April 13th, 2263. 08:30 CNS Vigilant – General’s Boardroom
Second Lieutenant John Lief was boiling inside. His anger was kept just barely under the surface but somehow, he hadn’t let slip to anyone how he was truly feeling. The hunt for Dr. Norman had not been going well. They had discovered eight bases that everyone presumed belonged to this enemy organization, but each one had been long abandoned.
A Commander that John neither knew nor cared about was talking about the next steps in the operation. Instead of paying attention, John was scrolling through a data slate. He was trying to find, desperately at this stage, some common link. The shipping company was an obvious option, but they didn’t know the client. Nor did the assemblers or planetary transporters. Or the purchasing corporation, nobody it seemed, knew anything.
“General Mizrahi, I’m sure you are aware that fleet command is wanting something actionable,” Lieutenant Commander Deborah Murphy, a special agent for Naval Intelligence, said sighing, “My deputy director has indicated that we have grave concerns over the number of resources that have been used to find what we have.”
General Uri Mizrahi sat at the head of the table. His anger was written on his face for all to see. Admiral William Nelson, the commanding officer of the CNS Vigilant, was much more measured in his approach. He spoke first.
“Commander, we are aware of the concerns Intelligence has of this operation. Our operation is to last at least eighteen months. We expect resources from our compatriots in NI to work with us until Fleet Command indicates otherwise.”
“NI is demanding proof of recent or current operations.”
“What have the NI surveys concluded about the six planets we forwarded you?” John asked without looking up as his focus was on a new data slate.
“It is still ongoing,” Murphy said dismissively, “It takes up to two to three weeks to get these planets.”
“Why not ask one of the other fleets to dispatch a ship that is currently nearer to the planets to do orbital scans?” John asked, “NI’s resources are limited compared to the core fleets.”
Admiral Nelson grinned, “I’m not sure why we didn’t do this before, but I’ll get into touch with my peers in Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Fleets for orbital scans.”
“I’m not sure…” Commander Murphy began to speak but was interrupted.
General Mizrahi unclenched his fists and looked at the NI agent, “We understand the concerns. In three months, Fleet Command is going to review our permit of sorts. I understand this feels like a wild goose chase, but we have solid proof that his organization operated in our space.”
“Technically, sir, we have a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence. But I don’t disagree with the assertion that they’ve been operating on our soil. But we don’t have any concrete proof of any current or former operations as of today. We need something more recent than eighteen to twenty-four months,” Murphy scanned the room but then gestured, “I will talk to the Deputy Director today and let him know that we need the task force for at least another three months. That should get him off my back.”
“Commander, would you be so kind to forward me the unredacted reports your teams here and back on Titan have uncovered? As we’re not actively planning an op, I have more free time than expected.”
“Lieutenant, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you are not…”
“Commander,” General Mizrahi said in a gravelly tone, “You will make the data available to him. He’s both cleared and not a security risk. His expertise and skills should be utilized”
“Understood, sir. Lieutenant Lief, you’ll have it by the top of the hour,” Murphy nodded sheepishly.
Admiral Nelson, “That concludes the meeting. Let’s hope our research moves this operation forward.”
The people filed out. John was amongst the first to leave the room. He headed back to his office in the Marine barracks that he was assigned to. John felt it odd that he spent more time with the marines rather than the Navy special forces or hell, the Navy crewmen onboard the ship.
9:45 CNS Vigilant – Marine Platoon 3 Command Offices
True to her word the research was unlocked and available for his eyes. John sat there motionless for twenty minutes reading everything. The screen scrolled through quickly, but everything John read he not only understood but retained with perfect clarity. That eidetic memory of his was a handy thing.
Chief Warrant Officer Jerad Olson, the primary technical advisor to the two platoons of Force Recon marines that John was in command of, and First Sergeant Erica Nielsen were looking into John’s open office door. They thought they were watching John without him noticing them.
“Y’all going to sit there and gawk or do you have something on your minds?” John said with a slightly sarcastic tone as he continued to stare at the screen.
