In a case of happy coincidence Head Engineer Meeks was also one of the researchers at Alpha Base. Barten and the others didn’t even have a chance to sit down before they were pulled into a briefing meeting.
“Hello and welcome,” Meeks said as she looked out over the room. It should have contained everyone who had been stationed at Echo base. Seated around Barten was his own squad. And he could see the people that he knew from the other ones. Along with those that missed out on their first chance with the rifles and were later assigned to base defense. A number of the sergeants were also present with Myles off to the far side with the others. “This is going to be quick. Since we don’t really have a lot of time before the g object threat becomes overwhelming. But we are going to go over the stats needed to pilot the davs.”
She pointed her hand at the screen behind her and it lit up as an image flickered onto it. There was a listing of the 5 stats the terminals showed along with descriptions for each of them.
Str - Strength. Believed to be how strong a human is. Used for lifting and moving self and other objects. Low importance. Recommended level: 12
Con - Constitution. Believed to be how much punishment a human can take. Either through persevering through tough training, g forces, or damage from impact. High Importance. Recommended level: 15
Agi - Agility. Believed to be how well a human can move their body. Running, balance, and gymnastic ability. Low importance. Recommended level: 10
Dex - Dexterity. Believed to be how well a human can use their limbs to manipulate objects. Semi important. Recommended level: 13
Per - Perception. Believed to be how well a human can react to visual or auditory information. Important. Recommended level: 14
Barten noticed several others comparing their stats to the numbers on the screen. He pulled his up to see how they compared.
Kyle Barten
Str: 10
Con: 12
Agi: 11
Dex: 12
Per: 13
PRe: 10
He needed to put in a fair amount of work in order to reach the goals required. All that running didn’t net him another Con. But his Dex and Per had received bumps. Perhaps because of all of the chopper trips he had made?
“Okay. Now this might be a lot to take in. But to make things simple, more stats is always helpful. But of the 5 stats, Strength and Agility are considered to be bonus points. As they don’t really relate to being a better dav pilot.
“Constitution is super important. As that it is needed to weather the max speed of the davs. Along with resisting the impacts that can be possible. No sense being an ace pilot when you’d turn into paste if your dav impacts a mountain or takes a big hit.
“Dexterity is somewhat important. You’ll need to be able to reach the right controls in time. And we believe that it plays well with the Perception stat, which is Important. Not only to pay attention to all of the information that is coming in. Both from the combat outside and the inside panels. But also to stay alive. We aren’t sure on the final parameters of the enemies you might end up facing. But it is believed they will be higher than what we are currently able to achieve.”
What followed next was a brief glimpse of the training that they were expected to do. For Strength all that was suggested was weight training. Since it wasn't something the researchers considered to be a priority they must have gotten lazy. For Agility they at least created an assault course that could be used to train on. There was a lot of rapid movement required, climbing, jumping, swinging, and more. There was even a leaders board to show the best times people had. Which would probably draw in the competitive types even if Agility wasn’t important.
For training Constitution they just had g-force training. Which sort of made sense to Barten. As that the best way to train to resist g-forces was with g-force training. The training that seemed to be the most interesting was for Dexterity. They had rigged up a VR rhythm game for training and it was also reported to somewhat train Perception. Lastly for Perception they had something called Perceptive Meditation. Which would require some training to start, but then should pay off depending on the effort invested.
When the floor was opened for questions people instead turned to those around them and started conversations. “Man. I don’t know what I expected,” Conners said. But never this. I mean, really? VR?”
“Complaining again are we?” Monroe asked.
“No! Well maybe a little. But VR! I never got to use something like that before. It’s going to be a blast. Though I’m not fussed on this meditation business.”
“Maybe it will be easier than you think.” Jamieson said. “When you have time for it, meditation can be quite calming.”
“Who wants to try for the top of the assault course with me?” Smith said. His eyes were radiant and his body tense. “Barten? I know that you want to.”
“Ugh. Wouldn’t Monroe be a better pick? She’s in better shape than any of us.”
“What? Tossing me under the bus Barten?” Monroe asked. “Though I’m totally down. We need to take both of the top spots Smith. Show them that Delta Squad 5 isn’t one to be messed around with.” The two of them bumped fists and then hurried away to probably try the course.
“Man. I don’t get why they would care? Given the stats that we can raise, isn’t it going to be the ones that have the highest values that win it out? The eggheads don’t even think that it’s worth much,” Conners said.
Jamieson shrugged. “Maybe they need an outlet. Something to spend all the extra energy that we are getting from the stats?”
“I guess. I’m off for the VR game. Anyone want to join me?” Conners asked.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Barten stood. “I’m game for that. I want to think that dex would be one of my strong suits. But with all this training and the chip, it probably equalizes people pretty fast.”
“I’ll go for the g-force training. Might as well, also it’s been forever since I’ve lifted weights. Echo Base’s gym sucked.”
“Wait, Echo had a gym?” Barten asked.
“Right. It was just some hole in the wall where they tossed in some old weights. They disappeared pretty fast as people didn’t want to share the few sets that they had.”
Conners shook his head. “Ugh, people.”
***
Like that they lost themselves into bettering their bodies. So that they might have a better chance of fighting against the g objects. Barten took to the VR training, not only having a blast with it. But also managing to raise his dex to 16. The Super Ultra Impossible +++ course shouldn’t have been doable but somehow Barten was able to. And the researchers grilled him on what he had done in order to get it so high. It was easy to deflect them though, since they were the ones that created the game in the first place.
