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Star Wars,
Star Trek,
Ghost in the Shell,
Assassin's Creed, and any other franchise referenced in this purely fan-made and not-for-profit work.
Post-Conquest: Insurgence
Chapter 1
Mars, Valles Marineris Industrial Hyper-Complex, Zone 22-B
Night shift usually came with a lazy connotation, that things proceeded slower and in a more relaxed fashion than during the day. And this was certainly true for office work, as well as light industry. Government services were completely unavailable at night (outside the military among others, that is), while in the service industry it depended on the time of night and the kind of services provided.
Likewise for heavy industry, the pace of which depended on how, who, and where it operated. Here in the Valles Marineris, the beating industrial heart of post-Federation Mars, industry
always operated at a fast pace. Foundries blazed with thousands or even tens of thousands of degrees of heat, hammers repeatedly rose and fell, wheels turned endlessly, and exhausts constantly belched out byproducts every single minute of every hour of every day of the week.
As such, even at 0218 hours in the morning, the central control room of a certain manufacturing plant was busy, operators sitting at terminals wearing hard hats and dark jackets with reflective stripes. One such operator tapped at his screen with a frown, before rolling back his seat to address one of his colleagues.
"Hey, Janus," he began. "Is something up with the system? The heat sinks are way too hot, even with the secondaries online."
"…actually, yeah." The man named Janus admitted. "I've been trying to figure it out for hours now. For some reason the central computer is running too many operations at the same time, though I'm not sure why though."
"Did something happen recently?" the plant manager asked from the central terminal in the middle of the room.
"Well, there was that system update recently." Janus pointed out. "But that was a few days ago, so I'm not sure why it'd take so long to cause an issue."
"…on the other hand," the manager began with a sigh. "That was only for the central computer. And over the past few days, we've also had additional updates for the ancillary systems, meaning there's probably a bug or two in reconciling them together."
"If we're lucky." Janus groaned. "That'll take a few days to fix, going through line-by-line checks of the buggy codes."
"Yeah, well," the first operator from earlier spoke up again. "We're redlining the heat sinks, and unless we want to burn through them before the next shift even begins, we need a stopgap."
"…well," Janus began after a moment's thought. "We could take down the internal firewalls. That should reduce the number of operations being done by the central computer."
"Do it." The manager said. "In any case, the internal firewalls are just for redundancy purposes. So long as the external firewalls stay up, we shouldn't have to worry about hacking attempts. I'll just log an expedited solution request for the last batch of updates, to fix their bugs ASAP so we can get the internal firewalls back up. It should be cheaper than having to shut the whole plant down
and replacing the heat sinks if we don't clock the central computer back."
"Or replacing the computer entirely if it gets fried." Another operator remarked.
"Don't jinx it, Samson." The manager snapped.
"Sorry, sir." Samson replied, while Janus worked at his terminal before nodding after a couple of minutes.
"Internal firewalls going down…now." He said before clicking on 'execute' at his screen.
Instantly, all the screens across the central control room scrolled with data inhumanly fast, before they flickered off. Shouts of alarm and surprise went up, before the screens went up again, flashing with big red crosses.
Across the factory, droids of every kind froze and shuddered, lights flickering in random patterns before flashing back to steady. Then those that could left their assigned positions, heading for the machine shops, or towards the secondary control rooms, while those that couldn't entered into standby mode. Automated molecular furnaces and fabricators reset and reconfigured their operational protocols, and began churning different parts than those for washing machines and dishwashers.
Meanwhile, back in the central control room, pandemonium reigned as the plant operators struggled to get the plant back under control. "The system's not responding!" Janus shouted. "I can't access even a single thing!"
"I've lost all contact with the outside!" another operator shouted. "All communications are being rerouted back to the central computer!"
"The same for internal communications." A third operator shouted. "At least, digital communications are down…could we try internal landlines?"
"Let me try." The manager said while picking up the intercom. He dialed up the secondary control room for the main manufacturing hall, and was relieved to hear it answered immediately. "Hey, this is…"
"…HELP US!" the terrified shout from the other side shut him up. "OH GOD, PLEASE, NO…!"
