Shattered super-soldier

The Haliea rumbled to life, the thing really put the ‘Heavy’ in ‘Heavy Aerial transport’ with a wingspan of almost 50 meters and a height of 8 meters it was capable of transporting 2 standardized 15 meters by 3 meters by 3 meters intergalactic shipping containers, one internally loaded taking up most of the internal cargo bay leaving space for 8 personal and equipment, and one carried under the main body, with a maximum takeoff weight of 180.000 kilograms in total she was a pretty heavy bird, weight aside the Haliea was anything but harmless despite being a transport, with 8 wing hardpoints capable of mounting various missiles and a 30mm autocannon mounted on a flexible mount under the cockpit it was able to bring quite the heat

‘It’s still a rather tight fit in here…’

Matthew had paused his ‘talk’ with Ripper as the internal shipping container were being loaded, not that they had been doing much talking so far, it was only as Haliea-001 picked up speed down the Northern 15 kilometer long exit tunnel that he spoke

“So… I don’t have much experience with the whole… Physical aspect of romantic relationships”

Matthew fell silent, he expected Ripper to make some sort of crash joke at his expense any moment now, but only silence followed, when he checked to see if she had zoned out, she instead had turned her head to face him as she listened patiently to what he was saying, her blood-red eyes were locked on his as she waited for him to continue, Matthew broke eye contact before he continued

“You know, I was a normal kid and all… I was never close to anyone, I thought I would have all the time in the world to get my degree and find myself a partner to settle down with… From there I had figured I would be the breadwinner of a perfectly normal 2 child household and retire late… But that never happened, my home world was put under penance blockade when I was 20”

As he thought back on the first few years of the blockade, the horrors he committed and saw in order to survive had long since lost their repugnant horror, despite their graphic nature the only reaction he had to them now almost 300 years later was a dry ‘Yeah, I suppose that happened’ he had been far too desensitized to violence and the horror of war

“It was terrible, and it didn’t really help with my development, the things I saw made me disgusted with people. I hated the horror they inflicted on other people, I hated the horror I inflicted on others… Even after my mangled body was brought up by BlueArrow I never felt like I wanted to be physical intimate with anyone”

Matthew turned to face Ripper again and after a few moments he spoke

“So… I am sorry I’ve always been giving you shit, but the way you have always come on to me so strongly repulsed me, I don’t hate you… It’s just… I can’t handle all that, frankly physical intimacy disgust me”

Ripper blinked before she nodded, then after a few moments she showed a small smile before she spoke

“I understand, thank you for telling me Matthew”

Then after another few silent moments, she lowered her head

“I am sorry for treating you like that… I… I just wanted to get closer, and I thought it was the best way to do so at the start… after that I got annoyed at how you continued to dismiss me and I might have piled it on a bit thick”

Matthew nodded and faced forwards before he leaned back in his seat, for a few minutes only the rumble of the two engines could be heard in the compartment until Ripper spoke

“We’re soldiers, Major… We were neither augmented nor trained for all this emotional shit… But can I ask you for one thing?”

Matthew looked over at her and nodded, after she gathered her courage for a few moments Ripper asked

“Do I have your respect, as a comrade in arms, as a person dealt a slice of the same pile of shitty pie?”

Matthew nodded

“Of course”

-

As Haliea-001, Haliea-002 and Haliea-003 exited the tunnels and rose into the sky Matthew and Ripper were still mostly silent, however they both felt relieved having finally cleared the air, so it was no wonder that by the evening of that day they had been talking for a few hours, as it turned out Ripper’s home world had also been put under a penance blockade just before she were set to be executed for defying her superiors, so the two found solace in their similar past and shared trauma

By the 3rd day, the first leg had been completed, the heavy transport touched down on a small island surrounded by the open sea, and construction on a supply outpost began swiftly, Haliea-002 and Haliea-003 had already begun the journey back towards Uliat after unloading their cargo

Matthew and Ripper were sitting in the grass eating some portable rations while the android workers constructed the outer perimeter of the outpost, however their quiet meal time was interrupted by a report from Aea

[Paradigm shift observed, local time distortion have been logged, there is a 4 day time lag between this island and the city of Uliat]

“...What?”

