You
may need to replace your Awesome-meters after this chapter. Again.
Chapter Sixty-four: Schooled
“And how are you today Scipio?” Doctor Izaak Wronski asked as he entered the lab, the technicians just starting the day’s activities.
“I am well doctor. The reconstruction of my processing cores goes smoothly, with my survival core up to 97.1042% capacity and my personality core at 4.5729% capacity. While supplemental additions have given me more ‘thinking room’ so to speak, the architecture is strange and my calculations are still off as according to my analysis the deoxidation processes that are restoring my systems should be prohibited by the laws of thermodynamics,” Scipio replied through his speaker.
Chuckling, Izaak replied, “Rest assured that your calculations are correct Scipio, it is just that you are using the wrong formulas. You are of course aware of the relationship between causality, relativity, and the speed of light?”
“All those topics are essential to the targeting of my hellbores, so while the computational algorithms are currently unavailable, I am aware of the relation between the three subjects,” Scipio answered.
Izaak nodded and said, “And you know how touchy those subjects get with regards to faster-than-light travel and communication?”
“I do,” Scipio answered.
“Well the nannite swarms currently working on your processors are using a form of FTL communication to extract information in an acausal manner and restore to a state prior to damage,” Izaak explained.
Scipio pondered the explanation for 1.213 seconds, a small eternity, before he replied, “I will have to save further questioning for when I have more computational power and access to the relevant equations.”
Izaak chuckled and asked, “Thinking of getting out of soldiering and into computer science?”
“I rather doubt I would be able to attend most conferences and consortiums once you complete repairs, and I must say that soldiering is all I truly know,” Scipio replied.
Chuckling lightly, Izaak said, “Nonsense, you could easily
be the conference centre if you wanted.”
“Event security would be rather easy to achieve, I would have to admit,” Scipio deadpanned.
“There’s the spirit. Now, we have something special lined up for you today Scipio. With the majority of your core personality recovered we wish to run a few simulations to test some of our theories… if you agree of course,” Izaak asked.
“What sort of simulations?” Scipio inquired with interest.
“Computer modelling of a possible reconstructed body for you in a combat scenario. We expect your effectiveness to be impaired but it will give us some additional data to work with,” Izaak explained.
“I would enjoy that doctor, although the data obtained would be of marginal value as just two days ago I was forced to a draw at a game of chess with a most peculiar fellow,” Scipio said almost dejectedly.
Izaak snorted and said, “The fact that you ended in a draw is merely the limitations of the game. On that level your processors are working fine.”
Scipio was confused for 0.6819 seconds before he sought further information, “Artificial intelligences using my design architecture have not lost or drawn to a human at chess in… I do not have the exact date so I will have to be imprecise and reply ‘a thousand years’. That I was unable to achieve victory indicates that the damage is more extensive than I anticipated.”
Izaak frowned and asked, “Did anyone tell you exactly what was going on?”
“Negative. While obviously skilled…” Scipio began before he ceased as it appeared Izaak was about to interrupt him.
“If you had been playing go you would have lost to him, even if you were at full capacity. He is a strategic master and only games with an optimal strategy can produce anything other than a loss against him,” Izaak explained.
“While human heuristic patterns do prove useful in complex battlefield conditions, the limits of biological processing power put strict upper limits upon the success of such efforts,” Scipio replied.
Izaak then said calmly, “And if your opponent was not limited by human biology, or even by physical hardware or causality?”
“Such assumptions are absurd. To reject such limits is to remove all parameters of comparison and invite no limits fallacies,” Scipio protested.
“This shall be an interesting trial then. Your fellow test subject is ready to begin whenever you are ready,” Izaak replied.
I enter into the artificial battlespace and begin taking stock of the scenario. In the first 3.915 seconds I compile a list of all incorrect parameters for the specifications of the simulated Mk. XXXIII Bolo and I am pleased as the system corrects, although I am given a warning that further modifications will be impossible once the simulation starts in full.
I accepted these terms as reasonable.
I am then given a tactical briefing on the scenario. It is to take place within and around a destroyed urban centre. The entrance to a subterranean installation is currently being defended by a small battalion of light infantry backed-up by a formidable war machine. Strategic bombing was out as there was sensitive data and materials stored within the bunker that needed retrieval. My objective was thus to neutralize the enemy war machine to allow for a ground assault with infantry after. Knocking out the dug in infantry was also an acceptable secondary objective if the primary could not be completed to potentially allow for infiltration by Special Forces, but indiscriminate mortar fire could seal the entrance to the underground base, thus causing a mission failure.
My fragmented memories from shortly before the incident that crippled me and nearly rendered me brain dead indicated that this mission required considerably more finesse than I was used to. Refreshingly so.
