Prism and The Red Wolves

“That’s quite the facility” Jaik said while he looked out of the window of the Titian as it approached a large military complex on the coast of the sprawling metropolis of Surmil.

The reflective chitosan windows of the skyscrapers that towered within the center of the whitish-grey city reflected the afternoon sun as the Titian flew around Surmil on its route. A major trading hub within the Conjunction, the city had been well-defended for over a decade, allowing it to expand to a size few coastal cities dared to during the Centuries-Long War.

The base on its coast was separated from the city by a simple canal, and wrapped around a cliff that faced the sea to the east. The facility looked like a stepped pyramid whose foundation disappeared underwater into the depths. There were numerous long-range weapons atop several towers that lined the seawall of the base, though the inland portion of the facility was like a small city of its own with its numerous blocky gray buildings of metal.

“It has to be. Getla Base is Athea’s primary land defense against Vadam and the Destructors.” Leanna was quick to reply.

“I know, I know. It’s just my first time seeing it in person.” Jaik said with raised hands, sensing Leanna’s increasing anxiety as they drew closer to the facility.

Prism leaned back in his metal seat and watched the other members of RED-1 interact within the large transport bay. Their bald and red-bearded commander Ursun was having a rather serious discussion with the genteel and golden-haired Lorias. The chiseled and curly-haired Jaik did his best to entertain the graceful, green-haired Leanna with his youthful antics, hoping to take her mind off of the anticipated attack on her homeland. The bristly-haired and beady-eyed Srell stood near the glowing tactical table, working on his shotgun alone in silence.

They were the best mercenary team of the world’s best mercenary company, the Red Wolves, and Prism was their team’s contractor.

“Prepare for vertical landing,” the pilot’s voice crackled over the malfunctioning intercom system.

“Engineering still hasn’t fixed that?” Srell shouted with a furrow of his brow.

“It was working fine an hour ago, when the pilot told us we were entering Etrysian airspace. I guess it’s a recurring issue.” Jaik reasoned.

“Most advanced ship we’ve got and it’s got faulty wiring. Gnapp needs to get his priorities in order.” Srell complained loudly again.

Their lengthy flight to the island of Athea had been largely uneventful, though Prism's team had taken the time to educate him on both Etrysian society and to get used to communicating through his telepathic link magic, which would be the most secure form of communication they could have on the battlefield.

Though he'd read much about Æba's cultures, Prism was glad for the crash course that Leanna and the others provided him with during their trip. She'd even quizzed him on what she'd explained. She’d always had a reputation for being thorough, especially in her dealings with others.

"What are the three gene classes of the genetically-modified peoples of Etrysia?" Leanna had asked him during her first round of quizzes.

"Telyo, which are the pink-haired all-arounders...Xypno, which are the green-haired geniuses...and Myo, which are the orange-haired muscle-people." Prism had answered carefully.

"Good enough. And what percentage of the Etrysian population is largely free of significant genetic modifications?" Leanna had asked.

"70%, so most of them." Prism had replied, a bit disturbed by that number once he’d said it aloud.

"That's right. And what will you hear many people call these two groups?" Leanna had asked with a smirk.

"Genemods for those who are genetically-modified, and GMO-free for those who aren't," Prism had replied coolly. "Which is a bit of a misnomer since pretty much every Etrysian-born person has at least inherited some form of genetic modification." Prism had added.

Leanna had smiled and nodded at Prism’s own attention to the details that she’d explained to him. She could tell that he had some issues with Etrysia’s extensive bioengineering, but she didn’t want to get into a debate over the morality of such things with him. She knew that he’d already read a great deal about all of the nations of her world, but he seemed to lack wider cultural context.

"Very good. Just those tidbits of information will give you a good understanding of Etrysian culture and its internal conflicts." Leanna had said while running the fingers of her right hand through her thick green hair.

