Freya opened her eyes to find herself staring at her reflection again from the pod’s glass door. “Did I die?” Freya asked herself frowning.

“Come on people. I got a beer waiting for me. Get your naked butts out of your pods and get dressed.” The drill instructor yelled out into the pod bay.

“Oh,” Freya muttered as she covered herself with her hand and nudged the door open with her foot.

She quickly clicked on the locker beside her pod then stopped as she got different options for her working uniform. It asked her to choose a type of camo. Her options where forest camo, desert camo, and mountain camo. She randomly picked mountain camo for her uniform camo. Then the menu asked if she wanted to equip her sleeves down or rolled up. She picked rolled up. The menu then asked if she wanted her pants bloused or not bloused. She randomly picked bloused not knowing what it meant.

The pants on the screen went from hanging down normally to tucked into her boots. Then it asked her what kind of boot did she want. It listed several boots styles. She picked a black pair of boots that went up past her ankles. They were like the one she had used in Basic Training. When she finished choosing one of the styles it asked her what type of boot she wanted. It gave her the option to choose the forest, jungle, or mountain. She chose the mountain to match her camo. Then it asked her about her underwear. It gave her the option of sexy underwear to practical underwear. She chose practical underwear because she planned on going on a mission as soon as she could.

Cost of Uniform: 2 credits. Pay the price, Yes or No.

She chose the yes button instead of looking for a cheaper option because she was getting tired of standing naked in the pod bay. The uniform appeared on her body and she quickly turned around and left the bay. As she walked down the catwalk between the pods she noticed that some of the girls were putting a lot more thought into their uniform than she did. She wondered if she made a mistake.

Status Screen

Name: Freya O’Malley

Rank: Recruit Level: 8

Template: None

Enlisted Points: 25

Credits: 91

Skill Points: 12

Mod Points: 12

Wetware Mods

Health:

Level:

Health Regen:

Level: 0

Strength:

Level: 0

Perception:

Level: 0

Agility:

Level: 0

Dexterity:

Level: 0

Memory:

Level: 0

Processing speed:

Level: 0

Skills

None

Hardware mods: None

Outside the bay, Freya stopped in shock. Thousands of people were leaving from hundreds of pod bays. Most were just walking towards either to the left or the right-hand side where there was a very wide staircase that went upwards. She noted many different types and color uniforms on the Marines. Freya looked out into the ocean of people and just stared fascinated.

Freya’s drill instructor was wearing a tan colored uniform and she was standing around a group of people. She was talking to the group and at one point the entire group laughed. Freya’s drill instructor waved at the group as they left and she turned around to wait for everyone to finish getting dressed.

The drill instructor had to go into the pod bay to get force some of the slower women out. Once everyone was out she had them get into formation again even though no one else was. To her surprise, the other marines moved out of the way as the company marched their way past. Freya felt oddly embarrassed to be marching like she was with her company when everyone else was walking like normal.

The company marched up the stairs that ended on what a sign that read 'the first floor, Marine Concourse. The first thing that came to Freya’s mind was it reminded her of an old fashion mall except for way bigger. Freya counted the floors they the marched out into a huge circular part of the concourse. The concourse had about ten floors not including the pod bays below.

The concourse where Freya was looked like a giant stop sign shaped shopping mall. The octagon part was where all the shops were located. Freya saw shops that sold everything from handguns to tanks. In the middle of the circular part, on the first floor, was a lot of console trees and there was already a big crowd standing around waiting on a chance to sign up for a mission.

The circular part had a wide opening on the opposite side from where the stairs were located. This part Freya dubbed the pole. Like the octagon part, it too had ten floors. From where she was marching she could see signs for restaurants and bars on the pole part.

The first floor of the pole of the concourse was a bunch of door with numbers that started at one-hundred and went up by ten and kept going. Freya noted the numbering system repeated itself as her company marched past. The even numbers were on her right-hand side and the odd numbers were on her left.

They arrived at door 270 and the drill instructor stepped out of formation. “Ok people, this is where I leave you. This is going to be your barracks. If you forget the number, think really hard and ask your HUD to give you a waypoint. Just follow the waypoint and you’ll get to where you need to go.”

