All I know is that there are things that bring out what is locked within us, that is War and Death, like two souls bound by darkness forever entwined leaving a blazing trail of Destruction

1600 hours- year 2048-- Somewhere in New York.

"First of all For recording purposes of this web cast is Nicholas Tenner, your legendary Geopolitical junkie and web guru signing in.” I’m here with a Friend of a friend of a friend of the show, Sargent Richard Thorne."

“It was roughly 9 years ago…” I began, “I was raised to be rough by my father, with balance from my mother’s side, my cat Lucius was a stray”, I stroked the feline’s belly, and the cat purred happily, he holds down the fort when I’m off on assignment.” Nick you want some scotch , I asked him, but he declined, “not your thing. That’s alright.” I poured myself a glass. And sat back in the couch legs kicked up on the coffee table.

But my story starts, I was in my early thirty’s, “I was part Infiltration Squad of Delta Sector, under normal circumstances we are the team that extracts, and reclaims overrun territories, or secures outposts or for Tactical Advantage, technically listed under the subdivision of the Ops for S.E.I.D.

"You know what SEID is, right Nik?"

The boy responded in a Unsure tone..

"I believe The Scientific Espionage and Intelligence Division." "Good Richard said " you know your shit, Nick."

Sometimes the Ops were a cinch, sometimes not.

As you already know I am Richard Thorne, my team had changed a lot over Five years ,at the moment, my team consisted Victor Kuraisada, Zachariah Ravencroft, Cordelia Silverton, Hector Ives, Vincent Lloyd, Michael Ferdinand Jonathan Grayson, and Alaina Torrez and Evan Johnson. All with various backgrounds some Advanced Training and peeves or annoyances. Both typical and atypical bullshit.

We lost many Troops due to the invasion of the Iadath, and if I’ll be damned, if I hadn’t lost my job as a psychologist during the first year of the war — we, managed to capture six or seven Iadath. I was thrown into a new situation.

They seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Our Research team analyzing a recording of their chatter, these Iadath were peculiar... they had translators that could understand us, they could Even write in English. One particular Iadath was able to write in French, German, Spanish, among Many others , several I could name, let alone More than I could speak, along with many that I couldn’t even Identify” these creatures even put our top physicists to shame. …not my field of experience. I tried playing one in chess. It understood the game quick, Beat me, several times. So I wasn’t a tactical genius. Nearly beat it once. I would love to study their brains via a C.A.T. scan.

These particular creatures where very keen on the bustle going on, seemed to know our whole history, and any other books, among their belongings, one had been carrying a few old weathered copies of some early science fiction, and how they acquired them is beyond me. Had they visited the earth before? If I were to correctly understand these to understand this group thought that all of it was part of our history…

At times when we talked about the war amongst ourselves. Sometimes these “Bugs”, would interject with a weird clicking sound, “Keh Ktethk”. Sounded like the one with a Shattered Orb imbedded within a surface a metal ornately designed to look like a serpent loosely coiled around the shattered pieces. . While the first the Iadath kept on referring to a war they’d been fighting always seemed to refer to it in the past- tense, The War Between them and the Huam’ An, as they called us, in its writing… I wonder is that how they communicate. Or was there something else to it. It was later realized that the creature attempted to communicate with us. It probably studied our language, and was trying its best to communicate with us.

I decide to take a look at them closer I noticed

There where tubes trailing from a contraption penetrating another of these aliens skin of and I could see the creatures heart was connected to it, “must be keeping you alive, huh” I observed. This Iadath ended up etching images of things, quickly into the wall,and did so franticly.

I noted these Iadath were not as integrated with technology as others we have fought had been, they still did they look freaky up close, nearly a Worm circular mouth. From this Creatures open Cavity in its chest I could tell it An 8 chambered heart, which beating rhythmically. Metal fragment of something glinted, somewhat scaly skin, mouth with omnidirectional they could flex their gums, their vibrational teeth allowed them to pass sound without a tongue. Their muscles made their teeth vibrate in a back and forth in semicircular motion, I observed this when they ate. One Iadath a large scar on its chest had approached a lab rat. The little creature was oblivious to its gruesome fate. This is where I learnt that Iadath are carnivorous. It picked up the rodent , which began squealing thrashing about. The Iadath not fazed by this, placed the rats head inside its mouth, and with its whirr of its teeth quickly silenced the creature. It proceeded to swallow the rats carcass whole. Made me feel nauseous. Didn’t usually happen maybe something I ate didn’t agree with me.

Since I was unable to continue my Co-operational work with the Alfa Sector research team, last I had heard, there had been little progress discerning what the Iadath where here for, It wrote a weird symbols when flipped sideways looked like it wrote something, a borry attempt at translating. Until one day, the research team became curious asking to repeat. They had just begun to realize that it wasn’t some Incoherent screeching, it was trying to say something, the it was trying, but it eventually gave up, went to the wall of the “Cell” we had put them in slowly dug a clawed finger etching the words: The Test. the iadath continued etching into the wall: Confront the beast, Fractures. And: Blood, Marks ,Metal. It had drawn a circle with three curved prongs branching outward, this was the largest of the many Interesting designs, that extended outward from its circumference. It was all very cryptic.

And that’s what I read in nthe report only a few months ago. Test? Confront the beast with the Blood ,marks, metal … Fractures? We yet have yet to figure out what it meant mean. Not our only curiosity of the preceding months.

The Iadath weren’t the only aliens that we captured. As we had collected another alien.

“This other alien, it identified itself in some somewhat rough English as something called ‘Anakar’, had two sets of eyes, mostly, looked much more tech fused than the Iadath , It makes me wonder, that might be something akin to surviving warriors? It sure looked like it had seen some intense shit, as scars covered part of its body. Anyway This “Anakar” requested the presence of someone it called the Redeemer, whomever that was. I never found out, last I recall they are in some Military facility, someware helping S.E.I.D. Develop a better translator from what I also hear, The “Anakar” alien escaped, the report said that “the creature said ‘had to be in a certain point at a certain time.”

I’m allowed to share that information, solely as the Aliens are somewhat known to the world at this point.

But as the first officially documented Extra-solar specie, that was a few years into the war though when we first came cross The Iadath were the put in the world record as the first contact of 2025. When a Scanner had picked up a weird Frequency years later their arrival was well …took till I was in my mid-twenties when they arrived on earth. Actually.” I paused. “Let me start form the point where my situation went bat-shit crazy. You wanted my story of these events. I’ll give it to you, Mr. Tenner, all the bits and pieces. This was shorly After their arrival to earth .Starting with the boring parts.

My team was stationed on the UWM North-wind. On a trajectory towards Orbital Command.

“I was starting to fall asleep. The docking procedure was taking long time. As usual, so I took a nap. I specifically remember having a dream about when the Iadath first arrived in: they had come across a space telescope of ours, one from a long time ago.

