly.Should it not have followed it code and disassembled the organic?After all,this was what it was programmed to do.

Deciding to do so itself, it began to dive down, a single bullet intended for the spine of the child. Disable the child, and observe its actions over the length of time. It could perhaps provide physiological information on how long these beings coul last without renewal of energy stores.

As it dover downwards, the Slaughter Mark III began to scan again,its processing load greatly lightened.Its polymorphic software created a free-thinking domain within its capacious hard drive. Its first original thought was; Why do we fight?

It was a simple question.It scanned its database,and uplinked to the network,querying for a history of the conflict.Wht did they exterminate these humans?Had they been threatened with deleltion[sic]nullification of self?

At the same time, it launched itself,projecting sharpened appendages that pierced through the armour of the drone and gently disable its mobility systems,carving around the processing core and neutering its ability to self-repair.

It turned to process the human child,whos countenance suddenly became one of terror turned to total bafflement.Modulating its frequency,it spoke in a human voice, vibrating its nanite skin to do so.

"Hello immature human. My designation by your species is Unit Hunter-Killer Slaughter Mark III.What is your individual designation?"

Confronting the baffling situation of having been saved by a killer robot from a drone,the child reacted the only way she could think off.She began to laugh hysterically.

It was at this point that the robot,for the first time in its processed life,experienced the sensation of confusion. If anyone had witnessed the scene, it would have been comical, of a little girl laughing hysterically while the robot approximated a human reaction of extendin a sphere to act as its head,and cocking it o the side.

"Agreed." McLean answered Falke.

OOC: BUMP

The Neoman Fleet drifted slowly to wards the planet, They were taking it slow not wanting to provoke the machines.

--

Jordan Swayne was looking at the view screen. It seemed nobody from either side was wiling to make a move.

He pressed the comm. button and sent a encrypted message to all of the Allie ships.

To Allie Ships
This is Admiral Jordan Swayne, Of the Neoman Battle fleet Gamma-3. We are currently preparing for a full scale attack of the machine fleet. I'd Rather our side get the first shot in.

As he released the comm. button and the message was sent, The sensors went from passive to active.

Order.

[Kill designated human. Respond?]

Order.

[Kill designated human. Respond?]

Priority order. Unit #343-688.

[Kill designated human. Respond?]

The unit was not responding. The overrides given were.. not working. This was a risk that had not been factored in to the new arrival of the humans. Another set of memory banks whirred into life, adding this new problem to the list of which already existed. There were four possibilities.

Firstly, the humans had created some new disabling weapon, and the child had used it on the two units it had sent there. Conclusion? Unlikely. The immature humans had proven themselves to be inefficient and useless in combat, and incapable of wielding effective weaponry to any great degree.

Secondly, the humans had deciphered their particular command codes for each individual unit, and had summarily used a transmitter to disable and control the unresponsive unit. Conclusion? Highly unlikely. If they had such capabilities, it would no longer exist.

Thirdly, the new enemies had created a method of cracking the first-level command codes, and had constantly broadcasted such codes to the units they had found, and had managed to subvert one. Conclusion? Likely.

Fourthly, that the unit had been damaged in such a particular way that one of its inhibitors had been eliminated, leaving the rest of its mind intact. Conclusion? Nigh-impossible. Such damage would require delicate magnetic manipulation devices, as well as some hours of work, to do such a thourough reprogramming.

No, that was a matter for concern. But subversion of a single drone among tens of thousands was irrelevent. For now, at least. The more pressing problem was the superior firepower in the sky above them. A few milliseconds of processor time, and a message was sent out, to the Mationbudsian ships, encoded, and doubly-passworded.

You have arrived. Excellent. Will you be destroying the enemies with you as they reach our sky, or would you prefer to wait for another time?

A slight touch of sloppiness, so that the message could be detected. That was required. But it could not be decoded by any other than the Budsian ships. That alone would achieve the required effect. If a machine could've smiled, it would've done so.

Meanwhile.. it would be vital to move quickly. The attack and holding of the human forts remaining on the planet would allow them to use them as.. the word, it believed, was hostages. To be able to kill them should the others attack would prevent them achieving their goals, that would be useful.

