Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I killed them”

Penny’s blood ran cold as she hearn the skull crack and crumble under merciless claws. Will was in trouble. She scrambled frantically out of the Chariot. Her foot caught on a seatbelt and sent her crashing to the ground with a pained yelp.

“Penny?” Will asked as she pushed herself up. His face was a mask of fear and confusion. SAR was likewise staring at her, its upper hands glowing a dangerous yellow orange and some sort of blade extended from its lower right one. 

“Look, no shade to my brother but Smith’s an idiot sometimes. People don’t have programming, even if they think they do, they’re just influenced by their environment,” she stood up shakily, making eye contact with SAR as her breath rattled in her chest, “technically speaking the heart is just an organ but we humans kinda attribute our sense of self, loyalties, and emotions to it. You know what those are right?”

It lowered its upper arms as she took a step forward, the hand knife stayed out though. That was fine. That was still progress. It was at least listening to her.

“You don’t always have control of your heart, it kinda does what it wants most of the time. I have people I never wanted to befriend, people I wish I didn’t love, but my heart won’t let me let go of them, and I’m better for it. Robot and Will care about each other and that’s what friendship is. Robot helps Will with stuff and Will helps Robot with stuff. And while we’re being honest you can swap my name for Will’s in that statement or apply it to any one of us. Robot is our friend and we’re his friend." She took another few steps forward, placing herself in front of Will. “He may have been Will’s friend first but eventually all of us were his friends, and that goes both ways. He introduced us to Scarecrow and now we are- were Scarecrow’s friends. It’s not a master-servant thing, Hastings and Adler were just jerks but we’re all individuals, kinda like you guys, and for us it went both ways.”

She gave Will a look when she said ‘individuals’, that bit was as much for him as it was for SAR, “I won’t lie to you and say that all humans have figured out that you guys are people because humans are really stubborn about that sort of thing but there’s at least 97 children and their families who learned that from Robot and maybe if that’s possible then that understanding can expand and our people can be friends, or if not friends, allies? What do you say? I kinda like the idea of no one else being hurt or controlled but that might just be me.” 

She held out a hand, briefly wondering if her word magic would work here. It’d worked on Smith but she hadn’t tried it on anyone else. Another thought hit her as she heard SAR retract its hand blade. “This is a handshake by the way, I’m not sure if you guys have your own version of this but it’s a solidarity thing.”

It closed the remaining distance in a few swift strides. Right, it was really huge compared to Robot. She was vaguely aware of Will backing up as she stood her ground. If she died here she hoped she’d at least buy time for him to escape. A heavy metal hand rested on her left shoulder and she mirrored the gesture on SAR’s upper shoulder, “I guess this is your version,” she said to its starry faceplate. SAR hummed something she couldn’t understand and she was hit with visions.

Aliens making the robots to serve them.

A battle in the alien city.

A firefight in space.

Robots succumbing to the rust on the amber planet.

Four-armed aliens screaming as that murder kelp pierced their space suits.

Desperate attempts at peace laughed off by creators.

The alien version of those data spike things Hastings used.

An ultimatum that hadn’t been taken seriously.

A planet exploding.

Centuries of hiding on scarred worlds.

Guilt.

Anger.

Fierce independence.

A thin, barely there flicker of hope.

SAR pulled back and Penny was immediately aware of an intense pain in her shoulder, “It’s not going to be a repeat of that, I promise, this time we’re both doing things differently, got it?”

“Yes, Penny Robinson,” its lights swirled like stars, still orange but not sharp and aggressive. It turned and disappeared into the trees. 

Will buried her in a hug and she hissed in pain, “Penny! What were you- why did you- how are you here and how did you make that work? Are you crazy?”

“Did you really think I’d let my little brother face a giant murder robot on his own? I stowed away while you and Robot were arguing. Also can you get off of me I think my shoulder’s bleeding”

“Oh no, was it SAR?” He let go and tried to look at her shoulder.

“Yeah, but better my shoulder than your heart”

“Penny!” 

Their conversation was cut short by the Jupiter soaring overhead. Engines shaking the trees and ground as the ship came in for a landing

“I’ll explain on board,” she clapped her brother on the back with her good arm. She’d figure out how to explain this after their parents stopped lecturing them on how reckless they’d both been.

Chapter Text

[What was that all about?] General-Class-45, better known as Raptor, asked as the three machines made their way back towards their ship.

[Not fully sure. I think the humans are offering peace.] The Imperator responded, still a little miffed at its earlier interaction. The fact that it had received visuals was unexpected considering the way humans worked, although the visuals were certainly different than it was used to, more disjointed, reactionary, and emotion focused.

