Chapter 7

9 Months Later

March 11th 2511, It has been 2 years since Axel became head of ONI Section 3 and in these 2 years he has made a lot of progress. First was the creation of the MCU which would revolutionize military capabilities if the UNSC uses them correctly. 

Then there was the MPCR-1 which was better than the MA5C and was a personnel weapon for the MCU's to use. The production of the MPCR-1 was done and each MCU unit was equipped with it's own MPCR-1 with a Secondary weapon being the standard M6H Pistol.

After Axel reported the 1st Robotic Battalion as ready for battle, the Top Brass wasted no time in deploying them. Just two months later, on May 25th, 2511, the battalion received their first mission.

Axel was selected as the mission's Commander due to his experience and qualifications. Having gone through Officer School and graduating at the top of his class, he set new records that impressed those in charge.

The Top Brass needed to witness his capabilities in the field, making this mission a perfect opportunity. It would showcase both his leadership skills and the combat prowess of the MCU's in an actual battle scenario.

Axel observed the MCU's as they loaded up the Pelican with all the necessary gear. He had given the Commander of the 1st Robotic Battalion the nickname "Hammer".

"Hammer," Axel called out, catching the attention of one of the MCU units. "How much time do we have left?" he asked.

Hammer reported, "It shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes to gather the rest of the equipment, Commander."

Axel replied sternly, "Be thorough and don't miss anything."

Hammer responded "Of course Commander"

And just like he said 15 min later and the Hammer had reported that everything was ready. Axel boarded one of the Pelicans along with Taylor and a new addition to his group Lt. Talia Baker whom had just been transferred to the base to be something like the 2nd in Command for Axel.

Once the boarded the Pelican the doors had closed and the Pelican took off heading towards space to land on the Orion-class assault carrier which would transport and support Axel in his mission.

Trailing behind his Pelican were 4 other Pelicans carrying more MCU's and supplies for the mission. 

After leaving the planet the 5 Pelicans landed on the Orion-class assault carrier where Axel was greeted by the Admiral of the vessel. But he was a one star Admiral, meaning that his true rank was Rear Admiral (Lower Half).

But even so they were still referred to as Admiral since it would be a mouthful to call them Rear Admiral every single time.

As Axel walked down the ramp of the Pelican, Admiral Josiah Wiseman was standing their waiting to greet him. Axel paid the proper respects that he should to a superior as the Admiral returned the salute.

"How are you doing Commander" Asked Admiral Wiseman.

"Good Admiral, how about you" Responded Axel

"I'm doing fine actually thanks for asking" Said Admiral Wiseman as his focused shifted to the MCU units behind Axel who were unloading the supplies from the ship.

"And these are the Robots that I have heard so much about hmmm, I got to say I still much prefer a normal soldier over a machine any day since you never know what can happen on the battlefield" Said Admiral Wiseman expressing his opinion on the MCU's.

Axel didn't want to respond by saying something smart since most of the UNSC was like this when it came to A.I. since they are afraid of what could happen should the A.I. go out of control. But Axel has spent Hundreds of hours creating the A.I. Core for the MCU's so chance of something happening was less than 0.01%.

"Well Admiral you won't have to worry about them going rouge if that's your concern since there is a fail safe in place that prevents them from targeting members of the UNSC" Explained Axel. Though he was lying since there was no such thing like that.

Adding something like that would only limit the MCU's since what if somebody from the UNSC is discovered to be a traitor, then with that feature the MCU's would not target them since they are registered as members of the UNSC.

"I see well that is a good feature that is has but I still have my preference and if we are at war I would prefer to send some real soldiers then a Robot" Said Admiral Wiseman as he continued to voice his own opinion.

Axel just shook his head as Hammer approached him "Commander the supplies will be done offloading after 30 Minutes" Reported Hammer.

"Okay good job Hammer just continue to Offload and make sure to not disturb the other soldiers, we should be at our destination in about 2 Months anyway" Ordered Axel

"Yes Commander" Said Hammer as he turned around to carryout the task that Axel gave him.

"It seems you have already been informed on the time it will take to get their, So I will leave you to your business and inform you when we get their" Said Admiral Wiseman as he turned around and walked back to the bridge.

Once he was some distance away Lt. Baker walked up to him "Sir What do you think about the Admiral" Asked Lt. Baker.

"I think he might be affiliated with the Insurrectionists" Was all Axel said as he turned to look at Lt. Baker who had a surprised expression on her face.

"How so Sir" Asked Lt. Baker since she was curious as to how he has guessed that from one encounter.

"Let's just say it's just a hunch, and I might have also looked him up and did some investigation into his career, emails, and such" Explained Axel.

"But Sir isn't that illegal, and since he outranks you I'm sure that some of that stuff is classified information" Said Lt. Baker voicing her concerns.

"Don't worry about it, as long as nobody knows it's not illegal, plus while he does outrank me I have special privileges when it comes to my position as Head of ONI Section 3 and once I find the evidence that he is conspiring with the Insurrectionist during our mission I will take him down" Said Axel. 

"I see, well then Sir I will follow your lead" Stated Lt. Baker. She was put under his command and she would not betray him. Plus if he is caught then it would be him who is court martialed and not her.

The ship had started to move meaning that they were plotting their course and preparing to jump to Slip space. This was one thing that Axel wanted to fix since Slip space just took too long.

2 Months of travel just to reach a planet which isn't that far away. In the future he planned to create a new engine which would completely change the way people travel around the Universe.