I awoke to find myself still at the site of the attack. My head hurt like hell. Next to me, the bio-metric case that contained the schematics for the core lie empty. As I struggled to get up, I looked around at the death and destruction caused by my Jessica. In the distance I saw several LAVs making their way here. I started looking for survivors and picked up a rifle from one of the dead Expert Intervention soldiers. I was surprised to find the six other researchers(including Jess)locked in one of the cargo containers. They looked scared but unharmed. I asked about the shipment and was directed to a pile of smoking metal. All that time and effort wasted. Jessica was the last to get out. She wouldn’t look at me or answer when I yelled at her for an explanation.
The others looked shocked at my implication that she was involved in the attack. I didn’t know weather I could trust them. Maybe they were in on it, maybe not. Either way, the core and the clusters were gone. None of this added up. I needed answers.
Seeing her alone, I calmly walked up to Jessica, raised the gun and demanded that she tell me why she did this. She started to laugh, saying “still the good little sailor. Following orders, never questioning why someone would need such a thing. Your so pathetic. A traitor to our race. Building the very things that your precious clones used to kill your own kind.” I just stood there in shock. I just couldn’t understand her. She would have kept going if not for the federation troops arriving. I still had the rifle aimed at her when they pulled up. They jumped out and drew their weapons, yelling for me to drop mine and get on the ground. I did as I was told and as they moved in, Jessica started yelling that I was responsible for the attack. She told them that I forced her to open the case that held the cluster schematic. I struggled and told them it was a lie, that it was her. Before anyone else had a chance to speak up, I was in their custody and on my way to the assembly plant for questioning.
I wasn’t held long. Once the other researchers had a chance to talk with the soldiers back at the base and the report from Mannar came, in I was let go. I found out that Jessica had disappeared shortly after being brought in for questioning. Someone inside the base helped her escape. I also found out that the station was hit as well. Unlike the attack on us, there were no survivors. I got in touch with my boss at Mannar to give him a full report of what happened and headed back home. When I arrived back at Ney, Vince and Raz were their to pick me up from the port. They took me out for a drink. Vince thanked me for what I did for his men, even though I was just a human. Raz got a little drunk and went on about me having found my warrior spirit. I sure didn’t feel better, but it helped. They dropped me off at home later that night and I somehow made it to my bed.
The next morning, I was awaken by pounding on my door. Damming the person on the other side, I begrudgingly got up to answer it. I opened it and found one of my lab interns, Tara Soyer standing there with a worried look on her face. She pushed passed me exclaiming that she had been trying to reach you for hours. Still hung over, I asked what she was doing here and why she was yelling at me. I followed her into my kitchen where she turned and and sat at my table. She began to tell me what was going on. The project we worked on wasn’t real. Confused, I asked her what the hell she meant by “not real”. She went on to tell me the feds knew nothing about the jumbo hive. That they never ordered any such thing from us. All they ordered was some of those drones we developed for the Minmatar. Somehow the order was changed without their knowing. I was stunned. How could this have happened. I asked Tara, but all she knew was that there was to be a full investigation of both the navy appropriations department and Mannar. Tara left shortly after, and I called work to find out more. They asked me to come in and I left as quickly as a could.
Mannar as a bee’s nest of activity. As I waited for the director’s secretary to let me in, I couldn’t shake the feeling of deja vu I felt sitting there. When I was called in, I was surprised to not see a black eagle sitting there, just the director. We talked about what happened, Jessica and the “project”. He told me because it was my department in question, I was being asked to take a leave of absence pending the findings of the investigation. I was outraged of course, and told him as much. He said that the alternative was termination. I told him to shove the leave of absence up his ass, I quit. I went to gather my things from my office and stormed out of the building. I received a few calls from friends and colleagues later that night, even a visit from Tara. After she left I went out to do what we Gallente do at times like these, drink. I booked passage on the next ship heading for the nearest pleasure barge.
I don’t really recall how much time passed, a week or two for sure. I started to lose track after the third day. I was sitting in my booth alone watching the girl do things to a pole it was never designed for when I was rudely joined by two others. They made themselves comfortable and ordered several round for all of us. I thanked them for their generosity, and asked their names. The first one a tall grizzled older man, called himself Rivaxz. He pointed to the other, who to me appeared to be an escaped bull, and said his name was Nelson. They said they were passing through looking for a good time. Most of the other booths were full and they didn’t know this one was occupied. I told them my name and that it was no problem. I paid the dancer for another go as the drinks came. I swear I never thought I see the day when a couple of Caldari could drink a Gallente boy under the table, but by the eleventh round I was done. I thanked them, and tried to stand. The next thing I remember is being carried somewhere. The barge security taking me back to my room I thought as I passed out. I was wrong.
I groggily woke up and immediately knew I was not in my quarters. I was laying on a couch at one end of the room. I looked out the port window and realized I wasn’t even in the same star system. There were a group of people standing around a desk. This group included my new friends from the barge, as well as a few others. I was about to ask what was going on when the door opened and a man and woman walked in. The man sat at the desk as the woman walked over to me. She then turned to one of them and said something to him. I couldn’t hear what it was but he laughed in response. I recognized that laugh the moment I heard it. It was them, the mercs on Halle. As my eyes grew wide with the realization, the man behind the desk smiled and spoke up.”Yes Mr. Harcourt, it was us. My name is Dijad Ithis, C.E.O of Omni Endeavors and I’d like to offer you a job.”
End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2:"The OMNI Initiative" coming SOON(TM)