The O.S.D. short Outer Space Defense, is an organization responsible for taking care of all manner of space phenomena. The year is 2554, port Galicia on earth was prepared to receive a void jump shipment from the Arial star system, having conquered the local system and draining it of most of it's surface resources. Space travel had become far more efficient in the last century as matter warping technology evolved rapidly with the discovery of "the other side." Scientifically referred to as The Void, Somehow someway, Void engines could breach the barrier between the material and antimaterial world, making travel within the void possible. Only the highest tier of O.S.D. engineers had any grasp of how it actually worked.
A young Marco worked as a logistics coordinator. He interned there while he studied at the Galician academy, experience that every handler needed as they would have to supervise people on their voyages through the Void. He still remembered standing by the arrival dock, watching through his visor as the space in front of him warped and shifted in a warm yellow glow, two of his colleagues standing in front of him. He noted something down, all normal, the whooshing sound of the warp dissipating. He didn't look up from his clipboard, unaware of what was in front of him.
The sound of metal crunching and crumbling blasted his ears as he lifted his vision, "Oh SHI-" said the guy on his left as he was blasted back, slamming into the wall. The guy on his right didn't even have a chance to react as he was sent backwards in the same direction. A loud alarm blared the next instant, Marco was lucky enough to be just out of the range of whatever that explosion was just now.
He was prone on the floor, a warm liquid ran down his forehead, drops of blood landing right under his eyes. He looked up at the cruiser, a circular chunk was missing from the gate portion, as though it had disappeared into thin air. An altered stood on the dock platform, it stared down at him. It's feet were pointed opposite to him, it arched its back down as it's palms rested on the floor in the same direction, the pose resembling a bridge. With this pose, one would expect it's head to be upside down, but it was pointed straight up, it's eyes shifted downward to look at Marco.
They both stayed in the same position, it's dark face contrasted by it's luminous white eyes, it's pupils had tinges of purple and black that spun in circles like a vortex. From below it's eyes, a straight line formed, it curved and widened into what looked like a jagged fucked up attempt at a smile. It's head twisted and turned as the knot on it's neck undid itself, rearing closer to Marco's. A single blast shot through the air as it's head disintegrated in front of him. The creature dashed away, despite what would obviously be a fatal attack to absolutely anyone or anything else.
He looked up and to the left towards the platform above, a handler named Jason had his rifle aimed at the spot where the altered was just standing, steam coming out of the chamber as the weapon cooled down. Marco swallowed hard, this being his first real interaction with an altered of any sort, he wasn't sure what class it might be, but based on the fact that it didn't "die" from that attack it ran away from, it wasn't anything that he could fathom approaching anytime soon. He stood up and turned around to check on his two colleagues, his eyes widened as he saw the scene. The two of them "sat" with their hands missing, the entire front half of their torso gone. He threw up on the floor as their remaining guts sat on their laps.
Marco looked down, snapping out of the scene he quickly looked up at Bodhi who laid in a similar pose back against the tree with his arm back in place, Cooper was inspecting it. As he walked towards them, Kailey turned around and pressed her fist against Marco's chest, stopping him from going forward. "You as a handler are supposed to protect us." She side eyed him, "I don't care what the hell you have to say, me and Bodhi might be the brawlers of the bunch, but it's YOUR job to keep us safe."
Marco glared at her from the corner of his eye, There was far too many things at stake, let alone the variables at hand. On the one hand, Tyson shouldn't even be whatever the hell he is right now. People becoming altered is not something Marco, or any other handler at that, would have thought to ever take into consideration. Darren was clearly as shocked as he was. Maybe he should have taken the shot the instant Tyson became aggressive, perhaps even the moment he was looking down on him besides the fissure. Bodhi could have died, he could have just walked away with his arm, hell he could have killed all of them on the spot.
On the other, Tyson is currently the most valuable asset they have. The one thing they knew he wanted was to get back to earth, what he would do there was beyond their control. Worst case scenario, he runs amuck and gets himself killed. There are handlers far more experienced than himself back on earth with much heavier artillery than what he was packing. This expedition was meant to be quick and fast despite being on a somewhat tight timeframe, their cruiser wasn't equipped to deal with a problem like this one. Despite their silence, Darren and Marco both were communicating via their duplex. From the instant Tyson lashed out, to the moment Marco pulled the trigger and blasted through his eye, they shared every thought of every possible outcome. They would have to bring Tyson back to earth dead or alive, the idea of a human turned into an altered would be enticing to any scientist remotely interested in making a name for themselves. At least that's what he thought. He had been a part of the agency for almost 25 years at this point and he wasn't sure if this was even the first case of this happening. He thought back to that fated day of his first encounter, maybe they too were in a situation similar to this one.
