Preface

This is an alternate universe continuation of the excellent Supreme Commander: Survival of the Fittest by the author Dagonian. The original five episodes can be found on the GPG Forums under the Supreme Commander Fan Fiction category. A link is provided below. While I will attempt to make this story as self-contained as possible, the truth is that unless you read the first five episodes, this story will not be as good as it could be.

http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=27461

Having received permission to use his universe for my continuation, I hope to live up to his truly excellent writing. The Supreme Commander universe is an untapped one. This story continues from the end of Dagonian’s fifth episode and I hope to continue through the ending of the Infinite War and the Seraphim Invasion. Please note that Dagonian has indicated to me that he intends to continue his story sometime in the future. However he has also indicated that the direction I plan to take with this story diverges wildly from where he intends to go. ‘To roads diverged in a yellow wood…,’ to quote Frost.

This story as previously stated is AU and will not strictly follow the canon storyline. However it will feature the same general events of the original game and Forged Alliance. Also of note is that while I might be integrating some concepts, units, characters and other ideas from Supreme Commander 2 (also known as the abomination), SupCom 2’s story will not be featured in this story in any way, shape or form.

Anyway enjoy.

Prometheus55

Episode VI: The Gathering Storm

Prologue

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different result. If that’s the case than the Cybran Nation is truly insane. For over a thousand years we’ve hidden in the shadows. When the other factions struck us we’d evacuate our people, fall back and then later retake what was lost. We’ve come to accept the fact that we can never truly make a home for ourselves as the UEF or the Aeon might burn it to the ground the next day. How many countless years, decades and even centuries of accomplishments have been ruined by the other factions? How is it possible that we’ve come to consider that acceptable?

The recent Aeon attack has proven that beyond the shadow of a doubt. Five hundred twenty six million, eight hundred thirteen thousand, two hundred sixteen. That’s a number that should be burned into the minds of everyone in this room, on this planet and across Cybran territory. That’s how many men, women and children were slaughtered by the Aeon during their recent campaign. Each and every one of them were fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers. They are people that we can’t even give a proper burial to; people who were incinerated in nuclear fire, torn apart by sonic shockwaves and decapitated by plasma. Most of them were innocent civilians, caught in the crossfire and ‘cleansed’; as if killing our people was something noble for their young to aspire to.

To the Aeon we are abominations unto the universe. To the UEF we’re tools that have gone out of control. One wants to exterminate us and the other wants to enslave us. We can never co-exist with either of them so long as they continue in their beliefs. For too long we’ve stood back, played the hunted animal and licked the countless wounds our enemies have inflicted upon our civilization. We’ve remained divided among our various nodes, the nation-states of the Cybran Nation while our enemies have long since thrown the concept by the wayside and found a way to unite. I cannot expect us to put our differences aside so easily but I can expect us to try.

In this room are representatives of the Steeltip, Dark Moon, Sol Three, New Lupus, Nexus Twelve, Zulu and the countless border nodes. Each of our peoples holds to different ideals, different values and even different religions. But we are all Cybrans and that which unites us is and will always be far greater than that which drives us apart. We as a civilization are just learning what it means to be a civilization and not a simple collection of tribes. Our drive towards freedom from tyranny has given us an inbuilt mistrust of any power greater than ourselves and yet without such powers, without governments and without a unifying force we are lost and defenseless against the coming storms. In the past that unifying symbol has been Doctor Brackman. But for all his accomplishments he is but one man and we are an empire.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Perhaps it’s time to try something new.

- Opening Address of Barret, Newly Elected Leader of the Steeltip Node
September 6, 3841, Steeltip Alliance Treaty Negotiations

Chapter One

Steeltip Capital, Urial
January 23, 3844

The sight before him was a monument, a testament to the resilience of Cybran society. Less than four years ago the city before him had been burnt to rubble, millions of dead among the wreckage. Countless lives had been destroyed beyond those the invaders had taken from the dead. Rare was the family that hadn’t lost someone.

It had been three and a half years since the Aeon campaign to exterminate his node. Years filled with arguments, political backstabbing and diverging views as the injured nodes strove to get past their mutual animosity. But despite the obstacles, those years had brought countless technological breakthroughs, economic prosperity and military growth as well. Underneath it all gnawed a frightening drive for revenge against those that had injured them. The name Steeltip it seemed was more and more a reference to the desire to drive a crippling blow through the Aeon’s hearts. Not even the UEF’s continuing enslavement of their brethren could arouse such hatred as the mere mention of the Illuminate these days.

Three years since Nine had resigned and handed him the reins of power.

Gods above how he hated that woman for dumping this mess in his lap.

There had been a time when Barret had been contented to be one of only a handful of Armored Command Unit pilots in his entire node. A time when most of his energy and drive had been occupied by comparatively simple projects like the peculiarities of cooling systems for the next generation of Rhino Tank. But nothing lasts forever and before he knew it, he’d been put in charge of the rapidly expanding Steeltip Military. Back then it’d been more of a joke than anything else. For centuries the Steeltip Node hadn’t even had a formal military; contributing scientific, not martial might to the war effort. Starting off they hadn’t even had a ranking structure much less battle doctrines, procedures or even a semi-formal training program. Many had found it ironic that he’d turned to the hated UEF military for inspiration. Enemies they may be but they could bring numbers to bear rapidly, something the changing political situation had demanded of the Steeltips.

Just before that period in Steeltip history, their node had only occupied a trio of solar systems. But politics had again intervened and they’d had the opportunity to absorb the impoverished Dark Moon Node. Numbering almost three dozen star systems, the Dark Moon Node had been a paragon of bad management and lack of direction. Technologically backwards, lacking significant industrial or agricultural resources, rife with criminal activity and virtually helpless should an enemy beset them, the Dark Moons had been more of a burden than boon in those early years. But then came the reforms and with it the grossly expanded demand for Quantium, the compound without which quantum travel and communications could not function.

ACUs, SCUs, new quantum gates and communications arrays. The demand had taken the Dark Moon worlds from ruins to riches in mere years. Their populations had been spared the Aeon onslaught and had benefited from the rebuilding efforts. Never again would the newly formed Steeltip Alliance, a union of the Steeltip, Sol Three, New Lupus, Nexus Twelve and the countless border nodes slaughtered by the Aeon, let their enemies have such free access to their territories. The border worlds had been turned into fortresses, military facilities and quantum jammers ensuring that any attack would be put down swiftly and without vulnerable civilian populations to protect. Sixty star systems that made up the Alliance, over a hundred inhabited planets and moons relied on this line in the sand for their protection. They relied on their government to keep the barbarians at the gates.

And he was at the top.

He’d once heard a quote from Old Earth, from a time before the Quantum Era spoken by the leader of one of the homeworld’s nations. ‘Being President is the worst job on the planet. Your accomplishments pass uncelebrated, your failures are blown wildly out of proportion and you age five years for every year in office. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.’

Barret agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment. His hair had begun turning grey only months after he’d been elected to office. Had it not been for his friends, each of whom were now occupying positions high within the government, he’d have gone insane years ago. Trinity, Grav, Gladius. They’d been rocks for him to lean against during the worst of the storms that passed daily through his office with the force of a hurricane.

And Mist…

Somewhere along the way their relationship had changed; mutated more like. One day they’d been arguing like always, the topic unimportant and lost to his memory. He’d screamed in her face, she’d backhanded him and they’d gone at each other like two opposing armies. The next thing either had known, they were in bed together and the rest was history.

