CHAPTER 29 - LOADOUT

DATE POINT: APRIL 28th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST

Paul followed close behind Henry as Roh Thaad’at led them through the labyrinthine halls of his Interdictor class flagship.

“Have you finalized the list of your combat crew to be augmented?” The Alderei asked.

“That we have, we had them brought aboard so as to be ready at any time to begin. How many can you accommodate at one time?” Henry replied.

“We have four augmentation surgery pods available, so if you want to call up the first group we can begin at any time. I wanted to show you the armory in the meantime.” The alien leader replied.

“Excellent, the first four are already here amongst our guard retinue.” Henry replied. “Were you able to accommodate myself and our lead scientist with extra dose each of functional immortality and with a neural supercomputer?”

“Yes, we found there were enough extra in storage on the research station we developed the Adamu versions on to be able to fulfill your request. Will you want to be first or last?” Roh Thaad’at asked.

“We can be last, let’s get our combat teams outfitted first.”

“Very well, Lor Ix’Alderos will lead your first batch of warriors off for augmentation. I had noticed your retinue was a little larger today than normal.”

A bright flash of light appeared, almost blinding them before their helmet's light filters blocked the worst of it out. Lor Ix’Alderos appeared as if out of nowhere. Showoff. Paul thought.

“Cool trick.” Henry deadpanned.

“Indeed. I was on the other side of the ship, this was the most expedient means of transport. If your first four warriors to be augmented would follow after me, we can get started. We will have them back to you by the end of today’s meetings. Hurry along now, I am quite busy. I have my regular duties to return to.” Lor Ix’Alderos stated in his usual brusque manner.

Lance motioned to his fellow soldiers who would be joining the first round to follow along behind him, having finally decided to take the plunge and lead by example in getting augmented.

“Alright, you heard the man, let’s get going.” The four of them split off, leaving Henry, Paul and just two marines in their Paladin suits behind to stay with them. They left through a side passage that opened in the hallway wall, which then sealed shut behind them leaving no trace that a door had ever been there.

“The armory is just around the corner here. We have some flash fabricated tech weapons and armor delivered by wormhole just yesterday, enough to give your combat teams some flexibility in armament choices.” Roh Thaad’at said before he waved at another section of wall to create a doorway for them after rounding the corner. They passed through the opened doorway into a large room with a wall filled with racks of exotic looking weapons on racks. In front of them were a number of Alderei shaped silver metallic mannequins kitted out in full armor sets. Each item had a translucent blue dot superimposed over it that expanded into a larger descriptive menu when he focused on it. Frustratingly, all of the alien weapons and armor all had their stats listed as classified.

Oh well, can’t really blame them for keeping some secrets close to their chest. Paul mused.

One whole section, however, had been set aside for ten armored humanoid mannequins with an array of swords, daggers, axes, spears and bows of varying styles hanging on the wall behind them. When Paul focused on these, a full description did pop up. Paul immediately began to busy himself reading through the myriad options as the Alderei began his description for the benefit of those in the room who hadn't yet received a neural supercomputer and ocular scanner utility.

“We have enough armaments here to give your ground teams some flexibility of choice in how they wish to equip themselves to suit personal preference. We also have a full tactile hologram training floor with an adjustable time dilation field so your ground teams can familiarize themselves with their new gear rapidly against AI opponents as well as to quickly raise their integration levels.”

“Most impressive! I’m sure our teams will be glad for the opportunity to train with the new equipment. What can you tell me about these different gear sets?” Henry asked.

“There are three armor types. Scout armor is lighter and focuses on optical camouflage, we have two sets. They actively bend light around their wearer to make them invisible to the naked eye for short periods of time before they need to charge their inbuilt capacitors again. They can charge through absorbing solar energy or in the presence of a wireless electric field. They provide the least protection, though they do have graphene armor plates covering many key areas sewn into the metafiber under suit. They are designed to appear similar to a well made set of leather armor to casual eyes. They have a single charge photonic shield that can save their user's life against an otherwise fatal blow, but they are not meant for primary combat, and one minute of optical camouflage equates to the power draw for one second of photonic shielding, so one should not rely upon it.”

Paul’s scan of the set informed him that they needed thirty minutes to charge five minutes of active camouflage, slightly less with wireless power. That will be extremely useful for scouting and for wetwork.

“There are four sets of Ranger armor available. They are modeled to appear like a set of scale armor and have reactive photonic shields and telekinetic jump boosters. Like the scout armor, they have inbuilt capacitors that can be charged photovoltaically or by proximity to a source of wireless electricity. There are five jump charges with a five minute charge time to restore one jump charge. Like the scout armor, it has a single use photonic shield burst will consume one of the five available charges per second of shield use.”

