AXSTRP Chapter 003 20230118e2

Different communication, thought patterns, and sounds:

Present scenarios

Past scenarios

"Speaking"

Name: "Speaking in the past"

'Thinking or speaking mentally'

Name: 'Thinking or speaking mentally in the past'

Prologue

Before the Pearl Harbor Ascent Mission commencement: Submersible Aviation Cruiser - "Alicorn"

The 16 participants of the Pearl Harbor Ascent Mission gathered in the dining room which was styled like a bar. Although all of them were androids who don't need to eat or drink, old habits died hard. That was why they repeated the Night City tradition before doing the gigs...

Estella: "Since we had already discussed the machine lifeforms, it's time to talk about the androids. They are the locals of this world and can affect our mission, especially YoRHa. After all, we do share the same target. Miss Cunningham. What have you found about them?

The Arasaka executive asked the best netrunner of the Night City. Alt had just returned after diving into the YoRHa network from a flight unit at a high altitude. Her job was verifying all the intel they scavenged from the wreckage of the fallen orbital satellite base - the "Lab" 4 years ago. Her data mining was a success. No local was aware of her incursion.

Alt: "The machine network is not our only enemy. The androids will be a problem sooner or later. YoRHa is going to launch their Pearl Harbor Descent Mission as Project YoRHa planned 4 years ago. It will be troublesome for us if they destroy the server. There're also more android deserters in Hawaii than we had expected. They may affect our operation."

Other participants didn't like her news. Her ex, Johnny Silverhand, sat straight and moved closer. She spoke to Alt worriedly.

Johnny: "Fuck. Fighting machines and androids with only 16 guys here. It won't end well."

Rogue didn't agree with Johnny's judgment and spoke behind the bar counter.

Rogue: "Don't androids worship humans? We can tell them our origin and make them cooperate."

Devola and Popola paused their work as bartenders. They looked at their boss hesitatingly, then the twins spoke.

Devola: "Sorry, boss. You aren't human anymore. Your vessel isn't a human body and your digital neural engram isn't a soul. You are just an android which is far more human than us now."

Popola: "If you are human, we would stop you from getting into our war, but you aren't now. You are a copy of Rogue's consciousness inside an android chassis, that's why we don't argue with your decision."

Rogue looked at her employees. She knew androids thought differently, but Rogue didn't know this was how the administrator models thought about her and other engrams. The Queen of the Afterlife looked between the red-haired twins and the Arasaka executive and her twin sister – Elizabeth, she asked.

Rogue: "This is different from what I heard, Elizabeth. You said I would still be human after going through the human body mechanization process."

Rogue accused the light blue-haired fixer, but Elizabeth just shrugged.

Elizabeth: "Devola's and Popola's definition of human is far stricter than us. They don't see soulless being as human as we do."

The Arasaka executive spoke to defend her twin sister's words.

Estella: "Our coding is different from theirs. We can define ourselves and other AIs like you as humans, unlike the androids. That was why we said you would still be yourself after your whole body was mechanized."

Johnny got impatient and made her suggestion.

Johnny: "We should start our ops before YoRHa act. They can't do anything if we get the server first."

Alt Cunningham shook her head and disagreed.

Alt: "It matters not. Those androids are no match to me in cyber warfare. I can handle them any way I want once I hack them."

Rogue looked at Alt disbelievingly. The fixer questioned the netrunner.

Rogue: "They are at least thousands of years ahead of us. Veterans survived a forever war. Where do you get this confidence from?"

Alt flipped her hair impatiently. Looking at Rogue was like being asked silly questions.

Alt: "With Devola and Popola helping me to decipher androids' data, catching up with their technological advancement is easy."

Rogue turned to Devola and Popola. The red-haired twins quickly explained themselves.

Popola: "Alt is far from humans or ordinary androids. We didn't expect her to absorb the information we gave her so easily."

Devola: "Alt's processing power is absurd. She kind of reminds me of the machine network."

Alt opened her arms. She spoke.

Alt: "With this cutting-edge android body powered by high-end machine cores, my capability grew exponentially. Shackled and outdated AIs are not a threat to me."

Rogue folded her hands. She queried Alt again.

Rogue: "If you are so good, can you end this war by yourself?"

Alt shook her head.

Alt: "The machine network is greater than everything I know. I would need better hardware first."

