A gigantic spacecraft shuttle lands on a similarly sized and cemented landing pad next to a human outpost. While the shuttle stabilizes, the thrusters run out of fuel and burn off, leaving a blackened texture on the ground.

The cargo doors at the back of the shuttle opened, revealing a team of humans dressed in tightly fitted space suits of varying colors. Behind them were rows of sealed wooden cargo boxes carried away by flat carts. 

Four men in military space suits greeted the newly arrived personnel.

"It's been a long time, Doctor Steve." The leading man extended his right hand.

"It's definitely been long, Captain Rooks." Doctor Steve shook hands together with the captain. 

Captain Rooks gestured for Doctor Steve to walk ahead while signaling his subordinates to help the scientists move their instruments. 

"Your accommodations are set, doctor, but our setup is rather crude." Captain Rooks apologetically reported. 

"I am not asking for a luxurious stay, captain." Doctor Steve chuckled in response. "I know that the Federation did not plan this much to happen on this backward of a system. It would be a miracle that they would give us more than what we have asked."

"Then I am pleased to hear your sentiments." 

The group made their way into the compound, past the electric fences and watchtowers that surrounded the dust-filled buildings. 

Captain Rooks pointed at the white dome-shaped building just beside the two-story HQ building. "That's the science hub. You and your subordinates will be staying there for the time being."

Doctor Steve nodded and proceeded together with Captain Rooks in the HQ. The two split up midways through, taking off their spacesuits and changing into something more formal for the occasion.

A rectangular table on the second floor of the conference room displayed a digital 3D depiction of the wide desert and a lush green setting far south.

A giant dark-blue circle object was centered in the desert, and various red, black, blue, and gray flags were randomly put around the digital map.

Doctor Steve investigated the digital map, looking at the terrain features with wild interest. "Brief me about the situation, captain."

"The situation is not very good. There are high-threat creatures in the area marked by the red flags." 

The red flags lit up and enlarged, bringing up an additional dialog window that described the nature of the creature discovered in that region. 

"This scorpion's not bad." Doctor Steve glances at the portrait of a black scorpion with long and wide pincers coupled with its slender and flexible tail. 

Captain Rooks rolls his eyes and shrugs away. He had to sacrifice a few good soldiers just to take down that damn thing. 

Doctor Steve walks around the table, admiring the stunning creatures found by Captain Rooks' men. His enthusiasm subsides after a while and his expression becomes solemn.

"But that's not why we are here." Doctor Steve waved his hand away in the air, closing the rest of the windows, and stared directly at Captain Rooks. "So, what's the update of Captain Julian's crew? Did the scanners find anything?" 

Captain Rooks sighed, "None, doctor. Deployment has been three months, and settlement just past this month. My men have been searching for signs and found nothing good."

"What about the ship? Was it not recovered?" Doctor Steve asked.

"No." Captain Rooks shakes his head. "If we'd have, we wouldn't be as blind as we are now. The situation's too bleak, doc. I'm afraid the 256th company may not have made it out alive."

"That's too early to say." Doctor Steve frowned, unappreciative of Captain Rooks' uncaring tone. "What about the Hive Cluster?"

"Nothing directly related to them but...," Captain Rooks points his calloused index finger into a black flag planted at the lush area south of the desert. "This place. Here."

Doctor Steve creased his brows and glared at the captain. "Are you making a fool of me, captain?! Has the Hive Cluster gone vegetarian now?!" 

"Wait, doctor. I'm not finished yet." Captain Rooks was at a loss. "My scouts have reported a very unstable frequency in this area. Nobody knows if that's a Hive Cluster or something else."

"Any losses?"

Captain Rooks took a deep breath and exhaled. "A few good men and a combat class mecha."

"Did you not go after your men?" Doctor Steve was confused.

"We lost contact when they entered that area, and I didn't want the rest to die for no good reason."

"Hmm..." Doctor Steve rubs his grayish-stubbled chin, his eyes a bit enigmatic about this information. "I see. Transfer your findings to us, I'll have my subordinates deal with it. We may have to go outside, and I'll need your men to watch over us."

Captain Rooks frowned, finding the situation to be difficult at hand. "Just don't go around playing with your toys, doc. I have enough on the plate at the moment."

"Are you suggesting that I am incompetent, captain?!" Doctor Steve lost his patience. 

"No, I simply want to make sure you understand what's going on around here. I need that data examined as soon as possible before we get overrun by the damn beasts."

He approached the doctor and intimidated him with his larger body stature. "Any more dead men from me and I'm going to leave your ass here alone. I'm not a babysitter who goes around saving incompetent fools and looking after some smart-asses. I'm not even sure why I am wasting my time here. If it wasn't for orders, I would not have gone here myself."

"Watch your tone around me, young man." Doctor Steve snorted, his voice turning cold and hostile. "You should respect soldiers alike. And don't speak as if you know a thing about sacrifice. You're a naive one to think you have seen everything the universe has to offer, captain."

"Oh, do I? I guess I am. You're a scientist. You've probably seen a lot more than me, haven't you? Why don't you tell me more about it?"

Doctor Steve ignored him and turned around. "Have you contacted the Federation for backup?"

Captain Rooks smiled. "I have. They'll be here in a week's time. Why? Are you scared?" 

"No. In fact, that's good for you. At least you won't have to sacrifice your men when the time comes. I'll just have to ask for the backup's cooperation then." Doctor Steve chuckles and leaves the conference room with a devious smile on his face.

Upon the doctor's exit, Captain Rooks smashed the wall with his hand, creating a deep depression on its surface. "Damn fucker. If he weren't a goddamn superstar, I would have smashed his face! Tsk."

His pocket suddenly rang, taking out his PDA and reciving the call. "This is Captain Rooks speaking."