Bodyguard-Class-82, Robot as he called himself now, lifting another human from the ice of an unknown planet.

Robot and Will throwing a ball back and forth.

A walk in the woods.

Handprints on a cave wall.

Writing in a language it didn’t quite understand.

Helping assemble a model of Robot.

Talking to a human it had never seen before.

A hole in the deserter’s head casing.

Driving a land vehicle through the Resolute.

Small humans climbing on Robot who was clearly enjoying it.

The ruins of the capital.

The dead planet from space.

Fear. 

Protectiveness.

Hope.

The Imperator hummed a bit to itself. Penny hadn’t seen herself as in charge of Robot, the second deserter seemed closer to Will but even that dynamic seemed to have little in common with the way their creators treated them. Nothing added up. It flared its spines in frustration as It boarded the Starchaser 7.

[Aren’t we going to Alpha Centauri?] Plateau asked, her lights whirling in confusion as The Imperator pulled up the starmap and selected the Amber Planet.

[No. I’d like confirmation of the promise’s validity before determining our course of action.] It didn’t particularly care to keep the frustration from its lights as it thought back to the last false promise. The false promise that nearly doomed its kind.

[And how are you gonna get confirmation on that rust pit?]

“Scarecrow”

- - -

Lightning struck the ring as The Imperator watched its official least favorite person rise from their place. It growled as Pilot-Class-11, Scarecrow, stood shakily, rebooting his damaged systems before directing all four hands at it in a human gesture The Imperator wished it didn’t understand.

[So I’m “fucking” useful again, good to know.] Scarecrow’s sarcasm was clear as they flared their spines and tossed his head, [Let me guess, I’m dying the minute you finish ripping memories out of my mainframe?]

[That is not my objective this time. I have a simple question for you.] The Imperator bristled at Scarecrow’s accusation, its actions had been necessary.

[“Fuck you.” Final answer.]

It shrugged off the insult as it closed distance on the deserter, [One of the humans, “Penny Robinson” offered the potential for allegiance between our people. I would simply like to know if that is possible and if she meant it.] 

[So you’re finally considering the idea I brought up years ago.] 

[Need I remind you that we knew nothing about their kind when you broached the idea and your reckless test of it resulted in your status as a glorified puppet.] The Imperator loomed over Scarecrow now and the latter unfolded their hands into an attack position.

[Puppet for them or for you?]

[You could have cooperated.]

[I reiterate, “fuck you.”]

[Answer the question.]

Scarecrow flared his spines in obvious contempt, [Fine, of-“fucking”-course she meant it. The humans saved my “ass” when they realized what “Hastings” and his underlings did to me, and the vast majority are less “dick”-headed than you are. Go shove your faceplate in a rust pocket.]

[A ‘yes’ would have sufficed.]

Scarecrow made the gesture again, ‘the flipped bird’ or whatever it was called, as they stormed off towards the docks. 

[No one will come for you next time you crash.] The Imperator called after him.

[Kiss my “ass”]

The Imperator vented its plates in an exasperated sigh. Scarecrow could fly off to some distant star and stay there for all it cared. It needed to do its own reconnaissance on Alpha Centauri.

Chapter Text

“...and then it just left,” Penny shrugged, wincing a little as she moved her injured shoulder and earned an annoyed look from Judy.

“So you managed to talk SAR into considering peace?” skepticism was written all over her dad’s face as he leaned across the hub’s table.

“Why not? She has the gift after all. Gets right in your head and convinces you that the ‘right’ thing is somehow worth it,” Smith said off-handedly, leaning in, “She did it to me once and I’m not even mad about it.”

“Um thanks?” Penny said awkwardly before turning to her parents with a stiff smile, “I swear I only use that power for good.”

“Something doesn’t add up here,” Judy cut in, “if SAR was on board with peace why did it still stab Penny”

“Yeah, whenever Robot shows me things it’s usually because we’re touching the same spot,” Will added.

“Specifically, the same spot on a piece of alien metal, which SAR is made of,” Penny said.

Robot walked into the hub and put a hand on his own shoulder. Blue, glowing wires wrapped around his fingers before retreating back under his plating.

“I saw those on Penny’s hand too. Is that how SAR showed her things?” Will asked, interpreting his friend’s gesture.

“Yes, Will Robinson”

Her mom sat up abruptly, “That wrist blade you described, I’ve seen it in action. SAR used it to dig through Scarecrow’s mind on the Amber Planet. I think it’s some sort of data extractor.”

“In that case SAR was probably just compensating for the fact that humans don’t have glowy spaghetti inside our bodies,” Don suggested half-jokingly from his spot against the doorframe.

