A PCA autonomous weapon in Mass Effect

by Doge_lord

Summary:

BALTEUS is just about to fight Raven at Watchpoint Delta, but is suddenly launched into the middle of the first contact war between the Turian Hierarchy and the Systems Alliance, what happens?

 

This is the first fanfic I have ever written, and I may write some more depending on the time I have.
Criticism is very welcome here.

Chapter 1: First Contact

[: INITIALIZING SYSTEMS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ….SYSTEM INTEGRITY ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS…. :]

 

[: SYSTEM INTEGRITY STATUS : GREEN :]

 

[: ….CHASSIS INTEGRITY ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS…. :]

 

[: CHASSIS INTEGRITY STATUS : GREEN :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ….HARDPOINTS ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS…. :]

 

[: OCCUPIED HARDPOINTS DETECTED :]

 

[: WEAPON SYSTEMS : OPERATIONAL :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: INITIALIZING IFF :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: DESIGNATION CONFIRMED: AAP07 “BALTEUS” :]

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: AAPO7 : PATROL MODE ENGAGED :]

 

[: RECEIVING TRANSMISSION FROM CENTRAL A.I. “Planetary Closure Administration” :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ORDERS RECEIVED : PATROL NORTHERN BELIUS FOR CORPORATION ACTIVITY :]

 

[: SECONDARY ORDERS RECEIVED : RESPOND TO ANY SOS/LOST SIGNALS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ORDERS ACKNOWLEDGED :]

 

[: PATROL ROUTE DESIGNATED :]

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: WATCHPOINT DELTA - SG SQUAD GAMMA: SIGNAL LOST :]

 

[: HEADING ADJUSTMENT TO 275 :]

 

[: ESTIMATED ETA : 20 STANDARD MINUTES :]

 

[: TRANSMITTING REDIRECTION OF AAP07 :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: REDIRECTION ACKNOWLEDGED BY CENTRAL A.I. :]

 

[: WATCHPOINT DELTA - SG SQUAD FOXTROT: SIGNAL LOST :]

 

[: DEDUCTION - HOSTILE UNITS ENGAGED AT WATCHPOINT DELTA :]

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: ENTERING FINAL APPROACH TO WATCHPOINT DELTA :]

 

[: ESTIMATED ETA : 31 STANDARD SECONDS :]

 

[: VISUAL ID ESTABLISHED OF WATCHPOINT DELTA :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ANALYSIS INPROGRESS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF ELIMINATED SG UNITS :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF UNKNOWN AC WRECK :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF UNKNOWN ACTIVE AC :]

 

[: BROADCASTING - IFF QUERY :]

 

[: ACTIVE AC - “Raven” - FOE:]

 

[: TRANSMITTING INFORMATION TO CENTRAL A.I. :]

 

[: ARMING WEAPON SYSTEMS :]

 

[: TARGETING HOSTILE AC :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: !ERROR! :]

 

[: !ERROR! :]

 

[: !REPORT - ALL ACTIVE SENSORS REPORTING CONFLICTING DATA! :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF WATCHPOINT DELTA - LOST :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF UNKNOWN AC - LOST :]

 

[: CONNECTION TO CENTRAL A.I. - LOST :]

 

[: !ERROR! :]

 

[: !ERROR! :]

 

[: PRESUMED SYSTEM-WIDE FAILURE :]

 

[: SHUTTING DOWN  WEAPONS SYSTEMS :]

 

[: REBOOTING OF AAP07 INPROGRESS :]

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: REBOOT FINALIZED :]

 

[: !ERROR! :]

 

[: GPS SYSTEM FAILURE :]

 

[: NO CONNECTION ESTABLISHED WITH CENTRAL A.I. :]

 

[: COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FAILURE :]

 

[: VISUAL SYSTEMS - UNKNOWN SURROUNDINGS :]

 

[: REPORT - POSSIBLE :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: MULTIPLE VEHICLES DETECTED :]

 

[: MULTIPLE INFANTRY UNITS DETECTED :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF VEHICLES - UNKNOWN DESIGNS :]

 

[: VISUAL ID OF INFANTRY - UNKNOWN DESIGNS :]

 

[: 2 UNKNOWN FACTIONS RECOGNISED :]

 

[: HUMAN INFANTRY RECOGNISED :]

 

[: ?UNKNOWN? INFANTRY RECOGNISED :]

 

[: FACTIONS REDESIGNATED AS “X-RAY” AND “ZULU”  :]

 

 [: “X-RAY” = ?UNKNOWN?, SLEEK/ALIEN WEAPONRY/VEHICLE AESTHETICS :]

[: “ZULU” - HUMAN, ANGULAR WEAPONRY/VEHICLE  AESTHETICS :]

 

[: HOSTILITIES ACTIVE BETWEEN UNKNOWN FACTIONS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ELAPSED TIME AFTER REBOOT - 1 STANDARD MINUTE :]

 

[: INITIATING HANDSHAKE PROCEDURE :]

 

[: BROADCASTING : IFF QUERY :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: AAP07 PRESENCE DETECTED BY  “X-RAY” AND “ZULU” FACTIONS :]

 

[: HOSTILITIES PAUSED BETWEEN FACTIONS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: RECEIVING IFF RESPONSE FROM “X-RAY” FACTION :]

 

[: RECEIVING IFF RESPONSE FROM “ZULU” FACTION :]

[: ...... :]

 

[: !UNKNOWN IFF RESPONSES! :]

 

[: BEGINNING PRE-RECORDED BROADCAST :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: “TRESPASSERS TO RUBICON” :]

 

[: “DISARM AND WITHDRAW FROM THE CLOSURE AREA IMMEDIATELY” :]

