Ironclad

Prototypes

Leaving Dasyil and Briggs with the Badgers, River would take a handful of soldiers to scout ahead. With no direct way to cross the canyons of metal and construction works, they had to rely on using the labyrinth of catwalks and bridges to get across.
It was vital that they find some sort of communications center to contact the Everest and to let the UPA command what had happened and to send reinforcements.

As the soldiers followed River across the catwalks, they couldn't help but look down over the railing. The factory alone must have been miles wide and miles deep, as all they could see was assembly lines after assembly lines, and swarms of robotic arms all constructing pieces of ships and welding them together like clockwork.
The heat was unbearable and the sound beat against their eardrums constantly. It seemed impossible for any human to be able to work here in these conditions. But the lack of movement options and safety features seemed to indicate that a human wasn't meant to in the first place.

River was leading the group across quickly and quietly across one of the smaller gaps between the factory walls, not liking being out in the open for anyone to see them and begin firing at them. But even though it was smaller in comparison to the rest of the factory, it was still at least a few hundred meters across on a narrow catwalk over a pit of automated machines, molten metal and assembly lines. Needless to say it was less than an ideal situation.

As the group reached the end of the catwalk, they were greeted by a much wider and sturdier platform, which gave the soldiers some much needed rest after traversing so many precarious walkways.
One sat down and rested his back against the wall, looking out into the factory and back over at the wall they had crossed over from. 
If it weren't for the huge columns that the catwalks and facilities were built in and onto, the whole factory would be one huge uninterrupted space, like an empty warehouse if the warehouse was the size of many football pitches.

Taking the moment to observe her surroundings, River would look for more ways to progress through the factory. But there were no more catwalks around them, and the only way forward was to go through a door that led inside the massive structure. She would give the soldiers five minutes to rest, as the heat was a lot even for River.

Upon opening the door they were greeted with bleak and monotonous corridors of concrete and metal. A winding maze of hallways even more confusing than the catwalks outside, with any labelling that doors and elevators had was long since faded. Further cementing the idea that humans shouldn't be here. 
River and her group would wander up and down flights of stairs and walk through identical hallway after identical hallway, hoping to find the door that led to the other side of the structure.
After a while some of the soldiers were worried they would be stuck. But before that thought could be too wedged in to remove, they came across a large circular room with different architecture from the rest of the pillar.

The room looked like it had much more purpose and a carefully designed layout compared the repetitive concrete corridors. There were many computers and chairs that were in line with the curvature of the walls, which were also completely covered in huge monitors.
Though almost every surface was completely covered in dust an inch thick. It was clear from a glance that this room had not seen use in a very long time, so much so that all of the computers looked outdated.

One of the soldiers ran their hand over a monitor and began to cough at the amount of dust that flew off. They waved their hand around in an attempt to clear it away, spluttering as they did.

"Oh Jesus - " they muttered in between coughing "This place needs a proper..Mhgn.. Cleaning" they cleared their throat. Taking a deep breath once the dust had been cleared away from them.

River nodded as she looked over a computer that was sat dead center of the room. She pushed the chair out of the way and pressed the power button, not expecting much to come of it.
However, to hers and everyone else's surprise, the light turned on, and the monitor powered up. 
The logo for the Pro-Independence forces appeared on screen, which was the image of a planet breaking free from a set of chains. River rolled her eyes at the sight and grabbed the mouse and clicked onto an application.
Immediately after clicking the icon, every other screen in the room flickered back to life, including the massive monitors on the wall. They all displayed their own sets of information, but one that stood out to River the most was the factories output. At its current rate the assembly lines could crank out ten of those ships out every month, with fifty of them already stored deep below the factory floor.

