Thomas stepped forward; he had already spotted the battlesuit with his name on it. The suit had split down one side and was standing fully open. Taking a deep breath, he stood in front of the suit on its small platform and stepped backward into it. As soon as his back touched the rear of the suit, it closed up and the seam where it had split open vanished. For a moment Thomas felt claustrophobic and then his neural implant made contact with the suit. Suddenly the helmet became transparent, giving him a clear view of what was in front of him and to both sides. Cool air began circulating through the suit. Instinctively he reached his hand up to touch his head and saw his suit-encased arm move upward to touch his helmet.
“Once you are inside your suits they will begin to go through a cycle of instructions showing you how everything operates,” explained Lieutenant Breeze over the suit’s comm system. “Anytime you feel confused just ask the suit’s computer what you want to know. It will explain it to you in as much detail as you desire.”
On the HUD section of Thomas’s helmet instructions began to appear. Without hesitation, Thomas began following the instructions and was soon walking around in the suit. He was surprised at how effortlessly the suit moved. It almost seemed all Thomas had to do was concentrate on what he wanted done and the suit would perform the action. Thomas knew this was due to the neural implant, which allowed him direct access to all of the suit’s systems.
For nearly an hour Thomas experimented with the different functions of the suit. He was amazed at everything it could do. He looked over toward Charring Mountain. He knew next time he went up the mountain, he would be wearing this battlesuit and he was determined to make it to the top. His father had in record time and Thomas hoped to equal or best that performance. His father would expect no less.
“Marines, stop where you are and face me,” ordered Lieutenant Breeze.
Thomas turned his suit until he faced the lieutenant.
“I’m activating the suit communications equipment,” Breeze explained. “There are three settings. On setting one you can talk to any individual in your platoon by saying their name. Your suit will automatically signal the individual you want to speak with. The second setting is for your squad only. All corporals assigned a squad will have their team’s comm frequencies loaded into your suits. The third setting is for communication over the platoon general channel. That’s where in nearly all cases I’ll be giving orders. In most situations the only Marines speaking on this channel will be myself and the sergeants. Everyone else should be listening and only replying when asked a question.”
“Thomas, can you hear me?” Brian’s voice came over the comm channel.
Thomas focused and replied. “Clear as a bell.”
“These suits are great!” said Brian, jumping up and down several times. Each jump took him higher and higher.
“Private Parker,” came Lieutenant Breeze’s aggravated voice over the general comm. “We’re not here to see if you can fly. Stand still while I’m talking unless you want to volunteer for extra duty.”
Brian settled down and turned his attention to the lieutenant.
“For the rest of the day Sergeant Welch and Sergeant Cain will work with you in mastering the battlesuits. We’ll take a one hour break for lunch and then practice the rest of the afternoon.” Lieutenant Breeze paused and placed her hands on her hips. “Tonight get some rest. Tomorrow you will put on the battlesuits and attempt Charring Mountain again.” Breeze stopped and smiled. “I should warn you; tomorrow will be much more difficult than the last attempt as the pop-up weapons will be using more intense stunners as well as small explosive rounds.”
-
After lunch Thomas gathered his squad around him. “Lieutenant Breeze said we’re going back up Charring in the morning. This time I intend to make it to the top.”
“No one’s ever made it to the top in a battlesuit on the first attempt,” said Kinsley. “From what I understand the higher up we go the more pop-ups we’ll encounter.”
Thomas knew Kinsley was right. “That’s why for the remainder of the afternoon I want to practice moving our squad up the mountain.” Thomas pointed to a small hill about a kilometer away. “I’ve spoken to Sergeant Welch and he’s given permission for us to use that hill to practice on. We’re going to see what type of formation is the most effective for us to use when we go up Charring in the morning.”
“I hope all of us don’t get stunned again,” said Private Leah Adams. Leah was a twenty-two year old clone and had worked very hard to qualify for battlesuit training. “It hurt like hell last time.”
“That’s for sure,” replied Private Juan Greerman. He was also a clone and twenty-two years old.
“I understand they’re going to lob explosive rounds at us this time,” added Private Josh Henderson. “I hope they don’t blow these expensive new suits apart.”
Thomas looked over his squad. “If we do our jobs right we won’t have anything to worry about. From what I understand all four squads will set out together but each squad is responsible for their own action. I’ve already spoken to Corporal Coyle and her squad will be supporting ours.”
Brian looked around and then asked a question. “Why aren’t they here practicing with us?”
“They may later,” replied Thomas. “She currently has them learning to run in the battlesuits and acquiring more information about how to use them.”
“Why aren’t we doing that?” asked Kinsley.
Thomas grinned though no one could see it. “We’re going to do the same thing but on that big hill instead.”
-
A few minutes later Brian looked at the large hill in front of him. It was at least two to three hundred meters to the top where a small blue flag was flying. “Capture the flag?” This was a game he and Thomas had played a lot as children in Vesta.