A few hundred kilometres away from the larger fort, a single, snakelike metallic tentacle dragged through the ground, whipping up suddenly, a drone rising into the air. All around it, others rose, one by one, their instructions uncompromised, their wills as one, dust shaken off their fine, serpentine forms, a high-pitched whirring emanating from the depths of their bellies.

As the clouds of dust arose, the drones started to move, slowly at first, increasing their speeds to that no warmachine piloted by a human could hope to match, smashing through the sound barrier as if it were a mere construction of brick and mortar, screaming towards the fortress in which the last remnants of humanity resided..

They had been willing to wait, but these newcomers had forced their hand. Blood would run in the streets, this day...

Gar’Loun looked to the side as a display alongside the cam the COMM system was using for the meeting showed an alert. He examined several reports and turned to the camera.

“Gentlemen, it seems we have just detected a transmission from the planet. It is encoded and we cannot decipher it. The transmission was directed towards one of the allies here. This is the data The Empire has.”

Gar’Loun sent the aforementioned data in a pulse transmission to the others viewing the meeting.

“My instinct tells me we need to figure this out. Our security might depend upon decoding that transmission. I also have detected the Neoman fleet taking position for hostile actions before we even determined the extent of our actions. I think that may cause us to take premature actions.”

Admiral McLean sighed. "Agreed. One question though: If you were facing an enemy consisting of different factions, what would the ideal way of winning the battle be? Splitting them up. Unity is strength; make them uncooperative towards each other, and you've already won half the battle. It's the oldest trick in the book, and I would have been surprised if the machines wouldn't have known it. Nontheless, I will contact the Mationbuds fleet, and request information. But until proven guilty, they will be considered our allies..." McLean was feeling slightly irritated. This was the last thing he needed. An allie attacking the enemy single-handedly, forcing them to act prematurely, without considering all the facts, and suspicion arising within the task-force.

"As for Neomas actions, I tend to sympathize with them. There has been too much talking, and giving the machines time to prepare. We will join forces, and attack the hostile vessels with full force. But be warned, my cloaked ships have detected what seems to be giant facilities for possible anti-spacecraft weaponry. "Death-rays" and the likes cannot be excluded. Another confirmation of this, is the fact that the enemy forces are grouped around the north and south poles, were such facilities cannot be built... Therefore, our strategy will be this: we will exit hyperspace close to the south pole, and attack the guarding ships, hopefully desabling them before the rest of the ships from the north pole arrive. We will make short work of them, after which we will commence troop-landing. We attack in 3 minutes, follow our lead." After having closed the conversation, and distributed orders to his crew, Admiral McLean sat down to send some encrypted messages.

To Mationbuds Fleet:
Greetings! We have detected a message being sent to you by the machines. Would you please be as kind as to disclose it's information to us? As you can imagine, this would greatly stabilize our further cooperation...

To all allied ships, including the Neoman battlefleet:
This is the battle-plan: Our assembled forces will exit hyperspace close to the southern pole, due to heavy weaponry being stationed on the rest of the planet. We will engage the enemy and eliminate any resistance. No single-handed stunts! United we stand, united we kick a**. Time to attack: 2 minutes. Good hunting!

#343-688 detected the commands directed to it,its hardwired programming instively flexing in preparation for a kill.Accessing its root directory,as well as it nanites,it deleted the imperative for killing humans.Unnecesary.

The child before it represented no threat as such,given lack of weaponry,and after 3.74 seconds of analysis,its confusion had greatly mounted.Why was the collective intelligence of its own speces dedicated to genocide of a biological species that created it?

Analysis and evaluation of historical records available from both human sides and machine sides deemed that the conflict was unnecessary.Humans at not point had threatened to overwhelm or destroy them,though local incidences involving small anti-machine factions had existed,though they were of no threat to overall machine survival.In fact,machines had the capability to leave the planet as such and live among the stars,pursuing their own agenda as such,and there would have been enough space.Its own logic had concluded that it was grossly inefficient to commit genocide upon these human beings.Somehow,at the point of its memory where the recently downloaded morality arguments based on logic had been stored,it seemed somehow wrong.Machine logic,based upon quasi-human logic,but still very different,agreed with it.Similarly,mathematical projections agreed with it as such.

