Upheaval - The Brieder War (Reloaded)

[Shana]

Prologue.-

 

The year is 2559, more than 5 centuries ago, the planet formerly known as Earth had run out of fossil fuels. What became known as World War III started when the United States of America declared that their oil reserves were finally empty. This, of course, was a lie. America, taking the advantage of it's relationship with the central american countries as well as Mexico and Canada, allied with Russia and the European countries to attack and seize the oil reserves of the African countries, creating the Alliance of Free Countries.

 

The Africans did not go down without a fight, most of America, Mexico and Canada were obliterated in a massive nuclear war. Russia soon after offered it's help to these countries in exchange of a big cut in the oil reserve.

 

China, taking the advantage of the weakness of the Alliance, seized the territory of Irak and Iran but they soon realized that what little was left of the reserves would not be enough to sustain the world. Scientists of all the major organisms and institutions in science and research discused the matter but all options pointed to what was inevitable.

 

The end of the world.

 

Soon after the greenhouse effect started to become more dangerous, life in the desert became unsustainable and animals and flora from all over the planet started to die. The dams started to go dry and the electric services became insanely expensive. Poverty was the way of life more than 95% of the world's population.

 

In all the chaos, Russia and China, along with Japan and the remains of the AFC joined forces to build a space station that would support human life as it moved through space with destination to a planet discovered by Japanese scientists. This planet was without a name and was soon after called Hope, a fitting name for Humankind's last chance of survival.

 

The space station was almost 3 times the size of Texas. Thousands upon thousands of human beings were selected for the travel and the last of the oil reserves were deposited into the space station to create an impulse so strong that it would send the station on it's course to arrive at the planet in the next 200 years.

 

The result was succesful, the good news was followed by a terrible one. After almost 12 years, the onboard Scientists finally came to the conclusion that the Earth, was finally dead and so was everyone left on it.

 

As the expedition party was getting ready to go down to the planet, an asteroid collided with the space station spliting it into two. One part crash landed and the other stayed in orbit examining the planet for life possibilities. A colony was built over the planet with only 300 people, this colony was called Sparta in reminescence of human history.

 

A rescue expedition was soon carried out to learn of the fate of the people in the other half of the station. Thirty men left for it, only two came back.

 

The atmosphere of the planet contained a bacteria that caused madness, mutation and agression. The people of that crash were now less than human, some gained more strength, others more speed, others more endurance. Their numbers grew and their new species branched like different kinds of spiders. A new name was given to these creatures, those who were our brothers, now are our enemies, some call them evolved humans but evolution is not that cruel.

 

The name we called them came from the number given to their part of the living quarters, BR13D3R, so they were called Brieders. Their leader, Doctor Higgins, now Lord Artus and his generals now seek to destroy Sparta after almost 50 years of complete silence.

 

Sparta is now the first human city. Almost the size of the USA and Canada combined. Sparta is our last defence against the invading Brieders who have also made their city deep in the mountains of what has been called The Hive. They had the time to make weapons, but we are not without our resources. Human numbers have grown, but so have theirs. The battle now takes place in the hills of Cretia, the abandoned human facility now taken by the Brieders. We must find a way to get to their capital and destroy them, underground they're more powerful but under the sky, we are the masters.

 

The toxin in the air was neutralized thirty years ago, now we can run free in the world. But be careful with Brieder weaponry as their Klaut-guns launch small injection darts that contain deadly viruses. Thank god they only have limited supplies, and us an antidote. But on the battlefield you must be careful, for the only antidote out there is death...

 

And it starts thus...

 

Ever since 0400 hours, ships have been flying back and forth from the base in the Calgary Mountains. Sergeant Mio Kobayakawa was on the very first of them to arrive to the forward command center just a few kilometers away from the Cretia Facility.

 

Around 0800 hours, the gunfire and explosions coming from the battlefield were resounding in the morning breeze. The conflict had just about begun.

 

Mio was making her way to the command bridge and found her father already there along with two other generals and an Admiral. Admiral James Thrawn, one of the officers who oversaw Mio's training.

 

"General Kobayakawa, Sergeant Kobayakawa is here", a Coronel announced before he returned to his duties. General Hiro Kobayakawa turned around to face his daughter. Mio instantly saluted her father and he did the same.

 

"At ease Sergeant", the General said. Mio relaxed.

