A Fiery Descent

[APAS-219]

A small ball of fire appeared in the night sky as a large cargo ship tore through Fyia’s atmosphere. Small molten chunks of metal ripped off the ship in all different directions raining down into the forest causing small fires. The ship plummeted to the ground, roaring as it neared the surface then with a horrific boom, it smashed into the ground with a horrific uprooting and demolishing a large section of trees and creating a long crater that led from the ships point of impact to its final resting point six-hundred meters away. The ship came to rest in the middle of a large forest on the outskirts of a large city, surrounded by burning trees and smoldering soil. Nothing moved. It was as if death its self had passed through. The once technological marvel now lay in smoldering ruin.

Hours passed, followed by a full day. Slowly the sun began to rise on the second day after the horrific crash, still nothing moved. The fires had died out leaving chard soil and smoldering ashes that were once magnificent creations of mother earth.

BEEP…CCKKK…..BEEP BEEP

APAS unit number 219…..active….damage minimal…..
…..95% functional
…Right hand destroyed
…..Ammo 0%
…Energy 100%

Echoed the female voice of the APAS’ hub as dull red light flickered on in the belly of the cargo ship. The light slow brightened, then a large robotic figure pushed its self out of the piles of its destroyed clones. It slowly stood to its full height and shook its self off as it looked around at the carnage all around searching for any signs of other working units.

[glow=red,2,300]WRRRRRRRRR[/glow]

It quickly returned it gaze in the direction of the sound as a large beam light exploded out from the bottom the pile. The APAS barely had time to react but it was able to move just enough to watch as a giant laser zipped passed it and blew through the wall behind it completely destroying the side of the ship.

The APAS didn’t even have to think about what to do, it was already programmed to get out of the line of fire and defend itself. 219 dove out of the hole as a burst of smaller lasers followed shortly behind. The APAS ran to the nearest pile of rubble and pulled its beam rifle off it left leg then slowly peaked around the side of its cover. There were more bangs and crashes then metal grinding on metal as a second APAS unit crawled out of the ruins. Its legs had been badly damaged and only one arm worked. However lucky for it, its working arm was also its weapon arm and the large laser cannon on its back was still in perfect condition.

[glow=blue,2,300]“315, are you ok? Why are you fire on an ally? That is in violation of our programming!”[/glow]

219 yelled at its comrade in a metallic voice. The second APAS did not seem to hear 219 as it charged its cannon for a second shot, however 219 had its legs and jumped high into the air using it boosters to lift itself over the laser. The boosters quickly cut off 219 crashed down onto the other APAS’ back crushing the cannon.

[glow=Blue,2,300]“315, you are violating our programming by firring upon a friendly unit without warning. I am now going to return fire.…”[/glow]

219 said in a low voice as it fired a single laser into the central power system in 315’s back. Sparks and fire shot out of the four inch wide hole caused by 219’s laser blowing up 315 main generators. The APAS jumped off of its comrades back and stared the ruined unit. 219 turned and returned to the ship to look for any other units that could have survived the crash.

[Mythral]

Mythral West trudged through the forest. She had a small backpack slung over one shoulder and held a pair of binoculars in one hand. Her blue to green hair fell onto her face, obscuring her vision, yet she did not reach up to move them away.

About two nights ago, while stargazing in her attic, Mythral had witnessed what appeared to be a meteor shower crashing into the Surla Forest. She had noted that the smaller meteorites were all coming off of a larger piece. That was two nights ago.

Yesterday, she had not been able to get out of her home easily, as her foster mother had required her to do some of her appointed chores. As a result, today, she was rewarded with a full day of freedom, in other words, no lessons, no chores and certainly no family outings, all of which Mythral hated.

At the moment, Mythral was on her way to the place where the supposed meteorite had fallen. Being the quiet yet adventurous girl she was, she was definitely interested in the crash.

After walking for a few hours in silence, she came to the edge of an extremely wide long crater. Blinking, she pulled out a small digital pedometer and set the distance to zero, then she followed the crater along the edge, going around several uprooted trees.

As she was walking, she noticed that there were pieces of molten metal at random points in the crater, as well as outside it. Once or twice she nearly burned herself by touching one.

That was when she came to the end, where the supposed meteor had crashed. It was now clear that the object that had fallen was definitely not a natural piece of space debris. It looked more like a metal ship than anything, which would easily explain the pieces of metal she had seen. Now, Mythral had seen a lot of things in her short life, she knew of the darker side and was prepared for almost anything. However, she was not prepared for the sight she came upon when she stopped at the metal object.

