Musketeers of 250K

He is a small guy, light for his size. However, to push him one inch back you would need the strength necessary to push back 200 African elephants.

When humanity was still limited to our prison on Planet Earth, and cursed to age and decay into ****. In never imagined I would have the opportunity to be here, in person. Or the privilege to see the things I saw. Was like turn a corner, and suddenly it was there. That corner, was biological immortality.

Then, more than half thousand years later, humanity decided to limit individual live again. By choice this time. Leaving out only the people born until them, and those who would be born during the following 75 years.

I understand it was reasonable at the time, for vast majority of people. To me, never made any sense.

In any case, it created the world as we know it. Defined the line of separation between humans and subhumans. The second category would fragment and subdivide, the first remains identical to itself. Humans have legal rights granted be Alexandria, and live only 300 years, unless they are born before the **** Line. Subhumans have only the rights humans in each nation choose to grant them, but, nothing prevents them from being biologically immortal. Like all humans used to be, before that date, 75 years after Alexandria.

We had genetic engineering, and uplifted animals capable to talk and reason as well as humans, before the days of Alexandrine Consensus. When Expansion Age begun, 25 years after Alexandrine **** Line, the human population started growing to scales beyond our imagination. Numbers that can only be expressed in practical ways through scientific notation, and can only make sense to High AIs.

Along with human population, the variety of subhumans surpassed any fantasies I could have had back in the days when humanity was still limited to Earth.

Them, in the year 22.000 of Expansion everything changed. All our projections became smoke in a storm. Because Mystery System revealed itself to the galaxy, whit aliens and demons. Also, magic. Nothing in that was anything we could have prepared for, nothing in that was what we expected it could be, if it ever happened.

Still, it started a war, and human specie formed the first common alliance since the build of the Hearth of Humanity, and the Consensus of Alexandria. Humanity was in risk of extinction.

I am jumping some events, does not matter.

We had telepaths before this, product of genetic engineering, subhumans. We had tried everything you can imagine, every image of ancient myth, deity, demon, or comic book and video game, we recreated. In flesh and DNA. Billions of times each, in different stellar systems. We had never managed to make useful telepaths, they where a mere curiosity.

And that was the closest thing to parapsychology that we managed to manifest in this universe. Six arms people, giants 12 meters tall, dragons, mermaids, centaurs, all that we had managed in satisfactory versions for a variety of uses. Cyborg implants could push the extra mile in some cases. Still, we found no way to make telekinetic powers.

Until 22.000, when Mystery System opened, we lacked the tools for it. Magic gave us those tools, even if the ending products themselves have no magic in them.

Magic is the stair we can abandon when we get our subhuman psychics. Part of the large subgroup know as “conceptuals”. Along with dragons, centaurs and mermaids.

That’s how we got those fellows. After hundreds of thousands of years, in war-economy. Investing hardly in develop subhumans with potential value in our war effort.

Spiderman, is the image that comes into my mind.

Just, drop the webs. Replace it by a big rifle, with a barrel twice the size of the guy. Spiderman, with eyed of eagle, that spider sense too, courtesy of their innate psychic abilities. They cannot fly, but they walk on any surface, and move as fast and gracefully as I imagine Spiderman should. Just, has nothing to do with spiders.

Inertial Shield. Or, if you would ratter know the full name “structural ****-field of inertia”. To push him back, pierce his body, cause any trauma by impact, you need to overcome the shield first. Telekinesis.

They are a brand rejected from the Kinetic-Cannon Program. None of them reached that test they are subjected to when they reach the age of 12 years.

The Unified Forces of Humanity invest heavily to produce people like them. So, we don’t just throw in the garbage those who are not KC material. We separate them according to their potential, and reshape their skills and genetics into something else. Mixing some extra cyborg implants in the recipe when the case demands.

The Musketeer Division is one of the most successful secondary branches of the program.

Our contemporary equivalent to archers. Snipers of high elite.

The main weapon they carry, the rifle with a barrel twice their size. Those are unique design. Their telekinesis provide the necessary strength to carry and use it. Extensive training make their movement fluid and natural while caring such cumbersome instrument.

It is the state of the art of magnetic rifles.

