Amidst the hushed hurriedness of the laboratories, two figures stood behind a one-way mirror, discussing their best course of action as they observed the captive recover from Dr. Vahlen's "interrogation". After recovering all possible scraps of technology from the downed UFO, the science team had been working around the clock to bring any edge humanity could muster against the alien force. To that end, the doctor had been ruthless, dismissing the traditional method of extracting information from subjects for a newer, faster method.

"You may not have seen it in action Commander, but Dr. Vahlen's interrogation methods certainly are..efficient. Its only been four hours since the strike team returned to base with that..." his voice trailed off.

An older voice filled in, "person, Bradford. Based on the circumstances, I believe that the aliens have been trying to capture Earth's lifeforms in the hopes of studying them. And as from what we've seen of the aliens offensive so far, I'm led to believe that total destruction isn't what they're playing at."

Bradford mused in thought. "Certainly that seems to be true. But what other agenda could the aliens have..?"

Their conversation died as the subject stirred, slowly waking up within the white-walled room. Confused, it looked around the room for any semblance of familiarity as it began to come to terms with where it was. Within the observation room, the two figures watched silently, failing to notice the doors to the room whiz open for a blonde woman in a plain lab coat.

"Commander," she began, trying to catch the attention of the people in the room, "based on the earlier investigation, my team has been able to determine some new information about the specimen, and the aliens."

The person addressed as Commander looked on at the subject, nodding to the doctor to continue.

"The subject appears to still be mentally human, though based on the foreign substance found in his bloodstream shows some attempt at genetic modification. Based of what I've recovered from his bloodstream, this substance appears to be a remarkable suspension of cybernetic nanomachines - each made up of organic and mechanical components."

"With due respect Doctor, how sure are you that this person is not under alien control?"

Dr. Vahlen turned to Bradford, acknowledging his concern as she flashed her datapad's data to a screen in the room.

"The subject exhibits little evidence of alien tampering within its mind. Between his erratic thoughts during the interrogation, there have been neural links between certain images and emotions. This image in particular," flashing an image of a young black-haired girl, "appeared thrice with some semblance of worry flashing out each time."

"And how is that going to-"

"And. This image appeared right after that in all three instances, along with very discernible anger and respect." The screen changed to display a thin man, donning huge black sunshades and a blue suit.

"That's the other two creatures we encountered?"

Dr. Vahlen nodded. "As you can suspect from the eyes and skin around the neck, the other creatures have been genetically modified to make them appear human. Our subject is instead a human being prepared to be modified to..something else. In any case, the subject is most likely adverse to the alien threat."

The Commander's voice cut in, "What about the substance that the subject was contained in? Can we analyse it further?"

"Unfortunately, the substance seems to have destroyed itself by the time it came back to the labs. What I've observed of the substance was taken from the subject's bloodstream, which I have a limit to without endangering the subjects life. Commander, the next time we find this substance on the field, we should take care retrieve those canisters of the substance in one piece."

The Commander nodded, turning from the observation panel. A laboratory staff had entered the room to speak to the subject, along with an armed guard.

"I agree. The subject should still be human. Bradford, I want one of the survivors from Delta team to stand watch over the subject. Keep him under observation."

"Yes Sir."

White, blinding light flooded my vision as I awoke. Who puts a blinding lamp directly over a bed?

Rolling onto my side, I find myself greeted by a plain-looking hospital room, or what appeared to be one, though it did not have a window. A single ward, even. Off to the side, a lone drawer with a quiet potted plant sitting atop. The bed itself was pure white, atop a metal carriage. Otherwise the white room was completely bare. Looking around in confusion, the room seemed to be missing the most common implements - a door. Propping myself up into a sitting position on the bed, I began to recap what has happened so far.

I was a soldier serving in Singapore's National Service. The aliens attacked, we lost most of the armed forces and estates. During a routine patrol we were ambushed, caught out and subsequently killed off. Due to the sudden appearance of a strange airship myself and another soldier survived. Then their invasion slowed to a crawl.

Subsequently the base was attacked, by 3 UFOs, one of which landed in the vehicle bay, it then roared with a radiant orange that knocked everyone unconscious. There was a young girl, who was terrified beside me. And there were the two tall men in blue, who perhaps turned out later to be alien infiltrators? Nevertheless, it seems I was taken-

"Good afternoon, Mister."

Startled, I looked up to see a pair of dark brown eyes looking back at me. A young doctor was checking up on me, running through a checklist with clipboard in hand. Figure it'd be rude to stay silent, I replied, "Hello, Mr...?"

"Doctor. It'll be fine to call me by my profession for now."

..Fine. If he has to address people by their jobs, either he's got some issues with personality, or I was caught in a position I shouldn't have been.

"Doctor, how did you come in?"

He raised an eyebrow. "By the door behind me, of course. How else?"

Craning my neck to look behind him, I saw what appears to be a dark tunnel in this room of pure white. By the entrance was a guard, armed with a strange rifle. Her hair was a deep navy blue. Strange, that entrance was never there in the first place. Still, there was something else which intrigued me.

"Doctor, is blue hair common in this place?"

"Not at all, as it should be, though we have one or two personnel with blue hair. Why would you-", he said as stopped writing, glancing at the guard behind him. He appeared to be done with his checklist.

"..Checking out the ladies on your first day of recovery? I'd say you're quite the energetic sort eh?"

I groaned. This doctor completely got the wrong idea.

"Doctor. Blue hair is rare to the point of being non-existent barring hair dyes. Given that this is probably a military installation,"I said, gesturing to the guard, "I'd say it warrants some questions."

The doctor frowned. Apparently he is not the sort who is used to being derailed in thought. "I'll be asking the questions Mister. It's good that your capacity for thinking has recovered well, though I'd prefer it if your memory of recent events are as clear. Regardless, rest for now. I'll be back later."

Saying that, Doctor left in a huff. The blue haired guard shot me a questioning glance, before heading out the tunnel, sealing it after herself.

Looks like I just found the answer to this "Vigilo Confido".

A/N: Long War really lives up to it's namesake. LONG. War. Other than that, I've been bravely defaulting my time out of camp to play games instead. Procrastination is a killjoy, probably.

As a side question, would it be better to have multiple short(like now) chapters for a single event, or a single long one per each larger event?