She could just see some sort of robot moving around inside the alleged ship.

"Oh my..."

[APAS-219]

APAS walked around the inside of the ship pulling its destroied companions out of the ship. It had been two days sence the crash and the APAS had given up on tryng to find a working unit. As knelt down to pick up one of the other APAS units its radar picked up something behind it. APAS spun around and locked on with its weapon at the ready while its internal computer scaned the life form.

Target Analysis:
Human female
Armamnet.....none...
Threat.....0%

APAS placed its weapon back on its side and continued with its task. It was going to take all day to do this by itself especally with only one hand and the human did not seem strong enough to help. APAS picked up one of the units, and walked them out of the ship.

As it droped the two broken units APAS looked up to the top of the crator were the female was staring in awe.

[glow=blue,2,300]"You wouldn't know how to fix a damaged APAS system would you? My hand is destroyed and doin this work one handed is quite a task."[/glow]

APAS asked the human. He did not think anyone on this alien planet could repair an APAS let alone even encountered one, however the APAS belived it was worth a try. The APAS jumped out of the massive crator and held out its damaged limb for the human to inspect. It was then that the APAS noticed how small this human was compaired to it.

[glow=blue,2,300]"You look a lot smaller up here then you did from down there.... Sorry, i have forgotten to introduce myself. I am APAS unit number 219, or APAS-219 for short. I seem to have crashed into your planet. If you cant help with my hand, i would request you help me move my fallen comrades out of this ship. It will make a good shelter once it is cleared out."[/glow]

[Mythral]

Mythral continued to stare, even when the humanoid robot had addressed her. Blinking, she took in what the robot who introduced himself as APAS-219 had just said. ...crashed into your planet... Was that what the meteor really was? Possibly a ship containing this APAS unit and several others?

She suddenly realized the robot was holding out one of its arms, presumably damaged, for her to take a look at. She cautiausly took a step forward, while the robot introduced itself and asked for her help to move its...fallen comrades out of the ship.

In her head, Mythral was weighing the odds of fleeing and staying here to help. She noted that APAS-219 was much larger than her, not to mention armed whilst she was not, for she had left her daggers at home. She had no idea what helping the robot would result in, but one thing seemed quite clear: running may result in an injury.

"I...oh heck, why not? It's not like I have anything else to do, being free for the rest of the day."

Without waiting for a reply, she quickly bowed down, more out of habit than common courtesy because of her formal family.

"I'm Mythral West of Zaloria City. Pleased to meet you...er...APAS-219..."

[APAS-219]

((sorry I was gone...family problems...))

219 watched the young girl bow as she introduced herself. He was quite curious, he had never had a human bow to him. The only time he ever saw anyone on his planet bow, was in the presents of the king. Howver even then most men just gave a salute. 219 didn't really know what to do. The APAS scratched his head, an act he had seen many human males do when in a awkward situation.

[glow=blue,2,300]"UH...yeah. So you with help me then? That sounds most wonderful. The crater is a bit steep be carful, I do not know how to repair a damaged human."[/glow]

219 hopped down into the creater, its hydrolics hissing as it stood and began to walk to the ship.

[glow=blue,2,300]"Sorry about the mess, and the damage. This vessal was not piloted, the generals simplay launched us into space. We were found to be obsolete. They replaces us with a new unit they called the AT, it was immune to the EMP weapons that the APAS units are so vonurable to. Anyway, they needed room for the new units so they got rid of us."[/glow]

The APAS cuts its story short, noticing that it had started to ramble, a bad trate he has seen in many of the humans. APAS again scratched its head.

APAS glanced back at the girl to see if she had followed then began to drag the units out of the wreckage.

[Mythral]

((It's okay, Happy new year, BTW))

Mythral followed the APAS down into the crater, listening to the humanoid robot's explanation for the crashed ship. She watched as it dragged a few things out of the ship before going over herself to help the robot.

The metal had considerably cooled down from the crash, had it not, Mythral would probably have gotten a few burns over her arms. She found that most of the things she pulled out of the ship were metal pieces of random shapes and sizes.

The task proved quite ardous, and Mythral was having a particularly hard time with one of the other robots, so she looked over at APAS-219, who was dealing with another area. She noted that he easily pulled out the metallic bodies of his fellow robots and didn't seem to be using up a lot of his energy.

