The Carl Sagan was part of their plans, perhaps when they lost control of it they gave up and returned to wherever they came from, she thought, after all, nobody said the evil plans of alien invaders had to make sense, dragon invaders at that. She went to nurse her third drink for the night when Boyd took a seat next to her. Why is he always around when I need to relax? She thought, then asked. “Boyd, you following me?”
“I’ve been to sixteen funerals today,” he said, pointing out the fact that most people in the bar were part of the military. “Looks like everyone else in here had to do the same or more.”
“If you’re here to talk about my mother,” Chevallier grumbled.
“I’m not, I’m here to drink,” Boyd said. “But since we’re here, I might as well offer you something I’ve been thinking of.”
“And what would that be?”
“You kicked some serious ass back in Geneva using outdated equipment, and while it took a while, you got a good handle on some of our gear too without any formal training. I’m going to be straight up with you. The Hammerheads are gone, Chevallier, you’re the only one left. Why not join us in EDF?”
She snorted. “What’s in it for me?”
“You’ll get the best training, the best equipment, the best teams, and, most importantly, the chance to strike back at the invaders.”
“Aren’t you guys supposed to operate out in deep space?”
“Yeah, the Robert Borden just happened to be close to a wormhole that connected to Sol when the attack started, so we went in to lend a hand. We’re going to stick around and help mop up the last of the invaders still on Earth, but after that? We’re goin’ back out into space, and we’re going to be hunting for them, wherever they came from.”
Boyd’s offer created a new option she thought about pursuing but was convinced would never happen, not without HNI. That option was revenge.
Chevallier slid her glass of beer out of sight, across the bar. “What do I need to do to make this happen?”
“HNI upgrades.”
Well so much for that. She reached out to retrieve her beer.
“But we can hold out on that for now, you’ve already proven you can fight well without them,” Boyd added.
Her hand stopped before the cold glass as her eyebrow lifted and her face projected a tell-me-more glare.
Boyd smirked. “And . . . I won’t lie, we got a new mission coming up, ain’t gonna have time to put you in for surgery.”
“Basically, what you’re saying is.” Chevallier licked her lips. “You have a mission coming up; you’re shorthanded and need me to fill that spot.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” Chevallier’s mouth roared with laughter, she needed that. “So, you in?”
Chevallier turned her back on the glass of beer. “I’m in.”
ESV Robert Borden
Earth orbit, Sol system
August 7, 2118, 07:27 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Boyd and Maxwell led Chevallier down a stylish and reasonably lit corridor of the Robert Borden. They entered an empty cube-shaped room where the walls, floors, and ceiling were covered with a grid of lines upon lines, it was the simulator room.
She joined the two at a weapons rack in the corner in which an assortment of pistols, rifles, and sniper rifles hung. Next to the rack was a closet-like storage chamber that held various suits of combat armor. Boyd slipped into his MK.V EDF protect suit while Maxwell selected several pieces of cybernetic equipment Chevallier knew nothing about and plugged them into the numerous sockets grafted onto his arms, legs, and chest, and wrapped his hands inside a pair of mechanical gloves.
Chevallier was up next. She outfitted herself with the same protect suit Boyd wore and listened as he gave her a quick rundown of the protect suit’s abilities and how to use them since she lacked HNI. Chevallier moved her arms about while in the suit, it was lightweight and felt almost as if she was still in her uniform. The protect suit was nowhere near as bulky as the Hammerhead combat armor she’d spent countless hours in. Once activated, the protect suit shrank to fit her figure and resembled the wetsuit-like appearance Boyd’s did, while the lights on the sides and storage slots around her waist lit up.
Boyd picked up a rifle off the weapon rack, the same one she had used on the surface to defeat the Dragon Knight.
“This is the ARMP2-1, standard issue rifle for all UNE forces,” he said, handing the rifle to her. Boyd reached for another rifle of a different design and held it out for her to see. “And this is the PSI2-1, a psionic rifle.” Boyd handed it to Maxwell.
