After all the soldiers were seated, the officer walked to the opposite side of the room and began pulling down the equipment onto each soldier’s head. Their bodies began to tense up moments after the bowls were lowered. Nobody made a sound.
The officer worked his way down to her. She heard the distinctive hum coming from each module as it was activated. While the module was active the soldier couldn’t hear or see anything. Finishing with the soldier beside her, the Centurion stepped directly in front of her and… nothing. He just stared.
A few seconds passed while he looked at her. She didn’t know how to react because nothing like this had ever occurred. No soldier stepped outside protocol or disobeyed an order. It just didn’t happen.
She slowly looked up to meet his stare. He cocked his head slightly, then nodded to himself, leaning close to her.
"Temet Nosce,” he whispered for only her to hear.
She recoiled from him as if she had been bitten, pushing herself back in the chair as far as she could go. The soldier in her was mortified by the Centurion’s actions. For this, she could have him put in one of the modules and left until his mind frayed and he died. She had never been spoken to directly without giving somebody permission to do so. As a Praetorian Guard member, she was feared. Even more than the senior officers.
Yet, something made her hesitate. I know those words, she thought, I’ve heard them before. An image appeared in her mind of outstretched hands she couldn’t reach. She shook her head and gathered herself. She sat back up in her chair with her back straight and eyes looking forward. The officer leaned back up and crossed his arms. He looked at her for a few more moments, then reached over and pulled the device down on her head.
Everything went black and she could no longer hear anything in the room. She waited for the expected pain, but it never came. After another few minutes, she felt the device pulled back off her head and saw the Centurion standing in from of her again. This time, he quickly turned around and ordered the room to be readied for the next group of soldiers. He acted like nothing strange had happened and continued with his work.
She left the room without looking at the officer.
Why hadn’t she reacted? She should have the man killed, but she couldn’t make herself do it. She should walk right back into that room and throw him in a chair. When she started to do just that, the image of the outstretched arms she couldn’t reach appeared in her mind again. Something inside her felt… off. It was something she had only the vaguest memories of. When she saw that image in her mind she felt… sadness.
The scene distorted again.
“I can’t be one of those killers! I can’t be! They don’t feel! They’re evil!”
“You are. It’s who you were, but you’re no mindless killer. Don’t you see? Can’t you feel what happens when you see that image? You started to feel again even before you came here.” Jenn spoke with a pleading intensity.
“I don’t know what that was. I should have killed him! He had no right!” Christine tried to sound indignant then shook her head when she realized what she said.
“My dear, he didn’t make you feel. You did. It was always in you, but they tried to steal it from you—"
“No! I… I can’t… it’s against my orders. We can’t feel. We can’t feel!” Christine wailed.
The scene shifted back again.
Her helmet indicated new instructions.
“Proceed to launch bay and assemble in troop drop ship 3. Prepare for Infiltration Procedure on secured enemy facility. Location is unmapped, and resistance is unknown. No intel on security measures. A high value device has been detected and must be obtained or destroyed. Eliminate all subjects. Reinforcements approved. Priority Alpha. Fac aut morere. Acknowledge.”
“Acknowledged.”
She quickly analyzed what it said again. She was going to have to land and gain access to a facility. Possibly by capturing a subject and impersonating them. They had basically no information on what to expect, but it was of the highest priority. Fac aut morere, she thought, do or die. Don’t return if you fail.
Her new instructions pushed everything out of her mind, including the odd business with the Centurion. She had a mission to prepare for and she would follow her orders. She would deal with that Centurion when she returned.
The scene shifted.
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She gathered her supplies and weapons and stood outside the drop ship. It was 35 feet long and just as wide when its atmospheric entry wings were extended. Shaped much like a triangle, it was wider in the back with rounded edges and lines that curved slightly. The ship, like most airships, was colored several shades of gray.
She equipped minimally, certain she would have to destroy it all when she took the clothing of the subject to gain access to the facility. All she really needed was herself. Even without her armor she was confident in completing her mission. If she did have to remove it, she’d have to find a way to cover herself entirely before any other soldiers could see her. Being seen without armor by a fellow soldier meant death for both parties.
She entered through the open hatch at the back of the ship and elected to pilot herself. The lower ranked pilot specialist was removed from the craft. There were thirty soldiers ready in the troop hold. A high ranked Interrogator sat by himself in the officer area, closer to the front by the pilot chair. He was a large and muscular man. He sat facing forward, motionless. She had no opinion of his role in the military. His job was to interrogate subjects for information or terminate them. She didn’t know what his orders were, and it didn’t matter to her. She would execute her mission or die trying.
She walked by all the soldiers on the ship without acknowledging them and took the seat at the pilot’s station. Heavy weapons took up the rest of the available space on the aircraft.
