Still life with crows (carefree_snake and rose_and_raven)

[rose_and_raven]

The massive ancient lava flow spread amoeba-like across the sand, stretching into the limitless distance. It was black as night itself. Only scattered clumps of scraggly thorny bushes growing from cracks, patches of lichen and wind-born sand gave any indication of a surface in the darkness.

In places there were pits of broken lava, fractured blocks where the roofs of subterranean tubes had collapsed.In other areas there were pressure ridges where ancient flow had shoved up rafts and blocks of lava into enormous piles. Further in there great blocks of lava, sticking up into the night sky like basaltic sentries, blotting out the stars.

It's 3:06 in the morning and the temperature was hovering at forty degrees-unusually warm since the nighttime temperatures typically plunged to zero. When the sun began its ascent it would be eighty degrees; in another hour it would be a hundred. The black lava would trap the heat and it would become hotter than a kiln before noon.

Scorched hulks lay scattered among the lava flow along with scattered chunks of ragged metal and smaller darker shapes that may have been corpses.


HaveMercy shifted slightly to alleviate the growing discomfort in her midsection caused by the uneven floor of the cave. The tightly interlocking plates of her abdomen were unarmored to allow flexibility and notably more sensitive for their relative delicacy. Her discomfort was made all the worse by the deep throb emitting from her long delicate appearing legs, the plating rent by large caliber rounds.

She shifted again with a wince, the scrape of metal on rock extremely loud in her audios. While she was certain that there were no enemy forces anywhere near the cave she hid in, she scanned the general area only finding small native animals.

Venting harshly she settled back down, feeling tired. Limping the twenty miles from the battle siteo the mouth of the canyon then piling up as much brush and debris against the cave mouth to help conceal her presence had used up a lot of energy. Energy the nanites that compromised her self repair needed.

The emergency beacon, while weak, was broadcasting. All she had to do was wait until the IMC sent someone to retrieve her and any remaining IMC forces that had been accidentally left behind during the emergency evac.

No one in the squad had suspected an ambush by enemy forces ao they had been taken by surprise and decimated and scattered. As much as she hadn't wanted to leave her pilot behind he had ordered her to flee and take cover, the vital intel she carried was too important to risk falling into enemy hands.

HaveMercy tucked one arm underneath the upper part of her chasis, optical shutters closing while the two external optics mounted on the top of her chassis dimmed in their housing as she powered down, resting.

 

[Carefree_Snake]

The IMC wasn't the only faction that had expanded through the galaxy, or at least attempted to. The vastness of the cosmos, even with advanced technologies made finding other space faring civilizations highly improbable. Improbable, not impossible. The Serpahntian Council wasn't necessarily unknown, subspecies of humanoid looking snakes looking for planets to make habitable, or already habitable planets to annex to their system. Negotiations however, weren't always fruitful.

The blue and green cobra had set a course to the nearest planet he could land. The ship didn't have much energy, and most of the important systems were screwed. It was landing somewhere or slowly suffocating and freezing to death in space to never be found again. The nearest planet was quite extreme, but it was that or the fate mentioned before. As the vessel entered the atmosphere, the systems would warn its pilot about the harsh conditions.

Using the remaining energy, Silvfang guided the vessel to the safest zone he could scan for: the canyons. Closing into the canyon, the ship changed to VTOL mode, steering systems failing, and the engines about to give in. Just a little more and he would be safe. The reptilian creature struggled to keep control of the vessel causing him to crash land into the huge canyon.

There wasn't much he could do now. Taking his own beacon with him, he broadcasted an emergency signal, taking some rations and leaving his ship, knowing it wouldn't be safe to stay given the meteorological projections given to him by the system. If he stood there probably the ship would be his tomb. At least the heat underground wasn't as bad.

The humanoid snake traversed the cave system, marking spots here and there to remember where he was going. After a while his own scanner seemed to have pinged something. It seemed to be another vessel broadcasting a distress signal.

If this were a normal planet, he'd try to hide and be as far away from the signal and possible other life forms that could have sentience. But a hellish planet like this one needed a different approach if he wanted to survive. Hence, his decision on getting closer despite doubtful, and even with clear reluctance was already made.

He drew closer to the signal before stopping to rest and conserve energy. The gra-ish blue helmet retreating to allow him to take a couple bites of a yellow block that kind of looked like butter and tasted sour and sweet. He lied on what his scanners indicated was the safest spot he could access to. Also resting for the next hours, even allowing himself to get a nap

 

[rose_and_raven]

The dull roar of ship engines jerked her from stand by to fully awake so quickly that she jerked up right, optics glowing a dim blue in the darkness. Systems were still booting up when she tried to establish radio contact with the vessel only to receive silence.