“That’s the piece-of-shit gun that wouldn’t work,” Chevallier spat.
“It did work,” Boyd said. “Psionic rifles are designed to receive psionic energy from its user, then convert into pulses of psionic projectiles.”
“Human psionics took a slightly different evolutionary path compared to Radiance and Hashmedai,” said Maxwell. “Hashmedai psionics create extremely hot fireballs, and Radiance ones can forge plasma balls within their hands. Us? Well, we haven’t figured out how to activate that level of sorcery yet, not constantly at least. What we did figure out was how to channel that same psionic power they used into these rifles, turning them into variable energy rifles.”
“Variable?” Chevallier asked.
Maxwell stepped forward with his rifle in hand as three holographic training dummies flashed into existence at the far side of the simulator room. He stood with confidence and took aim at the three side-by-side holograms.
“Incineratay.” Maxwell’s psionic rifle erupted with red burning spheres, burning the first dummy.
“Cryonic.” His rifle sprayed pulses of freezing white and blue energy. It was cold enough to encase the second dummy with a thick layer of ice and make Chevallier’s face twitch from the frigid air.
“And finally, the arc disruptor.” The same electrical beam LeBoeuf had used discharged. It wasn’t the same nonstop flow of electrical beams, however, but rather steady bursts of bright lightning bolts.
Boyd joined the two, activating his rifle. “Alright, let’s get this shit started.”
The empty room morphed into the interior of a ship of Hashmedai design. Everything about it looked legit, from the feel of the walls, the smell, even the cold air. It felt as if they had just been teleported off the ship onto another.
Maxwell winced at Boyd. “Leviathan again, sir?”
Boyd smirked. “You know it.”
The three charged into the holographic simulation and gunned down Hashmedai warriors that appeared with their two-handed plasma swords cleaving left to right. Easy targets for the three and their rifles firing simulated rounds as they were automatically set for training mode.
With the first wave of simulated Hashmedai defeated, they sauntered into the enormous bridge of the ship known as the Leviathan. Boyd pointed at its forward windows, directing Chevallier to the stunning space battle outside. She saw what appeared to be a coalition of Radiance, Hashmedai, and UNE ships engaged in battle. The battling ships were all of a familiar design. They were ships that were in service when she was around. Chevallier even managed to spot the Wilfrid Laurier, her mother’s ship at the time, and Chevallier’s previous post before the Carl Sagan.
“This is a recreation of the battle of Barnard’s Star seventy-eight years ago,” Boyd said to her. “My team boarded this ship, the Leviathan, a Celestial Order-built dreadnaught that operated under the Hashmedai Empire’s flag. I like to come back to this battle now and then to sharpen my skills.”
“It’s also controversial.” Maxwell snickered.
“Please,” Boyd said, rolling his eyes, and facing away from the battle outside. “And what simulators do you use, Maxwell?”
“Good ol’ Vietnam.”
Boyd countered. “Yeah, running and gunning down Vietcong soldiers, fellow humans I might add, with psionic weapons and powers from the twenty-second century. Some would say that’s anti-human.”
“And those that want peace with the Has
hmedai would say this is anti-Hashmedai,” Maxwell finished.
The simulator continued with the next level. Hashmedai warriors and plasma riflemen stormed their position on the bridge. The three dove and rolled into cover behind a computer workstation and removed threat after threat with their training rounds.
The second wave of simulated targets materialized from teleportation light, a Hashmedai psionic with warrior and guardian bodyguards. Maxwell and Boyd focused their attention on the warriors and guardians that attempted to pull them away from their cover. Chevallier glanced over her cover, aiming her rifle at the psionic. It was a perfect chance to show the two what the relic from the past could do.
Chevallier trotted from cover to cover across the computer-station littered bridge and relied on her training in the navy, always stay mobile when facing a psionic. The more you move, the harder it was for them to lock their telekinetic abilities onto you. If you stayed still too long, the psionic would ensure you remain still for all of eternity.