“If you don't have enough E-points to get Basic Infantry then you need to get it by the end of the month. Also, everything costs something. The Marines do not give anything away for free. That includes your meals. Basic meals at the chow hall cost one credit. If you don’t have enough to eat then go on a mission and get some credits. You are not allowed in your bunk between the hours of eight in the morning and twenty hundred hours, or to you meatheads that's from eight in the morning to 8 at night. That is unless you have permission from medical. This includes the weekends' people. At no time should you be in your bunk between eight to eight. You can and will get fined and put on a punishment detail. I strongly suggest that you don’t sleep late.” The drill instructor told them back in her instructor mode.

“I suggest you guys go inside the barracks and claim a bunk and maybe grab something to eat then head to the training facilities. It’s going to be crowded right now as people wake up. Once the initial rush is over then you shouldn’t see anything like that again. At least on this ship. Guys, it’s been fun and if I see you on a mission I don’t know you people. Company, dismissed!” The drill instructor said in her parade ground voice. Then with a wave, she left.

Freya broke ranks as soon as she could and touched her palm on the lock. When the door opened she entered the light and found herself inside a barracks that was very similar to her barracks from Basic. To her surprise, her company wasn’t the only people using the barracks. At least half of the barracks bunks were already full. Freya walked down the aisle between the bunk and shook her head. None of the bunks had military style blankets or sheets. They all had different color personal blankets and at least one bunk was made up with a sleeping bag. There were a couple of people laying in their bunks watching something on their tablets or just listening to music. It was a shock after the heavily rule regulated barracks from Basic. Freya found an empty bunk but it had no blanket or sheets. Looking around she didn’t see any place where she could find them.

“Looking for something boot?” A woman from the next bunk over asked.

“Yes, Ma’am. Where do we get sheets and blankets?” She asked the woman.

“Knock that boot camp crap off. We’re all just people here. Once you’re on a mission you can yes sir or yes ma’am all you want but not here. Got me?” The woman asked.

“Yes mm… Yup, I got you.” Freya said trying not to sound so new.

“Cool, don’t worry about rank all the much except for sergeants and up. They like that boot camp crap. As for your sheets and blankets you need to go to the store and buy some. You can get the boot camp special for a single credit or you can get something that will actually feel nice for a few more credits.” The woman told her.

“She’s a boot. She doesn't have any credits to spare on something nice.” Someone said from the top bunk of the first woman’s bunk. “If I was you, kid, I would get all my stuff sorted out at the training facility and shop first then head right out into a mission. That way you don’t have to buy food or stuff. Take a long mission, they pay the best. If you guys fail just jump right into another mission. Keep going until you reach at least one win. Mod the hell out of your stuff and when can’t mod anything anymore then come back here and get comfortable.” The woman from the top bunk told her.

Freya thought about what the woman said and agreed. The money penny pincher side of her personality, that grew up so poor that every credit pinched meant survival longer, loudly agreed with the women. Dinner was going to cost a credit. If she bought the very basic sheets and blanket it was going to cost her another credit. Her uniform already cost her 2 credits. Her money was already slowly being eaten up and she still had to buy her weapons and armor. While she was only spending a credit or two at a time she realized that it would add up over time fast.

“Thanks. Do either one of you guys know where the training facilities are?” Freya asked.

“It’s different on each ship. Just ask you HUD and it will lead you there.” The woman on the bottom bunk said peeking up at Freya. “Seriously, good luck. Being a recruit sucks but don’t worry it gets better.”

“Wait up I’ll come with you. I got to spend some of the reenlistment bonus and I’ll might as go with you.” The girl from the top bunk said.

“Freya.” She introduced herself to the woman as she jumped down from her bunk.

“Martin.” The woman said. “It’s my last name. And yes I know it sounds like a first name. My ancestor was a famous author back in the day.” Freya nodded and opened the exit door to the barracks and walked into the light.

Freya stepped out of the barracks and into the concourse. She had been in the barracks only a few minutes but already the concourse was less crowded. She looked around then asked her HUD where the nearest training facility was. Her HUD map dropped a waypoint.

“Let’s skip the first floor those are always busy,” Martin said appearing out of the light.

