A short while later, Xeight found himself being thrown against a wall by Bone in their spar within the hidden gym-like arena of the T3ST colony.

The two often sparred under various levels of gravity, from zero gravity to two, perhaps sometimes higher. The techniques they were taught-- some were more applicable depending on the level of gravity.

“Young brother. We both know you’re the better fighter. But you never quite put your effort into these spars.” Bone admonished Xeight for his low level of effort.

“I was just… you know… thinking.” Xeight cared little of his loss.

“Your mind is always elsewhere during these sessions, Xeight.” Yfour rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Bone! It’s my turn!”

“You should spar with Xeight, he--”

“He’s just going to let me win.”

Bone rubbed his temples. He was at a loss on how to get his younger brother to spar properly. All these years, Xeight’s sparring record was always up and down. He would sometimes easily beat another in their cohort, then get thrown around inexplicably by the very same opponent. Xeight’s thoughts were certainly elsewhere.

“Remind me again, why are we about to throw our people into a war that we might not even win? Harvesting asteroids daily isn’t so bad, I feel.” In fact, Xeight often felt a deep sense of tranquility on such missions.

“You may enjoy it, but almost no one else does.” Bone, distracted by his younger brother, barely raised his left arm in time to block Yfour’s right hook.

“And you know our history. Our ancestors were genetically modified like lab rats to test neurological theories for Neurorevo, and for generations upon generations they would die at a premature age. Only recently have our bodies managed to adapt and evolve to support the changes in our brains.”

“And we will forever be stuck under tight monitoring while slaving away to harvest resources for them. Luckily, the Martian branch no longer wishes to remain part of the Earth Feds. This is our only chance, don’t you see?”

“The Martians are also just using us for their own ends.” In his eyes, Xeight never felt like the Martians had their interests in their hearts.

“But at least we have been promised citizenship on the planet by the Martians,” countered Bone. “And our neuro ability will allow us to dominate the battlefield.”

“Or eternally hunted.” Xeight shook his head. “I just don’t see what there is for us in the end. The Terrans will fight tooth-and-nail to maintain sovereign control over Mars and the asteroid belt’s resources.” This he knew. James often spoke about such matters. The importance of protecting Earth, not harvesting the resources on Earth, but rather importing such resources from other places such as Venus and the asteroid belt.

“They are a political mess. Look at their inability to deal with the piracy in the asteroid belt… I do not fully know the martian command’s strategy, but if we win, we’ll no longer be stuck on this asteroid.”

“And if we lose…?” Xeight did not wish to fight. Just as he did not enjoy sparring against his older brother.

“We can’t lose. Either we fight to the death or we’ll be stuck harvesting asteroids for the rest of our lives.” Yfour stated that with confidence, only to suddenly find herself grappled by Bone, who used his superior weight and size to his advantage, completely immobilizing Yfour against the ground of the arena. Bone had waited specifically for her moment of distraction.

“Fighting to the death sounds rather horrible.” Xeight stared into space as if he was trying to find a vision of the endpoint and end goal that all of this might lead to.

“Younger brother. You’ve always been overly idealistic. Which I, no, we love. But sometimes, you just need to take action.” Bone smirked as he tightly kept Yfour locked against the ground. Yfour’s face was a slight blush in her struggles, and she stared daggers into Bone’s eyes. Then, she finally whispered something to Bone.

Xeight sighed as he watched his siblings continue their spar. Somehow, Bone had ended up on his back and Yfour was now the one locking him to the ground. He remained lost in thought as he left the arena to return back to his cub.

He just didn’t believe the Terrans would give up their access to Mars and the asteroid belt. Well, they would likely retain partial control on the asteroid belt, but Mars being the closer planet to the belt would always have a slight advantage occupying any asteroids if they were to free themselves from the Terrans-- not something that the Terrans would tolerate.

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Then, there was the issue of the Martian fleet being rather under armed. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be the issue of pirates in the belt. The Martian fleet of the Earth Feds were given the sole responsibility of policing the asteroid belt. Can the Nexarms really be modified and used to make the small Martian fleet overcome the Terran fleet?

Xeight had been given the role of a primary user of a Nexarm. He primarily used it to harvest asteroids, and it was certainly powerful against a small group of pirates. But in a large-scale war… he doubted it would be enough. After all, the Terrans would also have these Nexarms.

There also hasn’t been a proper war for a thousand years. Any recent conflicts had been small-scale and limited to small regions on Earth, so he was told by James MacLeod.

However, his elders have chosen this particular path. Thus, the T3ST colony of neurologically enhanced humans will be the martian fleet’s spear.

