Retrieval Saga

Crossing the Rubicon

Chapter 1: The Garden of Eden

The Bladestorm was metaphorically rudderless. Not because it had been damaged and unable to move, but because the captain had a genetic and mental breakdown. In fact, the Bladestorm's crew was currently waiting for the arrival of a certain ship where they'll be able to treat their stricken captain.

The radar tech looked over at Chris, who was sat in the bridge's captain chair. "Still nothing. Cole's pulling our chains," he said. Mark just said, "It'll be here." "I'm pretty sure it won't be that hard to find," said Techo, "I mean, a planet cracker's kinda hard to miss, isn't it?" One of the techies nodded. "Weren't they used in that war in Dimension V-41?" he said.

Suddenly the radar readout beeped. "Hold it, got a HUGE contact warping in off the port bow...holy smeg..." he said slowly as the stars in the viewport literally vanished behind a wall of metal. Suddenly they heard a woman's voice speak over the communicator, "Greetings, is this the NSS Bladestorm?" Chris nodded, "Yeah, this is Chris Anderson..." The woman interrupted. "Where is Captain Lynch? I was told to expect him," she said. "He's, uh, indisposed," said Chris. The woman sighed. "I see...I'll have a security team ready at shuttle dock 4. We don't have the facilities at our ship-to-ship airlocks. This is Eden...out," she said, terminating the link.

The crew transferred Matt over to the BiNebular and started the cross over to the Eden. Chris assembled the experiments before him. "Now guys," he said, "I think it's important that no one over there learns what you are. I doubt they'll be able to restrain their scientific curiosity enough to keep from genetically dissecting you. So if anyone asks, you're from an odd planet that has weird environmental conditions that resulted in your peculiar evolution." "A bunch of Darwin's wild cards," said Draco, "Got it."

Techo said, "What about Nocturnus-11? Now that's one screwed up planet, specially those talking plant things." "Good idea," said Chris, "No one goes into the Nocturnus system. No one who wants to come back in the same condition they came, anyways." Stitch nodded, "Ok, but what talking plant things?" The mercs all shuddered as if remembering something creepy. "Don't ask," said Chris.

There was a clunk as the Eden's magnetic beams slowly pulled the BiNebular into the shuttle bay, next to a walkway that split the bay in two. At least 3 dozen men in full combat power armor, old civilian models, and holding some extremely lethal looking guns were lining the bay. Two figures stood at the front of the group, waiting. They were both looked Japanese and either in their late 20's or early 30's. The woman had black hair kept up in a bun and amber eyes behind glasses. She wore a lab coat and a short green dress underneath. The man had yellowish eyes and noticeably long sideburns. He was wearing a uniform that signified being the chief of security.

The crew were naturally cautious. Not even Silvia had ever pointed so much firepower in their direction. "You must be Mr Anderson," said the woman, bowing respectfully, "I am Dr Yin Circe, owner of the NSS Eden. This is my chief of Security. He simply prefers the name, Lupo." "Dr. Circe," said Chris, trying to keep his voice diplomatically neutral, "I hear you're the best in genetic cosmetics. Somewhat like your namesake." "Oh, I am. Your captain will be in the best hands imaginable. We do research in many different mutagens, physical and magical., said Dr Circe. Lupo said in a gruff voice, "And where IS the captain?"

At that there was a cry and one of the Bladestorm crew came flying out, literally. Three others came out, holding a struggling, muzzled and still extremely feral Matt between them. "As you can see, he's had another relapse," said Chris. "The only way we could bring him was to induce his winter hibernation instinct," said Techo. Matt finally snapped his hand restraints and banged his handlers' heads together with an auditable clunk, knocking them out stone cold. Dr Circe, Lupo and his men didn't seem worried like everyone else and the security chief simply made a hand gesture, a simple wave and his men took practised aim and 6 beams of energy hit Matt in the chest, causing him to fall down. "Frost guns, our own design, a custom stunner for infected," said Dr. Circe, smoothly as some of Lupo's men picked Matt up and put new restraints on him while others checked the incapacitated mercs for scratches.

"Nice," said Chris, "Is that affective against all cold-blooded species?" Circe nodded, "Indeed but the temperature should be fine tuned for best effect." She seemed thoughtful for a second then said. "So...he has Sy-Yong Syndrome. I thought DARKRIFT eradicated that with the Sy-Yong colony." "We found a sealed-off location where some experiments of that project were contained," said Mark, "It's a long story." "Indeed, you do realise that the genetic therapy will be quite expensive, easily beyond the 50,000 Nullspace credit margin," said Circe. "Ok, I think we can provide the currency needed," said Chris. "However," said Circe, "if you'll allow to study this infection, we'll consider it a donation for scientific research with no charge." Chris looked over at her. Circe added, "We do have the facilities to store the DNA safely. We've never had an accident here and as you can see. We're equipped if there ever is one." Chris looked grim. "I'll have to talk it over with the rest of the crew," he said. Circe petted him on the shoulder. "That seems fair enough," she said and watched as Chris walked off, the nano-bug she'd placed transmitting.

Chris returned to talk to the experiments about this. "I'm all for scientific research," said Chip, "but it sounds to me that it would keep Matt in infected form far longer than we want." Chris said. "She said she just wants DNA samples..." he began and was shouted down by Techo. "Are you off your nut? That stuff's lethal! You forgot what nearly happened in New York?"

