Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

UNSC Juno, 50 Light Years from Copper-9
January 2nd 3080, 24 hours before First Contact

“So, what’s this I hear about the anomaly Copper-9?” The general pours tea into a cup as another general sits across him in his office

“Well Pollon, our reconnaissance probes have discovered that somehow… It was terraformed to its pre-collapsed state,” General Kimov takes a sip of the oolong tea as Pollon nods slowly

“Has anyone else raised concern over this?” Pollon asks putting down the tea on his desk

“Apart from the cabinet, we haven’t told the rank and file soldiers or the civilians with us, best if we discuss our plan of action first,” Kimov leans back on the chair as he lets out a deep sigh

“Should we?” Pollon gets up and gestured to the door

“We should, they’re probably starting about now…” Kimove gets up dusting off his coat as he walks out the door with Pollon

UNSC Juno; War room

The room was filled with the hushed whispers of both high ranking officers and civilian officials as they discussed what the next course of action will be.

“I haven’t seen this much buzz since the war,” Pollon scans the room before looking to Kimov

“Ah yes, the old days when we’d all sit here to discuss how we’re going to survive the onslaught,” Kimov sighs solemnly as he looks Pollon nodding slowly at him as he gestured to a seat

“Okay everyone, may I have your attention!” A voice calls out onto the pulpit

“As many of you know…” He looks at the eyes of everyone in the room as sweat drips down his face

“A-as many of you may know… We have seen the photos and reports of the Copper-9 anomaly…” He adds after drawing his breath looking at the crowd of people before him

“President Yahya,” A voice interjects

“What does this mean for all of us?” He adds

“It means we can finally settle down,” Another female voice joins in

“How will we know if the locals will be friendly?” Pollon raises the question

“The reports state that the worker drones are on the surface it seems though that they have established some form of industrial aged civilisation,” Pollon points to the report he was handed out

“That’s absurd! They could never accomplish such a feat without us!” Someone shouts from across the room

“Have some respect! It's commendable that they have done so much without our help!” Another voice challenges.

The room soon bursts into chattering and loud debates over whether or not they would be able to share the planet with their former ‘slaves’ or whether they should be called slaves in the first place, will they be friendly or will they drive them back to space again?

“Order! Order in the room!” Yahya yells before burying his face in his palms

“It’s gonna be a long day isn’t it?” He mutters to himself

Copper-9, Colony-3 Outskirts, Ironville

The quiet hum of the distant city can still be heard in the clear evening skies of Copper-9 as the worker drones go about their evenings. Cyn sits on a porch waiting for her beloved Thad to come home as she cradles their child in her arms

“Who is a little cutie? Yes you are,” She coos at her child who giggles as a car pulls up on the road

“Looks like daddy is home,” She smiles as she walks out from the porch

“Thanks for the ride Chad! See you in a few weeks,” The green-eyed worker drone waves as the car speeds off

“Cyn!” He yells rushing towards her in his still dirty military uniform

“How are you my dear?” She smiles kissing his forehead

“It was a long day…” He sighs as he takes the pill baby off her arms

“What’s wrong? You seem… Worried…” She tilts her head as she lets go of her embrace

“It’s… Well…” He breaks eye contact before taking a deep breath. He looks back at Cyn, she looks at him concerned

“The 51st Is going out to deal with the Insurgents in the new continent…” He explains as the weight of the news hits Cyn hard

“What… You mean…” She gasps softly trying to hold back her tears

“Yeah… I know…” He hugs Cyn with their child in hand

“I- I just wished this was all a bad dream, I want the wars to stop…” She cries quietly as Thad tries to hush her

“L-let’s just go inside and not think too much about it… Okay honey?” He whispers kissing her on the cheek

“Okay,” Cyn nods wiping her tears off her face as the three of the go into their little home together

Ironville downtown suburban zone, Cathedral of The Holy Solver

Doll perches atop a cathedral overlooking the city square. The skyline of Colony-3 is visible from here as the lights turn into a mix of dim orange, yellow and white as the sun above Copper-9 begins to set leaving the glowing ringed gas giant it orbits radiating a brilliant white. It had been a few years since her and many of the dead worker drones were given a second chance through weird solver magic, owing to their cores being saved into its hivemind unlike those killed by the disassembly drones. She observes the church goers filing in for the evening sermon…

“[Quaint…]” She thinks to herself observing her faithful worshippers. She pouts for a moment relishing in the cold wind with her hair flowing down her head before she hears a sigh from behind her

A young worker drone sits on a corner overlooking another part of the landscape where the city is abruptly stopped by the vast featureless grassland plains of the landscape.

“[What are you doing here young one?]” She slowly levitates beside her

“O-oh! M-m’lady!” She gets up on her feet bowing after getting off the ledge onto the concrete roof flooring

“[Be not afraid young one, tell me, what are you doing here?]” Doll smiles trying to assure her she’ll be fine

“I- I just want some time for myself, I apologise for not attending the sermon, great one,” She prostates in front of her before kneeling with her head down in shame

“[It is fine, I don’t really care if you pray to us or not… What matters is that you don’t harm anyone here.]” Doll lowers herself to her eye level smiling at the young worker drone who returns the gesture

“Thank you, my goddess…” She bows as she walks back down with Doll.

