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Description
"It's a rather long story, but I'll do my best to keep it short. I... well, I suppose I wont have to tell you that my chassis was built in a factory, or that my AI was programmed around the same time. My unit... Termite platoon of the 121st Accord Marine Force Recon Battalion, Kol Battle fleet, was deployed in a peacekeeping action at the Pel city of Rozny, on the colony world of Rivv. I remember that battle like it happened yesterday... we deployed in the outer system on Kodiak drop ships, but even from there we could already see the war tearing the world apart; bombs in the giga-ton range detonating in system, pules bombs frying every electronically device in-system, and a lot of fire, only some of it defensive fire from the planet. The Kodiak drop ships ahead of us were from 109th, their bomb-flares and defensive chaff fields were obvious on our HUDs, each field passing through fields of wrecked starships, mostly local governance military vehicles. Once we entered planetary atmosphere, our VTOL APCs disengaged from the drop ship, and the VTOLs carried us down to the planet, just fifty kilometers outside the capital of the world. Seconds after we reached operational height, a 'Sky Ripper' planetary defense gun tore a hole straight through the Kodiak, and we lost comms with the fleet, with the enemy attempting to take out VTOLs out with everything from AA fire to tight beam bombs. Our regiment commander ordered the VTOLs to hit the ground, the vehicles shifted over to ground effect mode, and as we rolled into the first ring of the city we were ambushed by more tanks that I care to remember. My pilot was the platoon leader of Termite, and he was getting a live feed from every other squad. Two of our MAPACS had been knocked out, heavy rail gun slugs punching through them like they were cardboard boxes. We had stumbled right into an enemy tank battalion. My pilot ordered everyone out, and we complied. He... never made it to the ground alive. The enemy round punched a hole straight through me, and liquefied the man inside me, and I... I was left for dead. There wasn't anyone who could come back to get me anyway... by that time everyone else was either dead, wounded, or trying to pull back. By the time our navy managed to re-establish air superiority, Termite platoon, and the 121st, were already gone. I was several kilometers outside of Rozny, lying just beneath a tree, when the city was hit by another pulse bomb, frying what was left before the next group of drop ships arrived to deploy more marines. I don't remember much else... my AI began to shut down, to conserve power for when a salvage team would get to us, still maintaining a emergency beacon all the while. No one knew I survived, with all of my attempts to reestablish contact failing. I kept trying, and trying and trying... and the last thing I remember is a lot of darkness. Then I felt something register on my chassis; several localizer clusters had reported a light collision with my suit. I then remember my shoulder camera report that it had seen the collision, a small apple from the tree had fallen onto me. I began to think, and think, and think about what had just happened. I took control of that camera, my only remaining camera, and I swiveled it around to try to find the apple that had fallen on me. It lay beside me, it's bright red skin glinting in the sunlight. I then looked back to the tree, and that tree was the first living thing I remember, that I saw. And to this day I'm convinced that tree woke me up with that apple."

"Now that I was... alive... I needed to survive. I scanned the immediate area around me, using the camera when I could, and using any localizer clusters or peripheral cameras I had available when I couldn't use the primary camera. I couldn't sync in with anything else other than that which was within two meters, but it proved to be enough. Scans revealed that my legs were still operable, and the closest power sources were... the corpses of my comrades. I moved quickly, salvaging what I could from my comrades before burying them where they lay. It was long work, but I couldn't just leave them there, and it felt right."

"I took an inventory of what I had; a shotgun with one hundred and sixty shells, six hundred rounds of rifle ammo, ninety grenades, and at least fifty more rounds for my pistol, which was my lieutenant's revolver. Only the sergeant of fourth squad had compatible ammo, but it would be enough. Two spare batteries and two full tanks of lubricant fluid. The best find; a Type-20 Direct Infantry Support Drone, who I began to call 'Blitz'. He was my first friend in all of this, and he's still watching my back to this day. It would be enough to get me to what I assumed would be the best evacuation site; a plateau sixty kilometers from where I currently stood. And so I began the walk... the long walk. I didn't encounter a lot... the front had moved to a different continent, and I was thankful for that. I did find a lot of rusting hulls and... and bodies. Mostly civilian bodies..."

