‘Congratulations, men’ The sergeant spoke with a voice that was better suited for a funeral. ‘You’ve graduated from basic training. You are no longer recruits. You are now official agents of the Fifth as privates, second class. You can be proud of yourselves, lads. You did it.’
Voss didn’t feel pride, he felt exhausted and aghast. The force of the accelerating Ciklops pressed him deeply into the side of his seat. He had been inside this damned suit for over half a day now and it was beginning to feel like a prison.
He could tell he wasn’t the only one struggling with what they had just witnessed. None of the men were in a cheerful mood. A somber silence blanketed the ship’s passenger bay.
After a while, Dane broke the silence. ‘Sergeant Reiniger, pardon my impertinence, but I think I speak for all of the men when I ask you: What the hell was that? You said we were heading to a military observation post. That wasn’t no bloody observation post, it was a floating violation of every imperial law conceivable; and it wasn’t no exam either. This was a real mission with real threats. We could have walked right into an ambush thinking it was part of an exercise…’
The sergeant fidgeted with the communication module attached to his helmet before replying with a grim voice. ‘I tried to warn you lot that this wasn’t a training exercise, that it was for real. There are things happening, lads. Things which I’m not allowed to speak off. Like I just said, lads. Welcome to the Fifth. Playtime is over. Your lives are going to be on the line now each time you go out there.’ the sergeant let out a long sigh before continuing. ‘The truth is… I don’t know what that station’s purpose was either. I’m just a grunt like you lot. We don’t get paid to know, we get paid to act.’
‘We get paid?’ Wago asked incredulously.
‘You do starting today. Don’t count yourself rich though. You lot only get paid eight sists fifty a week.’
The sergeant said it like it was nothing, but Voss would bet a finger that over half these men didn’t even know what a sist was. Slum wages weren’t paid out in silver imperial standards. They were paid out in Fosfation credits. It was some bogus currency that was only legal tender in government mandated stores and housing projects. It was a reminder of how unknown the galaxy they were stepping into was to them.
He had no idea whether the sergeant honestly didn’t know about what had been going on inside that station, or if he was merely playing dumb. Voss knew though. He knew exactly what had been going on inside that station. A whole array of forbidden human enhancement research. The same kind that his parents had been working on before their untimely deaths.
He had spent the last twenty years under the assumption that their abominable projects had died with them. That the blazing fire had burned his mother’s laboratory and research to the ground, with all its researchers with it. Now it all came back to him. The ghosts of his past haunted him.
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What had they been up to inside that station? How far advanced were their attempts to do the unspeakable? Did those voidcapers know what they were raiding? Did they get their hands on anything? If they did, Voss could only hope it wasn’t anything like what his parents had been working on, or it could spell disaster for the entire galaxy. Merciless super soldiers armed with forbidden weaponry, capable of committing planetary genocides was the last thing this galaxy needed. The thought alone made him sick to his stomach.
For the first time since he’d been on death row, Voss found himself truly yearning back for his life in the slums and its ignorance of galactic issues. Insane how one unbacked accusation had been all it took to launch him from his simple life into a galaxy filled with plague, war, and now potentially an apocalyptic army.
None of his fellow recruits knew any of this, of course. All they knew is what they just witnessed, which was horrific enough in and by itself. He concluded the sergeant probably wasn’t lying either. Things like these were far above the paygrade of a simple instructor sergeant. What they saw was unmistakable though. Something had been horribly amiss on board of that station.
A gloomy atmosphere lingered during their long flight home. The men spoke little and celebrated even less. He was sure they all had similar questions running through their heads. Questions that they dared not ask in public for fear of heavy reprisals. Whatever they had seen today, they’d have to carry it with them silently.
And as for himself… The Fifth had ordered him to leave his past behind, but what was he supposed to do when his past wouldn’t leave him behind? What if his past became the present? This wasn’t something he could ignore. Not just because of the atrocities they witnessed, but also because this was personal. They had learned nothing from their mistakes. Someone would have to put a stop to this before it was too late… If it wasn’t too late already.
Finally, after several hours, the ghastly silence was broken by an uncharacteristically hesitantly sounding sergeant. ‘Listen up, men. I know that you all witnessed things today.. Things that shouldn’t have been. I told you on day one of your training that the void is a cold and uncaring place devoid of mercy. Now you’ve seen it with your own eyes. Rules, laws, ethics… such things don’t exist out here.
I’ve been with the Fifth neigh thirty years. I have seen things… Colonists aboard broken down ships, stranded in deep space. We had to put down the handful of survivors. They had done… unspeakable things to their own kin. Cannibalism.. They ate their own children. We could not allow such wickedness to persist.
Or the voidslaver bases we raided.. You wouldn’t believe what torturous horrors they had executed against their captives. Such cruelty, committed with such aloofness… We set that entire base ablaze, ensuring nothing remained of what had happened there.
What I’m trying to say is.. What you saw today, and the things you will undoubtedly see in your years of service, don’t let them get to you. We are the shield that protects against the harsh reality of the void. We witness and remember, so that untold billions don’t have to. You must never speak of such things. Not to anyone unless commanded by your officers. The void has no mercy, which is why you must be merciful in its stead. Trust me, it’s the only way you’ll get through this thing without losing your sanity.’
The sergeant’s words were well spoken and much needed, but they couldn’t hide the fact that the atrocities they witnessed at the station weren’t committed by capers, slavers or desperate colonists. They had been performed by their own government. Most likely on men and women just like them. Slumdwellers, trapped inside a cruel and unjust system. Was it really the population of Fosfat they were protecting? Or was it merely the interests of a ruthless, power hungry elite? Voss knew the answer to that question and it wasn’t pretty. The void wasn’t the only cruel and merciless entity he’d have to be weary of moving forward.
He’d have to ponder upon these things at a later date though. The signal was given and the ship began its landing procedures. They would be back aboard the Saltpetersburg spaceport soon enough. Which meant that he’d soon have to deal with another problem. The lieutenant.