Pieces on the Board

Captain Belisarius walked into a quaint little room. The floor was made of wood planks and the walls were made of crudely cut stone. Wood furniture of reasonable workmanship was placed around the room. He watched as the head of the Colony took a seat at the table followed by her mother. Belisarius followed suit and took a seat at the table opposite the pair. He did not wait to be offered a seat, in negotiations it is important to establish early what the power dynamic was. He was a Captain of the Jotunheim legion, the legions only answered to Sol high command. In the field the legions had the right to make any demands of any society by Sol law. Defy this law and be destroyed.

“Would you like something to drink? I am afraid we do not have much to offer as compared to the Glitterworlds. We have tea and coffee if you want it.” the leader Rina said stiffly.

“Tea would be fine, thank you for your hospitality.” Belisarius said cordially.

“Very well.” Rina said as she nodded at a nearby servant who quickly started to make tea at a nearby countertop.

“May I know what a legion is doing on a Rimworld?” Rina asked.

“We are here to investigate a missing colony that went silent on this world.” Belsarius replied.

“A colony? Which one?” Rina asked, perplexed.

“Does the name April Giovani ring any bells?” Belisarius replied with a question of his own.

Rina stiffened as she looked to Moira, her mother and wise elder of the colony. The pair looked at each other in silence for a moment before Moira turned and locked her gaze onto Belisarius’s faceless helm.

“Giovani is a very old name, a very hated name.” Moira replied.

“Hated?” Belisarius asked.

“No written records exist but there are still oral traditions that are passed down. The stories say that there was once a colonisation effort here on this world three generations ago. The leader went by the name of Giovani, the stories also say that she is the creator of the Mechanoid Hive.” Moira replied calmly as she brought her gaze low in contemplation.

“The mechanoids are autonomous servants used by Sol, they were not created by Giovani.” Belisarius corrected.

“Regardless of its creation the fact is Sol’s metal servants are now a bane on all life on this planet. Mechanoids move in clusters and capture or kill any sentient creature they can find. We do not know why they do this, all we find are burnt ruins of towns and villages… and the tracks of Mechanoids leading away from the ruins.” Moira said.

Mechanoids capturing sentient creatures? That was definitely not part of their base programming, yes the Mechanoids do possess combat models but those are usually instructed to kill never to capture. Their weapons are not exactly well suited for non lethal combat, primarily used as front line cannon fodder in combat they are durable and deadly but lack any sense of advanced cognition. Essentially they were combat drones, there were many laws restricting AI and any form of advanced artificial intelligence. There were many… incidents in the past of AI uprisings ever since about two centuries ago all AI have fail safes in their code just in case the AI goes rogue.

Moving in organised groups carrying out coordinated attacks, this implies advanced cognitive decision making. Something that should not be possible for Mechanoids. This would need to be relayed to command as soon as discussions were over.

“Is that all? Is there anything that you can tell me about the initial colony? There was a garrison of Sol General Infantry sent here as well. What became of them?” Belisarius asked.

“We don't know, maybe they scattered and settled into the many societies trying to scratch out an existence on the planet. Maybe they became some of the bandits and pirates that plague us. No one knows, those who did know should be dead. This all happened a long time ago afterall.” Rina replied.

“Hmm very well, then what about your own situation and the surrounding area?” Belisarius asked.

“Before we answer that I would like to know what would you do with that information?” Rina asked stiffly.

“It is the mission of the Jotunheim legion to ensure this world is converted into a full colony. The first mission led by April Giovani was meant to lay the groundwork for another expedition. The colony went dark decades ago and Sol decided to send a taskforce here to investigate and finish the task if need be. In our Flotilla in orbit we have colonisation equipment and are able to transform this planet for the better.” Belisarius said.

“Sol wishes to bring this planet into the fold?” Rina asked wide eyed.

“Yes, congratulations you are living on the latest expansion point of Sol. If all goes according to plan in a few years this planet will look very different.” Belisarius replied.

“But…” Rina said as her brief moment of excitement passed.

“There are many factions on this world, Captain. Many would reject your offer.” Moira said.

“These factions are?” Belisarius asked.

“Give me a moment.” Rina said as she stood and approached one of the shelves. She pulled out a large cylindrical container and removed some sort of scroll. She placed it on the table and it unfurled revealing a rather comprehensive map of the surrounding area.

