Chapter 14: War Starts

The Church got the message just about the same time as King John. They were livid that any country could blatantly ignore rules set up over decades and they started getting ready to assist in the war. Such insubordination would never be allowed, and since the Church literally owned or operated several small countrys they were not to be trifled with. They called a meeting at the school and many important figures came to discuss better what to do and as they entered the conference room, Phillip was seen walking among them meeting new people and saying hello to others. He was there to tell what he had seen so far, and to meet important church members that he had not met before, but there were rumors that as the Inquisitor he was there for other reasons and a few tried hard to ignore him and keep him at arms length and it was clear to see right away.

“Watch for those that are afraid of him,” The High Priest mentioned as one man started taking notes, “there is only one reason to fear the Inquisitor, so we will investigate those to see what they are hiding.” With that the man went away and the meeting went on until an agreement was reached and Phillip asked for a minute to speak to the assembly and they gave it to him.

“I ask, as your representative, that we support Queen Katherine of Glen, financially as well as militarily. I just found out that Garish has frozen all her assets and without them her and her staff will be out on the streets in no time. That would be both wrong and demoralizing for her followers. It will be a small cost, but worth it, if we can make Garish look even more foolish, and show the rest of the world that we support those that have rights, from all evil.” Phil said loudly as many there jumped to their feet and applauded while a few looked much more serious about it. They obviously didn’t agree but they dared not say so right out loud after such a compelling plea.

The vote wasn't even close and after a small discussion, a number was agreed to. Phil was given a copy of the decision and he took it back with him after the meeting and made the official announcement to Kate and her staff that after noon, while many there kept their cool hearing it, Kate was obviously very relieved that they were helping her in her time of need.

“Thank the church for me, we humbly accept.” Kate said very officially as Phil nodded and went away and she stood there looking at the announcement. It took a lot of weight off her shoulders and right now that left her worry about her grades and the war instead of where their next meal would come from.

As the first few skirmishes started, a few people loyal to the Queen defected, right there on the battle field and when the fights were over, her own private little army started taking shape. First one then another joined her side as the church got very happy to see she still had the support of many people in her kingdom. They gave them places to stay,and store their machines and mechanics to help repair them and Kate started her own little force that fought in her name during some of the first small battles and word of their successes got back home, and with careful planning a few others defected as well. This gave both the allies and Kate more confidence and things started going a little better, and volunteers started joining the military to help with the war, but war has a way of looking one way and being another, and a week later, a pair of silent shadows slid around the little mansion where Kate slept and started looking for a way in.

Security was minimal, mostly because of the massive security that everyone had to go through just to get in the school, and Kate never thought to add more security around her home, since the school was already a secure facility. The two looked around silently and finally found one window on the bottom floor that wasn't locked. One stood on the others shoulders and opened the window and slid in and a minute later reached out to help her friend get in as well. It was very dark and they didn’t see or hear anything, but a second after their feet touched the floor of the living room there was a whirl of movement, and they found themselves laying, on top of each other unconscious never knowing what had really happened.

The lights came on a second later and Kate and Cybil, with her sword in hand ran in and there stood Phillip looking all too smug as Cybil saw the two laying there and her face grew red.

“Didn’t I mention this?” he asked as Kate gave him an argument in defense of Cybil who did mention adding more security before this but was told they didn’t need it here. “ Check them out, I'll bet their a team that came in with your 'defectors' and just waited for their chance to get in.”

Cybil nodded and she walked over and removed their masks, they indeed were people that they had seen around the mecha storage area just a day ago and she looked upset she had not seen it coming.

“Hey wait, we lock every window, every night how did they get in without breaking the glass?” She asked as Phil laughed.

“Sometimes it's necessary to give something to get what you want.” he said as he walked out and Cybil stood there shocked. He left them in, opened a window and left them a place to enter, of course he was waiting as well, and she saw that Phil wasn’t as stupid as she had always said he was, a little arrogant perhaps, but not stupid.

