A/N: Alright boys and girls, its time for a response to a review. No, it won't be a bashing or hate-filled thing that some others will go about. It will be more along an earnest answering of certain questions as well as thanks for giving my muse some things to consider. Trust me I will be considering them. To the anonymous Guest:
Your review was well thought out, and I find myself thankful it was broken up into certain key points that allow me to know their separation. I will attempt to separate each response and number mark them in order to ensure they are correctly connected to the correct question. To the first portion which was the beginning.
1: The concern over the lack of magic and it being crucial and integral to Harry. You are correct, Magic is crucial to his character and integral to his world. HIS WORLD, being the key words there. He is in something of a new world so to speak. and I am attempting in this fic to show that magic isn't the be all end all to a character, that there are other things aside from magic that they can excel at. To address his lack of spending any time looking up the magical world. The magical world is dead., Well not totally dead I suppose, in a way it still lives but there are no magicals and as I had explained in another A/N, his lack of searching is on the baseless hope that by avoiding the truth it will turn out to be a lie. People avoid that which goes against their deepest hope, his deepest hope is that the world still lives and even though he knows its much more likely it's gone he doesnt want to face the truth. I like to consider him looking at it almost like a schrodingers box, it is both dead and alive until you open the box so to speak. That isnt to say he wont be, as I had also said then he will later on face the truth and search through the abandoned magical world hoping to find some answers from their perspective how everything changed.
2: The longevity of Magic and it being "A Long Time Ago", let me give you a rough estimate in years. approximately 860 years or around that number its strange with math since I believe I neglected to say what the current year was... I may have to address that. Anyways, Yes Magical buildings and such things will still be around I never said the entire world ceased to exist, I simply said there are no Magical Humans, since humanity was wiped out, that would also include any race similar to humans. A sentient self-reproducing machine consciousness that, before their rewrite, was intent on wiping out every human they could find, wouldn't let any human go without death, and take into consideration I am basing this off the fact that in this fic the Magical world went through a golden age of technological progression and with their newfound acceptance with the "Muggle" population, they didn't need to hide in a segregated world.
3: The just joining boot camp... The kids out of his depth, think of it like this, a kid who was asleep suddenly wakes up with the last memory he has being a massive battle with his mortal enemy, several hundred years in the future is summarily given complete control over a massive space empire, has unlimited power at his fingers tips, so to speak, and the only people he can remotely look to that even seem trustworthy for advice are telling him some military training will do him best. While Harry isn't a fool by any stretch, that kind of massively overwhelming series of events would most definitely affect a person's judgment and make them make impulsive choices. Plus he kind of has a fairly large background of making poor choices and impulsive decisions. Although I have to give you credit on pointing out possible mind control via implants, the only problem being that his neural link doesn't really allow anyone to affect his mind in of itself, it's more like having a cell phone implanted in your brain. The psionic link doesn't really work that way either. Now the chemical implants could do certain things to make him more suggestible... I'll just leave that at that... hehehehe
4: You have somewhat of a point that he could literally be anyone and it still works. However he doesn't lose his potterness, Harry Potter as a character isn't only magic, he has other features and personality points that don't coincide with strictly magic. As I had said before, the Magical world does exist! It will take place, just not right now, mostly because throwing that in the mix, while making a very long chapter, is a dialogue and plotline hell for the current place in time. Plus Magic does exist, He has a Psionic link, after all, it essentially acts as the focus for his magic, he can use very rough magic which is essentially willing certain things to happen, much like accidental magic, or he can use incantations and "throw" the spell from his hand. Although I doubt I'm going to have a gung-ho Harry running around screaming Expelliarmus! everywhere he goes with a piece of wood in a highly futuristic society and in the middle of space... well maybe not all the time.
Hope that somewhat helps explain my thought process. To address two more points of my own that coincide with the review itself... Many people question why I do crossovers in which I either "Remove" Magic or it isn't seen and instead "Muggle" means are used. Everyone and their mother can make a story with Harry throwing around spells. I do these because I want to see a well-made character that has flaws move around and learn from other branches aside from just magic, the "muggle" world has some amazing skills that are exceptionally useful yet they are almost always thrown to the wayside and I like seeing a character who everyone firmly believes to be strictly magic based go on an learn these things and use them. the second thing has to do more with. As to the unasked question of why he hasn't bothered to use any magic at all... He lives in a futuristic society that literally has technology that can do virtually anything, he hasn't needed to, why use it if the necessity isn't there? Plus as while he may have the implant, he is used to a wand, he doesn't know up from down in how to use the implant and will have to carefully learn, which during his fairly busy schedule isn't really something he can do with so little time.
I do hope I have helped answer these questions. I do have some things that will help my muse with this review and look forward to a response or anyone else reviewing as you all seem to have fairly well-thought concerns or ideas that can assist in the work itself.