 

"You needed to speak to me sir?", Mio asked her father, carefully addressing him as her superior, rather than a parent.

 

"I will not hold you from your duties so I will be brief. We have assigned several top notch soldiers to your squad. You job is a very difficult one but we expect great results with this team at your disposal", the general said handing Mio a file with several profiles and he continued, "I think you'll find some old acquaintances in there."

 

Mio browsed the file and found a couple of familiar names, one that brought a smile on her face, but that smile also became a rather small look of annoyance when she passed to the next profile.

 

"With all due respect sir, the other Sullivan twin might cause some friction in the unit", she held back at this last statement. Andrew was sure to cause more than "some friction" within the squad. Sure, Andrew was a very capable soldier, even more so than many of the best, but he was problematic beyond belief.

 

"The Sullivan twins produce results in every mission they undertake, great results I might add. Your unit, while effective, only comes second to them, now with them with you, I trust they'll carry you to victory", the general said.

 

These words boiled inside of her. She was just an inch from unleashing her rage, but after years of unappreciation, she had gotten used to it, but she'd show him, of that, she was certain.

 

"Very well, I assume all of these soldiers have been briefed?", Mio asked.

 

"They have, your squad is to assemble in the hangar at 1300 hours, make sure you take this time to get to know one another and prepare. Good luck", General Kobayakawa said.

 

Mio saluted and headed out of the room. She walked through a couple of corridors and entered a room where there was no one in sight. She took a deep breath and hit the steel wall with all her strength. The noise of the punch amplified in the small room.

 

"Damn it", she said under her breath. She straightened up and walked into the corridor once more and headed to the armory. She expected a few people from her squad would be with the quartermaster. She hoped Erica was there, she was the only reason she was looking forward to assembling her squad and heading out. But, that meant also seeing Andrew... that alone, would send her over the edge. Probably...

[LDR]

Jacob Musto found himself walking through the halls of the facility, hearing vaguely that he was assigned to another squad. He didn't really care. More people sent from command to be killed off in the war. Jacob felt that the war served no purpose, and that it was humanity's own fault for depleting all the oil reserves 500 years ago. Must humanity always thrust itself into war with itself, no matter what? He didn't care for the reasons, nor the morals of this war, even if the brieders started it. They were still human, long ago. It was his father's own damn fault for thrusting him in the middle of it - despite his protests.

 

Jacob sighed to himself as he walked towards the armory, clad in his camouflage jacket. Over the right breastpocket, was a metallic nametag that said SGM. MUSTO, and right under that were a few ribbons and medals that he didn't even want - nor deserve. Well yeah, he had some accomplishments, but he didn't even want to be in the war in the first place. He feels like he's throwing his life away!

 

He leaned against a wall that was parallel to the door. He decided to pull out his steel lighter, and light a cigarette.

[Writer]

But just as Musto lifted his cigarette to his lips, it was snatched away by a strong hand. A man with short, unruly brown hair, light blue eyes, and a cocky, self-assured grin on his face, stood there, waggling a finger in an almost scolding manner. He was dressed entirely in black, with no markings of rank or medals of honor or merit, not even a name plate.

 

"Now, now," he said, shaking his head, "haven't you heard, soldier? Cigarettes can kill you."

 

"Drew!" a feminine voice shouted from further down the hall. Charging toward the armory after him was a young woman, shoulder-length blonde hair tied back from her face, blue eyes glittering in displeasure. She too was dressed entirely in black with no medals, commendations, rank, or name plate.

 

"Back off, Drew," she growled as she drew near. With a grin and a shrug, Drew turned and sauntered a few paces away, leaning against the opposite wall. Facing Musto, the woman's expression turned apologetic and she read his name plate with a quick glance. "Sorry about my brother, Musto. Somehow, his training overlooked how to give the proper respect to future team members."

 

She extended her hand. "I'm Sullivan. Erica Sullivan. Cocky McSure-of-Himself over there," she nodded at the other man dressed in black, "is my brother, Andrew."

[Shana]

"Cocky McSure-of-Himself, that's a new one", Mio said as she approched Erica and embraced her like girlfriends do after not having seen each other in a while. All the squealing and shouting. There were times when as a girl, you just couldn't help it, even if you were also a soldier.

 

"How've you been girl? After the mission you went on sixth months ago, I thought your video call service had been cancelled or something, I must have left you like a hundred messages", Mio said, but knowing Erica, since both she and Andrew were moved around a lot because of his attitude, they probably changed her personal line.

