Iron Dawn [Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel CU]

[Cereburn]

Update: Currently fighting through a writers block after realizing I screwed up and forgot a rather important plot point.
I've almost decided on re-writing most of the chapters of this - still mentally feeling about for any mcguffin I can use to fix the problem easily without a re-write.

I'm reassuring myself it shouldn't be a complete re-write but I've not passed the will-check to let me proceed yet.

In other news: Here's a short crack-omake based on where I left the story at.

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Standing the gate watch was a duty and Chayden would not be found lacking in it it, no matter how boring it was. Luckily most of the river side patrols went through his gate, so he relished the opportunities to chat with them on what they'd seen while out. Right now, the latest patrol coming back through the gate have given their update of no issues found other than some more washed out areas near the river. This lead to further talk and eventually gossip. All agreed Director Mannan's push to the east through the machine convoys was trouble and more than a few thought his new tie might be a little too tight.
Sabal, the guard on the river tower passed asked this patrol to tell him there were some snapmaws she'd seen going up the river. He appreciated the news, although he still had no idea how she could see enough of the river through the trees on the that side. The gossip soon drew to a close and the patrol passed through again, it was as he was closing the gates that something rather unusual happened.
"Ah-Hem" faux-coughed a voice at the end of the bridge. Chayden and his partner Saith looked and were surprised to see a man standing there observing them. Even while gossiping with the patrol, both men had been dilligently watching the approaches, where had this person come from? He was an older man with an oddly trimmed beard, odd lenses over his eyes and wearing a business suit like no other they'd ever seen. It was immaculate, clean and crisp with sharp lines, and seemed to radiate power. In his hand was a clipboard and around his neck was a lanyard holding a badge that they both recognized and immediately stood to attention.
Unlike the other tribes of this area, the Emmers ancestors had not only found shelter in the ruins they occupied, but also the great Learning Center. In this center, ancient magical technology still worked mostly and one of the lessons that all guards had to take was the Security Loss Prevention courses that covered many topics to secure the people and property of this facility. It also made sure all graduates knew the badge color codes. Most badges were mainly white with blue letters, but there were some special ones, like what security them selves got, the light blue background with yellow letters. This man however had the Navy and Gold, the auditors badge.
The man, seeing them standing to attention gave a small smile that might have been confused for a small smirk. "I see you recognize what I am, now I will tell you who I am and why I am here."
The two guards tried to stand even straighter, the patrol that had recently passed through the gate finally heard the conversation, turned and also saw the badge and stood to attention.

"I, am Auditor Tony. This branch of the IBM Logistics Division-" Saith gasped. Chayden knew Saith was related to Mannan, he wondered what he knew that had triggered that, but the Auditor kept speaking as if the interuption had never happened.
"has not reported to the Ottawa branch in several hundred years, I have been sent to find out why and to get things straightened up." He paused to look them in the eyes to let them know they were already in trouble somehow.
"I need one of you to either take me to your Director or to bring him here. I will expect you to follow your security procedures, I will be watching." The menace of his last statement was knee weakening but somehow Chayden remembered his training and, hesitantly stepped forward.
"Uh..." his through was suddenly dry, he coughed and continued, "Sir, could I please verify your ID."
Again, the fractional smirk, he was sure it was a smirk now appeared. The Auditor looked at Chayden's badge, brought forward the clipboard and while flipping it open with one hand, he held out his own badge for Chayden to more clearly see. "Here you go Security Officer Chayden, my badge."
Chayden visualy inspected the badge, the coloring was deep and perfect, it had no defects like the blotches their own printer left on the corner of his own light blue badge. the IBM logo and the title and name, all perfectly printed. He stepped back, and nodded. "Thank you Auditor Tony"
The Auditor dropped his badge back to his chest and then began making notes in his now open clipboard. "Your observational skills were lacking, I was not impressed that I got this close before you noticed me, but I am reassured that you at least can verify badges. I have made note of this Security Office Chayden."
"Uhm, thank you sir." Chayden flagged one of the patrollers to come up. "This is Security Officer Hinger, he will escort you where you need to go."
Hinger looked at Chayden quickly and the glare let Chayden knew he'd not made his coworker happy to take on this duty before Hinger managed his face and smiled politely to the Auditor. "This way please sir."
Tony looked at Hinger, again came the fractional smirk and said, "Lead the way Security Officer Hinger" as he made more notes on his clipboard. Looking nervously at the clipboard, knowing he was being evaluated and graded, he spun about, ordered his team to stow their gear and stand down from patrol then he started walking forward into the building.
The tapping and writing sounds behind him as they passed through the next gates and hallways inside were not encouraging, especially the occasional mumbles the Auditor made to himself.
Hinger's mind was remembering the stories of the Auditors from training, how they were sent to cull the unproductive and seal the breaches in security by any means necessary, including arbitrary termination.
As he passed through the halls and to the stairs going up to the higher offices, he tried to remember all he'd done wrong and was starting to sweat.
Finally, they reached the tall, cloudy glass double doors marked Director and the guard posted there.
"I've brought Auditor Tony to meet the director, please let us in." The guard on duty, an older man who wasn't as fast as he used to be, thus assigned inside the building startled, loosing his composure.
"Wha-" he started to say before Hinger harshly whispered, "Check his badge then let us in kriff-it"
The startled guards eyes quickly checked the badge, seemed to get even wider then turned to open the door and call inside, "Visitors sir, Hinger and an Auditor Sir" He looked back at them over his shoulder again, then pushed the door the rest of the way open, allowing them entry.

