Mechanica Damnatio (A Mindustry X Arpeggio of Blue Steel Crossover)

Chapter 3: The Sharded

⌊A/N: Hey there! Author here. I would like to apologize on taking so long to post this chapter since I had a lot of important real life things that had to be done.....well that and a lack of motivation to continue writing. You could check my other story out after you finish reading this chapter (although I've decided to shelve that for the forseeable future ╯︿╰). Also, I've decided to add this chapter just so I could introduce the Sharded a little bit earlier than later. Just note that this is currently 6 years after 'The Great Naval Battle'. There is a part 3 to that battle that's currently in the works though I don't know when I'll be able to finish it. Anyways that's all for now :)⌋

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⌊1648YR: 11M: 27D: IC (Internal Clock)⌋

Somewhere on Mercury

On Mercury's surface, a small mining facility was visible in a crater. Mining drones cruised the planet's surface collecting any surface materials, while large, permanent mining drills collected any subsurface minerals before returning them to the core. Even though it had only been there for a few decades, the AI that manages the base had already made incredible progress. With factories already up and running, it's no surprise when vital materials (such as silicon and surge alloy) have begun to flow into the core for later use. Some of the harder-to-manufacture materials (such as Vanstarium Steel, Voltirium Alloys, and Singularium Alloys) are being imported into the base instead since there are currently no known sources of the necessary raw resources to facilitate the creation of such materials. Various defenses have been constructed in case of an attack, with one such expected enemy being its rival AI, the Crux.

For at least 1300 years, the Crux and their faction, the Sharded, had waged war against each other, with both launching swarms upon swarms of machines. The planet they originated, Serpulo, had become a husk of what was once a vibrant world. Where nature had once thrived on the Serpulo's landmasses, now only an ever-growing outbreak of spores are populating most of the planet's biosphere. Large ruins of destroyed bases litter the planet, with more and more facilities being destroyed during the war.

Yet even in the midst of all the chaos and destruction, the Sharded had persevered. It had calculated the probability of its survival and concluded that it won't through sheer force alone. So it began to adapt, using it's computing power to simulate various scenarios and battles before applying the newly created tactics in order to have an edge whenever they attack. Efficient factory designs were assembled and improved upon, various upgrades were being made towards its existing military robots and defenses, and countless new technologies (both reverse-engineered or stolen from exposed databases) are being discovered and researched. By the climax of the war, it had overtaken its old rivals, the Crux, and successfully taken over their Planetary Launch Terminal, though not without significant losses to both resources and robotic manpower. Sensing the imminent danger of a counter-attack, it immediately bulked up the defenses whilst allocating a majority of its resources towards its reconstruction. By the 956th year since its inception, the Sharded had launched a base towards a nearby planet, Midantha. 

It knew that the planet was filled with various forgotten technologies, ones that pre-date both the Sharded and the Crux, and was willing to send out an expedition force whilst dealing with the remaining Crux bases that are left at Serpulo. What it hadn't expected was the activation of an ancient core deep within the planet, subsequently triggering a massive assault of drones and mechs against the outpost. Regrettably, the facility fell in the end. Yet it knew that this failure gave a significant amount of data that it could use to improve upon their current arsenal. And so, just like how it dealt with the Crux, it adapted and evolved, churning out better and better combat mechs, aircraft, and even airships.