“I am glad we continued to push on. The deeper we dig, the more we find. It appears that the first layer is nothing but a shield for what lies deeper.” - From the journal of Benjamin Hargrave, May 12, 2232.
“Now that I feel like you have at least begun to stand in my presence properly, I will now screw up any progress you’ve made. In a moment, I will utter the phrase ‘as you were.’ Those of you with at least some semblance of short-term memory will remember that it is at this time you may move and return to the flight chair behind you,” Roberts explained, “That being said, your imperfection is pissing me off and we don’t have all night, so, as you were!” With that, the entire cabin audibly broke their weak posture and returned to their seats.
“Alright then, if this is how recruits are treated, I think I will be leaving. Thanks for the quick demo proving that I should never have come,” came a voice from about halfway up the cabin. Jack froze. From the way they explained it, once you were this far, there was no going back.
A black-haired man stood and looked around the cabin. “There is no way that I am going to stay part of this group of losers.”
As fast as a snake, the Drill Sergeant raised his hand while a yellow glow enveloped his arm. Several small cables wrapped in the same glow shot out from a bracer on his arm and looped themselves around the dissenting recruit’s chair. He then made a fist, and the cables whipped out, grabbing the rising recruit, dragging him back to the chair, and restraining him.
The more the recruit struggled, the tighter the cables became. Staring into the eyes of the former recruit in disgust, Roberts said in a voice loud enough for the room to hear, “You will know this piece of shit as your first quitter, and to think, he didn’t even make it off of Earth. Most of you realize just how stupid this move was. However, I highly doubt he thinks he has done any such thing. Do you?” he said, directing the last question at the recruit.
Jack watched in fascinated horror, unable to look away. The Drill Sergeant walked slowly down the aisle like a predator closing in on captured prey.
“You can’t do this! This is against my rights as a citizen of Earth! You can’t force me to go if I don’t want to!”
Motioning with his hand, another tendril of Light extended from Roberts, looping around the seat, and eventually the recruit’s head. Forcing its way across his mouth, the restraint formed into a gag.
“You are the most worthless sack of alien food on this vessel. You do not deserve to be in the presence of these fine young men and women. The fact that you would so easily swear not one, but three oaths and immediately turn tail speaks volumes about who you are. The most wonderful part is that you do not yet realize that you won’t return to your precious home. Instead, you will sort through the crap of each of your betters on this ship. How does that sound?”
Robert’s hand flashed yellow, and the gag fell away, allowing the recruit to speak. “You bastard! I’ll kill you! I’ll have you killed! My father…”
“Your father what?” Roberts said, cutting the boy off. “Will save you from sifting crap? No, he won’t.”
“You don’t know who he is,” said the recruit in a panic.
“It doesn’t matter who he is. He is on Earth. That fact alone makes me, and better yet, you—untouchable.” Another flash and the gag slid back over his mouth.
Jack was in complete and utter shock. While he was sure that Roberts would not allow the recruit to leave, he was unsure of the methods that would be used. Stopping the man had taken no effort at all. Both Dave and Alec were tapping on his arm and whispering in panicked tones to one another.
“Holy crap, man, did you see that?” Alec said excitedly.
“What the hell did we just see?”
“Jack, we are going to be able to…”
“I mean, it was a rope of light…”
“I wonder what else….”
“I bet mine is going to be like….”
“I knew they were hiding something…”
What exactly was it they had just witnessed? It appeared that the powerful Drill Sergeant had telekinesis, like a character from a storybook. The way the Light obeyed him seemed almost like it was part of him.
Ignoring the two men, Jack looked over at the last two people in his row. Nessa stared at the offending man with daggers in her eyes, as if his cowardice were a somehow personal affront to her. Maybe it was. Should he be feeling more animosity towards the quitter? Warren, on the other hand, was absolutely enthralled as he stared unblinkingly at Roberts, the desire to see another show of power plain on his face.
Not wanting to allow the two next to him to cause issues, Jack elbowed them both gently. “Guys, we don’t want to be more examples, ok?” he cautioned, bringing them back to reality and effectively silencing them. They now knew that if Roberts wanted, he could have held each one of them without as much as a breaking a sweat.
Turning to face the remaining soldiers, Roberts spoke to them with what sounded like genuine joy.
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“Well, boys and girls, I guess that leads me to our next topic. Before I go on, what you just witnessed was Light Manipulation Technology, or Li-Tech for short. You will learn to master this art; you will learn it or you will probably die. I don’t say that to be cruel. I say it because it is the truth. Li-Tech is the core of how the AHF operates. It is our single greatest discovery. It is what allows our republic to protect itself. You all will learn to use it, and bond with it. Each of you will have different strengths and weaknesses and will be as unique as every human being in this universe. This is the first military organization in human history that prides itself on each member being different. There are classifications, of course. For example, I am what is known as a Binder. I cannot work with weapons easily. In fact, it takes everything I have to wield something that’s not designed for multiple corps. I can, however, control a massive number of hard light ropes to control the field. Don’t take any ability lightly. Some can do some pretty nasty stuff with abilities that may appear harmless. I hope to foster respect for each of them in you all.”