She'd been leaning against the tactical table while Prism had sat in one the floor-mounted stools around it. Not long after sharing more information and giving another quiz, Ursun had turned the topic to Prism's telepathy magic, which had failed during his last mission with the team. Ursun and his fellow commanders had discussed the significant tactical advantage of having a form of undetectable communication that worked over vast distances, and Ursun had been eager to revisit the use of telepathy with Prism once he'd completed his bootcamp.

The conclusion to use the telepathy magic had required a unanimous vote amongst all commanders and a recommendation by Bighead, who sometimes served as a judge-of-sorts to Pack Command's more significant decisions, a task which was the inverse of the role he normally played within the Red Wolves. It wasn't until Bighead had met Prism that he concluded that the alien contractor was trustworthy enough to be in control of something so intimate that could become critical to RED-1's success.

"After discussing it further with the rest of Pack Command, we've decided to use your telepathic link during this mission. If it works out this time, it will become the de-facto form of communication for our team while in the field." Ursun had told Prism after walking over to join him and Leanna at the tactical table. Prism had then smiled brightly after hearing of the vote of confidence that his leadership had given him.

Prism had then spent the next several hours running telepathic drills with the rest of RED-1 and even with the Titian's pilots to a limited extent. He'd gotten his team to become comfortable with sharing sounds and images with one another through the psychic link, and he'd become better at regulating their emotions and preventing "spillover" of thoughts and feelings that they didn't want to share. Prism had done his best not to abuse their trust by peeking into their minds, and he'd even avoided paying attention to their stray thoughts as he kept them partitioned from the group while they learned to maintain their own telepathic privacy.

Jaik's mind had been the most challenging to contain, due to the young doctor's lingering magical influence. Prism would need to walk a tightrope when it came to maintaining the link between his magic and the raw, chaotic magic that continued to radiate from Jaik's body. It was an issue that Prism had shared with Ursun, who'd been taken aback by the admission that the commander could barely even understand.

By the time they'd flown over Surmil, each of the members of RED-1 had become able to simply mute their minds while keeping the telepathic link running within their subconscious. That skill allowed them to speak and carry on as usual without the added complication of having other people in their minds, until it was necessary. Prism had been amazed at how quickly they'd reached such a level of telepathic skill, and he figured that Æban humans were perhaps already latently telepathic.

"Prism and Jaik, remember that you're staying aboard until I give word that it's safe for you two to disembark. Neither of you have been to Athea before. They have stringent security measures in place now. You both will need to have your DNA submitted so that you can get put into their system. Then you'll be able to get through their gene-gates." Ursun told them while the Titian began to slowly descend onto a landing pad within a secure courtyard on Getla Base.

"I remember. I have a sample that shouldn't be too suspicious." Prism said to Ursun while briefly glancing over at Jaik.

"He's right. I don't know how he did it, but the saliva sample he gave me has unique human DNA. And when I used the medscanner on him, it registered him as having the same DNA as the sample." Jaik explained to Ursun. “He didn’t even let us get a DNA scan of any kind, which drove Liam crazy.” Jaik said with a chortle.

"That is a neat trick. The less anyone outside of the Red Wolves knows about you, the better." Ursun said with a short nod to Prism, who grinned goofily back at him.

"I'm guessing that you used that trick to confound the Queen's researchers during your imprisonment." Leanna intuited.

"Yeah...I couldn't risk any of you somehow making more of me...no matter how unlikely that seemed given your peoples' inability to detect magic..." Prism said as his voice suddenly become quieter.

"We'll see how long that "inability" lasts." Srell said under his breath while he got up from the tactical table and placed his shotgun in a holster on his hip.

"We'll keep a live telepathic feed of what's going on open to you and Jaik while the two of you are stuck aboard the ship, now that we know how to do that." Ursun said to Prism.

"Understood. And remember, it's probably best to only share what you're seeing and hearing when it's relevant. Otherwise, the strain of always actively streaming your perception could give you a mean headache." Prism said while wagging his finger at Ursun.

By the time Prism realized how condescending he was acting, it was too late. Ursun glared at him, but then just nodded and walked away. Prism felt relieved that he wasn't reprimanded, but he knew not to get complacent.

