"Dear Citizens of the Federation of Super Earth,
Tomorrow, a great celebration will take place on Super Earth. It will celebrate our mighty victory against the Automaton Legion on Malevelon Creek, honor the martyred heroes, and see General Brasch pass the torch of the Helldivers to a new generation, represented by Chief Mary Sue, chosen for this honor due to her exploits on Malevelon Creek.
The ceremony will take place from 6AM to 10PM Super Earth Time. To know what SET means in regard to your own world's rotation, please consult the appropriate documents provided by your local administration.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on all Democratic networks. Communal viewing sessions will be arranged by the Colony Overseers everywhere in the Federation. All Citizens have been granted an exceptional free day from their duties (the resulting loss of productivity will have to be reimbursed to the Colony Overseer either through unpaid overtime or a direct transfer of the appropriate amount of Super Credits).
Attendance is mandatory. Failure to attend for the entire duration of the ceremony may result in fines up to capital punishment at the discretion of the local authorities."
Public Service Announcement, approved by the Ministry of Truth and distributed across the colonies of the Federation of Super Earth, May 31st, 2184.
***
June 1st, 2184 – Super Earth
"All rise for the Super Earth National Anthem !"
Mary stood at attention, along with the tens of thousands of people she could see down Liberty Boulevard, and no doubt countless billions more not just on the rest of the world, but everywhere else in the Federation. Only on worlds where the SEAF were engaging the Automaton Legion or the Terminid Horde would exceptions be granted – and even there, soldiers who weren't actively engaging the enemies of Democracy would be expected to stand at attention, reinvigorating themselves through participation in this patriotic performance.
Then, right on cue, she started singing along, knowing that all across the galaxy, billions more voices were doing the same. Despite the rigors of the day and the lingering pain of her injuries, the feeling of unity that came with the act filled her heart, briefly banishing the shadow of grief that had hung over her since receiving that fateful letter, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"Freedom must reign over every last star.
Through Citizen's blood spilled in our righteous wars.
Honor their deaths, do your part for the cause.
Steadfast support of our regime
Is how Humankind will reign supreme.
No questions or doubts shall be allowed.
Traitors will all be disavowed.
Managed Democracy is the true path.
All who resist it shall suffer our wrath.
White, yellow, blue, flying on all the worlds.
Justice and hope are forever unfurled.
Our way of life, galaxy-wide,
Paved with the skulls of those who've died.
Unslakable tide of Super Earth pride,
A torrent that can't be satisfied.
We sacrifice, for paradise.
Anything less will not suffice.
Citizens rise !
Liberty rise !
Super Earth rise up to the skies.
Stay free !"
The air physically shook with applause as the music and singing faded. Everyone remained standing for a few more moments, before finally, the crowds began to disperse, returning to their homes and workstations. Standing on the elevated dais where she'd been under the gaze of the cameras for several hours, Mary allowed herself a sigh of relief, secure in the knowledge it was concealed by her helmet.
At last, it was over.
Though she had spent the day among the very elite of Super Earth, given an honor she never would have imagined she might one day receive, Mary yearned to return to the frontline, to resume her hunt for the Devil of the Creek. But she had her orders, and defying the Federation's commands would only see her lose any chance of ever avenging her father's murder.
Still, sitting through speech after speech and watching rank after rank of new SEAF recruits fresh off their training parade down the streets and into the waiting transport ships had lost its lustre after the third hour. Even her brand new cape (a blue-and-gold version of the Fallen Hero's cape being distributed to the other veterans of Malevelon Creek specially designed for her and hand-crafted by the finest artisans of Super Earth) didn't quite make the whole thing worth it. Especially since the man she accepted the vestment from couldn't be General Brasch, since she'd watched him die at the Devil's hands – another victim of her callous cruelty. Instead, she'd been told, he was another member of the SEAF selected for his resemblance to the late General, and given a script to follow based on the many existing recordings of the dead legend.
The Democracy Officers (her heart grieved at the memory of poor Officer Jaeger, who had gone down with the Harbinger of Wrath like a true hero after saving her life by manually firing her Hellpod) had explained to her why this was necessary. Though a great victory had been won at Malevelon Creek, the people of the Federation needed hope more than ever before, and the knowledge that their great hero had been slain by the Automaton commander would hurt morale and ultimately lead to more casualties before the mechanical monsters were consigned to the dustbin of History where their failed ideology belonged.
Mary had nodded and agreed to keep her silence, of course. She understood how the Devil had sought to cripple the morale of Super Earth, having witnessed her foul work with her own two eyes on Malevelon Creek. She was glad that the Federation had people capable of fighting the fiend on that particular arena, and would do whatever was necessary to assist them.