 

[: “RESISTANCE WILL BE REGARDED AS A DECLARATION OF WAR…” :]

 

[: “ …AND YOU WILL BE MARKED FOR TERMINATION” :]

 

[: “THE PCA MAKES NO EXCEPTIONS” :]

 

[: INITIALIZING WAIT PERIOD OF 1 STANDARD HOUR BEFORE BEGINNING HOSTILITIES :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: WAIT PERIOD REMAINING - 56 STANDARD MINUTES :]

 

[: !WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED FROM “X-RAY” FACTION! :]

 

[: ANALYZING TRAJ– :]

 

[: !CHASSIS DAMAGE DETECTED! :]

 

[: !WAIT PERIOD OVERWRITTEN! :]

 

[: !ROE OVERWRITTEN! :]

 

[: ENGAGING PULSE SHIELD :]

 

[: ACTIVATING WEAPONS SYSTEMS :]

 

[: !ENGAGING “X-RAY” FACTION! :]

 

[: DEPLOYING MISSILE BATTERY :]

 

[: TARGETING - 17 AFVs, 19 AIRCRAFT IN AO :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: REPORT - “X-RAY” LOSSES - 5 AFVs KIA, 7 AIRCRAFT KIA :]

 

[: REPORT - “X-RAY” VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH PULSE SHIELD ANALOGUES :]

 

[: REPORT -  MISSILE BATTERY REDUCED WEAPON EFFECTIVENESS :]

 

[: REWRITING TACTICS  - MULTIPLE MISSILES PER “X-RAY” VEHICLE NEEDED :]

 

[: COMMENCING RELOAD OF MISSILE BATTERY :]

 

[: “X-RAY” FACTION RESPONDING WITH HYPER-SONIC ?CANNON? FIRE :]

 

[: !PULSE SHIELD DROPPING AT ~0.5% PER STANDARD SECOND! :]

 

[: DEPLOYING SHOULDER CANNON :]

 

[: ANNIHILATION OF 2 “X-RAY” TANK ANALOGUES :]

 

[: REPORT - UNEXPECTED WEAPON EFFECTIVENESS :]

 

[: REWRITING TACTICS - PRIORITIZATION OF EXPLOSIVE WEAPONRY AGAINST “X-RAY” ARMOUR :]

 

[: REPORT - “X-RAY” FORCES ATTEMPTING EGRESS OUT OF AO :]

 

[: REPORT -  “X-RAY” INFANTRY IS DISORGANIZED :]

 

[: PLATOON STRENGTH HOSTILE “X-RAY” INFANTRY ATTEMPTING ENGAGEMENT :]

 

[: UTILIZING NAPALM PROJECTORS AGAINST “X-RAY” INFANTRY :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: REPORT -  “X-RAY” INFANTRY NEUTRALIZED :]

 

[: REWRITING TACTICS - PRIORITIZATION OF NAPALM WEAPONRY AGAINST “X-RAY” INFANTRY :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: COMMENCING COUNTER-OFFENSIVE ACTIONS:]

 

[: ...... :]

Chapter 2

Summary:

Human POV and some more BALTEUS POV

… 

 

Prior to the Turian invasion of the planet, Shanxi was a bustling, up-and-coming colony world positioned as a logistics hub for the expansion efforts of the Systems Alliance in the region. Shanxi represented Humanity’s shared ability to expand beyond the wildest imaginations of prior generations.

 

However, it wasn’t the simple colonization of Shanxi that was its greatest feat, no, the greatest feat that came from Shanxi was the proof of humanity’s resilience as the brave colonizers themselves braved the massive, city-sized, monster thunderstorms that roamed the surface of the planet.

 

During the invasion, The capital city of Shanxi - Taiyuan - had become the most important point of conflict between the garrison stationed at Shanxi and the Turian invasion fleet. The combat initially took place along the outer edges of the city, to prevent extensive damage. However, the fierce resistance put up by Human forces as well as a large mech of unknown origin quickly escalated the offensive actions of General Desolas, resulting in orbital strikes by the geosynchronous invasion fleet.

 

…

 

• An excerpt from “A Brief History of the Systems Alliance (2185 Edition)” 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

As BALTEUS boosted away from the AO, the silence that controlled the Human side of the battlefield after the appearance of the mech was suddenly broken. It wasn’t broken by gunfire or an officer barking orders, but a cry of surprise from one of the many entrenched soldiers.

 

“What the hell was that?!” exclaimed a grunt from inside a hastily-dug foxhole.

 

Suddenly a chorus of cheers and whoops came from every entrenched position along the edges of the defensive area.

 

None of the marines had ever expected what they had just seen.

 

The massive, 20-meter-tall and logic-defying mech, that had identified itself as “BALTEUS”, had ripped the Turian forces to shreds just as quickly as it had appeared and issued its declaration. In the opinions of the various soldiers and officers alike on the defensive lines, BALTEUS vastly outshined any ground-based weapons or vehicles that the Alliance had ever put into production, barring spacecraft of course, in both size and clear firepower.

 

The various, previously silent, entrenched positions became a chorus of commands from officers and tension-easing banter exchanged between the grunts.

 

“Where did the brass have that thing tucked away?”

 

“Who the hell knows, but it’s good in my books, it torched those damn Turians for us”

 

“Everyone take 5 to relax, those raptors don’t give up as easily as that ”

 

“Signaller, get the brass on the line, they need to know about this right now! ” One of the lieutenants swiftly directed a signaler.

