Federation Army Day (Please Keep Reading! Please Bookmark!)

In "Starry Sky," HCPs—humanoid tactical machines—had been created by the game developers to attract mecha fans.

But now they were real war machines.

Amber's memories from his time at the military academy were full of battles involving HCPs that he had studied in his HCP piloting course.

They could drop in from low orbit to support mobile ground forces.

They could serve as armed escorts for warships, joining the brutal close-quarters combat between fleets.

Or, on planets with difficult terrain, they could use plasma thruster arrays and metallic muscle bundles to outmaneuver and crush conventional units.

Every role demonstrated the formidable power of these humanoid tactical machines.

Infantrymen had given the machines that so often dropped from low orbit to back them up a fitting nickname: "Titans."

The nickname soon spread, and by now it had become a widely accepted name for HCPs.

But in the chaos that was about to engulf all of human society, even the HCPs that infantrymen saw as mighty Titans would be little more than expendable assets in war after war.

Watching the HCP disappear into the distance, Amber shook his head and reined in his wandering thoughts.

Two days passed quickly.

During those two days, Amber was not assigned any real work.

Only after he reported to the Combat Intelligence Center's Tactical Support Team did he discover the truth.

The Tactical Support Team at Yasin Base was a cushy posting.

Its daily duties consisted of routine training for Psions and some joint combat exercises.

On this frontier agricultural planet, the Tactical Support Team had almost no chance of being sent into the field.

Even if something unexpected happened—a protest, a strike, or an uprising—and the police could not handle it,

there would be no need to deploy heavy equipment like Multi-legged Combat Vehicles or HCPs.

Mechanized infantry alone could easily suppress the "rioters."

Besides, Amber had only just arrived, and the Tactical Support Team's commander was an affable man.

So with a wave of his hand, the commander gave Amber three days off on the spot.

He told Amber to familiarize himself with the place and settle in first. There would be time to join the daily training afterward.

That was normal for frontier forces in "Starry Sky."

It was nothing like the tense border systems most people imagined, with millions of troops massed on both sides.

After decades of peace treaties, both the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire had seen their frontier forces decline sharply in discipline, conduct, and fighting strength.

And ever since humanity had begun spreading across the galaxy using Warp Engine technology unearthed from ruins,

human civilization's territory had grown vast.

Conventional communications could deliver information within a star system in under a day, but only if relay satellites and terminals were functioning normally.

Messages crossing multiple star systems had to rely on Penetrating Fault Communications Terminals.

At its fastest, this spatial communications technology could transmit a message across roughly five star systems in three days.

Even then, there were restrictions on its contents and length.

As a result, relaying a message from a frontier system through successive terminals to the capital system still took well over two weeks.

And that was only the transmission time. Add the time spent passing reports up through layer after layer of bureaucracy,

and the delay grew longer still.

On this point, the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire were equally bad. Neither had room to mock the other.

The ancient complaint that "the emperor's decrees could scarcely leave Chang'an" had returned in the interstellar age.

Remote systems routinely paid lip service to orders from the capital system while doing as they pleased.

In a sense, the first signs of warlordism had already appeared.

Given that background, the combat readiness of each system's standing forces was easy to imagine.

But the Federation Military's fighting strength was only one concern. What unsettled Amber more was how strangely quiet the past two days had been.

After news as important as the Empire's imminent surprise attack reached Major Mars, it had vanished without a trace.

Getting no reply was bad enough. More absurdly, Amber found he could not even contact Major Mars.

Neither direct calls to his terminal nor private messages got any response.

As the head of the Combat Intelligence Center, Major Mars had not shown his face in two days.

Yet the people at the center acted as though this were perfectly normal.

"What kind of insane discipline and organization is this?"

As Amber grumbled, August 17, New Calendar year 588, finally arrived.

It was not only the day Amber remembered the imperial fleet launching its surprise attack.

It was also Federation Army Day.

Yasin Base therefore held a grand celebration, opened its gates, and invited nearby civilians to visit.

At the evening gala, Commander Adam even took the stage himself and performed a traditional Federation Military song, "Today We Give Our Lives Freely," for the base's personnel.

"Courage, duty, honor!"

"We call upon the Federation Military in our hour of need."

"Our lives are meant for this fight."

"Today we give our lives freely!"

"When you know the cause, citizens' rights must be defended!"

"When duty calls, brave sacrifice is required!"

"I will give my life for the Federation!"

Watching Commander Adam onstage, his uniform immaculate and his expression resolute as he sang with all his heart,

Amber had to admit the man had a gift for singing and put real feeling into it.

When he reached "I will give my life for the Federation!" the entire crowd joined in.

For a moment, Amber almost fell for the illusion that this was an elite force of brave, battle-hardened soldiers.

While the whole base basked in the festive mood, Amber slipped out of the venue unnoticed.

Back in his quarters, he unfolded the equipment rack.

It held the Psionic Special Operations Suit and Light Exoskeleton he had collected from logistics.

Amber swiftly put them both on.

With one final click!, every connection between the Light Exoskeleton and the suit came online.

On the HUD projected inside his full-face mask, green indicators lit up for every node of the Light Exoskeleton.

Amber studied himself in the full-length mirror. Beneath his Tactical Visor, he wore a matte-black one-piece combat suit.

The Light Exoskeleton, finished in the same matte black, hugged his back and limbs.

Apart from the slight bulge of the Metallic Hydrogen Battery Pack on his back, nothing protruded from the Exoskeleton.

Once the power was on, Amber moved his arms and legs to test it.

With the motors assisting him, he felt his strength and speed rise by nearly sixty percent.

That was less of a boost than the medium and heavy Exoskeletons or powered armor commonly used by the Mobile Infantry, which ran on a combination of gas turbines and Metallic Hydrogen Battery Packs.

But it was more than enough for reconnaissance and infiltration.

After confirming that the Exoskeleton was working properly, Amber circulated the Psionics within him and activated the Synthetic Cell Coating on the suit and Exoskeleton.

A faint honeycomb-patterned glow rippled across his body.

The next second, he vanished completely from the room.