Rhodes followed General Brewster out of the lab. Colonel Kraft walked at Rhodes’s side.

Rhodes’s implants fed him mountains of information he never would have picked up this fast with his normal senses.

General Brewster had a lively personality, smiled easily, and kept widening his eyes at Rhodes in a delighted, encouraging way. Brewster couldn’t have been more tickled that Rhodes was up and walking around.

Kraft had a serious, reserved nature with deep, dark, watchful eyes. He measured everything Rhodes did down to the atom. Nothing escaped Kraft’s notice.

Rhodes recognized an officer scrutinizing a man who would become his subordinate.

Kraft was the one responsible for this new Battalion 1. He would be Rhodes’s direct superior, so of course Kraft wanted to make sure Rhodes did everything right.

Kraft’s reserve actually made Rhodes feel better. Rhodes understood men like Kraft.

Kraft took the time and care to make sure anyone under him was capable of doing the job the way it needed to be done. Rhodes appreciated that.

Brewster gave Rhodes a very bad feeling. Brewster’s bubbly enthusiasm didn’t gel with the sheer scale of what these people were trying to do.

Brewster also didn’t seem to realize the effect these implants were having on Rhodes. It never seemed to cross Brewster’s mind that these implants might not be the blessing everyone wanted them to be.

Kraft sure did. Rhodes almost got the impression Kraft was standing there with his hand on a holstered weapon ready to put Rhodes down the instant something went wrong—but Kraft didn’t have a weapon.

He held himself tense, watchful, and ready to act at a moment’s notice. Rhodes respected Kraft for that.

Rhodes really needed someone like that around him right now. No one else around here seemed to understand the situation well enough even to think of it.

Brewster kept smiling with glee while he held the door open for Rhodes to leave the lab.

The three men exited into a long corridor of stark industrial tile. Doors lined both walls. Rhodes couldn’t see beyond them to the rooms inside. He didn’t want to see.

The three doctors followed behind. Each one worked on a remote computer device.

Rhodes couldn’t see what they were working on, but they must have been monitoring him. They wouldn’t be here otherwise.

Their presence drove home to Rhodes that he was their lab rat—their experiment. He felt like a science experiment walking around with these implants.

They didn’t make any noise. They felt exactly like normal legs walking down the hall and normal arms hanging at his sides.

He couldn’t help feeling like a robot—because he was one.

His heels made an extra loud clunk on the tiles every time he took a step. He saw how different he looked from everyone else present.

He was the freak here. They were all human. He wasn’t. He was something else. He just didn’t know what that was.

Brewster talked the whole time in the same rapid, excited tone. “We’ll introduce you to your unit and then give you a briefing on the state of affairs. You’ll be able to adjust your programming to the battle conditions. Once you understand the situation, you’ll be able to coordinate with the other platoons and swing the battle back in our favor.”

“What do you mean by, ‘introduce me to my unit’?” Rhodes asked. “You said I was the first to go through the program. How can I have a unit if I’m the only one?”

“We’re holding the rest of your unit in stasis while they receive their implants and other modifications. You’ll be their commanding officer, so we woke you up first. We’ll need you to be present when we wake up the others. Your presence and guidance will help orient them. You’ll be able to explain things to them better than we will since you will have gone through it before them.”

“I won’t be able to do that if I haven’t had a chance to orient,” Rhodes pointed out.

Brewster only smiled at him. “That’s why you’ll orient completely before we wake any of them up. You’ll go through your training first. Then you’ll be better able to help them with theirs.”

Brewster stopped in front of a random door, opened it, and stood back for Rhodes to enter.

They entered a long, low room built the same as Dr. Neiland’s lab except that this one wasn’t circular. It had more of an oblong shape, but it did have the same computer components covering the walls.

Wires, tubes, and conduits connected all the equipment to twelve beds identical to the one Rhodes woke up in. The covers of these beds were all closed.

The covers weren’t solid metal the way Rhodes thought. Some transparent substance allowed him to see the people lying asleep inside each chamber.

He passed down the line looking at their faces. The controls attached to each bed listed their names.

Lieutenant Heath Lauer.

Corporal Bobby Poole.

Sergeant David Cope.

Corporal Liam Taylor.

Rhodes stopped in front of two beds with women in them. “Who are they?”

“Most of these men are soldiers from the Legion,” Brewster explained. “They got injured in battle the same way you did. That’s how they joined the program.”