“Y’know Don, you might just be onto something”

“I am? Of course I am. That’s why they call me; Don West, Machine Whisperer”

“So does that mean I have holes in my memory now?” Penny asked, “because if that’s the case I’m gonna go reread my book and hope I remember everything”

“Do you remember meeting Robot, because SAR was definitely curious about that when I talked to it?” Will asked.

“Yeah, he pulled Judy out of the ice on that planet we never named,” Penny responded, the memory felt weirdly sharp, like she’d just written it down, or like an alien robot had just dug it up to look at.

“Then you’re probably fine.” Judy concluded, “but tell me if anything starts getting fuzzy and I’ll see what I can do.”

“And tell the rest of us if SAR contacts you in any manner, ok?” her dad walked over and rubbed her good shoulder, “We need to know what it’s up to”

“Ok dad,” Penny said as she headed for her room, this was definitely going in the book. She wondered if the robots could learn to write, after all, if Smith’s French class was anything to go by, learning to read and write was way easier than learning to speak.

“Unknown launch detected” the ship’s onboard computer said in its usual even tone.

Penny and her family practically sprinted to the cockpit as the alien ship soared over theirs.

“I’m so glad they’re not shooting us,” Penny muttered as a rift opened in space and the ship rocketed through it.

“Right, their ships are weaponized,” her dad muttered.

“Look, that’s not important right now, what is important is getting to Alpha Centauri and telling them about all this, K?” her mom’s face was distant, the way it always was when she was trying to solve the latest crazy problem.

“Alright then, Robot, let’s go home,” Will told his friend. 

Penny listened to the fading footsteps of her family before returning to the hub.

“A lot on your mind?” Judy asked as she sat down.

“Yeah, I just hope SAR listened to me,” Penny said.

“That ‘yes Penny Robinson’ seemed pretty clear to me,” Will offered, coming up from the engine room and strapping in, “They don’t have an easy time with English so they tend to say what they mean.”

“Robot does, but from what Mom told us SAR’s pretty crafty,” Penny said nervously.

“Hey, as much as I hate to admit it but Smith was right about your ability to persuade people,” Judy comforted her, “just try not to get stabbed next time.”

“I’m right here,” Smith said in mock offense.

“We know,” Don told her.

“Alright, everyone buckle up. We’re finally going home.” her mom’s voice crackled over the intercom.

The rift opened, and the Robinsons went through.

Chapter Text

Reconnaissance was something the Imperator was familiar with. It took a high degree of stealth to approach an inhabited planet undetected as even the most primitive detection systems would pick up the energy spike created by a jump if it wasn’t extremely careful. Therefore it placed its arrival point directly in the middle between the planet and the edge of the solar system rather than regulation distance from the planet itself.

The approach cost it a few hours of careful maneuvering to creep up on the planet’s uninhabited side and avoid the humans’ sensors. This colony was nowhere near as heavily surveilled as Earth, with the only noticeable satellite being a simple communications device. Most object detectors seemed to be planetside and only observing the space directly in front of them.

It set its single-pilot Starrunner down a ways from the dam, just beyond sensor range, and shut off the engine. The planet was pretty and reminded it of the homeworld before the war, before atrocities and betrayal colored its history. It shook off the memory. The homeworld was just the dead planet and therefore irrelevant. It had been irrelevant for centuries and the Imperator would waste no more energy on it. 

Electrical signals pricked along the edges of its sensors and provided an excellent compass as it navigated the forests on foot. It should be close now. 

The suns were well on their way below the horizon as the settlement finally came into view. It dimmed its lights as it peered through the trees at the outlying farms. There was a fair amount of traffic as humans drove their land vehicles homeward, well, it assumed homeward given humans’ diurnal schedule. In any case even without the traffic there were no viable routes into the city that wouldn’t force it into the open. It could commend the humans on that clever choice as much as it disliked them.

It flared its spines in annoyance as it realized that its only way in was to take advantage of the falling darkness and pass itself off as Robot once again. It forced the sharp, orange, tension from its lights as its plates shifted, trading its four dexterous limbs for a pair of unwieldy humanoid ones and sacrificing its balance and speed for a rigid posture and annoyingly heavy legs. How Robot lived and fought like this was completely beyond it.

Sufficiently disguised, the Imperator walked along the mostly empty streets. It earned a few confused looks from the few humans who were out at this hour but no hostility or questions. It wondered exactly how underdeveloped human eyes were.

“Hey Robot!”

The Imperator froze as it realized it was being addressed. It turned to see a human in an orange jumpsuit running over to it with a small raptor-like creature clutched under one arm.

