Update on January 22, 2020: The entire transcript has been heavily edited in order to reflect with the conclusion of the first chapter, now that Chapter 2: Season 1's about to come to a close.
BRAVE, NEW WORLD
OCTOBER 15, 0650 HRS ZULU TIME – VALLEJO ISLAND
JENNIFER "PARADIGM" HAWKINS
When I opened my eyes, overlooking at the blue sky that brewed into the bright sun and beyond, all I could think about was if Hana and I, along with the rest of my fellow Sentinels, succeeded in stopping both the Federation and Atlas from doing the unthinkable. I may fully understand as to the risks the two organizations had to face at the time, but it was certain that Aquarius was going to experience the Zero Point, now that the world we left behind was fully destroyed by the unbinding forces that made this happen.
What I never expected was anything that I never seemed to imagine. What was once the pitch darkness that was there had seemingly disappeared, and came through was the beginning of a new era. I wasn't sure where to begin with, let alone, find the others that seemingly disappeared into the darkness.
"Where… where am I?" I asked while I was standing and took off my helmet, "Where's everybody at?"
Upon standing up and looking across an individual island overlooking a beach town, I picked up any remaining equipment, including the HB50 that Hana gave to me, ammunition, a FAMAS F1 Valorise, and my backpack that was found right beside palm tree, to begin my search for any survivors.
I kept wandering across the island before I found a boat that took me to that specified beach town, I encountered Hana looking at the body of Yuna, laying unconscious on the ground, maybe dead after sustaining massive wounds from the shrapnel that flew over the facility before engulfing life as we know it. It wasn't long after that she was mourning the loss of her best friend and sat on the ground, looking hopeless that nobody else could've survived the impact, before I looked at her through a distance and called out her name a few times before recognizing me.
"Oh my god!" exclaimed Hana while she gave out a hug, "I thought you were dead!"
There was something strange about her, given that a normal teenager or daughter would act in the first place. I just know that there must be some sort of secret that she's hiding. I just don't know if the loss of Yuna will certainly affect us, but given that we've been through the worst, ever since we first met after the destruction that ensued back in Busan, it's certain that she could finally rest, and live off to tell her tale, maybe. But even if her friends, too, have been through the worst as well, I never expected to form a mutual relationship between Hana and her friends to begin with. Better yet, I just don't know about Talon and the others doing their part to keep the world in check.
"Everything's all right now," I responded, while I solemnly hugged her, "Everything's going to be all right."
After she stopped hugging me, I felt an unusually strong force starting to take over me, as Hana started becoming desperate about something or someone that she also forgot about in the first place. Without hesitation, I assured to her everything was going to be all right, and that it was only the two of us, alone in the dark, to try and find the rest of our friends, now that we were all alone.
"Hey, Hana," I said, "Do you know what happened to Dae-hyun and the rest of the others?"
"I..." she replied sorrowly. "I don't know where he is right now."
"Well... well, why don't we look for them and see if they're somewhere across town or someplace else?"
Hana didn't answer back, and instead showed me what was left of Yuna, who was washed ashore and laid there like a hopeless animal. I wasn't sure where to begin with, or what to do, since I didn't have the proper equipment to show that she was all right. Because of my hesitation to check if she was dead, I wanted to assure myself and Hana that she was going to have to make it out alive somehow, now that everything that we had back at the capital ship was likely engulfed by the Zero Point that we created overall.
"Is she all right?" I asked to her.
"I don't know if she is okay." she replied. "I just know that she's not breathing or something..."
"Do you want me to check on her?"
"If she is, then please do so."
"Hooah."
I lifted Yuna up and later placed her in a stable position and later placed my two fingers over each artery to ensure if she was alive or not. The procedure lasted for about five minutes or so, but to no avail. I initially thought that I must've done it incorrect or so; and for that, I repeated this process multiple times, before finally, I would discover her pulse to be critical and asked anybody for help. We kept waiting and waiting for about a few minutes or so on the eve of rush hour; and finally, there was a medic nearby, who wore casual attires, and asked for help.