“Sir, you looked like a statue,” Erica said bluntly.
“Yeah, that happens. What’s on your minds?” John said.
“Sir, we’ve heard rumors that this whole op is getting shut down soon,” Jerad said.
“Where are Derek and Daryl?” John asked.
“I’ll fetch them, sir,” Erica said before disappearing.
Moments later Erica came back with only Staff Sergeant Derek Lee. He looked annoyed for a moment to be pulled away from his duties. The annoyance disappeared instantly when he found out it was his commanding officer that wanted his attention, not Erica or Jerad.
“Daryl is otherwise occupied at the moment, sir,” Erica said calmly.
“Close the door and take a seat,” John said as he hid his screen and turned his chair to face them.
The three marines did as ordered and sat down in his office. None of them looked particularly comfortable in his office. John wasn’t either but he wasn’t about to admit that to them at this point. He sighed and then just gave them the blunt truth.
“Unless I completely misread the room. We have three months to get something of consequence. We already knew his organization was operating in our territory, but we need a current operation to put the screws to the Mercantilist government,” John shook his head, “Currently they’ll shrug and deny all the charges.”
“How are we going to accomplish the mission?” Jerad asked.
“I got access to the NI database,” John rubbed his eyes, “Hopefully I can find something of substance or a lead that was overlooked. In the meantime, the other fleets will likely have wings redirected to the worlds we think there are bases on. Too early to tell if we have anything or not.”
“What do you want us to do?” Erica asked.
“Continue drilling. I’ll be absent from that today. I need to nerd out over this… shit,” John shrugged as he gestured to his terminal.
His NCOs nodded and filed out of the room. John spent four more hours sifting through report after report. The agents on Titan were leaving no stone unturned. But Commander Murphy’s reports were left lacking. It was actually a bit frustrating reading her reports. Thankfully, her reports were highly sourced so he could click through and read the underlying reports. But it was frustrating that he had to read fifteen to twenty additional documents when he came upon one of her reports.
He took a short break and headed to the officer’s mess. Hot ham and cheese sandwiches with crinkle-cut fried potatoes and apple crisp were his lunch. The hall wasn’t that busy when John was there, and he didn’t see anyone that he knew well on the ship, so he sat by himself. He wasn’t in the mess for long and headed back to his office when the meal was done.
The afternoon was much like the morning. Roughly the same amount of frustration and annoyance was had reading the different reports. At least two out of every seven reports didn’t require reading all of the source material. Those reports didn’t come from the illustrious commander, those were written by analysts stationed on Titan.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
John leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes as he thought through everything but was interrupted by Sergeant Nielsen knocking on his open door, “Uhm, Lieutenant. Apologies for interrupting. You may want to come in and check this out.”
“Check out what?” John asked.
“You really need to see this, sir,” Erica said with unusual urgency in her voice.
“All right. I suppose I could us a break from the nerdry,” John said sarcastically as he stood up.
John shrugged as he followed the sergeant out of his office and into the platoon’s activity room. Usually, the room was rife with activity. It was empty, and worryingly quiet as well. The sergeant seemed to be itching to get into the platoon’s armor room.
John sauntered behind her as they walked through the room. When they got near the far side, they began to hear a chorus of voices. More than that though, there was a large commotion going on in the armor room. Erica couldn’t wait any longer and quickly ran through the doorway and joined the chorus.
John paused at the doorway and just stood there. In the middle of the room, there were supposed to be twenty power armor stations. They were bland grey rectangular boxes about eight feet tall by five feet wide. But they weren’t there anymore. Replacing them were twelve large blue boxes. Each box was lightly gilded and contained the platoon’s icon, a hand holding a lightning bolt.
John walked into the room and circled the boxes. At the far side of the room, the last one appeared to be his. The logo for this one was a bit different, the icon on this one contained the upside-down omega symbol, a symbol that Naval Intelligence uses frequently, but inside the empty space, the fist and lightning bolt appeared.
He smiled as he pressed the red button on the control terminal. None of the marines had done that yet, so the entire platoon, plus a few from the other platoons that were onboard shuffled over to where John was and tried to get a peak of the new kit.
