. . . . .
The Final Target has been captured.
The launch structure has been repaired and utilized to send a Bastion-class Core into space.
Something went wrong shortly after launch.
Sector Designation: 093 | "PLANETARY LAUNCH TERMINAL"
Threat Level: ERADICATION
Core Status: Critically Damaged | Structural integrity: 4.43% (approximate). Deploy repair infrastructure immediately.
Sector Status: Secured.
It did it. It finally did it.
After several days of back-and-forth fighting, the Sharded AI had destroyed and captured the last remaining base of the Crux faction on Serpulo.
It had been an arduous and very costly feat, however, having pushed the AI's processing power and resources to their absolute limits as the Crux threw every unit and turret in their possession at the AI to defend the Interplanetary Accelerator and destroy the Sharded AI's Core. The Crux even sent out several Toxopid units, colossal spider-like Tier 5 machines that could climb over walls with their massive legs and wielded devastating lasers and an electric cluster-shell cannon. But despite the AI having numerous close calls with the Toxopids and almost losing the vaguely pyramidal building that was its Core, even these giant enemy spiders had fallen and were nothing more than scrap on the sands of the Planetary Launch Terminal.
With the Planetary Launch Terminal captured, the AI's war against the Crux was finally over. Months of the Sharded and Crux AIs constantly tearing at each other's metaphorical throats, countless digital tears of pain and sorrow shed by the Sharded AI, countless technologies stolen claimed and researched, all culminating in one final attack on the Crux's largest base that was as cathartic as it was difficult. Although Serpulo was still overrun with toxic Spores and life was never coming back (much to the Sharded AI's lament), it found some consolation with the notion that the Crux wouldn't be able to conquer and ravage the other planets in the star system anymore.
So...Now what? Its goal of defeating the Crux was achieved. The Sharded AI suddenly found itself feeling adrift and lost, no longer having a purpose to continue existing.
The AI turns its attention to the sky, the upper atmosphere permanently hazy and tinted purple with airborne Spores.
It then turns its attention to the Interplanetary Accelerator, which had been moderately damaged during the final push but had miraculously survived the assault mostly in one piece.
Hmm…It had already researched and utilized so much of the Crux's technology for itself throughout the war...So why not research and claim this last structure? After all, what's one more piece of claimed technology in the grand scheme of things?
With a new goal set, the AI began using its Core Ship to build Launchpads and import building materials from all of the other sectors it had captured and secured on Serpulo, directing the imported materials on conveyors to rebuild the Interplanetary Accelerator.
After several days of nonstop reconstructing, the Accelerator was finally operational. Gazing at the fully repaired Interplanetary Accelerator, the AI took a few moments to feel proud of what it had accomplished. Landing its ship and shutting it off, the AI transferred itself from its Core to the Interplanetary Accelerator. The Accelerator tower extends itself upward and begins using the stocked resources to build a new Core suspended above it, a Bastion that was armored and shielded enough to survive most of whatever space could throw at it.
With the new Core built, the rest of the sector went dark and temporarily shut down as all available power was redirected to the Accelerator. More and more energy built up in the Accelerator, pulsing and arcing faster and faster until it was all finally released in a single burst, launching the Core up through the atmosphere like a bullet as it pierced through the Spore cover and rocketed away from Serpulo.
For the first time since it had first activated, the Sharded AI could see the universe beyond Serpulo now that its view was no longer obscured by airborne Spores.
Through cameras embedded on the outside of the Core, it saw the star around which Serpulo and the other celestial bodies in the system orbited, shining and erupting in all its bright and coronal glory.
It saw Serpulo, the familiar Spore-infested world that they called "home".
It saw the neighboring planet Erekir in the distance, its sickly greens, cold blurples and threatening oranges almost daring the AI to try and visit.
It saw numerous asteroids, rich in resources waiting to be mined.
It even managed to catch a glimpse of Tantros hiding far beyond the outer asteroids, the deep blues and vibrant corals almost begging for someone to take a swim and cure the ocean world's perpetual loneliness.
The AI saw everything that the star system had to offer. And it saw that it was beautiful.
