"A moon?" Jadan raised a brow, surveying a three dimensional map of this section of the galaxy – of the Hyperborean System and all the neighboring systems that were close enough to warrant constant surveillance. A few planets, Jadan noted, were marked as belonging to a faction that was known only as the Iron Men, but none of those planets were anywhere close to the matter at hand and so she did not bother asking. Besides, she'd retained her rank as a general and, thusly, was privy to pretty much all the classified information. She'd dig around later. Right now, their main concern was the Imperium ship that was spotted in Sector 3, a neighboring system that was only three to four light years away. That was a problem, because their "main" battle plan hinged on luring the Imperium all the way to Sector 10, which was about fifteen light years away. "Just that?"
Based on the reports, as well as images and video feeds captured by the Scout Drone that was orbiting a red moon, the vessel did not appear nearly as heavily-armed as a typical Imperium Vessel, which meant it was either a Scouting Vessel or a Survey Vessel. Now, usually, neither of the two were problematic vessels, considering they weren't outright built for war. However, this lone ship presented a... unique opportunity. If they boarded and captured it successfully, without triggering the self-destruct functions that were most definitely going to be present, then they'd be able to extract far more information than what the High Chancellor managed to do so during his interrogation of the Astartes, which was not a whole lot, though it did reveal something about his apparent parentage, something no one was keen on discussing – mostly because it was unrelated to their current problem and because the High Chancellor himself made it clear that it changed nothing.
He had only one father, he said. Jadan heard the rumors about that, as well. But, when she asked, no one really knew anything substantial about High Chancellor Argall's father – or his mother. Sure, the both of them apparently lived in a time before Hyperborea was attacked by the Rangda, during which his mother apparently died and his father disappeared. Personally, Jadan didn't care too much for High Chancellor Argall's parentage. As everyone else already stated, it hardly mattered. Still, it was interesting to note that the Imperium did have an Emperor and that he was capable of creating superhuman sons to act as generals.
Ultimately, Argall loved his people and... Jadan believed that. He'd never turn his back on them, even against his apparent biological father, against an entire empire that spanned hundreds of thousands of worlds.
One of the other Admirals, Rear Admiral Dorean, nodded. "Indeed. Just that. There may be more ships beyond our surveyed systems, but this one is the most intriguing prospect."
Jadan nodded. And then, her eyes narrowed. "Very well. I understand the necessity of capturing it and extracting information from the ship and those aboard, but... who exactly do we send for such a thing?"
The Hyperborean 'Army', which was a generous term since it was closer to a militia, was impressive only for two things that set it far higher and greater than any army she'd seen before: their level of technology, which was – frankly – absurd, and their genetic and physical augmentations, which turned the average Hyperborean citizen into something even greater than an Astartes, at least in terms of enhancements. However, for all their toys and upgrades, the Hyperborean Militia was sorely lacking in training and experience. Sure, they were terrific martial artists and highly accurate shots, but one of the major problems that Jadan noticed almost immediately was a lack of discipline. A military should be a single, living, breathing organism, comprised of however many troops it had. But the Hyperborean army was the opposite; individual prowess remained a highly prized thing among their number, which was not nearly as important in war.
Being an Admiral, however, Jadan couldn't really push for anything; instead, she could – and did – offer plenty of suggestions and changes. The one positive thing was that her word was taken seriously. They did not look down on her for being an outsider; instead, they examined the date she provided, studied it intimately, and came to their own conclusion that, indeed, the Hyperborean Army was very much lacking in the basic elements of a true military. So, they started a new training regimen immediately. The veteran soldiers of the former Volimar Republic were very helpful in that particular endeavor. But any fruits of that particular labor were far off. At the very least, their augmentations and extremely powerful weapons would level the tides of war – somewhat.
"The Hyperion Program is complete," Rear Admiral Dorean declared for every other council member to hear. Jadan raised a brow. She knew about that particular bit of news, but she didn't think much of it. The Hyperion Program was something of a personal project of the High Chancellor, whose technological prowess was, honestly, incredible. But that was the thing. Ultimately, it was a personal project that made use of hundreds of volunteers. The goal was to create an entirely new type of superhuman, one that was far above the average Hyperborean by several orders of magnitude. Officially, High Chancellor Argall never gave the project a name, since it was mostly experimental in nature. 'Hyperion' was a term coined by the rest of the council and Argall was happy to go along with it.
On average, a Hyperborean Woman could lift up to and endure around 900 kilograms; Hyperborean Men could lift and endure further, with an average of around 1300 kilograms. Of course, there were talented individuals who could lift far more than average, with the highest record being 3000 kilograms, but they were outliers and very often trained to achieve that level of strength. However, the Hyperions were different. First and foremost, each and every single Hyperion volunteer was trained to the utmost limit of their already-powerful bodies, which was done before they were given the extra enhancements. Secondly, Argall specifically designed them for war, not simple civilian life like he'd done with the average Hyperborean. That said, Jadan hadn't really updated herself on their latest performance reports. Though, as far as she was aware, the average lifting strength of Hyperions, for both men and women, was around 6000 kilograms. But that measurement, as far as she remembered, was taken just a week after their augmentation.
