First Contact in Transhuman Siberia [CLOSED, Makinaverse]

[Nayba Collective]

First Contact in Transhuman Siberia

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Loominarty-controlled Kamchatka, Day 1

“Tell me what I’m looking at here, Doctor,” said Mr. Donovan. The accent of the 40-year old man’s Russian betrayed his origins on the west coast of what had once been known as the United States of America. He adjusted his suit slightly in the cold of the autopsy room.

“I believe what we may be looking at here is a new kind of Chimera infiltrator,” said Dr. Petrovich from behind his surgical mask, looking Donovan in the eyes.

On the brightly-lit table between them was what looked to be a nearly-human corpse - at least from the exterior. Its pale golden eyes didn’t match any natural human eye color. The inside was a different story. Dr. Petrovich had opened up the corpse, revealing a number of unusual-looking organs; a thin, violet-tinted layer of insulating flesh; dark purple blood; and a small number of cybernetic components.

“Well, they had to get smart some time,” said Donovan. “I suppose we should be surprised it took them this long. It looks remarkably human.”

“It very strongly resembles the Sakha people of Yakutia from before the invasion of Siberia,” said Petrovich. “We ran a DNA analysis. About twenty-five percent of it is Chimeran. Three percent matched samples taken from captured BETA. Another fifteen percent we can’t determine. The rest is human, though the genome is larger than ours.”

“The people of eastern Siberia. It’s not a bad cover story, but there’s no way anyone could have survived that,” replied Donovan, stroking his chin. “Does this match the reports from operatives in the Technate?”

Dr. Petrovich paused for a moment. “Normally, I wouldn’t have access to that information, but I’ve been given the chance to look over the footage and I would say that it does, though we’re obviously missing some things. There would have to be other variants or equipment to match everything from the videos.”

Donovan looked at the corpse again and tapped on the table lightly, with a concerned look. “Please wrap the body up and prepare it to be moved out tomorrow. We need to send this thing for more analysis, or we could have a serious problem on our hands.”

“Of course,” said Petrovich.

---

Meanwhile, in the United Reich...

[Makinaverse United Reich]

Berlin, United Reich, Day 1

"My Führer, what are you planning?" Asked Jodl, his bald head shining as the light of the nearby lamp bounced off it. As the Führer's chief plan advisor it was his job speak with the Führer during his planning sessions, and to object to certain details of the plans.

"I'm planning to send an expedition into Siberia to mine for valuable resources, our satellites show that there are large quantities of coal, oil, iron and other valuable materials buried beneath the surface." Replied the Führer, already preparing for the inevitable objection.

"Steiner and the map my Führer?"

"Steiner will lead the Siberian Expedition and this map will remain here."

"I hear there is a distinct lack of fish in Siberia, and that it is very cold.." Interjected Krebs, providing his fishy opinion of Hitler's plan.

"Fine! I will make sure the Expedition brings warm clothes." Responded Hitler, waving his hand over the map.

"My Führer, I object to this expedition." Objected Jodl, striking the table with his hand.

"Damn it Jodl, how can you object to this plan?"

"Siberia is swarming with aliens!"

"We can shoot the aliens! If you continue to object, I'll send you to Siberia to do it yourself!"

[Nayba Collective]

Tumat Colony, Northern Siberia, Day 2

It had been about twenty-five years ago when the Nayba Colony invented the Sleight conversion serum under the guidance of the Seer. It had been about fifteen years since cybernetic virtual reality implants had become ubiquitous. Before then had been a very different time, but there were still a few survivors from the old days before the Collective’s powered armor troops had brought some pacification to the Siberian wastes and turned the lot of them into these increasingly-strange alien hybrids.

Overseer Ayhal was from those old days. He took the serum in 2038, and got the implants in 2040. His face looked weathered, but he could not tell if he was getting older, or younger. Some days his joints became stiff and creaky, and he had miscellaneous pains he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Other days, it was as if the healing factor the Church of the New Future had stolen from the aliens was in overdrive, and he felt as young and vibrant as he had at age twenty. Today was one of the former.

He lived in a world rich with virtual reality, now. Invisible screens floated before him, beckoning for his attention, and he dismissed them with a thought. All except for one. He watched as the image came into focus. In the nursery, a four-armed woman cared for the small children born from the colony’s biopods. Tumat was a relatively new colony, and so the children were only a few years old. Ayhal had been there as the bizarre, weasel-like bioconstructs had burrowed out the initial tunnels in the muddy soil.

He felt a presence from the Church enter his cyber-lobby, and a woman clad in the deep red and silver-trimmed robes of the New Future appeared. Intuitively, he felt that this was a projection, in the same way as one might recognize the surreality of a dream. She stood barefoot on the aerocrete floor.

“Ah, Sister Nariyanaa,” he said, “what brings you here today?”

“Overseer Ayhal, we record that you did not send the requested military units west with the last caravan, as we had intended.”

Ayhal frowned. He had only partially prepared for this, mentally. “I cannot send them out. There may be an attack from the north, and this colony’s safety is my responsibility now. It would be irresponsible of me to do so.”

