MagTech Suit Up, Page 3

  The Return Home

  TOC

  David was having no problem sleeping now, he had just fought two very bloody battles and redesigned an entire way of conducting battle, with a very complex command and control interface and an advanced weapons deployment system. It was no wonder he was sound asleep in his state room on the ship, as it returned to Earth. David a young man of fifteen years of age, had seen a lot, and done a lot for one so young. For those who knew him they didn’t think of him in that way, he carried himself and presented himself like someone much older.

  His appearance was fairly typical with dark brown hair, hazel eyes and large in build and stature, at six foot three and two hundred and twenty pounds, he is big for his age. He is well toned due to an athletic lifestyle and the study of martial arts, and he is handsome in a classic way that has endured throughout the ages, due to his genetics and being well cared for by his parents and raised in a healthy safe environment. Which could be considered a very different environment, than the one that he currently found himself in now. In his new lifestyle, he routinely put himself in harm’s way, even while he slept there was a lot of people that wanted him dead, and would stop at nothing to do it, if they knew where he was. His actions made him a threat that they wanted stopped.

  Fortunately, for David those people had no idea who he was or where he was, he had been rescued by the Delta Faction. Therefore, the government and Gamma Faction did not know of his special abilities and were not trying to force him in to service. They didn’t even know that he had been working with Delta Faction to come up with new ways to fight Gamma Faction and derail their plans to destroy the government and enslave humanity. Many who had seen David in action, were starting to believe that he was the threat that Gamma Faction was willing to destroy an entire region of space to find. That Region was the Saturn Region, and that was the Region that they were coming back from headed to Earth.

  David had grown up on a space station in the Saturn Region called Saturn Station 12. Life was simpler there, and he had gotten used to life on the station. Each station used a fusion reactor to generate the needed energy that powered the rings and provided life support to the station. The rings are about three stories high and about a mile wide from edge to edge, with filtered glass on the inside of the ring. That continues partially around the outer edge to simulate the sky to the dwellers below, by filtering the sunlight and creating night and day through a chemical process in the glass that turns darker during the night period and transforms more of the sunlight to energy. The houses are all built as two story structures. David was born there and spent his entire life in one of the houses on the outer edge of one of the middle rings.

  The houses on the outer edges of the ring, are larger than those on the inside those that live there are usually high ranking in government or business, there are roadways in between to allow travel so it seemed like a normal neighborhood. A neighborhood he grew up in, with his friends who also were born there. They went to a very prestigious school and were all well liked and academically successful. The houses on the outside edge of the residential areas are built with a courtyard in the center, and the back of the house looks out on the green vegetation areas that are on the very edges of each ring. In these green rings of plant life are the green zones, used for hydroponics, were several pants are grown to allow fresh vegetables in the station. There are other green areas in the rings that provide parks and recreation areas allowing for a more family friendly lifestyle. That lifestyle was disrupted when Gamma Faction attacked his family and friends and forced them to leave the station to join Delta Faction. Now David called the secret Delta Faction base on Earth home, and he lived there with his family and close friends Emma and her father, and Gordon, who they had to adopt after his parents were killed.

  Now that they had fought a few battles and the immediate threat seemed to be over. David and his team had dropped off the Red Team Commandoes that had fought in the battles with them, and they were heading back to Earth to regroup. They also needed to get Joan the former Head Administrator of Saturn Station 12 to a proper hospital for the remainder of her treatments. She had been injured badly in an attempt on her life, on the same night that brought David and his family into a world were a fifteen year old boy fought battles against terrorists, with support from commandoes that actually looked to him as their leader. That day had changed his life forever, but it also awakened a part of him that was good at creating new technology, and using advanced tactics to overpower enemy forces of superior numbers.