“Ok,” Freya said and asked her HUD for the nearest training facility on the second floor was and her HUD dropped a waypoint on her map. She turned towards a small set of stairs and started walking.

“Where you from?” Martin asked. “I’m from Cisco. It’s a small station that’s home to a bunch of asteroid miners. I grew up among roughnecks. I was born on Prime but dad got a job on Cisco when I was about eight.”

“I’m from North America. Before you ask, I’m from the tundra territories, not the nuclear wastelands.” Freya told the other woman.

“Wow, and I thought where I grew up was bad. I heard that it’s a hell hole there now.” Martin said.

“It’s not all the bad. Where I’m from you just have to be careful about the pollution and what you eat. When I left they were talking about getting enough money together to start terraforming Earth again.” Freya explained.

“Rough,” Martin said shaking her head. Freya knew that Martin didn’t believe her about the terraforming. People have been trying for years to raise the money to revitalize Earth but no one outside the planet's citizens cared about the planet anymore even if it was the human homeworld. To many of those who had left, there was a lot of bad memories associated with Earth. There were also very few resources left on earth. Mankind had already plundered most of the planet decades ago.

Freya walked out of the staircase and onto the second floor and looked down the long hallway. It looked like a small street. On the inside of the street were glowing signs for everything from a movie theater to what looked like an upscale restaurant. Martin didn’t even bother looking she just turned towards the octagon and kept walking. Freya hurried to keep up.

“Forget about the first-floor stores they are mostly just last minute shopping stuff. You can get stuff cheaper on the second and third floor. I wouldn’t go above the third floor though as most of that stuff is aimed at those that ranked corporal and above. At your level don’t get expendables like grenades. You won’t get enough of what you spent on expendables back from the rewards. I made that mistake and lost money on my first mission. Plus people are idiots when it comes to grenades. You'll likely kill your own platoon mates before you kill the enemy.” Martin explained.

“Ok,” Freya said nodded. “What about medipens or med packs?”

“What’s are you going with your template?” Martin asked.

“Scout,” Freya told her.

“Ouch. You do know how to pick them. No, I would avoid that for now. If you get hit, your dead. Also, remember when I said to avoid the fourth floor? Forget it. All your stuff is going to be super expensive. Especially your weapon mods. If I was you, I would do all my shopping for my battle gear on the fourth floor. Just know it’s going to take forever to mod your gun and armor.” Martin said shaking her head as they entered the octagon.

Freya looked in the weapons store as they passed and was a display that started on the floor and went all the way up the wall with really cool looking weapons. The weapons were hanging on the wall behind a glass case. Most of these weapons were outlawed on Earth. The next shop was an armor shop and in the middle of the shop was a miniature replica of a Mech. A sign that said ‘Latest Cretecal tech’ hung on the replica.

The training facility when they found it was just a simple double door with two consoles on either side of the doors. There was a line but it was moving pretty fast. In no time Freya found herself next in line. She felt excited and a little bit afraid. She was excited about modding herself up but she was worried she was picking the right template.

“Enjoy, Freya,” Martin said as she left the console where she had been using.

“See you later, Martin.” She replied. Taking her place Freya logged in.

The Monarch has made suggestions for your mods and skills. Do you wish to see the suggestions: Yes. No.

Freya flicked on the yes.

Wetware body modification: Perception 0 to 12. Cost 12 mod points

Wetware Modifications: Personal AI. Cost: Master Perk.

Skills: Enhanced Sensing. Cost 6 skill points. Acrobatics. Cost 1 skill points. One time Dropship. Cost 1 skill points. Tracking. Cost 2 skill point

Do you wish to accept these changes? Yes. No

Freya accepted the changes and the console asked her to step into the training facility. She looked up at the line behind her. It was shorter than it was before. She didn’t see anyone she recognized in line so she turned away towards the double doors. Placing her hand on the lock she opened the door and walked into the light.

Welcome, Recruit O’Malley. I am the avatar copy of Doctor Denise Preston, digital licensed to the military to train soldiers how to use their senses better.” A woman who looks transparent said in front of Freya. The avatar was a short older woman who had a nice smile.