“I'll place some guards around the mansion every night after this,” Cybil said as Kate agreed, “then we'll start doing background checks on any 'defectors' that come to us, it's obvious we cant take anything for granted.”

“I agree, put them in a lockup until tomorrow, and then we can question them properly, now lets get back to bed, it'll be light soon.” Kate said as she walked back towards her room, but Cybil wasn't going back to sleep tonight, and she took the first watch over the mansion just as dawn started to break over the nearest hill.

Chapter 11: New Chances

The next day, the new meat was on the menu and a lot of people were there to try it. To the man and woman they agreed it wasn't too bad and the medical team informed the Captain that it filled a badly needed niche in their diet and that they'd be seeing some healthier people after this and he smiled and thanked them. Now it was all about plans and getting ready, and Sampson started thinking about a second team since he had put everything into a second set of equipment just in case they needed it, and it was nearly ready.

Sara went to work and after some time she made sure she and Sherri were working together and Sherri didn’t seem to notice that she wasn’t really doing much today.

“You know that Jake got hurt on the last run right?” she asked without turning to see as Sherri just nodded and kept working.”Sam's really worried about him he thinks he'll get lonely laying in that bed for days until the medical staff release him, so he's asking people to stop and visit him, so it doesn’t look too obvious that Sam asked them.” she went on as Sherri again nodded and seemed to ignore her.

“So, want to go with me today after lunch? We'll just stop and say hi and see how he's doing.” she said as Sherri looked confused but left it slide.

“I guess if you want to.” she said as Sara got a huge grin and went back to work, phase one was complete now for phase two. She left Sam know when she would be there and that she wanted him there too and he agreed and when the two girls walked in, Jake’s eyes nearly fell out, and Sam stood up to let Sherri have the chair next to the bed.

“Hi, Jake you know Sherri right?” Sara asked as he nodded and Sherri looked surprised he knew her at all.”She was worried for you and I told her I'd come along so she wouldn’t have to be embarrassed.” And at that Sherri gave Sara a strange look and Jake smiled, obviously not true.

“I'm glad she did,” he said as Sherri smiled and her face grew red, but she seemed happy someone had noticed her.

“Sam I'm thirsty, lets get everyone some drinks,” Sara said and her and Sam left the room as quickly as they could leaving the others sitting looking embarrassed by it all.

“She's not very tactful is she?” Jake asked as Sherri looked a little upset but she admitted she wasn't.

“Sam obviously told her my secret.” he said as Sherri looked up at him and wondered what he meant by that.

“I've been watching you for a while,” he said as quickly as he could without panicking and she looked shocked as her mouth fell open. Jake was a team member , an elite here on the base, what would he possibly see in her?

“Wait, when, I didn’t see you.” she said as he smiled and told her it was him above on the catwalk watching her work.

“YOUR that perv?!” she started and caught herself as Jake started laughing.

“I'm a little shy around girls, so this was probably the only way Sam and Sara thought I'd sit still to talk to you.” he said as she finally smiled.

“But, I know a dozen girls that like you, you and Sam are like heroes here, why me? I'm nothing spacial.” she said looked down as her face grew red.

“To me you are, your kind, considerate, a hard worker, you never ask others to do anything you haven’t done yourself, and even if you don’t think so, I think your pretty dang cute.” Jake said as she heard his voice stressing out towards the end.

“I don’t know what to say...” she said and sat there all embarrassed as by now Jake wasn’t any better. His fast little speak had drainer his ambition, and now he was right back to being too shy to even look up.

“That was a nice speech, but as Sherri's friend I have to demand you take responsibility for what you've said.” Sara said standing there with drinks in her hand as Sherri looked surprised and Sam stood there laughing at it all.

“Wait, responsibility, for what?” Sherri asked as Sara smiled.

