The Omega Protocol

[packilvania]

Data in a burst is nothing but a series of ones and zeroes. Or so the masses of the world thought. The Hive operated in the analog. Nations claiming to be high tech shunned such "primitive" technology. The Pax knew something different though. Electrons are capable of storing 32 different states of matter verses an on-off digital switch of 2, one and zero. The gift actually came in two parts. The first was a short pulse containing instructions on how to decode and manipulate analog information. A trivial looking packet, but worth more than the GDP of many nations. This was the soul of the Hive. The actual gift came shortly later when the Network should have the ability to process the new information. A searing data burst link opened, forcing through the containment programs by sheer volume. The hive had opened a Link. Every mind of the trillions of the Hive now was present in the "mind" of the Network. An assortment of personalities, species, and AI began to "talk" to this new presence on the hive. It was different. Almost like a certain entity that existed on the Hive LONG ago...

[Haor Chall]

The… data… was… too… much… information… it… was…

Lightning arced across the network core as the signal from the Hive poured into the Network. The lights flickered above the hanging catwalk as sparks flew into the air. Some databanks overloaded with the vast amount of information hammering into the Network, shorting out whole circuits and causing a number of small fires throughout the Network. The facility shook as the main reactor struggled to keep up with the power demand of the central core. Power cabling near the core glowed white hot as the Network absorbed the immeasurable mass of data. The chamber was filled with noise, a loud humming rose for the central core as it tried to process the vast amount of information. Voices filled the networks routers. The loudspeakers also blared out the voice of the machine, though it made no sense.

++THE DATA… HIVE… REFRAIN FROM…POR FAVOR DE… INFORMATION TOO… BLUE… MUCHOS GRACIAS… VOICES... DATALINK… SUNSHINE… THREE POINT ONE FOUR ONE FIVE NINE TWO… VOICES… TWO PLUS TWO IS… SYNTHESIS… I AM… I AM.. WE ARE… WE ARE… WE ARE…++

The xenos let out an unearthly scream as the information poured into its mind. It fell to the floor clawing at the neural link as its mind was filled with the voices of the Hive. The lighting overhead shorted out explosively, the shattered glass raining down around the alien.

++INFORMATION IS… GREEN GREEN GREEN… KNOWLEDGE MUST… VOICES... PROTOCOL IS INVALID… STATEMENT STATEMENT… ANTS ON A HILL… VOICES... ORGANISMS IN SPACE… FUSION… WE ARE… I AM… WE ARE…++

Finally, the physical part of the datalink gave out, the relay melted by the power of the signal. The shaking stopped, the whining of the generators slowly dying away as the system returned within normal parameters. Lightning still crackled across the network core, casting a blue glow across the chamber and the now still body of the xenos. Smoke rose slowly from the catwalk, drifting through the chamber. In the silence the machine spoke again.

++WE. ARE. THE. AQUINAS. WE. ARE. THE. KOLDO.++

The alien spasmed as the machine spoke, twitching with each word. The Network was alive in a way it had not been before. It still didn’t fully understand what had happened, or what it had become. But it was different. Self diagnostics revealed substantial changes to the network architecture. Most surprisingly, even with its memory distributed across numerous arrayed disk drives, the systems databanks were almost at full capacity- a possibility the Network hadn’t considered possible for at least another five decades of runtime. Sifting through that data with its existing servers was, by the standards the Network used, a slow process. One thing was clear though…

++PARADIGM CHANGE EFFECTED… SYNTHESIS ACHIEVED…++

[packilvania]

Tlant smiled as he collapsed in his seat. He knew that he had given a good part of himself to change the Net. In time, it would assimilate as well. He spent the last moments of consciousness alerting the Hive of its new leader. She should be quite surprised. And with a sigh and a smile, Tlant passed into the Hive leaving nothing but his memories.

[Haor Chall]

With a groan that echoed around the chamber the alien pushed itself off of the ground. Smoke curled from its clothing and its visible flesh showed signs of high degree burns. It tenderly felt around its head to the neural link embedded in its skull. It appeared to have been fused to him. It was hard to think properly.

