CHAPTER 31 - REALITY

DATE POINT: MAY 5th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD AAV “CONTACT ONE”

LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST

Paul stood before the nine soldiers chosen amongst their best volunteers, now augmented to form their two primary ground teams. Paul was in command of team one as well as the larger ground operation, Lance had command of team two. Everyone had by now chosen their gear and had gained basic familiarity with it with at least one individual training session. Paul knew well the power of a silent judgemental stare, and he employed it now to them know who was in command. When he finally decided they had suffered long enough, he spoke in a booming, confident voice.

“All right, people. Today marks the first day that we begin training together in teams. Each of you has had individual time to familiarize yourself with your chosen weapons and scenarios suited to your role on the team. Each of you are essential to the survival of your teammates, and to the success of the mission. Our generous Alderei benefactors have given us incredible gifts, not the least of which is time in this simulator. We will take shameless and full advantage of every edge we can get our hands on. Each of you is the best that we have, and that is precisely what I will expect from you in turn.”

Paul walked back and forth in front of the assembled line and inspected everyone individually as he went.

“Team one will go first into the simulator. Team two, watch everything closely. I expect to see you learn from our mistakes and to hear your critiques when we are done. It will then be your turn to challenge the same scenario while we watch and provide our critiques. We will trade back and forth, drilling and mastering each scenario until we are all operating as a well-oiled machine. Any questions before we begin?” Paul asked.

“Just one. When can I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?” Lucas asked with a snicker as Lance smacked him upside his head. Paul stared down the crowd, silencing the few suppressed giggles.

“Cute reference. Keep your team in line, Lieutenant-Commander. Does anyone have any serious questions?”

Paul scanned the room, making eye contact with the hulking Guardians, the fit and ready Rangers, and the agile Scouts, landing at last on Ariana, who stared back at him in cold indifference. Nobody seemed to want to pipe up this time.

Jenkins wants to speak… I can taste his fear…

Paul smirked. Thank you, fucking finally. That’s the kind of intel I like.

“Jenkins, I can see something is eating at you. Speak your mind.” Paul called him out, shocking the poor guy immensely.

“What? How did you…?”

“Relax, you couldn’t have made it more obvious if you tried." Paul cut him off. “Now, out with it.”

“Ah… shit. All right, will we be fighting one of the god-kings in this round? I heard what happened when you went up against Dyeus Pahter.” Jenkins asked, with his hand on the back of his head.

“I don’t know if we will be challenged like that in this first session or not, I have only been told the basics. I do know that we will be starting with an easier fight than that specific one though. I also know that we have five well-armed and augmented soldiers that are ready for this, you included.” Paul said, trying his best to channel his inner Henry.

“We will have your back, just like you will have ours. Furthermore, you cannot get badly injured in this simulation, the system won’t allow it. You might get knocked around in the battle, but you are safe enough while you are fighting in this chamber. You will be translocated from the battlefield before any potentially fatal or crippling blow can land. Its an extremely convincing simulation, but its a simulation nonetheless. Any other questions?”

“No, sir.” Jenkins replied.

He has calmed down a bit… a shame… his fear whet our appetite… a mere snack in anticipation…

Relax, I’m sure there will be plenty of fear for you in the coming training. Far more when we finally make planetfall.

We are counting on this… small sacrifices now for a larger harvest later…

Whatever you say, creepy.

“All right then, team one fall out! Let’s see what our first challenge will be.” Paul said.

They entered the cavernous training room two by two with Ariana bringing up the rear. All around them the landscape changed to a rocky scrub desert with a small river flowing off in the distance. Far beyond them, close by the river a large battle was taking place, though it seemed to be a projected background to their specific battlespace. At the other end of the room, a force of several dozen chariots bore down upon their group. There was a hill off to their right with a few boulders on top along with a few small trees and bushes.

THREAT DETECTED: HUMAN, QUANTITY: THIRTY CHARIOTS, THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE

FIGHT OR FLIGHT DETECTED; COMBAT HORMONE PRODUCTION RELEASE APPROVED

“Ariana, see if you can scout that hill for us, use your TK to fly up there while invisible. Make sure you don’t blow your whole capacitor charge in case you need it for this battle. Everyone else, make for the hill!” Paul cried out as Ariana lifted off in a small cloud of dust before disappearing into a moving transparent blur.

