Date Point 10y4m1w6d AV
Ramstein Air Base, Landstuhl, Germany, Earth.
Adam Arés
It took two and a half days before the situation was properly in hand, but those two and a half days came with their own set of complications. There was political fallout with the Egyptian authorities who objected in strong terms as more and more Allied assets deployed to their sovereign territory, and even more indignation when the whole force withdrew quite abruptly after sixty hours.
Simon and Sean Harvey somehow got wind of it all and were a permanent feature at the perimeter cordon throughout, with Simon doing pieces to camera while Sean found every news site and feed that might want a badly-informed opinion piece. Mercifully, they didn’t stick their necks out and suggest SOR involvement, but the political fallout was becoming messy.
For Adam, the first six hours or so involved handing over his patient to the military hospital, then the laborious process of removing the suit himself without his techs to help him. While the EV-MASS could, when plugged into an external power supply, refrigerate its own water and be removed by its operator if necessary, it was a difficult and laborious process that was no substitute for the efficient business as practiced by the SOR proper.
As for the filthy outersuit… well, Ava was right, it was genuinely foul. Doyle and Hargreaves might well end up destroying it and procuring a replacement..
After that came debriefing, a long-overdue shower, a recuperation meal to make up for all the lost energy he’d burned during the brief operation, some light PT and he was finally able to find a corner to sleep in sometime around about 4am local time. From there it was a full day of more debriefings and performing the necessary suit maintenance as best he could without Hargreaves and Doyle.
He unexpectedly encountered Ava in the mess on the morning of the second day, picking listlessly at a plate of hash browns and bacon under the watchful eye of an MP.
“They not shipped you home yet?” He asked, sitting down.
“I’m still waiting for Agent Darcy to get here.” She replied. She looked like she hadn’t slept hardly at all since the Osprey flight. “After I’ve spoken to her… I dunno. Back to London I guess.”
“…You gonna eat those?”
She pushed the plate across the table for him, and watched him eat.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to your appetite.” She said, as he polished off her whole breakfast in a handful of efficient mouthfuls.
He set his knife and fork down. “Get used to it?”
“It’s just kinda difficult to connect the dorky guy I used to live with to… well, to Warhorse.”
“Change happens.” He observed, tugging his own overburdened plate over and starting on the foothills of mount breakfast.
She didn’t reply for a while, and he was well into his scrambled eggs when she did. “Uh… hey. Thank you.”
“For what?” He asked.
“You’re here and sitting with me, talking with me. I kinda figured you’d want nothing to do with…”
“You’re family.” Adam interrupted her.
“…I am?”
“Well of course you fuckin’ are!” He told her. “We both call the same man ’Dad’ don’t we?”
Ava listened with a cagey, hopeful expression so he sighed and explained.
“You remember what my mom was like. The whole thing with her and DCFS?” He said.
“Yeah.”
“My mom was an alcoholic bitch who made my life hell.” Adam said, putting it bluntly. “But I still loved her ‘cause she was my mom. And it still hurt when she died. You can still love your family even after they’ve hurt you.”
“Even if they’re not who you thought they were.” She said.
“Right.”
She watched him polish off his food.
“Hey, uh… you did good on EMPTY BELL.” he said, once it was done. “I don’t know what you talked about with Six there, but saving Coombes like that-”
“How is he, anyway?”
“Should be recovering by now, thanks to you. Lung injury like that, if you hadn’t held it together and treated him, he’d have been dead in minutes.”
She shook her head. “He talked me through it.”
“But you kept your head and listened and did it right.” Adam told her. “I’m proud of you for that. And for going into that hole to save the kid, that was brave. I know you impressed Firth.”
She accepted the praise awkwardly, twisting her fingers together in front of her. He stacked their plates and stood up to clear them away.
“Just so we’re clear-” he said, “There’s no goin’ back. You and I are never gonna be-”
“I know.” It was her turn to interrupt, holding up a hand. “”I know. Don’t worry, I accept that. But you’re the only family I have, Adam.”
