Interesting Times

July 20th, 2174

16:23

Reach, Olympus-System

Ares Observation Point

Standing at the railing and looking into the sprawling forest, one could almost forget that this observation point was in the middle of a training ground and enjoy the beauty of nature. 

Almost.

If the constant firing of guns and the occasional explosion weren't there.

Those were quite hard to ignore.

"I don't think you will be able to see much from here, Mr. Denebren," said a voice behind me. 

"I just wanted some fresh air," I answered without turning around. "Do you need me for something, Major Broscko?"

"Not particularly," he replied and walked forward to stand next to me. "You are my responsibility while you're here, and while I don't think you're in any danger anywhere on this planet, the generals and admirals would drag me over the coals if I left you alone for too long.

So, since I don't want that, I'll try to stay close. As long as nothing distracts me."

"And what did distract you this time?" I asked with a small smile, waiting for the -no doubt- ridiculous answer he would give me.

He knew that I didn't want a constant shadow, and Major Broscko had enough to do without adding guard duty and the job of guide to it.

"A simple logistics problem," he said and added after a short pause: "And one of Dr. Takahashi's assistants asked me where the toilet is. Being the gentleman I am, I showed him where it was."

"And let me guess, you gained a number as a reward?"

"What can I say?" Major Broscko said with a wry grin. "I have a way with words."

"That's how many now? Five, six? I stopped counting. And I have to say I am impressed that you managed so many in only a week since I arrived on Reach."

"Five. Normally, I only get one a month, but thanks to you, I am meeting far more people who all want to meet up with you, and they all have an entourage. So, more people equals more opportunities."

"I understand," I replied. "And how is the situation inside? Everything prepared?"

I could feel how Major Broscko's posture changed beside me, from the carefree playboy to the serious soldier I first met when I arrived on Reach.

"Yes, sir," he reported, his tone taking on a serious note. "The soldiers within the zone are notified and are finishing up their fortifications. Alpha and Bravo teams are on their way and should arrive in the operation zone within twenty-two minutes. We want to begin with the final pre-briefing in five minutes," Major Broscko explained after looking at his watch. "We should go inside."

I nodded and said: "Then let's go to the rest and listen to the briefing. I am interested in how the training mission will go. Any idea?"

Yet, before Major Broscko could answer me, I noticed how the forest suddenly turned quiet.

No more shots nor explosions.

"It's eerie, isn't it?" asked the major. "The sudden quiet?"

"It is," I replied without hesitation. "I can't hear anything. It seems like even the wind stands still."

"Yes," he said slowly, only noticing this little fact now. "That's unusual, especially this high."

It was unusual. The observation point was integrated into a mountain. It was a small mountain but a mountain nonetheless. Wind was normally a given.

"It's like the whole world is taking a breath," continued Broscko. "Fitting, I think. It is the first time Alpha and Bravo are going against live enemies."

"The first time?" I asked while finally turning around to head inside. "I would have thought that they had more live exercises."

"Nope," Broscko answered, popping the word. "As far as I know, all teams only went against each other, or they are destroying legions of combat mechs. Thankfully, I am not the guy who has to look at the costs. The numbers must be enormous."

"It is nice to know how our taxes are used. Well, at least the engineering corps are getting something out of it, too. Why aren't they using training gear again?"

"They are usually," the major answered and quickened his steps for a moment to open the door for me. "It's mostly a figure of speech. The only reason why mechs are destroyed is when they are getting decommissioned. It's like a minor festival when that happens. The troops are even drawing lottery tickets to take part."

"I guess destroying things is much more amusing than watching them shut down when you hit them with training ammunition," I replied.

"It is," answered Major Broscko with a grin, telling me about fond memories.

I would have liked to ask about his favorite experiences, but we arrived where the remaining people waiting for the briefing were.

A young man with an ID badge around his neck smiled at Broscko, who replied in kind, and I gave him a wink and nodded in the direction of the young man to tell him that he could go over since I wouldn't need him for now.

Instead of standing around and waiting until someone came to me to talk, I walked over to where I saw Takahashi sitting and sat beside him.

Before I properly sat down, Takahashi started to talk: "I am interested in how well the power armor works against trained soldiers. I know the data from the other tests, but it is not enough. The training against mechs is a nice basis for the combat data, but the mechs lack the creativity and reactions of human soldiers. And the training exercises against each other? Perfect for data about their maximal combat potential. And those are great, from a scientific and militarical standpoint. Yet, I doubt the Alliance is going up against other super soldiers. So the data against regular soldiers is precious."