Without hesitation, she hit the control to ignite the engine. Almost immediately the ship began to float a short distance from the launch bay floor. The deep hum of the engine was steady and strong. She didn’t know what made the craft work and it didn’t matter. She had trained for six months straight on this and other crafts, and had flown on several live missions since. As a Praetorian Guard member, she had no option but to excel at everything she was assigned to do. Not just good or proficient-the best.
She initiated departure procedures and received the all clear from the launch officer. The massive interior door to the decompression chamber opened and she eased the ship through it, idling once the craft was entirely inside.
The air in the chamber was sucked out and pumped back into the main ship for oxygen reserves. It took 90 seconds to complete and, once finished, an indicator lit up signaling that she could open the outer door.
She didn’t wait for the door to finish opening before she pushed the craft forward and out of the launch bay. She then spun the craft around a few degrees, so she could get a visual look at what planet or moon they were orbiting. She was surprised to see the massive blue-colored sphere with swirling clouds and large land masses beneath. It was new to her.
She had visited two of the three planets in the Empire, and at least half of the occupied moons, but none looked like this massive blue planet. The other planets were mostly dried out except for the underground water reservoirs and scars from the long history of war within the Empire. There was nothing close to the water covered planet in front of her.
She activated the flight planner with the destination coordinates she had received and waited for it to show her the best path. While she waited, she looked out the cabin window and continued to marvel at the planet. She had no time for such things as a soldier, but she thought the planet was… beautiful. She was reluctant to think like that. It was part of her training to not put things in such context. She pushed her thoughts away and looked back down to her console.
The planner finished analyzing the flight path and she immediately powered the thrusters forward. She was going to fly fast to try and avoid detection. She didn’t
know anything about the technology on this planet, so she didn’t want to take too many chances. This mission had to succeed, or she’d never come back alive.
The craft entered the upper atmosphere and started to shake slightly from the friction of the thick atmosphere. The automatic controls on the ship compensated for the rough decent and the shaking stopped. As it entered the atmosphere further, the wings deployed so it could navigate outside a vacuum.
She navigated the ship at a very high speed towards the layer of clouds over her destination, leveling it off once the craft was enveloped. She changed the ship’s control system to A.I. Control and set it to conceal its position a short distance from their target.
The Interrogation Officer got up from his seat and grabbed a Gravity Displacement Pack from an equipment locker. He wasted no time strapping the pack to his back, opening the ship door, and leaping into the sky.
She didn’t know the man’s orders, but she was sure the leadership had good reason for him to go first. It didn’t matter. Her orders were clear. Get the device or destroy it. She was going to land outside the facility and find a way to sneak in.
She got out of her seat and made her way over to get her own pack, strapped it on, and launched herself off the ship at a sprint. The other soldiers in the ship paid her no mind. They had their own orders, and would deploy when it was time to do so.
She flew toward the surface like a bullet, the wind whistling against her armor. Below her were large, white capped mountains. Trees and ponds and lakes were everywhere she looked. She couldn’t believe how much water there was. Even the air was saturated and moist.
The display on her helmet came to life, indicating the location of her target. She manually set the coordinates on her Gravity Pack to land about a mile away. Several vehicles whizzed by on the road below. She felt a moment of shock, but quickly pushed it away. The vehicles were strikingly similar to what was used in the Empire. Everything was vaguely familiar now that she really looked. Why would they have paved roads, electrical wires, and vehicles from the Empire? She was baffled, but still focused on her job. None of it mattered. Only the mission.
Ahead, the target came into view. It was a facility built into the side of a mountain. There was a single thick metal gate securing the entry point. It was open wide with security personnel and equipment surrounding it.
She flipped herself around, feet toward the ground, as her helmet indicated it was time for landing. She aimed for a small wooded area beside the road to the facility. The pack fully activated 50 feet from the ground, slowing her descent. She landed quietly in a patch of dead leaves.
After concealing the pack in the nook under a tree, she made her way to the road. Her lower body armor was collecting beads of water from the underbrush. The trees here were massive compared to what she had seen.
She ducked behind a pair of tree trunks, waiting. There were no vehicles she could see yet.
After waiting several minutes, she heard tires approaching. It putted into view, moving rather slowly. Two people were inside, a male driver and female passenger, both wearing bright white jackets.
She readied herself in a crouch, pulling out a small, round device as big as the palm of her hand. As the vehicle got closer, she burst onto the road and threw the device onto the hood of the vehicle. The driver slammed on the brakes and swerved to avoid hitting her. As the device made contact with the hood, she heard the expected loud pop and saw the extremely bright flash. She looked away. Even her helmet couldn’t protect her from the flash.
The vehicle skidded to a stop. She ran to it and pulled open the door. The people—
The scene distorted.
“I don’t want to see this. I don’t want to see what I did to those poor people. I’m not a killer! I’m not one of those beasts!” Christine cried.
“I know it’s hard. I know. Trust me, but you’re almost there. We’ve come so far. You need to see this to the end. When it’s done you’ll understand and your mind will be ready to choose. If you block this out we’re both dead and everything we’ve done together will be for nothing.”
