Colony Wars 1: War Never Ends

Chapter Six - The Enemy Revealed

29th February 2076 – 1st Galactic Step

Council Meeting Room - The Chateau

New Dawn City

Earth

Solar System

           Viktor watched as the massive, blond haired muscly Hephaestus super soldier carried in a crumpled boxy robot and dumped it unceremoniously on the council table. Even though Viktor should have been analysing the machine on the table, he found himself staring at the big grim-faced hero.

Viktor and his father had been part of the design team that had worked on the Hephaestus project. Viktor himself had been responsible for constructing the micro-servomotors, which were wired into the man's myofibril strands, so that when they contracted, the mini gears would activate and increase the man's strength. He had however not seen one of the exoskeleton soldiers in many years, and this revived old memories.

When the big man noticed that Viktor was staring at him, his bright blue eyes twinkled slightly, and he nodded at the scientist. Viktor knew that inside Lance's head, his recognition circuits had just identified one of his creators, hence the acknowledgment. The brains of the Hephaestus soldiers had been the most complex construction in the history of the EuroTac special weapons division. Once the artificially grown man had reached full maturity, his brain had been connected to a series of processors that were all designed to heighten his senses and expand his knowledge.

"Agent Lance, can you tell us where you found this wee beastie," asked President McGowan from his place at the head of the table.

"Yes, Mr President," Lance said in a voice that Viktor thought sounded slightly mechanical. "This was one of the control units inside the Salamander tank, which penetrated our lines late yesterday afternoon."

"Mr Shenka, what do you make of the design?" Jamison asked.

"Erm..." Viktor said as he tore his gaze away from the spiky haired warrior. Then he ran his hands over the cool metallic frame on the table, he poked into a few of the exposed panels and pulled out a few of the loose wires and circuits to examine them. "Hmm, the internal construction looks like it must have come from the East Asian Dynasty. They were always the best at making tiny, complicated robotic circuitry."

"That's consistent with all the other units that we observed yesterday, Mr Shenka. You're not really telling us anything we don't already know," General Jablonsky said grouchily.

"General, will you let the man finish!" said Mugumo angrily while staring daggers at him.

"Whatever," grumbled the General moodily, crossing his arms and pulling his cap down over his eyes.

"The problem with the Dynasties automated infantry units have always been the power supplies," Viktor continued while he nodded gratefully at Mugumo. "Their motors are powered by a concentrated battery storage unit, which only has a lifespan of ten days at the most."

"Then that means that these things were only activated recently and more worryingly, they've been started up after the bombs fell," Adriana said softly, cringing at the repulsive construction. "Does that mean that maybe the Dynasty also survived the holocaust?"

"If they have, then we're in serious trouble," Jamison said, rubbing his head with his pudgy fingers.

"Maybe, maybe not," Viktor said. "Because of the short battery life, most Dynasty assault groups were always accompanied by a human operated recharge unit, which acted as the division's commander. Now, I read Agent Lance's report, and it stated that at no point during the battle, did he see a human opponent. I think that it's more likely that the nuclear storms out there have somehow started the robots up somehow."