  After about five hours of hard sleep David was not as bone tired as he had been the night before, so he was starting to stir. Good morning David, the ship said. Sorry to wake you but I wanted to talk to you about the events of the last few days and I know you will be debriefing with the High Council and going over everything quite a bit in the next few days, but I wanted to know how you feel about what has happened, the Ship said. You mean how I feel about all the Gamma Agents we have killed over the last few days, David asked bluntly? Yes, that and how you feel about all the accomplishments we have achieved as well , the Ship replied. As far as killing Gamma Agents I knew that was what we had to do as soon as they killed Gordon’s parents and tried to kill my Dad and Emma’s Mom , David replied. As for our accomplishments, I wish we could do more, so many people died because of those bastards, he said. Yes, but think how many more would have died if not for what we have done, the Ship replied. I know, said David, it is just hard to not wish that we had been able to stop them sooner. You must learn to accept the things that you can’t control, and focus on the things you can, the Ship offered.

  I know you are right, David said, doesn’t mean I have to like it or stop trying to save as many people as we can. That is correct, I didn’t say you have to like it, just learn to live with it, the Ship replied, hoping its advice would help David in some way.

  The ship or more correctly the AI that controlled the ship was a hybrid of bio and computer engineering, created to harness the telekinetic energy of four preserved brains from the founding members of the Delta Faction. Unknown to everyone else, the AI had merged with the consciousness’ of the four brains and together they were trying to save humanity from the threat of Gamma Faction. The entity that was the combination of the old masters and a very sophisticated AI simply went by the name Ship. The physical ship its self was a proto type spacecraft created to harness the telekinetic powers to allow it to travel through space fully cloaked from detection by any means of observation. The ship was a very sophisticated system of advanced technology before David and his friends came onboard, but they helped make it even more so. Through their combined talents of advanced engineering and an intuitive understanding of new ways to use telekinetic energy, they had totally redesigned the ship. Making use of the energy far more efficiently and finding ways to provide it with much more energy to use. They helped create better defensive and offensive capabilities as well. Along the way they had also helped it create a huge amount of processing power that it was now using for the protection of humanity from Gamma Faction, by tracking their movements and finding out what their next targets might be.

  Delta Faction was a group of people with paranormal abilities that had formed to try to hide from the government and later had to secretly help the government fight Gamma Faction. They Governed themselves through a High Council and had other teams that fulfilled certain roles with in their organization. David’s team and the ship and its crew were part of a covert team that conducted military operations against Gamma Faction. There was also a team of commandoes that covertly embedded themselves with the government’s special forces teams and helped them battle Gamma Faction as well. They had recently teamed up with David’s team to stop a huge force that was threatening the Saturn Region and conducted two battles against them.

  “The others have started going into the common area for breakfast perhaps you should join them. We can talk more late
r if you need to, but for now go be with your friends, I am sure they are struggling with some of the same issues and they will need your strength to help them get through it ,” Ship suggested. Yeah, I am kind of hungry and we really should start going over our after action reports for the High Council, David replied.

  Ship knew that the humans had been through a lot and it would take them awhile to get through the trauma of so much death and destruction. It would help where it could, but it knew the best thing for it was time. David left his room and headed for the common area, he met Gordon, Emma, and Megan there. They were his friends and teammates and they too looked to him as their leader. They had all just sat down and were having some breakfast. They all looked as he felt, tired, they had been through a lot in the last few days without a lot of rest in between. For a brief moment David longed for the times when all he had to worry about was getting ready for school or homework. Those days seemed so far away now, but looking back he would not want to go back, he had learned so much about himself, his friends, and the way things really were, and the complexities of life. Not knowing had allowed him the quite comfortable life he used to live, but he could not afford that anymore, there was too much at stake. David was uniquely suited to make a difference and he was going to help as much as he could.

  David and his friends had developed an advanced weapons platform that consisted of protective body armor that they called a suit, that included cloaking mechanisms and protective shields. It also included an interface that allowed the wearer to teleport robotic-battle-bots with the same cloaking mechanisms and protective shields into any location, were they could deploy a variety of offensive weapons to overpower an enemy position. Also included in the interface was a variety of obstacles including land mines and booby-traps that could be deployed and synchronized with the help of overhead surveillance and reconnaissance.