Her rifle discharged as her feet made her move in circles around her focused adversary. The added mobility of the protect suit made it easier for her to leap away from the white fireballs the psionic conjured and hurled at her. Every bullet that ricocheted off its psionic barrier made its mind weaker and brought it closer to defeat.
Or, so she thought.
Blue light temporarily blinded her. When the light had faded, and her eyesight returned to normal, she heard the laughs of two Hashmedai psionics from behind. Two new unexpected targets joined the battle, and before she could turn to react they vanished, and a loud noise buzzed.
“What the hell?” Chevallier groaned.
“You got gangbanged by three psionics,” Maxwell said. “You are now dead.”
“The barrier for the first one wasn’t dropping,” Chevallier protested.
“Wanna see something cool?” Boyd said, waving her back to their cover. Once in place, he called out. “EVE, restart simulation.”
The simulation replayed from the level they were on, the same psionic teleported in with a group of warriors, guardians, and riflemen. Boyd drew her attention to the holographic window floating above the barrel of her gun. “This is a two-in-one weapon, right now it’s selected to fire magnetically accelerated slugs at the target . . . well simulated ones of course.”
“Just like my eRifle.”
“No, these slugs travel much faster, but similar concept.” Chevallier examined the screen, and then remembered her experience with the rifle. Tapping the icon on it switched its firing mode. She selected the particle-beam option and felt the gears within it switch. “Try hitting that psionic now.”
Chevallier returned to the holographic fray, firing particle beams of energy rather than bullets. The beams of white-hot ions crashed into the psionic barrier and shattered it after three direct hits, and then vaporized after one shot struck its unprotected and exposed cybernetic chest.
“That was fucking awesome!” Chevallier triumphantly cried out.
The two psionics that got the jump on her from the last attempt appeared moments later. Her particle beams made short work of one target but gave out when it came to dispatching the second. Maxwell’s flaming orbs from his rifle came in for the save, turning the last psionic target into flames and ash, and completed the level.
“You need to be careful while using the particle beam,” Boyd said. “It creates a lot of heat and will drain your battery fast. The trick is, if you are facing a target with strong shields or a psionic barrier, use the particle beam to take down their shields, and then switch back to bullets to finish them off.”
Chevallier made a mental note of their tips and sought a way to combine it with her somewhat outdated training from the past.
“Saves you from overheating or swapping batteries in the middle of combat,” Maxwell added. “The old tactics of having to stay mobile while fighting a psionic get thrown out the window.”
“Well, not completely,” Boyd said. “If you stand still long enough they will still throw you around if your shields are low enough.”
“That’s where I come in,” Maxwell said, holding his rifle, now glowing with a mystifying field of purple waves. “Remember, my rifle is powered by my powers, I can shoot energy-based projectiles at targets all day as long as my brain hasn’t turned to mush. Throw in my other powers, and the battle can easily swing in our favor.”
They remained in the simulator for three more hours, clearing new levels, competing for high scores, sharing laughs, and even dipped into Maxwell’s Vietnam War simulation for kicks. They left after working up enough sweat for the day and went to make their way to their quarters for the evening.
In the corridors, Chevallier overheard several Marines talk about experiencing issues with their HNI during some battles on the surface. One group talked about how their HNI caused them to black out, nearly getting them killed.
“I hear people talk about HNI a lot,” Chevallier said.
“Holographic Neural Interface,” Boyd said. “Cybernetic implants you’ll need to get, it’s very important in life.”
Chevallier squirmed at the thought. “Don’t like the idea of someone jamming a device in my head.”
“It is what it is,” Boyd said. “As you know, psionics need cybernetics to enhance their powers including a chip in their brain.”
“That’s nothing new, Radiance and Hashmedai psionics in my time did that,” Chevallier said.
