In the year 2037, Earth is invaded by the Stex. 14 years later, superpowers start appearing in teenagers, and are apparently humanity's best defence against the aliens. What is Earth Security to do but train these people up as weapons?
Content: sci-fi, living weapons, team whump, multiple whumpees, minor whump, aliens, disabled character
August of Whump day 14: dehumanisation | darkness | alone
Series inspired by @/i-eat-worlds (not bc I think it's in any way similar but bc I've been reading their Starcross and went "wait aliens and living weapons and what if humans trained living weapons against aliens and-" so this wouldn't have been written without them)
Josiah, a soldier and a handler for Earth Security, meets his new assets.
927 words
CWs: minor whump (aged 14 and up), multiple whumpees, dehumanisation, talk of people as assets, living weapons, talk of punishment, scared whumpees, brief mention of past death
Josiah skims the briefing for a final time before folding it into a tiny square and stuffing it in his inside pocket. It only tells him what he already knows. This is an asset team, usual make-up, previous handler lost in a solo mission. There's the usual photos and descriptions, but as long as none of them are malfunctioning too badly he'll do this on his own.
He raps on the metal door three times in quick succession. It opens shortly to reveal two teenagers standing at parade rest.
Only two are ready immediately. They can do better.
The one on the right is about 5', stocky, with pale skin and dirty blonde hair shorn short. The usual titanium plate replacing part of a mekanikisto's skull is painted with delicate, intricate flowers (not exactly what he'd class as acceptable decoration but he's not in charge of uniform, unfortunately). Pastel shorts are just visible under a very baggy t-shirt, and her eyes are narrowed slightly in a display of what's not quite outright hostility. This must be Ŝpalo. Youngest in the team at 14 years old, British mother, Texan father. Far too much spunk.
The boy beside her is a little taller. Dark and wiry, ginger locs flowing out from under a bright blue bandana, he doesn't take his eyes off Josiah. He's dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, but not from training, Josiah's pretty sure. He's just relaxing. This team has far too much unstructured downtime, and they're clearly not using it wisely. This is probably Viro. 17 years old, Grenadian, tradukinto.
There should be two more assets in here, and Josiah peers around Ŝpalo and Viro into the remarkably tidy dorm room. On one of the bottom bunks a third teenager is curled up, surrounded by bedding that doesn't quite touch them. Josiah can't see them very well, just the ends of a few dark, elaborate braids curling over their trembling shoulder.
The final asset is frozen, standing beside the bunk in overlarge fleecy pyjamas, holding a jug of water and staring at Josiah with large, wide eyes. They have light brown skin, short dark hair, and a port-wine stain on their left cheek. Josiah guesses this is Granda. Aged 19, Filipino-Chinese, the normie.
Which by process of elimination makes the person on the bed the mensoleganto. Luno. Aged 15 with DVD, Bangladeshi heritage, and they really should be better than this.
"At ease," Josiah mutters. Two out of four isn't too bad, he supposes, for a team that's just lost their handler, but really. They're old enough to know better.
Ŝpalo and Viro relax their stances, although Ŝpalo keeps her head high, jutting her chin out. "Who are you, sir?"
"Sergeant Wellsmith, your new handler."
Granda straightens suddenly and salutes, nearly dropping the jug. "Sir."
"At ease, Granda. Set that jug down before you drop it."
Granda blushes as they obey, setting it down beside Luno.
Ŝpalo and Viro exchange a loaded glance.
"What do you want from us?" asks Ŝpalo, fists clenching at her sides. "Are we starting training with you now, sir? Because–"
"Ŝpalo," Josiah says sharply, and she cuts off, chin tilting up, eyes narrowed, still looking angry–
No. No, not angry.
Scared.
Determined, and scared. Why is she–
Viro moves to block Granda and Luno from his sight. Oh. Huh. This is new. Assets aren't supposed to act like this.
"If you're trying to hide someone, you don't move to where they are," Josiah reminds him. It must be a reminder, mustn't it? He should've learnt that by now. It's part of basic training.
"They did nothing wrong," says Ŝpalo. "Punish me, not them, I'm the one who was defiant."
Very defensive. This is interesting. An unusual asset team, to be sure. And it seems his predecessor was very heavy on individual punishments. Unfair ones?
"If I was going to punish anyone, it would be a team punishment. But I've only just arrived, and I'm not." His gaze flickers to Luno again. "What's their condition?"
"What do you care? They're just a weapon, aren't they? So long as they're working why does it matter?"
"I require my assets to be in good working condition," replies Josiah stiffly. "And I want to know if they're not. Ŝpalo, if you don't want to earn your team a punishment then I suggest you rapidly improve your behaviour."
Ŝpalo looks off-balance for the first time, eyes darting around their teammates before she falls completely silent. Viro's eyebrows knit but he doesn't say anything. Good. Better.
Josiah's not impressed with his predecessor. Couldn't even get Ŝpalo's attitude under control. You don't want a mekanikisto with that sort of an attitude. Don't want to end up with another Omega team situation.
