“The AHF has no right to recruit from civilized worlds. Why can’t they just keep using backwaters like Earth? I mean, come on, who cares what happens to those guys? I don’t want my kids going off to die in a war that doesn’t matter to me.” – From Ron Cannity in the Evening, March 12, 3265.

“Good morning,” Brigadier General Sloan said from her podium at the head of the parade ground. The entire brigade was in attendance and dressed for the occasion. Across the field, soldiers in fine dress uniforms were only distinguishable from one another by rank and the colored strip along their sleeves.

“As you’re all aware, today is a very special day for the privates in our brigade. Some of you are tired of doing this every year, and frankly, so am I. But all we need to do is look back to when we stood in their spot, and the importance of this event comes crashing back.”

A laugh rippled through the crowd at the general’s bad joke.

“When I stood there, what feels like a lifetime ago, I never would’ve imagined that I would be the stuffy overbearing officer giving the commencement speech. Well, that just goes to show you that no matter how hard you try, you never really know where you’ll be in fifty or sixty years.”

She stopped to take a sip of water and continued.

“Every single one of you could’ve opted out at the last minute and stayed home on Earth. You could’ve been a doctor, a lawyer, a miner, or any number of other professions that kept you safe. However, each of you knew you were called for more. Sure, you tried to tell yourself it was the only option, but you know that’s not true. You went through countless hours of drills, exercise, and pain so that you could stand up and protect our republic. You chose to protect the innocent, so that the innocent may still dream.”

“Today, we welcome new soldiers into the ranks of a military at war. I won’t lie to you and say that it is a temporary state because the nature of our universe is war. Peace is something we soldiers dream of, and what we’ve all been dreaming of since the Founders first took Mars. We fight, hoping there might one day be peace.”

“So long as the republic breeds patriots like you, that hope will never fade. We will stand at the ramparts, unapologetic and apolitical, to defend what we’ve built. We hold the line, faithful to duty, and confront our foes with implacable will. For every person who calls the United Human Republic home, we hold that line.

“Privates of the Seventh brigade; two steps forward, march!”

In a practiced movement, the five-hundred soldiers followed the order called out by the Brigade Command Sergeant Major.

“We melted you down in the fiercest climate we could find and forged you into a blade. Then, fresh from the hell that is Algol, we brought you here and tempered you. As you learned, we sharpened you into a sword worthy of the title. And now, after all of that, you will be tested on the front line.”

“I am beyond proud to call you brothers and sisters in arms. When destiny tapped you on the shoulder, you didn’t run, you stepped up and joined our ranks. Life will be tough. You will have days when you must fight in the cold and without sleep. But I, for one, can say that I will feel better knowing that we have you at our backs.”

First Sergeant Summers stepped up to Jack and handed him the official brigade patch that would be on the arm of every uniform he wore. It was simple, a white starburst with crossed swords on a shield of violet, but he would wear it with pride.

“You have earned the right to wear this patch,” the General said, “do it knowing that you are not the first, nor the last to do so. If they haven’t done so already, your battalion will soon welcome you into their family with a patch as well. Wear them both with pride.”

“Privates of the Seventh Brigade; two steps backward, march!” The Command Sergeant Major ordered.

“Seventh Mechanized Infantry,” General Sloan called, “Please welcome our newest members.”

Applause burst from the ranks of every battalion onboard the Washington. After spending a year with these privates, many soldiers had already come to call them family. Truthfully, the brigade patch didn’t matter to most of them, but the battalion did. They were the people the soldiers would spend most of their time with, and they were the ones that had long ago accepted them into their ranks.

Several minutes after the General left, Captain Griffin handed out the Iron Panther’s unit patch and promptly released them from duty. They were free to do as they saw fit, but it was ‘highly recommended’ that older soldiers spend it showing the privates a good time.

That recommendation didn’t need to be made.

