Pods. Hundreds of them. Empty piece by piece. To the right were people working on stations, looking at maps and fiddling with Artifacts. They didn't speak to one another, yet they perfectly connected to one another and acted like one. Like a powerful oiled machine spinning it's cogs without any problems. I had heard of these people. They were no longer people but..Something..Else. The Nomads know as Incubi had infiltrated these people. Claimed their thoughts, their mind, their...Their soul as theirs and operated the body as a figther pilot flies his ship. I wondered if this was my fate..
The two men dragged me further down what seemed like the never ending halls. The further we went, the more pods I saw and the lesser people worked next to them. Almost as if no one cared about what was in the deep..As if no one cared about the lost and the old. I was dragged further and further, deeper and deeper. The beautifull nebula that I could see outside faded along with it. It seemed as if we went deeper into the rock, into the core of the station.
Barely conscious, I was dragged through the halls of the station. Past people, strange machines and weird sounds untill we, after what seemed eternity, arrived at a small but seemingly important lab. There were three pods in the entire lab. Three pods and one scientist. He looked up at the men that had dragged me into the room, and they continued to do so untill we stood still infront of the three pods. The one to the left was empty, as was the middle one. But the one to the right...Atfirst I thought I was seeing things, but it held a woman. Her eyes were closed and her hair danced amongst the bubbles coming from below the tank. There was a mask which seemed to supply oxygen to her coming from below as well, and machinery at the back of her neck. It looked like medical machinery. Using its thin, sharp, metallic arms for what seemed to be installing something, or...I don't know. Besides that, however, there was one other thing that catched my eye. She wore the uniform of the Liberty Navy. Was she one of us? A Spectre? Or was she taken against her will?
The men lifted me up into the tank next to her. As soon as they released me, the tank shut itself airtight and water started to seep in. The mask I had seen on the woman next to me followed shortly after and forced its way into my lungs. Atfirst it felt uncomfortable, but later It made me sink into a deep...Silent sleep. The last thing I saw through my sleepy eyes was what seemed to be a 3D map of an installation.. I wondered..
I'm a Specter. Working with and for the beings called Nomads to aid them in further advancing towards their goal. I am to obesrve the Rheinland Military together with Specter Julie Marshall, designation C-031.
Atleast, I think we are. We weren't told much by those above us. 'Observe the ongoing war from Rheinland's side.' 'Should it all fail, you can find refuge within Meerbusch and Recklinghausen.' Whatever those names might mean. Then again, I doubt we'll need to find out. I mean, what could go wrong? We only have to watch, right?
Ah well...We'll see how it goes. Julie and I are supposed to meet one of her contacts later 'today'. (On New Berlin, 'today' is a big word. Let's stick with the 24 hour 'day') Julie seems to have been in the game for much longer than I am, so I doubt anything will go wrong.
[font=Agency FB]
New Berlin. A dangerous place to be for someone of my descent in these days, but I've been trained well to hide my origin. And now, I could virtually blend in everywhere thanks to the gifts 'they' gave me.
Yeah. 'They'. The Nomads, or K'Hara, as the more educated person calls them. I've been serving them for nearly three years now, and I can't say I don't like it. It is very different from the time I was a paramilitary officer for the LSF's Special Activity Division. Sure, many would label me a traitor, but can what I do now after they have opened my eyes truly be said to be treachery? They have a great vision, and I decided to be part of it. Judith Templar, designation C-031 - that's how they call me now - became a Specter.
Waiting here in these docks makes me nervous. I never liked being in a crowd, and it got worse after I became what I am now. I can't tell why; maybe it is guilt? No. I have left such things behind me. I shouldn't concern myself over such things.
Soon, my thoughts were interrupted however. 'Excuse me, mein Fraulein. Aren't you the one who wanted to see mein ship before buying it?' Our 'contact' finally arrived at the scene. I just nodded, and signaled C-032 to follow. I became a woman of few words lately.
[font=Agency FB]I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit nervous. Aiding an alien species in whatever they're doing, thus turning my back on those I once called my family and friends. And ontop of that, I'm following one who is practicly a stranger, and one complete stranger to a strange place to do..Something.