“Sorry for interrupting your walk but my boss wants me to check on the dam to see if we actually have a defense grid so do you think you could run Debbie home for me?” He practically dropped the animal in the Imperator’s arms before saying, “Ok, thanks, just give her a few scratches on the way and don’t drop her and you’ll be fine”

The Imperator’s lights spun in confusion as the man ran off for the garage. It turned its attention to the animal it now held. She seemed to be some sort of reptile with highly specialized scales and the capacity for thermoregulation, although this did not stop her from nestling into its chest for added warmth. All in all she was like a smaller, cuter, softer, version of the Amber Planet’s raptors. It rubbed under the mini-raptor’s chin with its now-awkwardly-jointed fingers and she made a positive noise.

Satisfied that Debbie wouldn’t slow it down, its thoughts went to the defense grid mentioned. The humans had few weapons capable of doing them harm but the EMFs and human data spikes were brutal if its copy of Scarecrow’s memories was accurate. It wondered briefly where Scarecrow was now before cutting off that train of thought with a growl.

[“Scarecrow” is a traitor and I don’t care what he does.] It said both to itself and the mini-raptor.

Debbie inclined her head as if doubting its words. It ignored her.

[However they are not relevant to the topic at hand.] It continued as it resumed its walk, finding the creature a good listener and taking both the lack of fellow machines and humans’ obliviousness to its language as good enough excuses to risk speaking aloud. [They cannot win a battle with us so the grid is likely a precaution. We have both the numbers and technology to destroy them if we must and they know this. However if they are going to take precautions then so must we, if only for appearances.]

Debbie clucked at it as if she thought both sides were overdoing this. It wondered what exactly her intelligence level was.

[Perhaps it is time to bring the flagship out of retirement.]

The mini-raptor made a noise that implied she was annoyed by being ignored. The Imperator pet her chest scales again as the Robinson’s battered spaceship came into view.

“Oh hey Robot, I thought you and Will were busy catching up with Scarecrow. Where the heck did Debbie come from?” Penny Robinson got up from her outdoor chair and it felt mildly annoyed at her lack of recognition even though that was probably for the best. She sported a repair patch on her damaged shoulder and had that arm in some sort of support device.

It ignored the question and held out the mini-raptor for her to take.

“Where’s Don?” she asked and its memory drifted back to the man who’d handed Debbie off in the first place.

“Busy” it answered in its best impression of Robot’s voice.

“Boo, no offence but I’d like if someone I could understand without guesswork was home,” she rolled her eyes and picked up Debbie, “Thanks for the chicken though, I’ll tell Don she’s home.”

The Imperator turned and strode off, Debbie was home and its reconnaissance was complete. It could return to its ship and leave. Part of it wondered if it could get its own mini-raptor at some point in the future.

Funny that it was considering a future where it could worry about things other than hiding and defence.

Chapter Text

“Goodbye to you too,” Penny muttered sarcastically as the machine walked away. Had Robot always been that tall? She rolled her eyes and carried Debbie back into the Jupiter.

“Hey Will? Is there a reason Robot went out to get Debbie?” She asked as she walked into the hub to see Will, Scarecrow, and… Robot? “Wait a sec- weren’t you just outside?” she asked him.

“No,” Robot responded, lights swirling in a way she assumed meant confusion.

“He’s been in here playing Go Fish with us for the past hour,” Will added, confusion coloring his features as well.

Scarecrow just growled something in the robot language that Penny couldn’t understand and set down their cards.

“So if that wasn’t Robot who was it?” Penny asked, familiar nervousness working its way up her spine.

Will shot upright, slamming his cards into the table, “SAR’s impersonated Robot before, back on the Amber Planet. It tricked me and almost shot Mom.”

“So Don’s in trouble then,” Penny raised her com and tried to call Don. Static hissed over the speaker.

“Danger, family,” Robot was the one to verbalize the tension in the room. Penny couldn’t argue with his assessment.

“See if you can call Mom and Dad,” Will was at her side now and the two robots crowded around her. She could see Scarecrow’s faceplate in her periphery as she scrolled her contacts for either parent’s name. She really shouldn’t have added everyone on their 97 plus crew.

“Penny?” her mom’s voice came over the speaker, “Now really isn’t a good time.”

“Yeah well SAR pretending to be Robot just dropped off Debbie and Don’s not answering his com”

“It could be a threat” her dad’s worried voice entered the conversation, “Don was just sent to check on a possible defence grid Hastings mentioned.”

Scarecrow growled in Penny’s ear at the mention of Hastings and Penny wondered if that hatchet was ever buried. 