"Thanks for the update," I said, amused. "Anything else?"

Takahashi opened his mouth to say something, but before anything could come out of it, a woman at the front of the room cleared her throat loudly, managing to get the attention of the whole room immediately.

"Thank you. I am General Mira Klesky," the short woman in an immaculate uniform said. "Now, I am ordering everyone under the clearance level of Omega-Delta-A5 out of the room until I say otherwise."

She waited until more than half of the room's occupants left. Then, after the doors closed behind the last person, she activated her Omni-tool to activate the isolation program to prevent any signals from coming in or out.

The aide at her side, who I hadn't noticed until now, went around with a grey box.

"Please put all your Omni-tools inside this box for the duration of the first half of the briefing. I am sure that each of you is taking care that no spy programs are installed by hostile elements, but the regulations state that every time secrets above the clearance level of Omega-Alpha-A1 are discussed, this has to be done."

Since I had briefings that didn't even allow one to enter the room with an Omni-tool, I followed the directions without any fuss and waited for the aid to finish collecting all Omni-tools.

When the aide closed the box, he put it on a table close to the general and pushed a button that started the projector at the front of the room.

"Since most of you know of the Ares project, I won't bore you with general information about its inception or the technical details of how we achieved the results, but I will give you a brief overview of the current status of our operatives. We managed to increase the benefits all our soldiers receive from gene therapy by 35%. Current projections show that the research teams will be able to increase the benefit by an additional 5%."

"Will the regular forces benefit from this, too?" asked a voice from the side.

"In a minor way. The gene therapy the members of Project Ares get is tailored to each individual. The costs are too high to make them available for everyone. Is that answer enough for you?"

I saw a nod from the corner of my eye.

"Wonderful, then let us continue."

General Klesky held up a remote, and the picture changed to a three-dimensional diagram of a suit of armor.

"As you know, the gene therapy is only a part of Project Ares. On this diagram," General Klesky pointed behind her for a moment," you can see the second part of the project, an armor. A powered assault armor, to be precise. It is being developed by Dr. Hoshiyume and Dr. Helken with support from their teams. Since one of the lead designers is present today, do you want to say a few brief words about it?"

"If you do, keep it brief," I whispered to my side, knowing that Takahashi tended to stray.

Hearing my words, he snorted and said: "I'll leave it to you, general."

In response, General Klesky nodded and continued explaining as if the short interruption hadn't happened.

"The armor is used to bring out the most of the gene therapy. The adaptive interfaces and the sensitive sensors are molded perfectly to each soldier and their needs. Paired with the powerful smart VI in each suit, they can notice things they wouldn't without the suits.

Furthermore, there are plans to connect the suit's interface with a neural interface still in development. It is expected to increase the combat potential by another 70 or 80%. As it concerns surgery, the testing period for the neural interface will take at least two years before the committee even starts to consider live testing."

"If Barbara would give me her data, I could reduce that time to a year. But she is stingy," mumbled Takahashi, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"You got enough projects to occupy your time with. Don't you think that your current projects deserve your full attention?"

Takahashi made a noncommittal noise, and I focused back on the presentation, knowing Takahashi would think about my words briefly before ignoring them and annoying Dr. Helken again.

"Since the suit is designed to work with the neural interface, the members of Project Ares can't use it to its full potential. Yet, the data shows a further 90% increase in combat prowess."

"A 90% increase on top of the better gene therapy or taken together?" asked someone.

"In summation," answered General Klesky. "The data shows that the project members constantly achieve double the results of regular soldiers and even better than the top N7 graduates. Yet, that concerns only standardized tests. One can't simply say they are worth two regular soldiers."

"How are they doing in combat situations?" I asked. "I guess they went up against mechs. How does the data compare to a similar-sized squad of regular soldiers?"

For the first time since General Klesky drew attention to her, her mimic changed, and a predatory smile appeared on her face.

"If we compare the time to accomplish mission objectives, accuracy of shots, and numbers of getting hit?" She made a dramatic pause. "A reduction of 78%, an increase of 88%, and a decrease of 100%."

A murmur went through the room. Even I was baffled for a moment, and I was sure my eyes widened at her statement. A 100% decrease in hits taken was something different. I could understand no training fatalities, but no hits taken?

The murmur was justified.

"I have to add that among the graduates of the N7 program, only four classes achieved a similar result and never a 0% of hits. The best they managed is under 10%."

