Bearding the Board
"Okay..." The new Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "This is going to be so much fun."
"We have your back Ma'am." The Special Forces commander said quietly from where he stood. She hadn't had a chance to talk to Horatius yet. She assumed it would be... interesting when she did. For now, his six soldier strong team was set to show his support for her.
"It is appreciated, Commander." She replied and her thanks were heartfelt. She hadn't known quite how to react when he had arrived, but he was consummately professional. He was also clearly worried about things, but she wasn't about to blow his cover. She shook herself a little. The downloads had been... extensive. Information on so many things, techniques for using her newly augmented abilities, data from spy nets, resources available and being expended. The sheer amount of information boggled the mind. Luckily, she had a staff. Unluckily, she couldn't rely on them but so much. There were some secrets that simply had to be kept, even from the Clergy. It was... harder than she had thought. But...they did not press. "This has been a hell of a shakeup."
"We have your back." Horatius repeated firmly and then shut up.
The Reverend Mother took a deep breath and then spoke. "Now."
She was standing in a small room. The soldiers behind her were armed and ready, but she knew they were not hostile. She could feel their wariness, their worry. But none showed it. All around her, holoscreens hummed to her as they powered up. Her augmentation was...impressive to say the least. In her mind's eye, she could see screens flashing information at a speed that few humans would have been able to keep up with. Good thing she hadn't been human. She did not react as seven screens came to life around her, all showing the heads of various Board members. In her internal view, each was displayed with information scrolling about them, their duties, their forces, their...proclivities. She was very glad she had voluntary control over her facial features now, or she would have grimaced at some of that.
"It's about bloody..." Board Member Bek was snarling, but the paused in mid rant. "Who are you?" He demanded.
"Honored Chairman." The Reverend Mother ignored the executive to nod to the man in the middle. He was pro-tem chairman, temporary, but he was the one who had been selected to head the Board while they found a new one. It...was not an easy process. Darvo had actually been the best choice, but he had fled. She didn't blame him. "There have been a number of changes."
"So I see." The chairman said quietly. "And you are?"
"I am the Reverend Mother." She replied evenly. It did not...feel real to her. Not yet.
"No you are not! What is that hag up to now?" Bek demanded. "What is she planning?"
"My predecessor stepped down." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "I was selected to lead the Clergy and vetted. I passed the tests and now serve."
"And you did this...without the Board's approval?" Bek's voice was low and dangerous.
"It was an internal matter." The Reverend Mother said with a shrug. "I was not aware that the Board had to approve internal matters." She glanced at Bek and then back at the chairman, ignoring the others. They were powerful, no question. But Bek and the chairman were the two who mattered right now.
"The Board also..." The Chairman said quietly. "...has no authority over the Clergy."
"That will change!" Bek snapped.
"Maybe. But not today. Your vendetta against us is costing the Company a great deal, Frohd Bek." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Is it worth it?"
"You..." Bek was obviously fighting for control. She let him regain it. "Fine." He spat out. "What will you do about the attacks?"
"We are looking into them." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Three small outposts attacked and destroyed is troubling. But it is not the Ancient Enemy." She had seen the reports and had been forced to override her stomach implants to keep from vomiting despite her discipline. What was worse? No female bodies had been found. She...suspected the reason as did many of the Clergy. Small wonder they had gone to such lengths to get her.
"Oh, do not start the apocalypse prophecies!" Bek snorted. "We had enough of that from the other hag."
"Is it prophecy if I am stating documented facts?" The Reverend Mother asked calmly. A box highlighted in her vision, noting that Bek had been vocal in denying that the Ancient Enemy even existed. He claimed it was a hoax perpetrated by the Clergy. She wished it was. "Your delusions may allow you to blind yourself to the real world, but not all of us have that luxury." She said with another tiny shrug. She wondered if he would explode, as red as his face became. She wanted to sneer, to spit in his face. But it wouldn't end well. "We are investigating all leads, Chairman." She said with a small nod to the titular leader. "The lack of female corpses of child bearing age is most distressing."
"And the fact that the males had been gnawed on was not?" Bek demanded.
"These are not Infested." The Reverend Mother ignored the him. "Indeed, the few scans we have gotten of DNA suggests humans. The few bits of tech recovered are all Company." More than one of the Board went still at that. "We do not have enough evidence to say who or what did it. But we have suspicions."
"Can you voice those suspicions?" The Chairman asked before Bek could speak.
"They are most distressing." The Reverend Mother said with a small frown. "We believe we know where the... subjects... came from. The research facility on Neptune that was searching for a way into the Orokin towers was the first attack..."
"So now you blame me?" Bek asked, his voice contemptuous. He paused when she shook her head. "What?"
"No." The Reverend Mother said as several of the Board looked intent. "You were not in charge at the time. Alad V was." Bek stared at her and then slowly paled. "The moron in direct charge was not content to simply clone Tenno. What he did was repugnant in the extreme. We believe there are four of these beings. In form, they appear to be young humans. But they are not."
