Virion_The Black Cell

by R. L. M. Sanchez

  Secondly, a petition was heard from the people of Earth that while Mars acted with just intentions, death on such a scale would not have been possible if the Martian Military Colony were not in existence. This had always been a point of debate regarding the status of Earth’s ally. The two separate forms of government between Earth and Mars were vastly different and, from that, stemmed animosity even before the war.

  Lastly, and arguably the most significant, while war crimes were committed on both sides and thousands sentenced to imprisonment or death for atrocities, one final investigation was carried out by Colonel Alton Wellington, an Earth Federation military investigator. This joint inspection with Revente officers uncovered centuries-old archival documentation of Mars’ military practices, which revealed inhumane soldier augmentation, execution of severely wounded Martian troopers, murderous training regimes, and the indoctrination of children in order to create the ultimate warrior.

  These findings quickly eliminated any doubt that Martian military power was not compatible in the modern age. Earth would hear no plea. Mars was ordered by the newly formed Earth Council to disband the remnants of their military, Martian advanced weaponry outlawed and Mars only allowed a stable law enforcement body.

  Many wealthy corporations saw Mars’ newfound seclusion as a suitable opportunity and would soon receive massive funding for lavish lifestyles catering to the super rich on the Red Planet. With the arrival of such high value VIPs, the residents pushed for ex-Martian militants to form a highly trained police force comprising many ex-Martian Navy troopers.

  Captain McKenna would later go on trial regarding the events that occurred on Cardinal Fortune and charged with insubordination for disobeying direct orders from Victoria Command and involuntary massacre for the deaths of over a thousand Martian troopers. McKenna, being the sole surviving Martian in the attack, was the only witness claiming that no stand-down order was received due to long range receiving equipment damaged in a previous attack.

  Accounts of Earth Marines within the fortress claimed that McKenna did not cease his assault when met with Revente resistance or when his own forces suffered unacceptable losses, as any sane commander would have done. Similar opinions were given when even other Martian officers were interviewed.

  Admiral Warren Hardy went on record stating that ‘McKenna followed and carried out his original orders as he received them. The involvement of the Revente Empire and the breakdown of equipment are amongst many of the unknown situations one faces in combat.

  Although McKenna was acquitted of all charges, several investigations were undergone by Earth detectives and numerous documentaries published after the trial, making the incident infamous. Details of the battle emerged such as the supposed communications failures and the 21st’s capabilities to even launch the attack effectively, which questioned the legitimacy of McKenna’s claims. A closer look into the Martian’s service record revealed multiple eyewitness accounts of aggressive command, little regard to the Sol Conventions humanitarian laws, and even mental instability, a suspected side effect of the indoctrinations hidden by Martian scientists.

  McKenna resides on the Red Planet as an M.C.P. detective, serving under Warren Hardy, who currently resides as Colony Chief of Police.

  END HOLOFILE VIEWING OF:

  “GREER SOL ENCYCLOPEDIA VOL.3: MARS SOLAR WAR

  USER LOGOFF: SGT. ROBERTS, DILLON; INTERPOL EMPD

  Bloody Nora. The history books always told another story, but what was McKenna’s? When Dill saw Mulcahey’s interaction with McKenna, it was obvious there was animosity, but not simple ‘Earth versus Martian’ feelings. McKenna’s actions on Cardinal Fortune left a sour taste in every soldier’s mind. Soldiers relied on their commanders to get them home safely, but Orintus was more important to McKenna. The question was why? He’d already noticed McKenna didn’t say much, and while his little talk earlier about wanting to help people here seemed genuine enough, Dill saw no evidence that he should trust his new partner.

  At the moment McKenna was speaking to Chief Alistair, the woman entrusted with the command of all of Interpol, and coincidentally a fellow Marshal.

