Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

the last time the USAN, or even the old USA as it was then, last
deployed human soldiers on the battlefield?”  Bobby shook his head. 
“It was 2087, WWIII.  That was the last time until this one, a hundred and
fifty years without a single live soldier deployed on the field of
battle.  Even in the civil wars it was all drones on the
battlefield.  The Battle of Seville was actually fought in sheds in
Kentucky.”  Bobby nodded.  “So I take my hat off to you guys. 
That takes some balls, to do what you did.”
    “We just did
what was asked of us,” said Bobby.  “I’d have been just as happy to have
sat in an air conditioned shed in Kentucky than have
had my ass shot off in Lahore.  I just felt like I should give something
back.  The old country asked people to serve, so I did.”
    “What was it
like in the Commander Program?”  Mike asked.
    “It was okay,
I guess,” Bobby replied.  “We did all the standard training in the sims
like regular soldiers, and then some field training on top.  Training with
the mechs suits was pretty rough.”
    Mike cut in,
“Mech suits?”
    “Yeah, the
command drones.  They’re the same as the drones in your squad but with
less ammo to allow space for you to be in.”
    “How many
drones to a squad?” asked Mike, even though he knew the answer.
    “Twelve,
including the command drone.  Each squad is eleven drones and one
commander.  The drones can all act autonomously, but can follow direct
orders from the commander.  If the commander is injured or incapacitated,
control of the squad will fall back to remote pilots based outside the theatre
of operations.  But all the while you’re in the field the squad commander
has total operational control.  The whole point of the program is that an
operational commander there in the field, with direct personal experience of
what is happening, is better placed to make
situational judgements than someone sat maybe three thousand miles away. 
There’s no substitution for actually being there on the ground.”
    “But the
risks are,” Mike paused, “unbelievable.  And you volunteered. 
Incredible.”  Bobby smiled.  “Someone had to do it.”
    Someone may
have had to do it but it needn’t have been Bobby.  He was born a hundred
and forty million miles away, and with his family connections he could easily
have remained out of it.  His father Jack had been mortified when Bobby
told him he had volunteered, and had threatened to disown him.  In truth
Jack was terrified about what might become of his son, but he masked that
feeling with anger, casting Bobby out of the House of Karjalainen and pulling
his younger son Anthony even closer.
    Bobby had
always been the most difficult of the two boys, in
trouble at school, in trouble with girls, in trouble with the police, but his
easy smile and winning ways had always managed to get him through.  When
he was younger his sheepish grin and ‘what the hell’ shrug worked on his father
too, but as he got older Jack Karjalainen became increasingly immune.  He
still loved Bobby but found it harder and harder to let him know it. 
Maybe that’s why Bobby volunteered; to get a reaction out of his father. 
And maybe it worked, but Jack Karjalainen would never admit to it.
    “Incredible,”
Mike said to himself.  “Can I get you another drink?”
    “I don’t
think you can,” Bobby said, and then to the machine, “Hey, barkeep.  Same
again here.”  The robot arm performed its whirring magic, finishing with
its weary message about drinking responsibly.
    Mike grabbed
his new beer and took a sip.  “What did it feel like?” he said.
    “Feel like?”
    “Yeah, what
did it feel like, the fighting?”
    “It felt like
the sims.  You’ve played the sims right?  Mech
Azimuth 4 and all those?  It feels just like that, but with hard work
and no resets.”
    “Yeah, but, I mean .  . .”
    “What?”
    Mike took a
breath and searched for the words.  “I mean in an