The world of Supien, built by the MicroSam company in the later years of the Golden age of expansion. Barely into self sufficiency when warp storms tore away it's connection with the Human Empire. A once blossoming feather in the cap of a rapidly expanding portfolio of a super corp was left rudderless. The proud Arcology systems designed to house billions and out produce entire solar systems were left in the hands of the top corporate leaders, mercenary commanders and Imperial Officers still on station.
After uncounted centuries cut off from the wider galaxy what was left of such promise?
A dozen warring city states battling over the crumbs of ancient technology still left; ruled by technocrats commanding vast armies of slaves, killing machines and organism grown for combat. Their eternal war would grind frontlines against each other under a omnipresent thunderstorm of radioactive ash. It is on the slowly dying world that a single flash of warp energy is detected. Logged by what few satellites remained; the signal beamed down to the primary arcology spire of the city state of Lan and deposited into the mind of the immortal Technocrat Shian Yu.
He froze in his lab; a dozen mechanical eye ports sputtering to a stop in shock. He checked, and rechecked the information a thousand times in a heartbeat; the massive cogitator complex wired into his spine confirming the same results as before. Warp energy; not seen since the storms had devastated the interstellar highways of the Human Empire and left them cut off from the greater collective. The last attempt to move anything through the Warp had rained debris from the SDS Xiliao onto the planet for days.
Had someone come to rescue them? No; he brushed away the thought faster than it formed. Spider like limbs unfurled beneath him as he detached from the cogitator systems and moved out of the lab and towards his command centre. So much time had passed since the Fall, any expedition sent out would be at best a scout, at very worst some new civilization - human or Xeno - reaching for the stars. He idly brought up old ship records from the fleet that had fought the cataclysmic opening battle of the civil war. None survived in orbit; but perhaps some had managed to limp away to the outer systems repair yards? If the storms had subsided them he all he'd need to do to reach them would be to capture an orbital launch facility from one of his enemies. Plans for later, he decided, shelving away that fragment of his mind to tinker with the details while he organised a team to find the source of the warp signal.
The inside of the command centre was silent save for the barely audible hum of cogitator banks. Vat grown Biocom slaves interfaced with the banks directly, spools of wiring pouring out of some; while others sat silently in the bays, controlling them through what was left of the more advanced man machine interface devices. Shian Yu paused momentarily when he noticed the thick layer of dust building up around some of the less traveled banks. It had been years since he had truly left the lab in the physical sense. Idly he ran a finger through the dust, 'tasting' it's composition with the nanites in his skin.
Metal dust, shaken from the ceiling during a bombing raid - they were so common he couldn't pinpoint which one had caused the showering of particles - along with skin cells from the Biocoms, and even a few wayward strands of silicates from when the newest of the Cogitator banks had been installed. A century ago.
A fragment of his mind made note of the time he had spent in the lab; compared it with the last recorded instance and informed him that he was taking longer and longer stays away from directly controlling the war. Problematic; automated systems and Biocoms were inflexible. It required human ingenuity to excel at strategy and tactics. He made a note to the fragment to remind him to limit lab excursions to no greater than a year at a time from them on. Attempting to capture mankind's past glory would only be worthwhile if he was alive to see it; having some techno-barbarian take it from him while tossing around atomics and calling them the light of god would make the achievement pointless.
He displaced the dust from his fingers and tilted his head. Nanites bundled together around his brain, bridging out wireless feelers into the logic core of his command centre. The dull chrome floors and low light faded away, replaced with a white void floating clusters of data flooding each other with information. The Technocrat slipped through the data streams, following them down into the recesses of his arcology; flashing by and ignoring the countless fragments of people living their lives in his city until he reached the base of the spire. He filled into a command unit, shunting aside the organic controller and activating the cybernetics in the mans skull.
The white void of virtual was gone; instead he stood in a barracks; in the office of a Unit leader, in the body of a Unit Leader. Across from him were the four sub commanders, staring curiously at him as he tapped his fingers against his thumbs.
"This Command Units fingers are numb. Why?" He directed the question at the Medical sub commander; the man didn't seem to understand the question. Irritated, Shian sent a data shunt through their shared network and inserted the moment he decided to take over the Command Unit. The Medical sub commander winced at the brute force nature of the interface, but responded hastily.
"Apologies Great One. Commander Zhang suffered defects during his maturation cycle; the Organic Mechanics are intending to correct the issue once a new clutch of Units are sent through from training."
He bowed deeply at the waist, remaining frozen in supplication. Shian nodded, some loss of sensation had been expected as a side effect of the maturing process for vat grown soldiers; the Bio-engineers in the central spire complex likely didn't bother correcting the issue until the Unit affected had shown at least a base level competence after their training shunt was implemented. No point wasting the more complex corrective enzymes on Units destined for recycling.
"I have need of your unit. You will journey to this location." He shared an orbital snapshot, and grid reference of the location that the Warp signal had been detected at. "You will be escorting an engineering team that will be carrying out a mission for me. Your lives are forfeit until they return with my prize."