“There has not been an attack from the north for nearly a decade now, and those units are needed on the western front. We can maintain the situation for now, but the BETA are going through another one of their periodic pushes to escape again, and without reinforcement, our forces will fail. If you don’t send those units, your colony will be excluded from the BETA harvest when they are repulsed again.”

“I know,” said Ayhal, “it’s just… seeing their faces…”

Sister Nariyanaa began to speak. “That shipment needs to go on the next caravan. It will arrive in a week or two. If you need counselling for your past trauma, Overseer, the Church offers-”

“I will send the shipment,” Ayhal interjected, “on the next caravan.”

“May Fortune be with you, Overseer Ayhal,” said the woman, before fading into a puff of virtual smoke.

The Overseer relaxed and took a deep breath. He would have to send the Blitz and other units when the caravan arrived, but for now… for now he could at least scout the area for an attack, just in case. That would easily take less than a week.

[Makinaverse United Reich]

Rostock, Northern United Reich, Day 8

Fifteen years ago the northern city had been converted into a fortress-port, for it's position on the northern border of the Reich and its proximity to the valuable Baltic Sea made it a place of deep strategic importance to the Reich. When the Reich realised that the lightly defended city was an easy target for any potential invader and that its loss would be disastrous, they set about redesigning the city's defences and placed a permanent garrison within the vast concrete walls that had been placed around the outer limits of Rostock. It was from here that the Siberian Expedition was to begin their journey, traveling by U-boat through the Baltic past Denmark and Norway, before turning into the North Sea and heading east towards Siberia.

The Siberian Expedition consisted of 150 people, Geologists, Engineers, Miners and Soldiers working together for the good of the Reich. The Führer's Eye, a Skorpion-class Kriegsmarine U-boat had been given to the expedition on the orders of the Führer himself, and it was this mighty vessel that would transport the expedition through the hazardous Arctic Ocean to the frozen wastes of Siberia. The captain of this vessel, Kommodore Mattias Laberenz, had been promoted to expedition leader after Steiner had fallen ill. He was reputedly the most merciless Kommodore in the Kreigsmarine, a man who took no prisoners and was hard on the men under his command. The truth of these rumours was immediately made clear to the civilian members of the expedition, for when they arrived at the Führer's Eye they found the Kommodore threatening to keelhaul a young sailor.

He turned to the shocked bystanders, letting the young man scurry back into the depths of the U-boat. "Ah, I see you've finally arrived. Welcome on board the Führer's Eye, one of the greatest ships in the Kreigsmarine under the command of the greatest Kommodore in the Reich. Now, I am well aware of your civilian backgrounds, but I insist that everyone does their part for our voyage to Siberia. Anyone found slacking will be punished just as harshly as any other member of my crew, without exception, understand? We leave within the hour."

[Nayba Collective]

Sector 47 of the Universal Union, Arctic Circle, Day 9

The invasion of Earth, this Earth in particular, had been one of the notable blunders in the Combine’s history. To start with, the planet had already been invaded twice before the first Overwatch soldier even set foot on the ground. First, by the rapidly-spreading Chimera with their conversion viruses, who fought using infantry tactics. Second, by the BETA, who required full-on fifteen or twenty-meter tall mechs to defeat. Humanity had already developed countermeasures to multiversal invasion by local year 2015, when the Combine sent in their attacking fleet.

Then, almost immediately after that, their forces had been chased by the Synkom, one of the Combine’s multiversal enemies, as if PLAYER himself had been watching over the Advisors’ shoulders. The portal storms brought even more problems. Whatever got loose in Siberia had turned the few remaining natives from scared rats into hybridizing survivalists that were now capturing and eating expensive synths when they weren’t reverse-engineering them.

They had to be monitored. Unfortunately, their habit of treating reconnaissance synths as game animals meant that just sending a few flying creatures wasn’t enough. A small expeditionary force was created in the hopes that it would last long enough to gain significant intelligence and determine if the Nayba were plotting an invasion to clear out Sector 47 permanently. It was known, based on several captured individuals, that they already had plans for all of Siberia as some sort of “promised land.”

The Transhuman Overwatch soldiers stood on the tarmac as the Combine dropship warmed itself up in the cold Arctic air. Light snow was coming down, but not enough to compromise the mission. Then, one by one, they stepped into the insulated metal pod beneath the dropship. Elsewhere, several more dropships were warming their engines to prepare for flight.

[Makinaverse United Reich]

The Führer's Eye, 27 kilometres from the Siberian Coast, the Arctic Ocean, Day 15

The voyage had been uneventful, with the U-boat and her crew avoiding any other vessels they came across. They had made good time, with the nuclear powered advanced propulsion system allowing it to make the journey in a matter of days. Now they were approaching Universal Union Sector 47, and tensions were high, with even the hardened Kommodore fearing that they would be attacked by some kind of monstrous aquatic synth abomination. Combine technology was something of a mystery, and even the Kriegsmarine did not know what aquatic assets they possessed.