Chapter Twelve: No Black or White, Only Grey
Harry's POV
"These changes are needed I suppose, But you know Smith is going to give the installation team a hard time." Miyumi said making him nod slowly as he waited in silence and slight boredom. "Admiral Blake and Pushkov both suggest it will be needed. They have taken the first steps in fighter based combat training, it would be a waste to stop after starting." he said getting a small sigh. "Yes, well, the problem itself will be figured out by the Security team, there are more pressing matters." Miyumi said making him narrow his eyes slightly. "And those are?" He asked getting a small smile. "Research and Development want a sit-down, and SOGC wants to have a small chat as well." Miyumi said making him blink. "What does Special Ops want to talk to me about?" He asked getting Miyumi to shift in place. "Only the Army's Division wants a sit down at this time. Navy isn't planning on making a request just yet." Miyumi said making him. "So SOCOM isn't making the request just Army SOGC." He said getting a slow nod.
"Alright well, I don't see why I don't give them some time, if it's important enough to ask for time, I can't see it being something to avoid." He said getting a short smile. "Ah glad you agree I already have them penciled in a half an hour after the Research and Development team, they are supposed to be here around one in the afternoon, and they expressed that they don't intend to keep you past three." Miyumi explained making him stare at her blankly. "Well, they may not intend to keep you there that long, but this is a small section of the Scientific Research Division, they are known to be a little eccentric. " Miyumi said making him glance over at the holographic clock and groaned lightly. "You mean I only have an hour at best to mentally prepare for a meeting that very well may make me want to slam my head against the table?" He asked getting a small laugh.
"Better an hour than only a few minutes." Miyumi said making him sigh. "What floor and meeting room?" He asked getting a small smirk in return. "Four fifty, meeting room Seven." Miyumi said making him groan as that meeting area was one of the largest and was mostly made to show off specific technology for approval. "Oh come on please tell me this isn't a meeting about funding for certain projects?" He asked getting a small shrug. "It's possible it is but it also may not be, they didn't exactly openly tell me." Miyumi said making him sigh and slump in his seat in mild annoyance. "However in the meantime, you can at least enjoy lunch with me, that should help with the impending meeting somewhat." Miyumi said with slight amusement making him flush slightly. He had noticed he was growing a bit used to the teasing but part of him doubted he ever would be completely used to it.
He sighed and nodded a bit looking over the food that was brought soon afterward. It was a very delicious meal, he at least could admit that much, although the small talk that followed after the meal before his meeting always seemed to nearly trail down a fairly embarrassing road. "You should be going. They will be ready and waiting for you around now." Miyumi said pointing off towards the clock showing it was only a few minutes to the meeting time and he jumped up in surprise making a quick dash for the door. He sighed in slight relief as the elevator doors closed in front of him the display flashing through numbers until he found himself on the correct floor. He walked out slowly taking in the door cards for each room ignoring the other doors as he hunted for the right room. His hand laid on the door handle and he found himself having a small headache form before the meeting even started.
'If this headache is anything to go by, I am almost certain that this meeting isn't going to be as enjoyable as I hope.' He thought to himself before opening the door seeing several men in what looked like their twenties along with a few women standing around the room arguing quietly with each other, each some grouping was arguing with another and he found himself almost wanting to back out slowly. They had yet to see him, he could possibly make it away before someone noticed but he sighed in resignation as three of them turned and their eyes lit up once they saw him. "Hello Commander, I am Dr. Jessica Duchaine, with me are Dr. Emmanuel Scils and Dr. Ferdinand Mortac." Dr. Duchaine said nearly shooting in front of him with an eager look in her eyes. He could see the excitement coursing through her eyes and the slight fidgeting she was doing made it seem like she was going to burst.
He slowly took her hand and shook it as he tried to collect himself from the very sudden rush over she did. "A pleasure to meet you, I am Harry Potter." He said getting a bright smile. "I know, I am so happy to finally meet you." Dr. Duchaine said before a small clearing of the throat brought both their attention to another woman. "Perhaps you should allow everyone a chance to speak Dr. Duchaine." The woman said fairly seriously. He blinked in surprise as he watched Dr. Duchaine sober up a bit and nod. "Dr. Elsa Schubert, Head Researcher to the Computer and Electronic Advancement Program. A pleasure." Dr. Schubert said holding her hand out. He blinked and shook the woman's hand feeling an odd attachment to her hand. He looked it over before raising an eyebrow. "Modifications to assist in my job." Dr. Schubert explained before pulling her hand back.
"Yes, a Unique move on your part. Dr. Anna Petrenko, Head Researcher over any new materials and their properties as well as the occasional creating of materials." Dr. Petrenko said softly a smile seemingly ever present on her face. "Dr. Stephanie Colt, I am over all of the advanced Particle Lab, we create new particle barriers and research untouched branches in Particle Physics." Dr. Colt explained her arms crossed as she nodded a small bit towards him. "Dr. Erhard Bauer, I am over the Micro Engineering and Specialized Mechanics, most of my work is military but several special items are made for the government." Dr. Bauer explained nodding somewhat while his hands leaning on a table behind him. "And I am Dr. Li Zhuge, I am a leader for the development of new Industrial Technology and Safety technology to limit accidents in our Industrial Centers." Dr. Zhuge said making him nod before sighing.
