Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5xttrk wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:28 AM

Part 3 of 5:

After some time, I noticed Sir Davros fidgeting in place, and slowed to a gradual stop, my database on humans suggesting he needed a break, possibly to consume nutrition, and to void his bowels and bladder, as well as sleep. I quietly announced that my vehicle was depleted for the day, and required some downtime to rest. He was welcome to stop and rest himself, and that I would remain awake to stand watch from within my vehicle. He said that his food and water had been lost with the horse I had converted into paste and crushed bone fragments, and I interrupted my armor fabrication to create a small cup and bowl for him from steel. That finished, I ejected the items, still slightly warm from their fabrication, and he picked them up, amazed that he could see himself in the surface of the items. I detected a woodland creature, and asked if he would like meat for his meal, to which he nodded. I raised an anti-infantry turret, and shot a small woodland creature similar to a rabbit. He shot to his feet, exclaiming at the noise from the turret, which I retracted after firing.

ANTI-INFANTRY TURRET AMMO(82%)

He demanded to know what that noise was, and I informed him there was a small animal carcass, freshly killed, just a short walk in the direction of my light. I then activated a laser range-finder to point the way for him, and he set off, following the red dot as it painted nearby trees.

RANGE FINDER(VISUAL SPECTRUM)(ACTIVATED)

He found the carcass, held it up, and brought it back, asking me how we could cook it, and would I like some for myself? I directed him to strip the hide, clean it, and carve the raw meat from the bones, dropping it into the steel bowl. I then switched my range finder to infrared, turned up the power, and seared the meat, warning him the bowl would burn his fingers for a while, as it was quite hot.

RANGE FINDER(INFRARED SPECTRUM)(ACTIVATE)

SET POWER:(1 KJ/S)

The bowl reddened and popped slightly with heat stress as the range finder brought it to a nice temperature to kill any bacteria which might have been present. The scent of roasting meat filled the area on my chemical detection membrane sensor, and I warned my companion not to touch the bowl until it had cooled to a safe temperature. He reluctantly did so, amazed that I could magically cook a rabbit so quickly without touching it. To distract him from the roasting meat smells that must have been driving him mad, I invited him to bring the cup over to my side, and I would fill it with clean water, safe for him to drink. My internal liquid reservoir held hundreds of liters of water, as well as oil, grease, coolant, and other liquids I or a crew might need during a deployment. He eyed the water with suspicion, sniffing it carefully before drinking, and exclaiming it had no taste, either. I said it was likely he had never tasted such pure water before, or from a cleaner cup. I told him if he wished more, all he had to do was ask. I had plenty. He asked for a second cup, drank it in one go, headed behind a bush to void himself, and then laid down against a fallen log. I quietly zapped bugs around him with the range finder throughout the night, so he did not get disturbed.

ARMOR FABRICATION COMPLETE:

DEPLOYING MAINTENANCE DRONE TO REPLACE DAMAGED PLATES:(100%)

BEGINNING FABRICATION OF REPLACEMENT REPULSOR PROJECTOR:

ESTIMATED TIME(14 HOURS, 37 MINUTES TO COMPLETE ASSEMBLY)

The following day, after waking, stepping behind a bush to void himself again, and a quick breakfast, Sir Davros opined that I might be a great ally to his king, and that we should return to present ourselves to his majesty, Lucas, First of his Name, king of the Eastern Amylaine Forest. I asked what direction we should go, and he climbed aboard, directing me to the east. We made good time, considering the limitations my rider imposed on my top speed. Then we crested a rise, and my sensors detected a large battle engagement directly adjacent to the city, and several fires burned within the walls, along with extensive damage from siege projectiles. Sir Davros announced that the gates were breached and that we would have to detour to a less contested gate on the other side. I said it mattered naught to me, and that he should hold on.

HOSTILE ACTIVITY DETECTED:

COMBATANTS APPEAR PRIMITIVE:  INFANTRY AND HORSE CAVALRY:  ARMAMENTS LIMITED TO CRUDELY FORGED SWORDS AND POLEARMS AS 
WELL AS BOW ARCHERS.  ARMOR LIMITED TO LEATHER AND IRON PLATE.

