30 - The Roach King

Dynamic Quest: Defend the Hanganathorie

Enemies approach with nefarious goals. Defend what is yours and stand victorious over their charred corpses.

Rewards: EXP and loot.

Maya woke up on a bed in the medical room. A large multi-jointed arm sat above her and as she blinked away the sudden change in reality; she watched as the arm folded itself back into the ceiling.

“Hurts a little less,” Maya said, swinging her legs off the bed. Her muscles ached and she felt a burning sensation within her bones. It was all apart of the therapy process, the pain had been intense in the beginning, but she was getting used to it.

“The things we do for power,” Maya mused as she pulled off the VR gear. It was a face covering helmet, along with various connections to her body.

A hole had been cut into the ceiling of the medical room, with a heavy cable leading toward Junior’s mess hall, where Bell and Tender were connected to the VR system. Bell didn’t like being in the medical room and Tender couldn’t fit.

“You are taking to the treatments very well,” Nanaseto said. “At this rate, it might be only another week of treatment. ”

“Awesome,” Maya groaned as she limped out of the door and summoned her shotgun into her hands.

Tender clomped down the corridor, with Bell on his heels. As he got into range, Maya activated the external camera feeds from Tender’s rats.

“You look unwell,” Bell said, he was armed with his usual crossbow, sword, and shield; he also wore armor. Maya was impressed he managed to get into his armor so fast. With the corridor lit, it seemed Bell’s hesitation to fight against rogue AIs was gone.

“Yeah, you should see the other guy,” Maya replied. She felt her aching muscles starting to loosen, but the pain in her head was beginning to grow.

Besides the over indulgence in Tender’s liter of whiskey, Maya hadn’t felt any kinds of headaches or migraines since she had arrived.

Nanaseto claimed it was stress and strain from VR usage. Even the highest grade VR sets would still cause mental strain by constant use.

The problem was that the brain was ‘disconnected’ from her body. Although the VR set simulated her senses working, her body thought otherwise. Her brain and body were connected on a mana structural level and as the two weren’t in communication with one another, they strained to reconnect.

Maya found it all weird, as if her body and mind were two different entities, but mana changed a lot of things within all SIL. The System was all about using the body to its full potential and the disconnect with the brain went against what it was trying to do for the multiverse. Maya was still trying to understand it.

Either way, Maya felt as if her head were being crushed in a vise every time she left the VR simulation. Her low leveled brain wasn’t up to the task, it seemed.

Lost in thought, Maya nearly walked into the first rogue AI to breach their defenses. The defenses consisted of items Maya had left outside of the hole because she had been too lazy to bring them in. Behind the rogue AI, several more figures turned toward them.

Rogue AI NN4582A - Level 6

Rogue AI NN8423S - Level 6

Rogue AI NN8745W - Level 6

Rogue AI NN9542T - Level 6

Rogue AI NN8632N - Level 6

“Ah, I was getting used to the hive mind approach to rogue AIs,” Maya said. “Just kill the big bad in the middle and all their little minions aren’t a threat anymore. ”

“I believe these are pack hunters,” Tender replied. He had armed himself with a sword that Maya had long ago taken off a deceased battle bear. She had learned fairly quickly she was not skilled with any swordswoman abilities. She had gained knowledge, but waving around a huge knife was not her ideal weapon of choice. She had stuck with her crowbar; the Negotiator having saved her life many times, and the battle bear’s axe.

The melee weapons would only be needed in the direst of circumstance, of course, or until she ran out of ammo. Maya checked her shotgun again, noting that she had fewer rounds these days. Richfield, back in the day, had told her she could make more ammunition for the flechette shotgun with a basic manufacturing module. She wondered if the rogue AI module could make the ammo she needed. Another thing she had to figure out.

Boom!

The first salvo from her shotgun took the legs out of one of the rogue AIs. As pack hunters, Maya was assuming wolves, but these rogue AI had the appearance of dog sized cockroaches. They skittered on a dozen long legs and had shiny oblong carapaces that gleamed oily in the dim corridor light.

Instead of being rushed by the rogue AIs, the cockroaches fell back down the corridor, leaving behind their wounded companion. An arrow stabbed the creature in the head and it died.

