Drone Commander

“Hey. Wake up.”

Leonard groaned as he shifted in his sleep. At the moment, he really didn’t feel like waking up. He just wanted to spend more time in the dream world. “Leonard, we’ve arrived at our destination. Get up.”

Groaning, he grabbed the pillow that he had, and used it to cover his head, so that he could drown out Zack’s voice. Or at least try to. “Am I going to have to bring out the spray bottle?”

It wasn’t the threat that had gotten him up, it was the part of his brain that demanded that he wake up right now. Leonard rubbed his eyes as he got a good look outside of the window in his quarters. After several days of FTL flight, he had finally arrived at this planet, which was labelled ‘IHP-19’. IHP was an abbreviation of ‘InHabitable Planet’, while 19 meant that this was the nineteenth one to be discovered. Over two centuries of space travel, and of the several hundred planets discovered, only a little under ten percent were discovered to be inhabitable. And of the more recently discovered inhabitable worlds, this one was to be his destination, which was located over a hundred light-years from the homeworld, Earth.

Stretching out his arms, Leonard groaned and yawned after having to spend several days asleep in FTL travel to get here from Earth. There were other planets within the path from Earth to IHP-19, but none of them were inhabitable. Yawning once more, Leonard straightened out his thoughts and began to focus on the task at hand. The first thing he did was look around the quarters for any sign of Zack, who just so happened to be floating about in front of him. Leonard was somewhat envious of the little eyeball of a robot, as he didn’t need to sleep like Leonard did, as this allowed him to operate the ship, while Leonard slept through the whole trip. Times like this made him wish he had gotten that FTL upgrade a long time ago. “It’s about time you woke up.” Zack said. “I was afraid that I was going to have to get the spray bottle out.”

Leonard couldn’t help but snort. “Zack, you do know that I got rid of that thing a long time ago right?” He asked.

Zack ‘blinked’ at him. “Yeah I know. But I can always nano-assemble a new one in seconds.” The AI replied.

Leonard than sat up from his bed, turned around so that he could place his bare feet on the floor, stood up and stretched his arms out, letting out another groan as he did so. “Man am I glad to be up.” He said as he rubbed his eyes. “So, what do you want for breakfast?” Zack asked.

Leonard crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about what he was going to have for today. “Hmm, I guess two scrambled eggs mixed with white cheddar, a buttermilk biscuit, and seven slices of bacon wouldn’t hurt.” Came his answer. “As well as an 8 oz. glass of milk, and a 32 oz. glass of Coke Zero with vanilla flavoring.” He added.

“Alright. I’ll go get that ready right away.” Zack said as he floated away.

The door slide open as Zack floated out of the room and turned to the left towards where the mess hall was located, while Leonard stepped out and turned to the right, towards the shower. “Nothing like a hot shower to start out the day.”

-oOo-

After finishing his shower, Leonard had arrived at the mess hall, wearing his usual attire consisting of a red trench coat, a white t-shirt underneath, black jeans, white gloves, and white shoes. On the table was precisely what he had asked for. He then pulled the chair, sat down, and began adding salt and pepper to his eggs. As he began to chow down on his breakfast, he turned to look outside the window.

IHP-19 was only recently discovered, about a couple of months ago to be exact. It had everything a planet needed to prepare for colonization; a clean breathable atmosphere, comfortable temperatures between hot and cold, and water. Can’t have an inhabitable planet without water. Though there was one thing about the planet that was bothering everyone back at home. What had everyone scratching their collective heads was the planet’s orbit.

Or rather the lack of an orbit.

According to the reports, the planet wasn’t orbiting the sun, it was the sun that was orbiting the planet. What’s more, the sun that was orbiting the planet was way too small to even exist. If that wasn’t all, there were readings of an unknown type of energy field surrounding the planet. The scientific community pushed to send an expedition of their own to the planet, but according to protocol, a military base needed to be established first, before any kind of civilian expedition could be sent towards the planet. That’s where Leonard came in.

