Chapter I - 3: The White Base

"Lt. Armiger. Alice Armiger. HGCO," she told her, helping her stand up.

"HGCO… Never heard of that," glancing at Alice from head to toe, she continued, "That's a high-end-looking armour you got, not too dissimilar to the Division's… Are you from a new subjugation force or something?"

Alice, "Excuse me? Subjugation? What? HGCO refers to the Humano-Gigan Concordian Order."

To that, Mei burst out laughing, "Humano-Gigan Concordance! Ah! Nice one!" She seemed to genuinely think this was just a joke. She continued to cackle as she gripped her stomach in pain and coughed a bit.

Behind her helmet, the lieutenant frowned at that. She took a silent deep breath and remained quiet.

"Really. That's a good one, heh!" She finally stopped, "In any case, help me head to base. I'll give you a treat once there."

"Sure…" Alice did just that.

***

The base was rather unique-looking. The structure was essentially a big white rectangle. In the front, was a logo she failed to recognise.

It looked like a jet-black heraldic shield with sharp edges. Inside it, in the lower middle half, was another shield of similar design but pure white. Atop the smaller escutcheon, was a small white kite-like symbol.

The symbolism was lost to Alice.

Going through the main entrance, everything was white again, with grey furniture here and there.

Mei jovially spoke, "Welcome to the D4 Central. The Legion tightened the budget lately, but we're getting by without the cameras."

The 'Legion', huh. I guess that's what that kite represented.

"Since it's night, most are either sleeping or on patrol. So, we have the base for ourselves! Well, if we set the security team aside, that is."

Keep a straight face, Alice, even if Mei sounds like an overexcited puppy.

Signing into a digital register at the empty counter, Mei briskly spoke, "A pickup team needs to be sent to retrieve the bodies. I'll tell the brass later. Lead me this way please."

During their march, Alice remarked, "Everything's white here?"

Mei seemed genuinely surprised by her question, "Huh? Every base is like that. It helps to spot infiltrators."

Alice simply hummed.

They entered what looked like a garage. Mei removed her power armour, while Alice simply removed her helmet and hung it on her hip. The former was a female Gigan with messy dark hair and seemed to be of Eastern descent. It was a stark contrast to Alice being a redhead of Western origins with straight neck-length hair.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Mei entered a locker room to change out of her cream-coloured undersuit while Alice waited outside. Coming out, Mei had removed her armour and was now in a white BDU. By then, Alice had her helmet attached to her hip.

Examining her, she noticed Mei had a cage necklace. Alice had to hide her surprise when she realised that a human was inside the cage. The tiny inside looked depressed. When their eyes met, he silently raised an eyebrow.

Mei noticed her companion eyeing him. "You like him?" she said roughly shaking the cage. The tiny seemed a bit dizzy but was otherwise fine as if used to it. "Well, he's mine, get your own!" was Mei's serious declaration.

Hers! Alice tried to keep an impartial face and just nodded.

Alice and Mei, along with the latter's human, were now in a large canteen. Only chatter was coming from a table right next to the entrance. Four Gigans in BDUs were bickering over a game of cards. Mei simply hand-waved at them and they returned the gesture. As Alice followed Mei further inside could vaguely hear them speak.

"Oh, forgot to tell you guys: Maya enlisted."

"Oooh!"

"Nice!"

"Following her father's footsteps I see."

"My pride and joy, ain't she? Hey, we should cele - Oh, break's over, we should move before the Chief gets mad."

With them leaving, only Alice and Mei remained. Alice looked around in wonder.

There was normal Gigan-size food at the counter. In fact, everything in this white base was perfectly suited to Gigan needs. Yet, ever since her arrival, she had still not seen any tiny infrastructure. Strange, she thought.

Nevertheless, Alice was curious about the equipment and facilities since she was used to everything being small. She might even try to pick some food that looked especially interesting or exotic as she walked over to the food counter.

However, before proceeding, she noticed a wrist-level table in the middle of the cafeteria with a hologram display next to it. 350LC/Unit self-service, she read, puzzled by what this really meant.

Taking a closer look at the table, Alice's eyes lit up with excitement as she saw a fully populated human town. She took a moment to walk around it, looking at all the houses and the streets. She even smiled as she did, clearly finding the location to be very cute.

As she did this, she noticed the people's fearful look and their full nakedness. Alice's eyes slightly widened, "That's-"

"They're as cute as they're delicious, aren't they?" Mei gleefully interjected Alice as she began to pluck them into her bowl.

"Wait wha-"

"Pick any amount. I'll pay," Mei interrupted Alice, "After all, you're my saviour."

"I-I'm not hungry." Alice stuttered. She was hungry, but not enough to eat tinies, and she had her MRE packs with her. The HGCO operator was desperately trying to keep cool.

The tinies inside Mei's plate were agitated, knowing their fate. She seemed too focused on her 'meal' to take notice of Alice's predicament.

"Too bad. Like, don't you love how they pop in your mouth?" To Alice, the sweet tone Mei used did not correlate with her morbid statement.

Alice took a seat facing Mei as both sat at a table. The former kept subtly glancing at Mei, dreading what would happen.

Mei removed her necklace and placed it on the table. The caged human looked gloomy but his resignation indicated he went through similar situations before. His 'owner' then dug in.

She took one of the tinies and put him in her mouth as he fruitlessly squirmed against her grip.

She chewed. Sickening crunches along with muffled screams of agony could be heard. Mei swallowed and repeated the process, licking the blood off her lips in satisfaction.

How can this be?

How can such cruelty be allowed here?

How can she be so unfeeling about this?

Alice tried to hide her disgust as she looked at Mei.

Now, there was only one trembling tiny that remained. Mei looks curiously at Alice, "You're salivating. You're sure you aren't hungry?"

Mei dangled the remaining tiny by the feet in front of Alice's face, "Here, have the last one." With the end looming, the tiny was twisting and shouting incoherently. Alice now had a much closer look at him though.

Aw. Look at him squirm… He looks cute… And he looks delicious… Maybe… Just a bite… Yeah…

Yeah… I should have tas- AH!

Realising her mouth was indeed watering, Alice immediately mentally kicked herself.

Damn it, this isn't you anymore! Rein your instincts, Alice! You're an HGCO operator. You're trained to do so.

Snapping back to reality, she ceased drooling and shook her head.

Mei was fast-talking, waving her hands in spite of the screaming tiny, "Is that the abstinence trend thing that recently popped up on the I.P.C? Seriously, the cyberspace these days! They're actually pretty nutritional, you know? Even those synthetically grown."

Alice could only shake her head, once again.

"Oh well, it's your loss," Mei shrugged and lackadaisically threw the tiny in her mouth. She instantly swallowed with no hesitation. The human screamed, powerless to avoid the agonising death of gastric acid.

Damn it! I should've accepted the offer. I could've saved him, maybe. Or he'd at least have a quick death.

Alice took a deep breath. Thanks to her training at the HGCO, she managed to keep a poker face in front of Mei. Yet, to the trained eye, she was sweating a bit and her hands were still visibly shaking under the table.

However, despite her relatively calm exterior, her mind was racing, connecting the dots.

Lack of appropriate human infrastructure… Mei asking if I was part of a 'subjugation force' as well as believing the meaning of HGCO was just a joke… Blatantly eating unwilling tinies and being open about it…

It all clicked. The thought was deep in her mind and with every clue presenting itself, the ugly truth slowly reared its head. She held her breath as she came to her logical conclusion.

Such inequality should have come to an end very long ago… That means I've been dropped into an isolated colony whereby the Gigan supremacist belief rose and humans were oppressed.