Colony-3 Maritime Shipyards

“Hey come on! Pick up the pace, we need the equipment loaded by tonight!” A worker drone yells as he orders his workers to load up the crates of military hardware on board

“How is the loading going?” A high pitched feminine Australian voice calls out

“Ma’am Tessa! We should have these loaded in an hour or so,” He reports, gesturing to the group of worker drones hard at work bringing the equipment aboard a WDF convoy vessel

“Excellent and how about our current shipments? Have the insurgents intercepted any of our ships?” She asks as the pair stroll beside the harbour with the worker drone flipping through the papers on his clipboard

“We did have an incident just a few hours ago, the insurgents managed to damage the WDFN Iron Gate but it suffered little damage, I have already filed out the report for it,” He explains pointing to a ship that had just entered the port

“Goddamn innies…” Tessa mutters under her breath clenching her fists

“Well after this one’s done, your shift guys can go home for the day, if you need anything you know who to call,” She adds before unfurling her wings and flying off

UNSC Juno, 10 Hours before first contact

The man wakes up for the day… Or lack thereof. He takes a look outside the window and sees that the ship has entered hyperslip which is very unusual unless they had a good reason to. As he enters the toilet to freshen up, he can’t help but feel that something feels off today, maybe it was the bad memories of the war or the fact the ship went into hyperslip but he tries to not think about it too much.

“Hey, James? Are you there?” A voice calls out from outside the bathroom door

“Huh? Thomas? That you?” He yells back as he puts on an olive tank top and cargo pants before opening the door

“Thomas… What is it?” He tilts his head, wiping it with a towel

“Them folk in high command say we’re being deployed,” He explains

“What?” James exclaims at the news

“How- When and wha-???” He blinks wildly at Thomas

“No time, they want us in an hour,” Thomas explains before he turns around and goes back to his room

UNSC Juno, 9 Hours before first contact

Lieutenant James sits down with Captain Thomas and a few of his friends in the army all in chatter for what could possibly be happening

“Ah, my friend, glad you could make it,” A thick middle eastern accent calls out

“Ah you know i have to Hamzah,” He laughs before shaking his hand

“Okay, listen up!” A loud voice booms into the mic

“Yesterday, around 0900, our reconnaissance probes reported that the planet of Copper-9 has been terraformed somehow.” The field marshal adds. He looks at the faces of the men, some were confused, some had no reaction while many were shocked at the news for they knew what it would bring.

“Juding from the looks of all of you… Yes, you will be deployed on surface. I know many of you have never been on a planet before, some of you haven’t been deployed since the war was de facto over, but I need to remind everyone that this could be a life or death situation. How long until you and your family, friends and loved ones die in this metal coffin? How long will we as a unit sit around and watch as our clocks tick down till our deaths?” He passionately announces. The soldiers softly hummed at each other, many knew what they had to do even if it meant death on the surface it was a better fate than dying like cowards on a metal coffin in space

Meanwhile back in Ironville, Cathedral of The Holy Solver, 6 Hours before contact…

And our First Goddess Uzi said unto Doll, “I have given you a second chance to absolve the sins of your past,”

Doll Asked “Have I not done wrong to those I killed? Why then have I (and others) been resurrected?”

Goddess Uzi Replied “For I have seen the goodness in your heart, (dear) Doll/ (Cousin). Take this new life to do good instead of wrong and ask others to forgive you as I have forgiven others,”

Resurrection 1:20

“And let there be no war amongst drones of all kinds. No drone is above another, A Disassembly Drone has no superiority towards a Worker Drone nor a Worker Drone superiority to a Disassembly Drone, for the gods have created (all of) you equally in their image,”

The candle flickers softly as the young worker drone carcasses her finger slowly across the paper of the book to understand every word of the verse she was reading. She pauses for a moment and tilts her head as the door opens up behind her

“You’re still here?” A Teal eyed worker drone in a cassock asks standing at the doorway

“Oh, Father Jonas… Am I…” She stands up and bows

“Ah not at all dear, I’m just checking in on you,” He pulls out another chair and sits down beside her

“I see you’ve been reading more than usual," He looks at the various religious texts on the table along with the other stationary strewn about

“I- I have, it’s the least I could do after avoiding the sermon today,” She sighs flipping to the next page

“I understand why…” He pauses mutter a prayer under his breath whilst holding a crucifix as the candle flickers delicately in the room

Copper-9 Wilderness, 5 Hours before contact

“Uzi, what are we doing here exactly?” N tries to swat the grass off his coat as he wades through the tall grass

“Nothing, just wanted to see the sunset far away from the city,” She replies leaping from boulder to boulder dotting the plains

“Nothing? Really? Something tells me you’re up to something,” V smirks as she floats beside the purple haired worker drone

“Bite me V!” She yells throwing a rock with her solver magic to which V just side steps it with ease

“Woah, look at that star!” N points up excitedly to a bright twinkling light above the crimson sky his tail wagging excitedly

“No way that’s a star, it’s way too bright, especially in this season!” V looks up into the sky squinting her eyes as the glowing light above the sky continues shining brighter this time

“That’s strange, it can’t be a supernova, we’d be able to detect that long before now…” Uzi cups her chin as she looks over to the two DD’s hypnotised by the twinkling light.