We kept on walking in complete silence for about five to ten minutes until we reached a lone, quiet, small shuttlebay. The man hit the lights, and one by one they turned on. Giving of a loud 'koosh' as they lit. In the middle of the somewhat small bay stood a small cargo transport. A simple Rheinland Behemoth. The man looked at us, pointed at the ship and said ; 'Everything you'll need is in there. I'll get the papers for your departure in order. Good luck C's.' He left the room and the sidedoor slid close behind him. We climbed up the step heading up to the Behemoth and entered the transport. Apperantly, some one had just been smoking heavily inside of the thing considdering there was a thick cloud of smoke hazing through it. To the left of us was the cockpit. Two chairs, some screens, keyboards and a Heads Up Display. To the right was something that looked like a living room. A couch, a small fridge, some paintings and a small TV set. Right infront of us was a small trapdoor leading to the lower deck. Julie went to check out the cockpit and signaled me to head below.
While climbing down to the lower deck, I wondered how this thing had ever been a cargo transport. I barely fit in here, let alone a canister of Food rations or parts for Military vehichles. Must have been custom made, I thought to myself.
I jumped off the alloy steps and found myself in the lower deck. Again, as on the upper deck, there was a left and a right. To the right you had what looked like provisions. Some food, water, medical supplies, things like that. But what caught my eye was to the left. A full rack of rifles of seemingly Rheinland origin. All fully supplied of ammunition and propperly cleaned. Next to the rifles lay a bunch of pistols on a desk with in the middle of that desk a small box. It had a small note on it that said 'Open me'. I sat down on the chair and let my hands glide over the box. With my somewhat shakey hands I opened the thing, and it blinded me as it did, forcing me to turn my head aside.
The light faded and I was able to properly look at the box. There was what seemed a small ball, made out of some material or the other. It had a dim purle glow to it.
It started to circle around my hand as I moved it closer towards the odd ball. I stared at it for a while, wondering what it was until I was interupted by the voice of Julie. Scared the hell out of me. 'We'll be needing that later. Come to the upper deck. We're about to move out.' She turned away and went up the trapdoor. After removing the ball from it's orbit around my hand with my other hand and putting it back in the box, I followed her up. Not knowing what was going to happen.
'Sit down, and brace yourself' I advised my...partner. 'Our launch pad's almost at full power, you better grab on tightly on your seat, as our ship's gravity well does not really look like it will completely dampen the launch shock.' Before Lilly was given the chance to reply though, said shock occurred, and the extreme g forces pushed her deep into her chair. I still remember the first time I experienced a launch unassisted by docking ring technology - for the few seconds it lasted, I really thought I was going to be crushed to death and almost passed out...and it weren't even half as bad as this one. Considering that she probably haven't been much launches like that, she did well: no screaming at the beginning, no passing out, not puking afterward - something I weren't able to say about myself.
With a little smile on my lips, I shifted my eyes from C-032 to the computer console in front of me. Behind the ugly facade of this ship, quite a bit of highly sophisticated technology was hidden - among them a cloaking device and a jump drive, both which, according to the monitor in front of me, were fully charged and ready to use. Sweet. But to use them, they'd first have to get away from the Planet they just launched from, as both gimmicks would usually draw a lot of attention to the ship that was using them, and attention wasn't exactly something I would appreciate at the moment.
'Lilly' I said, pointing through our ship's cockpit to the small moon orbiting New Berlin. 'Set course to Potsdam's dark side.' Blocking both visual contact and all kinds of scanner rays, the back side of a moon usually was a perfect hiding spot.
Well then. Here we are. After spending almost a week in the pods in that small laboratory, and having this weird piece of machinery constructed between my Vertebral bones inside of my neck, they loaded around 20 of us, (Us being Spectres) onboard a huge dark ship and set off, away from the beautifull nebula.
The journey lasted longer than I had liked and it was certianly no joy spending so much time onboard a ship without a single soul to talk to. (Well, there was that other woman. The one that stood in the pod next to me. But that's as far as we went. 'Pod friends'. ) The food was OK. Nothing spectaculair, but it did the trick. But then again, anything for my lords and masters. Without them, there is nothing. So we do our bits to fulfill their grand scheme step by step. As soon as I reminded myself of that very fact, a voice echoed and told us all we had reached our destination, and if we could please look up. Look up we did.
Above us hung a big screen showing a map of some sort of facility called 'Riviera'. The voice explained to us what each room was for. Afterwards, the cargo bay doors inmediatly fell open, and we were escorted to our 'living space'. From there, we'd recieve our instructions and begin our Spectre training.
