Training and Building
Three months flew by, and all Jackie could think about was what she discovered in the domed city of Subaquilus One. Her mind was focused, but her heart still ached. Sura joined her and the others for training on the vast floating island of Malitia Storm, hovering just off the coast of the Andes peak of Aconcagua.
Malitia Storm sat just above the water, similar to Stratos Pelagia, but it rested on a massive plateau made of sturdy, supple Subaquilus alloy instead of a cushion of air. The ocean, a turbulent force on this side of the planet, raged against the island - which provided a natural kinetic buffer for the two Andes plateaus above.
Jackie's systems continued to evolve as she trained. Her teammates were left in awe and confusion as she quickly adapted, without hesitation, to each scenario. She had rapidly mastered the anti-gravity regulators in her chassis, capable now of covert atmospheric glide. She was currently executing an unscheduled recovery break, hovering high above the raging water right off the coast of Militia Storm.
This island's unique security boundary was thicker than Stratos Pelagia's. It was presented to her ocular implants as a web of stark neon pinks, greens, and black—a clear visual representation of its three-layer encryption field.
"Honey, are you sure everything is okay?"
Jackie forced her brightest projected image. "Of course, I am, Mom. I will be transferring to the next facility soon, and after that, we go on our first mission."
"And you can't talk to us about it?" Tess Cannon sighed. "I am so proud of you, and this last elevation in status was actually pretty unbelievable, but you in the Black Division of the Military scares me. We can never know what is going on with you."
"I know, Mom. But this is what I need to do right now." She stood and stretched. The projected background of her mother's apartment glitched, and her mother began to frown at the sudden flash of neon-laced sky. "Gotta go, Mom. I'll check in soon, tell Dad and Thomas I love them."
She didn't give her mother time to respond or ask about the background flicker, forcing a hard disconnect on the comm line.
Her propulsion system engaged, and she moved to her training zone at the center of the island. She landed in a large, burned-out field with ease and walked over to Commander Dax and Aiden.
"It's about time, Cannon! How much recuperation time did you need?"
She merely smiled at Dax and nodded a greeting to Aiden. She rotated her cybernetic shoulder and popped the joint of flesh and blood.
Bots of varying types began to step out from the far tree line. Lyra's voice pinged in their comms, Tally's data stream scrolling across their HUDs.
"Mikael is in Position Alpha, Sura and I are in Position Omega. The exercise is starting, heads up everybody, let's get this right the first time."
Dax scoffed as his and Aiden's body equalizers went off at the same time, and they both broke out in a run. Jackie stood, watched, and waited.
Dax, his heavy cybernetic torso a stark contrast to his flesh-and-blood extremities, was the exact opposite of Aiden's augmentation configuration. Yet both moved faster than any normal human. Their military suits utilized sixth-generation nanite technology to strengthen human limbs and organs to integrate with cybernetic sensors.
Dax's shoulder cannon rose, and he fired several times before Aiden sprang over him to fire his laser rifle. They both ended up flat on their bellies as one, completing a perfect kinetic-synch maneuver.
"Are you participating today, Jackie?"
Jackie simply took a step forward, and using her new gravity regulatory system in her weapons array, defied inertia and sprang forward. Her Subaquilus alloy cybernetics caused her to be light enough to move faster than all the incoming shots.
She landed at the tree line—her arm had already taken on its cannon form while she was in the air—and she carved an opening in the robotic line for her team.
There were hisses and audible frustration over the comms as Jackie moved confidently into the trees. BDJ began updating the lowered success probabilities as her ocular implant awoke to give her a 360-degree visual arc.
Both Dax and Aiden were at her side in a matter of two breaths. They were always surprised by her—because she did the impossible—but they were also used to this and had learned to synchronize with whatever aggressive action she executed.
The three worked well together as Tally's infrared schematics continually shifted in their visuals, and Sura's predictive tactical data—the constant stream of complex hydro-structural calculations—continually updated the lower left corners of their HUDs.
Aiden, Dax, and Jackie made it to the rendezvous spot. Three aerial bots fell from above, and a heavy, ground-combat robot dropped before them. They relaxed.
"Dammit, Mikael! Who approved that skin?!"
The robot glitched as it began laughing, an odd static sound. The robot's form disappeared as Mikael's massive, obsidian chassis took shape. His optical implant slowed its high-speed spinning and came to a stop. He stepped forward and gave Dax a dark green box—their target.
Dax nodded as he hit the comms. "Okay, surveillance. We are on our way home."
"All is clear outside the orchard. You have enemy combatants coming in from your current six, two, and nine."
The others did not speak. Mikael's form immediately reverted back to a robot, but a heavy ground fighter this time. They moved out to finish their final training scenario on Malitia Storm.
Gloomhammer Protocol was a massive battle dome. Its main, or reported, position was over the Andes peak, but it had changed location for the team's two months of training. It had been grueling work, focused on covert movement and system integrity, and they all learned a lot about themselves and each other.
Today was their final training before assignment and group designation.
The task was to rescue an injured asset, whose identity was unknown. They had to use cybernetic identification equipment to ensure they extracted the correct person or cybernetic unit. The setting was a large, multilevel warehouse, filled with exposed catwalks, sealed-off areas, and different types of structural hazards.
They had split into three groups because Tally picked up three separate probable cybernetic signatures—but they would have to directly scan the unit to determine the correct target.
Lyra and Mikael were caught in an access tunnel where an electrical fire had just been smothered out and the conduit had become live and impassible. Their probable asset signature was on the other end and growing faint.
Sura and Dax had found their cybernetic asset, only to discover it was a decoy. Their external comms were damaged when the asset self-destructed, leaving them relying only on the fragile internal network.
Jackie and Aiden found the correct asset, but the floor of the room opened up into an extraction chute. They were now moving the asset to the rendezvous point through a hostile route.
Their internal comms crackled, and Aiden spoke, his voice strained. "This is team Epsilon. We have the asset. Again. This is team Epsilon, we have the asset. Moving to rendezvous point."
The comms died as soon as all the energy Aiden could divert drained away from the fragile connection. Lyra cursed, but she and Mikael moved back down their tunnel and away from the decoy signature.
The teams slowly, painstakingly moved toward the rendezvous point.
The team sat in the great domed auditorium of Gloomhammer. Dax had just received their designation and their orders.
"I have to admit, you all did surprisingly well. I thought we would need another six months to truly get to where we needed to be."
Dax looked directly at Jackie. "The truth is, Jackie both holds us together and propels us forward, but your speed is still a threat. You will be third in command behind Mikael, whose caution and chassis stability are now our anchor."
He brought up a geo-holographic map. "Our first mission will be on New Andes, the new island fortress off the coast of the Andes peak. We have intel that this is a transit stop for the Breeding Program. Many of the Cyborgs used in the program go to New Andes before they are sent to Aerial Bastion or Aegis Nexus."
"We are not sure the purpose of this facility or the actual structure of the network. It is our task to find out both. Mikael, Sura, and Lyra, along with Tally, will be in front on this mission as the Covert Insertion and Support Anchor. Myself, Aiden, and Jackie will be the Back-Up, Extraction, and Situation Control team."
Dax gave them all a hard look. "Remember, we are part of the Black. If we get stuck, no one is coming to rescue us, and The People's Voice has full deniability. We have to go in smart and hot, and keep our heads and each other's backs."
"Our field designation will be—Vi Somno—The Dream of Sleep. That will be your new access password, appended with your team function. Memorize it, and live it."