Forgotten Heroes

Chapter Six

0546 Hours, Sunday, October 13, 2388 (Military Calendar)/ Epsilon Eridani System, ONI Section 0, in orbit around planet Reach

"Welcome Dr. Watts."

"Good day, Colonel Tranter." They were meeting early in the morning, just like Watts' last time on planet Reach, six months ago.

"Take a seat, Watts." Kaspar Watts gave Colonel Tranter a manila folder, filled with papers, and discs. "How has it been?"

"Tiring. Just exhausting. But it was worth it. The children began Stage 2 fifty four days ago, and were scheduled to begin Stage 3 in six months."

"So you plan to do the surgeries in two years?"

"Yes. We are hopeful, since the children have been responding positively to the drugs. They do not know about them, anyway. They just began their training on basic warfare this past week. It is certainly shaping up to be a great experiment. The SPARTAN project will most likely benefit hugely."

"Those are great news." The Colonel looked into the manila folder.

"Oh, take the blue disk."

"This one?" Watts nodded and the Colonel inserted the disc into his HID. The same black armor appeared on screen. "So, what do you have for me?"

"Project Thor. The armor itself should weigh about 223 pounds. The GS subjects will be able to efficiently carry that weight, with no problems. The armor has a soft skeleton system to help the user carry its weight, that way; soldiers will only feel as if they are carrying around 60 pounds around." All the while, the Colonel looked impressed. "I have also added a tactical display to the helmet, and a small computer capable of harboring simple AIs. Each armor will have its own unique AI, which will interact with the user to aid him communicate with others, remind him of objectives, control his display to feature information on the status of his armor, where's north, where's his objective, and almost any information a soldier could need in battle. You will also find that this armor will provide nearly double the amount of protection, the extra aid of carrying an AI, oxygen supplies to last a soldier 60 minutes; the let down is that is carries a 45 increase on its price tag. I think it is worth it."

"I will have my technicians go over it; you know that I am not as adept in this as you are. If it is as you say it is, we will have it produced. You must understand that due to the nature of the GS project, we can't produce them early, from risk of overproduction."

"I understand."

"Well, after that brief introduction to the armor, it will most likely be placed into production."

Watts shifted himself in his chair to get more comfortable, he certainly had gotten on the good side of the Colonel. "Yes. The only issue right now is the endoskeleton. I am working on it, and have had some big breakthroughs in recent days, but I'm not confident it should be tested for production as of yet. Every thing else is made of currently existing technology."

"That should not be an issue. There is still time to do the right test procedures and manufacturing. The Genome Soldiers will not be ready for this armor until a year after the surgeries, when they have fully grown. That's the idea, is it not?"

This was the only shortcoming that had gotten in Dr. Watts project. "Actually, no. Lab experiments and my investigation have led me to believe that the children will grow for about two to three years after the surgeries, which means that their growth must be monitored, so they can not abandon their training until then."

"That will not be a big problem right? ONI will fund your project all the way. This gets the organization on the good side with the UNSC and the people. Imagine when all these ONI trained soldiers save the day. Oh, it will remove the doubt the people have on this institution. Not that we really care, but…"

"I understand."

The Colonel got up, "Well, I have to leave. I have a breakfast scheduled this morning. You can come with me; I'll introduce you to other important men in the organization. That way you'll win the favor of them."

Colonel Tranter and Dr. Watts arrived late to the breakfast. Tranter excused himself and presented Dr. Watts. Most of the men were eager to find out as much as they could about the GS project and its future successor. Only a few of them were clearly non-interested, or did not approve of the situation, but it is the majority that matters, and the majority was interested.