Henry nodded along. “You have mentioned twice now about wireless electricity, where would we acquire a generator of that type? We don’t have that technology ourselves right now. Well... we do, just not in a useful way we can deploy in combat. Ours is really short range and is mostly used to charge small devices.”

“I was going to get to that. These last four armor sets are the Guardian armor variant and are designed to look like a full set of plate armor. They are made of the same alloy that our ships are, and thus are self-repairing and can be equipped or shed in a matter of seconds from the power belt here. This belt is powered by a direct zero-width wormhole link to our ship here and emits a ten meter wireless power field. This armor set also has a reactive photonic shield generated from the left gauntlet that can form a near impervious hard-light shield with photonic masking to make it appear like a mundane shield. The right gauntlet can fire a powerful laser from its wrist generator. Either side can be changed to either form a shield or fire a laser depending on user preferences. The gauntlets and the helmet are the only section not stored in the belt. This armor also has an integrated full body photonic shield that is powered through the wormhole link and the internal capacitors embedded in the suit, and will activate in moments where it is required to save the operator's life. It is limited by heat buildup and other factors, so multiple sustained powerful hits will deplete its capacity and render it useless while the suit recharges, cools, and the self repair feature kicks in.”

Paul couldn’t help but smile. I want one of those.

Henry let out a slow whistle. “That will turn just about anyone into a one man army.”

“That is the idea, yes. Now, there are five weapon types All of these are made form our proprietary super alloy and will self-repair in the presence of a wireless electric field. They also will build up capacitor charge over time which can be selectively released for a deadly electric shock on the command of the wielder. This is the only realistic way you can expect to kill one of the god-kings aside from decapitation or a complete destruction of the heart. If you manage to successfully puncture their body in a decisive blow, you must immediately give the order to dump their capacitor charge, or their self-healing capability will rapidly close the wound and repair the internal damage. A full capacitor shock should destroy their internal nanomachinery and hopefully stun them long enough for a decapitation, if not kill them outright. You will find most other means of damaging them quite ineffective, at least against their war bodies.”

“I see, are there any other ways to reliably kill one of them? I see the bows up there as well, though no quivers or arrows.” Henry asked.

“Those are photonic bows; they manufacture their own hard light arrows with each shot. They have a maximum capacity of twenty charges when outside of a wireless electricity field, though they can charge photovoltaically at a slightly slower pace to regenerate charges. They pierce most armor types quite effectively and cauterize their wounds, making it difficult for self-healing to occur. A head shot or heart shot could be fatal, even to a war body, though it takes great skill and even some measure of luck to successfully kill such a powerful foe with this weapon. Together, a team with two heavies, two rangers, and one scout should be able to take out even the most powerful of the god-kings with relative ease. If you find yourself up against a small party of them, the battle will be much more challenging, but the odds will still be in your favor with good team cohesion and strategy as well as a high enough average augmentation integration level. I highly recommend that you avoid engaging in any battles in which you do not have clear numerical superiority.”

“You said most of the pantheons have had their numbers thinned out after the Olympians seized power, correct?”

“Yes, but there are still enough of the titanic pantheon and of the Egyptian pantheons who have survived the Titanomachy to be highly dangerous if they were to combine their numbers for a massed attack. You must endeavor to catch as many of them as you can in small groups or alone to prevent this from occurring. The Hyperborean pantheon is also alive and well, though they do not have the extensive nanotechnology augmentations that the titanic, Egyptian and Olympian pantheons have. Zeus has jealously guarded their remaining technology stocks since the events of the Titanomachy in an effort to avoid the usurping of his own throne in a similar manner to how he took it.”

“This is still pretty hard to wrap my head around even now. We had spent our lives up until now assuming these legends were simple stories that helped explain a mysterious world to ancient peoples. I suppose in some ways that is still the truth, even with what we have discovered about this timeline. The only thing that changed is the source of the myths and the motivations of the minds that created them.” Henry said.

“I understand how this must be challenging for you. Having the very bedrock of your understanding so thoroughly destroyed in this way. We sympathize with your position.” Roh Thaad'at replied.

“Thank you, we certainly appreciate your support.” Henry replied while he inspected each of the weapon types one by one. “One thing is for sure; we will not rest until our world is liberated. What are these?” Henry asked, after looking at the same thing that had caught Paul’s attention.

“The scanner says they are Eviscerator Grenades. Whatever that means, I was trying to figure it out. It just says they are wormhole linked grenades that summon one Eviscerator unit into service under your command.” Paul replied, barely resisting the urge to pick it up.

