Chapter 1: Research Mission

Clack, Clack, Clack

The sound of hardened soles echoed off the space-grade titanium walls of the corridor, accompanied by a much heavier thudding at a much slower cadence.

"While I understand the need to follow protocol, is it truly necessary to have an Einherjar escort me throughout the day? I can think of a host of other duties that would require such personnel, and escorting one woman around all day seems like a gross misallocation of valuable resources."

The woman sighed as she continued walking while scrolling through data on a translucent tablet. This woman was none other than Dr. Regina Halloway, the creator of the Einherjar project.

She was around 170cm tall (5ft 7), had long brown hair that flowed to the small of her back, and aquamarine eyes that shimmered like gems. She had a beautiful face with features you'd more expect to find on a model in her late teens rather than a scientist of her age. She was dressed in a suit-skirt and black top that accentuated her assets while wearing a white lab coat over top.

She was in her mid 20's when she began the Einherjar project to create a special kind of super-soldier through augmentation and various other experiments. After much trial and error and a considerable loss of experimental subjects over the years, the project met its final success as 54 subjects out of 500 survived the latest augmentation process and became the first successful Einherjar troops.

Now in her late 30's, Regina had passed on the project to other scientists to continue her work and improve upon the augmentation process to lower fatalities. Though they had been marginally successful, the Einherjar produced after modifications to the process were markedly inferior in many aspects.

"Apologies, Dr. Halloway. Orders are orders."

Dr. Halloway stopped her steps and turned around to stare at the Einherjar following her.

She had to crane her neck quite a ways back due to the soldiers' towering height of 240cm (7ft 10). The Einherjar wore special power armor consisting of a full-face helmet and golden visor, chest piece, shoulder guards, arm guards, leg protection, and metal boots. Each piece was made of the same space-grade titanium as the walls surrounding them on the spaceship they were aboard and could change colour depending on the environment or requirements of the user.

Beneath the exterior armour, the Einherjar were also outfitted in a flexible polymer suit made of nanobots that added protection to the gaps between the outer shell. It also regulated temperature and provided an air-tight seal, capable of sustaining the soldier in the void of space for extended periods of time.

The variant of armour this specific Einherjar before her was wearing was the latest model of Gungnir power armour, namely the Mark VIII. It was the first model of Gungnir that came with its own personalised energy-shield generator.

As she stared into the reflection of herself on the soldiers' visor, she felt her thoughts drift to a memory of the past. Due to her absent-mindedness, her eyes began to wander as she marveled at the fruit of her life's work. As her gaze scanned lower, she stopped on the weapon the soldier was carrying.

(Flashback POV)

"Due to the variety of missions the Einherjar will be tasked to complete, a large variety of equipment and weaponry will be necessary for the different situations you may encounter. To solve that problem, each Gungnir armour variant is outfitted with a miniaturised nanobot storage unit found on the outer side of both your thighs as well as a personalised 'supercarrier class' A.I module implanted in the back of your helmet."

"By working in conjunction with your 'smart' A.I companion and any schematics within its database, as well as the nanobot storage units, you will be able to call upon whatever equipment necessary to be built at any point in time. You will be presented your A.I shortly."

"Depending on the size or complexity of the equipment, building times could vary. However, the longest duration recorded for a weapon to be materialised was 0.128 seconds, specifically for a handheld rail canon used to destroy enemy aircraft. You now have the tools necessary to be the military's best. Make us proud."

"YES, MA'AM!"

(Present)

Coming out of her reverie, Dr. Halloway's eyes refocused, bringing into view the Einherjar's weapon. It was a standard-issue assault rifle loaded with high-explosive, armour penetrating rounds. It held a total of 48 rounds per magazine and could fire at a rate of 600 rounds per minute.

After looking over the Einherjar a little longer, she looked back up to his visor and sighed.

"Well, we did train you to be the best soldiers of mankind…"

The Einherjar just continued to stand motionless, its visor staring at Dr. Halloway's face.