 

 “Everyone get ready, that mech may have beaten their prehistoric-looking asses back, but they aren’t going to take it lying down. Their MO means they’re gonna come back harder boys!”, reminded a major 

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

General Williams sat in his command center in Taiyuan . He looked over the holo map representing the city and its surroundings; he had ordered that trenches and pillboxes, made from various local prefab housing developments, be created along the outer edges of the city in multiple layers as soon as he heard of the impending alien threat.

 

The Turian forces had landed among the rolling fields that surrounded Taiyuan before they attempted to assault the city from various directions.

 

Williams had lost almost all hope of even holding out until Alliance reinforcements as soon as the garrison had lost all of its important orbital assets to those damned aliens. They decimated the defense and enforcement fleet, which consisted of a cruiser and several frigates, which were designated to protect the airspace around Shanxi at the orbital station alongside the various civilian spacecraft that were undergoing repairs or were otherwise moored to the station, unable to flee.

 

Without any major orbital assets, Williams was both blind and deaf (relatively) to the situation in orbit and couldn’t stop any potential orbital strikes on his fortified positions. The only thing that had let them survive this long was the presence of a large thunderstorm that roamed Shanxi’s surface that prevented accurate orbital bombardment, but that would change eventually, and then-

 

Suddenly the General was snapped out of his ruminations and worries by the call of a comms officer.

 

“Sir! We have an incoming transmission from position Goose-4, it’s marked as a priority message!”

 

“Put him through,” responded General Williams.

 

“Copy that, patching him through,” confirmed the comms officer.

 

The holo map then shifted before his eyes, replacing the North-Western part of the map of the defensive positions with a static image of the lieutenant in charge of Goose-4.

 

“Sir, I’ve got important information to relay that is highly concerning for the defensive situation of Taiyuan .” 

 

“Go ahead, lieutenant.”

 

“Copy that. At roughly 1300 during another assault wave by the Turian forces, during which we were almost overwhelmed, an unknown 20-meter tall mechanized unit resembling a scaled-up mech attached to a large back-mounted device appeared 130 meters away from defensive line Bravo.” The lieutenant continued forward, “The mech then broadcasted its IFF which we managed to interpret as BALTEUS. The mech then made a concerning statement, which I will send at a later date, before being engaged by the Turian forces. As a response it almost annihilated the entire enemy force, save for a few select units which retreated, using an assortment of unorthodox, but clearly effective weaponry.”

 

“What happened to this mech after that encounter?” Questioned the General, who had already begun to think about the origin of such a machine and its potential as a military asset.

 

“Unknown, sir. It flew off at blistering speeds at roughly 67 degrees parallel to the closest defensive lines, however, I believe it may be heading towards the possible Turian LZs located in the plains.” Replied Goose-4’s commanding officer.

 

“What gives you that impression soldier?” Further questioned the General.

 

“The direction that the mech flew off to is roughly the same direction that both the Turian assault unit came from and began retreating towards”

 

At that, General Williams became entangled in deep thought, it was suspicious that such a powerful weapon just “magically” appeared in time to save an Alliance position. Moreover, he was the head of the local military, yet he hadn’t heard of such a project being in the works by Alliance Skunkworks and even then it wouldn’t make sense to create such a thing on a newly built colony.

 

“That’ll be all soldier, return to your duties and make sure your men are ready for anything.” Finally stated Williams. 

 

“Copy that sir, Goose-4 out!”

 

As the holo map returned to its state before the call from Goose-4, General Williams could only think of a phrase that a senior officer said to him from his days as a cadet:

 

“ May you live in interesting times .”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: OBSERVATION OF “X-RAY” RETREATING FORCES COMPLETE :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: …ANALYSIS OF “X-RAY” FORCE TRAJECTORY IN PROGRESS … :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ANALYSIS COMPLETE :]

 

[: ROUTE PLOTTED TOWARDS HOSTILE RALLY POINT :]

 

[: ENGAGING PRIMARY BOOSTERS :]

 

[: ETA - 5 MINUTES :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: INITIATING COMBAT REPORT SUB-SYSTEM :]

 

[: “X-RAY” FORCES = HOSTILE :]

 

[: ADDITIONAL NOTES - EXTERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE :]

 

[: “ZULU” FORCES = NON-FACTOR :]

 

[: ADDITIONAL NOTES - “ZULU” HOLDS WEAK DEFENSIVE POSITIONS AROUND ?UNKNOWN? CITY :]

 

[: ADDITIONAL NOTES - HIGH PROBABILITY OF “ZULU” = NON-HOSTILE :]

 

[: COMBAT LOG #1 - PENDING UPLOAD TO PCA SERVERS :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ATTEMPTING RECONNECTION TO PCA NETWORK :]

 

[: CONNECTION NOT ESTABLISHED :]

 

[: ATTEMPT #57 LOGGED :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: LOCATION STATUS - UNKNOWN :]

 

[: LOCATION COORDINATES - PENDING MORE DATA :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: ETA - IMMINENT :]

 

[: “X-RAY” RALLY POINT IDENTIFIED :]

 

[: …RALLY POINT REDEFINITION IN-PROGRESS… :]

 

[: “X-RAY” FOB IDENTIFIED :]

 

[: !ANOMALIES DETECTED! :]

 

[: -NO SUPPLY ROUTE FOUND- :]

 

[: -“X-RAY” WARSHIP IDENTIFIED- :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: ...PROCESSING DATA... :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: REPORT - POSSIBLE “X-RAY” FORCE ORBITAL SUPREMACY :]

 

[: REWRITING TACTICS - PRIORITIZATION OF UNEXPECTED MOVEMENT DUE TO “X-RAY” ORBITAL SUPREMACY :]

 

[: ...... :]

 

[: INITIATING PRIMARY PHASE OF COUNTER-ATTACK. :]

 

[: ACQUIRING LOCK ON “X-RAY” SUSPECTED WARSHIPS - 3 IDENTIFIED :]

 

[: ENGAGING HOSTILES :]

Notes:

Sorry that this chapter wasn't released earlier. Life suddenly became really busy and the month flew by as well as the fact that I can pretty much only write when I'm sleep deprived. I can't write for shit when I'm normally awake.