“Correct. We intended to supply you with four of these, which is all we can spare at the moment. An Eviscerator is a semi sentient machine guardian, the very same ones that you have seen guarding our representatives up until now. They are quite formidable on the battlefield, but they are also a dead giveaway that you have accepted Alderei support. We ask that you save them for moments of only the direst need. Once you have summoned an Eviscerator it will remain with you until it’s antimatter reaction charge has been depleted. As it is made of advanced meta-materials and our super alloys, it can self-repair and reform itself into various shapes and configurations. It also can use part of its antimatter charge in a single beam attack that is shaped using a photonic barrel. We call it the annihilation beam, and it is powerful enough to bring down a starship or destroy nearly any foe, though it will rapidly deplete their power source.”

“Jesus, you guys don’t fuck around in warfare, do you?” Paul asked, going white as a sheet. The casual use of antimatter was no laughing matter.

“No, it is our technological edge that stopped the war last time and forced the Nephaeli’im to sue for peace. It is therefore quite troubling to us that we have seen a recent resurgence in provocations at the border of our territory once more.”

“Peace through superior firepower, I can get behind a policy like that. Sad it doesn’t last forever though. Inevitably the enemy forgets and will need to be taught a lesson all over again.” Paul said. Henry laughed behind him.

“Indeed. A true shame they never learn.” Roh Thaad’at replied sagely. “This is why it is imperative that you use these with the utmost discretion. We cannot be seen as being the ones provoking war. We fear no matter the enmity between the rebel factions of Earth and of Emperor Apophis, our overt involvement would drive them back into an alliance. All it takes is one message sent back with proof of Alderei aggression for Apophis to have his excuse to go to war with us all over again. Rah and Apophis may have hated one another, but Rah is still missing along with Nii’Baruu his original colony ship and super-dreadnought. Zeus may well have no similar qualms against seeking help. It is best they underestimate you until it is too late and that there is no sign of our involvement.”

“You mentioned Nii’Baruu before, but we never really asked about what that is. How sure are we that it is truly missing, you said we had to fight two dreadnoughts in system to get access to Earth, how do we know that this Nii’Baruu won’t return and ambush us?”

“They have both been missing since Aten’s betrayal, if they could come back they would have done so by now to overthrow Zeus. Rah was in his own way a far more dangerous foe than Zeus ever was, and with Nii’Baruu at his command he was nigh invincible. Nii’Baruu is a nearly five hundred kilometer diameter Dyson Sphere made of a gold-heavy Electrium alloy whose primary armament was to fire guided plasma slugs larger than your flagship from a direct core tap from corona of the artificial star powering its heart. If Rah were ever to be revived or released from whatever imprisonment has hidden him away then the consequences would be catastrophic. Even our combined fleet with our Interdictors and your Indomitable Will would stand little chance against its might. Its only weakness is that Rah was too paranoid to allow anyone else to have control over its systems. Without Rah to command it, it will remain inert and out of the fight, wherever it has been hidden away.”

Well… fuck… Paul thought, at a loss for words.

“Something that big cannot possibly hide forever. We should at least try to locate it. Perhaps we can seize control of it with your assistance once the system has been purged of Nephaeli’im control. That would make a formidable war asset for humankind and would likely propel our scientific understanding forward by thousands of years as we worked through understanding its technology.” Henry replied, sounding a little too excited. Paul had nothing other than a horrible foreboding feeling about the matter.

“I fear that will be more difficult to accomplish than to speak of in idle planning. We will put this to a vote in consensus once you have secured the system. We fear this topic to be a distraction from the already difficult task you face. We recommend getting back on topic. Lieutenant Paul Karst, would you like to be first to try the simulator in full gear?”

Hell fucking yes I would! Paul smirked and hit the seal release on his helmet, and handed it off to one of the marines they had with them. He then gave the command to release the armor seals before the plates separated away from each other against the back of his arms and legs and the back of the hauberk lifted away, allowing him to step out of the armor.

“You better believe it! I was hoping you would offer. Saves me from having to ask!” He smiled. He could see Henry slowly shaking his head from peripheral vision, but Paul didn’t care one bit. He’s just jealous.

Paul walked up to the suit of Guardian armor he had been eyeing and scanned it.

ACCESSING ARMOR COMMAND UI…

ACCESS GRANTED. NEW OWNER IDENTIFIED.