“Stop kill stealing,” Maya complained.

“You seem distracted. Focus,” Bell snapped as he strode passed her.

Maya glared and stuck out her tongue.

“You do seem distracted, boss. Perhaps you should rest,” Tender said and followed Bell.

Maya shook her head and hurried to catch up with the two. She just needed some coffee and maybe an energy drink. She laughed, remembering the last time she had either. It was so… Maya shook her head again.

Either the rogue AIs were cowards or they were leading them into a trap. Normal rogue AI behavior seemed to attack first and ask questions later. These roaches didn’t seem to be following the script.

“What are the side effects from the VR system?” Maya asked as she got alongside Tender. The robotic head tilted toward her as he thought.

“Besides the discomfort caused by a disconnect between the mana channels of the mind, soul, and body. Although you have been using the gear heavily for the last four days,” Tender replied. “You might want to slow down. ”

“Yeah,” Maya thought.

“You’re abusing the VR system and it is eventually going to cause you more distress,” Bell finally said as they continued to follow the fleeing roaches.

“But it’s just VR,” Maya said. “I don’t have a problem!”

“It is not just the simulation,” Bell replied. “It is your mind functioning in a different reality than your body. This VR system is mid grade, Tier 1. That makes it a base model, which means the effects of disassociation are becoming more apparent the longer you keep using it. It is not ‘dangerous’ in the sense that it’ll kill you, but an analogy would be suffering from disorientation while at the same time someone is kicking you off balance. The effects will take longer and longer to overcome.

“You’re using garbage machinery to do a job it wasn’t designed to do. That VR set was designed to play out scenarios, not to be a building program. That addition is putting more strain upon your mental facilitates. ”

“It’s all we got,” Maya replied.

“Yes. You have done an excellent job exploiting it and I am not complaining about that. I am just stating that the more you use it, the longer it will take your mind to resettle back into this reality. ” Bell said.

“Any suggestions?”

“Get a better set of gear. ”

“Of course. ”

As they continued down the corridor, they began hearing a loud screeching noise. The sound of metal being destroyed.

“What’s up, Tender?” Maya asked. She glanced at the camera feed from the scout rat. It showed the milling roaches outside of the hole in the ship. They were tearing chunks out of the hull of the ship, she could see small cutter blades slicing away at the metal.

“They appear to be widening the entrance,” Tender replied.

“Why?”

The answer came a few seconds later as a large figure made its way into view. It was another roach-like creature, but it was far bigger; Maya guessed about ten times bigger than the smaller roaches. It was also a bigger threat to them. The rogue AI had a beam turret upon its oily back and the weapon slowly tracked back and forth. Maya had a brief image of Turrethead and shuddered.

“Looks like they’re literally bringing in the big guns,” Maya said.

Rogue AI - TRCH478NN - Level 12

“Suggestions,” Maya asked.

“Fight it,” Tender replied.

“Fall back and figure out what its weakness is. ”

“The king roach is gonna wreck havoc once it gets inside. ” Maya sighed. “Alright, big boy is moving. ” Maya opened her map and displayed it on Tender’s computer window, allowing Bell to also share the view. She pointed to where the hole in the ship was located, from it branched two corridors, one heading to the bow of the ship and the other to the stern, the corridor ran along the inner hull.

Maya drew her hand down the sternward corridor and reached a T-junction. She zoomed in on the area and it resolved into the wireframe image that Tender and his minions had mapped.

“Alright, this is a hull breech junction,” Maya said. “There are three heavy blast doors that drop down in case of decompression. If we can drop this door,” she pointed to the corridor that lead toward the stern of the ship, “we can force the fucker down this corridor and away from the hull. At this junction here, we can drop another blast door. The corridor’s pretty narrow here, so big boy won’t have much maneuvering room. This whole corridor section above this one is about to collapse. It’s only gum and a prayer holding it together. ” The map displayed a long section of the upper corridor lit in bright red. “We use a cylinder charge grenade to blow the supports here and the whole thing collapses on the Roach Father. It probably won’t kill it, but it’ll trap it. Enough for us to bash it to death afterward. ”

“Why not fight them outside?” Bell demanded.

