(Psy Power Training Grounds, Soldier’s Dawn Black Star
Marine Corps Base, Star’s Reach)
BANG!
Soldier’s Dawn was the name the Black Star Marines had
elected to call their new base and training facility located over the access
point to the Enrichment Center. The name had been chosen by a poll of the Marines
and their families. After discarding names like Basey McBaseface from the
preliminaries, Soldier’s Dawn won in the second round of polls, narrowly
beating out Bastard’s Rise (despite the fact that the surrounding area was
rather flat, with no rises anywhere nearby).
The Base was home of the Sixth Company of the Black Star
Marines. After the Battle of the Rift, General Khan decided that a restructuring
was needed. The main companies of the Corps remained the same, but the
shipboard detachments to the varies Navy ships were reorganized into Fifth
Company, instead of just being uncategorized parts of the Corps.
Sixth Company was the training and reserve company, based on
Star’s Reach. This was where new recruits would be trained up, and where
reserves would be stationed until they were needed, as well as being a primary
defense force for the planet itself. With the rate that people kept joining up
with Black Star, we’d probably need to go with a seventh company before long.
That wasn’t the reason I was on the training grounds, of
course. I needed to train my abilities in someplace nice and isolated, and you
couldn’t get more isolated than the Psy Power Training Grounds. As a rule,
Black Star didn’t place too much emphasis on psy powers, either in the Navy or
the Marines.
BANG!
This wasn’t an issue of neglect, but of practicality. Simply
put, most psy powers were not that useful in group combat, or were made
redundant by technology. Fireballs, lightning bolts, healing, body enhancement,
and even mindlinking were all useful things for an individual, sure. No one
argued that there weren’t uses for psy powers.
However, there were weapons that were more destructive, and
didn’t fatigue the user as quickly. There were nanite medpacks that could heal
better than most healing Psy, and armor enhancements that could do as well or
better than body enhancement Psy. And the mindlink? A tactical HUD and battle
network did it better, without the invasiveness of someone’s thoughts echoing
in your head.
It was the old adage of using the right tool for the right
job. Most times, the technological tools the Marines had were better for the
task at hand. Certainly, the Navy did not get much use out of psy powers. The
number of individuals in Known Space that could affect individuals or ships at
the distances space combat took place at was effectively zero.
BANG!
Well, it had been zero. The recent changes had called that
number into question. The question of whether the Empress or myself could use
psy powers on a tactical level in space combat was still open. We were, after
all, getting used to our new abilities. And the knowledge that there were other
groups in undiscovered space made the possibility of finding individuals who
could do that much more likely.
Even if that wasn’t the case, the Black Star Company was not
one to go leaving useful tools on the table. Even if there were better tools
for the job, the Company ran on the idea of ‘better to have it and not need it
than need it and not have it’. Sure, there weren’t many situations where a
fireball would be better than a flamethrower, or a grenade, but there might be,
so those who had the ability were trained, so they had the options.
That was why the Training Grounds existed. Of course, it
wasn’t limited to the Marines. Anyone in the Navy, or in the other areas of the
Black Star Company, who had the Talent was allowed to use the grounds.
Actually, the ‘civilians’ in the Company got the most use out of the grounds,
since they had jobs where psy powers would make a more tangible difference.
Today, however, the grounds were empty, because, frankly, I
didn’t know the limits of my powers yet, and I was still working on controlling
some of the more… chaotic powers that had become available to me. Raven, Cali,
and Jaynie were the only ones allowed on the field with me, though Shearah,
Sheila, Carissa, and Sana were all in a nearby bunker. After all, the ones on
the field with me were the ones that could come back, even if they caught a
temporary case of being dead, either because they were just inhabiting a shell,
like Raven, or because they were Nomads, like me and the girls. I wasn’t taking
chances here.
BANG!
At the moment, we were doing a fairly non-destructive test.
Shielding abilities were relatively common amongst psy users. However, they
were rarely good for more than one or two hits before they broke down. Great
for an ‘oh shit’ button when you realized that you were suddenly in need of
cover, or if you saw that someone had lobbed a grenade at your feet, but not
great for keeping you alive in a gunfight over open ground. Or in the open air.
That was important, because the geniuses I had working for
me had just come out with a new armor set for people who needed protection, but
weren’t getting the full suite of upgrades that were being rolled out for the
Marines, the Degurechaff Airborne Assault Armor. Like the Marines’ new Mark X
Tactical Power Armor, the Degurechaff Armor was designed for increased defense
and assault capability. However, while the Mark X was bigger, heavier, and
boasted more combat boosting potential to go with the augmentations the Marines
wearing it would receive, it was limited in terms of mobility, stuck on the
ground unless the Marine used a specially designed jump pack to make short
powered leaps.
The Degurechaff Armor, however, was a completely different beast
entirely. Closer to the Front Line Master Suit the Empire used for their
Imperial Marines in design, it was 5% larger than the older suit, using the
increased mass to elevate the enhancements in the suit to true power armor
status, giving increased strength, speed, reaction time, and agility, while at
the same time slightly increasing the defensive properties. But the true focal
point of the armor was the Flight Module, allowing the wearer to maintain
powered flight for far longer than the jump packs of current Marine armor would
allow.
BANG!