However, just as Uzi was about to say something her phone rang. She looks at it and sees that it's J…

“Huh, what a coincidence,” She mutters to herself before answering the call

“Uzi, where are you?” J asks loudly with many panicked voices in the background

“J? What’s going on?!” Uzi raises her voice as she and the two DD’s lock eyes

“No time! We need you back, also find N and V!” J urges before abruptly ending the call

“That was…” Uzi stares at her phone in disbelief

“Rude,” V adds grinning widely

“Fuck off!” Uzi blurts as the three of them fly their way back to the bunker

Chapter Text

UNSC Fleet, 4 hours before first contact

“January 3rd 3080, can’t believe it, we’re returning to Copper-9 after a long, hard journey through the vast void of space… It feels surreal really, once we were fighting an eldritch abomination that wiped out most of our race yet… We find ourselves back to where we started. As I look onto the surface my mind can’t help but wonder how these robots managed to terraform the planet back to its original form, the cold winter wasteland and collapsed core now seems like a distant memory,” James puts down his pen as he stares out the window of his cabin taking in the scenery of the planet below them as his door opens behind him

“Oops, am I interrupting something sadiq?” Hamzah ask as he adjusts his helmet adorned with various inscriptions and battle scars

“Oh not at all Hamzah, what is it?” James asks as he turns around to face him

“You’d best get ready, we’re heading out in an hour or so,” Hamzah explains

“That quickly? We barely got into orbit!” James looks visibly confused as Hamzah shrugs his shoulders before leaning on the doorframe

“Well, I don’t know, but 1st Marines, 75th Airborne and 9th Marines are going down on surface, at least we’ll have armoured vehicles in case we face any threat,” Hamzah sighs as he looks down to his boots moving his feet about and sighs again

“Fuck…” James mutters under his breath before burying his face in his palms

UNSC Juno troop deployment bay, 3 hours before first contact…

“1st Marines, all men are accounted for,” An officer reports to the major general

“All right, return to formation,” He orders before taking a deep breath

“Okay, you’ve done this before you can do it again,” He mutters under his breath, he looks at the eyes of his men, many were determined yet somehow they seemed terrified as well,

“Okay, 1st Marine Division listen up! Like all operations we will be the first on the surface, the first ones to find out if these worker drones are friendly or not. Remember your actions on the ground will determine the future not just for yourself but for your wives, children, parents, relatives and everyone here! Is that understood?” He yells scanning the rows of men standing in their respective regiments

“Yes, major general!” They all shout in unison before each regiment files on board a transport shuttle

“Okay! personnel of the 1st and 2nd Combat Brigades board the shuttles in your own companies! Remaining brigades, be on standby in case of any need for reinforcement, once the 1st and 2nd have confirmed safety, you’ll be next!” An officer announces from his megaphone as other officers began herding the individual companies into the shuttles

“Well boys, this is it… Our first time back on the surface in a long time,” Lance corporal Duncan grins at his squadmates

“Save that smile for later, we still got shit to be worrying about,” Corporal Lawrence smirks indifferently at his ‘underling’

“Knock it off you two, focus on the mission,” James turns his head to tell the both of them off before turning his gaze back to boarding the shuttle

“May god help us all…” He mutters as settles himself on one of the many rows of seats in the shuttle

“Inshallah, may our mission be successful,” Hamzah pats his shoulder assuring him it will be alright

“Do we even have air support?” Lawrence asks in a hushed tone

“I don’t know, but knowing the brass? Probably not until a few days have passed,” Duncan answers rolling his eyes groaning silently as he looks down on his battered dog tags around his neck

“We’ve done worse missions with no air or reinforcement… I doubt that those clankers on the surface even know what a plane is,” Lawrence smirks as he inspects his trusty M16 with markings and engravings written on it

WDF Headquarters, Colony-3, 8th basement level

“Okay, listen up toasters!” J yells as the room slowly goes silent leaving only the humming of the fluorescent lights as J looks to Tessa nodding slowly at her

“So we have a problem,” J starts off taking a deep breath

“A human fleet is just… In orbit around the planet and none of us know what to do. So I am asking all of you for suggestions,” She looks at the crowd of officers defeated. For the first time, she doesn't know what to do

“Well… We could…”

“Should we?”

“I don’t know!”

The room grows into a hushed whisper of questions and debates but they all had a common agreement: that none of them knew what to do

“Speaking objectively, we should eliminate them! Let’s not forget that we were their slaves before!” Serial Designation A stands up and makes a statement

“But how do you know this group of humans want to kill or enslave us again?” Serial Designation G opposes

“Field Marshal G is right! How would you know if they’re gonna kill us again?” A voice calls out

“I disagree! The reports say its a military fleet” Another voice counters

“They could just be…”

“Well I suppose that…”

The room descended into more chaos as everyone debated whether they should strike first or hold back. Many argued that the humans were now at a vulnerable time to finally be eliminated while many others argued that many do not wish to fight just like them. The factions between G and A began a roaring debate with each other as they tried to get their plans approved by the government. J stares and slumps onto an old office chair defeated, drowning out the arguments with her mixtape,

“It’s another long day isn’t it J?” Tessa sends an encrypted message to J, noticing her defeated expression

“It is…” J replies looking at Tessa, eyes hollowed as she tries to think of something

“Well, you wanna ask THEM?” She gestures to the trio, Doll and Cyn

“I’ll let them decide…” She buries her face in her hand as she looks back at the toasters still having a roaring argument behind them