“Impressive map.” Belsarius commented as he gazed at it.

“We lost a lot of people to fill this up. It’s as precious a commodity as they come. Maps like this are worth more than gold here.” Rina replied with a grimace.

“There are quite a few factions here, this is us and those are the allied colonies. There’s four in total including us; we are the faction of the Free Colonies. Our population numbers about 10 thousand across the four colonies. This is where we are, Paradise.” Rina said as she pointed to four symbols on the map.

“To the north are the Ratkin, humanoids that look more or less like humans but they have rat ears and large buck teeth. They are smaller than humans on average they are about 1.4 metres tall. They are not as strong as a human but they are quite fast and the breed quickly too. The Ratkins are the product of failed genetic experimentation, they are quite friendly and are generally peaceful. They have the largest population in the area as far as we are aware. They have an entire empire north of here and they guard the Mandible Gates.” Rina said as she pointed at a symbol drawn to the likeness of a mice head.

“Mandible Gates?” Belisarius asked.

“Here this mountain range, it is home to large insectoid creatures, natives of this world. The Ratkins were engineered to counter them many years ago until they rebelled and claimed independence. Now they guard the border and we send them resources and food in exchange for their continued efforts against the Insectoids. We trade often with them and you’ll meet them soon, I expect a caravan will arrive soon. They are small and quite cute but they are good melee fighters and fight exceptionally well in melee formations.” Rina said.

“Interesting.” Belisarius replied.

“Then to the south is the Rabbie Empire, they are reclusive and isolationist. Generally hostile to anyone who ventures too close to them. The few encounters we have with them have not been friendly, the reports say they are extremely proficient snipers. Far better than any human we have seen. We have felt the sting of their snipers first hand, we generally respect their borders. We are not entirely sure where the Rabbie’s came from but some stories say they were from the initial colony under Giovani.” Rina said as she pointed to a red shaded area with a Rabbit ear symbol in the middle of it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“That is correct, the Rabbies were originally created as soldiers but eventually they wanted independence and like the Ratkin rebelled against Sol. But that was a long time ago, long story short now Sol and the Rabbie Stellar Empire are allies with integrating militaries. A Rabbie regiment was sent with the first colonisation effort. If the Rabbies here still hold to their Hierarchy they should not be a problem.” Belisarius replied.

“Meaning?” Rina asked, raising an eyebrow.

“There is a Rabbie Matriarch aboard a ship in the flotilla. If they still hold to their old traditions then she can according to their laws command all the Rabbies on the planet.” Belisarius replied.

“That's a very big if.” Rina said.

“The Rabbies are highly traditional, they may be more reasonable than you think.” Belisarius said.

“I hope so, there’s not much going on in the east, just desert and some tribes trying to survive. We call them the sand people but they aren’t much to look at. Mostly wearing scraps of clothing made from animal skins and using bows and spears.” Rina said as she gestured to an empty expanse on the right side of the map.

“That leaves the most problematic part, the west. The west is… not hospitable for any decent person. We call it the west but it’s actually larger than the local regions. We don’t know much about what is happening there exactly. All we know is that there are three groups there that are a bane on all life here on the plains.

The first group are the Pirate slavers, this the group that those two kids most likely came from. They are the better of three groups, they at least have some shred of humanity left in them. We sometimes get a few people fleeing their camps onto the plains and we take them in. They attempt to raid us occasionally as well, sometimes we find some kids among the soldiers. If we capture those we usually take them in, most of them are drugged to all hell and in a frenzy. But… they’re just scared kids in a way and they grow up to be good citizens, they mostly just want a safe place to live.

The second are the Feral Mutants, these are the poor souls who live near the destroyed fission reactor near the first colony ruins. The radiation has done strange things, the few we have managed to capture are just irradiated masses of cancerous flesh. Most of them are barely lucid and in so much constant pain they go berserk unpredictably. We had to put them out of their misery in the end.

The third are Giovani’s Mechanoids, as mentioned earlier we have no idea what they want. All we know is that they burn and destroy everything in sight. They are by far the hardest to deal with.” Rina said as she stood up again and walked over to a nearby shelf. She took out a bound leather book and walked over to the table. She placed it on the table and flipped to a page revealing hand drawn diagrams of Mechanoids.

