by Chris Hechtl
“Yes, that is a suboptimal situation. So don't let it happen. Bast has sent each of your A.I. what we've learned about using shields, plus we've got the downloads from Admiral Irons. Now we can practice how to have reactive shields, or shields with full coverage on one front but light on the others,” he explained.
“Something tells me a live fire exercise is in our future,” Shiku said.
“It will be eventually. The shields are best for heavy weapons,” Jethro rolled on. “If you are experiencing light caliber weapons fire, use cover, skill at avoidance, and your armor to get through it without using your shields,” Jethro stated.
“Easier said than done,” Shiku drawled.
“And we'll work on the live fire exercise in virtual to let you get used to it before we try the real thing,” Jethro stated.
“Joy,” Shiku growled.
<)>^<)>/
With suit production finished, Ox and Riley insisted they had one more job to perform, which they did. Each suit team would also make a set of parts for themselves after initialization plus another for storage. “Paying it forward,” Admiral Irons called it.
“Bloody time consuming insurance,” was what Riley called it. Jethro called it a budget headache since it hadn't been planned for in the original budget estimates.
Ox and Riley helped fine tune the suits but came over less and less frequently as Gunny Z'v'll took over in that role. They did tend to linger when the group engaged in bullshit sessions about the suits or linger when they watched a video on suit combat. The videos usually led to a spirited discussion over what they'd seen over beers afterward, which explained why Riley liked to stick around.
They discussed the suits and combat doctrine, comparing and contrasting the Cadre mission with the regular suits in the Marines and Army. “We're clearly going to be a forlorn hope half the time. Sent in to clean up an impossible mission.”
“Which is why we get paid the big bucks and get to play with the expensive toys,” Letanga agreed.
Eventually that led to a discussion on Jethro's missions and experiences. Jethro had never really used his sniper skills in theater. Most of the most intense combat he had been in he had been in his suit, usually inside a station or ship. He was one of the few in the Cadre who was RECON, sniper, DI, and powered armor qualified.
The custom body frames for each of the candidates had led to the different armor types. Captain Lyon had the only command suit. It had the stealth and speed abilities of the RECON suits but the shields of the heavy weapons. It also had a lot more computer capacity and a more capable and powerful communication's suite.
They had three shooters, the most basic Cadre armor. Staff Sergeant Shic Chavers, one of their Neochimps had a shooter suit, as did Sergeant Tunisia Asami, though the self-conscious Neosaber-toothed wolf was big enough to handle a heavy weapons suit easily. Sergeant Tikaani had the third suit. Kim and Bernie's suits remained unoccupied until the powers that be could scare up replacements.
PFC Jasper Flinx and Privates Cocoa, Sylvia Delgado, and Nia Khan had the four heavy weapons suits. If Jasper complained about being the only guy in heavy weapons, he was smart enough to do it without any of the three ladies within hearing distance.
Gunny Z'v'll had their only engineering suit. He would be in charge of field repairs to their suits and equipment when the users or their A.I. couldn't easily handle it.
Jethro led the nine RECON armors. Gunny Letanga was on that list as was Private Roarack, Sergeant Tungulria, Private Lobo, Corporal Omri Vidal, Lance Corporal Blue Eyes, and Staff Sergeant's Shiku and Pamplona.
It wasn't quite the mix the brass had in mind. Jethro had broken the team down into fire teams. Captain Lyon had selected Tunisia, Shic, and Gunny Z'v'll as his headquarters fire team. It made sense in that both the captain and Veraxin would stay back from the hottest part of any combat.
Since he was second in the chain of command, Jethro had Tikaani and Sylvia with him in a short fire team.
Letanga had his own fire team of Blue eyes, Omri, and Shiku. His was one of the two RECON fire teams. The other was led by Tungulria who had Roarack, Pamplona, and Lobo. That left Jasper to lead Cocoa and Nia in a short heavy weapons fire team.
It wasn't an optimal mix; the paper study by the brass had shot for a different balance of shooters versus RECON. But they hadn't taken into account that the RECON people were the ones with the most “blood” in them. Apparently that hadn't filtered into their original planning.