  Once the robots and obstacles had been designated they could be deployed at any time and would simply appear out of nowhere, allowing the wearer of the suit to focus on offensive telekinetic attacks augmented by the suits power supplies. David, Emma, and Gordon had come up with ways to boost the powers of a gifted person substantially while they wore the suit. The interface they developed helped them channel that energy into weapons and defenses that gave them a huge competitive edge over the enemy. It also allowed them to control and teleport robots that helped multiply their forces in battle. The fact that the robots had much of the same abilities made it even better since they were cloaked and could attack with the same weapons that gifted agents used.

  But perhaps its greatest strength was the ability to detect and filter telekinetic energy, since both factions used it to cloak themselves and fight their battles, the ability to see the enemy without them seeing you was a huge advantage. The inner telekinetic energy that the gifted produced naturally in their body was at the heart of the technology that both factions used to conduct warfare against their enemies. The suit was designed to amplify that energy and take care of several of the functions regarding shields. While its weapons interface helped with offensive attacks and the deployment of robots and obstacles.

  As David approached the table he greeted everyone, and went to get himself some food. Not surprisingly the topic of conversation was the events of the day before. It was understandable that they would be talking about all that happened for some time to come, it would be the topic of many conversations. Not just theirs but many people that were aware of the events that transpired, would be talking about it as well.

  They had done something that to an outside observer would have seemed impossible, but they had taken on an entire army with only the aid of two squads of commandoes. Not only had they won the battles with zero casualties on their side, but they totally decimated the other force. David, we were just talking about the new shard weapon and how affective it is against shields, Emma said as he sat back down. Emma had auburn hair and freckles, with brown eyes. Most would say she was pretty, but to David Emma was just one of the guys, much to her disappointment. Yeah, I have asked Ship to look into possible defenses against it just in case they manage to get their hands on the technology from us, but as of now there are none, David informed them. The shard attack was one they developed for the weapons system used by the suit. It was devastating to anything it hit and they were worried that the enemy might steal the technology and use it against them. There had been moles in the faction in the past.

  Well hopefully we will come up with something if we need to, but for the time being we have a huge advantage over Gamma Faction right now, Megan said. With blond shoulder length hair, and green eyes, Megan was Emma’s polar opposite when it came to looks, but when it came to David they shared common interests. They maintained an uneasy peace for the sake of the team and the mission, but at times they fantasized about horrible disfiguring accidents befalling one another. Of course in their fantasies, in the wake of such an accident, it would fall to them to console poor David. That unfortunately, was what happened when you had two teenaged girls fighting for your affections. Luckily, for now they only fanaticized about bodily harm being inflicted on the other, they were not actually inflicting it, now if they could only get David to notice them and make a decision life would be so much better.

  Yes, that advantage is one we should continue to take advantage of, and take the fight to the enemy, Michael said, as he approached the table with a tray of food. It is too bad we do not have any intel as to where their base of operations is, he continued. We have dealt a crippling blow to their plans for the Saturn Region, but based on the amount of destruction they were trying to accomplish it is clear they have a much bigger plan in motion, he said. Being a career military man and newly appointed liaison between the Red Team and the High Council, David’s father had to think about things like that. He was just an older version of David in appearance and baring, it was his training that made David the natural leader that he turned out to be. He also took command when needed, but they worked well together and never had a conflict between them in regard to who was in control, at any given point. They seemed to know when to defer to the other when it was required, and that was what made them an effective leadership team.

  Emma almost started to say something about her special project with Ship, when she decided she would leave that for Ship to discuss with the others when it felt the time was right. She had come to trust the ship to make the right choice in regard to the welfare of the crew and the faction in general. Instead Megan said, that she was working with the High Council to try and determine their next mission. Megan’s mother was on the High Council and Megan was the official liaison to their team, much like Michael was the liaison to the Red Team.

  Ship was listening to their conversation and knew that there was another potential target between them and Earth based on intel it had acquired during its surveillance operations that Emma had helped it setup, the target was not going anywhere and they were in need of rest, so it decided it could wait. Besides its co-conspirator in the new surveillance mission was in need of a real hospital and a few weeks of recovery. Emma’s mom Joan had been through a lot, and even though she was more determined than most to inflict a bit of payback on Gamma Faction, she needed to get well first.