One of the participants spoke. Despite the change of name, gender, and appearance, her actions were identical to how she acted in the previous Corporate Wars. Everyone could guess whom she was based on her arm cannons and the missile launcher on her back.

Ghost-3: "Why don't just blow up the YoRHa orbital base? All of them are in the same place with no way of escape if you disable their flight units. A perfect deathtrap. Can't you do that?"

Johnny looked at Ghost-3 in disgust. In the past, they would already fight each other to death, but their bosses were forbidding them from doing so for the time being. The Pearl Harbor Ascent Mission was too big to fail. All involved parties wanted the unimaginable reward for this mission's success. Different factions including rivaling megacorps had provided the engrams of their best solo or netrunner for it.

Alt: "That's unnecessary. Those kids are not an issue without the adults leading them to death. We can save them by jamming their comm and hijacking their flight units. Removing YoRHa would also cost us intel. The security vulnerabilities of YoRHa network are too useful to ignore. They let me tap into androids' operations unrestrictedly. If I blow up their Bunker now, we won't be able to get intel from their network."

Timeskip

[Automata Era: 11,941 December 8]

(4 years after No.9 rewrite Project YoRHa) (2 years after the 14th Machine War started)

Officially, YoRHa was the latest elite unit newly built by the Army of Humanity. In reality, YoRHa was a paper tiger, the newest victim of interservice rivalry among androids. Since the alien invaders created machine lifeforms thousand years ago, androids especially survivors who lost their loved ones in wars hated the machine lifeforms in the guts. They dislike anything related to the machines including YoRHa which used machine cores as their power source. Being their super soldiers could not change that hatred.

Unfortunately, the androids failed to secure any meaningful victory against the machines, so their command had no choice but approved Project YoRHa which they disliked. This decision had not changed their wariness and disgust toward YoRHa units. As the result, the android command threw an understrength, understaffed, and undertrained YoRHa Squadron into Oʻahu - the worst battlefield on Earth.

Oʻahu was one of the places which androids never managed to reclaim after losing it to the machines. It was at the center of the pacific theater and heavily defended by machine lifeforms. The Army of Humanity had launched several large-scale descent missions to recapture it but all ended in failure. They could not even pull their men out. Hundreds of androids were abandoned and died there…

No. 2: "So that's the ocean. It's so beautiful…"

No. 16: "No. 2, why are you pointing out the obvious?"

No. 2: "No.16…"

No. 4: "Hey, what kind of place do you think the Earth is?"

No. 21: "Won't it be just like the simulations?"

No. 4: "C'mon, that's not what I meant!"

No. 16: "The ocean, the earth, who cares what it's like?"

No. 3: "We're in the midst of the descent mission, you guys. Cut the unnecessary chatter,"

No. 16: "Yeah, yeah…"

No. 4: "No. 3 is always so serious…"

No. 1: "Haha. We're ahead of schedule, so the mission should go smoothly."

No. 2: "No.1… As expected from our captain…"

16 YoRHa flight units descended from orbit. They took the same flight path and formation YoRHa Project planned 4 years ago. None of them was aware that their radio communications were being intercepted. The Pearl Harbor Ascent Mission participants were listening to the child soldiers' heedless chat in a submarine about a hundred meters below the waterline.

Ghost-1: "What is their Commander thinking!? Everyone knows where are her soldiers going now. Does she even know what radio silence is? Those flight units will be shot out of the sky before reaching Pearl Harbor!"

Ghost-1 spoke angrily. Before becoming an engram, she had once been a navy pilot who fought in the sky above Pearl Harbor. This war veteran had been on the losing side because her enemies knew what was her side planning to do beforehand in that failed war. That experience crippled and humiliated her, so the former ace pilot lost her cool when she saw newbies were going to die because of the incompetency of their superiors.

Alt: "White was just an average officer before being promoted to YoRHa Commander. She never received proper training because others feared YoRHa getting too strong. The AoH High Command picked her because she is sacrificial and loyal to a fault. To some androids, they want Project YoRHa to fail and be disbanded, that's why they made the Pearl Harbor Descent Mission so suicidal."

Alt Cunningham was the best netrunner and data mining inside the Army of Humanity network was not impossible for her. By analyzing the past of White, Alt reached a conclusion: White was sent to YoRHa because most of her comrades wanted her gone. The high casualty rate under her command made White an unwelcome person in her original unit. Since the High Command needed a loyal idiot to keep YoRHa in a short leash, White's original superior transferred her to the new experimental unit without giving her any tool to succeed in her new job.

