Chapter 156 - Repair Briefing

Ceres huffed as he slammed his metal-wrapped fist yet again into a punching bag. The entire training centre was filled with agents like him trying to gear their minds and body for the upcoming offensive.

The atmosphere was tense, with the initial excitement wearing off. The potential outcome if they failed the offensive was horrendous, and almost every rebel agent knew that their lives were on the line.

Ceres too did not think himself invulnerable. Despite all the superpowers he had gained, it only worked if he could blatantly show it during the mission.

Right now, he only wore a basic unmodified Victorious Revolt exosuit, getting used to the limitations of the exosuit.

Ardan hasn’t told him when to reveal himself yet, if at all. Hence, Ceres was training to battle without using any abilities at all.

He could already sense people eyeing him from all over the training centre with a tinge of curiosity, especially after his miraculous achievement at capturing a Keeper and the enforcer squad leader alive.

“Are you sure he really managed to take down the Keeper? The strength with which he is punching right now doesn’t seem to match the rumours going around.”

“‘Snow Bunny’ testified for him, as did ‘Flowing Water’! They did mention they used the environment of the Abela Forest to their advantage.”

“Shit, he dared to enter the forest?! That sounds like beginner luck to me.”

“I’ll take all the luck I can get on this upcoming mission. I hope his luck rubs off on us.”

Ceres could not hear the whispers clearly, but he could tell their emotions. “I don’t know how Ardan is going to handle the reveal of the Martyr. I hope it’s not too dramatic…” He threw a few more punches at the punching bag. “Whew, ok let’s go another round.”

Ceres found the experience novel, trying to limit his abilities and fight as best as he could. He had been relying on the black goo as a crutch for far too long, making him forget how his own body worked.

Even then, his body still felt foreign to him, having grown for five years unconsciously. Ceres already had his few training periods in the slovesa temple, allowing him to fight effectively with the black goo.

Now he had to probably familiarise himself with the Victorious Revolt exosuit. He didn’t do much training before his first mission, seeing as it was meant to be a simple resupply mission. However, he slightly regretted it now, having revealed so much to Don and Randy.

It was his luck that Don and Randy did not expose him, partly due to their friendship, but Ceres couldn’t say the same for the next hundred agents that he will be working with to raid the prison.

The Victorious Revolt exosuit base design was extremely lightweight and feature-free, which also meant it did not excel at anything.

If Ceres had to put it into words, it would be ‘aggressively mediocre’.

Designed to fit numerous rebels to simplify mass production and reduce the amount of non-recurring engineering, the exosuit truly had nothing to show. Everything about it was the standard placement any junior exosuit designer would do, with no particular innovation on the wiring, mechanical layout, materials used and so on.

The exosuit was even easier to use than the Bee Strathon Mining Suit IV, which was a hard bar to pass. The mining exosuit had always been designed for rough conditions deep underground, allowing a miner to survive for up to a few days in case of a cave-in or when fighting off native wildlife.

Where the Victorious Revolt truly shined was in the modules and add-ons. It felt like the rebel leaders had decided on an incentive-based system for procuring the upgrades and modules to the exosuit by tying it to mission performance.

Ceres did not hate the system – it was the norm in the Loeric Empire. Only those who could perform will receive additional benefits.

However, he could already identify a few inherent flaws apparent in the base design. “Maybe I’m allowed to modify my own exosuit… I’ll have to talk to Ardan about that.”

Suddenly, a message beeped on his multi-terminal. But not just his, everyone in the training centre eventually had a similar message.

The role assignments were done.

“Exosuit Frontline Repair…” Ceres already expected this posting or something similar, seeing as he had the rare skill of being well-versed in exosuit repair and being able to fight.

It was not common among the rebels and very hard to find beyond New Saint. The outside world was a bit too brutal and violent for bookworms that were the usual stereotype.

He was temporarily assigned to Squad C as their main exosuit repairer. Every squad of nine men had both a primary and a secondary exosuit repairer in their squad, allowing the squad to operate independently if needed.