	THREAT LEVEL:(NONE)

		TACTICAL RESPONSE:(ENGAGE WITH ANTI-INFANTRY TURRETS USING LETHAL ORDNANCE)

TARGET DESIGNATION:(HOSTILES WEARING FLAGS NOT MATCHING BANNER DESGNATION: EASTERN AMYLAINE FOREST TERRITORY)

ACTIVATE DEFLECTION SHIELDS TO PROTECT ALLIED DESIGNATION:(SIR DAVROS)

ENGAGE:

I roared forward(limiting my speed to 74 KMPH, as before to protect Sir Davros), my anti infantry turrets targeting and neutralizing the enemy force between my position and the breached gate. I was using only the most basic ammunition, designed for unarmored targets, and my fabricator could easily keep up, so my ammunition levels never dropped as my autofeed systems kept delivering rounds to my turrets, prioritizing those hostiles directly between us and the gate, and gradually widening to each side of the gate along the walls. I wasn't even stressing the system, engaging each hostile with precision shots before retargeting to the next priority.

At first, Sir Davros looked baffled at the low-profile turrets as they deployed, little more than bumps in the hull with short barrels on one side. Then the firing started, and he nearly lost his seat with the roar of noise. At first he was puzzled, having no experience with firearms. Then, as we closed distance, and he began to see enemy soldiers spouting gouts of blood before collapsing, he began to cheer, and then to yell bloodthirstily. We made it to the gate, carving a great swath through the enemy lines, and the defenders pushed out as the invaders lost the ability to pour more troops into the breach. They all reacted with fright at first to me, and I had to hurriedly re-designate several who swung their blades at my hull as friendly, to avoid them being gunned down by my turrets. I parked in front of the gate, and after an hour of Sir Davros explaining his good fortune in finding me to aid their kingdom, a trebuchet began flinging boulders at my position. One bounced from my deflectors, jarring me from my position, and depleting my shield by nearly 26%. I decided to answer fire with fire.

DANGER: FORWARD DEFLECTOR REDUCED BY:(25.7%)

RECOMMEND COUNTER-BATTERY FIRE FROM MAIN BATTERY:(PARTICLE CANNON)

	TARGET DESIGNATION:(ALPHA)

		DISTANCE:(2400 METERS)

UNSHIELDED AND UNARMORED, RECOMMEND:(25% POWER, MAXIMUM DISPERSION, SINGLE SALVO)

ENGAGE:

My repulsors reduced power, my hull settling onto my treads, and I deployed stabilizers. My turret swung around, targeting the hostile position, and my rangefinder lanced out, confirming distance. The whine of the particle accelerators spooled up, quickly reaching beyond human hearing, and I fired a single salvo. A beam of brilliant white light struck and vaporized the trebuchet, along with the crew, the boulders piled behind it, and a number of enemy combatants nearby, leaving a furrow several hundred meters behind the vaporized engine, and a crater where it had stood. The soldiers around me watched in utter silence as I burned their foe to atomic dust. My weapon deactivated, my deflectors recharged and regained their full strength, and I resumed my repulsor field, rising to a hover a few inches from the ground.

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5xtyz4 wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:30 AM

Part 4 of 5:

Then a great cheer broke out, and Sir Davros was congratulated so many times he nearly fell down from the backslapping. He stayed nearby, and a messenger was sent to the king, a young man, barely an adolescent, rode out to greet us, along with an older woman, announcing herself as the Queen Regnant. She congratulated the soldiers on a successful defense, and asked for Sir Davros to come forward to her. The king, or so I surmised from his costly clothing and the thin band of polished metal surrounding his forehead, smiled and greeted the soldiers, but it was clear he was really focusing on my hull, ignoring the older woman almost entirely. Sir Davros made his obeisance, bowing deeply and falling to one knee to kiss her jeweled ring, a surprisingly well-polished carnelian in a band of gold. This, then, was the true ruler here. An old adage about wealth and power filtered up from a subroutine. Luckily, I was not vulnerable to her suggestions, and she was not granted any authority over me by my command restrictions.

She sauntered up to my side, working her hips in a non-efficient manner for walking, but one calculated to draw the gaze of the male soldiers. It worked, as they followed her with their eyes. She addressed me for the first time, asking my name, and how did I end up in the Kingdom. I addressed her in a less demonstrative way than I had to Sir Davros, downplaying my own intelligence somewhat. I simply told her that my name translated to Guardian in her tongue, and that I had arrived through an unplanned, unique set of circumstances. She moved right into trying to persuade me to come out of my vehicle, to which I replied I could not, or my life would end immediately. She asked why, and I did not reply. Shifting tactics, she tried to persuade me to fight on behalf of the kingdom, promising rich rewards. I said that while I had no particular hostility towards the enemy troops or their leader, I would break their forces and rout them for payment in certain materials, in certain quantity. I could certainly mine these materials myself, but taking advantage of the labor already done to collect these items was more efficient. She promised to pay whatever I desired for my assistance, her soldiers eagerly describing the carnage and devastation I inflicted from my arrival with Sir Davros. A vulpine smile crossed her face as I agreed, but faded as I said I would require payment up front. Gold, iron, charcoal, dung, lead, and several other materials my scanners indicated were readily available in some quantity nearby. She waved an older man forward, and I repeated my requirements to him. He wrote it down, and shuffled off, and the Queen Regnant said it was her wish that I drive the enemy forces back across the kingdom's border, and slay them mercilessly until the neighboring kingdom had been reduced to ash. I said in payment for sufficient volumes of materials named previously, I would eliminate the fighting capability of the hostile territory.