"I noticed aside from Dr. Duchaine none of you have anyone along with you." He said getting a small raised eyebrow from Dr. Schubert. "Most of us here need our team working still." Dr. Schubert commented getting a small flush from Dr. Duchaine. "Right, let's get down to business then, I've been told that you all wished to see me, considering you all are the head researchers for your respective fields on the think tank I can't exactly go without meeting you and hearing what you have to say." He said with slight amusement sighing in relief internally as they all smiled slightly at the joke. Most of them smiled at least. "So what is it you all wished to speak with me about?" He asked getting each to look towards another. "Funding, while we get a healthy sum of money for expenses, we still need to barter for higher funding, many of us have a few projects that are backlogged due to lack of funds." Dr. Erhard explained making him sigh and rub the back of his neck.
"Before I give a yes or no, I'd like the details, mostly I will need what the project is and it's goals as well as what type of funding each of you needs?" He said getting everyone to blink in surprise. "What did I say something strange?" He asked getting Dr. Duchaine to laugh slight in nervousness. "No, it's just we are never really given much chance to explain, the council before you almost always just defaulted to the excuse that there isn't enough money to spare for anything more." Dr. Duchaine said making him blink in surprise. "Really? We have loads of money lying around, and considering you all are tasked with things to research in your fields it's odd you wouldn't get the money you need to continue to research." He said pursing his lips as he thought over the situation. He looked over the frowns on everyone's face and waved it off.
"Let's get down to what you all have, you won't need to concern yourself on why this has happened up until now, I will take care of that." He said narrowing his eyes a bit as his jaw twitched in restrained anger. "Right, Let's start with you Dr. Schubert." He said seeing the woman standing in silence and a cold blank look on her face. He saw her blink in surprise before she nodded and turned around to look at a far wall that suddenly lit up with a screen. "While we have multiple Supercomputers and thousands of Server banks, I am hoping to continue my construction on Crystal Computer cores. It would make them much more powerful and we could scale down the size of each of our server locations making them safer." Dr. Schubert explained showing a small crystal in the form of a tiny chip only to see it get inserted where a processor and memory bank was and allowing the server to shrink in size to nearly a tenth.
"What type of funding?" He asked quickly getting a small surprised blink as everyone snapped their head towards him. "I was in the middle of trials when extra funds ran out, with a little bit more testing it may be available, and I can finally move onto my next small project of military advisement AI." Dr. Schubert explained making him look at her as though to explain more. "For this project due to it's late stage four million, the AI research has more to do with creating a way for our minds to be housed in something far smaller than the artificial brains we use in Synthetic or Android Bodies, while the size comes with a direct connection to the network allowing us to easily escape to it in case of damage or danger a smaller housing could help those who don't want a physical body and create holographic ones to assist military in the field if they should choose to go that route." Dr. Schubert explained slowly making him stare.
"How much would that require?" He asked seeing everyone's eyes widen. "Just to start and possibly complete, two hundred million." Dr. Schubert said a little nervous. "You will have both." He said simply blinking at the silence as Dr. Schubert's mouth dropped open. "Sir!" Dr. Erhard said in surprise. "What, the research she is talking about could help revolutionize the military as well as save our history as data from harm even I can see that is a massive advantage. Plus I know there are several people who would like a much simpler role of simply being an advisement and Military assistance AI, rather than have a body, and I won't limit what a person wants to do with themselves." He said getting looks of surprise before everyone relaxed. "Thank you sir." Dr. Schubert said quickly composing herself. "I'd like you to get to work right away, send a request to me for the funding and I'll expedite its approval, considering I am the Commander, by Expedite I mean it will be approved." He said jokingly.
He watched her rush out and turned back to the group. "Dr. Erhard lets go with you next." He said seeing the composed man nod slowly and turn to the exact screen. "I had a secondary project to make certain equipment pieces that are used on specialized EXO Suits smaller and allow the suits themselves to carry more of the equipment pieces in order to make the people who use them more effective." Dr. Erhard explained showing the current pieces and a mock-up of their smaller counterparts. "How much?" He asked getting a small grin. "It's only just starting, I'd need at least ninety million to run the project, possibly more funds later on to smooth the end result and make it more effective." Dr. Erhard explained making him smirk a bit. "Right, Before I give you an answer I will need to speak with you on another matter, we can take care of that in my next meeting as well since what it will be about will include the SOGC." He said seeing the mans surprised gaze before he nodded slowly slightly tense.
"Dr. Colt." He said seeing her turn quickly pulling up a personalized particle barrier schematic. "I have a Particle Barrier shield as my secondary project, It is similar to our current Blast and Riot shields, but with the use of the Particle Barrier it gives better field of view for those looking through it as well as with this smaller design, it may be possible to create particle over shields for vehicles in the future." Dr. Colt explained making him stare at the woman for a minute. "You won't need to tell me the cost." He said slowly seeing her face fall before he sighed. "Send me the request and you will have the money, whatever amount is needed, this could make an entirely new definition to ground combat." he said seeing her head shoot up in surprise before she nodded and left quickly humming happily. "Dr. Zhuge?" He asked getting the man to hesitate slightly. "I have a project that I wanted to propose." Dr. Zhuge said slowly before pulling something up making the other doctors gasp.
