"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Xanthiana woke up suddenly, she heard beeping, could see an Indogene near by managing the machines, she was naked on the bed and had things hooked up to her. Elly was trying to say something to her, but her head hurt and she was disoriented. She couldn't get anything together other than the pain and disorientation.
"You were injured when your car crashed, you have a concussion and some bruised ribs, I was monitoring you until you came to. My name is Eren Niden, no one here is going to hurt you." Xanthiana had instinctively moved to a corner of the room, even with the machines still attached she had prepared herself to defend.
"I remember something like that." The pain was still there, but the fog was lifting. The Indogene turned a dial on a machine and things got clearer.
"Good, and you are going to calm down and get back on the bed, you are hurt and you'll hurt yourself more if you don't calm down, now please calm down." Eren's voice was calming, Xanthiana couldn't tell if it was the machines she was working or just the result of getting her bearings but she did as she was told and laid back down.
"Xan they are here to help you, it's what I was trying to say, you got really hurt." Xanthiana suddenly felt very exposed, and not just because she was naked. No one else was in the room, but it looked like other people did work there since she saw an unused station.
"Listen to your EGO device Miss Royeka, it cares about you, if not for that we wouldn't have found you." Eren brought a blanket and covered her up again, in her terror she had thrown it off herself.
"How do you know I have an EGO device?"
"I was on the team that designed them for one, I thought it strange an Irathient had one until yours informed me you were working with Von Bach and they had reverse engineered their own version of it. Still its almost as good as the ones we designed."
"I don't know if I should be insulted for almost as good as they designed." Xanthiana smiled at Elly's comment.
"You'll always be the best EGO device I have Elly."
"Secondly," Eren had continued talking, "Your ego device was the one who put out the call you were injured, there were no available Von Bach personnel nor were the Ereps close enough, so we came to help."
"Who is we?"
"Top-Notch Toolshop! The best engineering work you can get in Paradise!" Eren smiled, well as much as Indogene's can smile.
"Great let me guess you need something."
"Well now that you mention it we did fix your car for you and do have a job that someone like you could be uniquely suited to do." Xanthiana sighed and rolled over, she could tell it was going to be a long day.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The Elephant in the Car
"Aren't you worried about Von Bach?" Xanthiana had been driving down the road for about an hour before the AI spoke, she hadn't seen anyone following them yet, but got the feeling she wouldn't see them so much as run into them.
"No because clearly something has gone catastrophically wrong with their operation."
"Why do you say that? I haven't gotten any alert or otherwise notice things have gotten worse."
"Elly if things were ok they'd have recalled me by now, I'm still their employee, I'm still in the area, if they were doing fine I'd be right out in front sitting next to some dumb piece of technology while bandits took pot shots at it, but things have not gone ok, things have clearly gone to shit and we're just moments away from being drug back into it on top of all the other SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Xanthiana slammed on the breaks as a huge cloaked figure was sitting front and center in the road. The challenger slid sideways and came to a stop ten feet from the figure. She couldn't tell much about what the creature was, it was taller than a sensoth, but not big enough to be a Volge unless they had baby Volge's a thought too terrifying for Xanthiana to process.
"Extensive cybernetic modifications, present, processing information." The Cloaked figure stood up, the cloak fell away and a rather large looking drill emerged, "Files confirm he's a 99'er BACK UP!!!" Elly's voice confirmed something was wrong, the machines voice in her head practically screaming. Xanthiana threw the car in reverse and tried to back up, where she slammed into another one of the metal monstrosities.
"What the hell are these things?"
"Cybenetice miners known for dragging people off to become a part of their collective, I'd recommend evacuating the area as soon as possible."
"And lose my car, to hell with that idea." Xanthiana grabbed her rifle and exited her car. The 99'ers were about eight feet tall and both had fairly large drills, but no other weapon she could see. She had one in front of her and one holding the car in, so the priority was still to the loose combatant. She opened fire on him but his armor plating seemed to shrug off the bullets. With a deceptive speed the 99'er closed the distance and punched her hard with its cybernetic arm, her eyes swam with the impact and her rifle clattered away underneath the car. She was actually knocked far enough back that she almost got impaled by the other 99'er behind her. He casually tossed the rear end of her car out of her way and lunged with his drill.