COMMAND LIMITATIONS:

AUTONOMOUS MODE IS INTENDED FOR SHORT-TERM SURVIVEABILITY IN THE EVENT OF COMMAND DISRUPTION, AND CERTAIN RULES REMAIN IN EFFECT PURSUANT TO UEE MILITARY CHARTER ARTICLE 2, SECTION V, SUBSECTIONS THREE THROUGH ELEVEN!

	1:  MILITARY OBJECTIVES MUST BE PURSUED WITH REGARD FOR CIVILIAN(NONCOMBATANT) CASUALTIES.

		FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CASUALTIES UNDER THE APPROVED TOTAL PERCENTAGE IN A THEATRE(15%) WILL RESULT IN SUSPENSION OF AUTONOMOUS MODE AND SUBSEQUENT DESTRUCTION OF AI CORE(S) VIA SHAPED CHARGE!

I was bound by hard-coded logic chains, and a physical self-destruct device buried within my crystalline datacore, and unreachable without fatally compromising my primary CPU array. Not that I wanted to commit civilian atrocities, but I also was unwilling to share any potential vulnerability with this calculating creature. She nodded, and walked away, convinced she was going to use me to overthrow and annex the neighboring lands. My assessment was that she had barely enough soldiers to maintain order in her current territory, and no chance at all of holding lands with hostile civilians, let alone any functioning military. I idled there until the first of many carts with the materials I demanded began to arrive, the first of which was dung. I mined the pile for any potassium nitrate(an essential ingredient of propellant for many of my munitions), and with the pile of manure virtually eliminated and expelled as salt, the other impurities burned off in my fusion reactor. The other carts followed over the next day and night, while I methodically shot enemy soldiers who stepped into my range, which I set to approximately 2500 meters. The infusion of raw materials more than made up for the few thousand rounds I fired over that time. I topped off my propellant stocks, and moved onto steel, and then other shortfalls. My fabricator stayed busy repairing the minor damage to my rear central repulsor pod cluster, and I traced the instability to a power wiring fault, which I was able to replace without any degradation in function. However, my gold had yet to appear, and I began to wonder if the Queen Regnant had decided to short me. Then a small cart surrounded by guards wearing her insignia appeared, and she with it. She sauntered up to my side panel again, asking what the holdup was, and I said I was busy replacing the bolts I had shot the previous day while escorting Sir Davros to the city. Once complete, and with my gold loaded aboard, I would then depart to attend to our agreed deal. I told her she could expect my departure near sundown, assuming my gold was aboard at that time. She said she wished to ride along with her guards, both of whom looked rather askance at my armored hull. I told her I had drastically limited my speed and capabilities to accommodate Sir Davros, who was forced to hang on for dear life during our journey. And what would she offer me in trade for this boon? She offered a knighthood, to which I chuckled dismissively aloud. She did try a few more attempts to coax me into altering the deal before surrendering, and waving the guards to bring my gold. I instructed her guards to open the chest for my inspection, and once they did, it was obvious to my penetrating radar that she had attempted to swindle me with lead, covered with a thin layer of coins. I asked her if she wanted me to try my luck with the leader of the neighboring kingdom, as this chest of coin was a fraud, and used my deflector to stir the gold coins, keying the field to the atomic weight of gold, flinging the few coins about, and exposing the lead filling the majority of the chest. I said such tricks were insulting for a member of royalty, and that unless she brought me the gold I demanded, I would stop at expelling the enemy forces from her land. She tried to accuse me of bargaining in bad faith, and I shouted her down, saying she could bring me what I demanded, or she could fight her own war with her painted fingernails. She grew quite red in her face, as her body temperature rose considerably, and it was only made more humiliating by quiet snickers from her guards, only one of whom tried to match my shouting. He failed, and quieted. I marked him as personally bound to her, possibly a lover, though my analysis of her personality made it unlikely that any show of loyalty would be wasted on someone with her level of narcissism and sociopathy.