CREATING BIOMETRIC KEY… COMPLETE

The suit then liquefied and slid down the body of the mannequin until it retreated fully into the belt. As soon as he grabbed for it, the latch in the rear popped open, allowing him to remove it to don it himself. It was shockingly heavy, though that didn’t entirely surprise him. As soon as he wrapped it around himself, it latched on automatically and cinched itself down to a comfortable tightness. He then removed the gauntlets and slid them over his hands.

PLEASE SELECT PRIMARY FORMAT. LEFT HAND SHIELD OR RIGHT HAND SHIELD?

Left hand shield, right hand laser beam.

PREFERENCES SAVED. BIOMETRIC KEY LOGGED.

GUARDIAN ARMOR READY TO DEPLOY ON COMMAND.

“Suit up!” God that sounded lame, never again.

Paul then felt the rather uncomfortable sensation of being coated in a cold liquid metal that covered him from the belt outwards . He began to panic slightly, in spite of himself, requiring him to clench his jaw and focus hard on staying calm until the metal solidified around him, encasing him in the armor. He then removed and donned the helmet over his head. It had no face shield or advanced UI aside from the fact that it seemed to reshape itself to comfortably fit over his head. He found that he could see perfectly through it anyway with the help of his neural supercomputer filling in the gaps despite the rather small eye slit.

“Remember, this is not void rated armor, so we do not recommend using it off world or in boarding operations. You seem to have perfectly adequate armor already for that purpose. This is designed to give the best protection possible while still giving plausible deniability as to its high technology nature and origin. Go ahead and test its flexibility if you wish, and then equip yourself with your primary and secondary weapons of choice. Once you are ready I will lead you to the simulator.”

Paul performed a series of stretches to test his mobility. To his surprise, it felt like he was completely unencumbered in his range of motion other than a general feeling of being weighed down. That was definitely manageable, no doubt the additional electro-muscle being manufactured would help tremendously with mitigating that over time. It wasn't long before he was satisfied that he had a full range of motion everywhere. It wouldn’t take too much work to get used to moving and fighting in the armor. He eyed the swords and scanned one that reminded him of a gladius. It had a crystal in the pommel and was a double-edged, intermediate length blade with a blood channel running down the center. It would do well for slashing and especially stabbing. He scanned it to read more details before deciding for sure.

BLOODTHIRST

TECH SWORD – THRUSTING

INTERMEDIATE LENGTH THRUSTING BLADE WITH INTEGRATED CAPACITOR SHOCK AND LIMITED SELF-REPAIR CAPABILITY.

CHANNELING SHOCK – DEDICATED INTERNAL CAPACITOR BUILDS UP CHARGE FOR DISCHARGE ON COMMAND INTO DESIGNATED TARGET. THREE MINUTES REQUIRED CHARGE TIME TO FULL CAPACITY. DAMAGE DEPENDENT ON CHARGE LEVEL.

SELF REPAIR SPEED – SLOW WHILE CHARGING, FAST AT FULL CHARGE

BIOMETRIC LOCK – UNCLAIMED

Sounds good to me. Paul thought as he removed the sword and its sheath from the wall. He felt its heft, satisfied with its balance before he sheathed it then snapped it onto a magnetic seat on his belt.

SWORD-FIGHTING COMBAT SUBROUTINES UPLOADED… 1% ESTIMATED MUSCLE MEMORY INTEGRATION

“That’s a good sword, it should do nicely for close in work as a secondary weapon. Now I need something with some reach.” He looked over at the two spear types and considered his options.

HEARTSEEKER

TECH SPEAR – THROWING

MEDIUM SIZED THROWING SPEAR WITH LIMITED AERIAL MANEUVERABILITY AND MID-FLIGHT COURSE CORRECTION CAPABILITY. UTILIZES A HEAT SEEKING SENSOR AND MANEUVERING FINS TO SEEK ITS TARGET WHILE THROWN MOMENTUM LASTS.

LIMITED RECALL – 3 CHARGES, 20 METER MAXIMUM RANGE. REQUIRES GAUNTLET UPGRADE MODULE.

CAPACITOR SHOCK – 1 CHARGE, DISCHARGES ALL INTERNAL ENERGY STORAGE INTO DESIGNATED TARGET ON USER COMMAND. DEPLETES ALL LIMITED RECALL CHARGES. DAMAGE OUTPUT DEPENDENT ON NUMBER OF AVAILABLE CHARGES. MANUAL RETRIEVAL REQUIRED AFTER USE.

CHARGE RECOVERY SPEED – 3 MINUTES VIA SOLAR CHARGING IN IDEAL CONDITIONS, 2 MINUTES WITHIN WIRELESS ENERGY FIELD PER CHARGE.

