Chapter 131: Chapter 127

“So in conclusion, Tiberium as a weapon against the metanatural is highly effective, though the effective range is rather localized.” Military Advisor Lyons wrapped up in a small meeting with Eve, Cabal, Curie and Dr. Li. “It’d take large deposits to actually affect anything beyond a few feet, but seeing how metaphysical ‘winds’ are a thing, strategically placed clusters, or even surrounding a channeling rite, would make for an effective filter.”

 

Madison frowned, her chin resting on a clenched fist. “Still takes too long to address environmental hazards,” the head of the Nexus’ Occult Department muttered. “And ritual circles are horrendously inefficient in drawing in metaphysical currents.” That drew resigned nods from the two other women. “At the very worst, we can just stick the shards onto nets to create a Tiberium curtain, if we need to cover some territory.”

 

“It’s highly inefficient, as you say,” Curie agreed with a slight smile, “But those nets have shown noticeable results in cleansing the currents along the Nexus’ coastlines. Assuming no further improvements are made to Tiberium delivery, simply leaving the nets in the correct places would see us eventually clean the oceans in…” Sev’s intimate partner quirked her head slightly upwards, signaling for Cabal to provide the estimations.

 

“Projections indicate the latent metaphysical elements present in the global ocean currents would be fully purged in approximately nine centuries.”

 

“That’s great news,” Madison deadpanned.

 

Sarah shrugged that nugget of information away and returned the meeting back to the main topic. “So, judging from how glum things are looking,  the aerosolization process is still a problem?”

 

Curie nodded. “Unfortunately so. Short of requesting Sev to use his own ‘magic’, converting Tiberium crystals into a liquid state remains impossible for us. ” 

 

“Which is utter bullshit!” Madison interrupted, venting her frustrations at the stalled project.

 

Sev’s synth lover gave a sympathetic nod, being part of the liquid Tiberium research as well. “It might be one of those metaphysical limitations that only Sev, for now, can overcome.”

 

Eva suddenly chimed in, deciding that she should further clarify the matter. “So far, research indicates that a catalyst is required to stimulate the destabilization of Tiberium’s crystal matrix. However, no materials tested thus far, natural or metanatural, has proven to be suitable to fill that role.” 

 

“So no liquid Tiberium flamethrowers,” Sarah half-grumbled with a sigh. She was really looking forward to live testing that on the captured Atom worshipers. “Anyway, regarding using Tiberium in melee, the troopers had some comments…”

 

And so the meeting wore on to better understand and apply the green and blue crystals in the Nexus’ defense and offense.

 

*****

 

The new batch of recruits were promising enough, but none of them were 1st Company material. Edward, Sylvie and the platoon commanders were watching from a fully stealthed floating observation platform as the men and women below them were put through their paces on the training grounds that was Spectacle Island.

 

Due to several troopers officially resigning from 1st Company to enjoy a more civilian life, especially after witnessing the traumatic horrors wrought by the rad-sucking scum of the Church of Atom, there was a considerable amount of openings amongst the platoons that the company leaders had to start looking to replenish their numbers.

 

And so they joined as silent judges to the training grounds, hoping to find some promising recruit to be assigned into Sev’s Own. So far, there was nothing that impressed them.

 

Oh sure, some showed commendable determination, and some had capacity to be really cunning bastards, but none of them were deemed worthy of Sev’s personal…attention. At least to the eyes of the highly selective, highly jealous leadership of 1st Company.

 

Being a member of Sev’s Own required a commitment to Sev, willing enslavement in all but name to the man responsible for creating a utopia in this wretched wasteland of a world. It required not just total trust and loyalty in their ruler, but the resolve to ensure that Sev would forever be placed far, far above all else.

 

Like how the official resignations were not actual resignations at all. No one in 1st Company has so far willingly left their duties behind. After Far Harbor, it had been discussed within the company and agreed upon that the true horror of the operation was confirmation that psychic backlash could devolve human minds to the monsters that the Children of Atom had become. With how the Nexus was allowing the practice of occultism, precautions had to be taken to ensure internal security, which required personnel who were as incorruptible to the eldritch as possible.