Time seemed to slow down, Xanthiana could see the drill coming to pierce her insides, she could even make out a small piece of rust near the tip, she wondered briefly if that was blood from someone else. And then her survival instict cut in, aided by Elly boosting her adrenaline she dodged the drill lunge and the 99'ers impaled each other. Xanthiana would have laughed if not for the danger of the situation. She snagged her discarded rifle thanks to the 99'er moving her car and took aim behind one of the beasts, she could make out a part that wasn't cybernetic and fired point blank, the bullets ripped through something important and the creature slumped forward burying its drill deeper into its companion. She didn't wait to see if either was truly dead, instead she got in and drove off at top speed.
"Xan I don't believe this is safe you took a hard blow to the head." Her eyes were watering, but she didn't feel that bad.
"You can monitor.." And she lost her train of thought as the world spun in place and she passed out, her last thought before the crash was about how she had just gotten the car running the way she liked it.
"No because clearly something has gone catastrophically wrong with their operation."
"Why do you say that? I haven't gotten any alert or otherwise notice things have gotten worse."
"Elly if things were ok they'd have recalled me by now, I'm still their employee, I'm still in the area, if they were doing fine I'd be right out in front sitting next to some dumb piece of technology while bandits took pot shots at it, but things have not gone ok, things have clearly gone to shit and we're just moments away from being drug back into it on top of all the other SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Xanthiana slammed on the breaks as a huge cloaked figure was sitting front and center in the road. The challenger slid sideways and came to a stop ten feet from the figure. She couldn't tell much about what the creature was, it was taller than a sensoth, but not big enough to be a Volge unless they had baby Volge's a thought too terrifying for Xanthiana to process.
"Extensive cybernetic modifications, present, processing information." The Cloaked figure stood up, the cloak fell away and a rather large looking drill emerged, "Files confirm he's a 99'er BACK UP!!!" Elly's voice confirmed something was wrong, the machines voice in her head practically screaming. Xanthiana threw the car in reverse and tried to back up, where she slammed into another one of the metal monstrosities.
"What the hell are these things?"
"Cybenetice miners known for dragging people off to become a part of their collective, I'd recommend evacuating the area as soon as possible."
"And lose my car, to hell with that idea." Xanthiana grabbed her rifle and exited her car. The 99'ers were about eight feet tall and both had fairly large drills, but no other weapon she could see. She had one in front of her and one holding the car in, so the priority was still to the loose combatant. She opened fire on him but his armor plating seemed to shrug off the bullets. With a deceptive speed the 99'er closed the distance and punched her hard with its cybernetic arm, her eyes swam with the impact and her rifle clattered away underneath the car. She was actually knocked far enough back that she almost got impaled by the other 99'er behind her. He casually tossed the rear end of her car out of her way and lunged with his drill.
Time seemed to slow down, Xanthiana could see the drill coming to pierce her insides, she could even make out a small piece of rust near the tip, she wondered briefly if that was blood from someone else. And then her survival instict cut in, aided by Elly boosting her adrenaline she dodged the drill lunge and the 99'ers impaled each other. Xanthiana would have laughed if not for the danger of the situation. She snagged her discarded rifle thanks to the 99'er moving her car and took aim behind one of the beasts, she could make out a part that wasn't cybernetic and fired point blank, the bullets ripped through something important and the creature slumped forward burying its drill deeper into its companion. She didn't wait to see if either was truly dead, instead she got in and drove off at top speed.
"Xan I don't believe this is safe you took a hard blow to the head." Her eyes were watering, but she didn't feel that bad.
"You can monitor.." And she lost her train of thought as the world spun in place and she passed out, her last thought before the crash was about how she had just gotten the car running the way she liked it.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Time To Listen
"Injuries sustained will kill him in a couple hours without medical assistance." Elly was helpfully updating Xanthiana on the state of their wounded prisoner. He had coughed up some blood, but outside of that and the obvious gunshot wounds seemed stable enough.
"Screw you, you cat fucking bitch." Xanthiana sighed, she had dealt with humans ridiculous belief that her people were some kind of human cat hybrid her entire life, but she never got used to how ignorantly they held to the belief.