 

Mio also remembered Andrew was there and she thought she at least owed him a greeting, since they had not seen each other in a while and they practically grew up together.

 

"Hi Andrew, you ready for a body count contest?", Mio asked him as she was constantly competing with him.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Tardiness was not something Corporal Mike "Onyx" Winston was known for. He walked confidently through the hallway, taking the time to remember where everything was. He was able to fit the things he needed in a backpack, which he had gotten use to carrying. He had a black balaclava covering his face, and special sunglasses on top of that. He was assigned to this mission due to his technical skills and skills in communications. Yes, today was looking like a good day...

 

"Hi Andrew, you ready for a body count contest?"

 

Onyx gulped when he heard this. One, that was a female's voice. Two...body count?

 

"Body count? Well I hope you don't start with me," Onyx joked looking to the female. Upon seeing her he recognized her as the one in charge. Oops. "Corporal Winston, reporting ma'am...but please call me Onyx," he said while giving a crisp salute.

[Writer]

"Mission six months ago," Erica said thoughtfully. Then, she shook her head. "Oh, right. Drew dumped our CO on his ass 'coz he looked too angry. Guessing I don't need to tell you why. We were transferred to a new unit same day. Far as assignments go, that was one of our shortest, wasn't it, Drew?"

 

Drew grinned. "Two days. Definitely a record."

 

"Hi Andrew, you ready for a body count contest?"

 

Drew was about to reply when someone else joined the conversation.

 

"Body count? Well I hope you don't start with me. Corporal Winston, reporting ma'am...but please call me Onyx."

 

"Well... Onyx," Drew said eyeing the man critically. "Lil' Mio an' me do try to avoid friendly fire incidents. Course if you screw up and get in my way, don't expect me to shed even a single tear over you."

 

"Andrew Damien Sullivan!" Erica hissed. "That hole near the bottom of your face? Now's a perfect time to shut it."

 

Drew laughed. "Oooh, full name? Guess I'm in trouble now." He grinned at Mio. "Aren't I, Mommy Mio?"

[MsFicwriter]

0812 HOURS

 

"Excuse me: Mlle. Cadice Marin, here to retrieve a classified specimen package. I do believe it was delivered here by mistake, to the forward command center, instead of the laboratory at the Cretia Facility." The researcher and amateur medic sighed, blowing an errant tendril of hair out of her eyes. I know that the battlefield has top priority, she thought, but come on! This vital tissue sample from a catalogued Brieder could certainly have been handled more carefully. Ah, well... "Could you please hurry?" she asked the desk orderly. "I'm already running late to work."

 

"Your name, ma'am, once again?" The glassy-eyed young man blinked.

 

"Marin, Cadice." She spelled it out for him, just in case he had no clue how.

 

"Could I see some identification, please? Photo ID and retinal scan, for sure."

 

"Naturellement." Submitting to the procedures, Cadice couldn't shake the feeling that she was being treated like a criminal. Irrational, she knew, but not entirely unwarranted. After all, this was a military installment, not a cafe back home in the U.S. She'd moved there from Paris ten years ago.

 

After checking his computer console, scratching his head, taking a long swig of his coffee, and clearing his throat, the orderly said: "All right. Clear."

 

She leaned forward quickly. "The specimen package. Where is it?"

 

"Head to the rear of the building. Someone should be waiting for you in the shipping department. Follow the grunts who are pushing the hand trucks."

 

"All right, but you don't think I belong here, do you?"

 

"Honestly, no." Well. At least he's honest, and not falsely obsequious. Cadice gave the youth one more glare and headed in the direction he'd given. Shipping department. Shipping department. I don't see any signs for it... Becoming more frustrated by the second, she stopped almost dead in her tracks when she heard the lively conversation of soldiers. Oddly enough, that cheered her up. At least some people here have their heads on straight.

 

"Excuse me," she said, bowing her head slightly in deference while raising her voice. "Could one of you please tell me where the entrance to the shipping department is? I'm supposed to pick up a parcel that was delivered here by accident instead of the facility at Cretia." She hoped her white laboratory coat would be proof enough of her identity. Retinal scans made her eyes itch!