Confused, she tried again then slumped slightly when no answer was forthcoming. The rock could be blocking or interfering with the signal. Or it could be enemy forces. She went over the possibilities of that then decided it was best to stay put. Her legs were too badly damaged to make it far without risking additional damage.

A faint thing of worry trickled into the back of her processor though she tried to ignore it. The cave wasn't visible from the air and the debris piled up in the mouth of the cave made it near invisible from the ground. Pilot Tristan would be proud of her and no doubt would say so once they were reunited.

HaveMercy settled back down, shutting down non vital systems to conserve energy. Warnings and damage readouts scrolled past her HUD. Nothing vital had been damaged but her scanner range was down to one fourth, she had lost a lot of hydraulic fluid but not a worrying amount. The cracks in the leg struts did concern her. One bad break would cripple her.

The Ronin perked up when her audios picked up the faint sound of what could be footsteps. Straining her scanners to the maximum turned the worry to curiosity. The possibility of the lifeform signs belonging to a Militia scout was astronomical. It couldn’t be IMC either. Despite the annoying discomfort in her midsection she rolled a bit more onto her side, the central optic fixed on the general direction of the sound.

One hand came up to lightly wipe the irritating grains of sand from the unseeing optic before dropping back down to rest against her side.

 

[Carefree_Snake]

After a couple hours of rest, the male cobra sat up and got back on his feet. The helmet going back to cover his face and therefore any reptilian characteristics aside from the heavy tail covered by armor's plating. Not wasting any more time after a couple stretches, he located the broadcasting source and continued walking towards it.

As he drew closer was that he could get a reading on the measures of the machine to which the signal belonged to. It was massive, the fear made his hood pop open, luckily his suit hada flexible headpiece that allowed this without an discomfort. What was doing such machinery here? It definitely didn't seem like equipment but more like a power armor.

As she moved, the whirring noises send him a chilling sensation from his head to his tail. The source was moving, and it was clear he had been detected. He just hoped whatever or whoever was in control wasn't hostile. No matter how experience he could be in combat or how well he did. In such environment a fight with a colossal feat of engineering had the greatest chances of him losing.

Eventually Silvfang had made it to the cave where HaveMercy was. He wasn't sure if she could see him, but he definitely saw her. Looking at her up close was terrifying. "Serpahntian unit reporting. I am stranded due to heavy damage on my vehicle. I mean no harm. My name is Silvfang, pilot of the Council's airspace force" He identified himself, the translator making sure to convert what he was saying to something the Ronin could understand.

His breathing was slow and seemed forced, however upon taking a closer look he noticed she was damaged. Nothing that couldn't be repaired, but the machine despite still representing a potential danger, she wasn't the threat he once believe he was. On one hand he felt relief, on the other hand; said relief had a slight afterthought of guilt. Such failures could difficult the survival of the pilot if there was one. And even if there was none, he still felt bad for such a piece of engineering looking...hurt.

 

[rose_and_raven]

The Ronin was nothing if not adaptive. Some AI would have panicked or resigned themselves to their unpleasant fate of being scrapped. HaveMercy was slowly learning how to use her complex sensor array, radar and the fact she could still use thermal images to cope with a lack of sight.

As the life form grew closer, so did her curiosity and hope. Would they be able to contact the IMC? While there was still a chance they were a scraper or had nefarious intentions in mind, she felt the urge not to dwell on the negative. She would be reunited with Pilot Tristan soon enough.

Serpahntian? A quick check of the database showed there were no known merc groups, IMC or Militia groups by that name. Just quickly as the hope had flared it petered out. She sank back down against the cold rock.

The lifeform had a vessel which meant it still may be capable of broadcasting a signal.

"I am unit HM-2456 though I prefer to go by HaveMercy. I was stranded on this planet when my squad was ambushed by enemy forces. My emergency beacon may not be strong enough for them to retrieve me. I need your vessel to contact the IMC."

There was an interstellar communication array at the Univara mining complex where they had set up a temporary base but she was in shape to make the journey. With her optic receptors burned out by a flash grenade the journey would be a near impossible one.

The drive to follow orders given by her pilot mixed with determination had been the only thing that had kept her moving during the ambush, blindly stumbling and tripping over the lava field until she found cover.

A faint shiver passed through her frame at the memory of pain that each and every fall had caused as her damaged legs impacted with the rough lava.