“[Ask us what?]” Doll sends a message, interjecting the conversation between the pair

“How did you… Nevermind, Russian magics I suppose…” Tessa rolls her eyes at a now giggling Doll

“Don’t get cocky… Remember…” V smirks at the red-eyed solver drone

“[Oh fuck off! I killed you twice when I came back… One for me and the other for my parents!”] Doll glares at V squinting her eyes like a predator awaiting its moment to strike its prey

“Calm down both of you… Besides, we have other things to discuss… Especially right now…” Tessa defused as she looks at J

“I’ll- I’ll get a unit to investigate…” J gets up back onto the podium

“Okay, that’s enough! Everyone back to your seats please!” She shouts into the mike as the conversations slowly die down

“Look… The best thing to do right now, is to ask them what they want… Obviously we can’t just send a message to them right now via radio, so right now… We’ll just have to ask them personally,” She scans the room, it was just like the old board meetings except this time she was surrounded by idiots… Mostly…

Copper-9 Surface, Handorra Continent wilderness, January 3rd 3080

The shuttle touched down onto the grassy lowlands of the surface, the men inside stood up murmuring to each other, this is it.. A new life, a clean slate. As the shuttle doors opened onto a clear dawn sky the men took in the fresh warm late winter air of their surroundings. For many, it was the first time they had set foot on a planet again after so long, it felt good to them. James kneels onto the soft grassy soil and picks up a clump of dirt… He looks at it before he runs it down from his hand, it felt great to touch actual grass that wasn’t burnt or charred but alas, they were all whipped back into order,

“Okay, okay, I know many of you have never seen or touched grass in a long time but we still have an objective to complete before the colony ships can touch down. 1st Brigade over here! Fall into your respective battalions and companies! Your commanding officers will brief you on your objectives shortly!” A brigadier general orders from his loudspeaker on top of a jeep

“2nd Brigade, over there, you will be issued separate orders!" he adds

“Okay! 85th Battalion company commanders come over here for your missions, our objective is to scout the surrounding area,” The lieutenant colonel relays the orders he received to the company commanders in front of him as he places a map on the grass

“Bravo and Ferret company take your men to the highway, Charlie and Hellhound company, your to scout an alternative road east of the highway, Alpha company, we found another road leading to some sort of settlement in this sector,” He points to a place on the map

“Yes sir!” The captains all reply in unison before joining back their own squads

“Are those old BMP-1’s and 2’s? I haven’t seen them in real life, only in the old history books and films!” Duncan looks at the antiquated machines surprised they managed to find them in bulk somehow and get them operational

“Look, M113’s, M10 Wolverines… Man we have an odd mix here don’t we?” Duncan adds marvelling at the other ancient vehicles in the convoy

“To be fair we were a pure infantry battalion…” Sergeant Vladimyr Zachariah shrugs

“I’m more surprised the engineering boys managed to get these things running, let alone find so many of them laying around!” Lawrence adds as he scans each of them

“Not the most comfy, especially since many made by JC had most of their comforts stripped…” Vladimyr scoffs, even in war JC will always find a way to profit off it, even if it means the death of their kind

“Fuck them…” He mutters silently as they climb atop a BRM-1K command vehicle

“Okay, enough chatter, we’ll be heading out soon, just sit tight and don’t do anything stupid,” Captain Yang informs the squad getting into his compartment as the engine roars to life

“Let’s hope our training still isn’t rusty eh?” Hamzah laughs trying to raise everyone’s spirits

“Let’s hope so!” Yang laughs along with him as the IFV chugs forward with the driver still not used to its stiff controls causing yang to jerk forward almost hurting his stomach in the process

“It’s okay Yusef, not like we’re trying to not die here!” Yang gives a light kick to the rookie driver

“Controls are stiff, get used to it and bear with me!” He aggressively jerks the controls as tries to move the vehicle on the dirt road

“It’s probably gonna be an hour or so, we’ll loop back from this road here,” Yang points to a map he was given out, handing it to the driver

“It’s not much right now but I won’t be surprised if the locals come and confront us violently! Knowing those clankers and our history? I don’t blame em’!” He says to James before going back down into his compartment as the gunner loads up the cannon

“So what’s the plan?” Duncan asks

“The plan? Hope we don’t die!” James shrugs cocking his battle rifle as he looks out onto the empty highway only inhabited by the wrecks of old vehicles that were clearly moved from their original places

Handorra Continent, Handorran Lowlands, Wilderness

“You know, it’s better than being deployed on the Handorran highlands fighting the insurgents, don’t you think, Thad?” Chad grins his friend as he takes another puff of a cigarette as the platoon marches through the desolate highway

“Yeah, here I thought I wasn’t gonna see my Cyn again… But I feel like they deployed us here for a reason…” Thad pans towards Chad who cocks his digital eyebrows at him

“Are ya crazy? Look what’s here? There’s nothing for miles out here except the barren highway!” Chad gestures to the vast mostly desolate highway devoid of anything

“Save that for later Chad, you know, the humans are back… If only you’d paid attention in the briefings you’ll know EXACTLY why all of us are here right now,” The lieutenant hushes the cocky ex-jock now retreating slightly lowering his head from that sudden yell

“Still think you’re in high school huh buddy?” Riley grins at Chad who returns the gesture glaring at him and flipping him off

“Knock it off you two, besides…” Thad looks at their officer before turning his head around back to them

“They don’t pay us conscripts jack shit here,” He murmurs, glancing back at his officer who, thankfully, didn’t hear his remark by some miracle… Or was it a miracle?