Before they were even off the field, a flask was being passed around. From the smell alone, Jack knew they had probably made this particular brew in the cabin of some career specialist. It was most assuredly not something that anyone could buy from an establishment on the hub-ship.

“Hey newbie, don’t you dare spill my ‘special sauce,’” a wiry man said when the flask finally made it into Jack’s hands, “I made it from some vegetable we found on this really weird planet… Truth be told, I really don’t even remember what planet that was.”

“It tastes like paint thinner!” Another soldier warned from somewhere nearby.

After taking a swig from the container, Jack found that he, unfortunately, had to agree with the man. The booze was both the strongest and worst tasting thing he’d ever put in his mouth.

“Yeah, but it’ll make you see god in a hooker’s asshole, and that’s what counts,” the wiry man shot back.

“Dammit Jim, you did not see god in that woman’s asshole,” a third soldier said, pulling the flask out of Jack’s hand and taking a deep swig.

Before he could get swept up in what was quickly becoming a confrontation, Jack slipped out of the crowd in search of Thea. If the company was going to spend the day drunk, it was a pretty good assumption that two missing privates would not be noticed.

And even if someone eventually noticed that a few people were missing, all that meant was more booze for them.

~~**~~

While Warren enjoyed being out with his friends once in a while, he didn’t particularly like anything that could be described as fast and loud. Fortunately or not, the friends he’d made over the past two years demanded he occasionally attend these incredibly uncomfortable events.

There was something about watching people he knew and loved voluntarily give up their ability to make common sense decisions that bothered him. Would he take advantage of those situations to get a little personal time in with whatever cute guy forgot how straight he was pretending to be? Definitely. But he always felt a hair guilty the day after.

Though, taking care of himself always came second to the main reason he went to these parties. Truthfully, he spent most of his time at these functions trying to ensure his friends were ok and didn’t need to go to the medical wing. He’d told himself a long time ago that he would never force a friend to sort themselves out alone, especially if they were too far gone to do it themselves.

That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t outright mock that person in the morning. Hell, he’d been known to sneak into Nessa’s cabin and turn the lights on just to watch her get angry.

Instead of doing something that would make his best friend mad at him, again, he was choosing to spend the time off on something that never disappointed him the way people had. He would never say that computers were better than his friends, but in the jungle of his mind, computers and tech always seemed to make so much more sense than people.

It was almost comical how perfect his corps was for him.

This place was like his sanctum sanctorum. It only granted access to those who could use the security terminal, and it had no physical interface. That meant that only fellow Possessors, and a few technically gifted Dragoons, would ever see the rows upon rows of equipment that ran the massive hub-ship.

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Like every data floor in history, there was a small wall of desks in the corner with several amenities that would make a safety inspector feint in horror. But, since there was no inspector on the Washington capable of entering this room without help, they had no fear of their transgressions being discovered.

Who was going to complain about a few couches, anyway?

A series of loud thunks came from various locks as the first set of doors closed and the second opened. All data floors in the AHF were built like this one, and it was completely asinine. If someone wanted to get in badly enough, they would, with or without the mantrap.

Warren sat at a desk he’d long since claimed as his and prepared to further his search into the dirty little secrets that were so well hidden in the organization. They tried to hide them, so naturally, the Possessors had made a game of finding out as much as they could.

He found something the other night, but hadn’t had the time to really dig in. Tonight, though, nobody was looking for him to be anywhere in particular.

It did not surprise him to find the information hidden in plain sight; the brass knew that anything too well concealed stood out like a sore thumb when the right people were looking, but it surprised him to find out just how many layers of encryption were encasing it.

Dropping his mind into a computer took multiple forms depending on his needs, but it always began the same. First, he would feel the energy gathering along his spine, as if his nervous system was eager to be transferred into another vessel. Then, he would push Light into the target machine, allowing part of his consciousness to follow. In this state, he didn’t need an interface to control the equipment, though some Possessors still preferred it. His will alone was enough to direct the actions of a computer at this level of possession.