[All ‘Squad Leaders’, report to Sierra for mission briefing. Other roles will have your designated briefing areas in your multi-terminal.] A robot voice announced over the entire base, leading to the training centre slowly being cleared out.

Ceres checked the message again, noting the location of the briefing to be near one of the repair factories. “Will I finally get to meet the people that run the exosuit division?”

The repair factory was a converted warehouse that seemed to be jury-rigged to be a factory. Hundreds of weapons and exosuit parts were consumed and used to repair or improve exosuits. A long conveyer belt served as the main attraction, stretching the entire two-kilometre-long warehouse.

Tons of components, parts and tools were stocked in high aisles, with anti-gravity drones flitting about arranging them. These were things like spare arms, actuators, electrical sensors, spools of wires, crimping tools, wrenches, solder, cleaning alcohol, motors, volatile batteries, refined Sturore and Floa.

Ceres was thoroughly impressed with the number of resources collected, though he also knew that it could be easily depleted in a single offensive campaign like the upcoming one.

Various damaged exosuits with bloodstains and broken machinery were sent in from the starting point, moving through the conveyer belt and passing through a series of decontamination chambers. The repair couldn’t be done automatically, but the conveyer belt made the cleaning process much easier.

No exosuit repairer wanted to see nor touch the leftover burnt skin that stuck to the inner walls of an exosuit, much less any blood or organs that might have been left behind. Except for Ceres, who was already immune to it.

A few dozen exosuit repairers worked tirelessly as damaged exosuits and weapons continuously came off the belt before being automatically sent via forklift drones to their repair benches.

As Ceres entered the repair factory from the second floor, he could see the exosuit repairers each having close to ten exosuits as their backlog. Drones continuously moved back and forth from a parts supply area, providing the exosuit repairers with whatever they requested, while twenty large factory-sized 3D printers were arranged along the sides, churning out freshly fabricated parts.

Despite the scale and seemingly stable view of the operation, Ceres could instinctively tell that many of the exosuit repairers were not trained properly. He could see a few fumbles and a general lack of understanding of how some of the exosuit modules they were supposed to be repairing work.

This was also par for the course, seeing as the rebellion was only made up of people unsatisfied with the status quo. If an exosuit repairer was truly skilled, he wouldn’t be here in the first place, instead living the good life in the inner zones or with the Loeric Empire’s Legions.

The briefing was held in a small private room, seeing as the number of exosuit repairers in the prison break was less than eighteen people. Ceres entered what seemed to be a training room for rookie exosuit repairers, except it was full of dismantled exosuits and parts. They seemed to have been used for demonstration purposes, with a ‘teacher’ workbench situated at the front.

It seemed like he was the last one to arrive, but thankfully the person in charge of the briefing was not yet there. The ‘student’ workbenches were already labelled with the Squad letters, so Ceres quickly found his along with his supposed secondary exosuit repairer.

He headed over to his seat, sitting down next to the secondary exosuit repairer. He could feel a sense of wariness and aggression emitting from her towards him.

Ceres took a good look at her. She had long purple hair that was left unkept but somehow still naturally pleasant. Her eyes were fiery, staring intently at Ceres in some form of provocation. However, due to Ceres’s height, he could only see her 1.8-meter height as ‘short’, so the impression just came off as childish and young.

He decided to listen to the briefing first before talking to her. He did not know why she was staring at him so intently. After all, they were to be squad mates on a life-or-death mission, it was better to try and reconcile any difference as soon as possible. “Is it because of the mask?”

“I am Lead Designer Felicia, and the designer of the Victorious Revolt. I will not be participating in the offensive but will be handling the repairs on the ground. As for you, you will be fighting right at the front, with the expectation of your squad resting entirely on your shoulders.” Felicia spoke as she set up her multi-terminal to begin projection.

“Many of you are already experienced in this regard, but for the purpose of the prison break, we have only chosen top combatants who can hold their own. Thus, about half of you have either always worked solo or have never done something similar to this. This briefing is to go through the deep details on exactly what you need to do.”

