Foreword: Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to Berat2beti, who wrote this next chapter to add to the rich universe of Event Horizon and to hopefully kick off the year 2016 with a bang with an engaging and eye-opening piece that offers a new perspective into the setting.
T.E.C. Headquarters
Olympus Mons, Tharsis Montes Region
T.E.C./NovaCorp Territory, Planet Mars
November 30, 2154 C.E.
Tharsis Montes one of the most important regions on Mars, home to humankind's largest mining operations by the NovaCorporation, on and around an extinct volcano three times the size of Mt. Everest on Earth. But unknown to the public or even most of the employees working there, deep in the heart of Olympus Mons sits the board of directors of the shady and elusive organization known as the Technology Energy Conglomerate. And today, the agenda was dominated by the latest developments concerning Mars, Earth, and Epsilon Eridani.
No human could be found here; instead, the dark chamber was lit up with nine animated holographic images floating in mid-air, each unique: a red orb, the Twitter bird, a polished greatsword, a theatre mask, a set of weighing scales, a grandfather clock, a glass beaker, a telephone, and a sledge hammer. Each of these avatars spoke with a different voice, the exact identity of the individual behind each a closely guarded secret.
"What is the status of the Islamic State since our ousting of their last bastion in the Arabia Terra?" asked the red glowing orb at the head of the table, its voice betraying neither emotion nor gender.
The holographic sword replied, its voice sounding like that of an elderly gentlemen: "Sir: since our tampering with their water supplies, the bio-domes they use to sustain their bases in this sector have become unsalvageable, and they have since fled to Isidis Basin. What's left of the once mighty Islamic State Of Mars is a mere joke on it's last leg a swift strike should finish them."
"Yes a swift strike that will be also swiftly made its way all over Spacebook as well as leading to another United Nations hearing where I'll be forced to defend our actions against that Relena Witch again," snidely commented the Twitter bird emblem with the voice of a woman.
The theater mask's face twisted into a downward frown as it spoke next: "Ah yes, Relena Frieden, the voice of the people and colonies and bane of all corporate entities and militaries. She'll gripe and Public Relations will pay a small fine, and perhaps also sacrifice a less-than-stellar overseer or two in one of our extra-solar bases, and then go right back to business as usual. We've danced this waltz before, Madam."
The scales, however, were not entirely convinced by the mask's reasoning: "I'm afraid that might not be the case this time. If what we've heard from our field agent is true, and if what we've intercepted is correct, Epsilon Eridani's deteriorating situation may force the UN to actually flex the muscle everyone seems to have forgotten they have."
"How so?" asked the red orb
"UNASEC grants corporations like The Company™, NovaCorp, Arcturus, Guanlong, and so on the rights to explore, colonize, and prepare worlds deemed habitable or capable of becoming habitable for future colonization," began the scales, "this gives us a large amount of free reign in how we run and operate so long as we don't damage the world. It's why Ms. Frieden can't truly harm us. Mars is still a long way from complete terra-forming, and with the ISOM and North-Korean-in-name-only declared pariah states and so on, the UN is willing to grant us a free hand in 'dealing' with these rogue nations so long as we are discreet about it, and so long as we keep the flow of vital minerals into Earth's economy stable. But with EE's situation not getting better, as soon as it becomes public knowledge, what of the wars, monsters, and... these so-called 'Thaumic arts'... the public won't be distracted so easily. They'll want answers. They'll be scared. And people like Ms. Frieden will no doubt capitalize on this fear to pass her peacenik legislation to force corporate entities to be more open and stifle our plans on non-developed worlds, never mind our offices, bases, and outposts on fully developed worlds."
Across from the scales, the grandfather clock snorted. "I feel you're blowing it out of proportion," it began, "though things on EE aren't that bad yet, just savages swinging swords at each other, hardly surprising. A few wars concerning succession, religion, or just plain conquest happen all the time with primitive peoples; it's just what we did in those days when we were no different. We can even point to Fraulein Frieden's German ancestry and their Thirty Years War over such trivialities as religion. Honestly if this is what that witch and her social justice warriors will use as evidence for tighter regulation and stifling of the free market, I doubt we should be worried. Yes, the introduction of this so-called 'magic' is concerning, but it won't tip the scales just yet. No pun intended."
"I'm not so sure about that," interjected the scales, "one of those 'magic-wielders' just managed to send a UNCDF Colonial Marine fireteam running with their tail between their legs."
"Yes, an incompetently-planned and managed one," corrected the Sword, "the way they're running things so far, a disaster was inevitable sooner or later."
"But it isn't just 'men swinging swords', now is it?" spoke up the beaker with a voice much younger than the others. "Those so-called 'Orcs' and 'Beast Men' are like something out of a bad fantasy game published by some second rate developer that will be sure to turn heads, and the UNCDF will have to be ready to answer why their boys are off fighting a physical manifestation of what we portray Satan as for the past two thousand years. Never mind how any one will answer how these life-forms even function with such grotesque levels of mutations that my boys in the labs are hypothesizing like mad just based on the images. It is a shame that we don't have an actual physical specimen in our possession at this time."
