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...

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.

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."

"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.

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.

"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?"

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!

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.

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.

((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.

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.

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.

"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.

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."

"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.

"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.

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.

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."

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?"

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..."

"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.

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..."

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...

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."

"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."

"No...I don't. Why didn't you think it was funny?"

"Because it's not.", said Jacob, in a stern voice, "I find nothing humorous from that wannabe joker."

"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."

Jacob turned in Mio's direction after hearing this, putting his face into his palm. He spoke up, addressing Mio.

"With all due respect, ma'am, but having a civilian on the team is just going to slow us down. Not only that, it'll make our job on the battlefield a little more difficult - having to worry about protecting her all the time."

"I find nothing humorous from that wannabe joker."

"Look, lighten up a bit. You aren't helping anyone by acting like there isn't anything to laugh about." Gao said, allowing a twinge of annoyance to show through his voice. He then addressed Andrew. "For the record, I thought it was pretty funny. No offense, ma'am." Gao had added the last sentence in a bit more quickly than he would have liked. The last thing he wanted was getting on his CO's nerves.

"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."

Gao bit his lip in thought. There were several pros and cons to this, but he wouldn't mind having a field medic in combat. Kaivon was saying how he could protect Cadice, but Musto didn't even want her with them. Gao decided to keep quiet for now; he trusted Sgt. Mio to make the right choice, and he didn't want to cause too much friction between everybody.

"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."

She was about to answer to this when Mio heard the guys speak up in reply to what Cadice had said earlier, she wasn't aware that her slightly private conversation was being overheard.

"You soldiers don't know that it's rude to eavesdrop on private conversations?", Mio said and she then turned to both Kaivon and Jacob.

"While I do appreciate the help Kaivon and I do see your point Jacob, I do believe that the final word does not even rest with me. Command will have to decide wether or not Doctor Marin will join us. IF she is given a green light, WE will have to do what we can to protect her and get our work done. Failure is not an option in this unit, not with it's composition. Think of it as an added challenge if, and only IF it does happen", Mio said.

She then took Cadice from her arm and pulled her gently away.

"I will try to speak to the brass about this and request a field medic by using your name directly. I don't think they will deny my request after all the concessions I've made. Even so, you might have to fill some paperwork to get the acceptance", Mio said.

"That will be fine," Cadice answered. "As excited as I am for a chance to encounter Brieders up close and personal--with entire bodies instead of sample microsections of tissue--I have no wish to endanger you, your squadron, or your mission. If I cannot accompany you, then I wish all of you the best on the battliefield. One word of advice: don't inject more than four stimulant doses apiece before the fighting starts. War is hell, but the hyper-stimulation..."

I've said too much already. "NaxaPharmaceuticals does good work. That said, their products are of such quality and intensity that overuse is not good."

"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," S202A heard the Sergeant say as she saluted back with a simple yet dainty smile. He'd already been moving to the wall by that time but had noticed both actions before turning away; he gave her a nod in response to the smile, as he'd already saluted her.

The Shade brooded over the look the woman in the black duo had given him. She'd seemed pleased, if he could gauge anything from her reaction, but he didn't grasp it. He'd thought she'd be more wary, or intimidated, or angry, but what did he know? His own understanding of emotions and reactions came from his experience with others, not his knowledge of them on his own part. He tilted his head to the side as he thought on this; he found her....Interesting? No, intriguing? Same thing, right? Maybe. He was uncertain, his head swam for a moment and then he shook it, glancing over at the man in the duo once more.

The man had proven different, he felt something from him that reminded S202A of the Brieders to some degree: A malice, maybe? Most certainly superiority, he recognized that well, regardless of his emotional standing. The change in body-language was the primary tell, not the information he read from him, though he sensed a threat in this one that did not even so much as make an inkling of a sign of surfacing within the other one. He would have to watch this one - with a knife in hand.

He was in this squad to ensure that both parts to the mission got done.....No matter the cost. Shades often were in squads for that purpose, though surprisingly few of the common soldiers knew it, or at the very least acknowledged it as truth, after all, who could believe everything you heard about Shades? There were so many rumors after all. S202A knew that if this man put the security of the mission at stake, and even that of himself or the others, the Sergeant especially, then he might have to follow through with that overlooked little code the Shades so fervently followed.

