Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Venya Imperium

The sound of distant animal roars echoed through the alien jungle as Athena forced her aching eyes open. Even before she could see anything, one basic question filled her thoughts.

“Where the hell am I?”

Her head was burning like someone lit it up with a Judicator-class flamethrower. For a moment, the young woman found herself in the middle of a sea of memories. One second, she was a college student on Earth, worrying about her future career aspects after graduation. The next second, she was a proud soldier...a soldier of what? The…the empire. No…the Imperium! What Imperium? Wasn’t that like the Latin word for an empire? Even if that was true, the only empire she really remembered that still existed on Earth was the British Empire, and she doubted she just joined the British Army.

Groaning in pain and frustration, the young woman tried to touch her head with her hand, only to feel her skin pressing against cold steel. That was when her sight finally cleared up enough for her to see what was around her. More specifically, what she was wearing.

The first thing she noticed was that she was wearing a helmet. The helmet was completely sealed. Thankfully, there was only a layer of transparent glass between her face and the outside world. Otherwise her claustrophobia would ruin her day. As she looked down, she realized there was a layer of steel armor covering her body, protecting her from the outside world. The armor was painted in black and red, not the green camouflage she expected to see on a supposed soldier.

What was this? Once again, she found the answer in her own memories. Guardian-class power armor. Standard issue power armor for all infantry soldiers of the Venya Imperium. For Imperial soldiers fighting on inhospitable worlds like Morgo IV, their power armors were the only thing keeping them alive. Even just one breach in the armor’s integrity and function, either due to error or damage, could lead to a slow and painful death for the soldier inside the armor.

Once again, Athena groaned in pain and confusion. How did she know all this? Morgo IV? Venya Imperium? Power Armors? She raised her hand again and smacked it against her helmet in another attempt to distract her own psychological confusion with a physical sensation. It was an unwise choice given the information she just learned, but Athena somehow remembered knowing the integrity of the power armor could easily handle a rough touch. After all, it could withstand small-caliber firearms and remain intact.

As she moved, Athena subconsciously noticed that it wasn’t her physical strength that was lifting the steel armor that was god-knew how heavy. There were sensors built into the armor that detected her intentions and allowed the armor to mimic the action.

“God damn it…”

For a few minutes, Athena was close to throwing up. She could still feel bits and pieces of memories popping up in her head, mixing with the memories she knew to be her own. One second, she remembered marveling over the hologram projection of a young woman in military attire. The next second her brain immediately reached the conclusion that those memories didn't belong to her, and her thoughts jumped to the faces of people she actually knew on Earth. Friends. Teachers. Parents.

By the end of what could be the most frustrating minutes of her life, Athena finally accepted all the new memories and realized what was really going on.

This was the Year 2783. 761 years since her own time. One would expect that after hundreds of years, humanity would have evolved into a much better state by then. Mankind should have ventured into the stars. With technologies that might seem like magic to people in the modern age, humanity in the future should have gone beyond material scarcity and established a utopia. One with no war. No famine. No suffering.

Knowing what the original owner of this body knew, she couldn’t be more wrong.

The only part of the expectations that did come true was the first part. Humanity did reach the stars. In fact, faced with no opposition from any sentient alien civilizations, mankind soon colonized a large piece of the galaxy and grew into numbers Athena had trouble imagining. The problem? This was the only part that came true. There was still material scarcity. And war. And famine. And suffering. Lots of suffering.

There were wars being fought all over the galaxy between empires that included dozens of sectors and had populations numbered in the trillions. Everyday, across countless battlefields, fleets and armies clash for dominance. It wasn’t unheard of for the population of entire planets to be destroyed by orbital bombardment. Many troopers march to war in the name of their respective cause, only to end up as empty coffins laid to rest by their grieving families.

Of course, according to the memories of the original owner of the body, none of that could be blamed on the Venya Imperium. The Levithan, the undisputed leader of the Imperium and the wisest being in the entire galaxy, only wished nothing but good for his citizens. All the pain experienced by the noble people of the Imperium could be traced back to the various enemies of the Imperium.

