Shattered super-soldier

Matthew lay on the green grass and gazed up at the sky again today, his mind was mostly in a blank state as he meditated, however under this calm facade a slow boil could be felt, it wasn’t anger or any form of aggression… It was his patience wearing thin. Eventually, Aea reported the good news he had been waiting on

[IFF confirmed, Haliea-002 and Haliea-003 inbound to outpost in 8 minutes]

Matthew let out a sigh as he continued to stare at the sky, then he reached up towards it and closed his fist, silence remained for a few moments before he sat himself up as he switched gears

“Have both aircraft enter a maintenance cycle as soon as they have been unloaded, how far along is Haliea-001?”

[Haliea-001 have completed initial drone deployment to the specified orders and is currently tracing the Southern coast of the Willmir empire beyond visual range for secondary deployment, tertiary deployment on the way back towards the outpost will be completed in an estimated 13 hours]

The map and neurological data that they had gathered from the 3 explore ships had proved their worth very quickly, most of the sea south of the Willmir empire as well as the coastline were mapped, and so far Haliea-001 had confirmed the data to be very precise

“Have communications been restored with Basecamp?”

[Yes, however, manual master override is needed to restore command privileges and structure]

“... Alright, ready Haliea-002 and Haliea-003 for deployment of 2 missile batteries and 30 golem combat androids and 20 Hound androids… once the maintenance cycle and loading have been completed, Ripper and I will head to the old Basecamp]

[Confirmed, 2 hours and 26 minutes until Haliea-002 and Haliea-003 will be loaded and ready for takeoff]

“Now then… How are the patients looking, Ripper?”

“Well, I am not a doctor, but… Major tendons cut, severe muscle degradation, malnutrition, severe mutilation and severe general physical and psychological trauma… Yeah, I think they’ll be fully recovered in a week or two”

Matthew let out a sigh, along with it came a mental note that Ripper’s medical advice weren’t to be trusted

‘...Well, she’s not that wrong though… Between 1 and 2 months before most of them are fully recovered’

With the medical technology available to Matthew’s group, full recovery from even the most severe wounds, whether physical or mental weren’t all that difficult, it was even possible to regenerate and revive a person even if the only thing that remained of them were a somewhat fresh head, well that would come with it very own set of problems depending on the ‘freshness’, but it was strictly speaking possible, this perfectly reflected the Trerubic idiom: The only people that are truly sick are the poor

‘...The Trerubic empire really is irredeemable at this point’

With no medical insurers and their bottom lines to worry about, naturally Matthew felt no reason to not help out the former slaves to the full extent of their medical technology, so they would be fine

“Also, Ruki asked to speak with you before he goes under for his first round of regeneration”

Matthew turned his head towards Ripper that moved around quickly she was busy with her virtual reality training swinging a solid metal training sword around with deadly intent, the mass of metal looked like a blur as she kept up her pace

“Alright, I’ll go see him now”

Matthew stood up and walked towards the single building, the building in the middle of the 4 outer walls was nothing more than a glorified storage shed, however as Matthew and Ripper had taken in 48 former slaves it had been converted to a field hospital of sorts, as Matthew entered the building the first thing that came into view were the field of cots that were set up with almost no space between them, each cot held a former beast man slave, who were in blissful anesthetic sleep as their broken bodies were put back together, all had a single tube connected to their necks

“Major Rockwell”

“Ruki, you wanted to see me?”

Matthew walked over to Ruki’s cot, he had already recovered a bit from getting hooked up to the nutrient vat and the half day of sleep he had gotten after the rescue, he sat himself up and looked Matthew in the eyes for a few moments before he spoke

“You are not the same Major Rockwell I met on those mountains… No, it feels like that person was you, only a long time ago, right?”

Matthew shrugged, it felt like a long time ago they had met… At that time, his mind was still mostly fractured, and he admittedly had some problems getting the pieces of the puzzle known as Matthew Rockwell to fit together even to this day

“Something like that, my mind still has not recovered completely… And frankly I doubt it ever will”

Ruki showed a smile before he spoke

“A warrior lives his life a warrior despite the scars he picks up along the way”

Matthew nodded, after a few moments of silence Ruki spoke again

“I was disappointed after my manifestation, having undergone the many trials to even be allowed to undergo it and to only awaken a Mystic ability that allowed me to see the truth of a person was to be a warrior… Well, it was disappointing”

Matthew remained silent, he knew some of the former slaves had Mystic abilities and if it were under any other circumstances they would all have metal bomb collars stitched to their necks to ensure ordinance, however he knew the mind of a slave well, and he also trusted the sensation in his stomach that screamed out to him in the words of Alina, that he would surely regret it this time too if he only relied on brute force

