June 7, 7624

Mesmion, Bunker Facility 

Walking down the hallway all I can hear is the clinking of our metal boots against the floor, and the dripping of water. I look to my radar and we seem to be in the clear, no enemy personnel anywhere. 

Continuing on we finally exit the hallway after a few minutes or so and enter a large room. The room has minimal lighting and seems to have three separate hallways forking off in different directions. “E-2649 which way is the data terminal” turning to him?

E-2649 does a few scans attempting to pick up stray pings. “Sir, the terminal seems to be on our left. Down the hallway, there is another small room which seems to be where they keep their hard coded data.

I nod and we proceed down the left tunnel. In a few moments of walking, we enter into a smaller room than the previous, multiple databases line the room with a center console in the middle. My team does a quick check to see if anyone could be hiding and we find nothing. Confirming we are in the clear I head to the console to retrieve the data.

The data console is slightly pulsing with warm streams of energy. The console is a biotechnology; meaning I need to directly integrate with it. On the top of the terminal is a slot for a hand, I insert my hand into the opening and feel me nerves integrate while a warm liquid surrounds my hand. 

Once I am connected to the terminal I feel data rushing to my brain, it comes extremely fast and I can’t read all of it but I pick up bits and pieces of an item they have inside the bunker. From the data I can pull it has massive amounts of energy, enough to completely destroy this galaxy. I’m completely shocked by this data my spine tingles in shock. We must retrieve this item at any costs it would mean the end of the Milky Way.

I quickly disconnect from the terminal with our new primary objective insight. “We need to move now! E-2649 search for any energy spikes locally we have a Tier 1 threat!” My team stiffens at my words, a Tier 1 threat is a galactic wide threat extremely serious and has never been encountered since the beginning of the empire.

“Sir, what's the emergency? What are we looking for” E-2649 looks at me startled by my outburst?

“We have no time search now I will explain once we secure it” I explain!

E-2649 starts scanning while the rest of us remain alert refusing to relax with this new threat at our doorstep. “Sir, I have picked up some sort of energy signatures near the bottom of the complex” he pauses momentarily, “But I'm also picking up... life signs?”

“Life signs? How many are they military? What are we up against? I ask confused by this new info.

“I'm not sure I can’t pick up any energy signatures that relate to any known weapons, only the one strong signature near their location. There also seems to be around forty humanoids I can’t get an exact count because they are clustered” he replies, just as puzzled as I am.

“Very well, let's move we need to secure that area and identify the life signs. Let's move double time!” I call out as we break into a sprint heading for the bottom levels.

It doesn’t take us long to reach the bottom levels with the rapid pace that we sustained. What we find is a door similar to the entrance of the bunker but isn’t constructed of the same material, it's something we can cut through easily enough with our energy blades.

P-1137 gets to work on the door quickly slicing through the metal plating. In a few seconds the door falls down with a crash, I hear multiple cries of alarm from the interior of the room. Walking into the room what I find shocks me, I can’t help but stare with wide eyes. They’re all civilians.

Numerous men, women, and children are clustered together staring at us with fear-stricken faces. I feel my gut churn knowing what we will most likely have to do. I don’t wish to kill civilians that can’t fight at all. This is wrong I don’t want to execute these people… They are DEFENSELESS! No, what we did from the beginning is wrong, but this… This is something else entirely, I don’t want all this blood to fall from my hands. 

“E-2649 open up a channel to command I wish to request orders on how to deal with this” I whisper quietly to him. I must try to avoid killing these people, a moderated planet would be better than death. 

“Sir the channel is open and I have transferred it to your skin” E-2649 informs me. 

I connect to the channel to ask for orders about our current situation. “H-1793 of Team 1 requesting orders, we have found civilians near the objective. What should we do with them?” I ask, feeling cold sweat on my back guessing the answer I will receive. 

“Terminate them. We have no resources to spare for a civilian evac” my commander replies back coldly, without a care for his words in the least. 

“But sir the-”

My commander cuts me off “Are you questioning your orders? Execute the civilians and finish your mission or I will have you imprisoned.” he answers back in the same cold tone.

I grit my teeth in frustration, terminating the transmission I look to the people who have still not moved whatsoever. Before I can relay the orders to my team I see one man walk towards me. His child a small female no more than fives cycles,  crying in despair as he sets her down.

The man steps in front of me and looks into my helmet searching for my eyes. If only he could see them... 

“I can guess what you're here to do” he whispers to me in a solemn tone, “I would like to ask for last words for all of us, I know you people don’t give a damn but-” he breaks into tears and looks back to the small female. “My daughter is all I have *sob* please let me give her my love” He looks to me with a tear-streaked face and his body trembles as he desperately pleads.

I feel my facial muscles twitch at his pleas. I feel myself getting sick, I know I'm not allowed to do this we are Mihr after all. But I don’t give a damn about protocol at this point. I will let this man have his last words. “You have two minutes hurry I shouldn’t allow this in the first place, but I respect your determination,” I say to him in a clenched voice. 

He thanks me and runs to his daughter. Everyone seems to guess the situation and says there last goodbyes but I can’t tear my eyes from the small scene in front of me. To me the whole world seems to be revolving around them, I can’t help but listen closely to their conversation.

The man is kneeling on the floor holding his daughter tightly in his arms, tears streaking down both of their faces. 