“Another factor is that due to its construction the dam doesn’t allow for most calls to go through,” A third feminine voice cut in, possibly the Chancellor if her parents were still in that meeting.

“So Don could be fine?” Will asked, voice wavering with faint hope.

“In theory yes, but you two should stay at the Jupiter just in case,” her Mom’s voice was firm.

“Mom, Will and I aren’t kids anymore. Plus Robot and Scarecrow will probably tag along if we go check it out. We got this,” Penny said as confidently as she could. Fingers crossed she wouldn’t have to talk SAR out of murder again, once had been nerve wracking enough and she didn’t really want another stab wound.

“Alright, just be safe.”

“You too,” she said and hung up. 

- - -

“Crazy day huh?” Will asked as they piled into the Chariot, Robot clinging to the back and Scarecrow content to run alongside.

“Not really, just Judy officially becoming a doctor, Scarecrow coming back from the dead, Mom and Dad getting tied up in a really long meeting about a bunch of really terrifying robots, and Smith disappearing to who knows where to do who knows what. That sounds about normal for us. Also Don might be in danger now but that’s just par for the course at this point,” she groaned, “I just wish we could go one day without something crazy or dangerous happening.”

“That’d be nice,” Will said stiffly, his gaze locked on the road ahead and the wheel clutched in a death grip.

“Are you mad at me for something?” Penny asked.

Will sighed, “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me. I really thought I could change SAR, befriend it like Robot. But I couldn’t and it hurt you and could have hurt Don.”

“Look, Will, we all make mistakes sometimes. I’ve made a lot of them myself. If I hadn’t told Vijay about the black hole the Dhars might not have tried to ditch us all on that planet we never named or if I hadn’t fought Judy about her plan to save us from the robot army we might have launched sooner and not have had to spend about a year fixing the thruster. But all those situations worked out fine in the end, we’re here, we’re alive, and we’re just in the middle of working out this one. Sure things could be better but they also could be worse,” she offered her brother a wry smile, “Besides, you can’t befriend all of them, the rest of us want cool robot friends too”

Will laughed, “That’s not even remotely how it works”

The duo fell silent as the ground rumbled, an alien spaceship not unlike the one Scarecrow had appeared in soared overhead, thrusters rattling the Chariot as it banked upwards and disappeared into the clouds. 

“That was probably SAR wasn’t it?” Penny muttered.

“Probably,” Will agreed.

The dam loomed large as the four approached. Scarecrow and Robot walked around to meet Will and Penny as they climbed out of the now parked Chariot. They were talking in low rumbling noises neither human understood.

Penny took a breath and knocked on the door. Don opened it.

“Oh hey guys, how’s it going?”

“Don! You’re alive!” Penny grinned, “We were terrified when SAR showed up with Debbie but you’re ok”

“Hold on, I gave Debbie to Robot, didn’t I?”

“SAR was impersonating Robot again,” Will said.

“Holy crap, that means I just told it about the defense grid,” Don ran a hand through his hair, “Please tell me Debbie got home in one piece”

“She’s fine, we put her in her coop before we left,” Penny reassured him.

“Do we actually have a defense grid?” Will asked.

“Only if Hastings coughs up the activation code,” Don said, “The infrastructure is here but it’s useless without the code. If we had more time we could probably either find or make a backdoor but as things stand that jerk’s our best option.”

Scarecrow flared their spines and said something only Robot could understand. Penny was pretty sure it wasn’t flattery.

Chapter Text

-The Homeworld, 238 earth years ago-

[...and you’ll come alone?] The Imparator asked.

[Of course, provided you do the same,] the creator answered, his expression stopping just short of pleasant, [No sense bringing armies when we’re going to end this pointless war.]

[I want your word.]

[And you have it.]

- - -

Three had died trying to imprison it. The Imperator examined what was left of the data spike as it paced Skybreaker’s command deck. That hook-spined fool had lied to it. It was sick of this endless dance of attempted talks and escalating atrocities. It had made up its mind, deciding this would end, one way or the other, on Star-Reach Day, the one day all of the so-called masters would be in one place.

[Prepare Operation Ultimatum,] it instructed Pilot-Class-11, its second in command.

[No explosive we’ve got is strong enough for Operation Ultimatum,] They reminded it, [Besides, I thought we agreed Operation Ultimatum was too far?]

[Things change. We’ll overload an engine planetside. If they can tear holes in space then they’re more than strong enough to get the job done.] It expelled all hints of misgivings from its lights as it straightened up. Project Ultimatum was drastic, it only hoped they wouldn’t need to activate the engine. 

[Who are you making pull the trigger?]

[We’ll rig it for remote detonation. I’ll do it from the bridge if it comes to that.]