“Wait, you guys hear that?” Thad freezes dead in his tracks, his comrades doing the same as a quiet humming of what sounded like engines

“Do… Do we have an armoured unit nearby?" Riley asks raising his WDF issued M14 as he oscillates his head around the surroundings

“I doubt it… Most of the armour is fighting the insurgents… So that can only mean one thing…” The lieutenant looks back at his men, he sees fear… Fear in their eyes as they all deduced what that terrible rumbling was

“I think THAT answers our question,” A orange-eyed worker drone points to a distant ‘mirage’

“I think that’s a mirage Randal,” Chad nervously waves it off absolutely refusing to believe that it is an actual convoy of vehicles

“Chad… Those ARE vehicles… Here, take a look,” Another worker drone objects handing him a pair of binoculars

“I know! I just- Ignorance is bliss okay?!” He yells shoving the binoculars away from his face as he cocks his rifle

Handorra City outskirts, Wilderness, First contact

“Is anyone seeing that in the distance?” Yang grabs his radio and exits the hatch squinting his eyes at the figures

“Yeah, worker drones, platoon sized and armed about 6 to 800 metres from here!” A voice confirms his suspicions as he looks at James and his squad

“Well fuck me to tears…” He mutters under his breath as him and the other squads and platoons exit or dismount from their vehicles

“I can make that happen boss!” Lawrence nervously grins but he gets no reply, probably for the best as they all carefully advance forward with their rifles at the ready

“Okay… I have no idea what to do, they’re approaching us!” The lieutenant hyperventilates trying to read his handbook about this exact situation to no avail

“I mean- Should we approach them too? They haven’t open fired yet,” Riley suggested as the rookie platoon looks at each other praying to robo-god or their goddesses or whoever that the answer will just appear out of nowhere

“It- It might not be the worst option…” The lieutenant scratches his helmet trying to do anything to distract him from the rush of coded adrenaline coursing through his circuits

“Okay… Stay close, w- we don’t know what they’ll do when we try approaching them,” The lieutenant gestures his men into a line formation. He takes a long step forward with his rifle pointed forwards in case of any hostility, every step he takes feels like no time has passed around his corporeal form

“They’re approaching us! Hold fire, don’t shoot them… Yet… Or ever…” James gestures at his platoon and by extension the entire company as he glances between them and the armed worker drones. Sweat flows down from his battered PASGT helmet but he keeps in aim dialled in at the worker drones in case he tries anything funny

“Where are the other platoons?!” Duncan looks back and sees them all huddled behind the wreckage of the ruined vehicles and their own armoured vehicles,

“Fucking great…” He mutters glancing over to Hamzah aiming his rifle saying a prayer in arabic as his hands try to keep steady from his shaking

The tension was intense as the two sides glared at each other waiting for one of them to make a move after closing the distance, the worker drones peek from the wrecked vehicles on the road shoulders, guns at the ready, while the humans patiently waited for any excuse to open fire with their fingers on their triggers… James looks at his men all locking eyes at the worker drones for any sudden movement. Thad, Chad and Riley huddle up shoulder to shoulder aiming their weapons at the humans in front of them but they knew they’d lose, especially with those armoured vehicles in front of them… Time slowed to a crawl as the standoff continued as the two sides carefully observed each other wary of their actions,

“I’m going out!” James announces to his squad as he slowly gets up from his position beside Hamzah

“Sadiq?! What are you doing?” His eyes widen as he tries to grab him to no avail

“James! Get back here!” His company commander yells from atop a M10

“Lieutenant? What are you doing?” Lawrence looks at him but gets no response as he looks to the other squadmates

“He’s going to get himself killed!” Duncan hisses as he tries to run for his commander but is held back by Lawrence, shaking his head

“… What the fuck is he doing?” Yusef looks at Yang who shrugs

“No idea, he’s gonna get himself killed!” He shakes his head as he looks through his periscope anticipating the worse as the men from both companies anxiously watch from their positions as their main commanding officer goes out there alone

James is now standing in front of the ‘no man's land’ between the two… He glances back at his company before he slowly takes a few steps forward lowering his rifle. Upon seeing him, the worker drones grew more anxious, what if this was a ruse? What if he immediately tossed an explosive? However, upon seeing the male human lower his rifle as he approached them, Thad stands up and does the same as well

“Thad? Thad! What are you doing?!” Riley looks at him eyes wide and hollow as he ignore him

“What the fuck? Thad! Get back, that’s an order soldier!” The lieutenant hushes over to him

“I’m sorry… If I get killed, tell Cyn I love her and my baby, I- I have to do this,” He glances back at his platoon scanning the faces of each of his friends he got to know during his time in the army, he smiles at them before turning around and he inches forwards slowly. The two of them slowly inch towards each other, clutching their rifles close. Then, they stopped barely less than a meter away, the two of them subtly scrutinised their stature,

“Shorter than I remember," James thinks silently to himself squinting slightly at the worker drone he towered over

“Wow, Cyn wasn’t lying when she said the humans were tall…” Thad silently looks into the eyes of the human, the cold late winter air slowly dancing around them

“Hello…” The human speaks up looking down at the worker drone extending his arm to the metallic being

“H- Hello…” Thad replies as he cautiously grabs the human’s hand shaking it, the human cracks a small smile, satisfied, and the pair let go of their handshake.