 

[Carefree_Snake]

The reply from the machine itself wasn't expected, however, it was welcome. Introductory procedures were met, now they had to work together to survive the environment they were trapped in "HaveMercy" he repeated to himself "Sure thing. Anything that can get us out of here. The faster the better" The armored snake replied almost too eagerly. Usually he would be making questions, trying to get any information he could. However he didn't feel like this was the best of times. Before he turned around to show her the way back to his ship, he remembered the state of the Titan's legs.

The Hettursnakur (cobra) walked towards her "Your legs don't seem to be in walking conditions. I could attempt some repairs if the damage is superficial. But I'd need resources to patch give you a decent patch" He mentioned as he closed the distance between them to have a better look at her legs.

"So, what's the IMC? Haven't heard of them" Silvfang asked as he took a look at her legs, trying to determine how severe was the damage and if there was a way he could ease her journey back to his vessel.

Surely, he didn't expect to find himself in the middle of a conflict between two factions and neither being the Serpahntian Council. But of course, nobody would have expected that holding off an ambush with his crew would end up like this anyways. The chances were astronomical and even so, he was right there.

 

[rose_and_raven]

His vocal patterns indicated that he was being truthful. Space was a vast region and logically there would be those who have yet to hear of the IMC. Though how far she could trust him remained to be seen. "Interstellar Mining Corporation. They own a portion of Frontier space and are in conflict with a group called the Militia."

The central optic rotated in its housing, tracking the heat signature. The pupil was fully dilated and non-reactive, glowing a dull blue in the dimness of the cave.

She weighed the options carefully despite the warm tingle of hope. The neural link was a cold black void, almost as if it had been severed though it was far more likely due to the distance between her and her pilot. Once he was close the link would spark back to life.

At the mention of her damaged legs HaveMercy let out a vent of mild frustration. She couldn't fault the other for not being able to tell at just a glance that the damage was bad. "Two major hydraulic lines and three smaller ones were severed though my self repair system has stemmed the leakage. In addition to that there are cracks in the lower struts." At least the joints were undamaged, the enemy Titans aim had been off.

For the moment she decided it was best to not disclose the fact she was without vision. It was information that could be used against her.

 

[Carefree_Snake]

Her response pretty much confirmed the situation he was potentially getting into: an armed between an armed company and...a group that was probably against the mining corporation in the first place. However, she just seemed to want to be extracted. "I think that's all I need to know for now. I don't want to get on anyone's bad side" He mentioned. By his tone, he didn't mean it in a rude way, on the contrary, his voice was very calm and collected.

The snake wouldn't suspect HaveMercy was blinded due to the movement of her optics. He couldn't imagine how she saw or perceived things, he just assumed she could see. For now, she seemed like he could trust her so he planned on cooperating.

The explanation shined a light on the issue. This wasn't something he could traditionally solve with his current equipment. "So you have a self repair system. Is there a way we can refill or overclock it? The more I could do with my current tools is melting the struts together. I could try to patch the hydraulics but I don't think the flow will be optimal" He mantioned, then something came to his mind. If she could speak, that meant she was sentient? "Speaking on repairs. Can you feel? Because this can be painful"

Silvfang decided to wait for a response and to evaluate his options. He definitely didn't want to proceed with whatever he could try unless he had her approval, more knowing she is sentient and not just a collection of hardware and software...like the machines his kind used.

 

[rose_and_raven]

A shudder passed through her frame at the mention of melting the metal. Subconsciously she pulled the long limbs closer, vents hitching as the slight movement sent fresh shock waves up the damaged limbs.

"The nanites replace themselves over time so there is no need to replace them. While it is possible to speed the repair process, it uses a lot of energy and will leave me vulnerable. It is not a favorable prospect given the lack of suitable cover and protection." She really did not want to spend three or four days in a weakened state with no weapons.

"It will have to do. When they retrieve me the techs will replenish my fluid levels" she fell silent for a moment, thinking. "If that fails then we will have to make the journey to a temporary base." The Ronin sagged a bit, unsure if she should if she should reveal that her optics were damaged. Her processor raced. She wouldn't be able to navigate the rough terrain alone. Logic won out. "A flash grenade burned the receptors in my optics, rendering me blind so I will need your assistance with navigation."

"Speaking on repairs. Can you feel? Because this can be painful"

HaveMercy remained silentfor a moment. "Yes. My sensor net allows me to feel a great many things. That includes pain." Though she was capable of turning down the input if needed.