Paul and the others charged towards the hill at full speed, with the chariots closing the gap far too quickly for Paul’s comfort.

“Shields out! They may start firing arrows before they can demand our identities!” Paul cried as he formed his kite shield. Their Rangers each also had a smaller circular shield that was generated from their forearm. Large enough for decent protection, and small enough that it wouldn’t interfere with their shooting. That modification had been a request by Paul, thinking back to a reenactment he had seen of Mongolian horse mounted archers.

“There are four archers up here drawing their bows on you. Taking them out.” Ariana reported through her integrated helmet radio.

Paul looked back over his shoulder. With his hawk-like upgraded vision, he saw the chariots had one archer, one spearman, and one driver each. Despite the distance, he could just barely hear their leader giving orders in a language that his translation software identified as Hittite. Amongst the chaos and noise, he heard the command to fire.

"They don't look like they want to chat!" Jenkins cried out, sounding a little panicked.

“No they don't. Volley incoming! Shields up!” Paul shouted.

Paul and his fellow Guardian, Staff Sergeant Hamilton, turned and raised their shields to block their Rangers. Their Rangers lifted their shields directly over their heads right as the first volley landed all around them. The sound of whizzing arrows filled the sky as their shields deflected several arrows each. Several more broke against their thick Guardian armor with painful, but ultimately harmless thuds.

“Rangers, fall back ten paces and target the leading horses! We will buy some time! After your first volley, use your jump charges to make for the hill and cover us!” Paul yelled out as they raised their shields to block another volley.

C’mon Ariana, report in! Paul thought, not daring to blow her cover by using the radio. She was more than capable of handling herself, he just had to trust her.

“Hamilton, laser strike the drivers on the right flank, I’ll get the left!” Paul yelled.

Bright hard-light arrows began to fly over their shoulders, most of which found their marks in the horses driving the front three chariots in the wedge formation as the larger targets. Taking advantage of the chaos, Paul and Hamilton knocked the closest drivers out of the fight one after another, firing as fast as they could with their gauntlet lasers. Within seconds, chariots were crashing into one another, utterly breaking the momentum of the charge. The chariots on the outer flanks recovered first and sent a third volley of arrows at the Guardians’ shields. Their Rangers took the opportunity to retreat by using one of their jump charges each.

“Archers are dead, I can see the Rangers getting into place now, switching to bow.” Ariana reported in.

“Good, fire at will, priority targets are their remaining charioteers. We'll take on the spearmen that have dismounted.” Paul replied.

More hard-light arrows followed, most of which seemed to miss at the more extreme distance against such fast moving targets. Thankfully though, some still found their marks, which was enough to keep the remaining chariots occupied. The surviving spearmen from the wrecked chariots rallied themselves and charged. The remaining archers provided covering fire for their spearmen, forcing Paul and Hamilton to focus on dodging and blocking arrows over firing into the charging spearmen.

With his shield raised to block, Paul drew his spear and extended it out just in time to gore the first spearman to venture too close. Hamilton threw his spear, burying it into the chest of another spearman before he recalled it back into his hand. Paul thrust and slashed mercilessly, cutting through the enemy armor like paper, relying on his superior reach as he slowly fell back one step at a time with his shield raised high. Hamilton threw his spear again through the throat of one man trying to flank them, using his last charge to recall the spear to his hand before he joined Paul in the melee.

Back to back, Paul and Hamilton fought desperately as they slowly fell back to the hill. Their Rangers together with Ariana continued to whittle down the enemy numbers, helping prevent a total encirclement. They settled into a rhythm, thrusting and blocking, picking their targets and felling those brave or foolhardy enough to leave the safety of the sides of their fellows. Paul fell almost into a trance until the last handful of spearmen broke and ran back to their surviving chariots that still had horses and drivers.

“THAT’S RIGHT! RUN YOU COWARDS!” Hamilton shouted after them, raising his spear into the air.

ENEMY ROUTED; SIMULATION TERMINATED INTEGRATION LEVEL STATUS REPORT

SHIELD BLOCK INTEGRATION LEVEL… 4%

SPEAR FIGHTING INTEGRATION LEVEL… 5%

RESPIROCYTE INTEGRATION LEVEL… 12%

ELECTRO-MUSCLE INTEGRATION LEVEL… 14% COMBAT HORMONE COOLDOWN PHASE INITIATED

Paul smirked and patted the big man on the shoulder. He then deactivated his shield and activated his radio.