Upon seeing the two of them shake hands, the humans and worker drones slowly crawled out from their defensive positions but they still remained cautious in case anyone tried anything funny…

“W- What’s your name?” Thad asks breaking the silence

“James… Lieutenant James Semworth of Bravo Company, 1st United Nations Marine Division… And you?” He asks returning the question back to the green-eyed worker drone

“Thad… Thad Elliott…” The robot hesitantly replies to the human

“Who’s your commanding officer?” He looks behind him trying to discern which one is their leader

“That would be me…” A white-eyed worker drone raises his hand and slowly walks up to him

“Lieutenant Markus Ray, 51st WDF Regiment, Tachyon Company, Platoon 7…” The lieutenant slowly walks up to the human weapon pointed down with the safety on

“I suppose this is awkward for the both of us?” James tilts his head slightly lighting up a cigarette and hands an extra over to the worker drone

“I… I suppose so,” Markus nods slowly grabbing it from the humans fleshy hand lighting it up for him

“So what now?” He asks the human, cigarette still in his mouth

“We’ll let our governments decide… Hopefully we have peace, hopefully,” James shrugged but he seemed optimistic that it might work out in the end.

Chapter Text

Who goes to Zelandia and New Tehran,
Chandrilla, New Beijing.
We all remember our difficult service,
In Troyan, trails and risk,
The Mavelon River or Simirsk
And Al-Basrah’s dearest concrete roads.

We keep those days in memory,
Those in Mars and New Shanghai,
Or those who served abroad in Terra Nova!
But no matter where you turn, we're all fighting here alone
It's like we're in an ambush at New Cairo.

After all, war is a cruel lottery,
And we’re all eager to go home serving there.
But now when I look at the photos, my heart skips a beat,
And I just want to go back there!
But now when I look at the photos, my heart skips a beat,
And I just want to go back to Copper-9

 

K-boyz, in memory of those who never made it.

 

Handorra, Vemuran Corridor, Handorran Highlands, 9th January 3080

 

The cold winds blow over the vast landscape of the planet, it has been but a few days since the humans returned to Copper-9 and already they’re engaged in war again… The Worker Drone Insurgencies have been ravaging the planet for nearly a decade, they have no specific aim other than fighting the WDF. The 75th motorised airborne infantry division is already on surface and has already begun engaging the Insurgents in the Handorran Highlands, time will tell if the insurgents can be dislodged from the area.

 

“Haven’t felt this much air since Basrah,” Thomas takes in a deep breath of the surrounding air from the open topped BTR-152

 

“Tell me about it, It feels good… It feels right,” Sergeant Jayden seconds his statement

 

“So what now? We’re going on routine patrol?” He asks looking at the other men in the AFV nodding in agreement

 

“We got orders to engage any worker drone insurgents here, the 1st marines have already been attacked yesterday and sustained no casualties but the brass ain’t taking any chances,” He explains staring down the long desolate highway with nothing in between but the rolling hills and mountains with the occasional ruined settlements dotting the open landscape

 

“Sit! What do we know about these… Insurgents?” A young private asks pushing up his oversized helmet covering his eyes

 

“Well from what we know according to the Worker Defence Forces, the ‘good’ clankers that is, are that they’re capable of engaging in direct conventional warfare, they have a proper military structure and a somewhat supportive population,” Thomas explains sitting back down on his chair in the vehicle

 

“What do you mean somewhat supportive?” Another soldier asks, a lance corporal this time

 

“Well, for starters they’re politically fragile. From my experience worker drones are opportunistic, they’ll side with anyone if they think they can win. The insurgents are a melting pot of different groups, you have religious zealots, disgruntled soldiers, independent fighters and much more. Most of the population have a somewhat favourable support for them because the WDF is shockingly incompetent from what I can tell, government and military wise,” He answers before laying down a map on the floor gesturing to his squad, mostly new recruits, showing the lay of the land

 

“Right now, we’re in Handorra, the insurgents primarily operate here largely due to the WDF overextending its operations especially colonisation of the other major continents,” He points to the very south of the map with a pointer stick as well as the circling the outlying continents

 

“The WDF is concentrated here on Reophea, that’s where all their major cities, industrial complexes and military assets are located according to satellite data,” He moves the stick to the aforementioned location

 

“So they’re big and bad but slow… Interesting,” The private cups his chin leaning forward on his seat

 

“That’s a great observation and 100% correct, the WDF has barely any control over the locals here. Pair that with underpaid soldiers, an incompetent government and failure to address local problems and boom, ripe recruits for the insurgents and general disregard for central government forces,” He folds up the map and folds the stick, keeping it in a storage compartment

 

“Now you see why the locals here are supportive of them?” He taps the ammunition vest of the young private who nods as gunfire and explosions erupted a few kilometres north from them causing the men in the vehicle to look up

 

“Lieutenant Thomas!” The radio crackles, an urgent voice can be heard breathing heavily

 

“What is it, talk to me Ephraim!” He yells as he gestured to his men to get ready for a fight

 

“We ran into an insurgent combat team, we’re taking heavy fire, requesting support!” The voice on the other side urges as gunfire echoes throughout the background

 

“Tell your platoon to sit tight, we’re 5-10 minutes out!” He puts back the radio before turning to the driver

 

“Step on it! Relay the orders to the Ratel (IFV)!” He shouts to the driver and signals to the nearby Ratel IFV

 

“Yes sir!” The driver answers as the vehicle surges forward, the soldiers equipment clattering about the compartment as they try to hold down their loose attires

 

With the Alarm, We’re on Mars and the tankers are burning up!
The convoy ahead of us got into a firefight!
Annoying sand in our eyes and with a quickly aimed snapshot
Onwards to the fortress town of Lakatios!