The holographic clock responded: "And you seem to forget our own friends in the UN, most important of which being Madame-Admiral Miranda Thrawn. She knows that we, the TEC, provide the best military grade tech. Our contributions are what make the UNCDF's Star Fleet, Colonial Marine Corps, ISO, and Omega Force all possible. Ms. Thrawn and the UN Security Council will not throw us under the bus any time soon. In fact, these incidences could be seen as why the UNCDF needs more ships, weapons, and troops on the colonies than ever before, and an opportunity for Ms. Thrawn to justify the expansive UNCDF budget increases that will inevitably result in more funding for our own R&D side projects. Perhaps we finally won't need to penny pinch on what long term project we can invest time and money into."
The next hologram to speak was the one that took the shape of an old office telephone from that glorious period of human civilization's history known as 'The Eighties': "I believe we've spent enough time on this topic. We really should return to the topic concerning our ongoing war efforts." Most in the room agreed with the telephone's assertion.
The sword was only too happy to be returning to a topic that seemed to please him greatly: "Yes, well it certainly appears that sabotaging their water supply has crippled the Islamic State. They are in full retreat. The UN won't raise a hand to save them, nor will any country on Earth. Anyone who tries to help them, we'll of course make sure that any shipments of aid get stopped for 'inspection'. Give it maybe a year or two if we're being generous, and they'll wither on the vine."
"I would advise we don't get too complacent," cautioned the telephone, "after all, a cornered dog still bites in their final death throes. They may attempt a final offensive, and with the number of delicate operations and projects we are running at the moment, I'd rather not risk it."
"Yes," agreed the scales, "and let us also not forget that the sooner we put an end to ISOM once and for all, the sooner we must find a new enemy to rally our cause against, a new justification for our every action. And not every new enemy is as painfully predictable nor easily countered as that which one is already familiar with."
"This reminds me, what is the progress in Project: Oryx?" asked the Red Orb.
The holographic sledge hammer spoke up: "The inner pieces of the ships such as life support, TransLight Drive, TransLight Communications array, etc. are being constructed in our facilities in Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons. The main hulls will be assembled in the Argyre Basin." Hammer's voice was heavy and synthetic, more machine now than man; no doubt the constant work out in the deserts of Mars had effected him greatly.
"Is it wise to keep Oryx's inner workings so close to Olympus Mons?" inquired Red Orb, "NovaCorp may 'respect' our privacy for now, but sooner or later they'll want to know what we're doing." He or she or it did have a point; NovaCorp was just as capable of corporate espionage as The Company™ or the UN's ISO.
"Highly unlikely at the moment," spoke the Mask with confidence in its voice, "NovaCorp is too busy with The Company™ and with Atlas Corp., all three shiving each other with public statements, products, front companies, political groups, and politicians, to pay attention to us right now." It then turned to the beaker: "back to projects then. How is Project Testa Mundi coming along? I hear we've narrowed it down to two distinct choices?"
"Yes," replied Beaker, curtly, "we can commence the first phase of construction within the next three years."
"What about Epsilon Eridani?" asked Sword, "should we invest in this 'Thaumic energy research'? And should we also invest in establishing outposts of our own in the system? It could provide advances in our own weapons and technological development, as well as our ongoing research into Dark Energy."
Red Orb replied: "We'll have our field agents investigate this 'Thaumic energy' phenomenon and it's applications on Planet EE-L0. We'll dispatch a full 8 man field team to study Thaumic energies across all worlds in the system. And yes, that includes this issue of the existence of these alleged 'deities' and how can we combat or at least contain the influence of the more hostile ones. And, of course, we will take an, ahem, active interest in the recovery and rehabilitation of this Mr. Adamsen."
"And, pray tell, will The Company™ accept this?" asked Twitter Bird, "they seem to be guarding their colonization rights there rather zealously."
"They'd be fools to turn down the TEC!" asserted Clock, "our reputation speaks for itself. I'm honestly surprised that they have gone to Masrani, to Guanlong, and to Arcturus before considering us!"
"To be entirely fair," spoke Scales, "all three of these entities do command considerable sway in their respective governments. Arcturus of course provides the best private security forces anywhere throughout Earth and the Colonies, and unlike the UNCDF, they bear no scruples or self-pretentious morals whatsoever. And Masrani alone ... lottery tickets for their slots on the Joseph Conrad mission go on sale next week and they have already pre-sold over half-a-billion units. In a country of three billion. That level of political and economic clout in that part of Planet Terra is worth having on one's side."
"Then we'll just have to give The CEO the proper incentive to allow our field team in," spoke Hammer, "and if the carrot does not work, there is always the stick: we can always go to Thrawn; she'll certainly get things moving."
The Mask laughed. "Send one Ice Queen against another? Classic."
"Now to weapons," continued Sword, "while I'd feel comfortable sending our agents with the best, we still can't have The Company™ nicking the designs on our best toys just yet, so will send three specialized weapons and 5 regular. I'm afraid that our heavy tachyon lasers are out of the question for now, but I do intend to send our team with at least one Standard Template Construct (STC) for in situ production to suit any special mission needs."
"Very well," concluded Red Orb, "if we've covered everything, I think we can declare this meeting adjourned."
The holograms all disappeared and shortly afterwards two messages were sent out; one to The CEO of The Company™, and the other to the Grand Admiral of the United Nations Star Fleet.