LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: Chapter 23

"You alright mate? Yeah, you look alright. Don't get shot again, you're fine."

Quoxxett took a few more moments to stare at the Terran to ensure they were ok and no worse for wear after being shot, before rushing back towards the fray, towards whatever Terran got injured next. The Quoxxett might be too small to fire a weapon, but they could still help in other ways. The fighting continued as more and more truckloads of people were being driven out of the prison.

There was still plenty of 'helping' left to do.

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TANK was focused on the important task of transporting their cargo safely to the drop-off point, which involved them taking a more systematic approach than their previous carefree use of overwhelming force. Each shot was calculated and deadly, efficiently dealing with the threat as risk-free as possible. It was honestly... easy.

ODIN was providing near-perfect intelligence from their position in the sky, highlighting incoming threats to the convoys of civilians being transported to safety. It was just as well since TANK could feel the urge to check on sensors they knew they didn't have access to right now. Keeping themself distracted from spiralling again was vital to the strategy, the AI couldn't afford to lose focus, not this close to the end.

Although if they were being honest... TANK's firepower might have been unnecessary at this point. A few of JOSH's units were aiding in protecting the convoy, the rest helping Ramsey defend the prison with the rest of the Terrans. Scellestra.... Scellestra was legitimately terrifying, even to the AI. If TANK was being fully realistic about their capabilities, they didn't know if they could stop the Woolean if they wanted to, at least not without a dedicated EMP device.

Note to self: Buy EMP weaponry and have it installed, just in case.

The Woolean didn't have a solid cohesive form right now, as that wasn't their main focus. Instead, their goal was simple: disassemble anything approaching the convoy not being blown up by TANK.

There was no sound, no real visual cue to the threat lingering in the air. A light mist just above ground level perhaps? Infantry that entered the area would just... collapse and fall into pieces as the nanobots went to work. Scellestra had been busy during their time on the planet, and while there was an overall limit to how large they could grow... the distance the Woolean could cover was measured in miles.

JOSH> Can I just take a moment to point out the hypocrisy of everyone saying my storage of the Tritian was dangerous, while you let Scellestra walk around in public places able to do this with little to no checks on their overall mindset?

ODIN> To be fair... I did not know they could do this.

Scellestra> Nobody ever asked.

JOSH> You are kind of terrifying.

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ODIN watched from their position in orbit as the stream of civilians entered the vessels, lifting off from their positions and warping away to safety as they left the planet and headed towards Terran Alliance space. At this point, it was by the book, a masterclass in the logistical and military power of AI and humans working together in tandem.

It felt almost... wrong. As if nothing going badly meant that something was being missed, some horrible trick was about to be played. Yet there was nothing. ODIN could see the Uhae's communications, their desperate attempts to get aid from the rest of the Uhae forces within the galaxy or their attempts to properly organize an assault upon their position. The enemy had half worked out what the Terrans' intentions were, but at this point, it was too late.