Resilience (Under Revision)

Slowly opening his eyes, Jack was immediately assaulted by a bright light that enveloped his vision. Letting out a low groan the soldier raised his hand and rubbed his eyes as he slowly got his senses back. With his eyes properly adjusted, Jack sat up from a small, white cot before looking around confusedly.

'What the hell?'

Swiveling his head around, Jack could see that he was in a white room, where the air smelled of medicine and disinfectant revealing it to be some type of medical ward. Grunting, Jack swung his legs over the edge of the bed and settled his feet down to the hard tiled ground. A brief shock from the cold ran up his legs before Jack quickly shrugged it off as he slowly got a better understanding of his surroundings.

There were four similar cots that lined along the same side of the room, all of them neatly folded and empty as trays of syringes and other hospital supplies decorated the opposite wall. Towards the end of the room stood a large grey door, big enough where a car could easily drive in without worry of clipping the door frame.

Pushing himself further off the bed, Jack begun to make his way over to the door before grunting as his legs quickly gave out causing him to fall face first into the cot next to him. Like a newborn, Jack slowly began to pull his legs towards himself and wobblily stood back up on two shaky legs. This time, he started walking a bit more carefully towards the entrance, his feet making a small echo in the otherwise silent chamber.

Reaching his hand out, Jack started the feel around the surface of the door before noticing a small control panel off to the side of the entry way. Shuffling over to the small interface, he noticed a scanner blinked systematically on the screen that roughly held the shape of a hand print.

'There's no way it can be that easy.' Jack thought to himself as he reached out to the console.

Placing his hand on to the scanner, the control panel blinked for a few more seconds as the screen showed a small rotating circle above the glowing hand print. Suddenly the screen turned red as three sharp beeps emitted from the small console.

"Unauthorized Personnel Detected In Medical Wing B. Facility B-17C."

A mechanized voiced filled the room as the scanner continued to let out three shrill beeps every couple of seconds.

"I thought so." Jack said to himself before running back in front of the door.

Placing both hands underneath the door, Jack let out a low grunt as he strained his muscles and slowly started to pull upwards. The hydraulic system that was holding the steel door in place started to creak and groan underneath the stress Jack was inflicting upon it, but stayed firm nonetheless. Letting out one more strained heave, the gate slipped through his fingers and slammed back down into the floor causing a low rumble to reverberate throughout the room and knock the surgical supplies off of the counters. Letting out an irritated sigh, Jack got back up from where he was crouched down and stumbled back towards the control panel.

"Why would think you could lift up a three ton door when you are barely able to walk, dumbass." Jack mumbled to himself as he begun to peel the thin aluminum covering on the control panel.

Tossing the control panel to the side, Jack was surprised by how simple the electronic locking mechanism was inside. The panel had a standard open circuit that taped directly into the medical wing's generators, which meant simply diverting the power away from the sensor module and back into the capacitors would be enough disengage the locking mechanism. As Jack prepared to pull the wires out of the wall a distant thump echoed beyond the entrance. Slowly dropping the wires from the control panel, he walked over to the metal door and pressed his ear against its cold metal surface. The heavy thump slowly morphed into a series of foot steps that grew louder and louder with each step, no doubt heading towards him.

"Shit."

Rushing over to the surgical supplies on the floor, Jack grabbed a plasma bone saw that had clattered onto the ground after his first attempt to open up the door, and shoved it into his back pocket. Moving back towards the control panel, he quickly continued to splice and rearrange the wires with the wall before a loud pop cause Jack to recoil back with smoke leaking from the console. With the capacitors gone, the locked door disengaged and swung up. Immediately, Jack griped the plasma saw and swung it towards the doorway, the blade connecting with metal as the noises of servos grinding and oil spurting filled the air.

Yanking the bone saw out of his target, Jack readied himself to swing again before stopping.

'A service droid? Where the fuck am I?'

The plasma blade had cleaved its way directly through the soft metal covering surrounding its synthetic skull as it laid on the ground, oil pooling underneath it. Slowly the droid picked its self off the ground, slipping a few times on the growing puddle, before turning around to face Jack. Raising the bone saw between himself and the machine, Jack waited for the droid to make its next move. He didn't have to wait long as it soon spoke out in a raspy voice from its damaged speaker.

" Director Jack Winston. Apologies for the security system as it hasn't been updated yet. Please follow me -bzzt- me."

Without lowering his guard, Jack's cautiousness turned partly into confusion at how this machine addressed him.

"What the hell do you mean by director? I'm First Lieutenant Jack Winston of Bad Company. Identification code 2433300707."

"D-due to emergency protocols, I am u-unable to answer a-any questions. Please f-follow me."