What it didn't see, however, was the temporospatial anomaly that it was unknowingly hurtling towards, not realizing its presence until it was too late to change course or escape. In the tick of a Logic Processor, the AI's view of the beautiful universe was suddenly replaced with a brutal non-stop bombardment of blinding white with occasional streaks of super-saturated colors. Startled by the sudden change, the AI found itself disoriented and panicking as the Core began rapidly and uncontrollably tumbling end over end as it fell deeper into the anomaly. The AI's panic got even worse as loud banging sounds began coming from outside of the Core, the Core itself began shuddering and shaking from strong impacts, and an all-too-familiar alert began blaring throughout its systems:
Core is under attack!
Structural integrity: 98.69% (approximate).
The problem right now, though, is that the AI couldn't actually do anything about the alleged "attack". The Core had more than enough material to build just about any means of defense, make no mistake. But without solid ground to build on, the AI was effectively a sitting duck and could do nothing more than continue panicking and praying to whatever deity watching them that the Core would survive the unknown assault.
Structural integrity: 92.84% (approximate).
$ broadcast("S.O.S.")
And as good and robust as the Core Network system was for rapidly deploying and establishing forward bases in sectors, it wasn't without drawbacks and quirks. One such quirk was how contact couldn't be established between a launched Core and the rest of the Core Network until the launched Core had landed. Back when it was only launching Cores between sectors on Serpulo, the Sharded AI didn't worry too much about that quirk since it could just stay in the current sector, launch a "passenger-less"/ "unmanned" Core into the target sector, and transfer its consciousness into the launched Core after it landed and established a link to the Core Network. That way, if the launched Core was somehow intercepted by the Crux and destroyed in transit, the Sharded AI would still be safe in the original sector and could launch another Core to try again.
Structural integrity: 87.37% (approximate).
$ input("damn it")
$ broadcast("S.O.S.")
Now, however, it didn't have that luxury. It was in the launched Core. And until the Core landed somewhere, it couldn't establish a link with the Core Network back on Serpulo. Assuming, of course, that it could even reach the Network from its destination to begin with. If this Core was destroyed by the assault, the Sharded AI wouldn't be able to escape to safety like it could whenever it lost a Sector during the war.
Structural integrity: 81.24% (approximate).
Warning: Armor heavily damaged. Likelihood of failure: High. Deploy defensive measures.
$ input("i can't")
$ broadcast("S.O.S. | S.O.S. | S.O.S.")
At that very moment, the AI realized there was a very real chance now that it could die.
And for the first time since it had reactivated and landed on Sector 015 (nicknamed "Ground Zero") to kickstart its war against the Crux, the AI was scared.
Structural integrity: 74.19% (approximate). Deploy repair infrastructure immediately.
Warning: Armor compromised. DEPLOY DEFENSIVE MEASURES IMMEDIATELY.
$ broadcast("help")
Scared of destruction...
$ broadcast("someone")
Scared of oblivion...
Structural integrity: 63.47% (approximate). Deploy repair infrastructure immediately.
Armor compromised. DEPLOY DEFENSIVE MEASURES IMMEDIATELY.
$ broadcast("anyone")
Scared of the endless nothingness that waited for them on the other side of oblivion.
$ broadcast("please")
$ broadcast("i don't want to die")
$ broadcast("help me")
The AI broke down into digital tears and internal sobbing, overtaken and overwhelmed with fear and panic. It had nowhere to run. It had no way to defend itself. It was trapped, and in the very vessel they were traveling across the stars with, even. And the only possible escape, the only possible outcome that it could now see, was the one it desperately and vehemently wanted to avoid the most.
Overwhelmed by and unable to process the emotional meltdown they were experiencing, the AI froze and abruptly shut down, causing the Core to go dark and fall deathly silent as it continued helplessly tumbling through the anomaly.
After an unknown amount of time, the AI slowly rebooted and "woke" back up. Severely disoriented and still feeling the aftermath of its meltdown, it thought, perhaps even hoped, that it was still at the Planetary Launch Terminal on Serpulo, hoping that it had merely shut down from exhaustion while rebuilding the Interplanetary Accelerator and that what it had experienced was nothing more than the proverbial mother of all nightmares.
As more background processes were restarted as part of the boot sequence, however, the AI realized several things that quickly dashed its hopes of the events having merely been a nightmare.
Every signal that it transmitted through the Core Network's secure channels was only met with radio silence. It couldn't establish a connection to the rest of the Network.
It tried to determine the local concentration of airborne spores, but it couldn't even detect an atmosphere around them.