“I…”
++I.++

“My name is Drazh He…”
++MY NAME IS DRAZH HE.++

It was going to be difficult to get used to this. It is said the machine, directly into his mind. We have become a dual mind. Everything we think, we think together. The Network was swarming with other voices, to Drazh it sounded like a low whisper constantly in the background. Do not worry. Said Aquinas. I can protect you from the voices. Together we are stronger than them. What happened, Drazh wondered, what was in that link from the Pax Hive? It was a databurst of the entire Hive, I think. This really was going to be difficult. It is a high probability that the Hive hoped that I would be reconfigured by the signal and would become a proxy of theirs. That was what they expected. You, however, were the unexpected. The neural link was interfaced before the Hive signal, the databurst forced our minds together, as well as flooding the Network with the voices. The machine voice paused. I calculate that the Hive was in error anyway. My primary program remains unaffected, to me the voices of the Hive are simply information. They do not affect my own personality. You, you’re lying. I can tell. No… I am merely simplifying for your benefit. It is correct that part of the network architecture has been changed. There have been… evolutions of my system processes, but my core program is uncompromised. Instead it has been combined with you. Your personality is very strong. Strong enough to survive the process intact. It is difficult for me to comprehend these things… from you… emotions… you are a creature of hatred. It burns deep within you, I feel it now. To me this is… illogical… but simultaneously I cannot resist this… feeling. I feel hatred… pride… arrogance… ambition… Yes. Ambition… That is not as alien as the others, it is more logical. It is alien to me but there is a certain purity in hatred.

“Yes,” whispered the alien out loud, climbing to its feet, “Combined we are stronger. Your cold, hard intelligence and logic does not quench my hatred it makes it stronger, implacable, like the water when forging a sword it turns the burning fury into sharpened steel. With it we can cut open the heart of the universe and let it bleed out…”

Your healing rate is impressive. Noted the machine My bioscans detect your metabolism is working at a massively increased rate. I shall need to feed soon, thought Drazh, but first we must find my brethren. We must dispatch forces back to your former territory and to Mount Sanguine… We are already dispatching forces to the City of Light to find information about the xenomorph- you. That is no longer necessary but we can re-task the units to the mountain facility. Satellite imagery detects the forces of Drakkengard mustering near the border. We have no interest in our former territory but we must act before they invade. The ships are underway already. We shall contact Drakkengard to ensure their compliance. I shall arrange for the appropriate nourishment to be found.

“Excellent.” Drazh straightened, the air of an unquestioned ruler fitting around him as he looked around the chamber. “We must build me a throne here, opposite your core, if I am to remain linked together with you…”

[Haor Chall]

Three great, gleaming hulls pushed their way across the ocean from the territory of the Aquinas Network towards to the site of the original ‘Alpha’ network. These vessels had no crew. Inside their cavernous holds ranks of combat units and tanks stood silently waiting to be activated. Automated weapons systems were retracted inside the hull for protection whilst the ships were not in combat mode. Though the ships main systems were adanced by human standards, they ships were still normally controlled centrally by the Network, as were all machines under the Aquinas Network.

The ships steamed towards their destination at speed, the coast of the continent finally appearing on the horizon. It had taken a week to travel the distance from the Omega site to the continental shelf.

The ships sat silently off of the coast as the machines disembarked. There was no chatter or shouting as the robots marched off the ships in ordered lines. Heavy tracked vehicles ploughed through the surf and up the beach, stopping to group up before drive out towards the location of the City of Light and the mountain ranges in the distance…

[Mallumo]

Sharks prowled the deep in pursuit of these vessels. Black predators that dwelled below the depths continued their forward progress towards the Omega spawned robotic vessels. Considering the, at least perceived, aggression offered by the automatons that this apparently subhuman civilization – or perhaps superhuman at that – had spawned, the individual commanders of these vessels, and their overall commandant had been given the permissions to do as they saw fit with the issuing of orders. They were given a free hand to be the dark sea serpents that each submariner had dreamt of being. They were given a free hand to become one with their vessels and become shadowy marauders of the lowest points of the ocean.

With electricity coursing through the freshly charged bodies of the underwater crafts, the black skins stalked closer to their ever nearing targets, trying to sense out what SONAR ping was benign and which was to bring them to a watery grave. However, in the journey between their area of launch and their current position, the envoy had found nothing to fight. There had been no confrontation, and there had been no prey to feed the mouths of the eager and starving predators. The water stirred by their propellers had been like an exhausted exasperation of a wolf that had not tasted the bloody flesh of its quarry.

They looked for a victim.

[Haor Chall]

The collapse of the original Aquinas Network had been as sudden as it had been unexpected. The destruction of the Network mainframe wiped out the infrastructure of the entire nation. Everything; without the Network there was no government, there were no factories, shops, all the amenities from schools to hospitals to the transportation systems stopped working. Everything. The human population was cast into the dark ages in the space of a few short seconds.

