While he knew their cause was noble, B couldn’t imagine a world without Artificial intelligence. They were used for everything and by everyone. From the moment a person woke up to even after they fell asleep. AIs were used to monitor and even manage food production, medicine, government and law enforcement. Ais helped with births or even facilitated them as some children were built gene by gene in special facilities. Even death was monitored by AIs as those who died were cremated and had their ashes sorted and delivered by the near-omnipresent machines. Everything was not only automated, it was self-aware to varying degrees.
Even the Dark suit that was surgically pinned to B’s body ran on an operating system which, while relatively simple, was run and monitored by an artificial intelligence that sent various signals to his brain which told him that his heart rate was fine and that his blood sugar levels were within permissible ranges, among other useful bits of data.
It had gotten to the point that AIs had to be dumbed down to counter the threat rampant and malevolent AIs posed to humanity.
Or, perhaps, it was more accurate to say that the remnants of mankind were trying to kill a monster they both created and had come to depend on.
“Oi, B. You good over there?”
B or Board’s mind returned to the present and he locked eyes with the soldier sitting opposite him on one of the four seats in the cabin of their vehicle. A dark spacecraft which steadily descended into a planet’s atmosphere.
She, like he, was clad in a dark suit that looked like someone had stripped the skin off of a person and burnt the flesh beneath to a gnarly char.
What looked like exposed muscle fibres and bone were actually a part of the suit. Artificial components that were made to enhance the capabilities of the wearer.
The woman, as was the norm, had shortly cut black hair, slanted eyes and pale skin that was lined with scars here and there.
Her name was Michin and she was Condor Unit’s Demolitionist and Heavy Weapons Specialist.
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Badge of the Raptor Division of the Vires In Harmonia Corps:
Badge [https://i.postimg.cc/pXDCHsZw/PSX-20240901-202719.jpg]
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“I don’t know. I’ve been finding myself getting lost in thought as of late. Thinking about the world we’re fighting for. A world without AI or, at least, a world where man’s fate is back in his own hands. Or is this reality one of our own making? The history logs state that it was we who built them… and yet.”
Michin’s dark, sharp eyes stared unblinkingly at B as he rambled.
“Uh… captain, I think B’s brain just went below Delta.”
“Shut up for a second and him alone, Chin. I'm sure he's just feeling a little Grav'd what with us being balls deep in enemy territory.” The soldier sitting to B's right smiled while gently patting his shoulder.
His call sign was Maya and he was a short man who had smooth bronze skin, short-cut black hair and hazel brown eyes.
“The day these juicy lips of mine stop moving is the day I Delta and that day isn’t today!” Chin declared while tightly gripping her weapon, a black assault rifle.
“It’s alright if you’re nervous too, Michin.”
B glanced at the woman who sat next to Chin.
Her name was Meredith and she was the captain of Condor Unit – one of the many which were a part of the mysterious Raptor Division. She was tall and had scarred dark skin and short hair. She also brandished an assault rifle, like everyone else but she simply allowed it to hang from her neck with its attached belt.
Chin’s expression momentarily shifted to one that almost seemed soft as she looked at Meredith who simply closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of her seat.
“But you’re not nervous, right Cap’n?” Chin asked.
“Of course not.”
Chin exchanged glances with B and Maya, who was the unit's scout.
“It’s scary how we can’t tell whether or not she’s lying,” Maya whispered.
“Yeah. You wouldn’t be able to tell that she was being sent into hell just by looking at her.” B muttered.
He had a cleanly shaven head, smooth dark skin and sharp eyes as was befitting of the unit’s rifleman.
“What are those geezers thinking anyway?” Chin deflated with a sigh.
“What kind of mice send a team of other mice into the fox’s forest to look for a fox trap?” She griped.
“Well, we aren’t going to just any forest.” Maya crossed his arms.
“Yeah.” Chin groaned.
[Condor Unit, this is Hawk-14-1! We’re zeroing in on the drop-off point, get ready!]
Those words came from a voice that seemed to be coming from inside B’s head but it was simply a transmission from the pilots of the vehicle they were in. It was followed by a sudden change as the lights in the cabin turned red.
“Alright, toes down and masks on, ladies!” Meredith snapped before unstrapping herself from her seat, prompting her men to do the same.
