"Lieutenant Rose, you will answer me."
Across the table, Ruby sat slumped in her chair, staring at the floor. She hadn't said so much as a single word since Agaus. On the other side of the room, Fang scowled at her. "Lieutenant, I am ordering you to answer me. What happened on Agaus?"
Ruby didn't even blink.
Fang's scowl deepened. "We've searched the entire cave system and no trance of your team or the colonists. Where are they?"
Nothing.
"You will answer me, Lieutenant. What happened?"
Around him the panel consisting of Alliance Admirals and officials watched intently. So much rode on this that they had put aside their own personal agendas to attend the tribunal. No one was allowed to spectate, not even Captain Anderson. It was just them and Miss Rose, who stood accused.
That was their dilemma. In the years since revealing Ruby to the galaxy at large, the Alliance had been hard at work behind the scenes. She was a hero to humans everywhere, and even to some of the other species as well. The Alliance had used her as a stepping stone, propelling the their reputation far beyond what anyone could have imagined. But all that depended on her public image. With her kind of caliber, everyone knew it only took one small slip-up for everything to come crashing down.
And here she was, accused of murder, betrayal, and dereliction of duty. At least, those were the assumed charges. Blood analysis confirmed that her weapon had killed at least ten people, four from her squad and six more individuals from the colony. Things weren't looking good for any of them. The pressure was on. The Brass wanted to keep their super soldier, politicians wanted to keep the glory, and Ruby Rose said nothing to redeem herself. The house of cards was beginning to fall.
Fang sucked in air through his nose and leaned back in his chair. Around him the other Admirals discussed among themselves. Admiral Hackett only watched the silent Rose before them. She looked dead to the world, broken in more ways than one. Her haunted expression spoke volumes about what happened, a sure conviction, if any.
"I had no choice." It was no louder than a whisper, but everyone heard her. Ruby blinked, moving for the first time in ages as she shifted in her seat.
Fang leaned forwards, hands on his desk, uncharacteristically nervous. She had condemned herself after all. "Lieutenant, are you... confessing to these accusations?"
"I had no choice," Ruby repeated, her watering eyes drifting back and forth unfocused. "They forced me to..."
The panel was silent, listening with rapt attention. But Ruby fell silent once again, staring down at the floor. Then her fists clenched and she looked up, a renewed fire in her eyes.
"Sir, I can't deny what I've done." She stood, snapping to attention. "I was forced to execute my own men, and I gladly accept whatever punishment is to come."
Silence reigned as the panel sat, stunned. She hadn't even tried to deny it. Only Fang seemed to keep his composure as he leaned forward. "Forced? Is there some other motivation or party we aren't aware of?"
Ruby opened her mouth, but no words came out. She tried again, gasping like a fish. Then she swallowed, a look of profound sorrow on her face. "No sir. None at all."
A lie. It had to be.
Fang narrowed his eyes, examining her closely as he picked up a datapad lying beside him. He passed it to the Admiral next to him, whispering a few words in his ear. One by one the pad was passed around until it arrived in the hand of Admiral Hackett. Surprise briefly flashed across his face, but Fang and the others were already talking among themselves, deciding on a course of action.
This couldn't go public. Rose had admitted it herself; she'd killed those men, but why? That was the one answer they couldn't guess, and Rose wasn't going to help. But that couldn't change anything. The hero of the Alliance had condemned herself of crimes that would have others court marshaled and imprisoned for life. It would be political genocide, bringing down everything they'd worked so hard to achieve.
"Very well, Lieutenant," Fang said after a lengthy pause. He settled down in his chair, taking one last look at the report. "We have reviewed your case and have determined... that you have performed admirably."
Ruby's eyes shot to him, widening in disbelief as her whole posture sagged. "W-what?"
"We were unaware that raiders had ambushed you in such a way," Fang continued calmly. "We regret the loss of the colony, but you did the best you could."
"Sir, I-"
"Furthermore, in light of the biological threat you encountered we have determined that the loss of your team was not any fault of your own. They died protecting you from further contamination, though not completely. Hallucinations are a common side effect of this particular toxin."
