Chapter 4

Gevase Starbase was both the Fleet and Ground Force training centre for Healers, though the training regimens in the non-healing areas were different, Ground Force being a lot more physical and lower tech in nature.

I was actually met in person when I arrived, which surprised me. Normally the AIs take care of that sort of thing. As it was, Optio Culsen had her reasons and orders. The first being to get me fitted and kitted in my own armour which acted as a space suit as well. This was a fairly specialised procedure and Culsen was the specialist doing it, hence my personal meet and greet.

“This is going to take the rest of the day,” she informed me after I dropped my gear off in my assigned quarters (officers get their own rooms once out of basic ... yay!).

“No problem, Optio,” I nodded. “Not like it can be avoided.”

“It can’t. You’re Ground Force, hence you wear the armour,” she smiled. “Think of it as a home from home.”

“Wondering more how a medical wand can scan through it,” I shrugged.

“I don’t know myself, my speciality is artificer, not medic or system analyst,” she nodded.

“I take it officer armour is different?”

“Oh hell yes, far more complex systems stuffed into it, yet all weighing the same if costing several thousand Royals more than the regular stuff,” she grinned as we entered a chamber that had a distinct machine shop feel to it.

“And once it’s mine, it’s mine,” I nodded.

“Yep. It won’t work for anyone else once it’s set and will self-destruct if the person trying it on isn’t Ground Force; lethally so, if they aren’t wearing an Imperial Armband.”

“Damn, that’s cool,” I replied with a wry smile.

“Yep,” she nodded. “AI, provide Tribune Kiria with her undersuits, please.”

“Scanning and done,” a toneless voice replied as several sealed packs of the full body-suited undersuits (think long johns) came out of a drawer and onto a benchtop near me.

“Put one on and I’ll begin the scan,” Culsen requested.

The material itself was elasticated and had to be put on by stretching open the neck and sort of rolling itself up my body from my feet. I then pressed the two small differently textured tabs on the shoulders and it moulded itself to my body in a skin-tight embrace that left nothing to the imagination and I mean nothing! It was also silky soft as well, so as to prevent chafing I guess, but looked as if it had been spray-painted on me. I could even see my fingerprints.

“Stand in the main scanner and stand still,” Culsen pointed and ordered.

I did as I was told and moved into the large upright scanner that then rotated its scanning heads in a 360-degree arc around me several times as Culsen and the AI made a few notes and comments together.

“OK, nothing unusual,” she nodded as she beckoned me out. “Advice is to keep to roughly the same weight and shape through your service. The armour can adapt, but, there are limits.”

“Yes, Optio!” I replied.

“Just Culsen when you’re in here,” she replied.

“Yes, Culsen.”

“You’ll get used to it. Officers are a lot more informal than the Troopers, except when we’re in front of the Troopers,” she informed me.

“So much they don’t teach us,” I nodded.

“It’s because you’re trained by Monitors to get your fitness standards up and weed out those who can’t or won’t do the extra effort,” she explained. “For all Monitors are the backbone of Ground Force, they aren’t Officers and don’t think long term.”

“Not sure how much long-term thinking my job will have,” I nodded.

“Oh, I think you might be surprised. Particularly if your intention is to serve near the front. Your designation might be Healer, but you will be expected to command and fight, if necessary.”

“Really?”

“Yep, you won’t be a specialist in it, but you will know how to command Troopers in combat as well as achieve long term objectives.”

“Oh, I see. I did wonder, but asking for extra information was frowned upon in basic.”

“Well, that’s over now. You will be expected to speak up and ask if you don’t know,” she confirmed. “Right, let’s get you started with the initial fitting.”

The wall opened and a pack of armour came out, carried by grav-beams and, naturally in its standby condition, looking nothing like armour, just a thin upright beam with two padded footplates.

“Step onto the footplates and use your com channel to contact the suit AI,” Culsen ordered.

I did as I was ordered and soon I was in touch with the suit’s internal AI.

“Acceptance achieved,” the room AI announced.

“Link to close command and suit up, Kiria,” she nodded.

I did as ordered and the suit literally unfurled itself around me moulding itself to my body and expanding itself out into a layered, flexible, armoured shell, including an outwardly opaque helmet, though inside everything was as clear as day including several diagnostic display screens.

“Attaching the waste connections. This will feel weird but don’t panic,” Culsen informed me.

“OK,” I replied noting that Culsen could hear me. “Ooh! Yep, definitely weird!” I added as I was violated by the suit as it attached itself to my waste orifices.

“Tell me about it! No one I know of gets used to it doing that. We just accept it.”

“Yeah, I can’t see that being anything other than weird.”

“OK, the connections will take any waste you make and process it via nanites to water and other non-harmful substances, same with perspiration and the water vapour from breathing. The dried out harmful stuff will be extruded outdoors or in the standby recharger in your armour lockup,” she explained.

“Yep, they explained all that during basic, though we weren’t told the how and why of it,” I nodded.

“The idea of the armour, other than being protection and an offensive weapon in its own right, is to enable Troopers to be able to spend days ... even binary cycles in the field, doing what’s necessary to survive and thrive in a combat environment. It’s self-sealing over any wounds and contains a basic medi-pack to deal with any injuries you sustain from a suit breach.”

“Food and water?” I asked.

“Well, I explained the recycling,” she replied. “However the suit will absorb organic material if it finds any and will convert it to a nutrient rich liquid which you can suck on in the field. Recommendation is you keep hydrated and fed constantly, as the best place for it is in you, not in the suit.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded, or tried to as the helmet part didn’t move that much.

