Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Date: 31st December 3078, 6:45 AM, Colony-3 city outskirts

The star above Copper-9 rose for what will be the last time of this year. It had been one hell of a nearly 8-year journey and what a journey it was for everyone involved. Uzi was sitting on top of the old spire, now replaced by a radio antenna piercing through the heavens and took in the fresh morning breeze. It still felt very strange to her, after all, the entirety of her life growing up on Copper-9 was a cold one, literally and figuratively. She looked down towards the street which were now beginning to open up and she began to reminisce about the arduous journey that brought them all here

For the past seven years, there was much jubilation after the defeat of the Absolute Solver, what remained of the disassembly drones, including J, backed for some time after the defeat. Worker drones rejoiced for not only the defeat of the Solver but their newfound safety, no longer can worker drones risk the pain of death if they chose to venture outside out of the confines of their underground shelters, no longer will they have to worry about loved ones not returning from expeditions, for the first time since the core collapse, everyone felt... safe. It took an incredibly long time to convince J to lay down her arms and let go of the pain that haunted her in the past, she reluctantly did so under the condition that Tessa somehow be brought back and so she was along with Doll, Cyn and everyone else the Solver had assimilated into it. Whatever remained of the disassembly drones followed J and it took several months for Uzi to remove the oil need programmes of the solver and disassembly drones as well as the sun burning them alive. In 3073, Tessa, after being revived, decided to terraform the planet, much to the surprise of everyone. She decided that if the humans were gone and we were going to continue in their footsteps, we might as well try and fix the planet. Initially everyone called her crazy but she was dead serious on terraforming the entire planet. She had apparently, in those 2 years, read up on several terraforming projects humanity had done, prior to the destruction of Earth, with planets that were even more inhospitable and larger than Copper-9. It took 3 years to partially repair the planet from a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter wasteland to a more amicable place to live, fixing the giant ravine that led to the core was challenging but with solver abilities it went smoother than expected. It was cold but at least there were warm summers. Thus far, it had been the largest project the drones had ever done, while humanity had access to a myriad of resources at their disposal, the drones didn't and so had to rely on asteroid mining which wasn't easy as they had to repair, overhaul and refurbish old disassembly drone drop pods to mine 10 small asteroids at a time in low Copper-9 orbit. Thankfully, fabrication was the easiest part since the worker drones had already repaired and refurbished old factories on the surface to suit the needs for the undertaking. After all that, everyone could finally breathe. Everyone was happy and that was all Uzi could ask for

As Uzi smiled at all the things that had happened she failed to notice N and V hovering behind her, that was until it was too late and she yelped out loud as she fell off the tower and if she wasn't able to fly, she'd be dead.

"V! What the fuck, you gave me a core attack!" Uzi shouted at the disassembly drone still cackling like a maniac as she descended slowly onto the ground, N merely winced

"Relax shorty, you were like so zoned out of course i had to do it~" She grinned at Uzi still spooked by her scaring

"Calm down there Uz' anyway, you wanna go out with everyone to see the last sunset of this year?" N asked patting her head

"Bite me..." Uzi mumbled

"That's a yes to me!" V cheerfully flicked her tail

- Meanwhile at Cyn & Thad's house-

"Cyn, Cyn? Where's my little girl?" Thad asked

"Over here darling~" She said as their child cooed on her arms, her emerald green display blinking as she looked at her father

"Oh how sweet, she has the eyes of her father~" Cyn whispered as Thad hugged her

"We still haven't giver her a name have we?" He smiled looking down at his daughter in the arms of his now wife

"Yeah, i was maybe thinking Abigail, but i would like to hear what you have in mind?" She asked

"Abigail? Yeah, Abigail, our little Abigail huh? Thats cute" He beamed, as the couple and their child sat on the couch together, there was a knock on the door

"I'll get it Cyn" Thad kissed her cheek as Cyn put Abigail to sleep

Thad opened the door and was greeted by Lizzy and Doll standing in front of him much to his surprise.

"Lizzy, Doll, what brings you two here?" Thad asked as he smiled at them Cyn waved at the two of them as she placed Abigail on the crib

"[Hello Thad, we just-]"

"We just dropped by to ask you guys if you wanted to see the sunset later this evening" Lizzy cut Doll off much to her annoyance. Doll shot a glare at he, Lizzy only smirked

"Sure, we'd love to, isn't that right Cyn?" He smiled, Cyn blushed as she nodded twirling her hair

"[Well then... We'll see you guys tonight]" Doll said as she rolled her eyes at Lizzy

- Meanwhile in the Colony-3 City Industrial District -

The industrial district was busy as always today, Tessa was in her office busy sorting out some paperwork she had. It wasn't what she wanted to today but she had to, she longs for the day to end so she can immediately jump on the soft bed back at her home, then there was a knock on the door. She looked up from her paperwork

"Please enter," she said before going back to her usual business

"Ma'am Tessa, Serial Designation J is here, she would like to se-" The worker drone was cut off

"Let her come in, thank you" She tried to smile at the worker drone. It had been so long since she had a physical body, she was still getting used to her new drone body but she was eventually getting used to it after being a stuck as a core for some time

"Hello Tessa" J waved at her

"Heya Jaybird, what brings you to my office today?" Tessa placed her paperwork aside

"Oh nothing much, are you fr-" J was cut off when Tessa giggled

"You're so silly, of course i am, for what though?" she asked smiling childishly at the disassembly drone

"I was getting to it before you cut me off, ugh. Anyways everyone is going to see the sunset later this evening at the mountain, you wanna come with?" She asked slightly annoyed at the interruption

"oh i'd love to Jaybird, sorry for interrupting y-"

"No need to apologise boss anyways, see you later" J grinned as she strolled out of the office, Tessa rolled here eyes but she knew J wouldn't just let that slide, she smiled as soon as the door was closed and went back to doing her paperwork

- Somewhere in deep space 3 Light-Years from Copper-9 system -

United Nations Marine Corporal Thomson 'Tommy' Silverman was sitting down in his room writing something, he looked up from his book to gaze upon the endlessness space present before him. He felt a sense of melancholy, the fact that he was looking at his species now huddled in whatever pockets of the known galaxy or as far as their hyperdrive systems could go. He read about the glorious history of mankind, how from the start we wanted power to dominate, how we were made in the image of god but that all changed when the Solver came and ravaged everyone and everything in its path. He was 21 when he joined the UNMC, answering the call to arms of mankind. He never forgot what he saw during his service, how he say hundreds of his kind get butchered in the meat grinder. He shook his head, he knew why this happened, he saw how others treated the worker drones. He didn't necessarily like them but he didn't like how they were being treated. In his eyes, they were equals, these drones could think and feel, had personalities, they are just as human as he was. He rubbed his eyes, he was tired. He crawled to his bed sluggish slumping on the mattress and turned out the lights, he wonders if he will ever touch a planet's surface again.

