Chapter 54
Ray asked his three Hinn-derived compatriots, "Is there a way to bring a mixed group of humans and Hinn to a place where they can train at an accelerated rate without fear of harm?"
"There are several options with different costs, risks, and benefits. I assume you wish to practice physical conflict against notional foes," Ousha queried.
"Something like that. I'd like to bring the assault squad, Amber, Tauriz and myself into a series of practice scenarios where we can learn to coordinate. Given we don't have a lot of time, being able to stretch time while we're there would be extremely helpful."
"This is something that may be accomplished. It would be best if you have all the people you wish to practice in the same room, seated and at peace, before beginning."
"What are the risks?"
"While time will be accelerated while within the practice field, there will be time passing. Your bodies will be defenseless while this occurs. I would suggest only using this technique somewhere safe. Additionally, others should not be in the same room as those in the field. They will not be harmed but they may become significantly disoriented."
"Ousha, please show me how to create this field. Then, please call the assault group and Amber to the bottommost basement. Let them know they won't need anything other than something comfortable to sit or lie down on. Then request Tomaz put together appropriate forces to protect the elevator and the escape ladder while we're busy."
"Very well, Ray." She showed me where to find the technique within Hinn, including how to adjust all the functions it incorporated.
"Tauriz, shall we head down?"
Tauriz smiled and took Ray's hand in hers. "Yes, Master."
Outside Hinn, Ousha pulled out her phone while continuing her discussion with Betty long enough to text Ray's requests to all the participants. As she did, Ray and Tauriz stepped out of the room and towards the elevator. Seeing no one around, Tauriz created a couple of folding camping chairs in their carrying bags. Ray took one from her and they headed down to the first basement.
After being waved through the security chokepoint in the first basement by the trooper on duty, they walked to the far end of the floor and took the elevator down to the bottom floor. As they stepped out, Ray's phone rang. Answering it, he found Tomaz on the other end.
"Ray, what's going on?"
"We've found a way we can practice safely. We won't have to expend any resources and no one will be permanently injured, nor will they die, but the scenario will be quite realistic otherwise."
"OK, great! What's the downside?"
"Come down to the bottom basement and we'll discuss it. We'll want security on the elevator and the escape ladder, but it shouldn't be long, perhaps two hours at most."
"I'll be right down."
Opening the chairs, the two sat under one of the few working lights. Shortly thereafter some of the Skepsi troopers started to arrive, then Amber, and then finally Tomaz and another trooper.
"Welcome, folks. Amber and those on the assault team, please take a seat or lie down, whichever you prefer. Tomaz, who's this?"
"This is Erin O'Carroll, my second in command. Erin, our clients, Ray and Tauriz."
"A pleasure to meet you folks."
"And ours too, Erin. Tomaz, Erin, what we need is a guard on the elevator and the emergency ladder. We can't have others in the room, they wouldn't die but they'd be very disoriented during the training. Those who start the training with us will come out the other side unharmed by the training itself, even if the training would seem to have lethal consequences were it in our normal reality. Yes, you can blow yourself up in this training with no long term consequences. However, if someone were to get through the disorienting effects after we started we'd be helpless against whatever they wished to do until the training was over. During the training we can create everyone's normal gear, so there'll be no wear on their normal loadouts, loss of ammo or other expendable resources, or the like.
"We figure we can train some, adjust loadouts if needed, and retrain until we're a lot further along than we are now. This won't be the only time we can do this, it's just we're on a time crunch and need to be efficient. Any questions?"
"I look forward to getting the team's debrief afterwards. Erin, you've got the elevator with the rest of HQ. I'll cover the ladder with DeShaun's team. Just call the elevator when you're done, Ray, and Erin'll call me in."
As the Skepsi detachment's two leaders headed back up the elevator, Amber asked, "Ray?"
"Yes?"
"How will my techniques work?"
"This training... field, for lack of a better word, is effectively a shared illusion that intercepts and responds to the intent of those within it. A variant of this technique can also be used as a very effective prison, for the same reason. Your intent becomes a shared perception of actions shared in the field, not in reality. Thus, your techniques will work as you expect them to, barring other effects within the training field which you are not consciously aware of. For example, your lightning will work as you're used to unless our notional enemy has another practitioner trying to counteract your techniques."