"Hey!" I exclaimed at the woman. "I need help! My friend's dying!"
Immediately, the person made her way to where we were and administered first aid, before I decided to ask her about who she was.
"Who are you?" I asked to her. "It seems that you must be in the military, and attained a medical degree."
"Thanks." she replied. "What about you? Are you affiliated with EGO or ALTER?"
"I don't know about them. What about you?"
"Me? Well, I no longer work for the military, but I'm working instead at a nearby hospital. If you want, I can take care of your friend, and inform you about how she's doing."
"Thank you." responded Hana. "Thank you."
"No problem. If anything, I'll let you know about your friend."
Eventually, the medic left and took Yuna to the hospital, before it was just the two of us again, waiting to see or do to find the rest of the others. Throughout the rest of the morning, we left town and started searching across the island, looking for answers as to where the Visitor and Scientist were. Slowly as we progressed deep into the mainland, there was an abandoned facility that contained ammo caches and a number of logistical data that must've been gathered from a long time ago by the time we entered.
Upon gazing at a number of documents surrounding about the same organizations that the medic was talking about, I felt skeptical if she really was a part of either organizations. Regardless, none of the documents contained any data containing the origins, records and combat data gathered from the Federation or Atlas. Then, there was something else that bothered me. If we really did stop them, then what organizations have replaced the two? That is what I wanted to seek overall, before Hana was surprised to see the Scientist overlooking at some of the documents that belonged to one of the organizations along with the Visitor.
"Jennifer! Hana!" exclaimed the Scientist. "It's good to see you guys!"
"You too." Hana replied. "What are you looking at?
"Me? Well, I've been with the Visitor all morning, declassifying some documents detailing the Federation and Atlas."
"What's going on?" I asked at the Scientist, while I was looking at some of the documents that I inspected.
"Well, it appears that all the databases containing info about the Federation and Atlas have seemingly disappeared, following upon activating the rift zones across each part of the continent," replied the Visitor, "And it was there, that the Zero Point had fully activated, and consumed all forms of life. Because of this, there's been a strange anomaly taking place."
"You're not even serious about this, are you?" he asked.
"Precisely. I believe that the only reason why this place still exists is because the timeline has been altered, thus the changes made in the past must've prevented the formation of the two. Not only that, but with the Federation and Atlas not existing, its certain there are two groups that may have taken this role, since according to some of the documents that I uncovered, we're technically living in the present day."
"But is there any twist to it?" asked Hana.
"Correct. The only thing that's been intriguing me the most is the fact that these number of technologies and innovations the made had seemingly disappeared. However, there are some that left Aquarius as early as the moment we warned everybody about the impending threat that was about to happen. And when the Zero Point occurred, that is when all forms of life had fully extinguished and what thus ended was an age of darkness, and in came a new era of peace. It's only now, that I realized the toll on each and every one of you. We lost a lot of good men and women in the process."
"Aye... do you actually know about everything that you'd experienced during the black hole?" I asked at the Visitor.
"I don't know." replied the Visitor before making a brief pause. "Wait, I did see everyone float in space, and later teleport back to Earth two days after this had finally settled. Thankfully, everybody but those that were caught in the crossfire were killed. Eventually, I had to call in the Sequential Justice to teleport everybody inside the ship, so that the medical staff could provide medical attention to those that were wounded."
"But wait!" I said. "If the Sequential Justice managed to survive, then what did it contain?"
"The ship contained all the data necessary to embark to any other place," said the Scientist, "But we originally planned to deliberately crash it on the ground and burn all the equipment from the others exploiting this and having it reverse-engineered. But instead, it was necessary for us that we would have to contact one of the organizations to well, use this on a consumer-scale."
"As for the crew," interrupted the Visitor, "many of you were able to make it out alive, thanks to gene therapy being utilized to allow everybody the ability to breathe within the shores of our galaxy and swim through deep space, and also to prevent mass levels of radiation flowing through your bodies."