SELF REPAIR SPEED - SLOW WHILE CHARGING, FAST AT FULL CHARGE

BIOMETRIC LOCK – UNCLAIMED

Now that is useful. Paul thought before he looked at the other, longer spear. This one was longer and was a trident style with a large central blade and two shorter curved side blades that would be useful for blocking strikes and disarming opponents. It also had a reinforced hand grip, no doubt to keep a better hold while blocking. Embedded in the hand grip was a silver plate, likely a conductive plate for direct electricity transfer. He scanned the little blue icon to read its description page to compare.

STORMBREAKER

TECH SPEAR – COMBAT

ADJUSTABLE LENGTH COMBAT SPEAR WITH TRIDENT STYLE PARRYING EXTENSION BLADES. LENGTH ADJUSTABLE IN COMBAT PLUS OR MINUS 30 PERCENT, REQUIRES NEURAL COMPUTER CONNECTION. REQUIRES PALM GRIP CONDUCTOR CIRCUIT COMPLETION FOR OPERATION. REQUIRES GAUNTLET UPGRADE MODULE.

CHANNELING SHOCK – DEDICATED INTERNAL CAPACITOR BUILDS UP CHARGE FOR DISCHARGE ON COMMAND INTO DESIGNATED TARGET VIA INTEGRATED CONDUCTIVE PLATE. TEN MINUTES REQUIRED CHARGE TIME TO FULL CAPACITY. DAMAGE DEPENDENT ON CHARGE LEVEL.

SELF REPAIR SPEED – FAST

BIOMETRIC LOCK – UNCLAIMED

Fuck that’s a hard choice. The throwing spear sounds more like my fighting style though, especially since it will pair nicely with my TK, it would make it easy to recover it and increase the power behind my throws. There’s also something to be said about the synergy of my TK with Stormbreaker as well. Pulling people towards my spear tip, disarming them and snatching their weapon towards me before finishing them off… I can see the value in both…

The trident is the better choice... a disarmed opponent is a fearful opponent... a fearful opponent is as good as a dead one...

Hey now, I make the choices around here! Just so happens that I do think you are right. I'll probably try Stormbreaker first, but I need to know something before I make my final decision...

“So tell me about this biometric lock, if I test one spear and want to go with the other can I do so without locking another person out of a weapon?” Paul asked.

“You can manually release the biometric lock at any time through your neural computer connection so long as you are within twenty meters of the weapon. It will also automatically release its lock if its owner expires on the battlefield and the weapon survives. Part of our offer of using the simulator is to allow you to get a feel for the different weapons and to decide which is best for you.” Roh Thaad’at answered, helping ease Paul’s mind tremendously.

Well, in that case… He reached out and grabbed one of the Stormbreaker spears off the wall along with a matching spear sling and rectangular gauntlet upgrade module.

SPEAR-FIGHTING COMBAT SUBROUTINES UPLOADED… 1% ESTIMATED MUSCLE MEMORY INTEGRATION

Embedded in the combat subroutines was a helpful instruction on how to place the gauntlet upgrade and where to place the sling. Both melded perfectly into their respective spots simply by placing them over the indicated locations. He then shortened his new spear down and clicked it into its new saddle on his back. In the lower right hand corner of his heads up display overlay a small trident head icon appeared with a charge bar slowly filling. Instinctive knowledge granted from the combat subroutines informed him it was charging through its connection to its sling on his back. He noticed that there was also a sword icon below it’s own charge level showing it was one third full already.

ET tech is fucking awesome.

“I’m ready, let’s go!” Paul said, getting himself psyched up and ready to fight.

“Very well, the training room is across the hall.”

Roh Thaad’at waived a hand and a door opened in the wall along with another directly across from it on the other side of the hallway outside. They moved together into the other room, where multiple chairs were waiting. A door opened in the wall facing the chairs and some a holographic glyph was visible over its top. He realized that he could read it now, likely thanks to the auto translation program embedded in his new neural computer. The large flat metallic wall to its left turned transparent to Paul’s astonishment, showcasing a large open chamber with a huge open air ceiling that must have been several stories high. Understanding the implication, Paul marched without hesitation into the large room.

All around him, the room seemed to change into a wide open grassland with some large boulders strewn about. The level of realism was astounding. He reached down and touched the grass, which moved and felt quite real to him. He then walked up to and struck a boulder with the palm of his hand. Somehow they had replicated a feeling of sturdy density with their holograms. He lifted a smaller rock and threw it, just to have it clatter and break apart against another larger boulder.

“Well, shit, color me impressed. This is incredible! How can you do this?! Never mind, not like I’d understand the jargon anyway.” Paul laughed aloud. He was so engrossed in the environment he almost missed the signs that danger had arrived. Luckily, his computer had his back.