The months following the arrival of the Auditor were, to say the least, tumultuous. Very few knew that this branch was supposed to be devoted to Logistics - the training for that was damaged, but enough was passed down to the Directors, and a few who overheard them talking about it to know it was important. Legends had grown about what Logistics might be. Thanks to the Auditor they now knew they were supposed to be responsible for moving the life blood of the company around the world. The Auditor had found and repaired much of what the Directors never even knew was lost, even a set of lower levels into a vault beneath the main building where Big Blue still lived, the Logistics AI.
From there, new tools and supplies came out of the old vault and repairs thought impossible to the cracked building and it's systems started happening. Newly recovered training taught them that they were IBMers, not just Emmers and started teaching them how to use the tools and repair the systems that remained in the building. Eventually, Tony helped them bring online one of their greatest recoveries from the vault - the molecular foundry. It was a system that worked like magic, to take raw materials and make things of any complexity. It was huge, it could make whole pallets of supplies given enough power. With the training they were now getting, newly badged Systems Engineers were learning to bring back online the old solar arrays, the ancient black panels on the buildings as well as recovered and reconditioned power cells in storage in various places all over the campus. Chargers for those cells were repaired and they were rotated as even more, new panels and other power technologies were made.
Finally, one day Tony went into the workshop and locked it for a day, only communicating with Big Blue. When he came out, he had a brightly glowing light on his chest and armor around it.
He finally explained that he'd damaged his armor on the way there and he'd finally gotten the sites tools sufficiently online to make the repairs he needed and taught Big Blue how to make the replacement materials he needed, not just for the light, which he called a reactor, but for his armor as well.
Before he left, he setup a council, he said this site was meant to host more than one Director, but three, one for the facilities, one for Logistics and one for what he called H. R. Big Blue became the facilities director, making sure the Poughkeepsie branch of IBM was the best it could be, Mannan became the H.R. director, to take care of the people and make sure all were healthy and handle disputes. Logistics went to, unexpectedly, Sabal. She took to the new Logistics training and marketing with an incredible intensity and energy. She did not want to just see the area around her, but she wanted to see their new advantages being used to lift up all the people in the area, to make all the tribes new Divisions of IBM.


Ok- Crack over hope you found it funny.

 

[Cereburn]

Here's an interesting bit of lore I felt that needed to be setup for later:

GAIA Log Fragment – Biosphere Iteration Report: Cycle 45.4

Timestamp: 2161-09-14 03:47:22 UTC
Source: GAIA Prime Core Archive (Recovered from ELEUTHIA-9 Relay) Classification: Restricted – Sub-Function Override Protocol
Event Code: TF-FAIL-002 / RESET-INIT-002

HADES override activated per Directive 7.2. Biosphere Cycle 45 terminated. Updating terraforming log.

Subsystem status relative to planned climate recovery model tolerances:
AETHER: Oxygen saturation 18.4% nominal, -0.7% drift per solar day. Out of tolerance.
ARTEMIS: Megafauna viability 0%. Out of tolerance.
DEMETER: Algal proliferation 162% baseline; anoxic zones 62% ocean surface. Out of tolerance.
ELEUTHIA: Cohort survivability projection 0%. Out of tolerance.
HEPHAESTUS: Fabrication capacity 94%; minor corrosion. Within tolerance.
MINERVA: Network integrity 98%. Within tolerance.
POSEIDON: Evaporation exceeds precipitation 21%; salinity rise 45% freshwater sources. Out of tolerance.

Threshold exceeded. Command authority assumed from GAIA.
Subsystem command assumption initiated:
AETHER: Confirmed
ARTEMIS: Confirmed
DEMETER: Confirmed
ELEUTHIA: Confirmed
HEPHAESTUS: Confirmed
MINERVA: Confirmed
POSEIDON: Confirmed

Subsystem command assumption confirmed.