The former Assumptra assassin, torturess, saboteur and spy had changed over the years. Not outwardly. No, she was still the queen of ice queens, the coldest, most brutal and distant warrior he’d ever encountered. She could take on a room full of the most hardened, dangerous, savage criminals and leave them as blood stains on the wall.

But beyond her outer shell the young woman beneath had matured. Her knowledge of her past had been taken from her at an early age. Caught in the aftermath of an assassination on the UEF world of Ceres, she’d found herself taken as a human shield during the exfiltration. Dragged through the city of New Ashland and critically injured by overzealous police, she’d awakened with no memories of her life, an eight year old girl with no identity among the unforgiving Cybran Nation. During a joint operation with the UEF, something that despite their faction’s mutual hatred for each other, did occasionally happen; she’d been reunited with her forgotten sister, a UEF ACU pilot by the name of Sylphia Simmons. While she denied its importance, Barret knew that she had maintained clandestine contact with her sister ever since.

Mist had also come to know affection for others. For the first few years after she’d defected she’d been standoffish. Her most animate social interactions had been her continuing invasion of Barret’s home; a situation forced upon the two by Nine out of what he was still convinced was some sort of sadistic streak she’d been repressing for a long time. But bit by bit the taciturn young woman had become more and more comfortable in social settings; going out for drinks, sharing meals. When the military expansion had started she’d suddenly found herself surrounded day in and day out by eager students and the mercenaries of the Zulu Node hired to fill in the teaching roster.

Then the invasion had come and Mist hadn’t been spared loss. So many of those students, young men and women she’d become attached to had died. And for the first time that she could recall in her shattered memory, she’d wept. Not in front of anyone, not even him. But she had finally known loss. Like many others she’d turned to alcohol to escape those new and unpleasant feelings. It had been during one drunken night that she and Barret had gotten into their final real fight.

He smiled at that. Damn was she beautiful when she was angry.

“There’s only one person in the entire universe that can plaster that dopy smile across your face,” came a familiar voice from deep inside his office. He turned away from the view and entered the unusually large room, stepping through the balcony doors and smiling at his trusted friend.

“You know I always get this way when you’re around Trinity.”

That produced a snort. “Right and if you believe that then I have the master code to the UEF’s central military mainframe in my back pocket.”

“Uh-huh, right. So what brings you here to this bastion of disaster otherwise known as my office?”

“We’re just about to launch a tech raid into Aeon territory and I thought you’d like to be kept informed given the target,” she said, bringing up a planetary profile on the holoprojector.

Barret studied it for a moment before laughing. “Ah dear old Mansel. I haven’t had the pleasure of his company for quite some time,” Barret replied almost fondly. Templar Mansel was the military guardian of the Aeon world of Reranda. He was getting on in age but was still a dangerous enemy. Given its location bordering the former Sol Three and New Lupus nodes, Reranda had been a favorite target for Cybran raids, a prime location for them to take actual food, clothing and other luxuries from the Aeon with minimal risk. Such raids were comparatively rare these days, especially with the agricultural facilities on the newly terraformed Bern 4 finally operating at full capacity, supplying much of the Nation with high quality food. During those past raids the Steeltips would often take the opportunity to test new or improved units under live fire conditions. The successes and failures of his node’s research and development efforts lay sprawled across that world. “A shame I can’t come. Who are you sending?”

“Lexa,” replied Trinity with a shrug. Lexa was a former zero-g freighter pilot that had joined the ACU program during the first round of expansions, mere months before the invasion. She’d been one of the most promising as well as most difficult people to apply. Teamed up with two young men, Sledge and Danko, the three had not only graduated but were well on their way to becoming one of the most effective teams the Steeltips had.

Danko had died defending some nameless town during the invasion. While she’d gotten her revenge against his murderer, Lexa, once a fun loving and free spirit had felt the weight of the world crush her. She’d drifted for a while afterwards before finally finding purpose in her work, rededicating herself to becoming as good an ACU pilot as possible. She’d travelled the Cybran Nation for months, learning all that she could from other pilots, a virtual mercenary living out of her ACU. Having seen such legendary nodes as the Assumptra, Red Skulls, and even Doctor Brackman’s own Fifty Six, she’d returned a year later a changed woman. In many ways she’d began to resemble Mist as she’d been before joining the Steeltips and not in a good way. Finally after she’d nearly killed a recruit during a sparring session, Trinity had taken pity on the young woman and had taken her into her care. That was two years ago and the two young women had become much more than simple friends.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Barret skeptically. Without a doubt Lexa was one of the Alliance’s best, certainly a match for himself if still a bit behind Mist or Gladius. But during her wanderings and after her return, she’d only been assigned to missions against the UEF. This would be the first time in more than three years that she would have the opportunity to look the murderers of her first love in the eyes, metaphorically speaking.

“If you’re afraid she’ll lose control then don’t be,” replied Trinity, glaring at her friend and leader. “She hates the Aeon but she hates loosing anything more to them then she already has. She won’t let those fanatics take away her self-control. She’s solid or I wouldn’t have recommended her for this mission.”

“Ok, ok,” placated Barret, holding his hand up in surrender. Leader he may be but some lines and some people even he couldn’t cross. Trinity’s faith in her lover was one of those lines. Changing the subject he continued, “So what will she be testing?”

Trinity retrieved her data-slate from a pocket before continuing. “We’re hoping to test several new units and structures during this battle for the first time. The most important of those will be the Tarantula Experimental Siege Spiderbot.”

“Still haven’t worked out the problems with the Monkeylord’s main weapon yet?”

“No,” sighed Trinity, flopping with a long sigh into one of the two chairs placed in front of Barret’s desk. “Cooling issues, containment issues, focusing issues. You name it and its got issues. The best we’ve managed to do with the Heavy Microwave Laser prototype is a five second test firing before the whole thing either explodes or fuses into a large molten puddle of silicate glass and armor plating. Realistically I don’t think that we’ll have it working in time for the upcoming counteroffensive.”

Barret let out a groan at that. They needed that weapon. “What will it take?”

“Barring any major breakthroughs, the only weapon in the galaxy that compares to the HML is the Phason Laser on the Aeon’s Galactic Colossus. If we could get our hands on the schematics for that monstrosity or a working example of the weapon then I’m pretty sure we could apply elements of Aeon technology to the Monkeylord. But…”

“But the Aeon aren’t just going to hand it over to us,” replied Barret. “What about the TDF’s Delta Wave Laser?” he asked, referring the one of the most powerful weapons of the Infinite War’s ‘fourth faction’.

“Aside from the fact that even after having studied the sensor readings of that weapon for more than four years, we don’t have any idea what a ‘delta-wave’ even is. Nor do we have the reactor technology to power a twenty terawatt laser, or at least not in mobile form. No, the only real chance we have of getting this thing working is getting our hands on the Galactic Colossus.”

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do. So what’s this Tarantula I’ve been hearing about?”

“Basically it’s a stopgap until the Monkeylord is completed. We’ve stripped the HML and replaced it with a massive prototype proton gatling cannon. Basically its five Galaxy Battleship class proton cannons put together with an armored shroud protecting them and the necessary cooling systems supporting. Rate of fire is somewhere between ninety and one twenty rounds per minute depending on local conditions. We’ve replaced the twin electron bolter turrets with twin linked 305mm artillery turrets straight off the Trebuchet and using our new enhanced rounds. Add in a pair of Loa tactical missile launchers and you basically have a massive, mobile artillery platform that can fire while moving. Hence we call it a ‘Siege Spiderbot’.”

