ItsDirector
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The New Era 32
🕑 Added 2025-03-14 11:32:02 +0000 UTCChapter 32
Subject: Overdrone S655L894T131
Species: Unknown
Species Description: Humanoid
Ship: Grand Vessel of the Universal Omni-Union
Location: Grand Shipyard of the Universal Omni-Union
"They're through the door!"
The shout was punctuated by a grand thud as the reinforced security door hit the ground.
"Open fire!" I commanded.
A few of my drones fell from the security platform's laser fire as we began to return fire with the alien weapons. Then the robots began to topple over one by one, and I felt a surge of shameful excitement that I quickly tempered. I just lost people, and the robots aren't even the real threat here.
A 'grenade' sailed through the air towards the security forces. My father, a silent supporter of the previous rebellion, had carefully taught me how to make improvised explosive devices. But the little balls of steel that the aliens had given were something else entirely. The ball hit the ground, and one dull thud later several pieces of machinery flew through the air.
"Save the grenades!" I ordered.
"Yes, Overdrone!"
I had managed to convince quite a few of my drones to join me on this potential suicide mission. Some of them had already been apart of the resistance movement, but others were simply tired of the way things were. More than half of my underlings had refused, though, and were currently locked away in a storage depot.
"More coming!"
"Don't let them through the corridor!"
The door that the robots had cut through led to a small corridor that exited into the room we were defending. As long as we could keep them bunched up in the corridor, their numbers wouldn't be able to overwhelm us. It all came down to ammunition, though, and I'd already had Nizi calling for reinforcements.
My own weapon stopped firing, and I took a moment to eject the 'magazine' and insert a new one. I had to search for the button to send the 'bolt' forward, but it wasn't long before I was firing again. It was a remarkably simple and funny design. Technically speaking, we were throwing rocks at the most powerful military force to ever exist. And it was working.
"Reinforcements are on their way," Nizi said, twisting one of the dials on the device we'd been given. "Ammo, too."
"Good," I said, taking cover and a breather. "We've got enough ammunition to last us a while, but not indefinitely."
Nizi stood up from the device and took my place in the firing lane. His 'rifle' shouted and sent small lumps of malleable metal tearing through the air towards the enemy. Additional pieces of metal leapt from the weapon and tingled as they hit the floor. The gunfire itself was harsh and loud, but that pretty little chiming noise afterward almost made it worth it.
"Maybe I'll get the chance to see some of the aliens," Nizi said as he reloaded. "I hear they're encased in armor, though."
"Indeed. Under the armor, they're quite cosmetically appealing," I replied with a chuckle. "Not enough eyes, though."
"What do you mean?"
"They only have two."
"No, I mean how do you know that?"
"You remember those mysterious explosions? They snatched me up during that."
"Snatched you up? Why?"
"They needed me to put them in touch with our leadership," I said, standing up and firing at the robots. "They've probably been planning this assault for hundreds of cycles. Maybe even thousands, because they managed to spot my allegiance to the rebellion even while the Judicials were blind to it."
"Well, stealing people doesn't exactly bode well," Nizi growled. "But, so long as we're able to topple the Wall of Incompetence I'll gratefully take their help."
The main reason that so many drones sided with us is that the Media decided that Naza was responsible for the antigrav incident. His name had been added to the Wall of Incompetence shortly after my abduction. Their intent was to put us in our place, destroy our morale and self-esteem, then get us back to working ourselves to death. Instead, it lit a fire in many of us. Even without alien intervention, a revolution was inevitable.
"Wait, hold on," Nizi took a knee. "Do you think they caused those explosions so that they could grab you?"
"It's hard to call it a coincidence," I laughed. "They grabbed me the moment you left."
"Then... Well, do you think they might have done the same with Naza?"
"I don't know," I said. "It's possible, but don't get your hopes up."
"Well if they DID grab him, they still have him, right? Why return you but keep him?"
"I don't know..."
Nizi stared at me suspiciously for a moment before returning his attention to the enemy. There were many possible explanations running through my mind, but voicing them would be a mistake. It's possible those same scenarios could occur to Nizi as well, but if they aren't voiced then he can simply ignore the possibilities as a manifestation of paranoia.
I, however, knew a little bit more than he did about clandestine activities. First possibility is, of course, that Naza and Forty actually died due to the antigrav explosion. That feels unlikely, though, because of how odd the explosion was.
The next possibility is that the aliens grabbed them just like they grabbed me and interrogated them, using the antigrav generator as cover for their disappearance. If that's the case, they wouldn't be able to return the drones without raising suspicions. Which means that Naza and Forty were probably still aboard one of their ships.