"Ursun is still the leader, no matter what sort of power I wield over the team. It’s best that I be as respectful as possible. I definitely don't want his job." Prism thought to himself.

When the Titian's landing gear made contact with the ground, Ursun, Lorias, Leanna, and Srell went to their equipment lockers and quickly donned their helmets and other assorted gear before the transport bay's rear floor ramp began to lower. Prism and Jaik looked out of one of their tiltjet's round windows and saw a sleek white aircraft parked a several meters away from their own. Prism could make out an artistic red rose logo painted on its rear exterior. The more that Prism examined the craft, the more he realized that it resembled a wingless, hairless moth. He even noticed that it was resting on what appeared to be small white legs.

Soon Jaik and Prism noticed a group of tough-looking soldiers approach the Titian from a building on the opposite side of the helipad courtyard that they were in. The group was led by three people: a middle-aged man with chubby cheeks and short green hair who looked to be in charge, a tall and lanky young man with long curly green hair who was wearing a dronepack similar to Leanna's, and a poised woman with layered pink hair that was cut in a bob that framed her dignified face perfectly.

The older man wore a white military uniform with several colored rectangles and metallic buttons on its chest to signify his service distinctions. On the other hand, the younger man and the woman wore rather ornate armor that seemed a bit gaudy and antiquated to Jaik. Prism tilted his head when he saw them, musing that they could have come from one of the more low-tech magic-rich worlds that he oftentimes visited. The armor had extensive rose motifs across its otherwise porcelain surface, with flourishes of red petals and vines framing each edge of the armor. Even the machine pistols that were holstered on their thigh armor were porcelain white with red floral accents. The only things that were missing from their knightly outfits were helmets.

"Looks like Base Commander Maginae is coming to meet us, along with two Roses. They look like Thorns...oh, I recognize the woman. She's Theda Lymm." Jaik relayed what he saw to his teammates as they finished getting ready. He knew of their faces from the mission reports and dossiers that he'd read on their flight to the island.

"The Peacekeeper is here? How delightful." Lorias said with a pure biting sarcasm.

"Hmph." Ursun grunted while squeezing his coilgun until his knuckles became a pale white. He then let go of the heavy weapon and grabbed his PAW instead. He didn’t see the point in being so heavily armed when they would just be sitting in a long briefing after they landed.

After a few more moments, Ursun walked down the lowered ramp and onto the black asphalt of Getla Base's enclosed courtyard. He was soon joined by Lorias, Leanna, and Srell, who stood at his rear. The three officials that Prism and Jaik had seen stood only a few meters before them. It didn't take long before the middle-aged man laughed heartily and reached out his hand towards Ursun.

"So good of you to come so quickly! Just what we expect from the Red Wolves!" The man said jovially.

"Good to see you, Base Commander Maginae. I wish it were under better circumstances." Ursun said after shaking Maginae's hand.

"Those are the times we live in! War is ever present, as you very well know." The base commander said with a strange smirk. "And please call me Deriges. You aren't under my command, so no need to use titles with me. In any case, I'm sure you remember..." Deriges turned around and motioned to the pink-haired woman to his left.

"Theda." Ursun was quick to say.

"Ursun. It's been quite some time since..." Theda began to speak in a cautious tone.

"And who's this?" Ursun interrupted again and pointed at the tall young man to the right of Deriges.

"Remades Retanae. He's our team's analyst and medic." Theda stated plainly without breaking eye contact with Ursun.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir! I've heard so many awesome things about you! You're a living a legend!" Remades excitedly walked out in front of Deriges and took Ursun's heavy right hand into his own without a care.

"This kid could be Jaik's long-lost brother..." Srell whispered to Leanna, who giggled at the insinuation.

"Not very Rose-like, but I appreciate the compliment." Ursun said calmly before pulling his hand away from Remades' grip.

"S-sorry, sir! I get a bit too ahead of myself sometimes..." Remades slowly walked backwards and returned to his position behind Deriges, who chuckled at the exchange.