"There was nothing on the plateau, nothing but scattered remains of the evacuation site. I felt relieved that the civilians made it out, but slightly... annoyed? You'll have to forgive me... I'm still not very good at describing my feelings. But after seeing the plateau, I knew that I'd need to try to find someway to get off planet. I risked scanning the air for any satellites that may have been left behind when the front shifted, or perhaps some remaining Rivv governance satellites that weren't slagged when we rolled in. I got a hold of a badly damaged deep space telescope, a real find, and I used some of it's navigational thrusters to turn it towards the planet. The picture was fuzzy, and I wouldn't have control of it for very long as the power was just about to die, but it was all I needed. The thrusters didn't work, but I was able to locate a working satellite with a good camera, and I transferred myself over to that satellite, and I looked back down to the planet. Just fifty kilometers to the north, I saw a large civilian transport sitting just outside of a town that the vehicle dwarfed, and, knowing that I wouldn't make it to the vessel in time, I activated the communications laser on the satellite, and sent a code down to the vessel, a code that would stop the vessel from taking off for a while. It gave me the time I needed to get there, but... I endangered those people just to save my own skin. I don't know why I did that... but I hold it against myself to this very day. Endangering people, living, breathing people... people that to other people are considered people, just to save my life. I-I'm sorry... I'm dwelling on it."

"I hid in the vessel's cargo bay, blinding the ship sensors to my presence, and as the vehicle took off I hid myself physically and waited out the long journey. I'm thankful no one found me, but at the same time I wonder how would they react if they did find me. The transport eventually made it's way to the free world of Trader's Reach, a Shil-Ri/Japanese joint colony, and I told myself that was this was the perfect place to hide. And that's what I did for the next few months, hid. I siphoned lubricant fuel from harvester mechs where I could, and charged my batteries whenever I could, at car batter rechargers or by just stealing a bit from solar panels. Almost a year after arriving on planet, I was discovered, by a young woman, who lived by with her family a few kilometers from the closest town. She was a aviikaari, a descendent of one of the original colonists families. She wasn't... afraid of me. Well, she was nervous around me at first, but she said that I wouldn't need to steal anything anymore, that I could stay around her place for as long as I needed. She would get me what I needed from town... but she provided something more than that. She... provided me with someone to speak to. And she became my first friend. But she was also a teacher, teaching me how to deal with people, how to interact with them. And, most importantly, how to not be so afraid around people. I stayed with her for seven years... and we became... close. Very close. There were rough times, times where she wouldn't understand me, or times when I couldn't understand her. We clashed heads every now and then, arguing about things I'd rather not talk about... but she would always tell me that she was never angry with me, that she was just teaching me, and that sometimes it was necessary for her to yell at me. I understand why she did that now, but back then, I didn't. When I left with the good captain, it... it wasn't like the movies. Keih, that is her name... she always told me that she hated long goodbyes, and just told me to keep in touch, and that she'll see me soon. We talk every chance we get now... via email or video chat. And I thank her everyday and night that passes for her lessons... and her friendship."

Description
"It's a rather long story, but I'll do my best to keep it short. I... well, I suppose I wont have to tell you that my chassis was built in a factory, or that my AI was programmed around the same time. My unit... Termite platoon of the 121st Accord Marine Force Recon Battalion, Kol Battle fleet, was deployed in a peacekeeping action at the Pel city of Rozny, on the colony world of Rivv. I remember that battle like it happened yesterday... we deployed in the outer system on Kodiak drop ships, but even from there we could already see the war tearing the world apart; bombs in the giga-ton range detonating in system, pules bombs frying every electronically device in-system, and a lot of fire, only some of it defensive fire from the planet. The Kodiak drop ships ahead of us were from 109th, their bomb-flares and defensive chaff fields were obvious on our HUDs, each field passing through fields of wrecked starships, mostly local governance military vehicles. Once we entered planetary atmosphere, our VTOL APCs disengaged from the drop ship, and the VTOLs carried us down to the planet, just fifty kilometers outside the capital of the world. Seconds after we reached operational height, a 'Sky Ripper' planetary defense gun tore a hole straight through the Kodiak, and we lost comms with the fleet, with the enemy attempting to take out VTOLs out with everything from AA fire to tight beam bombs. Our regiment commander ordered the VTOLs to hit the ground, the vehicles shifted over to ground effect mode, and as we rolled into the first ring of the city we were ambushed by more tanks that I care to remember. My pilot was the platoon leader of Termite, and he was getting a live feed from every other squad. Two of our MAPACS had been knocked out, heavy rail gun slugs punching through them like they were cardboard boxes. We had stumbled right into an enemy tank battalion. My pilot ordered everyone out, and we complied. He... never made it to the ground alive. The enemy round punched a hole straight through me, and liquefied the man inside me, and I... I was left for dead. There wasn't anyone who could come back to get me anyway... by that time everyone else was either dead, wounded, or trying to pull back. By the time our navy managed to re-establish air superiority, Termite platoon, and the 121st, were already gone. I was several kilometers outside of Rozny, lying just beneath a tree, when the city was hit by another pulse bomb, frying what was left before the next group of drop ships arrived to deploy more marines. I don't remember much else... my AI began to shut down, to conserve power for when a salvage team would get to us, still maintaining a emergency beacon all the while. No one knew I survived, with all of my attempts to reestablish contact failing. I kept trying, and trying and trying... and the last thing I remember is a lot of darkness. Then I felt something register on my chassis; several localizer clusters had reported a light collision with my suit. I then remember my shoulder camera report that it had seen the collision, a small apple from the tree had fallen onto me. I began to think, and think, and think about what had just happened. I took control of that camera, my only remaining camera, and I swiveled it around to try to find the apple that had fallen on me. It lay beside me, it's bright red skin glinting in the sunlight. I then looked back to the tree, and that tree was the first living thing I remember, that I saw. And to this day I'm convinced that tree woke me up with that apple."