As they took in the words and what they meant, the soldiers murmured and mumbled between one another. They were worried about the possibility of losing the war after being told they would be part of the final assault.
River was also deeply concerned, but she steeled herself and stood upright and wiped her hands free of dust "Alright then. They have fifty of those ships that attacked us in the Pellet. We have a new mission then." she said, turning to the soldiers.
"Bury this place and those ships forever"

One soldier nodded "Yes ma'am. Do you think we could get a map of the facility off of this computer? This place looks like it used to be some sort of control hub. We might even be able to shut down the assembly line from here"

Smiling at the soldier, River nodded and turned back to the computer "Good thinking. We can certainly try" she said, beginning to sift through files and programs in search of a map or control screen.
But as she did, all of the screens in the room began to flash red as warning signs appeared. A siren began to blare and repeat over and over in a robotic voice "Intruders detected. Despatching enforcers" 

As soon as the alert went off, their training kicked in. They all took cover behind the bulky computer systems and pointed their guns at the two entrances to the room. The one that they came in through, and the one opposite it.
River would try to radio Dasyil, but all she got was static in response. She exhaled and looked forward, holding her rifle tightly and aiming at the door. 

The group would wait with bated breath, listening for any noise coming from outside the room. But everything was completely silent.
They were surrounded by so much metal and concrete that they couldn't even hear the factory outside. It was only the low humming sound of the ventilation system pumping breathable air this far down.

Minutes passed, and one soldier looked over to River "Ma'am, maybe nobody is coming. This place is dusty as hell, it's clear the separatists don't have the number of people they need to cover every angle of this place. I think it's safe to move forward"

River had to think about it for a moment, looking back towards the door. She opened her mouth to say something but an immense crashing noise drew everyone's attention to the ceiling as an enormous figure broke through the ceiling and crushed one of the soldiers under its weight.
Blood and viscera splattered over the floor as the sickening crunch of their bones were heard as they jumped back and took aim.
But what they looked upon was not a man, but a towering hulk of steel and wire.

It was a robot of humanoid design. Bulky and industrial looking. Its main chassis was a solid brick of parts and wiring, branching off to its torso and limbs. Cables and wires were all over the place, jutting out from almost every part of its body.
Its limbs moved with powerful hydraulics that hissed with each movement, with the end of its limbs ending in four rectangular claws.
All across its chest were blinking lights of various colours, their meaning unknown. 
The most complete looking part of the entire being was its head, which was the only part of it that had a finished casing. It was rectangular and boxy, with a large green optic for its eye.

Shocked and surprised at gruesome end of their fellow soldier, they immediately began to open fire at the mechanical monster. Sparks flew off of it as it hit metal and wire, but it was not fazed by the attacks.
With a sharp and digital clicking noise, it stepped off of the bloody pile of flesh and and walked towards another soldier and reached for them. Each step sounded like thunder as its metal frame subtly moved with each motion. 

The soldier in question panicked and unloaded his rifle into the robots chest, but it wouldn't do a thing. The bullets caused sparks and chipped at some components, but the front was too well armored. He yelled out as the mechanical claw grabbed him around his waist and lifted him up into the air.
The droids upper body began to spin around separate of its legs, and it would reach a decent speed before it stepped towards the wall and slammed the soldier against it. With the combined forces of the spinning and the hydraulics, the soldier was reduced to a red mist that splattered over the robot and the wall.

Morale was quickly dropping, seeing their fellow soldiers meet such gruesome ends. But River didn't waver. She would run to cover that let her aim at the back of the robot and take aim, firing a hail of bullets at anything that looked important.
Like a chisel on stone, the bullets dug through the metal until it could see right through to the bloodied wall. Leaving a smoking hole of melted metal and wire.

The robot stumbled and struggled to function with such damage, and it would try and step towards River. But as its power drained, it collapsed on the ground with a mighty thud. The remaining soldiers cheered for River, but the mood quickly came back down as they looked at the remains of their friends, who were alive not moments ago.

River stood up and looked at the bloody piles and gave a moment of silence, before looking up at them "We can't bring them with us. Take their tags" she said as she looked back at the door and got ready to move. 

One of the remaining soldiers nodded and - with hesitation - took the tags out of the piles of gore. 

As River was about to give a new order, the alerts on the computer screens turned off and the monitors switched to camera footage.
To everyone's horror, the cameras showed whole groups of the same robots marching through the facility. Each one was slightly different in design or casings, but their movements were always in sync, and they were all diverging on either them in the computer room, or heading towards Dasyil, Briggs and the rest of the soldiers.