Note: I am unsure whether posting fiction is allowed, so if it isn't, please let me know so i can take this down.


Vengeance

Looming over the now-lifeless planet in high orbit was a massive armada composed of countless vessels, all bristling with weaponry. Shipyards and drydocks cluttered low orbit, manufacturing and refitting the last of the ships to complement the enormous fleet. Maintenance robots buzzed around, taking checks and running diagnostics on the largest of ships, ensuring that the onboard damage control sensors were accurate down to the smallest rivet.

In the center of activity was the nameless flagship. The admiral ran his thoughts across his circuit boards, carefully taking account of the last ships to leave the shipyards. He sent a fleet-wide transmission seeking for the individual captains' confirmations that everything was in order, and, satisfied at the responses, allowed himself to let his mind wander and think about Earth, their first conquest, hopefully, of many more to come.
_____

Nineteen years ago, a small human reconnaissance fleet made contact with an alien outpost on a barren planet. It was a momentous occasion, as it was confirmation that there was, indeed, intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Faster-Than-Light communication allowed the fleet to transmit to the planetary news networks all over earth and its colonies. Following the first sensor readings, the fleet sent everything: images, holo-feeds, as-of-yet untranslated diplomatic transmissions, complete with optimistic crew commentary. The whole world watched in eagerness as the fleet made first contact.

And the whole world watched in horror as the entire fleet was decimated.

The days following the tragedy was filled with shock, disbelief and denial. How could the very first alien species to establish contact be so hostile? Whatever happened to universal peace? The realization that the fleet transmitted the stellar coordinates of earth sent chills down the peoples' spines, and tremors down the military commanders'. They were careless, optimistic, and naïve, several steps down from the military vigilance of sixty years ago, in the time of the fractured nations and their greed over resources and bigotry over religion and economic doctrine.

But the damage was done. Earth prepared for war.

The next ten years was filled with bloodshed and violence. Armadas fought armadas, entire planets were destroyed, and star systems were captured. Towards the end of the war, as both sides fought desperately for survival and the elimination of the other, more and more terrible technologies came into play. Antimatter. Gravitic. Dimensional.

Biochemical.

Despite the destructive and exotic power of the former three, it was the last, biochemical, that wiped out an entire race. Millions upon millions of torpedoes and missiles with biological and chemical payloads were launched upon the human civilization, eradicating life on planet after planet. The very last to go was Earth.

It was unfortunate that the aliens attacked the humans with the biochemical weapons when they did. Earth's research facilities had just finished perfecting a technology that, were it put to practical usage, would be immune to all of the aliens' weapons, possibly averting the extinction of the human race.
_____

The sky burned a violent orange with plasma and incendiary flak as the orbital stations in low orbit tried in vain to destroy the missiles - there were too many. And they themselves were one by one destroyed by the alien vessels slowly descending into the atmosphere.

Alex, serial number 003 looked up into the sky with his caretaker and surrogate father, Thelius Igdin.

"Alex, it's only a matter of time before I succumb to their weapons," sighed Thelius.

003 stared wordlessly at the sky and gripped the old man's hands. They stood motionless for several hours, when Thelius started coughing, and eventually with blood.

"Alex, you have been like a child to me," pausing in pain as he lay in the robot's arms. "It has always been my wish to see you develop - no, grow - into a human-" he raised a hand to stop 003 from objecting. He placed his hand to his heart. "-in here."

003 knew what his caretaker meant; he had read about the non-sentient computers that were his predecessors. Unfamiliar connections in his processor sparked and fizzed, producing a sensation very few A.I. have experienced up until now. In the next few minutes, it was about to be experienced by every single A.I. inside the research complex.

"And I am glad that my wish has been granted." He smiled that gentle smile so often recorded in 003's memory and touched the robot's cheeks. "Stay that way. Stay human, in our memory, son."

And with that, Thelius Igdin, who took care of Alex since his inception as a proto-brain, who taught 003 to become Alex, who raised him, who loved him, died in his son's arms.

Alex sat there, on the tiled balcony of the surface-section of the research facility, with his dead father lying on his lap. More and more unfamiliar sensations ran through his processor. These were quite different from the earlier sensations. Very different. He lay Thelius Igdin on the ground and stood up, making a silent promise to retake the planet and destroy every last trace of the alien bastards who killed his father and the rest of the human race.

Alex would later come to know those sensations as rage.
_____

Looming over the now-lifeless planet in high orbit was a massive armada composed of countless vessels, all bristling with weaponry. Alexander 003, now admiral, snapped out of his reminiscence, and commanded the A.I. vengeance fleet to move.