[LDR]

When his cigarette got snatched away by a man clad in black, he balled his hand into a fist. Next thing he knew, he heard the word "Drew!" scream out of his sister's mouth - who suddenly appeared right in front of him. Drew backed off, and then Jacob spoke up. "I ought to punch you in the face for that, Drew, but since you're being scolded by your sister, I'll back off."

 

He turned to face his sister, who extended her hand, "I'm Sullivan. Erica Sullivan. Cocky McSure-of-Himself over there is my brother, Andrew.".

 

He shook her hand and introduced himself, "Sergeant Major Musto. Just call me Jacob. And I read the reports on your brother. Much more of an arsehole in person, is he?" He looked at Drew and then looked back, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

 

Then he saw three more people walk in, someone who was obviously acquainted with Erica, some guy named Onyx, and a woman in a labcoat asking where the shipping department was. He shook his head, and decided to light another cigarette, moving farther away from the group so that the smoke wouldn't bother them.

[Chevron 7 locke]

Kaivon Gosron walked through the halls of the facility and tried his best to avoid the groups of people walking past him. A few of them stared at him but he ignored the stares. There were few people who were as tall as he was and he was sure that he was the only one on the base who was currently wearing a set of Titan12 armor. He had just arrived back from a training mission and hadn't had a chance to change yet.

 

A few of the people who passed him by began to mutter behind his back and he tried his best to ignore them but it was difficult. He wasn't really a social person and a few people had called him an idiot because of that fact. Kaivon knew that he wasn't as smart as some of the other people on the base but in his opinion that gave them no excuse to say things behind his back.

 

As he continued to walk through the facility he saw a small group of people up ahead of him who were chatting with each other. He moved over to the side of the hallway and continued walking so that he wouldn't get too close to them.

[Master_Archon]

((Ug, rusty like an old wheel!))

 

The door to the armory slid open, a tall, foreboding figure stepped out into the hall followed by two other men who were tugging and adjusting his armor.

 

S202A looked back and forth at the group inside the corridor he'd just stepped into; floods of information pounding into his mind in moments as he wriggled and jiggled from the two 'Prism' outfitters tugging at his armor's hardpoints.

 

S202A was already fully armed and ready for combat; shaking his head only slightly as if to brush off all the things swirling in his mind at the moment. The Shade looked at the surrounding people, analyzing them in a robotic fashion with the information he'd garnered the moment he'd walked out the door: A Sergeant Major Jacob Musto farther off smoking a cigarette - not the smartest thing to do near an armory, even in the outside corridor . Closer in was a Corporal Onyx....? Winston, and......

 

S202A's head shifted slowly towards the black duo as his mind screamed with a new and sudden notion. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed them sooner, perhaps the mass of information that had invaded his cranium had masked them from him, but now that everything was shifting back into place he noticed them like they were florescent signs in a dark room.

 

He briefly noticed a woman next to one of them, he recognized her instantly as his squad leader, Sergeant Mio Kobayakawa, who, although she was actually lower in rank than himself, was to be his commanding officer, and so he would treat her as such.

 

The two outfitters had left by then and he'd simply been standing in front of the door, silently observing them. He moved towards the feminine pair and stopped in front of them, looking over at Sergeant Kobayakawa he saluted sharply, finally speaking, "Sir, Shade-202-Alpha reporting, I will be your designated Shade specialist for this mission...Ma'am."

 

His voice was cold and without feeling, and creepy enough to make children cry, actually it had once.

 

S202A had actually been in the Sergeant's squad before, on a lot of occasions actually. Hers was actually his 'designated' squad, but Shades were not always with their squads, nor were they always assigned to them; parallel, maybe, in tandem, quite often, but Shades specialized in covert operations, reconnaissance, sabotage, and assassination, which meant they best worked alone. This would explain the reason he felt he needed to 'explain' himself - if his short designation could be counted as an explanation, but Shades weren't big on 'talking'.

 

S202A's gaze turned ever-so-slightly towards the woman next to the Sergeant. His goggled and masked face gave away nothing, but he knew that if those two were anything like he was, then she'd know why he was looking at her.

 

He wondered; did the higher-ups feel that a Shade wasn't enough for this? Did they really need three 'psychic' beings? Though the term, 'psychic', was quite a liberal term in his mind. It was obvious he had abilities, he was a Shade, and everyone knew it, but those two were far more of a secret it seemed. He could guess (and read) that out of everyone in the corridor it was only him, and maybe, yes, more than a maybe, the Sergeant too, who knew what they were. Like churning milk and grazing cream off the top, it was a slow process, but the longer he was in their presence the more he could gather, though, it worked the other way around too, it always did.

