Colony Wars 5: Tales of the Galaxy

The Hephaestus live!

A Case Study of the

Hephaestus Soldier Programme

By Lars Shenka

(Prologue taken from Colony Wars Book 4: Angel One-Three)

The goal of the project team had been a simple one, to create, grow and nurture the best soldier possible. Using a mixture of growth hormones, psychotropic drugs, and artificial insemination, EuroTac grew the first non-naturally born people. Conceived in glass canisters that approximate the conditions of the female womb and born into the world through a short painless procedure. The Hephaestus live!

Scientists gave way to nurses and carers, as the babes grew into toddlers. From the perspective of the staff, no real difference was noticed between the false humans and that of a naturally birthed infant. Under the watchful eye of Project Director XXX-REDACTED-XXX, the children prospered, with only a single early fatality.

The development of the children was charted and mapped to be several percentiles higher than normal, with muscle, height and balance showing the greatest improvement. Intelligence varied amongst the child cadets, most were below average, but in a few rare cases the signs of a strong developing intellect was recorded.

Adolescence came early for every one of the Hephaestus trainees; this was a troubling time for the cadets who had to deal with raging emotions, embarrassing bodies and a second course of hormone treatments. Steroid based supplements were injected into the teenager's muscles directly, to increase muscle tone and bunching to an almost superhuman level. A great deal of infighting and promiscuity occurred during this period and the project suffered its second death; this led to the separation of the sexes until puberty had run its course and the soldiers were considered fully-grown.

Upon reaching maturity, the scientists joined up with the engineers, and the grafting of the soldier's exoskeletal frames began. Fusing bones with titanium and conjoining the metal rods with powerful servomotor-gears to increase the Hephaestus troop's mobility and strength threefold. These adaptions were wholly successful and not a single soldier died from the procedure; of course, this does not include the curious case of Angel One-Three whose XXX-REDACTED-XXX XXX-REDACTED-XXX XXX-REDACTED-XXX, full details of which can be found in file XXX-REDACTED-XXX.

Three groups of Hephaestus Enhanced soldiers were created, the first were named for myths, the second were weapons and the third were creatures. They were designed to operate as either single entities that could bolster another unit's strength or a combined platoon for completing the most dangerous and difficult missions.

To date (5th September 2072) the Hephaestus programme has been heralded as a complete success with a mission triumph rate of one hundred percent. All soldiers have worked within designed parameters and have exceeded all expectation, with the exception of the special case listed above and XXX-REDACTED-XXX XXX-REDACTED-XXX. The only negative element to arise from the Hephaestus Program was the sometimes-overzealous dedication to the completion of the mission, which has led to an increase in suicidal sacrifices and the death of eight more soldiers. Currently there are thirteen remaining Hephaestus Enhanced Soldiers operating in the field and each is a highly valuable military asset.