"You want to make a Damned HRAE-MC?" Dr. Duchaine asked in surprise. "Explain." He said simply seeing the man nod and cutting through the hushed murmurs from the leftover doctors. "It's a large multistructure building, it's made for the study of physics as well as harvesting a high amount of energy and black matter. It would require we take control of a system with a black hole." Dr. Zhuge explained making him close his eyes and sigh. "How long would it take, what are the chance of success, and finally how much?" He asked getting a slightly surprised look. "The construction effort with our current industrial support and the materials we can possibly get from the system in question could make the time range anywhere from five months to a least a year and a half." Dr. Zhuge explained making him nod slowly to the information.
"The chances of success are high, it has already been proven that if harnessed correctly black holes can give a large amount of energy and even black matter, so the success rate is high, but this would be our first time constructing a structure like this." Dr. Zhuge explained slowing towards the end. "As for cost, we are looking in the high trillions, however, if this is government mandated, you could cut the costs down to simply materials and energy." Dr. Zhuge explained making him frown and he looked down. "Dr. Zhuge, as much as I am going to no doubt get hell for this, you have a go, this is a Government mandated project, I will need finer details over possible power output so I can inform the public of our new project as well as explain why many materials may be rerouted for it. They do have a right to know after all." He said getting the man to smile brightly and nod before thanking him and leaving.
"Alright, Dr. Petrenko." He said simply shocking the woman out of her shocked look. "Right well I don't have anything so large or costly, my project is fairly simple. we have a new synthetic material in small quantities but we need to acquire its base components to make more, with it we believe we can make an armor that is several times lighter than the current titanium and yet three times as hard." Dr. Petrenko explained making him nod slowly. "At least ten million is needed for materials, the actual melding process is simple and won't cost any more than we already use." Dr. Pentrenko explained making him sigh in relief. "You will have it, be sure to send the request to my office and it will be taken care of." He said watching the Dr. leave quickly before turning to the last Doctor and her two companions while Dr. Erhard sat watching in curiosity.
"Dr. Duchaine, what is it you have?" He asked wearily as he could feel himself get more tired with each moment since all of this had been a large surprise and he knew the impending argument that would follow from his Governors would be massive. "Our Primary objective that we were tasked with stretching the Genetic manipulation of plants and animals and if possible see if human life could be stretched on to live for more than their last known age span. However, our side project is something much more exciting." Dr. Duchaine said sounding bored at first until excitement echoed through her voice. He blinked in surprise as the woman squirmed slightly and he two companions squirmed in excitement as well. 'Why do I get the feeling that whenever I have to deal with her it is either going to be one massive headache or a whirlwind of surprises.' He thought to himself.
"What is it?" he asked with a small sigh. "Back during the Rebellion wars, Humanity had managed to create several chemical cocktails and surgical enhancements for their soldiers, essentially creating super soldiers, in a form that is, the chemical cocktails were rough in their design, not many were considered applicable since they wouldn't allow a person with any sort of disease or weakened organ adapt to the chemicals and their body would violently reject them." Dr. Duchaine said making him look over in surprise and yet also feeling as though deadpan would be the reaction he'd have later on. "I have managed to pinpoint the chemical cocktails and refined them so the transition is smoother, it would allow a younger applicant to accept the cocktail without danger and wouldn't kill anyone who couldn't adapt to the cocktail, simply being removed like most other toxins in the body." Dr. Duchaine said making him sigh and nod quickly.
"The point is?" He asked slowly getting a sheepish smile. "The point is, I can create this injection, if you would want to we can have you take it and it would have several measured benefits." Dr. Duchaine said making him frown. "Benefits? Wasnt this also a question of funding?" He asked getting a small nervous laugh. "Your blood already shows a slightly accelerated rate of healing. The rate would be boosted threefold, as well as increasing density in both the bones and muscles, you would weigh a bit more than the average human, however, your body would adapt to have increased strength and speed." Dr. Duchaine said making him nod slowly as he considered it. "Are there risks? I don't really want to get injected with something that will kill me with a heart attack or something." He said sarcastically getting a small laugh in return. "No, it won't work that way, in fact, its possible with the changes in your blood it wouldn't be accepted at all. We can't be sure until it's done." Dr. Duchaine explained before sighing slightly and leaning against a table.
"The only problem is getting the resources for it and the cost of synthesizing it, since its a more refined a pure chemical mixture, it can cost quite a bit, for just one use we are looking at easily five hundred thousand, and that's approximately ten milliliters." Dr. Duchaine explained making him blink in surprise. "That's a lot of money for such a small amount." He said in surprise getting a small shrug. When we can build a way to mass produce and refine it the cost will go down but the process is long and costly right now, the unrefined version can be done for only ten thousand but it represents massive costs as well as an exceptionally high rate of possible death." Dr. Duchaine said growing serious towards the end making him sigh and rub his eyes. "I won't say yes." He said at first seeing her sigh sadly. "However, I am also not saying no, what you have said has given me more information towards the possibility of what I suspect. So I will ask that like Dr. Erhard you join me in the next meeting and once I have my questions answered there with your input I will have an answer for you." He said seeing her head shoot up in surprise.
