Chapter 1: A Bit of This and That

To the Director of Project Freelancer from the Oversight Sub-committee Chairman, Malcolm Hargrove,

Dear Director, I want to thank you in advance for your openness in response to our Sub-committee's request for more information. We were... disappointed that your Recovery force reported a total loss at Outpost 17-B. We had hoped there would be at least one soldier left that could shed some light on the situation. I know that your agency has enjoyed a high degree of freedom with very little scrutiny in the past few years.

It is not our intention to disrupt such a... progressive military program, but instead to find a way we can work together in a manner that befits all our responsibilities. I am certain that you will agree, and we look forward to making this review process as painless as we possibly can.

XXX

But, unknown to Hargrove, they did find a survivor at Outpost 17B. A Red simulation trooper. They were bringing him in for interrogation. Once there, he was escorted by two soldiers down a series of passageways until they reached the main debriefing room.

They entered the room and the soldier found himself staring at a multitude of display screens. On one screen, the face of the mysterious figure known only as the Counselor scrutinized the soldier. He then noticed the other soldier standing in the shadowy corner of the room.

"Thank you, gentlemen," the Counselor told the escorts, "Would you please excuse us?"

The two guards nodded and stepped out of the room.

The Counselor then turned his attention to the Red soldier, "You are Private Walter Henderson, correct?"

"Y-Yes sir," the soldier stuttered nervously.

"You can dispense with the formalities, Walter," the Counselor replied, "Please feel comfortable to speak as candidly as you wish. Can you tell us what happened at your outpost, Walter?"

"Yes sir- ah, yes," Walter corrected himself, "I had been here about six months. Everything was pretty much like normal and one day, this... ship crashed."

"I see," As the Counselor spoke, a holographic image of the wrecked Pelican appeared before the private, "Is this the ship to which you are referring?"

"Yeah, yeah that's it," Henderson replied.

The Counselor leaned closer to the screen, "Please, tell me what was on the ship, Walter."

"I don't know," Walter admitted, "The Blues got there first. They fought us off while they cleared it out and then took the stuff back to Base. By the time we got a hold of it, it just seemed like a regular old transport. Our engineer said some of the wiring had been messed with but he didn't seem, you know, worried about it or nothing like that."

"I see," the Counselor murmured, "Thank you for that."

Henderson's face then became grim, "But whatever was on that ship must have been what started the whole thing."

The Counselor raised an eyebrow, "Please Walter, define 'thing.'"

"The infection..." Henderson drew in a breath before he continued, "The Blues just stopped fighting us. Some of them set up camp outside their Base and trapped the rest of their team inside. They even blew up their comm. tower for some reason; their own comm. tower... Then they blew up ours. That's why we couldn't radio for help, we couldn't figure out why they would do that. After that... there was nothing. No word from them at all. The CO sent a squad over... all the Blues were dead. They had killed each other."

"Why do you think they did that?"

"I don't know. They had torn the radios out of their helmets and dismantled their computers. The CO said they were trying to build something... but I saw all the stuff, no way! They were trying to break it. And there was another body in there too, not a Blue, somebody else. Actually she looked like him."

Walter nodded to the soldier in the corner.

"Don't worry about him for now, Walter," the Counselor reassured, "Please continue."

"We brought the equipment back to Base and brought it back online..." Walter let out a nervous sigh, "And that's when the infection started for us."

"The soldiers became... sick?"

"No, they just..." Henderson swallowed his fear, "They were different, off. We would catch guys getting into areas they shouldn't get into. But the weird thing was, a guy would go crazy, act up, and then we would throw him into a cell, and he would be fine. Then another guy would go nuts and disobey orders, like trying to bring the comm. tower back online even though we were told to leave it be. Maybe they knew it was coming."

The soldier looked up at this and even the Counselor looked concerned, "They knew what was coming?"

"At first we thought it was help," Walter replied, "It ransacked Blue Base and searched all the bodies... then it came after us. It seemed focused on the guys that were infected. Eventually it just started killing everything."

"Could you describe it for us, Walter?"

"Not really," Henderson admitted, "It moved fast when we first saw it, and after Blue Base it was... it was different."

"In what way, different?"

"It looked... like it wasn't there," The Red bowed his head, "I don't know how to explain it."

"That's alright," the Counselor comforted, "I know this has been difficult for you, Walter. We're going to do everything we can to help you."

As he spoke, the two escorts stepped back inside the room, "Please, follow these men to your new quarters. You'll be with us as long as absolutely necessary. You have my word."

Walter nodded and followed the soldiers out of the room. As soon as they were gone, the Counselor turned to the soldier in the corner.

"Agent Washington, what do you make of all this?"

At once, the soldier stepped out of the shadows. His face had the look of someone who'd been through some rough patches over the years, with shadowed eyes, scruffy brown hair and a scar running horizontally across his forehead. He was wearing simple army fatigues and a pair of heavy boots.

"I think it sounds exactly like what I encountered, except it's stronger now and becoming more so all the time."

"Does that concern you?"

"It doesn't make me excited," Washington scowled.

"You've been through a lot with this program, Agent Washington. The Epsilon AI we assigned you-"

"-Has already been discussed to death," Wash cut in angrily, "I'm over it."

The Counselor nodded then one of the other screens lit up, displaying Washington's medical records.

"Now, your physical problems... Because of your last encounter-"

"I'm better now, mentally and physically."

"Our profile of you disagrees with your assessment."

Wash scowled at the screen, resisting the urge to smash it, "Look, the last mission I ran against this thing, I got shot in the back by my own partner."

"Agent South," the Counselor nodded, "We feel some... responsibility for that."

"Yeah, you should," Wash retorted, rubbing the scar on his back from when he had been hit, "If I hadn't had York's healing unit, I'd be dead now. So while this isn't ideal and I don't feel like sticking my neck out for you guys, if it puts me on a path that leads to her, you can trust me at least that far."

The Counselor frowned, "So you would say that you have overwhelming feelings of anger, and a need for revenge?"

"More than you know," Wash agreed.

"Excellent," the Counselor beamed, "Now that our agency is under investigation, the Director feels it is important for us to be as open as possible, with each other. If our suspicions are correct, the Meta has made another addition: the Omega AI."

Wash frowned and ran a hand through his spiky hair, "It was Omega and... Tex right?"

"Yes it was."

"The Meta doesn't leave much behind. It's gonna be hard to track."

The Counselor nodded grimly, "We think the best place for you to start would be the Omega's last known location. The soldiers there have the most experience with our program."

"I see," Wash muttered, rubbing his chin in thought, "So I should contact these experts-"

"We do not like the term 'experts'."

"Because no one really knows what our program is doing?"

The Counselor looked shifty, "Let's just say that the term 'expert' is a little too... complimentary in this particular case. Do you still have your old suit of armor?"

"Of course," Wash replied then he looked wary, "Wait, why?"

The Counselor didn't reply...

Sometime later, Washington was dressed in his old armor, steel-grey with a yellow stripe on the helmet and yellow shoulder pads, and was on board a Hornet, making his way to the set coordinates on the computer screen. Eventually he arrived at a distant planet and was soon gazing down at his target destination: a small box canyon in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh great..."

XXX

And we're back in Blood Gulch! And Wash is back! How will he reunite with Rhode? Till next time guys!