"But now that Aquarius has been destroyed, do you think that will we ever return to Earth?" asked Hana.
"Technically, Aquarius is supposed to no longer exist." He replied. "Although the ship has the coordinates to return to Earth, we feel that the recent timeline may have altered as far as 40 years."
"In other words, all of this took place before Orchard being implemented following the end of an unnamed war that didn't involve neither Atlas or the Federation." revealed the Scientist. "If the two of you want, you can fetch us more documents to us or you can find something else to pass the time."
"Got it."
Upon waiting for the Scientist to find and uncover documents surrounding the databases of all identification papers followed by war documents, I was increasingly worried about Sasha and went on to look for him with Hana following me. Noting that he disappeared right after the activation of all the rift zones across the planet and subsequently led to the destruction of all forms of life, I kept searching across the facility for clues before telling Hana that I needed some time off to find out the truth about his disappearance. The long and arduous search lasted for about an hour and a half, and there was no sign of him whatsoever. Feeling that he moved somewhere else long before I even woke up, it wasn't until I learned the truth when I uncovered a note that stated my name in an encased envelope. In the small note that he wrote, it took me a while to verify the truth, as realized that this sounded serious. In it, he stated that Sasha was not happy about the choices he made back at the time, and stated that he wanted to be with me once more, but had to make the ultimate choice in sacrificing his life to destroy the same force that has long threatened the world for so long, and his wasn't in vain and wanted to ensure the downfall of the organization, before stating that the remainder of us must preserve the good name of Atlas and a new organization that we must create to ensure the future of this new world.
Simultaneously heartbroken about his death, I screamed in agony, cursing the Federation for what they did to him along with Atlas, and was engulfed by this surge of fury. However, I somehow managed to wander across the shoreline before sitting on the shoreline and have Hana stand right besides me. I waded for a minute or so, looking at the crisp ocean distract me from all the pain that I went through before she intervened.
"What's wrong, Jennifer?" Hana asked to me.
"It's Sasha." I replied.
"Is he-"
"Dead. I don't know what to do without him. If only... if only if I had spared more of my time to be with him overall, then maybe things would've gone a different turn."
"I see. It's like me a while ago, when I thought Yuna was actually going to die. *Later looks at me and softly smiles at me.* Look, you've been there with me, when things were dire. It was you that motivated me to go further, and feel good about what I do all the time; but it hates me to see you like this."
"Thanks for your concern, Hana. But... *gives out a deep sigh* but I've also made some of the worst choice, just because of my ego, which let me to forget about the others and focus on the mission. Maybe if I took a more relaxed approach, then none of this would've happened."
"Either way, it was going to be inevitable. Many lives were saved and lost simultaneously because of this. *looks at me* It wasn't your fault that this happened. Life happens like this all the time. We just don't know if one of us are next. Better yet, I wonder how Yuna's doing..."
*gives out another deep sigh* Me too. I just hope that she makes it out okay."
"You said it. There's a nearby memorial we can head to. Do you think it'd be a good idea to pay respects?"
"Sure thing."
I briefly stood up and followed her towards the boat that she talked about, before she fired up the engine and sailed towards the small island that housed the ruins. Upon arriving towards at the site, I was mesmerized by the way it looked, when the two of us looked at a desolate fort or outpost that showed its age, when battle scars and a number of holes and debris were uncovered through this land. Surrounded by it, were a number of cannons emplaced across the island, showcasing that a previous battle may have occurred a long time ago.
"Wait!" exclaimed Hana. "What is that?"
While the two of us continued to explore the remains of this isolated island for another 10 minutes, Hana found what it appeared to be an old helmet that must've made its way here, before she gave the helmet to me and booted up its OS for a while. Upon initializing its OS and a number of software updates, I realized that the helmet must've belonged to me, given that I forgot to take it with me following the forged alliance that I made with the Legionnaires themselves and said, "That was the helmet that I forgot to bring with me!" before I took off my current helmet off and back on the old one to bring back a number of memories back before the days that led to the showdown between us and the creature. Knowing that I wouldn't drop it on the ground, I decided to take off the old helmet and placed it in my backpack along with the current one, before I loaded both the HB50 that Hana gave to me and my F1 Valorise taken from the armory.
