Training Field 132
The soldier looked at his enemy’s without any compassion. He hadn’t been given compassion he didn’t need it. He’d been made to kill and he did it effectively. That’s all that mattered. Raising his modified Blaster Rifle he fired terminating the enemies. He didn’t think, didn’t comprehend that if this had been real life he would have just killed 10 sentient beings. To him it was just another objective completed.
Up ahead his modified sight detected the infrared presence of other enemies. These would also be terminated.
Operation “Complete Warrior” Headquarters
“Look at X-2, he’s gotten to his second checkpoint, in the fastest time with the least damage to himself. He hasn’t been so much as scratched. He proves that my hypothesis was right. A soldier doesn’t need emotion, he just needs plain and simple muscle and a knowledge of tactics. Emotions hold you back they have no benefit to the modern infantry soldier.”
“How would you feel if you had all your emotions stripped away? And more importantly you’ve created a super-soldier with no checks or balances. What’s to stop this soldier from just massacring thousands? He has no moral values, he exists to kill and if we’re not careful he might even kill us. Remember the IG project? They made assassins that were too powerful, too capable with no checks. Nothing was able to stop them. The imperial scientists couldn’t control it and they all died as a consequence of their idiocy.”
“The IG series were hyper-capable. It’s impossible for any of the soldiers we create to have the same reflexes and combat-skills as the IGs. The IGs had no equals, any of our soldiers would have thousands of equals, any single one of them would be able to take it down.”
“Not exactly. Anyone of these soldiers would be able to train and become stronger, faster and more capable. Then what do you do? Or even worse what happens if it has allies. A unit of these soldiers would be invincible.”
“Yes they would be invincible but so is one of them. And the X-2 wouldn’t be designed or trained to work in units. They could never work together.”
“But all infantry tactics involve units. A single soldier fighting by itself is nowhere near as effective as a well-trained, well-led squad.”
“It doesn’t matter. There are no soldiers that would be able to take it on. Forcing the X-2 to work in units would reduce its capacity for infiltration. We can’t set them up to work in units of 10 because what do they do when somebody is killed or they have to split up. It would be like running a Star Destroyer with no Communication systems. There’d be no way to relay orders, it would be ineffective in combat. See look, X-2 just killed more enemies, and they were in a squad. Teamwork and units aren’t able to stand up to good brute strength.”
“Maybe. But what do we do about the volunteers? We can’t just strip away their emotions. You’ve created a soldier that’s only effective as a clone. How do we improve the performance of our regular volunteer soldiers?”
“We don’t they’d stay the same, or better yet we don’t even allow them to volunteer. Just a massive clone force.”
“Not everybody is comfortable with the idea of clones a massive clone force would be too much for most people.”
“Who cares what they think. We’re acting in their best interests.”
“Are we really? What happens when we have a riot?”
“There’s a police force for a reason.”
“Not everywhere, not in newly acquired and possibly hostile territories.”
“So one out of what 100 planets? We can send in an outside police force from Bakura or somewhere.”
“What about guarding military installations? The way your troops act they’d shoot first and ask questions later. We could end up with hundreds of casualties after a small demonstration.”
“The police can guard the bases.”
“Even the top-secret ones?”
“If it’s top-secret then why would the civilians be there then?”
The sound muted and the lights were raised up to normal levels once again.
“He does have a point. X-2 is remarkably efficient.”
“Maybe, but teamwork is the basis of the armed forces. And there will be a point when the X-2s will be killed. We can’t make them invulnerable to Weapons of Mass Destruction and there isn’t enough money for the modified physique and for full-containment suits.”
“I agree, but it’s still extremely efficient.”
“When do you have to make the call whether to cut it?”
“Tomorrow.”
Colonel Eddington sighed. He and Lieutenant-General Robertson had been put in charge of the Complete Soldier project. It was an awesome task, guiding sovereignty infantry tactics into the future but it did create some interesting dilemmas. “And?”
“I really don’t know.” Replied Robinson.