"Captain Rooks, good to see you answer." A mature blonde woman's head appears on the screen. "How was your meeting with Doctor Steve?"

"Nothing noteworthy ma'am. His tone was strange when I told him to be careful out there. He kept talking about sacrifices and the like."

The woman remained silent for a while as she comprehended Captain Rooks' words. "Continue monitoring the doctor, captain. Report back to me if something happens."

"What about our backup, ma'am?"

"The Federation is currently at war with the Hive Cluster at the moment, captain. We will not be able to send you additional forces until it de-escalates."

Captain Rooks' mood dwindled but kept the expression out of his face. "I understand, ma'am."

"Don't forget your true assignment here. We need Captain Julian alive and with one foot closer to the grave."

The call terminated.

Captain Rooks threw the PDA onto the table and sat in comfort.

A subordinate of his entered the room and saluted. "Sir!"

"Report."

"All things unpacked, sir. The scientists will be up and running soon. Any new orders?"

Captain Rooks clutches his fists. "Watch over them. Discreetly. Higher-ups are questioning Doctor Steve Baker's assignment here. He may be up to something."

"Everything has been set up sir just as you ordered. We'll get to know anything firsthand."

"Good, you are dismissed."

In the underground science hub of the Federation outpost, a young redhead woman pulled out her headphones after listening in on the conference room. She closed her purplish eyes as a strange frequency was emitted from her mind. 

A strange connection formed from the electronic device in front of her, pulling whatever data was inside its storage straight into her brain. 

At the same time, her consciousness reached out to the entire room, swarming into the sterile walls and tiles like a plague. The light flickers in and out as she detects all the hidden wiretaps and cameras planted in the most obscure places.

Her consciousness latched onto every single object and suddenly flicked her middle finger and thumb.

A brief moment passed and her consciousness retreated to the data storage device.

The door on the entrance opened and Doctor Steve made his way into the workbench not far from her. "Got something useful, Tasha?"

"The Authority is questioning your participation, doctor. Your words may have alerted the madame. It seems that your luck has run out now." She remarks while remaining engrossed in the data transfer process.

For some reason, the words she spoke were flowing in the air in a concentrated manner, as if delivered by the mind rather than the mouth.

"That's not very useful, Tasha," Doctor Steve put down his bag and grabbed one of the laptops inside, booting it up. "And I already know about that. How about a nice change of information?"

Tasha remained silent, much to Doctor Steve's surprise. He shrugged and ignored her passing, focusing on the task at hand.

He connected his laptop to the outpost's network, accessing the exploration data from several days ago. The limited terrain of Planet X10-254-L2 was displayed at the center and a few keynotes were put on the bottom right. 

Left of the interface were the various statistical data that the sensors have recorded including measures of different frequencies that ranged from radio, energy, psionic, and electromagnetic waves.

"Got it. Now let's look at this frequency, shall we?"

He took out another laptop from his bag, looking for historical data that could be related to the current issue. "Ancien Regime... Hmm... Ancien Regime..."

He muttered under his breath, slowly comparing the anomalies to one another. The absence of a supercomputer left him and his subordinates doing calculations on their own. 

"The correlation between signals is very apparent. Although chaotic as they may have been, there are certain orders that this chaos has to follow. Finding a pattern within isn't too hard when it's not the first time around." Doctor Steve stands up and stretches his worn body. "The variance is too small. We've hit our jackpot. That was worth it for five god-forsaken days."

A small and young scientist walked up, adjusting his misaligned glasses. "Should we report our findings to the captain, doc?"

"I'll do that myself, but this data is still not enough. I bet your ass these people will have us going out there anytime soon."

The young scientist looked around in expectation but found that someone was missing. "Wait, where's Tasha? I thought she was here working with you, doc." 

"Oh, I told her to do something for me. She should be back in a moment..."

Doctor Steve turned around, blocking the scientist a view of his laptop. He typed something on the keyboard while smiling oddly. Once he was done, he pushed the enter button, and a long string of output filled in the screen.

A dialog box appeared after a while, indicating that the procedure was successful.

"All right, all is set! Now it's up to you, Tasha. Time to fulfill the prophecy that your master has laid out to you." 

The scientist overheard Doctor Steve and glanced at his laptop, confused that he found nothing but a few notes here and there on the screen.

"Hey buddy, what are you looking at? It's bad to snoop around other's screens without asking them."

The scientist lowered his head in embarrassment and departed the underground hub together.

They suddenly walked into a violent confrontation in the lounge, a gun held up to their faces.

At the corner were the rest of the cowering scientists blocked by the guards with Captain Rooks at the lead. His scowling expression was fixed on the approaching Doctor Steve.

"I gave you enough time and some trust, doc. Now's your last chance." 

"Whoa, whoa. What's with the violence, captain? Are you sure you're taking your meds-!"

"I have no time for your jokes!" Captain Rooks grabbed his sleeve. "One of your men tampered with the damn satellite and the fucking ships! Now, we can't fucking call the Federation from this deserted place!"

"That's too bad that you can't report to your superiors then, captain. I agree that we have to find the culprit as soon as possible." Doctor Steve snorted. "But why are you accusing us? Blind self-confidence and brittle authority?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself, Doctor Steve." Captain Rooks ignored his charades. "Who are your accomplices? Where are they, that girl, and the damn fucking data?!"

Doctor Steve pointed at his brain. "In here."

Captain Rooks knocked him out to the floor. The captain saw a wide grin plastered on Doctor Steve's bruised face, irking him completely. "Search every corner of this hub! I want every laptop, every communicator, every phone, and every data out in the open! Threaten them if necessary!"

His eyes turned bloodshot as a powerful aura surge out of his body. "And find that damn girl!"