(0180001”Glair”/Lead scientist, Leader of the Vipers)
(Time:2014.06.09)
(Position:Viper accommodation floor)
*Beep*
A loud beep wakes me up. I slowly open my eyes in exhaustion. It probably came from my tablet. I pcik up the tablet from the nightstand. A message from Zita, she is probably on the nightshift again. I open the message.
”Glair, I got a message from the sectoids that The Elders are calling for you. They couldn’t find you here on the laboratory floor so they asked me to send a message to you since I can’t leave the floor now.*
The Elders? What do they want at this hour? I put down the tablet and get up. I try to straighten up, but I hit my head. I swear this room is getting smaller and smaller by the day. Nevermind, I lower myself befor I put my armor on. It is very uncomfortable, buta at least this variant allows me and my kind to move. The first armor The Elders gave us were to big and heavy. I slither out of my room onto the hallway. It is a narrow hallway lit with a few green lamps on the ceiling. I start walking towards the elevator which is at the end of it.
I arrive and press the button to call it. After a few seconds it arrives. The elevator is made out of a special alloy that can withstand a lot of damage and it is seethrough. Two vipers are in the elevator and as soon as the doors open they get out. They bow to me before they leave. I get in the elevator and press the button on the top. The elevator starts to ascend. Thankfully in here I can straighten fully. I do a few stretches.
The lift arrives to the top floor very quickly. The doors open to reveal two Mutons in full armor standing on either side of the door. They turn around and look at me. Even though they had huge weapons those were not what brought discomfort. It was the rumors I heard about them. Zita sad that he dug through their history and she found some very interesting stuff about them. They were a primitive kind who fought The Elders. They were very aggresive and was hard to take down with only sectoids and robots. They soon gave in when they saw how strong The Elders were. She didn’t find anything on how The Elders showed their power, but my guess is Psi powers.
The Mutons step aside and let me through. I slither out of the elevator into a big hallway. It is lit with purple lights which is weird since all of the other floors are lit with green lights. As I slither through the hallway I can see more Mutons in red armor and a few Sectoids. They have bigger heads than the normal ones I am used to and their eyes are glowing orange. I soon arrive to a huge door with two Mutons infront of it. The door is way bigger than them. I go near the door and the two Mutons step aside. I don’t think I can push it open.
The doors suddenly start to open. It only opens slightly. I slither inside. The room I enter is huge. It’s shape is a half circle with a big lamp in the middle. The Elders are sitting near the edge in a half circle. There are twelve of them. I slither to the middle. Only three of them are seem to be looking at me as the others are just looking straight foward at the wall behind me. I hear a bang behind me. I look over and see that the doors are now closed. I look back and now all of them are looking at me. The three in the middle have a different mask on, it looks bigger. The air suddenly felt heavier. They finally spoke.
”Good morning Doctor. We are sorry for the early morning call, but we need your expertise”
The one in the middle spoke. His words were quite relaxing and it helped me breath more steadily.
”What would you need me for?”
”We have recently found a primitive species and we would like to know if a peaceful approach is possible. We would also like you to come up with ways and solutions to conflicts which may occur while we are trying to help them ascend.”
Another primitive species. I just hope they are nota s aggresive as the Mutons. I haven’t worked with Mutons, but I don’t think I will ever want to.
”I am very humbled to recive such a task, but may I ask a few questions before my leave?”
I bow a little as I say this.
”You can Glair, go ahead and ask your questions.”
”Will I be provided with specimen to test their intelligence and their nature?”
”We have already sent out a team to recover specimens for your research and a few for other research purposes”
”Will I get information ont here culture, biological build up and history?”
Other than the three Elders in the middle the others seem to become angry. The one who spoke raises it’s hand and the others calm down.
”We have started to gather information on them, but it is not done yet. You will recive it once it is done. We have also eranged cells to be made for them. You will instruct the builders on how big it should be and how to decorate it.”
Building team means mutons with no brain and sectoids to control them right? Great.
”That would be all of my questions”
”Than that concludes this meeting. The ship should arrive 7 nights from now, you will have timet o prepare”
The doors start to open. I bow to them before I leave. It was an easier conversation than I thought it would be. Though my nerves are still screaming at me. I pass the Mutons and the Sectoids. I get to the lift and call it. It arrives very fast. I go in and push the fourth button from the bottom. I just hope it won’t be to hard of an assignment.
(Molnár Levente/Segeant)
(Time:2014.06.09 06:00)
(Position:Hungary, Eger, Fort Fox)
*Beep Beep Beep*
Another tiresome morning, and now even more so, who thought I would get promoted to sergeant for saving a few civies?