“Dude, you want to run around in the open with a multi-legged roach god and its pack of nimble footed roach babies? With a beam weapon atop the boss?” Maya shook his head. “Trapping it and getting in close is the best way to deal with the fucker. ”

“The rogue AIs are nearly finished with widening the hole,” Tender announced.

Maya rolled her shoulders, feeling her head clear and the aches and pains buried under adrenaline.

“I’ll get the first door down. Tender and you will keep the big boy at bay here. Then we fall back to this junction. I’ll drop the door, Bell will shoot the charge cylinder, and we’ll be feasting on Junior burgers tonight. ”

“What shall I do?” Tender asked.

“You look badass and pull aggro on our uninvited guest,” Maya said. She extended her arm and opened her hand. “Put your hands on mine and on three; say ‘fight’. ”

***

Maya ran down the corridor, Bell and Tender clomping behind her. She skidded the last three feet, a grin plastered to her face. The locking mechanism panel was right before her and she pulled out her cutter. The panel fell away and she pulled out the component rack and snatched a power cord that Tender handed to her.

She had been through this process a dozen times already while she had explored the ship. Her lock picking knowledge was already up to III. The components lit up as she accessed a quick diagnostic of them. Without a Tier 2 Security Release, she couldn’t close these blast doors, apparently hacking ships in pirate raids was a thing. Instead she could make the door think there was a hull breech and it would collapse on its own. This of course only worked directly from the panel, not remotely.

“They’re coming,” Bell announced. There was a twang as one crossbow fired, he immediately tossed it into his Inventory and summoned another loaded one. From what she had learned he had four of them, three normal ones and an enchanted one. It was the enchanted one she counted on to ignite the cylinder charge.

“Come on, baby,” Maya muttered, resetting some components. There was a hiss as something changed and the door began pulling power. A loud CLUNK! resounded and the heavy door slammed down. She shuddered at the weight and finality of the boom. They would have to cut the door away now.

“Done!” Maya cried, summoning her shotgun and casting a look down the corridor. She made out the red eyes of the smaller roaches and the big flaming red orb of the boss. The AI’s red eye stuck out from the top of the turret, giving it a full 360 degree field of view. “Stupid design. Anyone can just shoot its head off. ”

Maya followed her words of disdain by firing off a few rounds from her shotgun. She frowned as the flechettes sprang off its armored body.

“Where’s my reticle?” Maya asked.

“The rogue AIs are sending out a target lock jamming signal,” Tender replied. “Auto targeting will not work. ”

“Well, shit,” she said. “Fall back, boys. ”

“What about you?” Bell demanded as she tucked herself behind the a wall and took aim at the incoming roaches.

“No offense, man. But Tender’s a clunky boy and you’ve got baby legs. I’m far faster than both of you. ”

Bell and Tender exchanged looks and scowled at her. Tender produced a frowny face emoji on the computer screen. She should not have taught him those.

Maya fired at the nearest roach, it lost its head and staggered about; not dead, but injured. “Be prepared to shoot that cylinder, Bell. ”

“Yeah, yeah!” he snapped before running away in his loping manner.

The roaches were cowards, Maya decided. She watched as they tried rushing, got scared, and then rushed back to the warm embrace of their boss. It was a good thing, Maya thought. The head roach was behind his minions and they were blocking it from firing upon her. The damn thing wouldn’t hurt it-

“Oh, shit!” Maya cried and threw herself away from the junction.

Heat exploded in the junction and she felt the wave of hot air scald her back. Maya hissed and turned to look at the blast door she had dropped. It was charred and melted, a fist sized hole had burned right through it. She heard the screeching of dying roaches in the corridor.

“What an assho-“ Maya began and stopped as she heard something thundering down the corridor. “Fuck!”

She jumped to her feet and ran after Bell and Tender. The two had already made it to the second junction and were preparing themselves for the coming attack. Their plan didn’t include the Roach King killing his own bros.