- Back at Copper-9, Peak Of Mount Rainier -

The star was beginning to set in the evening sky past leaving the gas giant above the sky left, everyone was sat down as the city lights below began to glow brightly, worker drones began to return to their homes. Everyone was having a great time. Uzi was sat down on a destroyed car hood watching the star set on the horizon

"You okay Uzi?" N asked, wrapping his tail around her

"I'm fine, you know, i didn't really expect this outcome, i thought i'd die at the hands of a disassembly drone or worse yet here i am, married to not one but two of you guys" she smiled

"I guess all i wanted to say is, i love you guys" She added causing N to blush as the star finally set, the sky was now painted in a beautiful tapestry of stars as Uzi, N and eventually V lay down on the ground together. Thad, Cyn and Abigail marveled at the sky, Doll and Lizzy were as always, too engrossed on social media to give a shit about anything while Tessa and J were taking in the beautiful night sky above.

Chapter Text

- Flashback, 12th February 3070, New Cairo -

Gunfire rang out everywhere, The then Private Thomson was running through the trench line with his M16 assault rifle clutched firmly on his chest. Around him, explosions were happening, artillery and gunfire continued as he made his way to the staging area. The Absolute Solver had recently created mindless thrall soldiers to fight the humans with overwhelming force after the disassembly drones were repulsed during initial assaults on the city and besides, these new thralls couldn't feel pain. They functioned like an ant swarm, each thrall hell-bent on crushing a foe they were programmed to see as inferior. Thomson managed to reach the area where the officer was giving out orders.

"Alright men, we have to cover the civilians, most of the city's population have already been evacuated, we just need to hold on for-" An explosion landed dead centre, Had Thomson been closer to the officer her would have been killed, his ears were ringing and his vision blurry, then surrounding men in a panic leapt out of the trench only to be mercilessly killed by the thralls who have already closed the distance and started engaging the marines in melee or gunned down by friendly or hostile fire. He was helped up by a fellow marine, as they all ran out of the trench. After that it was mostly a blur, he tripped on barbed wire but driven by adrenaline, he pushed forward. Some unlucky ones were gunned down before they got the chance to comprehend the situation and what remained of the defense broke instantly and ran to the last star ships leaving the planet.

- Present, 1st January 3079, Corporal Thomson's room -

Thomson jolted up from his sleep, he was drenched in his own sweat, his breathing heavy as he felt around himself seeing if he was still dreaming. He let out a heavy sigh of relief as he came back to reality. He looked at the time, or lack of it since all of the clocks followed earth timing, 1st January 3078. He groggily got up and made his way to the mess hall. He was on board the UNS Freedom Peak, a large colony ship. Along with the UNS Freedom Peak are 7 other ships of the flotilla, 2 Bangalore Class Destroyers and the rest were colony ships. As he walked towards the mess hall, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and was greeted by his twin brother Lance Corporal James Silverman cladded in his uniform. He was part of the airborne corps as a paratrooper, his uniform was scruffy and stained with oil from the dead thralls and drones he had to kill but he was still strong willed as ever.

"Hey brother, you alright? How you feeling today?" James asked, his smile friendly as always

"Nothing much, new year, same old fucking shitty things you know, heh" he tried to play it off but James knew something was up by his tired voice

"Another day another nightmare huh? I feel you, you and your division were the last to leave New Cairo, you saw so many of your brothers-in-arms die beside you..." He whispered, Thomson just nodded as the two of them made their way to the mess hall in silence

James knew to not push his brother too much. The mess hall was moderately crowded but not too crowded. There were still seats left. The pair went and looked at the meal they were given, military food wasn't the best but this time they served something different today which was strange. As the pair sat down with their friends, Sergeant Smith Wessex and Lieutenant Duncan Chang, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Looking at the meal of lobster and steak on each person's tray, they knew something was coming up.

"You've got to be kidding me right? You all know what this means right? They're gonna deploy us!" Duncan murmured 

"Calm yourself down Duncan, its not like we are going to get deployed, maybe they have surplus from the aquaponics and farming, maybe we aren't getting deployed, besides where are we going to be deployed, its a free-for-all right now between the fleets" James sternly protested

"Gotta agree with James on this one, even if we were deployed, where would we go? Some fuckass shitass planet with no strategic value?" Smith added, Thomson just stared blankly at Duncan's schizophrenic rant about 'getting deployed' he was going to add on to the conversation but then there was a shout from a senior officer, "ADMIRAL ON DECK!" He yelled.  

Immediately, everyone in the mess hall, regardless of activity, stood up and at attention. Thomson saw him, Admiral Pedro Hernandez, overall commander of their fleet. He was dressed in his usual uniform with his service ribbons and medals. "At ease" he bellowed, his Spanish accent was palpable but he carried with it authority, "In 10 minutes, i expect the lot of you to be assembled in your respective divisions, your division commanders will brief you on the details of the deployment, as you were."

"What did i tell all of you?" Duncan smirked causing everyone to groan in annoyance 

"Shut the fuck up, please, for the love of god..." Thomson muttered, his voice was however drowned by the loud chatter that now erupted after the admiral left, as he ate the food, he couldn't help but wonder if Duncan was maybe correct about them being deployed.

Thomson was there sat in the hangar bay with the rest of his division, the 1st Marine Division. The atmosphere was tense, everyone was on edge, why have they been deployed? Where will they be deployed? Who are we fighting? Ourselves or them? These questions ran through his head like crazy, he looked to his fellow marines, their faces said it all. However, the tossed those thoughts aside for now as their major general began the briefing.

"Marines, as you may or may not know..." He paused, he scanned the face of everyone he could, Thomson felt as if he looked into his internet search history, fuck. 

"As you may or may not know, we are being deployed." He paused again, as soon as he did, hushed whispering erupted before it was hushed

"We will be deployed to... Copper-9. Our FTL prob satellites have discovered that the planet was terraformed and from the looks of it, it may have happened around 2-3 years ago. Our preliminary reports suggest that all life on the planet had died 8 years ago, which means that someone or something has meddled with the planet." He said, the atmosphere changed from that of fear to curiosity, albeit not the good kind. A dead planet being terraformed was something shocking to most of the people here especially since it was reported that the core collapsed on itself. 

"As such, we will be entering into the Copper-9 system, we will arrive in 5 hours, Time now is 1000 Earth time, i expect everyone to fall into your respective platoons at 1530, we will be dropping onto the planet to investigate, thankfully, it seems whoever terraformed the planet was kind enough to make it habitable for human life, but it will be cold still, so grab your insulated gear and i will send you a dossier on this through your devices, Division dismissed." He continued and immediately retired back to his office accompanied by several MP's. Thomson walked back to his room, his thoughts now racing, if anything, the meeting gave him more questions than answers, as he walked back everyone from different branches we're discussing the situation too, please god, not again...