“Life never really turns out the way you want it”

“No… It certainly does not… However, with our 2nd meeting and your rescue of my people I do believe there is some greater fate at work here, I also now believe I know the reason why I was given this Mystic ability…”

Matthew waited for Ruki to continue, after a few moments Ruki reached his hand out for a handshake, Matthew took his hand and Ruki clasped his hand tightly before he shook it and spoke

“I swear on the wellbeing of my people, we will repay this debt of gratitude”

Ruki let go of Matthew’s hand and laid down again, he still awaited Matthew’s response which came swiftly and ruthlessly

“I don’t need slaves in my debt”

Ruki blinked twice before he began laughing, after a bit he spoke

“Then I will hurry and become a person once again”

Matthew showed a grin and spoke

“Alright, Aea start Ruki’s regeneration”

[Confirmed, administering anesthesia to patient #48, time until 1st regeneration treatment completed: 12 days, 1 hour and 28 minutes]

-

[First drop zone coming up in 60 seconds]

Matthew’s eyes slowly opened, the surrounding space was slightly cramped, while the internal cargo bay of a Haliea heavy transport was big, the amount of gear stuffed into Haliea-002 along with himself and Ripper had made it a rather uncomfortable trip so far, hence he had rested his eyes until now

“Deploy the 1st assault container as planned, deploy the 2nd container 35 kilometers to the East, 800 meters from the coast instead of the original drop site”

[Confirmed, Haliea-003 breaking formation to deliver payload]

A few moments passed before Haliea-002 rapidly slowed down as it dropped altitude, then a few moments later the cabin shock as the external shipping container were detached and fell into the sea below, Haliea-002 quickly gained back its speed and altitude as Aea reported

[Missile battery-1 have come to a rest at 38 meters below the surface, all systems read green, deployment successful, 12 MIRV equipped ICBM’s ready for targeting]

Matthew let out a sigh, so far so good

‘Having intercontinental ballistic missiles ready to deliver the radiance of the sun in only 300 seconds as a back-up really does put my mind at ease, even if the range is severely limited due to Wicka’s interference’

[How long until we drop, Major?]

Matthew didn’t bother to turn his head to Ripper that sat next to him, he simply closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat again as he asked Aea

‘How long until arrival at the target area, Aea?’

[4 minutes]

‘That’s what the pilot says, why are you so giddy, Ripper?’

[Well~ I am just really looking forwards to meeting your sweetheart~]

‘...Knock it off for now, if either of us screw the pooch because you are too busy bantering I will flay you alive’

[That sounds kinda—]

‘Mute Ripper’

[Confirmed]

Matthew let out a sigh and enjoyed a minute of silence before he unmuted Ripper’s comms and asked

‘Are you done?’

[Yep~ You’re not so tense anymore either, old man~]

Matthew let out yet another sigh he would die before he admitted that verbally, so instead he switched gears

‘Final check, ready for rapid deployment’

A moment later Ripper answered back, her previous laid back tone had completely disappeared

[Good check, ready for rapid deployment]

With that, Aea also sounded the alarm as the back ramp of Haliea-002 open up and the red light switched to yellow indicating that Ripper needed to be ready

[10 seconds until R1 deployment, ready at the ramp]

Ripper walked over to the ramp and the moment the yellow lamp turned off, and the green light lit up she stepped out of the ramp and quickly disappeared from Matthew’s view, a few moments passed before the light switched to yellow once again, Matthew finished the final checks on his Mk. 22 as his stomach tingled while Haliea-002 dropped a significant portion of its altitude before Aea’s voice sounded out inside his mind again

[10 until M1 deployment, ready at the ramp]

Matthew walked over to the ramp and stood ready, he looked down towards the ground that raced past only a few hundred meters below, then at the moment the light switched to green he kicked off and jumped out of the transport, the ground rapidly approached for a few moments before the parachute on his Mk. 22 deployed and slowed him down just enough that the Mk. 22’s hydraulics could handle the impact

‘M1 deployment complete, heading towards target area’

The area around Matthew were gray and brown, the winter chill had yet to set in properly, but he figured it wouldn’t be long until first snow fall, it was a stark difference to the summer landscape he had seen last he were this far North

[R1 deployment compete, securing perimeter]

[Golem and Hound combat androids deployed, Haliea-002 climbing to provide overwatch]

Matthew moved quickly despite the Mk. 22’s apparent bulk, and within 2 minutes the old Basecamp slowly came into his view