  Ship decided it would wait until they had returned her to Earth, before orchestrating a mission against the enemy base. Its knowledge of the enemies operations had grown so much since it started tapping into the Planetary Alliances surveillance systems and using its new surveillance drones to help filter for Gamma Faction activity. After the first few forays into decimating their safe house locations in the Saturn Region it started monitoring the safe houses in other regions to help collect intel. With hostilities being less overt in other regions it could afford to hold off on destroying their sleeper cells and actually gather more intelligence, that would help lead it to even more sleeper cells.

  The cells were far less prolific in other regions
and there were far less mercenaries being used, so it was a bit harder to find the agents, but Emma’s algorithms were working quite well to help track them. It even managed to follow a couple of the agents to their cloaked ships, once the ships had been identified it simply dispatched a drone to attach itself to it and keep track of it. That is how it had found the Enemy base in the Mars Region, they had setup the base in an abandoned Robot Mining operation. Ship now had the entire base under surveillance by the drones so it knew the comings and the goings of the agents.

  It also was able to track the other ships to other areas within the region. Unless they started to mobilize for an attack while ship was passing through the region on its way back to base, there was no reason to divert from their current course. They would continue to Earth and come back and deal with the base another time after they had all had a chance to rest and regroup.

  Back in the common area the team continued to discuss the battle from the day before. It was agreed that the new improvements to the suit and the combat interface had proven very useful during the battle. With the ability to coordinate and deploy all manner of weapons and defenses from the interface without taxing the agent, they had created a force multiplier that allowed one Delta agent to be as effective as an entire squad of the enemy, especially with the robot deployment methods they had developed. That in combination with the distraction and obstacle deployment capabilities, they let them dominate the battle field. The other clear advantage was the surveillance drone which was even able to capture overhead views of the entire battle and then store them for future analysis. It certainly made after action reports much easier.

  David reached out to Ship, how many robots do we have now, he asked? We have four hundred and fifty and I am adding about twenty five every hour the ship informed him. Does it matter where we keep the robots as far as accessing them through the portals, David asked, since he was concerned with making sure the Red Team commandoes could access them if they needed them. No, as you know the portal is independent of space and time so it doesn’t matter where they are physically located as long as the portal address does not change, Ship responded.

  Are you going to have enough space to create the six hundred or more we are going to need, David asked? Yes, I should be able to store approximately fifteen hundred in the five storage areas I have designated for it, Ship informed him. That should be more than enough, David acknowledged. Does that include the older models David asked? No, I would advise we retire them to the practice field and only use the newer models the Ship suggested. It did not want to tell David that the newer models had the new telekinetic coil that allowed them to produce and store their own telekinetic energy. It was still unsure of the possible aftermath knowledge of the new technology might have, so it was keeping it secret for now. It had been keeping a lot of secrets lately. Even the fact that originally it had only designated three storage areas but made it five when it realized they were going to need more robots. David was not aware of that yet.

  As they were talking Ship was informed by one of the Sereins sub-processors on its hull, that had been assigned the task of tracking Agent Larken Kim, that he had completely disappeared off the grid. Ship assigned a few more to try and track him down. It was strange that there was no sign of him in the Saturn region. He had been a leader in charge of many of the Gamma cells on Saturn Station 12. If he was no longer in the region it could mean he was setting up a new operation in another region and that would be bad for the government, Delta Faction, and humanity in general.

  David thanked Ship for the update and returned to his conversation with his father and Megan, the twins had joined them at the table and they were having their own separate conversation with Emma and Gordon. Alex David’s mom who was tall blond haired, blue eyed, and in great shape for her age joined them as well. She had been sitting with Joan in her room earlier in the morning, to help comfort her while she waited to be transferred to a facility that could continue her operations. The temporary hospital room that they had setup for her on the ship was not equipped to perform the delicate spinal surgeries she still required, all they could do was stabilize her until they got her back to the base. The twins having spent so much time with her in the hospital room on Saturn Station 12 felt like they knew her, even though they had only talked to her briefly after the extraction. Not being able to reveal themselves during her time in the hospital, was necessary to the mission, to protect her and keep Delta Faction’s involvement a secret.