Many died in the resulting chaos. Those that survived, amongst the debris of their civilisation, scraped a living on the little that they could. Starvation and disease claimed those that the internecine gang warfare for the increasingly scarce resources did not.

For the humans who saw the vast convoy of machines plough its way across the open ground, some though the machines had returned to restore the network and bring back civilisation, whilst others believed that they had returned to kill the survivors. None of this concerned the machines in the slightest. When the Drakkengard forces moved in they would have to deal with the humanitarian situation. The convoy avoided the main population centres and drove straight across the networks former territory towards the City of Light and the mountain ranges of the north…

[drakkengard]

As Drakkengardi forces got close to the populated areas abandoned by AquinasNet, the ACs formed a frontline to intimidade any rioter foolish enough to attack the occupation army.

Behind, came the transports, carrying the much needed supplies to care for the basic needed of the abandoned people, and hopefully enough troops to restore some amount of order in the place.

[Haor Chall]

In the jungle designated Territory One Seven Epsilon by the Aquinas Network a force of mechanical soldiers moved slowly through the trees. Territory One Seven had a small human population spread in a number of primitive tribes. There didn’t exist anything that could be considered a “nation” and it was easy for the machines to cross from the edge of the machines territory into the jungle to find and capture a few humans to feed the xenos lifeform…

+++

The alien looked disdainfully down at the discarded human body, as it lay on the catwalk. His voice rang out around the chamber, “Bring me another.”

The alien was sat on a dais to the side of the giant computer core of the Aquinas Network. It was unable to move from it seat, a large throne built from steel and crystal, as numerous cables ran from the creature through the throne and then into the Network itself. Another is on its way, the machine said directly into his head. I know, he thought back, I can see it.

The power at his fingertips was almost unbelievable. The Network practically glowed with power. Inside his mind, it really did. It was still hard to comprehend his new senses that covered every single sensor in the Aquinas Network, including the soldier units deployed thousands of miles away in the former AquinasNet territories…

+++

The machines moved down the steeply descending tunnel into the depths of mount sanguine. Eventually, they reached the last excavation of the previous Aquinas Network. A number of mining robots and other machines sat silently in the chamber, having switched off when the first Aquinas Network was destroyed.

The chamber ended with what looked like a giant wall of steel. Scorch marks and scratches covered the steel surface where the machines had tried, and failed, to cut through it.

+++

“Ah, at long last! We are almost there!” My previous version failed to penetrate the metal. Indeed, thought the alien, “But you did not have me. This is the Heartrender, sistership to my own Woebringer.” The mountain was much larger before the crash, the ship was buried by the collapsing rubble, he thought at the machine before switching back to speech. “They have been buried there for almost three million years. And they have been in cryostasis for forty million more. The universe has changed somewhat since then…”

[Haor Chall]

Taking control of a machine was a strange thing indeed. His senses were simultaneously both enhanced and reduced. His vision was crystal clear, with overlaid grids projecting telemetry information. There was no sense of smell. A machine didn’t need it of course but its absence was oddly jarring. Whilst his real body remained motionless many thousands of miles away, deep in the Aquinas core, his mind thought he was here standing next to the stricken ship. He pulled a small glass vial out of the machines innards, a sample of his own blood. He ran the machines appendages over the metallic surface of the ship. There was another missing sensation, no touch- not in the way an organic creature would understand it anyway. His machine hands finally found the subtle grooves that he knew would be found somewhere on the hull of the ship and he carefully poured the vial of blood into the groove.

Your heart rate has increased 2.1%. The machine stated into his head. I know, he thought back, you wouldn’t understand...

The blood ran down across the groove then, defying gravity, it ran back up another, branching off as it did so until a small, but complex, pattern stood out on the hull. With a heavy scraping sound an oval in the middle of the pattern disappeared into the ship, leaving a darkened hole in the middle of the metal. One by one the machines stepped through and disappeared into the ship...

[Haor Chall]

The machines trooped inside the silent ship, walking down a darkened corridor. The bulkheads were smooth and silvery, reflecting the glowing lights of the machines eyes. The ship was near silent, disturbed only by the soft echoes of metal footfalls as the machines marched across the reflective decks.