"Perhaps we trained you a little too well…" Dr. Halloway muttered under her breath. However, due to the augmentations, the Einherjar would've been able to hear her words even if she were over 100 meters away.

She then turned around and began walking again, all while staring at her tablet.

"Oh well, it's not like I don't mind the extra company. You were always the most promising of the other subjects, weren't you, Samuel… Remember all those strategy games I used to pull you aside to play? You would always struggle to beat me, but after a year or two, I had no hopes of competing with you anymore. Well, to be fair, you were only 6 years old when we first started. Now look at you, only 16 years old, and you're already the greatest soldier this military has to offer."

"Please mind your volume, Regina; that is classified information."

Dr. Halloway smirked as she looked over her shoulder to see a miniature woman standing in the palm of Samuel with her hands on her hips. She was slightly translucent and glowed a fiery orange, and bore a striking resemblance to the goddess Artemis.

"Oh please, Solace, what're you going to do? Court Martial me?"

"Hmph, don't tempt me." Solace pouted as she looked away and crossed her arms in defiance while staring at Dr. Halloway out of the corner of her eye.

The two had a history with each other due to the fact that out of all the personalised A.I provided to the Einherjar; Solace was personally made by Dr. Halloway. In a way, Regina was a mother figure to both Solace and Samuel.

…

..

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After walking for another few minutes, the trio consisting of a scientist, Einherjar and A.I arrived at a set of metallic doors that slid open as a result of their presence. Beyond the doorway lay a futuristic laboratory where Dr. Halloway had been conducting her most recent research.

All over the galaxy, there had been anomalies that would appear periodically, only to vanish 72 hours later. The ship they were currently aboard was in range of one of these anomalies, and that was the focal point of Regina's research at the moment.

While Dr. Halloway began going over the readings and data collected by the ship's scanners, Samuel approached the observation window that peered into the vastness of space.

Despite the flashing of stars that stretched further than the eye could see, there was a large dark patch directly in the center of Samuel's point of view. It gave off the appearance of a black hole that lacked an accretion disk.

"Fascinating! I'm getting readings from the anomaly that suggest energy waves similar to those emitted from our slip-space drives but completely different simultaneously." Dr. Halloway exclaimed.

Solace suddenly appeared on her workstation, reading over the same data that Dr. Halloway was viewing.

"Strange… From what I can tell, the anomalies seem to be natural tears in space-time. Instead of the artificial ones we create with our slip-space drives, these formed through a method currently unknown. However, these energy readings make no sense… I can't tell where it'll lead based on the data we currently have." Solace placed one arm across her chest while resting the elbow of her other arm above it and pinching her chin in thought.

"Well, without enough data, it would be suicide to-" Dr. Halloway tried to respond but was interrupted by a sudden explosion.

BOOOOOOOM

The lights in the laboratory flickered due to the impact then shut off before being replaced with a deep red light and the sounds of alarms.

Before she could turn to find Samuel, he was already by her side, weapon at the ready.

"Dr. Halloway, we need to move, now."

Samuel placed his hand on the holo-table where Solace was standing, causing her to disappear, only for her voice to be heard from his helmet's internal speakers.

"Gathering sit-rep from the ships onboard A.I."

"We have 3 hull breaches! Identified as Oracle boarding crafts, sections 3, 8, and 14 are swarmed with hostiles!"

"The Oracles?! I thought the military destroyed all possibilities of resistance! And wait, did you say section 3? Isn't that the bridge?!" Exclaimed Dr. Halloway.

"Dr, we need to move. I have to get you to a secure location." Samuel said as he kept his weapon trained on the door to the Laboratory.

"Secure location?! Sam, you know what these Oracle raiders do when they board a vessel! They're glorified suicide bombers!"

Almost immediately after the doctor said her statement, the intercom around the ship turned on.