There was a horrific crash and Maya stumbled as the deck under her buckled. She hit her shoulder on the plating and rolled a moment, facing the direction she had just come from. The roach boss had smashed itself into the blast door, she could see the corridor warp from the weight and power behind its crash. It wasn’t trying to bash through the door, though, instead it had used the door to stop its momentum. Now the rogue AI faced her and its multiple legs were finding purchase to launch itself down the corridor.

Maya staggered back to her feet. She ran and as she did, she felt the rogue AI readying itself. Bell and Tender threw themselves to either side of the corridor junction and Maya hit the deck immediately.

Hot scorching heat blasted above her, tearing through the spot she had been a second ago. She could barely breath from the scalding hot air.

“Drop the door!” Maya screamed. She got to her knees and scrambled to a different door. On this level and in this corridor, there was a communications array room. Maya had visited it earlier, searching for components, but the rogue AIs had already got to the devices in the room. The door, she had found, had been left opened.

Maya threw herself into the rooml she grabbed the internal handle of the door and slammed it shut. She heard the distant thud of the heavy blast door slamming down, followed moments later by the deafening thud as the rogue AI slammed into it.

She collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

-This rogue AI appears stronger than expected- the words appeared on the computer window she had up. -It will break this door down in a few minutes. Suggestions?-

Maya racked her brain. She saw that the surveillance window from the spy rat was changing. The little guy was rushing down the hull side corridor, passing through the devastation wrought by the roach asshole on his own minions. Most were destroyed, but a few were feebly crawling around. The spy rat made it to the junction and she saw that the big guy was stuck down the corridor. It couldn’t turn around and would have to back out. At least that part of their plan had worked.

She looked at her map again and saw that she was in the second to last room before it reached the junction. She watched, on the camera feed, as the rogue AI began to back up.

Maya took a breath and pulled out the Taganari-15 blaster. The weapon was heavy in her hand and she knew she hadn’t had much practice in it. She could fire flechettes into the charge cylinder, but that would do nothing to it. Her previous effort had been an unstable cylinder, but this cylinder was untampered with. It would take a high energy blast to ignite the cylinder.

The rogue AI seemed to be able achieve incredible speeds moving forward, but it struggled as it backed itself down the corridor. She didn’t know if it was gearing up for another attempt at ramming the door or clearing enough space to fire another beam. Maya didn’t have the time to ponder it, she threw the door open.

The rogue AI was jamming her computer assisted aim, but she didn’t need it. The charge cylinder was only a dozen feet from her, embedded into the ceiling and very obvious. The rogue AI had moved back enough that it was situated underneath it.

The beam turret turned toward her and she fired the blaster. Immediately upon firing she threw herself back into the room. A heartbeat later a beam of hot red light slashed into the wall. The heat was overwhelming and Maya felt her skin burning, but it was drowned out a moment later as another explosion sounded. Followed quickly by a groan of metal.

A horrendous crash rocked the room and clouds of dust and hot acrid smoke filled the air. Maya coughed and crawled forward. Her body was in pain, she could feel the clothing she wore was singed and burned. She looked down at her left arm and saw the skin was a blistered red mess.

“Ow,” she cried.

It wasn’t over though. Maya groaned as she heard the debris in the corridor rumble and shift. The big fucker wasn’t dead. She hadn’t gotten a notification.

She heard a whine and threw herself deeper into the room. Maya saw the corridor light up with red once more. The damn gun wasn’t even damaged.

Maya growled and got to her feet. She looked at the far wall and checked the map. The spy rat was still watching the rogue AI and she saw that it had managed to dodge most of the falling upper corridor. It had used its speed to fall back an additional ten feet, missing the bulk of the debris, but it was stuck.

She stalked to the wall and pulled out her cutter. Internal walls weren’t all that thick. From what she had learned from Nanaseto and examinations, rooms were built in blocks that had tough outer shells in case of decompression. But the walls within those blocks were relatively flimsy.

The blade cut through the wall and she crawled into the next room. It seemed to be an office of some sort. There was a desk, some cabinets, and a small personal lavatory. Maya ignored it and began cutting into the next wall.

She lost the feeds from the computer as she reached the end of its range. Finding another computer for Maya to use was a priority, but as with anything of decent grade, the rogue AIs had gotten to them and recycled the components. It didn’t matter, though. Maya knew where she was going.