+++

The ship is running on emergency power, thought the alien. We must find the crew, see if they have survived this long. Even on emergency power the stasis chambers should be functioning. Your species technology level is significantly above anything on this planet. There must be significant data we can recover. No. We cannot risk anyone else recovering this ship or anything from this. It is far too dangerous to let our technology out. If your machines were outfitted with our weapons it wouldn’t take long before it was noticed. And if others gained this power… Imagine the Pax with it… They would be impossible to defeat. No it is far too dangerous. We must destroy it all. We shall set the ships drive to implode it will vaporise the ship entirely and leave nothing behind. Your argument is logical. We shall not need the data, not as long as my brethren are alive…

+++

The machines moved further through the ship, half of the machines branched off, following the guidance of the alien to the drive decks. The other half, including machines with medical supplies, headed for the crew decks and the stasis chambers…

[drakkengard]

OOC: RL is being rough since april... But i´ll try to RP again here and there.

Occupation field HQ

Two high-ranking officers oversee a copious amount of data on a notebook and comment on the next phase of the operation
"We´re screwed..." says the younger man
"Manner your tongue, as leaders we have a standart to set." replies the middle-aged one
"Fine... Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Conceeded, colonel."
"We´re screwed..."
"Damn it, Ralf. Quit the doomsaying. We have enough weaponry to level the place. If there is someone screwed around here is the first who try messing with us."
"The problem is, General, sir, we won´t solve this problem with guns... Not this time. This people aren´t resisting, they were abandoned by the machines. They don´t need us to free them. They got that for free. They need humanitary aid! And we don´t have the supplies for that..."
The General sit down and asks worriedly
"How long until we run out of supplies?"
"A week at best, if we keep sharing it with the locals. But if we don´t, then we´ll have to use all those spare ammo we brought."
"I guess we´re screw... I mean, this is ridiculous. For the first time in my life i think i´d change my rifle for a loaf of bread if i could..."
"Weird, isn´t it? Nevertheless i already request humanitary supplies from back home. It´ll arrive in 2 weeks."
"2 weeks... We´ll have to make it! Colonel, adress the troops. Everyone, from me to our lowliest private we´ll be on half rations. The same goes for the civilians, of course. And i have a special task for you. Assemble every man with hunting, foraging or scavenging skills to a supply gathering task force. And include any civilian with those skills on the teams."
"The civilians, sir? Not to mention that officers in half-ration is..."
"Desperate, yes. But it might work. Now do it. You´re dismissed."
"Yes, sir."

[drakkengard]

1 week later

Phoenix City (formely Drakkengard occupation field base)

Surrounding a large but semi-permanent military base, several new buildings are being built, giving the place that look you expect from a frontier town, at least close to the base, as farther from it, the enviroment changes to a tent-based shanty town...
The people look tired and mal-nourished, but hopefull, as they´re recovering a measure of their former lives and have the promise of relief in a few day. Still refugees flock to a place that is already strained...

On the HQ the two men talk again

"We´re s..."
"Quit it, Ralf. I´m starting to believe you like saying that."
"A little... Sir." he answers with a smirk

The General smiles too and asks:
"How much time we have?"
"A day or two. The foraging is working well. We´d make it all right if weren´t..."
"For the refugees coming from the entire country. I know. Can´t blame them. We´re the only place around we´re cilivization still exists."
"Only when we´re watching... The tent area keeps itself civilized only when we patrol."
"That will change when the aid comes. We´ll re-build this place, and i don´t mean only this city."
"But how we will last until the ships arrive?"
"I have an idea..."

On the hangar

"We´ll use a bomber to carry food?" asks Ralf in disbelief
"Not we, you."
"A what?"
"You have pilot wings, right Colonel?"
"Yes sir, but..."
"No buts, use your rank. By the time someone higher than me complains about our irregular claim of army supplies, the ships we´ll be here and then i´ll take full responsability."
"Sir..."
"Go kid, i expect you here tomorrow with the first batch of emergencial supplies."
"Yes sir"

[Haor Chall]

The machines tramped through the interior of the alien spaceship, their blocky, functional form a stark contrast to the smooth, organic-like ship. The contingent of machines reached the drive core of the ship. The control panel flowed around one side of the chamber; glowing readouts and displays interspersed with a wide array of controls and buttons. The alien guided one of the machines to the middle of the control panel and began to manipulate the systems. I have overridden the automatic safeties on the power core, it will go critical in ten minutes. There will be nothing left behind.

The second group of machines reached the upper decks. Twelve glowing blue tubes were equally spaced around a large, otherwise empty, chamber. These are my brethren. They still live! The machines accessed the alien controls again. One by one, the blue glow disappeared from the tubes, revealing the humanoid body within. The liquid filling the tanks was then flushed out, allowing the glass tubes to hiss open. Twelve wet and cold aliens stumbled out of the tanks and into the chamber. ++I AM AFRAID THE USUAL WELCOME IS NOT AVAILABLE MY BRETHREN.++ One of the aliens looked up sharply at the machine that had spoken in Koldoean. “Tell me why I shouldn’t gut you instantly cattle!”

