System activated.
Blinking red lights that served as eyes, the command assassin droid turned sharply and, with a precise burst from a scavenged blaster, gunned down a crew member hiding in the corner. The series of shots drew the attention of its fellow machines, which assessed the situation for a few seconds before returning to their search, fanning out through the falling-apart ship at a brisk pace.
Objective set: locate and neutralize surviving crew members of the Adjudicator-class cruiser Soul of Liberty.
Environmental data loaded. Studying the downed spacecraft. Moving through the terminal, 43 meters covered, direction—hangar.
Number of surviving allied forces above 50%, risk of operation failure minimal.
On crouched legs, the droid accelerated sharply and, covering a significant distance, ran into a corridor littered with corpses and debris. Freezing in place, the soulless machine cold-bloodedly surveyed the bodies of hundreds of its brethren, whose broken forms carpeted nearly a hundred meters; the droid stepped over the nearest corpse and began a precise and detailed scan.
Seconds stretched slowly. Every corpse was inspected, but the machine met only the empty stares of dead organics and the extinguished lights of its "comrades."
Finishing with the last one, the droid froze for a moment, listening to a signal received over the general network. A data summary from all droids across the ship condensed into a small report.
Identification: 18% probability of survivors.
Living crew: approximately 316 individuals.
Method of completion: elimination.
Droid 00779 reports detecting blood trails. Possible timestamps at the nearest transport hub: 12 minutes 37 seconds ago.
Reading reports from other droids on the network:
[Message from Droid 00779]
"Hangar with small flight craft. Signs of activity. Assumption: Presence of a large number of survivors.
Obstacle: armored doors.
Protection level: Type A-7.
Ability to withstand attacking force: unknown.
Recommended analysis: no bypass options."
For a moment, many droids across the ship were distracted from their tasks. The machines' general network redistributed assignments, sending the majority in pursuit of the survivors, while several dozen continued to roam the shattered corridors.
Unacceptable. Time remaining for mission completion is too short, and the primary objectives have not been fulfilled...
New strategies required. The command computer processes data and sets parameters for hangar entry. Data translation speeds are now 0.5 seconds per frame. Approach to the doors must be tactically calculated.
[Message from Droid 00345]
"Lock does not yield to mechanical force. Proposing activation of hacking system.
Reverse engineering: 89% success?
Execution time: 45 seconds.
Option: Simply destroy?"
The commander droid did not think long. Processing the request and proposal, it immediately issued a refusal.
Stupid proposed alternative.
Response speed is unjustified. Decision: must use hacking. Transmitting required information packets...
Electronic field 3 meters in length.
Defect detection: 8% probability. Defeat—12%.
As soon as the calculation was finished, a proposal followed for the command machine. Effective, but not consistent with the tasks set by the creator.
[Message from Droid 00345]
Recommended use of light thermonuclear weaponry. Probability of gaining access to the closed hangar now stands at 72%.
Could a machine experience disappointment or slight dissatisfaction due to the inability to make the simplest decision? Who knows, but the commander droid delayed a few seconds before responding:
...Denied. Risk of coalition damage is not permitted.
[Message from Droid 00345]
Beginning preparation for hacking.
Finally, the choice was made, and the commander-model assassin droid could continue its search.
[Message from Droid 00983]
"Alarm signal. Crew managed to activate self-defense system. Hangar access restricted. Threat level increased: 69%."
Diving into a nearby nook where it wouldn't be immediately visible, the robot commander immersed itself in calculations, spending all available resources.
Concentration required.
Program deployed.
Time limit 90 seconds until possible self-destruction. Data being processed.
Helldivers are known for unconventional solutions. Risk of self-destruction of ship remnants as cover for the escape of the primary target.
Allocate more power to hacking. Deploy nearest available machines.
[Message from Droid 00345]
Hacking activation protocol received. Acting.
System check: 80% complete.
Access error appearing...
Calculation 3.5 seconds to completion...
Failure. Door physically blocked.
With a "heavy heart," the commander droid made a decision and issued an order.
Prepare for a change in tactics.
Hangar walls are good protection, but the survivors have no chance.
[Message from Droid 00779]
"Access coordinated. Instant hack failed. Proposal: apply heavy weaponry?"
The machine froze for a few seconds, weighing the proposal. The option of using thermonuclear weapons was considered the last possible and least desirable. The Creator had made this clear, as allied organic forces might suffer in the process...
But the assassin droid didn't have time to finish the thought. A signal detecting the primary objective of the operation came over the general network, and many combat machines bolted from their positions, abandoning all previous tasks and striving to find and destroy Sam Altman—the operation's priority target.