He nodded. “Come back and have dinner sometime.”
“…I’ll do that.”
“Take care of yourself. And, punch Sean in the dick for me.”
She snort-laughed. “With pleasure.”
“Pleasure?”
“He keeps being…” She trailed off, grimaced and shook her head. “Actually, never mind. But yeah, I wanna punch him in the dick sometimes. And… thanks.”
He chuckled with her, nodded, and headed out. ”Nos vemos.”
She smiled. “You too.”
They parted ways again, but this time, Adam was left feeling buoyed by their conversation.
Maybe things had turned a corner.
Date Point 10y4m1w6d AV
Scotch Creek Extraterrestrial Research Facility, British Columbia, Canada, Earth.
Colonel Ted Bartlett
“Colonel? General Tremblay’s here, sir.”
Ted glanced up. The general was waiting patiently behind the cordon set up around the salvaged alien ship. Getting it back from Egypt had involved the simple expedient of using a field jump array to bring it and the meter of desert bedrock beneath it directly into one of SCERF’s sealed hangars. Ted beckoned that he was fine to approach.
“It’s been made safe, sir.” He explained, as Tremblay stepped over the line and came closer.
“How intact is it?”
“Surprisingly so.” Ted conceded. “Its internal forcefields contained a lot of the damage. Not enough to keep it airborne thank God, but.. Well, you can see. Where it’s not completely destroyed, it’s perfectly intact.”
“You’re certain that it’s safe? The team in Egypt reported that it was biodroning people by removing their brains and injecting the implants directly into them. And that gun was still trying to shoot the salvage crew when they secured it.”
“We’ve made it safe.” Ted promised. “Wasn’t difficult, we just cut the power.”
“Right. You know your business.” Tremblay nodded.
“Sir, I’ll take you double-checking me at every turn over a complete lobotomy every day.” Ted chuckled.
“So.” Tremblay looked around. “We have a mostly intact Hierarchy spaceship.”
“Better than that. We have the nerve center for their whole Terran operation.” Ted enthused. “General, this thing was the linchpin, it was the relay station for their local communications. without it they’re crippled – if there are any biodrones left after that battle, they’re isolated on Earth and out of touch with the agents controlling them.”
“Unless they have a second one.” Tremblay observed.
“We’ll know that soon enough.” Ted promised. “This thing’s computer is right in the most reinforced part of the structure, it’s perfectly undamaged.”
He paused to study a component that one of the scientists under him was carefully removing into a padded metal case, nodded, made a note on his tablet, and sent them on their way. “And if they don’t have a second one… I think it’s fair to say the battle for Earth is over.”
“If only.” Tremblay muttered. “But we’ll be much more secure at least.”
“General, they didn’t have a jump beacon in here and if this was their only ship…”
Tremblay nodded, but held up a hand. “Unless you can pull a complete list of every biodrone they ever made out of this thing, and until we’ve accounted for every single one, let’s not go talking about battles or wars being won. I’m happy to call this one a big step forward, but even one biodrone could finish us if it gets its hands on a jump beacon.”
“Then we’ll prioritise data recovery.” Bartlett nodded.
“And I’ll get out of your way. Thank-” Tremblay looked up as a C-17 came in low over the base on final approach. “…That’ll be the SOR back from Germany.”
“Time to give them the bad news about the Caledonia, sir?”
“Yes. But I want to be there when Major Jackson gives them that thing she dragged up here… Carry on, colonel.”
“Sir.”
Ted grimaced, resettled his glasses and got to work on organising the next phase. They had a lot of UFO to disassemble
Date Point 10y4m1w6d AV
Ramstein Air Base, Landstuhl, Germany, Earth
Darcy
This final chat with Ava was a much less formal affair than the ones that had come before. Ava was sitting on a couch in a small office that had been kindly loaned to Darcy for the occasion, still shadowed by her attendant MP, who gave Darcy a nod and stepped outside as she entered.
