System log: The Bunker, Site 3
Solar Calendar: Unknown, 2???
Current status: Active
Log 15
The previous day had ended with two significant events for the group of human runners. The first was that between Dina and Sloan, they’d determined that the Knight mecha suit could be pushed to its limits by intentionally overexerting the body of the wielder in a similar manner as the exo-suits. The acceleration and deceleration rates didn’t change much, but Dina managed to hit 100 mph for a brief burst before her physical endurance ran out. That revelation, in turn, unveiled two more: that the suits were cleaned during recharge, and that Dina’s mental fatigue grew faster than her physical fatigue. The other significant event that occurred, was that Hank finally rejoined the group to much celebration during the evening meal. The group broke out some stashed alcohol for the occasion, while Hank marveled over the new Knight suit.
For Gamma, the only events of importance that occurred were that the drones finished removing all raw material from the matriarch tremor worm, and that the scout drones provided in depth terrain recording for the surrounding kilometer. As expected, the sandy grass landscape was continuous and ending, only broken up by the remains of structures and long destroyed colossal creations ranging from titanic machines, to even the remains of what appeared to be spaceships of some kind. The erosion of time ensured that little remained to separate alien from human tech, and that the battle long since past at this place had been one of epic proportions.
Gamma had been ruminating over the remains through the night into the rising of the morning sun, when it detected one of the scout drones returning early from its second scouting run. The fifth day’s sun was only peeking over the horizon when the drone finally linked into the facility and uploaded its collected data. The most recent included a recording of a distant group approaching from the south, an indeterminate distance away.
The program instantly upgraded its alert level and focused processing power into all active security and sensor systems. There wasn’t anything within detection range, but Gamma knew it was only a matter of time. It debated waking up the runners, but decided better rested humans were of greater value than ones relying on adrenaline and stress in case of conflict. There was time left before the threat became detectable.
Through the maintenance tunnels, drones hurriedly conducted last minute repairs and re-arming of the security turrets around the entrance. This task had only been of medium priority before, and there wasn’t enough time to achieve 100% combat readiness, but Gamma would be satisfied with 75% if faced with more stalkers or hostile humans. The railgun rounds would work on either group, though regrettably not so well if another matriarch tremor worm made an appearance.
It was later in the morning, while the group of seven runners enjoyed their breakfast, that Gamma finally saw the approaching group on the edge of its detection radius. Thankfully, it appeared to be a group of humans moving swiftly towards Site 3. Unfortunately, it appeared there were a lot of humans, and the program determined the presence of at least three different group formations.
One clearly consisted of runners, resembling the boss captain Donaldson and his companions in equipment. They appeared to be in the lead of the other two, though fine details could not be determined at this time. Behind them, the two other groups appeared to be equipped with greater armored suits, though again it was no possible to separate them at this distance. Gamma determined that it was now time to rouse the troops, so to speak.
“Warning, warning,” it announced in the fake robotic voice of the mall lobby’s speakers. “Unknown group detected on intercept course. Detecting possible hostile intent. Security systems have been armed. Warning, warning.”
The runners instantly scrambled at the announcement, scarfing down any remaining food and suiting up in preparation. Dina ran up to the second floor to hop into her Knight mecha.
“Dina!” the boss called up to her as she hopped up the stairs. “When you come down, stay out of sight until I signal you! We don’t want to reveal your new toy too soon to avoid problems!”
“Yes sir!” Dina yelled down from the catwalk as she raced to the fabricator room.
“The rest of you,” the boss growled. “Let’s take ready positions outside, and hope it’s the rescue team and not marauders.” With grim expressions all around, the group hurried outside. Gamma noted the new term, marauders, and added it to its list of modern human careers alongside runner/Roadrunner, waller guard, vault diver, bunker breaker, and caravan guard (TBD). By the name, perhaps the modern form of roaming bandit?
Speaking of, the Roadrunners made quick work of setting up a perimeter in the entranceway. The drones had moved parts of the matriarch worm closer to the entrance over the last two days to be cut down into smaller pieces for recycling, but the humans now shifted the parts into barriers and defensive positions. Visibly, Ryan had set up his large slingshot once more, and Hank held his rifle, but the most the runner could do was bluff given the current lack of ammunition and long-ranged weaponry. They were aware of the security turrets in theory though, as they hadn’t actually seen them in action yet, so their posturing at least wasn’t a complete lie. Dina made her way outside soon after, and hid behind a piece moved specifically for her. As prepared as they could be, the group watched, and waited.
