Chapter 2: Insertion
Main Elevator, Underground Research Base
May 2517
Sam shifted his armored vest into a more comfortable position. Eyeing the HUD on his tactical goggles, he noticed that Simon's bio-sign were showing signs of nervousness. He made his way to him while squeezing past some Alpha team troopers. As soon as he was next to him, he tapped the doctor's shoulder.
Startled out of his thoughts, Simon looked at Sam with a wary look. "Yes Commander, is something wrong?" he asked. "No Mr. Tam. Just noticed you were a bit nervous. So I thought I'd come over and check on you." said Sam
"Please Commander, call me Simon. Mr. Tam reminds me of my useless father." Said Simon with a grim look. " Okay Simon. So tell me whats bugging you?" "To be honest, may I call you Sam?" Sam nodded that he could. "I'm just curious about how you managed to get your men in place. Somehow, I don't think they would let a bunch of troops to just show up unannounced. It would seem suspicious."
A few troopers shook a bit as they chuckled quietly. Nodding his head, Sam responded "that would be true, but we didn't all pop up at once. Ever since we came up with our plan to get River out, my troops have been slowly moving in these past few months. The official story is that they're troops sent to switch with the units on site so they can relax on some R&R."
" You mean like a changing of the guard?" "Yes" "How were you able to do this? Asked Simon.
Sam smiled as he explained "One thing you seem to forget Simon is that we're not your average Alliance SOF unit. We're a Black Ops unit. We're tasked with missions deemed to sensitive for regular units. This also means we operate no oversight or restrictions."
"Oversight?"asked Simon.
It means we have no one looking over our shoulders second guessing us. As far as the government and military knows, we don't exist."
" I see. I'm glad you're on our side." "Likewise, we probably wouldn't be able to get River out without her hurting or killing some of us."
"True." said Simon.
"Sirs, we're getting close to the insertion point." said one of the Ghosts. "Understood Corporal. Thank you." Looking over at Simon, Sam asked " Ready Councilman Presley?" "Of course, lets get this over with Commander." responded Simon with the arrogance of an Alliance official.
Level B6, Main Lobby
Dr. Mathias was nervous. Lots of things were happening lately. The changing of the guard force, new experiments on subject Athena and now the surprise inspection by an Alliance council member. Not even a month has passed since the last visit. So the Doctor spent the last few days getting ready, setting up presentations, instructing his staff on what and what not to say and having his records in order.
Now, he was standing in the lobby of the main elevator. He watched as the floor indicators slowly counted down until it reached B6, the floor he was on. There was a dull thud and a few seconds later, the door started to rise up and show the elevator's interior. Standing in the center was Councilman Presley, surrounding him in a protective formation was his 10 man protection team. All 10 soldiers wore matching uniforms, black combat suits with padded elbow and knee pads. Each trooper was wearing an armored vest with bullet-resistant plates, magazine pouches along with grenades. They also had M12 Novas in drop-leg holsters. Each one had the SCAR M3 modular rifle in the low ready. When the doors opened completely, a 4 man fire-team moved into the room to check that the area was clear. After a few moments, they signaled that it was secure. Signal given, Presley and the rest of his bodyguards walked out and went to Mathias.
" Welcome Councilman Presley, I'm Dr. Mathias. I'm the director of this facility. Its an honor to have you with us." said Mathis as he walked up to Presley, but before he could offer his hand for a handshake he was stopped by one of the soldiers. Startled by the sudden stop, he glanced at the soldier in question. He was unable to see the man's face due to the balaclava he wore along with thick tinted goggles over his eyes along with a tactical helmet on his head. He noticed the rest of the troops had similar headgear.
" Excuse me, Doctor but we have to pat you down before letting you approach the councilman."said the soldier.
" What for?" asked Mathias " Who are you anyway to treat me like this?"
To answer your first question, its protocol. The second, my name is Logan, Commander Logan. I'm in charge of the Councilman's security force" said Sam with an unseen glare.
"Oh" replied Mathias meekly " very well then. Get it over with." the doctor spread his arms and legs as instructed while one of the soldiers patted him down, checking for weapons. Once he was done, he returned to the group. Fixing his tie, Mathias approached and extended his hand to Presley. " Again sir, welcome."