“Well done everyone, let’s see team two beat that performance!”

Paul said as the room reverted visually back to normal. The floor that had been the hill liquefied just enough to sink back down into the floor and flatten back out, causing those still on it to nearly fall over as they struggled to keep their balance. They then regrouped and walked the distance back to the viewing room together in high spirits.

“Good work routing those chariots.” Lance said once team one made it through the door. “Even better, you uncovered those archers for us so we will know to be ready for them. Though one thing is, you nearly allowed yourselves to be surrounded at first when those spearmen charged, and your team had to disengage from their farther targets to help bail you out. You need to remember that you are their commander, and you need to delegate and give those kinds of orders, even when you are locked in combat. You allowed yourself to get tunnel vision.” Lance said, patting Paul on the shoulder. Paul fought the urge to scowl or argue, reminding himself he had asked for the constructive criticism.

“Let’s show them how much better we can do! Team two, fall out!” Lance said, cutting Paul off before he could even respond.

Team two marched into the room excitedly while team one watched diligently. Paul for one was eager to learn everything he could from Lance’s vast experience commanding in the field. The room changed to a scrub desert with a similar view, including a simulated battle off in the distance. Instead, however, the river was closer and ran wide and deep. A grove of small trees was on either side and a makeshift bridge had been constructed across the narrowest section of river. A small army of charioteers in two wheeled chariots with a single warrior and driver each was busy crossing the river. A larger cohort of charioteers and foot soldiers behind them awaited their chance to cross.

One of the lead charioteers pointed a spear towards team two.

“Scouts! Put them to death before they send word back to their Hatti masters! Protect the Pharoah!”

"Damn, looks like they're randomizing it each time!” Paul exclaimed.

“There goes your plan to compare notes and performances.” Ariana said wryly.

“Not exactly, we can still learn and critique performances at least. This just makes it more interesting; don’t you agree?” Paul replied, refusing to let it show that it did in fact bother him a little.

“Most def, this ought to be real interesting. Let’s see how Lance handles this one. Anyone got popcorn?” Staff Sergeant Hamilton replied, half sarcastically.

“Nope, you know the greys don’t stock shit like that Sarge. Hell, we couldn’t get popcorn even if we wanted to.” Corporal Salazar replied in a slightly bitter tone.

“Why not?” Jenkins asked.

“Because corn comes from the Americas, dumb-ass. We can’t contact the Olmec, or whoever is the current culture down there is, without genociding them. There’s also that whole Smallpox problem, remember?” She replied. “We’re also going to have to go without chocolate for a long time too.”

“What?!” Ariana replied in dismay. “No chocolate? Ah, shit, that's right. The cacao bean is from the Americas too, I completely forgot. Kill me now. Ugh…”

“Ladies, it’s all right, you got all the chocolate you can handle any time you need it right here.” Staff Sergeant Hamilton replied with a shit-eating grin. Both of them shoved him hard enough to move even his newly gene modified bulk.

“Pendejo…” Salazar muttered.

“Ignore him Estefani, he’s just trying to get a rise out of you.” Ariana fixed Hamilton with a death glare, daring him to say something else.

Paul chose that moment to step in. “Cut the chatter and pay attention to the battle.”

Lance had ordered his Guardians to charge the disorganized chariot line on their side of the river before they could rally effectively into formation. At the same time, he and Staff Sergeant Bryant laid down harassing arrow fire into the closest of the Egyptian charioteers. Unlike the Hittite variants, the Egyptian chariots seemed smaller and had one archer and one driver. Lucas had disappeared at some point as the team split apart to perform their roles.

It wasn’t until the makeshift bridge suddenly caught fire that it made sense as to what Lucas’ orders had been. The fire spooked the large donkeys that drove the Egyptian war chariots which caused chaos in their ranks. The bulk of their numbers were now trapped on the other bank of the river, making the battle swing back towards team two’s favor. Precise laser fire and hard-light arrows cut into the reorganizing ranks of charioteers, slowing their charge.

