23 Sep 2359 Alpha, Alpha Centaury
Henry saluted Admiral Williams when he saw her.
"Damn, the charts don't do your size justice," Williams said. Henry just tilted his head in confusion.
"You don't say much, do you?" Williams asked Henry.
"No ma'am," Henry said, cutting off the conversation.
"Well Vanguard 001, we have a test to run, follow us," Williams said as she performed an about-face and started walking back to the Humvee. Henry followed the admiral and scientist, leaving Valasquez standing alone. Henry had to turn on the antigravity generator so the Humvee's suspension didn't buckle under the weight of the Vanguard armor. The scientist Lin called it Templar armor.
As soon as he sat down, they took off. "You will be doing a full dive VR training exercise with 5 Rangers lent by the Army. Your goal is to capture the hill they will be defending. You can do whatever you deem best. No matter what you do in the VR, they will be okay outside of the VR, so don't worry about hurting them," Admiral Williams explained to Henry.
"Yes Ma'am," Henry answered as he kept looking forward.
"I will need to talk to Gunnery Sargent Valasquez about his speaking habits or lack thereof," Lin said.
Henry watched as they traveled through the base to a building that had no windows and only one door. Standing beside the building was five men. They all ranged in height, with the shortest of them standing at 5ft 8 and the tallest of them standing at 6ft 5. With a gesture from Admiral Williams, they went inside the building, followed by Henry, Admiral Williams, and then Dr. Lin.
"You'll be in this one," Lin told Henry, pointing at a modified chamber. Henry gave a nod and stepped into the chamber. The chamber activated, and Henry was surrounded by a forest at night. Henry looked at his HUD in his helmet and read the readings off to himself. "Sheild is full, and we have a map of the area. This must be the hill that I need to take from them, I'll place a nav point on it." Henry said to himself. "Hey, Albert, got any ideas on how to do it? I think they probably have guns, and I don't so stealth seems important," Henry asked Albert.
"You would be right, but you do have an advantage in stealth Henry. You are in a black suit at night with no moonlight." Albert said.
"I know that, but I'm willing to bet they have NVG," Henry said. Then something clicked for Henry and he started to make his way to the nav point being quiet as a mouse. The hill was two kilometers away from where he was, so it took him an hour to get there. "As I thought they would be. Every one of them is facing a different direction to cover any angle that I might attack from. Well, if they have every angle covered but one that is the way I'll go," Henry said to himself inside of his helmet. He activated the antigravity generator, reduced his weight to a couple of kilos, and jumped into the air. As soon as he saw that he was above the Rangers he turned off the generator and fell on one of the Rangers crushing him. Henry picked up his gun and shot two more Rangers, then quickly ran for cover just as the other two Rangers opened fire on him.
Henry looked at his motion sensors and spotted that they were both moving in on him at the same time in a pincer movement. He turned and looked down to see how much ammo he had left. Only three shots. "Hey Albert, how much abuse can the shield take before it pops like a virgin at prom?" Henry asked.
"Twenty rounds of 7.62," Albert said.
"Alright, that should give me enough time," Henry said as he broke cover. Henry shot all three rounds left into one Ranger finishing him off, picked up his body by the foot, and through him at the other Ranger. Henry followed up quickly closing the distance between himself and the distracted Ranger. The ranger noticed and started to open fire, but it was too late. The Templar armor's shields at whatever shots the Dense metals didn't deflect. Henry picked the man up and snapped his neck.
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"Mission Complete" A monotone voice chimed as the forest disappeared and gave way back to the dull black chamber that Henry walked into. "Was my performance satisfactory ma'am?" Henry asked Admiral Williams as he got out of the chamber.
"It most definitely was." Admiral Williams said. She was about to say something else and then paused for a moment, put her hand up to her ear, and pressed on an earbud. "Message received. Package V! will now be on route." Williams said as she motioned for Henry to follow her.