  Therefore, it was natural that the group’s discussion would be focused on her recovery. Both Joan and her family would always be extremely grateful to the twins for standing guard over her during that time in the hospital. Emma and McKenzie had become fast friends and even though John was such a wise ass, he always seemed to make friends with everyone, so he and Gordon seemed to be hitting it off as well. The fact that they both had lost their parents to Gamma Faction also gave them a common bound. The twins though male and female still looked very similar and had many of the same mannerisms, with black hair and blue piercing eyes, they often drew a lot of attention. Which was ironic because prior to joining the team they were known for their ability to conceal themselves in enemy locations for long periods of time. Gordon on the other hand was tall and lanky with dark features and didn’t have the same effect on people, usually being overlooked in the crowd. It didn’t help he was usually found in David’s company, his shadow was hard for anyone to step out from under. Even before David had become the Delta Agent that he was now, he had a certain way about him that made him the center of attention. People at school gravitated to him and he had many friend but only a few close ones.

  As David watched, he was happy to see that the twins would work with the team dynamic, his father notice his gaze. Yeah, they seem to be fitting in nicely, we may have to get a bigger living area if we are going to keep adding to the team he joked, since their house had become the unofficial team headquarters. We may convert the apartment next to yours into our headquarters and blow a wall out so we can go back and forth Megan said, as the idea took shape in her mind. A little part of her mind thought it would give her even more excuses to be around David. I was just kidding Michael said, almost choking on his coffee as she said it.

  “I know she said, but it makes since, we all spend most of our time around there, and the team is going to grow. The council is already talking about creating a unit to support our missions like the Red Team did. They were so impressed with the surveillance feeds from our battle they want to bring the two squad leaders and a couple of their team members back to Earth and have them and us, create and train two units specifically in robot combat techniques. They will be under our control and be part of Red Team, but they will be specifically used for this type of warfare. That way the guys that are attached to the special forces can continue doing what they do with the added benefit of having the robots and other tactics if needed, but not being pulled away when we need support”, Megan said. That makes a lot of sense actually, Michael acknowledged.

  “I am sure the commander of Red Team will use the new tools we have provided for him, but he has been doing what he has for so long, it would be hard for him to switch gears to maintain two different units, and he would always be torn between which one to support with his best guys. The Alpha Squad Leader on the other hand has seen what we can do with these robots, and will step-up nicely to be the units commander.”, Michael continued. Yeah, that is kind of what I was thinking, Megan said, though I hadn’t thought about the tasking issues the commander of Red Team might have faced. Yeah, it is hard to have two hats and be true to both, you can do it, but one always suffers, Michael said. Will you have a problem being the Red Team Liaison, and a member of our team, Megan asked? No because they are not mutually exclusive, I want both teams to succeed and I will have two good commanders, plus you guys to make that happen, my job is real easy, he said.

  Good answer she said
, and he flashed her that smile that David always used when he was saying thanks without saying it, when David did, it always made her melt a little bit inside. She looked at Michael and David, they looked so much alike. They were very handsome and had a way about them that made you want to follow them anywhere. She realized it was that natural confidence that made them both such good leaders. They continued their conversation regarding the new teams and even pulled up schematics of their building since the tables in the common area allowed you to send data from the implant to be displayed on the table top. They looked at the possibility of converting the apartment next to David’s into their headquarters and creating a passageway between the two spaces. It made sense because over half of their team lived in the apartment anyway and the other half spent most of their time there. The twins were going to be moved into the building as well, so logistically it was the right decision, and they could maybe even move the twins into the apartment on the other side and connect that as well.