This was called split immersion. He was still aware of the outside world, but he devoted most of his concentration to the machine. For what he needed tonight, though, he would need to enter the realm of Full Immersion.

While in that state, a Possessor had no awareness of the outside world, including his own body. In return for this incredibly compromised position, he would essentially become the machine he was interacting with. Any drone or computer he was controlling this way became more than a simple extension of self. It became his body.

The world fell away as he immersed himself in the hub-ship’s ‘mind.’ Before reaching the second layer of encryption, he’d already broken the passwords and was working on the third.

At some point in the last year, they had asked him to take part in a pilot program that linked small fighter spacecraft back to the ship. It was a beautiful piece of technology that incorporated the abilities of three different corps. But that wasn’t the best part. The best part was that he’d been taught how to circumvent most security on the ship so that he could access these machines much faster.

He was on the fifth level of security. Firewalls were making themselves known and refused to be circumvented. He would need to be careful here. The fifth layer of encryption was where the Possessor piloting the main ship floated his mind. As tempting as it was to play a round of ‘who’s in control’ with the other soldier, it would not end well if he got caught.

Driven by curiosity, he dove deeper.

Covertly cloning the identity of the ship’s pilot rewarded him with the passwords to the sixth and seventh layers of encryption. The last time he was this deep in the system, he’d learned more about how the machinery worked than he’d ever wanted to know.

It wasn’t fair of him to pretend like every level of this system didn’t hold information; it was a well-known fact that every security protocol on this ship was designed to let people in if they were seeking to better themselves.

Well, that was exactly what he was doing, wasn’t it?

The data was flowing into his brain as he searched, copying into himself like a standard hard drive. At one point, he found a complete schematic for the Washington, and could finally grasp the enormity of what it truly was; a massive aircraft carrier.

They loaded every hub-ship down with ten battalions of a thousand soldiers each. Unlike past military units, these battalions rarely—if ever—fought side by side. Instead, it was far more common for each company to deploy individually to handle specific types of missions. In fact, joint operations were so rare, it was easy to forget you were part of a larger force.

Most people would look at this setup and think there was some strange sort of dislike for one another. However, that assumption couldn’t be farther from the truth. They didn’t incorporate such an odd system of management because of mistrust, but because they trusted their counterparts to call for help if needed.

More schematics presented themselves, and hit Warren with another download of information. Each company’s headquarters was more than a sectioned-off area of the ship. It was a fully autonomous vessel that could detach from the parent. Just like the carriers of old, a hub-ship could scramble their companies for battle with just a few minutes’ notice.

Before being forcefully stopped, he managed to break through two more layers of encryption. The comparably soft, well-structured, mental playground built by dozens of Possessors over the decades ended abruptly, replaced with a foggy, white film that wouldn’t let him go any further.

When he touched the barrier, code visibly spread outward in a wave. Like a toddler pressing too heavily on a screen, the harder he pressed, the more solid the block became.

This was what he was looking for. There was no reason someone would put blocks this difficult inside the ship’s main computer. If any enemy could break through that much encryption, Warren was positive it was an enemy he didn’t want to encounter.

He focused every ounce of his will on a single point, pushing his mind into the barrier with all the force of a needle punching through steel. If he’d been aware of his physical body at all, he would’ve realized he’d taken this too far.

The pain was immense, but the goal remained firmly in his mind. Later, he would see security video of himself shaking in his chair, blood pouring out of his nose and ears from the intensity.

With a burst of effort, he finally punched through to the other side. As quickly as it had come, the pain was gone without a trace.

The space inside was not some container for a nefarious virus, waiting to turn off life support for the entire brigade. Nor was it protecting some odd digital alien lifeform. Instead, stone columns and tall bookshelves extended into the dark as far as he could see.

“Very good, Private.”

He spun in search of the voice, only to find the massive library still as devoid of life as it was when he entered.