Leonard was a Drone Commander.

A Drone Commander was an individual who controlled Self Replicating war machines. They were the first people sent to a newly discovered planet to establish a base of operations, and secure the planet before the colonists would arrive. He was a relatively new Drone Commander, having just graduated from the academy around the time IHP-19 was discovered. IHP-19 was considered a test for Leonard to earn experience as a Drone Commander. When the military officers would arrive within a year, with the expedition in tow, they were going to evaluate on how well designed his defense lines and base of operations was built.

Of course, needless to say, not many people were thrilled with this idea. The scientists who insisted on going here first, thought that the brass was being way too paranoid about this whole endeavor, as they felt that the planet didn’t have any form of hostile life. The possibility of hostile native lifeforms was not the only reason for why a Drone Commander was always sent first to set up camp on a newly discovered planet.

Many years ago, a planet was discovered to have a still functional automatic defense network on it. The network was discovered to have been several thousand years old, and was churning out combat drones that, despite being in some major disrepair, were still deadly efficient weapons. A large portion of the scientific expedition sent to the planet was destroyed, and it was thanks to a drone commander that the ancient defense network was shut down. It would one day become known as: ‘The Nexus Incident’. After the Nexus Incident, the brass decided that from now on, a Drone Commander will always be sent to a planet first, for fear that there may be another such network, or something else entirely, on the planet.

Of course, Leonard felt that it was not a good idea to send rookies, such as himself, out first to be sent into the meat grinder. Most Drone Commanders were confident in their abilities to lead an army of drones out into the fray, but Leonard wasn’t one of them. Leonard felt that they needed for Drone Commanders to play ‘War Games’ against each other before heading out to set up shop on a new planet. While the brass had no idea what was out in the farthest reaches of space, he felt that it was no excuse for Drone Commanders to not, at least, get some last minute combat exercise before going out.

But of course, that was not his decision to make, and therefor he ultimately had to make do with what he learned at the academy.

Leonard was a fast eater, and by the time he finished thinking of everything about protocol, his food was all but gone. Having finished his breakfast, Leonard placed the silverware and the two empty glasses on the plate, picked it up off the table, and walked a few steps to his left to the sink to wash them up. Once that was done, he placed the dishes back into the cabinet and drawers before leaving the mess hall. But there was one thing he needed to do before heading out. “Zack.” He called out.

The little floating robot flew up to him, hovering right next to the door. “Yes Leonard?” The AI asked.

“I need you to find the best landing zone on the surface where I can set up shop. While you’re doing that, I’m gonna be doing some checkups on my MCV (Mobile Command Vehicle).” Leonard replied.

“Right away sir.” Just like a few minutes ago, the two went in opposite directions from the Mess Hall.

Zack was heading for the cockpit, while Leonard walked to the Cargo Bay where his MCV was located. Upon reaching the end of the hall, he pressed a button to his left, which opened up the door to the elevator that led down to the cargo bay. The elevator trip took only a few seconds, and upon stepping out of the elevator, and into the bay, Leonard was greeted to the sight of his MCV.

The MCV was the pinnacle of military technology.

The MCV was thirty feet in height, fifteen feet in width, and seventy feet in length. The reasoning for its size was so that it could built and store a small number of drones inside of it, particularly land vehicles and aerial vehicles once the nano assemblers built them. The nano assemblers ran all across the length of the MCV, and could build infantry drones, vehicular drones, and aerial drones within less than a minute. They were all powered by a small fusion reactor that was located at the front end of the MCV. The DOCS (Drone Operations Command System) was located directly above the reactor, which was where Leonard was headed for to begin his checkups.

Upon reaching the door by climbing up a ladder, which he hated doing, Leonard then pressed his hand up onto a pad, and the door slid open, allowing him to step into the DOCS. Once inside, he stepped up to the holomap, from there a holographic screen had lit up, and turned to face him. Pressing several buttons, Leonard imputed his codename and his password. Not a second later, the fusion reactor beneath him came to life, and the lights in the MCV lit up, while the holomap came online. Along the edge of the map a screen popped up that said; “Welcome back Lieutenant Commander.”