Hana looked onwards, as I fired my rifle up in the air as a show of respect before I pulled the safety pin of my gun and saluted to those that weren't able to make it out alive.
1 hour later...
Upon reentering the computer room after returning from the long trip, I looked at a happier Visitor and Scientist, who normally didn't have any signs of emotions but seemed to be in a good mood, now that there was nothing else to do, besides in finding the rest of the others across the place. I somehow looked at the Scientist, who had a suspicious feeling as to what was next in the future; it wasn't until Hana would debunk everything that he was thinking about.
"So guys, what do you want to do?" Hana asked around, "There's nothing else we can do besides in exploring around."
"She's right," I said, "We could maybe find the rest of the others, who've been missing for a good while. Maybe with that, we can forge new alliances that we may not even not about."
"That's true," replied the Scientist, "We could need some new allies, so that we can improve the relations of the others, now that they've been extinguished."
"All right!" I shouted in excitement. "But first, let's make sure everything's tweaked to its maximum level, including our guns and remaining supplies."
"That's true. But you do know that Aquarius has been transformed into a different place, right?" Interrupted the Visitor.
I started to smile for a while, and looked upon the rising clouds that formed outside of where the outpost resided. Thinking that if this really was going to be a rough world out there, I came to terms in accepting where I was, so that I could try and focus on the future and not look back to the past that much; but because of the deaths of the others, I made an oath to myself that I would have to honor their memories that the others undertook during the third war.
"Oh, what the hell…" *we all laugh* All right, let's get started."
Although there weren't any vehicles that we could use, I decided to take off my helmet once more, so that I could get some much-needed fresh air that I haven't had in a while. While on our way to a forest located west to where we were, I noticed a number of people already going on with their busy lives, as it seemed to them that nothing had actually happened overall. However, given that a number of surreal events was about to take place, I kept my HB50 and FAMAS inside unassembled and directly concealed the two inside my backpack, in case if this was actually going to happen. By the time we arrived at the forest, my mind was blown away for the first time in a while, as I never expected it to be as lifeless as it could get overall.
"This place is so beautiful!" exclaimed Hana while she took a picture of the landscape from her phone, "This is the first time that I've seen this! It looks fantastic!"
"What do you think, Hana?" I asked her, gleefully.
"Now this is where the beauty starts!" she exclaimed, "Say, let's take a selfie, will you?"
"Um… I'm not sure if I've done this before and -"
"Oh relax! Just smile at the camera, and it's all good!"
"All right."
After Hana and I took a selfie, I went down to a lake to take a good shower in order to get some privacy out of all the others. Upon looking over the horizon, I noticed a glare coming from a hillside coming about several hundred metres from where the glare had caught my eyes. I was initially confused if the glare was emanating from a vehicle or so, but it appeared to me that it could've been a sniper, once I realized that the glare did come from a rifle scope. Worried for a moment that it was the Federation, I wielded out the HB50 and later made my way to where the sniper was. However, the person didn't even pull the trigger down in the first place; I somehow felt a bit strange if it was going to be a dead end. About a few minutes in, I kept moving closer to where the glare emanated by sprinting through the traverse woodlands and winding rivers that affected the place.
And it wasn't long after, that I found the person who deliberately aimed at my head through its laser sight and glare coming from her sniper rifle. Upon looking at the female pink-haired individual, who appeared to be wearing and possessing rock-climbing equipment, I somehow felt suspicious as to whether or not, she was the same person that I spotted sometime before the Zero Point had even occurred.
"Who are you?" I asked at her, while slowly putting her SV-98 on the ground and demanding her to raise her hands.
"Me?" she replied with a smiley grin in her face. "Neither enemy nor friend."
