Life Giver

by Nightwatcher


Prologue : Wargames

/2/5/8252 CE

/Corporal John Maxwell

/Playback begin
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My head panned from side to side as I ducked under a fallen tree, moving towards my sniper nest.

“This is BLUE 1–2, I’m in position now. Over.” I spoke into my helmet mic.

“BLUE 1-2, this is BLUE 1-1, copy.” A voice spoke in my helmet, “We need over-watch in grid L-3. Over.”

“BLUE 1-1, copy that.” I said back.

I laid prone on the ground and retrieved my M-99 sniper rifle from my back and set up.

“This is BLUE 1-2, ready for contact.” I said as my HUD made the land in front of me jump forward. A small circle showed where my round would fall.

“BLUE 1-2, take out their commander.”

“Copy 1-1, firing…” My scopes ridicule scanned the enemy, my AI tagged one person in particular. Five miles away, behind a foot of instacrete, stood Commander Jake L. Mendoza. “Now.”

I felt the M-99 bite into my shoulder as the dust around me kicked up with a deafening bang as the rifle sent a hyper velocity round screaming down towards its target.

Jake's armor took control as the round impacted the wall. It attempted to dodge the round and save its wearer, but the round auto corrected for that and curved to meet just on his shoulder, turning the appendage into a cloud of red. Just as his body hit the ground I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I was violently rolled over to see a HLF commando standing over me, holding a wicked twelve-inch combat knife. The commando raised his blade a sent it down towards my visor. I used my M-99 to bat the combat knife aside, then slammed it into the commandos head sending him sprawling to the ground. I jumped to my feet as he jumped at me. He slammed into my chest and I rolled with the force. He landed on top of me. I pulled my knife out of its sheath on my left padron and plunged it towards his faceplate. Just before impact, he grabbed my wrist. I, in return, slammed my helmet into his, disorientating him. I ripped my wrist out of his grip and slammed the knife down to the grip into his visor.

I felt something slam into my side, throwing me to the ground. I looked to see another HLF commando fade into my vision as his camo-system deactivated, a shotgun cradled in his hands pointing at my head.

The world slowed down as he pulled the trigger, there was a flash.

Everything went white.

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This is the CIC, all hands prepare for transit. Repeat: all hands prepare of wormhole transit.” A voice boomed over the SHIP-COM.

My eyes snapped open as a Plexiglas covering came off my pod.

I groaned and rubbed my temples as my head throbbed. A hand invaded my field of vision and I grabbed it as it pulled me out of my pod.

“ Headache?” A voice asked me.

“Ya.” I said back.

I looked around as the person walked away. I was in the ‘War Room’ of the UEG Destroyer ‘Damascus’. The ‘War Room’ was a system of ‘Hyper-real’ training simulation pods that allowed the soldiers and pilots  of warships like the ‘Damascus’ to train without using up resources or having the risk of injuring one another. It works by feeding the brain false input making everything you see, feel, hear, or taste in the simulation ‘real’ to your mind.

This is the CIC, all hands report to stations. Wormhole transit in ten minutes.”

Our CO made her voice known, “Alright you heard the man, report the barracks and get suited up!”

We all stood straight and saluted, “Yes Ma'am!”

“Good! Now move it out, double time!”

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Three hours later         

The ship's complement of three hundred warriors was currently seated in the ships barracks, waiting for the ship to arrive at its, to us, unknown destination. There were rumors running amuck around the ship of its intended destination, but as of yet the captain has not spoken of the subject. Most assembled here were busy with various things; cleaning weapons and armor, reading, training their bodies, and other things.

I was currently watching two marines spar, their movements much too fast for a un-augmented human to track. The two were taking and giving punches that would kill a normal human in a single hit. A punch stopped mid-swing as the captain came over SHIP-COM.

This is the Captain, hold fast for return to normal-space

I closed my eyes as I felt the nauseating feeling of the move to normal space.

“ Transit compleat, ships company, report to the war room.

“Alright, move out.” Our Commander called out as she walked towards the door.
I was about to get up as a message appeared in my HI.

'Report to the hangar Corporal'.-CMDR Jane S.

I looked to her place near the door and she nodded at me.

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Hangar

I looked out of the hangar of the ‘Damascus’ looking out at something I thought I would never see.

The cradle, our home world.

Terra, Sol.  

It truly was a sight to see, the planet was awe inspiring. With its many launch arks, orbital elevators, the orbital ring. The entirety of its surface covered in cityscape.

The most amazing  thing about the homeworld was its defenses.

Hundreds of warships laid in wait for anything foolish enough to come. Dreadnoughts maxing out at fifty kilometers long, hid behind clouds of multi-kilometer Destroyers and Cruisers. dozens of Frigates traveling in packs of hundreds. Trillions of automated drones lay in wait for the order to attack.

A hand on my shoulder brought me out of my daze.

“ Amazing, isn't it?” A voice asked.

