Entry Number Eight: The VR Arena

It's been a while since my last post. The hostage situation was my crash course, I hadn't done any real training until after. That started about a two weeks ago. I haven't had time to really settle down and write this up. I trudged through mud, shoulder high grass, barbed wire, even ended up on mars in the scrap heap, any environment they could put me in. It was one training course after another.

Basic training is done, next week I start special forces training. They want me to have a few missions in the field before I get the hardest training. I'm technically a United Terran Space Force marine now. Its been hard, I can barely sleep through the soreness. I miss home, although I don't have many reasons to. Its mostly my mother that I miss, she was always a caring and thoughtful individual, never over thought things or shown any ignorance. That was the main problem with where I come from. C-Averah, or Crater Averah, used to be Los Angles, before the War of Unification. Named Averah, meaning "Sin against man", because it was the site where the first nuclear strike hit the greater US. China thought itself invincible, but when the UN forces showed their might,in desperation they sought to strike the US at its heart, the major population centers. The missile defense systems did their job, but one made it through. Only five nukes actually made it to the ground out of the hundreds launched during the war. Millions died in the LA explosion, millions in an instant. Grade school history for me but for the people at the time, it must have seemed like the end of the world. C-Averah was a huge religious town when I was growing up. It seemed like a religious experiment, one that asked the question, "What happens when you put millions of Christians in one place?". The town was a holy site after the war. Technologies were developed to rid the land of contamination, they rebuilt. But with so much death surrounding the site's past, it became a monument to survival. So many pilgrims came to the site that it eventually developed into a city. The town center being directly in the crater. This was my home, it was a beautiful place to live. I will never forget the foggy mornings I rode my motorcycle over the crater's ridge into town. But I don't think I will ever go back there. Because as nice as the scenery is, it was saturated with single minded, brain numbingly idiotic people. Claiming that my abilities were the spawn of Satan. After they set fire to our house in a blind religious rage, my Mom attempted to move us to a better place, we managed only to move a short distance outside of the city due to money issues, it was better, but the bible thumping sheep were never far enough away. My mother was my only real friend before Kurt. She had to protect me, from my self usually. If only we had found the people I needed to see, people like me, to help me control my abilities, people who would seek to understand, instead of destroy. My life would've been a lot different.

I will see my mother again, but if I ever go back to that place it will be to teach other psychs how to keep their unique traits and talents and still live a normal life. We are prejudiced against where ever we go. Some , like Veil, say its because we are the next step in evolution, because we are better. Others say its because they are afraid of what we can do. When I was little my mother always told me it was because I was special, and they wanted to be special too. Issac and I had this conversation once. He said that most people wont understand why, or how I can do what I do. Because of that they will naturally fear it. Judge it. Compare it to the things they do understand. He told me that only the bearer of a burden can truly understand its weight. How such an intellectual man became a soldier is still a mystery to me. He's told me he couldn't afford college, but loved the pay check after he joined, but there has to be more to it.

Dionna and Veil suggested I sign up for the V-R Games while I wait for the Pre-Spec Ops missions. They said it would be good to keep me sharp. The V-R games were a televised assortment of virtual reality combat scenarios in a huge arena. Some were modern sorties, others were of the ancient roman Colosseum, pitting men of war against each other with nothing but swords and shields. Some programs took it one step further and added the mythical beasts into the fight. These were often player controlled too. The arena was also used for Zero-G Football. I had read about and seen the games on TV, my dad loved to watch it. I never really got into it, but the idea of playing in the games seemed like it would be a great change of pace. The games were bloody, but it was all virtual, no one ever actually died in the games. A few really bad injuries, but nothing nano-meds couldn't handle. Another set of games was played outside the station, the space craft races and duels. Those are what I wanted to get into, but I have yet to learn how to pilot one.

I took them up on their suggestion this afternoon. I rode the elevators to the middle of the station. The service desk was right outside the doors Right behind the desk golden light flooded into the room from a wide opening leading to a fifty foot tall arch way. I walked up to the circular desk. The receptionist wasn't paying much attention. Without look at me she said. "There is a game in progress, I cant let anyone in right now, are you here to watch?"

"Ive actually never been, I'm here to sign up to play."

"Oh a newb haha. I'm kidding, I am sure you've seen real combat. This should be a piece of cake for you." she had a nice smile. I read on her name plate that her name was Cindy Cohen.

"Yeah I have, how does this work?"

She took out a twelve inch tube and opened it into a tablet computer. "Well, first you need to enter you're DNA and Profile into the system, you can take a seat right over there." I took the computer from her and went over to the seats and sat down.

I had barely entered my name when I heard her voice again. "Feel free to be creative with your In Game Tag. Although your ID has to be the first three letters of your last name, and then three numbers. If there are any questions feel free to ask."

"Alright, thanks." I began entering all my information. My ID came out as ING-108 and for my game tag I chose a nickname from high-school, a lot of kids called me Grizzly because I had a beard at an early age, and that my black outs, well I never saw what happened, but I often woke up in restraints in the nurses office. That must've helped earn the nickname. I had few friends back then. About three that became different people in high-school, my best friend moved a few towns over. Then I was left with people who didn't understand, kids who wanted to hurt me because I was different. The others usually just watched, proving they were no friends of mine. I finished with the sign up form and walked over to the desk.

"Can you put me in for the next game?"

"Of course, the next one is a Colosseum match parameters are chosen at the start of the game. The game starts in 15 minutes. Go into the fitting room and get into the VR suit."

She handed me what looked like a black wet suit with silver rings on all the joints and up the back. A pair of glasses and a small computer chip were placed on top of the suit.

"Thanks." I smiled and headed for the room. It had been many days since I had some fun. I walked into a white walled room with a single light on the ceiling. The room filled with holographic images. It instructed me to put the suit on. While I did a voice called out the rules of the games and what their purpose was. Basically don't kill anyone, and that the games kept you sharp and ready for anything. Be it unsurmountable odds, or the occasional Medusa. There were after all, incredibly dangerous creatures on the colony worlds. How else would you train for that?

I put the suit and glasses on and the suit expanded and contracted to fit my body perfectly. The holo-images then displayed various costumes on me to make sure the joints were displaying properly. I was instructed to move my limbs. It then instructed me to place the sensory chip into my nano receiver, a device on the back of my neck that told the nano-bots in my blood what to do. This chip would simulate weight, pain, texture; basically anything that my brain needed to really believe the virtual world. It had me test some weights. Soon after all the holo images disappeared. "System Calibrated" appeared in the VR glasses I was given. The game would be starting soon so I headed out to the waiting area. It was now full of people, some in normal dress and a lot in the VR suits.

       "Matthias! Over here!" Cindy was calling me over.
       "What is it?"
       "The game is about to start and you need your ID card, it just got done encoding." She handed me the card and instructed me to put it in the slot on the chest on the VR suit. Without a word she began typing on her computer, after a while of standing there she looked up at me. Her eyes widened. "Go! The game is about to start!" she laughed as she pointed towards the archway.