“He admitted he loved you and has been stalking you for a while now, so he has to take responsibility for his actions, and so do you.” she said looking at Sherri as her face looked like it would catch fire any second.”What do you say? You were worried you'd get married to some old fart someday, well, in case you haven’t noticed this is not that time.”

“I noticed,” Sherri said as Jake smiled but in another minute she bolted for the door and disappeared as Sara went running after her, and Sam laughed and sat down next to Jake and he looked worried.

“Congrats, you finally said it.” Sam said as Jake smiled but anyone could tell he was worried.

“But she ran...” Jake said as Sam laughed out loud.

“And so would you if you weren't tied to this bed, but you were forced to admit the truth and she was never sure anyone would like her, this is quite the shock.” he added as Jake nodded he knew.

“It's up to her now,” he said as Jake agreed and they started talking about other things and waited for the other foot to fall.

Sara chased Sherri all the way down the hall and into the waiting room where she collapsed into a big chair and looked shocked beyond belief. Sara stopped and sat down next to her and waited as Sherri’s eyes seemed to fly about in their sockets, trying to analyze everything that had just happened.

“He's quite the catch,” Sara mentioned as Sherri looked upset and pointed a finger at her and told her to be quiet for a minute and she did as Sherri looked completely rapped up in what she was doing.

“OK,OK, I see the whole raising children thing and that Jake thinks I'm a good candidate for it, and that he's an important man and that....” she started and trailed off until she finally just screamed and looked lost. “But, why ME?!”

“He loves you, there’s no scientific reason for that.” Sara said as Sherri looked her way and looked scared for the first time.

“But what if my luck rubs over onto him, he was lucky to be alive right now, eaten by some monstrous reptile, what a horrible thing.” Sherri went on as Sara smiled and waited, she had to run out of reasons it wouldn’t work before she'd consider it would.

“BUT,” Sara said finally,” do you like him or think you might love him given the chance?”

“Maybe, I don’t know this is all so sudden.” Sherri finally admitted as Sara smiled and gave her a hug.

“Then go slow, first tell him its alright that you'll consider it. Then see how things go from there, there's no commitment yet.” Sara said as finally, Sherri agreed and they went back and had another little talk, and Jake was a happy man and Sherri had to consider that someone truly nice and good looking wanted her around, and she started smiling a lot after that.

Chapter 9: New Threats

They had a meeting between the Captain, Jake/Sam and the biology department and they talked about animals for a change.

“If there are animals especially bigger ones, how come we haven’t seen any on our previous trips?” Sam asked as the room looked sad he had to even ask.

“Your walking around in a bot that weighs tons and stepping on plants and making all kinds of noise, why would any animal be seen by you like that?” The Lt. said as everyone agreed.

“So, birds big enough to eat and large lizards,” Jake said softly as the biology Lt. Quickly corrected him.

“Reptiles at least, we have no way of knowing if their really a member of the lizard family.” he went on as Sam rolled his eyes and Jake looked like he'd laugh at him any minute.

“So, here's the plan, each trip down, gather as much stuff as you can to make the trip worthwhile, then take some time to look around, look for things like: plants half eaten, some reptiles eat plants, and footprints, the bigger the bigger the animal of course, and seeds left spread around on the ground near plants, and small bird prints in the dirt. Find any of these things and your near animals, and then it's just a matter of searching close by.” He added as Sam looked upset.

“Your trying to get me killed, if the enemy drones don’t get me, then some alligator will when I walk up on him.” he said as everyone laughed but he didn’t think it was funny.

“Don’t worry, you'll both be armed,” Sampson said as Jake looked up suddenly.

“Both?” he asked as they all nodded if these reptiles were as large as they said it would take two people to drag one back to the shuttle and Jake didn’t look any happier than Sam.

“We're working on putting a cooler attachment in one cargo bay, that way you don’t need to rush back.” he said as everyone agreed and the team looked like they had had better days, but they nodded agreement and their next trip was planned.