 

And those owned by Sev fit the bill, considering their training and the fact that Sev’s protections had been proven in Ix and Tleilax to extend to the metaphysical.

 

So some troopers, particularly those with family or other believable excuses, would be scattered throughout the Nexus. They’d bring their armor and weapons along to their civilian lives, and other than suffering long periods of boredom, they’d be the first response to any internal threats, proof against the natural and metanatural even if the Minutemen and the lower Companies would be compromised. 

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Sev didn’t fully agree with the decision, but he went along with it for now.

 

Thanks to keeping things within the Company, as well as Sev’s reputation for pampering and caring for those around him, the recruits would never appreciate the devotion and commitment that was required to be a part of 1st Company. They assumed that simply offering their body to Sev was all they needed, or that assignment to 1st Company was a cushy thing. And so they went through their trials like everyone else in the lower Companies; admirable drive, admirable skills, but lacking in the unseen yet noticeable zeal.

 

Just as it was before with previous batches, Edward and his friends would prove their assumptions wrong.

 

“53’s got a pretty face,” Abigail drawled down at her monitor, to which Sylvie replied, “Shame that’s all she seems to be.”

 

“What about 4?” Kyle asked, highlighting a mud-drenched man stumbling on the climbing wall to share amongst his colleague’s screens.

 

Vicky squinted for a second and then shook her head. “Eh, he’s persistent, but something about him…”

 

“He keeps trying different approaches each time he fails,” Edward commented disapprovingly. “He’s not giving any of his attempts a second try. Flighty.”

 

The others nodded at the assessment. Then Sylvie gave a soft hum and circled out another recruit. “19’s former Enclave, right?”

 

There was a pause as the leaders of 1st Company each brought up the mentioned candidate’s information on their screens. “It explains her skill,” Abigail remarked. “Ooh, failed spec ops…” 

 

Edward huffed. “Doesn’t matter, their doctrine’s not like ours anyway.” He gave a pause and squinted as he watched recruit 19 run through the shock fields and stumbled on despite the convulsions. “She’s promising…”

 

Sylvie’s eyes were still on the recruit’s background, and her eyes widened as she got somewhat impressed. “Huh. We rescued her from that bunker overrun with raiders.”

 

The others shared impressed looks, Abigail whistling lowly. “That camp east of Providence, right? She’s one of those we got out of the rape pens?”

 

“And the healing arches took care of her tumor and combat wounds,” Sylvie said as she nodded to herself and kept reading through the report. “To say nothing of the abuse she suffered.”

 

“Think that’ll be good enough as motivation?” Kyle asked, and Edward shrugged in reply.

 

“We’ll give her a chance, I guess. If she does well enough here, redirect her to our training program.”

 

The platoon commanders grinned at that. 1st Company’s training was kept under wraps, giving it an air of mystique, but it also helped ensure that candidates weren’t fully prepared for the trials involved. Like putting someone in Sardaukar armor and seeing how much they flinched under heavy fire, or seeing how fast they could kill super mutants with their power armored hands (the passing mark was set to twenty kills, but only nineteen were ever provided in the underground maze, to test how they handled stress and perceived failure).

 

It was always an entertaining event to see how the candidates went through the trials, so it became a special event within 1st Company. “We’re using Strigoi now, right?” Kyle asked just to be sure; the Eversors were being phased out and converted to their bulkier counterparts.

 

Sylvie nodded with a wry smirk, already imagining the hilarity that would likely ensue at that particular test. “Five Strigois to replace five Eversors.”

 

“The poor girl…” Vicky said with her grin still plastered on her face.

 

“Focus.” Edward snapped the group back to the task at hand. The coming entertainment was nice and all, but 1st Company was still short of a couple squad’s worth of troopers. “Anyone else catches your attention?” He betrayed a faint smirk of his own behind his stern mask. “We need more than one candidate to set up a good betting pool after all.”

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