"That is obvious from what happened to each outpost." The Chairman actually looked a bit ill and she could relate.
"Agreed." The Reverend Mother let a hint of pale into her own features. "From what we have gathered, none of the outposts expected the attacks. The first targets were the communication systems. With those disabled to prevent help arriving, they had time. They... seem to enjoy... chasing their prey." She swallowed hard and she was not the only one.
"Reverend Mother..." One of the junior Board spoke up. "Is it true? Did they... target the children... Specifically?"
"It..." The woman sighed. "I would say 'Yes'." She said quietly and more than one of the Board gagged. "But we do not know for sure."
"What are they?" The speaker demanded.
"We believe they are feral humans. Possibly human/Tenno hybrids." The Reverend Mother said softly. "But... I warn you... the actions they are taking are planned. They are trying to unsettle us." She shook her head. "And they are succeeding." She nodded as the Board member shook his head and slumped. "Their tactics have been masterful. They have changed ships after each attack. We believe they have changed the transponders as well."
"Reverend Mother..."The chairman said softly. "The women... Is it what I fear?"
"How else can they make more of their kind, Chairman?" The Reverend Mother said softly. "Their sister could not..."
"Yes!" Bek leapt on that. "You are hiding one of them! I want it to..." The Reverend Mother stared as the Chairman and two others actually shouted at Bek.
"Bek! Shut up!" They chorused. He stared at them and then he growled something foul.
"As I was saying..." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Their sister could not bear what they wanted. Perhaps that is why they left her?" She shrugged. "We do not know. The child she just bore is pure human according to every scan. But he has severe genetic defects. We may not be able to save him." Several of the Board stiffened and she nodded. "Every scan we have done, on her or her child, will be available for the Board's perusal. But she..." She shook her head. "She is a hurt, sick child. No, I will not turn her over to you to be dissected for your amusement, Frohd Bek."
Not a chance in hell.
"We are pursuing every lead, Board Members." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "We want this stopped and stopped hard. But finding them..." She shook her head. "We will do what we can. We are working, Board Members. I do request permission to deploy the Special Forces in case of another attack. They may be able to track and stop these, they may not. But they will need to move quickly in the case of such an attack."
"Granted." The Chairman said before Bek could even open his mouth. Bek looked sour, but did not comment. "Do you need anything? Such a change in leadership cannot have been easy."
"No, Chairman." The Reverend Mother said with a nod. "These procedures may not have been used for four centuries, but we did have them. It was... interesting, but we managed. I serve. We will find these attackers. When we do, we will being justice to them."
"An interesting choice of words, Reverend Mother." The Chairman said quietly. "Elaborate?"
"These beings were apparently created by the Company." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "For what? We do not know exactly. The records available are unclear. We have theories of course, most wildly outlandish. But no matter what... This cannot stand. Our children must be protected, Chairman. Any who attack them specifically will be punished as harshly as allowed." She nodded to the Chairman. "We will find them and deal with this. But we cannot say how long it will take. The only good news is that there are only four of them. If they do manage to breed, we are in big trouble." She said with a frown.
"You are not in our databanks!" Bek snapped after a moment.
"Bek!" The Chairman was hardly the only Board member to groan. The Reverend Mother laid a pitying glance at Bek and then nodded to the Chairman. "Will you answer or shall I?" The Chairman asked, the ghost of a smile crossing his features. He didn't like Bek any more than the Clergy did.
"He is not my colleague." The Reverend Mother replied with a shrug.
"You have not answered!" Bek nearly screamed. His face was turning red again.
"And she will not." The Chairman said with a sigh. "If you had bothered to look at the precedents as I have..." He chided the other. "You would see that the candidate for Reverend Mother undergoes DNA therapy, neural modification, surgical biosculpt and even fingerprint alteration." He shook his head. "Not that anyone has used fingerprints for identification in millennia." Bek stared from the Chairman to the Reverend Mother and his face turned sullen.
"We are... a bit traditional." The Reverend Mother demurred and the Chairman actually laughed.
"Indeed you are." The titular leader of the Board said with a nod. "All that to make sure she is a fresh face. You will not find her in any databases, Board Member Bek. Your predecessor made many enemies." He noted and the Reverend Mother nodded. She got the impression he was enjoying the discomfort Bek was heaping upon himself.
"More than you know." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Far more than you know. But I am not here to make friends. I am here to help the Company. We face a threat that comes from our own past. I will help as I can to eliminate this threat. We serve the Company." Bek's holo vanished and the Chairman looked at her.
"He won't give up." The leader commented.
"No." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "Then again... Neither will we."
"Fair Profit to you, Reverend Mother." The Chairman said with a small smile and vanished. The other holos vanished.