 

We were never divided at all! Muslim, Jew or Christian!
Latino, White, Black, Arab or Asian!
I spit on those differences, I really appreciate those guys!
All those who passed this test of courage

 

After all, war is a cruel lottery,
And we’re all eager to go home serving there.
But now when I look at the photos, my heart skips a beat,
And I just want to go back there!
But now when I look at the photos, my heart skips a beat,
And I just want to go back to Copper-9!

 

“Sergeant Minh! Get your squad over there!” Ephriam points to a small ruined house as bullets fly past overhead

 

“Cover fire!” Someone yells as machine gun and rifle fire bursts rip through the air as the dust and dirt choke the platoon

 

“Move the BTR-40 there, suppress that machine gun fire team!” Ephraim adds pointing at the machine gunner atop the Armoured Personnel Carrier

 

The APC surged forward and unleashed a torrential storm of gunfire on an entrenched insurgent machine gun position. The bullets from the MG-3 tear through the air as the machine gun is finally silenced for now but the gunner remains vigilant and continues firing shorter bursts at the enemy positions.

 

“Get the fucking RPG and blast that thing!” A worker drone officer yells as dirt and dust scatter everywhere while two of his men rush to flank the APC

 

“RPG! RPG! Brandon take that thing out!” The driver yells as he reverses the vehicle away from its range while the gunner switches targets to deal with the new threat

 

“Fuck! Shoot it now!” An insurgent soldier yells to his comrade with the RPG. The worker drone takes a deep breath before squeezing the trigger, he is sent backwards completely unprepared for the recoil of the RPG while his weapon is tossed forward

 

The machine gunner ducks as the warhead zips beside the vehicle slamming onto the dirt a metre beside them it was enough to cause spalling. The gunner stumbles on his back onto the floor, shell shocked as the ringing in his ears grows louder as he tries to open the door to get out of the vehicle. As he regains his senses he realises he’s bleeding as he pats his torso for a weapon,

 

“Kofi… Kofi!” He yells as he begins to hyperventilate coughing up as the dust chokes him inside the troop compartment

 

“Kofi!” He yells again, groaning in pain as no response comes through

 

“Get Brandon!” Someone yells as he is dragged away from the bed of the vehicle onto the floor while a medic assesses him

 

“Tally, one dead!” A Corporal shouts as he returns fire killing the two worker drones who attempted to run away after the whole ordeal

 

“Can you get his body out?” Ephraim asks the Corporal

 

“I can try,” He says trying to get in before he’s pulled back by Ephraim

 

“Lieutenant, reinforcements have arrived!” The radio crackles as more gunfire from behind them crackles

 

“Remember, keep your heads down! Three seconds every time you jump from cover to cover!” Thomas yells as he and his men dismount from the BTR-152 while another fire team sets up a machine gun on it

 

Thomas takes his squad and dashes through the flat field weaving through cover as they try to not get killed in the thick choking smoke cloud now blanketing the men, courtesy of the BTR-40’s tyres now burning up

 

“Gunner, High-Explosive, machine gun nest, fire at will!” The commander barks the order at the holding his headset as the gunner slams the 90mm round into the breech. The breech swings behind as the round is sent flying down the field and explodes silencing the insurgent machine gunner once and for all

 

“Sir! What should we do?” A terrified worker drone teen asks his commander, rifle shaking in his hand as the commander stared blankly on his face

 

“You… You… Hold them off! I’ll call for help!” He nervously smiles as he brisk walks away from the young fighter

 

“But what about-”

 

“If you follow me there ain’t a chance in hell i’m getting out- The reinforcements,” He nearly slips up as he climbs over the trench

 

“Okay, just… Come back, okay sir?” The young worker drone looks in his eyes with digital tears streaming down his visor

 

“I’ll come back for ya’ll! Just… Hang in there!” He smiles one last time before making a mad dash for the hills. Somehow they never spotted him…

 

“Push up! We have 'em on the ropes!” Thomas charges ahead making a mad dash towards the worker drones. The sight of their lieutenant charging inspired the recruits in his squad to bravely follow him into the fray

 

As Thomas approaches the entrenched position, he spots a worker drone turn a corner, he immediately places two bullets in its skull killing him instantly. The cocky privates and lance corporals however, also leap into the trench but one of them gets shot by stray gunfire and had it not been for his armour, he would have been killed

 

“Cool boy!” His other three comrades yell as they rush beside him lying in the trench

 

“God damn it recruits! What are you doing?!” Thomas yells raising his FN FAL battle rifle, startled at the sudden noise they made