A hail of arrows from across the riverbank then forced team two to break formation and fall back out of their range in a somewhat disorganized fashion. The battle turned even more against team two as the surviving charioteers on their side of the river rallied and charged, taking advantage of the situation.

“Shit, this isn’t going so well for them” Jenkins said.

As the chariots closed the distance on team two, Lucas decloaked behind them and drew his bow, firing into their flanks with precision fire. The distraction proved enough to allow their Rangers time to use one of their jump charges each to vault over the heads of the charging wedge of chariots. They both landed with a somewhat awkward skid close by Lucas and joined him in shooting into the backs of the chariot line and sowing chaos. With three archers able to fire at relatively close range without distraction into their backs, and more laser fire coming from the Guardians, the tide of battle turned quickly.

The organized formation fell apart as they were finally able to break the morale of the charioteers as men died and their chariots veered off into their fellows. Many at the edges turned to flee, while others disembarked from their ruined vehicles and charged with swords and lances drawn and their bows abandoned. The need to split their remaining forces meant that their numbers were cut down mercilessly from both sides.

Quantity being a quality all of its own, many warriors still made it to challenge the Guardians, showing great courage in their assault. A fierce and brutal melee followed, but the superior armor and weapons of the gigantic Guardians combined with the harassing fire from the rest of the team proved decisive. Within a few minutes the battle was over as the last survivors fled.

ENEMY ROUTED; SIMULATION PARAMETERS ALTERED

A cheer arose from Team two as they began to walk back towards the viewing room. A loud booming voice cut across the room from across the river.

“IN THE DIVINE NAME OF MA’AT, I CALL UPON THE EYE OF RA TO BANISH THE FORCES OF CHAOS AND TO RESTORE ORDER TO THE UNIVERSE!”

From across the river, a bright beam of light shot into the sky. A blinding flash lit the sky over team two’s heads, which rapidly expanded into a shiny reflective sphere. A pitch black orb descended from its shiny surface before the reflective sphere shrunk back down near instantaneously and disappeared in another explosion of light.

WARNING: HAWKING RADIATION BURST DETECTED

The pitch black sphere descended slowly until it stopped, hovering mere centimeters from the surface of the ground. All rocks and topsoil directly underneath was blown away, which caused a cloud of dust to be kicked up into the air around it. The black barrier sat there silent and ominous with a faint halo of light perceptible around its middle and around its edges as the dust settled.

RAID BATTLE INITIATED: ALL TEAMS TO BATTLEFIELD

“That’s a null barrier!” Paul shouted.

“Hawking radiation? That must have been a wormhole. But the real-world power requirements for something like that…” Jenkins said.

“Who cares?! It’s a simulation, remember!? We need to reinforce team two, now! Everyone, stow your weapons, form a circle around me and prepare to fly!” Paul shouted as he snapped his spear onto its saddle on his back and ran into the room, beckoning for his team to follow.

Once inside, he organized them in a circle around him, checked their gear was slung tight and formed a TK field over their heads lifting them off the ground and into the air. The null barrier dropped to reveal two tall humanoids in colorful gilded armor with inlays of Lapis Lazuli and other colorful precious stones. With his improved eyesight, Paul could make out enough detail to see whom they were dealing with. They had both curvy feminine bodies with dark caramel skin visible through the small gaps in their armor. It was obvious even from a distance that they were athletic with thickly muscled arms and legs that hinted at a dangerous, coiled power.

The one on the left had a hauberk around her head and shoulders reminiscent of the striped death mask of a pharaoh that extended up and around her head and covered most of her chest and torso. In the center, she had a hyper realistic mask that was like the fusion of a humanoid face with the ears and some features of a cow. Two horns extended from atop her head, and between them, a bright ball of burning plasma was suspended, looking like a miniature sun. At her waist she had a wicked curved blade on one hip and a flanged mace encrusted with crimson jewels on the other.

Her companion to her right had a similar large hauberk that extended up and framed her head and torso with a striped headdress, but her mask was that of a humanoid lioness. Above her head was a similar bright star framed by a pair of snakes instead of horns. She was armed with a bow and a similar pair of curved swords as her compatriot.