-
Thomas nodded. “Exactly. We’ll divide up into teams of two. Both team members must touch the flag to win.”
“What does the winner get?” asked Brian. “I could use some cold beer tonight.”
“I’ll provide a six pack for whichever team reaches the flag the most often,” replied Thomas. He agreed a cold beer after this sounded great.
Thomas quickly selected the teams. Brian and Leah were together, Juan and Josh were the second team, and Thomas chose Kinsley as his partner. The strategy was simple: beat the other teams up the hill using whatever methods they could to accomplish that.
“Everyone at the base of the hill,” ordered Thomas.
“This is going to be easy,” Brian said, standing next to Leah.
Thomas grinned. Brian had forgotten everything was fair in the battle to the top. This was not simply a race but a combat situation.
Thomas switched his comm link so he could speak to Kinsley and no one could overhear. “Stay behind Leah. When I give the signal, trip her.”
“Trip her?” replied Kinsley, looking over at Thomas. “What if she gets hurt?”
“These are battlesuits,” answered Thomas. “They are capable of treating injuries, even serious ones. Besides, a little trip isn’t going to do that much harm.”
Kinsley looked at Thomas. “What are you going to do?”
Thomas grinned to himself. He wondered if the others realized how powerful these battlesuits actually were. “I’m going to toss Brian back down the hill.”
Looking around, Thomas saw everyone was ready. “Go!” he shouted over the squad comm link. Instantly all six of them took off running. Thomas stayed a few meters behind Brian and Kinsley was doing the same to Leah. Thomas almost felt sorry for Brian and Leah. Neither suspected what was soon to happen to them.
They were about halfway up the hill when Thomas signaled Kinsley. Kinsley leaped forward next to Leah and promptly stuck her leg out, causing Leah to trip and fall down.
-
“Hey!” shouted Brian, seeing Leah was down.
Brian hesitated and then felt himself being raised up in the air. With a sudden premonition
he knew what was going to happen. He held his breath and waited for the pain as Thomas tossed him a good twenty meters down the slope. Brian hit the ground, knocking the air out of him and promptly began rolling down the hill. He managed to stop himself by digging his armor-encased hands into the dirt. Standing back up he saw he wasn’t injured and the suit wasn’t damaged. However, looking back up the hill he saw Thomas and Kinsley were nearly to the top. Juan and Josh were only a few meters behind them.
Brian smiled to himself. He now knew what Thomas had meant when he said anything was fair to reach the top of the hill. The next round would be much different. Brian was bigger than Thomas and he was certain he could toss Thomas farther down the hill than he had been tossed. He realized now just how much fun this contest was going to be. It was time to work out some strategy with Leah.
-
Thomas watched Brian and Leah standing next to one another. From the gestures Brian was making with the arms of his battlesuit, Thomas suspected this indicated his friend was making serious plans to even the playing field. “We need to be ready,” he said to Kinsley. “If I know Brian he’ll use every dirty trick in the book now to win.”
Kinsley nodded. She was pleased to be teamed up with Thomas. “They have to catch us first. I think we can outrun them.”
“That might work this next time but Brian will come up with something after that.”
Thomas was right. In the next round he and Kinsley managed to outrun everyone to the top and touch the flag for the second time. In the following round Thomas was halfway up the hill when a large rock struck him in the back, knocking him down. Then he felt Brian grab him and hoist him high up into the air.
“Have fun, this is going to hurt,” said Brian over the suit comm.
The next moment Thomas found himself thrown down the hill to strike the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust. Thomas then rolled the rest of the way down the hill before he could stop himself. He stood up only to be knocked back down by Kinsley as her suit came tumbling down the slope. “A rock,” moaned Kinsley, sitting up and rubbing her shoulder with her armor-encased arm. “I never would have thought of that.”
“It’s a lesson we needed to learn,” replied Thomas, standing up and seeing Brian and Leah had made it to the top. They had both touched the flag and were standing next to it, waving at them. “These suits can be used to make anything into a weapon.”
Kinsley stood back up with her hands on the waist of her battlesuit. “So, what’s the plan now?”
Thomas grinned. “If they can throw rocks, so can we.”
-
For the rest of the afternoon the three teams vied for superiority. In the end Thomas and Kinsley reached the flag six times, Brian and Leah came in second with four and Josh and Juan managed to reach the flag three times. When the day was over the six sat down at the foot of the hill feeling exhausted from their efforts. Their suits were filthy and all six suits had substantial dents in various areas, dents the nanites in the suits were already repairing. By morning the suits would look as good as new.
“That was fun,” said Brian. He had his helmet open and was smiling. “We need to do that again!”
“We may,” replied Thomas. “Only next time there will be a few rules.”
“Let’s go take a shower and then head to the cafeteria,” suggested Kinsley. “I’m getting hungry.”
“So am I,” said Brian. “This workout on this hill has built up an appetite.”
Thomas shook his head. “You’re always hungry. I don’t see where you put it all.”