“Oh, in case you were worried, the suit won’t absorb human organic parts, so no, despite rumours, it’s not cannibalistic.”

“Yuck, glad to hear it,” I giggled.

“Neural links made, personalisation achieved,” the AI announced.

“Walk around the room, Kiria,” Culsen ordered. “The internal AI will prevent full combat strength and keep you to normal activity.”

I did so and it was like I wasn’t wearing anything like armour and, other than the diagnostic screens, I’d never know I was in it. I could also feel the slight breeze from an aeration vent as it wafted over my body.

“Full sensory adaptation achieved,” the AI announced.

“That was quick,” Culsen beamed. “Seems you’re well suited to armour.”

“Just feels so ... natural, like a second skin,” I replied.

“How it’s meant to feel,” she nodded. “Now let’s do the various tests on grip and dexterity.”

We spent the next several hundred rotations going over various movements, including picking things up and putting them down with the armours internal AI adjusting things to adapt to my body as it became fully a second skin to me. We then went over the various additions that went with the armour such as the grav-pack, (which I was very familiar with) breathing packs, weapons harness and ration storage (which was the preferred method of feeding, not the recycled variation).

After all the fine tuning Culsen finally said, “OK, let’s go to the ‘gym’ where you can practice the strength settings.”

It wasn’t really a gym, but a framework that wrapped around the armour and looked designed to prevent rapid movement by grav-packs on every surface.

“Armour safeguards lifted,” the AI stated once I was wrapped.

“Bring up the main control screen, Kiria,” Culsen ordered.

I did so, most of the controls being intuitive within the armour with the AI second guessing what was required a lot of the time.

“Display on the left is the normal and combat settings,” she explained. “Just like the simulations you did in basic. Switch to the combat setting and go through the same exercise regimen you did for the fine tuning.”

I did so, feeling the built-in feedback from the armour as I put myself through a regimen that tested its capabilities combined with my own. No, it didn’t give me super strength, but it did make me stronger, faster and capable of running all day using the armour’s own powerpack to supplement my own muscles. Culsen also tested the armour’s ability to deal with projectile impacts (anything from rocks to pellets) and finally, after a long and gruelling work period, announced her satisfaction.

“You’ll be fine now,” she stated as I was about to leave and ‘park’ the suit in the charging station in my quarters. “There is a lot you have to learn about using it as well as the command configurations, but that’s for the training regimen to sort out, not me. The armour has adapted as well as possible to your frame and you seem to have a natural aptitude for its use. Unless ordered, you will now wear it at all working times on station. On ship it is your spacesuit, on planet it is your uniform.”

“Yes, Culsen. Understood,” I replied.

“Good. Nice meeting you, Kiria. Any issues with the armour whilst on base, come and see me,” she smiled.

Recognising it as a dismissal, I slammed my arm across my chest in a salute and did a precise about turn and left the workshop.

“You have no further duties until the next working period, Kiria,” the armour informed me in a flat monotone.

“Can I customise your voice?” I asked.

“No, this is a working environment.”

“Oh, right. Just wondered,” I shrugged. “Where can I get a meal?”

“Base mess is on the next level up. The base AI will guide you once I am in the charging station, Kiria.”

“Thank you.”

There was a pause for almost a breath before I got a “You’re welcome, Kiria.”

As I was off duty after being fitted and kitted, I ‘parked’ the suit in my recharge station, put on my fatigues and headed off to the base mess hall to do some recharging myself. The place was huge as both Ground Force and Fleet shared it, though the configuration was familiar in style to the one I’d used when doing basic. So, I swiftly got served and found a table, extruding a chair from the floor where they were stored to keep spaces clear. The meal itself was nothing special, just a savoury broth with a bread style extruded tube for dipping. It was easy to spot the division between the various services by the colours of the fatigues and the styles. I had to admit that Fleet won the most stylish award as Ground Force fatigues looked simply drab no matter the style or colour scheme. Still, it wasn’t a problem for me as I’m no fashion queen, though, according to my Dad, do scrub up well if I make an effort.

“May we join you?” I was asked by a young female being trailed by a male.

“Sure,” I nodded. “Name’s Kiria.”

“Beeln, and this is Regot,” she introduced them. “We’re from Ganvil.”

“Vreekoos here.”

“Wow! Never met anyone from the capital before,” Regot enthused.

“Well, as you’re Ground Force, you’ll meet a few I’m sure.”

“Yeah, eventually I guess,” he nodded.

“What’s your branch?” I asked.

“We’re both Drop Force specialists, or will be once we start training,” Beeln replied. “What’s yours?”

“Healer, or will be, same as you. I just got here today.”

“Same here, we had to wait for it to start for over a binary cycle,” she replied.

“Guess I got lucky, only five standard days here.”

“Yeah, I think you did,” Regot grinned. “They made us keep up the exercise regimen so we didn’t go stale.”

“Ouch,” I laughed, making them laugh too.

We then chatted for a while as we got to know a little about each other. Both were former Hegemony subjects, though didn’t remember that much about the former regime and the people on the planet were quite happy being Imperial subjects as the various bureaucrats who ran the planetary services no longer had to be bribed to actually do their jobs anymore.

“They took the hint when thousands were arrested, charged and made slaves,” Beeln laughed out loud. “My Dad reckons it was the best thing ever to happen as suddenly we had more money to spend on ourselves.”

“That’s the AIs for you, totally fair, see everything and enforce the laws,” I nodded.