“This book contains what we have learned about the Mechanoids. I’m not going to lie, we lose a lot of people everytime a group of them attacks us. We don’t have a lot of weapons that can punch through their armor. We have even fewer people who can use those weapons effectively. The ammunition is also difficult to manufacture so we don’t have much on hand. I will be blunt our colony cannot withstand a concerted attack from the Mechanoids. We have dealt with two dozen of them at most in a single attack and that attack nearly broke down the wall.” Rina said with a shake of her head.

Belisarius peered at the drawings on the book. The diagrams were well done considering they didn’t exactly have any formally trained technicians. The drawings showed designs that seemed to be based on old standard models. There were some that were even modified non combat models. Like the light Loader model that was used for manual labour which seems to have it’s multitool arms swapped for blades, it was now labeled as the Scyther in the book.

This was concerning news, the AI shackles prevented the main controller AI from modifying existing models. This meant either a person was in control or the AI has been unshackled and is now sapient. Is a Giovani perhaps still alive?

“In truth it is lucky there are three factions in the west, as far as we are aware from those that manage to escape the west the three factions constantly keep each other in check. They are locked in ceaseless conflict with one never being strong enough to overpower the others.” Rina said wearily.

“This also means they are capable soldiers.” Belisarius replied.

“Yes, they are, our own fighters here can only defend this place thanks to our defensive fortifications. In a battle out in the field our teams have lost much more than they have won. Even victories are pyrrhic victories and many return crippled or grievously wounded.” Rina said as she sat back into her chair indicating the end of her explanation.

“Thank you for the information this will help greatly. It seems we can work together.” Belisarius said with a nod.

“Is there anything the Legion can offer to help the colonies?” Moira asked.

“It is a dangerous thing to ask anything of a Legion.” Belisarius replied.

“Danger is a way of life here captain, every season we lose people, either through attacks or disease or some other unfortunate incident this spiteful universe seems fit to throw at us.” Moira replied evenly.

“Very well, the Legion can provide assistance but that will not be free.” Belisarius said.

“Does the information we just gave you count for nothing?” Rina asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That information bought you this offer.” Belisarius replied evenly.

“So what do you want?” Rina asked.

“My commanding officer can answer that.” Belisarius said as he tapped a few buttons on the interface built into the forearm of his left gauntlet.

There was a slight pause and he placed a strange disk on the table. From the device sprang a holographic projection of a man dressed in regal white armour. His armour was much more ornate as compared to Belisarius’s. On his chest was emblazoned in gold the symbol of the Sol systems. From his left pauldron flowed a regal white half cape filled with gold embroidery. To put it simply the armor was beautiful in a kind of menacing morbid fashion. The man did not wear a helm, though perhaps it would have been better if his face had been covered. His face was a mess of long winding scars and from his right eye to his right temple there was some type of cybernetic implant. His right metal eye glowed with an ominous blue glow and his left organic eye was as cold as a winter’s night.

The daughter and her elderly mother had seen their share of cruel visages. Psychopathic and crazed bandits, mutants with minds so broken that sanity was surely a foreign concept, the hollowed eyes of lone survivors after raids. All of these eyes had one thing in common: their eyes had some semblance of life within them, whether it be bloodlust, rage or sorrow, there was always something. This man however, his gaze was piercing yet empty, devoid of emotion almost like Mechanoid’s light sensor. His gaze pierced the pair with an almost appraising look and the pair did not find the strength within them to speak.

“Greetings, my captain says you are willing to cooperate.” the man said coldly.

“Er yes, we are hoping we can come to some sort of arrangement.” Moira said first, Rina was still tongue tied in her chair.

“Very well, I am Lord Commander Ignatio, I command the 4th Jotunheim Legion Battlefleet. I have many tasks to complete so I will make this brief. We need a base of operations to fully examine this world and understand the situation on the ground. Your location is suitable as it is approximately 100km away from the original landing zone of the first pioneer colony. For now we require a building within your settlement to act as a planet side command base. Naturally due to this your colony will be protected by the forces of the Jotunheim Legion, which will include a local garrison as well as coverage by our orbital guns. Any further actions by the Legion are expected to receive the full support of this settlement. Further compensation will be provided at time and amount that is decided by me or any delegated officers. Do you accept these terms?” Ignatio said crisply.