- Copper-9, 1st January 3079, 1459 Earth time, Colony-5 Space port -

Corporal Raymond was on duty at the starship tracking room with 2 of his other comrades of the Worker Defence Force Security Force (WDFSCF), Private Johannes and Sergeant David his commanding officer. The job was fairly boring, since the religious insurgency in Colony-7 died down for the time being, he hadn't seen much action. He remembered the religious insurgency, initially he didn't understand what these drones were fighting for until he got the chance to meet his now wife, Maddison. He remembered how they met when he was sent to some occupied section of the bunker during the insurgency and how they both talked about everything, how she would always find an excuse to seem him and how she convinced him to join her in her beliefs, what good memories he had. However, he was pulled out of his thoughts when the satellite sensor alarms blared. At first, he thought it was an asteroid or large debris heading for a collision course with Copper-9, but as he checked the data, his mechanical jaw dropped. It was a flotilla of 10 ships, 8 Colony ships and 2 destroyers albeit they lacked weaponry, after scanning them, they belonged to something called the UN? He didn't question, immediately he called over to Sergeant David,

"Sir, come here quickly, you might want to see this..." He said, his voice alarmed immediately catching the attention of his sergeant. As he scrutinised the radar readings, his eyes hollowed and instantly he told his Corporal to inform the WDF high command and government immediately

- UNS Freedom Peak Hangar Bay, 1530 -

The marines, paratroopers and special operations forces assembled at the hangar bay, a general was looking over the paper which involved these units:

1st UN Marine Division 

109th Airborne Division 

56th Naval Infantry Division 

Special Operations Units 'Alpha'

He rubbed his eyes and looked up, he saw the assigned divisions assembling and boarding the landing pods and shuttles to reece the landing area. He sighed as he turned and looked at the planet below, it was not like what he had seen when he first came to Copper-9 all those years ago as an enlisted officer. He closed his eyes wondering what could have been...

- Copper-9 Colony-3 City centre capital district, 1600 -

The council was in session and there was much discussion, everyone knew what was going on, the UN was here, why were they here? Who or what is the UN? Is this some sort of grotesque nightmare for the worker drones? Were they sent by JCJenson, mercenaries? Will they again be enslaved and subjugated by the humans again? These were the thoughts that were racing in everyone's CPU. 

"I say we kill them before they kill us!" A representative from Colony-4 shouted

"I agree let's do it!" Someone yelled

"Maybe they don't want to kill us, maybe we're overreacting!" A Colony-8 representative countered 

"How would you know?!"

"They're gonna kill us all!"

"Calm down, we don't know their intentions!" 

"Mom pick me up, I'm scared!"

Khan groaned from the amount of politics going on, he wasn't that good of a politician but at least his wife and daughter were here to support him.

"Relax Khan, maybe you should say something as the representative of our colony?" Nori assured him

"I don't know, i'm not one to ask about this situation..." he argued

Then, there was a silence as J spoke up from the microphone,

"All right, listen up, you toasters! Look, we're all here today to talk about the 'humans returning' and whatnot, but that being said..." The silence was loud as she paused. She sighed before continuing 

"That being said... we cannot just go ahead and kill them can we? For some context, this UN thing is, or was, the governing body of the humans before the Solver destroyed Earth, in essence, they are separate from JCJenson entirely as JCJ is an industrial conglomerate whilst the UN is a government body." J explained, hushed whispers erupted from the crowd, many drones were second generation drones, meaning they were born after Copper-9's core collapse, most if not all of them didn't know much about human history unless they dig in deep into the topic. 

"However, we don't know their true intentions yet, killing them may just cause more problems in the long run, who knows if there are more humans, and especially the company, spread out throughout the galaxy who will retaliate against us?" She added

"So what are you suggesting J?" Uzi asked from her father's seat

"What I'm suggesting is that we go out there and see what they want and besides we don't want to scare them, they might not even know us disassembly drones are on planet. So what i'm saying is, we go there and establish contact." She explained, as she looked at the crowds, there was more murmuring but this time in agreement, after some time, the worker drones decided to send some WDF members on an expedition. Uzi was somewhat sceptical since she is still in that 'kill all humans' mindset but she wanted to tag along as well if it meant V and N will come too. Tessa would volunteer as a mediator in case miscommunications happen which they often do.

- WDF, Wakh Sind Barracks Copper-9, The new continent, 45 Km from the human landing site. 1700 universal time-

"Oh Solver Of The Absolute Fabric, Most Powerful, please tell me this is a bad dream, please, for the love of everything, tell me this is a bad, bad dream..." Corporal Raymond whispered as he knelt down on an altar, his hands clasped in prayer. 

Him and several squads were being sent to see what the humans were up to. Raymond was a second generation drone but he has heard about the horrors and brutality of the humans. He was one of the few history geeks when he was young, he always found human history... fascinating to say the least but was horrified to learn about the horrific atrocities humanity had committed especially against Drone-kind. As he left the barracks temple, he walked straight to the assembly area, he had an M14 Battle rifle with him as did everyone else barring some senior members who had pulse charged weapons. For the WDF, many of them were equipped with old human weapons they found, but recently, they've begun to make pulse weapons to increase firepower but they are still expensive despite heavy asteroid mining. His platoon would be the first ones to leave and scout the area for the rest of the regiment to advance, the commandant gave a very brief description on the details of this assignment and so in the evening skies, Raymond's platoon left.

"Lighten up corporal, at least you have a wife at home to return to," Sergeant David said to him, trying to lighten his mood

"I just hope I get to see her again..." He whispered lighting up a synthetic cigarette as he walked down the mountainous path

- Copper-9 Surface, 1745 universal time, Task Force Tantal Landing Site -

The drop pod shook as it landed on the ground, Thomson and his platoon were itching to get off the cramped vessel and take in the first breath of fresh air for the first time in a long time. The door opened and the evening sky looked beautiful awing everyone as they disembarked from the pod. The sight of trees, although genetically modified to grow fast, was a sight to behold, Thompson knelt on the grass and grabbed a fistful of dirt from the ground, how ling had it been since he touched actual surface dirt and grass? Unfortunately, their marvelling was cut short when their platoon leader, Second lieutenant Markus Audener, ordered everyone into line

"Ok that's enough marines, i know many of you haven't touched grass for long but we have a mission to complete, fall in line, two rows. Our platoon is tasked with reconnaissance of the roads, worker drones have established some sort of political entity but we are not sure if they possess a military, so be on the lookout for any hostiles." The lieutenant shouted as the platoon groaned in unison 

The platoon began their recon, unfortunately for everyone involved, the drop pods couldn't carry any vehicles, the smallest was their motor bikes but it wasn't enough to equip every division with, if these drones possessed vehicles, they may as well have to call in an orbital strike, most of their armoured vehicles couldn't be deployed with the current drop pods (each drop pod can fit 16 men) and high command was not willing to land any of the ships until the worker drones can be confirmed as non-hostile. When they entered into high orbit, scans showed that there was life, inorganic life. Worker drones have apparently been the ones behind terraforming the planet but several people wanted to land on the planet and maybe establish themselves as a new star empire, but they were uneasy about what the worker drones would do to them or if they were even friendly. Many understood the abuse the worker drones endured and everyone agreed that the destruction of Earth was down to the mismanagement of the corporations and the general callousness of the people towards the worker drones.

Thomson checked his military watch, 1830, his platoon had been marching for 45 minutes at this point, everyone had their fingers on M16's, RPK's and AKM's. As they marched through the old remote dirt road leading to some suburban area they noticed movement at some of the trees. The second lieutenant halted everyone in their tracks, their rifles cocked and ready to fire. Suddenly someone from behind yelled, "CONTACT, CONTACT, CONTACT!" before getting shot at. Everyone dived into the roadside ditches and returned fire. They couldn't see anything at first due to the lack of lights but the glowing visors made it all clear, Thomson put down his night vision monocle and opened fire in a 2-round burst. 