     I entered the VR arena through the archway to a massive expanse of light bluish grey, the room seemed to have no corners but it seemed to have a horizon. massive doors closed behind me. I wasn't sure if there was a specific way to start. A soft female British accent spoke into my ear. "Cast Vote for Scenario."  The choices appeared in the air in front of me. Historic, Mythical, or Modern. I chose modern, I wanted my first bout to be something familiar. Mythical was chosen.  All I could think was that this isn't going to go well. I knew nothing about sword fighting short of what I've seen in flims. Another player near me could tell it was my first time. She was just a bit shorter than me. Her name, well her gametag was above her head. Desert Fox. She had black hair down to her shoulders,  a soft face but with a define chin. She almost seemed Italian. But she spoke with a western European accent.
     "Never done the games?"
     "Yeah its my first time, whats mythical usually throw at you?"
     "Its always something different, to an extent, but one thing you gotta remember is to block, don't just swing your weapon like a madman. The game will adjust based on your skill, you'll get better and the game will get harder." She smirked as her suit turned blue along with mine. "Looks like we are on the same team, stick with me." she smiled. I knew right then that she would become an important person in my life. Its tough to explain, but I just knew. The Landscape seemed to shoot up around us, the floor it self formed into the shape of the ground. "Team Versus, Mythical, Choose your defensive items." Many armor types and items began rotating around me, when one passed in front I was given the stats. I decided I would go with leather armor, its weight and flexibility matched my actual combat armor. The armor attached itself to me and immediately felt the weight. Whatever the tech they had in the VRA, it must've cost billions to produce.   "Chose your offensive!" Swords, bows, crossbows, combat knives. Combat knives, double for sure, I had gotten use to concentrating on both my hand's positions during combat so two sixteen inch knives would do the trick. They appeared in sheaths attached to the leather belt that came with the armor. I took them out and toyed around with them a little, I wasn't sure how my foresight would react to a virtual world. A ten second countdown started. The ten players of blue team were lead to a rally point by a yellow glowing orbs on the ground, they led me through dark stone corridors with torches evenly spaced on the walls the whole way. Once we gathered in a circular room made of smooth stone I was able to see the other players on our team, a few magic users, a couple warriors and two other rogues like myself, one of them was using a bow, a girl who tagged herself as Longshot. This wasn't an ordinary bow ether, it was made of metal and had a scope, it was also ordained with complex engravings.  I had heard your profile earned upgrades, this petite brunet must've won many battles to earn such a shiny item. I saw some other players with fancy items, I wasn't even sure how you earned such things. I didn't have time to think to much about it as the countdown reached zero. The teams scattered in many directions. Desert Fox grabbed me by the arm and pulled me with her.
     "This way! Ive done this map before!" I saw that she had chosen a dagger and crossbow combination. Even though the VR suit registered pain, I could see that Fox was already enjoying herself. It wasn't long before an enemy warrior charged us. I was just as surprised by it as Desert Fox was, my foresight wasn't picking up on the computer signals, my brain received the information from the same place, but the huge gleaming claymore swinging though the air wasn't real, it only existed in the computer. My brain knew I was in no real danger so nothing triggered. All this told me was I need to learn how to trigger it, or just wasn't going to be useful enough. The man wielding the sword was just as new to this as me. He could barely compensate for the weight. He miss me twice, I drew my daggers and did two clean stabs to his abdomen. He clutched his chest in pain, virtual blood poured on the ground as he fell and the swordsman's body shimmered and disappeared. Fox signaled for me to follow her into a hallway. We ran to the light at the end and we heard the sound of battle in the distance. Clanging of swords and armor, screams of death. It sure seemed real, but my mind was never too far from reality to get lost in it. I wondered if anyone had ever gotten lost in the fake world, and were unable to find their way back to reality.
     "Block!" Fox yelled. A sword was swung out at me right was we exited into the circular courtyard. I barely blocked it with my dagger. Flames danced of the sword as he went in for another swing but a bolt from Fox's crossbow met its mark in his head, his body crumpled to the ground, shimmered and then dissipated. The words "Head shot - 100exp" hovered in the air where he had fallen. The flame sword must be another upgrade, he also had a helmet with a pink plume attached, the designer of the games wasn't without a sense of humor, allowing people to customize colors of their armor at a certain level.
      We both saw the huge battle then looked at each other. She smiled wide as she leapt over a wall and into the fray. I landed in a lump next to her, I misjudged the fall and lost my footing on the landing. She had a sweet laugh, even though she was clearly not laughing with me. I lost sight of her after that. She had run into the clouds of dust stirred up by the fight.  It wasn't long before I was fighting a tall man in heavy armor. His shield was raised. I slashed at him with my dual daggers but to no effect. He swung his shield and hit me four feet away. As I was scrambling to get up he was already upon me. I knew the pain was dulled a bit from the real life equivalent, but I struggling to stand. I felt great sharp pain in my stomach, he kicked me to the ground and I re-spawned. I had to run to a re-spawn area. Soon I was back in the fight. Our team wasn't doing so well, down by four.

       I died a few more times, still getting used to the weapons. I found myself out armored against greater foes, what few kills I got were against other newbies. The game clock was running out, less than a minute left, I had no idea if this game was being televised, or if my dad was watching it, but I wanted to make him proud. An enemy archer began shooting arrows my way from a cone shaped tower.  I ran along a stone path dodging them, the archer slid down the wall of the tower, clearly had some sort of nimbleness upgrade or they were that way naturally. I wasn't sure how much the game allowed for innovation, so It was a toss up whether this would work or not. I pulled out one of my daggers and threw it at the archer, we were about ten feet from one another when it left my hand. It spun in the air right into his shoulder. He was wounded but not dead, I charged into him and tackled him to the ground, I was knocked a few feet from him, he managed to get up. I unsheathed my other dagger and sliced his kneecaps, giving me time to get up. As he was drawing his short sword I slashed at his chest, on the downswing I grabbed the hilt of the dagger that was lodged in his chest, I pulled it out and brought my other dagger up for another cut across his chest. This slash was blocked by his sword. I blocked a few of his swings and managed to stab him in the chest. I kicked him hard in the pelvis and he stumbled back. I almost missed what happened next, A huge arrow came from another tower across the courtyard and took his head clean off. The arrow was now lodged in the opposite wall, shimmering silver in the sunlight. It had to have been Longshot.

"Dagger Throw, Swashbuckler, Team combo, 1500 EXP" appeared above his shimmering body.   "That one's for you dad," I said under my breath. It was a small hope that he was watching, or if he would be. Thirty seconds were left on the clock, I ran into the major area of battle. I got an assist kill before the time was up.  The landscape and building sunk into the ground and left us in the white expanse of nothing, the huge doors to the lobby opened and I walked out.

      The player names stayed above the heads of the people wearing the suits and a leader board was listing the top players on the wall across from the service desk. On the right side of the screen was a limited holo display of the best kills in the game. My dagger throw was one of the kills, along with  a host of other "how the hell did they do that!" moments. I imagined that it was the same as my situation, instincts kicked in and my body did the rest.

    "First time huh?" Desert fox had found me in the lobby. I turned around to find her taking off the VR Glasses.
     "Yeah I surprised myself actually. Didn't realize the training I have actually worked for some of the encounters."
     She studied the leader board for a bit before sighing and putting her hand on her hip. She turned her head to me and looked me over.
    "Yes?"
     "Just wondering what your name is," she smiled.
     "You can ask."
      "All right, whats your name?"
      "Maxamillion Pheroh Witherspoon."
      "Bullshit!" she said through a laugh. I couldn't help laughing with her.  "Don't make me ask again." She ordered in jest.
      "Matthias."
      "Is that Scandinavian?"
      "Yes, my parents named me after my great grandfather, whats your name?"
      "Larysa, its Russian, where my family is from."
            We decided it was best to get our of our VR suits before talking further. There was something about her. I recognized the feeling. Being a farseer, it gives me little hints at the future, something was telling me I would see her again, the same sensation happened when I met Kurt. I met her in the lobby when I put away the suit and glasses. I said good bye to Cindy as I followed Larysa out of the Lobby into Cathedral's halls. She turned to me and asked.
       "What's your unit?"
      "I'm with Black Halo, yours?"
      "I'm an operative, I work alone at the moment. I cant talk about the things they have me doing though."
      I laughed. "You're a spy?"
      "I don't see whats funny about it."
      "Sorry, old spy movies, I have to ask, how do you like your martinis?"
      "I don't," She smirked.  "Listen, I got work to get to."  She gestured behind her with her thumb. She turned to walk but quickly turned around and started walking backwards. She was far enough away that she had to raise her voice.
      "Id like to see you again, I'll contact you!"  her voice faded as she broke into a run. I must've made her run late for something.