"This is Captain Shazar of the AHSC Spirit of Discovery; the bridge has almost been compromised, initiating evacuation procedures. Get to the nearest escape pod or vehicle and attempt to rendezvous at the nearest AHSC outpost or colony. It's been an honour serving with you all; Godspeed, Shazar out. (AHSC: Allied Human Space Command)

After hearing the announcement and receiving his orders, Samuel pondered in thought for a few seconds before nodding his head. Within his helmet, a specific schematic had appeared on his Heads Up Display (HUD), prompting the nanobots he had to begin the creation process.

In the blink of an eye, a device formed in his hand, which Sam swiftly, yet as gently as possible, slapped onto Dr. Halloway's back.

As soon as it made contact and secured itself, it began to hum as a blue translucent energy shield began to cover the doctor from head to toe. When it had finally covered every inch of her, the shield turned invisible, only to appear when it took damage.

"Solace, display the route to the nearest escape vehicle."

"On it!"

With a minimap displaying the direction to take, Samuel took point with Dr. Halloway following closely behind.

As they made their way corridor after corridor, they reached an intersection where Sam could hear sounds of screaming.

Sam held a hand to his side to prevent the doctor from continuing forward.

He quickly pulled up another schematic on his HUD, generating a miniature camera that could stick to any surface. After throwing the camera to a wall within the next corridor, a small screen appeared on the inside of his visor, allowing him to see what was there.

There, he could see some humanoid-lizard-type creatures wearing distinctly alien armour killing any scientists they could capture.

Due to this being a research and discovery vessel, the presence of military personnel was kept to a minimum due to the perceived safety of the mission. Meaning the ship had only a couple hundred soldiers and only one Einherjar, who would not even be here had Dr. Halloway not insisted that she travel separately from the military vessels.

Due to her importance to the military, Samuel was assigned to escort and protect Halloway at all costs.

After assessing the situation, Samuel saw that all prisoners had been executed. Thus he generated two frag grenades and tossed them down the hallway before taking cover once more.

The frags bounced a couple of times before rolling towards the lizardmen. After it arrived at their feet, one seemed to finally notice it, before looking down to investigate. However, it only had the split second it took for its pupils to contract to fine points before the two grenades detonated, sending a shockwave and shrapnel through the surroundings.

Almost immediately after their detonation, Samuel sprang into action, opening fire as soon as he rounded the corner. While most of the lizardmen had perished from the grenades, there were 3 survivors with red electricity flashing on their bodies, signifying that their energy shields had been disrupted and required a few seconds to recharge.

Not providing even a tenth of the necessary recharge time, Samuel swiftly eliminated the three with precise shots to the head.

After the enemies had dropped to the ground, Samuel did one final scan before calling:

"Clear."

Indicating for Halloway to move up to him.

As Halloway approached, Samuel reached down and tapped against his nanobot storage unit on his left thigh, all while pointing his rifle forward with only his right hand. This caused the nanobots he'd used for the camera to disassemble and return to storage. Even more surprising was that even the shrapnel from the grenades returned and entered his storage.

"Let's keep moving."

Halloway just nodded, keeping silent.

After another minute of running, they were quickly approaching the hangar, which held a multitude of Albatross class dropships and escape vehicles. But before they could arrive, an alarm, much louder and frequent than the one that had been echoing all this time, sounded.

"Warning, Warning, Slip-Space Drive unstable, coolant systems failing. All-hands, evacuate immediately. Evacuate immediately."

"Dammit, they destroyed the cooling systems this quickly?!" Halloway shouted in frustration.

At that moment, Samuel decided to throw caution to the wind. He quickly generated a brace and harness, which suddenly strapped itself around Halloway's neck and body, supporting her head and securing her to his back.

"Wha-" Halloway barely had any time to comprehend what was happening before Samuel sped off at full speed towards the hangar.