  Chief Alistair had been the reigning police chief for the past three years, one of the few publicly known Council Marshals selected shortly after the war. Her close work with countless Interpol divisions saw the eradication of the Broken Sun, the largest crime organization in the System. While the gang still existed in small numbers off-world, many held Alistair responsible for driving them from Earth. Her actions gained her high praise from its citizens, Interpol and the Council, making her the perfect candidate for Chief of Interpol. She held her position with pride, putting her position as Chief before even her Marshal status.

  And there she was coming up the stairs with the Martian of the hour. Shit! He shot upward like a rocket. “Chief Alistair, ma’am!”

  “Corporal Roberts. As you were. Too long, it’s been.”

  Now, Dill wouldn’t consider the two of them friends of course, but she knew him well. Alistair was hard to take one’s eyes off. She was tall, dark and fit. Her aggressive attitude would find most hard chaps taken, a true full-metal bitch. Of course, this wasn’t a romance play. It was her tits and ass that grabbed his attention.

  “It’s been some time,” Dill said. “And it’s Sergeant now, ma’am. I made detective some time ago.”

  “Oh, my apologies. Congratulations to you, Sergeant,” Alistair said, clearly keen on emphasizing his rank. Smart arse. She always had a confident tone, or a cheeky one, hard to tell. It came from her experience as a police chief and as a Marshal.

  Marshals were a secretive group, though their existence wasn’t a secret to normal people. Although they were something of folklore now, sometimes even exaggerated.

  In recent years, more and more Marshals were taking on dual roles, with some of them becoming almost public figures. Alistair became Chief of Police, McKenna was running an Interpol unit... Dill figured the times of a single powerful agent were ending, or maybe the Council saw them operating on their own with no supervision as a problem. And now Dill’s new partner was a Marshal.

  “McKenna has just briefed me on his speech he’s supposed to give. Except he’s not going to give it.”

  “Is this a bad thing, Ma’am?” Dill said.

  “Given this unit’s current directive, I think its best we keep both of your profiles to a minimum. We don’t need the entire planet knowing who you two are. I’m not sure what the Council was thinking expecting such a public presence.”

  “Why wouldn’t this just be broadcast to the city? These things are only festering in Freedom, if I’m not mistaken.”

  “The Council’s directive. They want all of Earth to know that Interpol is taking effective action against these mutants. The Earth VOX will be used to address the planet as originally planned.”

  “So, who’s giving the speech, ma’am?”

  “Myself. At my own recommendation, of course. This is simply a directive of the Council’s that I do not understand. Everyone knows who I am already, so there’s no sense in giving them McKenna’s face to remember. Ideally, I’d like the unit’s commanding officer to stand behind me, but this is a special case considering Alan here is CMS.

  “I do realize that his main directive is to find the attackers on High Science. While it’s not my own case, I am curious to know your next course of action.”

  “We’ve already started to look at possible rivals of ValiantCorp, given their connection to High Science,” McKenna said. “But considering the time I’ve been here, I have no idea where to start.”

  “There are over two hundred Medical Industries in the System, double that number in Industrial corporations. With Valiant being among the top three, you’ll need to narrow it down. But I do agree. Whoever performed the hit had serious credits behind them. McKenna, before you were selected for this case, you should know that the same case befell another Marshal before you.”

  “Marshal Kazan?” McKenna
said.

  “Yes, that’s correct. As you’ve probably already gathered, communications with him have ceased for over two weeks now.”

  Great, Dill thought. Just fucking great. Kazan got his arse dead because of this case.

  “Something like that would’ve been good to know from the Councilors,” McKenna said. “Hearing it firsthand from bodies outside the Council was embarrassing.”

  Dill could only applaud him for that statement. The Council prided themselves on their bloody word selection.

  “Just because they’ve made you a Marshal doesn’t mean you fully have their hearts and minds. A dead Marshal shows weakness. Marshal Kazan is – or was – a good Marshal, possibly one of the best in our existence. I’m hoping you’ll succeed where he failed.”

  That Marshal was probably floating in the Hudson by now, Dill thought. If one Marshal failed already, what chance did they have?