So. Here I am. Two days later. Standing in the main laboratry room which has been transformed into a...Close combat training zone. You know, couchin helmets, dual staves which give off small shocks upon impact, and your general boxing area. My...'pod friend' stood infront of me with one of the staves, another one in my own hand. I had never fought before in my life. Never on the front, never in an alley nor in a bar. She didn't seem to care much. As the instructor told us to begin, she immediatly landed a firm hit against the side of my head, giving of a small shock and completely disorientating me. I gathered my senses, and made a move that had to somehow act as a strike, and scaved the front of her knee. Feeling quite embarassed, I fell over as I lost my balance. Julie (I gathered that was her name) reached out to me, picked me up and signaled we try again. Apperantly, figthing with long soft sticks has a purpose in the eyes our of Lords.
Two days later
[font=Agency FB]Right. Well. Yesterday was horrible. Julie (I'm pretty sure it's Julie by now. Julie something. ) told me she already recieved all the training and more..God knows why she's here now then, but she is.
Well then, yesterday was...New. Psi training. The use of small, alien objects to gain several different benefits. There were about six to seven of us, plus one instructor. The instructor had a...weird look, so to say. Bald, six foot 7, something like that, hazel eyes and the Rheinland Millitary uniform. Some of the trainees started to whisper about a Wilde man, or some kind of thing called 'Incubi' ,whatever that might be.
The man turned around, and started to talk. 'Today, doors will be opened and gates will be sealed for you chosen six. You will learn the basics of Psi-triggered equipment and take the next step in becoming full-bred Spectres. Agents of our will. After todays session, you will all proceed down to laboratry room two where your life will be...enriched.' He stopped talking and looked at us as if he was trying to scan us, find out every bit there is to know about our body. 'You' he said, and pointed at me. 'Come forward'. I approached the instructor as commanded. He turned himself around, back towards the trainees and myself and slowly let his hand glide over a few strange looking objects. They seemed to be made out of some kind of golden, metalic and purple crystal. A few balls (they were round anyway) that glew in several distinct colours, and something that resembled a dagger. His hand stopped moving, and grabbed one of the gold metallic objects. 'You', he began. 'Try to punch through that wall over there'. The small crowd started to murmur, 'how the hell? That's gonna be impossible. These walls are diamond tough.'. I doubted at first too, but then realised, 'Anything for my lords and masters'. I approached the wall, transfered every bit of power I had into my arm's muscles (not all that much..), pulled back, and hit the wall with all the might I could muster.
It hurt. Alot. My hand came to an abrupt stop as I screamed in pain. The small crowd started to whisper again, some chuckled. The instructor looked at the object in his hand which in turn started to give of a deep, constant hum. He looked at me and signaled to take the object. I naturaly did, with the one good hand I had left. 'Grasp it firmly, then punch the wall again with the same hand.' I muttered something along the lines of 'B-bu', but was quickly silenced as the man pointed at the wall. With shivering hands, I once more thrusted my already bruised hand towards the wall and firmly closed my eyes. I felt several layers of plating, some pipes and stone until my hand came to an abrupt end. I withdrew my hand, and stared at it in amasement.
'The object, once trigerred by one such as I', the instructor began 'it can be used by those of your kind.'
I returned the object to him and he commanded me to go to the labratory. The hallway towards the laboratry was covered by incredibly white tiles with blue outlines and bright, white lights as bright as the morning sun of Curacao. I walked into the room which in its own turn was also sterile white. There were three chairs, two filled and one empty. In one of the chairs, strangely, lay Julie. In another lay another man bearing the Rheinland Military uniform.
[font=Agency FB]'Lie down', one of the scientists said whilst he pointed at the remaining chair. I slowely walked towards the white chair, uncertain what was going to happen. But hey, they must know what they're doing. After what I just did? This should be easy. I rose myself up so I could ly down, gently placed my still painfull arm into the side of the chair and relaxed. Its metal (atleast, I think it was metal) felt cold..So very cold.