THREAT DETECTED: HUMAN, QUANTITY: SIX, THREAT LEVEL: LOW

Handy little thing, that.

He turned around to see a war band of five rather burly young men armed with assorted clubs, axes, and swords made of bronze with hilts wrapped in leather. Each of them was bare chested and wore thick leather and cloth armored kilts around their waists and wolf-skin cloaks over their heads and which hung down their backs. Several had shields of stretched hide over a wooden frame. The largest of them boldly strode forward, snarling as fiercely as the wolf that he had killed to make his cloak.

That’s five… where’s number six?

“Identify yourself, stranger! You trespass in our lands, and you are outnumbered. Lay down your arms and armor and we will let you pass freely and in safety.”

“I have no quarrel with you and yours! As you can see I am well armed and will not surrender myself or my arms without a fight.” Paul scoffed. Cheeky little fucker.

He grabbed the spear from his back and extended it out. He then summoned his shield which solidified to look like a sturdy wooden kite shield with a wicked spike in the center and a studded steel border. The shield felt nearly weightless and hung off his wrist solidly, leaving his left hand free.

“Sorcery! No matter, you’ll bleed all the same. He has chosen his fate. We can just as easily strip the corpse. Spread out!” Their leader roared as he charged. Instinct honed by upgraded reflexes and the increased reaction times afforded by his neural computer kicked in all at once causing time to slow perceptibly.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT DETECTED; COMBAT HORMONE PRODUCTION RELEASE APPROVED

Feeling more alive than ever, Paul leapt several meters to the side with stunning ease and charged the man on the right, striking at him with inhuman speed. The man brought up his shield to block, though against the alien alloy, it may have well as been made of paper. Paul gored him straight through the shield, pushing into his chest and lifting him off the ground. He pivoted and threw the dead man into his nearest fellow with a cracking sound. A painful impact struck Paul in the small of the back. He turned to see a shattered arrow lying in the ground, having utterly failed to pierce his armor.

That would be number six. Now where are you?

In the moment he allowed himself to be distracted, the next two closest men had closed the gap and attacked from opposing sides. Paul roared and caught the sword of the man to his right between the prongs of his trident and twisted it out of his hands before he slashed laterally across his stomach, spilling his guts into the grass. He then blocked the cudgel strike of the other man with his shield, shortened his spear up and pushed him back with a series of thrusting blows. Another arrow narrowly missed him, this time right over his shoulder. He now had a rough idea of where the annoying archer was hiding.

There! By the twin boulders... use fear to flush it out... the Alderei seem to infuse... synthetic emotion into A.I... such a shame that code cannot truly feel fear... we hunger while you remain in space...

Not now, Creepy, I need to focus! I'll take the tactical tips, but cut the unnecessary commentary, please.

“You will meet your gods this day!” Their leader shouted in rage as he raised his axe for a powerful two handed blow from behind Paul. The man with the bronze cudgel kept falling back just out of reach of Paul’s spear, expertly using it to knock his blows just slightly off course at the last second. Paul attempted to dodge the axe blow, only managing to take a glancing strike which shattered the man’s axe and staggered him. He then used his left arm to form a TK field just behind the annoying cudgel bearer, lifting him into the sky. Paul then threw him straight into his leader. They both landed hard with a painful sounding crunch.

“FLEE NOW AND YOU MAY YET LIVE!” He shouted as he caught another arrow midair that he was lucky enough to see flying toward him. He then threw the arrow to the ground off to the side. That seemed to break the archer’s spirit and he fled from his hiding place behind a boulder. There was no trace also of the man he had thrown his first victim into either, meaning two had fled and two were dead. His last two opponents got slowly, warily to their feet. Their leader held his side and coughed up blood.

“Who are you!? Have we angered one of the gods for such misfortune to befall us!?”

Paul smirked inside of his helmet. “Yes, That is precisely what you have done in your foolishness! Now leave this place while my mercy still exists. There is no honor in killing defeated men.”

The pair of them hobbled off, disappearing once they reached the edge of the simulator room walls. Paul was beginning to feel quite good about himself and their prospects on the surface until a circular swirling storm cloud began to form overhead. A single shaft of light illuminated Paul from its center, blinding him. He rapidly began to feel like he was boiling alive in his armor, so he leapt backwards and out of the center of the beam.

“LIAR!”

Just as Paul began to open his eyes a crack and to block the still-blinding light with one hand, he heard a loud crack, and he was knocked from his feet with a tremendous blow.