      Tomorrow is my first real mission. I'm not scared, but I don't want to let my team down. The most I can do is hope for the best.

LOG END EARTHDATE 2219 February 24th

Entry Number Seven.

The shuttle docked with Cathedral. I had already received orders to see the Council upon my arrival. I said my goodbyes to the team and headed left from the hanger bay. It was the long way, but I wanted sometime to think about what I did. We'll, we all did it, but I was the decider. I know in my heart it was the right thing. You don't just abandon children in the wilderness. I don't think what I did counts as treason against the guild. I'm not sure if it was even an offence. The frigate stayed in orbit, no fuel was used, not a shot was fired and no one was hurt. I had no idea what they would say when I walked into what they called "The Chamber of Judgment", I guess it was too boring to call it a court room. The dark brown walls were covered with hanging satin cloth of red. It shimmered in the light coming from the tall thin windows. The room was elongated, I assumed to make the one being judged feel small and meaningless. So far it was working. The five members of the Guild Council sat behind a long desk on a raised platform.

I walked along the entire length of the room. Until one of the members stopped me.

"Thats far enough Mr. Ingersoll." I nodded. Glowing plaques in front of them stated their names and place on the council. The one that had spoken was called Chairman Braun.

One of the two female members spoke as several spotlights trained on me.

"Is it true, that you went outside of guild orders on your first mission?" her plaque stated that she was called Councilmen Heram.

"Yes."

Chairman Braun was the next to speak.

"Now keep in mind you are a Mercenary, the principles of our order are kept liberally." I nodded.

Heram asked another question. "Matthias, is it also true that your team all agreed to your decision?"

"Isn't that a better question to ask them, Councilmen?"

"Answer the question, Rook." The councilmen on the far left, had dark skin and stern features. A few scars were on his face.

"I know that Veil did not agree, but Commander Caswool calmed her down and we went ahead with it."

"Being new to the Guild, and in a new system of authority. It must've been hard to choose whether or not to defy your Commanders wishes," Braun said before drinking from a glass in front of him.

"Your honor, to be frank, the choice was simple. A child was in danger."

"No one on this council is doubting your reasoning, we just want to know how easy it was for you to go against a commanding officer."

"I honestly didn't feel I was going 'against' her, everyone but Veil didn't feel right just leaving the kid to die." The Councilmen began talking to each-other. I couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Are all councilmen ready to vote?" Braun asked. They all pressed something in front of them and from each seat a ping chimed.

"All votes accounted for. Matthias Ingersoll, you may return to your quarters. Keep in mind that excessive disobedience can look like disloyalty. I have two daughters myself, in your position I would've found it hard to leave knowing a child could die."

"Thank you chairmen." Given the surroundings and their manner, I thought it fit to bow before leaving the chamber. They didn't have anything to say to I guess it was the polite thing to do. The rules of the guild seemed very loose. That led me to believe that as long as you don't kill guild personnel, or betray the trust of the guild, anything went.

I walked out of that room with a lot of pride. I had done the right thing, and the powers that be agreed with my choice. After my hearing I wasn't sure what to do. I spent about an hour in my quarters, on WE-Connect, it was a social networking site. I found out that Kurt had been kicked out of the Earth Defense Corp and planned to meet me up here on Cathedral in a few months. Something about mouthing off to his officers and waving a gun around, he wasnt interested in talking about it. I told him about what happened on my mission, and he agreed with what I did. Part of me thought that no one would disagree with saving a child. I'm sure there are people like that out there. I finished with the G-Net and put on a movie. I figured my day off was going pretty swell, until Veil and Issac burst through my door.

"Wasn't that locked?" I asked bitterly.

"Not anymore. " Issac stated with a smirk.

Veil walked over to me and tore the blanket off me. She then forced me off the love-seat and pushed me in the direction of my closet.

"We got a mission, get used to this. Yeah Ok, its your day off, but not really. Black Halo calls and you answer."

"What the hell? I'm always on call?" I yelled through the shirt I was throwing on.

"Yeah, don't worry, your day off will be rescheduled. It's just not today."

I trudged out of the closet with my armored vest on. I took my pistols and ammo out of the cabinet. As I holstered the pistols I began to ask, "So where are we-"

"Downtown Bangalore. Hostage situation, some psycho, no offence, thinks its the end of the universe and held up a bank to get money, so far his only demand was a personal space craft so he can reach the edge of the universe." Veil interrupted.

"None taken. That would make him a nut, scientists say there is no edge, the idea of the universe is metaphysical, describing space/time. You would just keep going into cold nothingness." I replied. She nodded.

"You combat ready?" Issac asked.

"Yeah, what you think there will be fighting?"

"Heavily armed? Consider hostile? He already shot a hostage."

I nodded before heading out the door, Veil and Issac following behind me.

We went to the space elevator, Dionna and Amye were waiting for us. Both of them were sporting long barrel sniper rifles.

We passed some people that looked like diplomats going into the round elevator, they were in formal attire with flags sewn into their shoulders. Dionna motioned for us to get out of their way. Matters of national concern more important than a hostage situation? Sure I could buy that.

The five of us sat down across from a few other Mercs going down to the surface.

"Where you guys headed?" Dionna asked. The man directly across from her, a tall sculpted man in a cowboy hat answered.

"Its classified, well, Merc's don't do classified, but its a military op, few details were given'." He even sported the Texan accent to go with the hat. "I notice you have a new recruit." He glared my way, as if Id done something. I didn't come to the guild to make enemies. So I extended my hand. He then glared at it causing me to retract . "Matthias Ingersoll," I stumbled over the words.

"Vengram,"he retorted as he tipped his hat. He then turned to Dionna. "We're being sent to Siberia."

"Awfully cold there, your natural environment," the callous tone in her voice could be felt in the air.

"Oh, ha ha, anyway, this here is our stop. Don't be a stranger." He tipped his hat at us as he got up. The elevator came to a slow stop at the shuttle docking port and the other team got off. As the elevator started up again and it dropped below the shuttle docking level and the entire circular seating area filled with light. There were screens on the floor, meant to look like windows. It showed the great hight the space station was at and allowed the occupants to watch their own decent. I was a bit mesmerized by these screens for a while. I felt as though I was being pulled towards the earth, pulled into its embrace. I was yanked out of my trance as I heard Amye's voice.

"It looks like Bangalore is gonna have a storm soon, big one too. Couple of hours at the most."

"We should be done by then," Issac said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"We have you!" he laughed as he slapped my shoulder. What about me was going to make this a quick job? Hostage situations were hardly ever quick to my knowledge.

The elevator began to enter Earths atmosphere. The others began to ready their gear so I followed suit.

"I'm guessing negotiating has already failed?"

Dionna slammed the large caliber magazine into her rifle. It looked as though it could take out an elephant in one shot. "That's why we were called rook. We were told to go in hard and fast."

I could see the city at this point out the windows. There were dark clouds on the horizon. Several areas of the city were full of the red and blue lights of police vehicles.

"There some kind of crime wave or something?" I asked.

Veil answered. "The city has been on high alert for a few days now. IMG teams are being sent in all over the place. Anywhere the police cant be, we get sent in, but don't worry, Black Halo isn't a TG."