“Well, color me surprised. I didn’t think these were done yet,” John said laughing as he looked in at the oversized reliquary, “Broadsword class heavy power armor.”
Erica pushed her way through the crowd, “There are twelve suits, sir.”
John turned and smiled as he gestured at the oversized reliquary behind him, “Well this suit is mine. I’m guessing the one at the opposite end is yours.”
“Pick ten others then, sir?”
John nodded.
Private First-Class Nathan Vaughn tapped one of the other reliquaries, “Got dibs on this one!”
Corporal Lukas Meyer eyed the private and spoke, in a very heavily German-accented tone, “That isn’t for you to decide, Private.”
“Damn straight,” Corporal Vanessa Katz said, “Besides, this one is mine.”
Lance Corporal Arianna Davidson could be seen hugging another reliquary. Sergeant Darryl Anderson, the junior sergeant of the three squads sat there shaking his head. The platoon members began bragging and talking big games amongst one another.
Derek Lee walked over to John, “This is going to be, and I’m speaking bluntly here, sir, a fucking shit show.”
John nodded as Jerad Olson spoke up, “You want me to help Erica with the selection, sir?”
“Please do, work with her on criteria but I want everyone qualified,” John said as he looked at and touched the different pieces of armor, “Good lord, this is some dense stuff. Triceramite alloy. What the fuck is that?”
Commander Robert Haywood grinned as he snuck up behind John, “It’s the same alloy the new battlecruisers are being made of.”
John nodded as if he expected the commander to be there, “What about modules, where do we load them?”
“Right here,” Robert said as he spun the back plate around.
John nodded and then gestured for the commander to stay there. He then walked to his locker behind them and pulled out three modules. Without batting an eyelash John plugged them in. He grinned as he looked at the interface.
“And transferring that. There we go.”
“It isn’t often that I am amazed at how someone uses, or in many cases, abuses the hardware we provide. But this is a first that someone has loaded their modules and transferred a personal VI onboard to replace the stock one,” Robert said shaking his head, “Before even suiting up for the first time.”
“Yeah, I made it better,” John turned and grinned at the Commander, “So this output suggests this armor is nearly as fast as normal power armor. That seems a bit generous.”
“Then you best suit up to see yourself,” Robert grinned as he saw that twinkle of happiness in John’s face.
And suit up John did. The new superheavy armor required a new sheath for the users to wear. John wasn’t a fan of how much it rode up on his crotch. He was going to get properly fit for one when he got out of it. John was amazed at how the armor was assembled around him. It was one part coffin and another part walking tank. It was both amazing and disconcerting at the same time.
The reliquary bore most of the weight of the plates. John figured he’d be able to handle it all himself until he saw that the front half of the coffin weighed almost five hundred pounds itself. The back half weighed nearly eight hundred pounds. Beyond being armored to a hilariously high standard, there were not one but two Type 9B micro-fusion reactors to power the suit.
After locking the coffin components together and screwing the hip and leg servos into it the reliquary let the armor hold itself up. John was amazed at how he felt none of the weight. Though he instantly realized his vision was severely affected. The rear coffin went well over his head and his helmet was recessed farther back than normal armor was.
His thoughts were interrupted by the reliquary grabbing his arms and putting the armor plates on his arms. John cycled through the different weapon options the new armor would avail them. Currently, his armor was set up to have an oversized fist that had a retractable shield.
Finally, the pauldrons, which were much less ostentatious than the regular armor, were locked into place. The left pauldron bore his unique squad icon. The right pauldron had the same gold trim but the interior was painted white. A skull was painted over a red circle.
“I have identified twenty-one steps to speed up the armoring process,” Robert said as John walked past him into the training area.
All training in the large room stopped as the other marines looked and openly gawked, at the new variant of power armor. The marines that were wearing power armor were especially surprised when they calculated the height of the new armor. It was over a foot taller than they were. Their jaws were then on the ground when they saw the armor begin running, it was basically as quick as they were.
