Chapter Text
March 8th 2556
WARNING: THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN MARKED AS
ABOVE TOP SECRET
BY THE OFFICE OF COSMIC NAVAL INTELLIGENCE (O.C.N.I).
ANYONE FOUND WITH UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THIS DOCUMENT WILL BE TAKEN INTO INDEFINITE CUSTODY WITHOUT TRIAL UPON PHYSICAL OCCUPATION OF SPACE WITHIN THE REMAINING OR FUTURE TERRITORY OF THE TERRAN ACCORD.
ANYONE FOUND LEAKING INFORMATION HELD WITHIN THIS DOCUMENT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE GREAT ENEMY
(A.K.A. THE EMPIRE OF THE AFFINI COMPACT) OR ANY KNOWN AGENT OF SAID GOVERNMENT WILL BE TERMINATED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE ON SIGHT BY ANY LOYAL CITIZEN OF THE TERRAN ACCORD.
A FREE TERRA WILL NEVER DIE.
TERRA INVICTUS.
First experimental report of one CHRIS COPSE, Captain of the Stellar Naval Infantry special ops team METATRON of the (former) Terran Accord.
The folks down at the lab asked me to jot down a report following each round of experiments. They’ve got the rest of the spacers doing it too, so I don’t have much room to complain. Frankly, I kinda miss banging out after-mission reports, even if I always got a headache halfway through them. This’ll be just like old times. Really, you never quite realize what you take for granted until two years into the complete collapse of the military you devoted your life to and the state you swore to protect.
Alright, that’s enough griping, this is an official report.
The majority of my team have been holed up for the last seven months within the OCNI research base, The Hive, located on the officially undiscovered planet of Samael-1, awaiting to test potential weaponry to combat the affini. I’m sad to say that most of what we have tried so far has not been promising, speaking as someone who has just barely survived a direct encounter with an affini combatant. It doesn’t matter how flashy your gun is, that doesn’t change the fact that every one of these things is faster, stronger, and tougher than eight Olympic athletes combined. The closest we’ve ever come are the cybernetically enhanced soldiers, but those poor souls are universally unstable, and in that particular arms race we’re still lagging behind a few millennia. Unless we can find something that’ll revolutionize the human genome substantially, efficiently, and with few negative side effects, our cause will be as lost as ever.
Well, that magic bullet is exactly what the Research and Development Department tells us we’ll be testing.
I have… concerns. Still, I have decided to stay on the project in spite of them.
There are two reasons for my decision: 1) The rest of my team (who are still accounted for) have opted to participate, so choosing to join them while possessing my objections is a show of unit solidarity; 2) If there is even the smallest chance this could make us effective against the affini… I want that edge. I have not heard any word from the MIA team member of METATRON (and my sister) Claire in 3 months, 10 days, and 6 hours. She has either been captured or killed. The former is much more likely given the enemy's MO. I don’t like to think about what that might mean. Knowing Claire, whatever happened she went down fighting. She might not be fighting anymore.
This miracle drug we’ll be testing is codenamed AGLOPHYGIS, and from the small vial we were shown today it looks a lot like blood, though the way it shifted in its container suggested it was more viscous. None of us have been told exactly where they got it, just that even a minute amount will have immediate and noticeable effects, as evidenced through their prior animal testing. Today we did not receive any of it, so instead we were injected with a saline solution before running certain drills and tests to establish a baseline.
Most of these were on par for what you might expect of physical aptitude tests, involving trials like running a timed course, weight lifting, and target practice. However, there were some others that stuck out to me as strange. One involved each of us getting paired with a scientist who sat in another room we could not see, who would then pick one card out from a set of ten with different simple shapes drawn on them and ask us to describe which one they picked. Obviously, no one could guess it correctly with any consistent accuracy. I had heard of this kind of test before, as a gauge for mind reading, so it seems they expect that the drug might cause us to develop telepathy? That was already a strange notion, but the other tests were even more enigmatic. They gave us each an injection of that plant tranquilizer drug, Class Z, I think they call it? Well, predictably we all conked out. After that, they had two of us paired up to stare each other in the face and were told to “memorize the details.” I was paired up with my pal Lin Johnson, so I was already fairly well acquainted with his sharp, yet carefree features. Finally, they had us commit an oath to memory that we would be expected to recite word-for-word during each day of testing:
“I am a terran, a Homo sapien, it is my nature to be free. I am a complete person, I love my fellow terrans, but it is my responsibility and pleasure to fend for myself. I have no love for alien beings who would subvert my body and will as punishment for incomplete submission.”
It wasn’t too hard to remember, considering that all of it was true, but I still repeated it a couple dozen times until the words themselves were second nature to replicate. I could only take this to mean that the drug could potentially give us immunity to affini mind control techniques, which would be more than appreciated, but… what if it fails? I knew firsthand that we lacked consistent methods for deprogramming outside of just waiting for the conditioning to weaken. Are they willing to put a special ops team out of commission for up to a year? I guess if this stuff is really all it's cracked up to be, then they must be.
