Chapter 46: A New Challenge

After the demonstration, the generals called me over to discuss about the Hunter.

"I'm not going to lie to you," General Gary Goh said without preamble. "The military wants several of your new Hunter war walkers."

"Unfortunately, I only have on so far. I'll need time to build a few more. I'll speak to Mr. Bu Fan and see if I can launch the new series into mass production. The good news is that they are easier and faster to build than the Titan series, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Hold onto your horse." Another general – James Jiang – raised his hand. "Don't launch into mass production just yet. The military may have agreed to purchase a few of these Hunter war walkers, but we are only buying a few at first. We want to test them out in actual field conditions. We don't want to rush into buying an army of them, only to find out that they fall apart in real combat, or turn out to be impractical."

Before I could protest, he made a placating gesture.

"This isn't a criticism of your skills, Mr. Shen. I have great respect for what you have invented and constructed, and I have full faith in your abilities. But even so, you have yet to actually test your Hunter out in real forests and urban environments under heavy fire, correct? I'm not talking about simulations. I mean actual warfare with real enemies shooting at your war walkers."

"No," I admitted.

"Exactly. We want to put them out in the battlefield and see how they perform. It could be the pilots, it could be the war walker itself, but we want to see how the Hunter holds up. Perhaps you can even take this opportunity to gather data, to see if there are any flaws or anything you might have missed out during the design process and fix them."

"I understand, sir."

"And if the Hunters turn out to excel in jungle warfare, I promise you that the military will buy several battalions' worth of them," Gary Goh assured me with an encouraging smile. "As you said, this will revolutionize modern warfare."

"Speaking of which, do you have any place in mind?" I asked with an arched eyebrow. This being the twenty-second century, the world was at peace. None of the nations had any real reason to go to war against each other. If anything, there was no incentive to wage war – the costs were too exorbitant, the population would never stand for it, especially if they were voters in a democratic countries. Even non-democratic countries had no reason to go to war. The expenditure was way too excessive to justify. Not to mention the toll of human lives, the damage to the environment and worse.

This wasn't always the case, of course. Approximately a hundred years ago – around the beginning of the early twenty-first century and even before that, nations would rely on something that scholars termed the "Shock Doctrine" in order to push their neoliberal and privatization goals. Country A, for example, appeared to make up an excuse in order to invade a country in the Middle East, claiming that its dictator hid weapons of mass destruction.

The actual motive was to monopolize the oil in the market, and also to instill pro-Country A policies in the turbulent Middle East. The president of Country A at that time wanted to reinvigorate the economy using war as a stimulant, a sort of disaster capitalism where basically they destroyed the poor Middle Eastern country so that they could rebuild it. Funds were poured into the military-industrial complex and toward privatized companies who flocked to the Middle East to take part in the rebuilding process.

Of course, the weapons of mass destruction were never found and Country A simply executed a dictator on false charges just for their own benefits. The dictator might not be purely innocent, but the administration at that time had hands far more bloodstained than the dictator.

Eventually, that war became a quagmire, sucking troops and money from Country A as soldiers had to be semi-permanently stationed there. Added to the illegal war was Hurricane Katrina, which devastated a state in Country A and the administration at the time failed to help adequately, and they also ended up being helpless when the economy crashed in 2008 because of a certain bank, thus causing the affluent nation to suffer further.

In the end, war was not good. It just wasn't worth it. The next president attempted to pull troops out of the Middle East and even won the Noble Prize for Peace for doing that, but there were complications left over from the military occupation authorized by his predecessor. Country A ended up paying a high price for going to war – at least its citizens did, while the politicians and gigantic privatized companies benefited tremendously at first before washing their hands clean of the affair and retiring quietly.

However, I wasn't naïve. Though not on the same scale as a war or invasion, there were still minor armed conflicts that continued throughout the world.

"We have a southeastern province that is attempting to secede from our country," Gary Goh explained when he caught my questioning look. "They are launching guerilla strikes on our troops stationed there, making use of the jungle to destroy convoys and raid military bases. Right now we're forced into a stalemate. Even though we have superior technology and numbers…"

"They have the home ground advantage." I nodded. I had heard the news, vaguely recalling an article that talked about the secessionist rebels trying to claim independence for their province. If I remembered correctly, it was Province Y, which was located on the southeastern most tip of the country. The government had responded with overwhelming force, dispatching several army regiments to crush the rebellion, but they ended up being bogged down in unfamiliar terrain.