Converging from all over the ship, the assassin droids rapidly approached the pod bay where the Helldivers commander had hidden. A new task came over the general channel: find and destroy at any cost, regardless of losses...
Just as the droid commander reached the last intersection before the pod bay, its visors widened in surprise. Smashing through the hangar door, tossing its "brethren" in all directions, a massive walker of unusual design attacked them...
An attempt to send a warning signal ended in total failure, for as soon as the enemy machine left the isolated hangar, all nearby communications were knocked out by powerful fluctuations.
Extending a retractable blade from its arm, the droid commander tried to save itself at the cost of its subordinates' lives to transmit the data at any cost...
But a precise throw of a door fragment instantly ended its mechanical life, leaving only sparking wreckage of the droid.
****
"Target destroyed... Target destroyed... Multiple targets..."
"AVINA, damn it! You don't have to say it every time!" Jerking sharply to the left, I dodge a droid that leaped onto the cockpit from above. Spinning around, practically pivoting on my heels, I swat the bastard with an open palm, sending a heap of bolts and steel flying.
The walker's cameras highlighted the targets moving toward me, marking them with yellow squares that made my eyes swim.
"Avi! Turn off the highlighting; we're in a fight, not a pitch for additional funding!"
Jerking my leg, I feel the mechanical limb respond with millisecond precision, and another droid shatters into pieces, struck mid-air.
Another wide sweep of the arm, and a dozen small metal dummies fly into the wall, taking their comrades with them and opening a path for me. Knocking enemies aside with my body, I break out into a spacious hall that was clearly once a training zone. High ceilings, plenty of cover and surfaces...
"Just what I need."
I pick up speed, crushing anyone stupid enough to stand in my way with mighty legs. My arms shoot into the air repeatedly, swatting down the tin men jumping at me. I lose count of the destroyed droids as two new ones take the place of every fallen one.
"Living organisms detected..."
Whispering in my ear with her melodic voice just in time, AVINA warned me of a Yam'rii attack. A huge Mantis leaped straight at my chest, but...
"Incredible machine."
Twisting, letting the bug pass over me as if I weren't a massive robot but an ordinary human dodging a light ball toss.
My left arm shot upward; the Mantis, not yet vanished behind my back, was grabbed by its hind legs and slammed into the ground with all my might, leaving a massive green stain on the ruined floor.
"Multiple targets, Sam. Proposing regrouping..."
"Not in this life!"
The new bug was caught by the throat mid-flight. Without stopping, I slammed him back-first into the ground, then my massive foot came down with a crunch onto his dull, bewildered head while my hand reached back.
Using the bug's body as a weapon, I fought off the encroaching droids and Yam'rii, knocking their bodies aside like bowling pins, tossing them into walls and through breaches.
"Behind you, Sam."
Still amazed by the walker's reaction speed, I managed to twist around to face the new danger and catch a jumping Mantis by the lower jaw. Lifting the body over my head, I grabbed the xeno's belly with my second hand and tore him in half with a sharp jerk—tossing the uneven chunks of flesh aside.
Bullets and lasers rattled against my armor from the side. Striking sparks and leaving small black scorch marks, a dozen beams from Assault Rifles were, at best, good for writing profanities on my plating.
I stomped the floor with all my might, kicking a wide slab out of the foundation. Grabbing its edge, I began to spin around my own axis, simultaneously sweeping away the droids that just wouldn't quit.
Two seconds to build speed and power for the throw. And the three-meter plate went flying, flattening a dozen Assassins who had taken cover at the corridor exit.
My right hand, on its own, without my involvement, shot out to the side, grabbing another bug by the throat. Its blade-limbs scraped against my bracers, throwing sparks, but nothing more...
A sharp movement of the walker's head-chassis, and the triangular head of the Yam'rii cracked under the impact, becoming like a raw, broken egg.
With a smooth motion of my hand, I wiped green blood from a couple of splattered sensors. An exclusion zone formed around me, and it soon became clear why.
Another clone of Magnus stepped forward.
Comparable to me in height, the crazy mutant toyed with a halberd, babbling something about the superiority of organics and genetics over stupid machines...
"Idiot." My thunderous voice threw him off balance, but even if he had been ready, the pathetic clone wouldn't have had time to do anything.
My left hand batted the clumsy halberd thrust aside, opening up the Arkanian mutant's body to me.
The fingers of my right hand curled into a fist, and the enemy's helmet buckled under my blow, knocking the giant off balance and making him stagger. He swung his weapon with one hand while the other reached for his head.
I snatched the opponent's weapon. I spun it in my metallic fingers, turning in a circle at the same time. The first strike struck sparks on the Zeta clone's armor, and the second knocked away the limb reaching for the wound.
