A Time of Crisis: Chapter 29
Chapter 29 icon by Chaos Croc
Chapter 29 Command 83
“There’s so much information here, it’s hard to believe Croc had intimate knowledge of everything,” states Crisis as she holds a data pad as she reads through an endless wall of text and information, as she sits in the back of a truck with Francis beside her.
“He probably didn’t.”
“Too bad he was the only one with the codes to keep the gates going at full capacity, and I don’t yet trust going through one of his gates to one of his areas... or should I say my areas.”
“Good you didn’t assume you have total control over Croc’s forces.”
“I know I don’t, there is a lot I have to update and... convert to get his forces under a safe level of control, but that’s why I need to talk to the general, to go over all the plans to ensure a smooth transition of power over Croc’s forces and what to do now that the war is over.”
“Yes over...,” mumbles Francis.
“What is it Francis?”
“Oh don’t assume the war is over, there is still a lot of work to be done, remember the other two wars you suddenly found yourself in on those two other words?”
“This is true. There are still a lot of things to go through. There are a lot of decrypted projects that only Croc had access to that will take some time to crack. I’d love to just download all this information but I fear there might be a few hidden traps or viruses in his work that he left behind just in case something happened to him.”
“I’m impressed you thought so far ahead.”
“Last thing I want is to lose everything we’ve gained thus far via an easily avoidable stupid mistake.”
“Very true.”
“At least we managed to get the trans-dimensional communications working to inform those back home of our victory.”
“The gate has been up for an hour now and all tests indicate it is working fine as before. General Raszer is waiting for you on the other side.”
“Excellent, best not to keep the General waiting any longer. I hope you can handle things here with Ruby while I’m gone?”
“If I must,” replies Francis with a sigh as the jeep pulls up to the gate which shimmers underneath the camouflaged nets.
“Continue the take over operation, see any local we may have missed and make sure they know who’s in charge now.”
“With pleasure,” replies Francis with a grin as Crisis walks through the gate, she’s greeted by an group of armed organic raptor soldiers
“Is there something wrong?”
“No ma’am,” replies one of the soldiers.
“Then where’s my crew?” she inquires.
“They are being debriefed on a few things, and after that are being given some time to relax, that is all I know.”
“Alright, I assume you’re here to take me to see general Raszer?”
“Yes Ma’am.”
“Finally I feel like I’m getting respect here and all I had to do is win the war,” chuckles Crisis as the escort her to a nearby truck and take her back to the city of Rioas and from there she was escorted to the tactical control room where only the general stood waiting for her. Raszer looked at Crisis with a big toothy grin when he laid eyes upon her. His military uniform well pressed and cleaned as takes a sip from his coffee from his coffee mug before placing it off to the side.
“You’ve done very well Crisis,” Raszer states as he walks around the table towards Crisis.
“Thank you Sir. I am glad to have this behind me.”
“Before I continue, give me a status report on all that has happened since Croc was defeated.”
“After he was destroyed, I took over the command of his robotic armies directly. They already see me as their leader. I’ve slowly been pulling his organic soldiers back to be re-educated about the new chain of command. I’ve kept his forces from knowing about his destruction to keep the operations running smoothly. Though in order to do that, the two wars he has on two other planets I’ve kept the pressure up. He has those people hanging by a thread. He could crush them anytime he wants. Here though I’ve stopped the fighting on all fronts, and when any of his soldiers or generals question the command, I give a supply issue as the reason to delay any suspicion.”
“Good, good not bad but I like to keep the destruction of Croc a secret from the general public for now. It’s bad enough you informed your crew about it.”
“What? But how can we not tell our countrymen and everyone else in the other countries that we’ve won? That the evil robotic dictator has been destroyed and we can return to peace after decades of war?”
“The destruction of Croc is greatly beneficial to us, there is no doubt about that, but the time isn’t right to let the world know about this.”
“Why?” questions Crisis.
“As you said, we aren’t sure of how much you control you have over Croc’s armies. We don’t want our guard down till we are sure we have total victory.... speaking of which, I want you to speed up the advance of Croc’s armies into these countries here.”
“What?!” exclaims Crisis, “You want me to continue the war? Are you crazy? We’ve won the war why shall we continue it?”
“These countries have been a pain in our side for the history of our glorious nation. We can’t replace the danger of Croc’s armies with theirs and while you’re at it, speed up the advance of our armies into our ‘lost’ territory. I want our armies moving into their countries to help liberate them.”
“You want to use Croc’s armies to take over the land of our enemies. Let them do the grunt work and let us just move on end in the name of liberation and freedom.”
“I knew you were a smart girl, you were built by us after all.”
“No, I won’t do it. I can’t have more needless killing. I... we achieved our goal, this needs to stop,” explains Crisis.
“And here I thought you only looked out for the future of our country.”