“ Indescribable” I answered. Turning to face whoever had asked the question, when I saw who had my legs almost failed me.
Behind me, flanked on each side by two massive Praetorian Guards, was the most powerful human alive.

“Chairman Prescott.” I said, giving the most respectful salute a could manage. This man was the De-facto leader of the UEG, a man with unimaginable power and control. This man could make entire worlds vanish without a trace if he wanted too. Not to mention that the two Praetorian Guards could rip me in half like wet tissue paper, with-or-without armor. The Chairman had a power about him that demanded respect. His  words carried such a weight that would break a lesser mans jaw. This man had made humanity what it is today.

“At ease, Corporal. I have a very important job for you.”          

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CODEX

UEG - United Human Governments, established in 3245, Population 2.5 trillion living on 10,000 worlds and numerous installations  

Firearms - Most standard military firearms are 'rail-gun' type projectile weapons. There are three classes.
    Small arms - Small arms are weapons like pistols, and submachine guns.
    Medium arms - Medium arms are weapons like Battle rifles, assault rifles, light machine guns, Sniper rifles.
    Heavy arms -   Heavy arms are weapons like most Man portable explosives.
There are some DEW in main line service like Ion beams, plasma, and lasers.

Government - The UEG is a form of Representative democracy. (In order of hierarchy)
    World- each world elects a representative for themselves.
    System - Out of each planetary system, a system wide representative is chosen.
    Sectors - In each cluster of planetary systems, a system wide representative.
The Sector representatives are elected into the UEG council, who vote on anything that affects humanity as a whole.

    Chairman - out of the Sector representatives a Chairman is chosen. The Chairman has the power to declare war, move the fleet, and direct and control colonization and human expansion. The current Chairman is Richard Prescott.

    The Assembly - Humanities AI's gained Rights in 2046, they created the Assembly in response to the UN. It is made up of two 'parties' the Minority and the Majority. They both work for the betterment of humanity as a whole.

Military - The UEG military is made up of three branches.
    Navy - The UEG Navy is the space borne forces, ships number in the high millions.
    Ground Forces - The UEGs ground forces, Numbers of active duty forces are in the high Billions
    Special Forces - The UEGs special forces are made up of various groups. Noted are the Praetorian Guards.

All UEG forces are augmented physically and mentally. Normal Augs are grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable, Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactate recovery time, human growth hormone catalyst is implanted to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues, a nervous system Aug that gives a 300% increase in subject reflexes.

     Praetorian Guards - A group of Hyper-Augmented veterans, numbers are in the tens-of-thousands. Things like reaction times are impossible to chart and have been theorized to be instantaneous. The only documented use of Praetorian Guards in battle was in the occupation of Decon IV, in which two Praetorian Guards effectively eliminated a colony of HLF members(2 million est.) with the use of captured weapons. Due to the Hyper-Augs the are around nine to ten feet tall, and weigh around six-hundred pounds without armor.

HLF- Human Liberation Front, the largest rebel group in human controlled space.

Tech - The UEG is home to many aspects of advanced technology.

    FTL - Faster-Than-Light, FTL was made possible  by the use of Worm Holes, Using aspects of M and string theory, the Wormhole drive (Called a 'Drive') as created in 2259. The main drawback is the power needed to use the drive. This was circumvented using "Star Skimmers', which use drones to form a Dyson swarm around a local star to collect its energy, which is in turn used to power a Drive.
    
Astroengineering - The UEG is fully capable of the creation of ringworlds, Dyson spheres, and even things like entire planets and stars.
    
Nano-Forge - the Nano - Forge (N-F) is a biological implant that is 'installed' after childbirth, it provides things like communication, a computer and rudimentary AI, and the ability to flash forge a suit of 'Under-Armor' this armor is Ill-suited for combat but it will protect the wearer from extremes of temperature and the vacuum of space. The forge can also produce small arms and simple bladed weapons for military personnel, although all forges will protect the wearer of ne-be.
    
HI - Human Interface, the HI is a small chip that is injected into the spinal column that allows the user to interface with technology without the use of holograms or other types of displays. To anyone but the user it looks like they are making odd hand gestures. Based on the H+ system developed in 2025.
   
 First Contact - first contact is the hypothetical contact between humans and another sentient race, the closest humans have come too this is the discovery of Fallmore V, a planet that showed signs of an intelligent race that killed itself in a nuclear war. The 'Contract' was made after this event.
        
The Contract - the code that if ordered, would entail the complete subjection of an intelligent race if they were to be a danger to themselves. Humanity would place the race under a type of Martial law until the are taken care of. The Contract entails the use of violence if  necessary.
    
Pods - Pods are anything that use the HI to make a 'world'. The pods make a Hyper-real simulation that is almost indistinguishable to the real world. The system is only limited to the power of the computer that it is operating on. Pods are used for things like training in militaries, or entertainment. Everything from pain to pleasure feels real to the user, you can 'die' in the simulation but your actual body just 'wakes up'.