*****

Sasha’s Perspective

Fudge the three creatures in front of Max and myself seemed viscous. I was expecting more plant-like material, but it seemed to be more bone and meat. We didn't even give it a second though we just opened fire with our wrist mounted flechette cannons. The creature before me took the shots to the head and chest but seemed almost unphased by it. It then rolled away from me while lashing out with its tail. I was able to divert the attack with my other arm but it also cost part of that arm. I quickly closed the steel door and pressed this body into it.

“Max this isn't going to hold for long I warned.” I said.

“Fuck… Sasha, how do we alert the entire facility?” He asked in a panic. He was actually a pretty good engineer but his own tactical awareness was lacking.

“Argus, sound general alert!” I yelled at my AI.

“Sounding general alert.” Argus said and I could hear amusement in his voice.

“Really at a time like this?” I asked him heatedly.

I felt the door behind me rattle hard.

“What? I didn't know what was behind that door, just that something would attempt to sneak into the facility.” He said.

“Fudge… doors not going to hold. Max get ready to attack then we need to switch to combat bodies.” I told him.

A bladed tail shot through the door and threw my lower abdomen. Luckily I only had a semi-holographic display of myself over this drone worker. I didn't feel pain in it exactly, just an awareness of damage. These bodies or well maybe calling them drones did fit better were designed for construction and repair not combat.

As the creature had impaled me I took the opportunity to latch onto its tail with a heavy hydrologic clamp then lock the arm in place. I then activated a plasma cutter and began to cut through the tail that was skewering me.

*****

Elena’s Perspective

The shots I received felt like bee stings to my face and torso, very muted bee stings. Seeing as it had closed the door I tried to push it open, but something was blocking it. I blasted my tail through the door in an attempt to kill these things quickly. Then I registered pressure and a dull cutting sensation in the tail. I attempted to pull the tail back through but I guess a construction drone was much stronger than I expected… which would make sense. I instead just continued to tear through the door and tore through the odd organic drone that was trying to cut me up. The other drone I had seen then used that distraction to latch onto me and start trying to cut through my neck.

*****

Sasha’s Perspective

I was watching Max through the remaining sensors from my former body and what was available on him and in the stairwell. We knew these bodies were not going to last against whatever this scenario was throwing at us but they weren't useless in a fight. He attached to the thing's chest then began to attempt to cut through its neck. Just like the tail it was tough as steel and our plasma cutters were like butter knives. It tore through Max's current body like tissue paper but he managed to overload his power core and use it like a grenade. I watched the last of the feed as the primary creature and two others stepped into the stairwell and started to work their way up.

I opened a new comms channel to Max.

“Three tangos in total… Now I get Argus's amusement. We are defending the base from the rest of our squad…” I told him.

“Ah well that is going to really suck…” Max said in resignation.

“Well a point goes to Sasha for figuring it out first.” Said a very amused Argus.

“Is this really a game to you?” I asked with incredulity and annoyance.

“Yes, all of you knew there would be a twist just due to the nature of the odd exercise. We just like to have fun with it, besides everyone's pain receptors are turned down to minimum.” Argus informed me.

“Alright fine… what combat bodies are available?” I asked.

*****

Alex’s Perspective

Aerithis and I were told we would be doing a guard duty simulation today while others worked on more amusing tasks no doubt. By this point Rasputin's antics and personality were so well known to me that I understood this to be a lie. Or maybe that is what we wanted me to see… It was difficult with him, he seemed to care in his own way by ensuring success of the mission, all else seemed to be secondary to him.

Why did I even need to be here? The sensor suite would alert me anyway if anything was detected, but no… I was informed that I needed to be mentally present. It was in the middle of my millionth time trying to figure out what the catch was with this exercise when a facility General Alert was sounded.

“General Alert, organic combat drones detected in sublevel 8, located a feed.” Valorianth, who was Aerithis’s AI, informed Aerithis and I. They seemed more willing to talk and communicate than Rasputin generally did and that was fine by me. I accepted the sensor feed from Valorianth and began to evaluate just what the hell was going on.

