"A.I. Combat Integration. It's a relatively uncharted field. Smart A.I.'s embedded within a Spartan's armour frame and capable of interfacing with adjoining units via the system's short range carrier wave. I've been monitoring the units where Kaizen has integrated on active simulations - there's a marked increase in tactical response times.
We've reached the pinnacle of what we can do with armour systems. But thinking quicker, fighting smarter?
That's the next step."
- excerpt from the private notes of Dr. R. Pearson, assigned psychoanalyst with SPARTAN Operations on Laconia (retrieved 2561).
The purpose of the Laconia Academy was not simply confined to the training of Spartans.
As a military facility, it was a waypoint for a thousands of specialists from dozens of service lines. While the most recent Spartan intake was the first of its kind, the Academy had been founded in 2555, and for two years had processed the cream of the UNSC's military. Fighter pilots, Mantis operators, artillery units; armoured infantry and traditional special forces - for all its relative seclusion, there was no shortage of talent at Laconia.
The reason for this was twofold. For one, rotational cross-training in a variety of combat specialisations allowed for more dynamic and creative field commanders. An artillery officer could learn firsthand how to interact with deep-cover pathfinders, and vice versa. For another, Laconia granted multiple opportunities for inter-unit combat training and joint strike exercises. While such was the practice across the wider UNSC military, nowhere was the concept more concentrated than it was on Laconia.
A large reason for this was the direct influence of Director Idris Carter, who oversaw the efficient administration of the entire installation. Little was known about the Director. It was generally assumed by those that met him that he was former ODST, though whether or not this was the case had yet to confirmed or denied. The subject would be raised and then just as quickly dropped, often accompanied by a knowing look or a disapproving scowl. There were some carpets you didn't look under, some questions you shouldn't ask.
Carter had done time on the ground firsthand though, and it showed. He knew how armoured columns operated, and took time to speak with the field commanders rotating through. The Director would recommend areas in the locality best suited to rough terrain training, pointing out where the officers could really put the drive-crews through their paces. He spoke with the pilots, politely complimenting them on their skills, and asking them to take the time to introduce themselves to the ground pounders they would most likely interact with in future operations. They seldom refused him, out of genuine respect more so than simple courtesy. The result was Laconia as it stood in 2557: a hub of cutting edge military professionalism and cross-service line cooperation. A social network for special forces of all kinds.
The embodiment of this spirit of cooperation was The Gauntlet.
It was the single largest training exercise carried out on Laconia, held on an annual basis. Only this time, it would be different. This year would be the first time the exercise would incorporate augmented infantry.
The Gauntlet was the 26th century's logical evolution of SERE training practiced by the United States and United Kingdom of the 21st century. SERE, or Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, had originally focused on instilling in-field independence in military personnel at a high risk of capture and imprisonment. Service personnel - from military fliers to front-line operators - would be taught escape and evasion maneuvers and, once inevitably captured, the candidates would be subjected to simulated interrogation in order to test their personal boundaries, and develop a resistance to the considerable duress of wartime captivity.
While the concept had fallen somewhat by the wayside over the past thirty years of war (the Covenant, after all, seldom took prisoners), its revival had been deemed prudent, given the marked increase in Insurrectionist activity in the post-war era. The end result was Survival, Infiltration, Recon, Evasion and Navigation - SIREN - a variation of the principles of SERE tailored to frontline special forces designed for infiltration ops behind enemy lines.
SIREN was evasion training for the augmented. A program for candidates of an ab-human level of endurance. Given the innate stealth and sheer rapidity of a committed Spartan infiltration team, the program was condensed into a single week. Accordingly, the difficulty of the simulation relative to competing training exercises for more conventional special forces was markedly higher. When pressed with the question of why the SIREN program contained no interrogation elements in a traditional sense, Spartan 239 simply replied "Spartans don't break."
Entire armoured battalions would be deployed throughout the Pen Y Fan, a vast range of snow-capped mountains named by a particularly nostalgic Welshman who had served on the Laconia's original settlement team.
The objective was simple: slip through the Pen Y Fan, reach the target marker, and activate the victory beacon; a small lighthouse lost high in the wafting clouds.