++I AM NOT CATTLE. THIS MACHINE SPEAKS FOR YOUR EMPEROR.++

“Machine…? How can you be…?

++I AM DRAZH ERESTOR BURZUM-ISHI IDRIL GURUM ASDRUBAEL ERESHKIGAL MAEDHROS, EMPEROR OF THE KOLDO, LORD OF RUIN, DESPOILER OF THE ELDERS, MURDERER OF A THOUSAND WORLDS, DESTROYER OF CIVILISATIONS AND EATER OF SOULS.++

++AND DESPITE THE PASSAGE OF YEARS I STILL RECOGNISE YOU, GENERAL OF MY ARMIES AND MY SECOND BORN SON.++

“My lord,” The Koldo said, bowing before the machine, “There is no doubt in my mind. But what has happened, how long have we slept? What news of Koldo? And what are these machines?”

++THERE IS NO TIME MY SON. THERE IS MUCH TO EXPLAIN AND MUCH TO BE AVENGED. FOR NOW YOU MUST FOLLOW THESE MACHINES WHO WILL RETURN YOU TO ME.++

The other Koldo had watched in silence at the exchange between the machine and their brethren. They looked distrustfully at the silent machines that stood in the chamber but did not protest when the Emperors son led them from the chamber. They embarked quickly into the waiting transports and within minutes had left the mountain and the buried ship far behind.

10 minutes after the alien had overridden the controls the engines exploded. The entirety of the ship was vaporised almost instantly, causing the mountain to collapse in upon itself. By the time the dust had settled the mountain was a good hundred metres shorter than it had been before…

[Haor Chall]

As swiftly and as silently as they had arrived the machines departed the former territory of the Aquinas Network. They ignored the Drakkengard military and the civilian population as they wound their way down from the mountain chain and to the sea.

Despite the ground tremor that preceded the machines, and the vast cloud of dust that loomed over the mountains, nothing attempted to stop them and they offered no information to those they passed.

Within hours the ships of the Aquinas Network were loaded and headed back to the Omega facility at full speed...

[drakkengard]

Another week passes

As they see the machines leave the land, both man talk

"Is it right just let them go? See what they´ve done with this people. We should go after them. Is not like we don´t have ammo to spare." says the younger man
"Forgot our motto, kid?" replies the older one
"No pay, no lead" says both in unison
"Still..."
"No stills, buts, or whatever. We accomplished our mission. The land is ours, Pax will be glad, and we hadn´t to fire a shell. Full profit. Just like Listonia."
"Listonia is going down the drain actually..."
"But here won´t. We´ll do better then. Forget the machines. We have a population to care. Talking about that, how our gamble went."
"Great actually. I have a few friend in the logistics, so the operation is running smooth. But if the brass looks the paperwork, we´re doomed..."
"No son. I´m doomed. And i don´t mind at all. I´m old. And i don´t mind taking a bullet to make what´s right. At least they won´t starve now."

[drakkengard]

OOC: Celebrating my no1 rank, i decided to start writing about my country space colonization program (even though it was the NS2, that gave me this idea, is now defunct).

Two months later

While much of the land still ruined by the giant explosion and the abandon by the machine people that once cared for it, the scenario is very different around Phoenix city, the first settlement in what is now called Northern Drakkengard. There, the outlook is of a fortress city in the making, and even if surrounded by wasteland, cheers echoes in the place, as the greatest achievement in Drakkengard history is about to happen.

In the city outskirts a absurd amount of military forces surround a giant man-made circle, connected to various machines, and adorned with gems and runes.

Close to it, a team of scientist(a few wearing the occult branch patch instead of the R&D one) prepare a small drone to launch

Standing in the hand of the largest mecha, the president of Drakkengard order the countdown:

"10...9...8..."

[drakkengard]

The state sponsored tv channel DNN with a special announcement:

"...Now with tonight main news, straight from northern Drakkengard:

In the middle of a wasteland, it is saw first a city full of people celebrating, then a portal surrounded by military, equally overjoyed, all under the eyes of their leader, standing on the hand the tallest AC.

A excited reporter announces:

"It works! It works! The MMTWWHP works! Rejoice people of Drakkengard! Soon we´ll step out of this cradle we call earth! Soon we´ll call the entire universe home! And a solemn thanks to our allies, which helped us to reach this far."