As the entrance to Site 3 faced the south-west, by the time the unknown group of humans came into view, everyone was within shouting distance. The two groups seemed to see each other about the same time, which of course was long after Gamma had picked up on the new group.
“Boss? BOSS!” came the sound of a woman from the lead group. She waved her hand frantically in the air to get the boss’s attention. From Hank’s viewed memory, Gamma matched the voice print to the one known as Jamie, who was the second-in-command of the Roadrunners. She’d led the other runners to complete the mission under the order of captain Donaldson, and it seemed she’d returned as promised.
The captain Donaldson signaled to the others to remain low, then rose up to respond. “JAMIE!” he called out, waving his own hand in response. He didn’t bother shouting orders at her, but didn’t leave the barricade to greet her properly.
The group of new humans seemed to pick up on that, as the lead group immediately slowed down. The other humans behind them were also forced to slow, and soon everyone came to a complete stop at the edge of the entranceway leading into Site 3. Only then did Donaldson, and Sloan after a flick of the boss’ hand, walk out to meet up with the new group. The woman, Jamie, shared a brief hug with the boss before shaking his hand once with a smile.
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“Sir, I’m here to report that the delivery was completed successfully,” she announced with a quick salute. “No client complaints beyond time delay, and we filed formal grievances with the guild about the unreported tech we were made to deliver.”
“Excellent work Jamie,” the boss nodded and smiled proudly. “I couldn’t have done a better job.”
The younger woman smiled happily, only to frown at the cough behind her. The boss’ eyes moved over to examined the two men standing at a respectful, but firm, distance behind his second-in-command.
“May I introduce,” Jamie said with a polite smile, “the leaders of the rescue team and, diver team who accompanied us here. This is Captain Stonewall of the New Jackson guard division, and Captain Donner-”
“Theadore Donner of the Dungeon Diver team Hell Walk,” one of the men spoke up suddenly and interrupted Jamie. He smiled and walked over with his arm outstretched. “Call me Teddy. So, this is the ruin huh? Can’t say I’ve seen one quite like it before.”
Everyone frowned at the diver captain, who seemed not to notice. The boss slowly reached out and shook the other man’s hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Donaldson said politely. He didn’t say anything else.
The other man was far more polite than the other. A grizzled older man, he walked over and gave the boss a quick salute, one with more professionalism and practice than Jamie’s. “As she said, I’m Captain Stonewall,” he introduced himself, also holding out an arm in greeting. “I’m with New Jackson’s outer perimeter guard division. Is there anyone here in need of medical treatment or suit repair?”
“Nothing of critical importance,” the boss said, returning the handshake in kind, though with a raised eyebrow. He also ignored Jamie’s surprised expression. “Though, I can’t say I expected a captain to appear as part of the rescue team. A bit too far into dangerous territory to claim this as the city’s outer perimeter, isn’t it?”
“I do as ordered,” the captain said politely, smoothly dodging the unspoken question.
The boss moved his gaze back over to Jamie, who visibly grimaced. He nodded slowly.
“So,” the captain Donaldson said slowly, eyes moving between the two new leaders of men, “since you’ve come as part of the rescue team, I assume we’ll be escorted back to New Jackson, then?”
“A squad of my best men will be escorting you,” the older captain nodded in agreement.
“But not you,” the boss noted.
“No,” the older man shook his head. “I have my orders.” He didn’t appear to have any interest explaining more. Captain Teddy, on the other hand, didn’t say anything. His smile didn’t waver, but his eyes kept drifting back to the facility behind the boss.
At this, the captain Donaldson snorted and finally relaxed into a stubborn posture, arms folded across his chest. “For a rescue team, that sure is a lot of anti-personnel armor and weaponry to risk in a forbidden zone. Have the sharks come swimming after smelling blood? Or, is dogs after a bone a better comparison?”
At that, Captain Teddy’s smile changed into a sneer. “If you mean wolves circling prey, then sure. Or, perhaps coyotes gathering around a lame bird.” The runners within earshot all bristled at the implied threat, but the menacing armored figures around them didn’t react at all. The other captain’s face was stoic and stony, like his name.
“Cute,” the boss drawled as he eyed the younger man. “But I honestly don’t give a shit about you. I’m more interested in what the wallers want, instead of their pet minnow.”
