Mark “Coop” Cooper

Location: CWS Abraham Lincoln, New Lancashire, United Commonwealth of Colonies

Coop stared at what the ET had hovering in front of Rear Admiral Nelson.

It was a black rectangle no bigger than Coop’s hand. Unlike the BioSeed, it was clearly mechanical. There was even a blue button glowing faintly along one of its short sides.

“Rear Admiral, as our study showed that one of the societal foundations of the human species is war, it is necessary that your species be brought up to date on the latest combat technology.” The box slowly rotated on its axis. “The fundamental defensive measure of war is the shield.”

Coop zoomed in to his HUD’s maximum magnification. He looked for anything to show the box was a fake or some ploy. He didn’t see shit. It was a flawlessly constructed box he could fit easily between his shoulder blades. The only other shield generator he’d seen with his own eyes was the size of a city block, powered by multiple reactors, and in the belly of an assault carrier.

“The Commonwealth’s armed forces have begun experimenting with shield technology, but your primary defenses are still solid structures and molecular welding. In modern naval construction, those are acceptable third and fourth level defensive measures, but the foundation of defensive tactics is built around the shield,” Bob explained.

“Forgive me, Bob, but I find it difficult to believe what I know about shield technology and what you are telling me. Humans have a saying, ‘seeing is believing’.”

“Then a demonstration is called for.” The box levitated forward so the RADM could touch it.

“Master Sergeant.” The RADM carefully took the box and handed it to the HI NCO. Coop could tell where this was going before the big, armored man even turned around.

“Cooper, front and center,” the MSG commanded, and Coop’s feet moved of his own accord before he even thought about it.

Coop looked at the box and up at the MSG.

“Ender, you too since you’re Cooper’s butt buddy.” Mike didn’t reply to the MSG’s comment. He didn’t want to get in the same hot water that Coop was drowning in.

“Simply affix the shield to the front of Corporal Cooper’s armor. When developed for military use, the shields can be incorporated into your designs, but this is a beta product. You will have to manually switch it on and off. Press the button and it will activate. A readout of the charge will appear next to the button.” Bob explained as his cilia twitched in what Coop guessed were anticipation.

Coop had a flashback to when the armorer SGT back in Basic had used him as an example to demonstrate the Dragonscale armor. This was different. Mike was lined up opposite him with his Buss pointed at the ground, but still ready to bring up into a firing position at a moment’s notice.

“Don’t fuck this up, Cooper. No pressure.” The MSG stuck the box to Coop’s chest, and it magnetically fixed itself in place. “Enders, on my command, fire on Cooper.”

“Master Sergeant?” Mike couldn’t help but question.

“Don’t mow the moron down. A five-round burst should do the trick, and we’ll go from there.” The MSG backed away from Coop and Mike who were now lined up about fifteen meters apart. That was point-blank range for infantry combat.

Coop carefully followed the ET’s instructions. He pressed the button and the faint blue glow began to shine bright. Next to it, a green bar appeared. There were no other indicators other than the green bar.

“The shield is active,” Bob informed.

“Wait, I…”

“Fire!”

Five small explosions blossomed a few centimeters from Coop’s armor and the world warped and flickered blue, but nothing touched him. The green bar dipped a fraction, but then slowly began to climb back toward full power.

“Fuck me!” Coop laughed, and forgot he’d toggled the response on the general channel.

“I do not understand what this has to do with sexual reproduction?” Bob’s worms wiggled inside his bone-white bark-skin.

“Again, give him a steady stream of fire, Enders.” Mike didn’t hesitate at the MSG’s command. He poured rounds into the front of Coop’s shield.

The bar dropped precipitously over the ten seconds of uninterrupted fire, but it held, and Coop couldn’t help but make a few rude gestures toward his friend that got a few laughs from the gathered grunts.

“Very impressive.” The RADM turned back to Bob. “Is the manufacturer looking to give us a free sample?”

“Not for this product. With no licensing issue involved, this producer of shield technology likes to receive payment for orders up front. However, the market for shield technology is a robust one. I can communicate with my contacts and see if I can create a bidding war for your business, but I will give you fair warning. If you desire companies to compete for your business you will need to make a substantial order.”

“What would you consider substantial?” the RADM asked.

“For a first-time order with a newly discovered species…half a million units.”

“Shit. That’s a lot of cheddar.” This time Coop made sure his coms were off.

“I’m going to need to see some literature and technical specs of the different designs. Our own scientists are going to need to get in on the process to see what integrates with our technology the best. I’ll want economic advisors there as well to oversee the purchase, and of course, all of this needs to be cleared at the highest levels of my government.” The RADM spit out a litany of reasons he couldn’t make an order today.

“Of course, Rear Admiral. Our interactions with previous newly discovered species show a high level of central control on initial negotiations. Within five years it becomes more decentralized, and within twenty it is back to normal commercial standards.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Bob.” The RADM nodded in thanks and made a gesture to the MSG.

“Take it off, Cooper.”

“Awww…can’t I keep it?” Coop whined as he pushed the button to turn it off.

“No, dipshit. Haven’t you been listening…nevermind,” the MSG sighed in exasperation. “Just fall back in.” Coop did as the MSG instructed.

The small shield was passed back to the MSG, to the RADM, and lastly to its spot back on the pallet. If Coop wouldn’t have gotten mowed down by everyone he would have tried to steal that piece of tech. He could already see the way it would revolutionize warfare, but he was also cognizant of its limits.

Coop had watched closely during the test. The green bar had been nearly depleted after taking ten seconds of fire. Of course, those ten seconds were on full auto from a Buss with 3mm plasma-tipped rounds. Coop estimated a hundred rounds had slammed into him. That amount would chew through an HI trooper and turn him into well-done, Grade A, ground human beef.