After the tests were over we were all allowed to reconvene as a team before dinner in the facility cafeteria, and then lights out. Some of us seemed more giddy and gung-ho about the project than others, but I think we were all at least a little intoxicated with the faint hope it suggested. There was nary a member of the team who hadn’t lost something vital to the enemy, besides our very home. The two remaining female members of our squad, Lt. Aya Winters and Comms officer Sheryl Townsend, had a quiet conversation near the door. Meanwhile, I held court with Commander Len Johnson and explosives expert Finn Bates. Our final teammate and combat medic, Alvin Wexler, leaned quietly against the farthest corner of the room.
TRANSCRIPT OF POST-TESTING DIALOGUE:
Cpt. Copse: “Don’t leave me hanging, guys, which one of you has the latent psychic powers you neglected to tell me about?”
Cmdr. Johnson: “Ah, you got me boss. Was worried you’d make me wear a tin-foil helmet as part of my new uniform.”
Cpt. Copse: “Woulda been helpful to know that, soldier, might’ve found out the weakness of the weeds through peeking in on their thoughts.”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “I think we’re pretty clear on what they’re thinkin’, cap. Something like ‘oh that one looks cute, wonder how he’d taste with a few dashes of soy sauce~’”
Cpt. Copse: “They don’t eat people, Finn.”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “Yeah, well, that’s what
they
say, but hearing from my sources-”
Cpt. Copse: “I said they don’t eat people. That’d be too simple.”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “I… uh… I’m sorry… I-”
Cmdr. Johnson: “So! You think this stuff’ll work like viagra too?”
Cpt. Copse: “Pardon?”
Cmdr. Johnson: “Well, apparently this stuff is the swiss army knife of wonder drugs, so I figure it might also cure migraines, keep you hard past a few minutes, and file your taxes.”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “From what I hear it’s super soldier serum stolen straight from the weeds. It’s what they give those boarding teams so they can take a shotty to the face without blinking. Those pack rats in the lab must’ve figured out how to reengineer it for terran use.”
Cpt. Copse: “Who did you hear this from Bates? Who could possibly be gossiping about all this except ourselves and the science team?”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “Well, I may have spoken to a lil birdy named Erika~”
Cpt. Copse: “You mean Dr. Reynolds? Ugh, she’s probably the mind behind those damn ESP tests. That woman is just as likely to fuck with you as anything.”
Cmdr. Johnson: “Isn’t she a lesbian, Captain? I doubt she’d be very likely to fuck with us three.”
Cpt. Copse: “Get your mind out of the gutter, Len,” Copse smiles, “I’m glad to see you’re still your jovial self, I gotta admit I’m kinda antsy about tomorrow.”
Cmdr. Johnson: “You kidding, Chris? I feel so fucking wired I can’t even get the cold sweat through my pores. But, stars dammit, either this shit works or we may as well wave the white flag, roll over, and show them our bellies.”
Lt Cmdr. Bates: “Oh, it works, don’t worry about that. What’s spooking me is what Erika said it was doing to the lab rats. She said one of them grew to the size of a full-grown house cat.”
Cmdr. Johnson: “I wouldn’t mind looking at one of those jolly green giants eye-to-eye… well, maybe not… but it might just give ‘em pause if they had to pick on someone their own size.”
Cpt. Copse: “Regardless of what it does, I guess we’ll start figuring it out tomorrow.”
END OF TRANSCRIPT.
Dinner mostly went as usual, every department broke into their own cliques in the mess hall, where each of us choked down our synthcubes and syrupy sludge ‘health drinks' while talking about whatever to distract ourselves. We aren’t allowed to discuss the project outside of the testing site, so the inane banter had to do double duty to keep us all occupied. I think my teammates were chatting about some sports game of which Winters had taped the pre-war broadcast, meanwhile Wexler brooded on his own. I didn’t contribute much myself, either. Guess I just couldn’t keep my mind off what was coming.
This’ll be me signing off. I’m back in my quarters typing this up and ready to hit the mattress, though I’m admittedly not sure I’ll be able to get much sleep. Guess whoevers gonna read these reports will hear more from me tomorrow. See you tomorrow.
DOCUMENT CONCLUSION.
I submitted my first report to the science team and closed the screen of my laptop, turning to one of its senior researchers who had calmly sat on my bunk through the entirety of my transcription. The ever enigmatic Dr. Reynolds. She had been staring at me during dinner too, and flashed a quick hand signal indicating that she wanted to talk. She left the mess hall before anyone else, and when I finally got up to bang out my report and retire for the evening, I discovered her waiting in my room.
“Dr. Reynolds, why are you here?” The placid smile never left the face of this esteemed scientist who wore her shoulder length hair with copious amounts of a murky purple dye. “Hello, Chris, it’s nice to speak with you again, though I rather need to skip all the pleasantries. I’m sure you have already surmised that this particular study is the brainchild of my father.” Ah, the even more bizarre Dr. Maxwell Reynolds, the director of the entire facility of
The Hive.
He was, in fact, the only reason that team METATRON knew about Samael-1 at all and were thus able to sequester ourselves here. Were it not for him, all seven of us would be wormed up lost causes right now, rather than just one. “Yeah, I figured that he must’ve had a hand in it.”