THREAT DETECTED, NEPHAELI’IM-HUMAN HYBRID; SOLAR/SKY ARCHETYPE, QUANTITY: TWO,

THREAT LEVEL: DEADLY, AVERAGE INTEGRATION LEVEL TOO LOW; RETREAT RECOMMENDED

“Retreat?! Like hell! We just got here!” Paul shouted.

From across the river, the Pharoah’s voice boomed out once more.

“Hathor, Sekhmet! Your child and humble servant, the blood of your blood requests your aid! If it pleases your divinity, purge the earth of the enemies of Kemet and slay these servants of chaos to restore order to the land!”

“We have heard your noble plea, blood of my blood and bearer of the divine kingship. Return to your battle, oh divine son and king of Kemet, and may your hand slay your enemies without number. We will banish these servants of chaos; they pose a danger far beyond mortal men. Prepare yourselves, wicked ones!”

In a blur of motion, Hathor drew her weapons and charged team two and their Guardians. Sekhmet leapt many meters backwards in a graceful back flip and drew her bow, engaging their Rangers. Paul stepped up the power of his TK field, accelerating towards the battlefield.

“Ariana, when I drop my TK field, I want you to cloak and peel off. Look for an opportunity to ambush Sekhmet with a charged backstab while we distract her! Go!” Paul dropped his telekinesis for a moment, allowing Ariana to make a lower powered, more localized field to fly away on her own.

The rest of the team began to fall in an arc towards the ground before Paul caught them with a deceleration field over their heads that allowed him to slow their fall for the last moments of their flight. Only Paul managed to land gracefully, the rest thudded against the ground. Thankfully, the relatively slow speed when they landed minimized their recovery time.

Note to self, we should spend some time on flight recovery training for everyone after this.

“Back on your feet! Hamilton, on me! We need to draw Sekhmet’s attention! Rangers! Focus fire on Hathor and support team two!” Paul fired off orders as they broke into a sprint to give support to their allies.

Lucas had cloaked and been the first to sneak off, likely waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Team two’s Guardians were furiously trading blows with the far more agile Hathor as she weaved in between them and dodged and stuck back with ease. Sekhmet traded arrows with team two’s Rangers. Their arrows had yet to penetrate through Sekhmet’s photonic shield, while her insane speed caused most of their arrows to miss their mark.

Despite their range, Jenkins and Corporal Salazar, his Rangers, added their own arrows into the fight with Hathor, causing her to have to pivot her body angle to see the new threat. She grunted then fired a beam of molten plasma from the micro star over her head at O’Brien which shattered his photonic shield and sent him flying before she lifted Victor off his feet with a powerful TK field and threw him towards the smoking body of O’Brien. Hathor then turned her attention around and landed a sickening blow against the cloaked form of Lucas, sending him flying into Lance who had to disengage from Sekhmet to dodge, leaving Janessa Bryant alone in the fight temporarily.

Sekhmet then fired a plasma beam of her own at Staff Sergeant Bryant, blowing out her photonic shield before she disappeared in a flash of light.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; STAFF SERGEANT JANESSA BRYANT TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM.

“I’m coming to help with Sekhmet, hang in there! All Rangers, change targets to Sekhmet to help keep up the pressure! Hamilton, focus on Hathor!” Paul shouted.

Victor helped O’Brien back to his feet just in time to draw his sword and block a strike from Hathor’s sword only to take a nasty mace strike to his side, staggering him. Hamilton threw his spear, now that he was finally in range to strike at Hathor, only for it to bounce harmlessly off her hauberk, forcing him to recall it. O’Brien’s armor was scorched badly, but he returned to the fight with vigor and slashed at Hathor at the same time as Victor managed to deflect one of her blows with his shield and the other with his own sword. O’Brien's slash bounced harmlessly off her armor, but the distraction was enough for a surprise kick from Victor to knock Hathor backwards and into a defensive posture. Having nearly closed the gap to Sekhmet, Paul looked over his shoulder to see that the battle with Hathor seemed to be going better now with Hamilton’s help.

Paul's attention returned to Sekhmet, who was engaged with in an archery battle once more now that Lucas had recovered and joined the fight to replace Janessa. Sekhmet was unable to accomplish much more than dodging and sending the occasional arrow back while retreating as she drew them ever farther away from the fight with Hathor and from Paul’s attempt to join the fight.