 

S202A walked over to one of the corridor walls and stood there, neither leaning nor propping himself against it. S202A looked over at the man in the duo this time, a small breath of fog escaping from his mask as if they were in a freezer or the corridor were cold, although, it wasn't.

[Ping]

Gao Peng walked through the facility hallways to meet his new CO, pushing past people, just to be sure he wasn't that late. He had heard a few positive things about this Kobayakawa woman, but he couldn't really say he knew much more than that; his habit of not asking questions has probably contributed to that fact. He still couldn't believe he was alive and well, being one of three survivors of a disastrous operation. It had traumatized him enough that he still had nightmares about that operation. He then saw a group of people, right where he was told he would meet with his new squad. He was able to pick out Kobayakawa in the group, but he didn't recognize the others. Gao went straight up to Kobayakawa and introduced himself.

 

"Corporal Gao Peng, at your service, ma'am. I believe I have been reassigned to your squad," he said, giving a quick salute.

[Shana]

Drew laughed. "Oooh, full name? Guess I'm in trouble now." He grinned at Mio. "Aren't I, Mommy Mio?"

 

"Oh please, the notion of being called a mother by you gives me the creeps", Mio said.

 

"Corporal Winston, reporting ma'am...but please call me Onyx,"

 

Mio saluted back at the soldier and just gave him a reassuring look.

 

"At ease soldier, we're just introducing ourselves", she said as she turned around to see a woman in a lab coat. Not often were scientists in the military compound and when they were, they had a pretty shadowy reason for being there.

 

"Umm, well you gotta go back in the hallway, make two rights and you're gonna be there. By the way, are you assigned to a specific station? What is your specialty?", Mio asked.

 

"Sir, Shade-202-Alpha reporting, I will be your designated Shade specialist for this mission...Ma'am."

 

Mio turned to find a man, or maybe something more, a Shade. She was familiar with the project, her father was privy to all details of the experiments and even approved of their use early on. He assigned one to her squad to make sure things got done. How typical.

 

"Welcome Shade, while I do consider your presence an overkill in my squad, I do welcome you into the unit. Be at ease and if you need anything just make sure you let me know. I always seek harmony in my unit, as long as we're comfortable and content, we should work to our fullest", Mio said giving him a small smile and a salute.

 

"Corporal Gao Peng, at your service, ma'am. I believe I have been reassigned to your squad,"

 

Mio turned to face Gao and saluted him to welcome him into the unit.

 

"At ease corporal. I have heard good things about you, you come highly recommended", Mio said, and turned her attention to the soldier leaning on the side of the hallway a bit far from them. Considering he glanced a few times over to them, she thought he might be part of the unit. She then recognized his face from one of the profiles.

 

"Kaivon Gosron I presume? You don't have to stay all the way over there soldier, contrary to popular belief, I don't bite... much", Mio said adding that with a grin.

[Writer]

"Unless you pin her down," Drew added, raising his hand. "Then, she bites. Hard. Think I still have a scar to prove it even."

 

When the Shade turned his gaze on Erica, she met it evenly and smiled. It was clear that she knew what he was and had no issues with it. Indeed, her posture and facial expression seemed welcoming. Not only did she not mind his presence; she seemed even a little interested in working with him.

 

Drew on the other hand met the Shade's gaze and saw a challenge. He raised his chin slightly, as if to prove he wouldn't back down from anything, and his grin turned slightly menacing. While it wasn't likely he'd actively do anything to harm the Shade, his posture suggested he also wasn't likely to go easy on him.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Onyx nodded as he lowered his hand. He looked back Andrew and his sister whose name he didn't hear yet. He was careful to avoid making eye contact with her, and was glad he had his shades on. He smiled even though his balaclava hid it.

 

"Get in your way? Not me. The best place for me to be is right behind you, especially since you look like you could take down quite a few enemies. See this one time we were with my grandpa. Well he suddenly snapped and started throwing food at us. Everyone got hit, but not me. Why? Well I went right behind him, and if he turned I would too. So no rookie mistakes from this guy," Onyx said to him. He pointed to himself at that last part. "Oh! I almost forgot. Its nice to meet you and I look forward to working along side you Andrew."

