Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 74: Eelson
Jace stood at attention in his line. As he hoped they managed to group up into drop sections. There were Orbital Drop, High Altitude, and Low Altitude. Seems the testers were taking the people's physical statistics into account when they were picked. From what he could hear the Low Altitude consisted of the physically weaker group who had only recently gotten their second ability or were close to their third. High Altitude had people who had recently gotten their third ability or were halfway to the fourth. Orbital Drop had the people who were close to getting their fourth ability or had already gotten it.
But even with each type of drop it would be a test of their ability to land after parachuting. They were putting a lot of thought into this testing of their abilities. He also learned that the survival kit they were given differed depending on their compatibility rating. Surprisingly enough he was not the only person with an S-rank compatibility.
Compatibility rating was what determined a person's ability to use their system given talent and abilities. It also determines how well the nanobots in the body can repair and adapt. The compatibility is determined by how well the body can take the changes from a genetic level. So it is measured by the amount of nanobots found in the blood sample in percentages. Jace did not know the specific percentages for each level. But he used to believe that A-rank compatibility was the highest one.
As Jace stood at attention the small stage off to his left was empty. He felt a slight shift as the Wing of Pegasus came out of the Warp and Faster than Light combination that it was in. Then there was a siren and a flashing orange light as the hangar door they were standing in front of began slowly opening after some type of transparent light blue shield appeared.
As it slowly opened they were rewarded with the sight of black space and the planet they arrived at. There was a single large planet that was mostly light green but there were dark green spots scattered throughout, but there was a larger gathering of dark green that had dashes of grey. Around this planet were five moons, a massive Orbital Station, and a number of smaller stations scattered throughout. There were also the nearby space ship's they were drawing near as well.
The first four moons were on one side of the planet while the last one was on the other. The first of the moons is a pure white ball. The second one is a blue ball, probably water. The third one is a variety of colors all on the blander side. The fourth moon is colored more like a normal habitable planet would be with spatterings of green, blue, brown, and sand beige. The fifth and final moon is on the opposite side of the green giant planet from the other four moons. The moon, which could not really be called a moon, was a ball of fire and looked remarkably like a star which most planets in a system would rotate around. But it looked like the sun and moons were rotating around the planet instead.
As Jace was contemplating how it would be possible he was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed a man in uniform fatigues with pieces of armor throughout his outfit was stepping onto the podium. The dark skinned man had a burly mustache and eyepatch as he scowled a menacing aura that could be felt by everyone.
"Welcome to the Special Operations Training Program! My name is Commander Riley Eelson! Here it does not matter what your current military rank is! You are back to being a bunch of untrained cadets! For the next three months you cadets will undergo training unlike anything you have ever experienced! Fortunately for me you green grunts will only be my problem for the first month then you are someone else's issue! Now listen up! This nice lady in the lab coat will tell you the basics so you can survive on this planet, but for the next week everything else is up to you to accomplish!" Commander Eelson as he called himself then stepped back and a young blonde woman in a lab coat stepped forward nervously.
"Umm… hello, first there needs to be an explanation. You all have been in somewhere or other been volunteered for the Tartarus Project. There are many things about the project which I cannot explain but the main thing is that the project only called on people that would be loyal to the well being of our citizens above even your own lives. The Emperor and the Military Intelligence and Logistics Division created this project in the hope that some of you will come out far more versatile than the typical soldier or even special forces unit. As Commander Eelson told you before, the first week of training will be you surviving in the wilderness of Echo which is the name of the planet you will be dropping onto." The lab coat woman then pulled out a datapad.
"As for what you will need to know," She took a moment. "The seas on the planet are a flesh melting acid but the islands have clean water rivers. The planet's cycle is thirty hours split evenly between night and day. Most of the wildlife have developed into lethal variations of the Earth species I am sure you all learned about in the academy. But we have also been quietly intercepting all Kitinol Vessels that have been heading to both Vexical Empire Space and our area of the Kitinol Offensive and transporting them to this planet. In doing so we discovered that even the Kitinol struggle to survive and adapt to this type of world." She looked up from the datapad. "Now a bit of advice, assume everything from the worms to the trees will want you dead." She then stepped back and Commander Eelson stepped forward again.
"Now that you know that I will now outline this training exercise!" The commander immediately went back to yelling and exuding a daunting presence. "You will spend a week surviving on the planet by any means necessary. We do not care about anything else. All survival kits have a radio and an extra battery, on the last day you will keep it on and listen for the pickup location. Failure to find yourself to said location will result in you being marked as missing. All survival packs also received a metal band, you are to keep them on at all times. They monitor your vitals and it is for us to observe you in this test."
"For the record this test will be the least daunting of all the tasks I will force you to undertake during the month-long training under me. I do not expect all of you to survive, but my superiors hope you all do survive. So I equipped all of you with the bare minimum you need in order to survive on this planet. I suggest you don't fail expectations by dying. As for advice… aim for the dark green, those are trees while the light green is the flesh eating acid that will slowly kill you. Any questions?"
After the Commander's speech they shuffled uncomfortably while the ship slowly drew nearer to the green planet. Jace, the every curious soul and clearly not the only one, raised his hand to ask a question. While a few others which were undaunted by the commander raised their hands as well.
The commander pointed at him and nodded, "you with the messy hair. What is your no doubt stupid question?"
"What type of shielding is that?" Jace asked as he motioned at the shimmering blue transparent layer that was separating them from the vacuum of space. As he asked his question several others including Taylor lowered their hands. The action got a giggle from the blonde lab coat woman.
"That!" The commander pointed at the blue shimmering. "Is a more recent development on spaceship crafting development. Every spacecraft being created by the Military Intelligence and Logistics Division has it. It is set to replace the tunnel chambers that ships now use; it will cut down on unnecessary space usage on a ship. They are called atmospheric barriers and are a variation on shielding technology in that they can let things through but keep the vacuum of space out."
Tunnel Chambers were the method that most spaceships used while in space. Since when entering or exiting a ship they have to worry about the change from an atmospheric environment to a vacuum one. There would be either a long chamber where 'gates' opened as a ship or other vehicle flew through and closed behind them, making it impossible for the atmosphere of the hangar to be sucked out. The other would be a single chamber where it would act like an airlock. They would enter the chamber and both doors would close then the oxygen would be sucked out or put in depending on whether you were exiting or leaving an area and a door would open once the process was complete.
Atmospheric Barriers on the other hand were completely different. It seems they acted like a shield would but only for oxygen and other atmospheric elements. So most things could easily pass through but the molecules that make up atmospheric conditions would bounce off like nothing happened. Like how lasers or weapons fire bounced off the Wing of Pegasus' shields.