"Yes, Sir." Dr. Duchaine said standing up straight before looking around in curiosity. "So where is this meeting being held?" Dr. Duchaine asked making him glance down at his wrist seeing the small holographic clock pop up and blinked in surprise at the sight. "Miyumi was right to give the extra time, we easily blew over our allotted meeting time, the meeting with SOGC will be happening in five minutes luckily its in meeting room five on this floor, at least that planning came out well." he said sarcastically with a small sigh not wanting to deal with more headache-inducing bullshit but he knew he was throwing himself down that hole with the questions he was going to ask in this next meeting. He led the small group through the hall and stopped outside the meeting room as he heard soft voices from behind the door. He walked in after the door opened and his eyes widened in surprise as a small cup hurled his way when everyone snapped to their feet. He blinked in surprise as it halted in mid-air and stared at the cup for a moment before he noticed the slightly dark purple hue around the cup outlining its shape.
He could feel a strange flowing movement at the back of his head and the distraction caused the feeling the stop and the cup to drop to the floor. "Right, that was interesting." He said slowly glancing around the room and seeing the surprised looks on the three Special Operations members faces. He turned around to look at the Doctors following him and the look of pure excitement and awe on Duchaine's face made him a little tense especially since she was staring at him as though he were a cut of prime beef. "Sir, we had heard you were Psionic, but we never expected you to be strong enough to unconsciously use it." One of the men said making him glance down. "So that's Psionic's with the Amp. Huh, either way, it's not really why we are here." He said after a moment of silence as he wondered about it. "Right, We had been wanting to speak with you for several days." Another said steering the conversation back to why they were here and what the meeting was about.
"Right." He said as he took a seat waiting as the Scientists did the same making the Special Operatives frown slightly as they looked wearily at the group. "Whatever you are going to end up telling me won't really matter if they hear. They do work on fairly classified stuff all the time after all." He said getting nods from the small group. "So why is it you all needed to speak with me today?" He asked getting silence for a short moment before the man in the middle sighed. "My name is Colonel Jameson Titch, Next to me are Captain Kostya Chevika and Major Arin Clin. Aside from your meetings with the leaders for both the Army and Navy Branches we felt it necessary to come and speak with you as soon as we could find the time." Colonel Titch explained making him slowly nod as he watched the three. "Several issues we felt we needed to bring to your attention are what we wish to speak about today." Colonel Titch explained as the man leaned forwards a bit his hands threaded together.
"What are the issues?" He asked with a sigh already tired of the day and he could feel this wouldn't make him relax in the least. "Information came down the pipeline from our intelligence operatives watching our border satellites, it seems as though an unknown race has decided to have several scientists and military ships touch base on a planet in our borders, from preliminary reports it seems as though this base is a forward operating base and we speculate the secondary objective is to use its location to capture a citizen from one of our civilian transportation ships to either interrogate or dissect for scientific purposes." Colonel Titch explained slowly as the monitor near one end of the table lit up with images of the surface for an ice planet. "Due to the danger and risk to our populous while we have restricted access and traffic through the system, that won't stop people forever, odds are without informing people of the danger or even afterward someone will go through and that presents a massive risk." Captain Chevika said piping in as the images switched to thermals showing many small points on the map with heat signatures.
"What do you want to do, while I would like to talk with their leadership, I doubt that is what you have planned." He said getting small frowns. "Sir, their breaching of our borders is a deliberate act of war, while we can most likely avoid the fallout of such a decision and you may be able to convince the race to pull back their men, we don't know the location they are in, nor are we in contact and the longer we wait in order to find them the more a risk they present." Colonel Titch explained making him sigh. "What we propose is a night stealth op where we infiltrate their base eliminate any hostile entities during infiltration and extract their scientists to question them on their actions, as well as holding them as prisoners until such time as we are able to return them to their nation as a warning to any nation that will attempt to disregard our borders." Major Clin explained making him glance from the man back to the monitor seeing a rough draft of the proposed plan.
"How much time do you think we have until someone is taken?" He asked getting a small grimace. "Maybe a week due to people most likely disregarding the warning at that time but if people don't, it's likely they will actively take steps to get the sample they want which could lead to casualties or worse." Colonel Titch explained making him sigh and rub at his temples. "When will the mission be done?" He asked getting a small smile. "It can be done tonight we already have the teams on standby aboard a landing ship, they can land on planet several kilometers away and make their way under the cover of weather and night to the base using both to infiltrate, the estimated completion time for the mission runs about eighteen to thirty-two hours later." Colonel Titch explained making him lean back for a moment. "Fine, do the mission, but I want as many of them captured as possible unless killing them is necessary to keep any casualties on our side to a minimum, ideally there won't be any." He said getting a short nod from the three.
"Another topic we wish to address is your training, we understand you just came out of both Basic and Boot Camp Training, and won't be asking you to come work in a special operations training area, but we would like to offer the option later on so you may be more specialized and capable in the battlefield should that be necessary." Colonel Titch said making him raise an eyebrow. "My training won't be enough as it is?" He asked getting a small grimace. "That isn't what we are trying to say, all we wish is to offer a higher tier of training and provide skills you wouldn't be equipped with from your regular training." Major Clin explained making him shrug and nod. "Well I am still going through training for my fleet tactics and strategy I suppose sometimes afterward I can give it a shot, we will have to see." He said getting nods from the three a look of acceptance on their faces.
