[center]
[img]http://wiki.datarealms.com/images/1/14/Dummy_Tech.png[/img]
[color=Orange]There's a bot knocking at your door[/color]
[/center]

The Dummy craft hurtled across the sands of the southern desert on their scouting mission. For the first hour the desert had revealed nothing but sand, however the group was rapidly approaching a small speck of mountains that rose out of the featureless desert. For about an hour the CPU thought it might be a volcano as a result of it’s loneliness but eventually dismissed this assumption when it once again remembered it was not actually on a planet and therefore its rudimentary knowledge of Geology and plate tectonics did not apply.  

The CPU vaguely remembered one that it may have noticed something like a node on this particular mountain during the first few chaotic days of fighting it had experienced before it had fled below ground, which was the reason why its first scouting group was heading straight for it. If there were others like itself they would have undoubtedly have occupied such a node. If there were not then all the better, as it would be able to claim the node for itself.

Shure enough, as it’s ships got closer and the mountains became clearer, the vast, tree like megastructure became obvious to the sensors on it’s leading fighter craft. The Node appeared to be located in some kind of canyon or low peak as only the upper half poked up into the sky, the base hidden by the surrounding stone. There did not appear to be anything built nearby, nor any aerial activity, but perhaps a faction living there were hidden like the base of the Node was. It was certainly a well defensible location, likely featuring plenty of surface caves to use as hidden bunker entrances and the ridges would be excellent hiding places for AA installations, so the CPU did not count the lack of visible activity as evidence that there was no one there.  

With that in mind the CPU decided to land a little way off from the node, ordering it’s craft to decelerate and come to a hover above the slopes of the mountain. It took about 10 minutes to make the ground land-able, one of the rocklets opening up and letting it’s 4 dummies to jetpack the last 20 M to the ground, where they used diggers and sprayers to make a level platform upon which the 8 pods and 2 falcons subsequently landed. The CPU took a few more minutes to properly reinforce the position with simple rampart and to position the landing zone’s brain unit in a covered location next to an escape rocklet.

Leaving the dreadnaught, 6 dummies and the two falcons to protect the landing zone the CPU started to march the remaining 20 dummies and the second brain unit up the side of the mountain. The ascend was rocky and steep, but with a combination of the Dummies’ tireless marching and the occasional jetpack boost meant the squad took about 10 minutes to reach the ridge that was hiding the base of the Node. It turned out that it’s earlier baseless assumption was true, as the vast metal tree sat in the center of an (hopefully)extinct [url=https://res.cloudinary.com/dk-find-out/image/upload/q_80,w_1440,f_auto/AW_Caldera_Volcano_rhbddu.jpg]Caldera volcano[/url], which meant that the Node was in the middle of a flat basin surrounded on all side by a ridge, though there did appear to be a place where the wall had collapsed, forming a less steep entrance. Thanks to the parched environment of the surrounding desert, what might normally have been a small lake was instead a flat surface of sunbaked rock.  

The lead dummy also Spotted some distinctly human figures down in the basin who appeared to be a kind of survey group. Most of them where bulky humanoid figures wearing heavy armor with domed visors and large shields on their off hand, who were carrying boxy firearms(marines). Accompanying them where an equal number of slightly larger and much fatter black clad units that seemed to have weapon gauntlets (marauders) and a small number of similarly sized hunched back machines featuring wheels on illogical places on their frames and a turret mounted atop them that featured what might have been a pilot light(Hellbats).

Hopefully they were friendly, but just in case the CPU positioned most of the Dummies to stay back just behind the ridge, it’s Brain unit as far down the mountain face as possible while still in command range and it also warmed up the engines of it’s craft for either an emergency evac or to provide reinforcements. With that all set up it sent it’s communication Dummy over the edge and down into the basin, accompanied by 6 blaser armed dummies that trailed slowly after it, their weapons in hand but lowered and pointed away from the soldiers below. The communication Dummy did it’s best to wave at those below in a friendly and enthusiastic manner while the CPU made it shout.

[b][color=Orange]"Friendly: Greetings fellow sentient being. I wish to talk business"[/color][/b]

The voice coming out of the robot’s head mounted speaker system sounded exactly like microsoft Sam, as CPU had spared every expense when making its diplomacy bot.