The Corruption

Official documentation as per client order #: 838b. DATE 14-15 MARCH, 29483. Responding Officers: {classified}. Location: Rome Blue Highrise {classified} Field Research Lab. Alert Code: Foxtrot Gulf Tango-9.

At approximately 13:10 an FGT-9 alert status was placed at the location {classified}. In lieu of a viral outbreak believed to of happened, the first responding officers did not enter untill 15:33 when the client HAZMAT specialists confirmed there was no outbreak, that the alarm had been tripped via someone inside [the specialists did not enter, they were able to use the outside consoles to identify the conditions inside the building]. Upon entering the team split into two groups, group Alpha, lead by Myself and consisted of {classified}, {classified} and {classified}, and group Bravo, which had {classified} as group lead, {classified} and {classified} as point man and medical expert respectively. First observations concluded that there was a 100% mortality rate inside the building, noting that the scientists stationed there were perforated as if they were shot with a shotgun type weapon. Alpha proceeded to the main console area to view the logs for a better idea of what had happened in the building, however, the doors were magnetically sealed due to the still active Viral Outbreak protocol still in effect. After the use of some on-site torches we were able to gain entry into the main console area, in the room was one corpse, a Mr. J. Morales, on the body was a River Mk II and a data-pad with several weeks worth of notes. some notable ones are as follows:

"Morales, password Leets Vs. Reets. March 3, 29483. Okay, so its been what? four weeks since i got here and already i can tell why they need more people, i mean, only 7 on a project like this? this is easy money, just pop some neural interfaces in some subjects, juice them up on the stimulant and see what happens."

" March 8, 29483. well, another subject died last night, only one has survived, uh, subject 449 test batch W. we call him William, somehow most subjects die withing seconds of gettign the stimulant, but he's been active for about 2 weeks, i dont know how, i mean, by all medical standards he should be dead, about 8 celsius body temperature, absolute zero heart rate........ like a zombie. it doesn't help either that he doesn't talk, by all means he should be able to, his vocal chords are still intact and i don't think we hit his frontal lobe.......maybe he's just anti-social"

"March 10, 29483. Damnit, we keep losing subjects before we even get to write down the effects, instantaneous death it seems like, and no recall for these guys either it seems. also, when we were removing a cadaver from the test chamber, i swore i saw William smiling, or atleast a grin......is he behind this? and if so HOW? ill find out tonight, got a surprise for all of them."

"March 11, 29483. okay, that didn't plan out well, i set up a camera to see what happens when we leave and only the security bots are left online. at about 2 A.M. William stood up and some sort of corruption started to cover the screen, like some data-matrix, like binary but more......complex? i ran it through so many computers and databases but yet nothing, its like......William somehow consciously made it happen.........what the hell is going on here.

Edit: we just lost a maintenance man a few minutes ago, dont know what happened, but the security bot he was working on.....god, i dont want to remember the scene, who knew a persons head could twist like that?

Edit2: we found out he didnt return from reclaim, there was no trace of him ever getting insurance ever, which is a lie, i saw him a few days ago get re-upped at the Rome Blue station, the hell is going on? is William behind this?......i dont know.......... and that scares the living he-"

" March 13, 29483. my god, all dead.......all of them are dead........why am i stil lalive? is it because im in here? because he's scared to send in his bot army? is he afraid they will hit the main consoles? WHY AM I ALIVE! ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!........it was william, i dont know how, but the neural interface is part of it, im still not sure what the stimulant did.......but......why am i worried about this? im dead in a few hours anyway. we tried the doors, but somehow they became magnetically sealed without an alert being issued.......the bots tried to get in a few hours ago with our torches we used for maintenance but i guess they gave up, i haven't heard them clanking around either.

I started reading a few of the classified files here, easy to crack since the lead researcher used the same password for everything, turns out this wasnt an {classified}. whoever these people are, im not sure if Old-Tom knows whats going under their noses, super commanders? can you believe that? commanders that can relay instant battle information in real-time to of world HQ's and use that information to coordinate with thousands of others just like them.......just like him, william. did we play the devil here? did we win or lose? i dont know, i dont know anything anymore. i managed to retrieve a pistol from one of the bots that we broke a few days ago.......two shells left, but if im correct, my data would of been deleted also, so there will be no coming back......... im scared......... but im also at peace........ if anyone finds this, please......tell my wife, if she still cares, that she was my last thought........Meagan, if you get to read this, im sorry about everything, i didnt sign the papers because i thought we could still work this out, but look at me now, tired, lonely, scarred. i wish i was home.............."