"Bullshit, droid. Where the fuck am I?"

"C-current location. Epsilon 12 Command Base Alpha. D-district 3. Medical Wing B. Facility B-17C. D-destination -bzzzzzt- District 1. Command Center. Please follow me."

Lowering down saw in his hands, Jack couldn't help but give the machine a perplexed look.

"Command base alpha? When the hell was I moved here?"

Jack's eye brows furrowed as he was bombarded by entirely new sets of questions. Looking up, he could see that the droid was still waiting for his response. Letting out a silent sigh, Jack determined the best way to get answers to these questions would be in command center where the machine wanted him to go. Turning off the bone saw, Jack slid it into the waist of his pants and gave a small nod towards the droid. For a long moment the machine stood still before Jack realized that he probably cleaved its optical sensors off when he attacked it.

"Alright. Take me to the command center droid."

"Splendid sir."

Without another word, both the machine and the soldier left the medical ward and walked out into the hallway and towards a elevator on the other side of the corridor.

After a quick elevator ride from the medical wing, the droid lead Jack towards the nearest transit station within district 3, where they waited on the edge of a concreate platform overlooking a massive red laser beam. The arc of energy let out a low hum as a pulse of ran through it every few moments, and down the tunnel out of sight.

"Huh. Resonance transit systems. I thought they were only implemented back on Earth." Jack thought out loud as he peered into the gap.

"In order to ensure -bzzt- the evacuation of essential personnel quickly, p-private transit systems have been implemented in every -pzzt- UNC capital complex since the year 2177." crackled the droid standing a few feet behind Jack.

Suddenly there was a low rumble in the distance. Pulling his head back up and taking a few steps back, Jack stood still behind the yellow caution line as the ground slowly started to shake. Soon the low rumble became a full on roar as a dim light appeared far down the tunnel to Jack's right. Within seconds a white blur speeded across the platform's edge and down the other tunnel where as quickly as it arrived, it stopped. Brushing away a few strands of hair that had gotten thrown into his eyes, Jack was greeted with a slick white train before him, resembling more of a starship than anything. A panel on the fuselage of the train opened up with a hiss revealing it furnished insides, hard oak furniture lining both sides of the car as a long table filled with plates and glasses split down the middle.

Jack couldn't help but stare at the interior of train, not because of its magnificence, but because of the utter lack of anyone inside. Glancing through the windows of the other cars, confirmed his suspicion that there was nobody else on the train other that a few janitorial drones. With his brows furrowed, Jack turned back towards the damaged droid behind him.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Due to emergency protocols, all nonessential personnel have are being moved via the standard transport systems."

"The hell do you mean by "nonessential"?

"Nonessential. Definition, not absolutely necessary."

Letting out a sigh, Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to ease the growing head ache in his skull.

"What constitutes me as essential?"

"Due to matters of security, this unit is not allowed to specify at this time. Protocols dictate that essential personnel must be taken to the command center once awakened."

Narrowing his eyes towards the droid, Jack turned back around and pulled himself into the train compartment and made his way over to the far side of the train car. Sitting down on a cushioned couch besides the window, Jack watched as the droid made its way over, leaking oil on the soft white carpet, before standing next to him.

The train started rumbling again as the floor beneath Jack started to hum. Within seconds the train shot off of the platform and down the opposite tunnel. Lifting his head off the backrest, Jack peered out the window and saw the mastery of human ingenuity.

The entire base was a massive sphere. Antigravity generators were placed upon a dozen different points all along the the outer shell of the complex, which allowed sprawling structures to be placed at nearly every point of the facility, even upside down. Large tram rails spread and weaved through between each of these structures like a huge spider web, however none of this compared to what was in the middle of the sphere. Looking through the tempered glass of the train, Jack couldn't help but let his jaw drop a little at the marvel above him. A gigantic blue ball of energy hovered in the middle of the base where several beams of light arced off into nearly a dozen more receivers all along the inner shell of the sphere.

Sliding back down into the cushioned couch, Jack rested his eyes as the train shot down another tunnel. Just as he was about to doze off a sharp beep came from the intercom system as a mechanized, female voice spoke throughout the cabin.

"Now arriving at District 1, Command Center."

With a sudden jerk, the train gradually slowed to a stop. The door to the compartment popped off the side of the cabin like before and revealed a grey tiled platform. Holographic screens lined up and down the exit zones displaying everything from the base's diagnostics to advertisements for neuromods. Towards the far end of the platform was a massive holo-screen with the face of a steel ranger on it, the words JOIN THE STEEL CORPS TODAY! flashing in bright yellow beneath him.