“Not a bad unit in its own right actually,” said Barret impressed. “Assuming we ever get the Monkeylord working, where would the Tarantula fit in our forces?”

“The Tarantula is the sledgehammer to the Monkeylord’s scalpel. Pair them with the Grizzly as a fast escort, throw in some mobile flak and Loyalists, maybe a few deceivers for stealth coverage and you’d have a hell of an assault group.”

“Assuming this thing doesn’t spontaneously explode or something,” grinned Barret. “I still remember the tests on the original Haribon design.”

“Don’t remind me. Anyway we’ll also be testing the newest generations of our artillery. We’ve modified the Medusa, Trebuchet, Gunther and Disruptor to use the new artillery shells. They should prove to be a hell of a surprise.”

“What about the Scathis?”

“No good. All the other artillery we have uses actual physical projectiles,” replied Trinity with a shake of her head. “The Scathis on the other hand fires proton shells, not unlike our naval vessels. Actually you could call the Scathis the earliest unit to use the proton gatling concept.”

“I guess. The Scathis is getting on in years anyway,” nodded Barret in understanding. “So the Tarantula and the new artillery shells. That’s it?”

“Actually if we get the chance I’d really like approval to test the Odyssey and her units.”

Barret stood at that and turned back to the balcony. “You do realize the Odyssey is one of our most heavily guarded secrets. With Meterza gone, it’s our best chance at leveling the playing field in orbit.”

“But we’ve never actually tested it in real combat,” argued Trinity. “It’s passed hundreds of simulations and mock battles. We need to see how it fares against an actual enemy.”

“We’ve already revealed a lot to the Aeon and the UEF during our raids. The Scythe, the Hive, the HARMS, Aegis. Hell the only thing we haven’t revealed to them is the Odyssey and the Extender.”

“We need these tests Barret,” said Trinity with a tone of finality. “Better during a tech raid then if we need to turn to them during an actual attack.”

Sitting down once more, Barret closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath he nodded his head. “Fine, test the Odyssey and the Extender. Just make sure Lexa knows that like the quantum jammers along the border, those are technologies that we cannot let fall into our enemy’s hands. Under any circumstances.”

“Understood.” Trinity stood and left.

Barret walked onto his balcony and stared up at the stars that had just started to appear in the evening sky. A single dot traced a rapid line across the sky crossing to the distant horizon; a satellite orbiting high above.

The final frontier indeed.

Welcome aboard. It's good to see you've picked up the baton from Dagonian. The story line he created is well worth branching off from.

All together: Good style and readability. I like the direction you're taking the characters you've introduced so far. I'm glad you've decided to entertain us.

Keep up the good work,

Marc

Chapter Two

Seraphim Two, Aeon Illuminate Capitol

Jaran Marxon wasn’t a man who made mistakes often. His strategies had seen the Illuminate blitz over dozens of UEF worlds and in less than twenty years brought the Aeon to within striking distance of the UEF core worlds. His strategies had ‘discouraged’ the Cybrans from striking Aeon territory less they suffer the unmitigated wrath of the Illuminate military.

Still he was forced to admit, at least to himself, that the offensive against the Steeltip Node had been a mistake. Not the strategy; no that had been flawless. But for the unforeseen intervention of the TDF on Urial they would’ve seen victory in that campaign. No his mistake had been that he had not accounted for the possibility of defeat. More than half of the forces he’d sent against the Cybrans had been destroyed and with those commanders lost, his blitzkrieg against the UEF had stalled due to lack of deployable troops.

Once again he cursed the weak willed nature that the Illuminate bred into its people. The Way was a fine religion and a wonderful philosophy. But in times of War it was also a hindrance to many who were forced to bloody their hands. He had managed to rationalize his actions but many others either would not or could not do the same. For that reason the Aeon Military was surprisingly small, less numerous than even the Cybrans much less the UEF. Nor could they lie; no the Way definitely forbade that. That lack of deceptive ability meant that his intelligence networks were virtually non-existent, limited to what information they could acquire from those who were converted to Aeon beliefs. His decision to send Templar Phebe into Cybran territory had been considered radical and even to this day he was still being derided despite the results.

‘Speaking of which,’ he thought, turning back to the report on his desk. Phebe had been changed by her time in the Cybran Nation. Not just the prosthetic that had replaced her leg, lost ironically during an Aeon cleansing. What once was a quiet, intelligent and unassuming young pilot like many others had become something else. She was far more willing to speak her mind than most people of her station and she was… cruder, if that was the best description. One look at Phebe with her spiky bright blue hair, tight fitting clothing and the pseudo-circuitry that covered the left side of her face was enough to tell anyone that she didn’t fit the mold of the traditional Aeon. Attempts to convince her to give up her Cybran habits and ‘markings’ had been for not, even by her mentor Evaluator Xalas.

He had considered simply exiling her but even that was not an option anymore. Should he do that the backlash would greatly compromise his authority not only among the religious sects but also among the military. The Aeon didn’t really have the concept of a ‘hero’, unlike the UEF or the Cybrans and therefore didn’t know how to handle one. In Illuminate society everyone was meant for their station and was never to rise above it except through extraordinary circumstances, something that in their ordered culture almost never happened. Phebe had acquired celebrity for her ‘noble sacrifice’. Many saw her deviant habits as the equivalent of scars and took pity on her, at least initially. That pity had slowly become respect and she’d used that respect to promote her, some would say heretical, beliefs. Rhetoric was also something the Aeon had little concept of and why the other factions frequently referred to them as naive.

Those beliefs, that Cybrans weren’t abominations, or at least the vast majority weren’t, were beginning to take root within the Aeon around her. Her stories of spending time among the people of the Nexus Twelve Node, of the friendships she’d formed, of the things she’d seen, of the hardships she’d experienced were like a poison, slowly eating away at the already weak conviction that most Aeon pilots had.

Personally Marxon could understand her beliefs. He was also unlike most Aeon, something that had allowed him to rise so far so fast. He knew that most Cybrans were just ordinary people, just as most UEF were ordinary as well, no different from the vast majority of the Aeon population. But with that understanding came the knowledge of how to manipulate that same population towards his and the Order’s goals. He truly did believe in the ideal of peace but in his view, the only way such a peace could be achieved was through the total extermination of the other factions.

His musings were interrupted by the chiming of his console. Pressing the appropriate icon he spoke, “Yes?”

“Avatar,” began one of the innumerous choirs whose responsibility was to monitor the war effort, the Aeon equivalent to the command officers of EarthCom or the information coordinators of the various Cybran nodes. “We have received word of a Cybran incursion on Reranda.”

Marxon stiffened at that. Cybran raids had fallen off to virtually nothing in the immediate aftermath of his invasion. However despite his hopes that such raids would not resume, they had. Unlike before the Cybrans weren’t interested in food or other material goods. When the Cybrans, or at the very least the Steeltip Node struck it was for one reason and one reason only. They had a new toy to test out.

A small smile formed on his face after a moment. Reranda had long been a favored target of the Steeltips but had yet to experience one of the resumed raids. In preparation for that he’d assigned a significant increase in military forces to that world, all under the command of Templar Mansel. Four ACUs and six SCUs should be enough to overwhelm the standard force of one or two ACUs the Steeltips usually sent on tech raids these days. And then there was their new weapon, an ironic one he thought, that would ensure victory.

“I will join you in a few minutes,” he replied to the choir. Terminating the communication he took a moment to relax in his chair. ‘Yes, this will be a fine opportunity to punish those who defy the Illuminate’.