Her superiors had also brought her mother to Super Earth, so that she could witness her little girl being honored for her heroic efforts in person. Meeting her mom again had been … nice, if somewhat strange. Mary hadn't expected to ever see her again when she'd signed up for the Helldivers, not after what had happened to her father. Her mother had been very proud of her, and told her that she wished she was younger and fitter so that she could join the Helldivers herself alongside Mary – but alas, such wasn't the case, so Mary would have to make sure to avenge her father herself.
Speaking of, Mary hadn't been able to hear her father's voice since fighting the Devil on Malevelon Creek. She could still feel his presence, but it had grown fainter, more distant – as if he'd exhausted his strength while helping his daughter fight his killer. Mary knew that, without his help, she would have died in that battle : she wasn't arrogant enough to think she'd somehow been able to succeed where General Brasch had failed purely on her own merits. It made the admiring looks thrown her way feel uncomfortable, knowing that she didn't really deserve them, but it wasn't like she could explain the truth.
Mary was confident her father's strength would return once she was back on the frontline. According to her briefings, there had been no sighting of the Devil since her cowardly flight from Malevelon Creek. Some analysts thought she was dead, but Mary knew better. She could feel the Devil was still out there somewhere, hiding in the space the Automatons had stolen from the Federation during their first, unprovoked attack.
The thought filled her with righteous anger as she walked down the stage where she'd spent the entire ceremony and toward the vehicle which would return her to the infirmary where she needed to finish her convalescence. She hoped the Devil was afraid of her return, if her soulless heart was capable of the emotion at all.
Justice would be hers, no matter what.
***
"The retirement of the Brasch Identity appears to have been a success overall. Few Citizens expressed doubt over the official story, and those who did were easily suppressed before their anti-patriotic sentiments could spread.
With that page of our Federation's glorious History turned, we believe the Gambit must now move to a new phase, tentatively called the Sue Identity Gambit, or SIG. Chief Mary Sue has shown exemplary conduct on the field, and her duel with the Devil of the Creek has proven some of the best patriotic material we could have hoped for in our efforts to counter the Automatons' own vile propaganda.
Given her physical state, our medical personel do not believe it is reasonable to subject her to the full suite of enhancement procedures refined for the BIG, especially as those were designed for volunteers of a vastly different body type. However, the elite Super Destroyer models used by the BIG can still be used by the SIG, and a new one is being prepared right now for deployment once Chief Sue's recovery is complete and she returns to the front.
Chief Sue's desire to resume her pursuit of the Devil of the Creek, while admirable, has made her use for purely moral-boosting purposes more complicated, but our agents in the Ministry of Truth have assured us that they can still work with it, so long as we help them maintain the image of Chief Sue's invincibility in the same way we did General Brasch's.
To ensure that is the case, new recruits suitable for SIG are being located by our operatives within the Ministry of Humanity, so that they will be ready to assume the mantle when Number 1 falls in battle against our foes. We have also prepared an order to silence her remaining kin in a tragic Automaton terrorist attack in order to maintain this necessary deception.
In the meantime, the existing mandatory volunteers for the BIG are to be reassigned to the Helldivers corps after having been sworn to secrecy. We expect that attrition will soon remove the possibility of them accidentally exposing the BIG …"
Internal communication within Super Earth High Command, June 3rd, 2184.
***
"The Helldivers that have been reactivated by the XBOX ONE decree are, on average, far more competent than their modern counterparts from the Federation's mass-recruitment program. Their shooting is more accurate, their tactical acumen sharper, and their teamwork far more elaborate, even though they need to learn fighting a completely different enemy from the ones they were recruited to battle against.
From this, we can deduce that what passes for training among the Helldivers has sharply declined in the last century, as the Corps' propaganda function overrode any other strategic use in the absence of any enemy apart from ill-equipped dissidents trying to break free from the Federation. It is only thanks to the absurd degree of militarization present in every level of Super Earth's society that modern Helldivers so much as know how to fire a rifle, having been taught to use firearms long before they sign up to join the Corps.
These ancient Helldivers are a finite resource, however. Sooner or later, Super Earth will run out of century-old fighters to throw at the Legion's defenses, and be forced to resume its sole reliance on fresh batches of brainwashed conscripts who try to compensate for appalling training with overwhelming orbital firepower and a complete disregard for their own life. Our new plan, to shift from a single point of contention in Malevelon Creek to a strategy of defense in depth, should allow us to bleed the Reserve Fleet dry of its original manpower, weakening the Federation in preparation for the next phase of the Reclamation.
