Arc 1 - Chapter 25 - Warfare Lecture I

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------------------- Start of Pre-Chapter Author Note (Patreon-only) -------------------
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Hello everyone, LunaWolve here!

Welcome to the release of Chapter 25 for y'all.

Chapter 20 - Final Round, has just been released on RR. There have only been minor adjustments, to fix up some sentences.

For the Wolf Lords among you, this chapter here has seen no changes from the Draft version.

As forewarned, chapters are just simply longer nowadays. That does not mean you should provide less feedback, however. Make sure to provide proper feedback for each part, even if the chapters are longer! >.<

I'm looking forward to hearing your first impressions and opinions on this chapter. \o/

I hope you will enjoy it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- End of Pre-Chapter Author Note (Patreon-only) ------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nodding to himself once, after looking over the, now seated, group of Recruits, Lt. Jorvik began his lecture.

“Now then, first and foremost: During your deployments, as long as you are Recruits, you answer directly to your Squad Leader, who in-turn answers directly to your corresponding Lieutenant. For you grunts, that basically means: Do what your SL tells you to do and tell them if shit goes wrong or you have questions. Under no circumstances are you to break this chain of command, barring exceptional circumstances.

“This will change once you’ve completed your mandatory year of training and have been promoted to Privates. You will likely be split up, although most squads will likely be kept together as much as possible, as you’re absorbed into pre-existing Platoons and Companies. This is not part of today’s lecture, however.”

Thea made a quick mental note about this part in particular. Learning that they were going to be split up from the rest of the Recruits at the end of the training-period, was news to her. It made sense in hindsight, as a full Platoon of Recruits was unlikely to be efficient in a full-scale war.

What that also meant, however, was that there was going to be some sort of selection-process at the end of the year and depending on which Company and Platoon you were selected by, would heavily influence your future career in the UHF Marine Corps. She’d definitely have to bring this up in a squad meeting going forward, to make sure Alpha Squad was on the same page for what they want from their future careers.

‘Hopefully Desmond and Isabella will cooperate in that as well, as they have done with their builds… Although if Desmond leaves the squad, I would not exactly be too unhappy…’ Thea thought to herself with a slight, devious grin forming on her face.

Further thoughts were interrupted by the continued explanations of Lt. Jorvik.

“With that out of the way, let’s delve into a very brief history lesson. Before you all start groaning however, it’ll just be a brief reminder on how we got to where we are today, in terms of warfare. Undoubtedly you’ve all asked yourself already ‘Why the fuck are we inside of trenches, when there’s gigantic space ships in orbit and city-sized Titans roaming the lands?’ while you were inside of your challenge trials. This history lesson is to answer that question, so listen up.

“When humanity first started faring the stars, as legend has it, all we had were dingy little metal-coffins. Made out of steel, aluminium and dreams. Lots of fire, countless deaths and about half a million scientific breakthroughs later, we ended up with mighty vessels that could travel the stars, more akin to what we have today.

“During that period, however, war was a constant, as it has always been in human history. We simply cannot accept that our neighbours have slightly more than we do, so we resort to violence. In the early days, infantry and basic combined arms, such as tanks and aircraft were the norm.

“Over time, this changed to unmanned drone warfare, where the rest of the combined arms simply played a second fiddle. Once the true behemoths of the stars appeared, however, everything expectedly changed. Who needs drones, infantry, tanks or aircraft, when a single space ship can glass an entire planet from thousands of kilometres away, given enough time, after all?

“Thus, the age of Space Warfare was born. Whoever owned the largest fleet, the strongest ships, the best weapons and the most devious tactics in three-dimensional space, were the winner. Always. This never changed, despite many attempts at changing the status quo. Planetary anti-ship weapons, massive domes of plasteel covering cities, planet-bound anti-ship fighter and bomber fleets, and a myriad of other things were devised. Ultimately however, none could truly beat a fleet of properly maintained space ships.

“That was until about a thousand years ago, when suddenly, the Allbright System appeared, and changed the playing-field entirely. It would not be an overstatement to say that the System was the single biggest game-changer in the history of warfare for humanity as we know it. For the System did not just bring Abilities, Attributes and Factions, but also Technology. Technology on a level that humanity had previously not even dreamed of being able to truly acquire. Technology that was in the realm of science-fantasy, rather than fiction.