Issac nudged me, "means Tour Group, you get sent on Tour, you'll be in a combat zone for weeks, or even months."

The Elevator slowed even more and the windows blackened. They lit up as the lift entered the terminal. White artificial light filled the enclosure. With a thud the elevator coupled to the floor. Being the only other space elevator on the planet, the large room they stepped into was adorned with metallic glimmering trim around the large windows. Blue velvet drapes hung from the tall ceiling. Blue carpet laid out paths to the exits and entrances with polished marble floors underneath.

"The BPD should have a H25 waiting for us." Dionna pointed to the exit on the right side of the terminal. We passed through an archway in front of the exit, it chimed loudly at us. As we entered the hallway Dionna held up a IMG badge with the sword and wings on a gold shield. A black orb lowered from the ceiling and scanned the badge.

"Weapons authorized. Have a pleasant day." A calm mans voice played over the intercom.

"When do I get a badge?" I asked Dionna.

"You don't." We stepped outside, the sky growing darker with the rain clouds looming overhead. In front of us a glossy black Terran military vehicle, retrofitted for police use. A man was in the driver seat already and he rolled down his window.

"Black Halo?"

"Dionna nodded.

"Get in."

We all climbed in. The driver gunned it and the wheels spun. We traveled onto the freeway.

"Sorry to be so informal but we have to brief you in transit." He turned on the siren and the overhead flashers.

"The city has suffered three terrorist attacks in the passed week. BPD forces are spread thin. You will be our sniper and infiltration teams. While you were in the space elevator they killed another hostage."

"They?"

"Oh, right. There are four men in the Bank, two are watching the hostages, the other two are out of sight. The plan is to put two of you on the roofs across the street, take out the two accomplices, then the others take out the leaders in the back at the same time. Hang on."

Our driver, nearly missing the exit had to jump onto the off ramp. We were rattled as the armored vehicle hit the pavement. I could hear sirens in the distance as we took a corner passed a bust bistro. Several police sedans cleared out of our way as we passed a road block. Three cars with their flashers on were outside the bank, parked sporadically. We stopped across from them and Amye and Dionna got out. Looking into my eyes Dionna said, "Impress me." Her and Amye ran into the ally and began climbing the service stairs to the roof. Our driver did a U-Turn and stopped in front of the only other person not in dress blues. The negotiator. As the three of us got out he greeted us with a half smile.

"I wish I had done my job better, he is killing a hostage every hour until we give him what he wants. Its hard to negotiate the impossible. There isn't enough fuel in the galaxy to get you to the edge. "

"Don't worry about it. We got it covered. Minimal civilian casualties, blah, blah, blah." Maybe Issac should've said something instead of Veil, because the smile was wiped right off of the middle aged man's face.

"Matthias, you take point, one big room, the two men in the back, Amye and Dionna got the other two. Go kneel to the left of the sliding door, I will plant the charges on the right." Veil and Issac put on their ear pieces. I had put mine on in the elevator. We snuck up to the door ducking under the bank's windows.

I heard Dionna over the comm. "On my mark. Amye do you have the shot?"

"Afferma... shit I lost it." The rain had begun to fall making their job harder, the wind picked up as well. Amye and Dionna extended the hoods on their scopes.

"Retargeting... got it!" The head of a masked man yelling at frightened patrons appeared in Dionna's scope.

Issac placed an explosive charge on the doors.

"On my mark!" Dionna yelled. "Now!"

The door erupted in a blinding flash. I ran in first, my mind was fighting for control. The bank's window shattered. Wind and rain filled the space. Screaming and gunfire filled my ears. Then, as if I was about to black out, all went silent, time began to blur. This time the darkness was kept at bay, I remained in control. I envisioned the two masked men in the back firing and killing the hostages. I analysed where they were, and where they would be when I pulled the triggers. They were slumped slightly as if to raise their weapons. The floor was drenched with water, I slid in a crouched position as I unholsterd my pistols. The guns in each of my hands fired. I knew their exact positions and each bullet found its place. As their lifeless bodies fell, one of the other masked men raised his rifle at me. I turned to fire on him but his head exploded, spraying blood and gray matter all over my face and torso. The man behind him, still in shock,was blown backward through a wall of glass as a massive sniper round penetrated his chest. My hearing returned. The hostages still screaming, the police ran passed us and tended to them.

"Wow, Rook, that was all you." Issac patted me on the back as I stared at the two deaths I just caused. Was I a murderer? Or a savior? My answer came as a teenage girl came up and hugged me tight. She held onto me as if I was the only thing between her and death itself. An officer pulled her off of me and escorted her out of the building. Ambulances were starting to show up now, the red flashing lights reflecting off of the rain filling the bank.

"We better get going, they will clean this up." I turned and followed them out of the charred entranceway. Dionna met me at the H25.

"Matthias, not bad at all."

LOG END EARTHDATE 2219 January 4th

Entry Number Six. Part 2.

The shuttle rumbled and shook as it began its decent onto the planet. The turbulence subsided as The shuttle leveled and flew through the violet clouds. When it broke through all I could see were silver trees as far as the horizon. When we came closer to the ground I could see that the world had not been heavily populated. Could see winding roads and large houses here and there poking out from the treetops. Our target was one of the larger houses I saw, it even had a landing pad and hanger for shuttles. The residence likely had their own shuttle.

"Rich kids," Veil had a rotten tone to her voice.

The shuttle rumbled as the bottom thrusters ignited and the landing gear lowered.

"So they came into some money, just means the pay off will be greater," Dionna unbuckled herself and then slung her rifle on her back. She reached into the overhead compartment and pulled out a submachine gun. She looked me in the eye and said. "Just in case your pistols aren't enough," and handed it to me.

"So where'd you get the armor?" she asked.

"From a friend back home."

She nodded. "Nice," Dionna turned to face the others as I got out of my seat. "Ok get focused, Black Halo has a reputation to keep."

The ramp lowered onto the landing pad and white light flooded the cabin. We all filed out of the shuttle and were greeted by a woman in her thirties.

"Thank you so much for coming, please follow me inside." There were tears in her amber colored eyes. I could tell she was hiding a lot of emotion. She was wearing a silver dress that was close to the skin to the waist and then broke into short gold strips. Under the dress she was wearing black pants. She was covered with the dark grey soot that covered most of the forest floor. She gestured towards the house.

We followed her up a cobblestone path into her cyncrical house. Windows lined the entire building. Once we traveled through the ornate double doors leading to what seemed like a lobby she led us through some hallways to the middle of the house where all the white light gathered into a courtyard in the middle of the cylinder. She gestured to some stone benches and we all sat down. She started to tear up, stifled it and began to speak.
"I guess I should ask you what you need to know about him, hes... hes only 7 years old."

"Your name?" Dionna asked. The woman looked ashamed of herself.

"Oh goodness I forgot to introduce myself," she stuttered a little with the last word. "Patrica Turner, you must be Commander Casswool?"

"Yes," she pointed to each of us as she said our names."this is Matthias, Issac, Veil and Amye."

"Pleasure to meet you all." She bowed. I guessed it was a common custom on this planet.

"Now what can you tell us about the night your son ran away?" Dionna inquired.

"Well we were looking at geography for his school work, there is a Mountain not too far from here, Mount Haven. He's not good with words yet, when his father passed away, I told him his Dad went to heaven," she sat down across from us on another of the stone benches. Her head hung low. "I told him we could not to go. I told him that it wasn't what he thought, that the living cannot go to Heaven."

"You and your son live here alone?' I asked.

"Yes, its been three years since I lost Jakob. Alex didn't take it well, still doesn't." Another tear rolled down her cheek.