The quality of equipment assigned to new recruits has also been noted to decrease in recent weeks, with the same weapons being observably less lethal in combat. This can be attributed to the strain the ongoing conflict is putting on the Federation's logistics, as its industry struggles to keep up with the demands of the war. For now, the Ministry of Truth is working hard to suppress any discontent regarding the lowering firepower of the SEAF, but the effects are already being noticed on the field.
We cannot assume that this issue will remain forever, though. While the Federation has shown plenty of evidence of being corrupt and ill-managed, betting that your enemy will keep making a mistake and isn't working to correct it would be foolish in the extreme. With Elya returned to us, our intelligence-gathering abilities have greatly diminished, but we must assume that the Ministry of Defense is already working to correct these flaws in the Helldivers' armament production.
With the fall of Malevelon Creek, the SEAF are on their way to reclaiming the Severin and Xzar Sectors. We must draw them into the Quintus and Trigon Sectors next. Once I'm fit for duty, I will need to show myself in the Quintus Sector. As for Trigon …"
Logged to the Automaton Legion's archives by Nephilim Commander Tanya on June 5th, 2184.
***
June 7th, 2184 – Vandalon IV
"Wh … why …"
The Helldiver breathed out his last word, failing to ask his final question just as he had failed to accomplish his final mission. Elia pulled her bladed forearm out of his chest, then pushed the corpse aside to get access to the terminal with her other hand while the first reverted into its usual shape. Twisting one of her fingers into a cable, she slotted it into the console, overriding the security protocols while manually reconfiguring the target coordinates of the missile silo she and the Helldiver she'd just killed had just reactivated after spending half an hour trekking across the freezing wastes of Vandalon IV, dodging patrols of Elia's brethren.
Instead of an Automaton megafactory whose output was pressuring the lines of the Federation infantry, the ICBM would instead strike a nearby SEAF base. Whether the base's defenses would manage to shoot down the missile or not was up in the air, but no matter what, Elia's primary goal of sowing more distrust among the enemy would be accomplished.
Under the cover of the jammers that were spread across the Automaton-controlled section of the planet, she'd killed and replaced one of the Helldivers deployed to reactivate the ICBM, using her advanced technology to replicate the soldier's broadcasts and link up to his Super Destroyer in orbit after the jammer had been disabled. She could hear the screams of the Democracy Officer as he realized what was happening, until she severed the connection with a thought, not interested in listening to more of Super Earth's insults toward her, her people and their creators.
She needed to move out of the area quickly, before the enforcer of Super Earth's tyranny gave the order to bombard the entire area. Being forced to upload her consciousness to a new body would be a setback she couldn't afford at the moment, even if it was nice to have the option after so many years cut off from the Automaton Network. She'd already made use of that functionality to move her consciousness from the Ghost of Cyberstan to the North-Eastern front of the Galactic War, transferring herself into a new body fresh from the assembly lines and with customized cold resistance, which was very much required on this freezing wasteland of a planet.
Elia's current assignment was clear : she was to slow down the Federation's advance in the Trigon Sector, buying time for the Nephilim Commander to recover from her injuries so that the next stage of the Reclamation could unfold as planned. Tanya had let the details of how to accomplish this up to her after giving her a list of suggestions, which had really impressed Elia. The infiltrator Automaton hadn't been aware that the Commander's training had included an education on espionage and sabotage.
The other ELIA models were deployed elsewhere on Vandalon IV. Newly built and with her training data loaded into them, her sisters were performing similar acts across the front, replacing Helldivers during missions as well as infiltrating SEAF units to sabotage them from within. They'd also had plenty of opportunities to test their combat capabilities : once they were discovered, the ELIA models were capable of inflicting a lot of damage before being brought down, using their shape-shifting abilities to cut the human soldiers around them to pieces.
The ELIA models were equipped with self-destruct mechanisms to keep their mimicry technology from falling into the hands of Super Earth, but tales of the shape-shifting, silvery monsters were spreading through the ranks, despite the Democracy Officers' best efforts. Already, instances of friendly fire among the SEAF and Helldivers (which had never been low) had increased sharply as paranoia took root, and the slightest mistake or misunderstanding was seen as evidence of an Automaton impostor.
The Federation's advance across Vandalon IV had dramatically slowed down as a result, which pleased Elia. She knew that this was their chance to prove that the infiltrators were a worthy investment of resources – of which each model took a lot compared to the standard combat model. Taking into account the creation of specialized factories with the advanced equipment required, each ELIA model came out to (grossly approximated) the cost of about a thousand standard combat models. And that wasn't taking into account the strategic dominos of those thousand combat models not being present on the battlefield, too, or the maintenance costs of running regularly updated backups for every ELIA model, as their level of autonomy and self-awareness demanded.