'Right. Let us begin' the scientist said. The chairs stretched out, putting us in a small triangle underneath an incredibly bright light. Soon after, I could hear sounds. Clicks, pings, like something metalic breaking lose or falling apart. And then it hit me. Straight into my neck, a cold, painful metalic grip. Small claws working in between the bones and machinery in my neck, cutting and shredding nerves, doing god knows what. I tried to scream, my god I tried to scream, but the only sound that could be heard was the clinging of machines around the room. It lasted for what seemed an eternity, and all I could think of was the horrible..Horrible pain coursing through my entire body. Just when I was about to lose consciousness, the claws withdrew themselves back into the floor. It was over. The pain slowly but surely subsided and I calmed down along with it. It was a relaxing, worryless calm. The kind of peace you can find yourself falling asleep in, which eventualy happened.
I felt that I was lifted onto a brancard and carried out of the room. What happened to the other two, I had no idea. No idea what was going to happen to Julie, or the man in uniform. For the moment, how cruel it might sound, I didn't care. I just wanted to rest. When I opened my eyes in a brief moment of curiosity, I could see the same hallway that I walked through when I was told to head to the lab. Even in the blur of my sleep, it's white lights shone ever bright.
After a short while, I felt I was lifted up again as cold hands quickly removed all my clothing and glided me gently down into some form of basin. The water was incredibly warm and welcoming, espescialy after the...Experience down in the lab. I gave up all pieces of consciousness, and sank into a deep, peacefull sleep. 'Give this one a week', was the last thing I heard.
[font=Agency FB]'Comunications outpost Alpha-Twelve, this is supply ship Zeta-Sixteen, requesting permission to land over.'
'Standy for comfirmation Zeta-Sixteen.....Roger that, supply ship Zeta-Sixteen, you are cleared to land over.'
She got us in. Julie got us into a Rheinland Military comunications outpost. Just like that? 'How did you...' 'Friends in high places', she responded before I could finish my sentance. Still abit surprised, I looked out of the window. Potsdam had no atmosphere and was thus not much to look at..A big floating rock in space, with several tiny little structures covering it. We were headed for a small one located on the eastern side of the moon. Julie said that the place had two or three men in it, nothing more. We flew into the airlock and touched down. 'Pressurising'. It took a short minute before we were able to open the doors. I wanted to step outside but was quickly told otherwise. 'What, are you crazy? Head down to the cargo hold. Bring me one of those rifles, grab a pistol for yourself and bring that little glowing circly ball thing from that chest you were toying around with. We're gonna need it.' she said.
I gathered up the gear and went upstairs again. Rifle, ammunition, pistol, I never dreamed about actualy hurting or killing some one. I suppose it's for the best, I mean, the masters would never let us do something like this without purpose. The purple metalic ball had turned into something resembling a normal piece of round-shaped metal inside my pocket. I had seen objects like this in this state before, during training. (One of my knuckles still hurts...) I wondered how it was going to be activated this time.
I stepped out of the Behemoth and onto the deck of the station. Julie stood leaning against the slide door giving entrance towards the hallway. I handed her the rifle and she pointed at my pocket. A brief moment after, I heard a voice in my head. 'It's activated'. The ball started to glow and resumed its orbit around my hand. 'Good. Seems like its working. You're going to need that incase things get ugly. I'll handle myself', Julie said. I had no clue as to what Julie was talking about, but felt kind of...Secure, with that little glowing thing orbiting my hand, and slowly advancing up my entire body. 'Let's get a move on'.
Hallway, turn, hallway, right turn, stop. That was all there was to it. No doors, no cameras, no turrets, nothing. We stopped at a splitsing, there was one door infront of us and another to the left. 'You take that one,' Julie said and pointed at the one to the left. 'Should be only one guy'. 'W-wait! What should I do with him then?' 'Well, what do you think? Cuddle? Just go in there, I'll wait here. The first time can be abit...difficult.'
With a scared look on my face and shaking hands I walked into the room. Two bunk beds, a table with an ashtray, shot glasses, a few cards and a photograph of a woman holding a girl, not older than seven. The door slid close behind me and did so with a loud 'KLING', waking the only other man in the room. 'Eindringling! Eindringling!', He shouted and grabbed his gun, raised it, and pulled the trigger.