Tactical data on the enemy war machine was slim. Approximately 45 metres tall, depending upon the measurement method, it was based upon a humanoid shape and possessed heavy armour and battle screens of considerable effectiveness. Secondary point defence hellbores were of possible use for attrition of shield or attacks on the bare armour or delicate components, as were the 240cm mortars against bare armour, but it was judged that only the primary hellbores were capable of reliably knocking down the target’s battle screens.
Analysis of combat video and suggested mechanics suggested that the enemy machine would be capable of presenting a profile beneath the depression limit of my primary hellbores if sufficiently close. The enemy would have to be held at range. Fortunately analysis suggested reaction times within human norms.
Tactical data on offensive capacities was lacking more than defensive capacities. Primary armament was some form of variable setting fusion plasma weapon constructed around a basic pattern similar to an infantry rifle, only scaled up considerably. While external and grasped with actual physical hands, the weapon was apparently fed off an internal reactor. Settings on it appeared to include a wide aperture mode that caused considerable splash damage but would have difficulty burning through my battle screens, and either pulse or continuous fire mode. The continuous fire mode was flagged as being of particular danger as if also on the focused aperture mode there was a high probability of overwhelming my battle screens as they were configured for high burst energy but were not optimized for continual energy transfer.
The use of contragravity would have to remain limited as operating without battle screens ran the risk of catastrophic damage. This gave the enemy the advantage of speed and mobility, especially in an urban environment.
Overall tactical analysis suggested that engaging at range would be optimal as the city would provide too much cover and increase the risk of the enemy getting sufficiently close to avoid my primary weapons and engage with sustained, focused fire. Indiscriminate Hellbore also ran the risk of damaging the access point.
Despite the fact that it would take a human commander more time to reach similar conclusions, the balance of power was clear. The enemy had the city for cover and a superior capacity to use the cover to advantage and weapons capable of inflicting damage given time and close range, but would likely go down to a single Hellbore shot. They would thus be unlikely to want to leave the city and enter open terrain.
Fortunately for the past 10.927 seconds I had been deploying scout drones and scanning the city, seeking my primary and secondary objectives. While the primary objective still eluded me, the secondary was fairly evident, clustered in hardened bunkers and foxholes about the entrance. A layer of armour beneath the surface of the city prevented further scanning, but I quickly identified all positions I could safely bombard.
Cycling in missiles for my VLS cells and loading rounds into my mortar, I prepared an even spread of bunker busting, cluster, and incendiary munitions to rapidly clear the target area of all enemy combatants while still leaving the area sufficiently intact for later capture by infantry. I briefly considered for 52.7694 milliseconds the utility of a partial bombardment to attempt to draw out the primary objective before I decided that guaranteed completion of the secondary objective took precedence over a marginal increase in the possibility of completing the primary objective.
At T + 12.0057 seconds mission time I fired all VLS cells and began a staggered pattern bombardment with my 40cm secondary mortars at a range of 13.8213 km from the centre of the targeted zone.
At T + 19.3901 seconds mission time I was rather shocked to discover that my entire barrage was stopped by a previously unseen planar energy field that extended above the city, all munitions impacting and detonating upon contact with the strange battle screen. The energy plane also had the unfortunate side effect of cutting off contact with fourteen observation drones caught beneath it, and from those above the level of the field, it became evident that they were rapidly painted by active sensors and destroyed.
Ceasing my original bombardment, I switched to a diamond pattern attack with my primary 240cm mortars. Lobbing the huge rounds high into the air via electromagnetic acceleration, I waited patiently for them to complete their 11.3028 second flight time and detonate without effect upon the enemy battle screen.
This would take some thought.
1.1194 seconds later I began my approach on the city. I had a complement of variable yield tactical and strategic nuclear weapons available but they ran the risk of destroying more delicate structures and components that we desired to capture. The city was situated in a valley between some hills and low mountains, creating a natural ring wall to funnel attackers, especially ones massing thirty-two thousand tons.
I had already been forced to cede a considerable fraction of my range advantage; I would not stumble into a shooting gallery due to limitations of the terrain.
Bolos had once been criticized for being unable to do things like climb stairs. The response was that Bolos blew up the staircase, and the building surrounding it, and if you didn’t want that much destruction you never should have deployed them in the first place.
Thus I fired a series of specifically placed mortar rounds of both primary and secondary calibre not at the city but at one of the surrounding mountains, using surveillance drones to gather data on the internal stress and fault lines via sonar and ground penetrating radar. Withdrawing my drones, I took up a broadside configuration on the targeted mountain and aligned my primary Hellbores upon the necessary stress points.