Hopefully, you people liked this chapter!

Chapter 3

Lieutenant Sirius opened the hatch to his IFV, head still ringing from the explosion and ensuing chaos that had rocked his tank not 5 minutes beforehand. One of those homing missiles that ruined the assault had hit and disrupted the forward stabilizer, he was lucky that a second missile had just missed his vehicle because of the unexpected rearward acceleration. 

 

He looked over the remnants of his and the adjacent units, and a pitiful sight greeted him. The armored column, which was supposed to form a spearhead into those damned human fortifications, was mostly decimated. Any remaining vehicles were co-opted into evac for the infantry that wasn’t completely melted into sludge by the sticky flame that the spirits-damned machine sent their way.

 

Several of them had been loaded into his vehicle, their armour had melted and fused with their flesh and plating.

 

Sirius snarled. Damn them! They had those humans hanging on by the skin of their talons, and now they were retreating like some lowly runt of a varren at the bottom of the pack.

 

He gazed at the remnants again and a thought dawned on him - where was that blasted abomination and why had it not finished them off if it had decimated them so easily beforehand? 

 

The realization hit him with the force of a mass accelerator, if those monkeys had a single iota of thought they would’ve tracked where they came from and where they were currently heading, their forward operating base.

 

Sirius quickly brought up his omni-tool and opened the communicator with as much speed as he could muster.

 

“Commander Malraka there’s an incoming human attack!”.

 

But it was too little, too late.

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

Commander Malraka stood on the elevated command platform in the Combat Information Center of the THS Varriks , talons on the cold metal of the railings. The proud symbol of the hierarchy stood emblazoned on the roof of the compartment. A holographic map of the human city slowly rotated in front of him. 

 

Various sub-commanders and other assorted officers stood at attention as Malraka briefed them on the following operations once they broke through the enemy defenses.

 

A communications technician spoke out without permission, “Commander you have an incoming comms request from lieutenant…” 

 

The technician was cut off without warning, explosions rocked both the base and CIC, turian-sized missiles rained down from the sky like some army of spirits, furious from the turian attacks on the humans, lobbed javelins at them. 

 

In a mere moment, the cold blue of the CIC onboard the THS Varriks shifted into a hostile red to reflect the damage that had occurred to the ship as well as the base.

 

Commander Malraka’s mask of a calm and professional demeanor, as he had been assigning new taskings for his men inside the CIC on THS Varriks , had cracked for a moment. His mandibles had splayed out in pure surprise. No warnings had come from either the patrols or the ship’s sensors of any incoming human craft.

 

Now he watched through the external hull cameras as his men were decimated.

 

Spheres of gold and red had rapidly engulfed the entirety of the base. Vehicles would vanish one after another in quick succession before their crews could even realize they were under attack. Fighter craft exploded in blue flame as their element zero cores overloaded before their pilots could even get near them.

 

Shrapnel and razor-sharp debris rained down upon the base, imitating a rainstorm that echoed throughout the corridors of the ship and the various pre-fab buildings that lined the forward operating base. Several Larger pieces of debris ripped through and bisected the various unfortunate soldiers who remained without cover.

 

The commander broke out of his daze as one of his subordinates shouted out, “Sir, what are your orders!?”

 

“Retreat!”

 

The explosions that rang out from the various omni-tools and surveillance equipment that lined the room drowned out the commander’s response.

 

“What!?”

 

He opened his omni-tool and linked directly into the base-wide communication line and shouted  to his men, “Spirits dammit, retreat into the ships!”

 

A massive explosion, several magnitudes larger than the previous ones, suddenly rocked the CIC. A cacophony of clanging noises sounded out through the barely controlled chaos as several turians who remained standing were knocked onto the metal-plated floor.

 

Malraka gripped the handrails of his command position, he began to tear through the metal with his talons from his fury.

 

“What the spirits just happened!”

 

The communications officer on the lower deck shouted in response, “THS Fires of Manae is gone! Its magazines cooked off! THS Heirarchy’s Glory is reporting damage to their engines!”

 

Malraka snarled, there were loyal officers on that ship, “Damnation! Begin take-off and activate our kinetic barriers.”

 

“But sir, we’ve got plenty of soldiers still waiting to embark on the ship, If we take off, they’ll be sitting hatchlings for the humans!”, argued one of his subordinates.

 

“And then the ship will be destroyed as well, and I won't let that type of embarrassment happen under my command!” responded Malraka, “Helm obtain enough clearance to fire all main batteries.”.

 

Malraka was tugged downwards from the acceleration as the ship began lifting into the air just before the kinetic barriers and inertial dampeners came online once more. 

 

“Now find where they are launching those damn missiles from or are all of you clueless fledglings?!” 

 

Various technicians across the bridge scrambled to identify their enemy. They looked through all the available sensors to identify the threat’s location; thermal, LIDAR, RADAR, and optical sensors.

 

In but a moment after the command was uttered one of the technicians shouted out a heading.

“Uknown aerial contact; bearing 289 degrees relative to our current orientation; distance is one-thousand two-hundred,” The technician sputtered for a moment, “ speed is 1000?!”

 

“Helm bring to bear the main gun at that damned creation, those humans will learn from their insolence.”

 

Within moments the ship turned to point directly towards the unknown contact.

