Epilogue - Cascadia Campaign: Humans 1/3 - Aliens 0/3

Colonel 'Scarlett' O'Hara proceeded down the hall of Brigade HQ with one of her adjutants, going over yet another field report to be added to the full After Action Debrief she had to deliver to the brass the next day.

"Really? I don't have time for this %&*#@ %$&@#% %&#%$&! We won, I don't give a damn about the Alien's phenotype or whatever! The eggheads can take whatever samples they want in person or go over the combat recordings, just make sure they understand they will be under a full escort and they will have to finish up in..." Scarlett looked down at her wrist mounted display, "... the next eight and a half hours. They give you any objections, you tell them they're free to ride along on those freighter's next trip to the center of this system's star."

Her adjutant was mentally exhausted by this point, the stress of having to watch the battle unfold from the command station, knowing just how strained the situation had been, she just responded with a crisp, if somewhat tired, "Yes, ma'am," before she turned at the next intersection to relay her instructions on.

Scarlett proceeded to her quarters. She needed a shower and a few hours of sleep. She'd already been handling cleanup from her Regiment's unexpected confrontation for about six hours after the fighting stopped, recovering her lost troopers, coordinating medical evacs, shuttling in Disposal personnel from Brigade HQ, then handling requests from Federation Navy offices she had never even heard of, a bunch of R&D types that acted like Scarlett and her Brigade were just getting in the way...

'&%$#& arrogant SOBs, if we hadn't been there they'd be getting alllll the close up study they could ever ask for...' Scarlett thought to herself as she rounded the last corner... and found her door left ajar, the lights off inside.

Scarlett immediately pulled her sidearm, flipped the safety off, then slowly approached the door, hugging the wall.

'Just great, this day keeps throwing surprises my way...' she thought as she slowly and silently entered the room, slicing her aim up and down as she sweeped from the corner across from the door opening all the way to the other side of the do-

"HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE THEM! NOW!" Scarlett barked the moment she saw the intruder, keeping her gun aimed on them as she quickly glanced around for anyone else, their obvious human figure the only reason she didn't immediately open fire. After seeing no one, she kicked the door closed and backed her way over to the light switch.

"No worries here, Colonel, go ahead and get the lights. Would probably make things simpler," a woman's voice responded, making a clear motion to comply but otherwise unshaken by Scarlett's barked commands.

Scarlett flipped the switch with her elbow and groaned as she was able to identify the woman. A tall yet slender figure wearing a sharp all black dress uniform immediately came into focus, she didn't have any rank or unit insignia immediately apparent and Scarlett rather doubted she would trust the truthfulness of any she did find, "Naval Intelligence I take it? Could have gotten your head blown off with a stupid stunt like that,"

The woman smiled as she tilted her head slightly, her dark brown hair swaying with the movement as the Intelligence Officer looked Scarlett up and down, "Perhaps... but I needed to get a good read of you and seeing how you react under real conditions is a lot more effective than walking up, giving a handshake or salute, then going through small talk for a few minutes."

"... And if I had taken the shot? Would make for a hell of a first impression I assume?" Scarlett mused, not really buying the explanation.

"Well, good thing I always have a backup plan," the Intelligence Officer replied with a smirk, then slowly and deliberately reached behind her back, clicked something on the back of her waist. Scarlett heard the mechanical whine of something powering down and saw a faint shimmer in the air around her mystery guest appear, then just as quickly fade away.

"Fancy tech, would be nice if ONI would share their toys..." Scarlett sighed with a hint of disgust. The Federation's Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI for short, had a reputation for being overfunded, over equipped, and almost never to be found. When they did show up, the technological wonders they often carried with them left everyone else wondering what that funding could have purchased if it had been instead put to making more ships or equipment.

"As luck would have it, this version of my device shoooouuld be making it's way to the Ranger units in the next few months if everything goes smoothly. The shields they already have actually aren't that different from an engineering standpoint... but I'm getting distracted, you can call me Lieutenant Julie," she said as she reached out to shake Scarlett's hand.

Scarlett was under no illusions that the woman was a Lieutenant, nor named Julie, and the lack of any last name just underscored her suspicions... but better to play along for now. While keeping her sidearm still pointed at the woman at her hip in one hand, she reached out with the other to accept the handshake. Scarlett was more than confident enough if 'Julie' tried anything she'd quickly find three or four bullets lodged somewhere towards the back of her stomach.

"I'm starting to see how you came out on top," Julie maintained a firm grip as they shook, then motioned towards Scarlett's desk. Their meeting was about to become a more formal affair.

"How do you figure?" Scarlett asked, figuring it better to entertain Julie as she finally holstered her sidearm then pointed to a chair across from her desk.

