Aerith AI: 2018

[Errant.Venture]

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Story Arc: Unexplored Space: Spring – 821 A.S. – Location: Tereus’ Mind

Chapter 4: Archived Memories
Part Two: Memory Sequence One: Ready, Prep, Plot

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Tereus was in the armory gearing up for the final war game simulation before commencement. Laid out before him was an organized array of weapons, armor, and other gear which his squad would utilize in order to accomplish their mission. Tonight’s games would be broadcast to the entire campus, as only upper classmen would be participating in the live fire exercises. The underclassmen, and staff, would be watching, critiquing, and cheering them on.

Tereus, as battalion commander, had chosen to keep his command staff together as a squad tonight, one last hurrah before inevitably being assigned to different commands. As for the war games themselves, tonight would be no different than any other they’d had over the past twelve semesters. His sound strategy, implemented with the squad’s calculating and deadly efficiently, would ultimately result in total domination…well if you could really dominate the combat training droids utilized.

The droids themselves were advanced enough, significantly upgrade from anything standard Gallian Armed Forces trainees would encounter, but ultimately they were still just programmed pieces of metal, utilized because of their ability to be cheaply and quickly mass produced. The droids were humanoid enough, but not quite as advanced as the Human Replicant Droids utilized on active battle vessels by command staff. The HRD series of droids were more…autonomous ai in a human looking bio-mechanical suit. This was extremely useful as often the HRDs could operate the systems of their assigned combat vessels, while simultaneously interacting with the crew.

Tonight’s final war game simulation would pit all combative forces of the graduating class against a superior force of droids, outnumbering them twelve to one. Three hundred and twenty-five cadets would face off against nearly four thousand droids, in an AO of over twelve square miles. The Academy staff had been preparing this operation for the better part of three months, and this final scenario sought to simulate actual combat situations utilizing live ordnance by both cadets and droids. While the risk of fatality was diminished, there was still ample room for non-fatal injuries, and critical injuries should one of the participating cadets wander into something such as an orbital support bombardment, but overall the power suits utilized by the cadets for these training simulations was more than enough protection against the live rounds being used.

Project Destiny while officially being a genetic research project, had spared no expense in the genetic nurturing or the necessities required to train and protect its assets. The personalized power armor given to the cadets was a prime example of this. The power armor in and of itself was a customizable chassis, which allowed integration and upgrade for the cadets as they grew into their armor during their time at The Academy. Fully integrated bio-monitoring, intelligent medical triage, multi-spectrum in helmet HUDs, and other integrated tools such as comms and interfacing allowed the Cadets to learn and grow accustomed to their protective combat shells throughout their entire training process at The Academy.

Tereus ran through his check list of acquired gear, grenades, guns, micro breach charges…the list was exhaustive. All in all each member of the squad would be operating with around two-hundred and twenty pounds of gear. The power armor could accommodate three times that under standard operating requirements, but for this commencement scenario, they’d be travelling light. The game plan was simple, Daughtery, Tereus, Tiberius and Aerith on point, the Marshall twins would provide overwatch, they’re specialty, and the Devareaux’s would be rear guard securing an exfil, and prepping an epic distraction.

Tereus’ squad was set to convene at 1800 hours, after evening mess. Tereus would give the brief at 1815 and then his squad would gear up, and board a Kestrel class combat transport for air drop into their AO. The Kestrel class was a nimble standard size combat transport, that really equated to an atmospheric gunship. The Kestrel classes were modified, and upgrade Ptarmigan class transports, more maneuverable with focus on offensive insertions, allowing a steady stream of cover fire and enough punch to make even the most armored mechanized units stay outside it’s firing arc. The Kestrel had been specifically created by Project Destiny and it had performed so well in testing that less sophisticated variants were a standard on Gallic Military Ships for atmospheric operations.

Tereus gave the staging area one last look over then glanced at his integrated neural-net link. 1425..right on schedule.

Tereus turned the lights off to the staging area, secured the cage with his personal codes, and headed off to hit the gym. A quick work out was exactly what he would need to clear his mind.

Aerith had been summoned to Commander Faustin’s office on board The Resplendant. It wasn’t unusual, she often frequented Faustin’s office as she was the battalion executive officer. Aerith had a glow about her as she headed towards the docking level of The Spire as she passed the other cadets and staff in the corridors there was a noticeable aura of energy about her. The other tanks stopped to salute and stare, the staff smiled, almost as if they were reliving that summer love phase of secondary school, it was so…perfect….too perfect.

As Aerith crossed the catwalk, she couldn’t help but to stop herself for a moment and admire the view. It was breath-taking, below The Academy was like a living diorama, with dots that were cadets and staff moving around campus like ants, the standard fighter patrols that flew by providing security to the airspace like guardian angels in their wedge shaped formations, and the rest of the sprawling scenery the backdrop. Aerith loved moments like these, content to take a moment to just…be alive. She hadn’t really admitted it to herself or anyone else, but she was going to miss The Academy when they shipped out, she just hoped that the battalion staff would be assigned to the same fleet after commencement.

Imprinting the image into her memory Aerith continued towards Faustin’s office, it was a quick trip, around three hundred steps from her view on the catwalk. As she approached her destination, she paused for a moment, gaining her composure and checking that her uniform was squared away, content that all was in order, she pressed the button on the comm panel, alerting Commander Faustin to her presence.

The comm panel on Faustin’s desk beeped, bringing up a holo image of Cadet Aerith on the built in interface, a moment later he was met with her voice.

“Cadet Major Aiglentina reporting as ordered sir!” Aerith stated through the comm. panel.

Commander Faustin stood, then pressed a button on his desk, granting access to Cadet Aiglentina to his quarters. He turned as Aerith entered, snapped to attention, and threw salute.

“Sir!” Aerith exclaimed.

“At ease Major,” Faustin stated, returning the salute and gesturing to one of the seats that faced his desk. “If you would Major, take a seat.”

“Sir!” Aerith proclaimed, then forced herself to sit down.

Faustin composed his thoughts, Aerith was a well liked, and revered cadet, and despite the committee’s ruling, less drastic measures were needed in his opinion. Completing the mental foot notes, he spoke, “Major…Aerith…I’m reassigning you for tonight’s mission…”

The committee watched via remote video bugs their operatives had installed on The Resplendant while Faustin had been attending their charade of formalities. The speaker addressed the chairman, “Sir, it appears you were correct, the humanity factor of the staff…” She paused, then continued, “seems to be an issue.”

“Everything will still go according to plan, our tertiary fail safes have been enacted, and Cadet Aiglentina will play her part, whether Faustin wants her too or not.” The chairman stated exactingly, letting his elbows rest on the table as he touched the pads of his fingers and thumb together, letting the touching forefingers come to rest on his forehead.

“Everything is proceeding as expected…” He stated with a grin.

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The reports of my trying to imitate the revered Michal Golanski are greatly exaggerated...my avatar should prove this.

[4:17:08 PM] Michał Golański: I knew you have some prehistoric backing to kick them in the nuts.