Banthes Light Repair Station, 985M41
"This is all wrong, I am a loyal servant of the Omnissiah, I've always paid more than my share of the stations tithe to Him on Terra, what have I done to deserve this." Magos Anton-Zeta-1 thought as he took cover behind his console as stubber shots went flying over his head. He was not trained for combat, never expected to see anything more dangerous than malfunctioning macro cannons. Taking this moment to pray to the machine spirit in his plasma pistol as he reloaded it with his second to last hydrogen flash and pressed the cooldown rune. He only had 20 more plasma pistol shots and 60 rounds for the bolt pistol he took from the ship guard who had rushed to protect him as he repaired the warp drive, who now lies dead next to him to fend off at least a 4 pirates and traitors.
Today had started as a good day for him, simple work in his private shop on this small repair station on the edge of the Cadian sector. As 1 of only 3 tech-priests on the station, he was always busy either helping people keep their gear working and happy or assisting the other two with repairs aboard and around the station. The only time any of the station's occupants had to do any real work was on the rare time a frigate came into port for refit and repair, about once every couple months.
It was one such ship that caused this mess. The captain had come towards their station at almost full burn, requesting emergency repair. Anton had listened to the vox message as he rushed towards the dock. In the ship's last patrol, they came across a small fleet of pirate frigates. While the crew had valiantly managed to fend off and destroy 2 of the 3 vessels and cripple the last, it was the final enemy frigate that scored a lucky hit. A macro cannon shot had found its way right into the engineering deck, killing off almost all of the ship's tech-priests and sending shrapnel into the warp drive. Though not causing any breaches, it did strip away large chunks of shielding around the ancient machine. It was for that reason he was in engineering alone, to stabilize and force the engine into repair mode as Jance-7 and Trenton, the station's other 2 techpriest got shielding for it from the station's storage.
It was in the middle of this process that the ship and station both shook as it was suddenly rocked by more macrocannon hits. Its as as he was dripping holy oil on the console that he received a direct vox message from Captain Otheos, "Priest, pirates inbound. They followed us here. Our weapons are down and the station's point defense will need at least an hour to open fire. We're expecting proper contact in 30 minutes and potential borders within an hour, but their shots are only going to get more accurate as time goes on. I'm sending someone down to watch over you. How long do you need to fix the drive so we can take the Emperor damned traitors?"
After his prayer over the console was done, Anton responded. "Ma'am we need at least 2 hours. 15 more minutes for Jance-7 and Trenton to arrive with the shielding, at least an hour to replace the shielding and another 45 minutes for all the rites and scriptures to be applied properly. Due to the shielding being able for me to apply by myself, when the others arrive I shall send them to the weapon decks to inspect the guns for repair if needed to provide defense. So expect double for the shielding to be applied." replied Anton as he used an overhead crane to remove the damaged shielding segments and prepare for the new pieces.
Things seemed to go good from there but quickly spiraled. The new shielding arrived just as he got the last damaged piece removed and Jance and Trenton even got 2 guns firing within half an hour, able to barely fend off the enemy ship but not before they could send dozens of boarding parties to try and take the damaged frigate and attack the station.
When the boarders finally reached the engineering deck through the twisted, crumpled halls there were only a dozen. The guard managed to take out 5. The heavy, explosive rounds blew fist sized holes in the chest of them all, killing them instantly. Anton himself, with his lack of targeting software or any real training with his plasma pistol outside of a firing range managed to get 4 more with 6 shots, his aim wildly off.
So here he was crouching behind the crane's console as shots went over his head, barely missing the warp drive. A shout was heard from one of the pirates as Anton reloaded and prepared to fire again. "Careful damnit, we need the priest alive and look at that warp drive, we don't want to hit that thing. We're going to need the coghead to fix it and our ship."
"Do you think I care?" Came a reply from another, "That metal bastard killed my brother, I don't care if you or the captain wants him alive, There are bound to be others around here somewhere." As the enemy was arguing among one another, Anton leaned around the side of the console and fired at the one who shot at him, the man sending more shots over the top as a ball of plasma slammed into his chest. What all missed during this however was a single bullet, either a lucky or unlucky shot sailing over the console and into a single deep gash in a piece of shielding, punching a hole right into the warp drive.
An alarm immediately began to blare at the breach, causing Anton to turn and his one organic eye to widen in horror. Scrambling to his feet, he tried to rush to the door as warp lightning was spewing from the tiny hole and striking all around. Anton reached out his cybernetic arm for the two remaining men to help him get away, hoping that their humanity would take over and have them try and help. Sadly he was not able to get far enough away as a single bolt lanced out and struck his back, energizing his body and cybernetics with warp energy before pulling him into the hellish dimension and beyond. This however was the best possible outcome, one that let him survive as within 30 seconds, the cascading energies in the warpdrive caused a full failure. The drive detonated, the force sending the plasma reactor for the ship critical which also exploded in a blinding nuclear fireball, taking the repair station with it. The only survivors form this chain reaction being the pirate ship who had been driven off, the captain simply grumbling before moving on to their next prize.