"What happened next?" Issac asked.

"I told Alex he could finish his homework later, and that it was time for bed. I made sure he was in bed, checked on him an hour later and he was fine, fast asleep. When I went to get him up for breakfast he was gone. He left a note that said he was going to see his father."

Dionna was already on her wrist computer checking the landscape and plotting a route.

"So we head for Mount Haven; was he usually well behaved?"

"Yes, I'm sorry I cant give you much more information, you are welcome to take the truck."

"Thats OK, we are going to hoof it anyways. It isn't too far from what I can see. We will get your son back."

Patrica hugged each of us before we left the house. We walked around back to find a play ground. Behind that was the forest where the trees stretched up to the hills and the mountains.

As I entered the forest I heard the crunch of twigs and dried silver leaves. The forest seemed to shimmer with the wind.

"Over here, I got a trail," Amye, the one with tracking skills. She was looking at a bush. "He stopped here, perhaps looked back at the house to think about what he was doing, but continued this way. There are some other tracks around, most likely Patrica looking for him or indigenous creatures. But the Helmdure doesn't travel in a straight line."

"Helmdure?" I asked. I had never heard of it, this was the first colony world I had been on.

"It's similar to Earth's Deer or Elk, very timid, we would be lucky to see one."

"Cool, so which way did the boy go?"

"It looks like he climbed this tree here, and then headed towards the mountain," she walked past a tree and pointed into the brush to the north.

We started marching through the forest growth towards the mountain, an hour passed and the ground became very steep. Mount Haven must have been one of the volcanic upheavals from Altair's past. We entered a clearing where it appeared to be covered in ash and soot, a four foot wide crater in the middle. Was Altair an asteroid hot-zone as well? I walked up to the crater as I took a bottle of mineral water out of my duffel bag. I noticed the hole in the ground was still smoldering and smoking.

"Matthias! get away from there!" Issac yelled. I started to slowly step away as I drank my water. The crater erupted with blindingly hot smoke and steam. Issac pulled me away from the plume shooting into the sky.

"Wow, this planet is full of surprises,"

"Psssh Earth-Born's are all the same, you really think things are going to be the same elsewhere?" Amye said.

"Well no, but I wanted to see how fresh the, well I thought it was a crater."

"Give him a break, hes new to this," Dionna said as she sat down on a rock. "Hang on Ive got a message coming in from the guild."

"Commander Casswool, I have orders for you to abort your mission, the first half of Mrs Turners payment came up negative. Her bank account is empty." It was the operations officer, I hadn't seen him before. There was a gruff tone to his voice.

"Are your assets clear to come back to Cathedral?" he said in his gruff voice. Dionna sighed.

"Yeah we can head out, what do you want me to tell her?"

"No money, no hired help, we cant fuel our ships on promises. HQ out." the connection went dead.

"Ok everyone pack it up, we are heading back to Earth."

"What?! why?" I asked.

"Ms Turner is unable to pay us for our work. The the pre-misson payment fell through."

Veil could see the concern on my face.

"Drop it! Rook, this is the dark side of contracting. Whatever the case if they cant pay we walk, its not our problem."

"So we are just going to leave a child stranded and lost, probably alone and scared in an alien wilderness?"

She put a finger right in my face "It isn't our problem. OK? We cant just give handouts. " She was getting angry with me. "What have they done for you? That what the money is, its compensation."

"I'm not talking about the money! There is a kid out there, who thinks he is going to find his dead father, you are telling me a couple thousand credits is worth..." she punched the words out of my mouth. The air became palpable as I hit the ground. Thick with the tension. My first mission and they already hated me. The way Veil had been acting I knew something was brewing. The others stood back, I don't know if they had ever seen her get so emotional or maybe they had, and knew to back off.

"No one would ever do that for you, for me, for any of us! Not unless they were paid back for it somehow. Humans don't work on something for nothing, humans are scum, the sooner you realize that the better it will be for you in this business! "

I pulled myself off the ground and slung my SMG and duffel bag on my back before saying.

"I'm not human remember?" I started walking north.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Veil screamed at me.

"I'm not out here to make money, I'm not here to kill, I see the weapons and armor as tools to do whats right," I kept my tone level. There was enough tension already. "I made a promise to someone, and I keep my promises."

A tower of fire erupted in front of me.

"Veil! Stow it! I need you to calm down." Dionna had grabbed Veil's arm. Was the tower of fire supposed to be around me? I kept walking.

"He's right," Issac had a huge grin on his face. He seemed more like the take orders and don't ask questions type. But I knew Mercs were different. "I'm going with him."

"Matt!" Amye yelled, "You're going the wrong way!" She headed left of the way I was going. "Follow me," she said. "We cant have you getting lost in the woods as well." Veil and Dionna soon followed, Amye and I in the front with Issac in between. Dionna was talking Veil down. We walked for a few more hours in silence. Amye spotted small foot prints leading to a wide open clearing. The five of us walked out onto some jagged shiny black rock. The hole in the clearing went for miles into the mountain, forming a giant cave. The side of the hole was too steep to walk down and was about thirty feet down. The kid wouldn't have survived the fall. At least thats what I thought before I heard the screams for help. Alex had fallen down and was hanging on the the rock face.

"I'm having Antonio send down some climbing gear," Dionna got on the radio and within minutes a grey blur shot down into the forest behind us and a giant plume of dust flew into the sky. I walked over to the cigar shaped tube sticking out of the ground and opened it up. Inside were the spikes, ropes and buckles.

After a few minutes of set up while hearing Alex's screams, Dionna and Amye went down and retrieved the boy.They emerged and were covered in the black dust of the volcanic rock. The boy was coughing lightly.

"Can you tell me your name?" Amye asked him as she set him down.

"Alex," he said through a cough. He had a round face and messy short brown hair.

"You went looking for heaven, and ended up in hell."

"Mom said this would happen, that I would see daddy someday, but If I go looking I wouldn't ever see him, I was so scared," he rubbed dust out of his tear soaked eyes. "Th... thank you."

"Don't worry, we will take you back to your mother," Veil seemed to have cheered up a bit. She even carried Alex all the way back to the house. Alex fell asleep on her shoulder. She still wouldn't talk to me though.

"You found him!" Patrica said running up and snatching Alex from Veil. Veil said nothing and headed for the shuttle.

"Thank you all so much! I, I just found out about the bank, my husband, all this was his, we only have the money to feed ourselves. His death was unexpected, and all his money went several of his shareholders. We were left with barely enough to live on."

Dionna pointed to the symbol on her armor, the Sword with wings. She winked at Patrica.

"We aren't pirates," Dionna smiled in a way I hadn't seen before after she said it.

"God bless you all," she responded through tears.

"I wouldn't go that far," Issac said as he headed for the shuttle. Dionna turned to me.

"The council is going to want to speak to you. What you did was pretty ballsy. "

"Oh damn," I said before waving Patrica goodbye.

LOG END EARTHDATE 2219 January 2nd

Entry Number Six. Part 1.

"Get up, time to work." I awoke with Veil poking me in the chest. It was around 5 am and this wasn't the military, Mercs got more sleep. I was extremely groggy and she flipped the bed over. My face felt like it was attempting to meld with the floor as I replied.

"You really think I'm ready? I don't even have arm-" I was cut off by her lifting me up, all I was wearing were some pajama pants.

"Forget about the armor already, this is a simple search and rescue. Someone lost their kid in the woods, get dressed." She walked out into the suite living room and plopped down on a the couch. She then began sipping coffee from a cup shaped like a human skull. How long had she been in the suite?