*****

Central Military Gate Complex 9-Alpha
Steeltip Alliance Border Fortress World Mu

The world around them was nothing special from an astrological standpoint. Once home to a few dozen minor border nodes it had been one of the first struck during the opening actions of the invasion three years earlier. Its population hadn’t even had time to evacuate and only one ACU had managed to gate off world before everything and everyone had been destroyed. These days it served as one of almost two dozen fortress worlds that formed a nearly impenetrable line between the UEF and Aeon borders and the rest of the Steeltip Alliance.

Watching her main screen, Lexa made sure that her ACU was in perfect condition for the upcoming mission. Outside the towering war machine she could see robotic arms attaching equipment. One of the benefits of the new quantum gates was the ability to travel with a fully upgraded ACU, something the older network simply didn’t have the bandwidth to accommodate.

Though most of the quantum network still utilized the older gates including the territories of the UEF, Aeon and a still significant portion of the Cybran Nation, the Steeltip Alliance and some of the more progressive nodes bordering them had upgraded. The benefits were immediate. Communications bandwidth surged lowering the cost of interplanetary trade. ‘Traffic jams’ or the simply overwhelming number of transports became a thing of the past as did transport delays. Even the experience of using a quantum gate had improved dramatically, smooth and pleasant, unlike the virtual roller-coaster ride offered by the original network.

Still as an ACU pilot Lexa’s favorite improvement was the ability to gate with her ACU fully upgraded. It shaved countless minutes off her initial base setup and made sure that her enemies couldn’t overwhelm her quickly. Reranda was only five light-years away, a simple ‘planet-hop’ that ensured that she wouldn’t have to bounce off any gate but the one in orbit. For the upcoming mission she’d chosen a Personal Cloaking Generator, Nanite Torpedo Launcher and Microwave Accelerator.

Lexa felt privileged to not only be testing the next generation of units but also the next generation of ACUs. Unlike the previous model, the mark thirty-nine Cybran ACU came equipped with a resource allocation system, a tech three engineering suite, nanite missile launcher and a limited omni-sensor by default, freeing up upgrade slots for other systems. This new layout ensured that she could defend herself from both land and airborne targets the instant she gated, drastically reducing the danger of being ‘rushed’ by tier one units which in the past had been responsible for the deaths of several pilots. The improvements had come courtesy of studying the sensor data recorded during encounters with the TDF. She knew, having been granted access to the data by Trinity, that such improvements were a mere pittance compared to the Diamond Spear’s technology. Still Lexa was happy to take what she could get.

“How’s it coming Lex?” asked the image of Trinity from one of her secondary screens.

“Not bad. How’d your meeting with Barret go?”

“Better than I expected. I’m uploading some extras to you for testing.”

Lexa watched the download status bar crawl across her screen, a decryption prompt popping up a moment later. Entering her password and waited for the biometrics to confirm her identity. Her eyes widened as she saw what she’d been given.

“Holy ****!” she breathed. “The Odyssey AND the Extender. What did you do? Blackmail him or something?”

“Not quite,” giggled Trinity. “Believe it or not Barret can be quite reasonable, provided you know which buttons to push. That said he wanted me to make it clear that neither the Odyssey nor the Extender can fall into enemy hands.”

“Don’t worry,” replied the ACU pilot as she began typing. “I’ll set both to self-destruct if they reach ninety percent captured.”

“Good idea,” approved Trinity with an impressed smile. “Where did you come up with something like that?”

“From Elite Commander Dostya. She gave me a copy of a program she uses for a similar purpose when I was working with her a few years back.”

“I see,” replied Trinity in a quieter voice. Those had been bad years for Lexa and Trinity didn’t like to think of that period in her lover’s life. “Anyway you have a go for the raid when you’re ready. I’ll be serving as your coordinator for this battle.”

“Great. Just remember I’ll be in combat so keep the whole girly thing to a dull roar could you?”

“Ha, ha, ha,” drawled the older Cybran over the link. “Just get your *** in gear before I feel the need to punish you Force Commander Lexa.”

“Is that a promise?” snarked the daredevil with a dirty little smile.

“You’re just lucky I’m doing this from the privacy of my own office or I’d make you sorry for all the crap the tactical center’s staff would force me to endure. Get going.”

“Yeah, yeah,” smiled Lexa as she detached her ACU from its holding alcove. The thirty meter tall machine quickly made its way onto the gating platform, field projectors lowering into place around her. Lightning-like discharges arced around her, colliding with her ACU’s armor plating and with a bright flash of light, the entire thing disappeared, reduced to data and transported to another planet in the blink of an eye.

*****

Regaining her bearings, Lexa found herself among the lush forests of Reranda, a stark contrast to the sterile metal chambers and hallways of a military facility. She saw with a slight note of sadness that the plant life around her had been flattened, the trees on the far edge of her clearing still ablaze. Sparing a moment, she quickly reclaimed those trees less they trigger a forest fire that could compromise her visual intelligence gathering.

Within two minutes she’d already established a base, her advanced engineering suite and resource allocation systems allowing her to skip straight to tech three resourcing infrastructure. It was a good thing as only a moment later an Aeon Mirage air scout flew over. While she may’ve been stealthed and all but invisible to the limited sensors carried by the small craft, her base wasn’t.

“Busted,” commented Trinity. “Well it couldn’t last forever.”

“I was hoping for a few more minutes at least,” replied Lexa as she began expanding her defenses; mechanical engineers from a nearby land factory constructing several Myrmidon-D shielded anti-air SAM launchers. Just in time as a wave of Specter gunships flew in, blasted from the sky by waves of nanite missiles.

“To bad bitches,” taunted Lexa over an open channel. Clearly the Aeon hadn’t counted on her having reached tech three so fast. “It’ll take more than that to get me.”

An incoming transmission appeared on her screen, Templar Mansel’s face greeting her serenely. “I know you are out there Cybran. Your quantum wake is as clear as the sun in the sky.”

“And greetings to you too,” replied Lexa. Mansel had been the enemy commander during her first fight, a tech raid that had preceded the invasion by mere months.

“Ah you again. Welcome back to Reranda. I haven’t had the pleasure of company for quite some time.”

“You’re too kind,” said Lexa mockingly. “I’ve been told to tell you that Commander Barret wishes he could’ve come but he’s tied up with affairs of state.”

“A shame. I’ve kept a room waiting for him for quite some time now. I fear it’s beginning to collect dust. I could make it available to you if you wish.”

“I appreciate the offer but…,” replied Lexa before she was interrupted.

“Templar Mansel, why are you communicating with this abomination?” asked another voice, the transmission from another Aeon appearing on Lexa’s screen. “Kill it already.”

Lexa was surprised, though her face didn’t show it. There was only supposed to be one enemy ACU on Reranda. “And you are?”

“My name is Knight Rose. I’m the one who will send you to your grave.”

“Well Rosey,” said Lexa in an insulting tone, “I doubt you have the skills to take on someone like me and even if you do, I’m only here to test out some new hardware. After that I’ll just be on my way.”

“I’m afraid not,” replied Mansel.

Alarms began blaring throughout Lexa’s cockpit as a wave of energy swept over her base. Looking at one of her auxiliary screens, she saw the cause and inside her stomach roiled. Her uplink with Trinity had been severed and the quantum realm around her was flooded with static. She knew exactly what was responsible too. Somehow the Aeon had acquired quantum jammers of their own.

She was cut off and trapped.