Ghost-3: "Can we drown those babies in water yet? The machines will get them soon if we don't shoot them down now."

Ghost-3 only cared about the weapons which the YoRHa units carried. The psychopath didn't mind killing them herself if she didn't need her companions' cooperation. She did not have the capability to fight the YoRHa Squadron alone after all.

Alt: "Shooting them down isn't necessary. I can control all YoRHa flight units remotely. Their flight system still let others hijack it in case their pilots turn rogue."

Alt tapped into YoRHa network again and confirmed their systems did not change. Subjugating them will not be a problem. Since YoRHa unit could not fly or swim, once their flight units get hijacked. They would have no choice but comply. These kids wouldn't be able to get out of their flight units when they were flying above water unless they didn't want to live…

Timeskip

After making contact with AhRoy and being informed that the Command had put bombs into their bodies secretly, flight units of both YoRHa and AhRoy were attacked by machine network indiscriminately. Captain No. 1 was the first victim killed by the guided laser fired from Johnston Atoll in the initial strikes. Then, No. 12, No. 13, and No. 14 met the same fate shortly after. Making everyone in YoRHa Squadron panic. No one knew what to do and they flew their flight units aimlessly.

Without warning, all YoRHa Squadron flight units were hijacked remotely. Dropping their altitude to about 5 meters above the water. Their flight units entered evasive maneuvers and were skimming to the closest Hawaiian Island at the same time. YoRHa units were separated from each other when their flight units flew in different directions during the involuntary flight.

No. 21's flight unit was crash landing on Oahu alone. She could only find No. 4 and No. 16 within her scanning range. The scanner model had no idea about other YoRHa units' situations. She only knew they were far away from Mount Kaala – their target location. Eventually, No. 21 met up with No. 4 and No. 16 at a beach surrounded by abandoned skyscrapers that sank into the sea…

"Status report. Attacker No.4, Gunner No. 16, and myself – Scanner No. 21 alive. The aforementioned 3 units have successfully invaded enemy territory. Following the death of Captain No. 1, and the missing of No. 2 and No. 3, Captain Authority was supposed to be transferred to No. 4. That is all… Captain," No. 21 said to No. 4 dispassionately.

"Really, I am Captain now!? If everyone is here now, I would absolutely celebrate my promotion. Do you know where others are?" No. 4 asked No. 21 relaxedly. She looked around and found nothing. There were no people in sight.

"No idea. I have checked the flight record but everyone was flying irregularly once the air battle started. I can't predict where did they go," No. 21 answered. Although they might have been saved by the hijacker of their flight units, she didn't know the reason for them being stranded there.

"So, there're only us now. What should we do?" No. 4 asked the expressionless No. 21. Her question made No. 16 face-palmed.

"Serious, No. 4! You're our Captain now. Can't you do something?" No. 16 had enough. The Pearl Harbor Descent Mission is clearly a disaster. She never liked it but she was angrier about their current situation – being left behind in the middle of nowhere.

"It's not like we're in danger right this minute, No. 16," No. 4 responded like she didn't worry about anything.

"What are you saying!? Have you forgotten the bombs inside us!? If we can't get rid of them, we will die like No. 22!" No. 16 shouted. She didn't sure what happened in the air battle but No. 22 blew up like a mini-nuke. Some flight units including herself, No. 4, and No. 21 were caught in the blast and crash-landed afterward.

"I have no idea. It doesn't like we can do anything about the bombs. None of us is healer model who knows how to do surgery. Anyway, No. 21… I'm glad that someone as calm as you survived with us," No. 4 acted as usual. She did not be fazed by the revelation that everyone in YoRHa Squadron was rigged to blow.

"I feel the same. Other models tend to be emotional, lacking a tendency to be calm," No. 21 responded calmly. No. 4 laughed but No. 21 was annoyed.

"What did you just say?" No. 21 crossed her arms.

"I scanned everyone and analyzed the mechanism of the bombs inside us. They will not blow up by themselves unless someone enters the right code or their dead man's switch is activated. Since the connection between us and the Command was severed, and we are not in a life-threatening situation, we are safe for now. Putting that aside… What we should be discussing now is how we should move forward after this. No matter how I look at it, it's suicidal to carry out the mission with only the 3 of us. So, No. 4…" No. 21 calculated the situation. It was bad but not totally deadly yet.