In the third room she moved to the door. The door was electronically locked, but it was easily disabled from inside. A mechanical switch allowed her to pull the door open slightly.

She could hear the rogue AI scratching and stumbling, the air was hot with the beam weapon firing. Maya took a deep breath, summoned her shotgun, and pulled the door open.

Maya was immediately startled by a roach that had appeared behind its boss. The roach was a semi charred, half of its legs were missing and it oozed black liquid. Without thinking, she fired off a blast, sending the AI skittering across the deck and into the bulkhead. Three more shots were fired in quick succession and all that remained was black sludge and components.

Rogue AI NN8745W - Level 6

Defeated

550 EXP

Lootable

The momentary fight was enough for the Roach King to spot her. The bulbous red light on its top seemed to focus upon her and the AI began rocking itself back and forth more violently. Maya saw that it was dislodging more of the constraining debris.

“You’re not getting away that easy, asshole,” Maya hissed.

She crossed the distance and hopped onto the back of the rogue AI. The oily black carapace wasn’t slippery, instead it felt like rubber. Maya felt her boots grip and she pushed her way to the red bulb. She replaced her shotgun with the blaster again and took aim. Before she could fire, she felt a sudden sense of danger and looked back down the corridor.

Another roach was rushing her, it raised its torso off the ground, exposing its belly and its dozen legs. What she could only call a flame thrower erupted at her, a wash of greenish flames crossed the dozen feet that separated them. Maya automatically threw up her right arm to protect herself and screamed as she felt the flesh sizzle and burn. She dropped her pistol and watched in horror as the roach rushed her.

She didn’t think, she only reacted. From her Inventory she summoned her crowbar once again. She adjusted her footing and brought the crowbar up in a batter’s stance.

The roach was upon her, but at the last moment she swung out with the crowbar; a crack filled the enclosed corridor. The roach was thrown back. The AI wasn’t destroyed, but she felt the spray of the black fluid that seemed to course through rogue AI splash against her face.

She was off of the Roach King’s back and brought down the crowbar across the exposed back of the roach. It squealed and she saw the oily metal crack. Maya flipped the crowbar around and drove the sharp end of it into the crack.

There was another splash of black sludge. Maya tried pulling the crowbar back up, but realized she had shoved it entirely through the roach and into the metal decking.

Time was of the essence, so Maya abandoned the crowbar and turned to face the Roach King. She was running out of weapons, but she still had her axe. Maya summoned it and raced back onto the back of the AI.

Panic or fear or just plain survival instincts kicked in for the rogue AI and it began slamming its body against the bulkheads. Metal screeched at the abuse and Maya grimly hung onto whatever she could grab. She pulled herself up toward the red bulb and saw the scowling determination in the reflection.

The axe was a low grade, Tier 1 weapon, but it was designed for heavy use and made of material the made simple steel seem dull by comparison. The head of the axe bit into the shiny material that made up the bulb. It wasn’t glass, but a transparent alloy. After her third strike, cracks began forming along the bulb, the forth bit into it.

The rogue AI began shuddering, trying to flee or fight back. It rocked back and forth, side to side, and began emitting a screeching sound. Maya knew that sound, the death scream of an AI. Her arms were burning and everything hurt, but she maintained her grip on the axe.

There was an audible pop and a hiss as the axe head buried into the red bulb. The rogue AI collapsed. Maya lost her balance at the sudden drop and she released her grip on the axe. It remained buried in the bulb and she felt herself sliding off the rounded back of the rogue AI.

Darkness didn’t come for her, instead she struck her head on the too warm metal plating of the deck. Everything hurt, but she stared up at the flickering lights of the corridor and the dead AI.

Rogue AI - TRCH478NN - Level 12

Defeated

1250 EXP

Lootable

Dynamic Quest: Defend the Hanganathorie - Completed

Enemies approach with nefarious goals. Defend what is yours and stand victorious over their charred corpses.

+ 1200 EXP

+ 1 Soul Channel

She smiled through the pain. Of course, she’d get channeling awards.