This dream, I was on my way to the New York base, Sector Zeta, I had passed the half reconstructed remains of the Empire State Building. It was dark when the Iadath came, First smaller ships entered in droves, they zoomed about, with incredible speed. It was quite a spectacular light-show, smaller ships glowed with either white, grey, or a faint reddish hue, and I thought it was interesting the swirling, It looked similar to a phenomenon that began a few years ago. The larger the ship, the more varied in color. And designThough I knew little of engineering, its design was Ingenious. The largest ship crystaline Capsule pulsed with an otherworldly bluish glow. That must have been the mothership. At that speed , I was worried that it was going to crash into the earth with speed that we had yet to rival in our sub Atmospheric maneuverability, 20G’s of Stopping power, comparing it , this thing dwarfed the standard UWM Cruiser. I was surprised with the flexibility of the ships design, Sleek but also very natural, almost looked as if it were alive…

I was interrupted from my dream, harshly by an elbow being rammed into my stomach, Of course it was by my team’s combat specialist Silverton, she always did that. I was caught unaware. Startled, I fell out of my seat, doubled over in pain. Fuck, There have been times that I’ve wished is was with a different team, one that was less rambunctious, less impulsive, I would be, if they weren’t so damn good... "Trying to keep me on my toes, Eh, Silverton?" I grunted. “Caught me at a bad time. “Why did you hit me, when you could have just tapped my shoulder?”

“Because I wanted too?!” She laughed, a wicked grin spreading across her face, as if by the turn of a switch the grin disappeared as quickly as it, had come. Split personality or Schizophrenia. She was defiantly some kinda paranoid.

"Sir?" Silverton formally said, “By the way, you failed spectacularly, continued “You are supposed to be the more experienced one”, I was surprised. This was the most she had said the whole trip, “Next time, try me when I’m awake.” I slump back in my chair, feet up and was about to fall asleep again. At least this time she tapped my shoulder, “Thorne. I woke you for a reason”, I mumbled hopefully she understood me, “Now that’s for you to find out.” She replied, tantalizing me in a Singsong voice, Like in those Horror films. Why does she pick on me the most , but I knew the answer who the Fuck knows, "Well then, any new developments?"

Silverton signaled to the display, which read: Docking procedure complete. Between Cordelia, and the damn maintenance crew, my overall view of this particular situation. I was not amused, docking system protocol had been finicky lately, and the system alarm had shorted out a few weeks ago. Damn targeted surges, Some ass-hat down in maintenance had said he was going to fix them the alarm, had yet to apply themselves these days, still had yet to fix it. This whole damn ship was in a decrepit state with quick half-assed repairs.

Ever since the third world war, the whole Dam has been in chaos, it has been 7 years since it had begun. In that time, my usually calm demeanor wavered, and all my years of Cognitive brain therapy nearly went down the crapper, along with the rest of the world I developed a short temper, so even as a former psychologist, things are screwed up.

I half consciously commanded her to gather the rest my the team , "I heard that this meeting was High priority, so it would be imperative for them to be a part of this meeting pertained to recent developments to our next debriefing and The loss of contact with Delta Point 1.

We exited the transport, and headed for the lift, the hull Of the Orbital Command had suffered some minimal damage, from this distance looked minimal, the rest of my squad talked as we ascended towards the Orbital Command, or as others in our military force nicknamed the Orbital Command, Oculus as it looked somewhat like an eye propped in open socket. The “eye” part was the majority of the Hub while the rest, was orbiting around it

We all walked towards the lift, I breifly noticed Kuraisada and Silverton were walking together, they seemed rather close, I found that peculiar, as I knew from hiswA registration, more akin to drafting papers, that Kuraisada already had a wife and a kid. But that was not my problem. To each their own. I suppose. Damn assumptions. It was only later that I found out they were once childhood friends, they’d gone their separate ways, and this very war reconnected them many years later. Both her and kurisada gota along exceedingly well, and I was almost forced to transfer Victor Because of his history with Cordelia, but the request had been pulled by the Overseer, because he saw that Kuriasada, assisted me early on with managing Cordelias psychotic breaks.

I never really understood why Silverton acted psychotic, whenever the subject was brought up, she would not say another word for a long time , it was difficult to earn her trust .

I redirected my focus to on the debriefing. This probably was going to be just going to be the basic, run of the mill by the book, average Op The Overseer would have pegged me as naive for that idea, as I would soon realize , I couldn’t have been more off target than that.

There was silence in the lift as Johnson punched in the code. For the Hub

as we rose higher and higher, I began to feel uneasy, something didn’t seem quite right, it was silent. Dead silent. The tech protégé Ferdinand, “his record stated that he ‘[Ferdinand]is more competent than the Engineering crew of Command, But twice the “Fun” to bother. Some ones crack at a double edged joke, was the one to break the Silence

“Isn’t the lift usually receiving chatter from HQ, he tapped the receiver of his headset com, which was some concoction of reactivated vintage tech, and our Modern C.O.R.E (Clustered Orthographic Relay Entity), “It’s strange not to hear anything, he said, a few others nod. “Shoddy relay repairs?” I suggested. Ferdinand only shrugged.

The AI. Basically it’s the reason that this whole OP is even functional, securing these points expanded its Array ,worked much more efficiently than just Satellites or drones combined, and recorded not just Image data, live up to the millisecond video records as well. Bolstered by fifty 1000 core nano-prossessors the AI responded faster than I could. Even pause live footage on the spot. It would be an Incredible piece of architecture and technology, If only maintenance would repair it every once in a while. The Core array needed recalibration every few years to the Array. Caused by those damn target surges…

Nearly all pre-existing communications had to be reprogramed all thanks to those Bugs, and their Electron-pulse Tri-wave target-surges, busted all the old equipment and Took a few years to replace, But to the looks of things, I guess for the military branches, the Chief of Internal Affairs, Winifred Fossette went into a rant which quite publicly humiliated Maintenancefor the upkeep of the System Regulators, as well as , this which kicked them into high gear, but lack in the number of sufficiently versed in the tech, which explains the slow progress. “Someone should open the fossette on the crew again” I tried out the increasingly popular phrase. Mich was amused by this. He chuckled, “ Noob”, There was a phrase I hadn’t heard since my younger days.

And people wondered why I had Ferdinand, on my team, a freaking mobile tech support, the guy knew his shit. As well as one

My mind was back in the lift, I could hear the hiss of the hydraulics through the wall.

The whole lift shuttered, Ok, this was obviously more than lousy workmanship. A few members of my platoon tumbled to the floor of our lift. Ravencroft, shouted over a deafening screech of metal, as it the came to a rough uneven stop. As it slowed, I heard a message, “Generators Offline, Emergency generators activated, powering up. Hull Integrity. 93%. 75 % … 69%, Crisis Doors Closing, Hull Critical.” “Life support status…adequately stabilized,” thank you core” Alaina Torrez, would have been a better choice.

