Captain Jeremy Jackson shifted anxiously in his seat within the heavily guarded room. While he waited in trepidation for his boss, Scott Peters, to return, he mentally reviewed the series of events which put him in his current situation.
Almost a week ago, Sergeant Godfrey’s rifle malfunctioned halfway through his mission. Like Jeremy, he was forced to defend himself with his knife and barely survived. Godfrey’s firearm was irrevocably damaged in the altercation, and he was forced to finish the scenario without it.
According to his after action report, the sergeant continued to fight with his grenades and knife until the explosives were expended. Like Jeremy, he victoriously defeated the last Ursa on his own and was inducted into the Collective. But, unlike Jeremy, he lost his leg in the process.
He was also forthcoming with his induction.
Immediately after his report, the operation was paused, and all teams were transported back to Washington. Once they arrived in the medical facility, they were separated, and Jeremy was put through a battery of tests.
Then, for some reason, he was left alone for over a full day.
Jeremy sighed and once again glanced around the empty room.
Captain Jackson had learned many things since he joined the Collective. From the logs, he ascertained that he and his teams had been violating some rule by entering the scenarios with modern firearms and explosives. As a result, the AI in charge of the spatial distortions had removed over ninety-nine percent of their reward.
The first time he entered a portal while infused with nanomachines, he was surprised by the messages he received. The Architect had somehow read his mind, and knew he wanted his combat team to accompany him. Unfortunately, he was informed they were not yet inducted into the Collective, and it could not comply.
Each time he discovered a new piece of knowledge, his guilt over his silence only increased. Over the next few missions, he continuously considered revealing what he knew. However, each time, he considered the potential consequences and remained silent.
Poor Godfrey.
Jeremy flinched as the door to his room suddenly opened, and Scott Peters entered his room. He watched warily as his CIA boss calmly strode over to the chair opposite him, sank into it, and sighed.
The man looked highly disappointed.
“How long?” Scott asked.
“Sir?” Jeremy asked.
A flare of anger flickered across his face. “Stop playing dumb. We’ve gone over your blood draws. You have the same density of nanomachines as Sergeant Godfrey. Now, how long have you had them?”
Shit! He knows.
Jeremy swallowed and remained silent as he considered how to answer the man.
When he did not immediately reply, Mister Peters shook his head. “You know, when I found out, I considered locking you up for treason.”
Treason?!
“For some reason, you decided to hide incredibly important information about an alien invasion from the US government. At first, I believed you were promised rewards if you remained silent. However, after Godfrey explained that the AI wants him to spread that knowledge far and wide, I became confused. Why? Why keep it to yourself?”
What should I tell him?
He clearly had to say something, as they already knew he was in the Collective. Jeremy considered lying and attempting to weasel his way out, but could not think of anything believable.
Screw it.
Jeremy looked his superior in the eyes. “Because of you.”
Scott’s brows rose in surprise. “Me?”
“You throw our lives away without a care, for nothing. And, when we object, you threaten to imprison us or worse. Then you take our cell phones and sic guards on us so we can’t tell your bosses what you’re doing. Hell, you’ve broken so many laws, I don’t know how you aren’t in prison right now.”
After Jeremy finished his rant, Mister Peters barked a short laugh and shook his head. “I can see how you’d be upset, but you’re missing critical pieces of information.”
“Then enlighten me,” Jeremy said dryly.
He chucked again and leaned back in his chair. “You know what, I think I will. For some reason, you’re under the mistaken impression that I’m doing something wrong and deserve to be in jail. In times of war, discretion is allowed if it breeds results. Contrary to what you believe, I’ll likely be promoted when we’re done here.”
Jeremy scoffed. “War? We aren’t at war! And even if we were, there’s no law that says you can do whatever you want during it.”
He bared his teeth. “Oh, but we are at war. We’ve been invaded by aliens. Hell, you’ve got their technology in you, for God’s sake! And, as long as I continue to produce results, Uncle Sam won’t care how I achieve them.”
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Jeremy looked at the CIA man in disbelief. “That’s just… wrong. How can you sleep at night after you sent my men to their deaths?”
“Pretty well, considering my section is the only one that has produced results. Yes,” Scott added when he saw the surprise on Jeremy’s face. “We aren’t the only ones tasked for this. See, the others in my position have done as you suggest and played it safe. After the first round of casualties, they put a halt to all operations until more data was gathered. I don’t see how they were going to gather more data if they didn’t send anyone else through, but that’s beside the point. Eventually, they grew a pair and went back. When they had even more casualties, they decided to close up shop. Meanwhile, I took risks, and they paid off. Because of me, we know about the AI threat.”
“Because of you?” his jaw dropped. “I didn’t see you going to alien planets! I didn’t see you losing your leg fighting alien monsters!”
Scott shrugged. “Someone has to stay behind to coordinate and make the tough decisions. Look, I know you don’t approve of what I’ve done. But, it was necessary for our survival.”
Jeremy shook his head. “Why are you even here? Like you said, why aren’t I in jail?” Suddenly, Jeremy froze as the man’s motivations became clear. “You need me for something, and since Godfrey’s missing a leg, I’m guessing you need me to go through the portal.”
