The utter silence of the long hall was disrupted by sound of shoes softly touching the polished metal plate that served as the material the deck was made out of. The entire hall was fifty meters long and only three wide, there were no doors that could be seen except the two at either end, doors that looked heavily plated with armor. The entire length was actually a screening room, uncountable instruments and tools were constantly active and focused on anything inside. Right now they were fixed on a man that was passing through, he was slowly but steadily walking down the length of it, his footfalls firm and without hesitation. Many optical eyes fixated on his body, taking measurements of his limbs, scanning his iris patterns as well as every micro crevice that might have been on his face. Other devices checked his body temperature and interacted with the implants throughout his body. All these were done under a single second and just looped, doing it over and over again, sending all results to the main computer which collected the information and used them as passkeys to unlock stages of his access, there was only one left now and it soon came as the man spoke in a clear yet cold tone, mid-way.
Tony Mitchell.
The sound had its wavelengths and patterns instantly tracked down by even more unseen tools and sent to the main computer, which confirmed the exact match and gave priority access to the man. The heavily armored doors slid open without a sound as he approached and closed seamlessly behind him as he passed.
The hall had opened up to another one, but this one was wider and well lit, with numerous doors to the sides throughout its length. The man, Tony Mitchell, continued without stop and seemingly randomly picked one of the doors on the right and entered it, the heavy-looking door opened and closed as he passed through. The door had led into a large room, the difference between that particular room and the rest of the facility was easily heard. The loud and heavy blasts of automatic gunfire and the searing buzz of laser weaponry sounded throughout the cavernous space. Tony found himself on a walkway that was hung to the ceiling, overlooking the space below that was filled with men and women shooting at each other. Angry lines of laser fire and heated rounds of large caliber rounds crisscrossed below him. In reality there were only four people running from cover to cover, shooting at dozens of holograms. A few shots "bringing down" a hologram only to be replaced by two more that were shot down again relentlessly, the farce had been going on for hours now, this part of the end-training program looked like a success in Tony's eyes. He watched the real soldiers down below for a few minutes, somewhat impressed by their prowess yet it was all too familiar to him. He heard a beep as the comm unit in his ear came online, a clear monotone voice rang out.
Sir, the guest is on approach to the station, orders? Let her through and get her up here. Yes sir.
The line closed with another beep. Tony leaned on the railings and idly watched the show going down below while he waited for their guest of honor, which still had at least ten minutes of security checks to go through.
This was not her first interaction with the LSF, on the contrary, Commander Amber Rosewell had become some what accustomed to the secretive nature of the agency. Of course one can never be fully prepared when it comes to the LSF, so Rosewell had herself ready for just about anything.
Commander Rosewell, we're one minute out. Please prepare for docking sequence.
The dark tinted windows of the Commander's transport let absolutely no light pass, just one of many thousands of security measures taken by the LSF to keep Ellesmere fully secure. Rosewell took her seat and prepared herself for the intense screening that awaited her. The transport docked aboard the station with a loud metallic clank and the hum of artificial gravity generators. Rosewell picked up her briefcase and made way for the now opened entrance of the transport. Two men in full tactical gear awaited her.
Good afternoon Commander, please follow us.
Briskly the two escorts headed off towards an elevator, with Rosewell close behind. Against her better judgement her eyes dotted around the station, taking in almost everything that was going on. Space traffic was light, however some of the most advanced ships in all of Sirius were stationed here. Before she could witness too much detail her attention was grabbed by a bright light that seemed to surround her. After a bit of a fright she composed herself as she knew what this was. A product of all high security LSF stations, approximately one hundred different lasers were simultaneously scanning her as the system on board the station detected a new presence. Rosewell continued to walk even though it was rather difficult to see, she just kept following the two dark silhouettes of the escorting agents. The scanning stopped as the group reached an open elevator. The agents gestured for Rosewell to enter, she obliged.
This elevator will take you to a large screening room. Just keep walking towards the door at the end of the hall. Once there say your full name loudly and clearly.
And with that the elevator doors closed and up she went.
Upon arrival, she did as she was instructed. Rosewell made her way towards the door with a confident and purposeful pace.
Commander Amber Rosewell
The doors opened and on the other side another escort was ready and waiting.
Right this way Commander.
Rosewell stepped through the doorway and it slammed shut behind her. She kept close to the agent as he lead her to her meeting. After a few paces the agent turned to a door on the right and placed his head on a retina scanner. The door opened and with it the sounds and smells of a battlefield. This is what the commander was used to, pure battle. Without a word the agent left and went back towards the entrance. Rosewell entered to doorway and saw her contact leaning over the rails.
Associate Director Mitchell, how nice to see you. Commander Rosewell, a pleasure.
Tony offered his hand to shake with the Navy commander. He had met her some time ago and had worked with her on on multiple black ops operations. She was a very capable strategist and had impressed even Tony. But her real worth, in Tony's eyes, was that she was able to keep a secret, and put Liberty above her superiors, she was, just like Tony, a patriot and was willing to do anything for Liberty and her interests. Tony rarely even thought of the word trust and had an extremely small amount of people he would use the word for, but Amber Rosewell was one of those people.
I'm not really the Associate Director anymore but that's beside the point, what do you think of our new operatives we have for you?
The Commander shook Mitchell's hand with a firm grasp and smiled. She then turned towards the railing and began to observe the 'specimens' in action. Four operatives in somesort of new tactical gear were running and jumping around as if they were super human.
Impressive lot you've got here, Mitchell. They ever shot at live targets instead of just holograms?
Rosewell continued to watch the super soldiers taking down a collection of virtual targets..
Impressive lot you've got here, Mitchell. They ever shot at live targets instead of just holograms?