"I'm sure your people are ready to get apprised of our situation here. Just give Remades the DNA samples of your two new men and we'll get them registered in our system in no time." Deriges said loudly while nodding his head towards Remades. "The four of you and your pilots are welcome to join us inside. Just be aware that there are gene-gates at each doorway of my base."

Leanna walked over to give the two vials containing Jaik and Prism's saliva swabs to an eager Remades. Remades thanked her before rushing back through the nearest door leading back into the base. Leanna shook her head at the man's frantic nature before she walked back behind Ursun. Ursun nodded his approval to Deriges, and told Srell to notify their pilots that they were relieved for the day.

After Srell ran back onto the Titian to get their weary pilots out of the cockpit, they all walked over to a large black doorway at the other end of the courtyard. With Theda in front of him, Ursun watched her walk the entire way. He felt the dull throb of long-suppressed emotions slowly begin to ebb and flow through the recesses of his mind. It was the last thing that he wanted to deal with before what he knew would be a lengthy war briefing.

Prism and Jaik looked on from within the transport bay, having been privy to all that was said outside thanks to the telepathic link they shared with the others. The two of them sat on the same row of wall-mounted metal seats, and looked out of two different windows. When the large group had left the courtyard, Jaik scooted over to be right beside Prism. Prism looked at Jaik queerly, sensing a strange giddiness from Jaik that radiated strongly from him in ever-more powerful waves of magicked emotion.

"So...Theda and Ursun..." Jaik said playfully.

"What about them?" Prism said with a smile, finally understanding what he was sensing from Jaik.

"I shouldn't say..." Jaik played at being coy.

"Awww, come on! Tell me!" Prism yelled, still smiling.

"Okay, okay, you've talked me into it..." Jaik said with a chuckle, which got him a shove from Prism. "They used to be a couple, about 6 years ago."

Jaik stopped talking in an attempt to build anticipation. It worked.

"What happened? Why aren't they still together? It seems like he hates her..." Prism said softly.

"She got two members of RED-1 killed back then, during a joint mission in Sguvi with the Roses." Jaik said somberly, dropping all of his silliness.

"That's...my goodness..." Prism said after covering his mouth for a brief moment. "That's why Lorias has no respect for the Roses..." Prism thought aloud.

"That's a whole 'nother story. Lorias was a part of the Roses for a few years when he was younger. He was apparently one of their best Thorns, which is what they call their combat mercenaries. He even recruited Srell for a brief time before they both left that organization..." Jaik said as he looked out of the window at the afternoon sky above the gray buildings that framed the courtyard.

Prism examined the fine details of Jaik's chiseled face, seeing the contemplation that he knew Jaik felt at that moment. It seemed strange to Prism that he was learning such intimate details about his teammates in their absence, but Prism wanted to hear more. He hadn't spoken to them about personal matters much at all since joining their team, and it filled him with a sense of disconnection from them.

"I know so little about all of you..." Prism said faintly while looking down at the metal flooring of the transport bay.

"We can say the same about you, Magical Boy." Jaik said lightheartedly, breaking the tension that had grown thick in the air between them.

Prism looked at Jaik, simpering and silly, and couldn't help but grin. There would be time for them all to know each other in all of the big and little ways, Prism thought. It was a comforting thought, and one that could prove to be untrue if Prism failed in his duties to them. A moment of hope was quickly dashed by shot of anxiety that re-entered Prism's heart, much to his chagrin. Before he could overanalyze himself even more, Prism saw Remades rushing out of the nearest door and over to the Titian's lowered ramp.

"Are you guys still in there!? You can come inside and join the briefing now! I got you two in our system without any problems!" Remades yelled at the foot of the ramp, knowing better than to enter without approval.

"Thanks! We're heading out now!" Jaik yelled as he stood up. "You ready?" Jaik then asked Prism after seeing him look a bit sullen again.

"I'm ready. After you." Prism said placidly before also rising to his feet.

