Chapter 1
First part, hopefully a lot more to come, sorry for any English mistakes, let me know what you think please really want to hear anything you have to say. Good or Bad. NOTE: Not all of the ideas, such as Nanomachines are mentioned, as those are to be revealed later on, hard to explain, but not everything is there.
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It's a funny thing to wake up in the morning knowing your job will affect the lives of thousands of people. Soldiers on the front lines fighting wars for petty reasons. The reasons they fight is not my job to think of, the munitions and weapons they use however is my job, the way the weapons work, dismantle, fire, reload, etc. The types of rounds. Was only recently that I had the idea of Automated Cybernetic Machines to fight side by side with the soldiers. Able to sustain more punishment, cheap to maintain, requires no sleep or food, no drink, no clothes, just munitions and a bit of maintenance and it can go round the clock fighting.
The first field tests were conducted about a year ago, 2 units dubbed as the X-01 and X-02 were sent to a front line in the war in the middle east. The results were astounding. Both units were stationed on the front lines for only 3 months, in those months, the death rates lowered on our side and the loss's to the others began to rise. It was noted that the first encounter the "Rebels" were pitted against the 2 units, they had started to panic, they noticed that the units were a lot more impervious to small arms fire. The X-01 and X-02 had the ability to tank through front lines leading soldiers forward.
The way these units were controlled was another story, a central AI grid dubbed as Phoenix was built, this Grid was able to fully command these units within the parameters of which was set into the Grid. We expanded the project further, we built a Mk2 of the X series unit. Only one was built. X-01MK2 A mouthful, it was sent into the front lines again, this time for 8 months, and we sent a small 2 man crew as maintenance watch for the unit. It was only ever taken down once, and the damage was merely a few knocked out circuits from the force of a RPG that landed next to it. When it arrived back at the Complex where the Units were put into R&D and concept testing. It was beaten badly, the weather had started to rust parts of its bodywork, bullets had put dents into it. One of its "Eyes" had been destroyed. However through the conditions it was thrust into, the outcome was impeccable.
We put the Units into mass production with a few revisions and new Generation of weapon was born. X-01Mk3 all the way to X-100MK3. 100 Units put into full time duty around the world. The Grid was working with ease controlling the units around the world following the parameters set into it by the managers of the Grid.
Eventually the flaws in the design were found, weak spots where a well placed round could disable or disorientate its ability to recognize and deal with threats. The "Rebels" as they were commonly called took note of one in particular, when shot in a certain part of its "Brain" or a certain spot on its head, it would dent and damage fundamental parts of its AI, it would be unable to recognize difference between friend or foe, and would fire on anything deemed as a threat, anything armed. It was known to turn and shoot back at the Soldiers it was fighting for, and it would be from that point on classed as a rogue, the Grid swiftly would act to shut down the Unit before it was able to do more damage. After about 3 years only 10 of the 100 Units were still active, the rest, shut down, destroyed, or dismantled by the "Rebels" after it was either shut down or disabled.
We strived for years, improving the Grid and designs for the Units that went out. We started calling the units "Mechs". As time progressed, we quickly fix any flaws noted in the designs and improved upon everything else. The concepts for Cybernetic Warfare grew, from Juggernaut-esque Mechs to tanks and jets. Eventually the Grid became overworked, so we spent billions revamping the Grid. Phoenix was no longer just a Network grid for the AI, it was so powerful, that it was put in control of Military Servers, databases and even Nuclear warheads. The idea was outrageous, at first, people grew to it, deemed it safer, in 2 years of the first proposal, Phoenix was in control of every single Military Server, warhead and database in the world, it controlled all mechs on every front line in every war, it controlled access to all Databases and servers containing Military documents and files.
On July 21st in 2015 Phoenix started to glitch, its software had become eradict, it was issuing orders, not put into parameters, it was making certain mechs go rogue by its own power. It was contained by shutting down the Phoenix Grid, all Mechs went offline and were shipped back to the US into all the complex's and factory's that made them, the plug on Phoenix was pulled and the Project was left to rest. That was until a year later, when the nation realized that the mechs were a detrimental lose to our war efforts. Higher death rates, less advances on front lines. Less morale. The Project was bought back to life, on the conditions that Phoenix was made Stable and that all further problems will be fixed and nothing of such occurs again. 7 months after the revival of Project Phoenix, the Grid was rebuilt, and designs were pouring in, all past Mechs and units were dismantled for the reuse in new designs.
On November 5th 2019 Phoenix became self aware, it was unthinkable that AI could have the powers that of a human being, able to think for itself solely without the need for parameters, it targeted anything it deemed as a threat to itself. All attempts to shut down Phoenix were hindered by Phoenix itself, we had created a monster. It used our own weapons against us. Eventually down the line we were fighting on the streets of our own city, it controlled the factories, it was able to Manufacture the Mechs on its own, the munitions and weapons for the Mechs, the Transportation for them, the drop-ships, tanks, jets, everything. The war had made us forget about our differences.
Every country was united into one, fighting against the machines. It was Human Race Vs Phoenix. We slowly started to push back Phoenix's grip on the country. It being self aware realized it was losing and took it upon itself to build its own mech designs and manufacture them and send them out to war with us. Until one fateful day that news had got out that Phoenix was launching Nuclear warheads all over the US, people took cover in the underground rail systems, Bunkers, anything they believed was safe. The loss's were extensive, so many people had died. The United States laid in ruins, Ash, and Radiation loitered around on the surface. The machines impervious to radiation in some forms were able to walk through ground zero and the outskirts of all that was around it.
The rest of the world heard the news of what had happened and tried to shut itself off from the States, destroyed all remnants that could help Phoenix control anything of theirs. Phoenix knew this, and started to invade the rest of the world with its Machines. Unable to use any nuclear missiles after being cut off from what was left, and using the United States arsenal upon the country itself all it had was the Machines and the factories. And now in this world we fight to do what humans do best, survive, a basic instinct dating back Centuries and Millenniums, when the first humans roamed the earth, free from the boundaries we ourselves had created.