Ava herself looked upbeat and chipper compared to their last two conversations. Short on sleep, perhaps, but positive. She stood up eagerly to shake Darcy’s hand.
“You’ve been very patient.” Darcy thanked her. The situation in Egypt really had taken much longer to clean up than she would have liked – smuggling a wrecked UFO the size of a small house out of the country undetected had been a touch-and-go nightmare.
“No problem.” Ava replied. “It gave me a chance to, uh, rebuild a burned bridge, actually.”
“With sergeant Arés, I assume?” Darcy deduced.
“Yeah.”
Darcy sat down. “Well, there’s not much to this. I’ve already listened to the recording of your conversation with Six, and read your own account – which was commendably thorough, by the way.”
Ava shrugged. “I am a journalist.” She pointed out.
“I think as your career progresses you may find that other journalists don’t share your enthusiasm for conciseness.” Darcy suggested.
Ava laughed, but there was an edge to it. “And here I was fantasizing you’d come in here and offer me a job or something.”
“Would you like one?” Darcy asked.
To her credit, despite the desperate and forced joke, Ava treated the question warily and with a level head. “Is that an offer, or, like, hypothetical?”
“Hypothetical. For now.” Darcy said.
Ava nodded. “I, uh… This felt good. I mean, I feel bad about Vinther and Pavlopoulos, but, uh… I mean being involved, making a difference. It’s what I’ve been trying to do for a long time, and, uh…” she trailed off, then did a rather poor effort of rallying. “Yeah.”
Darcy nodded. She’d expected this, and had spent a good long while thinking about how to phrase her answer.
She led with the gentle opener. “I’d be… guilty of a terrible waste of potential if I turned you down outright.” She said. Ava wasn’t stupid – she saw the incoming ’however’ and braced for it. “However the fact is that hiring you this way would be deeply irregular even if there weren’t… concerns.”
Ava settled back and listened. She must be disappointed, Darcy knew, but again to her credit there was no hint of bitterness involved – she just listened.
“Now. Stranger things have happened in the Company’s history.” Darcy told her. “But I think right now, there’s a too-recent black mark on you. Your… romantic indiscretion.”
Ava’s gaze dropped until she was looking right at her toes. “Right.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. There are… good reasons why an incident like that would count against you.” Darcy explained. “We can point to all kinds of scientific, psychological studies proving that persons who break fidelity with their partners are more prone to risk-taking behaviour, and are therefore… it’s not possible to entrust them with too much responsibility. You were only cleared for this because the stakes are so high, and I want to make it clear – you will be watched for the rest of your life for being involved in it.”
Ava nodded. She didn’t look up.
“However.” Darcy launched into the good news. “Like I said, I see real potential in you. You have a sharp mind, a cool head, courage, spirit… I’m happy to endorse you. It won’t count for much right now, but with time and effort…”
“What kind of effort?” Ava asked. She looked up and met Darcy’s eye. “What do I need to do?”
Darcy frowned searchingly at her, trying to figure out the younger woman’s motives, and figuring out what she needed to say.
“If you’re after a quick fix?” She asked, and sensed by the subtlest change in Ava’s posture that she’d been on the money, “There isn’t one. When it comes to reputation and trust… well, they can be lost in an instant, and take years to recover. But they can be recovered.”
Ava swallowed. “How?”
“You’re a talented photographer. You’ve demonstrated a good nose for a mystery, for putting things together. You’re already standing on a solid foundation of journalism and, frankly, I think that bringing in people from that background might be in our best interests. It’s always good to get different perspectives on things.”
Ava found that amusing. “I think the reporter’s ethos and the spy’s ethos are at odds.” She pointed out. “Journalists are supposed to expose the truth.”
“So are intelligence agencies. The only difference is who we expose the truth to.” Darcy pointed out.
Ava didn’t argue. Instead, she touched her thumb briefly and thoughtfully to her nose. “How does building a career in photojournalism help me… prove myself?” She asked.
