Even Stars Go Cold

Chapter 2 - Unit

A Shadow Over The Alliance, It's The Children Who Suffer, Naming Conventions

Emile Grover was an unhappy man.

As the Director of Special Operations pored over the progress reports on the project his unhappiness grew, along with annoyance. His entire career was riding on making the whole business work.

Grover's main issue was that it was one he had inherited - one that had its roots from before he was even born. He had pushed it, and pushed it hard, but now it was looking increasingly like it might fail.

The premise had been simple: turn the Maid of Gold tragedy into a triumph. Nearly four thousand children had been mutated by the fallout from eezo, and the imperative was that they serve to prevent another incident like the one that created them.

In the Batarian raid that followed, it was thought that less than twenty-five percent had survived. Amongst those that remained, there were many incidences of aberrant behaviour. Some went into hiding; some became suicidal. A small proportion had to be dealt with because of more destructive behaviour, including two terminations.

While the majority of the survivors were reported to be doing quite well with their newly developing abilities, persuading them to join the cause was even more difficult. There was no way to safely press such wildly powerful talents into service. Most of them had some kind of low level neurosis that had proven hard to combat.

Over the years since the incident and the raids, the pressure was increasing from on high to bring results. Other programs seemed to be faring better - Grover was aware of at least one involving either cloning or vat grown gene-edited subjects. The details were not inside his perimeter, but their success rates were rumoured to be much higher than his present accomplishments.

It was not likely to be repeated, though: public backlash against complete Human gene-tailoring was still way too high, and the practice was now completely illegal.

Gene-editing, however, seemed to get a go-ahead. Drugs and therapies that were specifically targeted were acceptable. It slowed things down but, with the vast majority of the Alliance completely unaware of just how far that could be taken, a great deal could be achieved - given time.

As the Batarians had proven, however, time was a luxury.

The Secretary of Defence had taken on the PR side of things, for which Grover was grateful. It had never been his style. Ultimately, in his view, having to deal with it was obstructive. Instead he could concentrate on making sure that Captain Scott delivered what Doctor Mahoney needed to make this project exactly what the Alliance required.

--*--

Doctor Evan Mahoney sat humming to himself.

It helped him concentrate, especially on important tasks, helping him avoid conversation and other distractions. He spent a whole morning towards the end of '73, comparing reports, results and datasets.

Still he was not satisfied.

Mahoney had spent little time near the manufacturing process for the drugs the company produced. His role was in research and development, though he could not carry out his work in a vacuum. As such, he liaised with the clinicians who conducted the trials.

Even those diligent scientists were either too close to the issue, or did not care. Cross referencing was key and Mahoney felt that he needed someone to verify his theory.

After a brief and simple lunch, he toured the factory floor from start to finish. There was no doubt he had the necessary clearance, but his appearance raised eyebrows with anyone who actually knew what he did. He greeted one and all cheerfully, asked only a couple of questions, and went on with his tour. Most of the queries were about family, health or well-being... but every mini-interview had a small, carefully worded, work element included.