About 20 years ago a boy that had lived his entire life in a trading outpost much like Alina’s home city of Babai, however the city got sacked in some of the many wars between the Willmir empire and the Eastern satellite states, as the young man looked at soldiers raze his home one question rose to his mind
‘...If I had power like that, what would I do?’
Now so many years later the boy, Leonard had turned into a young man and the leader of his own troop of mercenaries, to the nobles and royals he worked for Leonard was a stoic man that was humble of his achievements, but to the most senior of his troop his greed and hunger for powers was larger than any emperor, thus when the new front opened up on the western fringes of the Willmir empire he jumped at the opportunity to join the subjugation force, now on the 12th day something other than beasts finally appeared, along with the sudden arrival of a metal figure that hovered in the air before an ethereal voice echoed in Leonard’s voice
“Willmir soldiers are not welcome here”
Leonard raised his right hand to halt his troops movements as the Willmir commander raised his sword up to call for an attack, Leonard that always trusted his guts yelled out
“DOWN!”
A moment after Leonard’s voice sounded out, and he hit the dirt, a large boom echoed out as Leonard’s enhanced perception caught a glance of the Willmir commander being turned into a red mist, after the dust cleared Leonard raised his hand which carried 3 silver rings of conquest as he yelled
“I, Leonard commander of the Flowing Wind troop, holder of 3 silver rings of conquest, order all loyal Willmir soldiers to stand down!”
-
Matthew was still in a full sprint when the shout of the Flowing Wind troop commander was picked up by Alina and transmitted to him, he was still around a kilometer out but only a moment after his vision swirled to a position up high of a surveillance drone as Aea’s voice sounded out over the local communications net
[Scenario 23 B, M1 move to overwatch and prepare to engage]
Being an A. I. Aea had made backup plans on backup plans on plans for the eventual arrival of Willmir’s army, the scenario Aea had just described was that a person were attempting to take hold of the vacant command seat to negotiate, which was in Matthew and Alina’s interests, so now the top priority was to make sure this would happen
[Targets painted, M1 go for strike]
Matthew raised his lever coil rifle while still in full sprint quickly lined up on the first painted target, according to Aea’s data, a 2nd in command from the Willmir army was about to argue Leonard’s command
“Firing”
This act only earned the 2nd in command a 60mm cranium ventilation, Matthew fired another 3 shots at the targets Aea had painted, just as the 3 round echoed out Alina’s voice echoed out in the minds of the Willmir army
[I see at least one person have some sense]
Matthew leaped off the ground and as he flew through the air he stored the coil rifle right before he landed about 20 meters ahead of the front guard and after a moment he walked towards the group unbridled by their panic and raised weapon he simply walked forwards
“Halt!”
“Get him!”
Two soldiers, conscripts or city guards at most, that seemed to have been pushed too far by stress lashed out at Matthew, the spear two spears stabbed out, one at his chest, another at his head, the result?
Scratched paint.
Matthew yanked the spear from the first man and by sheer force he stabbed him through the chest, with the blunt end of the spear before sending a football kick to his groin which sent the poor sod flying up and away from Matthew, then his modulated voice sounded out through the suit
“A good soldier knows when they are beat”
As a sudden shocked silence spread out over the grasslands, Matthew took a step in and grabbed the other soldier by the scruff of his padded linen shirt and hoisted in up high for the rest to see as his voice echoed out again
“A good soldier comes back alive”
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Then in a single brutal act of overkill he yanked the poor man that wasn’t even struggling at this point into the ground face first which turned his head into a thick red purple paste with a horrible sound that seemed to carry though the arm, Matthew then simply straightened himself up again and continued walking forwards, no soldier blocked his path now, none were stupid or brave enough to do so, his path led him straight towards Leonard and his troop, Matthew had his eyes locked on the young troop commanded the entire time, to Matthew’s surprise he neither faltered nor looked away as Matthew approached him, Matthew stopped a few meters in front of the young man and spoke
“I am Major Matthew Rockwell of the 913th Penance Marines, I assume you hold command over this unjust military intrusion into The Trerubic Empire?”
Although Matthew’s voice was heavily modulated and distorted to hide his real voice, it carried far over the mostly silent army, his statement had the intended effects, one he was a Major, two he was part of the ‘913th Penance Marines’ which heavily implied the existence of other troops like him along with the mention of ‘The Trerubic Empire’ painted a very clear picture which simply read:
Comply or face the might of an entire Empire you had no idea existed til now, which just pacified an entire army with two soldiers
“I am Leonard Casipry, I hold temporary command over this military expedition”
Matthew showed a smirk under his helmet as he sent a message to Alina
[This kid has some stones on him]
The space a little behind Matthew suddenly distorted as Alina appeared, a moment later she waved her hand and a metal chair appeared right behind her which she took a seat in while keeping silent
“Leonard Casipry, do you confirm this unlawful military intrusion into Trerubic territory has surrendered?”