Of course, flying in the air made one a target, where speed
and maneuverability were life. But predictive algorithms and volume of fire
could still take out even a skilled pilot in even a fighter craft. Except that
even interceptors had shields, to shrug off grazing blows. Shield systems there
simply wasn’t room for in a man-sized suit of armor. Anyone in the Degurechaff
armor was relying wholly on their own abilities to keep from getting taken down
by typical anti-vehicle weapons.
So, while it was certainly an unprecedented system, and the
creator, Doctor Adelheid von Schugel, was undoubtedly a genius, it wasn’t
practical for rank and file military concerns. Fortunately for the half-mad
scientist, I had happened to be looking into getting some new armor. Being able
to fly was, well, definitely something I was interested in.
Which, in the end, is why I was here, now, letting Jaynie
shoot me with ever-increasing calibers of weaponry, all while dividing my
energy between flying and maintaining a psychic shield to keep the attacks from
getting through. The systems in the armor were impressive, without doubt, but I
was concerned with reliability and durability. It didn’t matter if a watch was
so precise that its finely honed clockwork was perfect down to the millisecond if
it was so delicate that the slightest jostle would send it out of alignment and
cause the whole thing to fail. We were, literally, stress testing things, to
see if I could use the armor in combat situations.
BANG!
Type-95 Degurechaff Airborne Assault
Armor
|
|||
Type
|
Power Armor
|
Rank
|
Super Rare
|
Made by the Black Star Company, the
Type-95 is an experimental prototype armor model designed to be a trans-atmospheric
assault armor for shock troops entering behind enemy lines. The Type-95 is designed
for ship-to-ship, ship-to-ground, and ground-to-ship operations in three
dimensions. Environmental seals allow the wearer to operate in hard vacuum or
underwater to depths of 9000 meters. This also provides complete HAZMAT
protection for as long as the dimensional air supply lasts (approximately 336
hours). Integrated nutrition and water supplies using dimensional space to
keep the wearer alive for up to 672 hours. The same technology also allows
for waste reclamation and disposal without compromising suit integrity.
Psy-conductive wiring extends throughout the armor, allowing the user to
better use abilities based on PP.
+100 to all Physical Attributes
+20% Reaction speed
150 Physical Armor, 150 Energy
Armor
+40% Physical Resistance
+40% Energy Resistance
Power Supply – Runs on
dimensional storage batteries, 1008 hour duration.
Life Support – Offers full HAZMAT
support for 336 hours, basic nutrition for 672 hours, and environmental
conditioning for 1008 hours.
Stealth Suite – Polychromatic
coating gives wearer passive +20 effective rank with Stealth. When, combined
with stealth settings allows the wearer to enter full stealth mode for up to 20
minutes. 1 minute recharge time.
Psy-conduction – All Psy Powers
are 10% more effective, cost 10% less to use.
Flight Systems – Allows wearer
to fly at speeds up to (CHA+WIS) m/s. Speed reduced in water. Requires 25 PP
per minute to maintain flight.
Prototype: Actual results and tolerances
may vary depending on conditions. Damage to armor may cause unknown
conditions.
|
|||
The stats of the armor were impressive, on paper. All told,
it was a solid improvement over the FLMS I had been wearing any time I was
going out on actual missions. However, that was all on paper. In experiments,
it looked good, but there were power fluctuations and sensor drains that the team
were still trying to fix as testing continued.
This, combined with the heavy PP requirements for actual
flight meant that the number of people who could use the suit at all were not
especially high, not in a combat environment. Sure, it was just under half my
PP regen, as it stood now, and running that at the same time as trying to keep
a psychic shield up wouldn’t drain me too badly. Worst case, I could probably
keep flying for a few hours while under attack. The more PP I used to attack,
however, the shorter my stamina for combat would become. And I was a fairly
powerful psy user. Other people, who didn’t have my level of regeneration,
would be struggling to fly and maintain a shield, much less fight at the same
time.
BANG!
However, it made me the perfect one to test the tolerances
the armor needed to perform under. The fact that I was a Nomad, and wouldn’t
die even if I was killed, simply made it more logical. I had to keep telling
myself that as I watched Jayne lining up another shot, this time with a
shoulder-mounted anti-armor weapon.
She was clearly enjoying this more than a little. I was
going to have to punish her when we got done with this. Still, the increases to
my power were noticeable. We had just moved through the anti-vehicle weaponry,
after all. I’ll admit that Jaynie wasn’t the only one interested in seeing what
I could withstand now.
Jaynie aimed with the launcher. My enhanced senses could see
her trigger finger tighten, the weapon glowing red in my HUD, signifying the
threat it was. She started to pull the trigger, and I braced myself for impact…
Nothing.
I looked at my HUD, and was surprised to see the weapon
flashing green. Friendly weapon. Jaynie looked just as surprised as I was. As
one, we both turned to look at Raven, the only one who could have stopped the
test.
Raven looked unapologetic. “Sorry to interrupt your fun, but
there is a priority message from System Command. Refugees from the Ihm Imperium
are coming through the Gateway.”
I sighed. “Well, guess the testing is over for today. Raven,
approve the Type-95 to move to a production model. I’ll keep the prototype for
my own until it is ready.”
"As you wish, Sir."
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354XBook I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL93VQN
Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8
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