“Baby, I will love you no matter what happens. Remember that daddy will always be with you” he holds his daughter tightly and slightly chokes his words. The little girl looks into his face with fear, confusion, and sadness. 

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“Buh daddy *hic* wha happening?” the girl asks her parent between hiccuped sobs.

The man smiles at his daughter and puts her small hands into his slightly rubbing them, for comfort I can assume. “Baby they are going to send us to Mama,” he tells her trying to console her. But I can see his true emotions, he is no different than the girl. 

“Mama,” she asks with a hiccup?

“Yes we are going to see Mama again, I'm sure she will be so proud of her brave little girl.” He cries to her.

The time is up. I slowly raise my rifle my team following suit. My breathing is harsh and erratic and I can feel my fingers hesitating over the trigger. The sobs and screams intensify as we raise our weapons. I take one last look at the father-daughter pair to see them hugging each other tightly both sobbing. I steel myself and issue the command to fire.

I can feel the warm energy coursing through my weapon as streaks of energy are fired into the mass of sobbing people. My heart wrenches as I see loved ones take shots for each other and the mothers covering their children only to pierce right through them, taking what they hold most dear…

I drop my rifle to the ground lifting my trembling hands to my face. I resist the urge to vomit from the atrocity I have committed. How can we do this, that man on the field was right we are nothing but monsters…

“Move to the energy signal, I wish to stay in this grave no longer” I whisper to my team with a trembling voice. 

My team hesitates and looks at me they are just as sick as I am, we were born soldiers and indoctrinated to fight the enemies of the empire, but there are no enemies here just people that wanted to live. As we walk to a door where the signal strength intensifies, I take one last look at the pair of two innocent shells. The father is still holding his daughter tightly but there is a gaping plasma wound through both of their chests. I burn their faces into my mind never to forget their cries for life. Steeling myself we proceed through the door to the item.

Entering through the door we enter a large cavern. It seems that this bunker was built around it, there are intricate patterns decorating the wall giving off an ancient feeling. At the center of the cavern, there is a single pillar standing only a meter high. On top of the pillar, there is an orb that gives off a warm pulse with the same runes decorating it. 

“Sir this artifact seems to be the item that we are looking for” E-2649 reports to me.

We proceed to the artifact and I am hesitant to pick it up. But from the readings I am getting the energy is contained inside and should pose no harm to me. Picking up the item I can feel a pulse similar to a heartbeat and the artifact glows slightly brighter for a second. I secure it to my lower back and we leave the cavern by a service elevator.

When we reach the service we exit on what appears to be another smaller plateau behind the original bunker. I look again to the red sun that illuminates the world and I can see smoking craters still burning dotting the landscape. They must have finished the bombardment, I can’t help but think of the father and his daughter and imagine the multitudes of similar scenes. 

I signal command and they dispatch a troop ship to our location. I set-up a laser beacon to notify the pilot of our location. They arrive shortly and we board the ship taking off into space.

When we reach command I hand over the artifact to a team of researchers who run off with it to discover its secrets. We are told to head to the commander for a mission debrief before our return to Vadrion the Mihr capital world. 

Arriving at the bridge of our ship we pass through operations and head to the commander's quarters for our debrief. Ours debrief finishes soon and I pass the data to our commander who in turn archives it for later review.

“Congratulations on a mission well done. We will be returning to Vadrion in a few days after we finish terraforming this world for a new settlement. When we arrive at Vadrion your team will escort the artifact to the council who will decide on its means. Until then I suggest you get some rest, it's been a long day for all of us” finished with giving us our new orders he dismisses us.

We leave the bridge and my team wishes to go and get something to eat, I decline and they go off on their way. Proceeding alone I return to my quarters, I feel too sick and disturbed to consume anything. 

My quarters are the average size standard issue for all combat personnel. I remove all my gear and take off my combat skin lastly and mount it inside my gear locker. I sit down on my bed in only my jumpsuit contemplating everything that has occurred in these few hours. I have had enough death and destruction for the rest of my life…

I put my head in my hands and can feel warm tears slightly trickle down my face. I lift up my face abruptly I have never cried before, I can’t stop these tears no matter what it hurts too much thinking about the numerous scenes today. I look out my window and see the void staring back at me. 

As I look into the void the screams start to come back to me and fill my head. This always occurs to me after a mission but not to this degree. I have never executed defenseless people with my own hands, the events from today have only intensified the sounds. I can’t erase the father and his daughter holding each other in their last moments. 

“AHHHHHH!!!” I let out an anguished scream, standing up I throw a punch at my wall denting the metal. I fall back down on my bed and bury my head in my pillow attempting to silence the cries. 

“I don’t want this anymore..” I whisper to myself, “I'm not a monster I don’t want this life, I have no choice” I continue to mumble. 

The faces of the civilians start to fill my mind, their faces filled with despair and tears, their anguished cries permeating my mind. “DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!!” I scream out. 

I scream a little while longer and I can feel myself starting to collapse mentally. I hate everything I don’t wish for this life. Numerous others deserve life, I can never repay what I've done. I refuse to kill another, I think to the escort mission and a plan starts to form in my mind. I won’t be able to restore the lives I have taken but the least I can do is prevent more from being lost. 

When we arrive at Vadrion I will stop this artifact from falling into the councils hands… No matter the cost.