A faint clicking could be heard. A sudden flash enveloped my sight as the optical sensors initiated. A thin blue grid appeared over the grey background bordering my vision. A faint glow passed over the grid as the lenses contained within my optical sensors focused. A few clicks sounded as they blinked to further focus my vision. I was underwater, as the faint distortion was instantly registered. A small box appeared in the lower left of my vision. A few bars appeared above it, one a bright cyan and the other a hard grey, both bordered by a thin white line. My audio suddenly kicked in, and they registered the unmistakable sound of water flowing around me. A small message appeared on the top, beside the grey bar. It stated only one thing.
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE
Suddenly light enveloped my vessel as all the systems started up. A dark blue light glared up at me from my lower torso. I felt the connection complete, and I stretched my vessel's arm into my vision, slowly clasping and unclasping my hand to check for damage. My data file had been corrupted, and I had lost the data of my life before the incident causing the data loss. The data involving the memory crash had been lost. I only had my backup file, which didn't include much. I stood up and glanced down at my vessel. The body of the vessel was adorned with dark blue lights confirming the connection my central processing unit had with the suit. I had full connection. Everything from the five-digit hands to the claw-like feet were lit up in the blue glow, the lights adorned in perfect symmetry. I couldn't perceive any damage to the body, visual or otherwise. I had sufficient energy, my data recorded that I had been in stasis for over a week, but I couldn't comprehend the true extent of the damage. I had to test out the suit.
I jumped slightly, my sensors detecting the distortion I caused as I shifted through the fluid. As synthetics had no need to breathe, and my vessel was waterproof, I had no quarrel remaining submerged. But, I needed to at least scout the surrounding area, if only to halt any suspicions about what may lay beyond. I leaped higher this time, managing to skim the underside of the surface. As I impacted the basin's floor for the final time small blue armor plates slid over the lights with a soft clicking, as to increase stealth in darker conditions. I rocketed out of the water along a spray of droplets, quickly grabbing onto a rocky spire protruding from the wall. I surveyed my surroundings, noticing that I seemed to be in some sort of sinkhole. I observe the moon shining into the hole at an angle, lighting the far wall with soft moonlight. I quickly pulled myself onto a higher outcrop, in turn leaping and twirling as I pulled myself steadily closer to the surface. I had claws built into the vessel's hands, as well as it's feet, allowing my vessel to more easily transfer across the walls. The feline inspired shape of my tail allowed me to shift my weight as I dragged myself onto the surface of the world.
At last I breached the surface, slowly casting my gaze across the landscape. A sudden brightness tinted my optics as the night vision kicked in, amplifying the light to my liking. Standing on my legs once again, I took my surroundings into account. I was surrounded by barrens, a single shrub or piles of dirt spread across the landscape, but the main detail was the abundance of craters lining the field. I fell to the earth and sprinted across the wasteland while remaining prone. The CEAV-668-PREDATOR armor was designed as a hybrid between the FAS-408-HUNTER bipedal marksman's armor, the REAA-613-STALKER quadrupedal assault suit, and the RAC-78-KNIGHT Hand-to-hand combat armor, making it the best of stealth, long-range weaponry, and unarmed combat in existence.
However, due to my severe data crash, I could remember no more about these specific armor pieces other then that they were initially designed for other species of the Intergalactic Systems Alliances Majority, or the IAS Majority. Even more unfortunate was the fact that I had lost the data about more detailed functions in my vessel, as well as the specifics on combat. Even worse was that I could remember so much information about the trivial things, such as the approximate mass of Xerosis, my construct planet Caldrift's artificial sun, but I had completely forgotten all the data and faces of biological allies I had met before, nevermind remembering how many races were in the alliance as well as each species' general traits.
But one data file came up, unharmed as I was fuming over my CPU's inability to retain situationally valuable data. The file was fairly small, and I quickly absorbed the information inside, halting my processor's advance as I double-checked then triple-checked the file.
The ISA majority is at war with the Human rebellion.
The Human race, or homo sapiens, had been adopted into the ISA as of Stardate 5864-46-98, but a vast majority of their outer-rim planets had been fuming about their species' dominance over all 'extraterrestrial life'. The rebellion has grown more organized and violent in the previous few years. The humans remaining in our alliance will not be abandoned or outcasted.
Exilis Sve'nedar - Relarshan Ambassador XIV
After the complete processing I found myself feeling... Confused, the organics called it? As my processors started to drift off-course following this message. The message was five years old, meaning I had been in the ISA for at least that long. Too many unanswered questions loomed in my corrupted memory, I decided it would be best to just put the data aside until my CPU was in a more efficient state to process.
My radar suddenly flared, showing a shape approaching from behind me. I leapt to and upward position and twirled quickly, observing the creature before me. It looked to be like a horse with white fur, only it was bipedal and seemed to have hands instead of fore hooves. It's hind legs and appendages were still roughly shaped like a horse's, as well as keeping the same facial shape and tail. One thing about this specific creature that unsettled me was the fact it had wings. Wings were a much more valuable asset when it came to travelling long distances at faster speeds than legs, bipedal or otherwise. It seemed to be wearing crude armor, gold in color, and it was carrying a spear. It appeared to be male, though with no actual experience of having a gender besides a male voice I couldn't tell.
He grunted as I finished my quick observation. He glanced over his shoulder and shouted at something my optics couldn't detect.
"There's some kind of weird golem over here. It looks like it's made of metal. Orders, captain Armor?" He called.
I briefly calculated the chances for the coincidence of similar, understandable language when two other of the new species revealed themselves. One had the same fashion, gold armor and wings, while the final one wore polished blue armor, the same color as his mane and eyes, and even having a horn instead of wings. I processed that this one was obviously the leader, and I glanced around for a second before he replied.
"Princess Celestia ordered us to bring back anything that seems out of place. Let's grab it and get back to Canterlot, maybe the other teams will come up with something as well." The leader, Captain Armor, I recall, stated.
The group started approaching, and I quickly unsheathed my claws and lowered into a fighting position. The trio quickly halted as I snarled.
"Don't even think about it, organic."
Author's Note
For those of you who are confused about Cobalt referring to his body as his 'Vessel' I decided it would be much more suitable for a synthetic life-form to refer to himself as such.
