The Buried Past
Jiro rubbed his eyes wearily.................
He'd spent another late night reviewing salvaged logs, pursuing ghosts hiding in corrupted data fragments recovered from Crypt 6 servers. Clues about the initial Protean experiments remained buried under digital debris belying the physical wreckage. Jiro still sought answers
- primarily about his lost sister Sora’s fate once protocols catastrophically failed.
The hazmat girl too needed fully revealed truths explaining her childhood suffering. Perhaps most pressing, ageing logs might reveal a countermeasure against further mutating strains.
........ Jiro sighed, reconciling himself to Captain Venkman’s cynicism - solving the current Protean crisis utterly eclipsed yesterday’s failures.
He messaged update requests anyway then headed off to meet the hazmat girl for breakfast.
Jiro found her chatting excitedly with scientists from the biological threats division.
........He cringed slightly, hoping she wasn’t sharing personal details about their secret Crypt 6 field visit.
*******While Major Barrek and his team seemed honourable folks, all CORSEC staff ultimately answered Venkman in the chain of command.
Jiro trusted the Captain to place mission security and outbreak containment ahead of personal loyalties. As they ate rations together,
the girl described active analysis underway from uploaded data fragments including partial research notes Venkman provided on Jiro’s sister Sora and her co-researcher Dr. Isaac Gilmore. Top minds were hunting full records that could explain Crypt 6 meltdown triggers. Jiro made a mental note to keep close tabs on access permissions.
After the meal cleanup patrol,
........Jiro decided fresh air would clear both their heads from data overload.
*******Dusty winds beyond the security perimeter reminded us that they fought for realities no virtual realm could recreate. Putting aside pointed questions,
........he asked the girl gently about half-remembered dreams from when nightmares surely reigned in this place.
******She opened up about imagining herself a butterfly who could fly away unfettered by quarantine window bars whenever fear or despair grew too strong.
Jiro smiled sharing similar fantasies from his traumatic childhood that spiders would spin magical protective webs to save his family.
At that moment beyond words spoken, two fragmented souls recognized shared sorrows buried need no longer isolate nor disempower their future.
Later, Jiro inventoried the armory assessing weapons effectiveness against newer emergent strains with Major Barrek.
Jiro advocated modifying bio-dart gyroscopes and subsonic repulsor settings to counter recently discovered creepers’ hyper-elastic epidermal layers.
Barrek agreed to implement those defensive frontline upgrades before undertaking offensive sorties deeper into contested zones.
As the Major gathered materials for suggested demos, Jiro’s gaze fell upon an odd hazmat suit quarantined behind transparent partition seals.
Reading the isolation chamber’s
display, Jiro learned: “Caution - Vengeance Strain Alpha preserved for R&D immunization countermeasure testing”. Shuddering he imagined Sora or her beloved mentor Dr. Gilmore locked in an eternal struggle against the virus’ puppeteer impulses from Hell.
What reckless ambitions unleashed this nightmare?
Did Venkman also fear ghosts of days yet done might someday pierce her hardened armour?
Barrek registering his discomfort offered weary acknowledgment: “Pandora’s box held uncounted horrors once unbound”.
Days bled together over weeks navigating security briefings, weapons practice, perimeter checks and lab hours hypothesizing solutions from decades-old secrets.
Jiro ensured encrypted data fragments stayed safely guarded from exploitation by broader CORSEC digital systems.
He trusted Major Barrek’s squad implicitly but threats existed on many fronts these days.
********Occasionally Jiro spotted the hazmat girl happily practicing firearm techniques alongside child soldiers born during the wars after the initial outbreak waves.
Her smiling resilience warmed battle-hardened hearts, renewing commitments to the shared dream these orphan legions might yet know lasting peace.
Late one evening while tutoring the girl hand-to-hand defensive tactics from his covert ops training days, proximity alarms blared sudden warnings.
**************
Jiro and she raced towards the central monitoring hub expecting assault updates. Instead blaring strobes and risk vectors surrounded an internal zone - Bio Threat Labs.
Ushered quickly aside as tactical teams deployed, Jiro glimpsed Venkman striding urgently towards Laboratories wearing fully sealed regs. Dread gripped his stomach more violently than any external attack could inflict.
Whatever fresh nightmare was unleashed, Jiro guessed ancient ghosts surely hovered nearby hungry for long-delayed vengeance. Paragraphs redacted for audiences lacking the highest security clearances echoed his fears...
[Content Deleted PerCaptain’s Orders]
In the Secured Quarantine Wing aftermath, Jiro learned laboratory teams discovered radically advanced abilities emerging from stored Vengeance Alpha strain traces compared against newly captured specimens.
Instead of gradually expected mutations, these radical upgrades horrifically mirrored unthinkable hypotheticals from Dr Gilmore’s worst-case scenarios.
Jiro barely refrained from screaming
“I told you ghosts can’t be chained!”
As Venkman outlined shift protocols for this "Unforeseen Protean Adaptation”.
Priority All Clear directives instantly reactors Jiro demanded full reports be shared on exactly what monstrosities escaped from which cursed vaults.
“You know we can’t release classified specifics to unauthorized personnel”
Venkman rebutted firmly. Tempers flaring Jiro condemned her obsessive paranoia sabotaging sustainable safety. When
Venkman tried dismissing Jiro as a well-intentioned but ill-informed non-com, he slammed encrypted data files onto the situation desk unlocking ghosts of secrets past...
Minutes stretched hours as Captain Venkman reviewed decades-buried truths including
Dr. Gilmore’s resigned ‘Veritas Memorandum’ warning allies and enemies alike how unwisely they’d tamed this new Prometheus Unbound. .............
Jiro highlighted Gilmore’s prescient pleas demanding protection for all families whose innocent loved ones were sacrificed.
Venkman's stoic armor cracked slightly acknowledging her precious niece Sora was among the fallen.
Risking charges of insubordination against senior officers,
Jiro whispered “We cannot defeat modern monsters without understanding the original sins created them”.
He pled forgiveness not to be obstructed when haunting hunger awoke. Mournfully taking custody of Jiro’s offered data terms and accepting assistance from Major Barrek’s research team,
Captain Venkman simply saluted replying “Permission granted Corporal...may our ghosts become angels instead”.
That night Jiro dreamed butterfly spirits blessed their mending hearts with hope and the hazmat girl smiled freely imagining starlit dreams unshadowed.
And his sister Sora radiant in fresh dawn glories winked whispering “Now our true work begins...”