Abominable Intelligence

Audio Transcript removed from Majesty Archives under orders of High Deacon Jericho Maverock. Audio transcript follows.

“Eight hours ago, an Overseer AI went rogue at the hydroplant beneath Mount Solaris, all communication went dead six hours ago, and we believe all assets lost. Before all contact was lost the facility security managed to bring the lab into lockdown. However, moments before the failsafe activated a high-density information packet was beamed to the outside, corrupting all machine-guard and drone-worker units. Intelligence tells us this was the work of our rogue AI trying to escape.

Your mission objective is located two kilometres south of the facility on lake Duinn. There is a large power reactor at the bottom, but it connects to the surface at the backup control units. Your team needs to overload these systems, enough to generate a wide scale EMP, which should knock out any electronics in a twenty-kilometre radius.

These orders are from a High Deacon, So I cannot stress the importance enough"

Duinn Lake incident mission briefing, Majtek commander Ulrich Weller, speaking to Sigma

Sigma Team Leader Typhus pulled himself from the burning wreck. The raging inferno that had been a Goshawk fighter-carrier turned the normally sold snow to sludge, making the effort of crawling even more difficult. Still, Typhus, was grateful for the heat, not the flames threatening to consume him of course, but after losing his environmental suit in the crash he was happy for the warmth.

He grunted as his leg caught under a fallen ammunition crate. Cursing, he half turned to lie on his back, the cold wet feeling seeping through his protective shirt wasn’t the most pleasant, but it allowed him to lift his free leg and kick the crate off him. There came a grinding sound and Typhus didn’t know if it was the crate or the bone in his leg, but the sense of relief and feeling that flooded back into his formerly trapped limb made him not care at all.

Now free, Typhus pushed himself to his knees and nearly collapsed. A nauseous wave surged through his head, and his vision blurred. Biting back vomit, he forced his legs to stand and breathed the cold air deeply.

Typhus was a man most would overlook, other than a small cut above his left eye there was nothing remarkable about him, which is preciously why Majtek had chosen him for blackops, and it had given him valuable experience in hazardous situations. He had survived worse landings than this and would probably survive even more if he could complete this mission.

His mind cleared, Typhus assessed the situation. The squad was scattered at best, or, more likely, dead; his gear and ammo, other than the small hold out pistol mag-locked to his hip, was lost and the only extraction for the next forty hours had just been reduced to scrap. All in all, the mission was a total failure, and he should make his way to the nearest shelter and wait for the next team to be sent in, but this was no normal mission.

He checked the immediate surroundings, and the small satellite map imprinted on the corner of his augmented left eye. The objective beacon was still showing, and it showed his position relative, relieved he wasn’t as far away as he had dreaded Typhus blink-clicked the map away. With no other option, he dusted himself off and began the arduous trek through the mountains.

***

The journey to the power reactor hadn’t been easy, moving across mountain terrain while under equipped and injured made it even more difficult. Despite this setback however Typhus made better time than expected, and soon found himself at the edge of the clearing which surrounded the lake.

Sitting heavily on a fallen pine tree, Typhus scanned the area, his eyes trained over decades of wetwork looked for anything out of place. His busy brows furrowed into a frown, the snowstorm the night before had been fierce, making it possible any disturbance would have been covered by fresh snow, but the feeling worming its away around his gut told Typhus this wasn’t the case. Even after the fiercest of storms animals would emerge afterward and the ground would mark their passage, but not even animal trails could be seen. Typhus turned his head from side to side listening for any other sound other than his laboured breathing, but again nothing. His palms began to sweat, a tell-tale sign something was out of place all of his battle honed instincts were screaming, the seemingly open barren land before him and his objective was a trap. This feeling troubled him greatly, a standard Overseer AI didn’t process the knowledge to lay traps.

It also wouldn’t have the armaments to shoot you down either Typhus reminded himself. It was stupid to think the AI hadn’t absorbed information when it had started its rampage, it had been able to take over a Majesty blacksite, who knew what knowledge it now held.

Glancing down at his wrist he checked the chronometer and sighed. Not much time left he thought as he cocked his head slighting, having spotted a particularly suspicious mound buried beneath the snow. He knew he would have to risk crossing the opening, the other entrance to the reaction was the other side of the lake, and there wasn’t a way to be sure the AI hadn’t placed another ambush there as well.

Looking directly across the two hundred yard of snow to the lake. A lone walkway floated on the surface, barely wide enough to accommodate a single person, and even with his enhanced cybernetic eye Typhus could not see the end of it, the perma-mist the lake was infamous for had engulfed the walkway.

You have a choice here Typhus thought picking himself up from the rotten tree. Sit here and freeze to death or run headlong into a trap for an underdetermined distance. To make matters even more dire, the explosive charges required to overload the reactor were lost in the crash. Typhus hoped he could find something inside to help, but first he had to get there.