This included the infamous United Republic of Dorn. This included the accursed Salin Empire. Of course, who could forget the various traitors within the Imperium’s own ranks? The spies. The deserters. The cowards.

Coincidentally, the former owner of this body was also named Athena. She was 24 years old, having volunteered for military service as soon as she reached 18 against the will and objections of her own family.

The old Athena was a good example of the power of the Imperial propaganda machine. She believed it was the duty of every Imperial citizen to do what they could to purge the Imperium of its filth in the name of the Levithan, glory to his name. That was why she, as a young woman, joined the mainly male ranks of the Imperial Army. That was why she served and obeyed without question or thoughts of self-preservation. It was her duty to fight and die for the Imperium, or so she thought.

And what role did Athena get for her 6 years of loyal service? A title? Wealth? Ranks? Nope. As a woman from a civilian background who has had no noticeable achievement, Athena had remained as a simple Private. Her sacrifice was never noted, appreciated, or rewarded. Despite this, she served regardless.

A few months ago, her entire company, the 432th Company of the 329th Infantry Division, was transferred to a barren, inhospitable planet named Morgo IV. Their mission was to attend to the needs of a scientist from the IRA, or the Imperial Research Academy. An infamous research organization that answered to the Leviathan and the Leviathan alone, the IRA was rumored to have produced many biological and chemical weapons the Imperium frequently used on the battlefield.

Why would a scientist from such an esteemed organization only be given a single company of troops as escort? The old Athena didn't know and didn't ask. Obeying without question was a key quality for Imperial soldiers.

Morgo IV was no vacation destination. Most of the planet beneath the atmosphere was filled with a type of toxic gas capable of rendering a human being unconscious within a minute of contact. Within three, the person would be dead. This meant all Imperial soldiers conducting tasks outdoors had to be in power armor. Power armors had a built-in life support system that, without being damaged, could keep the wearer alive for 72 hours.

After building a research post from the ground up with the help of construction drones, the 432th Company mostly became a garrison force. There were always the routine guard posts and patrols, but otherwise things were mostly quiet. There were no forces of the Republic or the Empire here. Morgo IV was located in the heart of an Imperial sector. There were no external threats.

The only times when issues arose was when squads in the company were selected by Captain Hanson to go on retrieval missions. Basically, the scientist needed some specimens of the local wildlife to experiment on, and it was the squad’s job to go out there and bring the sample back regardless of the risk or casualties.

Over the past few weeks, the casualties among the retrieval squads had been increasing, but neither the scientist, his bodyguards from the Imperial Security Corps, or Captain Hanson seemed to care about casualties. Eventually, Athena’s squad was chosen for a mission. The zealot that she was, the old Athena saw this as another chance to prove her valor to the Imperium and went without hesitation.

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The squad of 12 drove for hours on their Blackbuck-class multi-terrain scout vehicle before the trees became too dense for the vehicles to go through. They dismounted from the three Blackbucks and ventured into the forest on foot. On the way there, the squad ran into a type of local predator designated Morgo - 23. They were wolf-like creatures that hunted in packs. Like almost all wildlife on Morgo IV, these animals had a tendency to fight until their last dying breath, demonstrating a surprise lack of fear or self-preservation.

During the firefight where the squad fell back while maintaining fire on the animals, Athena tripped over something and fell into a hole in the ground. By the time she got out, the rest of the squad was nowhere to be seen. Despite her best attempts, she quickly realized she was lost.

The first thing Athena did was try to contact her squad with the radio built into her armor. The 432th Company didn't have the resources to launch a communication satellite into the planet’s orbit, nor did they build key infrastructures like cell towers. She was too far from the research outpost to call for help. When the short range radio yielded no results, the old Athena knew she had to save herself.

Remain in her position and wait for the others to come and search for her? The thought barely crossed old Athena’s mind before she extinguished it. There was little comradery between the Imperial ranks. Every soldier was taught to do whatever it took to survive on the battlefield and achieve victory. Use their comrade’s bodies as meat shields. Strip the clothes off the dead to fight off the cold. Abandon the injured and the immobile if the need arose.