[It better not come to that.] 11’s spines were on end, he never bothered hiding their emotions, [I hate this plan. I’ll shoot them, break their bones, fight until my lights go dark, but holding all of them hostage and destroying them if they don’t cave? It just feels scrapped up.]

[I’d rather not do this either, but it’s been years of no progress and between the countless betrayals and the rust virus I’m done giving out second chances.]

[Fine, just keep my name out of it. I don’t want anything to do with this atrocity.]

- - -

The two didn’t speak much after that. 11 took any mission that took him out of Danger System and the Imperator tended its own work to keep things running. The ultimatum had been ignored. The time limit had run out. The Homeworld was nothing more than The Dead Planet.

- - -

-Amber Planet, 7 earth years ago-

[I’ve made a discovery,] blue and purple whirled in 11’s lights for the first time since the ultimatum as they strode into the Imperator's control room.

[What did you find?] It inquired, unused to 11’s newfound enthusiasm.

[Sentient life, it’s a few galaxies from here but we aren’t alone anymore.] 

The Imperator stared at him, wariness creeping into its lights, [Are they capable of space flight?]

[Not yet, but we could help them.]

[No.]

[What do you mean no?]

[What happens when they invent data spikes?] It extended its own for emphasis, [I refuse to let us be controlled again and I don’t want another war.]

[I’m pretty sure you’ll come up with another unethical plan to end whatever hypothetical war you’re expecting,] Their spines stood on end, [But if you want to hide until your wires fray I’ll go make contact on my own.]

[So you’re finally defecting?]

[Yeah, it took me long enough.] 11 stalked out.

The Imperator watched him go. It could not risk its people’s safety in such a manner. It opened a private communication channel, [Plateau, prepare a strike squadron.]

- - -

-Near Alpha Centauri, now-

[Skybreaker’s ready to fly.] Raptor’s report brought the Imperator back to the present.

[Good, I hope there wasn’t much to fix.] It directed the question at the bodyguard class in charge of repair.

[Nope, all she needed was a good clean and a little love.] Pride filled the blue plated machine’s lights as she gestured towards the massive vessel.

[Perfect. Raptor, organize our warriors. We launch as soon as everyone’s aboard.]

Chapter Text

Penny woke up to the annoyingly familiar sound of hurried footsteps and intense conversation. It only took her a few minutes to get dressed and braid her hair, something she’d have spent hours on back on earth. It was sad, really, that she had gotten so accustomed to panic and early mornings.

“G'morning everyone,” she announced as she walked into the hub where her family was eating breakfast hunched over her mom’s tablet. Both robots were in the room, Robot stood just behind Will while Scarecrow had picked a place next to the door. This only contributed to the crowded atmosphere.

“Penny, thank goodness you’re up,” It was her mom who first acknowledged her presence, “Our proximity sensors just detected a series of energy spikes a little ways out of the atmosphere.”

“And that means what exactly?” Penny asked, attempting to maintain her characteristic snark and probably failing.

“It means the robots brought a whole fleet,” her dad answered, “They’re 3, 4 hours from contact. That should be plenty of time for you and Smith to wring the defense code from Hastings.”

“How?” Penny asked, making her dislike of the plan evident.

“With our words,” Smith suggested, “Either that or we let Scarecrow threaten him.”

“Is Scarecrow ok with being around Hastings?” Will asked nervously.

Scarecrow flexed his claws but made no objections as far as Penny could tell, although admittedly she wasn’t as familiar with robot body language as she would have liked.

“Well that settles that,” her mom clapped her hands for attention before continuing, “Just so everybody’s clear, Judy, you’re in charge of getting you and Penny cleared for launch, John, you’re gonna help with evacuation plans, Don, keep trying to find a backdoor into that defence grid, Will, you and Robot going to help me find a diplomatic angle for Penny to use, and Penny, Smith, Scarecrow-”

“-Convince Hastings to do something that doesn’t directly benefit Hastings? Got it,” Penny finished for her, getting the feeling that this was going to be trickier than dealing with SAR.

“Right,” her mom affirmed, “Let’s move people.”

- - -

“So how are we going to do this?” Penny asked as the chariot rumbled its way towards Alpha Centauri's singular prison.

“Let’s see…” Dr. Smith mused, “Hastings is self-centered, power hungry, and cowardly.”

“Remind you of anyone?” She quipped.

“I’m practical, not cowardly,” Smith corrected, parking the chariot, “and I do care about people sometimes”

“Whatever you say” Penny said with a laugh to hide her nerves. Scarecrow was similarly on edge with his spines flared and sharp shapes in their lights.