Jack let out a mirthless huff as he turned to look at the UNC propaganda while climbing off the train. Staring at it for a few more moments, Jack shook his head before facing the service droid again, only to find it shuffling across the platform to a small, dome-like building. Coming to a stop before the dome the droid inputted a series of numbers into a terminal jutting out of the ground, before standing back with Jack. With a beep of approval coming from the interface, the curved walls slid back into each other revealing five cylinders in a circle.

"Please enter the short range teleport pads. The coordinates have been set already Mr. Winston."

Giving the droid a slight nod, Jack made his way over to the capsules before pulling himself into the one nearest to him. With a sharp hiss the door to the pod slid closed and sealed itself. The floor lit up white as a low buzz filled the inside of the teleporter before, with a flash of light, Jack was gone, the last thing he saw being the broken droid waving at him through the glass.

With a bright flash, Jack stumbled out of the teleporter and fell to his knees onto the ground, fighting the urge to vomit what little was in his stomach. Pushing down the bile in his throat, he stood up expecting to see the mess-hall where most of the soldiers were briefed only to find himself in a large, dark room. Suddenly, a series of lights flickered on the walls before bathing the entire room in light, blinding Jack for a moment.

Rubbing away the blurriness in his eyes, Jack couldn't help but be startled at the when he realized where he was. The room had holo-screens adorning every single wall, each displaying diagnostics and statistics from all over the base while various consoles and computers lined in rows beneath them. In the middle of all this was a large wooden table that had a holographic projector in the middle that produced the UNC insignia that slowly rotated in place.

"Welcome to the Epsilon 12, Command Base Alpha Strategic Coordination Center, Director Jack Winston."

A masculine, automated voice filled the room as the UNC symbol above the table flickered before changing to a white circle that watched Jack walked towards it. Stopping a few feet away from the table Jack called back out towards the AI.

"Identify yourself."

"Designation: ALDO, Artificial Lifeform Defense Operator
Current Objective: Initiate Operation Lazarus. Reactivate Primary Facility Functions. Await Further Instructions From Onsite Directors."

"Why am I being identified as a director?", Jack asked while taking a seat by the table.

"Dictated by the parameters of Operation Lazarus, if the complex was ever put into prolonged suspension, the highest ranking individuals will be given command of the facility when awoken."

"That does not explain why I am being identified as a director. There are multiple individuals of higher ranking than me on site I presume."

"Elaboration on Operation Lazarus. If complex was to be target of massive structural damage or assault, all personnel are to be placed within cryogenic suspension until further notice from external UNC forces or until all external threats are reduced to acceptable levels. If any of these requirements are meet, the onsite AI is to reactivate the complex and awaken all personnel in suspension. The highest ranking individuals awoken from stasis will assume the responsibilities of onsite director. If the highest ranking individuals are found to be deceased or not present, all subsequent individuals afterwards that meet the requirements of being the highest ranking, present personnel will obtain director responsibilities."

Jack's usually calm expression cracked for a moment as his eyes widened at the last part of what the AI said. A pit started to develop in his stomach, something that he hasn't felt in a long time, as he called back towards to machine.

"How many personnel are currently on the base?"

The holo-screens lit up showing a loading bar as it ran through all last known locations of the base's inhabitants before revealing the vital signs of all the personnel in the facility. Immediately the room was bathed in red light, each screen showing nothing but flat, red lines as an emergency alert flashed in the top corner. On the last screen however, was a single green heart beat monitor labeled Jack Winston.

"Personnel Diagnostics Report:
On site personnel: 1
Visiting personnel: 0
Civilian personnel: 0
Military personnel: 0
Site directors: 1 ", echoed ALDO's voice.

Jack slumped slightly back into his chair as the pit in his stomach grew into a hollow hole inside of his chest as he stared blankly at the red screens all around him.

'Objective Directives:
Preservation Of Non-Hostile Intelligent Life: Failed
Uphold And Preserve UNC Values: Failed
Self Preservation: Successful'

The screen displaying his vitals started to beep as it showed that Jack's heart rate was elevating at a rapid rate, which snapped him out of his thoughts. He begun to slowly get his breathing under control as he released his grip from the now warped armrest of his seat and started to rationalize what to do next.

'I need to get into contact with Overwatch, let them know what's happened here and call in for a evac team.' Jack thought to himself.

"ALDO send a distress signal to the nearest UNC fleet."

"Unable to carry out request. Deep space transmitters unable to detect UNC fleets."

"Send a distress signal to the nearest UNC system."

"Unable to carry out request. Draconis star base transmission have been terminated."

"God damn it. Open a direct line of communication with any UNC controlled system and display it on screen.", Jack cursed at the machine, irritation starting to slip into his tone.