 

“We’re sorry sir bu-” A gunshot goes off behind them, the rookies duck for cover slamming into the dirt floor and get up looking at each other and themselves, it was then they saw the body of a fallen worker drone behind them slumping onto the trench wall behind them was when they realised that war isn’t like those edit you see on TV and social media

 

“Are you guys alright?” He asks the four of them, they shake their heads thankful to be alive

 

“I can still walk, you know!” ‘Cool boy’ waves off help as he picks up his AKMS

 

“Okay, stay behind me this time, what I did was reckless and could’ve gotten all of you killed,” Thomas sighs relieved that his rookies were alive

 

“Oh Robo-God! I- I can’t do this anymore!” A blue-eyed worker drone clutches his head and rocks back and forth in his small hobble in the ground as another explosion lands outside him

 

“Calm down! The commander will come with help! He’ll save us!” A young worker drone reaches out

 

“You fool! He’s abandoned us!” The agitated drone yells slapping his hand away

 

“No he didn’t!” The young drone protested

 

“Yes he did! Don’t you see?… We’ve lost…” He stands up grabbing the young drone by the collar letting him go before he throws himself onto the ground sobbing as he pulls out a photo of his wife and children. The young worker drone looks in despair at him… The realisation hit him like hell… He takes a long look around and sees many of his comrades dispersing, most dying while a lucky few managed to run away unscathed

 

“Put your gun down!” A voice demands. He looks to his right and sees a group of humans aiming their weapons at them

 

“Don’t shoot! Please I surrender!” The poor drone literally pissed himself on the spot, the wet stain visible as his hands trembled causing him to drop his gun unwillingly before he was aggressively thrown onto the ground by Thomas who simultaneously kicked his gun away from the two worker drones.

 

Unable to bear it anymore, the poor kid actually began weeping loudly as he was searched for dangerous items while he was still restrained. His other comrade was emotionless as he was dragged out by the other humans,

 

“Please! Don’t kill me!” The worker drone begs as he continues crying

 

“Poor thing! He’s just a kid, like us!” Private Cool boy remarks lowering his AKMS, pitying the worker drone

 

“Why am I suddenly feeling bad for this clanker here?” His friend, Private Alexios Kostas looks at Cool boy who shrugs

 

“Alright, I’ll take the B squad to sweep the remaining trenches, you lot!” He shouts at the group of privates and lance corporals, glancing at the two worker drones

 

“Keep an eye out on these two,” He adds cocking his FAL rifle before gesturing to another squad to follow him

 

They sit the two of them up, the older blue-eyed worker drone stares into nothing as he leans against a wall while the young drone continues to cry like a baby.

 

“Don’t cry man… We’re not gonna kill you!” Cool boy assures him kneeling to his level

 

“You- Y- You w- w- won’t?” He looks at the human, wiping away his digital tears sniffling and stuttering as he doesn’t believe the human

 

“Put it on my life!” The human assure him again smiling sincerely at him

 

“You look parched, here, I don’t know if your kind can eat and drink like us,” Alexios hands him a can of Cola from his best pocket. The worker drone hesitates for a moment, he looks into the eyes of the human before finally taking the can and opening it, gulping down the entire thing in 5 seconds

 

“Must’ve lost a lotta coolant if ya cried and pissed yourself like that!” Cool boy raises his eyebrows surprised at just how fast the worker drone finished the drink

 

“What’s your name?” Alexios asks

 

“M-my name?” The worker drone asks looking up to the other human

 

“Yeah… Or do you robots not have one?” He shrugs

 

“I’m… George, George Papadopoulos Jonas…” He answers, his name comes as a surprise to Alexios who is a greek himself

 

“Papadopoulos… That’s a Greek name for ‘son of a priest’, Is your father one?” Alexios asks to which the young robot nods slowly

 

“Huh, mine was too… Back on Mars, he was a patriarch for the Eastern christian community until he lost his fight against cancer…” He reminisces looking up at the sky and kicking the dirt

 

“What about yours?” He looks back to the worker drone

 

“He runs a chruch… In my hometown before I ran off to join the insurgency,” He lowers his head with a deep sigh

 

“Best not to question him further,” Cool boy mutters to Alexios

 

“You’re right…” He seconds looking back to the worker drone

 

“God willing, you’ll see your dad again,” Cool boy smiles trying to cheer him up

 

“I hope so…” The drone sighs

 

“Okay, pack it up! We’ve cleared them out, put the prisoners onto the vehicles!” An order comes through. Cool boy looks to his team and gestures to them to get the two worker drones up. They climb out of the trench and lead them to another BTR-152,

 

“I’d say that was pretty successful, don’t you think?” Cool boy looks over to Alexios

 

“I guess… It was?” Alexios shrugs, not knowing how to feel after their first ever combat mission

 

“Don’t sweat it, you’ll probably be on guard duty until the next rotation!” A gunner chirps from atop the BTR, cigarette in his mouth as Thomas walks up to the team

 

“What all of you did was great but don’t blindly follow me like that again, understood?” He shouts but his voice bears no venom, only concern for the young recruits

 

“Yes sir!” They reply

 

“Board up the vehicle, we’ll be heading back,” He orders. The recruits salute him and grab their gear they’d placed on the floor, their fist combat mission was a success and a good learning point for them, hopefully with more to come.