"Is there anything else that we need to discuss that is confidential, and how much can we discuss openly with everyone else who will observe the training mission?" I asked because while I was interested in the technical and combat data, I would ask Takahashi instead since he would give me a far more extensive picture. And I knew that we still needed enough time to discuss the specifics before the teams arrived onsite.

"No, Mr. Denebren," replied the general, sending me a look that told me she understood what I wanted to do. "If anyone here wants a thorough report, please talk to my assistant." She pointed to the side toward her aide. "He will give you a more extensive explanation about the data, technical, and combat after the training mission.

If there are no more urgent questions," she waited for a moment, looking around the room, "then we will lift the shielding and ask the rest of the observers to enter. Please remember that you cannot discuss any details with people outside this room and not mention anything about the additional gene therapy."

After a few seconds of observing to see if we understood her orders, and after seeing that we all understood, she pressed the button to lift the security, and her aide went over to open the door.

I looked around the room and watched the people, trying to guess how many would disobey her orders and talk. My bet was on Takahashi, who would tell his team. Yet, that didn't count since the two teams he was leading knew at least half of what we discussed each since they were working on the projects.

But I would guess that one or two would talk, and as long as it was someone with a high enough clearance level, there would be a simple clap on the wrist. If that wasn't the case or the idiot talked with someone that could be taken as a potential enemy of the Alliance, for example, someone from a different species or Cerberus, something like that would be followed up with a trial before a military tribunal for treason.

And, oh boy, that wouldn't end well for the affected person.

The guys sitting on that tribunal always stroke the word mercy from their dictionary when it comes to traitors against the Alliance.

Some thought the threat of a harsh punishment alone was enough to keep them from spilling Alliance secrets. I didn't know if it was effective, but it wouldn't hurt.

When the people who previously went outside sat down on their seats, the general changed the projector picture again to a top-down view of the mission area.

From the first look, it was nothing special. A part of the forest with a few streams and a slightly bigger river that could be used as a natural defensive barrier.

I did not doubt that the soldiers in the area would make use of it since the drop-off point for Alpha and Bravo was on one side, and three of the mission goals highlighted on the map were on the other.

"Overall, there are five mission goals ranging from obtaining a small case simulating intel to storming a fortified position. Of course, while some of the five goals sound similar, the details are different," explained General Klesky. She pointed to one of the two points closer to the drop-off point. "There, for example, the teams have to download the information from a server within a small compound with three buildings onto a storage device. The data is a text file with "Intel" written in it and a lot of junk data to prolong the download process to give the soldiers enough time to stop or disrupt it. Another mission is to get a briefcase, simulating intel, too, from a closed room. The troops are encouraged to guard the room to the best of their ability."

"So, the troops do their best to stop Alpha and Bravo from accomplishing their missions," I commented.

"That's right," agreed Klesky. "Their orders are to guard their positions to their best. They know that they will be attacked in the next few hours but nothing more, which means they will be on high alert. I would have liked to extend the training mission for the troops to four or five days to give Alpha and Bravo more options on how they want to approach their missions and simulate a more natural situation. Still, it was decided to showcase the effectiveness of the Ares program as shock troopers that this approach was better suited. Furthermore, Alpha and Bravo are on a time limit of four hours from the moment their feet touch the ground in the field."

"How big is the area anyway?" asked someone. This question became more important with the time limit since they would have to traverse the distance between objectives quickly.

"The area is a hundred-fifty square kilometers large."

"Isn't that a bit too big?"

"No," came the immediate reply from the general. " We needed the area to be big enough to have some distance between the mission goals, and when we took a look at their statistics, we decided that this size would be perfect."

"I think we can shelve any questions on the appropriate arrangements for this training exercise. The general and others thought long and hard about how this was going to go, and they know the members of Alpha and Bravo and their abilities better than anyone in this room. So we can trust their expertise on those matters and let the general explain to us how this is going to proceed. We don't have the time to argue about such insignificant matters right now," I interjected before more questions in that line could be asked since I had an eye on the timer in the upper left corner of the map that was slowly counting down toward zero.

Despite her not moving a single facial muscle, I would swear I saw a grateful glint in General Klesky's eyes. Perhaps it was only a trick of the light since I only for a split second, and I am sure the general would deny it until her dying day.