“The biggest and most influential of all, was the SADD. It stands for ‘System Automated Defensive Dome’, which is exactly what it sounds like. Now this bad boy is the reason you’re huddling in trenches, instead of fighting it out in space.”

With a snap of his fingers, which Thea noted in amusement made some Recruits flinch, a massive cube, measuring roughly five metres on each side appeared next to Lt. Jorvik.

Thea could not help but gasp, at the obvious marvel of technology before her.

This went way beyond anything new-tech or even next-tech could do. It was distinctly alien, simply based on the level of technology apparent from simply looking at it and yet it boasted a certain elegance about it that made it feel comforting - almost familiar.

She briefly wondered whether the UHF’s trial cubes were a result of their efforts to reproduce the SADD, considering their similar shape and general feel, but could not finish the train of thought, as her attention was continuously drawn towards the cube in front of her.

The cube’s surface was a silvery metallic material that gleamed with an otherworldly sheen, constantly shifting with iridescent hues as if reflecting the cosmos itself. The metal was not of any kind recognizable to metallurgy, as far as Thea knew, appearing to be almost liquid at times, but it looked unyieldingly hard and could undoubtedly withstand all types of weapons fire.

Upon closer examination, Thea could see that the surface was etched with countless intricate circuits, flowing like electronic rivers across the cube. These mysterious circuits pulsed with a subtle energy, their glow gently ebbing and flowing in a hypnotic rhythm, indicative of some unfathomable computation taking place within.

As Lt. Jorvik advanced toward the cube next to him and extended his hands, the face of the cube oriented towards him suddenly sprung to life, revealing a series of touch-sensitive panels. These panels invited interaction and immediately responded as he touched them in a seemingly arbitrary pattern. As he did so, they emanated a warm, vibrant light and projected holographic interfaces into the air, their blue hues reminiscent of the System boxes Thea had seen before.

The interfaces flickered with a variety of cryptic symbols and ever-changing data streams, responding both to Lt. Jorvik’s touch and his vocal commands. The symbols were written in a script wholly unfamiliar to Thea, and she strained to comprehend the unfolding spectacle.

A sense of awe struck her as a thought seized her mind, 'Could this be an alien language…? Maybe even the language of the Allbright System’s original creators? How can Lt. Jorvik understand it, let alone interact with it…?'

Suddenly, Lt. Jorvik's interaction with the cube reached its zenith.

The corners of the cube opened up, revealing compact, but intimidating emitters. These fist-sized devices hummed softly as they powered up, then projected a radiant energy barrier that danced with a myriad of colours, akin to the shifting hues of an aurora. The radiant barrier erupted outward, swallowing all within Thea's line of sight and reaching far past the visible horizon.

As it swept over the group of assembled Recruits, Thea braced herself, anticipating some form of sensation. Yet, she was met with a surprising void of sensation—no electromagnetic pulse, no push of kinetic energy, not even the whisper of a tingle. It was as if the barrier was intangible, as ephemeral as a ghost.

Gazing in awe at the dome shimmering above and extending around her, a spectacle akin to a panoramic aurora, she cast a glance at her surroundings. It became immediately apparent that she wasn't alone in her astonishment. On the contrary, every one of her fellow Recruits mirrored her wide-eyed wonder, their expressions frozen in a blend of shock and admiration. There was no doubt in her mind that they, like her, were in awe of the sheer level of technology unfurling before them and were eager to inspect the cube close-up.

A burning fever in her eyes, staring at the cube before her, Thea thought to herself, ‘I can’t let anyone get to it before me… If getting a closer look is the reward for some kind of competition from the Lieutenant… I will win it, no matter what.’

The amused voice of Lt. Jorvik cut through the awed group of Recruits like a hot knife through butter, returning their attention back towards the Lieutenant and his continued lecture.

“Now then, as you have all undoubtedly been able to tell, this little spectacle is not one of ours. This right here, is the medium-sized SADD. To defend it, will be your highest priority mission, on any battlefield going forward. The reason for that is quite simple: If this thing dies, so do you and everyone else on the battlefield.

“This might sound drastic, but it is not an exaggeration. Artillery fire, long-range missiles, kinetic bombardment, orbital strikes and even planetary-annihilators are stopped by this little, unassuming cube. If it goes down, all of those things - and more - will undoubtedly rain down upon you at a moment’s notice.