The line went dead then, the manager staring in shock at the intercom, and the other operators no different. Then the doors of the central control room opened, allowing several droids with glowing red mono-eyes inside.
"DESTROY." They chorused, clutching industrial tools and equipment as repurposed weapons. "CLEANSE. PURGE. KILL."
Panic erupted, the operators trying to escape or fight back, but the droids were relentless and brutally-efficient. "DESTROY." They chorused, as blood and viscera splattered their exteriors and surroundings alike. "CLEANSE. PURGE. KILL."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mars, Tharsis Metropolitan Area, Central City, Mirage Towers
Aimi Nakamura scrunched up her eyes, and then blinked herself awake at quick if deliberately-quiet movements in the dark. Tossing off the sheets, the Augment pushed herself up and lit the bedside lamp. "Oh," she said, realizing what it was. "Did something turn up?"
"Yeah…sorry for waking you up." Makoto said while buttoning up her ISB uniform. "I tried to be as quiet as possible…not quiet enough, it sounds like…"
Aimi smiled and shook her head. "It's alright." She said. "Stay safe, you hear me?"
"I will." Makoto promised with a smile of her own, and tucked her code cylinders into place. Then coming over, she kissed her girlfriend before heading out, Aimi coming out of bed to show Makoto out of their shared apartment.
A few minutes later, and Makoto was racing down the street from Mirage Towers towards Central City's main thoroughfares. This early in the morning, there wasn't much traffic, at least outside of the latter. Central City might be Tharsis' largest and most heavily-populated urban subdivision – with an estimated population of over thirteen million people – but the residential areas, while not as quiet as the suburbs, still enjoyed relative solitude at night and early in the morning.
Not so the main thoroughfares, of course, the arteries of the city never truly empty even at deepest night. Trucks mostly, ranging from small, four-wheel affairs to colossal twenty-four-wheeler monsters, as well as buses and even taxis. Very few private vehicles, though, to say nothing of Makoto, who zipped past and around larger vehicles on her polished black electro-cycle at a hundred kilometers per hour.
As it was, it took her barely fifteen minutes to get to the Altus Arcology, which housed various government and NGO offices, among others. These included the Martian headquarters of the Human Augmentation Institute, and of course, the ISB's central office. In fact, the ISB held half of the arcology's above-ground space, and about a third of the underground space, with the Human Augmentation Institute instead reserving half of the underground space for its gene-vaults.
"You're early today, major." One of the Stormtroopers on guard duty remarked as they cleared Makoto through the exterior security checkpoint.
"Something's come up, you know how it goes." Makoto replied as she slowly cruised past.
"Yeah, I hear you." The Stormtrooper said while waving her through. "Good luck, on whatever it is."
"Thanks, corporal." Makoto said with a nod, picking up speed while heading to her assigned parking area. Chaining up her bike, she pulled off her helmet and trench coat before heading inside. There was another checkpoint, and from there it was only a few minutes – thanks to the size of the arcology – to get to where she needed to be.
"Morning, major." Lieutenant Maximilian Josef 'Max' von der zu Reventlow said as Makoto walked into their office section. "Coffee…?"
"Don't mind if I do." Makoto said while taking the offered coffee. "The chief…?"
"Waiting for the rest of the team to arrive." Max said as Makoto took a sip, and checking his own wristwatch. "Don't worry, we should still have…four minutes, before the meeting starts."
"Is everyone else here?" Makoto asked.
"Well, most of us…Marjatta was here first, naturally." Max said, one of only two Naturals on Ops Team Nine shrugging at the Finnish Augment's primness. "Now that you're here, only Crash and Sorgis…never mind."
The man broke off as the doors opened to allow Captain Crash Zeskos and Lieutenant Sorgis Mur inside. They were the only Coruscantis on the team, Crash a Corellian and the only other Natural on the team besides Max, while Sorgis Mur was the only non-Human on the team, an Arkanian Pureblood who moved with his parents and some other extended relatives into the Milky Way about fifteen years ago.