When they were ready to go, Sam got the upgraded Arkhe they had been working on for the trip. It wasn’t much of an improvement, but any was better than none.

“It has much better computer and scanner abilitys, so finding loot, even smaller pieces that you overlooked before, will be possible.” he was told and he smiled as he got inside and walked it into the shuttle and they took off.

They landed and he gathered a good amount of plant materials again and Jake got many good plants that he was told were a sort of wild tea, and he liked the smell and couldn’t wait until they got back to try something that wasn't the same junky taste as everything else. Sam unloaded another load of materials and they decided that they had time to look around a while. They both took the guns they were given and checked their ammo, and began walking around the area looking for the signs that the biology men had mentioned.

They walked for a little while but both made sure they kept an eye out for enemys. It wouldn’t do to have them find the shuttle while they were away, and Jake had an alarm set to go off if anyone got close. But they weren’t seeing anything like what the men mentioned and after a minute they sat down to rest on a large stone.

“These animals are defiantly shy,I'll say that.” Jake said as Sam nodded.

“Or their rare, we might do this a dozen times before we see anything.” he said as they both heaved a heavy sigh, but off in the distance Sam heard a rustling noise and saw what he that was a tree move slightly so he grabbed the binoculars and zoomed in to see. A minute later a piece of fruit of some kind fell, and a large lizard ran down the tree to get it and stood there, in the shade eating it.

“There,” he said pointing as Jake took a look and shook his head he saw it too, and Sam tapped his shoulder and they took their guns and snuck around some rocks and bushes to get a lot closer, and they stopped again to have a look. From here it was clear that there were two, and they were laying in the shade after their meal and Sam smiled. They were definitely large and there was no problem thinking there was a lot of meat there, so they moved a little closer and he got a good aim and fired a round and one lizard went into spasms of rolling and flipping around as the other ran away.

“Got him,” Sam said as he ran full out towards the trees and Jake was right behind but they were both surprised at how far those trees where, and they were out of breath when they got there.

“How dang far was that anyways?” Sam asked dropping to his knees as Jake said nothing but as he looked up, Jake was standing looking at their quarry, and his eyes were wide. The animal was a meter high, laying on its side and several meters long, and even Sam had to be impressed with the sight of it laying there.

“We are NOT carrying this back to the shuttle.” Jake said matter of factually as Sam nodded agreement.

“I'll get the bot, we can tie a rope on it and carry it back that way, and we wont have to kill ourselves doing it.” Sam said finally as Jake smiled and nodded.”you wait here and don’t let any other animals have it.”

“WHAT!? Are you crazy? Look at the size of that thing how am I supposed to protect that from something big enough to eat it?” Jake asked with wide eyes as Sam pointed to the gun.

“He went down with one shot, so stack them up until I get back.” he said laughing and started running back towards the shuttle as Jake stood there, with the weapon at the ready and wished he was home and finally asking Sherri out right now. He might be shy and a little afraid, but asking her would seem like child’s play after this and he knew Sam was in good shape and he figured that he had to wait for 30 minutes himself until he'd return but after that it would be all good.

Chapter 7: Valentines Day

Several of the girls were working on an improved bot for the surface team when they stopped for a break.

“Are you ready? It's coming soon,” One girl said all excited as the others all smiled.

“What is?” Sherri asked as they looked at her in shock.

“A girls favorite day of the year, that’s what, Valentines Day of course.” she heard as she just turned away and shrugged.

“Doesn't mean anything to me,” she said as they looked at her seriously, she was not an ugly girl by any stretch and a few guys kept an eye on her, not the least of which came down to the maintenance bay and stood on the overhead handrails and watched her working when he thought no one would notice. Without her glasses and safety goggles, she was just as eligible as any of them, but she saw her bad luck as her total downfall.

“Don’t sell yourself short, you've got a lot to offer some lucky guy.” one girl said and there was a little chuckle about her suit fitting tight in the front.