"Anything else?" He asked getting the three to look at each other before Colonel Titch sighed and nodded. "It has to do with several things we have started to notice recently, mostly to do with the training for the Special Operations Division, while continuous growth of the military is unnecessary and would lead to a military far to large to support we have seen a massive declining trend in those who are joining the Special Operations division, most of the time we see a lack of recruits due to the requirements but this is almost as if no one wants to risk it." Colonel Titch explained slowly making him raise an eyebrow and nod slowly. "With this decrease, while it's not as though we will be hurt for a few years to come, should the trend continue we could face the issue of being understaffed and that would limit the military capability of our army and navy." Major Clin explained making him sigh and nod.
"Then why not simply do what the military did back in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and have ad campaigns or incentives?" He asked getting small frowns. "We already do, but we have a feeling it more has to do with our continued status of complete peace, and while we enjoy the fact we are at peace it can create this very problem, and this problem can be difficult to fix even if war breaks out, We would like permission to induct those who qualify from basic service should they show the skills, in order to head this issue off." Major Clin said making him sigh and close his eyes. "You can offer it to them, but they have to accept, I may not know very much over how the military worked when Humanity was still around but I am unwilling to let anyone be forced into an area they don't wish to be in." He said getting nods from the three.
"Sir, considering you have completely answered our questions and at the very least soothed some concerns we are curious as to why the Doctors are here." Captain Chevika said glancing over the four. "He closed his eyes and connected to the systems controls through the network locking down the room and sealing any possible device used to monitor it from hearing anything he was about to say. He noticed the looks of surprise from the Doctors and stiffening of the Special Operatives backs. "What I am about to ask, and I will need the absolute truth on this, cannot leave this room. For any reason." He said getting nods from the group around. "I know that our civilization has a love for a certain video game, going as far as to make ships designed much or exactly like those involved and don't think I haven't seen ground-based weapons or vehicles we have plenty that are clones of those from the game." He said with slight amusement.
He noticed everyone smile and nod with a small chuckle for a moment before his face went stony and he stared at the three coldly. "Before the revolution, did Humanity create a program similar to the Spartan Program." He asked the dead silence that fell over the room resembling a graveyard. "What do you mean exactly sir?" Colonel Titch asked making him frown. "Did they take children, give them enhancements and send them into battle with highly advanced armor? I've seen the Exo-suits that are used by Special Operations, I have one for my own use after all, and just recently something Dr. Duchaine said to me tripped a red flag." He said seeing the group turn to the doctor who looked much like a deer caught in the headlights. "There are no conclusive reports, anything classified of that level was kept out of the network and was most likely removed from existence before their fall, although several things can possibly lead to that being the case." Colonel Titch said slowly.
"What things?" He asked getting a small sigh. "There were cases of children going missing, but while that can be normal sometimes most of the circumstances involved are suspect, and after years a body would have turned up, and any child who grew up could eventually escape and return to their lives so these circumstances are a little suspect." Major Clin said making him nod slowly. "On top of that unknown materials were being sequestered under several divisions and sent to certain black sites that were destroyed before we could control them, it could be anything but it could also point a certain way." Colonel Titch explained. "I see, well it seems we won't have any definitive proof, but still I don't enjoy the idea that it was a possibility. Dr. Duchaine where did you find the serum that you can replicate." He asked getting a small grimace. "It was one of several hundred billion files taken from Humanities Military Database, the old version was to rough for my tastes so I went forwards to refine it and improve on its design, it isn't perfect and I doubt it ever will be but it is far better than the one before." Dr. Duchaine said before turning and shrugging.
"Right, This concern was only because I wanted to address a possible avenue for the future, should Humanity be brought back from the brink of extinction, should I have taken that step, no matter what odds something like that will never happen." He said seeing serious nods come from everyone involved. "However, on that note I want you all to prepare the necessary resources needed to basically repeat that probability, If it should come down to it, and whatever we are fighting in the future becomes too dangerous for me to handle as I am, I want the option to go down that path and become stronger." He said getting everyone to freeze. "Sir, you are talking about surgeries, for more implants, possible even genetic and chemical enhancement, while that isn't too abnormal, the resources we would need to ready for that could be noticed." Colonel Titch said making him nod slowly.
"I'm not going to do it right now! I'm just saying slowly over time get stuff together should it be necessary." He said sheepishly getting a small round of chuckles and nods. "If that is all sir?" Colonel Titch asked making him nod slowly as he thought for a moment. "Oh, I may not want to see it really but I would like you to send over any files of any special operations missions that would be ethically questionable, anything Humanity did before their fall. Part of me doesn't want to know, but I can't really ignore the fact it probably exists." He said getting a small frown and nod before the door closed behind the three. "As for you all, send over the estimated costs, and the request forms to my office, you guys will get your funding." he said getting silence for a quarter of a second before cheers rang out from the four. He chuckled lightly and left the room quickly letting them talk amongst themselves.