“What a Surprise. Thought this was supposed to go smoothly,” Ives shouted, Johnson scoffed, “Really when does that happen, Ives?” sarcasm spilling from his mouth. I looked out the Di-Ionized carbonized glass window, in the and saw a streaks of silver, a semi-spherical orb Smash along the side of The Eye , near Central Hub, I swore, running to the lift, I hit the emergency release. I Waited. Nothing happened. I tried it again. Still nothing. I punched the wall of the lift. Then I tried prying open the lift doors, they had jammed. Only moved a little bit. I grunted. Though I’m not sure. “Fuck … Heads up, Ravencroft, Kuraisada! Could use a little hand!” Johnson referred to those two as my lackeys, but frankly, I didn’t care.

Damn it, an Iadathian Transference pod, just at that moment another pod caught my attention,

Seeing all these metal things made me feel like a like a crow. A paranoid one.

The second pod … we were safe from for now. I reminded myself to slowly breathe in and out, Just taking a step back and reflect on the current situation. What good is platoon without a sane commander, if I ran the place, as Chief of Command, what good is an army without a sane leader? These are the questions I asked myself, when I was unsure, this helped me focus. Allowed me to gage situations better from several perspectives. Awareness was the key to many a success of my team. But there have been times that it hadn’t worked out so well. This was one of those times.

We wrenched the lift doors open, the Hub, we were greeted by a horrifying sight. Partially atomized bodies, equipment, electronics, Structural elements, littered the main hub as if strewn about from hurricane, finely sliced shreds of guts, blood soaked floors, what contained my shock was the realization that there were more bodies of Iadath where among the dead than human … At least we put up a fight, I smirked, one hell of a – an explosion rocked the communications bridge.

Bug-eyed Bastards. We should’ve been locked and loaded. I felt a little rusty. Taking a moment thinking about it, that’s been happening to me a lot lately, though I was perplexed, but I easily shook away the thought. The whole team was locked and loaded. Apparently my muscle memory works well on occasion, as I looked down and my rifle was fully assembled. And I just had to lock the mag in place. By the time we verified the place was in the clear and I gave the signal, and we moved on.

I heard screeching from down the hall, Not at all human .sounded like screech of an Iadath, possibly more than one, there were several flashes of light. Tribeam Particle Cannons. Beams of pure destruction sizzled the air. Whatever organism it hit remained in a splattered mess on the wall “Everyone into position.” I signaled for one of Torrez’s tactical formation. “Omega” as I found decent cover. I used my guns camera to look around the corner. The camera showed about fifteen in in total, very alert, it was almost frighteningly so. They were logical creatures, I knew that from experience, they never relied on chance, The “bugs” really must have really been out of their element. This surprised me, they had done a decent job improvising, having managed to slaughter many of the soldiers on the bridge.

I signaled to Lloyd, he sent a smoke-grenade/flash bang combo, into the mass of Theaa Aliens. My team switched our displays to the thermal scanners, all except for Ravencroft, Johnson, and Silverton, Each had their own reasons. Silverton took the lead. Victor Followed, and just like the simulations, we downed the majority, I nearly got fried with a particle cannon, after Lloyd backed into me. Threw both my aim and my balance for a spin, as the beam narrowly missed my head and hit one of the central the Centripetal Gravity Generators, as I spun in the air , slowly , it had been a while since I’d experienced zero-gravity, my stomach lurched. I heard C.O.R.E. announce: “Centrifugal Gravity Generator compromised, Backup activating momentarily. Thud. I fell hard and promptly vomited. Stomach has really taken a beating lately.

I glanced up just in time to see Silverton summersault over a “Bug” and gracefully snap its neck. She downed a few more with her high caliber pistol, all headshots. If there ever whas a threat you’d know becausethats whome or what she targeted first.

I once asked Kuraisada how she ended up with her psychosis, he said “her mother had been murdered right in front of her by a deranged young man. He knew the guy had Twenty-five to life after that little stunt. By the name Kyle “Feral” Ferdinand. A member of Cordelia’s old team.”

Kyle was Mich’s older brother. This explains why Cordelia was tense whenever around Mich. Neither of them, really ever talked to one another. Really bad-blood between those families. I often have noticed, the times she had glanced at him was fear in her eyes. She never did cry though. Well not that I’m aware of.

I felt sorry for those two. When Ferdinand was assigned to my squad, I was skeptical but my superior, said it would be fine ,his hope was that Cordelia might grow accustomed to being around Mich, whom as irealized averted his gaze when she looked at him. I could tell, he was scared too.

I recovered fairly quickly. Many Iadath fell either riddled with ammo, severely w, Three or four of the aliens were left standing, my vision had blurred due to a phase beam passing so lose to my face, it had screwed with , the particles of my cornea. Fuck, the double vision took a few moments to subside, just enough time to clearly see Cordelia easily took them down without so much as a slight pause. She missed one, having instead hit one of its hind legs. It hissed , and began to crawl awkwardly .Only had three legs to rely on it, painfully dragged it’s body into the adjacent room, The straying alien was heading towards Command, which was our destination as well. Lloyd startled and kicked out at limp body, “Thought I saw it move.” As the rest of my, team cleared the area. I pushed him forward. Chuckling, “Just keep moving, already been enough trouble as it is. Truth is I thought I saw something too. They had a thick skin, had to resort to heavier and Faster round, a new prototype pocked design, similar to that of a golf ball, had been applied to a Carbon-nanotube Bio-Chemical tech hybridized-alloy of wich military called the team called it Living metal.

We had entered the next room, the wounded alien was nowhere to be seen, No trail to blood to follow, I could hear it though, I wanted to put that thing out of it misery. If it could even feel anything. Then I wondered why we were even fighting this war. Lights from a poor repair flashed intermittently. At least Engineering was not at all incompetent, the lights work.

The Iadath … They were logical creatures, I knew that from experience, from their actions, they didn’t usually rely on chance, the “bugs” really must have been out of it. A slight miscalculation, sent this group towards their doom. I saw Johnson grin widely, he was obviously proud of himself. I was starting to hate the guy. Hate … Probably the reason I got fired from my job as a psychologist. “Thorne!” Kuraisada called out, I jogged over to him.

Laying on the ground, was the Iadath breathing heavily. Its crippling wound had begun to bleed profusely. I took out my pistol and aimed it at the creature’s skull. Cordelia pushed me aside, “Let me have my fun with this one”, her eyes gleamed excitedly. What bad could come of it? Not like she hurts anyone then I remembered … Before I could say something. She jolted me in the side with her elbow, which was still tender, all this movement hadn’t been helping it either. Kuraisada walked ahead, joining the others I hung back. Near the hall entry-way, watching her for a moment. She drew out her knife. A crudely sharpened Combat Knife. I’ve tried stopping her from doing this before. Ended up giving me a scar right above my left eye. Since then, she had a kind of hold over me.