I unconcealed my HB50 and frisked her equipment, in order to ensure that she was not affiliated with the Federation before she went on to stand up and explain to me about everything that I didn't know about.
"You see," she continued, "I'm not affiliated with the Federation, nor Atlas in the first place.
"If not, then are you somehow allied with the Legionnaires?"
"I belong to an organization called the Expedite Global Operations team; and for years, we've provided exact information about the Federation's own findings, and delivered that intel to the Visitor of yours."
"You mean..."
"I played a part in helping you guys out for a while. And if it wasn't for me, then this petty war that you were supposed to engage in would've lasted for a while, thanks to the construction of 7 Rift Beacons capable of transmitting its signal to the energy station from where the battle of yours had occurred. If you want, we can talk about this tomorrow in the morning."
A helicopter suddenly flew overhead of the two of us, and shortly landed before the pilots and the rest of the squad waited for her to climb aboard and return to where they came from. However, I was roughly able to identify one of the people that were onboard, and I was shocked to see the same person be a part of the squad that the person commanded. With the roaring engine pounding through the ground like a tropical storm, I was unsure where we were going to meet or even find a good place and talk about it overall. It was then, that I decided to ask her about a few things before she left.
"Where are we going to meet?" I asked before she boarded the helicopter.
With the deafening sounds coming from the engine, I couldn't hear a single thing or so before the person came closer and replied, "The cabins, to where we resided." before the helicopter took off and flew away, thus returning a fresh bit of air followed by nature slowly reclaiming her calm and peacefulness.
I waited about a few minutes thereafter, when the Visitor had finally arrived, followed by everybody that came. I was initially skeptical if what she said was true, given that my credentials towards him was nearly as loose. Therefore, I was extremely pissed off (loosely), but straightforward, I wanted to go through the serenity of my clouded mind and immediately talk about a deal we were all forced to sign with.
"What's wrong, Jennifer?" started asking the Visitor.
"There's nothing wrong." I replied with a disgruntled face. "I just wanted to ask about one thing."
"Go ahead."
"Have you signed us all a deal with someone to do their dirty work?"
Quickly, the Visitor started to blush for a bit, followed by a surge of movements occurring over his body in order to convince us he was saying the truth. He kept looking around, waiting for someone, including Hana and the Scientist, to say something to back him up. Unfortunately, they too, became skeptical about him. This lasted about a few seconds before he went on to admit it to all of us.
*long sigh* "Unfortunately, yes." he replied disgustedly. "Why is that?"
"Technically, one of your agents coming from some organization called EGO, said that you were affiliated, and told us about a mission that we're planning to partake in, is that true?"
"Wait! W-who told you that?!" *face changes from disgusted to shocked*
"I told you just now. It was a pink-hair-ished person wearing rock climbing equipment that told me about it. Could you try and clarify their intentions?"
"All right, then; Jesus!" he concluded in an annoying manner. "About a few days before the Zero Point had occurred, I made contact with one of the agents stationed in Singapore for a meeting between EGO and ASEAN delegates in regards of our actions that were being made that threatened the existence of our two planets, before concluding that the two would create a strategic alliance between them, followed by the Arab League and the Galilean Association of Unified Nations."
"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the mission that she was talking about."
"I'm sorry, but I'm trying to get through this as well! Just don't rush me through all this. *brief pause* Ahem, as I was saying, after the meeting, the agent went on to personally talk to me about a mission that they needed help on the most. It's with another organization called ALTER, I believe, and they've been running up tensions between the two in an effort to gain power and become a stronghold in a newly-formed Aquarius."
"You're wrong!" interrupted the Scientist. "It's only now that I realized that Aquarius still exists."
"What?"
"The only reason why the planet still exists is because someone or something must've been aware of the premonition that we've lived through over the past. Perhaps it must've been them that eliminated the top figures from the two. *Brief pause and looks away from us* I just don't know if Journey must've used an inter-dimensional rift to head back in time and kill them..."