S202A decided to listen in on the conversations around him, only to find that the Sergeant was discussing private matters with the civilian scientist, and the other soldiers were arguing with themselves and haranguing her about the decisions she was making in her private conversation; though he himself had already deduced most of what they had been discussing, he was still a man of protocol, and the others were not showing their due respects for her position as Commanding Officer.

The Shade very, very, rarely ever pulled rank, but he'd heard and gathered enough information to do so now. He stepped up and cut the view off between the Sergeant - as she proceeded to speak with the scientist - and the other soldiers and spoke up, "That's enough! Butting heads and questioning decisions made on a private matter is over! You're soldiers, we're on base, and preparing for deployment, act like it! Now follow the Sergeant's orders and get your gear in the armory...And leave personal matters amongst others personal! Understood!?"

S202A looked around at everyone, then glanced at the Sergeant Major. He knew his....Disposition, as well as rank, might cause a problem with those orders, but then again, they were (in a sense) equivalent in rank, so it all really mattered upon him and his attitude. S202A had the advantage of being apart of a separate covert branch of the military and thus being on a different ranking ladder from that of those in other branches; so it was an order either way.

S202A looked over his shoulder at the Sergeant and the civilian woman, and then stepped aside a bit, but stayed in relatively the same spot to ensure his words were not met with defiance.

((Hooray for random rank-pulling! Hey, I had to do something other than stand in front of a wall!))

Onyx heard the chatter between a few of his fellow soldiers, but didn’t comment on it. From what he gathered the Sergeant was speaking with a scientist in private. He didn’t comment on the matter as he didn’t want to be rude, especially on the first day.

"That's enough! Butting heads and questioning decisions made on a private matter is over! You're soldiers, we're on base, and preparing for deployment, act like it! Now follow the Sergeant's orders and get your gear in the armory...And leave personal matters amongst others personal! Understood!?"

Onyx jumped up in surprise, not expecting someone to speak that loud. Onyx turned to see that the intimidating voice belonged to a fairly armored man. Onyx eye’s were now fixed on this armored being. He began to study each piece of his armor, completely fascinated. This wasn’t standard issue stuff, that much he knew…could it be an H.E.S? The Shade has just given an order...but he needed to do this.

"Sir, yes sir!" Onyx responded.

Onyx then took a step forward and saluted the Shade. So many questions were racing through his head. He had heard about them, but he knew very little. He was interested in what they were capable of, and what their suits allowed them to do in combat. He heard a rumor that they could go completely invisible, or lift almost ten times their own weight.

“Excuse me, sir? I may not get this chance to ask again, but I was curious about your suit. I hope don’t come off as rude, but what exactly does it let you do?” Onyx asked, trying to hide the excitement in his voice…but failing.

"Sir, yes sir!" S202A heard the quick response from one of the soldiers...The Winston fellow he surmised.

The man approached and saluted him, the Shade returning the salute but saying nothing, not even a simple "'At ease.'" He felt the soldier was in need of something, and a feeling of overwhelming desire washed over S202A, the Shade twisting his head a bit as this...Thing smacked into the walls of his mind.

"Muh..." He grunted quietly with very slight displeasure at these constant, and somewhat strange, assaults on his psyche.

But through all the overwhelming.....Thing....Ness, that this soldier was exuding he could tell the man had questions.

“Excuse me, sir? I may not get this chance to ask again, but I was curious about your suit. I hope don’t come off as rude, but what exactly does it let you do?” Corporal Winston asked with the strange 'thing' coming out in droves from his voice, like the feeling of a consistent echo.

A breath of fog, and silence. He straightened out his thoughts before contemplating the question the young man had asked. He stared slightly down at the other man and just stood there breathing in slow, deliberate, shallow breaths as he analyzed and scrutinized from under his own mask. Then he broke his silence, releasing the tension that had built between them.

