Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 111 - First Combat Test

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Announcement: Please check the glossary/characters auxiliary chapter for updated concept art! 

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In the dead of night, a Syrian military transport convoy was a few hours away from their destination, a missile base near Damascus.

The lead driver casually said, "The port was so far, but we'll have ourselves a few drinks each courtesy of the General, so it isn't too bad."

While conversing with the co-driver, he noticed three bright lights streaking down the dark sky and confusingly asked, "Can you see that? Look up!"

They quickly realized it was dangerous to move further and stopped as the foreign objects headed right towards the convoy.

The ground shook as the Hammers landed softly by hovering over the ground first. The last moment in his life was watching a giant mace smashing through the windshield, killing him and the co-driver instantly.

The soldiers rushed out of their vehicles to fight against the unknown enemy in the middle of darkness.

It was no issue for Felix and his men, as Heidi integrated the Hypervisor's light compensation function into the armor's interface.

A few of the more competent soldiers cracked light flares to at least give them a chance in the fight, but the only consolation was watching behemoth metal humanoids eliminating them one by one.

Felix took the lead as the soldiers unloaded AK-47s towards his armor to no avail, and he thought, [Even armor-piercing rounds are like pellets against my Hammer. Let alone your puny standard-issue ammunition.]

This fact was utterly true, considering Russian or US body armor easily defeats older and cheaper ammo types common in the middle east.

The remaining ones alive attempted to call base for backup, but Holo, the nethunter, already employed an FS high-powered frequency jammer from the sidelines.

One brave soldier picked up an RPG-7 and fired it towards two Hammers. Warning signals started appearing on their interfaces as Felix dodged out of the way before decapitating the enemy.

Hammer 2 wasn't too familiar with piloting an HPA and received a direct hit, but the reactive graphene armor plating shrugged the explosion like it was nothing.

Soviet-era technology was no match for Heidi's masterpiece of a machine.

Felix's Hammer amplified certain sounds within 20 meters and heard a soldier behind the cargo truck shouting, "Help! We need reinforcements!"

The enemy estimation tracker marked the sound source as red on the interface, then Felix suddenly arrived in front of him and spoke through the speakers in Arabic, saying, "No one will know".

That was indeed the case as his team mercilessly killed all the combatants before burning the bodies using the Raptor engines.

The battle ensued for only a minute before the Hammer team annihilated the dozen-man convoy. Locals weren't even concerned by assuming the quick volley of gunshots were either the military enforcing their tyranny or simple practice.

Felix found the warhead crates and carefully placed them on the ground as the fireteam approached the battlefield, blood scattered everywhere.

NetServ FS communication was independent of the consumer and enterprise offerings on the market, so the Hammer pilots spoke freely over proximity voice chat.

"We appreciate you painting the target for us because the ASR-1 location tracking couldn't do much with how dark it is out here." Felix sincerely stated.

The fireteam was still in awe of the new FS armor type, seeing them in person and watching live combat through their own Hypervisors.

Hammer 2 excitedly commented, "Hammer 1, listening to Metallica was a good idea."

Felix chuckled and replied, "Told you so. But back to the mission at hand. The Super Galaxy can't land in Syria, nor can a FAV-1 be spotted near here, so we'll escort the fireteam and warheads south into friendly territory in Israel."

Hammer team and the others followed orders, hid the crates on the back of the pickup truck, traversed the desert on land while the Hammers hovered in high-altitude.

The Hammers were too small and low-profile for Syrian military radar to detect, so they arrived in North Israel without issue a few hours later, where the Super Galaxy was waiting.

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Meanwhile, in Austin, an entourage of FS escorts and Vince's friends arrived at the Digital Den on Sixth Street during a busy Saturday.

Vince wanted to show the guests his friend's entertainment venue completely by starting on the first floor.

The clientele enjoying themselves inside noticed FS operators enter the building and one said, "Dude, look. Let's bet which Future Tech executive is coming. I think it's the red-head hotty."

His friend observed the operators and replied, "Bet. It's Vince Dalton, for sure. Look at their armor markings; it's completely different from the usual ones we see."

His hunch was correct as Vince and the rest of his friends walked through the front door.

"WTF!? That's Fortis and Tom Fury!" another customer playing War Online shouted.