Now it was Teddy’s turn to bristle, but he backed down after getting a look from Captain Stonewall. The older man stepped up and said, “My orders are to safely retrieve all downed members of you group captain and return them safely to New Jackson. As for everything else I was told, it is none of your concern.”
“It is since we’ve claimed this place for our group,” Donaldson corrected. “This is runner territory now.”
“Bullshit,” Captain Teddy snapped angrily. “Runners don’t clear ruins. That’s diver or breaker work. You’re overreaching old man.”
“We repaired and restored power,” Donaldson began to list off finger by finger. “We discovered it. We’ve lived inside of it for five days now. We’ve repelled a group of reactivated stalkers. We-”
“Alright, enough,” Stonewall interrupted with a wave of his hand. “You’ve made your point and your claim. Unfortunately, this ruin happens to fall within the sovereign territory of New Jackson, captain. As such, under law, your group isn’t authorized to clear or lay full claim to ruins without the aid and assistance of an authorized group.”
“Which, I imagine, means one of you,” Donaldson rolled his eyes. “Or, what I imagine you were originally thinking, split between the both of you. Stars above, I suspected there would be some interest, but I didn’t expect this level of greed. Is a ruin in the forbidden zone that valuable?”
“You tell us,” Stonewall said. “You’ve been here for five days. If there wasn’t anything of interest, you wouldn’t be putting your head so far out.”
The boss snorted and waved his hand dismissively. “If you mean the mostly expired food our resident glutton tried his mouth on, sure. But I imagine the reason you’re here, Captain Stonewall, lies more in the location of the ruin than what poor assortment of riches have been found inside. New Jackson has long since been interested in the forbidden zone, and now a convenient staging base has conveniently popped up on the edge of your territory. I imagine the boundaries you mentioned before were extended only a few days ago? Perhaps a delay in coming here for just the purpose?”
From Jamie’s thunderous and angry expression that she leveled at the waller captain, it was obvious to everyone that she hadn’t been made aware of the reason for the delay in the rescue. The captain, for his part, only shrugged.
“As I said, I just follow orders,” he said evenly. “Still, as you’ve laid claim, you are entitled to 50% of the rights-”
“This, is, our, base,” Donaldson said coldly. “The forbidden zone borders four city territories, and any territory extension has to be accepted by the others before taking full, legal effect. The Roadrunner guild-”
“Isn’t here,” Teddy smiled darkly. “And, it is to my understanding that they were not made fully aware of this rescue attempt before we headed out. I’m sure they would appreciate if we returned the bodies of their fallen members, should we find them.”
The tension in the air was palpable, or at least, that’s what Gamma supposed. It couldn’t exactly ‘detect’ floating tension, but it was clear the humans had entered some kind of standoff mode. Neither the program, nor the boss, missed that the group of returning runners were surrounded on all sides by both armored groups, and were severely out-gunned. Jamie looked both furious and regretful, obviously regretting her rush to return and assist her teammates and clearly confused why her boss was being so stubborn in the face of such dangerous implied threats. The captain Donaldson, for his part, did not visibly back down from the threat.
It seemed this tit-for-tat back and forth was liable to continue until someone got shot, which countered Gamma’s needs. The program decided enough was enough, and activated D.M.H.E.L.L. protocol. Everyone flinched as metal shifted along the top of the walls as large screw-off railguns suddenly popped out and took aim at the humans down below. The familiar fake robot voice soon followed over the outside speakers.
“Warning, hostile intent had been detected,” Gamma said slow and bluntly. “Detecting heavy armor and weapons within range. Equivalent force has been deployed to counter. Unknown hostiles are to retreat or face severe consequences. Failure to comply will result in forceful termination of threat. You have been warned.”
The captain Teddy snorted. “So you got the recordings to work, big deal-”
With a bang, one of the railguns smashed a hole in the ground right in front of the rude captain. The man screamed and fell on his butt while everyone scrambled out of the way, diving into any cover they could. Even Stonewall’s face cracked as he hit the ground and rolled behind an unmoved piece of metal from the matriarch tremor worm.
The boss, for his part, didn’t flinch or move in anyway. Gamma could clearly detect the small beads of sweat on the back of neck, though.
“Like I said,” he repeated with deathly calm. “This, is, our, base. I do not recommend doing something you’ll regret. We only had an apprentice techie on hand to facilitate repairs, after all. Can’t say we managed to properly restore the off button on these turrets.”