Post by Nobody on May 4, 2015 1:30:47 GMT
"On January 1st in the year 2089, Earth was officially lost to humanity." A giant man clicked at a button on the keyboard set into his podium.
The holographic screen on the wall buzzed idly, displaying a serene blue ball with patches of brown and green rotating ever so slowly in suspended space. It was Earth of the year 2085, before the terraphage landed.
The picture vibrated, shifting. Now, dark streaks of brown and black moved across parts of the land, dead and devoid of life. Silver webs of mstoodetal glinted from patches in the north and south near the poles. The time stamp said 2093.
A few of the people in the auditorium shifted uncomfortably. They knew all of this. They lived in the asteroid colonies here on the hidden bastion of humanity, Ceres. They were all that survived of humanity, in the cold reaches of space.
The man, Castle, reached up and waved at the lights. They went back up and he swept his remaining hand across his shaved head and the patchy scars across it. "I'm telling you this to remind you why we do what we do in the Aesir program. Every year we lose a few hundred men and women to each crop. We lose them to accidents and to the harsh conditions necessary to make them what they need to be, to beat back the enemy."
A few of the members of the program stood up at this, crisp dress suits tailored close to their bodies to avoid waste, not to accentuate form.
"I'm reminding you of all of this, because we need to keep those embers of anger burning. Those bastards took our home. They've taken our way of life. And now we're scraping out a base existence on these damn near uninhabitable rocks. The effort we spend to keep hidden from the Class Fives is enormous. We recycle our waste, and our air, and our water. We cannot afford waste. And that is why I'm announcing a change with the newest crop of the LOKI units. Crop L, step forward, please."
Seven men and women stepped forward, backs straight and eyes forward.
"I know that in the past we only accepted five, at most, until now. But there have been incidents lately that require a greater number of LOKI out on the battlefield at once. Among these is the loss of all of crop K, and one of our training facilities."
A mother in the crowd began to sob, hushed by her husband as he tried to comfort her. Others in the crowd looked mournful as well.
"The terraphage is getting closer to us with each excursion. We've done well in maintaining our secrecy here on Ceres, and the bastards have yet to evolve to a point where they can reason where we are. But we have all seen what the worst of the 'phage can do. And I think we need to get them before they get smart enough to figure out where we are. Crop K bought us a lot of time when they launched themselves into the abyss, but the fact is that time is still running out. The terraphage wants us dead. And to fight back we need fighters. So starting with this crop, we're taking as many as we can get. The standards aren't changing; only the best can join our ranks. But we're producing more suits, and we're taking the dropouts as standard soldiers, and engineers, and whatever else we can."
Castle turned to the seven.
"I'm going to be assigning you all to other squads as I see fit. And I expect you to follow the orders of the squad leaders like you would my own."
He began to make his way down the line, brusquely barking out the squad names as he made his way down the line. When he came to the last, a man who looked about 22, he nodded once. "Knight, you'll be with squad J."
Knight nodded, sandy blonde hair hanging down just to his green, hooded eyes. "Yes, sir." He turned about face and exited the door to his left, making his way down to the bunkroom labeled 'J'. He extended a slim pointed finger and pressed the switch that operated the door. It hissed open.
The holographic screen on the wall buzzed idly, displaying a serene blue ball with patches of brown and green rotating ever so slowly in suspended space. It was Earth of the year 2085, before the terraphage landed.
The picture vibrated, shifting. Now, dark streaks of brown and black moved across parts of the land, dead and devoid of life. Silver webs of mstoodetal glinted from patches in the north and south near the poles. The time stamp said 2093.
A few of the people in the auditorium shifted uncomfortably. They knew all of this. They lived in the asteroid colonies here on the hidden bastion of humanity, Ceres. They were all that survived of humanity, in the cold reaches of space.
The man, Castle, reached up and waved at the lights. They went back up and he swept his remaining hand across his shaved head and the patchy scars across it. "I'm telling you this to remind you why we do what we do in the Aesir program. Every year we lose a few hundred men and women to each crop. We lose them to accidents and to the harsh conditions necessary to make them what they need to be, to beat back the enemy."
A few of the members of the program stood up at this, crisp dress suits tailored close to their bodies to avoid waste, not to accentuate form.
"I'm reminding you of all of this, because we need to keep those embers of anger burning. Those bastards took our home. They've taken our way of life. And now we're scraping out a base existence on these damn near uninhabitable rocks. The effort we spend to keep hidden from the Class Fives is enormous. We recycle our waste, and our air, and our water. We cannot afford waste. And that is why I'm announcing a change with the newest crop of the LOKI units. Crop L, step forward, please."
Seven men and women stepped forward, backs straight and eyes forward.
"I know that in the past we only accepted five, at most, until now. But there have been incidents lately that require a greater number of LOKI out on the battlefield at once. Among these is the loss of all of crop K, and one of our training facilities."
A mother in the crowd began to sob, hushed by her husband as he tried to comfort her. Others in the crowd looked mournful as well.
"The terraphage is getting closer to us with each excursion. We've done well in maintaining our secrecy here on Ceres, and the bastards have yet to evolve to a point where they can reason where we are. But we have all seen what the worst of the 'phage can do. And I think we need to get them before they get smart enough to figure out where we are. Crop K bought us a lot of time when they launched themselves into the abyss, but the fact is that time is still running out. The terraphage wants us dead. And to fight back we need fighters. So starting with this crop, we're taking as many as we can get. The standards aren't changing; only the best can join our ranks. But we're producing more suits, and we're taking the dropouts as standard soldiers, and engineers, and whatever else we can."
Castle turned to the seven.
"I'm going to be assigning you all to other squads as I see fit. And I expect you to follow the orders of the squad leaders like you would my own."
He began to make his way down the line, brusquely barking out the squad names as he made his way down the line. When he came to the last, a man who looked about 22, he nodded once. "Knight, you'll be with squad J."
Knight nodded, sandy blonde hair hanging down just to his green, hooded eyes. "Yes, sir." He turned about face and exited the door to his left, making his way down to the bunkroom labeled 'J'. He extended a slim pointed finger and pressed the switch that operated the door. It hissed open.