The soldier looked at his enemy’s without any compassion. He hadn’t been given compassion he didn’t need it. He’d been made to kill and he did it effectively. That’s all that mattered. Raising his modified Blaster Rifle he fired terminating the enemies. He didn’t think, didn’t comprehend that if this had been real life he would have just killed 10 sentient beings. To him it was just another objective completed.
Up ahead his modified sight detected the infrared presence of other enemies. These would also be terminated.
Operation “Complete Warrior” Headquarters
“Look at X-2, he’s gotten to his second checkpoint, in the fastest time with the least damage to himself. He hasn’t been so much as scratched. He proves that my hypothesis was right. A soldier doesn’t need emotion, he just needs plain and simple muscle and a knowledge of tactics. Emotions hold you back they have no benefit to the modern infantry soldier.”
“How would you feel if you had all your emotions stripped away? And more importantly you’ve created a super-soldier with no checks or balances. What’s to stop this soldier from just massacring thousands? He has no moral values, he exists to kill and if we’re not careful he might even kill us. Remember the IG project? They made assassins that were too powerful, too capable with no checks. Nothing was able to stop them. The imperial scientists couldn’t control it and they all died as a consequence of their idiocy.”
“The IG series were hyper-capable. It’s impossible for any of the soldiers we create to have the same reflexes and combat-skills as the IGs. The IGs had no equals, any of our soldiers would have thousands of equals, any single one of them would be able to take it down.”
“Not exactly. Anyone of these soldiers would be able to train and become stronger, faster and more capable. Then what do you do? Or even worse what happens if it has allies. A unit of these soldiers would be invincible.”
“Yes they would be invincible but so is one of them. And the X-2 wouldn’t be designed or trained to work in units. They could never work together.”
“But all infantry tactics involve units. A single soldier fighting by itself is nowhere near as effective as a well-trained, well-led squad.”
“It doesn’t matter. There are no soldiers that would be able to take it on. Forcing the X-2 to work in units would reduce its capacity for infiltration. We can’t set them up to work in units of 10 because what do they do when somebody is killed or they have to split up. It would be like running a Star Destroyer with no Communication systems. There’d be no way to relay orders, it would be ineffective in combat. See look, X-2 just killed more enemies, and they were in a squad. Teamwork and units aren’t able to stand up to good brute strength.”
“Maybe. But what do we do about the volunteers? We can’t just strip away their emotions. You’ve created a soldier that’s only effective as a clone. How do we improve the performance of our regular volunteer soldiers?”
“We don’t they’d stay the same, or better yet we don’t even allow them to volunteer. Just a massive clone force.”
“Not everybody is comfortable with the idea of clones a massive clone force would be too much for most people.”
“Who cares what they think. We’re acting in their best interests.”
“Are we really? What happens when we have a riot?”
“There’s a police force for a reason.”
“Not everywhere, not in newly acquired and possibly hostile territories.”
“So one out of what 100 planets? We can send in an outside police force from Bakura or somewhere.”
“What about guarding military installations? The way your troops act they’d shoot first and ask questions later. We could end up with hundreds of casualties after a small demonstration.”
“The police can guard the bases.”
“Even the top-secret ones?”
“If it’s top-secret then why would the civilians be there then?”
****
The sound muted and the lights were raised up to normal levels once again.
“He does have a point. X-2 is remarkably efficient.”
“Maybe, but teamwork is the basis of the armed forces. And there will be a point when the X-2s will be killed. We can’t make them invulnerable to Weapons of Mass Destruction and there isn’t enough money for the modified physique and for full-containment suits.”
“I agree, but it’s still extremely efficient.”
“When do you have to make the call whether to cut it?”
“Tomorrow.”
Colonel Eddington sighed. He and Lieutenant-General Robertson had been put in charge of the Complete Soldier project. It was an awesome task, guiding sovereignty infantry tactics into the future but it did create some interesting dilemmas. “And?”
“I really don’t know.” Replied Robinson.