ELECTRIC SHOCK DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 60% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING

Paul scrambled back to his feet and retrieved his spear just in time to see something slowly descending from the blinding gap in the clouds

THREAT DETECTED, NEPHAELI’IM-HUMAN HYBRID; SKY FATHER ARCHETYPE, QUANTITY: ONE, THREAT LEVEL: DEADLY, AVERAGE INTEGRATION LEVEL TOO LOW; RETREAT RECOMMENDED

Fuck, that guy hits like a tank! A veritable giant floated in the air in front of him decked out in gold inlaid steel plate armor. He was shorter than the average pure blood Nephaeli’im giant, but he still stood a meter taller than Paul easily. Though decidedly less pronounced, he also had the iconic elongated skull recognizable in spite of the decorative golden crown set amidst his silvery hair.

“How dare you impersonate a god! Impetuous mortal, you will learn your place! I am Dyeus Pahter, I know all, I see all, and I judge you unworthy. Your sentence is death!”

Multiple lightning bolts struck the ground around him in blinding flashes and deafening cracks as his twin bladed war hammer returned to his hand. Wasting no more time, Dyeus charged from his position midair and flew down towards Paul, who raised his spear and shield in preparation.

“Bring it, sparky!”

Computer, can we filter out the bright lights? I can’t fight him like this.

DYNAMIC LIGHT FILTERS CREATED… APPLYING

Suddenly, he could see much better, allowing Paul to open his eyes fully as he turned his spear into the path of the charging god. Dyeus knocked his spear to the side completely out of his hands with a mighty blow and effortlessly turned his body mid-flight to set up a follow up strike now inside of Paul’s defenses. Paul leaped backwards a step and deflected his follow up strike with his shield, rattling his arm and causing him to skid backwards in the grass.

Dyeus then moved to strike with a two handed overhead chop. As his strike neared the apex of his swing, a bolt of lightning struck his weapon, and jumped the gap to strike Paul’s raised shield in the moment before impact. The combined attack overloaded the hard light generator in his gauntlet, knocking Paul to the ground.

SHIELD GAUNTLET OVERLOAD DETECTED... SELF-REPAIR ACTIVATED

Paul rolled on the ground to the left and the right in desperate attempts to dodge the next series of blows that rained down towards him at inhuman speeds. In a fit of quick thinking, Paul threw his hand out and formed the most powerful TK field he could muster behind Dyeus, staggering him backwards by a mere handful of steps.

Heavy bastard; that would have sent a normal man flying!

Capitalizing on his moment to breath, Paul then pulled his spear back to himself with another TK field and went on the attack. This time, he was the one raining down quick and powerful blows, forcing Dyeus to dodge and deflect his attacks for a change. The god smirked behind his helmet.

"It would seem you are more worthy a foe than you would appear; it is a rare thing to face such a powerful human telekinetic! Let’s see if you can fly as well as you can fight!” With a contemptuous laugh, Dyeus disengaged and lifted off into the sky.

Don't let him bait you... what are you doing?

I said to cut the commentary! I'm a damn good flyer! He wants a dogfight, he'll get a dogfight!

Paul roared in frustration, snapped his spear against his back and chased after his quarry, using the foci in his left palm to control his flight, and activating the laser in his right gauntlet. His attempts to hit his target were frustrated by Dyeus’ constant changes in flight path and by the extreme turbulence created by his proximity to the swirling storm cloud overhead. His troubles were further compounded by his need to dodge the flying mace that Dyeus repeatedly threw at him, just for it to return to the god's hand for another throw . His brain began to burn with the mental exertion of maintaining his telekinesis at such an extreme level.

I need to end this, quick! Think! Time for a new strategy…

It seemed Dyeus had been thinking much the same thing, as this time when he caught his weapon, he spun about and charged straight at Paul like a speeding bullet train. The god then threw a lightning infused strike directly into Paul’s path.

Oh fuck! This time there was no dodging it.

ELECTRIC SHOCK DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 30% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING

Dazed and with a growing migraine, Paul struck the ground hard, skidding several meters.

KINETIC ENERGY DEFLECT; PHOTONIC SHIELD GENERATOR OVERHEATED; WARNING! SUIT SYSTEMS CRITICAL

Overhead, the backlit form of Dyeus lifted his hammer over his head and charged at Paul’s disoriented and abused body with another lightning imbued strike. In the last moment before impact, his form dissipated, and the room returned to the same sterile grey as he had originally seen it.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; TRAINEE UNABLE TO CONTINUE; SIMULATION TERMINATED

I warned you...

Paul’s head dropped back down to the ground. Knowing he was safe, and unable to hold things together any longer, he blacked out.