Ruby bit back a choked growl. "Respectfully sir, I-"
"Agaus never happened, Lieutenant. Is that clear?"
Ruby struggled to maintain her composure, fists shaking as she looked from one solemn face to the next. Even Hackett remained as emotionless as a statue.
"I understand. Sir," she said stiffly, barely able to keep the snarl from her voice.
"Good. You're dismissed, Lieutenant Commander."
-ooo000ooo-
Numb.
That was all Ruby could feel. The cold of her private quarters seeped into her bones, chilling her to the core. Her uniform, the one that she had worn so proudly over the years now felt as heavy as lead. She sat on her bed, staring into her open palm. Epaulets bearing the stripes of a Lieutenant Commander gazed back, mocking her.
She'd failed... she'd failed miserably.
She had no choice, but that didn't change the fact that she had killed innocent people. She should have been punished, thrown out of the Alliance and locked up for life... instead they had promoted her for it.
Already the tragic story of Agaus was spreading. The Brass was commending her for her bravery and offering their condolences, all the while ordering under their breaths that she never breathe a word of this to anyone.
But this was wrong.
Their brief time with her team during the mission, before it happened, haunted her. She had talked to them, learned their names, talked about their families and even offered relationship advice... and then she killed them. Men who she hadn't known for even a day, dead at her feet. Put down like rabid dogs.
She couldn't bare it anymore.
The epaulets dropped to floor as she crawled under the covers, uniform and all, sobbing bitterly. She didn't deserve this. A promotion to Lieutenant Commander for killing her own men?
It hurt even more realizing why she could never tell them why. They would never believe her.
She cried herself to sleep that night, trying to pull the shattered pieces of her conscience back together.
-ooo000ooo-
Water rained down from the shower head, running down his naked body like the endless cascades of Niagara Falls. Shampoo suds ran down his face as Conrad Verner hummed to himself. Retirement suited him well. He had slipped back into his regular hobbies but that was to be expected, though many would it strange that he found galactic real-estate fun.
But that was only one of his many talents.
"Ah shit," he muttered, trying to wash away the burning sensation that appeared in his eye, but only succeeded in adding more fuel to the fire. "Motherhuberd! That burns!"
Abruptly, his omni-tool on the counter outside the shower stall started to ring.
"Fuck!"
He blindly dove for the stall door, knocking it open and falling flat on his face on the metal floor of his bathroom. Through some miracle, the impact managed to shake the device loose from its perch and fell on his head. "Ow."
Before the last ring could fade away, Conrad snatched it up and answered with as calm a voice as he could. "Y'hello! Who is it?"
The voice that answered on the other end was all too familiar.
"Hey, what's up, man!" he laughed, standing and finally getting the blasted soap out of his eye. "I was just thinking about you. My wife says I should stay away, but..."
He stopped as the voice interrupted.
"Wait, wait, wait, stop. No, stop! What did you say?" After a moment of listening, his face paled. "W-what? What do you mean it's not there?!"
"..."
"I-it should be. Yeah, we made sure of it. Her brother took it himself, no way that happened."
"..."
Conrad considered it for a moment, then ran out of the bathroom to the bedroom of his apartment on the Citadel. "Yeah, I'm sure," he said as he tore open his closet and dug through it frantically. "We arranged the pickup before hand, it went off without a hitch."
"..."
"Side-tracked? Hmm... maybe. I hope so." He glanced at the body bag in the corner, half buried under a pile of dirty clothes. "Hang in there, baby, I'll take care of you soon."
"..."
"No, just talking to my wife."
"..."
"Why do you always forget the codewords? Besides, you'd be amazed how many people believe you when you say you're married. Honestly, its a good cover. You should try it sometime." He threw a pair of underwear, a shirt, pants, boots and a leather jacket onto the bed before leaning against the wall. "Where are you anyway?"
"..."
"You broke in? Well jeez, that makes my job a lot harder."
"..."
"Good point. Nothing there to steal anymore. Good call." He reached into the gun locker buried at the back of the closet and pulled out a pistol. He tossed it onto the bed along with a concealed holster. "In the meantime, I need you to talk to his sister. Maybe she has some idea where he went."