UNKNOWN DATE AND LOCATION
The warp is weird. Many imperial scholars have compared it to an ocean, vast and covering all with their reality simply being a bubble in the vast ocean. What many do not know is that there are multiple bubbles of reality. Some similar but different, some utterly alien but all real to their inhabitants. And on very very rare, near infinitesimally small occasions, two of these bubbles can for a split instance touch and let things move from one to another. It was one of these near infinitesimally small chances that affected Anton-Zeta-1 as he was thrown onto a rough concrete floor, unconscious
3 DAYS LATER
Jefferson Trade Center. SHD Bunker, July 15th, 2016. 3 days before Black Tusk Invasion.
[SYSTEM RECALIBRATION IN PROGRESS]
{25%}
[50%]
[75%
[100% SYSTEM REBOOTED. PRAISE BE THE OMNISSIAH]
Anton jolted awake, looking all around. His mechanendrites spasming for a second before they got under control. He had to get away, the reactor was about to… He wasn't on the ship anymore. Anton didn't know where he was, all that was around him was a single computer, data stacks and dirty water on the floor, and a single door. He did not know any place like this on the station, though the design was oddly human. Perhaps he fell into a long lost and unused sector.
Getting up, he walked to the door while performing a basic check on his augments. Surprising even him, he found all were working except for part of his internal vox. He could take in data with it and his noospheric implant but not transmit out.
Sadly though, there was no way to open the door. No handle or controls. Following that sad revelation though was also thirst. Looking down to the dirty, green water Anton frowned. He did not want to drink it but had no choice, it was the only option available. Silently Anton bowed his head and prayed. "Omnissiah help me. I know not where I am but I pray for your guidance and pray you deliver me to safety. I pray you allow my augmented digestive system to filter out any toxins and diseases in this water and have rescue come fast. Praise be unto the Omnissiah, Lord of all mankind." With that, he knelt down and took a handful of the water to his mouth, steeling his nerves for the foul taste that was sure to follow. Forcing himself to swallow the foul liquid, Anton stood and marched to the single cogitator he saw. The only option he had at this moment was to continue the quest for knowledge. He plugged his mind in with a data mechanendrite and expanded his mind into the connected system, and network beyond this small bunker.
3 DAYS LATER
For 3 days Anton had been stuck here, in this single room. For 2 of those 3 he has studied. His first day here was spent learning the basics. This planet is a human world, is THE human world. He is on Earth. After he had translated the languages this single console was in, he began looking at the sky. He spent a bit looking though all systems, gaining access to telescopes and satellites to view and map the night sky. It took him a bit but he found where and when he was. Anton was in a Sol system, on Earth. He spent hours looking at pics and live videos of space, comparing every star chart he had to determine where he was, then comparing it to every pic he had of Terras night sky. He spent hours comparing every pixel and spec. He could only conclude he was in a Sol, all the same planets and more, but not his Sol. Not the Sol system on The Imperium of Man. There are stars missing, planets where none should be and more.
After he had spent hours and hours slowly coming to this conclusion, Anton felt despair. He had nothing left, there was no Imperium, no mechanicus. Nothing remained but him and his faith in The Omnissiah and Machine God. So he began to pray, to pray for salvation and purpose. He needed something, anything. It was in the middle of this prayer session that his purpose was given. He received a notification of a new protocol activated, one called the Preservation protocol. It gave his access to everything, to all STCs, reports, data and more that the Mechanicus had ever collected. He was given purpose with this, told to take all this data and rebuild, return humanity to its glory. Or that is what a short vid said, as something failed, a connection could not be made and he only had his local data and design already in his systems as well as basic Imperial equipment such as bolters, las guns and mainline tanks. Nevertheless, with this newfound purpose, he set about using things in the room to repair his transmission, dismantling one of the screens behind him for its wireless data system and allowing him to send data and signals once more, though in extremely limited amounts. As well as this though, he dismantled a second screen and built a transmitter that he worked directly into the console, giving him permanent access to the Omega Protocol as long as he had even the most basic of Internet connections.
Since then, he has been studying this Earth, learning all he can and would need to know. This Bunker for one was controlled by a group called the Strategic Homeland Division, in the capital of Earth's most powerful nation. This humanity has been ravaged, almost wiped out by disease just months ago. As he was rooting through the systems and networks, he did not care who noticed or why as his internal data security had already fended off dozens of hacking attempts with ease, barely even worthy of a ping to his attention let alone activation of more than passive systems. Anton found many important pieces of information and such, including something known as the Omega Protocol. One look over this and he immediately transferred it all to his control, not trusting this ravaged world with such a thing, and it also gave him a trump card, a final stand should the need arise.
