October 18, 2152
Tethys stretched as she woke up to the dim star peeking over the horizon. Of course, inside the ship it was just a projection of the star, but it helped wake her up all the same. That being said, today wasn't just any old day. The second wave of soldiers from the Collective were due to arrive today, She sat up, took a quick shower, and changed her clothes before heading off to the Command Center. When she looked in the mirror, she pulled up her pant leg to reveal a colorful knee-high sock, the only individuality she was allowed to wear with the required military uniform. The worst part about being on this mission to her, besides the constant threat of danger, was that she couldn't wear all the clothes she had left behind.
As she entered the Command Center, she found Greg already in the room looking at scans of the system. She grunted, "Good morning, Greg. How are things looking out there today?"
"Good morning, Tethys," Greg greeted her, "Things look well out there. The ark ships should enter our orbit in the next hour and begin ferrying the troops down here within two hours."
"And just remind me again, what are the ships going to do after they unload all the troops?" Tethys asked as she sipped her coffee.
"The ark ships, due to their size, will remain in orbit until we need them again. Since they'll be so close, we can use Jask to keep them in orbit until they run out of fuel in a thousand years or so," Greg reminded her, "Then, if we need to use them to move troops again, we can do so with relative ease."
Tethys nodded, "It's good to have a back-up plan. Luckily, if we need to move troops between any of the outposts, we can use the teleportation pads. Is there anything else I should be aware of?"
"Nothing for the moment," Greg shook his head, "Once the transport ships are moving the troops down here, I'll be on the ground moving them to the correct area."
"Good to know. Let me know when they get close, so Cath and I can come help," Tethys mentioned as she left the room because she couldn't stand to be around Greg by herself. Nothing outward about him bothered her, but staying in the same room as him alone gave her the chills for some reason. Then there was the fact that she seemed to run into him all the time, an occurrence that seemed to be happening more and more. Sometimes, she could feel him just staring at her, like a scientist would stare at animal in a cage. Despite her feelings, she tried to work with him as well as she could, even if she brought Cath around with her everywhere.
Cath and Tethys had become quite close, morphing their relationship into that of a tutor and a pupil. Tethys didn't know what kind of training the others were doing, but Cath pushed Tethys very hard. But all those tough practices had paid off since her magik core felt nearly complete and her Creation sphere had improved to level three as well. On top of that, her fighting skills had improved drastically, and her stamina was growing as well. They trained for six hours a day on average between combat and core growth exercises.
Just like any other day, Tethys went to the special training room underneath the base. Cath was already in the room, practicing fighting drones, but just before Tethys entered the room, she swore she saw Greg out of the corner of her eyes. Suddenly, she stopped and looked around to make sure she hadn't been followed. But after checking the hallway and finding no one, she shrugged and entered the room.
The pair trained using a variety of high energy exercises for ninety minutes. In a way, it reminded Tethys of the training she used to do with the Commission. First, they focused on sparring with each other using magik in their punches. When Cath first arrived, Tethys was no match for her, but as she grew her magik core, the matches became more and more even. Tethys hadn't won a spar yet; however, with the way she was developing, that could change any day. After sparring for thirty minutes, they took a five-minute break before doing a special drill Cath had concocted. Tethys would create barriers in rapid succession while Cath would attempt to break the barriers before they ran out. If Tethys couldn't keep up, Cath would punch her. This drill would last for thirty minutes as well and was followed by another five-minute break. And to finish, they would do the mana pool training Emory had taught them for the last twenty minutes.
When Cath and Tethys finished today, they quickly left and headed to the entrance of the outpost. As Tethys got to the main floor, she wasn't paying attention and strangely bumped right into Greg.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Greg," Tethys jumped, "I didn't see you there. How much longer until the ships arrive?"
Greg smiled, "No worries, I was just on my way to the entrance; they should arrive in the next twenty minutes."
"Let's go then," Cath suggested hastily, "I bet you can see the ark ship from the base."
The three of them walked in silence through the outpost to the entrance. Sure enough, as soon as they walked outside, a squad of ships hung in the sky with smaller ships starting to exit from their sides. Ark ships may not have been the most technically advanced machines humanity had built, but they were definitely the biggest. With all ten in the same area of the sky, they blocked out roughly ten percent of the sky which was even more impressive because they were stationed in the upper atmosphere. Tethys wondered when the Collective had built such massive ships given it would probably take a year or more to make even a single ship. Finally, cruisers began landing on the wide open plain in front of the outpost.
Greg immediately walked over to the first group of soldiers that exited from the ship. He gave general directions to the troop about where to go to set up the makeshift camps they would be staying in. Meanwhile, Cath and Tethys went to the second and third ships respectively and informed them of the same information. Tethys noticed that the ship leader of Greg's ship had saluted him, but the leaders from Cath and her ship had only nodded and followed the order without question. As the ships emptied the people and returned to the ark ships to bring more, the trend continued. At first, this bothered Tethys who reasoned that this was probably because the soldiers recognized Greg's clothing as that of a High Collective and gave him respect because of that alone. Still, why weren't these soldiers told about the leadership on this planet, she wondered.