Mags have been around since even before Baby Steps, one way or another. They follow the same principle of the catapults that put brute cargo and ram materials in orbit from planet surface. Can accelerate projectiles much faster than the chemical explosion used by fire weapons. It is good, because allows for smaller projectiles. With less mass, less surface fighting air resistance, the needle-projectiles travel longer distances. The speed guarantees they carry a punch equivalent to the punch of bullets, broadly speaking, and they penetrate deeper into strong materials.

Even more desirable for those who carry those weapons, the small size and weight of those needles allow a larger number of them in the gun. Less frequent reload.

You could not use bullets of the size common to boom sticks in those elegant and silent pistols and rifles. The limiting factor is recoil. Projectile goes forward, gun goes back.

Not those mags, thought! They use projectiles as large as the ones usually employed in boom sticks of old times. Even heavier than those, a bit. A lot more resistant to impact.

One projective per shot, and takes the eternity of 1.2 second to this weapon complete the cycle and be able to shot again. So, it is garbage, right?

Not quite.

A lot of the size of that weapon is there to absorb and minimise the kick back of each shot. What is left goes in the arms and shoulder of the musketeer. The strength of that recoil is almost enough to overcome that inertial shield. So, the 200 African elephants previously mentioned.

Each weapon is designed to accelerate the projectiles as fast as possible, taking maxim advantage of the telekinetic capacity of the musketeer caring it.

The bullet carry all that energy. With a cordial head the projective will pierce practically any armour. It goes through the best cyborg cranium as if it was human bone, from 1 kilometre of distance. You need either technomagic or a half dozen meters thick armour to stop it. And the bullet may cause additional inconveniences, depending on what was inside the body of the projectile.

Whit technomagic head the projectile will kill most vampire kings with one shot. Enough of those bullets may even destroy Deshiarii.

Those boys have this physical endurance, psychic senses, and training with the musket. The reflexes, ability to climb any surface as fast as they can run, and jump around faster than the human eye can follow without feeling disoriented. The combination makes the boys extremely effective soldiers in combat.

They are all boys, by the way. The subhuman variant intended for kinetic-cannons was made without females. All of them are infertile too, because their genes are military secret and no one wanted them spreading around without control. By existential accident.

Needless to say, like most subhumans, they are made biologically immortal.

Those boys live existences entirely dedicated to fight for Humanity. To protect us from extinction. Therefore, we make our best to keep them happy and feeling rewarded for their services in favour of our cause. Is only fair.

Like most of their genetic family they love sweet drinks and foods. The official policy places high priority in shipments of those supplies to their positions.

Working with them I realized that is common, specially among the soldiers who are older than 100 or 200 years, some interest of sexual activities of recreation. They usually cannot have erections, but a simple enough cyborg optional can solve that issue. I don’t know who had the cruel idea that such optional and its enjoyment should be banished. Honestly, I did researched the matter, could not find the official responsible.

In any case, regulations say that. Fortunately, my status as Asgardian, and rank in the UFH allow me the latitude to ignore that sort of regulation where I am in charge. I am not the only one who does that, of course.

Allow those boys their romantic or not so romantic distractions between missions, with subhuman sex pet lassies. Or in some case boys. Is only fair.

Each one of them is likely to die, sooner or later and more likely sooner, for us. Their contribution is immensely important. Hard to overestimate. The cost of those distractions is insignificant.

Only potential source of complication, that sometimes takes me some work. Is the statistically rare situation where one of those boys get involved with an Alexandrine Human.

That complicates things, specially when we are operating inside the borders of some nation that grants civil rights to subhumans. And allows more freedom of press than average. Of course, UFH has extraterritoriality, we are not subjected to national laws, and our subhumans have no rights. We, ourselves, neither have nor would like to get much rights either. Since we are engaged in the fight for survival of Humanity, fully committed with that goal, any personal comfort that could make harder to win that war is a comfort most of us sacrifice gladly.

We do not need any additional friction between our administrative structure and sovereign national states affiliated to our common cause.

That is the line I draw, because experience showed that is a necessary limit.

They can have whatever relations they please, with other subhumans. Alexandrine Humans, are of limits.

Clear rules that do not change over time build trust and good relations.

Right now, I have over 50 thousand musketeers under my command. I need their trust, as much as they need mine.