I sat down on the leather sofa as Commander Victor plumped into his plush chair behind his desk. “So, what did te want to see me for, sir?” I asked. The commander lit a cigar and puffed out a ring of smoke. He sat watching it until it hit the ceiling and dissolved into thin air. “Sergeant Forge, I’ve just received special top-secret information from Command.” My mind started racing. Command? The same Command that had a facility covering the entire surface area of a whole planet? “What did it say?” I asked, trying to hide the anxiety in my voice. He opened a drawer in his scrivania, reception and tossed a dossier into my lap. I picked it up and flipped through, absorbing all the information in the folder before I walked to him and placed it back on the desk. “So what does it all mean?” I asked, leaning over the desk. He puffed out a few più rings of smoke before he replied. “Project Frostmourne. Based on what you’ve just read-” “It was a experiment. Created fifty years fa to ensure that all lethal threats to Mandsidian would be disposed of, but the test subjects couldn’t handle the augmentations… it screwed with their minds, destroyed important internal organs, and slowly killed off parts of the brain. The project was shut down so they could continue research and figure out what went wrong,” I answered. Commander Victor nodded solemnly and placed the cigar back in his mouth. “Well, scientists at Command have just told me they’ve broken the barriers; they’ve figured out how to perfect the experiment,” he said. I sat on the divano again and leaned back, mulling it over in my mind. “And they want te to test it.” I sat up, startled da what he just spoke to me. A million domande popped into my head at once, but none of them with answers. Why would they pick me? Why did it go wrong the first time? What if something like that happened to me too? He lightly tapped a small button on the corner of his desk. A holoscreen rose up, blocking him from my view as it hummed and warmed up. “This is a lista of all the augmentations that will take place,” he detto as small, electric blue words scrolled down the screen. My eyes struggled to keep up with it. “As te can see from the dossier and the screen, many of the components from the first test have been replaced da more,” he though for the right word, “suitable compounds. The safety level of the test subject has increased 50% from the first try, for a total of 85%,” he said, closing his eyes gently. “Talk about making improvements, huh?” I gulped nervously. “Yes, indeed,” I heard from behind. I whipped around, startled da the unknown voice.

    “Anya, what are you-” “Commander Victor, Chairman Kaliso would like to speak with you. We’ve got him on the mega screen on the deck, sir,” she detto calmly. The commander stood up, snuffing his cigar in an ash tray on his desk. “Very well, Lieutenant.” He walked towards the door and passed Anya. She came into the room and I stood up, crossing my arms. “The commander was just telling me some secret information, priority Alpha stuff, te know how it is,” I said, a smirk on my face. “Well, then I guess te wouldn’t have time to hear this, would te Sergeant?” Anya said, planting her hands on her hips firmly. “Hear what?” I said, letting down my guard for a second. “Oh nothing, just, y’know, gossip, girl things, te know how it is,” she said, grinning and turning around. I grumbled. She knew she had won this time, and so did I. I walked out after her. “Anya, seriously, what were te going to say?” I asked. She stopped but didn’t face me. She just stood there and sighed like she didn’t want to tell me. “C’mon, tell me,” I said. She made a small noise, crossed her arms and shook her head “no“.

    She just LOVES being stubborn, doesn’t she? I gently put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. “Tell me,” I said, unfolding her arms. She looked at the floor and then looked back up at me with that trademark “you’re being annoying” look of hers. “Jace didn’t want me to tell you…” she detto gruffly. “What, what didn’t he want te to tell me?” I asked. Then, she grumbled something inaudibly. “Couldn’t hear you,” I said, leaning in some. She grumbled again, trying to say it in as quiet a voice as she could muster. “Tigris is…” and then she faded out into a low grumble again. “Anya, you’re going to have to speak up. I can’t understand what you’re saying,” I said. “TIGRIS IS PREGNANT!” she yelled a little too loudly, upset that I couldn’t hear her the first two million times. And with that, all the work everyone around us had been doing ultimately stopped. “Nice going, genius,” I said, smirking. da now, she was fuming. “Come on,” I said, chuckling and pulling her somewhere we could talk in private.





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