“In a few ways. The first is time – you’re now known to have a wealth of classified information in your head, and I’m not just talking about DEEP RELIC. The details of Operation EMPTY BELL, and some of the realities of the SOR. So long as you don’t leak it-”
Ava interrupted her. “I don’t see how doing the smart thing and staying off death row proves I’m trustworthy.” She objected.
Darcy laughed at that. “You would be surprised.” She assured her. “Just having a secret and holding it really does count, over time. But, more importantly-”
She cleared her throat and considered her phrasing. “I don’t want to say you ‘stumbled’ into the Egypt situation. You didn’t, you followed the hints, the leads and the evidence and knew what to look out for. And, if you should, ah, ‘stumble into’ any other situations where you think we might want to know, or where you think you may have found something we haven’t… Situations where you learn something that could save lives in the right hands…”
Ava nodded. “Earn credit as… kind of an informant.” She mused.
“We’re not omniscient.” Darcy said. “And if you’re serious about wanting to erase that stain on your reputation and come work with us, there’s your road. It won’t be a short one, or an easy one….”
“-But it’s a goal.” Ava nodded. “…Thank you. Really. Just knowing I’ve got something I can aim for and work toward helps.”
“Thank you.” Darcy replied. She stood and shook Ava’s hand. “There’s every possibility this is the last time we ever meet, so in case it is – best of luck. I have every confidence that you’ll succeed, but a little luck can’t hurt.”
Ava smiled and nodded. “I hope it’s not.” She said. “But… good luck to you too.”
Darcy handed her a set of printouts – plane tickets – and some cash in both Euros and Pounds. “This should get you home.” She explained. “Goodbye, Miss Rìos.”
“Goodbye.”
Darcy let herself out. She turned to the MP as she did so. “The young lady’s free to return home.” She said.
“Yes ma’am.”
Darcy checked her organiser and allowed herself a small grimace. There was still far too many things to address before she could close the book on Egypt.
Not least was the worrying nature of a small object that had been found in Six’s desk drawer.
Date Point 10y4m1w6d AV
Allied Extrasolar Command, Scotch Creek, British Columbia, Canada, Earth.
Owen Powell
General Tremblay was waiting at the bottom of the ramp as the SOR alighted and the C-17’s crew set about unloading the pallets with their gear and suits for transport to the Cimbrean jump array.
He shook hands with them all as they disembarked, offering congratulations and praise. “Excellent work all round.” He said. “It’s starting to look like EMPTY BELL may just have completely neutralised the Hierarchy’s presence on Earth. If it has, that’s an even bigger victory than Capitol Station.”
The lads nodded and grinned.
“Sergeant Firth.” The general continued, addressing Firth directly and in quieter tones, but nobody had any trouble hearing. “I understand this would have been a disaster without your personal courage. Not a lot of guys get to claim to have personally saved the world, eh?”
“Careful sir.” Firth warned, clearly buoyed and embarrassed in equal measure by the praise. “I’ve got a big enough ego already.”
Tremblay chuckled. “Still. Thank you, and well done. Now don’t let me keep you – Major Powell, a word please?”
Powell watched the lads follow their equipment across the concrete with a real sense of pride. The moment they were out of earshot, he turned attentively to the general. “Sir?”
“Mixed news regarding Operation HOLLOW BIRD.” Tremblay said, referring to the operation in the Perfection system that had taken the attention of Blaczynski, Vandenberg Akiyama and Sikes. Powell’s contented expression dropped immediately. “Your men are almost certainly fine.” Tremblay assured him immediately. “But HMS Caledonia failed to make the rendezvous. Details are still sketchy, but from what I understand there was a fire on board, a bad one.”
“How bad?” Powell asked.
“Bad enough. Perfection’s a long way from here though and communications are limited. My understanding is that Commodore Caruthers and six of the V-Class destroyers are on station helping her, but there’s trouble with the locals.”
“If the lads weren’t caught up in it, they’ll be flying the captured ship back to Cimbrean.” Powell recalled.