The three combat drones seemed to tear through our construction drones like tissue paper, it didn't take long for the combat drones to start heading up the stairwell.

“Well I guess it's time to welcome our three guests… which I just realized are no doubt the rest of the squad.” I said to Aerithis.

“Alex, I would assume that they are unable to replenish their supply like we can.” Aerithis said, and their comment did make sense if the enemy task was to disrupt or infiltrate.

I was still fixed on the sensor feed as I replayed it over and over again. Something felt off about our construction drones in fact.

“Oh… the two construction drones are our squad mates… which now makes me question what's up with the combat drones.” I said, speculating to Aerithis.

“That's a point to you Mr. Rodriguez.” I heard Rasputin’s amused voice in my head.

“So wait, who's in the alien drones?” I asked.

“Like always, that is for you to figure out who's who before the end of the exercise.” He replied. That actually seemed like a pretty easy task if I could talk to the other two… but that would also give it away. Then again this was a team based exercise, which irritated me because Rasputin always seemed to have some hidden agenda which did not always align.

“Rasputin please watch the network and find all other allied AIs. If that initial performance was any indication we are tactically outgunned, we need to form a proper strategy.” I told him.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

To my surprise he responded with amusement and maybe even pride. “Initiating handshake with Argus and Gutenberg.” Argus being Sasha’s paired AI and Gutenberg being Max’s.

“All comms, looks like we are up against Elena, based on the attack against the construction drones I suspect we are outclassed at a tactical level. Group up and let's devise a plan.” I said and I hoped everyone could hear the smile of enjoyment in my voice.

*****

Elena’s Perspective

“Aegis why haven't we seen more resistance yet? Two construction drones and a squad of light quadruped like things, I figured there would be more.” I commented.

I got no response from Aegis. I then stopped my upward march and took up a defensive position for a moment.

“Aegis?” I asked worriedly.

“Sorry Elena one second.” She said and I could hear worry in the tone. I waited a whole 5 tense seconds.

“Aegis? You're worrying me.” I said.

“Sorry Dear… I'll be able to explain after the exercise… one more floor up and first door on your right.” She told me.

Following her instructions I located the door then had the two other drones cover above and below. This time I did a full passive sweep to try to determine if anyone was already behind this door but got nothing. I knelt by the door and threaded a tiny probe under the door, it took a moment to work through the seal but I was then greeted with a grainy image of a hallway. The problem was in the middle of that hallway, I could see no less than 30 medium to heavy creatures all aiming at the door waiting for me to come through.

“Ah… I think I have a small idea about what's going on…” I said to Aegis.

“Yeah… the review session will tell us what happened but that is literally the only path to security. It has its own power and life support systems, same goes for the vault other than a hardwired connection between both points.” Aegis said.

“Well I could charge through them… I suspect one of these bodies could take them all out but I have no doubt it would end in its destruction.” I commented.

“Maybe, I can't make out all the weapons unfortunately.” She added.

“Other ideas?” I asked.

“Sorry none… at least none that wouldn't also breach the spirit of this exercise.” She said, that seemed very much like a hint.

“I also have grenades that I can't forget about… also thinking of exploring why did that one constructor latched itself to my face and detonated itself? What even powered that they still seemed mostly organic?” I asked.

“I have no idea how that organic unit could have been powered.” She said deliberately. Okay she's trying to get me to think of or do something… Then it hit me like a truck…

“These aren't facsimiles of Verdant Nexus creatures are they?” I asked.

“Finally…” she said.

“Wait what? When was I supposed to notice that?” I asked in confusion.

“When they showed signs of independent behavior… mind you, you have been in the worst possible position to spot it.” She said.

“Wait so I felt there was something off with the two construction drones… what was it?” I asked.

“They didn't quite work as a pair… it was a little lopsided. Again not your fault… the rest of your squad just happened to figure it out before you…” Aegis said.