Felicia walked over to the side of the room, dragging over a dirty but functional copy of the Victorious Revolt. “First thing: You need to memorize everything on your squad’s list. There’s no other way. For those who are the primary exosuit repairer, it’s also your job to handle all the logistics. You will meet with your squad later, and you’ll have to collect almost every single minor detail possible.”

Felicia pulled out an energy gun from her belt, taking aim at the copy of the Victorious Revolt before firing off. The arcing energy beam burnt a clean hole through the right shoulder of the Victorious Revolt, exposing the melted wires and insulation materials along with residual sparks.

The arm that was previously held upright began to dangle wildly like a loose puppet string, a clear indication that the actuation and mechanical controls of the arms have been disabled.

“Now can anyone tell me which parts you need to have on hand and how you fix this?” Felicia asked the room.

Immediately the secondary exosuit repairer next to Ceres shot her hand upwards, the only one daring enough to answer. “Go ahead, Pris.”

Pris cleared her throat, before standing up and enunciating clearly. “Firstly, the melted wires need to be removed, with the ends of the wires being cleaned before attempting to solder new wires in. Heatshrink and a coat of thermal insulation, as well as electromagnetic dissipation liquid, should be on hand to finish it.”

“As for the frame, a portable arc-welding along with a metal 3D printer can quickly patch the gaps. The surface of the replacement parts as well as the broken ends of the frame will need to be polished with a grinder as well to prevent accidental injury to the wearer as it is near the shoulder which sees the most movement.”

“Actuation can be fixed by replacing it entirely with a brand new motor. If the motor is too melted to be replaced, the new motor can be mounted on the exterior coupled with a makeshift metal housing. It might not be exactly the same, but it will still allow the user to move the exosuit with an approximately 45% effectiveness compared to before.”

Pris ended with a smug smile on her face, with the room having mixed feelings. Half of the newcomers were thoroughly impressed with how fast Pris came up with potential solutions, while the remaining half were rolling their eyes, already accustomed to the genius Pris for stealing the spotlight once again.

Ceres glanced around the room, noticing that Pris’s prior aggressive attitude seemed to be directed towards everyone else in the room, as though she could not settle for anything less than the top.

“Excellent answer, Pris. This is the kind of quick thinking that will help on the battlefield. When a repair needs to be done in less than five to ten minutes, you need to be quick on your feet!” Felicia complimented Pris, who’s smug smile grew even wider.

“Following that train of logic, you need to theorize and postulate different scenarios in which your exosuit can be damaged. Many of you have participate in the planet-wide graduation competition, but I don’t think any of you apart from Pris has ever made it into the main stage.”

“With the theoretical scenarios, you can then begin to draft up the essentials required in the list of logistics!” Felicia summarized.

Ceres nodded, having done something similar when he designed the combat armour for the milita back in the subterranean town. It wasn’t exactly an exosuit, but he had also drafted up additional repair armour plates in case they had to be replaced.

However, this was on a completely different scale and complexity. Ceres had no doubt that the squad of nine would have vastly differing requirements for what components they needed. Assuming each member of his squad had a specialized role and add-on modules to the exosuit, he would need the corresponding personalized list just for that role.

The true insanity of the logistics was finally hitting him, and while he might have some prior experience, Ceres was effectively going to be learning this from scratch. Sure, he had formal training in the Thorn Chamber and whatnot, but that was all for personal use, not to maintain a squad’s equipment.

While Ceres was pondering silently to himself, Pris glanced at him, her smug face still apparent. “I’m the only one suited for the primary role, why do I have to listen to this obvious newbie?!”, Pris thought to herself.

She could not bear to see newcomers who barely knew how to repair an exosuit fuck up a mission. She wanted the rebellion to operate with the highest efficiency, and naturally, that meant her as lead exosuit repairer.