As I got dressed I opened my cabinet to find new clothes. An armored vest, gauntlets, and two pistols with matching holsters. They all fit perfectly; I strapped the holsters to each thigh and secured the pistols. Once I put on the vest covered in gun metal grey plates, a note fell out from somewhere on me. I picked it up from the floor and read.

For all those pesky bullets - Kurt

I couldn't help but read it in his Slavic accent. I miss Kurt, playing chess with him on my back porch, watching Battle Cruisers and Arena Bomb on the Holo-screen. Saying goodbye to him wasn't easy either. "I hope you find yourself out there." was what he said to me. I will never forget that. I have to remember to write him soon, If only to see what he is up to.

I opened my door to a duffel bag flying at my face. I wrapped my arms around it as the weight almost took me off my feet. I was starting to feel that objects flying towards me was going to become very common.

I opened my mouth to say something but Veil began to walk towards the door.

"Hanger bay 4. Dock 2. Look for Antonio," she said before walking though the archway that led to the elevators. I assumed she had something to do before we left. I looked through the duffel bag. Ammo for the pistols, 3 cylindrical bottles full of mineral water. At least that what it said on the bottles. I had never had the stuff before, and the bottles were the same black and grey colors as my armor. I was sure Id find out how it tasted eventually. The bottles had holsters with belt straps as well. There was also some software for my wrist computer. Combat logistics Installing was written on the screen when I put in the 1" x 1" chip. I guess this was my manual. There were some meals ready to eat and fire starting equipment. I packed it all up and headed for the hanger. I went through several six food wide corridors for several minutes. I got a few" good luck" nods and smiles from other people on the station that noticed my shiny new armor. Undamaged armor was a clear sign of being new. The fact that I was wearing it told them I was heading towards my first mission, or at least that It was still very early in my career.

As I walked I saw Dionna standing near an archway heading down another hallway. She waved me over.

"Sorry, Veil can be kind of vague sometimes. The frigate is this way." She started walking. I followed her.

""Frigate?"

"Yeah," she sighed. "We are going out of system for this one. Like most of our contracts, we got this one from the local militia on a colony world. Let me guess, never been in hyperspace before?"

I gulped.

"Don't worry, it is worse than breaking atmo, but its a ton quicker. "

We took a right through a door that slid up into the ceiling and walked out into the hanger on a platform suspended into the air that was covered with a glass arched ceiling. Rather than filling the entire hanger with air, this platform was all they needed for life support. The hanger was massive, my eyes struggled to see the ships in the far distance. If I remember correctly this was one of the six hangers that faced the outside of the station in the middle, making the midsection of Cathedral look like a giant hexagon building block when the hanger doors were closed.

The Frigate was the same sandy color as the station. Grey and brown stripes covered its hull, one stripe around its middle was white leading to a symbol of a downward facing sword with angelic wings growing from the hilt. IMG was written above the sword. The guild seemed to have an obsession with the old world. The ship was designed just as you would figure. It had an angled wedge for a front and the back was sloped. The comm array formed what looked like a mast, and the bridge was on the top. Had I seen it on the water it would look like just another nautical vessel. Were these amphibious to land on water worlds? If they were sealed for space flight, they were sealed for water as well.

"Ah a new face." This man had a Latin accent. He held out his hand.

I shook it. "Matthias."

"Captain Antonio Cappello. Right this way." He gestured towards the door and entered the frigate.

I stepped inside the airlock and we were sprayed by a mist of chemicals before the air was recycled and replaced with an ear pounding hissing. I cringed at the sound.

"You'll get used to that too, rook." The day was a day of firsts for sure. We walked down a thin corridor took a few corners and Antonio left us in the aft passenger cabin. "Strap in, we are crossing a few tidal rifts this trip," he said before heading to the bridge. I had read about the areas of hyperspace that had dark matter clouds with bolts of dark energy shooting through them. These bolts would create rifts in hyperspace, causing massive turbulence on the ship. Most routes would navigate around these clouds but some were far too vast. Ships would go missing in these tempests.

The aft passenger cabin had eight seats with straps. I sat down between Veil and Issac, Amye and Dionna sat across from us. Veil triggered a switch on the wall and a window slid open. The curvature of the earth came into view above their heads. Though my body told me it was morning, the sun was setting behind the earth. The frigate turned and I could see what was left of the light from the sun carving Cathedral station out of the darkness. It was a beautiful sight.

"Where are we going exactly?"

Amye spoke up. "The Altair System, its a cozy little world a lot like earth." She wasnt wearing her mask, unlike Veil. Amye had very mediterranean features. Amber brown skin, a jaw line carved out of stone and rose red eyes you could lose yourself in. If she didn't know over a hundred ways to kill a man, I might have been attracted to her.

"Yeah. If the earth had mile high rock faces jutting out of its crust in the middle of expansive plains," Dionna added.

"Its early development was, how you say, destructive?" she had a slight Latin accent. Amye tied her shoulder length black hair into a bun. "But its fine now, what isn't ocean is mostly forests." She then put her mask and goggles on.

I could feel the frigate rumble around me.

"Hyperspace acceleration in 10 seconds." It was Antonio's voice over the comm. The sound came from a speaker box on the wall. I instinctively looked at the box as it spoke the words. Its corners seemed to stretch and blur, the circular middle mesh looked as if it was being pulled in on itself. Was this hyperspace? "5 seconds. Portal forming. Four, Three, Two, One." An electric wave went by the window, one side of the wave dimming the curvature of the earth, the other side a black and silver mass of clouds and dust. As the wave enveloped the ship There was an intense tug at my center of mass, my insides felt as though they were turned upside down. The hull of the ship shuddered as it accelerated forward into Hyperspace.

"Nearing the tempest region. All view ports closing and sealing all decks." Just before the window closed I caught a glimpse of a million different portals opening and closing amongst the violet clouds, some of them spouting radiation and fire, others with ice forming out of thin air. Hyperspace portals being created just as fast as they were destroyed. This must be how the drive worked, taping into these openings and keeping them open long enough to get to the exact places they needed to be. The portals I saw seemed completely random. The space between the portals was a separate plane of space, one of the 11 dimensions of our universe known as hyperspace. I never thought I would have gotten the chance to see something like this. I wanted to puke, but that didn't diminish the amazing sight.

"Entering The Tempest Region," A loud screeching could be heard just out of earshot, like small creatures were trying to get inside the ship. A loud thud and then a rumble, the ship shook violently. I wish I could shake the hand of the man who invented safety straps. A cloud crack echoed though the hull and then a low rumble with light vibration.

"Exiting Tempest." Antonio sounded relieved.

"That wasn't so bad," I said.

"You don't even know what just happened, do you?" Veil responded.

Dionna scowled "To quote some of the first explorers, 'We roll the dice, cast fate to the wind, if we emerge safe we will praise the day we came out of the swallowing black'," she sighed.

"The tempest is full of random quantum fluctuations. A lot of ships don't make it through."

"1 in every 5 get swallowed." Issac added.

"Exiting hyperspace, prepare for deceleration." Everyone grabbed the hand holds on the seats next to our thighs.

The wave rolled across the hull again but this time in the opposite direction. My insides returned to their normal state, violently. It was a good thing I didn't eat anything before we left. The windows opened to the blinding light of two suns, I struggled to see anything and my retina burned purple dots filled my vision. A pair of sunglasses landed in my lap. Now I understood why they all were wearing them at all times. I put them on and my eyesight adjusted. I could now see planet Altair, its silvery land and blue green oceans. Everyone began unbuckling their safety belts.

"We gotta take a shuttle down to the planet, no landing pads for frigates." I nodded at Dionna's statement.