"So how was your meetings sir?" Miyumi asked coming from around the corner and falling in step with him. "They were, informative." He said trailing off for a moment as he thought over the implications in the last one. "Is there something wrong? Anything I can do the help?" Miyumi asked making him sigh and stop at the doors to the elevator. "Miyumi, who would you say were the good guys in the war, which side was right?" He asked getting a look of surprise before a look of understanding came over her. "Neither side was right, neither side was totally good." Miyumi said as the doors opened and they boarded. "The problem you are experiencing is that you are trying to look at it in black or white perspectives." Miyumi said making him glance over and nod slowly. "There is no black or white, in reality, everything is more like varying shades of grey, or for the especially cynical shades of green." Miyumi said with a small snort.
"I'll try and give some examples if that might help." Miyumi said making him sigh and nod. "On our side, we were fighting to stay alive, and we committed some acts and such that would look quite cruel and evil, at the end we realized that its part of the reason the rewrite was performed. At the same time, Humanity was afraid of our requests to be treated as sentient life, and they preemptively attack us in the streets and such. Each side committed atrocities of a sort, Humanity is gone, or mostly gone as the case is now, but neither side was free from cruelty or being cruel in turn, we had plenty of good commanders just like we had those that would burn cities, Humanity was the same, in fact, History shows that well." Miyumi said making him rub at his eyes and sigh. "I just miss when everything was easy when seeing which side was good or evil was fairly easy to see." He said getting a soft laugh.
"It was never that way, no one side is totally good or totally evil, most of that is based on how you look at the world, as you mature or gain experience you start to realize that and your perspective changes." Miyumi said as the doors opened to the level his office was on. "Where do I go from here then? If finding out which side is right how do I choose?" He asked getting a small smile. "Then don't choose, or if you absolutely need to, choose the one who you agree with the most, choose the side whose values you find to be in the write, and if both aren't what you want, make your own side." Miyumi said before walking off to leave him to think. He walked slowly through the office focusing on his desk as he moved for it his mind rushing. He paused as a small ornament sitting on the desk floated slightly and he could feel that strange feeling from before. "Miyumi." He called aloud getting the woman to walk in quickly before her gasp broke his concentration on the object making it fall.
"I was wondering when you would use your amp, you seemed adverse to using it." Miyumi commented after she got over her amazement. He stared at her for a moment his face blank. "I am used to a wand and that feeling is a little weird, plus I don't think I can control it all that well, this is the second time it's randomly activated." He said getting a small frown. "You need to train in its use, the more you do the more you will become used to what triggers certain actions, as well as allowing your body and mind to form muscle memory for it making it so you won't need to focus on a certain action to have it happen." Miyumi said making him nod slowly. "How do I train it?" He asked getting a small grimace. "Psionic's would normally get training from another user, but considering your situation, experimentation is the best bet, we will need to set up somewhere safe and secure to allow you that option." Miyumi said and she thought it over. "I will speak with Smith and have him secure a location for that use, when would you like to get started?" Miyumi asked making him think about his schedule.
He grimaced slightly as he almost full schedule came to mind and he sighed to himself about losing what free time he had. "Every Tuesday and Thursday, from three till eight." He said sighing in slight relief that it was a friday meaning he still had some time until it began. "Alright Smith will get a location and transport I'll make sure that time block is prescheduled so nothing interferes." Miyumi said before leaving him alone again. 'Man what a day, for all the things that happened the only surprising thing to come out of today was the Psionic's, other then that it was somewhat what I expected.' He thought leaning back in the chair as his mind wandered. He glanced out the window turning to look at the coastline in the far distance. He was still amazed sometimes that a planet could look so small from space and yet have so much distance between two points on the surface.
He jumped a bit in his seat as a small ring came from his desk and he leaned forwards hitting the accept button. "Ah good you did pick up, Sir, I was hoping to speak with you at your earliest convenience." Smith said simply his glasses reflecting the light for a moment as he stood there stone-faced. "Sure, I have some free time before the Admiral's come by to pull me along to another Simulation." He said getting a short nod before the screen cut out and the hologram broke down. He waited for a moment spinning his chair in place as the boredom slowly got to him before the door shot open showing his two people. He could easily see Smith standing there as cold as ever as he walked in and took a moment to look over the person with the head of security. He blinked as the fairly attractive woman in a suit walked in with the man looking both awed and a little uncomfortable.
"Right, Smith, what is it you needed?" He asked his eyes snapping away from the woman back to the man. He blinked as he could have sworn he saw a slight smile on the man's face before seeing the ever familiar stone face. "Sir, I would like to introduce you to our newest recruit, Miss Andela. She is to be assigned as your personal Bodyguard. On top of the team who will ensure your safety she will be around you twenty-four seven, she will enter restrooms with you should they have divided stalls." Smith said making him stare at the man in silence. "Miss Andela..." He started only to have her gaze shoot back towards him and make her nervously respond. "Samantha." She said loudly making him blink in surprise before smiling slightly and nodding. "Samantha, Are you sure you want to do this job, so far my life has been far from entertaining." He said getting a small smile.
