Tron Legacy : Rectifier - Real World Invasion

Chapter Three

First contact battle. Not good for planet Earth.

AU, of course. Initial Clu Speech taken from the film, as well as some other lines just in this prologue.

I do not own Tron or Tron Legacy.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Melanie was losing her mind waiting for the alien Clu to say something. He just stood looking out the viewing window, hands behind his back, silent. What was he waiting for? "Clu, how is it you speak such perfect English? Have your people been listening to our transmissions in space?"

He turned from the window, his head tilted with that enigmatic smile on his face. as he looked at the female User. "I want to make sure the download is complete. Why don't you check how it's coming along." Another order disguised as a request. He was good at that, Melanie thought. Ok, so no small talk either. She looked back at her panels, where she could see it was going all too well. The download was nearly complete, and there was nothing she could do about it without losing her life. Perhaps if she obeyed Clu's orders and gained his trust, she might find a window of opportunity where she could get a message out.

Melanie tried to hide her dismay at how quickly the downloaded virus was spreading. It had encompassed both North and South America, and had moved on to the European nations. The only thing she felt satisfaction in was it was close to taking over the systems of Russia and China. They were powerful nations, but even with their military might, would they be able to fight this Clu and his army. She wondered how other countries were responding to the unexpected cyber-attack. Were the Allies even now preparing some sort of offensive.? Melanie hated being in the dark. She didn't want to pull out her cell phone to check the news. Oh well, it probably wasn't working anyway, but she didn't want Clu taking it from her. With his message broadcasted over every communications device around the world, including nations where English was not the primary language, how long would it take for them to translate the meaning of that message?

"Tell me about yourself, Melanie Scott." Clu asked.

Melanie started at the sudden request. "What? Oh, um...well, I grew up in Southern California, here. Went to college to learn to be a software engineer. And I got a job and a boyfriend, Richard Bryce, at Beale Air Force. Then I was captured by you and bought here. End of story." Would he recognize her sarcasm?

"Boyfriend, what is that?" Clu peered at the User. He had an innate curiosity, but for purposes necessary to his programming.

Melanie was still amazed by the alien's perfect English, but he didn't seem to understand the meanings of many of the words. "Boyfriend, girlfriend...it means someone to whom you're committed. Maybe you end up marrying and having a family and growing old together. Or maybe you break up and find someone else."

Clu hmpfed. "User world doings. Not essential." He already had lost interest in his captive.

In light of her situation, Melanie decided to try a new tactic, intel gathering. If she were to garner as much information as possible, then find a way to get a message to Richard at Beale, it might help them to build a counter offensive. "How do you plan to fight the combined military forces of the entire world?" she asked the alien.

"I'll show you." Clu held out his hand. Melanie looked down at the proffered hand and took it. Build the trust, she told herself.

Clu led her off the bridge and onto a lift that took them down to an observation area above the flight deck. He pointed his hand down. Melanie's eyes followed the direction he had pointed, and gasped. The very large deck was covered with fighting machines of all kinds, including the one that had picked her and the others up off the street. Some machines were not familiar. The assembled troops were the icing on the war cake. "There must be thousands of them. Are they robots?" Melanie didn't see any movement. They were just standing there, as if waiting for orders.

Clu chuckled. "Robots, no. They're my army. My elite Black Guard and sentries who serve with absolute obedience to me."

"It's impressive. I'm very impressed, Clu. " And she really was. He had the armament to fight with, but how long would it last if multiple nations aligned together to attack this Clu. She asked, "What is that thing over there, the one that kidnapped us?"

"That is a recognizer." Clu had no issue with revealing the ship's cargo. He enjoyed the admiration of the female User. Her oohs and ahhs only prompted him to share more information. "There, you will see light jets. Single man and three man versions. Over there are the light tanks. We also have solar sailors, and light cycles, for on street operation."

Melanie catalogued everything he was telling her. She turned her head and gave him her best fawning smile. Show your appreciation of his manly power, Mel. Everything she was being shown was amazing, enough that she'd love to see them in action. And she just might, if Clu decided to attack or be forced to defend against an attack.

"Back to work," the alien announced suddenly. Melanie sighed. She wanted to get out of here. But she also wanted to get more information. Perhaps the way to handle an egotist was to cater to the ego. And she had the feeling this...person's... ego was huge.

After monitoring her panel for about a half hour, Melanie needed to stretch her legs. She stood up from her operations station and walked over to the window. Across the debris-filled street, she saw activity beyond the police cordon. "Trouble might be coming. Clu. The police are pulling out. If that cordon is removed, it might be because an attack is imminent. Don't you get it? They're getting everyone out of the way."