 

A small smile crept onto Malraka’s face.

 

“Fire.”

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

|: SHOULDER CANNON ARMED :|

 

|: “X-RAY” WARSHIP 2 ROTATION DETECTED :|

 

|: OBTAINING LOCK  :|

 

|: ENERGY BUILD-UP DETECTED ON “X-RAY” WARSHIP 2 :|

 

|: DISCARDING LOCK :|

 

|: …RETASKING PROCESSES… :|

 

|: ENGAGING EVASIVE MANEUVERS :|

 

|: PROJECTILE FIRED :|

 

|: …TRACKING… :|

 

|: TRAJECTORY CALCULATED - IMPACT GUARANTEED - MANEUVERS FAILED :|

 

|: ATTEMPTING DAMAGE MITIGATION MANEUVERS :|

 

|: ESTIMATED IMPACT IMMINENT :|

 

|: …3… :|

 

|: …2… :|

 

|: …1… :|

 

|: !ERROR - PULSE SHIELD DEPLETED 100%! :|

 

|: WARSHIP PROJECTILE ANALYSIS COMPLETED :|

 

|: !ATTACK PATTERN OVERWRITTEN! :|

 

|: FULL RETALIATORY STRIKE REQUIRED PER PCA-547-856-18 :|

 

|: ENGAGING PRIMARY BOOSTERS :|

 

|: !WARNING - DIRECT IMPACT POSSIBLE! :|

 

|: … :|

 

|: ENGAGING PULSE/ASSAULT ARMOUR :|

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

The mass accelerator round had ripped through the atmosphere, and a massive vapor cone followed it, for the singular second it took to cross the relatively miniscule distance between the gun’s muzzle and its target.

 

The ground was ripped apart and thrown high up into the sky by the shockwave that followed the tungsten round, leaving a massive debris cloud of dirt, rock, and vegetation between the ship and the human machine.

 

The machine had almost assuredly taken a direct hit from the mass accelerator round, Malraka thought, nothing short of a ship-grade kinetic barrier could’ve stopped it.

 

Malraka’s smile widened for a moment before it was instantly dropped, and his mandibles became slack as the debris settled and cleared. He watched the human creation stubbornly remain afloat, albeit without the odd light he hadn’t noticed beforehand. 

 

“Sir! The enemy creation is flying directly towards the ship! Arrival in five seconds!”

 

Malraka couldn’t believe it, “How?...”

 

“Energy build-up detected in the enemy craft!” Cried out another technician.

 

Malraka watched through the various visual sensors that tracked the abomination as it began to emit dozens of arcs of turquoise light for a brief moment before he knew no more.

 

The CIC alongside a significant portion of the upper mid-ship was vaporized in but a few milliseconds as the sphere of energy surrounding Balteus reached out and engulfed it as it passed overhead. The ship's kinetic barriers did nothing to minimize or prevent the damage. 

 

Various maintenance tunnels and corridors within the ship, which had not been touched by natural light since the ship’s inception, suddenly became exposed to a natural atmosphere once more. 

 

Coolant lines ruptured explosively, bathing the lucky few soldiers who had not been caught directly in the expansion of the pulse shield. Showers of sparks filled the air as shattered wire casings caused impromptu welding of the cables.

 

The ship began to descend back unto the base it had come from uncontrollably, the VI in charge of navigation unable to cope with the severe change in the center of gravity alongside the myriad of other issues. 

 

Those who were still able-bodied in the forward operating base had attempted to bring the dead, dying, and wounded from the initial assault onto the remaining vessel. Now those same soldiers that had been left behind as the ship took off to engage Balteus watched in horror as the mass of metal that once resembled the THS Varriks had begun to eclipse the base in a growing darkness.

 

Then, as Varriks collided with the remaining ship, the element zero core of the crashing ship could no longer hold up the containment field of the active element zero from the lack of coolant nor the stresses it was put under from the decimated ship integrity. 

 

The core of the Varriks exploded in a brilliant blue display visible from even the human city of Shanxi . The starboard wing of the ship acted as a spear that buried itself through the core of the still ground side ship in an unbelievable display of sheering and screeching metal. 

 

Those unfortunate enough to have been outside the grounded ship were killed by the near supersonic shrapnel and larger sections of the Varriks that either impaled or crushed those unlucky few respectively. At the same time, the many who were inside the ship during the explosion remained alive in the safety of the cargo bay.

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

|: PULSE SHIELD - RECHARGED 100% :|

 

|: ALL WARSHIPS MISSION-KILLED :|

 

|: OBSERVATION - CURRENT LOCATION EXPOSED TO ORBITAL CRAFT :|

 

|: OBSERVATION - POSSIBLE GEOSYNCHRONOUS FLEET SPOTTED :|

 

|: …PLOTTING COURSE OF ACTION… :|

 

|: … :|

 

|: COURSE OF ACTION DETERMINED :|

 

|: PLOTTING COURSE TO ORIGIN LOCATION :|

 

|: OBJECTIVE - RESUME CLOSURE AREA PER PCA DIRECTIVE :|

 

|: SUB-OBJECTIVE - DESTROY “X-RAY” FORCES ON LOS :|

 

|: ...ACTIVATING PRIMARY BOOSTERS... :|

Notes:

This fic ain't dead, crazy eh?

Chapter 4

“1.. 2.. 3.. LIFT!”

 

Private Reyes heaved alongside Private Ross as they tossed the half-charred corpse of another of those raptors into a requisitioned civilian shuttle, a nice 2154 model.

 

“Hot damn! Carrying all these cooked aliens is making me hungry, they smell like a Thanksgiving turkey!”