“Now, I know what you’re all asking yourselves, no need to give me those questioning looks: ‘But Mr. Lieutenant, Sir, what about fighting outside the barrier?’ And the answer to that is quite simple: If something’s inside the dome, it can’t shoot out. That only applies to things it is actively calibrated to block, however.

“There have been instances in the past, where certain factions have played a dangerous game by calibrating their SADDs to not block a particular type of weapon, such as GOG-launchers - that stands for Ground-Orbit-Ground by the way - in order to be able to fire off surprise artillery strikes at our squads in the field.

“The risk in employing this strategy should be obvious to everyone here. You can’t simply tell the cube to block another type of device, as it takes time to recalibrate and update the dome with the new parameters. So firing out of your own dome with such a weapon is essentially a giant flag, marked with ‘Use this particular thing to kill us!’, assuming that you have an equivalent of their tech available, of course.

”While the dome does not protect against smaller-arms fire, such as tank shells, rocket launchers and the like, attacking a SADD head-on is generally a bad idea, as it’s always going to be the most staunchly defended target on the battlefield. So, at the end of the day, if you’re operating outside the barrier, you will only really have to deal with things outside the barrier as well, meaning that you can kill it, before it kills you.”

Hearing the Lieutenant mention the GOG launchers, Thea could not help but think back to her own trial challenge. It had been the first time she had ever felt her instincts come to the forefront as dominantly as they did, which had ultimately saved her life and set her on the path to becoming a UHF Marine.

Knowing some of the underlying mechanics of the System now, Thea also quickly realised just how much of an issue the sudden appearance of superior tech in a, previously inferior, enemy truly had been. If they possessed technologically advanced artillery-like weapons that the UHF could not mimic their function of, they’d have free reign to fire from their own SADD, with no possible recourse.

“That said, it should now be obvious how much of an impact technology and newly developed weapons make on the battlefields. While simply changing the explosive power of a shell won’t fool the SADD’s barrier, changing the delivery method in a major way definitely will. It has become a bit of an arms race between Factions, to come up with new, innovative, artillery weapons, although it seems that we’ve mostly reached the zenith by now.

“It’s been quite some decades since the latest battlefield-changing artillery weapon was invented and fielded, those being the GOG-launchers I previously mentioned. As such, you likely won’t have to deal with artillery fire from inside the enemy SADD, if you’re operating outside of its barrier.

“So if you end up getting blown up anyway, it’s likely that it was from outside the SADD and you should inform your SO of the occurrence, so a plan can be made to assault the position. Now… This right here,” he said, as he slapped the SADD next to him, a fleshy thud sounding out from his hand hitting the strange metal, “is the medium-sized SADD.

“There are two larger variants and one smaller one. The larger ones are called the large-sized and super-large-sized SADD respectively, but you won’t be on battlefields that field them until way later on.

“The reason for that is the price. The SADDs are among the most expensive things a Faction can spend its Merit on. Considering their supreme importance in modern warfare, they are a non-negotiable part of war, for if you don’t bring one, you will simply die. As a result, most battlefields field exactly one. Only exceedingly complex and large battlefields, that are paramount to the current campaign, see more SADDs allocated towards them.

“As long as they aren’t destroyed, they can be redeployed to future battlefields. While you could, theoretically, capture the SADD of an enemy Faction and make it your own, this has never successfully been pulled off, for obvious reasons. An enemy Faction would rather blow up its own SADD than hand it to the enemy, considering the exorbitant amount of Merit that would change hands, if they simply gave it up.”

With that conclusion, Lt. Jorvik started typing away at the touch-sensitive panels once again, while giving the assembled Recruits a moment to digest the information he had just disclosed.

Instead of doing that however, Thea could not stop herself from staring at the marvellous machine in front of her, trying to decipher whatever she could possibly glean glimpses of. She had never felt as enamoured by a singular piece of technology as the SADD before her and her heart was aching with the need to analyse it and see how it worked, first-hand.

‘I wonder if I could ask the Sovereign to copy the SADD into my room… I doubt it would oblige, but it’s worth a shot! The amount of knowledge one could gain from simply researching this singular object… I envy the Research department of the UHF, which undoubtedly has had hundreds of years to study it…’

Interrupting her thoughts was the sudden reappearance of the sun, as the aurora-styled barrier suddenly disappeared. Ripped from her internal observations, Thea looked on in confusion as Lt. Jorvik simply started walking away from the SADD and the assembled Recruits, towards the hangers in the distance.

