After a chaotic scene of smoke and fire from several large explosions, The Screaming Banshee was able to escape the planetary gunners and safely touched down at a location far away from the major city, so that it was no longer within the range of the guns that had been aiming for them. TF-47 activated the angled ramp and stepped out of the ship as it opened and descended to the ground. His keen vision enabled him to carefully survey the area and determine the level of danger before the others emerged. From what he was able to observe, the colony had been vacant for a considerable amount of time. Extensive searching of the area revealed no signs of any human bio-signal. The only logical explanation for this situation is that the robots have seized control of the city.
For a while now, it had been assumed that the AI managing this sector had been secretly assembling its own army and giving the colonists an artificial sense of safety. TF-47 had done a thorough investigation of the military files before their landing, and (from his current observation) the information gathered was relatively accurate. Thanks to his memory core, he was able to store the entire military information database, granting him access to every document and writing that had been created over the course of time. All the androids had a wealth of knowledge and data stored in their central processing units. It allowed them to have a tactical advantage and provided them with the capability to adjust to whatever situation they encountered.
The other androids exited the vessel one by one. Every one of them had a weapon of their own that they were ready to use. With his robotic arms and legs, GN-990 was able to carry a heavy mini-gun, a feat which would have been impossible for any ordinary being. B97-6 was given the usual standard issue pulse rifle, a sidearm, and a backpack of high-impact micro-grenades, but his preferred weapons were two Katana-like swords attached to his side. Having been both trained and programmed in their use of combat techniques, B97-6 had become very skilled in this style of battle.
Two decades ago, an asteroid in the Eridani system was found to contain a unique metal, which was used to forge the two swords that he carried. This metal had a singular property that it could only be melted and shaped once. The molecular structure would become so hard that it was like a diamond, and if it was sharpened it could cut through virtually anything, even a solid granite wall. This blade was so sharp that it would never become dull and was so strong that it could not be broken no matter what it contacted. An impeccable weapon to be used by the perfect android master.
TF-47 had no such skill as that, he was programmed entirely differently, but, thanks to his long years of combat missions, he proficiently learned and adapted various warfare tactics. He slapped a power pack into the back of his pulse gun, twirled it around with style, and slid it into his hip holster with ease. A curious move for any android to have. Was it a form of showmanship? B97-6 wondered if this team leader threatened by the others that had greater skill-sets than his own.
The group joined at the foot of the ship and continued the visual assessment. From what they could see, with internal thermals and bio-sensors, the humans of this colony were long gone. There wasn’t a life form within their sensor range of a thousand miles. The city was a ghost town, well, a ghost town devoid of humans, yet being run by non-sentient robots. It seemed the colonists didn’t want to stick around too long, or perhaps, end up dead from these destructive robots as they claimed planet for themselves.
Upon TF-47’s gesturing command, 3N-215 and 6N-117 quickly shot away to take up spotter positions. They plopped to the ground a few meters up and poised their rifles in front. They synced up with their sight-scopes and viewed it from the gun’s perspective. The enhanced targeting display showed them the movement of each robot and pinged the location of several ground assault vehicles on the outskirts of the city.They gestured to the leader and showed the specific points of entry. Those spots would be free of troop movement and give them the opportunity to sneak in.
TF-47 acknowledged them and signalled the other three to follow his lead, slowly walking past the spotters as they readied their weapons. 3N-215 and 6N-117 followed behind as they got up and periodically turned to see if anyone or anything was behind them. Communication among the androids was only done by Inter-link, an encrypted system shared amongst the androids on missions, but occasionally, TR47 would command them with military style hand signals. Something any android being would find archaic, perhaps, but having been programmed by the military, it was only natural the androids would adopt that form or non-verbal communicative tactic as well.
There wasn’t a question of why or for what purpose they needed to do so, it was just simply part of the training they learned and adapted from. TF-47 continued to walk cautiously as they scanned the area for any movement. From his internal visual display, he could see the edge of the city and the place they needed to be. It was a fair ways out from the barren and dust-laden terrain, but they were built to last and never got tired. He ascertained that the robot status was negligible, from what TF-47 could see, there was no movement of any kind in the section 3N-215 and 6N-117 had marked. The group proceed on without any threat in their way.
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Slipping in minutes later, the brigade remained cautious, keeping to the narrow alleys and behind building with formidable cover. The robots were many and of various sizes. Some were bi-pedal, others were like spider-tanks, eight-legged monstrosities with large turret cannons on their back canopies. B97-6 stoked the chin of his blue metallic face plating as if deep in thought. He gazed about the streets and poised his head up to look at the rooftops. He instantly spotted a pair of drones perched on the sides, like vultures eyeing the ground for prey. He tapped the shoulder of TF47, pointed out the drones and moving his hand to show their range of sight.
