Ranger
Chapter 142: Losses
By Wanderer D
Everyone gathered around a large holographic table that Fiss and his brethren had managed to somehow put together. On it, a basic map of the city was displayed, with the main buildings enhanced in size and colored orange, instead of the blue of the rest.
"Here's what we know…" Sunset started, "At some point last night, an all-out war started between ADVENT and, presumably, the MEC Factory. Since that's where Julian is located and where the second request for help came from, it is likely that the MECs would be on our side for this one."
"Are we really going to risk it?" Fridge asked.
"No," Ember said, "We'll assume they're all our enemies until confirmation of some sort occurs. At least with ADVENT we are one hundred percent sure that they'll attempt to kill us on sight. Especially with the Hunter being here."
"Has anyone here fought the Hunter?" Security asked, "And I don't mean fought as in, they were in the same AO as the bitch. I mean, actually had a fight with her."
"Our only encounter with her didn't involve us fighting her at all," Sunset admitted, "which really makes her a problem. Worse still, she's a sniper, so getting close enough to her might be a problem. It might even be down to a sniper of equal skill to hers to take her down."
"So how are we doing this?" Jane asked, "Including me, we have five specialists, three alone in Dragon team."
"My team should take lead on the MEC factory with Lily," Ember said, glancing around with confidence. "If we are stuck fighting MECs, we're the best equipped to do so, and if we need to assist them, we are also the best option for that."
Sunset bit her lip. "Julian doesn't know you."
"He knows Lily," Ember retorted.
"You understand that it is possible that Julian might be on our side, correct?" Sunset asked.
"Yes, but until we can prove he is, I'm not going to walk in waving a white flag."
"That would leave us fighting ADVENT," Elena said, "We should be able to deal with them."
"Keep them occupied while you contact Julian and possibly obtain his alliance," Sunset muttered.
"I hate to even suggest this, but do you want anyone from my team?" Ember asked.
Sunset looked around, then sighed. "To be honest, we could use the help, but we don't know the capabilities of the Hunter, Ember. For all we know this could be a suicide mission."
"Please, as if I had so little trust in my team." Ember nodded at Fridge and Trojan. "I figure you could use a Sniper, and a Grenadier."
"Ember…"
"Keep Trojan far and away. As long as she has a clear shot, you can spot for her and she'll hit her target. Given your experience with explosives, I would assume you'd know what to do with Fridge?"
Sunset chuckled. "Fine. I'm not going to argue against this."
"Ma'am, are you sure?" Trojan asked.
"We're going inside a building, Greg," Ember replied, "You're both going to be of more help out there in the city."
Fridge grimaced. "If you say so, boss."
Ember grinned. "Come on, besides," she motioned with her thumb at her hovering GREMLIN. "I'm never alone, I have GARBLE."
The GREMLIN made a threatening whirl of servos.
"Ah."
"You named your GREMLIN "GARBLE"?" Jane asked. "Why?"
"Because he's a pretentious dick," Ember said, shrugging. "What, you haven't named yours? Even Twilight named hers."
Jane, grimaced, "I haven't thought of a good name, okay?"
"What are the names so far?" Sunset asked, curiosity nagging at her.
"Well," Ember said, "you know GARBLE…"
"And ROV-R…" Lily said.
"Mine's named TALIA," Security said, "because she hates me."
"She?" Sweetie asked, "And why would you name… her… Talia because of that?"
"Long story."
"Anyway," Breaker said, "mine is named: FIXIT. I challenge you to figure out why."
"Not interested." Elena stated.
"What other names are there?"
"Well, Twilight named hers, "GREMLINISCIOUS"," Jane said.
"Of course she did."
"And you know Jaws?" Jane continued, "from Wolf team? She named hers "FLIPPER"."
"Why?"
"Beats me."
"Now I feel old," Annette muttered.
"Well, then," Sunset said, "Make sure you ponder the nature of your GREMLIN's name, Jane. Wouldn't want to be the only one out there that couldn't name their assistant. Now that that's out of the way…" She coughed. "We still need to figure out how to evacuate the civilians."
"Sunset," Ember growled, "We're talking about thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people."
"We can't leave them behind!" Sunset argued. "They'll get killed!"
"Even if we somehow managed to figure out a way to rescue them all from imminent death, we can't evacuate them. We don't have the resources, and we'd have to empty the Avenger completely to fit…" she turned to glance at Sweetie, "How many people?"
"Um… last census I believe was two hundred, seventy five thousand, eight hundred. Rounded up."
"Yes. That many people." Ember shook her head, licking her lips and locked eyes with Sunset. "We might just have to cut our losses."
Sunset grimaced, but couldn't argue the point. How could she, or anyone, save that many people with their resources? It was impossible.
"What about my parents?" Jenny asked from behind them.
Ember and Sunset exchanged pained glances.