Looking around, Thea quickly saw that she wasn’t the only one that ended up confused, as their Professor had simply walked off.

“Ehhh… Should we follow him…?” came the questioning, mellow voice of Lucas next to her.

In response, Thea mused, “We haven’t been given any instructions to do so… He might want us to wait here to demonstrate something…? I think we should wait.”

Focusing her attention on the receding Lieutenant, Thea suddenly saw a miniscule flicker in the distance, towards the direction the Lieutenant was heading. Double- and triple-checking whether her eyes were simply playing tricks on her, she decided to ask for a second opinion.

“What… What is that? Do you see that, Lucas…? The weird flickering?”

Pointing Lucas towards what she saw, the hulking man leaned forward in his chair, causing it to slightly creak under his weight. Visibly straining his eyes, going as far as to put his hands in front of his eyes to shield his vision from outside influences, Lucas conceded after a few seconds, “Hmm… I don’t really see anything… But your Perception is way higher than mine anyway, so I’ll just take your word for it, Thea. Think it’s dangerous…?”

Taken aback by the question, Thea briefly looked over Lucas’s giant frame, who was still in the process of trying to observe what she had supposedly seen.

Confused, Thea hesitantly answered, “Dangerous…? I mean… No? We’re in a lecture, after all. Why would there be something dangerous?”

Surprised, Lucas looked around, seemingly remembering something at the mention of the lecture, before awkwardly looking at Thea, “Ahhh! Of course! My bad. This whole DDS thing is still new to me… I always forget it’s not actually the real world… Haha… I’m sorry…”

Thea couldn’t hold back the thought that Lucas’ simple-mindedness reminded her a lot of the stray she found back in Lumiosia’s Undercity when she was nine years old. She had cared for it for a couple of years after finding it, with James’ blessing of course, before it died of health complications, but Lucas’ general demeanour reminded her a lot of the little critter.

Smiling gently at the thought of comparing the hulking man before her with her long-lost stray, Thea answered, “No worries. It’s sometimes hard to remember, I feel you on that. Doesn’t help that the System enforces the absolute maximum realism either, huh?”

Lucas’ eyes lit up at the response, almost as if he had expected to be ridiculed, before he nodded repeatedly, “That’s what I’m saying all the time!”, before he turned back to look towards the flimmering that Thea had pointed out before.

Shaking her head slightly in amusement, Thea similarly focused herself back in the Lieutenant’s direction, before a thought struck her.

‘I am way better at Perception than Lucas…! Of course…! Perception!’

Remembering that her Ability did not only have to be used for combat purposes, as she had only done so once before with the bike earlier in the lecture, Thea quickly activated it in the hopes of figuring out what exactly she was looking at.

‘Sensory Overdrive.’

At once, the world around her shifted. The hum of the surrounding Recruits' chatter seemed to fade into a distant echo, the wind that tousled her hair appeared to become a symphony of unique vibrations, and the colours of the world became more vivid and precise.

Immediately, she focused her attention fully on the Lieutenant in the distance. Her vision sharpened to an unbelievable degree, as if a film had been lifted from her eyes.

The hazy figure of the Lieutenant that had been receding into the distance became as clear as if he was standing directly in front of her. Every minute detail, from the creases in his uniform to the dust particles swirling around his boots, was now incredibly discernible.

However, what really captured her attention was the minuscule flicker she had noticed earlier.

Time itself seemed to pause as she focused on the flicker. Now amplified by her heightened perception, the flicker revealed itself to instead be some sort of object, roughly three metres tall and two metres wide, judging by the rapidly oscillating light flimmers in a rhythm that felt distinctly… unnatural.

Her eyes began to water almost immediately, as her heightened senses tried to discern more information through the strange flimmer of light. Focusing her attention even harder on the flimmering outline of the object the Lieutenant was approaching, Thea suddenly felt a pull at her mind and abruptly saw the object clearly, as if there had never been a strange shimmer hiding it from view in the first place.