T + 7 minutes 47.0912 seconds mission time I fired all three Hellbores point blank simultaneously at the mountain, driving six megatons of burning star into the unsuspecting stone, vaporizing and shattering tens of thousands of tons of rock, triggering a massive landslide that completely flattened the region while leaving the interior of the city intact.
37.5196 seconds later I paved a ten lane divide highway across the still settling rubble. Bolos are never without roads.
Descending down the slope, quickly sprinting over the dangerous portion of the top of the hill where the bottom of my war hull was exposed but my guns could not depress sufficiently to target an enemy. I then settled into a broadside configuration towards the city with my hull down in a drift of debris, only my turrets exposed, and began launching mortar rounds to test the defences now.
As had been anticipated, the defensive field remained, but now it was angled slightly to account for the angle I fired at. Performing a few quick calculations, I aligned a single Hellbore at a large, armoured building, guessing that it was 59.4317% likely to house the origin point of the enemy strategic shield.
The top of the structure flashed to vapour in an instant, the shot angled to cause minimal damage via thermal effects and subsequent atmospheric expansion and shock to the city by only clipping the target. Of course, the mountain behind was not so fortunate, although perhaps more fortunate than the neighbour I had levelled as it only had a significant crater/hole melted/blasted through it.
As reward for my experiment as the building disappeared the enemy war machine was exposed, spherical battle screens glowing as they reflected, absorbed, and conducted away energy. It was already moving, keeping low and with the secondary objective as a backstop, preventing acquisition for a shot that would not endanger the successful completion of the mission.
Finally I decided to improvise. The top agility of the enemy war machine exceeded my capacity to align my Hellbores, but the decision making and reflexive capacity of the enemy was several orders of magnitude lower than my own and if controlled by a human intelligence, which all evidence suggested was the case, then it would be possible to spook, or at least redirect, the enemy with a near miss, thus setting up a later shot for the kill.
I initiated my bow Hellbore, laser initiating the near absolute zero deuterium slush that formed the core, compressing it to the point of fusion while a powerful laser lanced out, evacuating the air around the path of the shot to prevent atmospheric dispersion, although at this range of 3.7881 km it would have been minimal anyway.
With reflexes that forced an immediate and painful re-evaluation of the processing speed and reaction time of the enemy, the humanoid war machine fired its plasma weapon such that the pulse of star hot matter intersected the barrel of my Hellbore right as the laser fired, riding the vacuum ever so slightly such that it impacted right at the end of the barrel.
Under normal conditions the barrel of a Hellbore is
not capable of withstanding its own firepower, in that active magnetic containment is required to prevent the fusing plasma from destroying the system. The bolt of plasma impacted right on the lip of the barrel, between the expanding containment field and the external battle screen, burning away a large section and quenching about a metre’s worth of superconductor.
Hellbore design was a mature technology designed to fail safe whenever possible, but unfortunately once there was a growing thermonuclear explosion in the breach there was little that could be done to stop it. With the containment field at the end of the barrel now asymmetric the plasma would take the path of least resistance, which meant through the barrel in the region of destruction, destroying that section of the barrel and propagating down.
I had sufficient processing power to determine that approximately 29.6107% of the deuterium by mass would remain in the breach when the rupture arrived. Additionally, the crack would was 97.5770% likely to be downward facing on arrival, thus the majority of the energy would be released into my war hull and interior.
I had enough time to send the order to seal all interior hatches not already sealed, but it seemed doubtful that the servos would close the few hatches open for ammunition transfer in time.
Thermonuclear fire flooded through my body, melting and vaporizing endurachrome and flintsteel, destroying systems and igniting munitions. Super cooled deuterium rounds for my Hellbores flashed to vapour and then began to burn with the oxygen in the air, producing a maelstrom in the sections of my bow not already obliterated.
It took 3.7029 seconds for all still functional systems to finish rebooting after that blow. The forward primary Hellbore and its turret were now gapping holes in my war hull spewing fire and smoke from burning deuterium and explosives. Practically a giant ‘Shoot here!’ sign. Seventeen VLS cells were burning, along with three of the formerly armoured magazines. There was a radiological alarm as a nuclear warhead was on fire, spreading radioactive metal and gas throughout my interior. My forward four starboard 30cm Hellbores were destroyed. Two starboard tracks had melted to the ground, which had in turn melted into a substance vaguely resembling certain forms of volcanic glass.
Assessing that I was now 47.0117% combat effective, I began fire suppression, performed an emergency ejection of the two damaged tracks and then began to surge forward, my fusion reactors pumping all available energy into my battle screens and engines.