"You're dying, I can help you, but you'll have to help me." It seemed a reasonable request to make to someone she shot, the dying man did not see it that way and frantically tried to reach for a weapon. Xanthiana stepped on his hand.
"His ego device is attempting to connect to others, should I block the signal?" Elly was her usual helpful self and Xanthiana appreciated it.
"No let it go through."
"They don't care about me, but I'm letting them know all about you, and they'll find you you stupid.." Xanthiana stepped on his throat and then crouched down to his face.
"I hope you're receiving me loud and clear whoever you are, I killed your men here, and I'll kill you, not out of any concern for the ranchers or sense of justice. No I'll kill you because you inconvenienced me, so rally your little group of dumb assholes together, you know where you can find me." She crushed his throat as a sign off. She might have been able to get more information out of him, but she doubted it, he was a follower not a leader, and they don't tell followers anything.
"I was not able to trace the signal to other EGO devices Xan."
"Its ok Elly I'm sure they'll come looking for us."
"And what will we do in the meantime?"
"Plan Elly, we'll plan because if there is one thing my time with the Votanis Collective taught me, human's can't plan for shit."
"Screw you, you cat fucking bitch." Xanthiana sighed, she had dealt with humans ridiculous belief that her people were some kind of human cat hybrid her entire life, but she never got used to how ignorantly they held to the belief.
"You're dying, I can help you, but you'll have to help me." It seemed a reasonable request to make to someone she shot, the dying man did not see it that way and frantically tried to reach for a weapon. Xanthiana stepped on his hand.
"His ego device is attempting to connect to others, should I block the signal?" Elly was her usual helpful self and Xanthiana appreciated it.
"No let it go through."
"They don't care about me, but I'm letting them know all about you, and they'll find you you stupid.." Xanthiana stepped on his throat and then crouched down to his face.
"I hope you're receiving me loud and clear whoever you are, I killed your men here, and I'll kill you, not out of any concern for the ranchers or sense of justice. No I'll kill you because you inconvenienced me, so rally your little group of dumb assholes together, you know where you can find me." She crushed his throat as a sign off. She might have been able to get more information out of him, but she doubted it, he was a follower not a leader, and they don't tell followers anything.
"I was not able to trace the signal to other EGO devices Xan."
"Its ok Elly I'm sure they'll come looking for us."
"And what will we do in the meantime?"
"Plan Elly, we'll plan because if there is one thing my time with the Votanis Collective taught me, human's can't plan for shit."
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Baited Trap
There were five of them, they looked to be paramilitary, they used military tactics had weapons that were in decent shape and were all around the same build. They didn't wear a uniform that distinguished them as either corporate or Erep, but that could be because what they were involved with wasn't a sanctioned operation. More dangerously according to Elly they all had EGO devices, which spoke to them possibly being involved with Von Bach. Xanthiana was hiding in the top of the barn, she had her rifle out and a spare magazine sitting near by. The men had arrived in a truck, it looked like they were intending on capturing whoever had arrived to help the farmers based on the non lethal weapons they had out.
"I have checked personnel records, these men were slated to come with Von Bach as a security detail, but shortly after the carrier exploded this group among several others went missing." It was as Xanthiana feared, some kind of staged coup.
"Fantastic, they can't find us with their ego devices can they?" Xanthiana fingered the trigger, the men were smart not to walk in a single line, if she opened up at best she'd get two before they could return fire.
"Negative, I have disabled our locator, it was one of the first things I did back when we landed Xan."
"Perfect, what else do we know about this group of assholes?"
"Checking with the ereps, this group also was a part of a larger group that stole materials and is suspected of killing an erep officer." Xanthiana sighed and pulled up her side arm and put it next to the extra magazine for the rifle, she had the jump on them but if things went south she wanted all opportunities to murder them as efficiently as possible.
"So they have our similar capabilities?"
"Within reason, different EGO devices have different capabilities, if you can remove one I could get a look at their capabilities and specifically adjust my own programming to allow for new ones." Xanthiana shifted, three of the men were standing near each other while the other two were searching the house, if she was going to take her shots it would have to be soon.
"Kind of morbid to rip a fellow ego out of someone isn't it?"
"Its just a tool Xan, you and I are friends, but I understand I'm a tool, I'm used to make you better, if I malfunctioned you would replace me, in a way if you did the same I would replace you."