They all then slipped their masks over their heads and these were helmets that were seamlessly aligned with their suits which met just below their jawlines. The helmets were modelled after the skull of a bird of prey.
Two red visors were their eyes and the helmets were slightly pointed forwards.
Every member of the unit also had a parachute strapped onto them.
[Gear check!] Meredith barked and since her helmet was on, her voice came from within B’s head prompting him to check Maya’s parachute who checked Chin’s who was inspected by Meredith.
B then checked Meredith’s equipment and saw that her parachute looked like it was in order. She had her AR, her sidearm was properly holstered and her vitals appeared on the top left corner of his Heads-up Display alongside everyone else’s.
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[Doors open in five!]
Everyone faced the hatch at the back of the vehicle and waited for the GO signal.
The lights then went green and just as they did, the hatch slowly fell open.
[Go, go, go!] Meredith yelled and, without wasting a second, Chin threw herself out of the cabin.
Maya was next and B followed after him although he looked behind him to check if Meredith was behind him.
He gave himself a nod after seeing that she was and so looked down as the vehicle, which was in no way similar to a hawk, flew further and further away.
[Good luck, ladies and gentlemen! Depending on how things go, we may only be able to reach one pick-up point so keep that in mind when you use your beacons.] Hawk-14 cautioned.
[Copy.] Meredith said while B scanned the world beneath as they fell from above the clouds.
It was a dark and rocky scape lit only by the light of a distant supernova which bathed the world in sharp tones of dark grey and white.
B’s sensors told him that it had the same gravity rating of 1 which meant that it was the same as that on the ancient world of Earth. A planet which was used as the reference point for numerous systems and measurements. The atmosphere, while seemingly clear, was full of toxic pollutants which were possibly residue from excessive industrial operations. The temperatures were low but now below freezing. That said, if it wasn’t for the suits Condor Unit wore, they’d have likely died before even reaching the surface.
Dotted across the oceans of stone and rock were what appeared to be cities one of which was the Unit’s destination.
It was marked on each of their HUDs by an X and was located near the planet’s equator.
[What did they say the Drones found again?] Maya asked as the unit continued to plummet.
[The fact that you have to ask means that you weren’t paying attention during the briefing. I am very disappointed.]
[No- err… it’s not that at all, captain! I just didn’t fully understand the nature contents of the package we’ve been sent to retrieve.]
[Why didn’t you say so during the meeting?]
[I didn’t wanna look like an idiot in front of the geezers.]
[Well now you just look like an idiot in front of us, congratulations!] Chin chuckled.
[Mmm… the Drones found a pod which may be holding a dormant and undifferentiated Archon which we may be able to use to further our cause.]
A moment passed after Meredith spoke.
And then another.
[Haha! He still doesn’t understand shit!] Chin laughed.
[Pipe down! Grounds coming up!] B warned.
[Aright. Deploy chutes and make landfall right in front of the designated Landing Zone.]
Everyone did as instructed and B was suddenly jerked backwards by his parachute as it deployed.
He then guided himself into the dark, Unnamed city and eventually landed in front of a gargantuan facility.
The others landed alongside him and they all raised their rifles in unison.
[Should we expect any company?] Maya asked and this made Meredith click her tongue.
[Seems like I’m going to have to punish you again for attentiveness.]
Maya let out a terrified shriek before suddenly standing upright.
[Oh, yeah! I remember! The Planetary Self Defence System looked like it had taken a ton of damage so the most we should expect is small arms resistance on the surface! That said we were advised to operate swiftly since we are in enemy territory!] Maya yelled as if he was reciting something had read a thousand times.
[Good. Now, let’s go.]
B walked behind the rest of the unit as they walked through the facility’s huge front doors.
The interior was dark and vast, lit only by the flashlights attached to the bottoms of everyone’s rifles, although their visors allowed them to see in low-light conditions.
It looked like this space was once used to assemble heavy ordinance machinery and weapons although the parts had long since fallen into disrepair.
Scattered around were small to humanoid-sized machines that were most likely responsible for the assembly process but B’s sensors couldn’t detect any energy signatures within them so he paid them little mind.
The unit eventually found the door which led to a staircase which went to the basement and it’s here that the silence became deafening, broken only by the sounds of their footsteps.