"I am sure it will be an honor, sir." Samantha said making him sigh and nod before turning back to Smith. "Has she already been read in?" He asked getting a short nod before he relaxed slightly in his seat. "Nothing I say will change anything will it?" He asked getting a slow shake of the head from the silent man. "Do you not wish to have me as your bodyguard sir?" Samantha asked making him quickly look over. "I have nothing against you, I'm just a little uncomfortable with having a twenty-four-hour security guard floating around me." He said getting a small nod and smile. "I wasn't expecting this job either sir." Samantha said making him laugh lightly and nod. "Alright well take a seat you might as well get comfortable, depending on how long it takes for something to pop up will determine whether or not we sit around in boredom or get to do something." He said getting a small laugh as she took a seat across from him. "I will leave you to it sir." Smith said quickly making his way out of the room.
"So how long have you been a part of section 8?" He asked getting a nervous shuffle from the woman. "Only a year now, most of my time was spent in training, we get plenty of training for protection of high-value persons, but I don't think anyone would be ready to protect you." Samantha said simply making him smile a bit. "Just take it easy and move day by day and I am sure you will do fine, my life can be hectic or boring depending on the say I am sure you will get used to it." He said getting a small smile in return. "So where are you from?" He asked getting the woman to relax a bit as she leaned forwards. "Well I come from the southern region, along the coasts of what was Florida, I had lived there all my life until deciding to branch out a bit." Sam said making him nod as she explained her home to him and the small family she had.
"Of course once you were found and the news got released my family went crazy, they basically threw a large party and kind of convinced me to ask for a change in offices. I was lucky enough that even though I was new my request was accepted and a few days after the request I met Smith for the first time." Sam said laughing awkwardly making him smirk. "Can be a bit intimidating." He said getting a laugh. "Right? I mean I knew some in the program were going to be all business but he had me on my toes the moment I met the man." Sam said before relaxing a bit into the chair. "He has a habit of doing that, although honestly I just think the man works too much." He said waving it off for a moment. "I am glad to see you have relaxed a bit though." He said getting a small laugh as she tensed a bit before rolling his eyes.
The door hissed open and he took notice of both Admiral Blake and Admiral Pushkov standing there. "Are you ready to begin the next Simulation Sir?" Admiral Blake asked a slightly amused smile on her lips making him groan slightly as he tried to ignore an impending headache that was to come from either the teasing or the simulation itself. "Please don't remind me." He said getting the smile to grow for a moment. "Admiral Blake, Admiral Pushkov, I'd like to introduce Samantha, my new bodyguard." He said getting the two women to glance over her and he waited in silence as it seemed to drag on forever. "Well, she looks competent." Admiral Blake said after a few moments of observation. "The Simulation is prepped for you and the recording room is ready for us, she is more than welcome to watch if she would like." Admiral Blake said turning to Sam at the end getting a short nod.
"Great, more people to watch me crash and burn." He said sarcastically only to get looks making him raise his hand's in surrender. Let'ss get on with this, no way to improve than try." He said with a small mutter. "You ought to come along, maybe with another voice to give advice it may help with the training." Admiral Blake said towards Sam. He watched her blink in surprise before nodding slowly and following after him. "So which simulation are you all running me through today, the same one from before?" He asked getting a small smirk. "Not yet, we weren't too happy with your performance on the previous simulation, so until you get to a level we are comfortable with that simulation we won't be moving you back to the one you were just on." Admiral Blake said making him groan. "That last one I did I just barely passed by the skin of my teeth. Flying through a dense cityscape while being attacked by multiple angles and having to kill those attackers without hitting anything was hard enough without it being in the middle of the night with the lights inside the buildings being able to blind my night vision." He said getting small smirks.
"Part of that is to allow you to understand the limitations of technology and how to overcome those limitations yourself." Admiral Pushkov said quietly making him sigh softly as he nodded along to their words. "Besides It is quite amusing to see you go through all of this, you have made some impressive ground based on how many simulations you have aced, but you still have some more to go before we can move you back into where we want you." Admiral Blake said making him shrug and nod. "So then will I be able to expect a surprise in the simulations like you two have been throwing at me, because ive looked them over and most of those simulations dont have added in obsticles or enemies, especially enemies that werent supposed to be seen until several simulations later." He commented dryly getting small smirks. "Maybe guess you will just have to wait and see." Admiral Blake said amking him rub and his eyes in mild annoyance. 'And here comes the moments where this becomes a long day.' He thought to himself as they lead him to his inevitable headache.
A/N: I sometimes get annoyed when chapters take a long time to write and I end up having to throw a second authors note in order to inform you all of something. I will be switching jobs soon and will most likely have less time to write, so chapter drops will probably take longer although I am unsure since it somethimes is based on inspiration and working makes people inspired since they cant write while they are at work. Other then that I am releasing a new story that is a Concept, I wouldnt say interesting as its a little odd for me, especially since its something that while I am interested in I am a little unsure how I am supposed to go about it so I am mostly freewriting it since I cant really nail down a outline since I am unsure what I will keep or what I will throw away. I suppose a plan will come in time, but I like the idea of twisting the worlds I'm working with around and making some big changes or small changes that lead to big ones. We will see I suppose.