Leonard didn’t miss a beat and after a moment he spoke in a loud and clear voice
“We surrender, I would like to negotiate an escort and eventual ransom of all troops at Fort Adam 5 days travel east of here”
Matthew remained silent for a few moments before he spoke
“Understood, I must inform you that according to Trerubic military law any act of defiance of a surrendered force gives me full legal immunity of any and all crime against sentient life, show any defiance and I will personally reintegrate all of you into the soil below my feet, is that clear”
“Yes, major”
“Good, you have until sunrise tomorrow to treat any injured personal and get ready to match East with all combat capable personal”
Matthew turned around and walked back to the edge of the clearing where he turned around to face the increasingly disorganized army and crossed his arms, after a few moments Alina’s figure appeared next to him and spoke to him over the internal network
[So what do we do when someone tries to sneak away doing the night?]
[We set an example and increase our bargaining power]
As Matthew spoke, the 53 battle androids rapidly encircled the surrendered army
[Never mind work, how is your new body handling?]
Alina looked down at her hand as she opened and closed it again a few times before she responded
[It feels fine for now]
Matthew nodded before he followed his question up by asking
[You haven’t felt any of those signs we talked about?]
The signs Matthew was referring to were the long list of general signs of bionic rejections which Aea had listed, now Aea’s entire body was artificial and neither Matthew nor Aea was sure she would experience any of the horrors of becoming sick from one's own new body parts which could lead to a whole slew physiological problems
Most of which Matthew had seen first hand on the other Penance Marines he served with or experienced on his own body
[I haven’t, maybe it’s because I haven’t had a physical body for so long]
[Could be, just keep either me or Aea posted]
Aea nodded before she displaced a chair to sit down on, from there the two continued chatting and joking for a few hours, after all, neither of them had any need for rest and Matthew only had a minimal need for food and water, as such time continued to pass uneventful for the two of them as the defeated army fell further into chaos, Around nightfall the remaining leadership structure which was made up of Leonard and other Willmir army leadership was forced to begin executing deserters, and just as the night grew dark a small group of 4 conscripts managed to sneak away
“Fire up a flare”
[Fire mission confirmed, Rail-001 firing]
Suddenly the mostly quiet clearing was lit up by an almost blinding white light, a few moments later a distant boom echoed, then a volley of coil rifle fire sounded out in the forest next to the clearing, this was followed by screams of pain and terror for a few moments after they died down Matthew’s modulated voice blasted out over the clearing
“Defiance of the surrendered force have been confirmed, cull their numbers”
[987 targets painted, 17 seconds until culling completed]
A moment after, Aea’s voice echoed out over the local communications net the 53 combat androids brought up their coil rifles and opened fire, the following moments were a slaughter to say the least, but just as Aea had calculated, 17 seconds was all it took
[987 targets eliminated, surrendered Willmir army’s numbers have been reduced to a total of 321]
Before any of the survivors had a chance to condemn the massacre that had just taken place, Matthew’s voice echoed out again
“Any further act of defiance will lead to your complete annihilation”
-
The Willmir empire’s political capital, The city of Conquest was in a single word, mighty, not due to size but rather due to cost of construction, the 2 million people that lived in the city enjoyed sanitation facilities which included free bathhouses and restrooms along with a complex sewer system and public servants which kept the stone tiled streets clean, the central palace reached around half a kilometer into the sky, this was the tallest building in the central continent and the seat of power for of the empire, the internal and external decorations of the palace were expensive enough to build another 4 cities with the same population capacity as the city of Conquest, and at the top of the palace sat a giant ward jewel which was capable of shielding the entire city from the maddening influence of the blue comet, the ward jewel was said to be the greatest treasure of the Willmir empire, but that was a lie.
It was on loan, and that loan was about to be terminated.
“I beg your lordship for another week to investigate the murder of your daughter”
The words that came out of Erik Willmir the 3rd were normally of a tone he would receive from the lower nobles or his other subjects
“...I believe you understand Erik why I can no longer contain myself, as a one father to another”
Erik nodded, the man across the table from him was ancient and partially immortal, Uterus the eternal, father of the late Saratheen held immense power, the founding of the Willmir empire had been his pet project, a project he had since grown bored with and handed over to his only daughter at her request, Saratheen had gained the title of the wise for how she had stabilized and expanded the borders of the Willmir empire, though her fascination with personally raising a few emperors wasn’t entirely approved by Uterus he had never imagined that this would lead her to her untimely death in on an expedition into the western fringes of the empire
“If you will give me this time I will be able at the very least to identify the culprit of your daughter's murder”
Uterus kept silent and prodded Erik to continue his explanation
“I have received word that the subjugation army I sent to liberate my own captured daughter have been defeated, this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, what was of note is that the survivors have been captured and are approaching Fort Adam… Along with the culprit of your daughter's murderer”