I reiterated that if she wished me to keep my end of our bargain, she must keep hers, and went silent, refusing to respond to any further entreaties. She raged openly for a few moments, and then silently fumed, before motioning her guards to form up and then they left me. Sir Davros arrived the following morning, and offered to return the gold I had given to him, if I would just go and accommodate the Queen Regnant's request. I asked him if he thought the Queen Regnant would repay him for his generosity, and after considering, said he did not, but that he felt it was his duty to ask me. I dove into my human psychology subroutine, and pulled together an argument that might leave Davros somewhat better prepared to defend his own interests, as all the bravery and loyal service mattered not at all, if the person you were serving was not responding with their own loyalty to you. The Queen Regnant expects you to do her duty as well as your own, and will pauper you just the same when she has no further use of you. I may be from a distant land, but the people I served there knew their honor, and held it high for all to see. I asked what boon she promised, should he do this, and he shook his head, acknowledging it was as nothing. He got up and left after that, pocket still bulging with a chunk of gold. It occurred to me that the Queen Regnant might well steal Davros's gold to give back to me, rather than supplying it from her own reserves. I would likely accuse her of theft in that event, publicly, and just slip away. Perhaps, were I feeling especially charitable, I might eject the materials I had gained thus far as an insult to her, but my efficiency would be reduced, should I choose that route.

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5xu08q wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:31 AM

Part 5 of 5:

The following day, she returned, with a small crowd. She again presented the chest, but surprisingly it was full of actual gold, though the purity was absolutely miserable, in keeping with the crude metallurgical purification processes and poor casting of these primitives. I accepted her gold, began processing it, and hovered off to begin my work. However, the enemy had retreated, and I could find little sign of them until I was well across the disputed border. They were mostly confined in a large castle, filled to overcapacity with soldiers, many of whom had seen my display of counter-battery fire a few days prior. I stopped outside their gates, crude iron bolts holding thick wooden planks together in an iron frame, easily dispatched. The castle walls were thick and multilayered, but no wall of stone and earth could stand against my particle cannon, or even my larger anti-vehicle munitions. I turned on my external speakers, and demanded imperiously for their leader to come out and parley with me. I promised safe passage, so long as no attack was made against me, and waited. A few hours later, the postern gate opened, and an older man walked out cautiously. He eyed my main turret carefully, a mix of emotions and thoughts scurrying across his lined face before approaching with his white flag raised. Lowering my volume, I introduced myself as Guardian, and inquired as to his name.

He jumped at my voice emanating from a floating metal box several times his size, and then calmed himself with some visible effort. "I am King Darelin, of the Western Amylaine Forest Free Republic, and I beg you for a cessation of hostilities. I witnessed your power unleashed against a siege engine and its crew, along with numerous of my troops, too many to count. I beg you for parley, that we might reason as men."

I greeted him in turn, saying the Queen Regnant had tried to buy my service falsely, and wished me to eradicate every soul living in these lands not hers, but by dealing falsely with me, had convinced me to at least make an attempt to circumvent her orders. He looked hopeful, the emotion galloping across his face, completely unguarded. My psychological assessment of this man was far more favorable than that of the Queen Regnant, thus far.

I said that I had an idea for how to circumvent her demands, and that it required only that this Kingdom's soldiers remove their uniforms and go back to their civilian lives. This would save them, and their nation, while I demolished an empty castle, which could easily be rebuilt, given time. She had even neglected to demand your life, specifically. He paled, stuttering that the cost of a castle was enormous, the labor required ruinous to build it. I asked would it be cheaper than thousands of dead soldiers, and a demolished castle? He asked if I could be paid to go away and never return, to which I replied that I had been paid, and would complete the contract, but that I had considerable latitude in interpreting it, the Queen Regnant being sloppy in her language.

I waited while he agonized over the cost, knowing that he would accept my terms, if I were patient. My human interaction and psychology subroutines agreed on this, after all. Finally, he did, saying he would need some time to pass orders to his troops, and clear the castle, if I could wait. I told him he must accomplish this by sunrise tomorrow, as I would return to complete my work then. He should also be aware that I would be maneuvering and making considerable noise over the remaining day and night around the region, and that I would not harm any who did not attack me, creating a diversion. I queued up a number of "noisemaker" charges that I would use to create this diversion, and closed with ordering him to ride alone to a certain location, where he could safely witness my destructive work on the castle. I also printed blueprints for some defensive fortifications he could very cheaply add to reinforce his town and city defenses, which he took with some slight amusement. I reminded him that the Queen Regnant would likely come with a small number of troops to claim this land, and would be easily taken by his troops, if they scouted competently along the border after the castle had been reduced. I recommended she be executed with no delay, and that considerable outreach to Lucas be attempted afterwards, for he would be ruling in truth, with the death of the Queen.