TF-47 had been busy glancing around the corner of their hiding spot, making sure there were no foot soldiers within sight of them. He acknowledged B97-6 and seemed to do a double take looking back at him. The identification marker, an internal holographic on his visual sensors, that hovered over B97-6’s head, had now switched to another designation. Instead of it stating his number, it now had a codename: Blue Man.
TF-47 seemed to be surprised by that. His awkward gawk made the others note it as well. They also changed their identifiers immediately. 3N-215 and 6N-117 became Three Strikes and Six-Night, GN-990 became Grid Nine, and JP-001 took the name of JP… not really original, but at least it was simple enough. TF-47 wasn’t sure what to do about this sort of puzzling behaviour. But, he was inclined to join them in having a codename as well. He switched himself to become, The Falcon. They seemed to like that one for him, as they nodded in approval. Blue Man, which B97-6 had now become, proceeded draw out his special swords and prepared himself as he inched closer to the edge of their hiding spot.
The Falcon (TF-47) wasn’t sure what he was doing. He held out his hand for him to stop. Blue Man send a tactical representation to Falcon to show what he was thinking. In the simplified graphic, it conveyed his intent of leaping up the side of the building, slicing the two drones with his swords, and clearing the way for the others to pass. Falcon corrected the graphic, as he showed Blue Man that taking out those drones would signal the other robots. There were two sizeable bots just around the corner and would quickly make short work of the androids with their shoulder mounted laser cannons.
Blue Man seemed frustrated at the leader’s correction, and tried another way of doing it. This time taking out the drones, then leaping over to slice off the two big robot’s cannons. Again, Falcon corrected his diagram and showed that it would alert the other robots, and they would quickly be surrounded. The two continued their scenarios for several seconds, that was like an eternity for any artificial being. The others seemed restless as Falcon and Blue Man stood there motionless in front of them. JP couldn’t bare it any more. The bulky-built android stepped around them, pointed his big mini-gun laser, and fired at the drones.
The pair blew up like fireworks. The sound travelled across the city. Suddenly, two massive robots with large shoulder cannons marched in and pointed them at JP. The android was quick and used his mini-gun on them. Their bodies bore the impact of the energy weapon and did little to stop their advance. Just as their cannons readied to fire, Blue Man leapt out from the hiding spot, ran over fast to their large, thick metallic legs, and ran his swords through them. The two giant bots collapsed as the blade penetrated the limbs like hot knife through butter. This caused an alarm to sound, just as the bulky bots collided with each other and onto a nearby building.
Falcon and the other androids came out from the hiding spot and stared at Blue Man and JP as if they couldn’t believe what they did. Falcon placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. Blue Man pointed his swords to the next target they needed to be at, and motioned forcefully for them to flee. JP stood there motionless, almost as if he didn’t care what Falcon thought of his actions. Three Strikes and Six-Night looked at one another, then at Grid Nine, who was already running ahead of the group with his gun pointed outward. The others noticed him and quickly followed. Blue Man and Falcon remained behind, still staring at one another.
There was an unspoken distrust between the two. Falcon couldn’t understand why Blue Man had this rebellious attitude in his programming. And Blue Man, well, he couldn’t fathom why Falcon was made the leader of this group at all. The android clearly had no plan of attack when it came to combat, and made no attempt to end this mission as quick as possible. It seemed to be a rivalry of who was actually going to be the one leading this mission. Blue Man thought it would be him. But Falcon, he knew this was his mission, and he was the assigned leader of the team.
A giant blast of red energy came streaking by the both of them, causing the pair to notice the advancing robot patrol heading their way. They quickly looked at each other and bolted off to catch up to the others. The patrol continued to fire at them, narrowly missing their heads by inches. Blue Man spun his swords around and redirected the energy blasts that came at him. The ricochet off of their impervious metal bounced back and took out several droids coming close.
Although their tactics were dissimilar, Falcon and Blue Man were able to unite and repel their attackers. When they made their way to the next street they suddenly realized their fellow android companions had vanished. The street splintered into three distinct directions, and there was no sign of the others waiting for them. Falcon endeavored to locate their transponders, however, the signal was being impeded. Not knowing where the brigade had gone, Falcon and Blue Man were at a loss as to which way they should go. Falcon took the initiative and showed that he should take the left path and that Blue Man should take the right one.
Blue Man gave a nod of acknowledgement and used hand gestures to communicate that they should meet at the point where the two paths intersected afterwards. They acknowledged each other with a nod of agreement, and then went in two different directions with robot soldiers in pursuit.