“Joined?” Rhodes repeated. “They didn’t join.”

Brewster shrugged, but it came out more as a squirm. He made a face that looked like he was trying his hardest not to smile. “It’s a figure of speech.”

Rhodes nodded at the two women. “What about these two?”

“Georgie Henshaw is Frederick Henshaw’s daughter.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I don’t know who that is,” Rhodes replied.

Brewster raised his eyebrows and gasped. “You don’t know who Frederick Henshaw is?”

“No, why should I? Is he in the Legion?”

“He’s President of the Treaty of Aemon Ruling Council!” Brewster exclaimed. “I can’t believe you don’t know!”

Rhodes looked away. “That explains why I’ve never heard of him. I’m a soldier. I don’t keep track of all that political bullshit.”

Brewster winced and immediately tried to correct his expression. “Georgie received a terminal cancer diagnosis. President Henshaw arranged for us to take her into the program to save her life.”

Rhodes spun around a second time. “You took some politician’s daughter into an experimental laboratory program to create a battalion of super-warriors? She’ll get killed out there! Why didn’t you just let her die in peace?”

“Her implants and programming will give her the same skills, strength, and training as the rest of you. She won’t disappoint you.”

Rhodes snorted. He was starting to get a picture of the colossal task in front of him.

Now he would be the one in charge of these people. He would be the one trying to somehow explain to them why they were here and what they were supposed to do about it. He didn’t look forward to that conversation.

He turned back to look down at Georgie Henshaw. She had straight, white-blonde hair and pale, ivory-white skin. He couldn’t tell anything else about her.

Implants covered her head and face the same way they covered Rhodes’s face and all the other members of this battalion unit. Each one of them had been modified the same way Rhodes had.

Georgie’s hair had been cut jaw length. The woman in the bed next to her had straight brown hair cut in the same style. It made each woman look human but in an industrial, military way. The haircut didn’t soften their features at all.

The second woman’s name was Alyssa Thackery. “Who is she?” Rhodes asked. “Is she another politician’s daughter?”

“She worked as a cleaner at Fort Jacaranda,” Colonel Kraft murmured. “She was sweeping the floors in the engineering department when the station came under bombardment. She got electrocuted when a panel near her exploded. She doesn’t have any family, so she came to us instead.”

Rhodes cringed. Fantastic. So two of his new soldiers had no training, no combat experience, no nothing. The geniuses in charge of this project should have just let these women die.

Then again, they might not even wake up. How many other wounded soldiers did these doctors experiment on before someone survived long enough to wake up?

Rhodes was the first. The doctors might have gone through hundreds.

Maybe none of these people would wake up. Then Rhodes really would be the only one.

He passed down the line of beds reading the names, but he didn’t stop again.

Corporal Rudy Fuentes. Sergeant Jairo Dietz. Lieutenant Dane Reinhart. Lieutenant Ted Oakes. Corporal Eddie Coulter.

The names meant nothing to Rhodes and neither did the people. He wouldn’t know who or what he was dealing with until they woke up.

“So when will you wake them up?” he asked. “How long do they have to stay asleep?”

“They’re ready to wake up now,” Brewster replied. “We need to bring you up to speed first. We’ll just brief you on the battle situation…..”

Just then, a different young woman in an Aemon Legion uniform entered the room, approached General Brewster, and whispered something in his ear.

He bent over to listen and then straightened up. “Excuse me, Captain. I have something I need to attend to. I’ll leave you in Colonel Kraft’s capable hands. I’m sure I’ll see you later. I trust everything will work out for the best. Excuse me.”

He dipped one nod and left the room. That left Rhodes with Kraft and the three doctors. The three doctors kept hanging back and tapping on their devices.

They didn’t seem to notice anything until Kraft gave them a hard look and waved them away. “You three can go back to the lab. You can see that Captain Rhodes is fine. Leave him alone for now. I’ll let you know if we need you for anything.”

Dr. Neiland opened her mouth to contradict. Colonel Kraft gave her such a drilling glare that she shut her mouth with a click and walked out. She took the other two doctors with her.

Kraft sighed as soon as the door closed. “Follow me, Captain. We have a lot to talk about.”

Rhodes followed him back out into the corridor. Rhodes would have liked to ask what they had to talk about, but he didn’t say anything.