"I can't answer that question fully I'm afraid," he said quietly so that no one would overhear; in his same cool, empty tone. "It's a 'Prism' grade and issued Hostile Environment Suit, or H.E.S. for short. It is interwoven with an advanced circuitry system that covers the body apart from the head, which is to prevent it from interfering with my abilities, thus the pulsing lights. It has an adjustable temperature setting which allows it to mask the wearer from heat detection equipment, or more importantly, organs. It provides some limited protection from small arms fire, has a Shade issue E-Comm unit, while the helmet acts as a chemical agent mask and the suit features full life support and limited N.B.C. shielding...." He paused. He knew there were some other specs, like the goggles, the stim-ports, and other smaller functions he could mention, but those hinted at the more lucrative functions that he couldn't talk about, and he feared he'd already said too much, seeing as he'd mentioned the suit's circuitry system and temperature augmentation system. Though those weren't secrets (anyone who knew anything about any form of H.E.S. unit knew about those), they hinted at other systems the suit had that were tied in with those.

".....N.B.C. shielding stands for nuclear, biological, and chemical protection, just in case you didn't know." He finished, deciding to leave it at that.

Another breath of fog, and silence.

Onyx felt a bit uneasy as the Shade just stared at him. This would be scary if he didn't think this armor was so cool. He eagerly waited the shade's response, hoping he'd get some information from him.

"It's a 'Prism' grade and issued Hostile Environment Suit, or H.E.S. for short. It is interwoven with an advanced circuitry system that covers the body apart from the head, which is to prevent it from interfering with my abilities, thus the pulsing lights. It has an adjustable temperature setting which allows it to mask the wearer from heat detection equipment, or more importantly, organs. It provides some limited protection from small arms fire, has a Shade issue E-Comm unit, while the helmet acts as a chemical agent mask and the suit features full life support and limited N.B.C. shielding...."

Onyx cocked his head to the side as he took in this information. This suit was...incredible! It was a technological wonder for those like Onyx. Advanced circuitry, the special comm, the mask, and the ability to adjust the suits temperature. This guy sounded like he could be a one man army. This was probably why Shade's were so mysterious. They could easily handle anything on their own. Still something felt a bit odd. He got the feeling there was more to the suit, but he guessed it was simply something he wasn't allowed to hear. Well he still got some information.

".....N.B.C. shielding stands for nuclear, biological, and chemical protection, just in case you didn't know."

Onyx nodded his head at this. He knew what it stood for, but didn't want to be rude about it.

"Thank you for the information. If any of your suit's functions fail you on the mission, don't hesitate to contact me. I might be able to fix them for you...but I understand if I'm not allowed to see how it works. I figure I should still give you the offer. It will be an honor to fight along side you," Onyx said in his friendly tone.

"Look, lighten up a bit. You aren't helping anyone by acting like there isn't anything to laugh about."

"That's because there isn't anything to laugh about. What? You think I came here to make friends?", he replied to Gao. He crossfolded his arms across his chest when he heard a booming voice address him and Onyx.

"That's enough! Butting heads and questioning decisions made on a private matter is over! You're soldiers, we're on base, and preparing for deployment, act like it! Now follow the Sergeant's orders and get your gear in the armory...And leave personal matters amongst others personal! Understood!?"

Jacob nearly jumped when he suddenly heard the Shade scream at him.

"Actually, I barely even cared about what they were talking about. I didn't hear most of their conversation, nor would I have wanted to. When the words 'never used a gun in my life' crossed my ear, I decided to speak up and give my two cents. Sorry, Shade.", he said bluntly, saluting him. He said the last two words slowly, scoffing.

Jacob soon realized that he was creating tensions within the group. Especially between himself and Drew. He didn't care. This isn't school, as he's not here to make friends. But with what few people he talked to in boot camp those few years ago, they knew him with his sheer logic, and bluntness. Not only that, peer pressure never affected him, as he always acted, and wore (clothing), differently than many in his boot camp or in school. He isn't known as being a relatively ...happy... individual. But soon, the group shall learn that he doesn't speak with emotion bending what he says. He speaks clearly, bluntly, and truthfully, with nothing influencing what he says.

Even though the Shade was addressing himself to the soldier known as Onyx, Cadice Marin hung on his every word, absorbing them like drops of fresh water. Her brain was a sponge, and there was no way she was going to miss out on learning about the Shade's suit of combat armor. Even though she dared not interrupt, Cadice still wanted to ask him several questions. That can wait, however, she thought to herself. The mission comes first, and my suspicion is that it's going to be...quite unexpectedly...moved ahead.

