Deep in the woods something was moving towards the Fireknaught's setup. These machines are called
S.P.A.D.E.. These units had a standard energy shield around their body that made them invisible to see at long range. These machines seemed moved in under all scanners and sensors, their shield seeming to block them out.
The machines moved through the treetops till they hovered over the pirates below. One of the S.P.A.D.E. units moved down and stared down a random pirate. Its eye would twist and turn as it was basically deciding what to do with them. Something made them come this way, but it wasn't for the pirates. A dozen of these S.P.A.D.E. units hung out in the treetops above the pirates while the other dozen moved towards the town.
The S.P.A.D.E. made no attempt to rush in as they noticed the forces in the woodlands pertaining to the Fireknaught Federation. The S.P.A.D.E. hung back and circled around the town. For the time being, these machines remained cautious of these Fireknaught, but something kept them back and kept them from calling in more.
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Within the town the makeshift base had come along pretty good. The perimeter was as secure as it could be with the multiple Arachnid and two Goliath blocking off all the paths in or out of the town, not accounting the transparent dome shield they placed over the town to keep it isolated and contained at the same time. They didn't want attacked, but if something was within the doors they opened, they didn't want it getting out.
While everything was seemingly going fine on the outside, deep within the passage underground, things would start to change for the worse. The first thing to go was there communications to the outside, which could essentially be a very bad thing. The group stopped for a brief moment and the Core Unit began trying to find a signal they could hop on.
"Sir, I don't think we're going to find a signal down here. There's some kind of field that cuts everything, even white noise. We're lucky our communications still work." One of Core units spoke.
"That's just great, no damn signal. I guess we're in this on our own now... Let's see what we're dealing with." The officer spoke.
"Sir, I suggest you let the Core Unit return so we can send message and start working on getting signal down here. We're too valuable to walk in, and our systems contain too much capability to fall into someone elses hands.", pleaded the Core unit.
"No signal and now the Core Unit wants to go back... Ain't this lovely?!" The officer proclaimed in a rather pissed off tone before taking a deep breathe and talking calmly, "That's the best thing right now. If you're leave, I expect you to run back. Our lives could be in danger... We're here to make it home, seconds will count if something is here. Those buildings and these walls weren't built by a backwoods species, so hurry."
The Core Unit took off, rushing back up the passageway while the others started to move forward again. The light produced by the energy patterns on the walls would dim down, adding a more eerie feeling to the scenario. A humming sound could be heard in the distance and the movements of what sounded like large machinery. The officer threw up his right fist and called the group to a hault.
"We need to proceed as cautiously as we can. Not a word." The officer whispered into his helms comm line.
The rest of the group nodded and each moved without making a sound. The group eventually came to what appeared to be the stopping point for two other passages, one large enough to fly a squad of Corvette's through. All the soldiers took pictures of what they had reached in case something happened. In fact, the lot turned on their recording system to record it on video.
"Sir, i'm not getting a good feeling about this. Whatever is making those sounds is right behind these doors. Are you sure we're equipped for something like this?" A soldier asked the officer.
The officer turned to the soldier and smiled, "We've opened bigger doors before and the only way to get our answers is to open these doors... That is unless you'd rather run back and explain why you were scared to do what we came to do so we can have a home..."
The soldier dropped his head, a little disgruntled at himself and the officers tone about the situation. He knew the officer was right and so he readied himself for anything. His chest puffed back out as he walked away. They were here for a reason and he was no coward, he was a Fireknaught.
At that point, in front of the officer, a barrel shaped projection of coding appeared. This energy was a green color with a white ring that moved up and down around the barrel. In the middle of this energy, a basketball sized machine began to appear. The Fireknaughts all raised their weapons to the orb as it finalized itself. When the machine was complete, the energy vanished and left a metal orb with a green core that looked like an eye.
"Hello there. I am
Spark 755. I'd like to inform you that you are in a very unwelcoming location. Beyond those doors is your end." The AI orb spoke.
"I don't care who you are. For all we know there's a bunch of gnomes behind that door you're using for slave labor. We're here to make a home and we have to find out what is behind those doors." The officer responded.
"I have warned you. Since I need you, we will open these doors together. Your mental frequency seems to be too strong for anything to come of my suggestion... I hope all of your people are this strong willed." Spark 755 spoke back.
The officer reached and grabbed Spark 755 and pulled it to himself, "If you want to do anything, open those doors. If anything happens to us, we'll make sure you go down with us, there's nobody going to use us for their purposes."
"My your species is amazing, I can't even pick up one signature of fear to what is beyond those doors." Spark 755 ripped from the officers hand and rose up above the Fireknaught.
Through what looked like small tunnels or vents at the top of the passage, S.P.A.D.E. machines made their presence. These machines were no different than those from the woodlands, and they seemed to follow what Spark 755 requested of them. The soldiers took note that there could be a hive mindset to their new friends and needed to watch them.