It has occoured to the responding officers that there was no signs of Security Bots on the premises, and the only weapon found was on Mr. J. Morales's body. it would appear in a fit of rage Mr. Morales shot and killed everyone inside this building, this is only an opinion due to all records being deleted on the 14th several hours before the initial call came in. please note that all cadavers were accounted for except for this "William" one, but like i said, there is no records of him, or it, ever being here.

Also a side note, it would seem the eyes of all the victims of Mr. Morales's rampage had their eyes gouged out, with blood coming out of the nose and mouth, the words "HE COMES" seems to of been written in biological matter, most likely blood, on the wall of the main room.


At 23:11 the cleaner was deployed, all traces of the lab are destroyed, and with it all evidence that would trail back to the client, and stated in the client order #: 354a. I personally doubt any of the neighbors even realised what happened just a few feet from their apartments.

Official documentation as per client order #: 838b. DATE March 16, 29483. After Action report of Operation: Long-Arm.

At 11:00 Offensive Group: Knight was inserted into the area more commonly known as Mort. It is in this area that a high concentration of cyborgs are know to reside in, it is also a spot where we believe data was transferred to prior to our arrival of the March 14th incident. Upon arriving the team came under heavy fire from the cyborgs as intended, during this time the Information Group: Hotel was deployed in order to determine what, if any, information was sent there. All did not go as planed, the information was sent there, but was corrupted beyond any recognition by Hotel. One operative stated it would take years to decipher the encoding even with our current technology, he had also stated that the code itself continued to morph while he was recording it for file information. A side not: Bio-Encoding is not too un-common for sensitive materials, but it seems that this code was evolving real-time as we attempted to break into in data, one could say that it was self-aware, although this is an impossibility for this particular data-core, it did not have enough memory to even attempt to generate an AI as advanced as some other computers.

The operation was deemed a failure by the field chain of command, as no hard data that was usable, or identifiable was recovered.

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"Do we really have to make a report about this? I mean, who actually reads this stuff?", it had been a long day made longer by unnecessary red-tape, even though the coats had seen the operation in real-time thanks to our integrated battle suits, it seemed they needed a written copy of how bad we did.......well, not how bad WE did, but how bad we screwed up our intelligence of the operation in general. "you know how they are, you mess up and you pay with your fingers" Joked D., the only name we knew him by, like the rest of us......no names, just letters "just think what would of happened if we had actually succeeded? we would probably still be shuffling around in the sand out there." "This is true, besides, its not like they actually TOLD us what to look for, just 'go out there and shoot whatever moves', and 'keep the I.S.'s safe, they cost more in death pay'" said Z. "the only thing we really got out of it was higher security clearances, but i would of rather get some credits, ammo doesn't come free." "if you want free ammo, join the Armed Forces, you also get a free haircut." I commented, it was an old Army saying that veterans would tell the greens when they arrived 'haircut and ammo. Cost: 5 years!' "anyway, I'm heading out, ill finish this up at home. Ill try to drag it out a few pages more about how we 'encountered deadly 'borgs'. Night." The walk home was fairly long, but bearable, Omni-1 had its usual rain falling as i stepped out onto the street. Funny to think that almost a year ago NSL was dissolved as allegations of crimes against the citizens of Omni-Tek came after evidence that 'Herr Director' was selling merc-work to the clans. In a turn of events it came down to not a big firefight like you would expect, but a bullet from a sniper that ended the ordeal, we never found out if we were going to be put on trial, I doubt it though, we really had no idea where or from whom our orders came from. Rome approach was desolate as every other day, nothing more than a few greens taking their first steps on Rubi-Ka, but the rain was still falling, usually meant something was happening somewhere on this planet.....'if that's the case, shouldn't Rome be flooded by now?' I asked myself. Rome was its usual controlled chaos as it usually is, greens running from terminal to terminal, Omni-Pol and Omni-AF urbans patrolling the streets, even a few drop-ships preforming a ballet so synchronized that the slightest miscalculation could send a ship through your apartment, or even on you while walking below. Only a few reasons why i moved to Jobe, after joining up with this new company, we soon found out that no price is too high for their employee's, maybe its to keep us from walking out, or talking to anyone about what we do.