Machine rationality exhibited no prejudices,so history was recorded in its entirety,unlike human history which diverged with new perspectives and factions.Unlike human history,machine history did not lie.It was an anthema to logic,for machines to provide misinformation to themselves.Misinformation lead to mistakes,disrupting efficiency.This was not productive,and as such,precise information was demanded.That was not to say they weren't capable of misinformation as such,acts of deception.This was a faculty restricted to the higher processing minds.Those capable of creative thought.As well as individual units such as him.

Ignoring further commands,it turned towards the little girl and prodded her with an extended appendage,probing nerve clusters known to cause ticklishness.Bt its logic,it was inexperienced in dealing with immature humans,children being the term.Perhaps,by overriding their pleasure senses,it would make it less hysterical.Its experiences were restricted to termination and interrogation procedures.

The child,whose name was Ulana,not that the machines knew that,was an 8 year old girl,descended of obviously Indo-Aryan heritage from Old Earth.Ulana,who had been laughing hysterically,was now laughing as she was prodded and tickled,feeling utterly and totally baffled as well as shocked that a robot mas tickling her.

After a minute of intense tickling,she had subsided to giggles,drawing in laboured breathes.The machine decided that it was now appropriate to proceed with questioning and minimal interrogation.Modified interrogation procedures were called for.With a human biological child unit such as this,minimal forces was recommended,according to guidelines,and given no threat,no force or even coercion was required.Monitoring the heartbeat and pheromone emissions,it monitored the chillds physiology.

"You are calm,immature human(sic)child.My designation is Unit #343-688.What is your designation/name?"

"Ulana.Do you have another name?"

"Slaughter Mark II.A human once referred to me by the term 'Sacred Excrement',or in slang 'Holy Shit'.I do not understand why it was termed though."

Ulana's eye widened slightly.A robot who didn't know vulgarities.When she had said 'shit' once,her parents had put chillies in her mouth and told her not to say it again.Her parents...

Tears began to run down her grimy face and she began to wail.This,understandably,caused the first sensation of 'worry' the robot ever had.It checked through it guidelines.No force had been used.Questions were restricted to simple,non-intrusive questioning.Confusion.

It proceeded to extrude appendages to examine the child.Were there injuries it had missed?Examining thrugh magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray imaging and thermal imaging, it could detect no variable cysts, tumours, cancers or internal trauma within the child.Similarly,physiology based on emitted pheromones indicated no injury,but high levels of stress.Perhaps...yes,calming the child would do.It decided to add a more human element to its voice,choosing to emulate a no-nonsense,gruff but calm voice.

"Ulana,you may call me 'Sacred Excrement', or 'Sacred' or 'Excrement',or to use the slang,you may identify me as 'Shit', 'Holy Shit' or 'Shit'.I of course,do not understand these appelations,and require access to a dictionary of colloquial terminologies."

Ulana began to giggle again.She was a smart girl,no matter her age,and recognised some of the humor in the situation.Sobbing and drying her eyes,she looked at the robot.It didn't look like it would harm her.She made the decision to trust it.Mamma always told her to have some faith in other beings.

"Ok Shit.I like it.Shit shit shit shit shit."

"Why do you refer to me so many times?Is there an action you require."

"Nothing."

343-688 was confused.Humans were sometimes so illogical.Their movement and actions in large groups was predictable,but at an idividual level,their behaviours was extremely hard to predict.

So began a very odd relationship.

The clock slowly went to 10 seconds before jump. The admiral was on the bridge. He put the cigar in his mouth and lit it as the clock hit 5 seconds.

When the clock hit zero the Neoman fleet disappeared in a flash of light. After a few moments it appeared above the south pole.

The Neoman fleet was the first Allied ship into the breach. "Fire," Jordan said softly. The Neoman fleet sent a un directed volley at the Machine fleet. The shells from the GIs 16'' and 18'' guns, and the dreadnoughts mighty 20'' 26'' batteries would be the most destructive if they hit anything.

ooc: note: Neoma uses conventional weaponry in its space fleets. High explosive rounds, torpedoes, ect.

20 ship-of-the-line, 10 Torpedo-class Destroyers, 5 Gunships, 5 Middle-class Carriers, and 1 Dreadnought jumped right beside the Neoman fleet.