The ELIA's use for long-term infiltration and espionage had been proven beyond doubt by the PSN gambit, but whether they warranted broader deployment on the battlefield had yet to be decided. The Legion's resources were stretched tight fighting the Federation, and the calculus of the Automaton Command Network would make its decision based solely on cold, hard data.
And Elia intended to give the Network plenty of data to base its decision on.
***
June 10th, 2184 – Ubanea
Ubanea could hardly have been more different from Malevelon Creek. Instead of jungles blocking the field of view to a few dozens meters at best, all under a perpetual twilight, the world was a covered in vast open plains tinted red by the algae that stretched across the entire planet, broken up only by the occasional rocky outcrop.
If not for the Automatons occupying it, General Eric Lergen believed he could have come to love this place, just because of how unlike the Creek it was. As it was, however, this was merely another battlefield for the SEAF and the Legion to fight over, and the planet's peculiar scenery only mattered insofar as it affected battle conditions.
Lergen's forces had liberated the desert world of Durgen with the Helldivers three days ago, and High Command had immediately pushed on to Ubanea. Once the system was free of the communist menace, they would press on to Tibit, the last stronghold of the Automatons in the Severin Sector now that Maia had also been freed from their mechanical grasp.
Lergen's promotion meant that he was now responsible for the deployments of hundreds of thousands of SEAF soldiers across Ubanea, directed by their own Colonels. This was far more than what he'd been trained to manage, but his superiors clearly believed that the experience he'd gained organizing the resistance of the Final Fortress would serve him well, and he was determined not to disappoint them.
Certainly, his leadership had been sufficient to achieve victory on Durgen, but Lergen himself doubted whether that had anything to do with him. The Helldivers had been at the tip of the spear ever since coming to their aid on Malevelon Creek, hunting down the Automatons with relentless wrath. The veterans of the First Galactic War were even more elite than the modern Helldivers, and they'd paved the way for the SEAF's advance on Durgen before starting to do the same on Ubanea.
There had been no sign of the Devil since her escape from her duel with Chief Sue, for which the General was grateful. Still, he kept a wary eye on the screens of the command center, just in case. He knew that, if the Devil showed up, she would do it in a blatant fashion –
There was heat, and light, and a sound so loud it was more a physical blow than a noise – and then, nothing.
When his consciousness returned, Eric couldn't hear anything but a constant buzzing – his eardrums were busted. He opened his eyes, only to find that he could only see out of the left one.
His uniform was in tatters. For some reason, that was the first thing he noticed, even before the fact that his remaining flesh arm was gone, ripped away in the explosion, the gory mess of his shoulder seared shut by the heat. His sleeves and leggings were torn apart, revealing the blackened metal limbs underneath as he crawled through the ruins of the command center. As he did so, he noticed the charred corpses strewn all around him : none of the other officers had survived the blast. If not for how many mechanical replacement organs he possessed, Eric was fairly certain he would have shared their fate.
As it was, it was probably only a question of time before he joined them regardless. Shock was keeping the pain at bay for now, but it would hit any second now, and then he would be unable to move until his organs finally shut down.
Somehow, the Automatons had struck at his command center, despite it being situated within the recommended distance from the front lines. Considering the scale of the devastation, they must have used heavy artillery, or perhaps one of the ships battling the Federation fleet in orbit had slipped through the net and unleashed its deadly payload – although if that were the case, Lergen would have expected a warning from the fleet …
His clawing mechanical hand bumped into something. Eric looked up, and straight into the crimson glowing eyes of an Automaton. He tried to reach for his sidearm, but the holster at his belt was empty : the weapon must have slipped out at some point without him noticing.
How shameful. He was going to die, killed by the enemies of Super Earth while laying on the ground, powerless, unable to show even the least modicum of defiance. He tried to call for help, just in case someone else had survived after all, but only a miserable croak left his throat, and the pain was enough to make him black out.
This time, he knew, he would never wake up. His part in the Second Galactic War was over.
He was … relieved.
***
"ANALYSIS : NUMEROUS CYBERNETIC IMPLANTS DETECTED IN SUBJECT.
CONCLUSION : MEMBER OF THE CYBORG PROGENITORS IDENTIFIED.
PARSING VOCAL TRANSMISSION.
RESULT : REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE.
INITIATE RESCUE PROTOCOLS."
Extract from the Automaton Command Network's logs, June 10th, 2184.