 

Reyes leaned against the shuttle, pulled out a cigarette, and huffed, “Man, shut your bellyaching will ya? You’re not the only one doing this type of work.”

 

He breathed out and looked Northwards. The fields were still littered with massive scorch marks that gouged through the earth alongside a dozen shattered hostile tanks and other assorted vehicles that had their eezo cores detonated in seconds by the large robot that called itself “ Balteus ”, according to his commanding officer at least. 

 

The bodies of the alien crewmen they were gathering were scattered around their respective vehicles. They’d been thrown from the vehicles and half-vaporized and cooked from the radiation of the eezo cores.

 

Reyes thought for a moment when he was rotated into Shanxi, he’d never expected to meet aliens, let alone fight in a war against them, but such was life.

 

Ross ignored him and continued to ramble on, “Who even needs these damn stiffs anyway? All we need to know is that they die when they get shot, it's not like-.”

 

A new voice spoke out, surprising them both, “If you’d been listening to the briefing, you’d know that an Alliance Intelligence officer wanted to know how they tick. Now I suggest you get that stick up your ass out, or you’ll be on scrubbing duty before you know it.”

 

Reyes dropped his cigarette, and both soldiers turned towards the voice and saluted, “Sir!”

 

Sergeant Stacker was a large man, built like a bear with an accompanying large bushy brown beard, and had certainly earned his rank in the Marines with the countless domestic deployments he had been in.

 

The good sergeant launched into a lecture, “For example, did you know that, underneath the armor, these birds have these solid plates that could make your combat knife bounce off? Or that their personal kinetic barriers vastly eclipse our own in terms of resistance to hostile fire and can recharge from full depletion twice as fast?”

 

He continued, “These things wouldn’t have been confirmed without analysis of their gear and corpses. So shut your fucking trap and get back to work!”

 

Reyes and Ross simultaneously decided at that moment that it was probably a good idea to continue their work if it weren’t for the sudden sapphire-blue light that engulfed the horizon in the moments after Stacker’s command.

 

“What the hell was that?”, rambled out Ross.

 

“You remember how those tanks blew up right? It’s that same shade of eezo blue, can’t mistake it.”

 

The light faded.

 

Reyes heard the sergeant tap his fingers against his helmet, “This is Goose four-two to Goose Actual. Interrogative: What was the source of the large blue light emission to the North? Over.”

 

Reyes wasn’t able to hear the response from Goose Actual due to his lack of communication permissions. He could only guess the response; A large eezo reactor explosion, maybe a ship.  There was only one problem with that train of thought, he recognized, any Alliance ships, military or otherwise, were either grounded or shot down ever since the aliens had decided to park their fleet over the city. 

 

So what could’ve blown up one of the alien ships in that case, he wondered, surely that mech couldn’t have had the ability to destroy a ship?

 

He was broken out of his thoughts when Sergeant Stacker let out a whistle to whatever he heard from the other end of the comm line.

 

“Alright.”, Stacker turned back towards the two others, “Get in the shuttle we’re evac-ing the immediate AO and moving everyone into any cover.”

 

“Why? There’s still plenty of wrecks and corpses out here… Sir.”

 

“We don’t need ‘em all, plus there’s only a massive shockwave coming towards us. Unless, of course, you want to be turned into a fine red paste by the debris it’s gonna kick up?..”, Stacker paused, waiting for Ross’ response, “...No? That’s what I thought.”

 

In a curt moment, Ross went from standing outside the shuttle to strapping himself into a seat. Similarly, the sergeant sat himself down into a seat opposite Ross, leaving only a single seat available in the shuttle, the closest one to the pile of corpses. 

 

The shuttle began to lift off as soon as Reyes sat down. He looked through the side window and saw the white vapor cloud of a shockwave coming from where he’d seen the light, noticing an odd black and orange speck contrasting the white. He shifted in his seat, trying to see if it was just a stain on the window itself.

 

The speck in the distance remained.

 

“Sir, there’s something in front of the vapor cloud”, he called to the Seargent.

 

“What?!”

 

Stacker cursed and got out of his seat. He moved to the window and pulled out some old-fashioned binoculars. After a second, he let out a sigh of relief.

 

“...Thank God, It’s just that mech.”, He moved his hand to the side of his helmet, “Goose four-two to Goose Actual; unknown mech designated as Balteus is inbound to Goose four’s position; ETA is four mikes. Please advise. Over.”

 

This time Reyes could hear the response from the other side.

 

“Uh, copy that Goose four-two, land and hunker down at the defense line Alpha Hotel-Quebec; grid Kilo-Foxtrot-Foxtrot by Whiskey-Papa-Golf. Maintain observation of Balteus if possible. Over.”

 

“Goose four-two copies all. Out.”

 

The sergeant took his hand away from his helmet.

 

“Keep your eyes on that mech,” Stacker commanded as he shoved his binoculars into Reyes’ hands.

 

He then moved to the cockpit to inform the pilot of the change of plans, while Reyes moved to watch the speck in the distance.

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

A minute later, they had already touched down at the abandoned and mostly gutted headquarters of defense line Alpha.

 

Consoles had had their storage drives taken out and smashed. Any systems that were able to move as a single unit were ripped away from their original positions. The only wholly intact system was the audio and visual sensor suite, left behind to spy on the aliens covertly. The others were deemed too high-value and too important to be left behind.

 

Stacker had sent Ross immediately off to set up a visual interface with whatever he could scrounge off the headquarters’s systems. Ross had managed to gather both a display and a keyboard in only a minute, allowing the small group of men to use the sensor array of the base.