Barten had made the mistake of checking out the assault course once. And got roped into training with Smith and Monroe. It was enough and he made the decision to bow out from training the stat. He had a bump to it from the combat that they had seen at echo base. And it wasn’t something that Barten cared about enough to spend time on. And really, trying to keep up with those two just about drove him crazy.
Weight training wasn’t Barten’s jam at all. But he did spend a few times hanging out with Jamieson as he pushed the record. Once his stat reached 15 Jamieson didn’t see any more improvements as the weights they had on hand weren’t enough for him any more. And given the low priority the researchers were dragging their heels on making heavier ones.
The g-force training wasn’t Barten’s favorite. Not at all. And once he managed to claw his Con stat up to 15 he quickly moved on from it. Though somehow the two assault course meatheads had managed to get Jamieson into competing on who could get the highest Con stat.
Out of all of the training Barten enjoyed the Perceptive Meditation one the most. He had always found meditation to be too tedious in the past. And never bothered to pursue it at all. But something about the mindfulness needed along with being outside in nature felt right to him.
The goal was to simply exist, which was easier away from the hustle and bustle of the base. People running all over the place trying to get ready to pilot davs. Davs taking off and landing after fighting against the g objects. The competitions and everything else.
The next part was that, while existing, to pay attention to each and everything that could be experienced. Feeling the early summer breeze. Noticing the clouds. How the trees grew on the landscape. Birds darting around and signing. A sort of peace with the world formed as Barten found himself becoming more than himself and feeling as if one with nature.
Of course, the others made fun of him for it at first. And once he got them all out away from base they rather enjoyed the experience. But Barten and Jamieson were the only ones who bothered with it after reaching the required stat.
Kyle Barten
Str: 12
Con: 15
Agi: 13
Dex: 16
Per: 15
PRe: 10
It had been a month since they arrived at Alpha base. The growth of Barten’s stats, and everyone else's, started to slow as they reached the limits of what they could through the training. Sergeant Myles showed up one day and called the squad in for a meeting.
“Man, I really miss our meeting room back at Echo Base,” Conners said. “Do you think that it's still around at all?”
Myles shook his head. “Recon reported that the base was cleared out a couple of days after we left. Taken down to the ground and only barren land left.”
“What! Those beetle jerks. I’m going to shoot the hell out of them the next chance that I get.
“Please don’t waste ammo on a personal grudge.”
“I guess so. And it seems like there are both more rooms here and yet less of them. We need a Squad 5 club room. Something where we can hang out and shoot the shit like in the old meeting room.”
“Never mind that, and come join us on the assault course,” Smith said. “Monroe and I already have the first two spots. Only way forward is to train up the rest of you guys so that we get all 5.”
Conners grimaced. “No way in hell. No. I tried once and that was enough for me.”
“Ahem. While I hope that you’ve been enjoying your time training,” Myles said. “It’s all coming to an end tomorrow. Or at least the focus of our actions as a squad are changing towards learning how to pilot the davs.” Barten sat a little straighter when he heard Myles words. Conners threw his arms up in the air and the others cheered.
“About time man, what took so long?” Conners asked. “Delta Squads 2 and 4 have been here for some time before us. But why were we left until last? Even if those jerks got here before us.”
“Well. There was a delay since we didn't have enough davs to go around. In addition we were waiting for the squad to get the right stats in place,” Myles said and looked at Conners. “And you’re hardly the last ones. There are several other squads that are still in training and waiting for or waiting for davs to arrive.”
“What? Why did you look at me when you said that?”
“Didn’t you just get your con up?” Smith asked. “Like yesterday?”
“That was it? The g force training made me nauseous.”
“Just had to power through it is all,” Jamieson said with a big beaming smile.
“Not everyone is made of rocks like you. How do you even fit all of those stats into your body? If a normal human could move as much as you do they’d be all muscle.”
“My family has always had lean body types.”
“Ugh.”
“If you two are done,” Myles said and waited a moment. When neither one of them continued he nodded and continued, “So as I was saying. Tomorrow. Be at Hanger 3 at 0800 hours. You’ll need to pick up a flight suit first. So report to the quartermaster after this meeting. Try putting it on today as well. Many aren’t happy with how tight of a fit they are.” Myles stood around for a moment to answer any questions. But left after all he heard were complaints. Most of them coming from Conners.
“So are you excited Barten?” Smith asked. “You’ve been looking forward to this since you first heard of them.”
“Yes. Very much so. I wonder how long we’ll need to train in them before we get to fly?”
“Didn’t you know?” Monroe asked. “The units we are getting are ground units. Flying won’t come until later.”
“Still. That sucks. But still. It’s one step in the right direction?”
She smiled. “We’ll have to have mock battles. Between ourselves first, find out the pecking order. And then maybe we can challenge the other squads.”
“Right. No sense learning how to use a giant robot to punch things with if we aren’t the best,” Smith said. “Every time one of us loses we’ll have to do 100 pushups.”
“Like in the robot? To learn to pilot it better right?” Conners asked. His face askew as he probably already suspected the real answer.
“Nope. In person. We’ll all watch to make sure that they are proper, full pushups. None of those half assed ones.”
“This is bullying, you know. Just because you freaks all have a Strength stat higher than mine.”
“Should have worked out more,” Jamieson said. “Build your body along with building character.
“What are you, my Dad? I don’t need another one to disappoint.”
“Nah. More like… older brother.”
Conners squinted at Jamieson. “Aren’t you younger than me?” he asked as the others all laughed.