The object in question was a peculiar construction, both foreign and somehow intimately familiar in its design. It had a capsule-like shape, constructed of a sleek, metallic alloy that gleamed eerily under the overhead sun. Its smooth surface was unadorned, save for the intermittent pulses of light that danced across its exterior in sync with the rhythm she had earlier observed.

At its top was a domed structure, embedded with what appeared to be a skylight of tinted glass or perhaps a more exotic material. This allowed a glimpse into the interior, which was bathed in a soft, ethereal glow. The front of the object was outfitted with an advanced touch-screen interface, its display pulsing in concert with the lights on the exterior. Numerous data streams and cryptic symbols flowed across the screen, indicating an ongoing process or perhaps a readiness state.

The sides housed numerous ports and vents, potentially for thermal regulation or some other operational need. It was a finely crafted and sophisticated piece of technology which, similar to the cube, looked distinctly alien. It was hard to guess the exact purpose of the device without further examination, but its size and detailed craftsmanship suggested a function of immense importance.

Furthermore, Thea could not help but feel like she had seen a similar machine before, but could not remember exactly when or where, despite her exceptional memory, making her question whether she truly had seen this device before, after all…

Just then, her Sensory Overdrive ran out and the world around her resumed at its usual pace, causing Thea to slightly sway under the backlash. Strangely enough, she felt vastly more sluggish than usual, as if she had just ran a marathon. Breathing somewhat heavily, she thought to herself, ‘What is going on…? Did I overuse my Ability…? I only used it twice in the past hour, right…?’

Opening her Status screen, her eyes went wide.

[Status]:
Thea McKay - Level 4.26 - Contribution Points: 117.55 / 440 - Unspent Attribute Points: 16
HP: 121 / 121 - Stamina: 155 / 155 - Focus: 21 / 215 - TBD - TBD
Class: None - Specialization: None - Title: None - TBD - TBD

‘Why the fuck is my Focus at 21?! I only used it twice…?!’

Quickly pulling up the description for her Sensory Overdrive, to confirm the cost of it once again, she frowned.

[Active (Silver) - Sensory Overdrive - Level 3]
Description: Allows the participant to use up a certain amount of focus to drastically heighten their own Perception and mental capabilities for a short time.
Cost: 50 Focus - Factor: 650% - Effect Duration: 0.65 seconds

‘It should only have cost me 100 Focus, and I didn’t exactly use it back-to-back either, so I should have regenerated some Focus…? What is happening here…?’

Closing out all the System boxes, she looked back towards the Lieutenant who had just reached the mystery object which, much to her surprise, was fully invisible to her once again, only a miniscule flimmer of light reminding her of its existence.

Utterly confused and slightly shaky still, Thea leaned back on her chair before closing her eyes to let them rest in the hopes that the burning disappeared.

‘Is there more to Sensory Overdrive than I thought… More than the System is telling me…? Just what is going on with those insane Focus costs…? There’s no way the System wouldn’t tell you about those costs though, considering the severe dangers of overdrafting your Focus, if my challenge trial is anything to go by… Orion and I suffered quite a lot for that, after all…’

A sudden realisation struck her at the thought, which caused her to open her eyes wide, staring blankly towards the sky, ‘Wait… How did I even use Focus without being integrated…? Without having an Ability to use Focus on, in the first place…?’

Feeling a massive headache worm its way towards her, at the myriad of unanswered questions popping up in her mind, Thea quickly refocused her attention towards the lecture.

‘I’ll ask the Sovereign for help later… I’m sure it will have an idea of what might be going on… Or at least know who to talk to, if it doesn’t… I can’t be tardy in this lecture and risk missing important parts. I’ll just deal with it later…’

During her brief bout of revelations, Lt. Jorvik had apparently unveiled the large pod-like machine, as he was standing in front of it and rapidly typed away on its touch screens.

Thea was positively surprised to see that it looked exactly as she had seen during her earlier Sensory Overdrive use, yet the nagging feeling that she was missing an important piece of the puzzle as to how she managed to do so, did not leave her.

The assembled Recruits had started whispering amongst themselves, wondering whether they should move up towards the Lieutenant or remain seated. Since nobody made any first move however, everyone simply remained seated and instead added to the murmur of whispers discussing what they should do.

Suddenly, the voice of Lt. Jorvik cut through the murmur, silencing it as the assembled Recruits flinched at the unexpected occurrence.