The doctor wasn't a so-called "psychic", even though she had studied psi phenomena extensively in graduate school as part of her research curriculum. She considered most paid practitioners to be fraudulent, merely telling their customers whatever they wanted to hear, or repeating their very words in different terms. Nevertheless, her intuition served her well, and was almost never wrong in situations of dire importance such as this one. She knew that a person in a white lab coat was almost always expected to have a mind like a machine, processing information and doling it out at lightning speed. No matter what, however, humans aren't computers. We still have a soul.

She snuck cursory glances at everyone in the room. Cadice instinctively trusted Mio the most, not only as the commanding officer of this mission, but as the one who had suggested she come along. That signified implicit confidence in Cadice's abilities, which none of the other workers she'd met so far at the command center seemed to have. Onyx and Kaivon also ranked high in her estimation, because they had immediately offered to protect her once she said she'd never used a weapon. As for Gao? She couldn't "get a bead" on him, as the old expression went, except that he was uneasy about having a completely inexperienced civilian accompany them on a military mission.

Drew and Jacob seemed to be at odds; she'd simply wait and see if their tensions either escalated or dissipated. If they escalate...bad news.

Cadice's spine stiffened when her eyes fell upon the Shade. Out of all the soldiers here, the military personnel, only that one--he--would possibly take me out if I failed in my capacities as a field medic. He does not suffer fools. Not only that, but she sensed the Shade had slaughtered thousands before. For honor? For glory? For justice? No. Such patriotic platitudes were beyond him. A Shade was created to kill, if that was the correct term, and kill he would. Whether she went on the mission or not, he still frightened her.

"That's because there isn't anything to laugh about. What? You think I came here to make friends?"

Gao had opened his mouth to respond, but the Shade then caused him to jump.

"That's enough! Butting heads and questioning decisions made on a private matter is over! You're soldiers, we're on base, and preparing for deployment, act like it! Now follow the Sergeant's orders and get your gear in the armory...And leave personal matters amongst others personal! Understood!?"

Gao jumped to attention immediately. He then made a mental note to never get on the Shade's bad side; those guys could be pretty nasty. Gao certainly did not want someone as cold and calculating as a Shade, for lack of a better term, losing it against someone, or anyone on the squad. Right, should probably get my gear..." he thought to himself, as he walked toward the armory. Once there, he went up to the requisitions officer.

"Sir, I'd like to be given a SMG, a pistol, and incendiary grenades, please." Gao realized that requesting a pistol as a back-up weapon might seem a little odd in this day and age, considering that guns could be recharged on the spot, though he wanted to be prepared for everything. He remembered his primary weapon had actually overheated while he was fending off hordes of Brieders, so he felt secure in taking a backup weapon. The grenades were probably a little bit of overkill, but then again, they had a Shade on the team, so Gao felt as if he was well-prepared for things to come.

"Thank you for the information. If any of your suit's functions fail you on the mission, don't hesitate to contact me. I might be able to fix them for you...but I understand if I'm not allowed to see how it works. I figure I should still give you the offer. It will be an honor to fight along side you," the Corporal finished.

S202A just stared for a moment, not many soldiers actually said that it was an honor to fight with a Shade, only that they were grateful for the extra firepower that they brought to bare on the battlefield.

"You wouldn't know how..." Was all the Shade said in response after the long pause.

S202A heard soldiers snapping to attention around him, noticing one of them heading into the armory as instructed, he caught some words from the Sergeant Major off to the side.

"......The words 'never used a gun in my life' crossed my ear, I decided to speak up and give my two cents. Sorry, Shade." The sour man saluted with a sense of something less than respectful coming off of his personage. The Shade simply looked at him, without care, and without feeling; he felt no contempt, nor hatred, nor pity, nor sorrow for him, S202A was simply getting everyone straightened out and on task for the sake of order, which was something drilled into all in the military, even the Sergeant Major with all his 'opinions', and 'two cents' and lack of care or concern (not that the Shade had any). Not that opinions mattered in the military, because when you were in the military, the military owned both you, and your opinions; you had no say, and you had no choice, you did what you were told, or you faced discipline and consequences, something the Shade felt that the Sergeant Major had gone without. He'd have to look into why.