Similar to the Hyperborean Militia, the Hyperions were granted the best weapons, armors, and gadgets, the stuff that was kept away from civilian use. An odd thing to consider, considering that Power Armor was considered to be of civilian capacity; the guards that stood outside the council room, for instance, were militiamen in Power Armor, which apparently doubled their strength and speed on top of granting them protection from heat, cold, radiation, kinetic energy, and all sorts of things; the Hyperions apparently wore even more advanced versions.
More than that, however, was the fact that High Chancellor Argall himself took charge of their training, making use of some kind of hyper realistic Virtual Reality to simulate scenarios and protocols and all sorts of things that'd allow the Hyperions to gain decades' and centuries' worth of experience, instincts, and knowledge in only a few days. Jadan personally wasn't sure how effective such a thing was, since it relied almost entirely on the realism of the Virtual Reality, but Argall designed it himself and she knew for a fact that the High Chancellor had seen war and death before.
But, again, she'd not updated herself on High Chancellor Argall's personal project. So, drawing conclusions was entirely impossible.
"You're thinking of sending the Hyperions to perform this operation?" Jadan raised a brow. She looked to the other councilors. None of them seemed to doubt this. So, she shrugged. If majority of the council held no doubts, then there was no point in her protesting. Besides, with all the augmentations available to them, the Hyperions were highly unlikely to fail, even with their admittedly dubious training method. "Do you trust them well enough to perform well?"
"High Chancellor Argall expects them to perform splendidly," One of the councilors said. Jadan wasn't sure which of them spoke. She didn't like the answer. And, knowing Argall, he wouldn't like the answer either. But this was the cost of the society he'd built up himself. Despite his hands-off approach, there was no denying that, among the people, his people, Argall was nothing short of a living god, even if the man himself refused to see it. That said, his track record was flawless. His inventions worked wonders and, all things considered, Argall was trustworthy. If the mission failed, they'd find themselves back on square one – not good, but not worse either.
In any case, with or without additional info, their main plan of attack remained the same: lure the Imperial Navy somewhere far from Hyperborea and pick them apart in the void, where their numbers mean nothing.
"Very well, it seems like the council has already decided," Jadan shrugged again. If the decision-making was left entirely up to her, she'd simply destroy the ship and search the wreckage. At the end of the day, it seemed more likely that the councilors simply wished to see the effectiveness of the Hyperions in a less strenuous situation. And, Jadan would not deny, she felt the same way. The Live Feed should be pretty good. Besides, the operation was made even simpler by the fact that the Imperium Vessel was entirely by its lonesome.
"And so a decision has been made." Councilwoman Theandris declared.
And, with that, the Hyperions were unleashed for the first time. Since it'd take a while for them to actually reach their destination, Jadan decided she'd kill time by reading up on more classified documents. To deter hacking attempts, High Chancellor Argall ensured that every single classified file was kept in a physical disc that could only be accessed and reviewed by hand – tedious, but Jadan understood its necessity. One of the files she'd been itching to review was one that looked as though it'd been gathering dust for a very long time – a disc that no one ever seemed to touch. A single, foreign word was written on the disc: Viltrumite.
Nothing else.
What did it even mean?
Jadan recognized the handwriting as Argall's. As far as she could tell, the disc had only ever been reviewed one other time, likely by Argall himself, before it was put on storage; after that, no one else touched it and Jadan figured it was probably because it lacked context. Viltrumite. That was it. That was the only thing written on its surface, a word that did not exist in any dictionary. So... what was in the disc, exactly? Argall certainly didn't care too much for it, since it was hidden among the level 1 classified documents, which was about as close as they ever got to being public knowledge – open secrets and such.
"This council will resume shortly," Councilwoman Theandris announced, addressing all the other councilors. Even now, Jadan still wasn't entirely sure which councilor held greater sway over the others. It honestly almost seemed as though everyone, in some way or form, was a leader onto themselves, a voice that held command. Or, the Hyperboreans simply listened to each other and considered each others' opinions, like healthy adults were supposed to do. She still wasn't used to that. "We'll take a half hour break."
The councilors scattered about the place, forming little groups to chat and discuss less-serious matters. She'd attended enough council meetings to know that Hyperboreans took their breaks very seriously.
So, seeing as she was not interested in mingling, Jadan proceeded immediately into one of several private viewing rooms for classified discs. The room itself was small enough for one person to fit in comfortably. There was a screen on one side, a chair, and a device to read the discs and nothing else. Jadan inserted the disc into the viewing device and sat down, crossing her arms over her chest as a video feed of a much younger Argall suddenly appeared on the screen. His hair was shorter and his eyes were... well... his eyes were different in a way that could not be defined by simple words.
"So, it is a strange thing to know that my father is not human..."
AN: Chapter 42 is out on (Pat)reon!