“Maybe some old guy who's really lonely will ask someday but that'll be long after all you get taken.” she said and went on with her work as everyone around her looked sad for her. She was always like this, selling herself short and thinking her bad luck would ruin any chances she ever got, but they all knew her time would come and with childbearing being important so far from home, they all knew they'd all get 'chosen' by someone sooner or later, they just hoped they were lucky enough to find someone nice.

“You may be really surprised one day you just wait.” one girl said and she went back to work too, and Sherri stopped for a second and wondered what she meant by that, but soon decided she was just teasing and ignored her after that.

Sam walked into the cafeteria and went to sit down when he saw Jake sitting alone in the one corner, looking at a notepad, obviously totally engrossed in what he was reading. Sam smiled and walked over and sat down just as Jake hid the pad under the table and that got Sam's interest more quickly than if he'd left it lay out in the open.

“What was that?” he asked as Jake just shrugged and Sam couldn’t wait to see now as he tried looking around the corner and Jake moved it to the other side.

“Something for work,” Jake said as Sam looked skeptical, if that was true then he definitely should have been seeing it, which he mentioned and Jake looked upset he had chosen that excuse.

“Liar,” Sam said finally and sat back to eat and Jake slowly brought it out and sat staring at it for a minute, not knowing what to do. But finally he dropped it on the table and Sam saw the heading on the page: “Application for Marriage” and Sam nearly choked on his lunch.

“I didn’t even know you were dating yet,” he said as Jake looked embarrassed.

“I'm not...really...dating.” he said slowly and in what looked like a little pain as Sam looked at him shocked. If he wasn't dating how could he be thinking about things like this?

“Does she know your thinking this serious?” Sam asked, not even knowing how he was interested in.

Jake shook his head no and Sam stopped eating to sit back and look him up and down, if she didn’t even know he cared so much, how could he even consider such a thing?

“What about you, I know you've been seeing that girl in maintenance for a while.” Jake said as Sam's face grew red but he was smiling all the time.

“We're talking about it.” He said seriously as Jake looked shocked beyond belief, the big joker and mouthy pardner was getting serious about something, and it blew his mind to think that.

“So, who's yours, is she from the dock crew, or maintenance, or maybe an office worker, that might be your style, quietly hiding away not drawing attention.” Sam said with a grin as Jake's face got red.

“Maintenance,” Jake whispered as Sam smiled and nodded, now we're getting somewhere there were a handful of pretty girls down there and now he wanted to know all about it and he knew Jake was ready to bolt any second.

“And her name is?” Sam whispered as Jake sat silent for a minute and he finally whispered back.

“Sherri,” and Sam sat back thinking, he knew most of the girls down there because he was seeing Sara 'now let me see...Sherri..'and his mind went down the list until it settled on the one girl he positively would never have guessed.

“You have GOT to be kidding me, GOGGLES!?” Sam asked very loudly as Jake got up and bolted from the room as several people nearby started to laugh and Sam sat there all smiles, so that was his little secret, and with Valentines Day coming, even Sara had made her thoughts on it known and Sam saw Jake was under pressure to say something and he laughed to himself and wished him the best.

Chapter 6: Master Salvagers

They had a hard time but Sam pushed and Jake had the emergency winch hooked up, and they towed the little drone onto the shuttle and fastened it down. Then they looted everything they could find off the others and got out of there while they had the chance.

“That was too close,” Jake said as they lifted off but Sam was just laughing about the whole thing.

“We got a whole bot for salvage  this time, the Captain will be very pleased.” Sam said as even Jake had to smile when considering it. They had been lucky and they got not only the main body but whatever was on board, and that meant a lot to the maintenance department.

“Lets not make a habit out of getting the shuttle shot up though.” Jake said as Sam laughed. It still flew and even with this extra weight it made it back to the base easily. The crews there were happier than any time lately, and they drug the drone from the shuttle and then returned for all the metal panels they had brought back.