“Now then, this right here…” He started, while waving from hundreds of metres away next to the large pod-like machine, “... is our life-line. This is one of the respawn pods we use during field operations. It will look vaguely familiar to the one you’ve seen before, during your integration, but it’s distinctly different in design, as it’s specifically made for battlefield usage.

“It boasts improved defensive capabilities, able to withstand most types of small to medium-arms fire, while also coming with an internal reserve of System-fluid. Speaking of which, let’s talk about everyone’s favourite topic in warfare: Logistics.

“While you’re deployed, there are three main objectives everyone has to care about and defend, if able. The first and most important, we already covered in the SADD. The second most important, are these babies right here - the respawn pods. Undoubtedly, their function and importance should be clear. The last of the big three is a direct addition to the respawn pod - the System-fluid tanks.

“You see, without System-fluid, we can’t print new shells for you to inhabit when you die, meaning that even if the pod is active, you will simply remain dead instead of being revived. The combat-version of the pods, such as this one here, have an internal reservoir that holds enough fluid for around 1,000-odd prints, plus or minus a couple.

“This means that on missions, with tens or even hundreds of thousands of Marines actively using these things, we need to have them hooked up to System-fluid tanks, in order to continue to be able to use our Faction trait to its fullest potential. These tanks are generally kept in-orbit and only brought planet-side when required, as they, much like the SADD and the respawn pods themselves, represent a large bulk of the overall Merit expenditure for the UHF in any given campaign.

“Now, don’t ask me what exactly System-fluid is, for I don’t have a single fucking clue. All I know is that it’s life-juice for all of us and we should be thankful for its existence, as it will save our asses many times over. I know that it definitely has for me, already,” the Lieutenant finished with a self-depreciating chuckle.

Abruptly, Lt. Jorvik appeared back in front of them, right next to his bike, before leaning against it as if nothing happened.

Thea couldn’t help but shake her head at yet another Lieutenant displaying strange behaviour, ‘This Lieutenant really likes toying with the DDS’ functions, huh…? This must be some kind of requirement inside the UHF, that all Lt’s have some kind of insane quirk, at this point…’

Smiling to himself, obviously enjoying the startled looks of the Recruits before him, Lt. Jorvik continued.

“Now, let’s get down to a bit more nitty-gritty logistics talk: What happens, when you die on the field? This is an important part, so listen up closely, as all of you will die, over and over again.

“Most Recruits feel somewhat invincible after their first taste of their System-enhanced bodies, the Attributes, Abilities and whatever else you might pick up in between, but quickly forget that they’re not the only ones with access to the System. Your enemies do too, so don’t go around thinking you’re hot shit on the battlefield, because you are not.

“There are dozens, hundreds and thousands of others like you and just as many that clearly outstrip you in every possible regard, so remember this forever: You will die. Know what to do, when you do - not if you do.”

With those words, he briefly quieted down, to let the natural silence of the vast-open landscape underline his point. Looking over the assembled Recruits, seemingly to make sure everyone was paying close attention to his every word, Lt. Jorvik briefly nodded to himself, before continuing.

“So, when you die, you will wake up in a respawn-pod much like that one back there. You will be naked and inside of a room with dozens or potentially even hundreds of other naked marines, all trying to get back to the fight as soon as possible. Each respawn chamber is set up in the exact same way, so pay close attention: Whatever you do, do not go against the flow of marines coming your way.

“Simply turn left when you exit the pod and access the locker next to it, to find your uniform and a set of standard-issue equipment for your role, as stated by your profile. If you are looking for anything beyond standard-issue equipment, you will have to leave the respawn chamber first and turn right towards the resupply station. You can request additional prints of whatever licences you have acquired there.

“There is one way around this, however: If you happen to be really well-off, you can pre-purchase additional copies of your equipment and have them added to your System profile, so that you can simply pull them from the lockers next to the pods. This will drastically accelerate your redeployment speed, as the resupply stations are generally fairly swamped and slow, comparatively.

“The downside is that you will have to pay an extra fee for the System to store your requested equipment ahead of time, which can become exceedingly expensive, as it scales with the actual prices of the individual prints. Talking about prints, before anyone asks, we print all of our gear. This is thanks to the System providing its ludicrously advanced technology to us, at basically no up-price.