Matthew nearly spat out his meal ration, he remained silent for a few moments before he asked

“Are there any gravitational anomalies?”

[Negative, furthermore the time distortion is in constant flux within 98 hours, the observed time distortion have been negative and positive though only up to 98 hours in either direction]

Matthew let out a deep sigh before he muttered

“Well if this cursed ball of dirt made any more sense I would feel personally insulted…”

Ripper nodded to Matthew’s statement and spoke after she finished inhaling her vacuum packed pound cake

“I agree Major, at least it’s consistent in how inconsistent it is”

[A firmware patch have gone out to all local automation to compensate for the time distortion, however the long endurance drones deployed to chain link our comms will have to be retrieved before the update can be applied, thus the 2nd leg will likely be delayed]

Matthew let out a sigh, he was still feeling impatient, however having actually started the journey North had settled most of his anxiety

“Very well, take a safety first approach and brief Doc on the situation at the earliest convenience”

[Understood, worry not Master, the distance covered on the first leg is assumed to be just under 3/4th of the actual distance, the next task of pinpointing the location of the Basecamp is unlikely to delay us much]

Matthew nodded silently as he started ahead, then he mentally shifted gears as he stood up and turned to Ripper

“Well then, we have some time on our hands… So how about I help you get up to speed, Ripper?”

Ripper nodded, seeming rather unbothered by Matthew’s offer of training together, however there was a clear glint of excitement in her eyes as she stood up and walked towards Haliea-001 to fetch some training equipment without any further words, Matthew understood how she felt very well, after he had woken from the coma that followed the 09 installation operation feeling more alive than he had for 150 years he had itched to go shooting some targets himself

‘...Hopefully she’ll go easy on me once she regains her edge’

-

The time distortion proved to be a bigger pain than Matthew had thought it would be, it was only after 4 days that the entire drone fleet had been retrieved and patched, so it would be at least another 4 days before the second and hopefully final leg of the journey would begin, not that he had been bored, not at all… In fact, he really wished for a break right about now

“Come on, Major, One more round!”

This had been his life so far, despite a couple of blips on the radar everything was peaceful on the small island, thus there wasn’t really anything else to do

“Fine, let’s go again…”

Matthew rose to his feet and gripped the solid steel training sword as he glared resentfully at Ripper, she had changed into a tight-fitting training outfit on the first day when he had offered to train with her, and she had yet to take any sort of break, in other words they had been sparing with little break for almost 4 days straight, Matthew readied his practice sword as he stood facing Ripper

“Ready when you are”

Ripper remained silent as she brought up her sword, from the past 4 days of training Matthew had reaffirmed his belief that if one were to enter Ripper’s range while she wielded her a blade was an act akin to suicide, in one word she was ruthless, in two words she was ruthlessly efficient

‘Easy does it…’

Matthew inched closer a few millimeters, that was all it took, at once Ripper’s body exploded forwards, her entire being were in complete sync with her blade, every single muscle fiber were precisely focused to wield her sword, Matthew reversed his momentum as he stabbed out at Ripper, however she effortlessly flowed past his blade like water and stabbed the tip of her sword into Matthew’s throat before she followed up with 8 hits that would have completely dismembered him before he even hit the ground

[Fracture detected, Trauma nanite pattern 1 deployed]

Matthew grabbed his fractured Trachea and dislodged it from his windpipe with a pull, then he spat a mouthful of blood and mangled cartilage on the ground before he yelled at Ripper in anger

“I told you to not stab me in the throat! You little shit!”

Ripper covered her mouth as she giggled mockingly as she put her sword over her shoulder, her eyes shone as a cat like grin was plastered on her face as she responded

“And I keep telling you to keep your guard up properly, old man~! Come on, let’s go again~”