“Yes.” Moira said calmly. Moira knew this was as good terms as they could get, the Legion is infinitely more powerful than they were. If they wanted to, they could level their settlement from orbit. However, having a Legion on their side will deter many of the threats that so often seeks to destroy their home. As for those that aren’t deterred? Well then they could see if the Legion truly lives up to their reputation.

Yes the promised aid in perpetuity was a dangerous thing but so was defying a Legion. If a Legion was here it won;t be long before this planet is made to heel. The only question now was whether they are behind the Legion or in front of it. Judging by their reputation Moria doubted they were particularly gentle when it comes to removing obstacles.

“What are your names, I will need to contact you in the future.” Ignatio said, this delayed request for names is intentional. It is important when dealing with non-spaceborn natives to assert their authority early. By asking for their names late, it implies an irrelevance of the opposing party. Although not explicitly said these subtle interactions subconsciously creates submissive tendencies in the affected individual.

“I am Moira Vo, this is my daughter Rina Vo.” Moira said.

“Vo?” Ignatio said as he turned and tapped on the interface. He paused for a moment before looking back up at the pair.

“Does the name Jacob ring any bells?” Ignatio said.

“No?” Rina replied confused at the sudden change in topic.

“There was an engineer in the first colony expedition’s crew manifest. His name is Jacob Vo, I suspect you may be related to him.” Ignatio said.

“What? My ancestors came from the colony?” Rina blurted out, eyes wide in surprise.

“Jacob Vo, age 34, height 1.74 metres, brown hair, brown eyes, Anglo blood descendent, fair skin. I can see the resemblance.” Ignatio said, evenly ignoring Rina’ question.

“What else do you know?” Rina asked.

“The rest of the file is of little importance, all this tells me is that chances are the colony failed in a way that caused the colonists to scatter to the winds.” Ignatio said dismissively.

“Wait is there really nothing else?” Rina asked fervently.

“Would you like to know his blood type?” Ignatio replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Rina…” Moira chidded from the side.

“Right, my apologies for losing my composure, it’s just... we know very little of the past. Most of the stories passed down say the first colonists refused to speak much about the first colony to the later generations. It is… a great mystery to many of us.” Rina said as she calmed down.

“The past matters little, you should tend to the present and the future.” Ignatio replied evenly in the same cold tone that he has used since the start of this conversation, totally indifferent to the outburst.

“Thank you for the advice… so when can we expect your soldiers to arrive?” Rina asked awkwardly.

“We will let you know, the fleet is currently hunting down the slaver and pirate filth infesting this planet's orbit. The rats scatter in the face of my fleet, it will take a week at least to hunt them all down. Also we have recovered some of their human cargo. If you have any missing citizens pass their names along to my Captain, he will forward that data to my staff. If we find any matches in the rescues we will return them along with the soldiers that will arrive.” Ignatio said.

“Really? Thank you so much, we will collate the names and hand them to Captain Belisarius as soon as possible.” Rina said eyes wide with hope.

This was another trick by Ignatio, the rescues they grabbed would just be a drain on resources. They couldn’t send them back to core systems for resettlement as it would take two years just to return to the fringes of the core territories. So their options were either to house them or resettle them onto the planet. As of now the plan was to resettle the rescued slaves into the Legion protected colonies on the planet. So if they got some free goodwill for it why not? Afterall you can’t have too many favours to call in, the more the merrier.

“I look forward to your cooperation. That will be all for now. I will contact you again if necessary.” Ignatio said as he terminated the connection.

“Well that went well…” Rina muttered.

“I would say so.” Belisarius said.

“So what will you do now captain?” Moira asked.

“Now that this colony will be the first base on this planet, my squad and I will work to improve conditions here. Eudico, my second in command is a veteran sniper and Jaxx is a close combat specialist. I will have them get to work training your local soldiers. Judging by what I saw at your wall they need a lot of training. Grendel my heavy weapons specialist is also a combat engineer he will get to work on improving your infrastructure. Flossie my medical specialist will help out in your medical centre and provide some training to your medical staff as well.” Belisarius said as he rose from his seat.

“And yourself?” Moira asked.

“I will coordinate their efforts and also I will inspect your defenses. I spotted several vulnerabilities on my way here. Some of which can be easily addressed, others not so much. I’ll do what I can.” Belisarius replied.

“Very well, we appreciate your assistance Captain.” Rina said with a nod.

Orders are orders Mrs Rina

Good day to you