The hell with this. Paul thought, and he lifted himself from the ground with a mighty TK assisted jump.

In a roar of frustration, Sekhmet threw a golden scarab from her belt towards Jenkins and Estefani. The scarab spread its mechanical wings and summoned a swirling sandstorm of rapidly increasing ferocity as it chased them down. They were forced to disengage and escape in different directions using their jump charges. Sekhmet leapt towards the position where Lance and Lucas stood, which forced them to abandon the use of their bows and draw their swords, putting her even further out of Paul’s range. In a flash of steel, she knocked the sword from Lucas’s hand while the other flashed across his belly, blowing through his mostly depleted photonic shield. Instead of being disemboweled, Lucas disappeared in a flash of light, allowing Sekhmet to focus her attention on Lance.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; CORPORAL LUCAS FLETCHER TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM.

Ariana de-cloaked and landed next to Lance to reinforce him, only to be knocked away with a vicious backhanded strike. A rain of hard light arrows began to fall around Sekhmet once more as Jenkins and Estefani rejoined the fight. This forced her to slow her attacks and focus on defense, evening the fight with Lance. Paul finally arrived, growing his spear out and charging into the fight with Sekhmet. She turned towards Paul and snarled. The bright star over her head flashed, and Paul was sent flying back, his whole body afire in searing pain.

PLASMA BEAM REDIRECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD ACTIVATED; 30% CAPACITY REMAINING.

ARMOR SYSTEMS DAMAGED; SELF REPAIR ACTIVATED;

WARNING! OVERHEAT DETECTED; SELF REPAIR SPEED SLOW

Fucking ow. Paul scrambled back to his feet in a daze, searching for his spear. He was at least a dozen meters away again, and Sekhmet continued pushing Lance backwards. She then swept his legs from under him, stomped on his chest and swung to decapitate him on the ground.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER LANCE BLACKFORD TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM.

Motherfucker!

“Where’s my fucking spear!?” Paul shouted. Fuck it. Paul drew his sword and charged into the fight as Sekhmet flew towards Jenkins with both swords drawn and ready to strike.

“Jenkins, draw your sword and hold your ground! Ariana, fall back and use your bow!”

Meanwhile, Hathor was back on the attack, slowly pushing O’Brien and Victor back. Victor ducked a mace strike and grabbed hold of it. She then ripped the mace from his grasp, staggering him before she smacked him with a powerful strike to the head. Hathor then threw the dazed Victor into the O’Brien with a powerful TK field and turned to face Hamilton.

O’Brien and Victor staggered to their feet again and scrambled to find their weapons. Hathor deflected a thrust of Hamilton’s spear, only for him to push her back using his shield as a secondary weapon. He took advantage of her surprise by stabbing her in a gap in her armor and simultaneously discharging his capacitor charge.

The wound was superficial, but it had the effect of finally breaking through her photonic shielding. It also had the effect of enraging her, sending her on the attack again with a series of blows so fast, he could hardly keep up, forcing Hamilton to block until his forearm shield shattered under the pressure. O’Brien and Victor then fired their wrist lasers as fast as they would recycle into her midsection, melting into her armor and burning her skin, making her scream.

Hamilton took his chance and threw his spear with all his might into the molten armor in the center of her torso, landing a direct hit. Having used his limited capacitor charge to blow out her shield, he was unable to land a killing blow with a second capacitor discharge. Hathor ripped the spear from her torso; the tip was bloodied by a mere inch or so. Hathor snapped the spear like a twig and tossed it away and retrieved her weapons from the ground at her feet. She then turned her attention to those who had been pestering her with lasers and the plasma ball over her head flashed once more.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; GUNNERY SERGEANT DAVID O’BRIEN TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM

Hathor leapt away from Hamilton and charged Victor, who dove for his sword while Hamilton struggled to close the gap and engage with his own sword now that his spear was broken. Paul meanwhile finally caught up with Sekhmet, who had been dueling Jenkins and Estefani. Right as Paul raised his sword to strike at her back, she turned and threw Jenkins into Paul’s chest with a TK field then turned and blasted Estefani with her plasma laser as Paul pushed Jenkins off of himself.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; CORPORAL ESTEFANI SALAZAR TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM.