“I do think about our country and all I have done is for it.”
“You’ve been so focused on Chaos Croc’s threat that you don’t see the bigger picture,” sighs General Raszer as he turns and walks away from Crisis. “Our nation has been stifled by the other nations for generations. The inferior felines or our north, the oppression of the oceanic mammals to our shark allies to the south, the sly and lying snakes to the far north East that keep not only us but undermined our draconic allies to the west. They all need to be stopped and subjugated under our glorious rule. If we don’t we’ll forever remain a shadow of what we once were.”
“You don’t want to secure our people, you want to us to rule over everything, that is not what I was made for, what I was built for,” states Crisis as she slams her fist onto the table making markers jump.
“Oh Crisis... that is where you are wrong. General Raszer initiate Command 83,” commands Raszer.
“Command accepted, activating program overrides,” state Crisis’ system as Crisis twitches.
“No... when did you...” stutters Crisis as she falls to her knees her head down as the program starts to run. Crisis can feel parts of her mind being shut down, operation by operation, replaced by these new set, detailed and crafted for their her new purpose.
“It’s always been there since the very beginning, do you honestly think the very first thing you did when you were activated was by chance? I wanted you to terminate the design team, and the general at the base who was undermining my command. The fact you roboticized them and made them your own was a surprise but it worked none the less save for that Joshua fellow.”
“Wh-at ab-out..hi...”
“The naive fool. He’s so focused you, his work that like you I decided to spare him. He’s been most useful to our country, even when tempted by... unsavory factors within our country he keeps his focus to what is important. Just like you do, isn’t that right Crisis?”
“Yes General Raszer. I apologies for my earlier actions, I don’t know what I was thinking,” states Crisis as she stands up, her eyes giving off a green glow. The new program continues to proliferate through Crisis’ mind. Her 1’s and 0’s altering each and every though, her drive, her purpose, all changing to suit the General’s needs.
“Now do you see the importance of what I am trying to do?”
“Of course. Our people, our nation will never be secure unless we secure our boarders completely.”
“That’s a good machine. Return to your crew, they will be eager to hear of your return and how you defeated him in his capital but that the fight is far from over. And not a word about the control over his armies, got that?”
“Understood sir. The head of the beast may be cut, but the rest of the body still fights on.”
“Good girl, now go, I have important things to attend to,” says Raszer as he waves Crisis off.
“Yes sir, of course sir,” she replies as Crisis salutes him and walks off as she heads towards the roboticization facilities to make sure they’re in working order she runs into Joshua.
“Crisis! You’re back!” exclaims Joshua as he runs up to her.
“Hello Joshua, I heard you were being getting some R&R?”
“More like forced R&R. I told them I was well rested but about three hours ago we were told we had to move out for the changing of the guard, and then I had to spend an hour and a half being interrogated about what has happened over the last three days. Not sure why, but I told them what I knew, which wasn’t much mind you.”
“I see.”
“Yeah... honestly I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to be here when the gate was working again. We might have been able to figure out how to keep them going, but you try to explain that to soldiers who are just ‘following orders’,” sighs Joshua.
“They are just doing their job, making our country secured for us all.”
“You okay Crisis?” asks Joshua.
“I feel fine, why do you ask?”
“You sound a bit off. Maybe you should get your systems checked to make sure the combat damages you sustained.”
“I shall take that under advisement, for now there is much work to be done.”
“What kind of work?”
“Croc’s armies are still fighting us in spite of our victory. It is what the general wanted to talk to me about and we’ve decided it was best to keep Croc’s defeat under wraps.”
“What? That’s crazy talk!” exclaims Joshua.
“Joshua, shut up and listen.”
“Yes Miss,” replies Joshua as he lowers his head slightly.
“Yes defeating Croc is a great thing, but if the people learned that we defeated him and it didn’t end the war, and that this war was going to drag on, it be more harmful to our moral and weaken the people’s resolve. They will lose faith we can win. We need a face of evil for people to rally behind. So for now it’s more beneficial to keep it secret than let it be public knowledge, understand?”
“Yes... I think so. Don’t worry Mistress, I will do what you think is best.”
“Good, tell the others about the decision.”
“As you wish... Karrie?”
“Hmm? What? Did you just say Karrie?”
“Yeah... I wanted to ask if you are still looking for her.”
“Honestly I have just about given up on finding her. I found no trace of her in Croc’s files, at this point in time though she’s a low priority, if I find her great, if I don’t... nothing I can really do about it. It’s not that big of a deal anymore.”
“I see.”
“Why do you ask?”
“No real reason. Just curious... anyway I should go do that thing you told me.”
“Yes you should,” states Crisis as the two part ways. Joshua takes a few steps before he looks back at Crisis.
“Guess she is really gone then,” sighs Joshua as he walks off.