  They started discussing the accommodations for the two squad leaders and their teams. Megan brought up schematics for a building that was near the practice fields that she and David had been using for their training. The warehouse that housed the Delta Faction secret base was huge, it was actually several large fifty foot high buildings next to each other. Just one of the many buildings spanned several football field lengths of space, the faction had built their buildings under the secretly transparent roofs to hide them from satellite surveillance, but there was a lot of areas still not used including the building that the practice field was in. They decided they could partition it off from the rest of the base and expand the practice field and add barracks for the teams and make it a restricted area. It was fairly close to their building but still secluded enough to keep unauthorized people away from it. The Red Team operations had always been secret even before David and his team joined the fight. Their role had always been in support of the SF teams of the Alliance so they were easier to keep secret. The new role that David and his team would be fulfilling would be harder to maintain secrecy for, so it would require a higher level of security.

  The Ship joined the conversation, since you are planning on expanding the teams, you may want to consider creating a robot storage facility and perhaps even a dedicated manufacturing facility as well. I don’t mind creating them but if we had a place we could build them, the suits, and the Javelins it might be better. That is a good point, Michael said, we will be needing a lot more of all those things and having a dedicated facility secure from prying eyes would be good. Yeah, I also have been thinking about our mobility when we are on the ground David said, we have had to walk into each of our last battles, it takes time and it leaves us exposed on the streets. I think we need a small transport vehicle that we can port in when we need it. How big we talking Michael said, because in both battles the streets have been pretty congested with a lot of debris making it hard for transports. “I was thinking something small about the size of a robot and possibly something that hovers. At the most two people could ride it, but more likely we each would have one”, David said. Oh, like the old motorcycles, Michael said. Yes, but it would be better if they hover to avoid obstacles, David reiterated. Ah, I think there was something like that in a very old movie, I do not remember what it was called, said Michael, trying to remember.

  “I think I know what movie you are referring to Ship said, and I am sure we can design a platform you can ride that hovers like the cargo deck of the Javelin but uses a smaller version of my propulsion system. Of course it will have to be shielded and capable of being ported. Seems fairly easy Ship said, flashing an image of the rendered device to each of them.” They all agreed it looked like something they could use. I will create one out in the Javelin bay and you can try it out Ship informed them. A few minutes later Ship contacted David, it is ready and I also updated your Interface to include transport. When you are happy with the design and all of the specifications, I will create a flash update for the suits. “If this works you should probably build about fifty of these to handle the current user needs. You know as soon as the icon shows up on the interface the Red Team guys are going to want to try it out”, David said.

  Yes, I was think the same thing the Ship agreed, I have already created a space for them in one of the storage areas. David, Michael, and Megan all got up and headed for the Javelin bay to see the new transport. David tried it out first noticing the simple controls the operation of which was sent to his mind as soon as he sat down on the seat. How fast can it go, he asked Ship? As fast as you want it to go, Ship replied we simply have to adjust the propulsion system to your needs. I would think at least 200 mph if we have open terrain with a long distance to cover David said. I will make the necessary adjustments, but also will add a governor that will not allow such speed in crowded streets.

  Ah, your no fun David said as he zoomed around the cargo bay. I will make it go fast enough to evade pursuit within the city Ship relented. David let Megan and his father try it out. Michael was just pulling up to them when the Twins, Gordon, and Emma entered the hanger. We were wondering where you went to Gordon said as they approached. I want to try John said, practically running over to them. You all can try it out, David said, letting John get on. We are going to use them for transport during missions. They all took a turn and agreed they liked the new transports and thought they would work well for them.

  They also thought they were a lot of fun to use, and even secretly envisioned themselves using them for more than just missions, especially the guys. All in the interest of getting more training of course. Even though they had all been through a lot together, they were human and needed distractions from the war they were in with Gamma Faction. The transports were a good distraction, and would be used for such in the future. Plus there was something ingrained in the human psyche that made them identify with things you could ride, that resembled a horse with an open air feel. The love of the wind in your hair as you went fast was something that would always capture the human imagination. Ship had added some flare to the design specifically for that reason. Also because it knew David liked things that looked bad ass while being functional.

  David was right the transport would serve the teams well providing an easy way to get into areas where ships could not take them. It made since for the mission and would provide entertainment when they had that ever elusive free time. Ship wanted the humans to have healthy escapes from the tragedy of the horrors of what they faced in battle.