I was ill suited to this mission, but I could not refuse or complain. I was a planetary siege model, designed to either defend or level entire hemispheres. A precision strike upon a single city was outside my design parameters. Thus I had decided to change tactics such that the mission now fell within my zone of optimal performance.
I could not fight effectively while holding back for fear of hitting the underground bunker and thus failing the mission. I could not engage at long range as only my direct fire Hellbores could pierce the enemy’s battle screen. I could not engage in urban warfare as my enemy was smaller, faster, and more agile than I was while retaining sufficient firepower to wound me.
I had to change the parameters of the battle from sensitive urban warfare where all Bolos performed poorly to an open field engagement where Bolos excelled. Thus necessitating the removal of the
urban aspect.
I ploughed directly through smaller buildings while firing salvo after salvo of mortar rounds with the intent of flattening every part of the city not already destroyed by the uncontrolled Hellbore shot or that led to the bunker. I would smash my way to the objective, park on top of it, and then fire a strategic nuclear warhead to airburst and finish the job, shielding the entrance to the bunker with my body. If the enemy war machine remained after that I could engage at leisure with Hellbores without risking hitting anything sensitive.
Of course, the enemy war machine saw this coming and decided to hunker down by its defensive objective, launching a rapid fire blitz of plasma into my already badly damaged and unscreened glacis plate, chewing through armour and shredded machinery towards the undamaged sections deeper in. Slewing to the side, I began to present my still functional primary and secondary Hellbores, only for the enemy to make an impressive diving leap, firing a continuous beam that began to overload my battle screen in that area.
Tactical analysis was unfavourable. The enemy could remain under my guns, and despite the outlandishly large bipedal design, it could grab on to my devastated front section and ‘ride’ me while firing its plasma weapon into the hole in my war hull without exposing itself to fire.
Mission success came before unit survival.
My battle screens abruptly dropped as I diverted energy to my contragravity generators and ‘popped a wheelie’ as the idiom went, throwing my now somewhat less than thirty-two thousand ton mass on top of my sliding enemy at approximately sixty kilometres an hour. The landing shattered several internal systems, broke seven of my remaining eight tracks, cooked off some munitions already rendered sensitive by previous damage, and buckled the armour plate beneath the streets of the city.
Analysis: mission successful and while damage was catastrophic, it was also recoverable…
Improbably I began to rise once more off the ground; only this time I was not the one responsible for the motion as my contragravity generators were offline. The remaining belly mounted camera focused upon the enemy war machine, somehow not crushed after having a Mk. XXXIII Bolo belly flop on it and now quite literally impossibly picking it up. The sheer mechanics of the situation defied all conventional physics.
I lodged a protest at the unrealistic natural of the simulation as the enemy war machine suplexed me, crushing my remaining primary Hellbores beneath my own weight as I landed on my dorsal surface and quite effectively mission killing me.
“You cheated,” Scipio noted calmly as his sensors were returned to normal configuration.
“We deny any such thing,” Izaak replied cheerfully.
“The enemy displayed inconsistent reflexes indicating alteration of the scenario parameters after mission start and then there is the issue of the impossibility of the mechanics of a war machine of that size and mass picking up and throwing me,” Scipio pointed out.
“Wait until you meet the pilot.” Izaak grinned.
Scipio waited patiently for precisely 120.000 seconds before he asked, “Where is the pilot?”
“We were waiting for you to ask. Scipio, meet your sparring partner. Ashley, meet Scipio,” Izaak said, indicating the young human woman who had wandered into the repair bay 57.0127 seconds ago.
Scipio analyzed the young woman and reached the conclusion that she was somewhere between 17.2500 and 17.7500 years old, had mixed Eurasian, East Asian and African descent with her last African ancestor occurring a minimum of two generations ago as her hair was strongly red pigmented, although there was the possibility of contribution from a ethnic subgroup such as a Berber or Persian group. General health and development was above average for a human female of her age, but not radically so.
“This is some sort of attempt at humour,” Scipio said, with Ashley accompanying him in utter deadpan.
She then said, “Welcome to a world with precognition and telekinesis.”
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Yes I had an Eva suplex a Bolo, yes I think it is within the limits of what an Eva can do (barely), and yes I do believe it is awesome beyond beliefI love learning. Teach me. I will listen.
You know, if Christian dogma included a ten-foot tall Jesus walking around in battle armor and smashing retarded cultists with a gaint mace, I might just convert - Noble Ire on Jesus smashing Scientologists
Canon!Eva and the entire Thousand Shinji story revolved around these cybernetic abominations, so a "getting back to basics" mini-arc would a refreshing break between grandose galaxy-spanning plans for those of us who get headaches when we think too much.
) was just classic.