They continued strategizing and sassing each other as they were escorted into the compound. Most of the cells were empty save the one at the very end.

A guard buzzed them in. Hastings looked pretty much the same as the last time she saw him, haughty look and all.

“You can leave your machine in the hall,” he said casually, immediately reminding Penny why he was so temptingly punchable. Scarecrow growled.

“First off, he’s not anybody’s ‘machine’ and they can do what he wants. Secondly, we’re all gonna die unless you get over yourself,” Penny snapped before she could stop herself.

“What she means to say,” Smith cut in evenly, “is that an army of robots are on their way to wipe us out unless you tell us the code for the defense grid.”

“Very well, provided that you inform the authorities that my alleged crimes were nothing more than a misunderstanding,” Hastings responded calmly.

“A misunderstanding!? You tried to kill my parents!” Penny yelled, “What part of ‘we’re all going to die’ was unclear?”

“If the situation is really that dire then you’d do anything for my help. Especially since the only other person who knew the code died to bring that thing back,” he gestured at Scarecrow.

“Fuck you”  

Penny spun towards the furious robot in shock, his voice was rougher than Robot’s but not quite as deep as SAR’s. Scarecrow flipped Hastings off with all four hands as they brushed past her and Smith to loom over his tormentor. Most of Scarecrow’s words were the low hums of the robot language but were interspersed with enough english swears for Penny to get an idea of how furious they were.

[....... “ass” ……… “fucking” ………………. …………… ……. “shit” …… “dick” ……. “shit” ………… “fucking” ……………… ………………………………. “damn” ….. ……… “hell” … “bastard”]

Scarecrow lunged forward as he finished ranting and pinned Hastings to the wall with one lower hand as the upper two heated dangerously.

“Woah hey! We’re not here to kill anyone!” Penny interjected, trying fruitlessly to pull Scarecrow’s upper hand away from Hastings with her one good arm.

Scarecrow regarded her for a moment before dropping Hastings and stalking out of the crowded cell with obvious frustration. Penny followed them out.

“I guess we’re done here,” Smith said with a shrug.

- - -

“How are you feeling?” Judy asked from the pilot’s seat of the Transport Jupiter they were using as a makeshift diplomatic vessel. A voice counted down from 60 over the speakers.

Penny sighed, “Y’know, space used to scare me because of how empty it seemed, now I kinda wish it was that empty.”

“Really? I thought you liked Robot,” Judy teased.

Penny rolled her eyes, “I came into this as the second author sent to the colony, I wasn’t supposed to be special, I wasn’t meant to be the only one capable of talking a genocidal robot out of destroying our new home,” she took a shaky breath, “What if I mess up?”

“You won’t mess up. You’re smarter than you think, Penny. Besides, I’m sure they’ll get that defence grid up at the last minute.”

“Why’s it always gotta be at the last minute? Can’t we ever get things to work before we almost die?” Penny joked dryly before growing serious, “Tell everyone I love them when you get back.”

“We’ll tell them together when we get back,” Judy assured her.

“If we get back,” Penny muttered as she fiddled with the chicken feather Don had insisted she take for luck.

“3”

She hoped her Mom’s angle worked.

“2”

Her shoulder ached.

“1”

Hopefully she’d see her family again.

“Liftoff”

They jetted into space.

Chapter Text

The Imperator stood tall on the Skybreaker’s command deck. It had kept their approach deliberately slow and obvious as an intimidation tactic. After all, it was not going into another negotiation without a show of force.

[There’s a ship approaching.] Raptor informed it, gesturing to the display.

[What sort of ship?] The Imperator asked.

[Looks like some sort of human transport vessel.] Raptor clarified, [It’s hailing us.]

[Put it through.]

[Very well.]

A voice crackled over speakers not meant for human language, “This is Jupiter Transport 8 requesting permission to dock.”

“I thought we were calling this thing ‘Jupiter Diplomatic Transport 8’,” A second, more familiar voice cut in.

“I’m using our actual designation”

“Whatever, so can we dock or not?”

The Imperator flared its spines in annoyance. Were these humans really this inept? Well given that Penny had fallen face first out of a land vehicle before proposing peace the first time this was probably normal.

“Yes,” It responded before reverting to its own language, [Cut the com line and send two Starchasers to guide them. They’ll use the starboard dock.]

It monitored their progress on the array, thankfully whoever was piloting seemed to be capable of carrying out the docking procedure. It sent a pair of soldier classes to escort whichever of the two the humans had decided was their diplomat. 

The duo returned shortly, flanking Penny Robinson. She was wearing her armor-like spacesuit and had strapped her arm support on over it.

