This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.


Chapter 2: The target

The sudden appearance of this unknown being left MT-NET somewhat dazzled. The visual information did not make any sense. The target match was less than 60%. No way could this be a human. The system then calculated that there was a good chance this planet wasn't even Earth, as the gravity also did not match. A scan of the air composition that was made earlier also pointed to this explanation. The being now began speaking to the convoy of machines. It warned them that no Sky People were allowed in these parts and that they should turn back to wherever they had come from to avoid a conflict. MT-NET, though unaware what the term Sky People meant, took this as a threat. The system commanded a Type 600 speak on its behalf. A chillingly monotone voice spoke back, saying that no matter what they were told, they would never stop. This left the Na'vi warrior with a bewildered look his face, not because of this statement in itself, but because he realized that there was something not quite right about these 'humans'.

The torso of the tank carrying the mainframe suddenly came to life. Bright searchlights focused on the target. Red and blue flashing lights turned on and a siren produced a sound that went through bone and marrow. The blue warrior decided in time to back down, as just after he had climbed back onto the tree branch, the tank opened fire. As quick as it had started, it stopped. It would only be a waste of ammo to continue. The target was out of range and out of sight. MT-NET realized that it just had a sneak peak as to what it could expect from its enemy. It needed to act quickly to gain a steady foothold on this world. The Na'vi warrior hurried his way back to his clan to inform them of his discovery.

Three machines were left behind to guard the shuttle, as its materials and technology could be reused for other purposes. The rest of the convoy reached the cave in a matter of minutes. The mainframe was taken into the cave as deep as possible. All available machines then scouted the cave and set up a perimeter defence. MT-NET now acknowledged the importance of a well protected stronghold since its failure last time. The convoy had brought along several other important machines. The Type 20 construction robots were of great value, as they had all the programming and tools necessary to construct additional machine units from scratch. Needed now were only the resources to execute this plan.

The same running machine, which was sent out earlier, was sent on a new mission to scout the environment some more. MT-NET downloaded a specially constructed set of protocols to the unit, so it could operate autonomously; a function that was unknown to the RDA. This saved the system some processing time. Time, which could better be spent on guarding the perimeter and directing the construction bots. The Type 300 recorded everything it came across. It sprinted across the jungle in a straight line, occasionally stepping aside to avoid a tree. Tough it was now acting independently of the mainframe, it could not think abstractly. Its intelligence was comparable to that of an Earth dog. Its behaviour therefore tended to mimic that of a dog as well, though not without any oddities.

The unit slowed down its pace as it noticed something lying on the ground a few meters ahead. It was the corpse of a deer-like creature, known by the RDA as a Hexapede. There was nothing particularly interesting about it, but it had instantly caught the machine's full attention. Death wasn't really a concept that it could understand. It only knew that once a target was taken down, it no longer posed a threat. And that was when curiosity stepped in. The machine began poking the corpse with one of its bird-like legs. It then turned over the body with its other leg. This curious behaviour was the result of MT-NET's design. The system had tried countless of times to create an A.I. just like itself, so it wouldn't have to be alone anymore. All attempts had failed as they had produced inferior minds. The A.I.'s did however retain the ability to learn in the most basic sense. The reason for this was that MT-NET didn't have access to its own design plans, so it had no other choice than to interpret how its own mind worked.

The Type 300 had been so focused on the corpse, that it hadn't noticed the Viperwolf sneaking up from behind. The wolf suddenly leapt forward attempting to bury its teeth into one of the legs of its prey. It had no luck today. The machine swung its chassis around, removing the wolf from its leg. Not giving up, the wolf attempted a second try, but to no avail. As it retreated back into the jungle, the machine did not stop there. It sprinted after the wolf.

The Na'vi warrior, named Wukan, had just returned to his fellow clan members. He didn't hesitate to go to the clan leader to inform him of this new threat. His leader was convinced enough to allow him to speak to the rest of the clan. Shortly after this, most of the members were gathered around as Wukan began speaking. In his speech, he described what he had seen. At first he thought he had come across a group of the Sky People, but then he noticed that there was something wrong with their skin, as if it was rotting away. Also, when one of them talked back to him, he noticed that none of them had a mask on their face, something he knew they normally required to survive. Some of the Na'vi in the crowd became visibly upset by hearing this. To them it sounded as if the Sky People had returned as demons in undead bodies. Wukan, seeing this as his chance to gain some popularity, proclaimed that he was willing to lead an attack on these abominations and asked for volunteers to help him.

Several individuals expressed their willingness to help. Among them were his sister Ney'ite and a few of his close friends. Ney'ite demanded of him to know where he had first seen the demons. Wukan had no problem remembering the location. It didn't take long for them to get there. By that time, of course, they machines were long gone. However, it was obvious where they went as Ney'ite pointed out. The tank hadn't been very subtle in traversing the jungle grounds. It had tunnelled its way through the flora. Wukan and Ney'ite followed the path, making their way across the branches.

Meanwhile, the Type 300 had halted the chase, as the Viperwolf had climbed up a tree and out of its reach. It now resumed the mission to further scout the area. The chase had taken the machine into a thicker jungle. Countless of ferns prevented it from looking far ahead. But it was not lost. Even when it was operating autonomously, the machine still maintained a remote connection to the mainframe. To get back, all it had to do was home in on the signal. It continued to move forward, however, this time at a slower pace. After a while, it seemed to reach a clearing. The machine then came to a sudden stop. Only one step further and it had slid of a steep hill. The unit now had an excellent view of the surrounding area. About four meters down and fifteen meters ahead, there was a settlement.

Standing there on the edge of the hill, with no camouflage at all, it didn't take long for it to become noticed. A Na'vi female had heard the loud noises of its movement. She looked around and saw a rigid figure that was reflecting the sunlight. Others seemed to have noticed it by now as well, as she heard them shouting. Most of them were familiar with the spy drones the RDA had used in the past, and they thought they were dealing with one of them now. An arrow was fired directly at its chassis. A loud clang could be heard as it made a dent in the unit's metal plating.

To engage, the machine now slid of the hill with enough control not to fall over. It now stood face to face with a warrior wielding an axe. Although the Type 300 was about a meter shorter than its opponent, it was more than twice as wide. The warrior swung his axe at the machine, burying it in the place where he believed its head was at. For a moment, it seemed to have done the trick, but the machine retaliated by charging forward and forcing him towards the trunk of a nearby tree. The warrior did his best to block the machine, but it proved impossible to be stopped by hand. He was slammed into the trunk. But the unit did not stop here. It continued to crush its target between itself and the tree. The other Na'vi rushed to help their comrade. Several more axes were buried into the chassis of the machine. This was more than it could take. The smoking pile of metal finally fell over. It was a bitter victory for them however. The warrior, who had faced the machine, had been badly injured and died only a few minutes later. Thus, the first real battle had resulted in a draw.

Several machines were patrolling in full glory around the entrance to the cave. None of them had noticed Wukan and his sister approaching. Wukan realized that there were too many of the intruders here to take on at once, considering that most of them carried the same weapons as the RDA. They had to get the others to join them at least. A diversion would also be necessary. For now, they would only spy on the area, taking notice of possible weak points in their defence. Unfortunately for them, one of the machines was deliberately switched to infrared vision mode by MT-NET. It spotted their heat signature as it began patrolling in the opposite direction…