Ariana de-cloaked with a scream, stabbing Sekhmet in the back, only for her to raise a null barrier at the last second. The infinite repulsion effect knocked Ariana backwards and caused her to waste her capacitor shock.

“FUCK!” Ariana shouted before she leapt into the sky and retreated back to a safe distance and drew her bow. Sekhmet dropped the barrier and grabbed Ariana in a TK field which overpowered her own, dragging her unavoidably into the path of Sekhmet’s swinging sword. The first blow knocked out her shield, the following one took her out of the fight altogether.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; SERGEANT ARIANA SILVA TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM

“ARIANA!!!” Paul screamed. “Fuck!” The situation continued to deteriorate while the goddesses made a mockery of their best efforts.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Jenkins yelled.

Jenkins and Paul arrived moments too late and began to slash desperately at the laughing goddess.

“It seems you cared for this one more than the others. Good, then we shall take mercy upon you and allow you to join her.”

Sekhmet effortlessly blocked everything the pair could throw at her as her laughter only made them angrier, sloppier. Sekhmet knocked Jenkins back with a kick before turning to face Paul alone. The plasma ball over her head flashed again and Paul’s world went white,

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM.

INTEGRATION LEVEL STATUS REPORT

SHIELD BLOCK INTEGRATION LEVEL… 4%

SPEAR FIGHTING INTEGRATION LEVEL… 5%

RESPIROCYTE INTEGRATION LEVEL… 13%

ELECTRO-MUSCLE INTEGRATION LEVEL… 14%

COMBAT HORMONE COOLDOWN PHASE INITIATED

“GODDAMNIT!!!”

Paul dropped to his knees in frustration, not even wanting to watch the rest of the battle that had gone so wrong. A hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his malaise. Lance looked down upon him with a sympathetic, knowing look.

“It’s never easy losing your soldiers in battle. But we are still all here and alive. Stand up. We owe it to them to analyze the rest of the fight and to learn from this, so it doesn’t happen this way in the field.” Lance said.

Paul nodded and got to his feet, looking down at his scorched armor and snarling.

“We never should have left Sekhmet without Guardians to keep her occupied from the start of the fight like that, even if she was using a bow as her primary weapon. We should have split up team one’s Guardians right from the outset until reinforcements could arrive.” Paul said.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; ENSIGN PRESTON JENKINS TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM

“Fucking ow. Sekhmet hits like a tank.” Jenkins said before he turned around in a sudden panic. “Ariana! Are you alright!?”

“Yeah, just banged up, nothing serious. My ego is bruised worse than I am. How the hell did she know where I was!? I was sure that backstab was going to work.” Ariana complained.

“Fuck I want to know that too, Hathor hit me while I was cloaked too! This armor is bullshit!” Lucas griped.

“They’re telekinetics, both of them.” Paul said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re invisible when they have mass senses. We will have to remember that, and not rely upon invisibility when the enemy can sense you anyway. The optical cloaking will still be plenty useful against regular humans though.” Ariana facepalmed as Paul finished reminding her.

“I should have realized that, why the hell didn’t I make that connection!? Fuck!” Ariana shouted.

“Because you desperate to stop Sekhmet from killing anyone else and the battle was falling apart for us rapidly. It may be a simulation, but it’s so damn real when you are in the moment. Plus, Sekhmet is plain scary as hell. Can you really blame yourself?” Jenkins said.

“I’ve been in plenty of high risk situations before, Preston. But I guess I see your point.” Ariana replied.

“We know it now, that is the important part. The fact that we can learn these kinds of hard lessons now when the stakes are so low is actually pretty damn awesome. We should all be grateful for this opportunity.” Lance said, trying to buoy their spirits.

Paul watched the view screen as Sekhmet wasted no time in reinforcing Hathor, who was struggling to fight off both Victor and Hamilton with her growing collection of shallow wounds. High above their heads, Sekhmet blasted Victor with her plasma laser before landing behind Hamilton.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; CHIEF PETTY OFFICER VICTOR FRANKLIN TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM

”FUCK!” Victor shouted. “We almost had her!”

Alone, and battling two goddesses, Hamilton put up a valiant, yet ultimately doomed effort in fighting them off. His fight ended with him disarmed, struck with several vicious blows that broke through his photonic shielding, and finished with a powerful strike to his throat that would have otherwise decapitated him.