Three Spartan teams would be enrolled in the program as candidates. As a matter of balance, and in order to give the defending forces a competing tactical edge, the other four outstanding teams would serve as counter-insurgency teams, ferried about by UH-144 Falcon transports. These teams would be outfitted with significantly heavier firepower than the infiltration teams. For the infiltrating teams, being discovered would not be a viable option.
Adding to the difficulty was the risk posed by the use of any specialised navigation software within the Spartan's armour systems. The Pelicans combing the skies above would surely be attuned to sensors of this kind, and any reliance upon same would be considered ill-advised at the very least. Instead, old fashioned paper charts were to be drawn up, memorised and subsequently destroyed. From there, the Spartans would navigate based on memory alone. The only concession to modern technology was the permitted use of the Spartan's armour. This was to build their confidence in using the suits "in-country": of all the exercises to date, this was the first to be carried out beyond the steel walls of the simulation chamber.
Only a single piece of equipment could be requisitioned from Laconia's quartermaster.
The OPFOR were played by a variety of seasoned veterans. The 22nd Royal Commando would be embedded throughout the open country, secreted in hidden bunkers and skilfully concealed in camouflaged laying up points. The bulk of the patrolling infantry were UNSC Marines, drawn from the "Fighting" Fortieth Marine Battalion and the Welsh Guards, both of whom were reinforced by the 605th Mechanised Infantry - a decorated Army combat unit. Mantis support would be provided by another Army group; the venerated 34/1st Armoured Reconnaissance Division.
Enjoying their position in the top three places in the Spartan's Combat Rankings, Fireteams Platinum, Trident and Chimera would be given the dubious pleasure of trying to sneak past this combined task force undetected.
The candidates were given a mere twenty-four hour grace period to make their preparations.
Which is precisely why Rebecca found herself surprised when Chimera invited her to attend personally.
"It's the first place they'll watch." Chidinma shook her head.
Luke slumped back in his chair, defeated. His suggestion of a using a backward goat trail, while laudable, was not proving to be a favourite with the other members of Chimera. Yet another strategy had been discarded.
Chimera were gathered around a private map room, which was dominated by a central island display. Rebecca sat with them, a warm mug of hot chocolate in cupped in her hands, feeling decidedly diminutive altogether. Splayed across the projector's surface were detailed topographical charts of the Pen Y Fan. Summit heights, dirt trails and plunging valleys. Unlike its Earthen equivalent, the Laconia Pen Y Fan were significantly taller in terms of altitude. Wide sweeping hills steadily gave way to the craggy summits, which dominated the plains to the north of the Academy.
The reinforced chairs squeaked painfully under the strain of Chimera's hulking armoured suits. Their helmets lay resting on the border of the map table. No two were alike.
Damien hunched over the end of the table, his gauntlet-ed fingers knitted together and his brow furrowed in thought.
"So, no points to Five for his suggestion. Any alternatives, people?"
Viktorya raised her hand. Her vivid green eyes were bolted firmly onto the holographic display showing a plateau.
"Here." she said, her fingers sweeping along the top of the plateau. The climb to the top was a sheer climb. Handholds would be icy crags of jagged rock. Treacherous, borderline suicidal.
"Impossible, you'll kill yourselves by even trying to get up there." Rebecca shook here head.
"Wind sheer is a factor, but we could do it." Luke mused, "With the right equipment, of course."
"I don't see them giving us much in the way of equipment, Five; not on this op." Damien frowned, "The idea behind the exercise is to live off the land, work our way through patrol lines and infiltrate the objective. Requisition says we're only allowed to bring a single piece of equipment."
Damien looked up at the others.
"Speaking of which, we still need to come to an agreement on that. And no, Vee, we're not bringing a rocket launcher. Or a Pelican drop-ship. I'm looking at you, Chidi."
Both of the female Spartans looked downcast.
"The A.I." Luke suggested suddenly.
"Kaizen." Rashid corrected.
"Yeah, that's the one." Luke tried to snap his fingers, an action appreciably more difficult in a Gen 2 armour skin. "It's technically combat certified, right?"