"Fuck, Contact command!" Markus yelled into his radioman

"Return fire! Return fire! Spread out and watch out for flanking!" He ordered

- Copper-9 Surface, 1825 universal time -

Corporal Raymond and the WDF platoon were en route when suddenly, they saw movement, thanks to their enhanced vision software upgrade. Although their night vision wasn't the best due to limited night vision technology left behind, it was still enough to discern that they were indeed humans. Platoon Leader, Julia Cromwell, ordered them to hide behind the trees, she didn't know what equipment these human soldiers have but she wasn't willing to take the risk, the plan after all, was not to fight the humans but simply see what they were up to but to hell with orders, she thought. Thankfully, the tree line was just thick enough to conceal their movements. However, some WDF soldiers attempted to cross over into the other side in the case that they needed to flank, unfortunately for them, one of the humans turned behind and spotted them and yelled, "CONTACT, CONTACT, CONTACT!" 

"Fucking shit!" The Drone yelled before discharging his Gewehr 43 at the humans in a panic managing to hit one of them, but the armour vest he was wearing absorbed the round, only causing a minor flesh wound, Raymond knelt behind and tree he closed his eyes and clutched his rifle 

"Dear Solver-God, please tell me this is a bad dream" Raymond whispered squinting his eyes before turning around to his platoon leader

"You fucking idiots! Stop being cowards and return fire, Robo-God dammit!" Lieutenant Julia yelled before she fired a long burst of laser projectiles at the humans.

"Fuck, Eight-ball! Lance Corporal Parks, I need you to drag him into our ditch, Private Iosif, concentrate your RPK there and suppress them, looks like they've come from that side," Lieutenant Markus fired his AKM blindly on some worker drones firing at Parks, they backed into the trees, none hit them but the gunfire was enough to keep them off Parks until he could get Eight-ball out of there

"Medic! Over here!" Parks yelled as he dragged his comrade into the ditch, the medic rushed over from the other ditch amidst the gunfire and slid into the one where the wounded Eight-Ball was brought to

"He's hit bad, i can stop his bleeding but we'll need a medevac, i can't treat his wounds without specialized equipment here!" The medic explained as he treated the wound on Eight-Ball, it was a deep wound caused by some sort of energy-based weapons from what the medic could understand.

"Platoon 1 this is Command do you read?" The radio crackled as bullets and projectiles flew past their heads.

"Read you loud and clear command. Lieutenant Markus! Command is on the line," The radioman yelled before returning into the firefight

"Platoon leader, Lieutenant Markus, reporting!"

"Lieutenant, we need a sitrep immediately, Over," 

"Command we have engaged hostile worker drones down the dirt road due North-East, uh, around 15 klicks from landing site, we have a casualty in need of medevac, repeat casualty in need of medevac, over," The lieutenant explained as he ducked his head into the ditch

"Affirmative on the casualty, Lieutenant, how many have you encountered? Over," 

"Unknown, but i suspect it's a platoon of them, they have similar weapons to us but some have laser weapons, i suspect that they may have also called for backup, over," 

"Roger that, we will send reinforcements and a medevac, eta 10 minutes, over," 

Markus looks up to the medic, "Medic, medevac in 10 minutes, how long you need?"

"Yes, it's enough time, i stabilized him already," The medic replied 

"Command, affirmative on the medevac, over,"

"Ten-four lieutenant, sit tight, we'll be there soon, out." 

"How the fuck they gonna get here in ten minutes lieutenant?" Iosif asked changing his 7.62x39mm FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) drum magazine to a banana magazine containing AP (Armour Piercing) rounds for the ones hiding behind the thin trees

"I don't know, guess command decided to land a ship or two, but, we'll see everyone just keep shooting!" Markus yelled

- Human Command Base, 1850 Universal Time, 1st January 3079 -

UNS destroyer Santa-Maria had landed at the behest of Admiral Pedro, but the recently landed destroyer crew had no time to rest and relax, a firefight had occurred as soon as they touched down and now they were beginning to unload an old Mi-8 helicopter to assist them as they needed to get there in short notice, James was assigned to help his brother's platoon and he hoped to god he's still alive out there, he's a master now after all. 

"On Mozdok, on Mozdok, three choppers fly away~" He hums to himself as he and his 4-man squad with 2 Medical detail members board the helicopter with their equipment and some stretchers as well as 2 pilots (making it 8) 

"God damn i haven't flown this bad boy since the battle of Vermillion back on Agartha," Ahmad exclaimed

"As have I Lance Corporal, i remember flying these bad boy's in the UN Army Aviation," Specialist Osman replied 

"Were you there during the battle of Earth?" Ahmad asked

"No, I wasn't even in the solar system, by the time I was deployed after training, Earth, Venus and Mars were destroyed." He said as he finalized the pre-flight checks

"No fuel leak, wouldn't be surprising if it did, anyways, we're ready to go?" Ahmad asked, he put aside the discussion for another time, as he armed the 8 9M113 Kornet missiles.

"Haha, alright, weapons armed, fueled and ready, we're good to go boys! Hang tight and lift up your tray tables up as we are beginning to take off, eta to location in 6 minutes," Osman spoke into his headset

"In the name of god most merciful," He muttered as he pulled on the yoke and increased throttle

The passengers at the back held on tightly to the support poles near their seats as the Mi-8 began to take off from the ground, James checked his watch; 1854. he hopes to god that Thomson's platoon is holding out

- Copper-9, 1858 Universal Time, 15 Km from Landing Site -

Thomson shoots his M16 and manages to incapacitate a worker drone in its legs and arms, attempting to run for cover after it had foolishly decided to leap out of the trees, possibly to reach for his dead friend. As he loaded a new magazine, a bullet flew past him, barely missing his PASGT helmet causing him to fall face first onto the ground, the ditch was thankfully quite deep

"Fucking shit, god dammit give me a fucking break for once!" He loudly blurted as he cocked his M16 and got up. 

"Thomson! You got a spare mag? I'm almost out!" Private Simmens asked

"Yeah I do! Here take it, almost my last one, you need it more than me!" He replied as he handed over his second-last 5.56x45mm NATO STANAG magazine to him

"Fucking hell, I think they bought reinforcements, Look! more coming from the road ahead of us!" Someone yelled from the front of the platoon

"Where's the fucking cavalry when you need them?" Thomson sighed

He turned around and noticed the aforementioned group of worker drones approaching them. The other machine gunner in his ditch managed to keep them away at range but almost got killed when a flanking worker drone slid into the ditch and tried to bash his skull in with a hammer but was gunned down by Thomson as he unloaded 12 bullets in that bastard causing her to cry in pain as she bled out from oil loss which the machine gunner immediately tended to her wounds. 