'Zeeouw'. Some sort of shield stopped the blast. The guard stood there, surprised. He quickly recovered himself and fired again. Once more the shield stopped him. Again, he fired. Again, and again. I just stood there with my eyes squeezed close in fear. Realizing his gun was useless, the soldier stopped firing, grabbed the gun by its barrel and ran onto me. And then something...happened. I opened my eyes, grabbed the pistol and pulled the trigger in a split second. 'Ka-tching'. A twelve milimeter bullet flew out of the pistol's barrel and into the guard's left chest. The bullet came out back, taking huge splatters of blood with it and sending them straight towards the table, onto the picture.' After a few seconds, I realised what I had just done. I had killed a man. I, Lily GeoCer had killed a man doing his job.
It took me a few moments to collect myself, the ball still orbited me and the pistol was still in my hand. I placed it back onto my belt and walked towards the table. The photograph still lay there, somewhat covered in blood. You could still see the woman's face, and that of the girl. I picked it up and started to look at it. It had a few words on the back. 'Lieben dich...Maria'. I had just killed a man, forcing him to leave behind a loving wife or girfriend, and most probaply a young daugther...Just the thought of it... I placed the photograph in my pocket and headed back onto the hallway where I was greeted by Julie. 'Why didn't you-' 'Help?', She interrupted me. 'Because of this'. She raised her rifle, and unloaded an entire magazine worth of plasma on which I thought was going to be me. I covered my face (as if that's gonna help anyway...) but the shield stopped every single one of her shots. The rifle was reloaded as it gave of a slight 'pssshhh....'. 'We all get these on our first assignments. Virtualy impossible to penetrate', she continued. 'Virtually?!' I almost shouted.'Yes, virtually. Now stop complaining and follow me.'
There was only one door left. The one that according to Julie led to the comm-room. She started to walk with her freshly loaded rifle, and braged into the room guns blazing. One, two, three, four, five, six...Six shots and it was over. I chased after, thinking she was mortaly wounded or possibly even dead, but instead, instead I found her holding the one guard that was still somewhat alive (the other one..well...Lost his..erm, thoughts? You get the picture.) by his collar. 'Wer...W-w-wer sind sie!' he hissed in dread. 'Stop complaining and do as I tell you! That console, your password, now!' Julie commanded. She dragged him to the console, placed him infront of it and put her rifle to his head. 'Pass.Word.' 'Aber-Aber!' he muttered. She grabbed his hand, placed it on the desk and shot it several times. The man screamed in agony. 'PASSWORD. LAST TIME!'
Almost crying, he entered the password with his one working hand. (Been there...) 'Danke', Julie said. She lowered her rifle, aimed it towards the head of the guard and pulled the trigger. Done. We had killed a total of three people, for what? 'We might not be able to constantly monitor their communications, but atleast we can take these.' 'These?' I replied. 'Yes, these. Encrypted files with matching decryption codes. Plus some other information, god knows what's on them.' She connected the computer to some sort of portable device she had around her belt and transferred all the data onto it. 'Right, that's that. Let's go.'
We walked back to the Behemoth without (again) any form of resistance, stepped aboard, depressurised the docking bay and took off. The Behemoth's HUD shew a small envelope sign on its upper right screen. 'You go take a nap,' Julie said. 'I'll take care of this'.
Three figures. A man sitting down across from the other two, covered in shadow. He shuvs his chair back, puts his feet on the desk, lights up his cigar, inhales...And exhales. 'So..' He begins. 'You're sure shes fit for the job?' 'Yes Sensei. One of the best we have availible.' The man put the cigar between his lips and picked up the datapad infront of him. 'Caste?' 'Infiltrator, fourth cycle.' 'So she's been around?' The man asked. 'Yes Sensei. 'She' has swapped hosts on occasion. The current one seems stable enough, and should prove sufficient.' One of the men awnsered. 'Very well. Let it be so'. The two men bowed, took a few steps back, turned around and walked out of the room. The man stood up, his cigar still in his mouth and walked towards a strange sort of forcefield. He touched it and it seemed to move away from his finger.
Altair, Unkown.
Pods. Hundreds of them. Empty piece by piece. Left, another halway and more pods. Another left, more pods. To the right, pods, halls, straight ahead, stop. One of the pods started to activate. It had an asian looking woman inside of it. She wore the Kusari Naval forces uniform. The pod emptied itself, cabels withdrew back into the floor and wall and slid open. The woman stepped out, and immediatly headed for the launching pad nearby. Her or..It's objective was clear. Iseijin. Kusari. The Arch.
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