"Wait!" I paused for a moment and awkwardly pointed at him, morally becoming suspicious over what he did during our previous mission. What I got instead was a question that was ready to be put in motion that converted itself as a suspicion over his loyalty to us or to them. I should've known by the fact that something strange had truly been occurring at that time.
"You son of a bitch!" I exclaimed at him. "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?!"
"What did we do wrong?" frantically asked Hana. "Are they going to come back?"
"Yes." he hastily replied. "As I aforementioned earlier, it was necessary for this conversation that I had with one of their agents to be confidential."
"Do you realize that you're putting us into a grave situation now, don't you?"
"Come on now, guys." interrupted the Scientist. "Let's calm down, everybody. We don't need to settle this down with a fistfight. Now I know it wasn't the right thing that my accomplice did the worst choice in letting you know about this pesky little secret that we knew about during the previous mission. But Jennifer, we can settle this down another day, once this little errand that the others need has been fully arranged, alright?"
I hesitated for a moment and I felt sympathetic to what the Scientist offered to me, since I know that the two are great people, but I was weary to what he's done over the previous months and perhaps years past. Yet, even if I was unaware to their actions done earlier, it's starting to bind together and weave itself to make a sweater needed for winter.
"Acknowledged." I said towards him. "Even if we're on good terms, including the Visitor himself, I need to know about this as soon as possible. 'Cause if there's anyone that's getting the information, then it's gotta be us; and I mean all of us, including Hana and if all, any possible survivors spread throughout the island."
"Very well." the Visitor concluded.
I looked at Hana for a while, while seemingly being worried about something that caught my attention. I wanted to say something, let alone, try and comfort her despite the grueling hardships we faced for a long time. She remained standing there for a while, looking at something or someone lurking underneath before I went on and look at her directly in the eyes shortly after the two returned back to the cabin.
"What's wrong, Hana?" I started asking to her, while she remained looking into the deep horizon. "Has something been bothering you recently?"
It was extremely dull for me to handle a number of things that needed to be taken care of, but things had eventually settled down inside my head, as her eyes started to shine all over the room and I was able to think about the positive sides of life, despite a number of limitations happening across life.
"So, what should we do?" asked Hana while looking around the living room.
"I'm preparing some salmon at the moment," I replied, "I'll let you guys know when dinner's ready!"
"All right," said the Scientist, "We're just finishing up cutting off the tree barks so that we can use it for later."
"I know that it may sound too youngish and everything, but I feel that we all want to get along, and know more about each other, right?"
"Indeed," said the Visitor, "Now that we've got the night to ourselves, why don't we share our experiences before getting to know each other?"
"As I previously mentioned, give some time to finish up with the salmon. I'll let you know when it's ready!"
It took about an hour to finish up with the salmon, while the other 3 were finishing up cleaning up the entire cabin. By the time the salmons were fully cooked, I grabbed the plates that were left over in the kitchen and placed the salmon and added vegetables in order to add some variety and a balanced nutrition for everybody. I guess my cooking skills did help out, since my parents taught me how to cook.
I told everyone to not eat too quick, and enjoy their food after stripping all of our equipment and changing to regular clothes. As I looked around the table, it seemed though, that everyone actually like the grilled salmon that I made.
"This food's delicious!" exclaimed Hana.
"Jennifer, this actually tastes good," said the Scientist, "I didn't know that you'd be a chef. Where did you learn all of this?"
"To tell you the truth, my mother was a chef, and taught me the basics of what's expected in the kitchen," I replied, "Initially I didn't like cooking, but it wasn't until I reached 15 years old that I started to cook for everybody at the house."
"Nice," said the Visitor, "Maybe you'll be our personal chef. Better yet, just because you are one, maybe I should tell you the things that I haven't eaten in a while…"
"No way, man," I said, "You gotta learn the basics first."
"So, when will I take your own culinary academy?"
"Maybe as soon as we finish exploring the island, and we're good."
"All right!", she said in an excitedly way, "So, who will start?"
"Looks like I'll be the first brave enough to start."
"Very well," said Hana.
"It all started on a bright, and crisp July…"