Set with new determination at this, Mythral curled her hands around two handle like structures on the robot, and pulled as hard as she could. The robot came away easily, but she stumbled and fell backwards.

Dusting herself as she stood, she looked a bit closer at the robot she had pulled out, adjusting her glasses a little. She stared at the metal used on the armor, it did not havea shine, but was not particularly dull either. Closing her eyes, Mythral suddenly found herself wondering what it was like to be a robot of such...superioriety.

[Sulvrin]

Sulvrin was cruising through the peaceful night air in his fighter, after having nothing to do previously that day. As he was flying, he noticed a bright fireball in the sky, a little distance in front of him. Sulvrin slowed his fighter down and watched the fireball crash into the forest. Wanting to know what had crashed, Sulvrin slowly approached the wreckage. Still far enough to be out of sight, he stopped his fighter and had it hover right above the tops of the trees. He then opened the cockpit and climbed onto the top of his fighter, taking his sniper rifle with him. Sulvrin used the scope from his rifle to zoom in to see what was happening at the crash site.

While observing the wreckage, Sulvrin could notice that it was a space ship that had crashed. He was able to see through the hole in its side to make out what appeared to be many damaged robots. Though most were inactive, there was still one moving around, along with a girl who seemed to be working with it.

After noticing the robots, Sulvrin started coming up with some ideas. If I'm able to take a few of those robots, I may be able to get one working... Fyia hasn't had many advances in robot technology lately. If I can get one of those working, I could possibly make more copies of it. I could have my own robot army! Sulvrin cleverly thought. With the resources that he had available, if Sulvrin got a robot working and was able to make copies, it wouldn't be long before he could start mass-producing them.

Before he could achieve any of his plans though, Sulvrin would first have to take a few of the broken robots, preferably without anyone knowing. Since the one working robot and the girl were still at the crash site, he would have to wait.

[APAS-219]

It had been a good hour and a half and the APAS was finnally pulling the last of the units out of the wreckage. As it looked around it noticed that the sun was beging to go down, birds fly over head from tree to tree finding a good place to stay the night. Smaller creatures scurried around on the ground, looking for last bits of food before they headed dug in for the night. However, something wasn't right. Something had been apearing on its radar all day, at first it thought it was Mythral but as he moved away from her she pinged on the radar as well. APAS looked around cautiously, maybe one of the units were still active and it just hadn't noticed. No, it couldn't be, it would have appeared sooner if it had been one of the units. Something eles then? But what?

APAS turned towards Mythral and examined the wreckage around her. APAS was right, the ship was going to make a great shelter. Not that it really needed shelter, being a robot APAS did not need sleep. APAS looked at its broken hand suddenly remembering the damage it had taken and decided to use the night to repair.

[glow=blue,2,300]"You can stay here, if you would like. If you have some place to be however, it would be a good time to go. You wouldnt want your parent units to get angry....that is if you have them."[/glow]

APAS said to her throwing in the last little bit as it relized the possiblity of her not having parents. APAS walked into the ship and stood in the center of the hull. The mysterious ping was now off behind it and Mythral's was directly in front of it. The APAS turned slowly and moved only its red eye upward, if there was something up there APAS didn't want to provoke an attack or let it know that APAS had spotted it. As it scanned the sky slowly it noticed a small fighter hovering high overhead. Inside its head its computer scanned the object.

Target Analysis:
Human Male
Armamnet.....Long Range Rifle...
Threat.....moderate
Target taking aim

APAS looked at Mythral again, as it slid its hand to its weapon holstered on its side.

[glow=blue,2,300]"This would be a very good time to leave..."[/glow]

[Mythral]

For quite some time, Mythral had noticed APAS walking around. She thought he was simply looking around, but when he stated that she should perhaps leave and his hand slid to his weapon, she just felt something was wrong. She walked slowly to APAS, then took a quick glance at the sky before setting her sight back to ground level.

She had barely seen it, just a small speck in the overhead area, but nevertheless, it was there. Something told her it was going to get a bit dangerous staying there...on the other hand, if the said object was dangerous, then it would be even harder for her to get out of the ship and run back to Zaloria without the object spying her, and perhaps even attacking her.

Her hands went to her waist, where here daggers were usually placed, but they were at home. Silently cursing, she took a few steps backwards and voiced her thoughts out loud to APAS.

"...besides," she ended, "It's not like I have a family that cares."

[APAS-219]

((I have been waiting for Sulvrin to reply...I dont think he is going to though... If he hasnt by monday I will. I have drill this weekend so I will be gone.))