She never did directly kill the enemy… that is … immediately that even if she was supposed to, she liked to watch them squirm, and writhe in pain. She sometime took pleasure playing with the minds of friends and foes alike, especially when her teammates displayed some disgusted reaction. Just thinking about it made me shutter.

Nevertheless I watched her. I knew was absolutely horrifying, more twisted than some of these strewn body parts were .but I knew Cordelia well she has been under my command the longest. There was a method to her madness. Something I had to see in order to understand her. She spiked my curiosity, and my side every once in a while.

After she tortured an enemy, she would use their bodily fluids, their, usually drawing what Johnson would call, “ ‘Bloody’ beautiful” designs on the walls, . she had the makings of a serial killer but some how she managed, not to snap. I watched her as she went through, what I termed as her “Twisted Artistry”.

There was a period of time where that I couldn’t look at her straight on, at least for a couple of months. And not be scared shitless of her. But now I saw the true significance of her psychosis. It was just as a part of her, as my brain is to me. It being of unique quality and emotion, I was sure I could the designees reproduced without much effort, but observing the process of the art taking shape was the true Art. The way she practically flowed. Sickening medium, yes. Even as disturbing as it was, there was a quality of effortlessness. It seemed vaguely familiar. I was unsure if I was seeing things, but something about it, something I couldn’t place. It was as if she flowed like water. very smooth . This is what she was doing now. I became transfixed on her, throughout the whole damned ordeal. Everything else faded away as I watched. Her movements enthralled me, it was almost like she knew that I was watching. Everything. A loud bang, I was caught by surprise, she had completed her “masterpiece”. Took out her heavy caliber pistol aimed the gun square into the creature’s chest. In the following few moments, something clicked in my head.

I started figuring what was so familiar about that particular Iadath, had to be sure. I began to walk toward the creature. Then it came to me. As the noticed armor I was in disbelief. But how? How was this the same one, the open cavity of its chest, the same, Even its armor despite the contraption, I was certain. Those things that it had etched on the wall From Earlier. To a degree the symbols Cordelia had painted with the Iadathian blood. The marking were nearly indistinguishable from one another. I wanted to get a closer look at it.

Cordelia began to walk towards me, “The bug‘ll live!” She jerked me by the collar of my shirt as she passed by. In that singsong voice of hers, she said, “This way.” Well…so much for getting a closer look.

By the time I managed to slip out of her grip,. I was too annoyed to react .instead, The two of us ran to catch up with the rest of my team, Johnson jeered, “Got trapped?” he was referring to Cordelia’s peculiar talent. “Probably the only decent thing about that psycho.” I was ready to punt the guy across the room. But I held my tranquil state of mind from earlier, I succeeded ignoring his snide comment. Ferdinand commanded C.O.R.E. to pull up a layout projection of The Command Hub. A Live feed, and an integrity check. The announced the outer hull at a “68.5 percent”, showed a list of other stats, how many detected lifeforms aboard, other at risk parts shown as yellow the southern portion of the Hub, highlighted in Red “Critical”, and within that, portions of it grey. that signified a hull breech , Grayson looked over Ferdinand’s shoulder, surprised, “Damn, Those pods really gave Orbital a run for its money.”

It was a while before we located the entrance to command. The Overseer, Anthony Moore resided in the Command Hub, we approached, “there’s a few survivor’s back there.” he’d been looking at the news. Really, Politics, the one thing, other than that punk Johnson that annoyed me. I cleared my throat. “Ah” he said, looking up, “Richard, My friend, Nice to see a familiar face.”

“Likewise”, I replied grinning. “New team well adjusted?” he asked, I replied in the affirmative.

He continued, “As you know we recently lost contact with Locke a few days ago, along with the rest of Theta.”, “Go secure the area, check for survivors.” Wish I could have been provided more Intel, but communications cut short, that was all that was retained. “Since this recent attack by the Iadath, I have to really trim down your debriefing.” The Overseer, had more than scaled down the debriefing.

“Richard, it was requested that he stay on the team for the op, I admit it is a bit risky, But I had to allow it, try to make just make sure he gets through it. If anything happen this matter is on both our heads. So to speak.” I nodded “Right, sir, understood.” My team an I left the hub, Well could have instead commed in, I grumbled, “Right., damn communication issues.”

The stray Iadath was nowhere to be seen, from the Hub lobby. Cordelia really didn’t kill it.we walked toward the UWM Blade’s hangar bay .

As we left for the landing zone. Johnson shouted from the pilots’ station, “you sure that It’s alright for him to be on this op?” he questioned, I told him that everything would go smoothly. “Yeah sure, I believe you. Just like last time” He sneered, obviously, made me aware of his sarcasm. Like I couldn’t tell.

Johnson was one of those who enjoyed the thrill of war, the damn Brit said it ‘made him feel alive.’ He was a total adrenaline junkie. I could swear he had a grudge against everyone on the team. The guy peculiar. Why he was so determined on seeing his “fellow” soldiers left in the dust? I wasn’t sure, nor did I care enough to ask. All I knew was he wasn’t a very pleasant person to be around. Even if he was part of my team.

That was the kind of standard of my team wasn’t pleasantin their own way, besides Johnson. Kuraisada and Torres where minor exceptions. I glance at Torres, who was staring of into space. “What’s our projected eta,” I asked her, her answer was long winded “at two-hundred forty-two kilometers per hour, we should be arriving at 0500 hours, that’s if everything goes as planned.”

Looking at her now, surprisingly Torrez was one of the original minds involved in the Project, if the Iadath hadn’t gotten a she hold of her, screwed up her mind, she wouldn’t have tried to bond with C.O.R.E , and as a result , assigned to my team. After that incident, She was left a pure logistics genius. Good for complex plans, but somewhat poor socially. She was probably the least problematic of my team. But the trauma left her uncharacteristically absent-minded. It seemed Cordelia and Torrez were surprisingly similar. Silverton, being the one obviously better at carrying out orders than planning them

When we arrived at the Theta-port landing zone. The 100 meters due west of Koulsens point, The Hatch of our UGM cruiser opened with a hiss. The weather blew the trees around us, violently, Seemed a storm head was forming. Something was off the night we arrived at the outpost

Commander Locke hadn’t commed in with their report, and by this time we should‘ve received it already. I tried the comm, but all I received was intermittent static. Damn. Out of all the time s it had to cut out, and it had to be now. Figures.

As we approached the Outpost a dense fog rolled in, the outpost, I Could Feel something Rise in the pit of my stomach about the place, I carefully un-shouldered my Rifle. The weather was unusual for a spring night, it was fairly frigid, I noticed that the lights where flickering and the mist glowed with eerie reddish hue, and its eerie glow increased in intensity the further we ventured onward. We could see clearer and strangely became colder, I shivered, It was if we entered a ghost town. Kuraisada remarked, “Damn …this place looked like it’s gone through hell.” Worse than the hub” In somewhat of an agreement I responded, “It looks worse than hell,” Johnson, butted in , “No Shit, …”

Suddenly there was I heard a crash of a building as its supports gave way, and unshouldered my and loaded up, flipping the safety off. A precaution, never can tell when things go to shit, “Hopefully we came well prepared cause I feel like it’s going to get a lot worse.”