"..."
"Oh don't give me that bullshit. You know she has something to do with this."
"..."
"Fine, tell her that if she doesn't talk we have to involve the big guy. This is far too important to lose." He pulled on the pants, realized he had forgotten the underwear and cursed. "I don't think she'd like that too much. I know I wouldn't. The guy's a prick."
"..."
Conrad paused in the middle of pulling on his shirt. "I guess? Anyway, keep me posted. I got some business to take care of."
He hung up and finished getting dressed, last of all pulling on his favorite leather jacket. Then he rushed to the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out four small eggs. He checked the label on the carton, grinned, then shoved them in his jacket beside the pistol.
Finally, he checked to make sure his Cerberus alias was active on his omni-tool before heading off into the depths of the Citadel. Just another day in the life of the Cell.
-ooo000ooo-
Colonel,
I... I don't know what to say.
I know Agaus is classified material, but I need to know what happened down there. This kind of brain damage is unlike anything we've ever seen. The closest comparison I can make is when we were experimenting with neural interfaces. If I had to make a guess I would say Rose had a ton of information just shoved into her brain then ripped out like a band-aid.
But that makes no sense. With that kind of trauma she should be completely brain dead. The fact that she's still standing is a miracle of itself.
With this in mind I will give my prognosis: NEVER bring it up with her again. I know this isn't the proper treatment, but we have no choice. We don't know if all the 'data' was pulled out completely or if some is still lurking in her mind. If she were to recall the incident it might trigger a resurgence... and I don't think she would survive.
That is my professional opinion, at least until we have a proper treatment. Take it how you will.
Doctor Alaric, E
Alliance Intelligence
-ooo000ooo-
Sparks flew as steel met steel. A savage grin broke across his face as Monty strove to overwhelm his opponent. His foe, a man in his mid-twenties was hopelessly outmatched by the Aura-gifted Huntsman as he forced his sword down.
He lashed out abruptly, breaking the stalemate and the man's knee with a well-timed kick. The man didn't have time to scream as his guard dropped, allowing Monty to swiftly decapitate him. As the headless body fell, more rushed the Huntsmen, heedless of their friend's demise.
Poor fools, thinking they could take him on. Monty raised his sword in a mock salute and pulled the trigger in the guard. The 44. Magnum built into the hilt fired with a thunderous retort, popping a man's skull like a balloon. He fired again, killing another, then leaned back, dodging a sword directed at his ribs.
"Is this really all you got?" he laughed, parrying another clumsy strike before ending his opponent with a quick thrust through the heart. His hybrid gun-sword, which he fondly called Last Chance, almost preened in delight as blood painted its length
Just what were these morons thinking? Taking on two fully trained Huntsmen without a shred of combat experience between them. They didn't even have their own Huntsmen to properly counter them. Monty had even considered sparing them out of pity, as they clearly had no idea what they were doing. But they were in the way of a very large pay check. Also, body snatchers. There were few things he truly hated in a criminal, but grave-robbing was one of them. That body also so happened to be a Huntress.
In that case: no mercy.
It hadn't taken much to track the group back to their hideout, an abandoned warehouse set into a cliff on the outskirts of Vale. Oum was his usual diplomatic self and offered them a chance to leave in peace in exchange for the body.
The rest, as they say, was history.
Monty slid a new clip into Last Chance, whistling a merry tune as he surveyed his last few opponents.
Just regular old humans in combat fatigues. The clothes were clearly Atlas in make, but the men were far from disciplined soldiers. Mercs or angsty teens most likely. But there was something odd about them. Anyone facing a Huntsman would be shitting bricks right about now, but their faces were oddly expressionless, as if they didn't care that death awaited them.
Meh, their loss.
"So," Monty drawled, swinging his sword casually. A smirk lifted his lips as he took note of the powerful strobe light behind him, casting long shadows on the ground. "Who's next?"
The men charged, running straight into his shadow.
Perfect.
Laughing, Monty activated his Semblance and the shadow came to life beneath them, wrapping up their legs and tearing into their flesh with long, twisted fingers. He was on them an instant later, cleaving a man in two while his shadow puppet strangled another.