[Chevron 7 locke]

"Kaivon Gosron I presume? You don't have to stay all the way over there soldier, contrary to popular belief, I don't bite... much",

 

Kaivon hesitantly walked over towards the group and nodded once and then saluted. He was nervous being around this many people he didn't know at once but still, he had been told he was being assigned to a squad this morning and this woman did know his name so this was obviously the squad.

 

"Yes." He said quietly, "Kaivon Gosron reporting for duty ma'am." He brought his hand up for a salute

 

"Unless you pin her down, Then, she bites. Hard. Think I still have a scar to prove it even."

 

Kaivon took a look over and a look of confusion appeared for a moment and then a small smile appeared on his face. "A joke. That was actually pretty funny." He said as he chuckled slightly. "No disrespect intended ma'am." He said quickly as he looked over at Sergeant Kobayakawa and stared straight ahead.

[LDR]

"I find no humor from it at all.", said Jacob, throwing the cigarette on the ground and crushing it with his boot.

 

"Do you see me chuckling?" continued Jacob, in a serious tone. He walked down the hallway until he was inside the cluster once again, leaning on the adjacent wall. He glared at Kaivon with a bitter - yet serious, face.

[Shana]

Mio saluted back to Kaivon when he introduced himself and simply rolled her eyes at the exchange of words between Andrew, Kaivon and Jacob, but mostly to what Andrew had said.

 

"Drew, you're not helping here, could you at least try to be a little bit more sensitive of the situation? We haven't even deployed yet", Mio said and she turned around to look at the guys that had arrived.

 

"Well I was hoping that everyone would make their way here just to get our introductions out of the way. You all know me by now, at least by word of mouth but I'll introduce myself. I am Sergeant Mio Kobayakawa, nice to meet all of you and I hope our work together brings us success as a unit and on a personal level. As we are in the armory, make sure to take all your needs to the requisitions officer and they will be tended to. Our ship takes off at exactly 1300 hours, make sure you make it on time as the ship will wait for nobody", Mio said as she saluted all of them and turned to leave. As she reached the door to the hallway she looked back. "If any of you wish to talk to me, my quarters are on the officer barracks just outside this building on the left, oh and Drew?...", she turned to face him directly. "Try not to give Erica a headache", she turned and left.

[MsFicwriter]

Cadice Marin sensed that the group was about to disperse, and to make matters worse, she hadn't answered the questions that the comely soldier called Mio had posed to her. "Wait!" she cried, raising her right hand. "Perhaps you know"...No. Too much too soon, she thought. I don't want to deluge them with information, but I do want to gauge how much they know about the Brieders and their biology. I'd better start at the beginning.

 

"My name is Cadice Marin, with a doctorate in biological research. I come from the facility at Cretia, which isn't too far from here. Right now, I'm trying to study Brieder tissue samples to discover how the virus mutated normal humans into--the kind that we're fighting right now," she said ruefully. "What I especially want to find out is if--well, let me put it this way. I know that the airborne toxin that transformed ordinary people into Brieders was neutralized thirty years ago, but something still seems wrong about this situation.

 

"In order to win this war, the Brieders need something else besides their superhuman abilities and Klaut-gun power. They need numbers, too. If their population is now stabilized, the more of them that die, the more they'll be weakened. They must be attempting some other way to replenish themselves, a way that we don't know about yet. That's what I've been set to discover."

[Shana]

Mio stopped on her tracks as the Doctor introduced herself. In the confusion and bickering that Andrew had caused, she immersed herself in disarming the situation, that she did not register that the doctor had not answered her questions. She turned to face her and gave her a small smile.

 

"Sorry, I kinda got sidetracked a bit back there. Nice to meet you doctor, my father is General Kobayakawa, and I seem to remember that... on one occasion...", Mio brought a finger to her chin trying to remember what it was and then continued, "This one scientist came to dinner to my house once, he spoke something about how the brieders were reproducing and he just seemed to mention harvest fields... I am not sure what he meant by that, I don't think that inside The Hive the brieders just "plant" babies or eggs or whatever it is that they come from, but his theory hasn't been blown off by the scientific community. What about you? You have a theory on this as well?"

[MsFicwriter]

Chills convulsed down Cadice's spine once she heard Mio's question. "Yes," she replied slowly, "I do, and it's not one that you'll probably want to hear." The researcher lowered her voice to a near-whisper, just in case there were other people milling around the command center that shouldn't be privy to this information. She herself had only discussed it with the fellow scientists she trusted most, but somehow Cadice sensed that this group--especially Mio--should know the worst when it came to theories about Brieder reproduction.

