TwoStep

Prologue

The grizzly surveyed the dark room before him. Hardly anything was visible despite his excellent night vision. Although, the shadows gave him a hint that it might be an officer’s deck. Although, several things, such as a weapons locker, told him that the room didn’t have luxury purposes.

A holographic screen above him clicked on, flooding the room with light. He took a close look at it, and recognized it as space terrain radar. He examined the display for a second. No dark matter fields, which were known to play hell with navigation, were visible. No foreign blips were detected either. Indeed, his superiors had chosen a secure part of space. Although, his recent briefing had informed him that anywhere in the universe could be breached at any time. His current objective needed to be done as soon as possible. He was supposed to meet somebody, and they needed to show up quickly.

                Suddenly, as if on unconscious command, a bright flash emanated from the other side of the room. The phenomenon, though only lasting a couple of seconds, was almost enough to blind the grizzly. He covered his eyes and jerked his face away from it, he had been anticipating it, but had no clue when to expect it. In the space where the flash occurred, a shape stood. The grizzly, having the marks of light still in his vision, failed to recognize who it was. He did recognize one thing about it though, it was human.

                The figure stepped forward, its features invisible to the grizzly. “What do we do when night falls?” the human queried him in a low voice.

                “You light the night with stars.” The grizzly responded to the human’s secure question and answer terms.

                The human strode toward the grizzly and put his hand in front of him. “It’s good to meet you, lieutenant general.” He said.

                “Likewise.” The grizzly said, shaking his hand. Upon a closer look, the human couldn’t have been that old. He’d bet his home planet that he wasn’t any older than a teenager. “It must be important for the albus if they sent somebody to talk to us personally. What do you need?”

                The human drew back and took a breath. “The corrupted have complete control of novem now. We have contacts that say they are attacking octavus as we speak.” The grizzly felt a wave of shock go through him. He wasn’t planning on the corrupted to advance so quickly! This only meant he had less time to do his job.

                “Thank you for the update. Our forces as well prepared as they can be for a corrupted attack. And I’m sure that you…”

                The human cut him off “You know as well as I do that your military isn’t anywhere near strong enough to take this head on! We have already discussed this!” He took a second to calm himself, and then went on. “I was sent to check on the progress of Project Magnus.”

                The grizzly took a deep breath, the human would not like what he was going to tell him. “The third group failed. We are currently looking for new candidates for a fourth group.”

                The human remained silent for five seconds, his features still unreadable. “What caused them to fail?” He asked quietly.

                This, the grizzly could answer. “They ended up attacking a civilian population! Luckily, we knew exactly how to lure them out. They’re somewhere in space now, their condition on alive or dead isn’t something I like to think about.”

                “I suppose you’re justified then.” The human said. “But the progress of the corrupted is nothing we can calculate. The conditions of Octavus limit us general.” The human told him, “If this project isn’t complete when they arrive, and they will arrive, we will do our best to protect you and everyone else in this universe. But, the conditions here are almost as limiting as Octavus.”

                The human’s words sent a chill through him. If his plans took too long, billions upon trillions of lives were at stake!

                “See to it general. We will meet again.” The human said. Another flash of light appeared, in which the human disappeared. This time the grizzly did not bother to block the light. Instead he stared at the floor and put his weight on a nearby desk. He considered the weight of his godlike task.