“There are ten senses we are going to train today. We will, of course, go over the normal five senses plus a few others. They range from how to detect barometric pressure, the ability to tell when the weather is changing, to Somatic sense the ability to feel cold and heat as well as feel pressure. There is also interoceptive sense which is where you have a sense that tells your body how your body is aligned. Organ sense beside hunger and thirst. This sense can also tell how badly you are injured when something breaks. The last sense we will be training is proprioception this is the sense that tells your brain where your body parts are and how they are arranged.”

Freya found the training both interesting and painful. For the barometric pressure the Avatar, at first, drastically changed the pressure Freya felt in the room. The pressure change was so bad her eardrums hurt as they struggled to compensate for the new pressure. Once she felt the pressure change the Avatar reset Freya’s senses back to normal. One minute she was feeling intense pain she felt fine.

Freya realized the only way possible to train like this was because she was digital and the computer could change what she was feeling in less than a second. The Avatar kept changing the pressure and resetting Freya’s body over and over again. Slowly she decreased the pressure over time until there was barely any change at all yet Freya could still feel the difference. When the Avatar finished Freya could feel the small changes in the air. Then the Avatar changed the atmosphere and gravity to something completely different than Earth normal and she had to go through the training all over again.

The Avatar trained Freya in both Interoceptive and Proprioceptive senses next at the same time. Interoceptive was all about how to balance her body. By moving her body Freya learned how to balance better. Simple small movements could change her balance a staggering amount. The proprioceptive sense was about the mind's ability to know exactly where a body part was in relations to the location of the body. The Avatar used a handgun training to show Freya what she meant. How her wrist was pointing the gun, up and down or side to side, was how the sense worked. The Avatar made use of little use of pain to help Freya become aware of the sense and how to train it better.

Organ sense also used a lot of pain. The Avatar used a small about of pain to show her how to tell how badly she was hurt and what to do to prevent further damage to her body. The Avatar then switched to her eyesight. The Avatar taught her to see patterns in thing to make out hidden objects. At first, it was very slow going but once her mind figured it out she was able to start picking patterns up faster. She was also trained to judge distances with just her eyes and shown how to spot the common mistakes people make when they used their eyes. She was also trained when not to trust her eyesight and use other ways to gauge measurements, locations, and distances.

The Avatar then took away her eyesight. She trained her sense of tough first this way. At first, it was just using her hands then the Avatar took away her clothes and trained her sense of touch from the bottoms of her feet to the top of her scalp. She was trained to pay attention better to her sense of smell and to tell the difference to many different smells. Being naked made her acutely aware of even the lightest touches of wind on her body.

Next was taste. She was trained to tell the different ingredients in something she tasted to an extreme degree. At the end of her training in her sense of taste, she could roughly tell how long something had been harvested or killed just by tasting it. She was warned that if something was frozen and then thawed again it would make this skill unreliable.

The trained ended in a maze where she had to find her way around a maze blind. Some of the walls hummed, some blew air slightly, others were slightly hotter or colder than the ones around her. She learned to measure her gait so that it was always the same distance so that she could estimate by her steps so she could learn how far something was just by walking.

The Avatar went away and a soldier avatar appeared in her place. The soldier taught her how to track things in many different environments including urban areas. In non-urban areas, it was about figuring out the right path a being would take. Would it walk on the ground or would it take to the trees? Would it go to someplace it knows or would it hide someplace completely new? The Avatar showed her the many different tracking methods she could use to stalk her prey. The next training was aerobics and at first, Freya was excited to learn how to do flips. Then after the numerous times, she fell she was tired of it. The Avatar who taught her was a chipper woman in her thirties who kept talking in a really annoying voice but she did know what was doing. The biggest thing the woman stress was how to fall correctly. Most of the training was on rolling out of a fall so as not to get severely hurt but she did learn how to do a backflip. Something she always wanted to learn.

The last thing she learned was about the drop pod. In Freya’s opinion should have been called drop bullet because it was shaped just like a bullet. Or maybe an escape pod like in the movies. There was two way to get into the pod. The first way was that her body would be spawned into the drop pod then fired out of the Monarch towards the surface of a planet. The second way was for Freya to enter the pod through the bottom of the pod and then be fired at the planet's surface. There was a lot of if this happens, do this and if that happens, then do that. There was a lot she had to learn but in the end, it was mostly hoping for the best and pray she didn’t die a fast but horrible death.