"They'll be in working order for their next training session, sir," says Granda quickly. Too quickly. Very eager to please. Does that rate higher than accuracy in this asset? He hopes not.
"Good. Do they need anything to assist with that?"
"No, sir."
"Right. I want to meet you all properly before we start training together. I'll give you ten minutes to sort yourselves out and meet me in the blue briefing room. You can wear civvies."
"Yes, sir," says Granda crisply. Ŝpalo scowls. Luno doesn't even look round and Viro just looks weary.
Good grief. He has a lot to train into these assets. Looking at their results so far they'll be worth it in the end, but they don't even have the right attitude. There's a long way to go with this team.
Randowhump's Birthday Whump Event prompt 3: living weapon
Just a lil late. This is more scene setting than actual whump, I think, but anyway.
Adding this to its own masterlist bc there's two parts to it and it bothers me adding it to the unconnected whump masterlist (or whatever I called it) when it's clearly not that but idk how much I'll write for it. Just as an fyi, for once. I'm enjoying this though, I'll write more at some point.
In the year 2037, Earth is invaded by the Stex. 14 years later, superpowers start appearing in teenagers, and are apparently humanity's best defence against the aliens. What is Earth Security to do but train these people up as weapons?
679 words
CWs: implied minor whump, dehumanisation, referring to people as assets, living weapons, multiple whumpees, death sentence
Earth Security memorandum
Re: Trial of Operation Badger
Date: 11/06/2075
Since the invasion of the Stex in the year 2039, new methods of defence have been required. Attacks remain ongoing, and Earth security remains diligent and proactive in developing new counters to them. By far the most successful are the adrayntus powers.
22 years ago, it was discovered that unheard-of powers were emerging in seemingly ordinary teenagers. Initial research revealed that they had developed from high levels of exposure in utero to adrayntine, an element regularly used by the Stex. These powers were split into three categories:
Ad-traduki: Stex language translation
Ad-mensoj: Stex telepathy and behaviour prediction
Ad-mekanika: Stex mechanical expertise
(See file XTR-3L for more information on the adrayntus powers)
It was proposed that these people could prove useful assets in mankind's fight against the enemy, and a 20 year trial was implemented to study this. A summary of the trial, results and immediate recommendations are below (see file XTR-5P for a more detailed report and file XTR-5O for raw statistics).
Adrayntus powers start to develop in all genders in the early stages of puberty, usually between the ages of 10-14. Once they reveal themselves, the potential asset is offered training and employment to assist with the war effort. Legal guardians of the intended asset are persuaded via various methods (see file XTR-4P for examples) to allow this – rates of acceptance of our training by legal guardians are at 98%.
Assets are boarded at specialist institutions (see file XTR-4R) for ongoing education and training. They study Esperanto, mathematics, human and Stex-related sciences, develop their own powers, undergo basic military and intelligence training, and are trained on how to survive encounters with and capture by the Stex. See file XTR-4X for example curriculums.
Upon arrival and during their first few months at one of our centres, the assets are divided into teams. Each consists of one tradukinto (ad-traduki), one mensoleganto (ad-mensoj), and one mekanikisto (ad-mekanika), plus one non-powered asset of around the same age, recruited from suitable candidates (see file XTR-6A for detail on suitable candidates and recruitment processes). One handler is allocated per team, to be seconded from regular military service.
Upon reaching legal majority, the asset signs a contract of their own to allow for their continuing training and more advanced employment. They transfer to the adult subdivision of their respective department division and continue to assist the war effort for as long as they are willing and able.
Recruitment of adrayntus-powered assets has been ongoing throughout the trial period, and numbers have been sustainable. The core group of twelve original assets recruited during the first year of the trial developed extremely well during their training, and were divided early on into four working teams. Out of these, two are still active. The third has been disbanded due to casualties, its remaining members continuing to be active in R&D, and the last ordered for pulping following desertion. Efforts to ensure continued loyalty have been stepped up and within the trial period there has been a desertion rate of 1.2% of recruits. During the trial, 501 adrayntus-powered assets and 167 non-powered assets were recruited globally, organised into 167 teams. There has been a loss of 37% of recruits due to Stex activity, and 15% during training.
Despite the extra cost of training adrayntus-powered assets, teams including them are up to 71% more effective than conventional soldiers in combating the Stex, and they appear to boost the effectiveness of the non-powered asset on their team as well. The trial has been very effective, and it is strongly recommended that the use of adrayntus-powered assets is continued by Earth security.
Signed:
Astrid Sjögren
Astrid Sjögren, Head of Operation Badger, Earth Security
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Earth Security evaluation
Re: Earth Security Memorandum Re: Trial of Operation Badger
Date: 12/08/2075
After considering this memorandum and associated files and evidence, we concur with the conclusions made above. This is a formal confirmation allowing the continuation of the training and use of adrayntus-powered assets. Operation Badger is to continue until further notice.
Signed:
Arthur Carver
Arthur Carver, Chief of Operations, Earth Security