"They don't know when to fucking give- THOMSON TO YOUR TOP-LEFT LOOK OUT!" Simmens yelled, he attempted to shoot his M16 at the falling drone but it misfired, thanks to the dusty air of the planet

Thomson managed to dive to his right just in time as a worker drone leapt from a tree armed with an axe but he got it stuck in the ground when he tried to split his skull apart, Thomson quickly got up and attached his bayonet from his shoulder strap and charged, thrusting it into the side of the struggling worker drone who died instantly, coughing up oil in its last digital breath as he stabbed his core. The oil splattered like a fountain all over his uniform and face, the drone's body slumped backwards displaying 'FATAL ERROR' in bright neon white as oil continued to pour and ooze out. As he pulled out his bayonet from the dead drone, he saw the group of worker drones previously being held back charging towards them seeing as his machine gunner was actively being suppressed shortly after tending to the downed drone and the other one was busy engaging another group to notice them, as he prepared to gun them down and face death with his last 18 rounds, a loud metallic shriek suddenly tore through the gunfire and soon, the charging group of drone were engulfed in a huge explosion causing the charge to break apart. As he looked towards where it came from, he smiled and began cheering as did his platoon. As a helicopter hovered above them it turned to the right and the side door opened with a paratrooper on his PKP gunning down on what remained of the drones causing them to scatter and rout, as the helicopter touched down, James was the first to off load from the helicopter and when he saw his brother covered in oil and dirt, he couldn't have been more happy.

"Look who we got here, I'm glad you're okay brother," James laughed 

"I guess so, yeah i guess so," Thomson smiled 

"All right, reunions can happen later, for now get the casualties and those 3 worker drones in for treatment and interrogation," A Paratrooper Warrant Officer commanded. However as Thomson was boarding the Mi-8, he saw two blue eyes poking out of a tree from the corner of his eye he turned to his brother and pretended to be oblivious to it, 

"James, don't look, but I think we missed one of em'. At one of the trees, I saw two blue eyes staring at me, i also saw his rifle, an M14 i think," He whispered into his ear as the turbofan engine of the Mi-8 roared next to them, however as he turned around to look, the eyes kept staring at them and the rifle was in a guard position

"Hey! We see you! Come out with your weapon and hands above your head!" Thomson yelled aiming his M16, his sudden shout alerted the rest of his team and they all soon aimed their weapons at the lone worker drone

Raymond was terrified beyond belief, his core was racing, his mind too, he had his M14 still clutched to his chest and he was contemplating on whether or not to run, surrender or shoot at them. The last option was out of question, he would get pulverized immediately, he couldn't run away, what if they followed him back to the barracks or killed him? His last option wasn't favorable as it would involve him possibly getting tortured to death, he didn't want to kill himself as he still had his wife and, recently, newborn son to return to, but as the human soldiers approached him, he had no choice,

"O- Okay, I s-s-surrender!" He stammered slowly coming out from behind the tree hands and rifle above his head

"Alright, put the gun on the floor slowly and kick it away towards the ditch. Kneel down slowly, no sudden movements you fucking clanker!" The man who shouted at him to surrender yelled, he complied and kicked his M14 into the ditch and knelt down on the floor. Overwhelmed by fear, he began to weep 

"Please don't kill me, I have a wife back home, she just had my child! Please!" He begged clasping his hands together and crying digital tears, causing the man aiming his rifle at him to cock an eyebrow, if anything, he almost felt bad for making him cry

“Damn, these discount battle droids can have kids?” James joked

“How the fuck does that work?! You know what? never-fucking-mind,” Thomson looked at his brother, cocking an eyebrow

"Don't worry, we're not here to kill or torture you, we just want answers, you can trust us," The man assured him  lowering his rifle and extending his hand to his shoulder as another human grabbed his hands and tied him up and another one grabbed his gun, Raymond was confused at the gesture of the soldier in front of him and was hesitant to believe what he heard. Nevertheless, he was escorted into the helicopter and brought back to the human base, he thanked the Solver that he got to live today…

- Landing Site Tantal, Prisoner holding area, UNS destroyer Santa-Maria, 2nd January 3079 0930 Universal Time -

Raymond sat there with 3 of his comrades after his capture, he was surprised at the treatment of prisoners here, unlike what he had expected. The humans had catered to their needs by feeding them oil, although worker drones can eat actual human food it wasn't efficient and they even gave him a nice clean green shirt and green pants. As he sat down on his mattress awaiting his interrogation, he couldn't help but think that maybe, these humans aren't so bad after all. Deep inside, he prayed and thanked the Solver of the absolute fabric that he was still alive and well, as he was kneeling down beside his bed praying, the door swung open, light from the hallway poured into the room causing Raymond to squint his eyes. There, he saw 2 men, one was wearing an all black uniform, black PASGT helmet as well as black webbing and a black balaclava, brandishing an MP-5SD, the other man, meanwhile, wore an officers uniform with a peaked cap with some sort of golden symbol with a wreath and circle on it.

"You, clanker," The officer pointed to Raymond

"Follow us," He continued

As soon as the officer said those few words, he left.  The soldier gestured towards Raymond with his SMG, Raymond reluctantly followed them and the holding cell door slammed shut leaving his comrades behind. As he looked past his shoulder, the soldier was still there eyes facing forward but sub-consciously observing Raymond's every move as he walked down the empty hallway and holding cells, just waiting for him to try and do something stupid. Raymond began to swat, why did they even program that? He didn't know, but eventually, he was taken to an interrogation room. There was a table and a chair as well as a one-sided glass pane that was opaque in the room but transparent on the other side. The officer gestured to him to sit on the chair and promptly left. The soldier acted as a guard standing in one corner of the room near the glass pane observing the worker drone. The silence was unbearable, 5 minutes had passed but to him it felt as if it was an eternity. Then, the door opened and his guard snapped at attention giving the man a salute, Raymond turned around and saw his interrogator. He was dressed in an officer's suit as well but with several banners on his chest and he was holding a notebook with a pen, the guard in the room was then gestured by the new officer to leave and so he did. 

"Alright then, shall we begin?" The man in the suit asked, Raymond stared blankly at him.

"Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you, we just want answers so please, answer the questions and i can assure your safety, first off, What is your name, rank and date of birth?" He asked, Raymond's eyes hollowed, he wanted to say and answer those questions but he couldn't. He felt as if the Solver was speaking to him, his mouth stayed shut as if he never had one, The officer's tone changed after noticing his increased fidgeting 

"Okay, i know you're scared, i know you want to see your wife and son again, so, i will start first and break the ice. I am General Pollon of the United Nations Marine Corps, I am a General of the Marines and I'm 67 years old, I was born on the 9th of May 3012 in New Jakarta, Proxima Centauri Prime..." He paused, Raymond suddenly felt at ease all of a sudden, his interrogator's change from a fearful and authoritative demeanor to an amicable one, he opened up and answered his previous question

"I-I-I am C- Corporal Raymond of the Worker Defense Forces..." He paused and looked to General Pollon, he nodded

"I am currently 21 years old, i was born sometime around 3058, some time after the core collapse here and around a decade before the disassembly drones arrived on planet, I am a second generation worker drone, meaning i was born after Copper-9's core collapse and subsequent death of all living human on the planet," He added

"Interesting, seems that your kind have built a community, but, i'm getting off topic. Now tell me, why did the firefight happen and what was your mission?" Pollon continued his tone remained the same but his posture had a more serious underlying to it

"Uh, we didn't mean to attack you, i don't know why my officer ordered us to shoot at you, we only wanted to avoid you all and see what you were up to and then establish contact if I recall..." Raymond answered, his voice shaky but coherent 

"Interesting..." Pollon rubbed his chin and wrote down the statement, Raymond's eyes hollowed

"Well, I have one last and important question for you," Pollon said looking up from the notebook, Raymond nodded slowly anticipating the question 

"Does your military use radio?" Pollon asked, Raymond nodded again 

"So tell me," He handed over the notebook and pen to him

"What are your open frequencies where we can contact your leaders?" he said gesturing to the objects he handed over, Raymond took a deep breath and began to write all the civilian frequencies he knew.