"We wanted to burn the forest down to flush out the guerillas, but the government forbade that," James Jiang said bitterly. I frowned at the disapproval in his voice. They had good reason for disallowing such a drastic reason. "The environmental damage would be too massive."

"Of course it would be. Our world is already dying as it is and there aren't enough trees. If you burn down a forest and wipe out an entire ecosystem, I'm afraid we will suffer more."

"My soldiers are suffering right now," James Jiang spat.

"I sympathize, I really do." I nodded slowly. "But if you raze the forest, not only will you destroy the environment, the smoke will spread all over the rest of Hua Xia and cause respiratory problems. Not to mention it will alter the climate, which is already in precarious shape because of carbon policies during the previous century. You want the east coast to be flooded by rising sea levels again? People to die from heat diseases?"

"No, but that's…" James Jiang bristled.

"Scorched earth tactics are forbidden," Gary Goh declared sternly. "A dead and burned province is of no use to our country. We need the forest intact. It's meaningless to wipe out the rebels, only to lose the greatest asset of Province Y."

"Understood," James Jiang muttered glumly, suppressing any desire he might had of arguing.

"Well, hopefully my Hunters will make a difference," I said, nodding toward my new war walker. "They should have no problem navigating the forest, and their shields should protect your soldiers. I believe your casualty rates will drop massively."

A sneer came to James Jiang's face. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one risking your life on the frontlines."

"General…" Gary Goh began, but his colleague ignored him and continued to glower at me unhappily.

"All you have to do is hide far behind the frontlines, cowering inside your little factory and building your machines. Our casualty rates will drop massively, you say? Don't screw with me! What do you know of our casualty rates? You think you can just sit back and calculate probabilities, come up with some random design, pass it off to us to field-test it, and hope for the best? Whether it succeeds or not, it won't matter to you, would it? Since it's not your life at stake, anyway. But my men are risking their lives to test your damned equipment and weapons! Not through theories, simulations or computer calculations, but by throwing their own bodies in the line of fire!"

"Enough, General Jiang!" Gary Goh roared. "While you and your men have indeed displayed great courage and done a tremendous duty, risking your lives for the service of this country, Mr. Shen's job is no less vital! Without him and other military subcontractors, where would you get the weapons to fight? How will your men get equipped? And it's undeniable that if his inventions prove successful, many of your soldiers' lives will be saved!"

James Jiang fell silent, but he didn't refute what his fellow general said. As for me, I had to repress the urge to point out that manufacturing weapons armaments and ammunition wasn't exactly risk-free. There were occupational hazards, even in a factory. Accidents might be uncommon, but they still happened. If there was a critical mistake in manufacturing ammunition, we might accidentally trigger a chain reaction that would blow the whole factory up, killing everyone in it.

My prototypes, too. Whenever I tested them, I ran the risk of them blowing up in my face. These were plasma technologies we were talking about, superheated matter that was usually only found in the sun or a star. If one of those weapons running on plasma detonated, it wouldn't be as simple as suffering a few third-degree burns. Never mind getting my whole body incinerated, my entire garage would disintegrate from the explosion.

I didn't point that out, of course.

"Wait, I have to correct you on one point, though." This time it was a third commander, a lieutenant general by the name of Leonard Liao. "General Jiang, when you said that Mr. Shen was hiding safely in his factory and never have to risk his life, you're sadly mistaken. Are you completely unaware of the multiple assassination attempts on Mr. Shen's life? And how he fended them off by himself?"

"That…" James Jiang stuttered. Then he lowered his head. "No, you're right. I am sorry, Mr. Shen. I was out of line. Those criticisms were uncalled for and completely unjustified."

"No, that's fine. I understand your concerns, and I can relate to them. I was a soldier before, after all." I raised a hand to assure him. "And you have a point."

"Mr. Shen, you have contributed a lot…" Gary Goh tried to assure me, but I shook my head.

"Thank you, sir. But I'm thinking…General Jiang is correct about one thing. This is a great opportunity for me to check for design flaws or anything I've over looked."

I pushed my glasses up my nose, my eyes steeled with resolve.

"I will be accompanying the battalion stationed in Province Y. I will be piloting my Hunter alongside them and experiencing firsthand his capabilities and limitations in jungle warfare, against guerilla secessionists."