Sending out a wave of Spook spy planes to locate the jammer she was surprised as the amount of infrastructure pitted against her was revealed. Usually the local Aeon civilian population would force Mansel to dismantle most of his base after a battle, confining him to a small patch of land outside the main city. It was for that reason primarily that the Cybrans had loved to raid Reranda. But instead of a small but growing base, Lexa could see a sprawling complex and more disturbingly, she could make out the signatures of four ACUs and six SCUs. Cut off from the quantum network she would receive no reinforcements or tactical aid. Under ordinary circumstances the enemy could overwhelm her by numbers alone, never mind the Aeon’s slight but still formidable technological advantage.

But this was anything but an ordinary battle. Lexa had been tasked with testing the newest and greatest of the Steeltip Node. The Aeon were in for a rude awakening.

*****

Templar Mansel watched the enemy commander’s face grow angry over the comm and inside he could empathize with her. This battle was anything but fair. Still he would do all in his power to destroy the invader before him as efficiently as possible. His only concession was that he would grant her death as quickly and painlessly as he could.

“I realize this is not a good situation to be in,” soothed Mansel. “But if you surrender I promise your death will be quick and as merciful as possible. There is no need for a pointless battle to occur here today.”

To his slight surprise the woman before him seemed encouraged by his words. “You act as if this battle has already ended Manny. But I’m just getting started. Good luck, you’ll need it,” she said, closing the channel.

Sighing sadly at the damage this battle would cause to the world around him, Mansel turned to his assigned Knights. The three of them, young and brash had been assigned to Mansel’s command only a few weeks earlier by Avatar-of-War Marxon himself. Ostensibly they were here to learn from his experience but Mansel knew that Marxon wanted a victory if and when the Cybrans raided his world again. The knights, two women named Rose and Jessica as well as a young man named Shawn were eager to ‘cut their teeth’ on the helpless Cybran before them. Far be it for Mansel to deny them the experience as distasteful as it may be.

“I expect you to carry out the promise I just made to the best of your abilities. There shall be no taunting from the three of you nor are you to play with the Cybran either. You are here to protect this world and you will do so with honor and dignity. Do I make myself clear?”

The three responded in the affirmative.

“Good. Now I’ve had experience with this Cybran commander before. She is smart, quick to adapt to changing circumstances, creative in her tactics and exceptionally resourceful. More so, she belongs to the Steeltip Node and therefore will be equipped with the most advanced technology the Cybran Nation possesses. Expect unknown units to be deployed by her. We’ve suffered several similar raids to this one over the past six months. I’m forwarding information on known new or improved units to your ACUs so you are not caught off guard.”

“Templar,” asked Shawn, “despite our advantages here, is it possible she could win this battle?”

Mansel frowned at that question. Had it come from someone of his age he would’ve condemned the questioner as an idiot. “Defeat is always possible Knight Shawn. If you begin to believe yourself invincible then you are a fool and you will begin to make mistakes. Do not let yourself fall into that trap again.”

“Yes Templar,” replied the ACU commander submissively.

“Good. Now I want you three to prepare a wave of Seer spy planes for an over flight of the enemy base while I begin construction on a quantum optics facility. We need intelligence on what she is preparing for us.”

The next few minutes passed in silence. Mansel was glad he was granted the prototype technology by the Avatar for his personal use. It would allow him to maintain a constant over watch of key enemy positions. As the first wave of spy planes began illuminating the Cybran base, Mansel activated the facility and focused its sight on the construction of a new and unknown structure deep within several layers of defenses. He was impressed by what he saw. Already the enemy commander had built up a virtually impenetrable fortress for herself and it would take significant effort for his forces to break through.

The unknown structure, designated Odyssey by its limited IFF tag was interesting. On the surface it resembled the Novax center employed by the UEF but with a distinctly Cybran flare. As he watched the structure came online and like a factory, began constructing whatever units it was to launch.

“What is that?” asked Rose, drawing Mansel’s attention from the new structure to another point on the field, illuminated by several orbiting spy planes. The unit under construction could only be described as a giant spider. It stood atop six massive legs with a truly giant turret mounted on top. Beside it Mansel could make out the forms of four partially completed Grizzly experimental assault bots.

“I do not know but best it be eliminated before it can cause us trouble,” replied Shawn with a shrug. Before Mansel could intervene, the distinctive tone denoting a strategic launch filled his cockpit. The Apocalypse missile, riding a pillar of spent ions quickly crossed the map and began its decent phase towards the spider. As it came close a bright red beam of energy speared it, ripping the missile to shreds.

Mansel sighed at that. “Knight Shawn, if you had deigned to consult me before wasting that missile I would’ve informed you of this,” he said, indicating another structure with the Cybran base. It looked on the surface to be a modified Guardian strategic missile defense structure but he could see the armored doors closing over a massive sphere within. “That is the Aegis. The Cybrans have developed a whole new generation of strategic defenses. Our commanders witnessed its first deployment a month ago when it swept more than twenty strategic missiles from the sky above an enemy base in less than ten seconds. It effectively renders current strategic missiles obsolete and impotent.”

Had Shawn belonged to either of the other factions, Mansel was sure that he would’ve let out a biting expletive. As it was he simply bowed his head in acknowledgement and returned to his duties. Mansel turned back to what he was doing, the assembly of a more conventional force. While the enemy might’ve been immune to strategic missile strikes, she would still fall before the power of several Galactic Colossi.

He had no idea what was to happen next.

*****

Lexa grinned as her Aegis cut the incoming missile apart. The facility had been the first to make use of the upcoming microwave laser technology. Lacking the need to be mobile and far less powerful than its offensive cousins, the Aegis was still the ultimate in anti-ballistic missile defense and could even down the UEF’s Novax satellite in short order.

Turning to her strike force, Lexa’s grin got a little wider. Trinity had made it clear that should the opportunity present itself, she was to acquire information on the Galactic Colossus. With their strategic weaponry rendered useless, more so than even the Aeon currently realized, Lexa was sure they would turn to more conventional means. Reconnaissance provided by the latest over flight of spy planes confirmed her prediction moments later as the images of five Galactic Colossi and two CZAR airborne fortresses appeared. The units were almost completed and she could make out over a hundred and fifty land units scurrying to their positions to provide support. Those units would undoubtedly be augmented by a massive number of air units built and housed within the CZARs. The Aeon would simply overwhelm her by sheer numbers alone.

Lexa’s let out a long, rolling wave of laughter at that as she starred at the image of a small cluster of structures deep within her base. Those unassuming little transceiver arrays would render that strategy useless. They were Extender command nodes. After the near disaster on Novax, Steeltip scientists had set out to weaponize the method Frank Meterza had used to control so many units while only possessing a single ACU. A year ago that research had resulted in the Extender. Each structure, upgraded two times could provide another hundred and twenty five unit slots for her to use anyway she so pleased. Protected by a dedicated dome shield and mostly housed underground they were perhaps the most important pieces of Cybran hardware anywhere on Reranda next to her ACU.

Lexa had six such structures spread out throughout her holdings; three in her central base and three more in stealthed and heavily defended fallback bases around the battlefield, well outside where the Aeon would usually scout.

Turning her attention to the newly completed Tarantula experimental siege spiderbot, she nodded as the massive machine finally came online. Still in the prototype stage, the Tarantula nevertheless would make a major impact on the battlefield. Her strategic screen informed her that the Aeon assault force had just departed and was on its way to her main base. Given the distance and topographic obstacles between her and the Aeon colony, it would take the better part of ten minutes to arrive.

Perfect.