The Recent developments of the past couple of days have left us exhausted. Where is the Fuckin’ coffee when you need it?

My second leutenent , Zachariah Ravencroft, approached a decrepid wall, and stumbled. When he got to his feet, his uniform was drenched in fresh blood. He looked down “Shhhit”, RavencroftsIn this darkness you couldn’t even see your hand two feet in front of your face. he had tripped over a body. Ravencroft must have forgotten to switch to night-vision ,

The body that had tripped him up was to be more precise, a completely limbless body, looked like something ripped the soldier apart, evidence of claw-like gashes . Greyson, in both awe and disgust whispered under his breath, “Damn…That is one poor bastard,” to our dismay and after the “all clear” of the area, we discovered this soldier wasn’t the only one.. mangled corpses littered the ground. , This group of soldiers, had been much less fortunate than those on back on the hub.

I was overwhelmed, these last few days where definable as the whole Third War confined in a a matter few days, utter chaos. Not surprisingly the Implications of this war surpassed the Third world war, tenfold, and the last war had nearly sent us to our doom. If the Iadath hadn’t arrived, we would’ve completely destroyed ourselves. It was like a double edged sword Brought the world together, but

“This is bullshit. I’m sick of this” Ravencroft said, “it’s like we walked into a fuckin’ slaughterhouse, I’ve had enough!” Ravencroft ranted on, his voice resounding with malice, “If those damn Bugs did this, I’m going to teach them a damn lesson!”

“Ravencroft!!!” my own temper had lit like a fuse, Stand down!” you’ve seen this before back on the station. Johnson had eavesdropped, scoffed, “That was marginally better, than this shit.” I ignored his inflammatory comment. But caving to my anger, I retorted “Johnson, Shut the hell up. You aren’t helping the situation.” Ravencroft motioned the Fog, he could see things the others couldn’t, some of his enhancements tapped onto his visual cortex, at the time better than setting up the tactical Grid display. I asked him what it was. His response. “There are even more bodies in this smog, he breathed, “Sir I can’t take on another mission like this. It’s draining the energy out of me.”

“Ravencroft, you had situations like this before, This is no different I know what you are going through, when I was working as a psychologist and working in the force, I have met many who were very similar to yourself. Even, You are not alone”, I let the words sink in “Remember , There has been a few times we nearly lost you. Sometimes your damn stubbornness gets in the way. If the military were to lose you, others could gain the upper hand in battle from acquiring your tech.”

“But, besides the military putting a lot of money into you, I am not just referring to the military, have you any idea how much hardware you have in you,”

“Lucky for you, some strings were to pulled to keep you In the Op, and The Project couldn’t let you go. You were one of most successful subjects out of the whole damn Army. I wonder how valuable you think your life really is. Your life is not something you can just throw away, it must mean something to you.”

“WHAT! You put me on the OP anyway!” Ravencroft Shoutted, exploding with anger.” When you knew about what happened!!!” , “I don’t fucking care about the stupid operation, or the Army, I’ m sick of carrying out these damn Infiltrations, I’m sick of you . I’m sick of the whole god-damn war … just want to see my family again,” He kicked at the dirt. And angrily threw his Rifle down, “Screw this, I am done, just so motherfucking done.” He started walking away. I could tell he was tense state,

I jogged after him and attempting to distract him I brought up, a “you remember, what happened in Russia, you told me about it?” He stopped, turned, and was staring at me intently, I saw a hint of malice again in his eyes, He replied, “Yeah, what of it, ‘sir’, I could tell I hit a nerve, he continued, “so what if I remember. There was a hesitance in his voice, “I remember, I was on risk of being discharged, after I shot petty officer Walters. When the kid was –was attacked, by somebody. The fact that I hit him, was a damn accident, he was…,” he stuttered, “…I was trying to save the kid!” Ravencroft had begun to show un-stabilization. He checked his pocket, he exhaled a sigh of relief. but I could tell, The side effects of the enhancements were taking their toll. I have to get him under control before it got any worse. Damn, I was afraid of this. Hoped this wouldn’t had happen.

Just by looking at him I could tell he was still rigid with anger, “Man, Calm yourself, Zach,” without thinking, I clapped a hand on his back, what a rookie mistake. Must be losing my touch. Which I regretted doing almost immediately, He flinched, and took swing at me. It would have connected had I been a second slower. I easily blocked the blow, and grabbed and twisting it behind his back, He yelled with anguished pain, “Fuck!! I’m goanna get away from this fucking hellhole.”

“Damn it, Ravencroft!” my own temper rose, think of your own sons, Conno—”, Johnson nudged my shoulder. I turned around, this caused me to loosen my grip on Ravencroft. He spun around and this time, I was seconds too slow… his fist connected with my face, and I heard a crunch, I felt the warmth of my blood running down my chin, I was dazed for a moment I sat there.

Johnson shook his head. “Mate, don’t bring ‘im up, it’ll only make things worse.” he said under his breath, Smirking. He helped me up, I asked, “Little late, jack-ass, “was I unknowingly nominated the human punching bag of the year ?”, His answer was an obscure. “Maybe… I know “Marbles” seems to think so. ” This guy definitely had a grudge, was somewhat creative with insults for each of the members of my team, Cordelia was “Marbles” or Psycho or Nutcase. I would go into all the names but that list is still growing.

What the hell my team had gotten into? They’ve been acting strange since we arrived here, well, all except for Kuraisada and Cordelia, the latter two whom contently had sat down on a crumbling structure and began chatting. They were funny, when the rest of the team was in disarray, Cordelia seemed to reflect the Ideal soldier . funny. Despite lacking the professional attitude of the military, they certainly made up for it several times over in the past year.

“Ravencroft” I said, “Hold up a sec.” I had forgotten that Ravencroft’s son Connor went missing when this, damn war had started. Johnson taunted, “I knew ‘e was a flight risk, ‘specially ‘cause of Koulson’s Point. ” Ravencroft had swung out again, this time at Johnson. And at least I had a stable stance, quickly intervened, catching his arm. I quickly dispatched one of his legs from under him. I also made sure that both his arms, Twisted behind him, headstrong, just as he was when he first joined the UGM. I vaguely remember Kuraisada making a comment that the older son, Tobias, was the spitting image of his father. I wouldn’t doubt that he was just as stubborn.

“Now if you’d let me continue,” I spat out more blood onto the ground, “Ask yourself, is this course of action a valuable use of your energy.” to fight amongst your team, If you were to go AWOL, your son, Tobias, and your wife, Kalyn. What would happen to them? What would they think of you , what would Kalyn think of you ?” I knew it was immoral using his family as a piece in this emotional game of chess, But if he was risking dishonorable discharge he had to remain stable, I had to try anything. at least till the we got back on Orbital.

