Maxis

"Day Eleven, date, June 19th, 2095 Agrian Time. So far there has been only moderate progress within a few of the projects. Genetic research has yielded to us rather odd findings within a certain resident of this outpost, but until these findings can be truly proven I will not exaggerate further on the matter. Recent energy scans, in all manner of scanning, have picked up foreign signals from an undisclosed location somewhere on the planet. I cannot be for sure that this is the source that I've been searching for, but there is the chance that it is. Dr. Groph has been working on this matter almost non-stop since the first signs of the signals along with the assistance of Dr. Hartlin." I reported into the small recording device once more.

I was taking my time with choosing what to say and what to report, as all of my recordings went to the government and I was loathe to inform them on anything that would decimate our chances of staying in Garrison.

"Dr. Richtofen has been stable for more than a week now, that is a good sign that his medication is doing it's job, but for an extra measure I increased the dosage by another hundred milligrams. That leaves only fifty more until I can no longer allow him to use them, hopefully this is the last time I will have to increase the dosage. I have also, recently, had a better reception from some of the residents here, perhaps it is because of Dr. Richtofen taking a more proactive approach to "make peace" with the people here. Whatever the case I am glad that these people are at least warming up a little bit to us." I ended. Most of what I'd just said into the device was utter filler, other than the mention of the foreign signals we'd found a while back.

It was just starting to be day break when Richtofen returned to the building from being on the wall that surrounded the outpost. Usually he'd make a stop by my office whenever he came back in, but this time around he did not making me wonder why. I took it upon myself to go and talk to him, but as I came into his room (the door was open) I noticed he was in discomfort. He was clutching his right hand tightly, as though he'd been stabbed there, but I didn't see any blood to warrant that conclusion.

"Edward, are you all right?" I asked him. He looked at me briefly, his eyes signaled he was in a tremendous amount of pain.

"That damn pain is back again... I only managed to ignore it for as long as I was needed on the wall." he managed to explain through clenched teeth.

"I'll go get the painkillers."

"Make sure you bring the nullifying agent with you... I fear that pain isn't the only thing to worry about." he urged. I hurried to find the smaller injectors of medication and I always kept a nullifying agent in my office, in case of emergencies. He was still in pain when I got back, but it had progressed in such a short time.

I took his ailing hand in which the blood veins were easily visible and there was a slight charge while I was holding it. I injected the pain killer first, and then the nullifying agent which almost immediately caused his hand to return to a fairly normal state. After his pain had subsided I attempted to ask why this had happened.

"I don't understand why this would take place if you were just on wall duty. You didn't kill anything did you?" I asked.

"No, Dr. Maxis, I just... I saw someone and I may have accidentally set the nanobots off." he answered still holding his hand.

"Just who did you see, exactly?" I inquired. He looked at me again, this time there was a muffled anger inside his eyes.

"Doppelganger." he replied quietly.

"He's here?!"

"No, he was here, but only to get driven to the military base for some god-forsaken reason."

"But he isn't supposed to be outside the Sol system."

"They've brought him there to interrogate the Dukni they captured when they took out the artillery."

I was very tempted to call the FBI right then and there, but he stopped me before I could turn and leave.

"Dr. Maxis, please, it's not our place to call him out. We have too many secrets of our own to even think of doing that." he protested.

"So you would just let him stay here, you know as well as I do just what damage he can do..." he cut me off mid-sentence with a single hand gesture.

"I know, but if we call he could very well tell the federal government just what we're omitting from them in our research. We just have to bite our tongues and stay silent about the matter, he won't be staying for long anyway." he assured.

As much as I hated the idea of Doppelganger being on Agria, I had to agree with Richtofen, the man was crafty and he could turn on people in the blink of an eye. However, I still wouldn't forget that he was one of the reasons 935 had become so loathed on Mars. He and Richtofen would always be at each others throats, although he'd never tell me just why he hated the man so much.

"Fine, but if he so much as takes a step into this outpost..." I warned.

"He won't Dr. Maxis."

I left after that, I wasn't ready to have my blood pressure go up so early in the day, there was still much to be done in the way of research for today. I wasn't going to let one bad omen ruin the opportunity for discovery, but he had just put a dent in my plans for today. I returned to my office, doing my best to some how alleviate my temper by directing it to a stress ball that, ironically enough, was a gift from Edward. Just as I was about to leave to wake Groph, Edward had come in.

"Dr. Maxis, Sgt. Belinski would like a word with you." he informed me. The Russian, wanting to speak to me was highly unlikely, it was more so that he was a go between for someone else, perhaps Sgt. Dempsey.

"Alright, where is he?" I asked getting up from my chair and putting the stress ball back onto my desk.

"He's outside waiting for you." he answered. I nodded and made my way past him as he generously closed my door for me.

Nikolai

The sun was just peaking over the horizon when the old man came out to meet me. He looked like he'd just had an argument, which I didn't doubt he had, Dempsey did say he had quite a temper.

"Sgt. Belinski, you needed me?" he addressed.

"Da, Sgt. Dempsey wanted me to tell you that he would need to see you later tonight." I told him.

"Vhat for?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure myself, but he said it was an important issue that needed to be addressed."

"Ah, vhat time should I see him? I'll be rather busy today."

"You can come later tonight, so long as you meet him sometime today." I answered.

"Very vell zhen, anything else?"

"No, that's all, you can... go back to whatever it is you do in there." I ended.

"Alright zhen, I'll make sure to see him. Goodbye, Sergeant."