“Once you have the list of equipment in place, it’s time to put them to the test. We have VR pods where you are able to simulate just about any damaged condition your squad’s exosuit can be in. This will then accurately test if you are able to fix it or not, and then you adjust the list accordingly.” Felicia continued.

It wasn’t the same as the Thorn Chamber - no one was as flush with cash as the Dynasty of Hawthorn and able to buy hardlight chambers for training! VR was already good enough for Ceres, though he would prefer to practice it in real life, seeing as the black goo was unable to help him in the virtual world!

“VR Pods are fairly limited now, everyone wants to use them, so you’ll have to bid for your own slot through the internal registration and timetabling system. I’m not in control of that. Conversely, if you want to try your hand at some real repairs, I set aside a few damaged exosuits specifically for the newcomers to test your list on. It may not be exactly similar to what your squad runs, but I guarantee you the damage is realistic. Any questions?”

Pris suddenly shot her hand, asking her question right away: “I have an issue. Why is this newbie hiding behind a mask, and why is he posted as the primary exosuit repairer!? I can’t find a single record of him fixing anything in the cell group, and he only just joined a few weeks ago! I see this is as a liability on the upcoming mission.”

The room turned to face Ceres, who was caught off-guard by the girl’s accusations. Many of them had seen him around the base and had gotten used to the mask. After all, he wasn’t the only one with a mask. The White Fang and a few other top-ranked agents did not reveal their identities also!

However, knowing that Ceres was not a top-rank agent and still had a mask made them curious as well. Felicia sighed: “The arrangement of duties was personally overseen by the White Fang and Madam Sierra. Do you really want to go against them? Furthermore, Agent ‘Dumpling’ has proved himself by capturing a Keeper alive, a first in our organization!”

“Yes, but that’s combat potential! How could you blindly trust someone who seems to have no clue why he’s even here in this briefing? It doesn’t even look like he knows how to repair an exosuit!” Pris continued complaining, while Ceres started to see where this was going.

“You want the primary role? For what purpose?” Ceres suddenly replied, stunning Pris, who had originally pegged him as a pushover seeing as he did not say a word the entire briefing.

“Wha… I just want our squad to have the best chance at survival, and objectively it’s not you as the primary, it’s me!” Pris arrogantly pointed at herself.

“Okay, you can have it.”

The room was stunned into silence, with Pris’s arrogant face frozen in place. While she did get what she wanted, she did not expect the newcomer to relent so easily.

A small chuckle came out from Felicia’s mouth, she quickly hid it as though she had always remained stoic. “Well then, since ‘Dumpling’ does not want the primary role, Pris shall now be the primary. I’ll inform Sierra about the role change.”

“Hmph, at least you know your place,” Pris smirked at Ceres before sitting down with a smug face. “Maybe after a few days on the job, you might learn a thing or two from me.”

“Yes ma’am, looking forward to learn from the best.”

This time, more chuckles erupted from around the room, others catching on to what Ceres was doing – not playing along.

Pris too caught on to the sarcasm. The embarrassment and shame began to turn Pris’s face slightly red, along with anger and a whole host of other insecurities. Ceres was vividly watching them play out in a swirl of brilliant colours, though he was the only one who could see that.

“You… you think you’re better than me? How about an exosuit repair duel to pro..”

“I decline.”

The room broke out into blatant laughter, causing Pris to fume.

“De..decline? What kind of exosuit repairer are you if you haven’t got the balls to accept the duel?” Pris stuttered as she tried to mount a comeback.

“I’m the kind that doesn’t want to waste precious resources and effort just so I can prove myself better than others on a public stage.” Ceres shot back with a tinge of poison laced in his tone, evidently slightly peeved at the insistence of Pris.

Hasn’t she already gotten what she wanted? Why can’t this girl focus on the mission? There were people to be saved, for god’s sake.

He had originally thought highly of Pris due to her previously detailed answer to Felicia, but these behavioural problems and deep-seated insecurities just made it worse.

“Pris, enough! Sit down!” Felica ordered with a stern expression, causing Pris to stop arguing and sit down, still fuming at the seams.