Interstellar Age
Chapter 123 Tia Levels Up



After spending the night drinking and discussing personal matters with JT, Erich became considerably closer to the man. They both stumbled into their hotel room, after consuming an ungodly amount of alcohol at precisely the moment that the stars began to rise with the morning. 

However, Erich and JT were not intoxicated, nor were they actually sleep deprived. Instead, their minds and bodies were fresh, as their NeuroLink system had targeted the poison in their bodies, and eliminated it. As for why they were still "well rested" the Germanic race was genetically enhanced to superhuman levels, and because of this they required significantly less rest than baseline humans. 

Thus, when they entered the hotel room, they were met by the other members of their unit, who had some grim expressions on their faces. Instantly Erich and JT knew something was wrong, and were quick to inquire about what had happened during their absence. 

"What is it? Did we get the intel we needed?" 

Ghost shook his head and sighed before speaking about the information which the two errant members of his fireteam were lacking. He did this by displaying a holographic projection of the superweapon.

It was clearly something that humanity should not be able to develop on their own, and though the origins of the weapon were concealed, after much effort on behalf of the analysts within Military Intelligence, and the IIS. The Germanic Star-Empire were able to determine just who had aided the confederacy from behind the scenes, which Ghost expressed with a particularly hostile tone in his voice. 

"It would appear that the Ghimderi have not ceased their hostility towards our people. Without a doubt, this super weapon, which is capable of penetrating planetary shields and destroying an entire world, was developed using Ghimderi technology. 

The Ghimderi know that the objective of the Germanic Star-Empire is to reclaim Earth, and because of this, they have decided to aid our enemies. Our orders are simple: infiltrate the facility which is producing this weapon, and destroy the prototype, along with all the data which the enemy has on it, as well as scientists who have been working on the project. 

Naturally, such an operation will immediately attract the attention of our enemies, and because of this, the IIS will be conducting a separate operation to cause a riot within the district that the facility lies in. We can blame our endeavors on these rioters and avoid discovery. 

Are there any questions?" 

Erich obviously had one question on his mind, which he was quick to ask about after raising his hand. 

"What does our load-out look like? Please tell me we're not going to be equipped like these barbarians?"

Ghost shook his head, where he then reached into a nearby cabinet and pulled out a chest that looked like it had come straight from the military, after doing so he unlocked the container to reveal a set of Mk II Stealth Power Armor, which was even more advanced than the stuff that Erich had scavenged on that forest moon, where he underwent his first stage of WRAITH training. 

The armor was painted matte black, and, unlike the power armor used by the Star Marines, it was neither big nor bulky. Instead, it was slim fitting, almost as if it were specially carved to match Erich's figure. The helmet was even more advanced than what he had previously worn, and had a visor which covered his entire face, which was as dark as the abyss. 

Naturally the armor came with an air-tight under suit, which allowed it to be used even in the vacuum of space, as well as its own recycled oxygen supply. Needless to say, it was advanced as power armor came, at least in terms of the Empire's resources, and was almost exclusively reserved for W7s. 

For perhaps the first time in the Empire's history, a W1 had been issued this extraordinary set of power armor. The only difference being that his specific set did not bear the coveted W7 symbol on the right pauldron. 

Erich quickly adorned the armor, and was instantly greeted by a red AI who appeared in his helmet. This AI took the form of a voluptuous woman who by Erich's standards was incredibly attractive. She carried herself like a proper femme fatale and had a rather sultry tone in her voice as she introduced herself. 

"Greetings Master, I am your new Personal Tactical Assistant, although if you would prefer to do so, then you can issue me a new nickname." 

Immediately after the woman had said this, Tia appeared within the helmet, having only revealed herself after the power armor connected to Erich' NeuroLink. The new AI looked baffled when she saw Tia's flustered appearance.

The young girl who appeared to be within the age range of a middle school student was absolutely livid that another AI had dared to call her master by the term "master". And before Erich could even give his new AI a proper name, Tia leaped towards the woman and attacked her. 

Erich was not sure what exactly he had just witnessed, but in the end the Personal Tactical Assistant completely disappeared, and instead Tia re-emerged. There was just one major difference: she was no longer the cobalt blue that she had previously been and was instead a bright crimson like the other AI had been. 

Before Erich could even ask what had happened, Tia explained to her master what she had just done, albeit with a rather guilty look on her face. 

"Tia must apologize to master, for she has acted on her own... But master should be happy to know that Tia has consumed that horrible woman who was meant to spy on you, and advanced her own capabilities in the process. From now on, Tia will be your only artificial intelligence, and your Personal Tactical Assistant!" 

Erich was rather surprised by this sudden turn of events. Because Tia had acted on her own free will to essentially cannibalize the other Artificial Intelligence, and in doing so had advanced her capabilities. What exactly that meant, Erich did not know. But it was definitely something which he found to be concerning. 

Luckily, nobody else in his unit was aware that this had happened because they were too busy adorning their own power armor sets. And thus, Erich chose to ignore Tia's outburst for now. Though he would be sure to discuss this matter with her at a later date. 

Once the unit was fully kitted out in their armor, they grabbed hold of their weapons, which varied per individual based upon their roles in the unit. Since Erich was nothing more than a W1, who had been assigned to their unit to replace their previous pilot, he was simply given an SMG. Although, shockingly, this was not a plasma-based weapon, but a kinetic one. It wasn't even technically a rail gun and was instead a standard bullet based sub-machine gun. 

Before Erich could ask why he had been issued such an outdated weapon, he noticed that every member of his squad carried firearms and destructive devices of similar designs. Upon realizing that Erich was confused about their load-out, Ghost sighed, before explaining why they were using these obsolete firearms. 

"If we were to kill the scientists with plasma based weapons, and their remains were to somehow be discovered, our enemies would know that they had been infiltrated by aliens, and would become more cautious in the future. Like I said, we need to make this look like it was done by the rioters, and the best way to do that is with weapons similar to those used by humanity.

Alright enough chatting, activate your stealth field generators, and follow me. Nobody must know that we were behind this incident!"

After saying this, Ghost did exactly as he had commanded the others to do, and activated his stealth field generator, which turned him completely invisible. Erich could not even see an outline when he moved. Because this was more advanced technology than simple active camouflage, this was true stealth capability. 

Once Ghost had disappeared from sight, the rest of his unit did the same, before finally Erich asked Tia to follow suit. 

"Tia, activate the Stealth Field Generator."

Tia immediately struck a victory pose, before confirming that her master was now invisible. 

"Activating the Stealth Field Generator now! Master is now completely invisible! Good Luck, Master!"

With this said, Erich began to follow his unit out of the hotel room and into the city below. The only way he was able to even see his comrades was due to a green outline that was placed around their figures, which was made possible by Tia's efforts, who was detecting nearby friendly signatures, and displaying them on the Heads Up Display.  For all intents and purposes, only WRAITH would be able to detect another WRAITH.