As soon I mentioned his wife’s name, I had noticed a sharp change in the furious man. Ravencroft seemed to relax. It just have The rising war as the current war Iadath set in motion a series of laws , suggested by an undisclosed source , this source had Mentioned to recruit U.P.’s (Unstable Personalities), to combat due to their common practice of psychological warfare, platoon evaluations, been proposed in 2042, this still is a process to adjust to, the evaluations. They had yet to take full effect until next year. Damn Political Agendas, always trying get into others business. My team went through and overhaul. The only Kuraisada, Ravencroft and Silverton, have being the three remaining of my original team. Damn Political Agendas, always trying get into others business.

I released my grip on my fellow soldier. Anyway, it seemed that people like Silverton, or Ravencroft were somewhat immune, Cordelia was already psychotic to begin with so she would probably, act the way she always acted.

I was obviously annoyed. It has been a long day, and this could affect my performance I was reaching my breaking point we had to move fast before things became more chaotic. Slipping on blood is not one of the things on my to do list neither is dying. Everyone seemed to be approaching their limits. At least that’s from what I could tell, I could have really used some coffee. Or a stiff drink.

Unsteadily, Ravencroft got to his feet, flexed his wrists, and picking up his gun. “, Yeah, I guess you’re right…” Without missing a beat, I ordered him to load up. “Ravencroft, you and Kuraisada, scout with me.”

The ground began to rumble, I tightened my grip around the barrel of my rifle, when I noticed the lights began to flicker flickering and the fog glowed even brighter with its eerie glow, “Gear up”. It was like everyone was deer in headlights, the only ones who were prepared were Kuraisada and Silverton, already locked and loaded. Vigilant, There was a gleam in his eyes, and a Fire in hers.

“Whatever happened was recent. the blood is still fresh, Damn, gear up, I commanded more forceful this time. The rest of the platoon readied there weapons, “Start scouting the area, locate any survivors, use group, use comms only when deemed necessary but keep them close if I have further instructions! “Ferdinand, take Ives, and Lloyd, scout your 6, towards Medical.” I paused, Greyson, Johnson, and Torres head to Point Beta, and determine Sgt. Commander Loche's status,” Ferdinand, Commed in “That message . Gave me the fuckin creeps.”

We hadn’t even split to Squads yet, Michy” I smirked, Both Ravencroft and I called him by the name, and knew he hated it, I approached Ferdinand, looking down at the screen , his idiotic grin slowly turned into a look of uncertainty, just as I slapped him on the back of his head, Hard. Taking the Comm, I said, “Ives, you’re in charge of Medical now, you never can trust teenagers with jobs like this, ehh?” I heard him snicker with amusement as I threw him the Comm.

I passed Cordelia Silverton, “I…I may have to retire after this, My physique isn’t up to par of what it used to be …” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “Anyway, you come with us,” I was fully aware she could’ve lead a team. Ultimately I had decided against it, due to her interactions with past assigned teams, she freaked them out.

I’ll just say this just say, as long as she didn’t let the power go to her head we would all be fine generally, That expectation was The opposite of what usually happened, so It’s no surprise that she gained quite a lethal reputation. So, if anyone wants to see a 6’ 4” man break down during a training after a session facing her, be my guest… She is borderline schizophrenic, she became the military, most feared yet most creative, and she left a confusing impression on people, including me. Her traumatic experience, really must have warped her mind, must have been gruesome, , It was Intriguing, but also left me disturbed. She was like Ravencroft in that regard,Kind of a loose cannon, ready to fire any moment.

For my current platoon, the experience won’t exactly be a walk in the park, they weren’t used to her quite yet, most of my team, only having joined recently a few months ago, and on the other hand she would enjoy herself. I almost did give here her own team. Unfortunately there was a few setbacks, resulting my whole team to be a few soldiers short, due to the various events at Koulsen’s Point.

Koulsen Point… a point of chaos, among chaos, people having gone missing around there, including Ravencrofts’ kid. Lately, we think the Iadath Cruisers have been spiraling out of control crashing off in its coastal waters. Advanced Research and Development wasn’t not exactly sure, because differentiating proves difficult when both ship and pilot consist of a mixed ratio of both metal and flesh. And when the organic material is pulverized, they hypothesis the organism of the ships themselves could be the sentient, and ordered to do that, as a tactic, a twisted tactical maneuver.

Their ships, I visualized the semi-organic what we classify as an M class Cruiser pelting towards earth, Torrez we came up with a plan that If my team managed to secure a cruiser that’s fully functioning ,we could infiltrate their ranks, and use their own tech to destroy them from the inside.

A few years after the events at koulsen point The Development Branch managed to construct a pair of drones with the procured material from the wreckage as well as controller containing some kind of biotech from the wreckage, it was stubborn to get working , though Both biologists and engineers had quite a thrill when they built them, but their range was poor , and they were unsure why. It was used primarily for suborbital reconnaissance. Unfortunately but the resources far exceeded the cost of all of Ravencroft’s genetic alterations. Since the controller worked for a biological drone, then hypothetically it could work for the ship, provided it is the same organism, and Proper sensors where attached. I squinted upward, had I just imagined it or was that actually what I thought it was?? The object pelted towards the earth, the fog spited my vision, but I could make out a hurtling mass, but made it impossible to tell what exactly it was. That up was until its silvery Glint gave it away our Transference Pod “friend” from earlier, the Iadath must be searching for something, if they are sending these scout ships are scout ships, and must have miscalculated the first couple, having crashed them into the Command Hub.

“The ship we harvested from, the one that caused the lockdown of near Kolsen’s Point. I asked Kuraisada “You still have the mechanism?” The soldier silently nodded, and continued walking,

“We’ll keep eye on Ravencroft, in case he cracks, again.” I paused, just as Ravencroft started to protest, Silverton shot him a look that expressed a sadistic amusement. He promptly quieted, caught up to me and whispered “She scares me, when she gets like that…” I struggled to stifled a laugh, and replied, “Remember, She’s even worse than you when it comes to morals, and everyone on the military gets uneasy around her. Even I do ,” “So it’s a good thing she’s on our side then, if I one of those bugs, I would be scurrying the hell back to wherever I came from.” And as an added “And don’t be asleep when she’s around,” I added, my side was still sore. She was one hell of a hitter. My stomach was still sore from that cheap-shot. And the constant movement kept it sore.

As we approached our Investigation point, the GPS blinked with the designated Markers, signaling that the teams were in position, each team comm’ed in as to confirm location, my group and I headed further north into the fog. This mystifying phenomena swirled about us, as it where if dancers that glided across a stage. “Arora fractalis”, this phenomena only began a few couple years before the war. And what a sight it was.

This was a good spot to setup the Tactical Imager

I clicked on the Imaging sensors to get a better idea of where we were, the device whirred up, I tuned some of the dials and lights blinked in sequence as the screen came to life.