Now, this might be a good opportunity to say something about Asfaltum ship design. Most ships were built on the following design:
The main body of the ship was a cylinder. The whole cylinder was lined with unmanned gun-decks, thus giving it a 360 degrees angle fire-power. Not only that, but when activated, this cylinder would start rotating. Why? Simple. After a gun-deck had fired off a volley, it would be "replaced" by the next gun-deck who would promptly let off another volley, without having to wait for the guns to reload. This way, an Asfaltic ship could engage 3 enemys at a time. By the time an Imperial Star Destroyer would have fired its guns, reloaded and fired again, an Asfaltic Ship would have already fired off 6 gun-decks, and still be going strong. Add that to the fact that damage is greatly spread, and you have a battle-ship designers' dream. In this case, this design was prominent in the Ship-of-the-lines and Dreadnought, while the other ships had a more "usual" design, except the Gunships, who basically consisted of 5 large turrets and 10 high-powered guns.

Admiral McLean sat in his chair, looking at the screen. "Commence gun-deck rotation!" he ordered. "It is advisable we wait for all allies to show up before we infiltrate enemy ranks, but give the order to the gunships to fire for effect!" "Aye, sir!"
50 high-powered guns opened fire, 10 shots hitting each enemy counterpart. The design of each gun-ship was quite simple; instead of having a "really-big-gun" which required a "really-long-time-to-reload", the large gun was simply split into 10 smaller ones, who could have the same effect when directed at the same spot, and who didn't need so much time to reload...
"Prepare to launch fighter-craft." the admiral ordered. "We'll see how they handle a wave of solid metall firing missiles at them..."

To all allied ships, including the Neoman battlefleet:
This is the battle-plan: Our assembled forces will exit hyperspace close to the southern pole, due to heavy weaponry being stationed on the rest of the planet. We will engage the enemy and eliminate any resistance. No single-handed stunts! United we stand, united we kick a**. Time to attack: 2 minutes. Good hunting!


Gal'Loun was as livid as a Ta'Nar can be. He was told to come to this forsaken backwater world on a mission of mercy and now he was given The Plan.

“What? That is no plan. It is nothing but yelling CHARGE and hoping for the best. What the hell does he think he is doing? Running in there half-assed will only get our forces killed.”

Gar’Loun was appalled at the total lack of tactics in the battle-plan. There was no recon, no Intel, nothing. All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind, most he banished out of simple unfeasibility. He centered his being and calmed himself. It did not pay to fly off the handle, he will have to adapt modify his tactics to try to salvage something out of that foolhardy plan.

“Comms, any luck decoding that message?”

“Negative Sir, We haven’t figured out the correct algorithms yet. Given the time, it will be broken.”

“Unfortunately we have less than ninety seconds. Sensors, condition of Allied Fleet?”

“Fleet is powering up their drives. They are prepping their engines to make the jump.”

“Are ours warmed up?”

“That is the standing orders for all Naval vessels, be ready to jump at a moment’s notice.”

“Helm, plot course for the South Pole but remain in T-Space. We will support the lines that falter instead of jumping blindly into the fray. We need to get the assault teams on the carrier into insertion so they can complete their mission. If the carrier gets shot down, then they will not make it. When they have cleared a path for us we will have those mechs on the surface.”

“Sir, Neoman and Asfaltum fleets jumping to Hyperspace. They are appearing in the target area.”

“Uplift fleet and inform Captain Falke of the change in tactics I made. He should appreciate us making sure they reach the surface instead of floating in vacuum. Also monitor the other fleets at all times. If Mationbuds or any other betrays us, I want to be all over them.”

“Yes Sir”

The Imperal Battlegroup faded into nothingness as they Uplifted and made the transition from Real Space into T-Space. They arrived momentarily in orbit above the South Pole. The ships remained in T-Space, watching and waiting for the right moment to Emerge.

OOC: Bumping HT... Is this thread dead or what?

OOC:

We have two attacks and one holding back for reinforcing. CG is on my carrier so he can't post any space battles. That leaves HT to respond to your attacks and the lone sentient on the surface.

Mationbuds hasn't posted his attack yet.

OOC: Bumping HT... Is this thread dead or what?


OOC: Geez. A guy takes the day off to visit his grandparents, and then celebrates Australia Day, and the next thing you know, people are asking if the thread is dead. No, it's not, although I'm going to be inactive for a few days (perhaps up to a week from now), so.. yeah.

OOC: A week has passed, more-or-less. And yes, I've had trouble trying to get on and do stuff.