“WOAH WOAH WOAH!” Robert shouted, “You can’t just…”
John was able to make the armor turn in a very large radius around the room. The amount of momentum it carried was scary. Though it could also be useful when used in certain situations, such as a boarding action, or when one needs to turn themselves into a battering ram.
“You need to speed up the reaction time on the gyros and servers. There’s noticeable movement lag. Not a deal breaker but it is uncomfortable,” John said as he slowed down to a stop.
John was then throwing punches in place and making general movements. He activated the shield, which popped out immediately from his arm. It wasn’t a simple shield; two kinetic arrays were joined with an EM projector.
“Jesus, now that is surprising,” John said as he swung his shield arm in front of him.
Using the shield would take some getting used to. John couldn’t put it directly in front of him as his arms didn’t reach, but it could be placed at an angle to his body. This increased the likelihood that the armor could bounce or deflect incoming rail rounds.
John then tried to do some more acrobatic moves. He was anything but graceful, but the new suit gave him similar levels of movement. But it was noticeably much more difficult to do everything. The input lag certainly complicated things, but the weight of the suit gave John concerns about going to the ground. That could be a death sentence, or at the very least keep one out of the battle.
Robert watched everything and was staring at a data slate with all the readouts of the suit. They had the perfect individual to field test the new suit. The marines of his platoon would provide reams of data, but in John, they would be able to perfect this armor for wider release.
A couple of marines from another platoon began sparring with John. Their punches hardly registered anything to his armor. The punches John was throwing, which were anything but aggressive, were sending the recipients several steps back.
Another marine joined in the sparring and tried to put John in a reverse armbar. To the marine’s credit, he was able to do that, but aside from making the fusion reactors growl more, John remained on his feet. And easily removed the marine from his arm.
Eventually, sanity was brought back to the practice range. John thanked the marines for their assistance, and he walked back to his platoon’s armor room. Robert ran up to him with a giant smile on his face.
“We’ll have to create a proper testing system in place. But the data we already have is amazing.”
“You’ll want to add some pallets and create just in case someone can’t slow down or stop. Effectively operating as a crumple zone,” John said through the external speakers of his suit, “You need to fix that input lag. It was downright disorienting when I was sparring.”
“Yes yes yes, we need to do that,” Robert said as he was practically salivating over the data he had at his fingertips.
The pair were stopped dead in their tracks. John assisted the commander in realizing they should stop. Colonel Isaac Perentz looked pissed. John laughed at that thought, the colonel always looked pissed.
“You weren’t cleared to wear that suit, Lieutenant.”
John awkwardly removed the helmet from his head and smiled at the colonel, “Sir, I wasn’t aware that I needed to be cleared to operate it. I was already cleared for power armor usage.”
Perentz gave off what could be best described as a full-body sigh. The young lieutenant was technically correct but also very wrong too. That one of the RND geeks was standing right next to John happy as a clam further irritated the colonel. The RND team had created this situation to get John in the suit as quickly as possible, orders or protocol be damned.
“Dare I ask your opinion of it, Lieutenant?”
“Well given the general shitty news I’ve received today this was a bright moment. I’m in shock that this is here. I had no idea this armor was this close to being a bloody thing.”
“Not even Naval Intelligence knew about this,” Robert said, “Well at the start of the project I suppose.”
“I think the marines are going to love this kit, sir,” John said, “I am really curious about how we can arm these bad boys.”
“Do you have a training regime in place?”
John shook his head, “I’ve got my top pig and warrant officer to select the marines to wear these suits. I’ll get the program the RND nerds came up with and work with the Commander on amending it.”
“No more wearing the suit until I see that program,” Perentz pointed directly at John, “I mean it, Lieutenant.”
“You’ll have it on your desk in the morning,” John said with an impish grin.
And with that, the workday for John just got longer. Chow was needed, as was a shower, but John wasn’t going to sleep until the training regime for the marines was updated and in the Colonel’s hands. John needed time in that suit, as did his squad. On the next mission, they would go on John was determined to be in this new armor to give it a proper combat test.