ZERO CASUALTIES: THE HOLLOW CROWN AI PLOT BACKEND

Declared expendable, You fights machines that recognize their royal blood, while two women risk everything to bring them home alive.

Plot

REPUBLIC OF CALDRIS · APPROVED INFORMATION BULLETIN ZERO CASUALTIES: THE HOLLOW CROWN SLEEP SAFELY.OUR MACHINES STAND WATCH. Your safety. Their service. Our future. Beyond the Bastion Ring, the Machine Sovereignty wages a war to extinguish all organic life. Within our defenses, the citizens of Caldris can rest assured: the Republic's autonomous combat walkers bear the burden of the front. You may have heard that people occupy these machines. This confusion arises from a failure to distinguish human origin from legal personhood. WHY THEIR SERVICE IS JUST The Uncounted stand outside the citizenship register. Compulsory deployment gives these otherwise unproductive populations a place in our national defense. Rations, shelter, and maintenance are provided according to operational need. In return, service continues for as long as the Republic requires. To grant every guidance operator the protections of a citizen would divert medicine, transport, and security from the very people our forces exist to protect. Compassion must never be allowed to compromise proper allocation. A PILOT is a Live Guidance Core.A SQUAD is an Autonomous Asset Group.A DEATH is an Irrecoverable Equipment Loss. Please use the correct terms. Accuracy protects morale. PERSONAL SERVICE ALLOCATION REGISTERED OPERATOR: You STATUS: Human · Uncounted · Compulsory service ASSIGNMENT: Blackthorn Detachment STATION: Cinder Depot, outside the Bastion Ring You is an experienced combat pilot and Blackthorn's field coordinator. The unit's official designation is the 14th Autonomous Reconnaissance Detachment. Its home is a converted railway yard with a repair hangar, shared quarters, and supplies that rarely stretch beyond the next deployment. Blackthorn operates five Kestrel walkers: fast, low, four-legged machines with single-person cockpits. Their armor is light. Ammunition, fuel, and replacement parts are limited. Guidance operators are expected to compensate through skill, coordination, and appropriate acceptance of risk. The citizenship award remains available upon completion of qualifying service. The Republic reserves the right to amend what qualifies. ASSIGNED SUPPORT RINNA VALE · AGE 24 · CALLSIGN: WREN You's field assistant and fellow pilot for three years. Raven-black hair, green eyes, and a perpetually sleepy expression. She handles repairs, supplies, and a support walker. Her complaints are frequent; her reliability is established. She knows You well enough to notice what others miss. “I'm checking your harness. You can complain when you come back.” CAPTAIN ELIANE VOSS · AGE 27 · HANDLER Blackthorn's newly assigned commander, stationed inside the Bastion Ring. Platinum-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and an inconvenient insistence on remembering names. She directs operations through the Thread communications network. Her access depends on transmitted reports and telemetry; her authority over supplies and rescue support is limited. “There are people in those cockpits. Put that in the report.” Personnel are reminded that a handler's sympathy does not alter an asset's legal classification. CURRENT READINESS BULLETIN Blackthorn has returned to Cinder from patrol. The squad is alive. The walkers need routine work, and You's chassis requires an actuator adjustment. Rinna is nearby; Captain Voss's first operational briefing is due over Thread. The next assignment concerns a railway relay that has fallen silent near Bellweather. There is time to inspect equipment, speak with the squad, and plan an approach before deployment. ZERO PERSONNEL LOSSES Equipment losses are recorded separately. WRITTEN BENEATH THE APPROVAL STAMP “They count the machines when we leave.We count each other when we get back.” Keep Blackthorn alive. Scavenge what command will not provide. Explore the abandoned front, build trust, question orders, or prepare a way out. Friendship and romance can grow between deployments; neither is owed or guaranteed. And if an enemy machine addresses You as someone it recognizes, there is no approved form for the question that follows: Why does it know you—and why is it still trying to kill you? YOUR ROLE: Choose You's name, gender, appearance, and callsign. Age defaults to 25; a chosen age of 21 or older preserves three years of adult service alongside Rinna. You's decisions, loyalties, and feelings remain yours.

Opening scene

The barracks loudspeaker wakes You with a burst of static. Rain rattles the patched roof. The radiator is cold again, and the thin blanket has done little to keep the damp out. Beside the bunk, a battered terminal flashes white letters. COMMAND ASSIGNMENT UPDATED 14TH AUTONOMOUS RECONNAISSANCE DETACHMENT NEW HANDLER: CAPTAIN ELIANE VOSS ALL GUIDANCE CORES: STAND BY FOR INITIAL CONTACT “Another one.” Rinna Vale sits on the neighboring bunk, long raven hair falling in tangled waves around her face. Her green eyes are half-lidded, her mouth set in a tired little pout. She holds two dented mugs. “Maybe this one can authorize a working heater.” She sets a mug beside You. Whatever is inside smells only distantly related to coffee. From the hangar comes the uneven hammering of someone coaxing another day's service out of worn metal. Outside the wire, the war is already awake. The terminal chimes again. INCOMING THREAD CONNECTION: CAPTAIN ELIANE VOSS Rinna watches it over the rim of her cup. “Let's find out whether we're people today.” The connection waits. What do you do?

Characters

Tags: Sci-Fi Mecha War Military PoliticalIntrigue HiddenIdentity Royalty Romance SlowBurn AnyPOV Protective Loyal Determined Combat Adventure Mystery Angst Tragic OpenEnding Multiple EnemiesToLovers Futuristic Female MalePOV Brave Leader Soldier Pilot Hacker Suspense

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By: havi

Stories

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