A little birdy spoke to me.
It told me of the coming conflict.
How it would pan out.
How it would cause my death.
…
…
…
And I was fine with that.
The bird sighed and nested in my mind, watching over me as I made it through the coming days.
…
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…
"Alright, here it is. This is what you are going to pilot."
Danzer said as the curtain in front of us dropped, showing a four legged metal machine with a cannon on it's back.
We were in a warehouse on the base, one of the storage units for the new weaponry meant for those who had had the Neuro-Link treatment and had somewhat been accepted into, or in my case, tamed, the Mockingbird program.
"Light weight, highly maneuverable, 57 mm main cannon with a one second auto loader, coaxial .50 cal machine guns on either side of the front of the fuselage. These bad boys are meant for quick strikes and small unit combat," Danzer said while motioning to the insect looking walker.
"Due to needing to make it able to cover long distances and to make room for ammunition, the armor is pretty thin. It will be paramount for you to be able to maneuver quickly and dish out as much damage as possible."
I listened to his little commercial speech, looking over the machine. It was white with a bit of orange painted in to the design. It was small and honestly even the smaller 57 mm looked huge on the thing.
"What are they called?" One of the other recruits spoke up as the rest of us stared at the machine.
"Juggernaut…" Danzer spoke in a soft tone. "You all will be pilots for these machines. You will conduct raids, special operations, ambushes, guerrilla warfare, and supporting actions of the main line troops. These machines are meant to be shock weapons. Quick assaults with high damage outputs is the name of the game."
He started to list off all of the responsibilities we would all have while I just kept looking at the Juggernaut sitting in front of us.
My mind was racing, dissecting every part and component of the machine. Everything from its exterior shell to the legs it stood on to the 57 mm cannon mounted on it.
It was incredible…
I could tell what kind of metal was used to build this, the sizes of every single part and the brands of the equipment on it. The Neuro-Link project seems to have been a huge success because I noticed other people here looking at the machine the same way I was.
"…. And you will be deployed to wherever the fighting is the most intense. With these machines strategically placed, even entire tank brigades will be force to fall back."
Danzer's voice brought me out of my senses as I looked at him, a look of confusion on my face.
"Ok, yeah these things are powerful when used right, but they offer little to no protection in the event of being set upon by enemy fire. Hell, a well-placed grenade would be able to take these bastards out of commission and more than likely kill the pilot."
He shook his head, "That may be true but you all have something that no other human has. You basically are walking and talking super computers. The calculations show that you have a far higher chance of surviving heavy and intense engagements in these then any other piece of equipment we could stick you all in."
That eased a few people's nerves but it hardly did enough to placate our worries. As we looked around at each other one of the recruits sighed and shook his head, "Well, if I'm going to die, at least it'll be in a badass walker instead of in some shitty trench."
That earned him a few chuckles as the sound of a door opening brought our attention to the rear of the warehouse. Men and women, hell, a few of them looked fresh out of high school, were walking towards us in dress uniforms. The formal caps and uniforms of blue and white made them look sharp and clean while most of the guys here were in regular civilian clothes.
They lined up in formation as Danzer grabbed a clipboard that was sitting on a table nearby.
"As you all obviously know already, you have all gained some sort of control over the Mockingbird comms system. These implants on your ears will allow you to receive the most up to date data and situational information from command. The men and women in front of you today are from a civilian and retired pool of people. Either their physical tests weren't to par or they took to the information exchange at an extremely high rate. They will be your 'Handlers'. They are going to be your link to command at all times to get orders and suggestions based on obtained data collected by drones and reports. This is to have them be the filter so while you are in the middle of a fight, you can receive the best advice and direct without having to shuffle though a large amount of data. If you were being deployed as a main line force it might not be necessary and your increased mind would be able to handle it no problem."
He paused, looking around the room to see that all eyes were on him. Hell, a few people who usually goof off and don't pay that well of attention were hyper focused.
He smiled and continued, "However, doing that with the types of missions you will all be deployed on… Wouldn't work too well. You are almost always going to be outnumbered, out gunned, and with very little to no support options. Having the least amount of thinking involved and dedicating that knowledge to your actual in the field fighting will be critical."
I spoke up this time, "Wasn't that the whole point though? You basically download the internet into our heads and we use that knowledge to get out of any situation that is unfavorable, assuring victory and minimizing losses?"