A bunch of college students stood up, desiring to ask for autographs but quickly noticed the scary-looking operators around the vicinity.

Fortis and Tom realized what was going on as both were used to dealing with fans as pro athletes.

Fortis said, "Vince, I'll meet you upstairs after giving these guys a few autographs if you don't mind."

"Alright, but I'll leave one escort for you in case things get out of hand. Tom won't need one, naturally." Vince graciously replied.

Hailee acted as a host to assist Vince and explained, "This place is owned by Kyle's dad, Mr. Garcia. The best thing about this place is the cops won't trouble us if we drink alcohol at the VIP floor."

Alice admired the venue's aesthetic and said, "I remember Kyle from our trip. He's a pretty funny guy."

Jaden chipped in and commented, "He knows so much about War Online; it was crazy debating character builds with him and I even made a few popular videos about our discussion."

Vince, Hailee, Alice, and Jaden arrived at the VIP floor where his friends were waiting.

Jessica and the others were happy to see their friends after a month and discussed how they were doing before ordering drinks.

The table seating immediately switched around with the boys on the right side and the girls on the left.

Sarah was delighted to have Alice around again and said, "I've been keeping up with your livestreams on my off time. Your Everlife roleplay character is hilarious!"

Jaden acted as a supportive boyfriend and commented, "I agree, and that's probably why her viewer count is reaching the hundreds of thousands these days."

Alice delighted in praise and said, "I'm lucky Everlife RP is so popular on Twitch these days, especially with the new expansion around the corner. Even I was surprised after hearing about it on the Jimmy Kimmel Show."

Kyle was very familiar with the topic as a Future Studios Junior Director and proudly commented, "Mr. Sweeney and Epic Games spent thousands of hours collaborating with Future Tech to improve the game engine. And now, it takes fifty percent less work and effort to produce various media like video games. Expansions take even less time!"

Rick chimed in the conversation and said, "Sarah and I wrapped up the motion capture, soundtrack, and voice-overs in more than 20 languages about a week ago. And other teams had already done some of the work before Everlife released too."

Future Tech's thousands of game devs and engineers weren't only for show and continuously worked on projects dictated by upper management and executives.

Future Tech gave its staff medical insurance, free housing, reasonable work hours, and other benefits, but the corporation expected consistent and positive results in return.

Jessica didn't want to be outdone by her friends and said, "The team I've been working with recently are already beta testing the Infinity Channel, so watch out for a September release. I bet Jaden and Alice will love the Twitch integration."

The two content creators' interests were piqued but didn't ask for more information out of respect before Fortis and Tom arrived from the second floor with a few Zeta Tau Alpha sorority chicks back in town for the Fall semester.

After noticing an FS escort following the group, the venue security guard allowed them to enter the VIP lounge usually reserved for Future Tech employees.

Fortis had one girl in each arm as he walked to the table and asked, "Vince, I took the liberty to invite these nice people. I hope you don't mind."

Vince shook his head in disbelief before replying, "It's your vacation, so do whatever you want, but don't ask me to bail you out of jail."

Hailee was amused about the scene and asked in banter, "Alright, could you introduce us, then?"

Fortis was placed in a tough spot because he was too distracted by the massive chests and couldn't remember their names.

Tom paid more attention and introduced the four sorority girls to the group before Vince ordered more drinks for the table.

The ZTA chicks couldn't believe their luck when Tom and Fortis invited them to join and even met Vince Dalton and his crew.

Sophie, the blonde and busty sophomore, didn't want to seem too much of a fangirl and casually said, "You looked so beautiful during the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Hailee."

Hailee enjoyed the compliment and replied, "Thank you! It took Alice and me a whole hour just to find the right outfit. So what have you girls been doing today?"

The ashen-haired Japanese-American ZTA senior, Yui, replied, "We arrived in town early to prepare for the first years' initiation program."

Vince took a good look at Yui and thought, [Damn, this chick is hot.]

Hailee noticed Vince's inappropriate gaze but followed up by saying, "You know, I've been thinking about a music video involving cameos for Jessica and the others. And I feel like a pool party with a bunch of sorority girls would be a fun concept. So what do you think, babe?"

Vince stopped drinking to take a moment and thought, [I haven't thrown a big party in the manor yet, so why not? It's for the music label, too, so it's technically working!]