One other important thing he found was there was a new group moving into this city, into Washington D.C. One known as the Black Tusk who made heavy use of robotics. Nothing more than mercenaries and thugs in his mind so it was simple for Anton to write and force protocols into the internet and onto the systems of these warhounds, marauders and minitank bots allowing him to take control of any at a moment's notice, though he had to be close by in order to and his low bandwidth from the bits taken from the screen only allowing control of one at a time. The security, while quite remarkable by this world's standards, was like paper compared to the Mechanicus, even the most novice of mechanicus codesmiths could crack into the systems in their sleep and write absolutely unbreakable code by comparison, let alone one that has been active for centuries as he has even when he isn't a codesmith.
From his study, it would be best to join with this Division group for the time being, they were all that remained of the US government and would be able to give him what was needed to rebuild, and in exchange he could make them weapons, give info on better energy sources and more. Though he was hesitant due to their ISAC system, after carefully looking at its code, he determined it was more of a predictive and support software than a full AI but still something he would need to keep an eye on in case it had to be shut down. Though as he studied ISAC, Anton noticed something, a second network below it, piggybacking off it but carefully designed as to not be detectable, and was still being built. The name attached to this secondary network was ANNA.
As he monitored the comms in the city, he heard that the Black Tusk were sending troops to capture this terminal he had been using, meaning he could finally have a way out in time.
He looked up at a vent, helicopter blades echoing through them down to his single room. It was time to act, the Black Tush where here and a SHD agent would no doubt soon follow. The world was about to change.
James Garrington was ecstatic. This operation to take DC from the Division was going swimmingly, they had yet to make any substantial move but already the BTSU had secured most of Jefferson Trade Center and set up a full base from one of their hovercraft. All he had to do was secure the SHD node and they were clear, and this one had been acting up for the last day according to their informant so was selected as the best target. Though when he was just outside the room he heard over the radio that an Agent had shown up and was cutting though their forces to reach the SHD node.
He rushed to the door and entered the codes to open it, letting the warhound go first before entering himself. When he did however, James bumped into the machine which had stopped after just a few steps. Looking past it to see why, he saw a large red robed thing with glowing blue eyes staring at him. The last things he saw and heard was its metal feel hitting the stone and glowing blue pistol in its hand as the thing walked towards him. As James began to raise his rifle, he barely noticed the minigun on the warhound spin and fire directly into his chest.
Once the threat was dealt with and the door opened Anton stepped out, careful to not look at the body beyond pulling the comm system out of the man's ear, and looked around. Seeing stairs, he walked up to the landing to get out of the water and simply waited as he sent a single message to the Division agent that was closing in on him, as he rendered the warhound to power down and wait while speaking into the comm bead he took, "Agent within Jefferson Trade Center, I am Anton-Zeta-1. I do not seek conflict with you or your group. You are to approach the SHD node with weapons holstered. I am not with the Black Tusk. I wish to strike a deal. I have pulled all the information from your node here and know all about your organization. I wish to help. I shall be waiting on the landing near the node with one of their bots next to me, powered down. Should you approach with hostility, I will destroy these servers and cripple your semi abomination. Anton-Zeta-1 out." Cutting the comms, Anton quickly dismantled the device to patch into his comms for easier communication.
Agent Bantel took cover behind a car in a parking garage above the main SHD node for DC as she reloaded ehr assault rifle while waiting for the black tusk to stop firing, Neither Manny or Agent Kelso really knew who these guys were, where they came from or what they want beyond to move in and take down The Division, they they had experimental tech and better training than all but the best agents.
She was about to lean out to fire when a voice came over the comms, someone came over comms, stating the want to strike a deal and to approach without hostility. Frowning in confusion at this, the agent peaked over the car as she heard the tusk shout in confusion, seemingly not knowing who this was either. Taking the momentary distraction, she sent up her drone and set its target as one tusk while she lined her sights on the other and opened fire. She did not know or care who this Anton was, he was threatening the node and that was all the motivation that was needed to take him down. Though as she got close to Manny and Kelso both came over the comms and spoke. "Agent, Manny here, I don't know who this is but bring them back to The White House. We need to know who they are, what they want and how they got access to the node. I have Torres on standby to pick you both up once the area is clear, what's more make sure the bot he claims to have come back intact, we may be able to use it to break into the tuck systems and find out what they want."
"Agreed," Spoke Kelso, cutting in before Manny could end the communication. "Agent, I don't know how but this person has taken complete control of the Omega Protocol. It is completely gone from ISACs servers and only shows a local transfer to an external device at our location. You need to get them back here so we can have ISAC break into their systems and get it back under our control. Manny, I'll explain what it is once the protocol is back under our control but for now we all need to be very cautious around this person. Kelso out."
Bantels eyes went wide at the news. Calling her drone back, she stored it and rushed down the final hall towards the node, this is bad this is very bad. Rounding a corner, she saw the platform leading down to the SHD node, looking down at the landing and froze. There was a man wearing a red robe, a hood down showing metal bits and wires going directly into his skull, glowing blue where his eyes should be, a large metal device on his back that caused a huge claw to come over the shoulder with metal tentacles coming out from under the robe, and a deactivated warhound at his feet. Raising her hand to her comms, Agent Bantel did something she almost never did and spoke, "Manny, Agent Bantel here. This Anton person is a god damn cyborg."