An attack. At last. Clu was eager to see how the infiltration of the Users' systems would affect their attempts to stop him. "Thank you, User. You're making yourself more useful than I had anticipated. Rinzler!" Clu yelled for his enforcer to ready vehicles for a fight. He ordered the bridge crew to move the Rectifier up into the atmosphere at least a mile above the ground they'd been hovering over. As the great ship slowly rose, debris from the buildings fell away from underneath, where it had stuck to the ship by the heavy weight.

Under orders, Rinzler led a team of twelve three-man light jets. Clu watched with satisfaction as they left the flight bay.

The police force had entered their squad cars and backed away from the area. They knew what was coming, and didn't want to be around for the conflict. The chief of this operation had been notified the Air Force was sending in fighter jets to deploy missiles as warning shots. It had not moved since it had arrived, and the branch heads felt they had to get it to leave the area. Local emergency staff could then continue the search for survivors. But first, they needed to show some offensive moves, and force the damned thing to move.

A dozen F-22 Raptor fighter jets were ordered to fly over the ship, when it was determined that the thing had suddenly decided to ascend. They would give the vessel a chance to surrender if it was a friendly. If it didn't stand down, the fighters had orders to take potshots at it. If it fired back, then it would likely be a war battle.

Melanie was at the window when she heard a sound off in the distance, a sound she knew well enough. "Clu, over there." She pointed at the approaching jets heading for their position. Great. I'm stuck in this ship just before it gets blown to pieces, she thought.

"What are they?" the alien demanded, his eyes following their flight path.

"Fighter jets, probably from some base here in SoCal. They have the capability to fire missiles or use rapid fire guns. They're pretty formidable." If she could just get him to see how fruitless this venture was. Instead, she saw him smile. He turned to look at her in a way that raised goosebumps on her arms, as if she were suddenly cold.

"Fighter jets. I wonder how they will stand up to my light jets. Check your panel. I want to know if the download is finished."

Melanie went back to her station and confirmed to the alien that the virus had completely taken over the world's systems. She lowered her head and bit her lower lip. She didn't know how badly this thing was going to impair defensive operations, but it had to do more damage than anyone could calculate for now. If only she could see what was going on outside.

Clu gave orders to the bridge crew, but Melanie could not hear him, and she didn't dare move from her post. Perhaps it was even better to be away from the windows. Then there was the sound of jets passing by at high speed. It was beginning. She heard the sound of gun fire, but whose. Clu was at the back of one of the bridge crew's station, watching the panels. So he could tell what was going on. Melanie would just watch his reactions.

The next thing she knew, the shrill sound of a falling jet filled her ears. She looked up at the ceiling of the bridge. Then came another, as if the jets were falling out of the sky. She couldn't help herself and ran to the window, just in time to see one of the Raptors free falling to the ground. It promptly exploded on impact. Her hand flew to her mouth, suppressing a scream. This couldn't be happening.

Clu walked up to stand behind her. "My light jets are maneuverable enough to evade your jets it seems. If your vessels depend on programmed systems, they won't be able to fly. My jets, however, aren't touched by the virus you downloaded, User." The jab of his statement implicating her in the failure of this mission hurt more than any cut would have. Yes, she agreed to help this alien, and now pilots were dead.

Melanie began to sob, but Clu grabbed her by her hair and yanked hard. "Silence! I will not have my victory marred by your noise. You should be proud of your work. You've done very well. Your people will learn surrender is the only way to save lives." He let her go and returned to the monitoring station.

Clu didn't know, but Melanie wasn't crying only out of fear or grief. She was furious. Those pilots were like family to her. No matter what base one was stationed at, everyone felt both the victories and the losses. They all worked for the most powerful military force in the world. Perhaps in the fear, grief and anger, she would find the courage she felt she lacked her entire life. She would get this Clu to tell her everything her people would need to defeat the bastard.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The Joint Chiefs listened to the lone undamaged audio recording from one of the fighter jets that had been, not exactly shot down, but downed just the same. The pilot was saying something about alien jets flying at and around them, firing some sort of ammunition that was nothing like anything they had seen before. Apparently, his systems were flickering on and off, eventually becoming totally non-operational. Missile launch codes were useless. Then when one of the alien ships fired at him, the cockpit was filled with arcing blue light, wiping out everything on his instrument panel that hadn't already been fried, including the jettison system. The tape was cut off mid-sentence. Then there was nothing but silence in the room.

Finally the head of Strategic Command spoke first. "Gentleman, we have a situation that, to be honest, I'm not sure where we start. Our systems were pretty much wiped out within a day. The blanket failure of the planet's systems...what can I say about that. Now our independent combat systems won't work against their weaponry. This is a disaster on all points. The discontinuation of day to day operations, along with an enemy invader who seems intent on war. And we failed the first time out."

A/N: Sometimes defeat comes more easily from within. What sacrifices will Melanie have to make to do her part?