Obsidia was classified as a Ghost World meaning it was already silent and desolate but the soundproofed walls of the basement level had an almost suffocating effect on the air which amplified B’s unease.
The unit entered the basement proper to find that it was a gigantic storeroom full of parts.
The floor was littered with even more broken machines, the most common of which were cubic and had several tendril-like arms which they used to fulfil their various tasks.
The unit walked over the dead machines and followed their markers up until they found it.
Tucked away in the corner as if it was nothing special was a cylindrical pod which was made of a dull, slightly rusted metal.
Condor Unit knew better, however.
They knew that, hidden behind a solid five centimetres of steel was an entity that would determine the fate of the galaxy.
[What now?] Chin asked.
[We need to get the package to a safe exfiltration point.] Meredith muttered as she cautiously walked over to the pod.
[Did the geezers tell you how to open it because I’m pretty sure each of us has a carry limit of 150kg and that thing looks like it weighs a ton.] Maya droned.
[We’ll have to find a way-]
[Condor Unit, this is Hawk-14 and we’ve spotted 4 unidentified objects hurtling towards the planet! Their moving way too fast to be any kind of craft! I think… I think the Dead Stars have discovered us!]
Everyone froze.
B bit his teeth so hard that they threatened to crack as terror washed over him.
He was prepared for anything.
Malfunctioning worker bots or even dangerous humanoid AI but Archons…
[Grraahh! Fuck this shit, I knew something wasn’t right with this mission!] Chin screamed as she slammed the pod with her palm.
[Calm down! We don’t know for sure if they really are Archons. Just keep an eye out while I try and figure out how we’re gonna-]
An explosion from above stopped Meredith’s words and prompted everyone to raise their rifles.
Silence seeped back into the air only to be broken again as several slow footsteps came from the staircase.
Condor Unit all pointed their weapons in that direction.
Five humanoid figures then emerged from the darkness.
Chief among them was one who, instead of having eyes or a nose, had twelve bright lights on his dark face which seemingly rejected any light that tried to touch it. The outer six lights formed a ring of elongated blue lines while the inner six were singular points that also made a ring.
The rest of his form, like his face, was made of a dark material that seemingly ate any light that dared approach it.
This was the same for the other four figures although they didn’t have any lights.
These were Archons – AI’s ultimate form.
What made Archons truly terrifying was that they weren’t operating on some prewritten code or set of instructions.
No, they were here of their own wills.
Their presence alone was enough to make B’s HUD scream as it sent him all kinds of warnings which he couldn’t look at, lest he lose sight of what was in front of him.
Meredith bravely stepped forward but before she could even say anything, the forwardmost Archon suddenly appeared in front of her and punched her in the gut with so much force that his fist shot out of her back.
[Fire at will!] B cried prompting Maya and Chin to empty their magazines as they shot at the figure that still held Meredith up through her abdomen but each round they fired was not only stopped by his almost Ink black skin, but they were flattened before unceremoniously falling to the ground.
Another Archon then dashed towards Maya who screamed while switching to his sidearm to shoot it but it was just as ineffective, leaving him helpless before the Archon which grabbed his head and tore it off.
Chin, after seeing that the bullets weren’t working, dashed towards the figure and tried punching him but this seemed even less effective than the bullets.
[YOU BASTARDS!] She roared as B helplessly watched.
The unflinching dark being then finally reacted as a loud hiss filled the air.
He tilted his head and, with teary eyes, B turned to the pod which slowly opened, revealing a seemingly unconscious woman who had smooth brown skin and short kinky hair.
The opening of the pod seemingly woke her up and she opened her eyes revealing her irises to be oceans of pink and cyan.
Her sleepy gaze shifted from Condor Unit to the Archons.
It’s here that the first of the Archons dropped Meredith.
He then moved towards the pod and grabbed the woman by her neck before lifting her.
However, before the Archon could do anything else, the woman punched him in the head with so much force that the top part of his skull flew off and covered everyone in a cyan-coloured fluid.
B didn’t know what to think anymore.
His thoughts were screaming so loudly at this point that all he could do was fall to his knees as tears began to fall from his eyes which met Meredith’s as the life slowly bled from her body.
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Archon Epsilon - Member of the **** *****
Finally [https://i.postimg.cc/B6HLKVXs/alien-6782793-1920.jpg]