Spark 755 flew up to the center of the massive doors, humming as he moved along. A holographic image of a locking mechanism covered the front of the doors and what sounded like cannons going off would signal the actual unlocking of these doors. As the door opened, a scent hit the Fireknaughts that very chemically. What they saw when the doors were fully opened definitely proved the AI and soldier right.
"Welcome to a Sidok Hive. Are you satisfied? We need to close these doors before they realize we're here." Spark 755 answered.
"No... This... this is astounding... in all the universe, I have never seen some so barbaric and advanced in my life..." The officer responded while his eyes were focused on what they seen.
Their sight was unforgettable. Massive pillars and belts covered in tubing that was filled with some sort of blue liquid and aliens of all kinds. These beings were connected to a massive system that controlled their minds and placed them in a false reality. Whatever the true intent of this system was, it produced a lot of power and there were millions of tubes containing anything from humans to little green men, it seemed to make no difference to whatever this was.
Flying through the air between all the pillars and seeming to work the place was what looked like three different races, or maybe one was just a machine? Machines with a dozen extensions with hooks, itself looking a lot like a squid in many senses, seemed to fill the air while the other two were very few and far between. One almost looked like a human while the other had a larger build that was hidden behind battle armor.
"What is this, Spark 755?" the officer asked the machine.
"This is a
Sidok Hive. Through years of research, the machines eventually found that the human brain can produce more energy than any other known source. These beings could be thousands of years old in sense, as they have a clone ready to fill its position when the mind is sucked dry. It is known for beings to wake up and escape the false reality, but normally these machines are capable on putting the body back in coma so they can continue mining it. The
Sidok and
Pitotians are remarkable beings, but a virus has infected their code. I had choice but to contain these hives so that their terror would not spread..." Spark 755 responded, "We should go now if you value your life, I think they have noticed us."
And so they had. Every being in the massive underground hive stopped their movements and focused on the door. What called this hive home immediately moved for the opening. The Sentinel beings started firing a bio-nuclear beam that had carried the same effects of plasma, while the other beings started firing other various munitions at them.
Spark 755 was closing the door, but a small group of six Sentinel made it through and the small force had to retaliate. Bullets started flying into the air while the S.P.A.D.E. were hitting the Sentinels with their pulse lasers. The six Sentinel would prove no match from the overbearing force of the weaponry, but in the end, the ED still did catch one alive. When the Sentinel was hit, it reverted back into it's normal form which looked like a dinosaur humanoid with a split jaw. The AI seemed to twitch on the ground like it was flesh, something that was definitely peaking their interest.
The ED units placed the Sidok in handcuffs and rolled him over to looked at the aliens face and talking to the other soldiers, "I don't know what's uglier, it's squid form or how it looks now!".
"It doesn't matter how ugly it is. We need to get it back up to the top." The officer spoke before turning to the other men, "I want all these machines back to the top. Now let's get moving before these things figure out how to get through that door or these bastards wake back up."
It didn't take long for the Fireknaught forces to gather the sentinels and the Sidok and start marching. The soldiers would talk about what they saw and what their minds came up with was wild despite Spark 755 giving them a simple synopsis on what it was. The officer himself would hang near Spark 755, and when their communications kicked back in, he sent a command to the surface to prepare for a P.O.W. and incoming for Core Unit and research unit. In the mix, he also sent a command to prepare to capture Spark 755, who had already sent the S.P.A.D.E. units away.
When the group was near the top, the Sidok woke up and began scanning the area. With a quick leap, the Sidok tried to make an escape. The Sidok didn't get too far before an ED unit brought it down again, this time placing a plasma band on the Sidoks ankles so it couldn't run again, and with the handcuffs putting restraints of the Sidok's system as if it was magic or energy of some kind, that prevented it from transforming.
With the P.O.W. knocked out again, the group continued with their haul. When the sunlight was seen, the soldiers all seemed to move a little faster despite dragging twelve foot long machines behind them. At the entrance, Arachnids lined up and carried off the Sentinel machines while the officer took the P.O.W. to one of the old structures that would be made into a makeshift jail protected by six Iron Machina soldiers.
As the Sidok machines were being took off, a force greeted Spark 755 and used ED Grenades and ED-Rifle: Model X1. The Fireknaught quickly detained Spark 755 and placed it in a container that seemed to look like a giant glass ball. The AI orb would remain here until the Fireknaught decided what they wanted to do with it; if it was friend of foe. For the time being, after such a long haul the officer took an hour break after sending a new request.
"Command, we have a P.O.W. and five more that we believe are dead. I'm sending you the files on my helm and decide what we want to do." The officer spoke as he pulled the data module from his helm and plugged it into what looked like a computer of some kind.
Shortly after the files were sent, forty
Guardian ships filled the atmosphere. It looked like fleets of airships were leaving the ships, dropping off supplies and soldiers to the currently established make shift base. It seemed as though the high command decided to invest in an invasion. The pirates would see hundreds of Alpha and Omega transports, not accounting the
Aries starfighters and
Firefly corvettes that filled the sky in a swarming motion. Even the pirates would know something was up at this moment, something that kept them more occupied inside the town than what was outside the camp.