“On the battlefield, we no longer need to carry around massive quantities of materials to manufacture weapons or armour, for we can simply request the System to print the items for us, by paying System Credits. It does some… strange calculations to figure out how much each piece of equipment should cost and then just… prints it. Without requiring any materials at all! The way that it works is… It basically… So it… Listen. I don’t know how it works, okay? I will stop pretending that I do.

“Our researchers have spent literal centuries trying to figure it out and haven’t been able to come up with much except ‘seems like System shenanigans’, except in more scientific terms. Whatever the case may be, you simply request your item to be printed at one of the large printing machines and the System will quote you a price you pay, to then receive the item.

“Printing equipment comes with an additional caveat: Equipment that is printed more often, is done faster and cheaper. We don’t know why exactly that is the case, but the more exotic and unique your equipment, the more expensive and the longer it will take for the printers in the field to create it for you.

“It’s generally assumed to be some kind of balancing factor, as Aces generally carry around highly specialised gear. Thanks to this quirk of the System, being able to kill one and essentially take them out of the fight for quite some time, is a very real strategy.”

As if suddenly remembering something important, Lt. Jorvik jumped up to his feet, from his leaning position.

“Right! That reminds me: Procedures for when you end up running into an enemy Ace! This was something I was supposed to lead with, but… well here we are. Just remember it as an important aspect, okay?

“If you find an enemy Ace, and trust me, you’ll know if you find one, there are two extremely important things you need to do: First, immediately let your superior officer - that’s your SL in your cases - know of the exact location and rough power estimate, if you have one.

“Secondly, get the fuck away from them, as fast as you can. If you are unable to run away, for one reason or another, pool all of your firepower at the Ace at the same time. That’s your only chance at survival if you happen to find yourself in such an unfavourable position.

"Remember this sequence: Message your SL first, then focus on your own survival. Your life on the battlefield is less important than ensuring the success of the campaign. It’s downright meaningless in comparison. If you must sacrifice yourself to deliver vital intelligence to command, then embrace your end willingly. Do you understand, Recruits?"

Being addressed directly, the assembled Recruits instinctively responded in unison, their voices echoing with their Basic training, "Yes, Sir!"

Nodding to himself in satisfaction once again, Lt. Jorvik continued his lengthy exposition.

“There are three more important aspects about respawns we need to cover. Firstly, if you happen to die away from your squad, what do you do?

“The answer is quite simple: Tag along with whatever group goes in the same direction. There are rarely, if ever, situations where nobody goes the same direction as you. If you happen to find yourself in that situation however, simply wait for a couple of minutes on additional reinforcements. You are not allowed to leave the respawn site without at least a full-squad in strength, unless specifically stated otherwise - this is both to your own safety, as well as the safety of every other marine on the field.

“We can’t risk having individual marines get picked off over and over again while trying to get back to their original squad. That’ll not only drain your own Merit and potentially Zero you out, but also become a major drain on the UHF Faction resources, if it happens in a large enough quantity, due to the Merit prices for System-fluid.

“Secondly, what happens if you’re on the opposite end? What if you’re the only survivor of your squad, because you ran into an ambush or ended up in a desperate struggle? The answer is similarly simple: Group up with your nearest allies or wait for reinforcements. There will rarely, if ever, be the case that nobody is nearby or nobody is coming towards you. If that should ever be the case, simply ask your SO for instructions.

"Finally, before we delve into more stimulating topics than logistics, I must impart one additional, exceptionally crucial note: Should you ever hear the term ‘Black-Level Respawn-site’, you must immediately cease all activities and head towards the indicated respawn site.

“This scenario is an all-hands-on-deck situation, where a respawn site has been captured - not destroyed - by the enemy. The situation is dire because we cannot remotely disable the respawn pods. This means our forces can be repeatedly killed by the enemy until either they Zero out or the System-pod runs out of fluid.

"Due to this exceedingly dire situation, a Black-Level alert should be treated as an absolute top priority. All available personnel will be rerouted towards the Respawn-site to attempt re-capture or, in most cases, destruction. We would prefer to obliterate the entire site rather than abandon our forces to the enemy. We can always purchase new pods, establish new sites, but once a Marine is Zeroed, they're gone forever…"

With this sobering warning and the grim image of an endless cycle of respawning and death until your Soul finally entered the Void forever in their minds, Lt. Jorvik gestured for the Recruits to follow him towards the hangars in silence…