MEANWHILE....

DATE POINT: APRIL 28th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

CAPTAIN HENRY O'TOOLE

"Paul!" Henry jumped up from his seat and bolted for the door.

"Relax, Captain, his vitals are fine. He just blacked out from the exertion of overusing his telekinesis. His neural temperatures are dropping already. That cooling amp he has installed is a fairly ingenious piece of engineering." Roh Thaad'at stated calmly.

"What the hell was that?!" Henry turned his anger towards the Alderei.

"The lieutenant needed to be humbled. Sending him down to the surface without doing so would have gotten him and a lot of your soldiers killed and we would have wasted our one and only remaining chance to liberate this system from the Nephaeli'im."

Henry stared at the unblinking eyes of the alien intelligence, breathing evenly as his fury waned. "I don't disagree that he needed to be humbled... but you need to keep me in the loop with such plans, especially ones that run the risk of injuring or even killing my men." Henry said, trying to find the most diplomatic wording to express his frustration.

"The simulator is designed to stop short of dealing any such injuries, as you saw. I see your point, however, and while informing the lieutenant of the plan would have ruined its effect, I should have told you." Roh Thaad'at agreed.

"So this Dyeus Pahter, is that one of the god-kings we will have to face?" Henry asked, turning his concern to the ease at which it had dispatched Paul.

"Not exactly, the character is an amalgamation of several existing God-kings with a combination of storm god and solar god powers. We used it as the primary training program for the teams we sent to the surface during our first attempt. Some of those agents are still alive on the surface and will be able to provide covert assistance, but they ultimately failed in their larger directive. We hope that your team will have sufficient numbers and support to succeed where they failed. The Koryos of the sky father is the second most difficult training simulation and is meant to be challenged with a full party at a much higher integration level. The fact that Paul was able to get as far as he did single handed speaks well for his chances, though I would advise you to not tell him that. Instead, it would be best if he uses this as motivation to train ever harder and to take the threat before him more seriously."

Despite his misgivings, Henry saw the cold logic in the Alderei leader's words. "Fair enough, what do you mean by integration level? You have mentioned that several times now."

"Ah, that's right, you haven't been augmented yet so you wouldn't have access to the file that explains it. An augmentation integration level is an approximate measure of both how deeply an augmentation has been integrated as well as the body's own muscle memory and neural pathways have learned to work with its newfound power. In the case of the titanium osteo-cladding, for example, it is how many nano-machines have been produced, how much bone has been covered, along with how many electrical pulse fusion events have been completed. The electro-muscle upgrade is a measure of how much electro-muscle has been produced and installed as well as how much fine control over power output has been achieved. It also refers to how well theoretical knowledge uploaded such as combat subroutines has been converted into working knowledge in neuron connections and in muscle memory."

"So when we saw Paul getting hammered around, barely being able to block or deflect a blow, and losing in strength contests it was because of his low integration level, then?" Henry asked.

"Correct, by the time he is even at a fifty percent integration level, his skin and muscles will be effectively bulletproof against most small arms fire, he will be able to block and deflect blows with ease and minimal pain or resonance feedback and he will be able to fight like a veteran trained since birth with the spear and sword. At one hundred percent integration, he will be able to tear through steel hull plate with his bare hands, jump many times his own height, lift many multiples of his body weight with ease and will probably have put on nearly ten times his current mass. We are researching a special resonance device for him that will dramatically improve the power output of his telekinesis so that he will still be able to fly, but it may be easier to loot one from one of the god-kings in the meantime should he come across it. Such technology has been known to be theoretically viable, but we have not pursued it like the Nephaeli'im have, as our race has no natural telekinetics."

"Christ almighty, he's going to turn into Superman by the time he has completed his integration... They all are. This is going to really complicate things. How long will it take for integration to reach that stage?" Henry asked, getting a little intimidated at the idea of having a bunch of mutant superheroes running around his ship denting the decks when they walked and being completely unstoppable should they get a mind to become troublemakers.

"Years, if not decades, if they survive that long. The first ten to thirty percent will happen rather quickly. With the time acceleration feature activated in the training chamber, we will be able to pack months of training into mere weeks. Your ground teams should all be close to thirty percent integration by the time we move into the inner solar system to attack the system defense fleet. The remaining levels will have to be earned on Earth in combat and strife. As the integration level rises, the difficulty of advancement rises as well, eventually becoming near exponential by the highest integration levels. There should be enough time to grow in wisdom and restraint to counterbalance the extremes of their power."

That should have made Henry feel better, but looking through the transparent wall at the now-stirring Paul, Henry felt only dread.