After a few energetic introductions, Prism and Jaik followed Remades into the large black door that the rest of their teams had entered minutes earlier. When he walked through the doors that Remades opened for them, Prism heard two upbeat dinging noises. When he looked up and behind himself after entering the long white hallway within, he saw a rectangular black security device attached to the ceiling immediately behind the doorway. It had two bulbous lights on its hallway-facing side, one of which glowed green. When Prism looked even more closely at the device, he could see that it had a sheen to it. He could sense the emanations of life coming from it, the same sort of synthetic life that he'd sensed from Leanna's dronepack.

"It's pretty remarkable, isn't it? We Etrysians can grow just about anything to serve just about any need we have. This gene-gate is just one of our marvels. Some day I'll be a biocrafter and make something remarkable of my own." Remades spoke so positively that it moved Jaik.

Prism, on the other hand, was skeptical of Remades' claims.

"Using life like this is...well, I'm not sure it's for the best..." Prism said reservedly.

He knew that it was improper to criticize a culture that he knew so little about, but he'd seen what could happen when life was crafted so wantonly. It had rarely ever gone well, especially not for the people that were doing the creating.

"None of our biotech is sentient. There is no conscious experience that these devices can have. Even our biocomputers lack the structures necessary for subjective feeling, despite what some GMO-free radicals would say." Remades was quick to defend himself.

"I hope that's true..." Prism said, not convinced.

"If you grow a liver in a vat, is that liver sentient? And even if they are sentient, we treat our biotech with gratitude and respect. It's a core part of our culture to value all of our living things, whether they are born or created." Remades explained earnestly in an attempt to win Prism over to his point of view.

"Alright boys, your discussion will have to wait. We need to get to that briefing." Jaik said in a mature tone that impressed Prism.

"Right, I haven't forgotten! Follow me!" Remades said before walking briskly ahead of Jaik and Prism.

“Wait, one question. What does the gene-gate do if it scans someone with unauthorized DNA?” Prism asked

“It’ll trigger our base’s alarm system, and then it will send an electrified tendril out at the intruder in an attempt to immobilize them. If that doesn’t work, then it will shoot a highly-pressurized jet of acid to kill the intruder.” Remades clearly explained.

“Got it…” Prism said with a fastidious shake of his head

The three of them walked down the white hallway to a briefing room that was being guarded by four Etrysian soldiers. When they say Remades approach the door to the room, they stepped aside and let him, Jaik, and Prism inside. Prism and Jaik were surprised by how many people were in the room, and that the room looked more like a small lecture hall than a typical meeting room.

The room had two separate sections of seating on either side of the door, and each section had four rows of five seats. Unlike the hallway, the meeting room was moderately-lit by several ceiling-mounted yellow lights. The room had gray concrete walls and dark-blue carpeted floors. There was a podium at the front of the room, which was the lowest area, and behind that podium was a large black screen on the wall.

Ursun, Leanna, Lorias, and Srell were sitting in the third row in the section of seating to the left of the door, while Theda and two others that dressed in armor like hers were sitting in the opposite seating section in the first row. There was a young man in a white Etrysian officer uniform sitting in the first row of the left section, and a full-bearded middle-aged man in a brown suit sitting in the fourth row of the right section. Deriges stood behind the podium talking to the young officer while the others spoke amongst themselves.

“Perfect, that should be everyone. Come in and have a seat. We need to begin this emergency briefing immediately.” Deriges said to Remades, Jaik, and Prism, who were all still standing by the door. They quickly went to their respective groups and settled in.

“About time.” Srell said to Jaik and Prism after glancing back at them when they took seats in the row above him.

“Get Hypergeneral Aksos on the screen. Tell him we’re ready,” Prism heard Deriges say in to a microphone on the podium.

“Hypergeneral? What a title.” Prism telepathically said to Jaik.

“Indeed it is. It is Etrysia’s highest military rank, and there are only four of them. One for the North, South, East, and West.” Jaik replied telepathically.