'Another General's child?' He questioned in his mind as he glanced over at the Sergeant. He looked back over at the Sergeant Major and spoke to him finally, "I'd take those two cents back. You'll need them to buy yourself enough motivation to get your equipment like both the C.O., and I, ordered."

Shade humor...Was not funny. Especially coming from a Shade.

He hoped mentioning the fact that the order to get equipment had been given twice would be enough to get him, and anyone else still idling around, to actually do it. He glanced down at the Corporal who was still standing in front of him exuding the same feelings off of himself, as he stared at S202A's H.E.S. unit, "That goes for you too, Corporal."

S202A felt eyes settle on him, and a wash of information come over him, one in particular he recognized as something he'd actually felt within himself, but only at the thought of his own 'retirement'; though it's sensation was enough to remind him of it, and bring the feeling to bare. Fear.

He felt more questions tickling his mind from someone other than the Corporal, and a sense of......Inspiration? No, awe? Yes? Not quite. A flash of a thought, 'Enamored...'

S202A lifted his head up slightly at his detection of these things, he was trained to be keenly aware of those who's minds were focused on him. It was a trigger sense that told him: Danger!

Just because everyone was fighting one menace together did not mean they didn't see it in others. The thought of Shades often brought about the ideas of Brieder supremacy in people's minds, and how the Brieders (or more exactly, their leader) made this their excuse for war, and the conversion and destruction of mankind. Who was to say Shades didn't feel the same way? But people often forgot, or more exactly, they chose to forget - simply for the sake of prejudice - that Shades were made not to feel.....At all. But people would fear what they felt was dangerous, what they didn't understand; who was more unknown, and more threatening than a Shade?

So trigger senses were embedded into Shades for the sake of their own safety.

S202A swiveled his head ominously in the direction of the trigger, only to find that it was the scientist who had been speaking to the Sergeant. She seemed enraptured with his presence almost as much as the Corporal had, though in a minute and lingering sense. No, she seemed more intimidated than enraptured. There was the reaction he'd been waiting to feel from the woman in the black duo, only, it was coming from a common civilian scientist.

He knew that looking at her right as she was analyzing him in such a manner might frighten her even more, so to prevent an unnecessary panic he decided to initiate, rather than react to her study of his personage. He glanced at the Sergeant next to her and another sudden flash of memory came to mind.

"Contrary to popular belief, I don't bight.....Much," he reiterated the Sergeants own words in his cold empty voice.

"I'd take those two cents back. You'll need them to buy yourself enough motivation to get your equipment like both the C.O., and I, ordered."

"Shade humor. Not very funny.", Jacob replied, glaring at the Shade.

He walked towards the armory to grab the necessary equipment. He walked up the the requisitions officer.

"Give me a FAL rifle with an ACOG scope, Striker shotgun, and a few frag grenades.", he said bluntly to the officer.

He couldn't help but feel worried about the Shade. Sure, few things could instill fear into him, but Shades are on the border. He thought that showing them that he had no fear would allow them to respect him, but he's doubting himself. But he was not sour, he had no attitude, he was only bitter.

Cadice had heard the American saying "to jump out of one's skin" before, but never had she felt that particular desire--until now. Before, she had thought this figure of speech to be absolutely ridiculous. Now that the Shade had spoken, however, it wasn't so ridiculous after all. Even though her skin and skeleton continued to remain fused, she suddenly felt as startled as if they were not.

"I--certainly hope not!" she cried, trying to mask her apprehension with a chuckle. Humor was one of her strong suits, though she only used it when she thought it was most appropriate. She was not a 'joker' by nature, as some of the soldiers in this present group had accused one another of being. Against all odds, the scientist found her tongue becoming untied. "When you do bite, however, the Brieders will start screaming." She fell silent. This I know.

"You wouldn't know how..."