"Insha'Allah." The Reverend Mother said softly into the sudden silence. "If God wills..." She bowed her head and then raised it. "Commander Horatius. We need to talk."
"Indeed we do, Reverend Mother." Horatius said quietly, his eyes calm and serene. "But first... If I may?" She shrugged and he nodded. "Let this go out to all of our personnel, Clergy and Special Forces alike. This enemy is trying to make us fear. They will use that fear. These are not human, not Tenno. They are not immortal. Not invincible. Just scary as hell. From evidence at one of the sites, one was wounded. We can stop them."
"Agreed." The Reverend Mother said as he finished. "I will end with a quote and not from a real religious text. From Frank Herbert's Dune. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.' " Her voice echoed through the room and she shook her head. "We face a terrible foe, but we can stop them. We will stop them. We must."
Horatius was smiling now. She took that as a win.
"Are you all right?"
The Commander's soft words made the Reverend Mother smile. She had been shown quarters that felt... empty. As if the person who had lived here had never really spent time in them. She nodded.
"I am not going to pretend I like this, or that it wasn't a hell of a shock." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "But they chose well. I cannot stand by while children...are eaten alive." She swallowed hard. "How soon can you deploy?"
"Thirty seconds." Horatius said without bothering to check. "I have two recon teams of five each ready to go. One is on thirty second standby at all times."
"Make sure they get some downtime, Horatius." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "We will need them. But..." She sighed. "There is something else we need to do first. Come with me." She led the way to a hidden elevator and waited until he joined her. It started down.
"Haven't actually been here." Horatius said with a frown. "Heard about the Reverend Mother's secret hideaway. Complete with bordello."
"Those rumors were planted." The Reverend Mother said dryly. "I am not going to seduce you. I do not want Mercedes and Vina angry with me." Horatius chuckled and then stiffened. She smiled. "We are clear. No new surveillance since the last update. And all that is under my control."
"Are you really all right?" Horatius demanded as they descended.
"Frankly? No." The Reverend Mother said heavily. "This has been... very fast. I can see why she did what she did. It was needed. My own... anger caused problems. They won't believe that." She said firmly.
"Frankly, I am not sure I believe it." Horatius said with a grimace. "You look nothing like you used to and... you sound nothing you used to."
"And my neural pathways are different too. A completely fresh slate." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Which is why I need you here, Commander. To identify me."
"They are going to be angry..." The commander singsonged.
"Ya think?" The Reverend Mother chuckled at that. Then she sobered. "Did Nikis kill Jennifer H-10?" Horatius looked at her and she shrugged. "My predecessor."
"No." Horatius said softly. "He hurt her, but they took her prisoner. To find out where they had taken you."
"And I can guess who is doing it." The door opened into a bare four walled room. Two doors on different walls were the only other exits. "Third wall has a portal generator built in." The Reverend Mother said quietly. He stared at her and she shrugged. "Too many secrets can kill as surely as too few. And I need to trust you. I will clear you to use if before you leave."
"You are going to do what I think you are going to do...aren't you?" Horatius sounded dumbstruck.
"The whole point of me doing this was that we need help." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "And we need to coordinate better. So yes. Oracle is... not going to like this..."
Far across the system
"Don't run..." The horrific voice sounded from behind the woman as she ran through the corridors she had once called 'home'. It sounded...so young, but so...wrong. "...we just want to be friends."
She did not listen. She kept running. Cindy S-79 knew not to listen now.
It hadn't been odd, the small transport that had landed. Every code had been proper. It wasn't scheduled but that was nothing new. The first inkling that anyone had of a problem was when the com systems went down. All of them. Not just the external coms, but the internal ones as well. They had expected the MOAs to activate, but none had. Without the robotic defenses... the twenty people in the tiny outpost were doomed.
Cindy S-79 could have accepted that. It was hard, but she could have. She was part of the Company and she was, in the end, disposable if needed. That was not the problem. Her husband had been one of the team sent to the com room to figure out the problem. She had been on the way back to their shared apartment with the their little boy when the screams had erupted and... things had come out of the ducts. One had grabbed her five yea old son and... She struggled on, she had to keep running!
She was running so hard, she never saw the blow that threw her to the deck to lay stunned. She barely saw the small form in an ill fitting Corpus space suit that moved to stand over her. It's hands were... oddly gentle as they secured her and searched her.
"You are pretty..." The voice said as a hand rubbed her short blonde hair. The hand... was wet... "You look like our mom. They killed our mom. But you... You will be a mom too."
Cindy S-79 was trying to writhe away as something covered her nose and mouth. She was suddenly woozy. But... before she passed out, the hands that held her carried her by another of the dark forms. It held a tiny form in its hand and was scribing something on the wall. She was screaming as whatever drug she had been inhaling pulled her under.
The form was writing the word 'Death' on the wall in her son's blood. She was lucky not to see when it was done writing.
When it started to feed on her son. The boy struggled feebly. He was still alive.