"As I wanted to explain," General Klesky continued, sending a quick glare toward the person who interrupted her before, "the two missions closest to the river on the other side are a target elimination and a search and destroy of an object. The fifth and final mission is the storming of a fortress. It is objectively the hardest since around 40% of the troops participating in the training exercise are stationed there, and the location has the best defensive installments of all five mission locations. Usually, it is used in conjunction with a similar fortress over here," she pointed to a location on the map outside the square indicating the mission area, "in an exercise similar to Capture the Flag, where two teams try to defend their fortress while trying to destroy a target within the other."

She held her hand out to her side, and her aide placed a bottle of water in it. With a quick twist, she broke the bottle's seal and took a sip. Instead of handing it back to her aide, she held onto it.

After a quick look at the countdown, she flicked her wrist, and her Omni-tool flared up momentarily. The map changed into dozens of camera feeds with one bigger one in the middle.

"The cameras are placed around the area, and drones are surrounding the mission locations to give us a top-down view of any engagement. Furthermore, we will see through the eyes of the regular troops in a way since a camera is installed in their helmets."

"Will we also see a first-person view from the members of Alpha and Bravo?"

"No," said General Klesky. "There is a camera feed coming from them, and we are saving the videos for later review, but the only thing we will know about them is their positions through the trackers they are carrying. The committee decided we wanted to show you how they operate from the view of their opponents."

"In essence," I said, "you want us to show their stealth capabilities firsthand. The time for the mission is short, so you chose this to highlight them anyway. That is a good idea. We know they are there but won't see them through the soldiers' cameras if they are doing their job well."

"Correct," agreed Klesky. "We found it a good trade-off."

She raised her arm to look at the time, walked away from the front, and said: "And it seems like it is going to begin in a minute. So I would ask you to remember any further questions until the end when we have more time to discuss them."

Instead of taking the chair close to the front where her aide was already sitting, General Klesky walked around the few tables and came to me and Takahashi, sitting down on the empty seat to my left.

I sent her a nod, which she returned, and our focus turned back toward the middle screen that changed into a video of how two shuttles approached the drop-off point at rapid speeds.

They arrived over the point and lowered themselves barely enough to be covered by the treeline before the camera changed and showed how the doors of the two shuttles opened, and twelve dark figures dropped the last ten meters to the ground.

The figures didn't even seem to notice the height and rolled off their momentum as if it was just a meter, and secured the perimeter with their weapons at the ready in such a fluid motion that I thought I was seeing a computer-animated video instead of live footage.

"An eezo-powered gravity nullifier," whispered Takahashi. "The same tech we're using in the pods of the drop-troopers, just smaller and less powerful. It works up to 40 meters reliably, and 50 meters is the maximum where the device can bleed off enough momentum to make landing possible without an immediate hospital visit afterward. If everything goes well, the end product will be able to work up to a height of 100 meters reliably."

While the details behind the twelve people strong Alpha and Bravo teams were interesting, I only managed to listen with half an ear to Takahahsi's explanation since most of my attention was focused on the first clear picture I got of the powered armor the soldiers of Project Ares were wearing.

The color tones were all dark, but even on the screen, I could see that they ranged from dark blue and violet-grey to dark green. The most noticeable feature was the visor, which seemed to glow in the shadows of the trees surrounding them. It was a simple line over the area where the wearer's eyes would be and recessed a bit into the helmet to prevent it from cracking if anything bigger than a small stone hit the head, yet somehow, those glowing lines gave off a feeling that sent shivers down my back, even through a video screen. The rest of their armor was less bulky than I had expected and even looked sleek and refined as if countless hours had been used in the designing process of its appearance and that this had been a point of development instead of a simple byproduct.

That said, the rest of the image those soldiers projected wasn't less intimidating, and I was sure that if I were to meet any one of them in a setting where I knew that they were my enemy, I would freeze and be unable to do anything else besides watching myself die if I even noticed that much before my end.

On the other hand, if they stood between me and an enemy, I would know that everything was going to be alright.

And that was from their image alone.

When they started to go out into the field and earned a reputation, the positive effect on civilians' morale would be immense.

And their fellow Alliance soldiers' morale. 

Before I knew it, the twelve people on screen disappeared.

In one moment, they stood still, surveying the area, and there was not a single twitch to see, and in the next, they jumped into action so fast and smoothly that my eyes had trouble registering the action.

One of my fellow observers even let out an impressed whistle at the suddenness, and I couldn't help but feel the same.

Beside me, General Klesky showed a satisfied smirk for a moment before her expression smoothed back into one of focus.