Due to the sudden acceleration, Halloway realised the reason for the neck brace. It was to prevent whiplash from the speeds an Einherjar, working in tandem with their Gungnir armour, could achieve in such a small amount of time. In less than 2 seconds, Samuel had crossed the remaining 100 meters to the hangar before blasting through the metal doors that lead to it with his body.

After spotting the nearest Albatross, he made a beeline straight into its passengers' bay before releasing Halloway from his back and strapping her in before she could even protest.

Rushing to the cockpit, Samuel transferred Solace to the onboard computer before firing up the engines.

"Imminent detonation to Slip-Space Drive, critical failure of all subsystems. Ship destruction in T - 10 seconds. All hands evacuate."

"We have to leave! Now!" Solace said in apparent urgency.

After the engines started up, Samuel pushed them to maximum thrust, shooting out of the hangar into deep space. The critical distance required to avoid the tear in space a Slip-Space detonation caused was further than they could make it in time. Still, Samuel kept pushing the engines to their limits by diverting all power, except life support, to them, including the power his suit required to generate his energy shield.

"Detonation in 3, 2, 1! Brace!"

Silence followed Solaces' words as the Slip-Space Drive went critical, tearing open an unstable hole in space leading to nowhere but oblivion. As noise couldn't travel through the vacuum of space, the only indication that it had detonated was the eerie blue light that shone from behind them and the gradual shaking of the Albatross before suddenly all power shut down.

"Systems down! Attempting to reboot!" Solace worked as quickly as possible, but the systems weren't responding.

Suddenly, the cockpit doors opened, and Halloway stepped in and sat in the co-pilot seat.

"Dr. Halloway, please, return to your seat!" Shouted Samuel.

"You don't get to order me around, Soldier! If this is where I die, I'd rather be up here, trying to solve the issue rather than be relegated to the position of a helpless maiden!" Halloway said in a tone that didn't allow for refusal.

A few seconds passed before finally:

"I can't get the systems online…" Solace appeared on the dash with a regretful expression.

"What are our odds?" Sam asked in a neutral tone.

"Sigh… Not good. We're either going to be sucked into that Slip-Space rupture and either miraculously end up somewhere or die, or we're going to fall into the anomaly and miraculously end up somewhere or die. However, the odds of dying are at 83% and rising, for both options…"

After hearing what Solace had to say, Halloway ceased trying to access the ship's reboot functions through her tablet and leaned back in her chair and stared into the vastness of space ahead, waiting, as they were slowly pulled back to either the anomaly or the Slip-Space Rupture by their respective gravitational pulls.

After releasing a heavy sigh, Halloway finally decided to speak.

"Sam…"

"Yes, Dr. Halloway?"

"...Do you have any regrets?"

"..." Samuel stayed silent as he processed his thoughts.

"I do." Halloway said

Sam turned to look at the woman who had basically been his mother for most of his life.

"There's still so much to see, so much to discover and learn… but the thing I probably regret the most was not giving you the ability to choose your own destiny. I regret taking your life away from you."

Samuel remained silent again before finally opening his mouth.

"We were at war. The AHSC required soldiers to win. You provided those soldiers with no other options available to you... I was raised to be a soldier. It's all I've ever known. So where you might see a child whose freedom to choose was taken from him, I see a Soldier who was given a purpose, given a chance to become something more than he would have ever been… I harbour no hatred or malice toward you, only undying respect…"

Hearing Sam's words, Halloway was shocked and turned to face both him and Solace, only to find the former staring at her while the latter was smiling.

"Sam, Solace… I-" Before Halloway could speak, the shaking of the Albatros reached a peak, and they were suddenly overcome with a bright flash of light as they were sucked into the anomaly.

However, unbeknownst to the three of them, a mysterious reaction had occurred as the Slip-Space waves from the anomaly came into contact with the Slip-Space Rupture artificially created by the destroyed Slip-Space Drive. The reaction formed a new type of emission wave that drastically altered the functions of the anomaly, sending the trio to a destination they'd least expect…

…

..

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