Another possibility is that the generator was sabotaged by the aliens and the drones were collateral damage. Or, they captured and killed them. I shook my head and returned to shooting at the robots.
"Sure are a lot of them," Nizi casually remarked as he reloaded his rifle again.
"Indeed," I said. "There's a mind-boggling number of them beyond that corridor. We must keep them there, or they'll easily overrun us."
"Well, I'm sure you've probably already thought of this, overdrone, but..." Nizi nervously rubbed his neck. "What if we collapse the door frame?"
It was my turn to stare at Nizi, but with a dumbfounded expression instead of suspicion. His idea genuinely hadn't occurred to me.
"Is it load-bearing?" I asked.
"Even if it isn't, it'll inconvenience their movement."
I closed all but my right eye and used the scope on the alien weapon to get a closer look at the security forces. The robots were dragging or shoving their fallen counterparts out of the way, and in the distance I saw one of the towering mechs waiting its turn to get at us. I pulled up my readout to see if there was any information on the frame, but found that I was locked out.
So the Minds know that I'm part of the rebellion. Or they've locked everyone out of their readouts. I did some quick calculations based on our location, just to make sure we wouldn't be opening ourselves up to a vacuum.
"What would it take to drop it?" I asked.
"Good question," Nizi replied. "Um... It shouldn't take much if it's load bearing. I think one of those missile launcher things would do it, but it'll have to be a clean hit. If it isn't load bearing, we'll have to push forward and rig something up."
"Pushing forward would be suicide," I shook my head. "Who's our best shot?"
"I'll give it a try."
Before I could argue, Nizi took a deep breath and sprinted away from our cover. I shot at the robots to try to distract them, but lasers still scorched the floor by his feet as he moved to our weapons cache. Once he made it, I dropped back down and watched him open one of the cases that the aliens had given us.
"MECH! MECH!"
I turned my attention back to the door and froze. One of the massive mechs had decided that it was tired of waiting. It pushed through the door, bullets bouncing harmlessly off its thick plate-armor. Its ysini {oddly shaped or mechanical feet} crushed the robots, both active and otherwise, that got in its way.
Its laser array began firing, and the sight of several drones igniting caused me to instinctively drop behind my cover. Then an ominous hum began tickling the air, causing the skin on the back of my knees to crawl. The plasma weapon. We were doomed.
No, we aren't done yet. Thanks to the aliens, we have the weaponry to deal with this. I reached for one of my grenades, pulled the little metal ring, and tossed it in the mech's direction. A dull thud sounded, but the humming continued.
"TAKE IT DOWN!" I shouted.
A hissing whistle disrupted the hum, and I looked up to see Nizi holding a smoking tube. A moment later, the floor shook and a wave of blistering heat washed over us. Nizi screamed, dropping to the ground and rolling to extinguish himself.
Without thinking, I rushed over to Nizi and dragged him behind the cover he was nearest to. Myself and a couple of other drones frantically patted him to extinguish the flames. A quick check over the barricade confirmed that Nizi had struck the Mech's plasma battery.
"Did it work?" Nizi asked, a touch of delirium in his voice.
"Mech's down," I replied.
"What about the door?"
I checked again, and sighed in disappointment.
"Mech was too far away from the frame," I said. "But, there's some slag in the corridor, at least."
"Oh good. Slag will slow them down a little," Nizi said, then coughed and winced in pain. "Overdrone... Am I going to make it?"
I glanced over his extensive burns. Blisters covered his face and neck. The flesh had completely peeled away from some of his implants, but the metal hadn't melted.
"Of course you're gonna make it," one of the other drones interjected. "All your implants are intact. It's just some burns. We'll have you back in the fight in no time."
"I can't see, though."
"That might be temporary," I said. "Flash blindness. Even if it's not, we'll get you some prosthetic eyes once we get the chance."
There was silence for a moment, with the exception of bullets and lasers exchanging sides.
"What are we gonna do about the door?" Nizi asked, his eyes looking in my general direction.
"Give me one of those tubes," I said. "I'll give it a shot."
Wordlessly, one of the drones ran over to one of the crates and pulled out one of the tubes. He checked it over, then grabbed a spike-shaped object and inserted it into the tube. Next thing I knew, the 'rocket launcher' was in my hands.
"Anything I should know about this thing?" I asked.
"It's just like the rifles," Nizi said. "The hiss is loud, but if you don't wince you'll strike true."
He took a breath to say more, but fell silent and still. I worriedly checked his vitals and breathed a sigh of relief at the discovery that he had merely lost consciousness. Then, I steeled myself and rose with the tube ready.