After Xeight had left the arena, Elder Enine found Bone and Yfour resting post-spar.

“Will Xeight fight? You two are the closest to him. You two know of his… unnatural mind and strength.” Elder Enine frowned, perturbed by the fact that Xeight had a long history of being unreliable, yet was one of the strongest in their new generation.

Xeight had always brought back the most bounty of the belt. The only reason, in Elder Enine’s as well as others’ minds, was that he was simply the most skilled. It was not only his ability to manipulate a large amount of neurolinked devices. Others in the colony could manipulate a comparable number of such devices.

“Hard to say…” Yet Bone was untroubled by Xeight’s nature. “Elder Enine. Xeight is someone who will only put his heart in when he has a clear vision of what is to be done. He will act when it matters. Eventually.” Bone took a long deep drink of electrolytes and handed the rest to Yfour beside him.

Elder Enine, though feeling Xeight was a headache, could only sigh in frustrated defeat. In his heart, he actually loved Xeight-- he was the man who acted as the primary caregiver to Xeight, Bone and Yfour. At the same time, he was on the council of elders in the T3ST colony.

He was in line to become the Grand Elder, and as such, felt he had to tighten his grip on Xeight, who he increasingly felt he might have pampered him too much. Then again, perhaps it was simply Xeight’s nature, and not necessarily his own touch that had led to the current state of Xeight.

A neurosensor then indicated to him that an important delivery had arrived, and he placed his inner conflict aside. He left the arena and gripped a handle sticking out of the metallic corridor’s wall.

“To the docking bay.”

Acknowledged.

Neuro devices floated around his body as the handle dragged him forward. One of these devices was a metallic robotic contraption attached to his arm and assisted him to maintain an effortless hold onto the handle that was sliding through tracks on the wall, rapidly bringing him to the docking bay.

By the time he arrived at the docking bay, containers and their contents were already being examined. None of these containers had any company names plastered across them, but Elder Enine knew they were from Neurorevo. Or some company tightly within their circle.

A man in a form-fitting spacesuit noticed him, and quickly approached, followed by a female figure in a near identical suit.

The man did not remove his visor, and chose to maintain the secrecy of his identity. However, he still raised a hand in greeting.

Elder Enine shook the man’s hand, and gave him a word of thanks.

“There’s a slight change in our cooperation. Though, this may be of a surprise, as it was not in our original agreement. Your grand elder is already aware and has given his assent.” The man’s voice was robotic, disguised behind a voice changer. Elder Enine wasn’t surprised by this-- the man would probably be arrested and even executed if the Earth Feds became aware of his activities.

“This lady,” the man waved his hand at the female figure behind him, “will be joining your colony. She is one of the leading developers in neurotech of the new generation, and will be fully capable of instructing you all on our tech.”

Though somewhat perturbed, Elder Enine accepted this immediately. Initially, their engineers would have to go through manuals to understand these newly delivered devices. Having someone who already fully understood the tech would be a definite boon to their cause.

Elder Enine nodded to indicate his acceptance of the new circumstances, and proceeded to examine the containers and the contents within himself. He opened the lid of a container to find a long ten meter rifle-shaped weapon within.

“Particle weapon.” The female figure following Elder Enine said. Unlike the man who had wandered elsewhere, she did not use a voice changer.

Elder Enine nodded and gave his thanks, before moving to another container.

“Kinetic weapon.” The woman gave very straightforward names for everything that Elder Enine laid his eyes on.

Eventually, Elder Enine came upon three humongous transport carriers. He did not need the woman to tell him what was inside. They were definitely more Nexarms as well as exosuits.

Then he peered even further and found his sights resting on a massive spaceship shaped as a polygonal tube in the bay area. Many of their engineers were already floating around with multiple neuro devices, examining every single nook and cranny of the ship.

“The ship itself functions much like a Nexarm.” The woman explained. “One single person can effectively man all the weapons and defense systems on the ship, and effectively coordinate all the systems perfectly under one mind. However, it will not be able to navigate terrains like the Nexarm can. And it’s a much larger, easier target, completely unable to hide.” A complete understatement on its size. That was another strength of the Nexarm. The ability to hide in complex terrain while simultaneously using many neuro devices for accomplish goals.

Elder Enine nodded in response. He was no engineer or scientist, but he vaguely understood the concept behind most tech. He suddenly realized that in his excitement to examine this crucial delivery of armaments, he had neglected to learn of the other person.

“I’m Elder Enine.” He held out a hand in greeting.

“Jennifer MacLeod,” the woman replied. “Call me Jen.”