"That makes me feel so much better." Xanthiana took aim and opened fire, she had four of them in her sights, the fifth had wandered off so she hoped he would show up again once the shooting started. Her opening burst killed two and winged the third in the shoulder, he slumped down trying to find her, she let him be as she turned her attention to the fourth man a casti who ran to help his fallen comrade. She shot him in the back of the head coating his wounded companion with what little remained of his brain.
"Well that ego device is gone, try to aim for body shot kills."
"Where's the fifth guy?" She heard a hammer hit back behind her.
"Nice shooting, throw it away." Her attacker had gotten the drop her, he was standing over her with a leg behind either shoulder and his pistol pointing down at her head. Xanthiana smiled and swung her body knocking him off his feet and slamming into a nearby hay bale. "Wait." He screamed out before she shot him through the throat and kicked his pistol aside.
"He's still alive."
"You said no head shots."
"Well it'll take him one minute and thirty seconds assuming normal functioning cardiac system, maybe shoot him through the temple? It won't damage the EGO." Xanthiana did as she was told and the young attacker stopped moving.
"How's the last guy doing?"
"The surviving member has broken shoulder, his EGO is administering endorphins to keep him moving." Xanthiana took up her rifle and saw him struggling to his feet. She shot him through the knee cap and he collapsed again.
"How about now?"
"He's still combat viable but effectively neutralized, you should kill him."
"I will in time, but first we need to figure out what he knows." Xanthiana reloaded the rifle and made her way to the wounded man, one way or another he'd tell her everything.
"I have checked personnel records, these men were slated to come with Von Bach as a security detail, but shortly after the carrier exploded this group among several others went missing." It was as Xanthiana feared, some kind of staged coup.
"Fantastic, they can't find us with their ego devices can they?" Xanthiana fingered the trigger, the men were smart not to walk in a single line, if she opened up at best she'd get two before they could return fire.
"Negative, I have disabled our locator, it was one of the first things I did back when we landed Xan."
"Perfect, what else do we know about this group of assholes?"
"Checking with the ereps, this group also was a part of a larger group that stole materials and is suspected of killing an erep officer." Xanthiana sighed and pulled up her side arm and put it next to the extra magazine for the rifle, she had the jump on them but if things went south she wanted all opportunities to murder them as efficiently as possible.
"So they have our similar capabilities?"
"Within reason, different EGO devices have different capabilities, if you can remove one I could get a look at their capabilities and specifically adjust my own programming to allow for new ones." Xanthiana shifted, three of the men were standing near each other while the other two were searching the house, if she was going to take her shots it would have to be soon.
"Kind of morbid to rip a fellow ego out of someone isn't it?"
"Its just a tool Xan, you and I are friends, but I understand I'm a tool, I'm used to make you better, if I malfunctioned you would replace me, in a way if you did the same I would replace you."
"That makes me feel so much better." Xanthiana took aim and opened fire, she had four of them in her sights, the fifth had wandered off so she hoped he would show up again once the shooting started. Her opening burst killed two and winged the third in the shoulder, he slumped down trying to find her, she let him be as she turned her attention to the fourth man a casti who ran to help his fallen comrade. She shot him in the back of the head coating his wounded companion with what little remained of his brain.
"Well that ego device is gone, try to aim for body shot kills."
"Where's the fifth guy?" She heard a hammer hit back behind her.
"Nice shooting, throw it away." Her attacker had gotten the drop her, he was standing over her with a leg behind either shoulder and his pistol pointing down at her head. Xanthiana smiled and swung her body knocking him off his feet and slamming into a nearby hay bale. "Wait." He screamed out before she shot him through the throat and kicked his pistol aside.
"He's still alive."
"You said no head shots."
"Well it'll take him one minute and thirty seconds assuming normal functioning cardiac system, maybe shoot him through the temple? It won't damage the EGO." Xanthiana did as she was told and the young attacker stopped moving.
"How's the last guy doing?"
"The surviving member has broken shoulder, his EGO is administering endorphins to keep him moving." Xanthiana took up her rifle and saw him struggling to his feet. She shot him through the knee cap and he collapsed again.
"How about now?"
"He's still combat viable but effectively neutralized, you should kill him."
