Chapter 5
Matt finished reviewing his character sheet. He’d have to prioritize spending his advancement points and get to a system terminal as soon as earth had one. The returnees had only been specific about a few things, the first being the need to get a class. Gear Tokens and spending attribute points had been two of the others.
The basic theory on attribute points was that a given ability would max out somewhere around 35 or 40 points. A completely average human would have 5 points in every stat, and a 10 in a given stat was basically considered the maximum an unaltered human could achieve. For example the absolute best bodybuilder might only have a strength score of 8 or 9, and wouldn’t achieve the perfect 10 after being pumped full of performance enhancing drugs, and even that might not be enough. Seeing a natural stat of 7 before mods basically meant you were very good at something. A single point increase would generally be enough to cause most people to have to spend a few hours getting used to their body. Spending 5 points in a given stat at once would result in the body shutting down, as the subconscious would be overloaded. Matt had 16 points, and he’d have to be able to fight at basically any time.
This fact had been a critical point in forming the SRGs. Having a few powerful heroes would not be enough to save earth, at least initially. The idea was to spread the load of leveling up across a large group of men, roughly company sized, so that they could spread exp and not have issues with one person needing to advance too quickly.
It would seem Matt’s mysterious benefactor was going to throw that plan out the window, at least for the OIC of Savage Company. There’d been something about other powers taking an interest, so maybe Matt wouldn’t be alone in this.
Regardless, he needed to get to the debrief. His men would need to be filled in on whatever intel was passed down from the eggheads at higher after they had a chance to crunch the figurative intel numbers. Fortunately, there were standing orders for First Sergeant Cabral to make sure the men did equipment maintenance and make sure they had a chance to eat while the debrief was happening. Speaking of the First Sergeant, Matt’s Pers-e-com dinged with a notification that Cabral had already submitted his after action report as well as the rest of the paperwork packet for today's action.
Matt browsed through the documents, familiarizing himself with the details as he made his way to the briefing room. Soto was already waiting there as well as several senior officers, most of whom he didn’t recognize. Matt was a bit disappointed knowing that he was the last one to make it, especially since this meeting was mostly about the higher brass on post getting any critical intel and analysis of tactics. Most of these men hadn’t known about the system until shortly before the attack had begun, the true higher ups in the pentagon had been the ones to decide that the best course of action would be to put every US base at FPCON Delta.
General Macy stood up as soon as Matt had taken his seat. Immediately any side conversations stopped as everyone gave the base commander their full attention.
“Gentlemen, Ladies, as most of you now know, the US, and to a lesser extent the world at large, has been subjected to a series of attacks by outside forces. Captain Williams and 1st Lieutenant Soto are here representing a highly specialized force that was put together specifically to defend against this threat. I myself have been aware of some facts for a few weeks, but the top brass decided to play this one close to the vest.
As a result, we lost some good soldiers today. I don’t want to dismiss that, and there will be a meeting later to go over the particulars to make sure these brave men and woman receive the highest honors possible and full military burial. However, the attack was ultimately repelled, and this meeting is about something else. I’ve been made aware that today was just the start of a much more detailed siege. NASA lost contact with all satellites about half an hour before we were attacked, and reports from other countries detail several large objects hanging at the edge of the atmosphere. Air Force hasn’t been able to get any craft above 60,000 feet to get detailed readings or images, and it was determined by command that air assets would be saved for fighting the invasion troop carriers.
Our job is to support Captain Williams and his highly trained SRG team while they train the rest of us on how to interface with what’s being called simply ‘The System’ and how it works. To that end, the purpose of this meeting is to review the data collected today, and perform a thorough AAR. Captain Williams will then present the most basic information on what the system is, and finally we will close this meeting by compiling our findings and thoughts into a packet for review by a team at the Pentagon. Myself and other select officers will then present that packet to the Pentagon team in another briefing.
“I’m going to go ahead and let CPT. Matt Williams give us his debrief, so Gentlemen, please keep your ears open, but take notes if you feel something is important enough to comment on. I expect each of you to have something to add at the end of this!”
Matt stood and began his presentation. “Gentlemen, Ladies, thank you for the time. To understand what happened, you are going to need to know the basics of the system. Throughout the last 100 years, various people have disappeared. It turns out these people have been subjects of a test, a test to determine if humanity was ready to join the rest of the galaxy.”
A hand went up. A Major Strickland. Matt acknowledged the superior officer. “I’m guessing you have a question sir?”
“Captain Williams, how do we know about these disappearances? Why are we saying they’ve been happening for 100 years?”
“Good question sir. The honest answer here is that the ‘returnees’, as they’ve taken to calling themselves, are the ones telling us when they were taken. They seem to have all been assigned to various groups that have nothing to do with when they were taken, and then assigned to clear the ‘test’. Almost a year ago the first group cleared the ‘test’ and were returned to earth. The exact details of the test varied between groups, as we’ve been able to determine from different groups of returnees. The universal theme seems to indicate that the greater universal society operates on something akin to video game logic. A race now lost to time built a massive computer system out of self-replicating subatomic particles, or so the system itself claims.”
The same Major raised his hand a second time. “So this ‘system’ is sentient? What does it get out of this? And how will it interact with humans? Why does it have to act like some video game?”
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Matt took a deep breath before responding. “Well sir, our intel is obviously limited to what the returnees have passed along, and what myself and my men experienced today, so there are likely at least some gaps in our understanding, but basically we don’t think the system is necessarily fully self aware. We suspect it was created long ago by a now extinct species, and given some objectives that happen to align with earth, at least for now. As for how it interacts, again we’re not sure, but the system itself has passed some information on to the returnee groups.”