Chapter Text

3rd January 3079, H-7 Airstrip 0631

The 4 Men in jumpsuits walked towards their modified IL-28, It was an antique aircraft that many nowadays dreamed of flying, a long lost relic to time. Captain Marcellus Zacharie took in a deep breath as he climbed aboard the plane. Today, Private Kyle Goldstein, Private Muhammad Yasser and Corporal Zheng Yu were with him on a reconnaissance flight of a supposed city the worker drones were inhabiting, from orbital reports, it seems as if the worker drones have established some form of society and high command was intent on knowing more before proceeding after the whole hostile contact that happened 2 days ago. The cockpit was slightly dusty causing the 4 to cough as they took their positions. Zacharie caressed the yoke of the IL-28 as began to spool up its ancient engines

“You know, I'm surprised they managed to save some of these ancient beasts,” Yasser spoke up into his intercom helmet breaking the silence

“Yeah, sure is amazing, and judging by the looks of the analog systems, this one seems to be formerly part of the North Korean Air Force,” Kyle added

“Don’t steal anything shiny here Kyle,” Yasser joked to which he simply didn’t react and rolled his eyes, Zheng Yu merely stayed quiet in his compartment not wanting to be involved in the whole conversation

“Alright, cut it out you two, the whole thing happened centuries ago, being racist in the big 79’ 🥀” Zacharie laughed as he taxied onto the dimly lit runway and soon, the 4 found themselves being pulled up into the early morning sky, it was breathtaking as they took in the beautiful Copper-9 skyline but they were more focused on the mission ahead

“Hey, how long until we reach the city?” Kyle asked

“in about a few minutes, you have time to doze off,” Yasser spoke over his radio headset

Aircraft information, IL-28MR

A modernised version of the old IL-28 jet bomber, this variant has been upgraded with twin Type-900 turbofan engines made by the now defunct Harbin Aerospace Conglomerate back in 2672. The IL-28MR boasts respectable speeds for a bomber capable of reaching upwards of up to ~2,550 km/h at sea level on an empty load. It comes with an upgraded airframe consisting of a lightweight titanium-alloy mix giving it enhanced durability. It is capable of carrying 6,000 kilograms of ordnance thanks to its upgraded airframe and engines. It is capable of flying at a range of 5,000 km at cruising speed and altitude thanks to aerospace engineers integrating and upgrading the Type-900 engines with advanced fuel efficiency at cruising speed. However because its an early cold-war bomber, the hunk of junk is only good for bombing and doesn’t have countermeasures like chaff’s or flare’s

Weapon Options:

FAB-250
FAB-500
FAB-5000

3rd January 3079, WDF Radar station X-Ray 6 0703

The small airstrip was deserted as always, save the wrecks of the old Mig-21’s and Mig-23’s with the old JCJenson roundel on it. Warrant Officer Umbra was sipping a cup of synthetic coffee with some friends at the old air control tower that had been repurposed into an observation tower and a RADAR station. Life was fairly boring, waking up at 7, falling into company formation at 8, having breakfast at 8:30 then grabbing a cup of coffee and working 9-5. Umbra was 21, graduating school at 20. Being a second generation drone living under a bunker, she had a fairly lofty ambition of being the one to kill the disassembly drones, but that was cut short when a purple haired goth girl from another colony did all of that and now she’s here. The job opportunities around the planet aren’t quite her type, either manual labour, like mining and construction, which she loathed, administration work, which was too much, becoming a settler was not an option since she lacked any meaningful skills at all and so, the WDF was the only choice. The humans landed here when she joined and she thought there was gonna be a whole ass conflict, them invading us, sort of thing, but, she got transferred over here at the last moment, shattering her dreams of being a hero to drone kind

“Another boring fucking day at this robo-god forsaken place…” she muttered as she stared at the group of recruits doing basic marching drills while their instructors yelled their lungs out at them.

“Cheer up Umbra, maybe one day, we finally get to use some of those airplanes sitting in the hangar bays,” Lieutenant Alexis said, turning away from the radio walking towards Umbra

“I know Alexis but… I never thought I would be spending the rest of my youth like this, rotting away here,” she sighed, as she sipped her coffee, there was a sudden alarm from the RADAR map, as Umbra, Alexis and several other drones gathered around the large circular map, on it, there was one singular dot. At first, everyone thought it was a disassembly drone that flew too close to the airbase, but it was too… mechanical for any drone, especially disassembly drones.

As the object pulled closer into the radar range, they were able to get information about the flying object based on its signature, thanks to the advanced technology of their radar systems. They were shocked to see that it was a human airplane, but the real kicker was looking over the information about it as it was some variation of the old human IL-28 jet bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons, this immediate revelation triggered panic in the tower, Umbra was excited yet also terrified about the whole situation but she didn’t have time to think as someone already pressed the alert button triggering an immediate reaction within the base. The information about the whole situation spread like wildfire and immediately they sent 4 pilots in 2 K-72 sabre’s, with 4 more from other bases, to intercept the lone bomber. Umbra immediately alerted WDF high command and government as soon as the pilots scrambled to take off

Aircraft information, K-72 Sabre

The WDF for a long time, didn't have or need an air force. However, shortly following the defeat of the absolute solver, the WDF commissioned several engineers to build a jet fighter from the ground up. Initially, progress was slow as their framework consisted of derelict Mig-21’s, Mig-23’s and Gloster Meteor’s. However, through sheer determination, the WDF was able to create the K-72 Sabre in 3072. The K-72 is essentially a Mig-23 copy but it lacks its look-down/ shoot-down radar that the original Mig-23 has but instead uses a fairly primitive version of radar and is unable to detect anything beyond 6km in a circle. The K-72 also lacks BVR missiles and instead uses, and only uses, older Aim-4 Falcon missiles. The K-72 is, however, more reliable since the swing wing design issues that were present on the Mig-23 were fixed by adding redundant systems, allowing the pilot to manually fold and unfold the wings of the plane mid-flight through a crank on the co-pilot’s compartment. Its speed and range are almost the same as the Mig-23 and looks like the Mig-23 but its discernible as it has a distinct 2-seater cockpit and a noticeable lack of hardpoints

Weapons:

Guns:
UPK-23

Missile’s:
Aim-4 Falcon

Bombs:
Mk82
FAB250

Somewhere above the skies of Colony-12, New Continent, 0724

Zheng Yu stared at the radar system as he noticed 2 objects closing in onto their aircraft, looking up to Zacharie who was, by then, aware of the objects approaching them, they were too fast to be disassembly drones so they deduced that the clankers have somehow repaired whatever jets they had which, if true, would be bad since their IL-28MR didn’t have modern countermeasures, missiles and their gun turrets were not suited for fast moving jets

“They’re closing in, captain, orders?” Zheng Yu asked, his expression slightly grim

“In all honesty, we have our thumbs planted up our asses, we have fuel and the speed but I doubt we can outrun them.” Zacharie muttered

Zheng Yu went back and his face turned pale as the 2 objects were in viewing range of the pilot. Zacharie then saw 2 con-trails coming into view, at first, he couldn’t tell what planes they were but as they closed in, he noticed that they were Mig-23’s. He was surprised but didn’t have time to admire the planes before one of the jets pulled up to his left. He stared at the Cyan-eyed drone who in turn stared back at him. It was tense, the drone shook his head at the human pilot with worry in its eyes, the human pilot waved at his adversary immediately causing his eyes to hollow. He then noticed another drone in the cockpit, this time, with white neon eyes blinking at him. The white-eyed drone pointed down, Zacharie assumed the drone wanted them to land their plane. Zacharie shook his head at the drone who rolled its eyes at him. The situation was getting tense as a second ‘Mig-23’ pulled to his right, there was silence on the radios as well, neither side wanted to say anything to each other.