Onyx frowned a bit at that. His frown quickly turned into a smile as that meant his suit was really advanced. He wasn't one for bragging but he was pretty good when it came to what he specialized in. He couldn't wait to see this Shade in action. Another thought popped into his head. They were all calling him Shade, but what was his name? Did he even have a name?

"That goes for you too, Corporal."

Onyx shook his head as he stopped day dreaming. He saluted again and made his way to the requisition's officer. He got himself a sniper rifle for long range, an assault rifle for medium to close, and a few grenades. He also requested a pistol, which wasn't for him. The corporal walked back after getting his weapons and slowly approached the scientist.

You can do this Onyx...she's just a girl, she won't kill you...I hope.

"H-Here...for when we go out there. I uh...I can show you how to...how to use it," Onyx said to the scientist as he held the pistol out to her.

The scientist took the proffered pistol into her hands as if it were a dangerous biological specimen. From what Cadice knew of firearms, one should always assume they are loaded. Therefore, she treated the weapon that Onyx handed her quite gingerly. "I would appreciate that very much, sir," she answered, although a bit apprehensively. "In my home as a girl, we never kept weapons. If there were burglars, our family figured that the SecuroTech Advanced alarm system we had installed would keep us from any harm. Thankfully, the one robber that dared invade our house had his eardrums damaged due to the high-frequency signal, and that's that." A slight blush came to her cheeks. Ah! I sound like a complete idiot. This man knows guns, and I'm babbling inanely!

Clearing her throat, she continued, "I presume that if we're going to try this out, it will not be here, in a room full of innocent bystanders." Here I go again...

"I presume that if we're going to try this out, it will not be here, in a room full of innocent bystanders."

Onyx nodded his head. "That would be bad," he said.

Onyx seemed to calm down a bit when she started talking about her family. Of course the seconds she mentioned the SecuroTech Advanced alarm system he perked up again. That one counter to him getting nervous...tech talk.

"Yeah, our family had one as well. We never had any robbers, but better safe than sorry. Oh...I forgot to introduce myself. Corporal Winston, but I prefer Onyx."

Onyx held his hand out to her. He would have gone into detail about his name, but decided against boring her...and the others as well.

"I--certainly hope not!" the scientist said to him with a small laugh, he simply stared. "When you do bite, however, the Brieders will start screaming." She continued, going quiet.

'This I know,' came a small whisper in his mind, though, it was not from his own.

"Indeed..." Was all he iterated to her remark as he stared at her.

Moments later the Corporal returned, handing the scientist a sidearm. S202A would have reacted sooner and far harsher but he saw the Sergeant wasn't overreacting, so he kept himself from taking too strong of an initiative towards the situation.

He gently reached out and took the weapon away from the woman with practiced delicacy. He noticed how his - to his own mind, and compared to some other soldiers - own small gloved hand could easily encroach her own, and found this sudden and inane interest in hands a complete surprise. He cocked his head slightly but proceeded to remove the weapon from the civilian.

"Corporal, she's not assigned to the squad yet, or at all for that matter; she needs no guns at the moment. Besides, civilians aren't allowed to wield military firearms," he told Corporal Winston. S202A stared at the Corporal, and then glanced at the scientist, then back to the Corporal - the Shade wasn't stupid to the situation and handed the gun to the Corporal.

"Just keep it with you for now, and that's an order, understood?" He said as he looked back over at the scientist and then to the Corporal once more and shook his head and stepped back. The Corporal better have realized how easy he got off, and why he had been given that order, and be grateful for both.

'Courtship....' The Shade thought to himself as he just stared at the two with both he and the Sergeant off to the side, as he shook his head ever-so-slightly.

'.....I don't get it.'

"Corporal, she's not assigned to the squad yet, or at all for that matter; she needs no guns at the moment. Besides, civilians aren't allowed to wield military firearms,"

Onyx looked to the Shade, completely confused. Of course his mask and glasses hid this look, he was still quite confused. She wasn't part of their squad? He was under the impression that she was, that's why she was here...right? He suddenly got very nervous after taking the pistol. What if the Sergeant got angry with him?

"Yes sir. Sorry sir, I thought she was with us....I guess I should have eavesdropped to have known that information, huh?" Onyx asked jokingly.