My eyes are getting tired. I have tomorrow to finish this post so I think I will hold off on the rest. I will continue this in the morning.

LOG END EARTHDATE 2219 January 1st

Entry Number Five.

"You are here for one reason, to change the outcome of wars. To bring peace where there is no hope of it." I went to a conference for new recruits in the morning. It was boring to say the least. Just more crap about doing what you were told. Staying loyal to the guild. There was a part about the freelancers out there. Merc's who left the guild and were going "dirty jobs" as the speaker said. Contracts that had them slaughtering innocents or capturing/killing endangered animals. Something stuck out for me at this conference though.

"We cannot allow people like this to continue their work. They disobey the principles of the Guild. Of humanity as a whole. Which brings me to my next topic." He was in robes. White with dark silver stripes coming up the arms connecting to a single stripe on the back which came up over the hood. The audience could not see the bulky man's eyes under the shroud.

At this point I sighed. It was nearing an hour now I had been in the Guild's concert hall. Surrounded by people close to my age that also had some curiosity. I think my curiosity had been beaten out of me yesterday.

"The Principles of our organization have been in place for 500 years. Here at IMG we cannot be too careful. We all must know the difference between right and wrong. But also the grey between. So begins the writ. Commit these words to memory. Repeat after me." He gave a motion for everyone to stand. He then opened a large book. Dust flying off as he found the correct page.

"I am not Evil." Thunderously across the audience the words were repeated. I myself couldn't help saying them with zeal. Who would resist the feeling of being a part of something?

"I am not Pure."

"I am not Lost."

"And I am not Found."

"I drift in a sea of uncertainty, from one place to the next. A being of neither truth or lies, Order or Chaos."

"I find the strength within, In myself, to do what I must. What I know to be the direct path."

"I am not Mercy, and I am not Malice."

"I not am the Beginning, and I am not the End."

"I am neither Sword nor Shield."

"I will never give up, and I will never perceiver."

"I will not create death, I will not breathe life."

"I have no Hate, and I have no Love."

"It is with my judgment and choice that I carve my destiny."

"I am Legionnaire."

"I am Mercenary."

The Councilor motioned for everyone to be seated.

"This writ was first spoken by the first Councilor of the guild. He intended everyone who took the oath to realize what they were and for every member to take their own meaning from it. That is all I will ask of you as well." He then got up and left. He never said his name. Over the intercom in the concert hall a voice rang out.

"You are all dismissed."

I was OK with that, I was never good with goodbyes ether. After the conference I went to meet the rest of my team at the "Kill-box". This time when I stepped off the speed lift there were walls in the room. As I walked up to one wall it slid down into the floor. Four people were behind it, I only recognized Veil. Veil and the other three were all standing in a line and pointing weapons at me. All of them fired. I was struck by a wall of rubber bullets and again found myself on the ground. A few minutes later I woke up, still in the Kill-box with three of them standing over me.

An older woman in emerald armor spoke first. "I thought you said you 'woke him up'."

"Yeah, I also told you that this probably wouldn't go over well. He is still getting used to his ability." Veil said in the same tone as before. I was beginning to wonder if she had good days.

"He's awake," these words came in a Russian accent from the other side of the room. I looked to see a man in blood red shimmering armor. He was taller than the woman by at least half foot.

The third new face was also wearing a mask and wearing deep purple armor to match. The armor was close to the skin and could easily tell this one was a female. This one didn't say a word as it offered a hand to help me up.

"Amye." She said. I looked at her and said my name.

"Thanks for not shooting my face." I said this too all of them.

The woman in green laughed. "You're welcome. I'm Dionna." I shook her hand. "That's Issac." she pointed to the man in red. "And you've met Veil."

I nodded and asked. "When do I get armor?" I had been thinking about that since I saw Veils armor and all the other members in the hallways. They all laughed. I expected this, being the new guy. But I wanted armor. This desire was probably from being all shot up.

"Once you build it or buy it. IMG personnel are expected to equip themselves. Thats the only way we get 90 percent of our pay." I was happy Dionna took my question seriously. That was when I realized she was the leader of my team.

"Being a Farseer will save you money in that department." Issac wasn't difficult to understand, but that was a really heavy accent.

"Issac set the cover again. Lets give him another try," said Veil. I could tell she was smiling under the mask.

"Its not like he will need it." He responded as he walked over to a panel on the wall.

What happened next took me by surprise. A room shot up around me. A door directly in front creaked open on hinges. It had been many days since I'd seen a hinged door. I walked through and found a wall of weapons. Pistols, Machine guns, rocket and grenade launchers.

"Choose one, and only one." Dionna's voice rang out from the speaker on the ceiling. At that volume I could hear that she was a smoker.

I walked along the row of weapons. Trying to pick the right one. What would a Farseer use? Veil had told me that I would be learning about what weapons meant for a Farseer. All the guns were by themselves, even the pistols. But I noticed two pistols that were together on the wall. She said to take only one. But these were together. Barrels facing up. 45 caliber. One pistol would not be enough firepower, but would be light enough to move around easily. The logical pointed to having two. I grabbed the pistols and put some extra clips in my pockets. The wall of weapons slid into the floor and there they were again. Ready to fire. They fired but this time the mussel flashes exploded outwards slowly. A flash, and then my mind blacked out again, but only for a few seconds, it was like a dream I saw... what I think were possible futures. Three of them. I take a wall of bullets head on. I take part of the wall as I jump to the right or I jump to the left and it misses me. A flash, and back to consciousness. I had barely enough time to move. I jumped and three bullets hit me in the stomach. I had jumped behind some cover. I wasn't accually sure if they wanted me to shoot at them. But I assumed and took a chance. I Jumped out from cover and rolled on the ground. My minds eye telling me where the bullets were headed. I ducked down as I pointed my right pistol at them firing. Issac went down. I lifted my left pistol and shot Amye in the face. She also went down. Slowly strafing to the right I began unloading my pistols into Dionna and Veil. A flash and another two predictions. I run out of ammo and plummet to the ground or I duck under cover and reload. The choice was simple.

I ducked behind a box that had risen from the ground. Rubber bullets pinging off of it. I reloaded both the pistols and jumped up. My brain knew where they would be, showed me and I used that information to fire one bullet from each pistol at each of their head. They both went down.

Grunting as she got up. "I think he is ready." Issac hit the button on the wall to lower the rooms and cover.

"Ready for what?" I asked.

"Your first Contract." Dionna stated with a smile. Her blue eyes glinting in the pale red light.

LOG END EARTHDATE 2218 December 31st

Entry Number Four.

I am now set up in my bunk, it is now day two on the Cathedral, Early morning, not much to do for a few hours. I figured I should write my first impressions down. First off, figured id mention the intense pain in my lower back and how my ribs feel like they are burning from the inside out; I will get to that later.

Coming out of the transport, first thing I noticed was the high ceiling and beams of light coming down. Everything in the room seemed to glean with a marble texture. I almost thought the interior wouldn't carry the medieval theme, but the inside almost made you forget you were in space. I hope that was the point. I'm sure people spent a significant amount of time in the station. I know if I ran the place, I'd want to avoid cases of space dementia. The whole room felt calm, serene. My soul felt at peace in this room. Thats when the thought of peace, security, calm, left my body completely. Even with how well lit the room was, I didn't see her coming. I got a sudden headache. Began to black out like I had when I killed those boys. But in prison I had learned to suppress it, I tensed my muscles. Fighting the feeling, the headache tearing my brain apart now. I continued to fight it. Until it dissipated. By the time I had gotten over it. There she was, standing in front of me, half in the shadow of the marble column I was standing near. She was wearing some sort of mask, that covered her face but allowed her wavy hair come out and around it. It was bronze with a blood red visor, so dark you could not see her eyes. She was as tall as I was, about 6" 1' . I knew someone was supposed to meet me when I got off the shuttle, I expected someone from the higher ups, to give me a tour or something. I was so very wrong. She stepped closer revealing a leather jacket with the same bronze metal shimmering in the light. On her right hip a holster with a huge revolver. Her armor was engraved with flames. I couldn't take my eyes off the gun.

