Thargoid Crusade: Recruitment
08 Apr 2023Darkbeetle
I was getting sick and tired of this old, run-down outpost on an icy world 180 degrees celsius below freezing. Our job was simple: We were to manufacture the new Caustic Sinks for commanders on the frontline of the Thargoid War. This small industrial settlement had been my home for about a month. Filled to the brim with temporary workers who had been looking for a job, I was one out of the many. Every day, we would go to the production building and do our jobs, pretty much. Why did I give up my relatively rich and luxurious life on the starport in G 203-47 for this backwater of a system on the edge of human inhabited space? I reminded myself, “it’s all for the commanders on the frontlines”, and sighed as I put together the launch mechanism for a unit of sinks.For the rest of the day, I continued working. Every hour, we would switch between monitoring the assembly line, handling logistics, and checking inventory stock. All monotone things, especially for a commander like me and my roommate. We had some conversations and got to know each other. His contract ends tomorrow, but my contract still had a whole week on it. “Oh well, it can't be that bad”, is what I thought. What I didn’t expect was that my contract would end early the next day.
It was just like any other day. Sure, I hadn’t been working here long. But today was just like yesterday. Or the day before yesterday. Everything was just as planned. That is, until something happened. I was working in the industrial complex building. The location of the building in the settlement was on the opposite side of the entrance. So when I heard that there was a visitor looking for “Commander”, I wasn’t exactly in a rush to walk the half kilometer on 0.2G. Besides, nobody had contacted me about a visit either. I begrudgingly made my way to the front of the settlement.
“Hey there.”, I heard from the door. A figure walked towards me, wearing a distinct Dominator suit. It was a fellow commander. But it was also a stranger, a face I did not recognize. They continued, “Nice to meet you.” I suddenly felt chills on my back. Then, the stranger pulled out a plasma shotgun and aimed it at my head.
“Be quiet, or I will shoot you.” they said. I froze. I couldn’t react at all. My initial instinct was to quietly sound the settlement alarms. After a second thought, I remembered that commanders’ suits can scan you and see if you are trying to raise an alarm. I’m a commander myself, after all. 30 seconds felt like eternity. Eventually, the unknown stranger put their gun back. “Hi.”, they said, “Don’t you dare raise the alarms on me. I was sent here for you.” I replied, “What?” to which they answered, “Don’t ask too many questions. I need you to shut down the power center. Just for a bit, then you come with me.” I had so many questions. I felt like the answers to those questions would probably raise even more questions. But I decided to go along with it anyways without asking questions, seeing as this stranger could’ve probably killed me on sight if they wanted to.
I made my way to the settlement’s power plant—A giant reactor which powered every device, appliance, and tool in the small cluster of buildings. The building required a security clearance of level 3; Not an issue for me since I worked at the level 3 section of the industrial building which shared the same clearance system as the power plant. One problem was that the people working there didn’t recognize me and would sound alarms if they saw me. “Not an issue either”, I thought to myself. I had experience in this type of stuff, sneaking around playing pranks on my colleagues. I was in, and I was out. Nobody suspected a thing; That is, until the power went out a few minutes later. By then I had regrouped with the mystery stranger.
“Thanks”, they said. Then, the unknown person took me onto their Krait Mk2. Once we were inside, the commander told me to take a seat anywhere I’d like. Up until this point, I had felt quite apprehensive about asking questions. I realized that the stranger had suddenly become welcoming and friendly. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but may I know your name?”, I asked. “No problem, I’m CMDR Dripnificent”, he said as he took off his helmet.
Author’s Notes: Thank you for reading! This is the latest installment in the Thargoid Crusade series. First of all, I’d like to take this opportunity and remind you that the characters in this story are fictional, and do not represent the real CMDR. This is also NOT Thargoid Crusade 2, despite what it looks like. It does not meet my standards for a full story and is meant to be a small addition before the events of Thargoid Crusade 2.
Stay tuned! o7