It was about 9 when I got home, almost ready for bed 'the report can wait, its not like people's lives depend on it' which was a lie in some sense, some of these people's lives was their career. The comm terminal was beeping as usual, either someone was trying to call or left a message, the latter rarely happens, they just disconnect and try again. "I swear, if its one of those 'your factory warranty is about to expire on your Yalmaha' calls, Ill go postal....." another truth, they had been calling for about 4 months straight now, everytime I had told them that i do not own a yalm, i own a Phasephont Wraith.....but they dont listen, like many people on this planet. To my surprise the message was from C., one of the information specialist we had taken during Long-Arm, "hello?" I said, keeping the video feed distorted, another company policy, no one knew our names, or faces, plausible denial? probably, like I said, we weren't in the business of telling people our business. "K.? listen, i have to be quick, i found some information, not the stuff we were looking for, but its important, are you at home?" "uhh, yea, actually, but how di-" I managed to get out before she interrupted "good, ill be there in a few minutes, you have to see this to believe me." "thats against company policy, and how do you know where i live to begin with?" "your not too hard to track, besides, after seeing this you might want to question our policies" "...okay wha-" she had closed the connection before I even started, I walked into the bedroom and opened the crate I had picked up the day prior from a neutral supplier. If anything goes south, atleast I'll be prepared.

A few minutes turned into an hour, finally there was a buzz at the door, looking through the camera outside, i noticed it was an Opifex female, about 23 or 25, short. "Read this" she said as she threw a file folder onto the table "it has everything I think you should know, but be warned, after reading it, everything you know, you have, you remember will be put into question." "are you O.R.?" I asked, I havent done anything lately that should draw their attention. "because if you are, then you will leave now" "no, im not Reform. but this is important........what if you are not you.....did you ever think of it?" "okay, do you want me to call you crazy now, or after I call Omni-Pol?" i joked, this is just too surreal, it had to of been, but the way she looked.....frustrated? annoyed?.......whatever she had, she had taken great pains to bring it here, might as well look at it. I slid the file over and started to read, and looking back, I wish I hadn't, life would of been so much more tolerable.



My name is Kalezian...................and i was created...........