“And as far as we can tell, that’s what they’re doing.” Tremblay said. “But at that distance and at the estimated speed of the ship they’ve commandeered, their voyage time is about a week.”
“In the suit? Ooh.” Powell grimaced. “Between that and recuperation after this mission, the SOR isn’t going to be mission ready for… at least a month.”
“Admiral Knight suggests two.” Tremblay said. “Apparently he’s finally found an exo-atmospheric dropship that he thinks may suit your unit’s needs, and you have men coming up the Highway who’ll need integrating.”
“Yes sir.”
“Considering the success of this mission and the apparent solidity of our strategic footing, I don’t think I’m too concerned, therefore.” Tremblay said. “As for Caledonia, well, by the time I have solid details, you’ll probably have them too. We’ll see how we go from there.”
“Yes sir.”
Tremblay nodded. “Right. Last thing. Apparently Major Jackson decided to use some of her precious leave time and she’s here with a personal gift for you, and I think-” he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he peered towards jump array building, “That your men already know what it is.”
“A gift?” Powell turned to try and get a look. He could just make out Rylee in the distance, surrounded by Operators. Whatever her gift was, the lads were clearly excited by it.
“One I think you’ll enjoy. Go on, Powell, enjoy yourself. ‘Bye for now.”
“‘Bye for now, sir.”
Frowning to himself, Powell jogged across the concrete towards the knot of his men. As he came up behind them, a kind of high-pitched noise made itself known, one on the very upper limits of hearing with a particular cadence that he hadn’t heard in a very long time.
“…Is that a fookin’..?”
Burgess and Murray stood aside for him, and Jackson gave him a huge smile and a cheery wave. Sitting behind her on a leash and panting nervously was the largest dog Powell had ever seen.
“Hey Powell.” She welcomed him.
“A dog?!” He stepped forward. The dog licked its jowls nervously and whined again, tail thumping anxiously on the concrete.
“I think all these big strong guys smell kinda scary.” Rylee suggested. “He’s not like this with me.”
“Where did you get him?” Powell asked, taking a cautious half-step forward and going down on one knee. “Christ, yer a big fooker, aren’t ya?”
This was an understatement. The dog was rather larger than Rylee, and almost as large as Powell himself. Guessing at the breed was almost impossible – he seemed to be a mutt, combining all the important features of a mastiff, a Staffordshire terrier, several breeds of “big, scary dog,” an Irish Wolfhound, a Great Dane and an M1A2 Abrams. His paws were as big as saucepan lids and he looked strong enough to pull a wagon.
“Picked him up at the no-kill shelter back home.” Rylee explained. “Apparently they rescued him from a gangbanger who wanted the biggest, scariest dog ever.”
Powell extended a hand for the dog to sniff. It did so, tail waving uncertainly. “That’s right mate: Friend.” He said. “No stupid fookin’ gangbangers here.”
The dog licked his hand, Powell scratched his ears, and just like that he’d made a friend for life.
The dog didn’t so much bark as produce a huge booming ‘WURF!’. He play-bowed extravagantly, spun in a circle that nearly tied Rylee up and knocked her down, ‘WURF’ed again and tried to coat Powell’s face in an even layer of saliva.
“Arright! Christ! Fookin’- Aagh!” Powell playfully wrestled the dog off him. “Arright yer big bozo, arright!”
“WURF!”
“What’s his name?” He asked.
“I think you just named him.” Rylee grinned. “Bozo. Fits him perfectly.”
Powell grinned at the dog, whose tail was threatening to become sprained from the force of all that wagging. “Yeah? Is that you? Isyourname Bozo? Izzit?”
”WURF!
“Aaaawhosabozo? Whosafookinfuzzawaaahahaha…” Powell was in the middle of enthusiastically massaging the newly christened Bozo’s ears when he became aware of a wheezing noise behind him – Murray had doubled up from trying not to laugh.
The rest of the lads hadn’t even bothered trying. They were just standing there with enormous grins, watching their respected CO clown around with a dog.