Griping the halberd tightly, I finished the rotation and drove the blade into the mutant's gut with all my strength. With a squelching sound, the weapon passed through the meager armor and pierced the body through. A rasp escaped my enemy's throat; he reached his crooked little hands toward me in a final desperate attempt to do something, anything...
I lifted him higher. Under the weight of his own giant body, he slit open his own chest cavity on the halberd's blade.
"A few tender embraces of True Freedom, you bastard."
With a sharp motion, I flipped the mutant's body over myself and slammed him head-first into the floor, ending this pathetic and ridiculous duel.
Pulling the halberd out with a crunch, I flicked the remains of Magnus's entrails off it with a swing.
"A good thing, after all... Pity only assholes use them."
"Sam, it would likely be better for us to use my standard armament. Though, if you prefer taking weapons from the enemy, I don't mind."
Pursing my lips, I stared for a few seconds at AVINA's blinking light, which...
"She's definitely making fun of me!"
"Couldn't have said that earlier?" Parallel to the question, the weapon systems that the Shorty had generously packed into my now "all-time favorite" combat walker appeared on the screen! "Ho-ho-ho-ho... Now we're talking."
The magnetic lock clicked behind my back. My hand felt the weight transmitted through the compression and increased resistance as the mechanism turned.
Pulling out a true miracle of True Freedom and Democracy, I lovingly stroked the massive replica of my very first machine gun, which, granted, fired bullets the size of an adult man's arm.
"Activate additional defensive systems?"
"Yes, yes, baby... You can do whatever you want," I said, stroking the huge gun like a maniac. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a pair of small repeaters extend from my shoulders. Opening suppressing laser fire under the control of a powerful computer, they quickly suppressed the remnants of the enemy squad, destroying everything and everyone within line of sight. "Ooh, I can already taste the True Freedom..."
Hoisting the massive machine gun, I killed a retreating Yam'rii with the very first shot; his hulking body burst like a water balloon filled with blood.
"Ha-ha-ha! Shorty, you little firecracker, I swear to God, for a gift like this, I'll grant any wish you have!" The huge gun was easily used as a potential club as well, for I sent the next droid that jumped at me flying with the muzzle of the monstrous weapon. "AVINA, have your fun, but leave the most desperate ones for me—I want to enjoy my gift to the fullest!"
"Of course, Sam. Have fun." The repeaters reduced their fire density, allowing the Assassins and droids to scramble out of cover, and the stream of Yam'rii, who had previously been falling as mangled carcasses in the passages, to flood back inside. "Detecting two more large objects heading our way..."
"Let them come; we have enough democracy for everyone."
Gripping the machine gun with one hand, I opened rapid fire on the bugs, while the other limb caught or swatted away the persistent droids trying to crawl closer to the cockpit.
Interacting with another bastard, I simply squeezed my fist, crushing microchips out of the small robot like a tube of toothpaste.
The sparking heap was sent under my feet, and I watched it go with a disgusted look.
"Not so tough and dangerous now, are you?"
"Right side, Sam."
"I see it," I said, ducking under a strike, parrying a halberd thrust with the machine gun, then rolling aside to dodge the strike of a second clone. Two of Magnus's knock-offs began to circle me, clearly intending to attack in turns from my blind spots. "Amateurs..."
Opening fire on the second one, I spun around and lunged at the first. Letting a vertical halberd strike pass my face, I got in close and punched him in the gut—forcing the giant to double over. Gripping the machine gun with both hands, I struck him in the head with the buttstock, then quickly jumped aside, dodging the first clone's lunge.
The halberd blade grazed my shoulder, scraping the black-and-gold paint off the massive combat robot. The walker swayed slightly, but thanks to the equipment's amazing sensitivity, I easily leveled out and was ready for a new strike.
Ducking under a wide swing, I braced the machine gun under the halberd's shaft, then forced our crossed weapons toward the ground. Letting go of the huge gun, I punched the clone's helmet, making him stagger and drop his weapon.
A few large bullets to the chest tore open his sternum near the shoulders.
Dropping the machine gun, I grabbed his dangling, useless limbs with my steel fingers and, with a kick to the chest, ripped the mutant's soft, yielding flesh from his body.
AVINA continued to have fun with the repeaters, keeping all the small fry away from my back, while their last hope in the form of two clones of the Arkanian mutant died, feebly twitching on the ground...
"Well, one is definitely dead."
Picking the machine gun up from the floor, I walked languidly and slowly toward the battered giant, who continued to clutch his dented helmet. He clearly wasn't thinking straight and didn't understand what was happening at all.
So, without further words, I aimed the huge muzzle of the machine gun at his face and simply blew his mindless skull apart.
***
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