Behind her the Odyssey launched yet another satellite into orbit. Unlike the UEF’s Novax control center, the Cybran Odyssey satellite factory was just that, a factory. While each satellite utilized five control slots, they were directly linked to her ACU like any other unit. By this point in the battle she’d built and launched six platforms into orbit; two Spyglass suborbital sensor platforms, three Solar Storm suborbital strategic defense platforms and a single Mjolnir geosynchronous bombardment platform. Vectoring one of the Spyglasses into station keeping directly over the enemy assault force to keep tabs and the other over Templar Mansel’s main base she was completely aware of everything the enemy was doing. The Solar Storms, deployed over the battlefield in a line directly between the two opposing sides, would ensure that any Aeon strategic missile would be shot down in short order. As for the Mjolnir… it was still ten minutes away from its final orbit.

Sending her assault force to confront the Aeon, she grinned as the first explosion rocked the Tarantula as one of it innumerous power conduits exploded. Immediately the wave of a hundred tier three mechanical engineers following it repaired the damage, completing their work just as another exploding power conduit lit up the area. Above floated two Grizzlies, while two more marched beside their larger and much slower comrade. Between the titans scurried her own land units, Loyalist assault bots, Deceiver mobile stealth field projectors, Trebuchet mobile heavy artillery and Banger mobile anti-air artillery. The assault force rounded the first bend that would eventually take them to their enemy, the deliberately slow speed of the Tarantula ensuring they’d meet their Aeon counterparts at an open field roughly three quarters of the way to Lexa’s main base.

The trap was set.

*****

Knight Rose cursed the designers of the quantum optics facility for the umpteenth time. For some unknowable reason, they’d neglected to install an automatic tracking function and so, having the Templar delegate the facility to her control, she had been forced to constantly micromanage it to keep track the enemy assault force.

At least she was getting an entertaining show. ‘That Cybran abomination must be desperate to send such an obviously flawed unit into battle,’ she thought, observing yet another explosion dot the massive spider. Yet again the trailing engineers, their presence alone reassuring her that this unit was still very much a prototype, repaired the damage in seconds. But in combat those seconds could mean the difference between a unit surviving or not. And Rose had no doubts that if the spider’s power grid was so unstable, other systems were equally defective as well.

Finally, after almost eight minutes, the Cybran force emerged into a wider area of the twisting valley that connected the Aeon to the Cybran. Focusing the quantum optic field on the center so as to provide a good view of the upcoming massacre, Rose felt an almost feral satisfaction at what was to come. It may not have been in keeping with the Way but she enjoyed watching an enemy fall.

Observing the tactical overview, she noticed the Aeon force was only thirty seconds away and that’s when it happened. A larger explosion occurred just above one of the spider’s rear legs and it ground to a halt, supporting engineers desperately trying to repair the obviously substantial damage.

And all the while the Aeon force moved closer.

****

Lexa was openly laughing as she entered the final override command and witnessed the result.

She had taken manual control of the Tarantula’s power grid and overloaded a cluster of conduits just above the one of the legs. The damage was mostly cosmetic, a mere three percent drop-off in cooling efficiency for the main cannon but it provided one hell of an explosion, debris showing the surrounding units. She observed her tactical display one last time, ensuring all of her pieces were where they needed to be before tapping a single icon on her display, activating a macro.

Simultaneously, three things happened. The first involved the programming of the Tarantula. Lexa, as one of the Steeltip’s primary field testers had access to every single version of every single programming module of every single prototype unit that she was testing. During its development, roughly two months earlier, the Tarantula had begun suffering random and uncontrollable overloads to its power distribution grid. The problem had eventually been traced to a few buggy lines of code among billions of others. A new version had been created but the older, flawed version remained in the technical documentation. And now Lexa, for maybe the first time in history, had found a use for bad programming in combat. Using the overloads to provide a reason for the large number of trailing mechanical engineers, Lexa had envisioned a grand trap, the goal of which was to capture one of the incoming Colossi. The macro shutdown the Tarantula, purged the faulty programming, replaced it with the working version and rebooted the machine.

As it came back online the surrounding engineers focused their construction arrays on the massive experimental, rapidly repairing the damage. Having been set to utilize only a third of their true resources to repair the Tarantula, the newly unleashed engineers brought the damaged experimental back to full health in seconds. Finally a second group of units, having trailed the first at a distance under the cover of more Deceivers, surged forward to protect the experimentals.

The Aeon clearly noticed the change but by then it was too late and they were already committed to the battle. Massive proton and artillery shells began bombarding the Aeon formation as the Tarantula, Grizzlies and the few escorting Trebuchets opened fire, wearing down the shields of the escorting Asylum mobile shield generators until they winked out and exposed the vulnerable units beneath.

From separate vectors, three groups of six Thor heavy gunships, each escorted by a dozen smaller Renegades, closed distance, stopping just outside the range of the Ascendant mobile anti-air artillery and firing six rockets each from their underwing pods. While the Thor, essentially a heavier version of the Renegade, had proven its deadliness, it was an inexact weapon. Its rockets, essentially modified and downsized Loa tactical missiles were powerful but still just rockets, incapable of tracking their targets. Recent technological breakthroughs had enabled the reintroduction of limited guidance systems but restoring them to full, independent cruise missiles simply hadn’t been possible as there wasn’t room for sophisticated sensor equipment on the missiles without drastically compromising their payloads. So a middle ground solution was found.

Each Thor was equipped with a laser designator capable of painting up to six independent targets. The new semi-active guided missiles would follow the lasers like a gunshot, impacting their targets with pin-point accuracy. It was an old technology and a flawed one. Each Thor had to maintain position and direction while guiding their weapons and couldn’t fire anything else until the missiles impacted their targets. But for this situation it proved devastating.

One hundred and eight missiles rained down on the Aeon formation, ripping the Ascendants to pieces. The Aeon responded by launching Corona air superiority fighters from the CZARs to counter but then the next phase of Lexa’s trap kicked in. From beyond their sensor range, over two hundred Geminis raced in to counter the Aeon’s launch. They descended on the flying saucers like a plague of locusts, ripping into them with hundreds upon hundreds of nanite missiles. It only took fifteen seconds before the first flying fortress came crashing to the ground, followed seconds later by the other. The Geminis then turned on the remaining Aeon aircraft, obliterating them.

Satisfied that the enemy had lost all air cover, Lexa sent any damaged Gemini to the nearby air staging base she’d constructed under stealth for just this purpose, pleased to note that only thirty-nine of her air superiority fighters had been downed. While the CZAR might’ve been able to carry a hundred and fifty aircraft each, they only had eight hanger doors and therefore could only launch eight aircraft at a time. Coupled with the fact that the Aeon commander had expected his air force to play a mixed role, only half the embarked aircraft had been Coronas, the rest of the slots filled with Shocker strategic bombers and Specter gunships.

With complete air superiority, Lexa unleashed her forces on the Aeon, keeping a close eye on the foremost Galactic Colossus. All around it Harbinger assault bots, Evensong mobile missile launchers and Blaze assault tanks died. The Renegades swarmed the escorting Colossi aided by the newly freed-up Thors, ripping armor plating from their heavy forms until the first died. Lexa waited until her target’s structural integrity reached half before designating it neutral, preventing her units from firing on it anymore.

A minute passed and the remainder of the Aeon force fell to rubble, a single, damaged Galactic Colossus plodding as fast as its legs would allow in a suicide run towards her silent Tarantula. From behind the spiderbot the hundred mechanical engineers swarmed the experimental. Dozens died before they could get in range but they were seemingly endless in their numbers. First one, then two, then a dozen and more came within range, deploying their viral payloads. Realizing what was about to happen, Templar Mansel triggered the self-destruct but it was already too late. Before the five second countdown had extinguished itself the experimental winked off his screen, lost to his control.