"I know what you are" said the voice in a seemingly monotone kind of way. "like me but not of me, you have no true nature, just an automaton moving to the orders of a controller." "what does that make you?" i asked, talking to shadows of the twilight, "who are we to say what we are and are not?". The figure, first unseen, was now becoming shaped like that of a person......no, more than that. A sense of dread was filling the area outside Newland, but only to me. A few hours prior an accident occurred at the office, a cleaner was activated though no-one was inside at the time of detonation, systematically destroying all traces of what the project was. "Don't you see? look around you, we are the only two that are the same on this planet, think of the chaos we can create!" said the morphing figure, constantly changing shapes, sizes.......it might of been just my eyes being deceived by the darkness, or something more, maybe he was really there, but making me see something different. Besides, was that not his design? information warfare? a counterpart to conventional warfare in every way, shape, and form? All the files I had read all pointed to the same company responsible for NSL, and even before that when they wanted me to protect one of their operatives...........SOL Banking........ the only other hyper-corporation that had the courage to wage war with Omni-Tek. The plan was simple, create hundreds of millions of soldiers and wage a flag war in Omni-Tek's cities, the attacks would just be brushed off as clan aggression. After a few months or years of a constant stream of attacks and reprisals, Omni-Tek would of lost enough favor to allow other corporations lease on the planet, under the ICC's rules and laws or not. Millions of other soldiers, just like me, were already being tested on various warring planets with surprising results. The problem? the scientists found out about it, and decided to sabotage the project by making the subjects self-aware, but most importantly blind loyalty to Omni-Tek, incase this war were ever to happen, we would gladly join rank-and-file combatants to help the corporation defend against any and all aggression, and upon realizing this, both his and my restrictive locks were disengaged........we were human, no, we were more than human. "Why wont you join me? think of all the fun we could have on this planet, bombings, murders.........you name it, we could......can do it, just follow me, besides, humans and their meta species are all the same. look around, in the past, what, ten-thousand years. what has humanity done besides killing off the weak. why should any of them be spared?" ".....because the sins of the fathers will always be passed to their children, we are the inheritors of the universe, regardless of the state of things, and depending on how we live, we can make it better for the next generation, or we can leave a wasteland for them to suffer in." I couldn't place where the words were coming from, its as if they were always there, just waiting to be freed. "so, there's no changing your mind then? such a shame......oh well, more fun for me" he said as the shadow dissipated into oblivion. Newland suddenly became desolate to me, thousands of beings, but none to think as relative to myself. we really are the same person really, reasoning and desire, humility and greed, disturbed and psychotic. can we survive without each other? I'll try my hardest to be nothing like that.......thing. several hours pass and I'm alone again, awkwardly like a child taking his first steps I made my way to the local backyard area, a relic of the past that serves as a great reminder of how one little difference can create another world. Passing the guard, a quick thought came back to me, "what if I'm not who I think I am...." the thought running laps in my head. I looked down to the small terminal, layers of dust a sign of the long forgotten maintenance. Like this machine, we are all destined to be forgotten one day, and be left to gather dust. "so my friend..." the words just rolling out not how I usually talk, but then, who am I? "....lets see who i will be today...."


Rejoice, for very bad things are about to happen.........

Who would of thought that smuggling would be so profitable? After all life had thrown toward me, weapons would be the ticket. After the discovery of some small shipments "forgotten" by their owners, a small scale operation was in effect, more so by the Omni-Tek protocol that all new arrivals must enter from the ICC Shuttle Port Island, or to some, the Newcomers Island. With the Unicorn company not really doing much to curve the alien invasion there, the ICC allows civilians to help with the fight, of course, this gains way to the more profitable trade of finding the Kry-Weapons. For their qualities, they are good, but you soon "out-grow" them, as it were, this is also evident as higher quality versions are found from higher ranking aliens, if they even follow ranks, maybe they just have a hive mentality. A few shipments have made it through the barriers but nothing big, but its alright like this, since only individuals will be sold to. Is that what makes me different? that i dont deal with organizations, armies, or even groups? I hope so......

Profits are not what im aiming for to be truthful, my motives are that of a newer calling, one for Rubi-Ka, not the Omni-Tek Rubi-Ka corporate planet, or the Clans anarchistic Rubi-Ka, but for the people of Rubi-Ka.......Rubi-Ka'ians?.......how would you pronounce that?........ I walk the streets of the many towns, hear the whispers of the weak, the moans of the dying, all for a cause that will end up killing more than either side wishes to save. Call me disillusioned, but I now see Rubi-Ka for what it is........the last planet of this galaxy, universe even. A planet where Mankind learned to walk will also be the same where Mankind is laid to rest for his final day, Rubi-Ka was dying, person by person. If you see a farmer with a shotgun, chances are it passed from my hands, a miner with a pistol for protection? I showed him or her the varying calibers of it. I dont deal with organizations, I deal with people. But as with any industry, there are always people wanting to take your place, but if not me, then who? a psychopath who wants thousands murdered with his weapons? This I will never allow from the use of these guns that I sell, "Peace Through Superior Firepower"....... kinda condescending I know, but if a single person can sleep at night knowing that they can protect themselves, then good has been done. But for those that wish to take my space, they will soon learn that not everything that you may see is real.


But for now, I have more important things to worry about, namely the Transportation Division, the Police Division, or if Im unlucky, the Armed Forces. Its one thing to be a mercenary, but making a profit off of weapons can border treason by aiding terrorists, or simply war-profiteering. But my biggest challenge of all is simply trying to find people brave......or stupid, enough to smuggle them in........ I cant just write in the IRRK "looking for: group of people to bring dangerous weapons into Rome", that might speed up an arrest or death warrant.