Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Citizen404

Admiral Koslov refuses an order to capture the Omen, and was immediately charged with insubordination.

Contact is established with the Omen an hour later, and Ex-marine Angel Ramirez essentially tells the UNSC to shoved it up theirs.

The story is released onto the internet.

Ex Admiral Vir, supposed traitor, tracked a Maker to their place of origin and stole their most powerful vessel in order to deal with the Behemoth.

He sacrificed himself to protect earth.

And now earth was in a state of riot. Thousands upon thousands of people had stood up to blame the government for keeping secrets from them. Riots had begun in the streets, white fists were being spray painted on walls and overpasses and the sides of government buildings in protest along with the word.

Impetus.

Adam Vir's face could be found on anti-government literature and propaganda as one walked the streets. He appeared on paper pamphlets discarded on the sidewalk, and tucked into books as bookmarks, he could be found in pop up advertisements all over the interne, and in advertising hubs at shopping centers. His face was plastered upon picket signs and billboards. When the riots began, president Hunt used them as an excuse to enforce martial law upon earth , but when UNSC service men refused to patrol, they began using he peacekeepers to do their dirty work.

This is what was left.

A planet under martial law.

A people fighting for their rights, and diplomatic relations between earth and her colonies going poorly. Hunt may have been able to control some of the flow of information on earth, but it could not so easily control its colonies.

And Mars itself was a great center of contention.

Eris passed up the street still keeping her head low and turned onto the sidewalk that lead up to the Vir home. The blinds were drawn, and light could be seen flickering from behind the windows. Stepping closer Eris could hear the thoughts of those inside, worried, afraid, angry, and sad all mixed into one, though a thread of Hope underlined all of the voices inside.

Up the street she noted a pair of other voices she had grown familiar with.

Their surveillance in the form of a dark van posing as a small family-owned electrician company parked at the end of the street. Inside two men were busy monitoring all signals that went in and out of the house, hoping to find and track the Tritors, hoping that Martha or Jim would attempt to try and contact the people who knew their son.

They should have known better. Martha and Jim weren't stupid, and neither of them had ever been that fond of the government anyway. Eris stepped up the the house and unlocked the door, knowing rather than sensing that there were eyes on her. She greeted Martha and Jim sitting tense and silent in the living room as they watched the news, before passing them and heading into her room.

The space she had made for herself was cozy and homey color coordinated around her favorite theme, dark night sky blue. She pulled out the chair and sat at her desk, cracking the joints of her knuckles before getting to work.

There were plenty of perks to being able to read minds

And one of those perks was being able to use the knowledge of others to your advantage. Every time she looked into someone's head, everything they knew was laid out before her like a library to peruse and to open.

It hadn't been difficult to find friends who knew how to navigate the internet, and even less difficult to find the hackers. It had only taken her a few minutes with a master, to know what she was doing to a high enough degree that she wasn't worried about the men outside.