Jethro would have preferred to have an all RECON team himself, but he was resigned to being second-in-command. In fact, he most likely would be the field commander during engagements he knew since Captain Lyon couldn't be expected to go into combat often given his other duties as head of SPECOPS and Marine RECON.
Which meant Tunisia, Shic, and Gunny Z'v'll would be assigned to him or off on their own under the Gunny's guidance. They definitely needed more warm bodies he mused.
The original plan had them up to a full platoon by Phase III. He wasn't certain if that was possible, but given that the medics had figured out how to add Royal Jelly to candidates who completely lacked “the blood,” then it was possible. How they changed after they initialized though … he wouldn't want to go through that process. Their nanites would have to virtually rebuild them from the toes up and alter their DNA to pass on most of those changes to their progeny if they ever lived long enough to do so.
At least he'd fulfilled that part of the unwritten mission directive he mused.
The two biggest bottlenecks were the lack of suitable candidates and Admiral Irons. Admiral Irons had to be on hand to initialize everything, which was a scheduling nightmare. Since the admiral was a busy man running the administration plus other projects, it was a given that he wouldn't be available for more than once a month or so after Phase I was complete.
So, they'd have to make the most of what time they had with him he thought.
Each candidate would have to be evaluated on a case by case basis too, he knew. Everyone was different, with different skill sets, different ethics and values … just the ONI interviews alone … he shook his head. He'd gone through his fair share of them. He was aware the others had as well.
Eighteen out of twenty so far, he mused. But they still had four more to go, including the captain.
They still didn't have a rank system worked out for the A.I. either. They obviously couldn't be officers; there were legal problems with the puppet master amendments in the A.I. treaty. They'd figure it out eventually he thought.
“So, we're it? Can they find more?” Sylvia asked as she looked around the room. Jethro snorted. That made her brown eyes turn to him. “What?”
“Sorry, you were echoing my thought train,” he said as he shook himself to wake himself up and put him in the here and now. “The problem is the ready pool of candidates. Cadre descendants are obviously rare. They were sent into the hottest battles after all,” he stated.
“And not every descendant became a Marine,” Gunny Z'v'll stated, “at least not here. Are we going to open it up to civilians?”
“Highly doubtful,” Jethro said with a firm shake of his head. “If they can't stand the mental and psychical discipline to get into the military to begin with, I don't see them being able or fit to be here among us,” he said.
“Narcissistic aren't you?” Cocoa drawled.
Jethro looked over to the black bear. She just stared right back. He snorted, then shrugged. “You don't think we need the best? We are the elite.”
“Don't get your head too swollen,” Sylvia cautioned.
“I'm not. It is an appreciation of what we are and what we have to be to continue moving forward from this point,” Jethro said.
“What about going back to the old Cadre members? Or even us?” Gunny Z'v'll asked.
“Meaning what?” Pamplona asked as she came into the room.
“I'm considering the option of cloning to resurrect Cadre members or even us if need be,” the Veraxin s
tated with second-degree emphasis.
Jethro frowned thoughtfully. “It's not unheard of, but I'd like to leave it as an option of last resort,” Captain Lyon said as he came in behind Pamplona.
The group turned and started to rise, but he waved them back down to whatever they were doing. One thing Jethro liked about the captain was that he didn't stand on ceremony, especially when there was work to be done.
“Definitely last resort,” Jethro vowed. “Though it would be cool to meet them.”
“You'd be disappointed. We'd be cloning the tissue and some of their muscle memory but not their actual memories. They'd be a new person,” Bast informed them over the speakers.
“With the rights of every other citizen including the right to refuse service,” Sylvia pointed out.
“True, which is why it is an option of last resort or one reason at any rate,” the captain said evenly as he checked his suit out.
“Okay, so that's out. Moving on …,” the gunny said.
<)>^<)>/
Bob glanced up from the paper he was reading and then flipped it to the last page. “Seen anything interesting?” Larry asked.