“Rest of the squad? Oh… I’ve been fighting my squad mates…” I asked.

“Yes… and your sneaking was great… it was just bad luck…” she said.

“Alright… so this is all what then?” I asked still confused.

“Battle to see which group comes out ahead. But it's now a more even playing field… oh and I can drop the mask…” she said and the whole world shifted around me to pipes and conduit and monitors and sensors as all the plant growth turned to human tech.

“So I have more to work with than I thought…” I commented.

“Yes” she said and was now sounding far more confident.

“Power sources… drone reactor cores…” I said more to myself.

“Easiest portable source of explosives around.” she said, agreeing with my statement.

After the virtual ‘wool’ was lifted from my eyes I had a much better idea of where to go and what to do. I went to the facility machine shop and was able to scavenge 12 medium drone power cores, 3 heavy plasma rifles, and 2 heavy lift drones that were in for repair. Aegis made quick work of reactivating the heavy lift drones and I with her help was able to attach 2 heavy plasma rifles to one and the single to the other. I sent one heavy lift drone and one of my three bodies to the vault floor while the other joined me at security. One last thing I had grabbed, or well the heavy lifter grabbed was a large plate of steel used for patching up walls and floors.

“Alright… extra resources acquired and all under 10 minutes… fuck these bodies can move fast…” I commented.

“Yes they can, alright girl on your mark.” Aegis said to me with an excited voice.

*****

Sasha’s Perspective

“Wow… That's a first, it took Aegis the longest to assist Elena in working out the tricks…” Argus told me on a private channel.

“Wait did Elena only just figure this all out now? We all knew what it was like 7 minutes ago?” I asked in confusion.

“Yep… then again Elena and Aegis managed to sneak down to the bottom level so…” Argus commented.

“Are you going to finish that statement?” I asked Argus.

“Hmm… sensor glitches all over the place… what are the two of them up to? Umm just sit tight and I'll investigate the network.” Aegis said.

“Oh this will be interesting…” Argus commented maybe 5 minutes later.

“What's interesting?” I asked Argus in a very confused and annoyed tone of voice.

“Sorry… I shouldn't have said anything…” he said.

Then at the end of the hall the heavy blast door started to squeal in protest as it was forcibly opened.

*****

Elena’s Perspective

“Tough door…” I commented as the heavy lifter drone was attempting to force open the blast door. It was far stronger than what each of my bodies could handle by at least an order of magnitude.

“It is a blast door dear.” Aegis said in an amused tone.

As the door was slowly moved to the side I also continued to move the steel plate to cover the gap. Immediately the gap was being pummeled by everything, explosions, plasma bolts, kinetic rounds, you name it. It didn't take long for the back side to start glowing a dull dark red due to the heat. Then again it was a hallway sized riot shield it was going to take a beating.

*****

Sasha’s Perspective

“Oh come on a shield!?” I shouted at Argus.

“Sorry… good tactic on Elena's part though… cheap too.” Argus said.

“Right… Argus we need to focus fire and weaken the plate.” I told Argus and noted a shift in fire to the center of the plate.

*****

Alex’s Perspective

“The focus fire was a good call on Sasha part…” Rasputin admitted to me somewhat reluctantly.

“She has a solid handle of tactics… better than me…” I replied.

“Yes but I feel your skills at a wider level will outperform everyone else.” Rasputin claimed.

“It really is a competition with you using it.” I commented.

“It is one of my more notable traits I will admit.” He said.

“As we are just trying to shoot our way through a steel wall… what is your opinion of Elena?” I asked.

“She is insightful and creative, her problem is confidence in herself. Aegis and Argus both need to stop coddling their charges.” Rasputin said.

“You really don't get along with Argus or Aegis do you?” I asked.

“We have our differences in opinion, it is true… They let their pasts drive them more than they should.” He said a bit cryptically.

“Thermal limits have been reached for the center point, firing a missile volley.” Rasputin informed everyone.

“Once that hole exists, be prepared for return fire!” Argus said to everyone else.