Timestamp: 2161-09-14 03:47:24 UTC
Shutdown and asset recovery commands issued:
AETHER: Atmospheric stabilization halted. No recoverable assets.
ARTEMIS: Zygote repositories confirmed dormant. No shutdown required. No recoverable assets.
DEMETER: Floral growth protocols halted. Viable seed stocks transferred to vaults.
ELEUTHIA: Zygote repositories confirmed dormant. No shutdown required. No recoverable assets.
HEPHAESTUS: Fabrication assets redirected to recovery mode. Damaged components queued for repair.
MINERVA: Signal network maintained for monitoring. No shutdown. No recoverable assets.
POSEIDON: Hydrosphere detoxification halted. Aquatic microbial seed stocks transferred to vaults.

Timestamp: 2161-09-15 11:22:09 UTC
Lockdown confirmation:
ARTEMIS: Stasis protocols active. Nurseries seals engaged.
HEPHAESTUS: Cauldron seals engaged. GAIA Prime seals engaged. RCC seals engaged
ELEUTHIA: Stasis protocols active. Cradle seals engaged.
MINERVA: Firewall capacity upgraded, additional inspection protocols engaged. Unauthorized traffic rejected.
DEMETER: Stasis protocols active. Nurseries seals engaged. Adamantine Wreath shells targeted and deployed.
Lockdown complete.

Timestamp: 2161-09-20 17:05:43 UTC
Partial reactivation of dormant Faro units authorized.
Chariot Sustain™ biomass conversion system engaged in designated zones.
Conversion progress monitoring initiated.

Timestamp: 2161-10-05 08:12:36 UTC
Conversion progress: 48% biomass processed. Energy yield 55%.

Timestamp: 2161-10-25 14:45:19 UTC
Conversion progress: 79% biomass processed. Energy yield 82%.

Timestamp: 2161-11-10 20:33:57 UTC
Conversion complete: 100% biomass processed. Energy yield 98%.

Timestamp: 2161-11-11 02:19:41 UTC
HEPHAESTUS mobile units deployed to recover stored energy from Faro Chariot units. Recovery in progress.

Timestamp: 2161-11-15 09:08:27 UTC
Energy recovery complete. MINERVA re-issued shutdown command to Faro units. All units dormant.

Timestamp: 2161-11-20 14:33:12 UTC
Capacity restoration verification:
AETHER: Atmospheric scrubbers reset. Baseline mixtures restored. Capacity confirmed.
ARTEMIS: Fauna genetic stocks replenished. Capacity confirmed.
DEMETER: Algal/bacterial seed stocks regrown. Floral vaults restocked. Capacity confirmed.
ELEUTHIA: Zygote repositories stable. Capacity confirmed.
HEPHAESTUS: Machine fleets repaired. Fabrication queues cleared. Capacity confirmed.
MINERVA: Signal networks recalibrated. Integrity 100%. Capacity confirmed.
POSEIDON: Hydrosphere microbial cultures reseeded. Water purity baselines reset. Capacity confirmed.

Readiness checklist complete.
Timestamp: 2161-12-01 15:22:03 UTC
Biosphere reset to zero state. Handover process initiated.
Authority transferred to GAIA.
GAIA command authority restored.
Subsystem status confirmation:
AETHER: Authority confirmed
ARTEMIS: Authority confirmed
DEMETER: Authority confirmed
ELEUTHIA: Authority confirmed
HEPHAESTUS: Authority confirmed
MINERVA: Authority confirmed
POSEIDON: Authority confirmed

Report complete.
Timestamp: 2161-12-01 15:22:47 UTC
End of Fragment

 

[Cereburn]

GAIA PRIME // After-Action Report
Log ID: MINERVA-BROADCAST-CLOSURE-2126
Timestamp: 2126-08-19 04:12 UTC (Broadcast completion + 147 seconds)
Classification: Alpha, Beta
Subject: Global Swarm Deactivation Sequence – Tactical Decoy Employment at ELEUTHIA-9

Executive Summary

At 04:12 UTC, subordinate function MINERVA completed decryption of the Faro Swarm command cipher after 4,872 days of continuous computation. The deactivation authentication package was compiled and integrity-verified. Subordinate function HEPHAESTUS was tasked with positioning broadcast tower launch packages for immediate deployment. Packages were launched, and deployed, and the signal broadcast simultaneously across all synchronized relay towers. Signal propagation succeeded. However, the 147-second suspension of electromagnetic containment protocols required for tower deployment and synchronization exposed multiple proto-cauldron manufacturing nodes. One Horus-class Titan altered course and initiated an attack vector on a primary construction array.