“That’s partially true,” Scott admitted. “Your cooperation would help tremendously, but ‘need’ is too strong a word. I would prefer that you protect your country as you swore to do when you put on that uniform.”
The heavy-handed appeal to his duty pissed him off.
Jeremy grit his teeth. “What do you need from me?”
“As you surmised, we need to find out more about this AI, this ‘Architect’. What are its plans? Who controls it? How does it work?”
“I don’t know any of that.”
“Neither do we,” Mister Peters nodded. “That’s why it's so important that we find out. I need you to lead your team to the alien planet to discover everything you can.”
“We’ll just get separated again,” Jeremy reminded the man.
Scott showed his teeth. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. As it turns out, you can instruct the ‘Collective’ to group you with others, as long as they’re also in the AI’s system.”
How the hell did they figure that out?
“So you want me to do what, group up with Godfrey?”
Mister Peters shook his head. “Unfortunately, the sergeant’s days in the field are over. No, you’ll take charge of Lee, Renner, Esteves, and Jacobs.”
Jeremy frowned. “But, they aren’t in the Collective.”
“They are now.”
What? How?
“When the initial blood draws came back, only two people had elevated levels of nanomachines. You and Godfrey. That obviously led us to ask why. When we compared your after-action reports, the answer was obvious. Both you and Godfrey eliminated the enemy without the aid of modern weaponry. The combat logs Godfrey found in the interface confirmed this.”
Jeremy nodded along absently until an awful thought occurred to him. “Tell me you didn’t send them over without any weapons!”
Scott frowned. “Of course not. That would be the height of stupidity.”
He let out a sigh of relief.
“No, the men were instructed to eliminate the first few targets with their firearms. However, once they were certain only a single enemy remained, they were to destroy their rifles and engage in direct combat using their supplied spears.”
“And it worked?”
Mister Peters snorted. “Of course it did.”
“If everyone else is in the Collective, then why do you want me to lead the team? Why not send Captain Roberts, or Captain Frederick? Hell, why not just promote Renner?”
The CIA man sighed. “Roberts and Frederick failed to return from their missions, as did most of their team members. That’s why we need you to lead the survivors.”
Jeremy’s jaw dropped. “You sent that many men to their deaths?!”
Scott shook his head sadly. “They made the ultimate sacrifice so we could learn about our enemy and the technology it utilizes.”
“You still didn’t answer my question, why not promote Renner?”
Mister Peters sighed and then muttered, “I suppose you’ll learn eventually.” After a deep breath, he stated, “For some unknown reason, the survivors seem to trust you. They refused to cooperate unless you were placed in charge.”
“Maybe they trust me because I actually care if they live or die.”
The CIA man scoffed. “You think I wanted to lose good men? Despite being the only group that has shown progress, my request for reinforcements was denied. The five of you and Godfrey are all I’ve got.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t just send more soldiers through the meat grinder. Looks like your bosses don’t like it when most of your men die.”
“If you must know, they cited security concerns as the reason, not losses.”
“Security concerns?”
“Evidently, they are hesitant to bring more people into the fold. They want to keep news of the invasion from the public at all costs.”
“That’s idiotic! How can they even do that? Aren’t the distortions showing up all around the world?”
Scott smiled once more. “See, we agree, it is very short-sighted. As to the rest of the world… You’d be surprised at the amount of leverage the US has over other countries. But, back to the original question, will you lead your team so we can learn more about the threat? Take a moment.”
Do I really have another choice?
While Jeremy still viewed Scott Peters as a ruthless sociopath, he agreed that they needed to discover everything they could about the AI and the aliens that control it. And, if he were placed in charge, he could at least mitigate the reckless behavior the man before him showcased.
“I’ll do it, but with a few conditions.”
Scott’s eyes narrowed. “Go ahead.”
“Before we begin the next operation, we need extensive training in the use of spears and other primitive weaponry, along with group tactics.”
The CIA man shook his head. “There’s no time for that.”
“Then my answer is no. Without that training, we might as well be throwing our lives away. There’s a reason most of the men under your command are dead. We’re trained on firearms, explosives, and hand to hand, not spears.”
After a brief hesitation, Scott nodded. “Fine, you’ll have two weeks. Anything else?”
Jeremy wanted to protest the limited amount of training time granted, but held his mouth shut. It would have to do.
“I haven’t spoken to my mother in months, and I’m sure the others haven’t either.”
“Monitored communications with family can be arranged,” Scott agreed. “What else?”
“When I first met you, you told us not to worry, we had advanced tech. Why haven’t we used it? What are we waiting for?”
“That… may have been an exaggeration,” Scott admitted.
“What? You made it all up?”
“Not all of it. The details were fabricated to sniff out security leaks. We do have advanced tech, just not antigrav or ZPMs.”
“Okay, then why not use it?”
Scott sighed. “It doesn’t work. Every time we send the drones through the spatial distortion, we lose contact. Hell, they stop working the second they get near it.”
“So, we’re on our own?”
Mister Peters nodded. “We’re on our own.”