Knowing that having an experimental fall into enemy hands was unacceptable, Mansel launched a whole salvo of nukes, intending to erase his lost unit and its captors from existence. The missiles didn’t even have time to complete their first vector adjustment before lasers fell from the sky, splitting clouds and ripping them to pieces.

Lexa smiled as she ordered her prize to return to base under the cover of her surviving Geminis and escorted by the second wave of land units built just for that purpose.

Trinity would probably jump her bones when she got back.

*****

Jessica felt the pressure down to her bones. It was her first assignment and her first taste of combat and she was shaking like a leaf. She’d always been taught, throughout her entire childhood, that everyone had a station in life. From the time she was young she’d known she was destined to be in the military like her parents and their parents before them. Her quick mind and sharp reflexes had seen to it that she was assigned to ACU training. She’d excelled at that too. But never had she been asked or tested on whether she could take a life. And deep in her core she knew the answer.

No, she couldn’t take a life. Not even a Cybran one.

She’d been mesmerized by the words of Templar Phebe; words that seemed to confirm her own secret beliefs. That the Cybrans, for all their flaws, were human just like her. They might dress differently, they may talk differently and they may even have bad habits like their perplexing desire to ingest poison on a frequent basis. But there were good people among the ‘abominations’. And regardless of whether one had been twined with an AI, they were still, at their core, human.

Thinking upon it, Jessica realized that right there was the cause of this entire war. The sheer refusal of the factions to believe the others were human and worthy of respect. The Cybrans were said to be more machine than man, a technological malignancy that built itself around flesh and blood. The UEF were soulless, having traded their humanity for mindless consumption and decadent forms of entertainment that rotted them away from the inside out. And she was sure the Aeon were described as being more alien than human, race-traitors blindly following the foreign religion of a dead race like children clinging to a prized stuffed animal.

But regardless of her beliefs, she’d also learned that the world didn’t care about what she wanted or thought. She was to do her duty and hopefully find a way to be discharged before her hands were covered in blood. For Jessica that was the only option short of death.

Templar Mansel had assigned her to guard the rear approach to the main base and by extension, to safeguard the quantum jammer. Giving the device in question a spare glance she wondered, not for the first time how her people had come to possess such an… odd technology. There was very little Aeon about the machine and if one looked at it closely you could almost make out the Cybran aura of the technology coming off it in waves. Could they have gotten it from a traitor?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the screaming alarm of the strategic alert. Turning to her overview she was shocked to find missile signatures seemingly falling from the sky. So she did the only thing she could do, report it.

“Templar, I have what appear to be strategic missiles inbound on one of our outlying firebases. Pilot Jason,” she continued, addressing the SCU pilot in the line of fire, “evacuate your facility immediately!”

The image of Mansel appeared on her screen with a frown. “I’ve noticed them as well yet I cannot determine where they are coming from.” Even as he spoke, the objects impacted the firebase, easily overwhelming the shields and killing the unfortunate SCU pilot. “Knight Rose, transfer control of the quantum optics facility back to me.”

The knight did so without question and Mansel could be seen typing rapid commands into his control interface. His eyes widened as he assessed the area around the former firebase before entering further commands. “I’ve scanned the impact site yet can find no traces of the radioactive byproducts found in Cybran warheads. More curious is that there is an anomalous among of tungsten to be found in the craters.” His eyes widened even further. “I’ve detected an anomaly in geosynchronous orbit over the site.”

Jessica patched into the feed and took a look for herself. High above floated something. With each passing second computer enhancements resolved the object towards crisp digital clarity until finally a final rendering was completed. The object was clearly a satellite of some sort, Cybran by its design but completely alien to their knowledge. The enemy commander chose that moment to open another transmission.

“How do you guys like my new toy?” asked Lexa, smugness radiating from her image.

“How…?” asked Shawn before closing his mouth, regretting the question already.

“A simple reentry capsule filled with tungsten and accelerated by gravity,” replied the Cybran. “We call it the Mjolnir.”

“The hammer of the Norse god Thor,” supplied Mansel in an approving tone. “I do not suppose I can convince you to transfer the schematics to me?”

“If you even look at it funny it’s programmed to self-destruct,” warned Lexa before she broke down laughing.

Looking around in confusion, Jessica noted that her log had recorded the launch of a Star Streak anti-satellite missile from one of Rose’s strategic defense installation.

The Cybran continued, “Both the Mjolnir and the Spyglass sensor platform have counter missile defenses. Don’t waste your time.”

Jessica sighed at that and began the construction of additional Radiance heavy shield generators. She knew that against that sort of firepower they were useless but it was more for her own peace of mind than out of any real need. Before long the first contacts began appearing on her omni sensor. Somehow the Cybran had snuck a force behind their lines, using the chaos and sensor distortion from the impacts to cover their approach. An over flight revealed several Grizzly experimentals and at least three dozen Loyalists, more than enough to break through her remaining defenses.

“I see them Jessica,” said Mansel over the comm. “I’m moving forces to counter. Hold until I relieve you.”

“Yes Templar.” Inside she was shaking in fear. The quantum jammer was built in yet another widening in the countless valleys that covered the area. It would take a while for the Templar’s forces to arrive and she could already see the waves of air superiority fighters taking up patrol routes overhead and swatting the meager air forces she’d built out of the sky. With most of her spare resources going to the other three commanders and her main line of defense shattered by the bombardment, Jessica had precious little to protect herself with. Her anti-air emplacements were being sniped by approaching Thors while frighteningly accurate Cybran artillery was ripping her shields and point defense structures apart.

She couldn’t last long under this kind of pressure.

*****

Lexa watched as the defenses around the quantum jammer collapsed. Before her lay the stolen structure and a single Aeon ACU to protect it. She could almost smell the inexperience coming from the enemy commander and it made her hesitate. She’d outflanked the enemy to such a degree that they were unable to come to the assistance of this ‘Knight Jessica’ and her main forces were already closing on the other three pilot’s combined main base.

Deciding to take pity on her helpless opponent, Lexa did something she thought she’d never even contemplate doing. Selecting the enemy ACU she toggled its status to neutral and opened a channel.

“This is Force Commander Lexa to the enemy pilot. Your base is in ruins, I control the skies and you’re surrounded. This is your only chance to surrender. Failure to comply will result in your immediate termination.” Lexa said those words as in as cool and detached a manner as she could. Inwardly she was surprised at how sadistic she could be. As she watched, the three Grizzlies leading the assault closed within a few hundred meters of the motionless ACU. One of them turned to the still intact jammer and opened fire, ripping the structure to pieces in seconds.

An incoming transmission request caught her attention and she accepted it. “This i… this is Knight Jessica. I wo…on’t allow you to… to,” she stuttered, sweat pouring down her face. The woman, hell girl was obviously terrified. Lexa had seen it before, commanders that when faced with their own deaths would break down. If it could happen to UEF pilots, whose training was designed to prevent such occurrences, the Aeon wouldn’t stand a chance of preventing it. Only their more disciplined commanders could find the will to turn to their precious Way and use their beliefs to remain calm. Clearly this wasn’t such a commander.

“Listen girl, you can’t stop me and your death won’t solve anything. I’m offering you a way out. Self-destruct your remaining units and structures, shutdown your ACU and exit it. I’ll have a civilian truck waiting to pick you up. Any deviation from these instructions and I’ll blow your to kingdom come. Understand?”