"We'll do what we can," Sunset said, turning to face the young girl. "We don't know all the details, or where they're being held. Once we do, we can plan again, right?"
Ember sighed. "Sure." She smirked confidently and gave Jenny a thumbs-up. "We'll figure it out."
"Ugh-GAH!" Scootaloo sat up fast, chest heaving, eyes wide, forehead covered in sweat. She held onto the sides of the metallic bed she was lying on to keep her balance and, truth be told, just so she could actually hold on to something.
She looked around the room where she had woken up, trying to figure it out. It was mostly solid-looking metal. Here and there circuits lit up and beeped, but other than herself, there was no organics around.
Three guesses as to which side had captured her.
"Hello?" she called out, glancing around the room. She looked up at the sterile white lights above, trying to see if there were any cameras. "Hello? Hey? You caught me? Um… what happened to my friends?"
There was no reply. Unnerved, she turned on the metal slab—really, calling it a bed earlier had been too generous—and slid off, walking a couple of steps to the nearest wall and banging on it. "Hey! I'm talking here! Why am I in this room? Come on! I didn't do anything wrong! What's with the prisoner of Azkaban treatment?"
Greetings, Scootaloo.
Scootaloo blinked. "Apple… Bloom?"
Not quite. The being known as Apple Bloom is currently incapacitated. I am her assistant. AppleSeed.
"Oh, haha, yeah… uh… you're… uh… not a Bioroid, are you?"
Obscure reference noted. But no, I am merely a construct. I am not sentient, but my coding is advanced enough to simulate a real AI.
"How do I know you're not lying?"
Does this look like a face that would lie?
"I can't see your face!"
Therefore it is a face that cannot lie.
"Y-you… ugh. You were definitely programmed by Apple Bloom." Scootaloo closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Where is she? Why am I here?"
You were separated from your companions at the time of acquisition due to your relationship with Apple Bloom.
"Well, where is she? Are we in the MEC Factory?" Scootaloo asked slowly feeling more exasperated.
You will be guided to her. However, it is imperative that you understand the situation.
"What situation?" Scootaloo groaned. "You mean that fight outside between ADVENT and MECs?"
ADVENT is trying to exterminate everything in the city, including civilians, to cover for the loss of control over their mechanical assets.
"Okay… that is… horrible," Scootaloo said, "and I get that we're all collateral damage, but what does Apple Bloom have to do with all of this?"
The attempts did not begin in the streets. Apple Bloom was caught by an ADVENT official assisting Julian. She was accused of treason, and immediately executed. This prompted a response from us, and war commenced.
o.0.o End Chapter 142 o.0.o
Naming Jane's GREMLIN 'Chatika' should be a no-brainer.
Welp...assuming this construct isn't lying...there it is.
nooooo, RIP
9033839 Exactly!
You've already set up her theme, now cement it.
Next question: Define "incapacitated".
9033844
Why not EDI?
Edit: Made more sense before you edited your comment, but oh well.
Hm. Apple Bloom was “executed”, yet she is only “currently incapacitated”. Interesting word choices.
Also one of Appleseed’s lines isn’t highlighted.
Awww man... not Apple Bloom
Well that last bit made certain that I am sad. I need to go read something happy and sappy so I can sleep tonight.
9033845
9033851
I think "dead" could count under "incapacitated". She certainly wouldn't have the capacity to do much if ADVENT made her an ex-Apple Bloom...
9033858
See the thing is there’s no reason to say “currently” if that is a permanent state, and there wouldn’t be much purpose to guiding Scoot to her if she’s 100% dead. It’s possible that Julian managed to save AB.
9033858
9033864
Another point, many people have survived "execution", so that term is also debatable, for now.
9033864
9033872
Agreed. It's the definition of "immediately executed" that really needs to be looked into.
"her body is dead, but her mind has been preserved."
"preserved how?"
"Her consciousness has been digitized. It may consist of ones and zero's now, but everything that made Applebloom a unique individual, is there."
"but.."
"I am downloading her consciousness into a specially modified MEC body. She might be slightly disoriented when she.. awakes."
The GREMLIN names are great.
Don't be permanently dead, Apple Bloom!
I wonder if we're going to see some form of cloned Applebloom personality matrix, or AI, or some sort of memory transfer? Or was she simply not 'completely dead'.
Yeah. More than likely Julian immediately snatched Blooms body and is currently upgrading her. I bet she will be able to "interface" with Julian a whole lot easier after the upgrades. 😉
I know where they could put several hundred thousand civilians... would celestia be willing to put up with a ton of temporary refugees? load everyone thru the portal, fly the Avenger somewhere else, offload civilians. easy!
On a related note, while Equestria can't offer military or economic aid, they are certainly capable of supplying basic materials and foodstocks, if such translates through the portal properly, XCOM's supply budget may have hit a drastic increase.
9033924
No worries mate, she'll be alright.
Wait what does that mean for the equestrian Garble? Does he turn into a gremlin when he walks through the portal.
