Interlude II

There have recently been rumours of illegal bioweapon research by the Federation. I assure you that no such things are happening or will ever happen. Bioweapon research is banned, and the Federation doesn’t break laws. -part of an announcement by a Federation spokesperson.

Crack! The sharp sound of a sniper rifle resounded through the docking bay as the head of a grent slaver exploded.

“Last one down, sir.” A lithe figure jumped down from the ledge she had been perched on. “Sir, don’t you think that there are too many defenders for a normal slaver base?”

“Of course, why do you think we got deployed here? Int got news that this could be a possible genetic research lab.” Olliver wiped off some blood and waited for his shield to recharge.

“But why would slavers do genetic research? Where would they get the funds?”

“That’s why we were deployed, Ava. Command suspects that the slaver group is actually a government front for bioweapon development.”

“But bioweapons are illegal!”

“Nukes were illegal too, back in the day. Didn’t stop WW3. Hell, pretty much every single species probably possesses at least one banned superweapon. MAD and all that.”

“Urgh, that doesn’t make it acceptable.”

“We aren’t here to worry about that, we’re here to – Contact!”

Olliver dove behind the corner as a storm of gunfire came flying down the corridor from heavily fortified positions. He threw a mix of lethal and disabling grenades back before leaning out and returning fire.

“Damn it! Why is the prison block so heavily defended? Ava, give me covering fire!”

“Roger that! Deploying assault arms.”

As soon as she finished speaking, robotic arms extended from Ava’s metallic backpack, each tipped with a weapon. While she rained down death on the enemy, Olliver overcharged his shields and sprang out, boosting down the hallway. With his thrusters overcharged too, he smashed strait through the temporary barricade and killed 3 slavers with his blades before they could react. In a maelstrom of metal and energy, he massacred the remaining slavers.

“Do you always have to be so violent, Ollie?” Ava walked up looking at a red coloured Olliver.

“That’s Sir Ollie for you.” He called back jokingly, waiting for his armour to clean itself. When he wasn’t covered in blood and guts, they set off down the hallway, finding empty cells as they went.

“What were they defending?” Olliver wondered, just as he bumped into an Ava who had frozen. “What is it?”

“I think you should see this.”

“What is it-Good God, what is this?”

In an extra large cell, sat an abomination. It looked as if someone had taken the new insectoid species, affectionately known as Bugs, crossed them with a squid, then added cybernetics. When it saw them, the abomination suddenly started chattering and retreated into a corner of its cell, cowering.

“What is it?” Olliver repeated. Ava looked up from a nearby terminal and answered.

“From the notes, it seems like they were trying to create a hivemind species who could control drones. What they got, was a species which could.” she paused for a second, before continuing on, visibly shaken. “Read the emotions and possibly minds of others.”.

“What?! A telepath?”

“It appears so.”

“Very well. It appears I will need to use a prototype for this.” Olliver took out a large machine and activated it. A hologram of the earth clutched by a fist appeared, and a voice spoke.

“Why has this prototype been activated?”

“I am reporting a condition FC-T-I. I repeat, I am reporting a condition FC-T-I.”

“Copy that. Extraction is incoming.”