She pulled a metal cylinder out of her pocket that clicked open into an L-form before a screen appeared along the lengths of the metal sticks.

"Here," she said and got a bit closer to me so that I could see what she was holding. "It's another screen where we can observe Alpha and Bravo's movements. The same is shown on the upper right screen up front, but I thought having it closer would be more practical since one can manipulate it manually."

Putting two fingers on the screen and pulling them away from each other, Klesky showed me what she meant by zooming into a specific part of the map.

Yet, what caught my attention was the rapid movement of the position markers of Alpha team.

"They are moving quite fast, aren't they? What is their average speed across uneven terrain?"

"Something between 8 to 10 km/h. They could go faster, but that is the speed they can hold consistently without losing their stamina and becoming unable to battle," whispered General Klesky.

"8 to 10!," I repeated in a harsh whisper. "How are they doing that? Especially with their armor on? That has to weigh them down immensely."

"The genetic enhancements are one reason. Instead of increasing every aspect of their physical attributes, which they also do, they mainly focus on their endurance and stamina, making it possible for them to go on far longer than the average soldier without losing their breath."

"The other reason is something I already mentioned," added Takahashi from my other side, having listened to my conversation with the general and deciding to take part. "The gravity nullifier has a low-power mode that passively reduces the weight of the armor down to a fraction of its real weight. In the end, despite its appearance, the armor does not weigh more than those worn by the security forces used on Alliance ships, who already wear some of the lightest armor in the Alliance."

"But how long is the battery going to hold if it passively reduces the weight the whole time? That has to put a limit on the time they can spend in action. And if they overstep that limit, can they still move inside their armor, or will they be crushed by it?"

"The energy source currently holds on for two and a half days in a high-stress scenario. By that, I mean the energy source has to power all passive systems and recharge the shield capacitors every three to four minutes. And even then, it didn't stop because there was no more energy. Parts of it broke down because of the stress.

Furthermore, I can reassure you that the soldiers still can move inside their armor without the passive reduction of its weight. Enough to fight or get out of it."

Deciding that I had asked enough questions for now, I simply nodded, showing my understanding of the situation, and started to wait for one of the teams to arrive at their first mission objective.

It didn't take long, at least in terms of the average time a team of infantry needed to traverse the indicated distance, for Bravo team to arrive at their first goal.

Yet, despite the cameras on the big screen switching every so often to show different angles of the area, and knowing due to the trackers every member of the team carried, neither I nor anyone else, the soldiers on site implicated, saw something happening before we got the message that the team had recovered the intel and was moving toward their second objective.

I saw the confirmation code they sent to Klesky's tablet, after which she announced the mission's completion, getting admiration from the whole room for the team's flawless completion and their stealth in achieving it.

"And that's why I put Segenro as second of command in Shepard's team. She is their infiltration specialist, while he is more of a frontline leader. They complement each other quite well, I have to say," said Klesky more to herself than to me.

Yet, one name caught my attention, and I had to ask.

"Shepard? Is he the team leader of Bravo? I think I heard that name before."

A lie, but also the truth. After all, while I hadn't heard that name in this life before and never thought to look for it without a good reason, perhaps in fear that my actions somehow caused Commander Shepard, hero of the galaxy, to never exist, I simply had to ask right now, finally getting some information on such an important figure.

"Doesn't surprise me," replied Klesky nonchalantly. "Almost their whole family is working for the Alliance, most of them in the military branches. Mark Shepard, the leader of Bravo, is a former marine who enlisted the moment he finished high school. His sister, Jane Shepard, is a member of the Navy and, as far as I know, got recommended for the N-school. Their mother, Hannah, is an XO of one of our lighter carriers and is slated for the promotion to captain of a destroyer after she finishes her tour as XO under Admiral Hacket, which she starts in a few months." She took a short break, and I could see her ordering her thoughts. "I think the father, Thomas Shepard, is working as the lead engineer on an Alliance construction project, but don't ask me where. The only one currently not working in any position within the Alliance is the youngest daughter, Nicole. She is going to college on Earth, but rumor has it that the AIS already approached her. I guess they didn't want to feel left out."

I didn't know how I stopped myself from staring at her slack-jawed.

Instead, I stared at her with both eyebrows raised in shock, which got me a curious look in return.

"I see," I slowly said and turned back to the big screen at the front.

The pictures it showed did not register with me, my thoughts going in a whole other direction.

Five Shepards.

Five.

Looks like the Spacer Origin got a huge upgrade...