He nodded his head, "You are correct, Sargent Barnett, but you are forgetting something. While we have given you the knowledge and you are using a far greater percentage of your brain than say the average person… it isn't perfect. Too much information at once can lead to indecision and backtracking as you cycle through trying to find the best possible solution. This takes time, not much time, but time. Every millisecond you waste is a greater opportunity for the enemy destroy the Juggernauts and eliminate the advantage you have. Put it like this, say you are conducting a raid on an enemy facility. Everything is going good but you get data popping in your head while you are in the middle of the fight. There are reinforcements coming that will cut you off and surround you. While you may be thinking, 'oh, well I have a supercomputer in my head, I can figure a way out.' Trust me, that won't happen, not until you've seen combat for a while. You'll still be engaged in the fight, knowing that the enemy is sending more reinforcements, you become desperate to change positions. You'll attempt to end the fight early by charging in, falling back and leaving enemy assets and personnel intact that you could've destroyed… the list goes on and on. Yet, with Handlers in play, you will continue to fight as you are, making the best decisions for that fight while the Handler calculates the best course of action by taking real-time data and applying their minds too it. So, instead of making that suicidal charge or leaving the battle before the maximum amount of damage can be achieved, the Handlers will give advice and suggestions or actual orders to you, depending on experience and rank, and get you safely out of that situation and in turn will allow you to maintain the hyper-focused combat state."
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…
…
Absolute silence… No one spoke a single word as it dawned on all of us that even though we had the world's knowledge a thought away, we are still at the end of the day… human.
Humans make mistakes, humans have bad judgment sometimes, and if we are to do the things that they are asking us to do, we need all the help we can get.
"Now that everyone has had a chance to digest that information, I will now begin reading the 'Handler-Operator' pairs. Once I call your name and your partners, you will pair up and begin to work with each other. You will live with your handler, eat with them, train with them, and you will form a bond with them. You are all adults, so if you have problems with your assigned partner you figure it out. No exceptions, you aren't some 16 year old girl who breaks up with their boyfriend over a simple disagreement. No, you are adults. Now, obvious cases and reports of any sort of abuse, sexual assault, and violence will result in both of you being reassigned. The aggressor will be punished severely, and in the case of proven rape… you will be shot… Do I make myself clear?"
There was a little silence before in unision…
"Yes sir!"
"Good, that's what I like to hear," He smiled and looked down on the clipboard, "The first pair in receding order, Timothy Law and Handler 99, please step forward, meet each other and move to the designated zone."
A short, skinny man with a buzzcut stepped out of our crowd while a buff Hispanic man stepped forward from the Handler side. They saluted and introduced themselves and walked to the zone to get acquainted.
This continued for a while, and I started to notice a pattern. Young and old, different races and sexes. Very rarely did the pairs look the same or have the same personality. I was studying it and I came to the conclusion that these pairs were strategically picked.
The mesh of people and differences actually makes them more efficient. They are able to come up with different approaches to issues and in turn select the best route of action instead of two alike minds being stuck in the same lane.
I continued to watch as the list progressed. Soon I was the only operator left standing.
"Ayden Barnett, your handler has not yet arrived. They are going through advanced downloads and should arrive this afternoon. I will act as your handler for the time being as we take the Juggernauts to the firing range."
Danzer looked at me with a bit of a grin on his face. I couldn't really tell why other than I was getting the short end of the stick.
"Why the hell are you giving me that look? Are you just happy to spend some time with me or did I get fucked by the selection?" I said while my eyes narrowed a bit.
Danzer just shook his head and waved for me to get in the Juggernaut, "Mount up Barnett."
I nodded my head and walked to the machine. Hitting a button on the lid of the cockpit it opened, allowing me to get in. Sitting down a holographic display projected onto the front of the space, giving me a 270-degree view with only my rear being blind. I looked around the display as I familiarized myself with the controls.
After a bit of time I fired up the walker, hearing the low hum of the engine as it idled, I heard Danzer begin to speak into my ear.
"Alright, should be good to move. Take the lead of the column and move to the firing range."
"Copy that, on the move."
I pushed forward on the sticks and the machine began to move forward, its legs picking up speed and soon I was moving at a pretty decent speed.
I marveled at how quickly it responded to the commands and motions, and I thought to myself.
'How in the hell was this not revealed to anyone? These Juggernauts would've changed land combat for centuries. I mean Jesus Christ, I feel like I'm in one of those mech animes.'
As I was stuck in my own head, the column of walkers made its way to the tank range attached to the base.
Seeing designated spots for a firing line I moved to the pad with the number one painted on it.
The other operators arrived and took up their positions, and soon a line of Juggernauts were facing out towards a multitude of targets ranging from abandoned cars to old Sherman tanks to even a few modern battle tanks.
I aligned my sights on the turret ring of a Russian T-72, the layout of the tank flooded my mind as I had a sneaky suspicion that some ammo was still in the autoloader.
As everyone was acquiring their targets, quickly adjusting to the main controls, Danzer's voice came over the Mockingbirds of every operator.
"Today is the day where you truly being your combat training, through many trials and tests you will be forged into experts in the ways of war. Like the saying goes, 'There is nothing more deadly then a Marine and his rifle', there will be no one on the battlefield more effective as you all. We've given you the tools and the knowledge, and now all that's left is to put it together."
'Jesus man, let's get to it, I wanna blow some shit up…'
"Now, take aim…"
The 57 mm cannons of each vehicle centered on the various targets, fingers hovering over triggers as we awaited the order.
"… Fire…"
In a chorus of thunder and the flashes of cannon fire, our trials of gunsmoke and flame began.
Not knowing that the enemy… was about to become even more dangerous….