Whirring around, he raised his blade to finish off the last one, only to find him standing perfectly ridged, the blade of a rapier pierced through his heart.
"Welcome to the party," Monty grinned, lowering Last Chance as the body dropped, revealing his brother. "What took you so long? Lost your invitation?"
The Dust cylinder in the rapier's hilt spun, then Oum thrust the blade out to the side, discharging a burst of fire that incinerated another man running at them from the side. Oum raised an eyebrow. "You missed one."
Monty shrugged. "I could have taken him."
"I know that, but your ego is big enough already."
"You're just jealous," he grinned, motioning around to the dozens of bodies around him.
Oum merely blinked and turned away, heading towards a door on the far end of the warehouse.
"Yeah, totally jelly," Monty chuckled, jogging to catch up to his brother.
The door led to a long hallway that went deeper into the cliff with another sealed door at the far end. Monty kicked it down, the flimsy steel no match for his Aura infused kick. He took a quick look around and whistled. The room on the other side was as large as a combat arena back at Beacon. Long tables covered with computers, microscopes, and other scientific equipment stretched from wall to wall. One of the largest servers he'd ever seen sat in the middle of the room, humming quietly.
"Peach would have a field with this," Monty murmured, going over and examining one of the terminals. "Defiantly Atlas tech. Thieves and grave robbers. Just perfect. No remorse or fucks given."
Oum said nothing as he examined the server, following wires and cables trailing across the floor. A terminal finally caught his eye and he tapped the screen, frowning at what he saw once it powered up. "Heavy security," he said, fingers already flying across the keyboard. "Overriding it should take some time, meanwhile you can find the body."
"Yeah, already on it," Monty sighed, looking around. He couldn't find any trace of a corpse and the lab was free of any blood stains. But of course it would be in a body bag, so what was he thinking? Whistling, he strutted about, searching for a container or something that looked large enough to hold a body. They wouldn't be stupid and leave a rotting corpse out in the open to smell. They may have been amateurs, but they weren't dumb. Then again, they did draw the ire of two Huntsmen. Dumbest thing you could possibly do.
Then his eye fell upon an especially large cable trailing out of the server. Suddenly intrigued, he followed it across the floor until it vanished under a heavy metal door at the back of the lab. Even through it he could pick up the faint stench of blood.
"Open sesame," he grinned, grabbing the doorknob only to instantly recoil.
Something had just touched his Aura. Not a physical blow, but a strange presence that brushed against his essence. Only it wasn't another person's Aura. More than that, it felt... wrong.
Mentally fortifying his Aura by sheer force of will, he carefully reached for the knob again. The presence returned, brushing against his will like a soft summer breeze. He pulsed his Aura, letting the power rush over him, but it gave no reaction.
Metal clicked together as the blade of Last Chance broke into segments, folding into the hilt and leaving him with an overly large Magnum. He slowly eased the door open, scanning the room beyond down the iron sights and froze at the sight before him.
"Oum protect us."
"I heard that!" Oum shouted, but Monty was too engrossed in the sight before him to respond.
The room was a natural cave, formed by millions of years of erosion. The cable he'd been following ran across the floor to finally connect with a large tripod-like piece of machinery. The bluish grey metal clearly wasn't Atlas in make, or any other province Monty had been to. But it was the body bag impaled on a large spike that shot out from the top that made his fists clench.
The strange presence against his Aura grew stronger as he approached, though thankfully not enough to breach his defences. Monty swallowed dryly, his shock and revulsion giving way to anger. What the hell was this? What was it doing here, and why the fucking hell was there a body on it? There were few things in life he found truly repulsive. But defilement, of a Huntress no less? That was unforgivable.
"Oh my," murmured Oum, coming up beside him and staring at the corpse.
"Did you find anything on that tech?" Monty asked through clentched teeth.
Oum nodded slowly. "A lot. Very disturbing stuff."
"And you feel that too?"
"Its Aura?... Yes."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
"Alright. I feel its... presence, so to speak."