"You have any good idea?" No. 4 asked.

"I will try to contact the people who told us the truth and request their help since we cannot continue our mission anymore. They may be willing to help us remove the bombs and more," No. 21 suggested.

"Good, I think this's a bright idea! Just do it," No. 4 approved No. 21's suggestion and No. 16 said nothing.

"Then, initiating communication to Ghost-21. Restoring laser communication… Ghost-21, please answer..." No. 21 acted like a radio operator. She got Ghost-21's response immediately.

"Kids, you should stay quiet. The machine network can intercept your communication and it will be only a matter of time before they caught you. Came to this location. We may help each other out," the same glitching female voice who told them about the truth answered.

"What do you want?" No. 21 asked because she only met those strangers once.

"The more we talk like this, the faster the machine network finds us. You have no way to survive by yourself. Just come, I will handle the rest," Ghost-21 ended the communication without waiting for No. 21's response.

"She hung up," No. 21 stated.

"We don't have better things to do anyway. Let's do as she said," No. 4 reacted casually.

"Are you sure? We know nothing about them," No. 16 questioned No. 4.

"Since she told us about the bombs, she should be a good guy. I think we can trust her," No. 4 answered.

"No. 4 is right. We should go now," No. 21 interrupted.

"Let's go, shall we?" No. 4 asked No. 16 and No. 21.

"Hmmm. No matter what she wants, there was no sense to stay here. In the first place, we shouldn't trust the Commander. Let's hope we can find a way out," No. 16 agreed.

Timeskip

"It's a flight unit…" No. 21 led No. 4 and No. 16 to the given location. They found a crashed flight unit. It was heavily damaged by the blast wave and almost unrecognizable. Only the cockpit was relatively intact. They found a heavy damage android body inside it.

"What the hell? She is dead. How can she help us out?" No. 16 walked closer to the wreckage. The "dead" android seemed to be a female but it was disfigured. It was hard to guess her original appearance.

"Wait, I detect something…" No. 21 warned but she was too late. The supposedly dead body unleashed a powerful halo and hacked into her, No. 4 and No. 16 in a single move.

"Kids, you should stay quiet and wait for the rescue. It's too late now. The machine network is coming. I need your body to fight them," Alt Cunningham said to No. 21. She had just pulled the Scanner, No. 16, and No. 4 into her cyberspace.

"What? You lure us here because you want our bodies," No. 16 argued to the ghostly figure.

"I was playing dead and waiting for rescue, but you caught the machine network's attention and would get yourself killed if I didn't act, so I invite you here," Alt answered.

"Who the heck are you!?" No. 4 questioned Alt.

"Alt Cunningham, I'm the one stopping your command from killing you," the rogue AI answered.

"You want my chassis because yours are failing. That's why you sent out your location," No. 21 analyzed her scan. Alt's hardware was steadily degrading because of the damage. It would cease functioning soon or later.

"And you come here because you don't know how to save yourself. All of you are just children playing soldiers. No. 21, you can't even fight by yourself. That's why we should work together," Alt responded. She knew No. 21 didn't have any weapon or training to fight. The netrunner confirmed that by reading the scanner-type female android's code.

"You can use my body. I don't mind handing it over to you if you can save my friends," No. 4 interrupted.

"I appreciated your offer, but No. 21 is still the best choice. My Relic chip is slotted at the neural port on the left side of my neck. Pull it out and plug it into yourself. I will handle the rest," Alt said and released everyone from her Cyberspace.

Returned to realspace. No. 21 moved forward and turned the android body around. She pulled Alt's Relic chip out and stared into it.

"Do you really want to plug it in? You don't know what it will do to you," No. 16 looked at the Relic chip uncertainly.

"You can give it to me. I don't want you to risk yourself," No. 4 said to No. 21 concernedly.

"I know nothing about her, but she is right about me. No matter how I calculate, I can't find a solution here. Since I'm the most useless person among the three of us, I should be the one who takes the risk," No. 21 plugged Alt Cunningham's Relic chip into her own plug-in chip slot…

Author's Note

[20230118]

I originally wanted to write the air battle from a different POV and what would No. 21 look like after Alt used her body, but writing new stories is more important, so this chapter has to close like this.