'Thank you Doctor. I'm eager to be hear about your progress with the Athena program." responded Presley AKA Simon Tam with an arrogant smirk as they shook hands. "Ah, well if you and your entourage will follow me, I'll lead you to the test subject" Mathias motioned towards the double doors guarded by 2 base security officers in Alliance Army combat suits with armored vests. As the group passed through, Mathias failed to notice the subtle nods between the officers and the squad of soldiers. It wouldn't be the first or the last.
Underground Base
Level B6, Main corridor, Science Division Wing.
The next 20 minutes were spent walking trough the base corridors towards Subject Athena's testing chamber. While Mathias was walking with Councilman Presley explaining the details of the experiments and methods used in the brainwashing, Commander Marshall took the time to check in with the Ghosts on site. Group 1 and 2 were in position at their assigned targets. The attack would begin as soon as River was located and taken into protective custody.
"So tell me Doctor, do you think the subject is ready for field trials?" asked Presley.
"not at this moment, Councilman. We are still configuring her brainwashing in order to keep her under control. The last thing we need is for her to turn on us at the wrong moment." replied Mathias.
"I see." responded Presley as they neared their destination. "Well, here we are." said Dr. Mathias as they neared the lab. "I've had some of my assistants bring the subject to this lab. At the moment, she's being restrained and drugged to keep her docile." "what methods and drugs are used to keep her docile." "Well, we use a variation of..." Mathias voice trailed off as Sam shifted his attention to the HUD in his goggles. Shifting the one-point sling for his SCAR to the side, he raised his wrist-pad and typed a message to his troop, [ BE ADVISED, VIP HAS BEEN LOCATED. ALLUNITS STAND BY FOR MY SIGNAL. MIKASA, PREPARE FOR DEPLOYMENT.]. He hit send and within a few seconds his troops responded with an affirmative. His own team, Alpha-1, nodded their heads to signify the message was received. With that done, he turned his attention back to Mathias and Simon.
"Well looks like she's ready. However, I'm going to have ask that your entourage wait here. We don't want to spook her" said Mathias.
"Only if you allow Commander Logan and 2 of his troops to accompany us. Otherwise, we would be breaking Alliance protocol." responded Presley. "That would be fine, Councilman" said Dr Mathias with a nod. That said, all five of them entered the room. The rest of Alpha-1 assumed defensive positions in the corridor. Here they would wait until their Commander returned.
The room was somewhat larger than expected. Lab equipment and computer terminal lined the walls. What drew everyone's attention was the upright gurney in the center. Strapped in it with vials being injected into her was Athena, also known as River Tam, Simon's 18 year old sister.
" Here you go Councilman, I present to you Subject Athena." spoke Mathias with Glee. "she's what we hope will be a first in a long series of psychic supersoldiers. One who is willing to follow orders without question. She has gone through extensive combat training. We've pit her against Elite SAS soldiers and she's constantly wiped the floor with them." Logan and his 2 soldiers smirked at Mathias's boast. While the Alliance SAS were good, they weren't as good as the Ghosts. If the Ghosts were pitted against the SAS. Chances are the Ghosts would win the showdown every time. Its the reason why no one knows about them and any whispers about them are always considered just rumors.
River screamed as the needles pressed into her skull injecting her with drugs meant to change her brain chemistry. Images flashed through her mind. The interviews with the doctors where she slowly began to lose her mind. The thoughts that swam through her form other people. Their desires, ambitions and rage. Rage. She focused on that that thought, trying to figure out where it came from. Whimpering, she begun to take note of her surroundings. She was in the labs where the nightmare began. She was strapped to the gurney. In front of her stood six people, she recognized Dr. Mathias and his assistant. The ones that pushed her trough intense experiments, forcing her to fight, forcing her to kill.
However, the rage in the air wasn't from them. It was coming from the other four people. She looked at them. The one in the front was dressed in the clothing of an Alliance Councilman. He was a man in his mid twenties, looking quite handsome even though he had an arrogant look on his face. The look however didn't appear to show his true thoughts. She could feel rage coming from him, but at the same time he giving off feelings of sadness, remorse and compassion. River couldn't help but feel that this man was familiar to her.
She looked at the last three. She felt the same aura coming from them. Their aura was more controlled and a bit cold. She couldn't tell what they looked like due to their outfits and masks. She saw the councilman look at one of the soldiers and nodded lightly.
The soldier tapped on his wrist mounted computer and looked at the 2 other soldiers and nodded sharply. At that signal, the 2 soldiers turned towards the doctor and his assistant. They both carried small injection guns. The two scientists never saw what hit them before the lights went out.