"That still makes no fucking sense. Machines can't generate Aura," said Monty, allowing Last Chance to unfold once again. With a single swipe the spike was severed at the base, allowing the body to fall. Oum caught it, pulling the spike clear before leaving without a word.
Monty made to follow, but paused at the door, glaring at the machine. Against his better judgement he listened through his Aura, feeling the presence rub against him. Then he felt it. A single will that grasped at his mind, trying to tear into his thoughts and drive him to madness. To dance like a puppet, stripped of all free will. If not for his Aura he was sure he would have fallen to its power.
He didn't know its purpose or why it was here, but the strange presence around it felt... evil. Pure, unfiltered evil.
And he knew just what to do with it.
"Fuck you!"
Shadows danced along the walls as his Semblance came to life, jumping at the infernal machine. Their long fingers found the seams between the metal plates and they slipped inside, tearing it apart from the inside out. Monty watched, never relenting until it was nothing more than a soldering wreak on the ground. He spat on the pieces, then made to leave. But at the last moment he paused, then reached down and picked a piece of metal, no larger than a finger. He examined for a moment with distaste, then shoved it in a pocket and left.
They might just get something useful out of it. If those men made that thing then they needed to know how. Something this evil couldn't be allowed to exist. It was his duty as a Huntsman, after all.
-ooo000ooo-
...Page 2...
I'm sure, Admiral, that you and the rest of the Brass are aware of how effective Rosarius was, though you probably knew it as Operation Torpedo, The RCP or Mountain Watch. Verner insisted we keep the name vague in Alliance records. I am unsure why, as it serves no purpose other than misleading our allies. But maybe that was his goal the whole time.
Even if it was effective, it was old, outdated, and costly beyond belief. Verner wasn't too happy when the Alliance started leaning towards other Divisions for more efficient solutions. When they asked him to assist in the formation of the new surveillance system, Black Cloud, I believe he snapped.
At this point there is no doubt in my mind that he turned on the Alliance and its people to keep his Operation funded.
Within a week of launching, Black Cloud lost sight of three outpost and a single colony containing hundreds. No survivors. An investigation was launched but couldn't find any trace of the attackers. It was like they had appeared out of thin air and vanished without a trace.
With this failure as proof, Verner reinstated Rosarius and continued its operation until the Mindoir attack. Up until this point I was in the dark about his actions, but now its glaring obvious.
[LOCKDOWN: CLASSIFIED MATERIAL. AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED]
[**************************************************************: Access Granted]
The thing you have to understand about Rosarius is that it isn't just an algorithm, or even a linked system of comm relays; its an entire network of deep space probes, designed by Verner himself. These probes, while highly expensive, topped everything we had at the time in terms of detection capability, even to the point of detecting a ship before it exited a Mass Relay an impossible feat. To this day we don't know how they do it.
But there was a function we weren't aware of. All the while watching over our colonies they were scanning for... something, and we don't know what. A strange energy signature that we've never seen before. And it was working. The probes would pick up blips once every month or so. We didn't know about it, of course. The data they collected went straight to Verner.
The last blip the probes collected was in 2170 on Mindoir, the very day Ruby Rose appeared. After she was safe Verner was all too happy to let his Operation fall apart.
But it begs the question, just how involved was Verner in this? We told you that the attacks we were investigating before Mindoir had been the fault of Pirates.
We lied. He lied.
Not even Pirates could be this brutal. Too much blood, nothing stolen, no slaves taken. It was like a pack of wild animals had torn the colonies to ribbons. Verner ordered us to cover it up, said it would be demoralizing. I agreed with him at the time. Now I wonder if he ordered the attacks, just so he would have a reason to be a Mindoir to see Rose.
If that is the case, then he is undoubtedly a traitor, attacking Alliance colonies with his own personal army.
I know it seems far fetched, but look at the data, there is nothing else it could be. But who does he work for, and why his interest in Rose?
But now... I need to be open with you. As you probably guessed, that energy ping the probes picked up on Mindoir was Rose. But even if he seemed to care about her, Verner was far from open about her status, even going as far to falsify her medical records.
Why? Well... it would appear that Rose wasn't as human as we thought.
...Page 2...