Bob snorted. Larry was known as Larry the Liquidator for a reason. But ever since they'd been put on the contract, they hadn't had been allowed any other contracts. That meant they weren't getting what they wanted. Bob was a player; he liked the casinos and high life that the contracts paid him.
But the best contracts were the hardest ones. They were the most fulfilling, both emotionally and financially. But they were also frustrating and tended to test even the best assassin's patience.
Assassins could wait for months if necessary, but they too had a job. Sometimes a contract went on the back burner until the target lowered his or her guard or got sloppy. Rarely were they given a clean shot right off. They'd known ever since the Guild had called in the markers that they were going to be in for a long haul.
Which made the patient waiting even more excruciating at times. Word had come in that they had to do it on civilian turf away from the base too. And they had to watch the gates by proxy, which meant a couple of camera traps or a live feed. Given that camera traps and a live feed would be passive and seen being installed by the gate sentries, they'd been forced to move the cameras further out from the base perimeter.
Not having INTEL inside the base was a problem. They didn't know the target's patterns in there. They had no foreknowledge of when he would leave and under what circumstances. They'd noted he left occasionally for hours, sometimes a day at a time but those movements were under heavy guard.
So, they had to wait for the right opportunity to come along. Which meant little to no planning, which was suboptimal to them.
“Nothing,” Bob answered as he finished the papers. He snorted at the antics in his favorite comic strip, read his horoscope, then folded the paper and set it down between the two men. He uncrossed his legs and then rubbed his thighs to help his circulation along. “I need a cushion or something; this seat is horrible,” he grumbled as he rose, rubbing the small of his back.
“I know,” Larry said. “I don't even know if we're the only team on this,” he said shaking his head. “Can you imagine the entire Guild putting all its resources on one target?”
“I can. We've done it before. Don't get me wrong, the pay was good. We've even sent kill teams in after a high priority target. But this one has teeth and a lot of eyes and ears around him. And those eyes and ears also have teeth. We've got to be patient.”
“Yeah, but the problem is, like that damn time he took the kitten to the carnival, by the time we see it unfold and try to get confirmation, higher doesn't act in time and it slips through our fingers!” Larry groused.
“I know. Someone needs to get off the stick. If they want someone to observe, get a third party. If they want us to act …,” he left the rest unsaid as a woman with her children walked by. “Morning, ma'am,” Bob murmured, tipping his hat to her. She eyed him and then Larry, then went on her way.
“See, we're exposed here. I don't like it,” Larry grumbled.
“I know. They will cycle us out for someone else soon.”
“How soon?” Larry demanded.
Bob shrugged. He left the paper for Larry and then took off, stuffing his hands in his pockets and he whistled a jaunty tune. His shift was over. If he timed it right, he'd get home in time to eat and then check out some poker next door before he had to go to his dull evening job as a mortician.
<)>^<)>/
Their bull sessions drew the attention of Captain Lyon and eventually ONI once a few of the Cadre candidates pressed questions to Admiral Irons. That led to a question and answer with Lieutenant Fletcher. Lieutenant Fletcher wasn't thrilled about interacting with organics, but he followed Captain Montgomery's orders. As the discussion began, it quickly became intriguing for him. He monitored the conversation with a bot but had to intervene to answer questions on his own on a regular basis.
“So, we know from the INTEL that ONI has picked up,” Jethro said as he nodded to the holographic image of the lieutenant, “that the enemy has powered suits. So, let's consider the enemy's side of things for a moment.”
“How so?” Letanga asked, cocking his head, clearly curious.
“Well,” Jethro drawled. “From a personal note, I wonder how many other Cadre suits survived the war? How many fell into their hands? What about a place that stored parts like we've created? A ship transporting them? We have no clue, and according to what you folks in ONI have told us, the pirates are everywhere, almost across the entire galaxy, right sir?”
“Yes, that is correct according to our latest intelligence. The ships that are the furthest out are the oldest obviously. Some have crews that made turn-over generation wise from what we've been able to deduce. Some may even have alien or Neo crews. This xenophobia extending to the level of killing off Neos is recent.”