“You did well, better than expected.” Sampson said looking at the drone sitting on the docks while the maintenance crew swarmed over it happily.

Target of opportunity,” Sam said waving towards it.”they attacked the shuttle while I was working, so this one was right outside the door.”

“I have no problems with that.” The Captain said as he walked over to look it over also. It looked a lot like the Arkhe, and that made him wonder who was copying who here, but the parts would come in handy and he had his own plans for some of them.

“Take a day off, then we'll try again, your getting better and better so lets take advantage of this while we can.” he said and walked away as Sam and Jake looked shocked. They were going right back out, even after bringing in a good load, or maybe because they brought in a good load, either way their time off was getting cut short.

“And I had a date too,” Sam whispered but not low enough as he looked up and Jake was all smiles.

“She'll be here when we get back,” he said as Sam looked disappointed.

“You don’t understand, we've been planning to spend the day together and its hard getting time off at the same time.” he said as Jake nodded. There weren’t that many people their own age or close, so finding someone was harder than it would have been at home where millions of people lived in each town.

“You should look around a little too,” Sam said looking to see if anyone was listening,” we are a special team here and the girls know it, its like we're celebrities or something, take advantage of that and get yourself as girl.”

“I don’t take advantage of people,” Jake said stiffly as he walked away and Sam shook his head smiling. There was someone, he had heard, but she didn’t have a clue, and Sam wasn't sure Jake did either.

Sara was upset of course, their plans were ruined and Sam apologized repeatedly.

“The Captain is all happy we did so good last time and hes sending us right back out.” he explained as she finally nodded she understood.

“Just be careful don’t get yourself killed.” she whispered and Sam leaned over the table and gave her a soft,quick kiss as half the lunch area saw and a few chuckles were heard, as she turned red.

“When we do get our day together, I have something important to ask you, so be ready.” he said as he got up and walked away and three of Sara's friends rushed over to sit down next to her as soon as he left.

“Looks serious...” one girl said as Sara's face grew redder and redder. “What did he say?”

“He has to go back down to the surface and our dates canceled for now.” she said as they looked disappointed. “hey, it's not his fault, we need everything they bring us badly.” She said ,covering for him as they all smiled, she was in his corner one hundred percent.

Just then another girl walked over and sat down and the girl closest to her slid away to another chair.

“Gee, thanks,” she said sadly as they all smiled, Sherri was the most unlucky girl ever, and even a simple meal could turn into a major disaster with her around, but she was a friend and they all watched over her for the comedy of it all if for nothing else. She took a bite of her food and opened a canned drink and it exploded into a shower of red all over her cloths and the seat next to her on either side.

“Now we can sit here,” the one girl said as she wiped up the spill and slid back over and Sherri just wiped her face and drank what was left in the can like nothing ever happened.

“It's like this nearly every day.” Sara said as even Sherri smiled and nodded, they didn’t even know how she had survived the sleep chambers, but for one reason or another she had and because of that, her luck seemed to get even worse,and her friends all laughed and she joined in as they talked about their work in the maintenance department and what they were doing the rest of the day.

59 and my character doesn't feel a day over 20..lol

We were just talking the other day that EW units had no purpose, and were worthless as a single unit in attacks. Now with the possibility to drain enemys before attacking, and jamming them in different ways, even a pair of EM's can do work on bots who have little or no power. That might make owning an EW unit something to try.

Chapter 2: Surviving

It took nearly no time at all for the situation to become desperate. The Terminals traded with each other for basic materials. Some areas had lots of plant life, others none but they had minerals that could be used by everyone, so trade began in earnest. But the Nians weren’t up for watching their new enemys get better established and convoys were attacked and destroyed. Many vehicles were destroyed and soon a crisis of materials started to form. So they stretched their limits as much as possible and added teleporters to their Terminals, each set for a certain range so other areas could come and trade with some chance for success. It was an instant success and the Nians had little chance to stop them completely but their raids continued as the colonists still tried to gather intel on where they were living and where they originated.