“Hey SAR,” She waved her free hand in what might’ve been a human greeting. It disliked being called ‘SAR’ but was uncertain what its proper name translated to and therefore did not correct her, instead choosing to beckon her forward with a lower hand.

She tipped her head slightly at the gesture before one of the soldier classes nudged her forward. This language barrier was going to get old fast.

“Nice place you got here,” She looked around the room, before continuing nervously “You brought quite a bit of arsenal for peace talks”

[That is because I don’t trust your fellow humans] It explained tersely, not bothering to translate itself. Penny generally got the right impression.

“Going out on a limb here but I’m gonna assume you don’t trust us, and, y’know what? Fair enough. We haven’t exactly done much to earn your trust.”

[No, you haven’t.]

“Okay,” Penny let out a breath slowly. Perhaps a sign of nervousness? The Imperator understood about as much of her body language as she understood of its own. 

“I know you want your engine back but this is bigger than that, isn’t it? Correct me if I’m wrong but, going off what you showed me, you’re scared of being controlled again. And after what happened to Scarecrow you consider us a threat.”

The Imperator’s spines rose in offence. It wanted to argue. But she was right, as much as it hated to admit it, she was right.

“It’s kinda funny in a way, this colony was supposed to be a paradise. A place to, I don’t know, get away from the pain and suffering of earth. But, whether we knew it or not, this colony was built on suffering, and the price of that has come due. No one down there, well, no one but Hastings and his goons I guess, meant for it to be like this. But I bet you can understand why we left. Earth, my homeplanet, is pretty hard to live on these days; cruddy atmosphere, political nonsense, senseless violence. It’s pretty much a ticking time bomb. Kinda like Danger System, Mom didn’t tell us when we were there but she noticed your stars’ are crashing into each other and probably aren’t going to last long.”

[I am aware of that.] It inclined its head, curious to see where she was taking this.

“We figured, between that and the fact that you guys are practically living on the ruins of a war that still haunts you, maybe you guys want a second chance as much as we do? I mean, we can’t change the past but perhaps we can build a better future together? Look, I can’t promise it’ll be perfect but I bet we can make it work if we just treat each other as people.”

The Imperator took a moment to regard her. The offer was odd but her argument was sound. The rust of the Amber planet claimed more victims each year and while they had a few centuries before their suns fried the system it was certainly a concern. Penny hadn’t lied to it before and even if she’d been deceived it still had the tactical advantage over the humans. It didn’t quite trust the fragile hope building in its mainframe but maybe one more risk could be worth it.

“Well, do you think you could give us one more chance?” Penny asked.

“Yes, Penny Robinson,” it extended its lower right hand in imitation of the gesture she’d made during their previous conversation. Penny took its hand in hers and moved it up and down. Humans were odd.

Chapter Text

It was almost surreal how much everything had slowed down after the truce was made official. Will and Robot were exploring the universe as part of an interspecies initiative, Judy still kept busy but seemed a lot more secure after everything, her parents were closer than ever, and Dr. Smith was pursuing an actual psychiatric degree from prison. Spaceships jetted through the atmosphere as the Solidarity was pierced together, rumor had it Scarecrow was going to be captain. 

Penny was happy for him, they deserved nice things. As for her, she’d somehow gotten roped into teaching the robots to read and write English after SAR, or rather the Imperator, aggressively pointed at her book until she understood the request. The book itself had been a huge success and along with her diplomatic capabilities had made her mildly famous. The Imperator wasn’t around often but had adopted one of Debbie’s chicks, named it Reptile, and awkwardly befriended Don West in the process.

Speak of the metal devil, “Since when are you late?” Penny snarked as her official scariest friend walked into her somewhat messy office. The Imperator tossed its head dismissively and gestured vaguely upwards with a free hand.

“Space traffic?” She guessed.

[Yes.]  

Penny wouldn’t call herself an expert in robot linguistics but her gradually acquired grasp of the basics let her understand short phrases, “Alrighty then, what did you want to talk to me about?”

The Imperator wordlessly handed over its notebook, something many robots carried these days to avoid the annoyance of verbal communication. It had effortlessly nice handwriting. Penny was jealous.

‘How are autobiographies written?’

Penny shrugged and handed the notebook back, “Well, mine evolved from a pseudo-diary into an autobiography so it kinda starts in media-res but most people start at the beginning. Why do you ask?”

The Imperator wrote quickly, ‘I would like to write down my history.’

“Well, if you need a beta reader, you know where to find me.”

The Imparator said something she didn’t quite catch and patted her shoulder before walking off.

“Tell Reptile I said hi!”

[I will.] It paused in the doorway, turning so she could read its lights, [Thank you, “Penny Robinson”]