Leonard smiled at it. “Alright, let’s begin.” He said.

The next couple of hours flew by in a near instant. His first order of business was to run a diagnostic on the fusion reactor, as it was the most essential part of the MCV. After running a thorough scan of the reactor, Leonard found no anomalies within its structure and system.

After checking the reactor, Leonard than went and checked its anti-gravity pods. A digital scan of the pods, as well as a personal inspection showed no obvious signs of any anomalies in their functionality. They kept the MCV off the ground by a few feet, allowing it to move over any terrain in spite of its size. It also had a set of treads that would deploy in the event that the anti-gravity pods would malfunction. Though admittedly, the treads we slower, and less maneuverable than the pods.

Once that was done, Leonard than moved to the next thing on the list. All MCVs had hardpoints on them, from which a turret could be built upon. Small hardpoints were for anti-aircraft and anti-infantry guns, light artillery, pulse lasers, and point defense weapons. Medium hardpoints were for anti-aircraft artillery, medium artillery, beam cannons, rocket launchers, and shield generators. Large hardpoints were for omni directional missiles, which could target both surface and aerial threats, heavy artillery, plasma cannons, and larger shield generators.

Leonard’s MCV currently had eight small hardpoints, four medium hardpoints, and two large hardpoints. He couldn’t help but snort at the concept of hardpoints, as he felt that hardpoints were completely unnecessary, and that they would be better off just having the weapons built into the MCV, rather than have the Drone Commanders build them on the fly. The argument for why MCVs had hardpoints on them, was so that the Drone Commanders would build whatever they felt was needed in order for them to complete their mission, and if one thing wasn’t needed, they could simply have the turrets dissembled, and build something else in its place.

Rather than contemplate on the stupidity of it all, Leonard went ahead and tested out each of the hardpoints’ building capabilities. It took less than a minute for the small hardpoints to finish building their turrets, while the four medium hardpoints took several minutes to build theirs, and the two large hardpoint had taken all but fifteen minutes to build a turret. Once all of that building was done, Leonard ordered for the turrets to dissemble. What took minutes to build, took seconds to convert back into usable nanotechnology.

Last but not least was the fabrication of drones. While the MCV could build and store drones, it had very limited space, and only certain types of drones could be built within the MCV. At the moment, he only drones he could build were infantry drones; BATs (Basic Android Trooper), HATs (Heavy Android Trooper), RATs (Rocket Android Trooper), and SATs (Sniper Android Trooper), light vehicle drones; Light Tanks, Scout Bikes, IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicle), and Mortars, light aircraft drones; Aerial Reconnaissance Drones, Gun Helicopters, Light Transport Copters, only one type of naval drone; Patrol Boats, and the Constructor Drones for building structures. If he wanted to build the heavier vehicles, he was going to need to have a Constructor Drone build factories.

Of course, since his ship didn’t have the space to do that, Leonard was stuck to just having to build the drones that were available in the MCV. The Android Troopers could be built in mere seconds. This was largely because the Android Troopers were all standing at only a mere seven feet tall. The vehicles however, took minutes to build due to them being larger and more complex than the Android Troopers. Once he had each drone built, he had them scanned for any abnormalities in their design, and when all was said and done, Leonard immediately had the drones dissembled back into nanotechnology.

That was all he needed to do. Now that the checkups were complete, Leonard brought the holographic screen back up, and pressed the key causing it to shut down. As it did, the holographic screen had said; “Goodbye Lieutenant Commander.”