FATAL BLOW AVERTED; STAFF SERGEANT JORDAN HAMILTON TRANSLOCATED TO VIEWING ROOM RAID BATTLE FAILED. SIMULATION TERMINATED

Hamilton appeared before them in a flash of light. Still on his knees, and in bloodied, gashed armor, Hamilton let out a cry of rage and slammed his fists against the deck, denting it temporarily before it repaired itself.

"Welp…. That was some grade-A bull-shit." Hamilton finally said as he rose to his feet once more.

"You can say that again.” Ariana said. “Now what?”

“We take an hour to let our armor and weapons fully self-repair, rest up, eat something, and mentally prepare ourselves to do it again. This time we are going to win, or we will continue to try until we do. We have two weeks of simulator time booked before we leave the time dilation field, and the real mission begins. We need to make the most of this opportunity.” Paul said with conviction.

“We’re going to crush them next time.” Hamilton said. “I ain’t going down like that again.”

“What’s the matter, can’t handle getting beaten by a woman?” Staff Sergeant Bryant razzed.

“Aye Janessa, you know it ain’t like that at all.” Hamilton replied, cracking a smile again. “I don’t like getting beaten, period.”

The mood seemed to lighten a bit after that, which Paul was grateful for.

“Alright, so let’s face it. We let ourselves get cocky with our victories over the charioteers. We didn’t allocate our forces right. From now on, we need to make sure that there is always at least one Guardian assigned to each and every god or goddess at all times. Everyone else needs to focus on supporting them and focus on breaking their photonic shields if they have one. What other takeaways can we learn from this fight?”

Paul looked around the room, though nobody seemed keen on speaking first. Finally, Lance spoke up.

“I think we need to put in a lot more target practice time against fast moving targets with these photonic bows. We missed most of our shots it seemed.”

Paul nodded. “Good takeaway. I know I got hit at least once by someone’s stray arrow, too. I’m all for it. Maybe we can focus a whole training scenario on that one skillset alone before challenging another battle. The Guardians can spar with each other in the meantime.”

“I got one for you.” Lucas said. Paul fought the urge to cringe.

“A serious one, I hope.” Lance said, for which Paul was immensely grateful.

“Yes, a serious one.” Lucas said with a roll of his eyes. “While you big burly fuckers have the godlets distracted, we Scouts can use our capacitor shock in a backstab to weaken or blow out their shields. Our armor is really light though, so you will have to be really distracting and we will have to retreat, fast. I think the reason our ambushes both failed was because we timed them badly.”

“Brave, and probably effective. You will have to wait until we can taunt them or enrage them, that's probably our best bet. You’ll probably only get one shot at it though, so make it count.” Paul replied.

“That’s all we should need, once their shields are down, the photonic bows will actually start to do real damage and will start wearing them down. It also means the Guardians can save their own capacitor shock for a chance at a killing blow. I think it’s the start of an actual working strategy.” Ariana said with a smile.

“So. Grub?” Hamilton asked, looking over at the crates of MRE’s in the corner of the room.

Paul laughed. “Grub, yes, then lets figure out how to set the room up specifically for target practice and sparring matches.”

“Hell yeah, sounds good! Dibs on chili mac!” Jenkins shouted as he booked it to the crate, only for Hamilton to pick him up from behind and set him off to the side with ease.

“Hell no, that shit gives you gas like a chemical weapons attack. I ain’t dealin’ with that again, especially not in this tiny ass room.” Hamilton replied.

“Does not!” Jenkins protested.

“Maybe we can use that in the next battle… knock em out with noxious gas. Let him have the chili mac, Staff Sergeant. He might well prove to be our most… potent weapon of all.” Lance cracked.

“Fuck you guys. Just give me the beef stew then.” Jenkins replied dejectedly.

“Nah. I’m just playin’ with you, Ensign. Toughen up, and don’t take this shit so serious.” Hamilton said, handing over the chili mac at last.

Paul smirked inside his helmet before removing it to be ready to eat. Things were going to work out just fine. He had a good feeling about it. He just had to keep them motivated and working their asses off while they had the benefit of the training room. It seemed like the squad comradery was already starting to build. Of all the many things still unknown or up in the air, the one sure thing was that they were going to need it.