"Unable to carry out request. All transmissions to the UNC have been terminated. Deep space transmitters cannot detect any UNC signals."

'I need to find out what happened and why the UNC isn't responding.', Jack thought to himself as he looked over the star charts now being displayed on the screen.

"ALDO.", Jack called out, "Construct a timeline of events from the base's cryogenic suspension to today using any and all messages by the UNC."

"Command confirmed. Timeline construction completed. Estimated length 61,359 years from year 2878 to year 64237."

"61,000 years.", Jack whispered to himself.

A whirlwind of thoughts tore through whatever restraint he had left while even his enhanced brain struggled to comprehend what he just heard. Thoughts, worries, questions all flooded his brain before the emotional inhibitor chip inside his head clamped down allowing for more rational thoughts to form. However, before Jack could voice any of these thoughts to ALDO a recorded transcript appeared on the holo-screen.

On the screen showed a news reporter who's face was covered in dirt as she stood in a star port where hundreds of ships were lifting off the ground and taking to the skies. She seemed frantic as she looked around her before speaking directly into the camera.

"This is reporter Carla Lewis of the UNC new broadcast. Behind me we are seeing the mass exodus of civilians and armed forces from Epsilon 12 as reports are flooding in that montallum forces have overrun the city of Ganzir and are currently attacking the fortress of Yorktown. We are urging that all-"

The reporter was cut off as large explosions appeared on the horizon as smoke and laser rounds from AA guns filled the air. Yelling could be heard as a crowd of people surged forward and started to run across the landing pads towards any of the shuttles still on the ground, a few taking off before they could jump on. The reporter dusts off before turning her attention back towards the camera, a streak of blood now running down the left side of her face.

"We are urging that all citizens that are still in their homes or not at a military outpost to make your way to the nearest evacuation center immediately. The official stance of admiral Riker is that the planet will be bombarded from orbit at 0500 about three and a half hours from now. Anyone who doesn't evacuate immediately will b-"

One of the hangers on the air field erupted in a massive fireball as soldiers were seen rushing towards a fence behind the reporter. She turned to ask what was happening before a large plasma bolt streaked through the air and impacted a evac shuttle, causing it to spin out of control and crash back onto the ground, killing everyone who was in it. Beyond the fence that soldiers were rushing to was a mass of montallum that began to open fire into the air field and into the crowd still on the ground.

"Come on Will! We need to get out of-", The reporter was cut off as her ribs burst out her chest, a plasma bolt carving a hole through her back.

The camera then fell to the ground as a man rushed over to try and help the reporter, before being impacted by a plasma bolt just like her. The recording then shut off.

"Transcript ended. Beginning next transcript.", ALDO's voice called out to Jack as sat there, expressionless.

The next few hours went by in a blur as he analyzed each one of the transcripts each one becoming worse and worse as time went on.

"I'm getting reports that the Aldran system has been destroyed."

"Proximia One has been completely annihilated."

"There are riots in the streets over food shortages. People are protesting to the local government in opposition of martial law."

"M-my entire f-family was on Centari Three."

"Here we make our stand! To victory or death, we stand unbroken!"

"The Alraxi star nation has fallen to the Montallum."

Jack sat there, hooked on every single detail for what seemed like eons before ALDO stopped the timeline.

"Final transcript. Transmitted from the capital complex of Earth."

One the screen revealed a old and haggard man, his eyes and checks sunken in as his hands never seemed to stop shaking. He sat there for a moment before a voice off camera called out to him. He flinched as if he was just pulled out off a trance before fixating his eyes towards the camera, and in a ragged voice, spoke.

"This is president Nick Oaklar. This nation wide address is targeted to any and all remaining citizens of the UNC. Of the nearly three thousand years our great star nation has existed, I have had the honor to serve you the people and all intelligent life. It is with great regret that I must inform you of what is to come.", Nick takes a deep, shaky breath before looking back towards the camera.

"With the final construction of the hyper-engine, we will stop the montallum from ever terrorizing this galaxy again. And in our sacrifice, maybe a thousand years from now or even a million, this universe will thrive without fear of the metal menace. God bless you all and god bless the UNC."

The transmission ends leaving Jack to sit there in his thoughts. Questions filled his head as he begun to prioritize which ones were more important than the others. Shaking his head, he determined that the best question was the most obvious one. As he begun to ask about what the hyper-engine was, a alarm began to sound out through out the room.

"Alert. Unidentified life forms detected. Awaiting orders."

The holo-screens began showing a massive groups of warm bodies surrounding a mountain four miles from the base and a similar mass of bodies just a few more miles beyond. Pushing away the seat, Jack stood up and begun giving ALDO orders.

"Put the base on red alert and give me a full visual of these entities."