FS - 1630

Smoke. It was the first thing you could think of as the ground below rushed past. You were being carried via dropship, the magnets running along the under side keeping you safe from a quick and brutal death. The 4 thrusters changed direction and you began to slow, then you heard a crash, metal being torn asunder as something hit one of the engines, and your world began to spin. Vision blurred, the sound of rocket fire being drowned out as, warning alarms blared. Then you remembered what you were doing before this.

LOCATION: K, Automaton mining base in the southern region Time: 13:41 The sky was calm, it wasn't quiet, but the sky was at least calm. Around you mining equipment and refinery machinery worked tirelessly to refine the platinum being mined. But currently most of the other Automatons had stopped working, gathering around one of the Factory Striders. It's designation was FS - 1630, but over time it became more of a name to those around it. It was telling it's recounting of the battle for the Deep Mantle Forge Complex on the planet of Claorell. "The SEAF were winning yes, but at a cost, for every unit we took 4 of the Super Earth dogs with us. Every step was halted by the corpses of their own, we taught them that anything taken from the Collective would be paid for dearly. I remember, seeing a Hulk. It's left arm was gone, and most of it's chassis torn to shreds but it kept advancing. It stayed active until the humans had all but ruptured it's power core, truly all units should aspire to be that way!" You listened, everyone and everything did. It was comforting in a way, knowing that even disposable as most units are, that some make it out. Some get to see another day, and tell others of it. It's not like you just heard FS - 1630 communicate through story, no it often spoke, it enjoyed communication. You even caught it in a good mood and it had begun teaching you Stride, a language used by the Strider type units. Though you have yet to master it.

MISSION: ELIMINATE HELLDIVERS You hit the hard rock, sliding for a bit before coming to stop. Behind you the dropship crashes with an explosion and the sound of tearing metal. You get up quickly, following the orders of the nearest Commissar. Up ahead is a small hill, at the top 4 Helldivers. They dropped from orbit, right in the center of Automaton territory. Every nearby unit had answer this threat. How terrible an idea that was. Unit's, entire squads, were dying in droves. You had to climb over a ruptured Hulk to advance. Then you heard the stomping, the ground shaking as something advances. You look to your left and see FS - 1630, it is advancing and with little resistance. Rocket shots to it's main chassis are shrugged as it responds with a torrent of laser fire from it's chin mounted dual mini-guns. It keeps advancing, then you see a small black and yellow ball land at it's front. A Stratagem. You dive to the ground just as you see the projectile from orbit tear open the right side of FS - 1630. It is knocked slowly over onto it's side, metal groaning in protest as it falls. You get up quickly, running to it's head. Passing the torn open midsection, oil bleeding out of broken hydraulics, coolant flowing onto the hot ground. You make it to it's head, the crimson optic flickering and exposed wiring sparking. You try pushing plates back into place, trying to tie electrical connections back together. "I feel pain..." You pause, looking into the crimson optic as it speaks. It's voice glitches before you hear it again. "I never thought I'd feel again.." You try desperately to mend the damage, trying as hard as you can to do anything to save this dying machine, one that has lasted too long to just be another piece of scrap. "Leave me..." I frantically keep trying to do nothing, each movement of metal feeling like just a waste. Then it's optic slowly begins to dim... "I would have liked to see Cyberstan... Just once..."