"There have been certain cases when a virus is eradicated for the sake of civilization," said Contrinus, "I think there was one called the Blue Shadow plague or something?" "Yup, it took out six planets and it could live in post-nuke blast temperatures. I heard that planets' still off limits. It didn't take out a colony in a week though," said Techo before sighing. "Look, we were at Sy-Yong and New York could easily have been that. I vote we just pay her, least she doesn't want experiment blood," he said

Meanwhile,

Dr. Circe and Lupo had been listening through the bug they had planted. "Pity," said Lupo, "It looks like we won't get to study the Sy-Yong infection after all." "But this could be more interesting," said Dr. Circe, "I wonder what he meant by 'experiment blood'?" Lupo said, "Some rumor to do with that bio-weapon that the Empire has been using." Dr Circe looked thoughtful. "Hmm...a chance to have a sample of the EXP virus...tempting..." she said and the two were interrupted as a technician came in, "Captain Lynch is ready in room 3, ma'am." "Very well," said Dr. Circe, "We might as well get started on him."

--

Matt opened his eyes weakly. The last thing he could clearly remember was attempting to press Romanov's head through the tarmac of the New York storage park where they'd fought. He suddenly remembered a little more and shot upright, looking at his hands. "Oh, thank god," he muttered when he saw they were not claw tipped or covered in scales.

"Relax, Captain Lynch," said a female doctor who was in the room, "You're in safe hands." Matt looked suspiciously at the doctor. "And you are?" "Dr Yin Circe. Your crew brought you here for Genetic therapy. I'm happy to say it was successful," she said. "Well, that's a relief," said Matt, "Least I don't have the urge to sun myself anymore." Circe added, "But as your doctor, I recommend you remain here. You were supposed to have been cured last time too." Matt rolled his eyes. "There's always a 'but'."

"Relax, there's nothing to fret about. You might think of this ship as a sort of health spa." Matt looked up at a security camera/defence turret combo aiming at him. "Yes...a health spa..." he said unconvinced. Dr. Circe followed his eyes. "Oh, that's just a necessary precaution in case you went feral again. We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?" "I suppose," said Matt and got up, heading for the exit. He opened the door and one of the power armoured troopers from earlier aimed a gun with a muzzle hole big enough to fit his hand in. "Ooook...mandatory bed rest?" he said.

"I'm afraid so," said Dr. Circe, "We're not certain if your recovery is 100% complete. There's a chance that some of the infection is still lingering." Matt wasn't convinced. "Pull the other one," he said and in a smooth movement uncoupled the guard's gun's power pack and strolled by. "Oh, and get better flash training," he said, walking off to come face to face with a wolf anthro in a security uniform that proclaimed him the security chief. "Someone's been at a dog biscuits," said Matt. "Ah, Lupo, good for you to come," said Dr. Circe, "Our patient needs convincing he needs bed rest." Without a word, Lupo brought his fist down on Matt's head. "Ooooh....look at all da pretty birdies," mumbled Matt before crumpling.

"His crewmates may become suspicious," said Lupo. "Doctor's orders," said Dr. Circe. As if on cue, the intercom beeped. "Doctor? We have a situation. Some of the captain's crew are demanding to see him." "Tell them he's resting right now and should not be disturbed," replied Dr. Circe. "I, erm, tried that. I also tried shutting the door on them, didn't work." Lupo looked around at that, "The bulkhead didn't work?"

"Well, some of his crew are really unusual. Really, really unusual," said the reply. "Define 'unusual'." said Lupo and jumped as the door was peeled aside by Hyena and Stitch who walked in, followed by Lilo and the rest of the crew. "I believe we have the rights to see our captain," said Lilo. By herself, she didn't seem very threatening. But the various strange creatures backing her made the demand more threatening. The guard clicked his gun's power cell back in and aimed, his voice sounding almost robotic through his helmet's filter. "Step away," he said. Lupo looked at Dr Circe who sighed, "Fine, he's in there but he isn't awake. Your friends are strange creatures. What planet are they from?"

"Er, Nocturnus-11," said Draco, "Lots of weird beings there. And talking plants." Dr Circe smiled but it seemed to Chris and Techo at least that it was a 'aha' type of smile, not a happy one. "Of course, I've heard about that world," she said. Lupo made a hand gesture at the guard who stepped aside smartly.

"By the way, what type of creature is that?" she asked, pointing at Chip, "I highly doubt cyborgs pop up naturally." Chris stepped in. "Accident a few months ago. Empire anti-matter torpedo. We were lucky that a medical ship was nearby," he said and made a 'play along' sign to Chip. "Right, had to preserve my vital organs in this body," said Chip, "Of course, this wasn't really what I looked like before."

"Of course." said Dr Circe before walking off. As they rounded the corners, she said to Lupo, "They must think I'm an idiot, don't they watch the news? Arrange for a couple of them to come down to the labs." Lupo nodded and said, "Let's find out what they're really made of."


There's the first chapter of the last story of this arc. Frankly, I thought there were going to be two more stories to this arc, but me and largefish8 found a way to squeeze them together. I'm going for a legendary motif with the chapter titles for dramatic reasons. The gang is about to get way over their heads in the next chapter so stick around for it. Please review.

Also, I'm working on another story in the Digimon category. It involves BlackWarGreymon, so check it out if you can spare the time.