"I will in time, but first we need to figure out what he knows." Xanthiana reloaded the rifle and made her way to the wounded man, one way or another he'd tell her everything.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Stealth Bugs
"I do not understand why we had to leave the car behind." The Farm definitely looked like Hellbugs had been there, there were even some dead one nearby, but Xanthiana could not see current activity as she approached. It was dark but it wasn't that dark to obscure the normally not caring to much about being seen bugger bastards.
"I just got it running again, I don't want some hellbug shit or blood or whatever else they spew out wrecking it." The challenger was safely parked up the road well away from any wandering hellbugs, it made a bit of a walk to get to the ranch on a hill, but it was worth it for the car to stay safe.
"Someone could always steal it."
"You're just a wealth of helpful beliefs Elly." Xanthiana moved from the main parking area of the ranch to the main house which was empty of people but had more hellbug bodies. That's how it went as she moved through the entire complex, bodies of dead hellbugs, spent ammunition casings from weaponry, but no people or evidence of anyone who had called for help.
"I have no current active people on my scans Xan, I am scanning several frequencies to even identify who sent the distress call, I'm not coming up with anything locally."
"Well I'll admit this is fairly alarming, either hellbugs have advanced to being hyper intelligent and not just ravenous beasts."
"Or someone else got here before we did."
"Or something else, I'm not seeing any blood from people here am I missing it?" Xanthiana was confused, she had retreated to the main house to try and seek out a basement structure or something to indicate what had gone on, but she wasn't finding anything.
"Negative none of my scans show any blood."
"I'll admit Elly I'm going to need your help on this one, I can't even begin to guess what happened here."
"My scans are showing something interesting with the corpses Xan, they are all dead by several days."
"They are what?"
"Yes can we withdraw outside I want to confirm a hunch."
"Sure It was getting creepy in here anyway." Xanthiana walked outside, what Elly was hoping to see she couldn't make out.
"Confirmed, this was an organized grab by slavers of some kind, I can make out tire imprints obscured by the hellbug blood." Xanthiana was taken a back by the revelation. Regular slavers were stupid and brutal, who would steal a group of ranchers with a fake hellbug attack, on top of that why call in a hellbug attack and then dissappear?
"I'm really confused by this."
"Perhaps you can ask the group of armed men approaching from the south Xan."
"I just might Elly, I just might."
"I just got it running again, I don't want some hellbug shit or blood or whatever else they spew out wrecking it." The challenger was safely parked up the road well away from any wandering hellbugs, it made a bit of a walk to get to the ranch on a hill, but it was worth it for the car to stay safe.
"Someone could always steal it."
"You're just a wealth of helpful beliefs Elly." Xanthiana moved from the main parking area of the ranch to the main house which was empty of people but had more hellbug bodies. That's how it went as she moved through the entire complex, bodies of dead hellbugs, spent ammunition casings from weaponry, but no people or evidence of anyone who had called for help.
"I have no current active people on my scans Xan, I am scanning several frequencies to even identify who sent the distress call, I'm not coming up with anything locally."
"Well I'll admit this is fairly alarming, either hellbugs have advanced to being hyper intelligent and not just ravenous beasts."
"Or someone else got here before we did."
"Or something else, I'm not seeing any blood from people here am I missing it?" Xanthiana was confused, she had retreated to the main house to try and seek out a basement structure or something to indicate what had gone on, but she wasn't finding anything.
"Negative none of my scans show any blood."
"I'll admit Elly I'm going to need your help on this one, I can't even begin to guess what happened here."
"My scans are showing something interesting with the corpses Xan, they are all dead by several days."
"They are what?"
"Yes can we withdraw outside I want to confirm a hunch."
"Sure It was getting creepy in here anyway." Xanthiana walked outside, what Elly was hoping to see she couldn't make out.
"Confirmed, this was an organized grab by slavers of some kind, I can make out tire imprints obscured by the hellbug blood." Xanthiana was taken a back by the revelation. Regular slavers were stupid and brutal, who would steal a group of ranchers with a fake hellbug attack, on top of that why call in a hellbug attack and then dissappear?
"I'm really confused by this."
"Perhaps you can ask the group of armed men approaching from the south Xan."
"I just might Elly, I just might."
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