Kraft’s serious nature suddenly made this whole situation so much more real. Kraft didn’t give Rhodes any encouragement or assurance that this was all so exciting and wonderful.

Even that overwhelmed Rhodes with relief. Someone around her understood how serious this was.

Kraft’s dark eyes even seemed to communicate some understanding of what Rhodes was going through. Kraft couldn’t know about this sensation of the implants eating into Rhodes’s flesh and bones.

Kraft’s steady gaze almost convinced Rhodes that Kraft did know—or at least suspected.

Kraft didn’t show any sign of sympathy, but this depth of understanding convinced Rhodes that Kraft at least imagined what walking around with these implants must feel like.

Kraft barely glanced at Rhodes, but those dark eyes said it all. Kraft didn’t need to look any more deeply than that. He already knew.

Kraft walked down the hall at Rhodes’s side, but Kraft didn’t break the silence.

“Aren’t you supposed to explain all this to me?” Rhodes finally asked.

“What is there to explain that you don’t already know? All I have to do is show you the battle lines. You understand the rest.”

“What am I supposed to do out there that the rest of the Legion can’t do?” Rhodes asked.

Kraft opened another door and led Rhodes into an office. It was a typical Legion officer’s office with a large computer screen covering one wall.

Kraft stopped in front of it, tapped on it, and pulled up a map of the sector. “This is the Preinea homeworld at the center of the Treaty of Aemon Cluster. All the planets, solar systems, and cultures of the combined military defense alliance contribute troops and resources that make up the Aemon Legion.”

“I know all that,” Rhodes replied. “Why am I here if you don’t tell me something I don’t already know?”

Kraft adjusted the map to show the outer Fringes—a rim of planets, solar systems, stations, and inhabited regions at the very edge of the Treaty of Aemon Cluster.

“Coleridge Station is here—on the planet Tokirolera in the Dalea system,” Colonel Kraft went on. “You’ve spent your career here, on the Fringes, fighting the Emal in their efforts to retake their territory from the Cluster.”

“Yeah? So?”

“That’s why Coleridge Station and the Battalion 1 project are here—so you’ll be closer to the Emal. You’ll redeploy against the aliens and work with the other platoons to drive the Emal out of the Cluster.”

“You still aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know.”

“What you don’t know is that the Cluster is facing incursion from four other alien populations—here, here, here, and here.”

Kraft pointed at different parts of the Treaty of Aemon Cluster—parts that should have been peaceful.

“This battle against the Emal is just a training ground for Battalion 1. It’s a chance for you all to get used to your new weapons, training, and tactics. Once you do that, we’ll deploy you against other enemies—more powerful enemies.”

Rhodes spun around to stare at him. “More powerful than the Emal? How is that even possible? The Legion can’t stop the Emal as it is. They’ve already reclaimed ten planets and they’ll keep reclaiming more until they retake their territory. The Legion is getting slaughtered out there.”

“That’s where the brass hopes Battalion 1 will be able to change things.”

Rhodes gaped at him even harder. “The brass? The brass hopes that? You didn’t say we hope that.”

Kraft made a face. “I’m a soldier like you, Captain. I don’t make the rules.”

“So you don’t really think we stand a chance even against the Emal—let alone the rest of these incursions. Is that what you’re saying? You’re doing this because the brass ordered you to? Is that it?”

Kraft’s expression darkened even more than before. He pointed at a different part of the map closer to the incoming incursions. “My family lives here—on the planet Nolestra in the Bevet system. If we don’t find a way to stop these incursions, a lot of people are going to die. That’s the only reason I agreed to this—not because I approve of what the doctors are doing. I wouldn’t do it at all if I thought there was any other way.”

Rhodes looked away, but that only brought him back to looking at the map. His mind went into a tailspin. If the battle against the Emal was that hopeless, then this whole project was a suicide mission.

Fighting the Emal was a suicide mission. Luckily for everyone involved, the Emal only wanted their own territory back—the territory the Treaty of Aemon annexed into the Cluster.

The Emal didn’t want to conquer the whole Cluster. Humanity would have been finished if they did.

If these new alien incursions did want to conquer the Cluster, then someone had to stop them—if they could be stopped.

Kraft lowered his voice to a husky murmur. “You would have been dead on the battlefield just like everyone else in this project. What else do you have to do? You might as well save a few billion human lives while you’re here. Isn’t that why you joined the Legion in the first place?”

End of Chapter 3.