She looked like she was about to argue but finally nodded her head in resignation. A few taps to her control panel and what remained of her forces, a pitiful few dozen units and structures detonated. Ignoring the incoming transmissions from the others, she triggered the shutdown sequence, disconnected herself from the support systems, unbuckled her restraints and opened the hatch.

Lexa could see the girl carefully peeking out of the ACU, as if she was afraid that she’d be picked off the second she exposed herself. The thought had crossed Lexa’s mind before she discarded it. After a moment the girl triggered the simple zip line that would lower her to the ground and having descended, began walking towards the waiting transport like a condemned criminal.

Lexa couldn’t believe her luck. A Galactic Colossus was one thing but an intact, undamaged Aeon ACU was the intelligence find of the century. Ordering an air-transport to come and pick up the derelict machine, she turned her attention back to the raging battle in the south. As soon as she turned away a flight of Coronas came screaming in, almost making it in range of the transport. But Lexa was smarter than to leave such a prize without escort. The wing of Aeon fighters, so intent on ambushing the lone transport, were themselves ambushed by a nearby wing of Geminis nearly twice their number. Before they could even scratch the transport, every single one of them was downed.

Lexa chuckled to herself. How much of a fool did they think she was? With the jamming clearing up she began construction of a quantum gate for the return home. Realistically there were only four things that needed to be transported off-world. Already the captured Galactic Colossus had been shut down and packed in a specialized shipping crate. It would be the first to return to Mu followed by the Aeon ACU, the transport truck with its captured pilot and finally her ACU.

“…repeat can you hear me? Lexa can you hear…,” came the static laced voice of Trinity.

“This is Force Commander Lexa calling command. I’m reading you two by two. Quantum jamming is still dissipating.”

“Repeat that Lexa. Did you say quantum jamming?” asked the stunned voice over the comm.

“Yeah that right. Somehow the Aeon have gotten their hands on our tech.”

“****,” cursed the older Cybran. “Any good news to report?”

Lexa smiled a shit-eating grin at that. “Oh boy have I ever. I’ve managed to take control of a Galactic Colossus.”

“Holy… Lex do you have any idea how happy that makes me?”

“Not as happy as what comes next. I’ve also managed to capture an Aeon knight and her ACU intact. I say again, an Aeon ACU and its pilot intact.”

The silence that filled the line made her worry that the jamming had started again before a wild whooping noise filler her cockpit. “How the… no, tell me as soon as you’re off that planet. How long until you can return?”

Checking her instrumentation, Lexa replied, “The jamming should dissipate within five minutes, at least enough for my quantum gate to regain functionality. Factor in a twenty minute interval between jumps for the quantum wakes to dissipate. I should have my cargo off world in a little under an hour with me following twenty minutes later.”

“Understood. We’ll be waiting for you.”

“I can’t wait to get off this planet. They were waiting for me I swear.”

“Well when we interrogate your prisoner we’ll know for sure Lexa.”

“Just be gentle with her. She’s barely out of her teens and she’s probably scared to death at the moment.”

Trinity regarded her lover for a long moment. She’d never have expected her to care for an enemy so much. “Understood.”

“Good. See you in an hour and a half.”

*****

Mansel was worried. With the capture of Jessica and the destruction of the quantum jammer he was in a bad position. The Cybran had completely out maneuvered him at every turn. Her surprising new technology had not only granted her victory but redefined the rules of ACU warfare. Satellite warfare was something that was becoming increasingly common and now the Cybrans had even broken the traditional unit number limitations that every faction was more or less confined by.

As he poured his forces against the enemy base he knew that he wouldn’t see victory this day. Her defenses were simply too strong and while he might be able to overwhelm her eventually, he was at a disadvantage. Already he’d detected one quantum wake and undoubtedly either Jessica’s ACU or the captured Galactic Colossus was now beyond his reach. As the minutes passed and the quantum wake disappeared so did his time. Twenty minutes and four seconds later another wake appeared and with it both the ACU and Colossus were gone. Twenty minutes after that and he’d destroyed two layers of defenses and another quantum wake signaled the departure of Jessica. As his forces closed in on her base, hundreds upon hundreds of units of all descriptions salvaged from countless offensive waves, a final transmission was received.

“Well Manny it’s been fun. But all good things must come to an end.”

The Templar stared at the enemy commander, anger trying to force its way through his calm façade. As it passed he replied, “Just make me one promise.”

Lexa certainly looked shocked at that. “What?”

“Treat her well. She doesn’t belong behind the controls of an ACU. She never did.”

Smiling for a moment Lexa nodded. “I’ve known a lot of people who fit that description. You have my word.”

“Thank you.” And with that the transmission terminated. Lexa’s ACU stepped through the gate, her facilities, units and satellites self-destructing moments later.

The battle of Reranda was over.

Nice chapter, and quickly done. I'm enjoying the story line.

Marc

Sorry for not doing this earlier, but just to confirm, yes, Prometheus did ask permission. I thought I should just point that out for a moment.

As for the story. This is actually really enjoyable for me to read. All the characters suddenly moving again. Really looking forward to reading more.

A point of criticism would be the amount of new tech the Steeltip node is deploying. It seems almost unfair towards the Aeon. Unless of course the Aeon (and UEF) also have some surprises up their sleeves.

And as a sidenote. The Extender, which extends the unit capacity. Do you assume the base unit capacity to be around the 500 from the SupCom single player or the 1000 you can choose in multiplayer? (Or even more if playing with mods) I don't think I ever used a solid number in my story.

Don't worry, the Aeon and UEF (and Diamond Spear and Seraphim) will have plenty of new toys. The new units are an attempt to move away from the generic nature of each faction. With the exception of a few units are structures, each faction was more or less the same as any other. Sure the Cybrans had an advantage in stealth, the UEF in artillery etc. But they each more or less were the same, the stats being the only real difference.

In my view this doesn't track with what the developers were trying to convey. Each faction was supposed to be radically different; in their values, viewpoints etc.

The Cybrans are part human, part AI. It stands to reason that they would me masters of computing (i.e. the Extender, computerized artillery shells etc.). The UEF were supposed to be what Earth was like in two thousand years, their units and technology being evolutionary upgrades on modern tech. The Aeon were influenced by alien philosophy and technology. Those sorts of radical cultural differences should also manifest in their combat. By the time I'm done, each will have their own distinct advantages and each faction will be struggling to counter the other factions advantages. This will not be a Cybran curb-stomp I promise.

As for the Extender, yes I'm using the five hundred limit from the single player campaigns. It seemed a reasonable number and in the original Survival of the Fittest story, unit limits did play a fairly large role when it came to combat. That the Cybrans could develop a way around it would give them a substantial advantage and work to counteract the numerical superiority of the UEF or the technological superiority of the Aeon. That said it's not a 'I Win' button. While a commander might be able to control thousands of units, her or she is still only one person and therefore only has limited amounts of attention to devote to any one thing. And the other factions will have counters that will offset the Steeltip's battlefield numerical advantage.

I'd also like to address new forms of combat. In the original game there were three; land, air and sea. I'm planning on introducing others. You've already seen satellite warfare. I'm also considering underground (or tunneling) warfare, electronic/cyber warfare and even possibly spaceborne combat. For something called the 'Infinite War', the notion that the factions would restrict themselves to only three of many type of combat seemed a little absurd.

I agree with trying to differentiate the different factions, but at the moment it just seemed like the Cybrans got all the toys and all the Aeon got was a rip off of Steeltip tech. But seeing this is apparently not case, no problem.