“Fuck, what do we do?” Yasser blurted

“Calm down bomber!” Kyle groaned

“Fuck you kike!” Yasser shouted tit for tat

“Calm down both of you! I have already called for reinforcements to command, they said to just hold until they can come!” Zheng Yu raised his voice trying his best to calm the situation, but as soon as he turned back to his radar screen, he notices 4 more WDF planes closing in on their bomber around 6km away

“Fuck, and we have 4 more fuckers joining in!” Zheng Yu groaned as he buried his face in his palms, Zacharie just sighed and flipped the middle finger to one of the WDF pilots who returned the favour

Back at the human airbase, 0736

Ahmad’s heart was pumping, not too long after he was on break, he received reports that an armed WDF, as they were known, aircraft had intercepted an IL-28 on a reconnaissance flight over the nearby worker drone city, he put on his helmet and immediately went to his commander, Captain Zubaidah, for orders regarding the encounter.

“Is everyone here? Good, the i shall waste no time, pilots, we have received a distress call from the IL-28MR that they have been intercepted by WDF planes, currently, they are unable to do anything, their options are to land and risk the bomber being kept indefinitely or get shot down, our orders are to show these fucking clankers we mean buisness!” The Captain yelled as he put on his helmet. Immediately, the 6 pilots leapt into their Mig-29’s and prepared to take off.

“Bismillah,” Ahmad whispered to himself as he prepared his plane for takeoff. His hands were trembling as he slowly increased his throttle and adjusted the flight controls for takeoff, it had been several years since he flew on an actual airplane, unlike the helicopter’s. He first flew a TX-Cyclone III Stratofighter during the war with the solver where he was tasked with bombing key Solver, Thrall and Disassembly drone positions back at New Cairo. As his plane taxied towards the runway, he took a deep breath. Soon, it was his turn to take off from the runway. Placing his faith in Allah, he slowly increased the throttle to full and the afterburners roared to life as he sped down the dirt runway. As he pulled the yoke and followed the route to the rendezvous point, he was awed by the sight that beheld him over the horizon, the beautiful star that shone above the morning skies with the ringed gas giant sparked something within him, he was cut short when his headset crackled,

“Pilots, form up, assume formation and put those engines on afterburners, eta 7 minutes to target,” Captain Zubaidah spoke up

“Hey, Ahmad, are you seeing this? I haven’t seen anything this beautiful ever since Earth was destroyed,” Private Sigmund spoke up

“Yeah, sure it sure is beautiful huh?” Ahmad sighed melancholically

“You know, do you guys miss seeing the sunsets from earth?” Ahmad continued

“Not really,”

“I’m from Agartha, so nope”

“Nah,”

“I thought so…” He laughed. The radar ping was audible, he noted that the planes the WDF seemed to be operating were Mig-23’s based on their signatures, he stared for a good long while but was rudely interrupted when his radar screamed at him. Soon, he noticed the contrails of the aforementioned Mig’s and the IL-28 below them, the 6 Fulcrum’s swooped down.

Meanwhile in the IL-28

“Hey so uhh, hello ‘friends’…” Zacharie spoke into the open frequency

“Could you all please, fuck off?” He bluntly told the worker drones, then there was silence, until a worker drone spoke up

“No? You intruded into our airspace… Please comply and land,” The cyan-eyed drone replied

“And then what? have this bomber stolen, us tortured? I don’t think so toaster,” Zacharie loudly argued

“We won’t,” The drone replied

“Or would you?” Another human voice came through as several Mig-29 Fulcrums pulled into view from below

“I suggest you should turn back… now,” Captain Zubaudah sternly warned, The WDF K-72’s were now being surrounded by a squadron of human Mig-29’s, the situation was tense, everyone stared at each other through their cockpits.

“This is very awkwards isn’t it?” Zubaidah added

“I- Uhh, well,” The cyan-eyed drone stuttered as he stared at Zubaidah

“The city is below us, what’s it gonna be, drone? A fight? Or do we all go home to our families?” Zubaidah continued

Meanwhile Vlaris City, 0753

The worker drones gathered around the television store, the story being broadcast today is about a supposed human bomber flying above worker drone airspace

“-Yes and we have just recovered reports from the WDF that the human bomber jet has been intercepted above the skies of Vlaris,” The crowd stared at each other, eyes hollowed as they tried to process the news of the intrusion

“Oh wait, I'm getting a new report, it seems that the humans have also sent their planes to intercept the squadron, we aren’t sure how the situation will unfold, but do stay tuned, this is WDAN, Worker Drones Action News signing out.” The televisions cut off to the regularly scheduled tv programme of an old human soap opera. The crowd was muttering to each other, many were terrified of the prospect of the humans reducing their city to rubble. Doll turned back from the crowd back to the nearby outdoor cafe where Uzi, Lizzy, Tessa, N, J and V were there to enjoy the new continent on a holiday trip after a long months of working non-stop

“[You know, the situation here is getting a little too hot for my liking…”] Doll told the group

“Relax, it’s just one jet bomber, what can it do?” J scoffed

“[I mean, you have a point… It is an old Russian IL-28 jet bomber made back in, oh, 1950… almost…”] Doll muttered counting the years

“1,129 years?” Uzi interjected, taking a sip from her synthetic coffee

“[I- Yeah… Thank you… cousin,”] Doll sat down

“You know, the signal is absolutely terrible here!” Lizzy spoke up, putting her phone down on the table and crossed her arms and legs

“What does that have to do with anything?” V replied as she took a bite out of a synthetic sandwich

“Everything!” Lizzy raised her voice and rolled her neon-pink eyes

“[Calm down Liz,]” Doll sighed, as soon as she took another sip of her synthetic coffee, a loud shriek came from the skies. Everyone looked up to the skies and there it was, a long IL-28 flying overhead with 6 more jets, their roundels were distinct from those of the WDF. Oh boy, this was going to be bad, Doll thought to herself. However, she didn’t have any time to think as the three disassembly drones flew up to see the humans for themselves, it had been a long time since they saw one, Uzi followed shortly after.