Hmmm... another death (maybe)? Actually that makes me wonder. I don't recall if it was mentioned but what ever happened to Sci Twi? Anyway in this timeline, they would not have ever met at the Friendship Games.
While I know it was AB helping Julian, I had to reread this line due to the uncertain wording. It could be construed that the official was helping Julian catch AB.
Ow man are you actualy doing the whole cyborg thing from xcom1 enemy within. Cause if so that will be amazing. I mean you have the gene enhanced soldier now cyborg soldier. Please do that, the possibilities are just to good both in combat and the shinanigans out of combat
I mean Julian was part of xcom and could potentially have memory or fire about the mech soldiers that xcom had. I mean come on mech Apple bloom, apple bloom, the insanity from that to good to pass up.
That makes sense
Cyborg Applebloom?
No, because then it would have been named Hitomi.
No... but you got me with that reference regarding the gremblin's name. Genius!
9033842
Do not dispear.
We can rebuild her, we have the technonage.
She will be beater, faster, stronger...
9034006
huh.... Mec trooper Applebloom.... Xcom 1 Psychic Sweetiebelle.... and Meld enchanced Scootaloo? XD that would honestly be really cool to see XD
Um... Ok, not sure if this is Apple Seed not getting 'death' or if Julian is up to something nuts like an upload of Apple Bloom, but executed and 'currently incapacitated' don't really jive.
Jane's Grimlin is 'Chiktika vas Paus' of course.
9033952
A good idea.
Now they only have to figure out the logistics... and get through the bureaucracy. *shudder*
Unless... Princess Celestia issues a Royal Edict. That can go through any bureaucracy on the Equestrian side of things.
9034144
Yeah, those two don't really match. By the Sorting Algorithm Of Deadness, we can all assume that she isn't dead, and that what Apple Seed means is that she's – just like you said – been uploaded.
Also, this means that Julian didn't just go crazy, he actually had an understandable reason to wreck havoc on the city.
9033841
Advent stirking first makes sence. There is simply no point in Juillian cutting civilian access to the Comnet as Advent would still be able to call for back up, whereas an Advent purge would block civilian access to the network so that the truth would not get out and they could say anything they wanted to about what happened.
Oh no, is Apple Bloom really dead? Or is it more like her mind as been digitalise and sent to the cyberspace?
I know the sentiment.
Applebloom...
I swear... at this point we are going to see Pinkie's body in the containers just as they are turned into green slurry when the avatar project is discovered.
9034461
Your comment made me just realize that we are 142 chapters in and they still haven't discovered the avatar project.
9033986
Based from the previous chapters, hints show that she is currently in control of the archon king.
9033901
That actually makes for a compelling love story.
‘Shen’s Legacy’, the only thing Julian wants in the world is a body of his own. He murders, manipulated, and lies to get it with Lilly’s help.
Sunset frees him, and Apple Bloom is helping him take his first steps into the world on his own, and all that is no longer needed. As she does, the now fully sentient AI developed a romantic attachment to the engineer making his dream come true.
Apple Bloom is discovered and ‘killed’. In a rage, Julian declares a personal war against her murderers, but upon finding her still alive in the shallowest sense, sacrifices his one chance at freedom to save the woman who gave it to him.
... Damn. PLEASE let that be where this is going. As much as that would suck for AB, that is an incredible tale.
Equestrian Apple Jack is NOT going to be happy...
9034648
It would also be a far better story arc for Julian than the SLG story of 'AI with Daddy issues attempts to kill creator's daughter in a fit of jealousy only to be hack into compliance'.
Also at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if Julian winds up creating a new resistance faction made up of 'liberated mechs'.
Well, unfortunately I was somewhat right on my guess. Makes a lot of sense, though
I wonder, did Julian manage to save her into cyberspace? Is that even possible?
Ah. This isn't just an uprising. This is vengeance. And a very awkward fight to wade into for XCOM. It's going to get a lot messier before it gets any easier, that's for sure.
9033839
But can it go for the optics?
is AB going to be a good old fashioned Xcom mec? please say yes, we already got a genetically augmented solider, lets see a mec!
9034684
Under most conditions a computer would not refer to an executed individual as "currently incapacitated". They would simply say deceased or dead. So, Julian is most likely trying something.
So, why didn't Twilight take her GREMLIN in her mission?
Her nickname is 'The Quarian'.
Therefore' 'Chiktikka vas Paus' is the only acceptable drone name.
I'd be heartbroken about... A certain character's fate here, but I was browsing the fanart and wasn't paying enough attention to the spoiler tags.
I have no one to blame but myself.
9491491
Maybe add a spoiler tag to your comment as well...
Oh no...
I teared up over Sweetie hearing about Rarity and EXALT last chapter, but this is just leaving me numb.
Holding out hope from some particular word choice there though.
9304557
I second this xD