“Another fun thing to consider. Enemy sleeper agents who are Neos,” Shiku drawled.
“It is something we have to consider but not in this sector. At least, the odds are low,” Lieutenant Fletcher admitted.
“But not completely ruled out. I'm glad you haven't put blinders on there, sir,” Jethro said. “But about the questions … Some of us have wondered how many of the enemy have the same things we have—Royal Jelly. The blood,” he said.
“That would be limited to their gene pool obviously since they have been selectively culling it to just the human genome,” Fletcher replied.
“Here but not elsewhere as you pointed out. But they still have them here?”
“It is a distinct possibility,” the A.I. replied. “Access to hardware is restricted however.”
“I remember something about that in the past. Pity I'd forgotten that before Kim and Bernie had their near death experience,” Jethro said with a grimace.
“But they don't know how to access it,” Sylvia said with a look from Jethro to the lieutenant to get them back on track topic wise. Jethro nodded once.
“Wanna bet they will try to find a way?” Pamplona replied. “My question is: do they have the means to access it? And if they do, what will be the end product? Will it be anything like our own?”
“Not quality wise,” Gunny Z'v'll said stubbornly.
“No, but it is an edge. They can't copy our armor obviously, but they can learn from it, and like Jethro they can put one or more into limited use. He did before it woke, right? So, does ONI know anything? Does the other side have a way to access and activate the implants of someone 'of the blood'?” Shiku asked pointedly.
The A.I. instantly thought of El Dorado. “Even if I knew I couldn't tell you,” Lieutenant Fletcher said carefully. “Any answer would be classified above your security level,” he said. “But I will take this conversation under advisement and discuss it and its implications with higher authority.”
Sylvia nodded slowly as she turned to the others. “Good. Thank you for listening, sir.”
“I have fou
nd this time to be productive on several levels. You organics tend to think outside the box with lateral thinking, in ways we A.I. cannot quite duplicate. It is refreshing,” Lieutenant Fletcher stated.
“Good. On that note, do we have any INTEL on the armored units they have deployed, sir?” Jethro asked.
“We have some of the names, but not the size of the units nor how they are outfitted,” Lieutenant Fletcher stated as he sent the files to the group. “I am making what we know available to you. Remember, some of it has not been confirmed by our own sources. Some has been labeled as conjecture. For security reasons, I can't give you the source.”
“We know some of it came from POWs,” Sylvia said with an indifferent shrug. “Personally I'd wring them out dry. Fortunately, for them it's not my call,” she growled.
Jethro's eyes scanned the files as Bast brought them up. There was a lot there, a lot of qualifiers, but interesting nonetheless. “Okay, I think on that note we can quit for the day since we've all got some reading to do,” he said.
The organics groaned. “That means he found something and he's scheming scenarios to inflict on us,” Shiku moaned. The others chuckled.
Chapter 31
Jethro went over various elite units of the Horathians. According to what ONI had picked up, there were twenty-seven known elite units, no, twenty-six given the Throat Slitters had been reportedly disbanded and torn apart by the others. It was good to know that they were eating their own he thought as he focused on the ones that were on the ground.
He ignored the Imperial Guard for the moment. They wouldn't be encountered until much later most likely. There was also little information on them. There were six fighter units that he also ignored. That left nineteen units left.
Two of them, the Skull Riders and Ghost Riders, were some sort of elite biker scouting units. He was fairly certain they wouldn't be too much trouble for the Cadre.
The Banshee Brigadoons, Dreadnoks, and Ball Busters were Gather SPECOPS units. They were involved in boarding actions and torture for information. “Lovely,” he murmured. The Ball Busters were an all-female unit too he noted. The Dreadnoks were known to party hard, listen to heavy metal, and ride loud motorcycles. Most of them were scattered across the galaxy. So far none had been encountered, which was odd. Given that they were the elite, they were most likely deployed to areas that had a large amount of prey, possibly even prey that fought back.