 

Reyes had used the remaining sensors as an upgrade to the rather analogue binoculars. With the actual sensors at hand, he was finally able to get a largely clear look at the mech that was rapidly closing the distance between it and the headquarters. 

 

The good sergeant stood beside him. Watching.

 

The mech still had that odd turquoise-colored energy sphere around it from its first appearance not an hour ago, which seemed untouched. However, he observed large scuffs of bare, shiny metal on the mech’s chassis, as well as a dent in the horizontal rings that surrounded it. 

 

He did notice something else odd, it looked as if there were some kind of red particles orbiting and following the mech, however, he dismissed the thought as a symptom of his lack of sleep.

 

That was all he could read off Balteus before the external sensors became too slow to track the machine due to its proximity to the sensor arrays. Gradually, however, it began to decelerate towards a point five hundred meters away from the defensive fortification, in range of just a single audio and visual sensor group.

 

He watched, through the sensors, as it hit the ground with a dull, echoing thump. The ground became scorched as secondary boosters fired to slow the fall.

 

Balteus rested on one knee for a moment, before it stood up and walked a short distance, with surprising speed for its bulk.

 

The noise that came from it echoed through the city of Taiyuan . The echo knocked many a man out of his thoughts and soldiers out of their repetitive tasks as they prepared for the next alien assault.

 

Reyes then came to a sobering conclusion as he panned the camera to focus on the site where the machine landed. 

 

Normal mass-effect ships, much like the shuttle he used not long ago, used ion thrusters to maneuver, which didn’t leave residue, but the landing site was scorched black. The only thrusters that did such a thing were old, inefficient combustion thrusters.

 

His eyes quickly widened. It had dismantled the alien attack so quickly using outdated and phased-out tech? He thought in amazement.

 

Stacker smacked the back of Reyes’ helmet, “Focus back on the mech.”

 

Reyes sheepishly rotated the visual sensor back onto Balteus .

 

It had crouched down onto one knee again, like how it had initially landed. The three distinctly human Gatling guns hung off to one side, and a hydraulic arm held the assembly aloft. The hand that once held the guns had scooped up some oddly colored, rust-red, soil.

 

Stacker began to contact command about the weird actions of the machine, but Reyes wasn’t listening as he continued watching.

 

For a fraction of a second, the soil glowed and whispered .

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

[: !APPROACHING ORIGIN LOCATION! :]

 

[: …INITIATING DECELERATION… :]

 

[: CONTACT ETA : 30 SECONDS :]

 

|: … :|

 

|: … INITIATING LANDING PROCEDURE… :|

 

|: !LANDING PROCEDURE : SUCCESS! :|

 

|: … :|

 

|: …ANALYSIS OF ORIGIN LOCATION IN PROGRESS… :|

 

|: SOIL SAMPLE RETRIEVED :|

 

|: …ANALYSING… :|

 

|: … :|

 

|: !UNEXPECTED RESULT DETECTED! :|

 

|: !CORAL GROWTH DETECTED! :|

 

|: ESCALATING PRIORITY ISSUE : ESTABLISH COMM-LINK WITH CENTRAL A.I. :|

 

|: CORAL GROWTH = UNACCEPTABLE :|

 

|: METHOD OF CORAL SPREAD = UNKNOWN :|

 

|: …ALTERING MISSION PARAMETERS… :|

 

|: CORAL CAN NOT BE SPREAD :|

 

|: CONTAINMENT = PRIORITY :|

 

|: …ADJUSTING ROE… :|

 

|: !ROE OVERWRITTEN!:|

 

|: ROE DEFINITION - TERMINATE ALL WHO OPPOSE THE PCA; HALT THE CORAL :|

 

|: …ESTABLISHING PATROL ROUTE… :|

 

|: …ENGAGING SECONDARY BOOSTERS… :|

 

|: THE PCA MAKES NO EXCEPTIONS :|

Notes:

The next chapter will be a PCA interlude.

Chapter 5: Interlude

~/: ATTEMPTING FINAL CONNECTION ATTEMPT TO AAP07 :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: FAILED TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION TO AAP07 :\~

 

~/: REROUTING LOCAL SUBJECT GUARD UNITS FOR INVESTIGATION :\~

 

~/: RAVEN-MERCENARY THREAT LEVEL = PRIORITY TARGET :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: FURTHER ACTIONS PENDING SITUATION ANALYSIS :\~

 

~/: …HALTING CURRENT THOUGHT PROCESS… :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: …THOUGHT PROCESS RESUMING… :\~

 

~/: DATA TRANSMISSION RECEIVED :\~

 

~/: …ACCESSING WATCHPOINT DELTA SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE… :\~

~/: …ACCESSING SUBJECT GUARD SURVIVOR TESTIMONIES… :\~

 

~/: …PERFORMING ANALYSIS AND CALCULATIONS… :\~

 

~/: !ERROR - APP07 DISAPPEARANCE IMPOSSIBLE! :\~

 

~/: APP07 - ENGULFED IN CORAL SIGNATURE BEFORE DISAPPEARANCE :\~

 

~/: !POSSIBLE R.R.I. TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED! :\~

 

~/: SUBJECT PRIORITY - ELEVATED :\~

 

~/: …DISPATCHING AUTONOMOUS UNITS FOR THOROUGH SEARCH… :\~

 

~/: …HALTING CURRENT THOUGHT PROCESS…:\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: … :\~

 

~/: …THOUGHT PROCESS RESUMING…:\~

 

~/: RELEVANT SEARCH DATA RECEIVED :\~

 

~/: PRESENCE OF R.R.I. TECHNOLOGY CONFIRMED:\~

 

~/: NORTHERN BELIUS EXPLOSION = LINKED :\~

 

~/: …ACCESSING TECHNOLOGICAL DATABASE…  :\~

 

~/: …PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES WITH SIMILAR CAPABILITIES… :\~

 

~/: …PROCESSING… :\~

 

~/: PROCESS COMPLETED - ONE MATCH :\~

 

~/: POSSIBLE TECHNOLOGY USED - PHASE SHIFT/TELEPORTER :\~

 

~/: …CONTACTING PRIME ADMINISTRATOR… :\~

 

~/: …SHUNTING DATA… :\~

 

~/: !THOUGHT PROCESS COMPLETED! :\~

 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

 

The conference room was dark, its old Earth-sourced redwood walls shimmered from the meager light that reached it. Fifteen men, dressed in black suits that highlighted their various artificial enhancements, sat around a large, oval, epoxy-laden oak table. A simply shaped light shined onto the table. 