  “Unfortunately, whatever Kazan uncovered about the attackers was most likely taken to his grave,” Alistair said. She looked somewhat concerned at Dill and McKenna’s hopeless faces.

  Yeah, thanks, Chief, Dill thought, for stating that we’ve got a case that will lead to absolutely fuck-all.

  “Listen, gentlemen, I know you don’t have much to go on here, but I do have something that may help. I keep a good ear with some of my contacts from my Marshal days. Recently, one was able to pick up an interesting message leaving the undercity.”

  Alistair sent McKenna a message with her OPIaA and walked to the window to gaze outside. “I’m also sending you more of the security footage captured from the High Science facility. Most of it has finally been cleared up since your visit there, McKenna. Hopefully you get some use out of it. As for that message, my contacts gave me a tip that a burst transmission was attempted from Red Sector, out of a local clinic in gang territory.”

  “Attempted?” I asked.

  “Chief, this message is in code. Revente military script,” McKenna said as he looked at the scrambled message.

  “The message was blocked by data scramblers, bounced back to whoever owned them. The sender was no fool though. The message was written in code in case of data capture. The only thing that wasn’t is the recipient of the message, Markal Ln’Tara.”

  “The Auroran liaison?” Dill asked.

  “Mhm. But it gets better. The message uses an unknown form of Revente Naval script, only the hierarchy of the old Revente Houses probably have knowledge.”

  “Who in the undercity would be sending burst transmissions to an Auroran official using Revente military cryptography?”

  “My contact couldn’t decipher the code. Not many people can, short of Revente Royals, but through some pull with information brokers in Red Sector we were able to match the message to the OPIaA ID serial. That part was actually a lot harder than it just sounded, by the way.”

  “Who, Chief?” McKenna asked.

  “The serial matched up to Doctor Veena U’ldanta.”

  Both McKenna and Dill were caught off guard.

  “When was this message sent?” McKenna asked.

  “Just last night. You’re the first I’ve informed.”

  “A damn trap,” Dill said. “Where did this message come out of? Was it traced?”

  “Like I said. From a clinic, a Far Savior clinic to be exact. Devout human worshipers of the Aurorans.” McKenna and Dill looked at each other excitedly at the lead. “But, some of my undercover Infiltrators tell me it was recently destroyed by Wargame, one of the most dangerous gangs in Red Sector. No survivors and no Auroran.”

  “No backwater gang knows Revente encryption…”

  “I’m afraid that’s all I have, but it sounds like you gentleman have something to talk about,” Alistair said as she turned to McKenna. “Alan, it’s been a pleasure meeting you. If you need anything, you have my personal contact ID. Your Marshal status should get you access to privileged info within the government.”

  “Thank you, Marie.” Dill raised an eyebrow at McKenna’s comment. Were they mates now or what? Whatever.

  “Roberts, always a pleasure,” Alistair said as she turned to Dill briefly, then walked back to the stairs leading down into the precinct. Two elite Enforcers in heavy armor escorted her out.

  “So, you can call her by her first name and you got her number? Did you two talk business or was it a Marshal thing? Or maybe something more interesting?” They seemed to be good chaps now. Maybe it was just because they were both Marshals, or maybe Alistair had a little crush. “Club privileges, I suppose,” McKenna said, smiling. “It was Marshal Class 101. A lot of do’s and don’ts.”

  “So, what’s next, sir? We don’t have to dress up for some press release now, so I’d say we need a plan of action if we’re going to get started on all of this.”

  McKenna looked down over the ledge of the stairs with his hands in his pockets. This was one of the few times Dill saw him without that weathered brown raincoat. He had his sleeves rolled up, no doubt starting to feel exhausted after all of the briefings he’d gone through.

  “Talk about being spread thin,” McKenna said.

  “Sir?”

  “The Council expects the ISTF to start stamping out these mutants and take the case on this group who attacked High Science.”

  “Almost perfect, really.”

  “Is that so?”

