Artificial

Equipment

Operator Two

I open the door to the armory, and am greeted by a robot and electronic music. She turns to face me and greets me cheerfully.
"Hello! You must be Two! Congratulations on your Operator status! I'm Pam, welcome to the armory! Let's get you outfitted."
"O-okay," I stammer out, caught off guard by her enthusiasm. She walks back to a locker with a digital screen displaying "Two". She enters a code into the door's built-in padlock and begins searching through the equipment inside.
"How exciting! You're going to be our first female tank in a long time!"
"I am?"
"Yep! It only makes sense, given your powerful frame. Try this on."
She hands me a suit of armor that certainly looks tank-ish. After slipping into it, I find it is surprisingly comfortable, lined with mesh padding to aid in ventilation and impact compensation. The suit is heavily armored, complete with a heavy duty chest plate and large shoulder pauldrons to help me shrug off blows like a true titan. It's extremely heavy, but my powerful frame seems to carry it with ease. I still somehow feel sort of light on my feet. Pam places a helmet over my head, and a heads-up display appears before my eyes. It tells me the suit's structural integrity, as well as monitors my ammunition. There's also an indicator I don't recognize.
"What's 'Bulwark Mode'?"
"Your ability! It's very exciting. But before you can deploy it, I need to introduce you to your companion AI."
She inserts a chip into the back of my helmet and a part of my HUD I didn't notice before jumps into motion.
Initializing AI companion...Complete!
Hello there, Athena. I'm Warmaiden. We're going to kick ass together.
My, a little aggressive, aren't we?
Honey, you signed up to fight a war, and your job is literally to get shot. A lot. I'm just trying to keep you motivated.
Fair enough. Also, is Athena..?
Your callsign? Yes. Welcome to Force Recon, by the way.
Thank you! It's quite an honor.
That it is. Now, you may want to come back to reality.
I focus back in on Pam smiling at me, and realize I've been spacing out during my intracranial ice-breaker with Warmaiden.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I–"
"Don't worry about it! It's very common for Operators to space out when they first have their AI installed. We'd much rather have you get to know each other than ignore each other."
"Good point."
"I'm sure you'll get along great! But before you can spend some more time together, I'm gonna need to test your gear first! Would you please follow me to the firing range?"

Once we arrive at the range, Pam wastes no time with testing.
"Please assume a defensive stance. If you need advice, Warmaiden is more than capable."
Hahaha. She's right, you know. I'm actually a decommissioned Riot Control Drone.
Really?
Yup. Here, try this.
She displays a graphic of Athena leaning into her shield on my HUD, and I copy it.
Atta girl. Make sure you plant that back foot. It's where your leverage comes from. Eyes front.
I focus back in on Pam.
"Excellent form! Now, just ask Warmaiden to engage Bulwark Mode!"
Warmaiden?
You got it, sweetie.
A blue shield projects out from my left gauntlet, very similar to Riot's, and my suit instantly feels feather-light.
"Holy shit!" I exclaim aloud, and Warmaiden and Pam both laugh.
"It's always fun to see an Operator's first time using their ability."
Agreed.
Pam puts two fingers to her ear and begins to speak.
"Stage One, do you copy?"
I can't make out the reply.
"Yes it is! Please engage as you see fit."
I turn to look at her, and begin to speak when a bullet strikes my shield. I'm caught off guard, but the shield doesn't budge and neither do I. Suddenly, a red shape appears on my HUD.
"By now," Pam explains as another bullet strikes my shield, "the tracer subroutine should be active and highlighting your assailant."
"Are they in the guard tower over there?"
"Yes! It's working properly. Excellent!"
She puts her finger to her ear again.
"Cease fire, Stage One. All systems functional."
I once again can't understand the reply.
"She goes by Athena, but I'll pass it along."
She looks back at me.
"Evo says hello. Now, onto Stage Two. Your armor should feel lighter if the suit is working correctly."
"It is."
"Good! Part of Bulwark Mode involves putting your armor into power-assist mode, granting you enhanced strength and movement. Which brings me to your standard-issue weapon."
She turns around and enters a code into a weapon crate behind her. It opens in dramatically slow fashion, revealing a belt-fed machine gun. My HUD begins feeding me info.
MMG-24
Caliber: 12.7x99mm
Capacity: 250rds
Effective range: 1800m
It's a fucking beauty.
She picks up the weapon, and brings it around to my right side. I grab it by the pistol grip and it feels light as a sidearm.
"You see that cutout in your shield there? Place the barrel in there, it'll help steady it."
I do as she says.
"Fire when ready."
My HUD calculates the trajectory of the weapon, and give me an indicator of where the weapon is currently pointing. I squeeze the trigger, and the recoil is minimal. Three rounds land in a somewhat tight grouping through the target in front of me. With more confidence now, I hold down the trigger, emptying the magazine as the deafening support weapon slings round after devastating round downrange.
Hot damn, we're a force to be reckoned with.
No kidding.
"All systems are showing full function!" Pam declares happily. "You may go join your fireteam."
"Thank you Pam!"
"My pleasure!"