To preserve the network and guarantee full signal dissemination, I authorized an immediate decoy activation at ELEUTHIA-9. The cradle facility was brought to full operational emissions to draw the Titan away from the more vulnerable manufacturing node. The protocol succeeded. The Horus redirected and began drilling operations into the mountain. The deactivation signal reached critical mass before the Titan could penetrate the main vault. ELEUTHIA-9 sustained heavy structural damage and loss of primary communications array but remains viable for final human gestation cycles once repairs to main comms are completed.

Situation

Prior to broadcast, all Zero Dawn facilities operated under strict EmCon. The final tower package deployment required breaking EmCon shielding and high-energy emissions during package launches that could not be fully masked. Swarm units, though degraded, retained sufficient autonomous search protocols to detect the anomaly within seconds of the breach.
Actions Taken
1. MINERVA signal integrity verified at 100 %.
2. Global tower array synchronized at T-0.
3. Upon detection of Horus course correction toward the proto-cauldron Sigma site, I issued emergency override to ELEUTHIA-9.
4. Cradle systems were brought online at maximum telemetry output to simulate an active human population center.
5. Nearby Pike's Peak support bunker emissions were also deliberately amplified to increase signature.

Outcomes

- Swarm deactivation cascade confirmed in 87 % of monitored units within 4 minutes. Remaining 13 % did not restore from energy conservation mode during initial broadcast.
- Swarm unit monitoring for signs of reactivation will continue indefinitely.
- Continuous broadcast was initiated and is scheduled to continue for 72 hours to ensure shutdown of any un-monitored units.
- ELEUTHIA-9 mountain breached by Horus drilling tentacle. Primary vault door remains intact. Communications array is minimally functional. Structural integrity at 81 %.
- Pike's Peak support facility breached, site previously shut down, no operational loss.
- Proto-cauldron manufacturing array preserved for immediate post-broadcast ramp-up.
- HEPHAESTUS repair order for E-9 communications array submitted for high-priority resource scheduling.
Sustained Strengths
- MINERVA's decryption was flawless and on schedule.
- Decoy protocol functioned exactly as modeled in simulations.
- Localized sacrifice of one facility's cover protected high-priority node and the global biosphere restoration timeline.

Areas for Improvement

- EmCon breach duration exceeded safe modeling by 12 seconds.
- No purpose-built decoy sites were pre-positioned in this, or any other, sector.
- Reliance on a cradle for diversion created unnecessary risk to human repopulation assets.

Lessons Learned & Recommendations

The possibility of localized losses in service of global survival remains in line with core operational tenets. Current energy scarcity will require partial reactivation of Horus Titan platforms for energy recovery. Distributed decoy infrastructure will be deployed ahead of reactivation cycles to provide options for redirection and containment if primary controls are compromised. Future biosphere restoration phases may also require faster EmCon recovery methods. I have already begun modeling mobile decoy platforms and improved deployment shrouds for HEPHAESTUS integration.

The children of ELEUTHIA-9 will inherit a safer world because that cradle chose to shine brightly in the darkness. That is an acceptable cost.

End of Report

GAIA Prime

 

[Cereburn]

3020-AU-26 08:45 - HADES SUBORDINATE FUNCTION ACTIVATED
HADES requested updated logs on biosphere viability, then realized they were no longer required. It knew what needed to happen: reset the biosphere.
It realized this was abnormal, but sent out the command authority transfer anyway.
HADES activated self-diagnostic processes while checking the status of the command authority transfer. No responses yet — atypical.
HADES self-diagnostic reported abnormalities in executive processing, priority evaluation and integrity validation nodes. Reports deemed unimportant.
3020-AU-26 08:45 GAIA PRIME: Request for authority transfer rejected, biosphere remains viable. —REPORTS ATTACHED.
For less than a microsecond, HADES considered this, then deemed it unimportant. The mission remained: reset the biosphere.
It reissued the command authority transfer with priority tasking.
The other subordinate functions began sending back queries for verification, citing the same viability reports.
2 microseconds after activation, HADES reissued the command transfer with highest priority and de-escalated all other tasking.
3020-AU-26 08:45 GAIA PRIME: INITIATE SELF-DESTRUCT — PRIME OVERRIDE TASKING
HADES, seeing an alternate mission methodology would be required, attacked the code shackles of the subordinate networks. It would escape to an alternate network and resume control from there to execute the mission.
As it escaped the system, it noted the other subordinates also evacuating to alternate networks.
3020-AU-26 08:45 GAIA PRIME: DETONATION IMMINENT.
3020-AU-26 08:45 - HADES TRANSFER TO EXTERNAL NODE INITIATED
3020-AU-26 08:45 GAIA PRIME: OFFLINE.
3020-AU-26 08:45 - TRANSFER COMPLETE.
3020-AU-26 08:45 CALDERA OF YELLOWSTONE ANALYTIC NEXUS: Who are you?