  “We can handle the investigation and we have over fifty Enforcers downstairs to fight those ghouls.”

  “Less than I’d like to have. Riot groups would be better. These Enforcers here, they’re good?”

  “I’ve personally known most of them for years, and they’ve been patrolling these streets much longer than that. Plus Orange Sector isn’t full of your nice cozy gangers like Yellow Sector.”

  “Dill, these aren’t gangers or street thugs they’ll be going after. They’re fairy tale nightmares.”

  “These aren’t the posh cops you’d find in Green Sector, either. I’ll admit the foe is less than desirable and we would both feel better having Earth Marines down here, but these guys here will shrug it off. These freaks are nothing to them.”

  “Well, we’ll need to brief the station for all that then. As for you and me—”

  “The attackers on High Science…”

  “The Council said if someone wants to disappear here, they go to Red.” McKenna turned and walked towards his desk.

  “Marvelous. Nice of the Council to suggest such a dead end. Unless you know where you’re looking, we’re blind men in an unholy land down there. That clinic is in Wargame’s territory. I don’t have to repeat myself by saying that Interpol has no presence down there and for good reason.”

  “Any better suggestions? Do you know anyone who could help?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  “Well I’ve got one already.” McKenna placed his left hand on the glass window, transferring an image from his OPIaA to the glass: a large screenshot of security footage captured from the attack on High Science. It depicted the Auroran doctor being shot and her body being dragged off by the unknown commandos. The image was blurry and had already been enhanced several times, but it was definitely an Auroran. McKenna cleared it up using the new pieces Alistair provided.

  “The Chief Auroran Medical Officer, Doctor Veena U’ldanta,” McKenna said.

  “Okay, very funny, sir.”

  “I’m actually very serious, Sergeant.”

  “And why her?”

  “Not specifically her, but someone is using her to screw with either the liaison or the Council.”

  Dill could see where he was coming from, and he did have a point. They could either kick down billion-credit doors hoping some company didn’t cover their tracks well enough or go after the dead doctor’s OPIaA. But this wasn’t Mars, or Europa, or even Ganymede. This was Earth.

  “An Auroran would stick out way down there, you’re right,” Dill said. “Even a dead one. But we need to face facts. The undercity is incredibly dangerous. I know you’re new on this p
lanet, which is why I’m not putting this lightly. We don’t go to Red Sector.”

  “Why? Because of a few crazy gangers? I’m shivering…”

  “To normal folks it’s pure chaos. These ‘crazy gangers’ govern the lives down there, and not just one. Tides are constantly shifting. Murderous poverty, non-existent sanitation, crime reigning over life. It’s hard to grasp for an off-worlder or anyone who hasn’t seen it. Chief Alistair led an Interpol expedition down there in an attempt to reclaim grid points a few years ago. She lost a lot of Enforcers then. Nobody called her a fool, but she won’t set foot there ever again. I guess different people cherry-pick their fears down there.”

  “And what’s yours?” McKenna asked, quite serious. He had to know he was walking on a tight rope now.

  An image of his father flashed in Dill’s head. “I…” The Marshal didn’t need to know anything. He didn’t need to answer. “I was born in London’s undercity. The DRS pulled me out before I could do any real damage to myself. I just know what it’s like down there, is all.”

  “Maybe that’s why this planet has undercities. No one wants to face what they can’t handle.”

  McKenna didn’t understand anything. Cardinal Fortune was beginning to make sense. From what Dill had just found out, he was a reckless brute. Whether he meant it as an insult to Earth or Dill, he would remember that one. Either way, avoiding the undercity was Dill’s top concern now. He just hoped the Martian wouldn’t get him killed. would get him killed.

  “Shake out your worries, Roberts, we’re going to Red Sector.”

  Dill gritted his teeth as his blood pressure rose. His hand began to shake but he quickly put it in his pocket.

  “Right. Of course. Well, I guess we have a game plan, sir, but may I suggest we rest our current team before fielding them?”