-oOo-

The door to the cockpit opened, allowing Leonard to step through. Zack was looking at a holographic representation of the surface of the planet. Judging by what he saw, it looked like a desert area. Barren, dry, dusty. Leonard was able to handle the heat, thanks to being born and raised in Texas, but he simply couldn’t stand deserts. Even he had his limits. Though as of this moment, there was only one possible reason that Leonard could think of for why Zack was looking at a desert. “Is this where I’ll be making my landing?” he asked.

Zack turned around. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was a robot, Leonard would have assumed that he startled him. “I’m afraid so, Leonard.” Zack answered. “There’s a good amount of mass to be harvested there. And it’s the furthest away from any civilization on the planet.”

That got Leonard’s attention. He looked at Zack, clearly startled by this revelation. “There’s civilization on the planet?” He asked.

The floating robot looked back at him, if it was able to, it would have made an expression showing how amused it was at Leonard’s reaction. “Yes sir. There’s definitely civilization down there.” Zack answered.

The holographic map of the desert faded, and in its place was a hologram of the planet. All across the planet, dots were popping up. “I’ve been doing a thorough scan of the planet.” Zack said. “All over the surface I have found various settlements, many with varying levels of technology.”

As Zack spoke, holographic representations of the cities that the dots represented began raising up from the planet. “Most cities appear to have roughly the equivalent to the early decades of the twentieth century.” Leonard nodded in response, this could prove to be quite interesting.

“Some appear to be equivalent to the late nineteenth century, and many others appear to be pre-industrial. I’ve even spotted a few that look like they wouldn’t feel out of place in ancient Roman times.” Zack then turned to face Leonard. “But that’s not the only thing that I found.”

Leonard turned his head at Zack. “What else have you found?” he asked.

“I have found that there is not one, but multiple sapient species inhabiting the planet.” Zack answered.

Leonard narrowly jolted at that, but kept a cool head regardless. “Are you certain?” Leonard asked.

Zack ‘nodded’ in response. “Yep. Take a look.”

At that, holographic representations of the various species on the planet began emerging from the planet. Leonard had pretty much recognized almost every single creature that came up. Most of them looked like ordinary animals back on Earth, but a few others resembled mythological creatures as well. There were races of equine, canine, feline, bovine, and unless Leonard was mistaken, one of the holograms was that of a dragon. There were even holograms of elephants, aquatic creatures, apes, and some animal that looked like the bastard child of an insect and a equine.

Leonard’s mind was racing through many scenarios at the moment. On one hand, he had a job to do; to set up a base of operations, and wait for the scientific expedition to arrive to study the planet. On the other hand, the planet was inhabited. Aside from some very old ruins here and there, there had never been a planet that was discovered to actually have sapient life on it. Leonard at the moment, felt that there was but one thing he needed to do right now. “Zack?” he asked.

Zack perked up. “Yes?” he asked.

“Did you send a message to the brass about this?” Leonard stated.

Zack ‘blinked’ in response. “Indeed I did.” He answered “And I got a response not too long ago.”

Leonard braced himself for the answer. “What did they say?”

“They said that we are to go ahead with the mission.” Zack answered. That was not what Leonard was expecting. “And that they’re going to be doing some changes to the expedition. Most of all, they’re going to bring diplomats along the ride within the year.” The robot added.

Leonard was fully aware of the oddities of this planet, but he felt that whatever the brass was planning was not a good idea. He couldn’t help but feel like this was going to backfire on them spectacularly in the distant future. In his mind, the brass should have just scrapped this mission, and just let the scientific expedition come anyway to study the planet. But alas, that was not his decision to make. Leonard couldn’t help but let out a huff in response. “Well,” he started. “I guess we might as well get this over with. How long until we’re in range?” Leonard asked.

The images dissipated leaving only the planet, while another hologram materialized orbiting the planet, this one being a holographic representation of the ship. In front of the ship was a line that indicated where their current trajectory, along with how much time they had until the ship was ready to make its descent. “We’ll be in range in about fourteen hours and seven minutes.” Zack answered.

Leonard nodded at that. “Very well.” He said. “I guess I’ll need to prepare in the meantime then.”