*Beep Beep*
Argh, my head hurts.
I look over to the annoying alarm clook after finally stoping its loud buzzing.
*06:01*
I get up and quickly change into my uniform.
Do I have any painkillers left?
I look around in my shelf.None.I look under my bed and find some.How did they get under the bed?Well, at least I will feel better after a while.
I swallow 1 pill and than head out. First time meeting with my new squad, I just hope I didn’t get idiots. I look at my watch.
*06:10*
The painkillers should work in 20 min, good thing I don’t have to get up earlier, since we are not on the front lines we have a lot of freetime compared to other forts.I can’t imagine how I survived in Szeged at Fort Etholon, that place is hell, I guess that is the advantage of getting promoted and getting famous for saving civies.
”Hey, Levi”
I wake up from my daydreaming to see who called for me. I can see Sergeant Thomas just a few meters in front of me walking towards me waving.
”Hey Tomi, what’s up”
”Just wanted to congratulate you on he promotion, you are quite a famous soldier now”
”Thanks, though I just did my job, I wasn’t really expecting a promotion”
”You earned it”
He smiled at me. Even though it was very early in the morning, he was so energetic, I was kinda jealous.I started walking but he instantly grabbed my shoulder.
„Oh, I almost forgot, the Staff sergeant wants to meat you”
„Me?Why”
”Probably wants to introduce himself and shout your head off”
He laughed a bit, but quickly stopped not to disturbe the silence which stood in the Fort.
”Hey, no pressure, you will do fine, I heard good things about the soilders you will have in your squad, though when I asked what they know off them, they didn’t anwser”
”Well, they probably don’t wanna hand out details of soldiers to a different squads leader”
I smiled at him.
”Or they are not our soldiers, they usually don’t keep information of other soldiers this close to their chest”
*Isn’t it standard policie to keep others information a secret?”
”I meant information of their past experience”
He was sweating a bit for some odd reason. His face confused and scared at the same time. And than he suddenly turned around and just walked away. I swear I saw something weird about his eyes before he turned away. It was almost like if they turned purple. I don’t have timet o think about that, the staff sergeant was waiting for me. I looked at the watch.
*06:16*
I don’t have much time before I have to attend my squads rollcall.
After arriving at the house of the staff sergeant I knocked on the door 2 times. I heard some shuffling and after a few seconds I heard a low and jinda scary voice.
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”Come in”
I slowly open the door and go in closing the door behind. As soon as I close the door I turn around and salute.
”Good morning sir”
”At ease”
I stop saluting.
”What is it that you need?”
”Sir, I was told you called for me”
”Oh, Sergeant Levi, plessure to meet you”
He gets up and walks over to me with his right hand extended. I reached out and shook his hand.
”I am Staff Sergeant Barni, I didn’t know they were placing you in my team”
”Why is that?”
”Well, a famous soldier gets placed in a fort with nothing to do is weird”
”The army can be dumb sometimes”
”On that we agree”
We both laughed as he finally stoped squeezing my hand, though it was very weird, his grip was weaker than I expected.
”We should probably hurry, rollcall is in 5 minutes, let me show you your squad”
He turned to his table to grab 4 files off of it and than he walked out the door. I quickly followed behind him. We walked past the armory and a few hangars before we got to a section of the base where most lower ranks stay. He turns to me and hands me the files.
”These are everything I have got from my higher ups about your squad, I was just looking it over when you came in, the tent they are in is labeled Joker 1-2, it is to the left from here”
He points to the left of us.
”Thankyou sir”
I give hive a quick salute and start heading in direction he pointed. I look at my watch.
*06:28*
While walking I quickly look at their files. As soon as I opened one I was shocked. The amount of info on them is so little, it fits on 1 sheet of paper.
”You have gotta be kiding me”
There is no way this is all.
Lets see what little info they allowed me to know about my own squad.
*Name:Classified
Codename:Janitor
Sex:F
Rank:Corporal
Age:Classified*
I flip the paper. Nothing. Is that seriously all? Argh, at least there is a picture.
I would say a 25 year old white woman with brown short hair, brown eyes.
Nothing about her specialization or previous deployments.
*Name:Classified
Codename:Feather
Sex:M
Rank:Private First Class
Age:Classified*
Another paper with nothing on it. The picture shows a very young white male, around 18 years old, black hair, blue eyes. Also no specialization or previous deployments shown.
*Name:Classified
Codename:Deadringer
Sex:M
Rank:Classified
Age:Classified*
Well, a classified rank, but it does say he is specialized in stuff related to tech, probably Specialist rank. The pic shows an old white male, around 30 years, quite old, it doesn’t show any hair cause the top of his head is covered by a hood, he has blue eyes. No deployments shown.