Freya found herself standing outside the training facility exit door. It was about five feet from the double doors. The world felt more real than before. She looked around noticing things that she hadn't noticed before or if she had she had ignored it. She used her new skills to pick listen to people conversations. It was odd but she found it exciting.

She was brought back to reality when someone behind her spoke. “Excuse me.”

“Oh, sorry,” Freya muttered and stepped to the side. She looked around one last time. Before she asked her HUD to find her a weapons store on the fourth floor where she could buy her template gun.

The fourth floor was a lot quieter than the other floors Freya had been on. It also had a lot fewer stores. She looked around a little worried at how nice the stores looked as opposed to the floors below. Nevertheless, she entered the store that was marked on her map. An android was waiting by the counter with a realistic smile on his face. He was currently not moving and was just looking blankly straight forward.

As Freya walked into the store he perked up. “Hello, welcome to Andy and Michael’s weapon shop. You can call me Ted. How can I help you today.” The android asked.

“Hi, I am looked for my Template weapon and some armor,” Freya told it.

“We can do with your weapons but I’m sorry but we don’t carry armor at this store. Let see what we can do about your weapons today. Can you please place your hand on the screen and we can go from there.” The Android asked.

Status Screen

Name: Freya O’Malley

Rank: Recruit. Level: 8

Template: 2nd Platoon Scout

Enlisted points: 25

Credits: 91

Skill points: 0

Mod points: 0

Weapons:

Armor:

Wetware mods

Health

Level: 0

Health Regen

Level: 0

Strength

Level: 0

Perception

Level: 12

Agility

Level: 0

Dexterity:

Level: 0

Memory

Level: 0

Processing speed

Level: 0

Personal AI

Level: 0

Skills:

Enhanced sensing

Level: 1

Tracking

Level: 1

Acrobatics

Level: 1

One time infantry Dropship

Level: 1

Hardware mods: None

Freya blinked as she noticed that the wetware modes had changed. She now had 12 in her perception. It took a few seconds to realized that it had changed. She didn't remember when it had changed though. She wondered if it had changed before she started training her skills. A voice of the android broke her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, you have a discount voucher. This will make thing much easier. I have several rifle licenses you can choose from. We have the M04 and the M04L. M04 is the same weapon you used in Basic Training and with no mods, it will cost you with your discount 1.5 credits. You have more than enough money to completely mod the rifle out and depending on the mod you choose it will cost you anywhere between 8 to 11 credits.” The android told her as a hologram of the rifle she had used before appeared.

“The M04L is an energy rifle that is very similar to the M04 and will cost you 2 credits. Fully modded out it is 12 to 14 credits including batteries.” The android said as the M04 hologram disappeared to be replaced with another gun. “My suggestion to you though is the P080. It is a medium ranged, ballistic machine gun that has very good accuracy and durability. Very little maintenance is required and will fire safely in most environments including low gravity environments with the correct mod of course. It can be modded with a hasibak rod so that you can fire three-hundred rounds without reloading. Stock the rifle goes for 26 credits with your discount and fully modded up will cost you 30 to 35 credits.” The android said as a hologram of the gun appeared.

“If you’re looking for an energy gun that is in your price range I suggest the GMZ127. The 127 is also a medium range rifle with both single and semi-automatic selections. It has a greater penetrating power than the P080, but it does have a much lower ammo count than the P080 though. The Colax purified battery will work on this gun with the correct mods of course. If you buy three Colax batteries we will throw the belt fast charger in for free. Fully modded out with three batteries will cost you 42-48 credits. Per the contract with the Federation military I must warn you that this is highest you can spend at this time if you still want the very high-end armor that is fully modded out for your wetware mods. Of course, if you want to go with a lower quality armor I have some more models that you can equip with your mods as they are.” Ted the android said smiling.

She told Ted the android that she wanted to test fire the two weapons and he let her fire both simulated rifles in the back of the store against holographic enemies. The energy gun was much quieter than the P080. The 127 also had a much larger entrance and exit would than a bullet from the P080. All and all Freya thought the 127 was a better rifle than the P080 in every way but the ammo capacity.