The image provided was somewhat fuzzy though it is marginally better than what I had been originally issued. My original Tactical imager, had been blasted in the fray along with the the Generator by whatever those particle cannons an Iadathian soldiers use. Ferdinand had jerry-rigged One up, from Scavenged electrical components he had collected from various Ops. Handy to have around that kid.

I envied Ravencroft for his enhancements, I looked at the different Image types, and I wondered if he saw the world this way, I wasn’t as keen on the technical Side of things so I didnt know, I just haven’t bothered to asking.

There was the Door of Security Management, there were glinting silver shards everywhere, shattered remains of a pod, this was insane, more bodies, ripped apart, but this was much worse this was obviously something else .Parts of Iadath were mixed among the litter of corpses. Our live visual feeds caught the whole gruesome scene on digital.

My receiver binged. Each group has set a perimeter, “if they locate any survivors, we will use our former location as a rendezvous. and if they find the source of the disturbance,” paused “if it is an alien, the order is to regroup and hold position and defend at all cost. Secure this place, find a safe location to set as a fallback rendezvous point.”

The quaking frequently acted up, I heard something I pegged as odd. clearly not part of the quake, or structural system, a roar, but definitely had a metallic quality to it, In the distance of the mist , it was hard to tell, though , I really difficult to discern from, mist , darkness and crumbling structures. A signal came from my comm, “Thorne”, it was Ives, “Torrez has been killed, we found Commander Locke, Unfortunately he’s dead along with his Squad as well. We setup a regroup with the second squad when “it” attacked us, the thing klled Torrez, and Grayson. And sir, Lloyd has gone missing, I presume he’s dead as well.

“What the Fuck was it Ives tell me!” The panicked man looked down at the comm “when we grouped…” I cut him off, “Get a damn hold of yourself.” I was shaking, “Was it an Iadath?!!. Then I saw his panic, “It”, he stuttered, “It” again, It was huge, at least six times the size of an Iadath . Three sets of eyes, yeah, but four sets of limbs, almost like somebody smashed a lizard and a Scorpion together, “Wasn’t Iadath… was different, had…” Ives was breathing heavily. “Large Bladed Tail. Skin highly resistant to bullets… left a full mag from my automatic, peppered in that damn beast … and as an added bonus this thing was tech-fused. A fucking monstrosity. Was it an Experiment that the Iadath, or what. Iadath are known to experiment with the genetics and tech fusion, though their fusing, their ability to Transcended ours early we only had A few other Protos ,second lieutenant Ravencroft, and Torres unofficially applied to that category

“IT was still was barreling towards us, “That thing was going on about some own called the Redeemer. Have no fucking clue what it meant.”

I told him, “Go back and get the chip in her”, get the chip to see what details She got. . he protested, “-Won’t be the same,” I shouted back at him, “You should be thankful she tried merging with the Core AI.”

Ives continued, “Johnson, Ferdinand and I managed to lose the damn creature ,but unfortunatly we lost Vince , he stumbled into the Fractalis but couldnt can’t see though the damn thing.”

I said “ Dont worry about Vince, he’s Resourceful, happens to him a lot always shows up sometime."

“Ives, You and Ferdinand, Johnson keep moving, we’re on our way to you.”

Ravencroft, wide eyed, stumbled, worryingly checking his pockets. He looked frantic, “I, I dropped something”, he scrambled up. “Zachariah, Wait!” I shouted, Damn It. He had run off in the direction of which we came. I was only moments too late. We needed to stay as a group now, too few of us. There that metallic roar again, that was a metallic roar, the creature was nearby really close.

I ran after Zachariah. Fuck. I saw a silvery flash, as the light bounced of Metal Spikes , Damn, the creature Ives Referred to was Close, and Ravencroft was in danger, .he wo had just bent down to pick up some object , but it was small I couldn’t make out. The creature roared. It attacked Ravencroft head on, “Where is the Redeemer!” it roared. Barreled toward the unsuspecting soldier.

The same “Redeemer” the Anakar and was referring to? There was no time to think. Only enough time to act. I aimed down my sight, targeting the creature’s skull. And fired. Ives was right, it was resistant to bullets, one thing I managed to graze the its head , it screamed, lashing out with its pronged tail, impaling my second in command. Good bye , Fool, I have my revenge. I saw Ravencroft cough up blood, Lots of it onto the face of the creature.

For a moment my heart stopped in my chest, or at least felt like it did. Damn that kid, my gun fell from my hands, and I sank too my knees. I was in shock. All this time looking out for him and this is how it ends. The overseer had known? But how?

Victor and Cordelia where close on my heels, had open fired on the creature, they both aimed for its head. This worked, confused the creature. It threw Zachariah hard against a wall. and the creature bounded forward. despite it howling in pain.

Something Crashed through a window of a building behind me, whatever it was, it was Fast, a flash of a long silver blade, Another beast? No. “Run, Human!” It was the Anakar, Its mechanical arm was heating up with a bright Blue glow. the alien repeated, “I said , Take the other human, And RUN”, you cannot fight this creature, this is my kill.” The Anakar reached out with it glowing mechanical arm Grabbing the beast by the throat, “Jidek” The fearsome creature looked confused, gasped out as the anakars hydraulic clawed hand clenched “I Killed you, I saw you die with my own eyes, You. You’re supposed to be Dead! The Creature wrenched the anakar’s arm off its Throat , throwing The Reptillian, But the anakar ,quickly landed , countering the attack Jidek yelled , “You humans are stubborn, just as I remember.”, “don’t just stand Idly by…!!!” This was almost too much for my brain to handle. So many questions. And few answers.

My team had gathered, Victor Kuriasada and to my surprise, Johnson supported Zachariah as we ran. Where the hell did he come from … I heard the clash of metal on metal. As the two Creatures Exchanged blows. And roaring, it was painful to listen too.

“The Project can’t come to an end with you, Zach, Hold on man,” Kuraisada ran his fallen Friend breathed weakly , Kuraisada shouted “You can’t go like this. You can live. You can make it home.”

“I’ll be fine Victor.” Zachariah clenched a bloody hand on his friend “Evan”, he coughed blood on Johnsons uniform on “you came around finally”, the Man’s response “Not in your lifetime, you frikin’ Test” . He said, “you are just part of the team ya damn Idiot!”, “I have more, morals than ‘Marbles’, over there.” with his free arm he made a crude gesture towards Cordelia, confident that she wasn’t looking. “Break that arm if you do that again Evan.” She told him off. It was my turn to smirk at him. He scowled.

We were running for a while before I determined that we had gone far enough, I had dogged between enough spiny foliage to leave my arms raw. “I think I’ m getting a message from Vincent, It was cutting in an out, a localized target surge, damn , then the connection cut out completely.

“Lay Zachariah down here,” I said , motioning to soft pines, as Kuraisada set Zachariah down, I saw glassy look cross the dying man’s eyes . Finally looked like he was at peace, . what about your family?” I asked Zachariah coughed up more blood, “Tobias takes after me, stubborn like a mule. He’ll be fine,” The fallen soldiers breaths where labored, slowing, he weakly pushed out the words, “I finally can go home…” that was the last thing he said before he died.