"I see. How will it work with previously enacted techniques?"
"As you expect, again barring conditions you're not currently aware of."
"Well, I'm willing to give it a try if you don't mind some possible secondary damage."
"That's why we're down here - not much to hurt, and it's pretty darned durable."
Ray wished via Hinn that this floor be reinforced against damage beyond all reason, and Tauriz happily complied.
"OK, folks. Let's run some quick introductions. I'm Ray Helms, and I'll be the one you'll have to come rescue if there's any action tomorrow night. I've got multiple black belts but no modern military or firearms training. This is my girlfriend, Tauriz Aoud, who's both Hinn and genie, and she'll be working with you folks. She's better than me at martial arts and skilled with archaic melee and ranged weapons. We both can alter reality through what we might as well call magic and are significantly stronger, faster and more durable than humanity. Amber?"
"I'm Amber Delain. I'm normally a researcher, but I'm also what you could call a witch. Like Ray and Tauriz, I have abilities that are commonly considered to be impossible. In the right circumstances I am more durable, stronger and faster than most humans, but I can't maintain that for more than a half hour. I'm not a trained soldier like yourselves, but I've had significant training in close combat. I've been in a few fights, one of which had a couple hundred combatants on either side. A couple of the battles were quite nasty indeed. Most haven't been against humans, however."
Ray stepped in, "And you folks are?"
"Hello again. I'm the team lead, Kendis Wahyudi. My specialties are sensor tech, tactics, and light infantry. For simplicity's sake I'll just say that each member of this team has somewhere in excess of a decade of training and experience in warfare, up to more than three decades for John there."
"Henry Willsworth, sapper, light infantry."
"John Doyle, light infantry, forward observer."
"Kat Toomy, medic, light infantry."
"Maria Salazar, close support, light infantry."
"Roberto Donovan, armorer, logistics, and heavy weapons."
"Thanks. Now, in this training field, you'll feel pain if you get hit, and you may even think you die during this training. Neither will be permanent. At the end of each scenario, you'll be back to how you feel right now - alive and undamaged. If we keep going after you 'die', you'll stop hurting and be able to watch, but you won't be able to interact with any of us until that scenario's done. Once I turn this training field on, we'll get you all geared up with your normal loads. They'll feel and act exactly like you'd normally expect them to. Any other questions quick?"
"How long do you expect this to take, Ray?"
"We'll not take longer than 2 hours, but we won't be experiencing the same time stream - it will seem like a much longer time, but we'll turn the field off once we're all happy we're done. You won't need food or water, it'll just be two hours of sitting around here at most as far as your bodies needs are concerned."
"Very well, then."
Following the directions Ousha had provided, Ray built the training field around them. The effect was a little tricky to generate, the time manipulation was quite different from any of the other techniques Ray had made up to this point. After a minute's concentration, the effect was operational.
"OK. You probably don't feel very different, except possibly for Amber, but we're in the training space. We're also experiencing time at a much faster rate than people outside the room. Let me see now - next is gearing up." Reaching into the active technique, Ray bridged two of the components with a fresh flow of samum, then released it. As he connected it, a small cloud formed in front of each of the people that disappeared as soon as he broke the link, leaving an organized pile of armor, weapons, ammunition, and other materials. Several short stacks of gleaming diamond coins even sat in front of Kat, embodying the field's emulation of the coins Tauriz had created for the medics.
"If you're missing anything, please tell me and we'll fix it. Otherwise, please gear up. So you know, all of this has taken only fraction of a second in reality even if it's seemed to have been a couple minutes."
After everyone had gotten their equipment settled, Ray said "For this one, I suggest we set a scenario up and walk through it together before jumping into other, more realistic scenarios. I'll be carrying a couple trackers, Annya can give you the technical details after this Kendis, and we'll practice with just one of the trackers available to start with. Tauriz has other means of tracking me that we'll look into after that, if that's OK with everyone?"
"Can we just try some things first, Ray?"
