Remotes: A Short Story

Brett Kelly, a battle-worn Navy SEAL and JSOC operator, is running up against the end of his shelf life after one too many injuries. His teammates are just as battered, and collectively they see the writing on the wall—retirement or desk jobs in Virginia. But when an unexpected by-name request pulls them into a black ops program, Kelly and his squad are offered an opportunity they can’t pass up. He expects to be suiting up in DARPA-style exosuits that make operators stronger, faster, and deadlier. Instead, he and his team are fitted to pilot Remotes—eight-foot-tall, combat robots controlled via haptic suits.

What begins as disappointment quickly morphs to exhilaration. Piloting Remotes puts Kelly and his brothers back in the fight with unprecedented power and immediacy—so realistic it no longer feels “remote.” But that edge comes with a cost. As warfare is sterilized, the act of killing becomes indistinguishable from a video game and moral lines blur.

Soon Kelly is faced with a choice: stay in the program and try to impose a moral compass from within or walk away and let the technology become weaponized by people who don’t share his values. Either choice puts him and his team squarely in the crosshairs of opponents who don’t play by the rules.