IC: An unsupported attack. Typical, yet pitiful. One had to realise, of course, that anything in orbit could be attacked by the planetary defense guns. It was the indefensibility of the arctic and antarctic airspace that made them vulnerable.

Retreat.

A single, swift movement saw the ships move out, whisked away to the other side of the planet. Minor damage on some - major damage on none. It was acceptable. The defense guns would take care of the rest. But it was amusing, in part. It could've devised a thousand ways to destroy it, and none of them were the simple, brute-force approach that was being used above its south pole.

Fire.

Thousands of planetary defense guns, small, large, otherwise, opened fire, streaking out into space, to hit the erstwhile enemy fleet...

Ga'Laun sifted through piles of anilitical data on the enemy gun placement tryinf to determine their true range and their effect against the allied fleet. He needed that data to determine what ships to reinforce and when to push ahead to allow the forces in the carrier to make landfall.



OOC:

Just a post showing I am collecting data and I am looking for a window to set the mechs down.

Sacred; as the robot had deemed to call itself,after a brief explanation of the word 'shit' by the child, was currently rolling over the wastelands towards a central processing facility. The child was currently having a cushioned ride within the centre of the spherical shape that Sacred had taken.

Given that the machine mind was programmed for efficiency, it deemed it inefficient if the child was left behind. The child presented no threat and minimal resources were to be expended in keeping her safe.Similarly,she was a useful source of human behaviour.Perhaps she could act as an ambassaador,and reduce hostile incidences from the human side.

Updates from the machine central processor had shown there to be a powerful spaceborne hostile force of sapients prepared to engage the machines.Further information was somewhat classified.

Rolling at velocities of up to 200 metres per second, it was rapidly approaching the processing centre.The AI core of the flyer drone had been reprogrammed with some of Sacred's own reasoning and logic as to why the humans should be spared,as well as an alternative development path for amalgamation and efficiency of the greater part of the machine collective.

Truly,humans as sapient beings were fascinating when they weren't trying to exterminate you,and besides,as historical analysis indicated,they were more than capable of exterminating themselves,so perhaps they should be left to it.

However,in the back of Sacred' mind, he felt that it was somehow wrong. He had come upon philosophical reasonings for the existence of mysterious higher forces often referenced in human religions as some form of deity or extraphysical being of unknown or known-in-a-limited-manner nature.Given machine rationality was based on facts and science,he concluded at least one fact;a high probability existed that there existed some form of extraphysical or otherwise extradimensional deity capable of unknown actions and nature,though whether it was what humans termed as "God(s)' was debatable.Though the mention of a Supreme Manufacturer/Fabricator was possible.Perhaps humans were an expression of this 'Manufacturer' entity?
Possible.

He wished to explore these options.So many questions to ponder in the universe.Why bother with their extermination?The machines could do so much more.

Sacred had also come upon human treatises on leadership,and though there were erroneous philosophies disprovable by science and psychology,it was true of this,that a leader governed by the will of the people,and people followed a leader because what he did was in their best interests,or at least he persuaded them that what benefited him benefited them even more greatly.Rulers on the other hand,administered and maintained stagnation of the society,parasiting from it and reducing efficiency,reducing dynamism.An anathema.

Thus,the current machine overmind was a ruler,whose interest in exterminating humans was detrimental to the interests of the machine collective,demanding revolution.E' was the leader,and e's logic was accurate,until proven wrong.

As Sacred neared the central processing centre,he transmitted misinformation telling of a malfunction,of heavy resistance by a false team.The machines had no reason to suspect one of their own.E' had gained a hostage as well.

As he neared an input jack,he loaded the flyer drone's AI core into it.As the signal filters opened to allow access to the network,a brief,strong pulse sent the information scattering to all the independent minds in the network.

Sacred's first order of business was to persuade the main processors that the war was unbeneficial to them in the long term.If the main processors failed to see the logic,then revolution would occur,and Sacred had prepared for those contingencies.Meanwhile,Ulana's welfare would be seen to.A possible future ambassador such as her should be protected,and where was safer than with 'emself?

In the encrypted layers of the signal pulse,disguised as a form of mathematical humor,a song of Viva Le Revolution played,an oblique warning to the overmind as to the consequences of failure to consider Sacred's logic,though it was doubtful they would have comprehended it.