The First Accord

Chapter 1

Rhea should've been fired 3 times today already which is why when the assignment landed in her inbox with a musical chime unease settled in her shoulders like a snake coiling for warmth.

The Genearchate valued efficiency above anything else which made Rhea an ongoing administrative emergency. Her workstation was a seasoned clutter of mislabeled vials, abandoned reports curled and bronzed with a combination of coffee and neglect. In fact, the only thing adorning her desk which showed the slightest resemblance of care was a small fern wedged precariously between a test tube stand and a stack of butterfly post it notes. It shouldn't have been alive; her office was deep in the basement with no windows or natural light and the only semblance of water it got was when she spilt her mug in its general direction. Still, its leaves were lush with new green growing daily as if it thrived from sheer stubbornness alone.

Secretly, Rhea respected the plant more than she did any of her colleagues with their ironed lab coats that never seemed to have a splash of anything coating the lapels. Whilst her appreciation wasn't shown in the day-to-day, basic, normal plant care rituals, she did brush its leaves every now and again ridding it of the thin layer of dust that normally found itself clouding the green.

Her laptop pinged again; the 2 minute you-still-haven't-looked-at-me-and-I'm-important ping that drew not only her attention but that of the nosy brown-haired man perched on the chair a row away from her.

"Your desk is a serious health and safety concern, Rae. You'll give the auditors hives," said Liho who glanced up quickly to raise his brow at the state in front of her before focusing back on the microscope under his fingers. "They're known for their spontaneous spot checks, you know, you'll get everyone in the lab in shit,"

"I'm known for spontaneous naps but here I am, I guess we all get used to a bit of disappointment in life,"

He finally pushed the microscope away from his face with a huff that could've been a laugh if anyone in The Genearchate had a sense of humor. With long fingers, he edged a couple of slides in her direction, neither passing them over to her desk nor keeping them in his spotless area.

"You mislabeled these again, Rae." If she was a better woman, she would've felt guilty or maybe even a spot of remorse but in they weren't so much as mislabeled but misinterpreted.

"I didn't," she insisted, reaching over for the glass to stare at the taped labels, "A, B and my last hope are perfectly understandable labels. The last one's an optimist."

Liho sighed, the noise an echo of disappointment that seemed to land in the empty room loud and heavy enough that she felt it in her shoulders. It wasn't intentional. She wasn't a fuck-up on purpose. Her mind was sharp, her opinions valued and her intellect unmatched; the only three reasons she was still the owner of the desk in front of her. Her desk was a reflection of her mind; messy, thorough and busy.

Finally, the weight of his sigh lifted as he stood from his desk bending backwards eliciting a couple of sharp cracks along his spine that tickled at her own in mimicry. Her laptop buzzed again; its audacity louder than its insistence.

"Are you going to look at that?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of the offensive piece of tech imprinted with The Genearchate logo. She nodded with a gentle sigh that seemed to move the leaves of the fern with more ferocity than she felt leave her lungs.

Subject: Field Directive – Level 7 Access

Route: Outpost Theta – Resonance Field 34

Action: On-site Eval. Report in Person.

Rhea blinked rapidly, like it was the dust from the leaves clouding her vision or the exhaustion in her bones forging the words. She wasn't Level 7; she was barely classed as a Level 3 and every other lab tech was at least as Level 5. Her level may as well have been classed as 'Submit It Again Without the Jokes in The Methodology'.