We both walked away from each other, I was glad to get that done with, I didn't like any of the scientists. Especially if they had tempers that could boil over at any minute, and apparently he'd just gotten through with one not too long ago. As I went back inside the barracks I got to waking up a few of the militiamen in order to start the day. Rune and Tank were disposed at the moment, they hadn't gotten their rest yet on account of them having to make a run to the military base. I was soon joined by Takeo, however, and he immediately took the role of militia leader for the duration of Rune and Tank's absence.

This wasn't the first time Takeo and I had run the militia, in fact this was the third time this year alone. The last time we had to run it for nearly two weeks when they had to go and attend an invitational military reunion on Mars in Ian's place. Despite our, dislike for each other we got the job done, regardless of whether we agreed on certain matters or not. Takeo was relatively generous, allowing me to stay at the outpost while he ran morning patrol, thus letting me do the easier work. At least I thought it was easier when, woe and behold, I was approached by the two scientist I had reluctantly lead out on an expedition yesterday.

"Sgt. Belinski, sir." addressed the young man hesitantly.

"What is it?" I asked briefly.

"We were hoping, if it wasn't too much to ask, if you could escort us on another field run. We're in need of some more material for research..."

"I'm busy at the moment, I'll have to get another militiaman to take you." I informed him gruffly.

"Oh, so when should we be ready to leave?" he asked.

"Thirty minutes or so, I'm doing rounds right now."

"We'll be back in thirty minutes then." he said before hastily leaving with the female scientist not too far behind him. They were both scared of me, I didn't mind that, just one more reason for me not to get picked to take them anywhere. I kept my word though and once I was back at the barracks I woke up Cpl. Hunts to take the two on an outing.

"Where did they say there were headed?" he asked.

"They just need a few samples from dead Swarmers outside the wall." I explained.

"Do I have to kill them?"

"No, there were some killed this morning, to the south side, you can go there. Nothing big will happen, they just take what they need and leave."

He nodded and then left through the door where the two were waiting patiently for him. Now all I had to do was wait for the morning patrol to come back so Takeo could take over the inner part of Garrison and I could attend to wall duty without any distractions.

Takeo

"Captain!" one of the men called from behind me.

"Hai?" I responded.

"What do you make of these tracks here?" he asked, pointing to the depressions in the ground that lead around a cliff. I took a closer look at them and all I could really tell was that they belonged to a group of Swarmers, but by the depth of them they were unusually large ones.

"Perhaps these are the tracks of an older Swarmer hunting party." I gathered.

"Do you think they have a den somewhere around that cliff?"

"Possibry."

"Should we try and clear it out?" another man suggested.

"No, not until we know what we're dealing with, if this group happens to be an Alpha team then we're sure to suffer casualties if we are not properly prepared." I warned.

"I can understand that, so when we get back do want to gather up a clearing team then come back out here later?"

"We can do that." I answered. For now we had to get to the rest of the route and then report back at Garrison, that and Dukni were far more concerning than Swarmers.

At the halfway mark of the route we encountered a whole family of Swarmers, young and old running across the path. It was a sight that I'd never seen before, Swarmers were not beasts that traveled in such a desperate way, they always avoided any kind of man-made structures or paths. I was very concerned as to why this particular group was, and why they were also taking their young with them.

"What the hell...? Why do you think they're doing this?" the soldier in the passenger seat asked me.

"I do not know, but I have a very terrible feering that something immensery terrible is going to happen." I replied. Once they passed across the path we kept going until at another interval another group of Swarmers ran by in the same hurried fashion.

Something was definitely not right, instinctively I looked towards Garrison, but there were no smoke columns or any sign of distress from the outpost.

"What's going on?" the passenger soldier asked me again.

"Let us just get back to the outpost and quickry. This is urgent news." I urged speeding along the path back to Garrison, no longer making stops at any of the watch posts. I didn't stop until we were all accounted for back at the garage, some of the men on the wall were also surprised to see us back so early, but they opened the gates nonetheless.

I rushed to the barracks and found Nikolai in his room, casually reading some Russian magazine (no it wasn't a dirty one). He looked at me with an incredulous expression, he was obviously surprised to see that I was back so early.

"Takeo, here a little early aren't you?" he asked.

"We need to wake Dempsey." I urged desperately. His expression changed in response to my worried tone.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes, something is very wrong. There are dozens of Swarmers running from Garrison to the north, I don't know why, but I have a very bad feering that it's something big." I explained.

"Chyort, that is bad. Come on." he said before pushing past me and rushing to Dempsey's room as I followed behind him. He knocked on the door with solid, heavy blows.

"Dempsey! Get up, we've got news!" he shouted. It took a while, but a very drowsy Tank opened the door slowly, but he was concerned nonetheless.

"What kind of news?" he asked sluggishly.

"It's the Swarmers, they are... migrating." I managed to pick out a word.

He rubbed his eyes and then raised an eyebrow.

"Migrating...? Swarmers don't migrate." he stated.

"That's why I have this terrible feering that this is something very bad."

Dempsey shook his head and now looked more awake than he did a few moments ago, he waved his hand to come into his room.

"Which direction were they running?" he asked.

"North."

He looked back at me, he was in disbelief that my answer was even remotely correct.

"They're running north?"

"Hai, and not just hunters either, entire famiries are moving, even the elderly ones." I explained.

"Jesus Christ..." he muttered before sitting back down on his bed.

"Dempsey, are you all right?" Nikolai asked him worriedly. He started shaking his head, and muttering curses under his breath.

"Dempsey?" Nikolai asked again. He looked at us with a grim face and stood up slowly.

"Call General Spade, and go wake up Rune." he ordered.

"What is going on Dempsey?" I questioned. Tank looked at both of us with concern, but he eventually answered my question.

"You guys weren't around when this happened last time, but I was only a kid when it happened like this."

"What happened?" Nikolai inquired.

"When the Dukni invaded Garrison."