“And now, so do human psionics,” Boyd said. “Once we got our hands on the tech, we took it one step further and created implants for everyday use.” He flicked his wrist, out from it popped a projection that looked like a phone dial pad. “Remember smart phones from the early twenty-first century? Basically, we found a way to put it inside our heads and more. With HNI we can access the internet, make phone calls, read, learn, communicate, and activate holographic windows just by thinking about it.”
“Everyone gets them at a young age since it’s a vital part of the education system,”
Maxwell said. “School teachers don’t point at blackboards anymore; they beam that information into the heads of their students via HNI.”
Just like that, the future seemed slightly less desirable to her. “I think I’ll pass.”
“You’ll need it if you plan on staying in the military,” Boyd said. “It’s mandatory since it allows you to link your rifle and combat armor computers to your head and access a shitload of military HNI applications we all use.”
Chevallier snorted. “Your HNI wasn’t much help when that Dragon Knight attacked us.”
Boyd grimaced and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah . . . well.”
“She’s got you there, sir, we’re alive because she wasn’t wired into the network,” Maxwell butted in. “Can’t hack someone if they don’t have anything to hack.”
“Military HNI are damn near unhackable,” Boyd said. “Not even Maraschino could do it, and they were offered billions of credits by the military if they could break it, they couldn’t.”
“Well then,” Chevallier said in a conceited manner. “Looks like I’m your secret weapon.”
15 Foster
Atrium Arm
Amicitia Station 14, Arietis system
August 7, 2118, 07:30 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Amicitia Station 14 was the largest space station in the quadrant, and the largest promise that a galactic cooperative community could be formed, a dream the UNE relentlessly sought to achieve over the last several decades. The station was human designed, built, and operated, and shared with aliens from across the cosmos. From a distance, the station appeared almost like a gigantic starfish made of white shiny metallic alloy, decorated with windows across it.
It quietly spun in the center of the Arietis system, at a position where light from the four stars, which made up this quandary system, were always drenching the colossal-sized station with light. There was no shortage of natural sunlight to those who lived on the station that wish
ed to seek it.
The largest wormhole hub in the galaxy existed several thousand kilometers away from the station, making it the central place for intergalactic trade. In addition to multiple wormholes that provided access to UNE space, there were wormholes that linked the Union-, Empire-, and Qirak-controlled space within the system. There was even a wormhole that linked the Morutrin system, though its existence had remained a controversy for some time. Pirates, exiles, slavers, and wanted criminals had a tendency to make the lawless Morutrin system their home, however, the resources found in that system and beyond were deemed too valuable for the galactic nations to pass up. Each wormhole was guarded by patrols of ships from their respective connection points.
The starfish-shaped station had five arms, each one dedicated for a specific purpose. One arm held habitat and lodging for members of the UNE. Inside were fifty levels of homes, parks, residential centers, and schools. It was a fully operational city in space. The Hashmedai and Radiance arms respectively, were built in a similar manner, offering a city built to the needs of their people who resided in it. The fourth arm was a UNE military base, the station was still considered to be UNE territory along with the system after all. The fifth and final arm was an atrium. Its intention was to be a place of neutral ground where visitors could stay, dock their ships, and purchase goods from the various markets. Residents from the three habitat arms were all granted access to the atrium, creating the unique opportunity for the diverse groups living on the station to mix and mingle. It was a sight Foster, Pierce, and Kostelecky couldn’t believe as they stood at the top of a fourth-floor balcony, deep within the marvels of the atrium.
Escalators carried humans, Hashmedai, Radiance races, and Qirak to their destinations. Elevators within glass tube shafts lifted up or down silently, as geysers of water from the fountains on the lower floors sprayed and created a spectacle for a human family to watch. Green plants decorated the perimeters of walkways, the same type of plants also spiraled down from the mind-blowingly high ceilings. Trees provided shade for the light and heat sensitive Hashmedai that went about their business, bars were stuffed with humans and aliens who sat and drank with each other, watching news broadcasts from across the galaxy.
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