Leah stood up and looked at the others. “Let’s go. If we wait too long the showers will be crowded and there will be a long line in the cafeteria.”
The group left the hill and headed toward the barracks where the showers were located. A hot shower, a good meal, and some sleep were needed to prepare them for what was ahead in the morning.”
Thomas also wanted to speak to Corporal Coyle about going up Charring Mountain.
-
In the morning Thomas was sitting at a table watching Brian eat his breakfast. Brian’s plate was loaded with eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and biscuits. He shook his head as Brian wolfed down his food. “You’re going to get sick eating all of that.”
Brian grinned and shook his head. “No I won’t. A good breakfast is always the start of a good day. You should eat more yourself.”
Thomas looked down at his plate at the scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. It was about half what Brian was eating.
Thomas is right,” Kinsley said. “We’re going to be in our battlesuits for a considerable amount of time today. I would hate to see you get sick inside of yours.”
-
Looking down at his plate of food Brian considered what Kinsley said. With a deep sigh, he stopped eating. While the food was good it wasn’t worth getting sick inside his battlesuit. If he did he would never hear the end of it from Lieutenant Breeze.
“Thomas, do you have a plan for us today?” Brian knew Thomas had stayed up several hours last night looking at summaries of previous classes assailing Charring Mountain. Those reports were available for any recruit to examine and learn from.
Thomas nodded. “Yes, but it’s a little bit risky and some of us will most likely get stunned.”
“I was afraid of that,” replied Brian.
-
Kinsley shivered slightly. Getting stunned was not a pleasant experience. “Thomas, I understand your parents and Brian’s parents are here?” Kinsley had spent a few years on Vesta as that was where the primary cloning facility was located. She was very well aware of who Thomas and Brian’s parents were.
“Yes,” Thomas replied. “I imagine they’ll all be in the Control Center watching us go up Charring this morning.”
Kinsley realized this was probably even more pressure for Thomas to do well. As a clone, Kinsley did not have actual parents. Many of her memories and learning had come from special machines which placed that information in her brain while she was maturing in the cloning chamber. She often wondered what it would have been like if she had been raised as a regular Human child. She knew other clones thought the same way and there were even plans once the population reached sufficient levels to begin taking the clones out of the cloning chambers at a younger age.
“You’ll do well,” replied Kinsley.
She had watched Thomas over the months they had been in training. He worked hard at everything he did. She realized it must be difficult to have the last name of Nelson. Everyone in the Solar System knew who General Wade Nelson and Colonel Ryan Nelson were. Thomas had a lot to live up to and the expectations for him would be high.
-
An hour later they were all standing at the base of Charring Mountain clad in their battlesuits. Lieutenant Breeze was standing in front of them along with the two sergeants.
“Today will involve a live fire training session. You are all carrying two types of assault rifles. One fires explosive rounds, which can destroy a pop-up and the other fires an energy beam, which can do the same. Neither the explosive rounds nor the energy beams can penetrate a battlesuit. The pop-up emplacements on Charring Mountain will be firing explosive rounds as well. While these rounds can’t penetrate your battlesuits, they will hurt like hell and knock you down if you’re struck by one. The pop-ups will also be using smoke rounds to reduce your visibility. In addition,” this time Lieutenant Breeze grinned wickedly, “the settings on the stunners have been increased. They will sting twice as badly as they did on your first attempt on the mountain.”
-
This caused several of the Marines in the battlesuits to look at one another. The stunners had hurt badly enough the other day; now to hear that the effects of the stuns was going to be even worse worried a number of them.
-
“Just what I wanted to hear,” muttered Brian over the squad comm.
“You should be a girl,” replied Kinsley. “Most of you guys are bigger than we are so the stuns don
’t affect you like it does us.”
“That’s for sure,” added Leah. “I thought I was going to die the other day they hurt so badly.”
Thomas looked at his squad. “I think the battlesuits will shield us somewhat. Maybe the effects won’t be as bad as we think.”
“Unless they’ve adjusted the nanites in the battlesuits not to resist the effects of the stunners,” said Brian sarcastically. “It sounds like something Lieutenant Breeze would do.”
Thomas didn’t answer. He knew Brian might be right about this. He turned back toward Lieutenant Breeze to listen to what she was saying.
-
“On top of Charring Mountain is a pedestal with a six large sensory input screens on it. All you have to do is touch the hand of your battlesuit flat against any of the screens and you will have won. When your hand touches the screen all pop-ups on Charring Mountain will become inactive. So you can see by reaching the top and touching a screen you can save the rest of your squad mates from a lot of pain.” Lieutenant Breeze paused, her eyes going across the two assembled rows of battlesuits. “However, I should warn you that in this stage of training no one has ever reached the top of the mountain.” Lieutenant Breeze looked directly at Thomas. “Not even your father, Corporal Nelson.”
-
Thomas remained rigid standing at attention. He wasn’t pleased Lieutenant Breeze had mentioned his father. However, it was something he was used to.
Final Conflict Page 5