“I don’t have the time to come here myself and show you around. You know how busy I am. I built this place as a fount of knowledge for you and other Possessors in search of information.”

Warren realized he knew that voice. He’d only heard twice before, but it was none other than Tobias Ross, Unranked Officer of the Possession Corps.

“Well, since you don’t seem too keen on talking, let me tell you a little about this place.” Tobias said, his digital form materializing in front of Warren, “You are deep enough into the digital world that physical manifestations are possible. You are not just an avatar. Here, a temporary copy of your mind is created to work alongside your physical body.”

“This was the first thing I built when I learned how to dive this deeply into the machines, but I digress,” he continued. “I built a perfect copy of the Library of Alexandria. Of course, it’s a little bigger than the original, but the purpose is the same as it was thousands of years ago. In here, you will find a copy of every piece of literature, manual, and secret we have at your fingertips.”

“Is this some sort of joke?”

“Joke? No. Secret? Definitely. Warren, if someone outside of our corps were to find this place, there would be a Senate ruling for me to destroy it before the hour was out. I don’t really want to do that, not only because the idea of destroying another Library of Alexandria is appalling, but because I don’t want to be forced to build another one.”

Warren was astounded, and he wasn’t even sure if it was in a good way or not. Here he was, inside the digital version of the most famous library in history, and he was being told that he couldn’t share it with anyone. Not only was the place itself probably breaking more than a few protocols, but the information it contained was priceless.

“How does it work? Do I just… take a book?”

“Well, now that you know about its existence, it won’t be so hard for you to get in next time,” he replied, ignoring the question. “You should see yourself. Breaking through that last barrier really took it out of you. I mean, you’re bleeding, shaking, and just all around looking like a bad time.”

The Unranked Officer waved his hand, and a new access code burned itself into Warren’s memory.

“Now, you’ll still need to get down to level ten encryption. But this way, you don’t have to hurt yourself getting in.”

The Private was still confused. But when he turned to ask more questions, the avatar of the powerful Possessor had disappeared. Apparently, that was all the information it would give him on the subject, and it really didn’t matter if he wanted anything more.

He reached for a volume at random. The moment his fingers brushed the surface of the spine, information flooded into his mind. It didn’t come in text or blueprints like other information he’d gathered from the central server. Instead, it unfolded in his mind like a movie shot from multiple points of view.

The information lacked crucial parts of the story and was disjointed, but it still conveyed a message. Some scenes felt familiar, but he knew that was impossible. The fragmented clips of audio that accompanied the scenes clarified some parts, but muddied others.

He saw Officer Hargrave, standing beside an alien with silvery skin, hands extended in a sign of friendship.

Flash

He saw a document laid out on a table, signed by all seven of the Unranked Officers.

Flash

An alien, like the first but connected to dozens of tubes and wearing a mask that resembled a pharaoh’s, signed the same document, and said, “Our two peoples will be joined under a common banner.”

Flash

Officer Tobias ushered people by the hundred onto a ship that looked human in design. “This is the only way to keep you safe.”

Dozens of scenes flicked before his eyes, faster and faster before eventually they just… stopped.

Awareness of his digital self returned, his hand still touching the spine of the book that just revealed its secrets.

Pain burned down his back like a white-hot scalpel ripping open his flesh. He’d overextended his power, and if he didn’t remove himself from this place soon, it would consume him.

Running back to the white, filmy barrier, he transmitted the access codes and passed without difficulty. The moment he was through, the barrier resealed and became an impassible wall once more.

But even then, the pain was still present.

Warren pushed with all his will and shot upward, all the way to the first layer of security. He could feel his body again, and he knew the pain he felt was both physical and digital. With the last of his strength, he ejected himself from the machine and back into the material world.

His brain was on fire, his back felt like someone had surgically removed his spine, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of wetness around his mouth and neck. As the last of his strength faded, he touched that strange, sticky wetness and looked at his blood-soaked fingers.