Tony turned his head to face her, she did likewise after noticing his gaze, challenging his eye contact. He put on a slightly amused face and then turned back to look at the fight going on below and then spoke up.
Unlike most of our "super soldier" experiments where each operative is literally grown to become a tool of war, the ones you see here are actually war veterans from the Naval Marine Corps, each one used to be a decorated officer of their unit and have been forged into lethal killing machines by war. Except for that one right there.
He pointed to one of the operatives, a tall man, not as bulky as the other three in terms of body size and wielding a semi-automatic precision rifle. Although Tony had pointed him out specifically, one couldn't see any difference of combat efficiency or anything else of note between any of the four.
That's Agent Brian Pierce, one of the LSF's own operatives, the others have more combat time yet he has more time logged on the field as first recon than all of them combined. But after their first few months into the program, there really wasn't any difference between any of them except for perhaps their own choices of completing their objective.
Tony continued to watch as one of the soldiers rolled away from a pulse mine whilst shooting one of the targets in the head mid-roll. He let out a puff of approval.
Ah, I thought they were too good to be pure LSF. You can see their skills are of Naval origin.
The Commander smiled as she knew there was no love lost between the Navy and LSF. After a brief moment her smile disappeared as she began to closely analysis the exact tactics and movements of the soldiers below.
Well? Come on you dragged me all the way out here, the least you could do is explain what this new program is all about. What is the thinking behind it and what makes it better than the current programs?
The Commander's attention was caught as a large explosion went off, very close to where one of the soldiers was. To her surprise, instead of being horribly injured, the soldier was still firing at the holographic targets. The Commander nodded her head in approval.
Tony ignored her first remark and looked up to the ceiling, wondering if he should waste even more time with the act or if he should just do what he really came to do. Patience was a virtue.
Well I wont bore you with any extreme details, as for a summary, well..the transformation process starts with selecting experienced and loyal personnel who undergo medical tests to see if they body can actually handle the transformation process. We then put the candidates into an artificial coma and inject them with multiple biochemical compounds for a week, if they survive the process, which, most don't, their bodies take around a week or two to recover from the side-effects which are quite severe and even lethal. Once that period of recovery is over, the injections will have granted them superior physical capabilities, including a boost in their strength, speed, agility, reflexes and most importantly something we call "operational neural bandwidth". This is the basic level of human-enhancement projects, other than the last bit, which is the reason why this transformation in particular is dangerous.
He turned his head back to her and noticed she was listening intently, quite aware of what he was saying.
After that, they go through a cybernetic implant grafting process. Which, at that point we install many implants throughout their bodies serving different purposes and enhancing their prowess on the field, the full and detailed list of implants is quite long but you'll be getting that file to look over at a later time anyway. After that process is complete we make them go through a rigorous training program for a while, which, the below battlefield is the end result of that training. But, this isn't what they were trained for, this battlefield is just a minor final test to ensure their bodies are running at optimal capacity. These operatives weren't made to be brutes, they were made be battlefield commanders.
He looked at her with a grin.
And yes, that means I lied when I asked you here, you're not here to inspect another batch of recruits for Naval Marine Ops, you're here because I trust you. So if you want to know more about this lot, ask, if not, I'll start making the point I really called you here for.
The expression on Commander Rosewell's face was a combination of confusion and extreme disapproval.
Director Mitchell, or whatever the hell your actual rank is, I am an extremely busy woman and I don't have time to be messed around with. You had better have a good reason for all this. And wipe that goddamn smile off your face.
She paused as she allowed the severity of her tone to sink in. Years in the Navy had given her a reputation of a bit of a 'dragon lady', a title she was rather proud of.
This had better be good, Mitchell. I have a lot of work that needs my attention so lets get to the point.
There was nothing in all of Sirius that could break the Commander's inattentive stare as she awaited a response.
This had better be good, Mitchell. I have a lot of work that needs my attention so lets get to the point.
Tony checked himself, the Commander was apparently in a "bad mood" if she couldn't stand the slight sarcasm as was preferred by the psych profile he had on her. While he appreciated the unpredictability, he would not have his position and stature threatened by anyone, least of all the Navy.
While your..disappointment is understandable. I am not your junior officer Amber, you might not know anything about me but trust me when I say I've been doing this longer than you have and your "act" doesn't mean a thing to me, I'd suggest keeping your composure, keeping the act up is a waste of energy, I have a full psych profile on you that I compiled myself.
The door they had came in through slid open and two armed operatives entered and stood on either side of the door which had remained open.
Commander Rosewell took a deep breath as she knew there wasn't much she could do. Even with all her training and years of experience with the Liberty Navy, she was no match for two armed LSF operatives. Her expression remained relatively unchanged, although more anger than confusion.
After you.
She followed the LSF group through the door and found herself back in the cold and uninviting hallway. Mitchell proceeded down the hallway and Commander Rosewell, escorted by her two new friends, followed suit.
You wanna tell me where you're taking me?
Mitchell remained silent and continued on through the hallway. Eventually the group came to a door which lead to a small launch bay. Contained within was an armoured shuttle surrounded by even more armed LSF operatives. Mitchell boarded the shuttle and gestured for Rosewell to take the seat beside him.
Oh joy, am I gonna get to see even more of your secret system? Always wanted a tour of Ellesmere.
Before Rosewell could buckle up properly the shuttle took off and swiftly made its way into the dark abyss that was the Ellesmere system. She tried to look outside the windows but it was futile, it was pitch black apart from the odd purple tinted lightening strike. Suddenly the shuttle entered yet another hanger bay, this one seemed to appear out of nowhere. This hanger was different though, it was obviously part of a large ship. All she could see was the interior of the hanger but thats all she needed to tell that this ship was something special.