“Basically, sentient individuals born on a world integrated into the system start life with something similar to a semi-sentient AI assistant, which allows them to guide their growth in specific directions. At the age of majority for the species, the personal assistant, which also represents a person’s physical link to the system, provides them with a class, which is essentially the same as a profession. Performing actions related to the class will give exp, and allow an individual to level, similar to a video game.”
“For planets that have not been integrated, when the cloud of subatomic particles that make up ‘the system’ recognize an un-integrated intelligent species, they begin to build up in certain individuals, until these individuals can manifest a system link, at which point they are taken to a test of sorts to determine if the species is advanced enough to make contact with the rest of galactic society. When the species can pass the test, referred to as ‘clearing the tower’, and there’s enough of the self replicating particles that make up the system, then a planet will be ‘integrated’ and all newborn members of the species will have the system link.”
“In the case of earth, we passed the test. That means the system can’t afford to let us die off, as we’re now considered part of galactic society. Unfortunately, a nearby species which we’ve designated ‘Ice Elves’ decided to take our species captive before the system could fully integrate us.
“The first group of returnee’s brought proof of all this back with them, proof provided by the system so that earth could have a chance of defending itself. The top brass at the Pentagon, and the president decided that our best chance was to train a group of soldiers to pilot advanced mechanized battle suits, called exo-mecha, which would be capable of fighting the lower level threats the invaders would throw at us initially.”
“As we saw today, the suits are doing their job, allowing us to take the fight to the enemy on almost equal terms. Unfortunately the average level of the attackers will get higher and higher as we continue fighting off the invasion. To that end, myself and my company will need as much exp from fighting as we can get. We will rotate your men in groups of 20, hoping to get them a class as quickly as possible. This is how we save the most civilians.” Matt paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing.
“Fortunately, what we faced today was fairly easy to deal with. Only 5 men out of my company didn’t get a class, and luckily some 80 odd other soldiers on base were able to kill an invader and get a class. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I myself managed to acquire an advanced class, and a total of 8 levels, resulting in 16 attribute points to spend.”
Lyndis’s shrill whistle broke the silence, and her face immediately went red.
“Excuse my XO please, since she understands what that represents. I’ll explain shortly.”
As Matt continued the briefing, explaining about attribute points, some of the other officers started to nod along. When he got to the after action report from his first sergeant, he noticed several senior officers taking notes. Eventually he finished with what he’d prepared, and the general took over again.
“CPT Williams, you need to let your direct commanders know about your unexpected level increase. Overloading your suits reactor was a costly gamble, but it seems to have been worth far more than expected. We may want to prioritize killing invasion bosses on their own territory when possible.”
Matt felt his face get a bit flush. He hadn’t mentioned anything about the voice in the cold abyss, but somehow it just hadn’t felt right. He did agree that he needed to report his unexpected windfall. The company would have to hold together without him for a couple days unless the returnees knew of a way to spend a lot of points quickly and safely, which he doubted.
“Roger sir! I’ll compose a report immediately and send it off. My XO can take notes from the remainder of this meeting, which I’ll review before I join you for the Pentagon call.” Matt responded.
The General simply waved his hand and continued with the meeting, moving on to tactical analysis. Matt focused on typing up a report about the magical portal and his subsequent level ups. In spite of his desire to explain everything to command, something felt not quite right about doing so, so his report simply claimed everything was a result of killing the figure in black armor. 8 full levels and an advanced class from one kill sounded a bit much, even as he wrote the report, but there was enough that wasn’t understood about the system that he felt confident his secret would be safe. Besides, nothing else had been able to outright stop .50 BAR rounds, let alone HE grenades.
As the meeting came to a close, Matt finished editing his report and sent it off to Lieutenant-Colonel Davis, who’d been given command of all SRGs in the continental US. Matt expected to have feedback on his report during the later video call with the pentagon staff, of which LTC Davis would be a main presenter. Instead a harried looking Major came into the room and quickly waved at the general.
“Excuse me for a moment gentlemen, it seems I have emergency priority comms. If you aren’t needed for the next meeting, you are dismissed. Don’t forget to pass on what we discussed to your men as it pertains to the rotations with S Company.” So saying, the general stood and walked out, following the Major.
Hardly a moment passed before the General returned.
“CPT Williams, fresh orders. Your XO is getting a temporary field promotion, and will lead your company for the next couple days. You have 20 minutes to gather your gear and report to hanger 3. You will catch a helo with escorts to Robins AFB, where you will then catch a C-130 with escort to DC. It’s been determined that you are something of a national resource as you are by far the highest level soldier after today's actions. You’ll undergo some specialized training with returnee group ‘strike eagle’ before returning to your company after you have spent your upgrade points. Better get a move on.
Matt stood to attention and rendered a crisp salute. “Yes sir!” and waited for the general’s return salute. The older man chuckled a bit and returned the gesture. “Be sure to make us proud Matt, Dismissed!”
Matt had a few quick words for Lieutenant Soto before he left to gather his gear. “Trust Cabral. He’s a good man with a lot of experience. He won’t let you down. Spend some time going over the personnel files. Lastly, the men will trust you if they see you doing the same things you ask them to do, so don’t be afraid to let them see you getting in the shit. Now be sure to take care of my unit LT.”
And with that, Matt headed out of the briefing room.
*******
Lyndis Soto sat in stunned silence for a moment. She was still far too early into her career to be leading a company by herself. Besides all that, this was a company that would be actively engaging with the enemy, and holding the line for humanity. She didn’t second guess herself for a moment though. If the general and her captain thought she could handle it, then she’d keep things running like a well oiled machine.