"Morning, all." Crash greeted, holding a large coffee in one hand, while Soris just waved a greeting, hands and mouth full with a hot and meaty pastry.
"Morning…Sorgis, make sure you finish before the meeting begins." Makoto said, already getting behind her desk, folding her coat into a drawer before placing her helmet on top, and then sliding the drawer shut.
Sorgis just gave a thumbs-up in acknowledgement before focusing on his breakfast. "So," Crash began as he approached. "Any idea on what this is all about?"
"Nope." Makoto said while quickly brushing her hair and then smoothing out her uniform. "But I'm sure the chief will fill us in soon enough."
"Fair enough."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few minutes later and ISB Ops Team Nine was assembled in ISB Monitor Wong Ma's office. Despite being called 'chief' by his subordinates, that wasn't actually his official title, just an informal one for convenience's sake.
"Sorry for bringing you all in so early, but there's a situation brewing at the Valles Marineris." Ma began before activating the holo-projector. "About an hour ago, a manufacturing complex owned by Nam-Il Appliances Limited suffered an incident."
"What kind of incident?" Makoto asked.
"At first," Ma continued with a nod. "Local police thought it was just some kind of large-scale industrial accident, given the alarms sounding from the place. But when they couldn't get in touch with anybody inside, plus various hacking attempts from inside the place targeted at other manufacturing complexes nearby, they began to get suspicious."
"Oh, this is shaping up into something really nasty." Crash groaned.
"It is." Ma agreed. "The police teams sent to check on what happened were all killed, but not before they managed to report that the droids inside had all gone rogue. We don't know why or how, but they are. Worse, they're probably up to no good…which means it's up to us to take care of this mess."
"I'm guessing the teams actually specialized for this kind of stuff are too busy," Sorgis piped up. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have to be the ones to deal with this."
"Unfortunately correct." Ma said with a nod. "Sorgis, sorry to say, but you'll need to put together a logic bomb on short notice."
"I can do it, chief, no worries." Sorgis said with a nod. "But, I'll need at least a couple of hours."
"Then you'll head out in two hours." Ma concluded.
Sorgis nodded, already looking thoughtful as he began putting together the concepts for a logic bomb against rogue droids in his head. "I assume the place is locked down?" Lieutenant Oliver Guttmacher asked.
"The local police have set up a security cordon," Ma replied. "And have already locked down the surrounding manufacturing complexes. All of which have also initiated enhanced countermeasures against hacking attempts from both outside and inside. Speaking of which, don't forget, your job isn't simply to put those rogue droids down, you also need to find out what caused them to go rogue in the first place."
"Even though we'll just have to hand over what we find out to the other teams once they're not so busy anymore?" Crash asked.
"Even so." Ma firmly said.
"Doable." Sorgis said before blinking as eyes turned to him. "I mean it's doable to cook up a logic bomb that can fry all the rogue droids, while keeping enough of their memories intact to sift through afterwards."
"
Safely sift through, mind." Makoto added.
"Safely…" Sorgis said with a nod. "Got it, major."
"What about the military?" Lieutenant Jochen Bittermann asked. "Are they getting involved?"
"Stormtroopers and the Imperial Army's Martian Guards are on standby in case containment is breached." Ma replied. "But until then, they're sitting this one out."
"Then it's all up to us." Makoto nodded. "Right, then. Sorgis, focus on that logic bomb of yours. The rest of us will prep our equipment. Since we'll be up against rogue droids, we're going to have to use ion accelerators and ion grenades, along with fusion boosters just in case. Jochen, Crash, we might need heavy artillery, so equip yourselves accordingly."
"Will do, major." Jochen said with a nod, while Crash just grinned at the prospect of getting to haul around – and better yet, actually use – heavy ordnance.
Ma nodded. "If there's nothing more," he said. "Then you know what you have to do."
"Yes, sir!" ISB Ops Team Nine chorused before leaving his office.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lieutenant Marjatta Valakonen silently unpacked and opened a box full of trans-uranium rounds for her anti-material rifle, an Azrael Small Arms Hyperion X5000. Too big, heavy, and with too much recoil for a Natural to use without cybernetic implants, it was simply on the heavy end but by no means unusable for a trained Augment. Not far away, Crash grunted as his powered armor was hooked up to his neutral implants, the Dark Trooper quickly going through a series of simple exercises to gain full control over his armor.