On that joke he quickly turned to look at Sergeant Kobayakawa. He chuckled now even more nervous then he was before.

"Not that I should have, I mean its rude...very very rude. I wouldn't want to hear the conversation anyway. I mean I would, I don't mean you two are boring...no I meant...sorry ma'am," Onyx said, cutting himself off before any more damage was done.

"That's enough! Butting heads and questioning decisions made on a private matter is over! You're soldiers, we're on base, and preparing for deployment, act like it! Now follow the Sergeant's orders and get your gear in the armory...And leave personal matters amongst others personal! Understood!?"

Kaivon stood straight up and saluted. "Sir yes Sir!" He said as he stared straight ahead. "I apologize for my behavior sir!" He said again as he turned and headed for the armory. Kaivon was already wearing his Titan12 suit but he always thought it was a good idea to carry a few extra firearms around with him when going on missions or even when going outside. It was better safe than sorry when it came to possible Brieder attacks.

I think I need to make a better impression on these people. He thought as he continued to walk towards the armory. Apparently I didn't make a good first impression.

When the Shade removed the pistol from her grasp, Cadice was flooded with mixed emotions. Above and suffusing all of them was naked fear, even though the mysterious myrmidon had quipped that he didn't bite. Beneath the fright, however, were several layers of feeling stacked on top of one another like strata melting in a gooey birthday cake: disappointment at possibly losing her first chance to use a weapon; embarrassment at the Shade (correctly) revealing that she was not officially part of the squad; anxiety at the friction between the squad's members; and, below all, something deeper. Desire. The researcher wondered what kind. Do I want to kill, or to heal? When I held that pistol for the very first time, I felt a huge rush! I could be a soldier, even though I was never trained to be. All I need is the right tutelage.

Then she shuddered. I'm a Ph.D. biological researcher, not a warrior! I'm supposed to want to help, not harm! I've taken an oath to be ethical in my studies, endangering no more living beings than absolutely necessary in my attempts to discover the roots of Brieder biology. Why did I wind up here, in a command center full of those who fight on the war's front lines? Blast it...

Whenever Cadice wanted to conceal her emotions, she took a deep breath and mentally recited a list of ingredients for a serum of her own invention: Norepinephrine. Adrenaline. Serotonin. Ethylhexylcenterol. 2-methyl-serathrin. Perastatate hydrochloride, to serve as a catalyst. Submerge all in a ferrous polymer. This was a recipe for the wounds of war, but not the physical ones. The serum was an amnestic, that would erase memory of mind trauma without endangering other and more precious reminiscences in the brain. In high doses, Cadice knew, it would prove lethal. Closing her eyes, she imagined taking such doses when her bodily functions failed her.

I've only tested it on myself. I've already forgotten whatever happened on a certain date that I can no longer recall. In this war, the soldiers here might need my secret formula. However, I will not make them my guinea pigs...

Drew watched all the chatter with an amused grin. When the Shade took the weapon from the doctor, his grin grew even wider and his eyes locked on the doctor. He tapped into the power he and his sister shared and listened in on her inner dialogue. Grimacing, he realized that, for all her attractiveness, the woman had little in her head to hold his interest.

Erica, who'd entered the armory to pick out nothing more than a simple handgun took a few seconds to realize her brother was up to something. The armory doors slid open and she stared at him with a suspicious frown. Then a flicker of disgust flitted across her face and she crossed the hall, slapping the backside of his head sharply.

"Behave!" she growled.

Rubbing his head and shooting Erica an angry glare, Drew withdrew his mental touch from the doctor's mind and swaggered into the armory.

Mio watched as the soldiers infront of her exchanged words, all started with Andrew's usual attitude but escalating on what she thought had been a private exchange of words with the Doctor. Mio sighed. This wasn't exactly what she hoped for so soon in the game, all the tranquility she hoped for or at least camaraderie she hoped for was mostly gone. She took a deep breath and then looked at all of them.

"Alright, enough of this. You don't have to like each other but you will respect each other. Act like soldiers goddamn it! You're like boys fighting over toys, now I will meet all of you in the hangar bay at 1300 hours. Dismissed!", she said and left the room without so much as a second thought.