He balled his fist up and mimicked Kailey's action on her, he nodded silently, his duties were his duties, and he did what he thought was best. Scuffles were not an irregular thing amongst the crew, being in the Parallel often made people more Docile, but in his entire career it had never gotten to the point where he had to shoot one of his own. He walked in front of Bodhi who was glaring down at his arm, opening and closing his hand as if admiringly. There was a rip in his suit where the wound was, not even a trace of it left. "You seeing this? Fascinating..." He gulped, running his finger along the line, there was a look of awe in his eye with an underlying amount of worry.
All three of them stood up, watching as Tyson walked away into the distance, Darren turned to them standing in place with a deep breath. "I can't wait to get home" said Bodhi as he stuck his leg into the wall of trees, Marco grabbed him by the shoulder. "We are not going home." The three of them stopped to look at him. "What do you mean we aren't going home?" Exclaimed Cooper, standing in front of Marco, he eyed him down. Marco stood his ground as Bodhi approached him from the side, he grabbed Marco by the Bicep. "What DO you mean we cant go home?.." Said Bodhi, Marco sighed as Darren walked back to the group.
He returned to his usual boring monotone demeanor. "We can't go back home-" his gun faded into light. "We can't bring him home if we don't have him under some sort of control." The rest of the group was stunned. Cooper rubbed his face as he walked around, Kailey spoke in a harsh tone "So we are just supposed to stay here? With that guy running around?" Darren looked at her and nodded. Bodhi sighed and shook his head, "Just what I fuckin' needed."
Marco addressed the group again, realistically, there was a good chance they would probably have to stay here for an extended timeframe if they couldn't find a solution quick, whatever that may be. He thought back to the day he first came across that altered that breached Galicia port. "How do we know Tyson won't cause a Void surge the moment he leaves to the other side." Nobody had a real answer, perhaps there was other Tysons who were in a similar predicament. "How do we know how 'in control' Tyson is." They turned around to look at the valley, he was almost a mile away. Marco hadn't put his weapon away, holding it in his left hand he aimed it at Tyson, who stopped dead in the middle of the field and turned his head at them. A chill ran down their spines "How do we know he's not listening?" He lowered the barrel and turned back to the group, he was about to speak before Cooper raised both of his hands as if asking him to stop.
"We get it..." Cooper rubbed his chin. There were too many uncertainties. He huffed, nobody wanted to be here for long, nobody really wanted to be here to begin with. Perhaps the handsome compensation wasn't worth it in this instance. They gathered their bearings as they crossed the treeline, coming out to the other side. "We are gonna set up camp here until we have a plan. We have the landing zone about a mile from here if we have to resort to anything... extreme..." Darren spoke out loud. Kailey and Bodhi unloaded most of their stuff, all the heavy containers laid flat on the ground, the shell of the armor thinned and was much lighter now. they felt much more mobile, Bodhi cocked his arm, "good as new" he ruffed as if getting the last laugh.
The group sat in silence, there was nothing to scavenge. no reason to look around, nothing to really do other than sit around and wait, maybe coming up with ideas. Time passed sluggishly, a meal was due at this point. Opening up one of the containers, gray bricks of protein mass, thick as poundcake and completely tasteless, it stuck to the roof of their mouths. Just one quarter of a cube, about the size of Bodhi's thick thumb was enough to keep a man alive and moving for a day. Maybe not active, but enough to walk around and not worry about starving
The real kicker was water, Both Kailey and Bodhi carried a 10 gallon container full of water on their backs. Luckily, Tyson hadn't burst Bodhi's open when he slammed his elbow down on it. While it was a lot, the moment it ran out it would be a problem. Cooper stared down longingly as he ate his small cube. He furrowed his brow and turned to Marco, "I don't want to die here." A blunt statement, no real edge to it. His tone was clear as day, while he wasn't "worried" yet, there was obvious distress in his demeanor. "You're not gonna die." Said Bodhi, picking up the container and taking a quick swig. "I'm sure idiot and idiot Jr. over here are gonna figure something out." He gestured. He walked towards Marco, hitting the spot where his arm would have been missing, "In my ten years working under you, I have never seen you crumble like this."
Marco looked up. He could not understand why he thought this was the case. It's not just their lives at stake anymore, bringing someone like Tyson back to the other side could have disastrous consequences. He stood up, towering slightly over Bodhi who kept his eyes on him. Darren sat on the ground and just listened. "Consider the fact that right now, your and my survival are not top priority." He said calmly while brushing off his hand. He looked down at his palm which glowed a soft green color. "We all signed up for this job, and you knew it would entail you likely dying in a scenario like this one." He took a second, scoffed and chuckled, "Well, maybe not one like this, but you get the idea." The rest of the group also laughed a bit, the tension amongst them lowering a bit.
"I promise you, I will get you all back home safe." He clasped his hands with a soft smile. The rest of group nodded. Darren spoke through his head, "You know you can't keep that promise." "I know." Marco acknowledged. Perhaps they would die here, that was looking like the most plausible outcome. But his facade did not falter, a group that has hope is a group that will respect him, maybe not his authority, but at least his decision making.