ARC2/C40 – Escalation
When she arrived back at base she was given a message by an office at the camp that her group leader had left. That she had better be dead this time as he was not going to cover for her again.
This revelation made Traksis glad she had missed her commander. As he was clearly not a man to be messed with. Their commander Sitoma, a man who strangely enough wore something like a suit jacket, and glasses perched at an angle on his head.
He was told to rest for a couple of hours which would give her time to eat, get cleaned up and replenish her SP. She didn’t bother to argue, she was in enough trouble already. This gave Traksis time to plan what she was going to do next.
Traksis was used to being solitary but she actually was getting used to AF continual utterances. She found them soothing, although he talked so much that she had become to tune his incessant banter out during combat.
He had told his perspective on what had happened during and after the evolution. Initially, he wasn’t able to sense anything. All his external inputs to the outside world were disconnected. Then slowly he was able to detect new inputs that had not been available to him before – sensory inputs.
For the first time, he received sensory data for – sight, touch, taste, smell and an audio feed. And was able to start building a picture of the world around him. It was like the a blind man seeing for the first time, he supposed. But also one that had been deaf. That was the best comparison he could think of. He knew that many AIs had sensory apparatus. Even ones with better senses that most other life forms. But he had always just been connect to the market place data and nothing else.
He could also of course hear thoughts and often images to go with those thought to. It was like a storybook. All Traksis’ thoughts coming to life in full colour and sound.
AF also found that he could interact with Traksis’ body in surprising ways. He could operate it.
But by a strange twist of fate, he could not harm her even if he wished to. Which he did not.
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This was due to [Automatic Self-Preservation] which even effected him and stopped him from doing many things. Conversely the ability had made use of his functionality when piloting Traksis’ body to safety after coming out of her cocoon.
AF felt stronger, this was due to him being able to leverage Traksis’ intelligence when she wasn’t using it. It was raw processing power that was seriously under utilised.
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The News of Korpos’ destruction of the Antragros home world, soon became common knowledge. A devastating blow for the Antragros faction. It had been completely unexpected. The war had been expected to be following the Seracians usual tactic of fighting a war of attrition against its opponents. Having an almost inexhaustible army of droids. They would usually outlast any advercary.
The Antragros, were marshalling their troops this very moment for a strike on the Vanguard.
While Traksis was digesting this information and realising it was probably partly if not totally due to her intervention in the war that the Antragros world had been wiped out of existence. Making her huddle down into her non-existent cloak.
The cloak was vastly superior to a normal cloak, as it could not rip or snag and trip you in combat. Though it was not perfect as some soldiers wore ones with defensive stats. Not that she really needed that.
Her thoughts were derailed when she heard that the enemy on this particular world was withdrawing. Maybe as they expected retribution from the Antragros they wanted to focus on defence at this time.
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Saya Ochalant, was waiting to be seen, at the Korinth Vanguard, headquarters. She could handle the indignity and would bare it gladly. Eventually, a high up deemed to spare her some time. It was Ivec More, she had heard of the man. He was know for his skill in archery, and specialised in modding abilities that enhanced this form of combat.
A large man with broad physic, he greeted her and bid her come in to a small meeting room. The room had walls lined with the heads of a bewildering array of beasts he had killed. Presumably to show off his prowess. It was wasted on her. She was trying her best not to shake.
“We thank you for presenting the core of your ex-leader, as evidence of your offer of renewed allegiance. But…” he let the word hang in the air like damaclis’ proverbial sword.
“we require you to hand over all control the Order held over the MR. And in addition all research documents held on their vore experimentation.”
Saya, eagerly complied with this request.
“Also we would like some members of your faction to help us become proficient in its usage. You are one of the people that we would like to select for this purpose.”
The colour drained from Saya’s cheeks as she realised their intent to keep the next leader of the Sercians, close. She would be like a bird in a guilded cage.
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