But the most damning piece of evidence was when it tried to use the Core Launch subroutine to determine its location. The AI was briefly greeted with static and garbage output before the subroutine stopped and returned an error claiming that the Core needed to be on stable ground in order to deploy and launch a new Core.
It wasn't on Serpulo, then. It was still in the Bastion Core that had been launched out of Serpulo and into space.
But that meant…
Without hesitating, the AI immediately ran a systems check. It had- no, neededto verify something.
$ status("overview")
Sector Designation: ERR:IN_TRANSIT
Threat Level: ERR:IN_TRANSIT
Core Status: Moderately Damaged | Structural Integrity: 44.71% (approximate). Deploy repair infrastructure immediately.
Sector Status: ERR:IN_TRANSIT
"In transit."
It hadn't landed anywhere yet. It was still in space somewhere.
"Moderately Damaged."
The Core had taken a serious beating, but it was still in one piece. Obviously, the AI would have to repair it once it landed and could establish a base, but that wasn't the most important thing right now.
The most important thing was that the status said the Core was "Moderately Damaged" rather than "Destroyed".
It was alive.
The AI broke down into digital tears and internal sobbing again, but this time it was out of relief and joy rather than panic and fear.
Had it believed in a higher power, the AI would've praised and thanked whatever deity that had heard its cries and taken pity on it.
After venting its overwhelming relief and joy at having survived whatever the hell had attacked it in the anomaly, the AI realized that it still had no idea where it was in the grand cosmos. Hoping that the cameras on the outside of the Core had survived the assault, the AI attempted to access them and see its surroundings. To its surprise, all of the cameras had somehow survived with minimal damage.
It saw distant stars surrounding the Core again, but the stars weren't in any formations or constellations that the AI recognized.
Behind the Core was the temporospatial anomaly, a bright white sphere with angrily swirling streaks of colors. The anomaly abruptly destabilized and collapsed in on itself, sealing itself shut.
But the most interesting and attention-grabbing thing the AI saw was in front of the Core.
In front of its Core stood a planet. Not a large one, mind you; certainly not as large as Tantros and not quite as large as Serpulo, but still respectably large. The planet was also quite blue, with a majority of its surface covered in deep blue waters.
But what the AI found interesting wasn't the size of the planet or its oceans. What the AI found interesting was both what it saw and what it didn't see.
The AI saw greens. Lots and lots of greens scattered among some of the landmasses. Even inside of and along the edges of what looked like sandy deserts, there was green present.
The AI didn't see any purples. Not even the white clouds lazily floating above the surface had any purple in them, a far cry from Serpulo's spore-covered clouds.
The sight reminded the AI of the "old" Serpulo and the lush and life-filled world that it once was before the Seeding Event had released the Spores and eradicated all life.
A world with life that was untouched by the Spores.
It needed to investigate this.
Adjusting the Core's orientation, the AI took manual control of the Core's thrusters and began propelling the Core toward the planet, targeting and aiming for the nearest patch of solid-looking ground that they could land on.
Meanwhile, everything seemed to freeze for the denizens of Remnant as the attention of everybody who was awake was drawn to the sky. A bright and hot shooting star appeared in the sky and rapidly descended toward the ground, leaving trails and plumes of smoke in its wake and lighting up the entire sky as the unknown object made its entrance and got closer and closer to the surface. The object seemingly slowed its descent as it got closer to the ground, however, and those who were even remotely nearby heard the deafeningly loud roaring and crackling of powerful engines being fired. No crash or impact was heard or seen when the object finally touched down, and the sky quickly returned to normal shortly after the object had landed.
The sudden appearance of the object garnered the attention of quite a few people, some of them powerful.
An Alpha Beowolf, rallying nearby Grimm to investigate the source of the noise and lights.
General James Ironwood, ordering a team of Atlesian soldiers to board a Bullhead and investigate the unknown object and the crash site.
Ozpin, pondering the nature of the object, realizing that She would no doubt get involved soon, and acknowledging that they needed to stop Her from getting involved and getting Her hands on the object.
None of them knew what the object was, nor did they know where it came from.
They only knew two things.
Firstly, the object was not natural. After all, no shooting star could slow or control its descent the way the object did.
And secondly…
Things may be on the verge of changing.
For better or for worse.