Julie pulled the chair up to sit across from Scarlett's seat then responded, "Well for one? You actually covered the whole room. I can't tell you how many officers just poke their head in, look around a bit, then just turn the lights on and walk right in. You not immediately trying to light me up would be a good number 2... oh, and your weariness even after I introduced myself is a trait that's hard to find for some reason. Makes me wonder why my office didn't try to make an offer to you a while back... anyway, I guess since you've been through enough already I'll make a deal with you that'll make most everyone else I meet jealous."

Scarlett kept herself from simply slumping into her desk chair with an enormous amount of effort, "Oh, and what's that?"

Julie shows a slight grin and states curtly, "I'll cut the $&^#@%$^ and get to the point... now, you gonna pour us some of that stuff you have in your desk?"

Scarlett just stares at Julie for a second, expressionless, before going to her seat, reaching into desk, and pulling out a tall, dark brown bottle of some sort of drink, "Fine, before we go on, what can you tell me about my girls?" she asked as she pulled out 2 glasses and started to pour. She then offered one up.

Julie winced a bit as she accepted the glass, "Fair, figured you'd ask that, they're doing better than the average. About 60% should recover without any complications, maybe a few sprained joints here and there but nothing major for that group. I have to say, most units are lucky if half their casualties are-"

"I thought you said you'd cut the bullshit..." Scarlett cut the intel officer off as she took a swig of her drink.

"Err, right, sorry, another 20-25% of your casualties will recover with some time to recuperate. There are some complications, mental trauma for some, some of the first ones caught by Broodlings are far enough along that the eggheads are going to collect the offspring for analysis, some will need gene therapy, the regular alterations made to the Hive's vi- well... you know about all that."

"And the others?"

"Well... very few succumbed to mental stress to that degree, most of those new recruits at that, but there's also something else and one of the reasons I'm here. It seems like some of the casualties physical changes are irreversible. The Hive always adapts and changes, but normally to environmental factors, physical conditions of the planet, weather, gravity, temperature and the like... this is different, they seem to be adapting their Nests to make the changes stick. I don't know all the specifics, but the eggheads said it seemed like this adaptation hasn't been fully developed yet... which means even if they can recover to being functional, we need to keep them under observation to see if it's safe to return them to duty. I'll be honest, I have no idea if any of them will be able to return to service."

"$@#^&%... just $@#^&%#$@ perfect..." Scarlett mutters.

Julie takes a quick sip of her glass and immediately she struggles to keep herself from spitting it back up.

"What's the matter Lieutenant? Never had a Reactor Leak before? They aren't unique to our unit from what I understand..."

Julie coughs for a bit before getting it under control, "N-no, can't say I have, thought that was mostly for initiating new enlisted to the unit?"

"Sure, that too, but I expect any of our officers to be able to keep up with troopers, I'll be damned if any of my unit is able to out drink me. What else are you here for?"

"Right, here's where things get interesting. We found other survivors among that Nest."

"Ship's crew I imagine?" the Colonel mused, it wouldn't actually surprise her that much.

"Well, no- err, I mean a small number of them _were _recovered, but they only account for a quarter of the full crew's roster. No, what's interesting is that there were survivors from two other colony worlds that we lost a few months back," the lieutenant explained.

"I thought once casualties were aboard a Hive ship, recovery was impossible..." Scarlett conceded, this _was _interesting.

"That's the thing, in order for there to be survivors from 2 different colonies aboard those freighters, it seems the Hive is adapting it's tactics as well. We're still piecing together the ship's memory core, it was scrambled real bad, but we think the freighters were intercepted en route to Cascadia. They offloaded a nest and probably a full ship's worth of their forces onto these freighters, including some of the humans they previously captured."

"... which means, those ships are..." Scarlett's fatigued brain still worked enough for her to start piecing what Julie told her together.

"You move quick, yes, they probably were using this **** on the freighters to establish a beachhead. It's a good thing you-"

Just then, the base's alarms could be heard from the hallway. Alerts were already streaming to Scarlett's work station on her desk.

Scarlett skimmed the subject lines on some of the messages and turned to Julie, "Probably... but it looks like the Hive are just as happy to have used this as a diversion. They landed on the other side of the planet, looks like a residential district."

"What?! Shipping is locked down, any ships that approached would have been intercepted!" Julie gets to her feet immediately.

"One of _our _ships, maybe. They apparently glided right in and landed on a nature preserve with one of their own."

Julie's face goes pale, "But they've never... they never risk their ships doing something so aggressively."

"Cheer up, Julie, I think Naval Intelligence is going to be learning a lot over the next day or two."