Chapter 1
Three Autonomous Bipedal Type IR Units fly over the immaculate artificial ocean of a terraformed Mars towards the SSUN’s most prized city. The resistance’s forces are thought to be from Venus, judging from the projected approach vector on atmospheric entry. Pilot unit 08: Hachi is ordered onto the Non-Autonomous Bipedal Type IR Unit Kitsune, an experimental unit with a new iteration of the system, IR 7.0. It has been 22 years in development.
“Systems check, all stable.” Pilot unit 08 flatly stated from the cockpit of the titanium beast.
The faceless voice on the other end of the communicator barked in reply, “Dispense as soon as possible. Those Resistance Units are heading directly for the city.”
Pilot unit 08 glared through the featureless red helmet of her pilot suit as she harshly pressed the throttle of her unit forward, launching the mecha out at a breakneck speed before transitioning into an upward spin to visually locate the enemy units. Off to the west around 8 miles away, she used her unit’s secondary optic to take a look.
“One… two, I see 5 units.” Pilot unit 08 counted from the temporary resting place she had taken in the sky.
Adjusting her trajectory, Pilot unit 08 took a shallow dive in the direction of the units, letting her flight system guide her as she retrieved one of the unit’s plasma sabers. To let it heat up, she ignited it, watching the blade deform from the movement of her unit. As she approached, she allowed the flight unit’s thrusters to die down as she threw the unit’s weight around into a spin, running the saber through 2 units in a single sweep before confirming that they had been disabled.
The remaining 3 units dispersed upward, forcing Pilot unit 08 to re-engage her flight unit and pursue them one at a time. The enemy units were not focused on her, but rather the city, and judging from the flight vectors, specifically the Foundation HQ, her home, and where the SSUN’s IR Units are developed. Pilot unit 08 redirected her momentum to head slightly south, where her next target was about to be. Once she reached it, her unit was unexpectedly kicked by the enemy. Clearly, the Resistance hadn’t developed fully autonomous units, these were remotely controlled by pilots, but how could they have this quick reaction time all the way from Venus?
Pilot unit 08 disregarded the thought as she re-engaged, now with her light plasma carbine, letting a burst out onto the enemy unit, causing some armor damage and distracting the pilot as they engaged their projectile shields. She took the advantage to rush with her plasma saber, impaling the unit and letting it fall to the ocean. She had 2 more units to take care of, but luckily they were in a line. Unfortunately, they were nearing the shoreline of the city. Pilot unit 08 activated the overdrive on her flight unit for additional speed.
She set her plasma saber to its maximum setting and held it forward as she charged the two units from their blind spots. She watched the plasma saber become a cone from the movement distortion as it melted through the two IR Units cleanly. Deactivating and holstering both weapons, Pilot unit 08 readjusted her flight vector back to the Foundation HQ to dock.
“As expected, no major damage was detected on the Kitsune. The pilot unit’s neurological patterns are normal. It is functioning properly.” A researcher stated as the Kitsune returned to its post.
The voice spoke up on Pilot unit 08’s communicator, “Hachi, the emergency mission was a success. You may return to your quarters.”
Pilot unit 08 removed her helmet, feeling the fresh air uncontaminated by the Foundation’s chemicals fill her lungs. She felt her heart rate slow to a resting pace and her mind open back up as her focus was allowed to drift. Stepping out of the unit and onto the catwalk in the Foundation’s Bipedal Type bay, she glanced at the developmental larger IR Unit in the back, the Oni. She had vague flashes of memories testing it, her heart racing, and her own loss of consciousness.
The sound of the cleaners snapped her back to reality as personnel obligatorily sprayed the Kitsune down after the mission. She continued into the facility and down a corridor, with her quarters in mind. As she took the walk to her room, none of the personnel or researchers paid her any mind. She fulfilled her function, and was proceeding to storage. On her way, she stopped as she overheard a conversation between a researcher and an SSUN official about her.“Why are you still pushing the pilot unit system if it’s proven to have such disastrous results twice in a row?” Questioned the official.
The researcher reassured the official, “I assure you, we’ve worked past the… difficulty we’ve faced in the past. Our current pilot unit is much more stable than the previous iteration. It’s quite unlikely to rebel against us.”
“How can you be so sure? The pilot unit is a living, breathing being. It’s going to inherently question your authority if you allow something like that to think.” The official questioned further.
The researcher smiled, “We have measures to prevent such thought this time around, and in the event of another incident, there is a contingency.”
“This is your last chance. The SSUN has put too many resources into this project to let you continue after another failure. And-” The official glanced at the door to notice Pilot unit 08 standing there.
Without expression, Pilot unit 08 continued on her route, still ignored by personnel and researchers. What was that discussion about? Twice in a row, he said, were there previous iterations of her? Was she not the first surviving pilot unit? The thoughts made her dizzy, as possible conclusions for what was going whizzed through her head. Feeling nauseous, she laid down in her bed once she reached her quarters before passing out, partially from combat exhaustion. As she felt her consciousness slip away, she considered that maybe the combat exhaustion was the cause of her difficult thoughts.
As usual, her dreams were a combat simulation due to the chip installed in her brain. Battle after battle, fighting had become monotonous over the time she was working with the SSUN. Target center, eliminate. Target center, eliminate. The enemy was never interesting, despite having a different approach. The IR 7.0 system made things easy. As the simulation ended, she felt the image of her room fade back in. She had likely opened her eyes again several minutes ago, but the simulation hadn’t finished.She stepped out of her quarters, the thoughts from the previous day still in the back of her mind. Proceeding to her order reception room, she awaited her next mission.