The scope was similar to the rifle, as was the trigger mechanism. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, double checking my aim. As I depressed the trigger, a laser hit me in my left bicep and caused me to wince. I dropped back into cover as the rocket traveled through the air.
"Take it all!" I swore. "Get me another-"
I was interrupted by a deep rumble followed by cheering. Holding my injured arm, I peeked above the cover and gasped. The entire corridor had collapsed. Somehow, I'd done it. The rocket had traveled true despite my injury. The remainder of the security robots were quickly dealt with, and we began the process of recovery.
Nizi and the rest of the injured were carried to an area where they could be treated. Our dead were somberly covered then loaded into a cart. They would be incinerated once we got the chance.
"Overdrone, our reinforcements are here," a drone reported.
I continued to stare at our dead for a few moments, then nodded and turned to greet our reinforcements. Tall, armored aliens stood in front of me. Despite their expressionless helmets, I could tell that they were confused.
"You must be the Overdrone," one of the aliens said. "I'm Lieutenant Oskar. We were sent to reinforce this position... But..."
"The door frame was load-bearing," I explained. "We destroyed it and collapsed the corridor. It will take quite a while for security to clear it and renew their assault. Sorry to waste your time, but the fight's over for now."
"I see," Oskar nodded. "Well, we were looking forward to the fight, but I guess we can content ourselves with getting dug in. Nothing more satisfying than a well-laid kill-zone."
I nodded, feeling an odd sort of malaise begin to take me. Exhaustion? Depression? We had won this fight, but we lost quite a few and even Nizi was too injured to continue. There were many more fights to come, as well. Part of me believed, even for the briefest of moments, that this would be quick.
I watched the lieutenant and his men begin getting set up. Guns came out of crates and were positioned with line of sight to the collapsed corridor. Ammunition was distributed in a pattern that didn't make any sense to me. Soldiers took their posts and began to chat amongst themselves, always with one of them having full view of the corridor. They moved much more efficiently than my drones, as if they had been doing this their entire life.
How had they become this good at fighting? Have they been fighting the Omni-Union for multiple generations? Or are they like us, but with war instead of construction? Who else could they have fought if not for the Omni-Union, though? I wanted to ask the aliens about Naza, about their origins, about their capabilities, and even about their lives. But I was too tired to muster up the courage to go speak to them. Instead, I found my portable charging bay and plugged in, closing my eyes to rest.
"Overdrone S655L894T131?" someone asked a moment later.
I opened my eyes and stared at the source of the question in disbelief. Two drones were standing before me, a male and a female. I unplugged from my charging bay and stood, fighting the sudden urge to hug them.
"Naza? Forty?" I asked. "Is it truly you?"
"Yes," Naza smiled. "We were detained as prisoners aboard the alien vessel. Or, one of them, rather."
"I thought as much, but didn't dare hope. Why are you here?"
"An alien by the name of Captain Reynolds offered us the chance to join you," Forty said. "I-I couldn't say no."
Naza rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, you could have. But you made the right choice," he said, then turned back to me. "Part of the agreement of our release is that we do not accept command roles and are required to be supervised. Is Nizi with you?"
"I'll supervise you," I said. "Nizi has been injured, but is still alive. I'll take you to him."
Despite the circumstances, my spirits soared as I led the pair of drones to their unconscious comrade. Many of the other drones stopped to stare. Some even cheered at the sight of Naza and Forty walking behind me.
Their return made it feel like it was all going to work out, somehow.
Comments
Aerowarrier
Oh I read the pretty little chiming sound as a ping lol
Michael Halpern
considering all the interests, i imagine pretty soon it will be more than just humans in the invasion force, or even US species, Republic should make an appearance too, being the second most powerful Milly Way military force.
ItsDirector
Actually, the tingle was the sound of the casings hitting the ground lol The best way to describe the sound of a Garand is "PING" xD
Zbigniew Olejnik
that was a great chapter!
Aerowarrier
Nothin quite like slinging lead at something at multiple times the speed of sound! Or tbh, probably tungsten in this case lol Also I can’t believe the humans got them freaking Garands. Good to know we STILL aren’t willing to give up the right arm of the free world
Matthew Mclemore
Prediction: Next chapter will not be all sunshine and rainbows. Great chapter, good to see the drones aren't useless in a fight.
Rhuidean
Damn I'm tearing up at this reunion. A great break from the carnage
Skullboneslayer
Omg such a good chapter!!!
Zac Jel
Great chapter
Michael Halpern
Hard to beat kinetics and projectiles for versatility and simplicity- even if they take up more space
DarkValorWolf
Hell yeah baby!