If she was making the calls, she would stick to the objective as it was always more important than a single trooper’s life. She expected Corporal Huo leading the squad to make the same decision.

In the end, the old Athena did her best to find her way back to the location where the squad parked their three Blackbuck MSVs and pray the others have yet to leave. Unless she wished to walk 600 kilometers on foot, the three MSVs were her only way to avoid being stuck in the wild and eventually become the feces of one of the many deadly predators out there.

This was when the new Athena found herself in this body.

Even the previous brainwashed Athena didn't want to die out here so meaninglessly. The new Athena definitely had no intention of waking up in a new body just to lose her life for some random scientist from an oppressive, ungrateful government. Regardless of how she ended up here, her only focus should be surviving and making it back to the base alive.

Letting out a sigh, Athena knelt down and picked up her weapon from the ground. The weapon was large enough for her armored hand to comfortably hold onto.

Defender-class automatic rifle. Weapon designed for infantry soldiers of the Imperial Army to use when in power armor. Uses magazines that store 30-rounds. Fires armor piercing rounds capable of penetrating Guardian-class power armors in 2 - 5 shots. Heavier and more deadly than the Defender-S variant designed for non-armored soldiers to use.

Athena raised her eyebrows. 700 years into the future, and soldiers were still shooting at each other with automatic rifles. Where were the lasers? Or the blasters? Or the gauss weapons? At least give her a damn machine gun! An automatic rifle? Really? Sure, it was probably much stronger than the assault rifles back on Earth, but she was still a little disappointed.

As always, the answers came almost naturally. The Imperium, and various other galactic superpowers, had laser weapons and gauss weapons. Even plasma weapons and rail guns were commonly used. It was just that these weapons couldn’t be used to equip infantry soldiers due to different reasons.

Laser weapons drained too much energy. So much so that even the Republic of Dorn, with its accomplishments in the field of efficient energy storage and conversion, couldn’t afford to arm its infantry soldiers with laser weapons. Laser weapons were usually seen mounted on starships and used to burn through the shield and hull of hostile ships.

Plasma weapons, gauss weapons, and rail guns were just too big for infantry soldiers to carry and use effectively. Rail guns and gauss weapons were often found mounted to fixed artillery positions as pieces in a network of fortifications. Plasma weapons were almost exclusively found on ships. They were frequently fired at enemy warships, their extremely high temperature used to quickly burn through the armored plating of the targets.

Athena secretly suspected there were factions out there who were able to minimize these weapons. If so, they were more likely to use this technology to arm their elite troops as a surprise to their enemies at the most crucial moment than to hand them out to infantry soldiers from random units all over the galaxy.

In this new world, most of the resources were devoted to the fleets and, after that, armored, artillery, and aerial units. Infantry troops like her were more or less expendable cannon fodders. A pilot or a ship crew might take years to train. A grunt on the ground? A conscription order and several months of drilling could produce an army of half-decent infantry soldiers. There was no need to arm the easily replaced human bodies with costly weapons.

As for machine guns…there were machine gunners in the squad. Two, in fact. She just wasn’t one.

In other words, the automatic rifle was all she had. Luckily, if her memories served, they should be enough to gun down most of the wildlife on the planet.

Holding onto the rifle as tightly as she could, Athena continued heading for the direction of the three vehicles. There was little technology that could help her tell the direction, but the old Athena had a good sense of directions and the new Athena inherited it.

Two minutes went by before suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of wolf-like creatures leaped out of a line of bushes toward Athena. Athena’s brain froze for a second, but her body reacted almost instinctively. Aim. Fire. Before Athena knew it, following a series of pops from her silencer-equipped rifle, the two instances of Morgo - 23 collapsed on the ground, dead.

Well, that was close. Athena let out a breath of relief. She should be glad this body belonged to a true war veteran way too comfortable with killing. As she took a step closer to the bodies to examine them, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly appeared inside her head.

“Biological essence detected in close proximity to the host…”

“Analyzing essence…”

“Analysis complete. Essence overlaps with Zerg genetic sequences…”

“Zerg structure Spawning Pool has been unlocked…”

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