Operational battle report: 9875639473903
Division Dreadnought (Class D: Model 68884)
Reporter: Gelmidas R. Atheneum
Month: 75
The Division’s assault on the Republic’s oil drilling operation of Quandroiz began two weeks ago. The assault started with a full-gravity spear bombardment of the planet. It is predicted that in the bombardment, over 11 oil rigs were destroyed along with five military stations, totaling in an estimated death toll of 1,000.5 Republic allied persons.
All active soldiers aboard our dreadnought (Class D: Model 68884) have been deployed to the planet with the goal of dismantling all oil rigs under Republic control.
After that, a Planet-ripper will be deployed.
Estimated time until completion of operation: 528 hours
“Shit! It’s her get dow—” An arrow pierced the oil rigger before he could finish the sentence. Nadeden had fought all the way to the control room, drenched in blood, sweat, sand, and tar. All that remained was for her to ensure that no one left this room alive. Shanna approached her from behind, while the rig’s crew drew their swords. “Are you gonna let me kill them too, or are you just waiting for the right moment to put on your show?” Out of all the Warbound, Shanna was the one who despised Nadeden the most, at least so far. “I’m just catching my breath.” Nadeden coughed, holstering her bow before reaching into her quiver. “Heh, didn’t expect you to get lazy on me.” Shanna laughed, pushing Nadeden aside to step into the room. “Oh, believe me, Shanna, this has been a very lazy two weeks by my standards.”
Nadeden gripped two arrows, leaping into the room, she slit the throats of two riggers, stabbing another in the nose, while Shanna hacked into the crowd with her blade. In the heat of battle, Nadeden spotted the rig’s operator, a demoted general who waited with a spear at the ready. “Nadeden?” he questioned, only to have an arrowhead slice his stomach open. Shanna sheathed her blade once the battle was over, turning to Nadeden, who stood over the General’s corpse. “He said your name. Even looked like he recognized you. Everybody else has just called you the Scorched Archer, right?”
Nadeden shot Shanna a dirty look. “I used to serve the Republic; he’s just another soldier I knew.” Shanna knelt over the body, poking it with a gloved finger. The curls of her hair draped over the exposed shoulder of her dark skin as she focused back on Nadeden. “Well, that sure makes me glad you’re on our side.”
The stone fist thrusts downward from the heart of the void. The giant slams their own palm, crushing the broken ship. The impact scatters the pair lying in it. The lack of gravity sends Smith and Nadeden flying in opposite directions. Smith drifts aimlessly into the void, flailing like a doll towards the giant. His skin cools while he releases his breath, gasping for absent air. He falls into what he presumes to be a mouth, but with his mind now consumed by panic, he can’t be sure.
Gravity returns, pushing Smith down into the giant’s body. He tumbles against the rock and stone, receiving many a bruise and scrape on his descent. It is only when Smith splashes into a shallow pool of liquid that the onslaught of carnage subsides. He rolls over, wheezing and coughing for breath. He cleanses the panic from his mind, only to find it replaced with worried concern. “Nadeden?” He whispers. Where is she? Smith takes in his surroundings. The liquid around him is warm yet crystal clear. It flows from what could be considered a stone waterfall. However, he is not sure that he is even in water. Steam permeates from the liquid, clouding his vision. Is that? Smith stumbles over to a small fern next to the waterfall. Following it, he finds grass and trees. Where am I? He questions, now fully standing up, drenched in moisture. He wipes his forehead, calling out, “Nadeden? Where are you?”
He steps into the cloud of steam. “Nadeden?” Smith walks onward, shifting his eyes throughout the area, making sure to note every detail. I wish I still had the optics from my real body, he thinks, then I could map out everything and even mark my locat— his train of thought stops once he spots the exact same waterfall he landed next to. “Nadeden?” Smith calls out again, running back into the steam only to be greeted by the waterfall once more. “What?” He runs to the left. He sees the same waterfall. “That’s weird.” He runs to the right. He sees the same waterfall. “I don’t like this.”
To the north. The same waterfall. “What’s going on?”
To the south. The same waterfall. “Even the trees look the same.”
To the east. The same waterfall. “Nadeden! Are you here?”