Taking inventory, he wasn’t at all pleased to be reminded all he had to defend himself was a pistol, three sticks of ammunition, and an electro knife, whose charge neared its terminus. Drawing a deep breath, he broke out into a run. There was no point in trying to be stealthy, there wasn’t enough time, plus if the things hidden within the snow were machine-guard they would sense him the moment he entered the clearing.

Typhus made it twenty feet into the clearing before the mounds started to move and shake off their camouflage. The silver metal figures rose from the snow like revenants, bodies possessed by a supernatural malice, and as Typhus got a clear look at them the term could not have been more perfect. To his rising horror he realised these things were not normal worker drones, they were genesis cyborgs. A union of flesh and steel, the body of man reinforced with a mechanical exoskeleton. Typhus felt a surge of sympathy override his initial revulsion for a moment, but he forced it down. Even though the AI had hijacked the minds of these people and made them into mindless drooling puppets, he could not allow pity to stay his hand, besides he wasn’t entire sure he could harm them. Genesis cyborgs were military grade, and each one of their four extra limbs could cut and tear their way through armoured vehicles. They could also run at speeds far exceeding an average unaugmented human, for Typhus this was a very bad situation to be in, but he’d made the commitment. Digging deep within Typhus pushed his body to its limits and continued his way to the catwalk.

The genesis cyborgs became aware of the intruder in their midst, their drooping slack faces turned feral, and as one they let out a scream, half binary, half rage. The sound sounded throughout the lake and surrounding valley, soon the scream rebounded back from the forest, countless other mindless puppets answering its call.

Seconds later Typhus reached the walkway, wasting no time to see the screaming horrors following, he moved as fast as his legs could carry him, and rushed blindly into the gloom. Moments later the sound of metal striking metal reached his ears, the tiny piece of fortune in their slow reaction had now waned, judging from the piston-like sound from behind they were moving at speed and swiftly gaining ground.

Risking a backward glance, Typhus, saw the gloom had swallowed the path behind him, but the lurching shapes of his pursuers were still quite clear.

The sudden sound of water being disturbed gave him enough warning to react to the cyborg erupted from the water, flying directly toward him. Typhus’ body reacted before his mind could process the threat, he dived forward into a roll, barely avoiding the horror’s adamantine claws; continuing his roll he returned to his feet and straight back into the run.

The sounds of his would-be murderers were getting closer, and he’d soon be overrun, but just as that despairing thought entered his mind, he saw two red emergency lights shine through the gloom like beacons. Typhus almost laughed in relief, perhaps he would have to, if not for a strong vice-like grip didn’t suddenly clasp around his foot.

“Shit” he barked, falling to the metal heavily, smashing his face into the hard catwalk. With no time to react Typhus felt he was being pulled back. Spitting blood, he half turned, pulled free his pistol and fired at the hand crushing his foot. The magnetically charged bullets, which could devastate a human body, bounced harmlessly away. Cursing Typhus watched as another claw emerged from the murky waters and the submerged cyborg began to pull itself out and onto the walkway. The horror’s screaming face came next, its lifeless eyes fixed Typhus with a murderous glare. The veteran sigma commander didn’t blink and fired two shots straight through the horror’s eyes. The tight grip loosened instantly allowed him to scramble back to his feet, just in time to narrowly duck under a vicious sweep by another horror, its buzzsaw skimming the top of his head. Typhus responded and fired another salvo of shots into the horror’s face, the cyborg’s head snapped back, and it started to tumble over, but stopped, slowly righted itself and resumed its assault. The horror in the water he had shot in the eyes was also beginning to clamber back onto the path.

I can’t stop them panicked Typhus, retreating step by step. He’d been forced to draw his combat knife to fend off the mad, frenzied flail of metal limbs attacking him from all sides. He was now sporting several cuts along his arms and one particularly nasty wound on his right shoulder. It would be only a matter of seconds before a lucky strike got through.

He bit back a curse, to be so close and fail galled him, he knew this failure would result in more deaths, hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives would be lost.

“Get down” shouted a voice from behind, his ears also picked up the tell-tale whine of mag-rifles charging their deadly payload. Typhus dropped into a crouch just in time to feel the air rush past him. The cybernetic horror in front of him exploded as it was torn apart by high powered rounds. Another volley of rounds swept past before he felt himself being dragged towards the control room doors.

“Get him inside, quickly!” came the voice again. It belonged to his second, Ayako. Typhus found he was smiling, though, he did feel guilty at the disservice of believing them dead.

*

“Situation report” Typhus asked his second. The four were huddled around the control room central console. The horrors outside were trying their best to break in but the reinforced walls and blast doors would easily keep them out.