The only place that was completely left out was the orbital. The one over Nia was manned to this day and Captain Sampson commanded it even after these last years. They had been in the Nia system 10 years now and while the surface terminals were holding on, some barely. The orbital was on hard times. He called and demanded and sent shuttles to get supplys from them, only right since he started them in the first place and they owed him, but things were tight, and they refused more often than not, and he was  faced with a choice, either leave the station and take everyone to the surface, or try to gather and mine for himself, and he was told in no uncertain terms that many areas were off limits to him and his people, and he saw that only the uncharted areas of the world would be open to his plans.

He started sending miners and gathers and some did pretty well, for a while, but some never returned and he saw his troubles getting worse. He had to keep the orbital going... he HAD to, because without it, there was no place to fall back to, and there was still the possibility that the surface city’s would fall, eventually to the Nians.

So he kept trying until the day came when he saw no choice and he had the sleep chambers opened and the people there awakened. They were checked over again and again and taken to the auditorium for their first glimpse at the new world and the first sound of their new problems.

Captain Sampson walked on stage to the shocked looks of all there. When they went to sleep he was just a few years older than them but now, not only had they matured in the pods, to their own surprise, but he had definitely aged, and they wondered why they hadn’t been awakened.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he started as they waited,” I'm sure your wondering why you've been asleep so long, and what has been going on. Well this might help explain things.” He said as a big screen came on and they saw the spinning planet for the first time.

“Welcome to Nia,we made it here a decade ago, and we have 5 Terminals on the surface where many of your parents went some time ago, and yes, I got requests many times to reawaken you, but I refused until now for many reasons that will become plain soon.” He said as the room started to buzz.

“The terminals have been under constant threat, by the Nian people, so far all attempts to communicate with them have failed they just aren’t interested in talking to us and have tried to throw us off their world.” he added as a few looked shocked.

“If it was inhabited why did we stay?” one young man asked as Sampson smiled and nodded.

“They stayed away from us for a while, watching from a distance,” he started,” then by the time we recognized them as a civilization of sorts, we had already stripped all our ships and built Terminals on the surface. To be frank, we have no place else to go.”

“What do you mean, 'recognized them as a civilization'? Couldn’t you tell just from orbit there were people here?” he heard as he smiled and shook his head sadly.

“They have no cities, no real capitol no large area of buildings that we could see. They just appear and disappear after doing great harm and we still haven’t seen or talked directly with a living being. Their defenses are robotic, and all the bots we've managed to disable or destroy had no beings inside. They can fight forever because they aren’t losing anything but machines and we still don’t know what a real Nian looks like much less what they want from us, other than our destruction.” He said as the room got quiet.

“So, why awaken us now then? If things are so bad why not just let us sleep?” another asked as he looked sad to have to say it.

“The orbital needs you now, you've all gotten some skills and training, and we've sent people to mine and gather for us to keep the place going and some never returned, either they were destroyed or they decided to stay and join a terminal instead but things are desperate now and we need supplys or we'll all die here.” he said as the room looked sad to hear things were like this.

“So, you'll all join the crew and get more training. We are very short on materials and food, even our shuttles are on their last legs as well as our power system. We have no choice so please, do your best for us.” he said and they all nodded and he walked away and they were led to their rooms and started training immediately. If they were to keep the base going, they'd need to work together, and there wasn't much else they could do except die.

Sci-Fi and magic together? Sounds like Wow exploded into the future..lol But wasn't it once said that any technology that's advanced enough would appear to be magic? I just don't think calling them Wizard Bots would be cool, actually thinking about it wants to make me hurl..lol. If it's super science, say that don't hide behind wizardry.

I posted in the rubber room asking if fan fic was allowed here, I guess so, would be nice to have a link started just for that.