"The fuck you looking at?" she said. her voice would've been pretty, if it weren't for the tone. She was annoyed. Obviously didn't like the job she had been given. "Look," she continued. "I'm from Black Halo, your training starts now, come with me. The speed-lift is this way, you'll have to get used to it eventually anyways."

My expression must have told her something. She put a hand on my shoulder and said that I'd be fine. She put her hand out. I shook it. Maybe the air was just cold, but her hand felt extremely warm. Even though the leather fingerless gloves.

"I'm Veil."

"Matthias Ingersoll," I stated. right now I'm not sure why I gave her my full name. Could've been the medieval surroundings, the 'don't screw with me' attitude she had. Or maybe I was tired of hiding, figure this was as good a place as any to start being the real me. She let go of my hand and started for the other end of the huge room.

"Its over here, other end of the Courtyard." They are really pushing this medieval thing. It was growing on me though. Really was starting to feel like another world. I followed her through an archway into a round room. Doors with numbers lining it. Doors One and Two had a green light over them.

"You take Two, I'll take One." I nodded and stepped up, the door opening as I did. There was a place to put my bags below the chair. I sat down and a screen that lowered in front of me reminding me to strap myself in. As I buckled the straps around my torso the door shut and a countdown started. Over the intercom Veils voice boomed. "We are going up, Level 4A." I didn't like the sound of "Level 4A Kill-box." that flashed on the screen. I heard rumbling. The lift became hotter and hotter, and suddenly shot me up twenty stories in a matter of seconds. Thats where the pain in my lower back came in. I hadn't known about the hand holds to brace yourself.

When the lift stopped the door opened to a dimly lit cavern it seemed. It really was just a box. A few thin windows ran up the right and left walls of the square room. The windows were tinted red, what little light there was turned the darkness a pale brown. There were blood splatters all over the walls where the light hit. The dark areas I couldn't tell what was there. With a name like "Kill-box" I assumed more of the same. the feint light was shining on something in the middle of the room. As I stepped out from the lift. It turned, revolver in hand. It was Veil. Her left hand flicked and a ball of fire erupted in her hand.

"Who you were. Your parents, siblings, hopes and dreams. They end here. Today you become who you always wanted to be. This is your initiation. " Her voice echoed off the walls. I wasn't in the mood for theatrics.

"But what are we doing exactly? I'm not even sure how the guild or any-" she cut me off.

"You are here, because society has deemed you, dangerous. Here at the IMG, we see that dangerous people are people of action, people who can change things, tip the scale and get shit done. I am a dangerous person. Such as yourself. I read your file Matthias, you are hyper violent when backed into a corner. Your instinct takes over. Your mind knows what it can do. But do you?"

"I know I'm dangerous. I don't want to be, I don't want to hurt anyone." She laughed at that. I was starting to feel unsettled.

"Matthias I know what you are, lets not beat around the bush. You. Are. A. Psych."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what? A Psych? You are a mind-fuck. Your mind is fucked! So fucked that even you don't know how or why it does what it does!"

"Don't call me that, I'm not-" cut off again, this time by the heat on my face. She had brought her hand so close I could feel my skin cooking. A few seconds of it and I had to turn away. She holstered her revolver.

"You are a Psych. They cursed you! Your parents knew what you'd become, they did it anyway, told the doctors no, we want this. We want our child to be a monster!"

"NO!" I screamed as I went to attack her. She grabbed my arm, and seared the flesh. With her other hand she punched me hard in the gut. Her gauntleted hand hit hard and I crumpled to the the floor.

"They wanted me to be, me. They didn't want me tampered with." I said through a cough.

"Really? You really think that? Explain why they pretended you were normal until it was too late, until you killed that boy, until you crippled another.They could've taken action. " She was standing over me now. Her revolver drawn. "You have a brother, he is normal. He is a Marine. Even with his combat training and years of discipline, he will never be as dangerous as you. You are a monster. You. Are. A. Psych."

"I know." I said as I struggled to get up. My hands in fists.

"Now, we are getting somewhere." She went to punch me again. This time in the face. My head once again began to burn. This time more than before. Could've been the anger. The Fear. I felt out of place, out of mind. I knew I was going to black out, and hurt her, I didn't want to hurt her. Everything started to blur, started to slow down. It was as if I could grab her hand and direct it away. A flash, and then she struck. I almost didn't know what had happened. Why had I seen it twice? She went in for another blow. Everything a blur again, My head felt like it was going to explode. Everything was even slower now. I saw her fist coming at me. I went to stop her hand. I Pushed it away and kicked her in the chest.

She was startled and stepped back. "So fast. Faster than Amye, even," I could barely think through the pain in my skull.

"Lets try something else." She said. Right before shooting me in the chest. Knocked me completely off my feet. Rubber bullets. Didn't change how much it hurt. I clutched the spot it had hit as I groaned. The slug had been big, I could feel the welt growing. 50 caliber revolver even? This gal wasn't messing around.

"Hmm," She went to shoot me again. It was like she was in water. Slowly aiming down the barrel. I rolled. She missed.

"Haven't blacked out yet?" She asked, holstering her gun. I looked at her in amazement.

"That's right, you and I are the same. I'm a Psych. Well, not exactly the same. You can't do this." She put a wall of flame between us. and calmly walked through. The fire dancing around her, staying a good four inches from her skin. "Me? I'm a Pyromancer. You? You are what is called a Farseer."

All I could do was look at her. Ive heard there were other kinds. But I never thought I'd meet one. Even in the guild.

"I, I see things, horrific things. Then, then I black out. Only this time I didn't." I always blacked out. It never failed. All the memories coming back, the things I'd done. I was a monster. Every time I had blacked out and it was like something else had done those things.

"This is the kill-box. Its dark enough in here for your mind to focus on one thing. That thing is me. They call it the kill-box because sometimes a Psych cant handle their power and there is only one way out. People die in here all the time. As you can see, they usually don't have time to clean up the place."

"You're saying I black out when there is too much to focus on?" I said as I got off the floor. It made sense. My mind would overload in a stressful situation too much happening, couldn't focus. "Right, don't worry, with training. You will get better. We still don't know your range."

"My range?"

"How far you can see into the future."

"I see into the future?"

"My god they didn't tell you anything! You are 20 years old! Your parents never told you?"

I just shook my head like a confused little boy. My head was still spinning. She knew so much about me already. I knew nothing about this person.

"A Farseer can see into the future, some of them can see really far, months or weeks. Others, see the direct future, minutes and seconds." I couldn't see her face but her body loosened. "I'm fully trained, and you just blocked a punch from me. Green as grass and already you can go toe to toe with a fully trained Merc. With time and training. Imagine what you will be able to do."

"I don't want to hurt people. I want to save people."

"Soon you will realize those are one and the same." She turned and walked out to the Lifts. Leaving me with my headache and a million thoughts surging around my mind.

I am. A Psych. I can see the direct future. Tomorrow I'm learning about weapons and what they mean for me as a Farseer. Part of me wants to go home. But I know there is nothing for me there. This needs to become my home. People like Veil can help me. So first impressions? Still figuring that out. My ribs hurt.

LOG END EARTHDATE 2218 December 30th