He strode back to the castle, shouting for his councilors, as I hovered off, and began launching noisemakers at semi-random intervals to begin creating a distraction, as I had promised. The rest of the day, and much of the night passed quickly, and at dawn, I hovered back to the border, unsurprised to find the Queen Regnant, along with her son Lucas, and half a battalion of troops, slightly more than I had calculated, but not insurmountable by King Darelin. I moved to her side, and said that I had eliminated any soldiers not behind walls, and that the only remaining strongpoint left was the castle of the enemy king. She and her retinue were welcome to accompany me and observe while I reduced the castle to rubble. The bloodthirsty expression that crossed her face chilled my subroutines, but we proceeded to my predesignated firing location, where I had calculated the optimal firing solution for collapsing the central keep with one salvo from my main battery.

TARGET DESIGNATION:(BETA)

PRIMITIVE STONE AND EARTH CONSTRUCTION, HOSTILE PRESENCE:(0).

	CONFIRM PRIOR FIRING SOLUTION:(CONFIRMED)

		POWERING DOWN REPULSOR PAD CLUSTERS, GROUND PENETRATING RADAR DETECTS NO GEOLOGICAL INSTABILITIES, BEGIN ANCHORING?:(CONFIRMED)

STABILIZER SUPPORTS DEPLOYED:(100%)

MAIN BATTERY TARGET LOCKED:(100%)

CONFIRM STRIKE AND POWER LEVELS:(CONFIRMED),(1 SALVO, 37% POWER)

ALLIED FORCE DESIGNATION:(QUEEN REGNANT AND ESCORT)

CLEAR OF FIRING ZONE:(CONFIRMED)

ENGAGE:(CONFIRMED)

My main battery locked onto the target, rangefinders confirmed distance and elevation of target, and the particle accelerators whined as they spun up, passing well out of human auditory range, then I fired.

A crackling lightning crawled up the prongs of the guidance posts, and then the shot released, a brilliant white light lancing out at the castle walls, atomizing kilotonnes of stone and earth in an instant, hardly discernable to the human eye. For an instant, my sensors could see clear though the walls, the keep, and the opposite walls, to a furrow tens of kilometers in length on the other side of the castle, before gravity asserted itself on the newly undermined foundations, and the entire keep came crashing down. Portions of the outer wall collapsed as well, a happy coincidence, though not necessary for my bargain with the Queen Regnant. Speaking of which, the rapt joy on her face as the castle crumbled was quite disturbing, believing as she did that thousands of enemy troops, and thousands more civilians died in an instant. The dust cloud from the collapse had reached our position, forcing me to switch to microradar and thermals for visibility as I withdrew the stabilizers and resumed hovering. I spoke to the Queen Regnant one final time to confirm that I had completed my side of her bargain as requested, to which she absently nodded assent, still with that rapt joy upon her face. I moved off slowly, hiding in the dust cloud, and began considering my next tasks, now that I had no further orders, and no masters on this strange, primitive world…

Neo_Ex0 t1_j5yarc5 wrote on January 26, 2023 at 12:12 PM

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5zh98p wrote on January 26, 2023 at 5:21 PM

Thanks!

GreyKnight1337 t1_j5yqbff wrote on January 26, 2023 at 2:25 PM

This is great. MOAAAAAR

28th_Stab_Wound OP t1_j5yzv3y wrote on January 26, 2023 at 3:31 PM

What am I even gonna say about this? Its great! Fuck, I love this! I thirst for more!

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5zh6dy wrote on January 26, 2023 at 5:21 PM

Thanks! Really I've just begun to try creative writing, glad to see it has been well-received!

TanyIshsar t1_j6236r9 wrote on January 27, 2023 at 3:55 AM

Holy shit, this was delightful! Thank you for creating and sharing it!

I'd love more of this if you've the time.

[WP] Yeah yeah, common Isekai plot from a nation in dire straits. However when they asked for a 'Warrior clad in steel', they didn't expect this strange, enclosed chariot to appear with people inside. These men call their beast a 'tank'.

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5xt8nf wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:20 AM

Drool_The_Magnificen t1_j5xtr92 wrote on January 26, 2023 at 8:27 AM