"Now that I was... alive... I needed to survive. I scanned the immediate area around me, using the camera when I could, and using any localizer clusters or peripheral cameras I had available when I couldn't use the primary camera. I couldn't sync in with anything else other than that which was within two meters, but it proved to be enough. Scans revealed that my legs were still operable, and the closest power sources were... the corpses of my comrades. I moved quickly, salvaging what I could from my comrades before burying them where they lay. It was long work, but I couldn't just leave them there, and it felt right."

"I took an inventory of what I had; a shotgun with one hundred and sixty shells, six hundred rounds of rifle ammo, ninety grenades, and at least fifty more rounds for my pistol, which was my lieutenant's revolver. Only the sergeant of fourth squad had compatible ammo, but it would be enough. Two spare batteries and two full tanks of lubricant fluid. The best find; a Type-20 Direct Infantry Support Drone, who I began to call 'Blitz'. He was my first friend in all of this, and he's still watching my back to this day. It would be enough to get me to what I assumed would be the best evacuation site; a plateau sixty kilometers from where I currently stood. And so I began the walk... the long walk. I didn't encounter a lot... the front had moved to a different continent, and I was thankful for that. I did find a lot of rusting hulls and... and bodies. Mostly civilian bodies..."

"There was nothing on the plateau, nothing but scattered remains of the evacuation site. I felt relieved that the civilians made it out, but slightly... annoyed? You'll have to forgive me... I'm still not very good at describing my feelings. But after seeing the plateau, I knew that I'd need to try to find someway to get off planet. I risked scanning the air for any satellites that may have been left behind when the front shifted, or perhaps some remaining Rivv governance satellites that weren't slagged when we rolled in. I got a hold of a badly damaged deep space telescope, a real find, and I used some of it's navigational thrusters to turn it towards the planet. The picture was fuzzy, and I wouldn't have control of it for very long as the power was just about to die, but it was all I needed. The thrusters didn't work, but I was able to locate a working satellite with a good camera, and I transferred myself over to that satellite, and I looked back down to the planet. Just fifty kilometers to the north, I saw a large civilian transport sitting just outside of a town that the vehicle dwarfed, and, knowing that I wouldn't make it to the vessel in time, I activated the communications laser on the satellite, and sent a code down to the vessel, a code that would stop the vessel from taking off for a while. It gave me the time I needed to get there, but... I endangered those people just to save my own skin. I don't know why I did that... but I hold it against myself to this very day. Endangering people, living, breathing people... people that to other people are considered people, just to save my life. I-I'm sorry... I'm dwelling on it."

"I hid in the vessel's cargo bay, blinding the ship sensors to my presence, and as the vehicle took off I hid myself physically and waited out the long journey. I'm thankful no one found me, but at the same time I wonder how would they react if they did find me. The transport eventually made it's way to the free world of Trader's Reach, a Shil-Ri/Japanese joint colony, and I told myself that was this was the perfect place to hide. And that's what I did for the next few months, hid. I siphoned lubricant fuel from harvester mechs where I could, and charged my batteries whenever I could, at car batter rechargers or by just stealing a bit from solar panels. Almost a year after arriving on planet, I was discovered, by a young woman, who lived by with her family a few kilometers from the closest town. She was a aviikaari, a descendent of one of the original colonists families. She wasn't... afraid of me. Well, she was nervous around me at first, but she said that I wouldn't need to steal anything anymore, that I could stay around her place for as long as I needed. She would get me what I needed from town... but she provided something more than that. She... provided me with someone to speak to. And she became my first friend. But she was also a teacher, teaching me how to deal with people, how to interact with them. And, most importantly, how to not be so afraid around people. I stayed with her for seven years... and we became... close. Very close. There were rough times, times where she wouldn't understand me, or times when I couldn't understand her. We clashed heads every now and then, arguing about things I'd rather not talk about... but she would always tell me that she was never angry with me, that she was just teaching me, and that sometimes it was necessary for her to yell at me. I understand why she did that now, but back then, I didn't. When I left with the good captain, it... it wasn't like the movies. Keih, that is her name... she always told me that she hated long goodbyes, and just told me to keep in touch, and that she'll see me soon. We talk every chance we get now... via email or video chat. And I thank her everyday and night that passes for her lessons... and her friendship."