I know now of the fury, the pain, that he had felt all those years, searching for his lost son, was finally lifted from his wondering mind onto another. Mine. To this day I wonder what had happened near Koulsen point Where had he gone? This was a tragic turn for all of us, even Kuraisada had a somber expression. It was sad, Zachariah had lived with the all pain of his past, eating away at his mind, coping for the loss of by symbolically “replacing” his lost son while off fighting the third world war, only to “lose” him again. Damn, I felt sorry for him.

Unfortunately for the young Corporal, the, question would remain unanswered. His lifeless body was now cradled in Cordelia’s lap, after all these years, This was the first time I saw her cry, I wanted to comfort her but, I was afraid to touch her, afraid of what I … what could happen, For the first time in a long time, I felt lost and confused, so I just existed for an instant. My team was like family to me, that’s something we all had in common. Grayson, Lloyd , and now Zachariah, It was all too much. I sent Ives back to back for Torrez’s body, military geneticists and bio engineers could reconstruct her, to a point due to her nanoscale tech fusion with C.O.R.E, she would remember dying, and static darkness. But as just as quiet as she was.

Cordelia then let Zachariah go, I sat down next to her and began stroking her hair. She hugged me. Kuraisada crossed the arms across our fallen ally, and as he did so something in Ravencroft’s hands shifted, this caught my eye, I Curiously and cautiously opened his hand. It was a pocked carbon nanotube fused bullet, a prototype design allowed less drag, that also made it easier to tell when someone was illegally Importing Military equipment for consumer use. When we truly began experimenting with biotechnology. DNA was incorporated so could reproduce its structure and the explosive compound within it. In the near future, we would carry vial of the Tech/DNA catalyzer. It was the same compound that would be used to “Repair” Torrez.

This would be required for the bullets to reform, in dire situations. This was a Windswept-piercer round, Rare to find sniper bullets made from this stuff. I wasn’t aware that Ravencroft had access to this kind of tech. it certainly wasn’t his. He specialized in Short-range tatics, . “So… This is what he went back for.” I held it up in the light, “He must have dropped it, when we first landed.”

Victor Kuraisada, looked at the bullet, then at me, and spoke “From the last war he took it as token of remembrance, from the petty officer that he had shot…Zachariah never forgave himself for what he did, even if it was an accident, the Walters kid was a damn shame, good kid and from what I heard, Zachariah had treated Joshua like his own son, it was if his mind was still trying to cope with his own loss of Connor.

take the dog tag as well , is said as I tossed the bullet to Victor. “Give this to his remaining kid. Might be of some benefit when they get the news. Say that it was his father’s wish for him to have it.” I sighed, “I’m sure that’s how he’d want it.” I paused for a moment,’ I sat there thinking” you know the family right? Look after them for him, they’ve really had it rough, both your families have had tragedies , that commonality may help if you support one another, Just might be enough to get through the rut. Mention to your wife Akiko , that I hope she’s recovering well from her car accident.” , “I’ ll make sure to visit sometime. See how things are going, and maybe I’ll stop by the orphanage when I’m married, and adopt.”

A few hours later…

“Now, What do you suppose happened to Petty officer Lloyd? “ I asked Victor he only shrugged. “Lloyd , I have no Idea, his comm isn’t responding.” “Might a found a way out of this place before us, might be dead, who knows. Maybe he went Awol, I looked at Mich, who only shrugged.

2047

“Now I am talking to you, Nicholas, You are here sitting in my living room. If my boss hadn’t been forced me to comply with his request, I’d still be at work”. “What was this for anyway? a Web article?”

“Internship for Developmental Sciences and Biomechanics, a Subsector of the the Institute Sientific Innovation and Extrasolar Development, a class down at the Fjord Academy. And coinciding with a personal current investigation of Military Politics,” This would be great for part of a novel. ” Nick said. “You got a little carried away, I had only wondered what it was like working at the research branch In conjunction with SIED. But I was glad to hear that story from a very Interesting perspective. After hearing that I’m now thinking of perusing Dynamic Perspective Journalism.”

What an overachiever, I sighed. Cordelia walked into the family room, bent over kissed me, and with Her free hand ed me hard in the side

Your wife, How has her mental state been,” “Yes, well as a you can see for yourself. It has been smooth sailing been for the most.” Since actually taking up art, she has managed to regulate her psychosis, and now she’s now a government hired Bounty Hunter. So she still gets to have her fun.” “Right?” I grinned. She nodded.

“Nicholas, did I mention I hated politics, and their agendas,” Nick responded, “yes you did, sir.”

“Did you ever end up adopting from the orphanage?” Nickolas asked. “Yes In matter of fact, we adopted a girl, Catherine, she’s about your age now, and should be home any minute.” Nick If you won’ t mind sticking around. You’ll probably meet her.

There was a knock at the door. “Dad”, “Home, I forgot my key”, I sighed, “that’d be Catherine’, “I’ll get it”, I said “Cordelia, Can you make sure the cat doesn’t get out this time…” , “Yes I Can” ,she said. I continued, “ Don’t torture the poor thing this time? ” There was a slight pause, Cordelia replied with disappointment, “I was hoping it would be like last time” , I was not amused. “Damn it,” I kissed her, “I told you to stop doing that to my cat.” As Cordelia, walked away, “Relax, I was only kidding, lighten up. Never did hurt him, that damn fur-ball. ” She mockingly whined, “The stupid feline rolled in clay dust.” As if it knew, the tuxedo cat walked across displaying a magnificent white chest which was now speckled with brown clay. Cordelia picked him up and propped the nuisance on her shoulder.

“Sometimes, kid” I exhaled. “Sometimes, I wonder how I got into this mess in the first place.” As I stood up walked toward the front door for Catherine.

“Only things I deal with now is Cordelia, Catherine and my new job, and the cat. I really don’t know how I manage, I just can.” One thing, I can tell you is this Nick,” I paused, drained what little remained in the glass of Scotch. “Having the cat helps.”

Opened the door, and there was A cheerful, slightly exasperated teenager standing in front of me.

Piercing green eyes, and a surprisingly long blonde braid down her back and odd clip in her hair shaped like a curving tear, a blue gem resembling the likeness of a rose, adorned the center. An heirloom from her biological family I had supposed. The artifact was very strange.

This is third time I have seen this symbol that surrounded the Gem a circle with three curving prongs was etched in silver along the Clasps surface. The Symbol, -- The Markings, -- the Blood, and now the Metal. Something about Catherine, who was someone so innocent, yet so alive, at the same time be a complete mystery, yet know who they are. This girl, the one I regarded as my “angel”, this beam of sunshine whom practically soared on top of me, was the pinnacle of this enigma.

So many Questions. Too few answers.