She walked right across a hall and turned on a corner. She pressed herself on the wall and just sighed deeply. Any hope for this going smoothly went down the drain fast...

She shook her head a little, tapped the wall and went on her way. She filled a report to her father, the General specifically discussing the young Doctor and her desire to come along, emphasizing her thirst for knowledge and her research value. But she only obtained from her father a small reply. "I'll look into it".

She sighed once more and lay back on her chair in front of her desk in her quarters.

Onyx stayed silent, a bit in disbelief on everything that had happened. He looked around at everyone else for a few seconds while he gathered his thoughts. Perhaps he would check up on her...later though...he feared she might kill him for speaking up. She was still right, even if he was certain he hadn't done too much to contribute. Sure he gave a civilian with zero combat experience a weapon, but at least he didn't bicker with anyone yet.

Drew seemed to be confrontational, but Onyx truly didn't mind his cocky nature. In fact he somewhat found his attitude welcoming. His sister seemed nice too, but he had done enough damage talking to two females already. There was no need for him to butcher his sentences in an attempt at a conversation with her. The other large armored guy didn't seem too bad. He was just a bit on the quiet side, not that there was anything wrong with that.

Onyx stopped going through each and every squad member that was on this team. Hopefully they could all get their act together before they actually left, him included. He turned to the Shade once more, a look of worry slowly forming on his hidden face.

"Sir? We're screwed...aren't we?" Onyx asked.

Cadice was both puzzled and frustrated by this exchange. Clearly, there was already a conflict of personalities among the assembled soldiers, but weren't trained members of the military supposed to put such things aside? Secretly, she was glad that Mio had the sense to remind everyone of how they were meant to behave in this situation. Sighing, she decided to leave the room and locate what she had originally come to find: the Brieder tissue sample.

Remembering Mio's instructions, the researcher made her way to the shipping department at the command center. After giving her name and the serial number of the parcel she was to receive to a cooperative desk clerk, Cadice waited as he punched several series of keystrokes into his console.

"I...I'm sorry," the baffled clerk said, "but there seems to be no record of such a package in our S & R system. Are you sure it was to be shipped here?"

"Actually, it wasn't," Cadice answered. "I've already been to the facility at Cretia, where the package was supposed to be delivered, and it's not there. One of my colleagues suggested it was probably at this command center. If it's not, then do you have any idea where it could be?" Her mounting feeling of unease grew. "Any idea at all? This parcel is vitally important to me."

Feeling his stomach flip a little, the clerk made several more network queries. Not only did he re-check the shipping and receiving logs at the command center, but also the Cretia database and incoming shipments in both. Nothing. It was as if such a package had never existed at all--so much the worse for Cadice. She had come to believe that this particular 'catalogued' Brieder tissue sample could be the most important "missing link" in her project!

"Nope. Nothing. Hey--!" He leaned forward. "My screen's reading 'Access Denied'. I'm supposed to have full clearance in this part of the network, which means only one of two things: this system is having serious technical difficulties, or it's been hacked." His face was as pasty-white as a corpse. "All the other packages we've sent and received today are fine. They're all here, or on their way 'there', wherever 'there' is. It's only your package's serial number that's displaying this reading in the Cretia database, although not in the database of our shipping department. What on Earth?!"

"It could have been stolen. Is that what you're thinking, sir?" Cadice asked.

"W--we prefer the term 'misdirected' or 'compromised', ma'am, but yes."

"I have to leave. Thanks for your help!" Without another word, feeling her bowels turn to liquid, Cadice bolted back down the hallway and into the nearest restroom. She had been seconds away from soiling herself outright.

"This can't be happening," she murmured softly, sinking her face into her hands after flushing the toilet. She continued to occupy the seat, squinting her eyes shut against sudden tears. It's not simply that Brieder tissue samples are classified, meant for the eyes of only the finest researchers. Their cell tissue does not 'die' as ours does: that's why it has to be frozen in liquid nitrogen. Brieders are mortal, but unless they're 'dealt with' using lethal, unconventional weaponry, their bodies might regenerate. Very slowly.

If someone unfreezes that vital sample, whoever they are, and studies it improperly, the 'graft effect' might take hold. Who could have stolen it?!