“So uh, what now?” Tessa asked

“[I don’t know…]” Doll shrugged

“Well shit, looks like they took it upon themselves to build a city huh?” Kyle said as he took photos from the camera

“Yeah, almost amazing if you think about it,” Yasser sighed as he took in the beautiful sight below

“Alright, are we done with the photo taking?” Captain Zubaidah asked through his headset

“Not yet cap, we still have one more place, we suspect that there is a military base nearby considering that those WDF planes had arrived in less than a few minutes,” Zacharie explained

“Understood, just be on the lookout for-” Zubaidah paused as his radar began to ping, four objects were closing in on them from… the city itself? That was strange, they just appeared out of nowhere, they couldn’t have been WDF aircraft since they simply withdrew and there couldn't have been reinforcements. Then, a sudden sense of dread grappled him, he knew what they were and immediately alerted the squadron

“All pilots, we have a situation,” He paused to see the reaction of everyone else

“I see it captain,”

“Me too,”

“Same here,”

“Well fuck, do we engage?” Zacharie asked

“That’s a negative, we can outrun them but they’re closing in too fast for us to turn heel, just arm missiles. Stay close and assume defensive formation!” Zubaidah ordered, as soon as the planes got into formation, the objects drew closer… and closer… and closer. The squadron then came into a thick cloud formation. The air in the cockpit was getting stuffy as Zubaidah whispered an islamic prayer. Ahmad and the rest of the Mig-29 pilots tensed up, the IL-28 crew did so too. As they exited the cloud formation, Zubaidah looked to his radar, they were directly on them, as he frantically looked all around him, he saw the unmistakable golden-yellow eyes of them, and he also noticed purple ones as well?

The disassembly drone pulled into his right side, its golden eyes staring at him with curiosity. He waved at the pig-tailed disassembly drone who in turn, gave him a salute. The captain immediately tried pinging his radio to the drone and soon, it connected to the frequency.

“Surprised to see your kind here…” The human pilot told her

“As am I, human,”

“We don’t want no trouble, all we want, is answers,” The pilot continued

“And you are intruding into OUR skies,” Another voice came up as a purple-eyed drone with a beanie came into view, hew wings were too organic to be a disassembly drone which was a little shocker to the pilots

“Your skies? This is blasphemy! Allah willing I shall smite you drone!” a human yelled

“Come at me” Uzi shouted

“Uzi calm down!” N Said

“NO N!” Uzi countered

“Let me have them!” V sinisterly giggled

“Oh come on then!” Someone else yelled

“ENOUGH!” J and Zubaidah simultaneously screamed at everyone, causing silence to sweep through

“Look,” Zubaidah continued

“We’re doing this because YOU, emphasis on YOU, attacked one of our patrols first,” He continued

“We are just doing a recon flight, we aren’t here to bomb you to bits,” Zubaidah sighed, then, there was a silence as the roars of the engines cut through the early morning skies.

“Okay, this is extremely awkward…” Ahmad muttered into the radio

“Listen, we can all just go home and maybe speak of this to our leaders, maybe we can DIPLOMATICALLY sort this whole fiasco, we have you radio frequencies…” Zubaidah assured them

“Yeah… Right,” Uzi scoffed

“Can it pipsqueak!” V slapped her head

“V! What the hell?” She groaned

“Alright, we will turn back, we got what we need anyways…” Zacharie announced

“Rogerthat, well, it has been a nice time meeting you… But i suggest we retire to our respective sides, don’t you think so?” Zubaidah asked

“I guess you’re right, farewell humans… For now…” J muttered as the planes began to turn around back to their home base.

Meanwhile on the ground, Vlaris Temple

Doll was sitting on top of a ruined cathedral that had been converted into a temple for the worker drone faith. Their religion had been founded nearly ten years ago when Uzi consumed the solver. Soon after that, she, Cyn and Tessa were resurrected as well through some demonic ritual Uzi had to do, some worker drones who were there decided that it would be a great idea to found a religion based on worshipping the three of them as ‘gods’. It was mostly for the whole, ‘taking over after humans’ type shit and it did keep the spirit of the worker drones up. Eventually the numbers swelled but like any religion, there were of course those extremists who took things too far. In 3075, someone had the bright idea to try and resurrect the solver and worship it instead of the three. This, in turn, caused a full blown civil war and with most civil wars, genocide. Eventually the Solver revivalists were forced to retreat underground, since then, they have been conducting terrorist attacks, shootings and suicide bombing on civilian infrastructure. Doll sighed, she was staring down below to everyone else going about their daily lives. Then, the door behind her opened. A Teal-eyed drone let out a yelp causing Doll to activate her solver magics, upon realising that her goddess was in front of her, the young drone prostrated herself.

“M-My Lordess! P-p-please forgive-”

“[No need to forgive me,]” Doll said, her voice soft an understanding

“[What brings you here?]” She continued offering a hand to the worker drone who was confused by the gesture

“Oh, ah, just here to relax, I didn't realise you were up here,” she explained

“[Ah, well, you can come sit with me if you’d like]” she offered

“M-my pleasure…” She reluctantly agreed as she sat beside her. It was quite the shocker for the teal-eyed drone, when she first joined the Temple Of the Solver. She learned from the religious doctrine that each of their goddesses represented a force of destruction, Doll was the manifestation of Revenge, Uzi, the manifestation of bloodlust and Cyn represented the manifestation of Cataclysm. It was a shocker that the goddess of revenge would offer her to sit by her side, she has heard the stories about how Doll murdered and killed others in order to kill the disassembly drone that ended the life of her parents. However, the religious priests use their stories as a precautionary tales to young drones to not cave into their volatile emotions and she was a devout member of the faith.

“[Tell me young one, what is your name?”] Her Red-eyed goddess asked, her teal eyes hollowed

“Oh uh, my name is Cynthia my goddess,” She replied with hesitation

“[Cynthia? That’s a nice name, reminds me of Cyn… Tell me about your belief's young one,”] She asked looking at her

“Huh? Forgive me, but, do you?” Cynthia hesitated

“[I just don’t bother myself with the affairs of others, believe in what you want, but I am curious about your religion, about worshipping me, why me? Just tell me the basics, young one,”] She asked, her voice tender and soft. Cynthia’s Teal eyes hollowed, she was eager to share her beliefs yes, but to explain their religious doctrine to the very goddess she and many others worshipped? That wasn’t on her bingo list for 79’. Nevertheless, she took in a deep breath and tried her best to interpret her beliefs,

“Well, we call ourselves The Temple Of The Three Solvers, we worship the three of you because we see you as the manifestations, continuations, of the solver. We believe that your abilities make you godlike. We are told that each of the three represent a pillar of destruction, Cyn, Goddess of Cataclysm, Uzi, Goddess of Bloodshed and you, Goddess of Revenge. We are told that your stories serve as warnings to us, to not destroy, hurt or take revenge on anyone or anything that has wronged us… We are told that there may be no afterlife for us, but if we do good, future generations won’t have to suffer like you did, like you all did,” She explained with a passion, she looked to Doll, her expression was that of genuine confusion but she seemed to understand the gist of it

“[Ah, that was, quite a bit to take in… but i understand,]” Doll assured her

“Well if you’d like to learn more, feel free to drop by here anytime, I'm studying here and I'm interested to learn more about you and the others!” Cynthis ecstatically squealed

“[I’ll drop by hen i can young one, if i may, i have to get back to the others,]” Doll said patting the head of Cynthis

“[Farewell, young one, may we meet again]” She said as she flew off, Cynthia went back downstairs smiling gleefully, she hoped that Goddess Doll would visit soon, hopefully.