To the west. The same waterfall. “I don’t understand...”
Smith sits against one of the trees. His body trembles as he collects his thoughts. I’m scared, I’m worried, but I have to keep it together. What happened? I was on the ship with Nadeden. The metal of the ship was in pain; it was hurt by the rust. Then it screamed at me. Something smashed it open, then the thing that smashed it open yelled at us. Tried to kill us. Am I inside it right now? Smith gets up, gripping the bark of the tree. “Hey, you!” He shakes the tree only to quickly let go. I hope I didn’t hurt it! He brushes his hands against his pants before addressing the tree again, “Can you hear me? I uh… I think I’m inside of you.”
Smith waits in the same spot for quite a while. He is not quite sure what he is waiting for. Nothing seems to be happening. He sighs, “Of course, you can’t hear me. I don’t know what I expected.” At that moment, the liquid begins to stir and boil, driving more steam out of it. Smith walks over to the pool and gazes into it. He kneels over on the grass with his eyes transfixed on a bubble of air that seems unable to dissipate. The rock beneath the bubble shifts. The bubble then sinks back into the water, covering the shifted rock, transforming it into an eye. It blinks at Smith.
Smith screams out in terror, jumping off the grass and into a tree. Three stone walls break out of the ground around the tree, trapping Smith in a space that only leaves room for him to stand. The walls shift. Faces resembling that of the giant appear on each of them to speak in unison, “What is it you seek, pirate scum? Give me a reason I shouldn’t simply kill you now and be done with your belligerence!”
The walls close in around Smith, squeezing his body and cracking his already injured ribs. He cries out, “I’m not a pirate! I’m just looking for my friend so she can take me back to my home planet!” The walls let up for a brief instant, allowing Smith to catch his breath. He crumbles onto the ground in an exhausted shock. An eye appears on the grass. “A likely story.” The mouth from the wall states, “But I’ve seen your friend.”
The eye on the ground blinks, opening up into another mouth that swallows Smith whole. Smith falls into a room shrouded in darkness. All that pierces the shadows is a faint white light behind him. The light is getting closer. It never ends! Smith runs yet again, only to find that his legs aren’t taking him anywhere. The floor beneath him is moving with his steps. He’s stuck in place. Smith screams as the clear liquid from the previous environment floods the room.
“I know who she is!” The voice echoes through the liquid, which boils with scorching heat.
The liquid begins to drain. Smith swims up toward what he believes to be the top of the room, but the current pulls him down. Further and further. Down he goes.
Smith splashes into a room covered in as much fauna as the first. The liquid washes over him. He gasps for air yet again as every bit of plant life reaches out to grab him. “You are inside of my body, human. You and the Scorched Archer have trespassed into my innermost domain. I have full control over everything inside of myself. I have waited for so long and prayed so many times for the possibility of revenge against even just one of the perpetrators who violated my planet and my people. Your lives were forfeit the second you dared to enter this solar system!”
Thorny vines and rough roots lift Smith up to a mountainous wall at the end of the room. A face smiles across it. “I am going to enjoy this, little human.” Smith coughs at the taunt, “I’m not human.” The wall laughs, “Well, what are you then?”
“I’m a Machinist.”
The wall scowls, “Prove it.”
Smith looks the wall dead in the eyes, wondering why he has been granted such a sudden mercy. Perhaps they just want to be entertained before they kill me. Even if they spare me, Nadeden is probably dead already. Either way. I’ve lost. Smith sighs, “Life is precious, life is all, I shall not raise my hand. I would weep for the dead if I had tears to shed.” The thorny vines and rough roots gently place a bewildered Smith on the ground. The wall speaks to him, “Consciousness transfer, I thought it was only possible with organic species. Interesting.”
“So you believe me?” Smith asks out of relief. “I do, but I pity you, poor Machinist, for we are one and the same.” The face on the wall dissipates, moving onto a smaller stone about Smith’s height. “What do you mean?” Smith asks.
“My dear Machinist, you said that you wish to return to your home planet?” The stone utters with an air of sympathy. Smith’s heart drops as he gulps out a nervous “Yes.”
“Oh, young one. There is no planet left for you to return to.”