*Name:Classified
Codename:Bandit
Sex:M
Rank:Private First Class
Age:Classified*
No specialization or previous deployments, again. The pic show a white male, around 25 years old, with black long hair and brown eyes.
”Well this is going to be fun”
I sigh. I stop and look for a their tent. After a quick look around I can see it. Joker 1-2. I stand in front of it and look at the time.
*06:29*
Huh, I though it would already be 06:30, guess the morning exhaustion is not that good for my senses.
I hear a slight buz on my right hand. I look at my watch.
*06:30*
Finally, I open the tents door and step inside. As soon as I step inside my head starts to hurt, like small knifes being used to poke it hundreds of times in a second. I grab my head in pain. Fuck, why?
Why isn’t the medication working? The headache stops and I start to feel myself panic, like I was on the verge of pissing myself for no reason, I felt my legs trying to move away from something even though I wasn’t trying to move them. I tried to focus. After 3 seconds I felt the pain and the panic start to fade away. After 2 more seconds I opened my eyes to see four soilders confused in front of me. When they saw me look at them they quickly gave me a salute.
„Good morning sir”
They sad it almost at the same time. Their shouting made my headache come back a bit, but it was managable. I finally straighten myself.
”At ease”
They stop saluting.
”I am sorry for the confusion, but I have a horrible headache since morning and the medication is not working. Lets just get this over with quickly.”
I hold up the files for them to see.
”I got these files, but they have nothing in them. Now I don’t know why that is and frankly I don’t give a shit due to the fact that I can’t think straight, but as soon as I feel better I expect an explanation and it better be a good one”
They look at eachother confused a bit and than back at me.
”Okay, since I don’t have real names to go on I will call you by your Codename, got that?”
They all shout at the same time.
”Yes sir”
My headache gets worse.
”Okay, from now on don’t shout if possible. Janitor”
”Here”
A small woman, around 160 cm (5.2f) jumps up still shouting, but at least not to much.
”Feather”
”Here”
The young boy, around 170 cm (5.5f) jumps up, buta t least he has a smooth voice which helps with my headache a bit.
”Deadringer”
”Here”
The old man, around the same height as Feather jumps up, his voice sounds old. Maybe he is a bit older than I expected.
”And last, Bandit”
A huge man jumps up, around 190 cm (6.2f) his voice sounds very deep. He is a bit taller than me, but only 5 cm taller(0.1f).
”That concludes the morning rollcall.”
I look at my watch.
*06:34*
”I want all of you to be in gear and on the training grounds by 45”
I turn around and head out of the tent. I head to the Staff sergeants house since it is close to the training grounds and I wanna ask him if I could see a doc after lunch . I arrive in front of his house in 1 minute and knock. The anwser is almost instant.
”Come in”
I open the door and step in closing the door behind me. The Staff sergeant looks up.
”Ah Levi, how is your squad?”
”It is weird, but they all look like good soilders”
”That is good, and what is it that you came in for?”
”I wanted to excusse myself to the doctor after the lunch break, if it isn’t to big of a problem”
He looks at me with a confused expression.
”Why?”
”The headache hasn’t gone away even though I took medication for it and I have been having strange things happen to me”
”Like what?”
I stop for a second. How should I explain that I almost pissed myself in fear for no reason? That isn’t something that is normal. I will just tell him a lie.
”My legs feel numb a bit and I don’t know why”
He looks at me and doesn’t say a word for a good minute.
”You wont get the permission. Wait until tomorrow and if it doesn’t change come back to me”
I feel the headache come back a bit, nota s intense as before, but still annoying. I give him a quick salute.
”Yes sir”
And leave to the training grounds. After I arrive I look at the time on my watch.
*06:40*
5 more minutes till they arrive. I spot a small flash of light in the corner of my eyes near the equipment shack next to the track. I feel the headache intensify. It is still bearable, but I feel like I wanna check out that flash of light. I slowly make my way to the shack, each step I take makes the headache worse and worse. I step in front of the door and my right arm without thinking goes for the door knob. I am not even trying to stop it, it is almost like my body is relaxed even though my head is about to explode. I open the door and step in. It is a dark room with 1 bulb hanging from the ceiling. It is turned on, but it barely lights up the room. the shack has one window, but it has the wooden covers closed. My body closes the door without my even trying to do so and as soon as the door is closed I feel a chill go through my spine. After the chill I feel myself panicking and I kneel down in fear. I close my eyes and grab my head as the headache is becoming more and more painfull. My body is shivering and twitching around. I feel the fear rise as I lie down and after a few seconds I feel I strong smack on my head from which I pass out instantly.