“You seem fairly cognizant of my father’s strange proclivities, and that sobriety is refreshing in the face of the sycophantic blindness of my colleagues. I’ve seen the results from animal testing, I’m as excited about the prospects of this research as anyone, but… again, I’ve seen the results from animal testing. Officially, I am here to debrief with you over the events of today, though I’m sure your report will be more than enough for those purposes. Why I’m really here is to give you this.” She produced from her lab coat a vial full of a thin, cobalt blue liquid and deposited it into my hand.
“What is this?”
“It’s something I’ve been working on in my own time and with the privileges that come from being the daughter of the facility director. It’s a counter-agent for the Aglophygis that I have chosen to name Blue Claudia. Sadly, I was only able to produce one full vial due to the rarity of its core ingredient, and it's not effective enough to fully reverse the effects of Aglophygis, but it has proven capable of at least slowing down their progression.”
“Why are you giving this to me, Erika? Shouldn’t you keep it so that you can administer it yourself?”
“Because, captain, I frankly do not trust myself to want to slow down if it is necessary.” For once, her rock solid facade cracked open, never touching her practiced smile but causing her right eye to twitch. It closed up again just as suddenly. “I have too much of my father in me, though not so much that I am unable to admit it. You are one of the most clear-eyed and responsible soldiers of the Cosmic Navy I have ever met, so I believe you’ll be able to make the call based on your own keen insight. That Blue Claudia is only enough for one person, maybe two max, so I expect you to be judicious about who needs it the most as well. I will do my best to develop more and devise a complete antidote, but I’d be a liar if I said that these all-nighters haven’t been affecting me.”
“Are you alright, ma’am?” Tentatively, I placed my hand on top of her knee. “I’m… I’m starting to think we might want to postpone this project indefinitely, ‘least until you’re back in tip top shape and we’ve got all the necessary precautions available.”
“Ehehehehe,” her laugh was hollow and ice-cold, spooking me enough to withdraw my comforting touch. “It’s far, far too late for that captain, this is going to happen whether either of us want it to or not. In fact, I’m sure we both share at least one of the same reasons for why we’re choosing to participate at all. We’re both the type of people who would rather see the sparks of the fire firsthand than wait for the smoke to asphyxiate us.”
Before I could formulate a response, the doctor stood up from my bunk and walked over to the door, pressing the button to slide it open. A quick fwoosh came from the pneumatic system, and she exited without turning again to speak at me. “I look forward to seeing your performance during testing tomorrow, captain.”
I sat with this information and examined the squat, labeless vial she had handed me. The cap on it was black, not the type you could puncture with a syringe, so I had to wonder if Blue Claudia was meant to be applied topically or ingested. Looking into the semi-translucent blue within that splashed with the slightest tremble, it was a quick hop to imagine the sea. Claire and I were only able to see Terra’s ocean once, when our mother had gotten the rare chance to take us on vacation. The water was more a muddy green than blue, and it had no memory of a clear sky to replicate. We weren’t allowed to go swimming at that beach, but we did get to go out on the water with mom’s friend Barry’s boat. Watching the beach and my then ever-present world of land disappear against the horizon felt like warping to another dimension. We fished for a few hours, never catching a thing. I had never ever seen a fish outside of some illustrations in my middle school biology textbooks. Still, my heart jolted when I thought I saw even the slightest twitch of my bobber. I was convinced that I’d catch some great big tuna and it’d be the most delicious thing any of us ever got to eat. I never really thought about that trip anymore. I used to tell folks that it was why I joined the navy… that was before my sister was gone.
Setting the bottle down inside the back corner of my desk drawer, I figured that’d be enough to keep it out of sight but not out of mind. I turned off the lights and landed against my thin bedroll, not bothering to remove my uniform because the whole base ran cold. The body of a terran must not produce much energy with thought, because I should’ve been a raging furnace with all the anxiety churning away in the back of my head. The front remained calm, cool, collected, the kind of personality required to be a successful captain in the navy. To be a surviving captain post-navy. But if I let the iron grate slip aside just an inch—
WE’LL KILL THEM ALL. WE’LL SET FIRE TO THEIR FUCKING SHIPS AND WATCH THEIR WOOD SPINES SPOOL UP IN THE HEAT LIKE LOOSE PENCIL SHAVINGS. I’LL FIND THE WEED WHO TOOK MY SISTER AND FILET ITS BEATING HEART. we’re doomed, this is false hope, just another splinter to get inside our souls and ruin them. they got into her. she was the strong one, the real leader, and she was nothing to them. i’m alone now. I WILL BECOME MORE. EVOLVE OR DIE. EVOLVE OR DIE. LET ME FUCKING DIE. LET ME FUCKI—
I have to quiet my mind or I’ll die of exhaustion. Compartmentalize. Like most nights I have to stare up at the ceiling tiles and think too much about not thinking. Eventually, I’ll fall asleep. When sleep hits me it’s always like a freight train sans rails. I can’t predict it. I can’t even know what direction it’ll come from. It comes when it comes. There was a low, dark blue glow draped over my room. I turned my head to see an electric blue bloom from the small gap between the screen and keyboard of my closed laptop. It disappeared.
Then it hit me.