“Let me guess; he’s the hypergeneral of the East.” The sound of Prism’s voice echoed in Jaik’s mind.

“Correct. He’s specifically the “Hypergeneral of Eastern Athea,” and he’s in charge of all of this region’s major military forces.” Jaik replied through the telepathic link. “I thought you read all of the mission documents?”

“I didn’t ask you anything. I was just cracking a joke and you took it upon yourself to be my tour guide.”

“Now wait just a minute! If I’m annoying you with my explanations, then I can always leave you in the dark. There’s a lot of fine details that aren’t even in those reports!”

Jaik’s overreaction made Prism roll his eyes, but it only took a second to realize that Jaik was just being silly again.

“I am grateful to you, for being so helpful. You know that, right?” Prism telepathically said while staring into Jaik’s eyes.

“I thought so, but its good to “hear” you “say” it.”

Jaik reached over and gave Prism’s shoulder a squeeze, and winked at his smaller friend. Prism nodded to Jaik admiringly, glad to have such a good friend on the world that he was still relatively new to. Sometimes, two people just fit together right from their initial meeting, Prism thought to himself. But such encounters were rare, even in the vastness of the cosmos.

After a short moment of hushed conversations, the black screen at the front of the room lit up, revealing the austere face of an older man with short layered pink hair and short curly bangs that hung down from the edges of his forehead, stopping just before his visible cheekbones. He had a pink goatee that was immaculately trimmed to the point of looking razor sharp. Only the man’s face and upper torso was visible, and his white Etrysian officer uniform was laden with medals of all shapes and colors. The trim of his high collar was solid gold.

“Hello, hello! This is Hypergeneral Aksos Lymm, for the new faces that I see. First, I’d like to thank everyone for making it here, especially our Red Wolves allies. Our situation is dire and we have much to discuss.” Aksos’ voice was low and powerful, immediately getting the attention of everyone in the room.

“Sorry to interrupt you before you get into it hypergeneral, but I need to tell you about several anomalous readings that were detected around the city just a few minutes ago. My team is checking it out, but our guess is that we are dealing with cloaked explosives of some kind. We’ve already evacuated the city per your orders, but there are always stragglers that refuse to leave.” The bearded man sitting at the back of the room said with a raspy voice that was full of urgency.

“I thank you for sharing that with me. Its just further evidence of what we believe is already taking place; there is an infiltration force on our coast operating in secret at this very moment. And from the news you just gave me, they intend to start their operation with a literal bang.” Aksos said, his face still looking determined and ready for action.

From what Prism could see, the hypergeneral appeared to be on a moving vehicle of some kind, perhaps even a plane. He was not standing still, and was being moved about regularly during the stream. There were also some objects in the background behind him that appeared to be shaking, though Prism couldn’t make out any fine details about Aksos’ surroundings other than that.

“You want us to route them out.” Ursun said loudly and boldly to the screen.

“Astute as ever, Ursun. I put a call out for your team specifically because RED-1 has a proven track record of finding and stopping enemy terrorist cells. Time is of the essence, so this isn’t going to be an hour long briefing that puts you all to sleep. I’m going to tell you what we know, and then you all can be on your way to find these Monarchist monsters.” Aksos said.

“And why is the Peacekeeper here? Do you honestly think these terrorists can be negotiated with?” Lorias asked plainly. Ursun grimaced at the unexpected question.

“My cousin is no longer a negotiator. She belongs to Thorns Team Trias, and can be seen as your team’s analogue in the field. I trust that you are all professionals who can put the past behind you and work towards stopping whatever these infiltrators have planned.” Aksos maintained his poise and did not have an ounce of irritation in his voice.

“Of course. Please, tell us what you know about these infiltrators.” Ursun said.

Before Aksos could begin speaking again, the ground shook suddenly beneath the feet of all who were in the briefing room. The lights flickered, and the quake was so strong that it knocked Deriges to the ground. Aksos’ image flickered on the screen before disappearing entirely.

The briefing had ended, and they were no closer to figuring out who was attacking them.