A new batch of cruisers landed every fifteen minutes or so which made waiting a natural inevitability. Once the soldiers had landed and set up their tents, they lined up in front of the stages where trainers would stand to instruct the army on their training. These soldiers continued standing silently and at attention even though no one was watching them. But the reception Cath, Greg, and Tethys continued the uneven way it had been. As this treatment went on, it started to get under Tethys's skin, but she held her tongue for the time being.
Finally, after a couple of hours, the area in front of the stage was packed with soldiers. Tethys decided that, to keep the area clear, she would address the growing army. Because the outpost had already received a roster and Jask had already sorted the people into groups, she just had to hand out assignments and remind them of the chain of command in the outpost. Still, there seemed to be a lack of respect throughout the crowd as the soldiers talked amongst themselves even as Tethys handed out orders. Even then, Tethys continued to let it slide though she made a mental note to bring it up later.
Unloading the ships continued into the evening with the last ships landing just after nightfall. After the last ships landed and the last of the soldiers were given their assignments, Tethys led Cath and Greg to the Command Center. She was in a huff as her cheeks were quite red from the perceived injustices from the day. As soon as the doors shut, she turned angrily to Greg and snapped, "Okay, Greg, what the heck is going on?"
"What do you mean?" Greg raised an eyebrow, "I thought today went very well."
"I mean that you got saluted all day while Cath and I barely held their attention. They were talking during orientation. They didn't even seem to acknowledge us as leaders. Did you all not inform them of who was in charge?" Tethys bubbled with anger.
"Of course we did," Greg rejected the accusation, "I'm just a more recognized face than you are. You're being ridiculous."
Cath chimed in, "They did seem more open to your words than ours, I thought it was due to familiarity."
"This is silly," Greg waved his hands before crafting a virtual message, "Now, I've sent a message to everyone on the outpost that you two are in charge. That should clear all this up."
"That's sufficient. Thank you, Greg," Tethys mumbled.
"Good," Greg huffed, "If that's all, I'll wrap it up for the night. It's been a long day." He turned on his heel and walked heavily out of the room. The girls watched him stomp away angrily until he was out of sight.
Tethys sheepishly asked, "You don't think I was out of line, do you?"
"No, not at all," Cath comforted her, "I felt the cold shoulder from the troops all day too, but since I'm already an outsider, I didn't want to say anything."
"Thanks for your support," Tethys grabbed Cath's hand. The two held hands for a moment before pulling away and returning to look over the printouts from the new troops. Luckily, Jask had already sorted them into specific training classes and by combat expertise. They were just double checking the organization since even supercomputers made mistakes sometimes. Everything was going fine until Tethys came across a particular name and stopped.
"Jask, bring up the full file on ID12302025 Brutus Caesar," Tethys ordered cautiously, "I doubt this is the same guy; I just wanted to check." An image of an average man with black hair and green eyes came on the enlarged screen. Alongside the virtual file were several old files indicating other service records.
"What are you looking for?" Cath questioned, "If I know what you're looking for, I can help you search."
Tethys replied listlessly as she scanned the information, "I know a man by the same name, so I'm trying to see if they're the same person." She looked through old duty records but groaned when she didn't find what she was looking for. Finally, after five minutes of digging through the virtual file, she removed it from the screen and grunted.
"You didn't find what you were looking for?" Cath sighed to which Tethys shook her head, "That's okay. It's actually good that they only shared a name."
"He looked similar too, just much younger than I remember," Tethys frowned.
"I thought you lived in relative isolation except for your education," Cath mumbled, "How do you know someone of this age?"
Tethys glowered, "That's what I'm trying to tell you. I know someone in the Commission with this exact name and a similar appearance except he's much older. But this service record looks clean and starts after the last war. Do you think they could have doctored the file?"
"This is the government we're talking about," Cath answered flippantly, "Secret organizations and cover-ups are their bread and butter. But without your firsthand knowledge, it sounds more like a conspiracy than a reasonable argument."
"Should we call Emory? Even though she's away?" Tethys whispered.
Cath shook her head, "No, not with the situation the way it is. We don't have any proof, and she's on a dangerous mission. We should just continue to observe them for now. If they meet up, that'll show something is up."
"Fair enough," Tethys groaned, "We'll monitor them both for the time being. But if we find out anything, we need to tell Emory, even if she is far away. She would want to know."
"We have a plan then. Instead of our normal training routine, we'll scout them out. Let's turn in for tonight," Cath nodded. The girls agreed and parted ways as Tethys headed for the ship. She got ready for bed and tried to go to sleep, but instead, she tossed and turned as she thought about the possibility of the Commission being here, millions of miles away from where they were supposed to be.