Evening had turned to morning, of course within the Bunker it merely meant that I switched the facilities main lights on from their idle state. Of increased importance was my connection to the independent unit, the part of myself embedded within Augus’s neural link. I was amusing myself, observing as the trio of troublemakers were getting a mouthful from Melnie first thing in the morning.

The three failed to rest on time, spent additional hours training within the simulator using recording of previous survey ops, and then assumed that I would wake them first thing in the morning, like a human butler. They had grown close, and it was true I was fond of and favored the three. However, I am the Alpha, and they are the pets; and experiencing the emotions around trickery, irritation, and arrogance seemed like it would be fun today.

Thus, I decided not to wake them, I did not set their alarm and allowed them to oversleep. Then watched and laughed as Melnie came herself to lay on some corporal punishment, ancient human style, so with a really big stick. This situation was especially troublesome for Augus and Jasemine, because Melnie was no ordinary human, she was also Gifted, possessing a muscle trait like Phenix. She was as the humans might say, built like a brick shithouse… Yes, I believe that was the terminology. In either case Phenix’s rear was red, the other two were on the verge of breaking down in tears. It was amusing.

“You three have some pretty big balls if you think you can oversleep before operation day. You think you already know everything? That those simulations can substitute real experience? Well, a survey op is much more than just scanning the ground, taking a few samples, and establishing a relay.” Melnie would smack the young men and women with the wooden paddle every time their attention deviated even a little. Indicating that the trio should follow her over to the Rover, which was stationed nearby, an open crate out front.

“Oh right, almost forgot. You three will be on latrine duty for the entire operation… ladies, and gentlemen you will be our personal shit shovelers. So, I hope for your sake you get used to the smell. Otherwise, this is going to feel like a long trip.” Augus, Phenix, and Jasemine stared in horror at the woman. Pleading with their eyes, begging that what their ears heard was an auditory hallucination. It wasn’t, and the woman subsequently gave them a couple more taps with the paddle before continuing towards the waiting Rover.

Upon reaching the crate, Melnie brought over an assortment of items. I quickly noticed that she left out a few of the heavier weapons, specifically the Rock Crusher. It made sense, it was an expensive and extremely energy intensive drill. Not something to be waved around like a toy, which would be difficult as it required the charge from the Rover’s ion engine just to manipulate it.

Activating and utilizing the high frequency drill was costly, two minutes of activation time drawing almost a quarter of the Rover’s stored power. It was only ever used once, in order to exterminate a rather large insectoid creature. The thing resembled a beetle, its outer exoskeleton was made entirely out of Oscyx however, a highly dense and sturdy metal. Somehow the creature had grown to a similar size as a Rover, firearms and Buzz Batons had little effect on the creature.

The appearance of such a mutation had never been recorded in the ancient’s databanks, beetles were not rare, but one that was similar in size to a four-man vehicle was. Especially worrisome was its taste for metals and metallic substances, quickly shredding and consuming the squad of four Skelly drones. It had been Melnie’s quick thinking and prodigious strength that proved invaluable. She took Rock Crusher and wielded as one would a hammer, the vibrating drill tip which was designed for mining tough metals quickly subdued the beast. Melnie claiming its dented cranium as her personal trophy, fashioning it into a personal stylized helmet, equipped with all the usual user interfaces, rebreathing systems that come with specialized surveyor enviro-suits. While the rest was quickly processed and stored for future weapon and armor development.

“Here is your basic equipment, all surveyors are issued a standard sidearm, burst rifle, and a Buzz baton for close quarters combat. All ammunition comes in standard and non-lethal rounds, which is indicated on the container. Specialty ammunition is available, those must be authorized by me before use. Let me demonstrate.” Melnie reached out and yanked the rifle from Augus’s hands, checking the weapon to make sure nothing was within the chamber before removing two specialized rounds from their secure cases.

“There are two round types, they can be identified by the band encircling the bullet casing. Red for explosive, and green for acidic. Remember, explosive rounds are ideal for large organic targets. Not very effective against mechanical opponents, and before you ask… yes, we have run into some old rampant war machines down in the Hollows recently in the last year. It isn’t often, but it is a possibility if we breach a long dormant facility or something similar. Now, back to the lesson!” Melnie chambered the red banded round and switched the rifle to single shot from its preset burst mode and took aim at a target down field.

The target was a replica Crawler, but just increased in size by fivefold, so that it was around the height of an average human and length of a Rover. This was done using synthetic materials that mimicked the consistency of a Crawler exoskeleton. Down to the soft, flexible, and rubbery texture, well known amongst the residents as Crawler’s and by extension Crawler meat was one of the most easily procured protein within the Hollows. The target was also designed with the Oscyx Beetle in mind, if something like that could be found, then the deeper and farther our people explored, the more likely we were to find something similar.

Melnie pulled the trigger, I watched through multiple monitors as the bullet exited the chamber, riding a short-lived plume of flames. It took less than a second for the shard of composite alloy to reach the other end of the hangar, slamming into the target dummy. The bullet tore its way through the outer skin with ease, pressing against the ballistic gel until it finally came to rest somewhere near the center. As soon as the bullet came to a stop a barely perceptible red capsule embedded in the head of the bullet erupted, I watched in slow motion as the flash of light erupted for a brief moment. The flames charring the nearby gel and sending shards of blackened metal speeding away in random directions.

Augus, Jasemine, and Phenix watched with undisguised excitement as a watermelon sized chunk of synthetic flesh exploded out from the training dummy. “As you have just witnessed, specialty ammunition packs a heavy punch. What you just saw are the explosive rounds, against machines they tend to detonate upon impact resulting in a surface level explosion that does little damage. However, against flesh and blood creatures it can penetrate before detonating, useful for high value targets. Understood?” The trio was overly excited about finally getting to train with and make use of these ranged weapons. Having long since forgotten their petulant requests for Golden Era laser and rail weaponry.

Melnie soon showcased the power of the acidic round and its ability to eat through metal armor, leaving the drone that acted as the training target a half-melted wreck. Which was quickly followed by a run through the standard enviro-suit, a thin cloth and plate armor, featuring helmets equipped with atmospheric and underwater re-breathers, a head mounted light, camera, as well as a heads-up display with user interface loaded onto the suit systems itself. In this way if connection with the Bunker was ever lost, the suit would still be loaded with the previous most recently updated information.

It was not unusual for a cave-in or tunnel collapse to separate a survey group, the systems allowed team members to find their way back. As a bonus, the local suit interface would update information from the user, and once a connection was reestablished with the Bunker, that would then be uploaded automatically. All these systems were powered by onboard battery packs which could be charged using the Rover’s ion engine as a source. There was a backup power bank which stored the users body heat and transferred into energy, but this was an extremely inefficient system and was used only in the direst of circumstances.

“Well, that’s it for the basic equipment. I’m going to just assume all three of you understand how to use basic hand tools like shovels. You will report back here for the next three weeks for mandatory training. I don’t care about how long you spent in the simulator… you all are going to run my obstacle course, train day in and day out for three weeks. Then we’ll see if you’re ready to meet the rest of the crew. You’re all dismissed… don’t dare be late next time.” With that final threat, the first day of training was over. The next few days would dictate how much of their enthusiasm remained by the time of the operation.