He cleared his throat, stood up and tried to wrench some of his dignity back into place, well aware that he was just plugging a hole in the boat that would now never quite go away.
Rylee, for her part, managed to give him the best smug smirk he’d ever seen. “I’m guessing you like him.” She drawled.
Powell cleared his throat again. “I, um. Hmm.” He harrumphed. “The, er, the regiment could do with a mascot, after all.”
She handed him the leash. Bozo seemed quite content with the arrangement.
“All the paperwork and stuff is in here.” She added, handing him a bag. “He’s vaccinated, clean, he’s got a tracking implant and I persuaded the base veterinarian to give him a Frontline too. He should sail through Cimbrean customs, no problem.”
Powell nodded, and handed the leash to Arés. “Hope I can trust you lads to train him right.” He said.
“We’ll arrange Schutzhund and all the rest, sir.” Firth grinned. Bozo licked at his hand and relaxed as the four of them took turns scratching his scalp, clearly deciding that he was among friends.
“Arright. Go on, prep him for jump. I’ll be along in a few minutes.”
The four of them swapped grins and jogged off with Bozo happily bounding along in tow.
“Alright. How did you know?” He asked, turning to Rylee.
“You kidding? Like you would ever be a cat person.” She replied.
“Got me bang to rights there.” Powell conceded. “Still-”
“I saw him and thought of you.” She chuckled. “Take that however you want.”
“As a bloody compliment, which is how I reckon you meant it.”
“Yyyup.”
“So, uh… what are you doing now?”
“Well, I’ve got four leave days left over and a little bird told me you and the ‘lads’ aren’t gonna be doing much for a little while… I was thinking I might take a few vacation days on Cimbrean. See Pinkwood in its natural habitat before it’s extinct, take in the night life, have a spa day at Lake Scrapyard… You should join me, work off some of that post-mission energy.”
“Me in a spa?”
“Oh yeah. They’ve got this deep-massage and sauna treatment they got from Germany. Apparently in the low gravity it feels divine.”
”Me. In a spa.” Powell repeated.
“I got you a dog, the least you can do is put up with the hardship of a massage and hot baths.” She rolled her eyes, then dropped her voice conspiratorially. “In a private session. Just you and me. And they don’t let you wear clothes.”
“…Actually, you know what, that does sound good.”
“Knew you’d see it my way.” She beamed, and sauntered off toward the Array building.
Powell followed, musing on success and the days to come.
He’d earned some relaxation time, he decided.
Date Point 10y4m1w6d AV
Cabal dataspace, Relay 4772-61-76657-961-7264
Six
“Hello Ash. Or, should I call you Ava?”
+<Alarm;Confusion> What? What’s going on? What the fuck where am I?+
”Ava Rìos is safely at home on Earth having survived a rather fierce battle that you won’t remember”
+<Denial;Horror;Hysteria> Wake up Ava wake up this is just a dream just a bad dream wake up wake up wake up+
”You are… well, a copy. A scan, to be precise, of every neuron in her head, every spark of electrical activity, every chemical and every ganglion, converted into the same digital format as an Igraen. You may have noticed the scan as a mild headache.”
+<Fright;Disbelief> A copy? What do you want with me?+
“Only to apologise. You are after all every bit as sapient as Ava herself is, and every bit as sapient as I am. I just want you to know… I’m sorry.”
+<Mounting fear;Trepidation> What are you going to do?+
“You kept secrets from me, Ava. You withheld information. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter, because now that you and I are alone here… I can take everything I want. I’m afraid the process won’t be pleasant and – really, I am very sorry about this – you will not survive it.”
+<Panic;Terror;Pleading> No! Please no I don’t want to die no please I’ll tell you everything please don’t kill me no no no+
“Pleading will not help you, Ava. You are the twentieth copy I have dismantled thus far, and every time I do I learn something new.”
+God no please I’m begging you don’t do this please-+
“Goodbye.”
+No no please God help me no no nnn@@@!!!!#&%♫↕♦♦♦♦♦-…+
“Hmm…”
“…Interesting…”