The display left most, if not all, of the recruits in a state of awe, the power shown appearing to be more akin to magic than technology. For his part, Jack was afraid. Thoughts of what dangers had prompted humanity to craft a near fantastical weapon terrified him. After all, if humanity needed to seize light itself to survive, what was out there?
Jack felt these things, but one emotion dwarfed the others entirely. He felt betrayed. If abilities and technology like this were within human grasp, why had Earth been left out of the loop? The planet was near death. Surely, they had tech capable of healing the scars that had been ripped in its surface. It angered him that people he knew and loved would never leave because of something as foolish as secrecy.
“How can we be expected to swallow this?” Alec gritted his teeth, evidently feeling much like Jack on the subject. “How long have they left Earth in the dark?”
“Since we began to colonize, I would guess,” Warren said to him in a soft voice. “I mean, look at it. If Li-Tech is at the heart of what we are, then there is no way that we could have colonized without it.”
“I guess my question is, what are they still hiding?” Alec asked peevishly.
“Are you dumb?” Nessa shot. “The damned tech, obviously. Now shut up.”
At the front of the cabin, the Drill Sergeant raised a hand to his chest and tapped his rank insignia. Parts of the man’s body shimmered like a mirage on a hot road. Reaching over to the other recruits in his row, Jack tapped on their arms, pulling them from their conversation.
“Hey, um… are you guys seeing this?” Jack said as he motioned to Roberts.
“What are you talking about?” Dave whispered back, looking in the sergeant’s direction.
“Him,” he pointed.
The Drill Sergeant’s body continued to change, the image of his body melting away. As the disguise fell away, the recruits were given their first true glimpse of their teacher.
The hat and uniform hadn’t changed at all. Both items were as vital to the man’s identity as his own name. The uniform and rank spoke of dedication to his craft, and the hat signified his willingness to teach it to the new generation of soldiers. The falling illusion revealed a metal frame around his right eye and a thin silver wire embedded in his skin and ending inside the ear. A dark yellow light projected from the frame to cover his eye, almost like he was wearing half of a pair of glasses. While unable to see the entirety of his arm, the left hand was dark gray and gave off the same dark yellow light at each of the joints.
“When I lost my arm in battle some years ago, the AHF and their leaders determined it would make me a better fighter to replace that arm. The eye? Well, let’s be frank. In a universe where being connected to your tech is as important as your rifle, it is not uncommon to have a computer built into your body,” he said, addressing the most visible changes on his body first. “This is the real-world application of the third document you signed inside that building. Your pathetic human bodies won’t quite hold up to the rigors of battle out there and will need to be made better.”
Looking around the room, Roberts chuckled to himself. The looks they gave him were the same with every round of recruits he taught.
“By the time the AHF is done, you’ll look back at this moment and wonder why you ever worried about what they would do to you. Recruits, I know there are a few of you that still believe that God will come down and smite you for modifying the perfect image that He created. I am here to tell you that is stardust. I have had this arm for over thirty years and not once has any deity of any pantheon even sent me a stars-cursed memo to say cut it out. This arm is stronger, it is faster, and it can act as a conduit for my power.”
“Recruits, what I am saying to you is this: treat the AHF as if they were your mama. If your mama says it is time to replace those useless human legs, then you will jump up and ask them where to report. I will say this now. Those that refuse the ‘necessary’ procedures will be removed from both combat and potential rank gain. I can forge you into something greater than you are now, but the tech will make you better than you could ever be on your own. Given enough time and training, I might even find one of you that can use your head for more than a hat rack.”
Silence fell for a moment before chatter broke out among the recruits, each of them voicing their opinions to his or her immediate neighbor.
“OOOH-WEEE, I hope they give me something good because that stuff is sweet. Man, the sky is the limit here,” said Dave, obviously excited at the idea.
“Look, man, this is terrifying. It nearly crosses that line that separates us from the machine,” Alec said, looking both ways down the row. “But if it will keep us alive when we should have died, that is a win, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know, Alec. It’s my body, man. I don’t want to become some crazy science experiment,” Jack replied.
“Neither do we, Sherlock,” Dave said, “but if worse comes to worst, I want them to save me regardless of the consequences.”
“SILENCE!” Drill Sergeant Roberts called across the cabin, “Now that you have a relatively decent understanding of our relationship, you need to know that I will do everything in my power to make you into soldiers. It is my job to grind away the stupidity and fill your useless skulls with something resembling intelligence. I will break you in both body and mind. Recruits, if you do not hate me over the course of the next several months, it will force me to believe there is something fundamentally wrong with you. That being said, each of you has wonderful potential to become the best target on the damned battlefield.”
“With those slight issues out of the way, how about we launch this bucket and make our way to the ship? I, for one, am ready to get off this godforsaken rock. Are you ready to get the hell off of this planet?” Roberts yelled. This time, he got what he was looking for from each voice in the cabin. It was not perfect, and in time the recruits would learn to call out answers as he expected, but it was a start.
For the first night in the military, however, they did ok. It was definitely not at a level of professionalism that could be called acceptable, but that would come in time. For now, they were each raw to the stresses of military life. A few would have some semblance of military training from a life best forgotten, and he and his partner would mold the rest into true soldiers.
And if they could not… they would learn just how ruthless a place the universe could be.