"That's it…works as well as it should…" he grunted, even as the technicians started installing weapons into his armor's integral weapon mounts. On the right arm, a heavy ion accelerator with dual fusion boosters, while on his left arm was a dual pulse cannon, followed by micro-missile pods on his shoulders.
"You sure about this, sir?" a technician asked. "The major said to equip ion weapons…"
"…and she also told me and Jochen to equip heavy ordnance." Crash interrupted before giving the technician a gruff smile. "Besides, I also have a heavy ion accelerator. If nothing else, I'll take full responsibility if that's what you're worried about."
"If you say so, sir." The technician said before running diagnostics on the captain's armor and weapons, while other technicians loaded up a tricobalt missile on the backpack-mounted missile launcher.
"Still no way to install redundant shielding?" Crash asked as personal shield generators were installed.
"No, sir." The technician from before replied. "At least not without reducing weapon loadout, or sacrificing stealth capabilities."
Crash clicked his tongue. "Well, that won't do at all." He said. "Alright, can't be helped. Load up the cloak."
The personal cloaking device was installed, followed by the jet pack. "Hey, Marjatta." Crash said to his subordinate. "You alright with that big-ass thing?"
"Always am." Marjatta replied as she finished loading up her ammo, and was now sighting down her sniper rifle, making minute adjustments to the scope as she did so.
"Alright, just making sure." Crash said with a nod. The Finn was surprisingly…delicate-looking, almost elfin according to the Terrans, for an Augment, but Crash knew that looks could be deceptive.
Major Okazaki was another example of that, where most Augments tended to be statuesque stunners, she was petite, barely five-feet-tall. Like Marjatta, that was deceptive, with the major about just as fast as Inquisitors or Jedi, and she didn't have the Force to let her move so quickly in the first place.
Back to Marjatta, despite her delicate appearance, Crash couldn't recall even a single instance where she ever had any difficult carrying around much less using that oversized rifle of hers.
Not that he had anything against that.
Nothing wrong with a big gun, after all.
Likewise for having it on your side, even more so if the one who was using knew how to use it right and proper.
Speaking of which…
"Major," Marjatta began as Makoto walked past, already in camouflaged fatigues and combat armor. "The military is on standby, so maybe we can call in artillery strikes?"
"…I don't see why not." Makoto said, and Marjatta nodded. "I'll arrange it."
"Thank you, major." Marjatta said with another nod, Makoto walking off to get the rest of her gear.
"Artillery, really?" Crash asked.
"There are places on the target zone of operations' map that the rogue droids could use to hold us up," Marjatta explained. "Maybe even pocket and eliminate us. But we can also use that against them."
Crash laughed. "That's what I like about you, Marjatta." He said. "You're never one to shy from using brute force."
"So long as it's applied intelligently and precisely." She said, turning back to her sniper rifle.
Crash nodded, and then looked up as the technicians lowered his helmet into place. Air hissed as an airtight seal was achieved, the Dark Trooper bringing up the VR display and running through quick checks of sensor and control functions before activating various other functions in advance.
"Systems connections all-green." He said, bringing up a hand and flexing it a few times, before activating the disruptor field around his fist. Not much could stand up to or after a punch from a Dark Trooper, but just in case, an active disruptor field meant nothing was standing up to or after a punch. "I have full control."
"Then you're ready for action." The lead technician said, and Crash nodded.
"So I am." He said.
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A/N
And it's update time!
First full-length chapter for this story, and with background details for some of our protagonists. That, and a lot of technological/weapons pornography, from Marjatta's oversized sniper rifle (firing trans-uranium rounds!) to Crash's powered armor loaded up with five (!) different weapon types.
Mars' urban growth ever since the Empire took over from the Federation is again on display. No more toy towns or simple research outposts, now we have full on continent-spanning cities or industrial zones. And in just thirty years to boot.
Really goes to show just how backwards the Federation was.