The three men nodded; Shian felt the hum of agreement from inside his borrowed form as well. The dictator took a moment to reassign armoured Units to the outgoing forces, and awoke a handful of the older Engineering staff to search the area. No point using the less skilled newer apprentices to do the work of greater men.
After uncounted centuries cut off from the wider galaxy what was left of such promise?
A dozen warring city states battling over the crumbs of ancient technology still left; ruled by technocrats commanding vast armies of slaves, killing machines and organism grown for combat. Their eternal war would grind frontlines against each other under a omnipresent thunderstorm of radioactive ash. It is on the slowly dying world that a single flash of warp energy is detected. Logged by what few satellites remained; the signal beamed down to the primary arcology spire of the city state of Lan and deposited into the mind of the immortal Technocrat Shian Yu.
He froze in his lab; a dozen mechanical eye ports sputtering to a stop in shock. He checked, and rechecked the information a thousand times in a heartbeat; the massive cogitator complex wired into his spine confirming the same results as before. Warp energy; not seen since the storms had devastated the interstellar highways of the Human Empire and left them cut off from the greater collective. The last attempt to move anything through the Warp had rained debris from the SDS Xiliao onto the planet for days.
Had someone come to rescue them? No; he brushed away the thought faster than it formed. Spider like limbs unfurled beneath him as he detached from the cogitator systems and moved out of the lab and towards his command centre. So much time had passed since the Fall, any expedition sent out would be at best a scout, at very worst some new civilization - human or Xeno - reaching for the stars. He idly brought up old ship records from the fleet that had fought the cataclysmic opening battle of the civil war. None survived in orbit; but perhaps some had managed to limp away to the outer systems repair yards? If the storms had subsided them he all he'd need to do to reach them would be to capture an orbital launch facility from one of his enemies. Plans for later, he decided, shelving away that fragment of his mind to tinker with the details while he organised a team to find the source of the warp signal.
The inside of the command centre was silent save for the barely audible hum of cogitator banks. Vat grown Biocom slaves interfaced with the banks directly, spools of wiring pouring out of some; while others sat silently in the bays, controlling them through what was left of the more advanced man machine interface devices. Shian Yu paused momentarily when he noticed the thick layer of dust building up around some of the less traveled banks. It had been years since he had truly left the lab in the physical sense. Idly he ran a finger through the dust, 'tasting' it's composition with the nanites in his skin.
Metal dust, shaken from the ceiling during a bombing raid - they were so common he couldn't pinpoint which one had caused the showering of particles - along with skin cells from the Biocoms, and even a few wayward strands of silicates from when the newest of the Cogitator banks had been installed. A century ago.
A fragment of his mind made note of the time he had spent in the lab; compared it with the last recorded instance and informed him that he was taking longer and longer stays away from directly controlling the war. Problematic; automated systems and Biocoms were inflexible. It required human ingenuity to excel at strategy and tactics. He made a note to the fragment to remind him to limit lab excursions to no greater than a year at a time from them on. Attempting to capture mankind's past glory would only be worthwhile if he was alive to see it; having some techno-barbarian take it from him while tossing around atomics and calling them the light of god would make the achievement pointless.
He displaced the dust from his fingers and tilted his head. Nanites bundled together around his brain, bridging out wireless feelers into the logic core of his command centre. The dull chrome floors and low light faded away, replaced with a white void floating clusters of data flooding each other with information. The Technocrat slipped through the data streams, following them down into the recesses of his arcology; flashing by and ignoring the countless fragments of people living their lives in his city until he reached the base of the spire. He filled into a command unit, shunting aside the organic controller and activating the cybernetics in the mans skull.
The white void of virtual was gone; instead he stood in a barracks; in the office of a Unit leader, in the body of a Unit Leader. Across from him were the four sub commanders, staring curiously at him as he tapped his fingers against his thumbs.
"This Command Units fingers are numb. Why?" He directed the question at the Medical sub commander; the man didn't seem to understand the question. Irritated, Shian sent a data shunt through their shared network and inserted the moment he decided to take over the Command Unit. The Medical sub commander winced at the brute force nature of the interface, but responded hastily.
"Apologies Great One. Commander Zhang suffered defects during his maturation cycle; the Organic Mechanics are intending to correct the issue once a new clutch of Units are sent through from training."
He bowed deeply at the waist, remaining frozen in supplication. Shian nodded, some loss of sensation had been expected as a side effect of the maturing process for vat grown soldiers; the Bio-engineers in the central spire complex likely didn't bother correcting the issue until the Unit affected had shown at least a base level competence after their training shunt was implemented. No point wasting the more complex corrective enzymes on Units destined for recycling.
"I have need of your unit. You will journey to this location." He shared an orbital snapshot, and grid reference of the location that the Warp signal had been detected at. "You will be escorting an engineering team that will be carrying out a mission for me. Your lives are forfeit until they return with my prize."
The three men nodded; Shian felt the hum of agreement from inside his borrowed form as well. The dictator took a moment to reassign armoured Units to the outgoing forces, and awoke a handful of the older Engineering staff to search the area. No point using the less skilled newer apprentices to do the work of greater men.
X-X-x-x-X-X
Any criticism is welcome. Any questions are also welcome. 