In any case, the Expedition was in full swing and it was far too late to turn back. The Führer's Eye turned towards the Siberian coast and accelerated, only to surface several kilometres from the icy shore and approach it at a slower pace. The U-boat came to a halt just before the ocean became to shallow for it to continue. A small flotilla of inflatable boats carrying equipment and expedition members landed on the beach, whilst a small contingent of sailors remained on the U-boat.

The Expedition and their equipment set off towards the nearest reserve of natural gas, priming the drilling equipment and double checking their instruments whilst the soldiers set up a scouting vanguard to spot any nearby aliens that might see the expedition as potential prey and eliminate them. The expedition had also brought two Panzerhunds, mechanical war machines with a titanium carapace, razor sharp fangs and a vicious disposition, to deal with any threat that managed to get past the perimeter.

[Nayba Collective]

Vanguard Party, Reich Expedition, Coast of Siberia (North of Tumat Colony)

Before them was a vast expanse of nothing, ice, nothing, snow, and nothing. Somewhere in that nothing might be swarms of terrifying aliens coming to murder them. A thin precipitation obscured the distance, but the immediate vicinity was pretty clearly visible.

“Do you really think we’ll get to see aliens?” said one soldier over the radio. “This looks like just a whole bunch of nothing, stacked on top of ice, stacked on top of more nothing.”

“Shut up, Hans,” said another soldier. “For the last time, you don’t want to see aliens. Aliens are b-”

He was interrupted by a notification for the troopers’ radar. A flying object was approaching, though not on a direct intercept course. Soon it came into view. One of the soldiers shouted “Combine dropship!”

The Universal Union synth turned to notice them, and the gun on its mounted pod began to swivel. It began moving to land by what appeared to be the only rock in visual range.

Behind them was another ping. A small group of Chimera soldiers were approaching from the opposite side.

[Makinaverse United Reich]

Reich Expedition, Coast of Siberia (North of Tumat Colony)

"Hostile forces inbound! We've got a Combine dropship to the northeast and a bunch of Chimera to the west!" Crackled the Kommodore's radio. He grabbed his pistol out of it's holster, ready to defend himself against the approaching threat. "Why the hell did this have to happen to me?" He muttered under his breath, noticing the terrified faces of the civilian scientists. "Form a defensive perimeter! Let them come and face the fury of the Reich's soldiers!" He shouted into his radio. All they could do was wait.

Sorry for the short post, but I thought it was about time I actually wrote something here.

[Nayba Collective]

Reich Expedition, North of Tumat Colony

No sooner had the Kommodore raised his pistol then the Chimeran infantry began closing to engage. The Reich soldiers formed a circle around the scientists, who ducked towards the snowy ground at the first sound of gunfire. The Chimera raised their weapons and opened fire at range. The Kommodore did so as well.

Behind the Kommodore, however, there was a loud “boom” as the Combine dropship took a direct, explosive hit from the top. It dropped the Combine container behind the rocky outcropping and made some sort of quasi-digital wailing of pain, like an elephant being forcefully strained through a synthesizer, before taking another direct hit after about 3 seconds and crumpling to the ground.

***

Three hunters, two male, and one female, lined up to chase their quarry. Each was a Nayba Taur anthromek. The lower portion of the Taur resembled something like a slightly-alien cheetah or possibly greyhound, covered by a wolf-like fur coat that obscured the mix of cybernetic and organic components inside. The fur tapered off into a rather-human-looking upper torso which would seem slim, taut, and muscular, if it weren’t covered by an insulating layer under the skin. This configuration - a four-legged lower body combined with a humanoid upper body - was why it was known as the Taur, after the mythical “centaur.” A human face was accompanied on each side by an ear that was only slightly different from human.

Not all of this was equally visible, as Blink, Aysen, and Dorado, the three hunters, were all wearing a standard partial powered armor. The lower body was covered on the top and around the ribcage, with armor plates on the outside of the limbs as well, while the upper body had a more typical fully-enclosed suit. The exoframe part helped with power and hauling loads over the desolate, frozen landscape.

Behind them were 2 Sleights and 3 of the devil-like Visions, all in full powered armor, and a model #204 Arachne, Etsuko. Etsuko was the anomaly - at almost 30, she was the oldest in the group. The Taurs were the lead group.

At the sound of the first bang, the three began to sprint towards the Combine dropship. It was at this point that the beetle-like UAV showed the Reich soldiers within range of the Combine, but it was too late. The mission to salvage the Combine dropship was on. Taurs were capable of hitting speeds of almost 150kph, though now they were running at closer to 60kph, weaving somewhat as they did so. They lifted their guns and began to open fire on the Combine infantry pouring out of the dropship’s container, peppering them with lots of small explosive bullets.

The dropship had been felled by Tumat Colony’s ultra-long-range artillery, which was part of how Nayba managed to control their territory. The shells were self-guiding and rocket-propelled during the descent phase, but could be remotely commanded to hone in specific targets and either impact as one large explosive or burst into dozens of smaller explosive fragments.