 

In front of each man sat a blue-grey holographic interface. Each displayed the same information as the other. The light emitted from the devices shone onto each man’s face, giving an eerie ghostlike appearance.

 

On the wall at the pointed end of the oak table stood a banner, a planet entrapped by rings and orbited by other celestial bodies.

 

Inscribed upon it were the words; Planetary Closure Administration.

 

One man with a glowing-red optical prosthetic spoke,  “Concluding the monthly report of our affairs in the Sol system, I believe we can begin demobilizing units stationed on Ganymede. The corporations have failed to breach the local closure system in some time.”

 

“My intelligence sources concur with this decision, they confirmed that the corporations have shifted a large number of their converted warships, that were previously stationed near Callisto, on a burn vector outside the solar system.” A man with black and white hand bionics stated as he uploaded data through the holographic device in front of him.

 

“Do we have their destination on file?”

 

“No, whatever their destination is, it is a well-guarded secret.”

 

“Do we have agents in position to intercept them?”

 

“Of course. The fifth covert-forces fleet is hidden in the Kuiper belt and will be within engagement distance by the time the corporation fleet passes through the belt.”

 

“Wonderful.”

 

Another member of the board coughed, his unblemished metallic jaw produced a grinding noise as he went through the motions. All the attendees shifted their gazes towards the man.

 

“Yes, I will now begin the report of occurrences within the Rubicon system concerning the effectiveness of the closure area that encompasses Rubicon Three and its silent threat, to the board.” 

 

“Continue.”

 

“There are two matters of greatest importance. Firstly, the local artificial intelligence systems have visually confirmed the presence of the prized armored core squads of both the Balam and Arquebus corporations, their respective significantly sized ground armies notwithstanding.”

 

“What? How were they able to penetrate to the surface, the closure system was specifically designed to prevent incursions onto the surface!” One director queried, a wave of cold anger permeated the question.

 

The metal-jawed man leaned forward onto the table, his hands laced together in front of him.

 

“Recently, the mercenary group identified as Branch led by Raven attacked LOC Station Thirty-One, crippling the satellite cannon defenses, which resulted in a significant reduction of its effective capabilities.”

 

“Can the local Subject Guard forces contain the situation?”

 

“If it were just the regular military forces of the corporations, then yes. However, when supplemented with their AC squads, the SG units are out-classed in combat capability. I believe reinforcements are necessary.”

 

“Understood. I propose we pull the 2nd Advanced Warship fleet from peacekeeping duties around Mars to supplement the Subject Guard units on Rubicon Three. All in favor, raise your hands!”

 

All the various directors raised their hands in a unanimous vote.

 

“The threat held within Rubicon must be contained, lest we forget the sins of the Institute.” A man near the opposing end of the table, spoke, exposing the thoughts of all the other directors in the room.

 

“It’s decided then. Once this meeting concludes, you are to begin preparations for the transfer of the warship fleet as well as its accompanying enforcement squads. Now, there was another matter as well?” The red-eyed man motioned for the director of the Rubicon system to proceed.

 

The director began to upload data for all the board to see.

 

“The second matter of priority concerns the presumed destruction of the Balteus unit assigned to Rubicon Three. As I’m sure you’ve already learned from the global AI communications net.”

 

Every other director in the room made noises of affirmation. They had been briefed on the matter by their respective artificial intelligence secretaries. A singular Balteus unit was capable of wiping out almost any threat it could realistically be forced into combat against, a weapon capable of instantaneously destroying one would be of great strategic importance. 

 

“The artificial intelligence in charge of Rubicon Three’s defenses has recently made me aware of the true gravity of the situation. The previously mentioned mercenary group Branch appears to have acquired state-of-the-art Institute technology. A prototype teleportation device.”

 

“Is there evidence to support that claim and that it was not an intentional weapon used by the mercenaries?” Questioned the director directly across from him.

 

“During the time of the anomaly that swallowed the Balteus unit, instruments that weren’t destroyed during the attack on the watchpoint detected a large Coral energy build-up and sudden release. After these events, a large explosive discharge occurred in the Northern Belius region, destroying a significant portion of the landmass and exposing old Institute infrastructure.”

 

The man paused to let the information sink in.

 

“The nature of the large coral discharge combined with the sudden disappearance of the Balteus unit led it to conclude that Institute technology was used against it. Specifically, that of a teleportation device.”

 

“Adding onto this matter, during our last meeting, I discussed how our intelligence sources in the Elcano corporation revealed that they were working on a prototype teleportation device that was supposed to be fitted inside a chassis of an Armored Core.” The man with the black and white bionic hands spoke once more.

 

One man hummed.

 

“It appears that Rubicon Three will need additional reinforcements beyond the 2nd fleet.” Finally, stated the red-eyed man.

 

“We must tighten our grip on the planet, lest it fall into the wrong hands...”