Coop couldn’t wait till he got one.

Knowing the tight purse strings of the government, Coop estimated a minimum of six months before the first shield-capable suits started coming out. Those would be boxes attached to the existing armor like Coop had just modeled. Suits with shield tech integrated into them were a few years off, maybe a year if there was a new model in the works and they were able to incorporate it in before testing and deployment. Even with all that, the shields would go to R&S units first, and then combat deployed units.

Coop was willing to bet money on that. He just hoped the black market moved a bit faster than normal channels on spreading the wealth.

“As you can see,” Bob continued with his pitch, “warfare as you have previously engaged in is about to change.”

The next thing to hover off of the pallet was a flat, two-by-one-meter panel. Coop’s mind whirled with possibilities, but when it activated it looked like a giant spider web drawn in all the colors of the rainbow with glowing white dots all over the place.

“The human species is well-educated in war, and you are well aware that a paramount fixture of combat is logistics. You discovered this necessity with your Roman Empire thousands of cycles ago. The need to get soldiers and supplies from the production lines of the secure star systems in the rear to the contested systems at the front is a vital part of any war effort. The next product I have to offer humanity is an entirely new means of travel.”

The room was already quiet, but now you could hear a pin drop.

“Continue.” The RADM leaned forward. If anyone knew the value of moving troops and supplies through space it was the RADM.

“To begin, I must congratulate the human species. You advanced all the way to faster-than-light travel before being discovered by the Hegemony of Peace and Tranquility of Sapient Beings. Most new species we run into are still settling their home system and have not achieved faster-than-light travel.” Bob’s words made chests swell with pride around the room. “Although you have advanced far, your current method of travel is woefully inadequate compared to current standards.”

Coop saw everyone deflate like a balloon.

“You have scratched the surface, but you have not reached the depths of what is possible.” Bob did something and the panel shifted. It wasn’t some new piece of tech, it was just something to use as a teaching tool. “Our research shows that humans learn well through analogies, so I will instruct with one.”

“An interdimensional network exists in our universe that is manipulated by the gravitational pull of stars. You have glimpsed it in your own travels. Your charting of systems during your Expansion period and mapping of warp valleys between the stars is that glimpse. Think of this network as a river. Through the use of your Alcubierre Drives and Launchers you used the very highest, most-discernable levels of this network, but you are like fish swimming against the stream that occasionally jump in the wrong direction. The pushing and pulling of space around the bubbles your Alcubierre Drives creates pushes you in and out of this network. It slows your rate of travel, unnecessarily taxes equipment, and it requires tremendous expenditure to fuel your current travel methods.”

Coop felt the tension in the room. What Bob was saying was the holy grail of space travel: a way to travel faster than light without being burdened by the limitations of exotic matter fuel. From a military and civilian point of view, this was a bigger game changer than shields. Humanity had already been making headway on defensive tech, but as far as Coop knew, no one was looking into FTL travel improvements because they thought they’d already cracked that puzzle.

“The human translation of traveling this interdimensional network is called Portaling. Portaling entails the opening of a portal into this dimensional space through a reconfiguration of modern shield technology and the power output of a vessel’s gluon power plants. These power plants will be available to you for purchase and are over one thousand times more efficient than your current energy production devices.” Bob didn’t stop to see the shock on people’s faces. “After entering the portal, the vessel uses quantum entanglement technology, which you have already successfully developed, to navigate to its destination. At the destination, a second portal is opened and the vessel emerges back into normal space. Portaling would allow you to travel from one end of human space to the other in just under a week.” Bob finished and everyone just stared at him.

Human space was roughly three thousand light years end to end. Using regular Alcubierre Drives and cutting a straight path across space would take a ship one-hundred-and-twenty-five days, and that didn’t even account for the time needed to stop and refuel, which would up that time considerably. Even using the Launcher network, ships had to stop in specific junction systems and take new launchers. That trip would take at least a month. With this new interdimensional network, it would quadruple the speed of commerce and military operations. Coop wasn’t naïve enough to think that was only a good thing.

“Our research calculates that you would have discovered the true nature of the network at your current rate of technological advancement within the next two hundred solar cycles. It would take you another fifty cycles to develop the mathematics to interact with it – you are on the cusp of the first iteration of precursor formulas currently – and another seventy-five to one hundred cycles to successfully create portals. Through trade, we can bring humans into compliance with modern travel standards quickly, and you already have infrastructure in place to allow safe portaling as soon as your ships are capable of generating the energy to create portals and maintain integrity during travel.”

“How much does a gluon power plant cost?” The RADM narrowed in on the key detail of this whole deal: price.

“A thorough assessment of your economy and evaluation of your currency will need to be conducted and integrated into the Hegemony of Pace and Tranquility of Sapient Beings’ banking system for an accurate price point.”

“Ballpark it for me?”

“I do not understand that expression.” Bob’s cilia wiggled.

“Give me a rough estimate,” the RADM rephrased.

“From my limited research,” Bob’s worms wiggled as he thought, “approximately twenty billion Commonwealth dollars.”

This time the RADM couldn’t hide his jaw dropping. That was the cost of a capitol ship. To integrate this new technology the Fleet would be paying double for a single ship.

Coop might be called a pessimist, but he didn’t think this portaling stuff was going to happen anytime soon.

“If the cost of a gluon power plant is too extreme, we can discuss other modes of transportation.” Coop saw some color leak back into the RADM’s face when Bob said there was another way.

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“Very well,” Bob made another unnoticeable motion and the floating panel changed to show another piece of technology. “Let me explain Splitstreaming.”