Henry followed the admiral heading towards a shuttle. "Vanguard 001, you will take the UHC Frigate New Hope to the border colony Edin in the Hargaro System and help defend the colony. You are now on loose leash protocol. I expect you to transmit regular updates to us. From now on you are effectively transferred to the Department of Military Intelligence," Williams told Henry.
Soon they neared the shuttle, but Henry stopped right before getting on. He was nervous. This base is all that he has known for the majority of his short life. "I know that you are scared Vanguard 001, but we don't have time to stall. So, get your fucking ass on this shuttle now!" Williams yelled.
24 Sep 2359, UHCV New Hope, enroute to Edin.
Henry sat in his quarters alone. He neither wants to nor cares to mingle with the others outside. He is perfectly fine in the silence. Since he was five years old, he was alone, only having Valasquez around. If he feels the need to talk, he always has Albert.
"You don't talk much do you?" A man walked into the room asking.
"No, and I prefer to keep it that way," Henry said while lying down.
"Come on don't be like that man. Look we are having a card game outside, and the guys want you to join us. Drink a beer and loosen up Mr. Stickman." The marine with the name tag Jones said.
"I can't drink yet. I'm not of age." Henry said while shrugging.
"Not of age? If you're old enough to serve that means you're old enough to drink." Jones said confused.
"Jones leave him alone. He is a guest for the Altherium Empire, courtesy of the DMI." Captain Boros said as he walked into the room.
"Oh. Still though captain what does he mean..." Jones's words died in his throat as the captain looked at him.
"I said leave him alone. Speak to no one about this. If you do, I will make sure for the rest of your contract, you will be cleaning every toilet we have in the UHCN. Understood?" Captain Boros asked Jones. Jones replied with a nod and walked off.
"As for you Vanguard, I don't like that you're on my ship. You're a freak that shouldn't have been allowed to happen, but orders are orders. We will be at the Hargaro system in one week. Just don't hurt anyone, and for the love of God don't let the Vanguard project slip out yet. The last thing that we need is for us to go into a war with good men and women who hate the government that they are fighting for." Boros said and then walked out of the room.
01 Oct 2359. Hargaro system, Orbit of Edin.
"Vanguard time for you to deploy. Get the fuck off my ship." Captain Boros said as the massive naval battle was underway above Edin. Henry ran through the ship making his way to the drop pods that some of the marines were taking ducking and maneuvering through the tight spaces. When he got to the pods, he saw them and knew there was no way to fit in one, so he ran back to the hanger bay. "Why didn't we plan this out before?" He asked Albert.
"We did, if you remember we planned to take a pod down to the surface, but we couldn't look at them due to the captain wanting us to remain in our bunk room. I think the best plan now is to free fall and hit some trees or water to break the fall some. The Templar armor can handle it. However, the shields will take a moment to recharge due to the inevitable number of things trying to puncture the less firm parts of the armor," Albert said to Henry.
"Well, if that's the only option, I don't like it at all, Though I suppose we got to do what needs to be done," Henry told Albert as they reached the hanger bay. "Captain, I need you to open the hanger bay for a brief moment," Henry said to the captain.
"If that will get you the fuck off my ship. If you die up here with us then Williams will bring me back just to kill me again." Captain Boros said as he got the bay doors to open.
As soon as the bay doors opened Henry ran and jumped out of the ship. He looked around at the chaos around him. The Altherium Empire launched a surprise attack and caught the UHCN off guard. "The estimates were wrong," Albert said to Henry.
"I think that you are right," Henry replied still awestruck by the space battle. Missiles and railgun shots were flying all around and ships on both sides were taking massive amounts of damage, but even a toddler could tell who was winning. Henry returned his focus to his fall down to the planet. It was oddly peaceful considering everything that was going on. Henry pulled up a topography map of the planet along with a population map. "There," Henry said to himself as he chose a forest outside of the capital to land in.
Henry guided himself into position. Part of the drop having to rely on his HUD, not being able to see because of the flames engulfing his armor on reentry of the planet. After what felt like an eternity he landed busting through dozens of trees. He looked and saw that his shield held and was slowly recharging.