In the end, Freya went with the GMZ127 because she was a scout, not a machine gunner. She would have to be a better shot than everyone else if she wanted to survive. She chose the Colax purified battery as the sales droid suggested. It had up to 30 shots before needing reloading. The fast charger could charge all three batteries at the same time from fully dead to full in thirty seconds. It would recharge a single battery in ten seconds. The recharge could recharge the batteries constantly for thirty days before the recharger itself needed to be recharged which would take roughly a half an hour. It did have a solar panel on it to passively charge itself. The passive charging was dependant on the type of lighting received from a light source and if it got enough energy from that light source the charger could last indefinitely.

She went with the customize resizing for her first mod. Ted the Android would resize the weapon to fit her size and build in her armor after she sent him the spec. She also went with a three times scope that had night vision. She also went with the maximum amount of heat sinks to prevent overheating. Lastly, she bought a simple combat knife that cost her .25 credits. She thought about buying a secondary gun but in the end, the android told her that she was at her credit limit for weapons if she still wanted the best armor she could get.

After buying the license and paying the taxes to print the weapon in both the digital and real world she left the weapons shop 45.75 credits lighter. The armor shop that sold her armor was across the octagon. The shop specialized in light armor and the android behind the counter was dressed up as woman this time.

“Hi, I am looking for some armor,” Freya said putting her hand on the screen.

“Excellent. Well, you are limited in what you can buy because of your template. I do have some good options for you but I think you’ll like this armor the best. The problem you will face is that any armor you choose right now will give you very basic protection from ballistic rounds and no protection from energy rounds. I would recommend the Dryad model. It comes with a retractable helmet that will protect you against most environmental hazards up to a level four environment. It has two-hundred passive camouflage downloaded already so you do not have to purchase a new camo for every mission.”The female android said with a pretty realistic smile.

“The battery on the suit will last for 7 days without recharging. I noticed that you have a fast belt charger. We can easily mod the belt charge at no extra charge to recharge your armor if you go with our recommended Sensor suite. We recommend, that since you have the Wetware mod Personal AI, the Gorgi industries latest model sensor suite, the dragonlily. The dragonlily has two cloud drone factories that can produce two clouds per every ten minutes or one every five. We have several upgrades license you can buy at a later date that can weaponize these clouds. It comes with the sensor alert cloud that will last for two minutes. The cloud can cover thirty feet in front of you or five feet around you.” The female android explained to Freya.

“A very good choice young woman on the personal AI by the way. That mod was created by Gorgi industries as well and you are currently growing the latest generation personal AI. It will work well with the dragonlily. The best thing about light armor is that you can wear it as a uniform around the ship.” The Female Android said as Freya bought the license and paid her taxes. “It has several options for normal everyday wear.”

In the end, Freya spent 20 credits on the Dryad suit and 25 credits on the dragonlily sensor suite with the recommended mods. She was left with .75 credits. She didn’t even have enough money for lunch. She chose to wear the light armor out of the shop. She got rid of the helmet though because without the face shield down it looked goofy and she could not wear the suit around the ship with the face shield down anyway. She did remove the sleeves so the armor looked more like a vest than a shirt. It was how she wore her shirts at home during the all too brief summertime.

Congratulations, you have earned Novice infantry.

You are eligible for Recruit missions.

Congratulations, you have earned Basic infantry.

You are eligible for tier one missions.

Status Screen

Name: Freya O’Malley

Rank: Recruit. Level: 8

Template: 2nd Platoon Scout

Enlisted points: 25

Credits: .75

Skill points: 0

Mod points: 0

Weapons: GMZ 127 energy rifle with Colax purified battery. Basic combat knife

Armor: Dryad model armor. Dragonlily sensor suite. Sensor alert cloud.

Wetware mods

Health

Level: 0

Health Regen

Level: 0

Strength

Level: 0

Perception

Level: 0

Agility

Level: 12

Dexterity:

Level: 0

Memory

Level: 0

Processing speed

Level: 0

Personal AI

Level: 0

Skills:

Enhanced sensing

Level: 1

Tracking

Level: 1

Acrobatics

Level: 1

One time infantry Dropship

Level: 1

Basic Infantry

N/A

Hardware mods: None