"She." Rashid corrected again, louder.
"Why not listen in on their communications?" Luke was on a roll now, "Intelligence could be our edge here - and it could help us do it without being detected."
"She." Chimera corrected him as one.
The A.I. materialised in the middle of the map projector.
"I felt my ears burning." Kaizen remarked, fixing Luke with a cold glare, "Oh wait, It doesn't have ears."
Luke coughed and studied the floor, mumbling an apology. A silence fell over the group.
Rashid drummed his fingers on the edge of the table, deep in thought.
"Kaizen, my friend's enthusiasm aside, his proposal has merit. Would we be able to… ask a favour of you?"
Kaizen's icy stare now had the Indian Spartan in its sights.
"You've never asked to work with me before. Why now?"
"Call it a hunch. The Spartan sat forward, addressing his peers.
"We won't win this scenario using brute force. Combat scores might recognition to a degree, but if we learned anything last week, it's a Completed Mission score that's going to put us within striking distance of ending Platinum's hot streak."
Kaizen pursed her lips thoughtfully. The data-stream flowing upwards across her skin pulsed faster. Rebecca could almost have sworn the A.I. was blushing.
"It's about time you started thinking with your brains rather than your biceps, Chimera." the frost A.I. conceded, her lips pursed in amusement, "Count me in."
"It's settled then: the A.I. comes with us." Damien closed the meeting. "Only one thing."
They all turned to look at him.
"Rashid?" Damien asked pleasantly.
"Sir?"
"You're the tech genius here, right? He who makes the ChatterNet giggle, and mere datapads swoon at the slightest touch?"
"You do me too much credit, Sir." the Spartan bowed graciously. "But I will accept the compliment, Damien, if it's being offered."
"Good. Then the A.I's your responsibility and yours alone, so. Don't mess up, or we're all going to have to endure Chase's smirk for that extra bit longer."
Chimera laughed as they filed for the exit, their spirits high. Rebecca caught up with Damien as he was powering down the holo-chart.
"Damien, why did you invite me here?" she asked, "I'm not much of a soldier."
The blue-eyed Spartan blinked in surprise, as though he'd been asked whether he preferred unicorns or ostriches.
"Why because you're our shrink, Doctor Pearson." the Spartan reminded her with a wolfish grin, "We keep you around just to remind us how crazy we are."
With that he ruffled her hair and walked out of the room, his armoured footfalls clanking in his wake.
Chimera made ready.
The lens of Rashid Datar's GUNGIR Armour System whirred as it adjusted slightly.
"All aboard, Kaizen?"
"Systems functional, Spartan 492. I see you've made further modifications to your armour's internal software network." A tone of disapproval coloured her voice, "These are not sanctioned alterations."
"Just trying to stay ahead of the curve, my dear." Rashid replied breezily.
"Running a visual check. Give me a view of the hangar."
Rashid turned his helmet toward the open gulf of the loading bay. There were a half dozen other Spartans prepping for infield deployment. You could spot the different fire teams by the unique colouration of their armour sets: the gun metal grey armour of Fireteam Castle, the verdant green of Trident. On the far end of the walkway, he made out Chimera's deep blue colouration, the ridges of their armour picked out by white stripes. Damien and Viktorya, liaising over some minor tactical detail. As point operator, Viktorya would have a direct say in how and when the fire team moved once they entered The Gauntlet.
Kaizen immediately began interfacing with the helmet's targeting suite as Rashid's viewfinder lens panned over them.
"Calibrating."
Abruptly, a dozen brilliant coloured red boxes blazed up in massive size, almost blinding Rashid with their intensity. Biometric scans, tactical readouts, ammunition counts; it was a tidal wave of information where a trickle would have sufficed. The sudden flash of data was dazzling.
"Whoah!" Rashid explained, swaying on his feet.
"My apologies, Spartan! Your configuration is not what we would be considered standard pattern-"
"It's alright, Kaizen, just turn it off for a moment."
The data panes vanished. Rashid blinked, clearing his vision.
"These Spartan ID's…" Rashid began, a question forming in his mind.
"Yes, Spartan?"
Rashid smiled deviously.
"How do they work?"