“We arrived here a few hours ago and have been trying to restore power to open the reactors shields” Ayako explained, absently cleaning her rifle.

“How are we on that?” Typhus turned to address the team’s sapper.

“Only a few more minutes, sir” Wyford answered, his eyes never lifting from the screen in front of him.

“Very good, ah thank you” Typhus received the hot tea handed to him gratefully.

“Don’t thank me, sir” smiled the giant Malax. “It’s Baen’s supply” he added with a rueful chuckle before moving back to maintain guard over the doors.

Typhus sipped and sighed dreamily at the taste. “And where is Baen?”

“Climbed up one of the antennas on the roof, he’s the one who spotted your run” explained Ayako, she hesitated then before continuing. “We lost Viktor on the way here” she added quietly. “We got ambushed by an Ogre on route and Viktor was closest to it”

“The damned thing torn him apart” Malax added bitterly. “Literally torn him limp from limp and as we ran here, I was sure it was peeling his skin off” Typhus was stunned for a moment, this level of violence was new, even for something as insane as an AI.

“Reactor covers are retracting” Wyford announced rising from his chair.

“Malax, Ayako, get those charges set.” Typhus ordered them before moving over to join the youngest member of the team. “What’s wrong?”

“There should be four reactor covers, but only three are showing up in this room”

“Where’s the fourth?”

“Out back, there’s a small safety system” Wyford answered, looking apprehensive at leaving the control room.

“Give them to me” Typhus said grabbing the demo chargers, after some thought he grabbed the detonator. “Once you’ve finished, get to safety and head toward the extraction I’ll follow afterward.

“Sir” began Ayako, but Typhus cut her off.

“It only takes one of us to set the last charge and you three stand a better chance of escape without waiting for this old cripple” he said pointing to his ruined foot.

It looked like they were going to argue against the idea but a sudden buzz in their ears alerted them to a com-message.

“Sir, this is Baen, we’ve got trouble”

“What’s happening?”

“That Ogre is back, do you want me to take a crack at it?”

“No, get down here you’re leaving with the others”

“Sir” was all the reply Baen gave.

*

There were no horrors awaiting them on the southern walkway, which was a good stroke of luck. Typhus watched as the others made a hasty retreat down it before turning his attention back to the maintenance hatch. Pulling the level, he dragged the hatch up and peered into a mess of wires and conduit.

“Any place should do” kneeling it placed the charge beneath some of the wires and stepped back to reseal the hatch. The door leading to the control room exploded outwards and through it came the Ogre. Typhus nearly gagged at the sight, the simian machine was splattered with dark red blood, and the flesh of Viktor clung to it like a wet rag.

“You piece of shit” Typhus bristled with anger at the sight, the utter disregard for any decency. He knew he wouldn’t be able to kill the damned thing, it was a tank killer not to mention it stood at fifteen feet, it felt like he was facing down a mech, but there was no way he’d allow this thing to chase after the rest of his team.

Pulling his pistol free he fired three rapid shots into the monster’s facial oculus, but it did nothing, other than enrage the thing. The Ogre screamed the high-pitched binary howl and charged. With each step the walkway bounced and shifted, and it was a struggle for Typhus to remained standing.

The Ogre closed in with frightening speed, and its right arm reared back to deliver a body destroying blow, but Typhus dove forward and under the machine’s legs. The Ogre’s punch sailed over him, but smashed into the walkway shattering the bridge, if he hadn’t managed to evade there’d likely be nothing left of him remaining. The monster-machine turned its head, the angry red oculus seeking out its prey. It turned to face the small human again and strode forward.

“I don’t think so” Typhus sneered holding the detonator for it to see. The Ogre stopped midstride, and he could feel the malicious intelligence riding it was examining the detonator. After a few tense seconds, the ogre continued. “That’s bought enough time I think” Typhus whispered before pressing the button.

Nothing happened

Typhus’ head turned so quick it could have spun off. The charge! In his haste to get the job done he’d forgotten to synch it with the others. Leaping toward the hatch, he reached for the charge, but the ogre reached him first. Its toro sized hand grabbed hold of its leg and in one easy motion, pull the leg off completely.

The pain was enough to blackout to by Typhus managed to stay awake, he couldn’t stop himself from screaming however, but that mattered little. All sense of survival gone, he crawled forward and reached into the hatch. His fingers brushed the button needed before the ogre grabbed his arm. Typhus heard a satisfying click as the charge synched with the others, he laughed as the ogre lifted him up to its face.

“I’ve got you now” Typhus laughed and pressed the button again.

The world turned into noise, white light and heat as the charges exploded overloading the reactor and releasing the EMP, and the last thing the AI heard was the mocking dying laughter of its prey. The lives of thousands have just been saved, and no-one other than the surviving members of sigma would ever know.