“I won’t watch this happen again. I won’t. I’ll move forward. I… I can see ahead.”
The scene shifted and blurred as several minutes of her memory blended together and become indistinguishable until it snapped into clarity in her mind again. She didn’t want to relive that memory, so she bypassed it. It was too painful.
The memory continued.
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She snapped the red pen in half, pouring the ink over the growing red stain on the white jacket. Hopefully it would be taken for an ink stain. There was a name printed on the lapel. Christine. The woman’s pants were comfortable, but a little large. The shirt felt large as well. She had seen some higher ranking citizens and leadership wear similar clothing in the Empire. Denim pants were rare and a status symbol for those who wore them there. She had never had a pair on, but it didn’t matter to her what she wore. Only the mission mattered.
She took a brief moment, however, to feel the moist air on her exposed skin. The air was cool and refreshing. The sun didn’t appear to be as warm here as on the other planets. A light breeze made her shoulder-length, dark red hair shift, and small strands fell in front of her eyes. She instinctively pushed it back up with her hand. It was a unique experience for her and she felt… she felt— she pushed the idea of feeling anything away and focused again on the mission.
She put the broken pen back into her front pocket and hit the accelerator in the vehicle. Everything inside the caravan looked a little different, but it all operated the same. Land vehicles were common in the Empire. Flying was typically reserved for leadership and the Legion. She had received enough training to know how to smoothly operate it though. She kept at a low speed and drove toward the entrance of the facility, musing over the similarities between this planet and the Empire. They even spoke the same language from what she’d gathered during her… interaction… with the two people driving the vehicle.
It took less than a minute to arrive. She scanned the area, but something was wrong. There wasn’t a security person in sight, but the door was wide open. Stepping out of the vehicle, then walked cautiously to the facility’s entrance. As she approached the door, she spotted the security personnel lined up on the ground to the right. Six guards lay in a neat line, weapons beside them. All six of their heads were severed.
This was the work of the Interrogator. She stepped closer and examined the weapons the guards were using. They would have little effect on the armor the Legion wore. This was likely easy work for the Interrogator. She dismissed the bodies from her mind and walked swiftly through the entrance door.
The Interrogator appeared to have different orders than she did, and he obviously wasn’t concerned if his actions affected her in any way. She nodded her head in appreciation. He was well trained and followed procedure. A good soldier.
The entrance led into a large tunnel in the side of the mountain. Lights hung every few feet in a straight line down the center of the tunnel’s ceiling. The walls were thick and made of concrete. At the end of the long corridor, there was thick metal gate. It was wide open. The bodies of four more guards lay in a neat line beside it, their heads also severed.
The Interrogator was certainly thorough. Though, if the security guards had gotten out a distress signal, back up would be coming soon. The soldiers in the ship hovering above her location would detect the incoming threat and mitigate it. They would secure the position until their mission was finished.
She turned from the dead bodies and picked up her pace. Inside the second gate was another security checkpoint and two more bodies. She kept going without hesitation. The architecture inside reminded her of images she had seen of office buildings from one of the Empirical cities. Plain walls and ceilings. Office furniture. All so similar.
The checkpoint was in a room which had three hallways intersecting it, left, middle, and right. She jogged towards the right
hallway and started down it. There were no doors to check, so she continued on. At her first left, she stopped. There was noise ahead. She crouched and peeked around the corner.
A dozen people in white coats stood in a line, their hands above their heads, walking like ducklings down the hall. The Interrogator stayed closed behind them. She knew he would take them somewhere he could gather them all together and begin his work. She doubled back, not wanting to interrupt or be seen without her armor.
When she made it back into the main room, she took the middle hallway. If she needed to search the entire facility for the target device, she would. This hallway was much shorter and led into another large room with two exits into other corridors. A huge vault door took up almost the entire back wall. She was sure the Interrogator had seen this and was going to try to get information about it from his subjects, but she had no orders to wait for him, so she would try to get in herself.
Three massive cylindrical locks secured the door. A control panel blinked balefully on the wall to the right. She tapped it and a number pad appeared. It needed a code, then.
The locks started to slide away and the door began to swing open. Grabbing the small knife she’d hidden in her pocket, she readied for a fight, hiding behind the door as it swung open.
She waited silently, barely breathing. Footsteps echoed from inside the vault. As the footsteps neared, she whipped around the edge of the vault door and jammed the knife into the person’s gut.
The woman shrieked in pain and pushed herself away, grabbing her bleeding abdomen through her long white jacket. Stumbling back, the injured woman raised a hand and made a sharp gesture toward the ceiling with it. The bloody knife flew out of her hand and straight up into the ceiling. The injured woman gestured some more, and she was thrown to her left by some unseen force, pinned against the vault door. She couldn’t move her arms or legs. After a few seconds, she stopped struggling and looked down at the injured woman who had fallen to the floor and begun to crawl back into the vault. A trail of blood followed her.
The Harmony Divide- Never Alone Page 10