 

"Harvest fields make perfect sense," she began. "From the studies that were conducted decades ago, when the Brieders first became a lethal threat, we know that 'like does not beget like', in their case. They do not reproduce sexually. At first, I thought that Brieders used something like artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization." She blushed and smiled. "I myself was a 'test-tube baby'. However, the more tissue samples I studied, the more I became convinced..." She stepped closer to Mio, giving her an intense look.

 

"Under a microscope, at first glance, Brieder body tissue and ours appear as radically different as night and day. However, if you study the 'links', the samples of human cells as they progressively transform into Brieder cells, you discover that this change takes place over time. We don't yet know how much time, but I can assure you it's shorter than I care to think about. Besides, if the toxin in the air is gone, perhaps captive prisoners are..."

 

She shut her eyes. "The Brieders don't kill every normal human they fight. My suspicion is that these captive prisoners are taken to your harvest fields and...grafted." Cadice swallowed. "How much tissue does it take to plant the 'seed' of mutation? More importantly, how long does it take the 'graft' to replace human tissue with Brieder tissue entirely? I...hope it's not true..."

[Shana]

"Or...", Mio stopped as the idea sank in, it made her sick to her stomach, "what if they found a way to synthesize the virus into something portable?"

 

Mio's face turned into a frown mixed with fear.

 

"Is the Army Scientific Division doing anything to further your research? If what you're saying is true... I might have to make very hard decisions on the battlefield... decisions I've never liked to make", Mio said.

[MsFicwriter]

Cadice shook her head sadly. "I've tried to explain my research and theories to them, but they believe I'm just speculating. The Division brass says it needs 'hard proof', most likely meaning seeing someone turn into a Brieder in their very midst, before they'll accept what I have to say. Even I hope I'm wrong about this, but the more I study, the more certain I become of it..."

[Shana]

Mio brought a finger to her chin again as she always did when she got immersed in her thoughts.

 

"And what are you going to do to prove it to them? It's not like anyone is going to volunteer for getting turned into a brieder any time soon", Mio asked, she then moved closer to her so nobody else could hear. "Since you were honest with me, I'll give you some information of my own. My mission, the one that my unit is undertaking right now, is not only the defense of the Cretia Facility but also an incursion into Brieder territory. If a certain scientist was to tag along, maybe, just maybe, she might be able to gather some more data or even get the proof she needs to back up her claims..."

 

Mio knew that suggesting this to a scientist was difficult to accept, as tempting as it would be for the research value, almost no scientist would agree to jumping in the middle of gun fire and death to get research... although maybe if they were really driven... probably...

[MsFicwriter]

Cadice took a deep breath. "When battle is upon you, I am afraid that I won't be able to help," she said ruefully. "I've never used any kind of a weapon in my life, except my tongue with its sharp words. However, if you keep me relegated to the rear of the fight, and retreat there if you're wounded, there I might prove of significant use. When I'm not doing lab work, I'm studying to be a medic. Not a doctor, mind you, but someone who might be able to turn the tide against injuries on the field of war. In this particular capacity, I'm willing and able."

 

She gazed at Mio somberly. "Of course, you will most likely have to check with your superior officers to see if they will allow me on the mission. They probably won't." With a wink, Cadice continued, "That doesn't mean I won't try."

[Chevron 7 locke]

"Do you see me chuckling?"

 

Kaivon stopped staring ahead and turned to look at jacob with a confused look on his face. "No...I don't. Why didn't you think it was funny?"

 

"When battle is upon you, I am afraid that I won't be able to help, I've never used any kind of a weapon in my life, except my tongue with its sharp words. However, if you keep me relegated to the rear of the fight, and retreat there if you're wounded, there I might prove of significant use. When I'm not doing lab work, I'm studying to be a medic. Not a doctor, mind you, but someone who might be able to turn the tide against injuries on the field of war. In this particular capacity, I'm willing and able."

 

While Kaivon wasn't looking to offend anyone else he couldn't help but speak up when he heard that she hadn't ever used a weapon.

 

"I can keep an eye on you while on the battlefield." He offered quietly. "I've trained for all sorts of missions including escort missions. I like to think that I'm capable of keeping people safe."