Interstellar Age

Nearly three months had passed since the zero gravity battle royal between a battalion’s worth of Tier I WRAITHs had bad begun. And during this time, Erich had fought almost nonstop. With barely enough time to take care of his basic physical needs.

He had not bathed this entire time and was covered from head to toe in sweat beneath his power armor. However, he remained mostly unharmed, with only a few minor injuries incurred within the nonstop battle. Though those were easily treated by the med pens he had been given. Thus, he continued to fight on, until now, where only thirteen of the most elite fighters remained. 

During these three months, Erich had discovered that his two most valuable assets were Tia, and his foresight. Which allowed him to see several seconds into the future. This had saved his life more times than he could count. And he had begun pressing his mind to its absolute limits with this ability. 

Time seemed to have slowed down, to the point where Erich could no longer tell if he was living in the present, or the very near future. However, this allowed him to expertly dodge attacks and line up shots quicker than his adversaries. If anything, Erich considered this state of mind to be a different ability altogether than his foresight, or at the very least, an evolution of it. 

He referred to this slowed perception of time as “acceleration” or at least internally he did so. And this acceleration may very well have been sparked due to the cybernetic enhancements he received, especially the ones regarding his reflexes, that when combined with his foresight, created an altered perception of the world moving around him. 

Currently, Erich was in a state of acceleration, as he engaged in a firefight with one of the last thirteen men to have survived this battle royale this far. He kept advancing forward, and evading the enemy shots, while expertly lining up his own on the enemy’s torso. Until finally, when he got within striking distance, he managed to use the stock of his rifle to strike the enemy’s head into oblivion. 

After several repeated bashes to the helmet, Erich was certain that the man was dead. Blunt force trauma was, after all, still one of the most effective ways to deal with a supremely armored opponent. Something that humans had known since the medieval days of Earth’s history. 

Having killed the other soldier, Erich scavenged his corpse, primarily for unused med pens, oxygen cartridges, and plasma cells. If one did not scavenge from their kills, then they were likely to run out of those critical resources that were needed to survive early in the operation. 

By now Erich was a master looter, and could get the necessary supplies he needed to maintain his fight within a mere ten seconds of searching. The moment he got his hold on an oxygen cartridge, he inserted it into his power armor, which refilled his oxygen supply, which was currently dangerously low. 

After doing so, he jumped off the platform where he had killed his last opponent, and floated through the vacuum of space across the training zone, until he found what he was looking for. However, while floating through the air, another soldier, armed with a sniper rifle, started taking potshots at Erich, thus he quickly adjusted while mid air, and fired his own weapon towards the attacker. 

Though one of the sniper’s rounds hit Erich’s chest, it did not do enough damage to his armor to cause any significant problems for him. Meanwhile, Erich continued to fire on the enemy with a rain of plasma, so much so that he was forced to retreat. 

Once Erich had crossed a distance of roughly five kilometers, he landed on another platform, where his power armor boots immediately activated their artificial gravity, which tied him to the platform, allowing him to run like normal. 

If he were in a space battle, he could effectively run on the side of a ship’s hull without incident. But this was not such a scenario, and because of this, Erich began hunting down his next targets. All the while, Tia gave him an accurate map of where they were located. 

“Master, the nearest enemy is currently five hundred meters from your nine o’clock position. It would appear he is currently engaging in a firefight with several other hostiles. I suggest taking him out covertly before redeploying to the rear of the others, and doing the same.” 

Erich silently nodded his head before following Tia’s suggestion. It did not take him long to arrive behind the nearest hostile, where he unsheathed his plasma knife and dug it straight into the weak points of his enemies’ armor at the neck, all while controlling the man in a chokehold. 

Once the man was killed, Erich quickly redeployed from his current position to the other side of the platform, via a large leap, all while remaining undetected by the enemy who waited for him. These men continued to fire upon the location where the corpse Erich had just left behind was located. Entirely unaware that they were now being hunted. 

After creeping up on the enemy, Erich launched a swift and visceral attack with his plasma life, which cut through the hostiles weak points, and claimed their lives just as how Erich had done to the man they had been firing at only moments before. 

However, just when Eric was prepared to tackle the remaining targets, he heard the voice of the Officer who was placed in charge of this training scenario, which echoed across the zero gravity facility. 

“Last man standing, Commander Erich “Silber” Jaeger. Scenario is complete. Return to the evacuation point immediately for a briefing.

Erich did not know how the other half a dozen men had died while he was fighting his last three opponents, but he supposed they had all managed to kill each other. Still, he wanted to make sure this was not a trick, and immediately asked Tia to scan his surroundings. 

“Tia, scan the area for any potential remaining hostiles. I suspect this might be a trick…”

Tia immediately did as her master commanded and confirmed that he truly was the last man standing with a rather excited tone in her voice. 

“Scan complete, Tia can confirm that Master is the last remaining lifeform in this area that is still breathing. It looks like we have won!” 

It was only after Tia confirmed that Erich was indeed the last man standing did he sigh in relief. He then made his way to the evacuation point, where a shuttle was waiting for him. Along with a proper medical team, who immediately checked the man’s vitals, and overall condition.

It was only after they confirmed he was more or less in perfect health did they let him get off the shuttle, and enter the world of Lugii where the officer in charge of the training scenario was waiting for him. 

There was a stern look on the man’s face as he expressed his doubt about what he had witnessed over these last three months. 

“Commander Erich “Silber” Jaeger, originally determined to be suitable as a fighter pilot, and has served most of his military career within the legendary Black Sun. This man, somehow, is selected for WRAITH Training, and passes the first objective with flying colors. Only to enter the second Scenario and score a total of seven hundred and seventy-seven kills, becoming the W-2 with the highest score ever achieved in the zero gravity battle royale. 

Either you are cheating, or you have some hidden ability that allows you to defeat men with a hundred times the combat experience you have. As much as I want to find out just what secrets lie within you, I have been ordered to stand down and accept your miraculous score as legitimate. Congratulations, kid, you are now a W-2, but don’t let it get to your head. Ninety-nine percent of WRAITHs never reach the coveted W-7 certification. And I doubt you will make it that far… 

Nevertheless, you have been granted an additional two weeks of leave, so I suggest you get some rest before we send you back into the meat grinder!” 

Erich was excited to hear that he had two weeks to rest on his private beach. It had been close to a year since he had been home, and he had left immediately after becoming properly acquainted with his wife. He had begun to wonder how his wife and three lovers had been during this time. 

Luckily for him, Erich had both Tia and Mirage by his side during the majority of his deployment. Which meant he was able to fulfil both his emotional and sexual needs. And because of this, he never actually felt lonely, despite being away from home for so long. The same could not be said for his women. All of which were undoubtedly severely frustrated at this point. Which was something he looked forward to remedying.  𝑂𝓋𝓁xt.𝒸𝑂𝗆