The X Pathogen

Chapter Nineteen

Ash rolled out of bed with a groan. They'd been released from the hospital two weeks ago but their whole body still ached. Fortunately, the investigation was proving to be slower than they'd expected, which gave them plenty of time to lay around and recover. Ash looked around their room. It was covered in dirty clothes, quickly scribbled theories and notes were scattered across their desk. The curtains hadn't been opened in weeks, the only light came from the fluorescent light bulbs screwed into light fixtures on the walls.
    There was a knock at the door, breaking Ash out of their daze. When they opened the door, Nadil and Saji were waiting holding a laundry basket and a bucket of cleaning supplies.
    "You can't live like this," Nadil said firmly.
    Ash stood aside and let them through the door, watching as they scooped up dirty clothes, opened the curtains, and neatly stacked their papers.
    "Thanks," they mumbled.
    "Seriously, how are we gonna get these guys if you're sitting in the dark all day?" Nadil rolled his eyes.
    Saji finished making Ash's bed and smiled, "you haven't been much better. You know we're supposed to be working on this together, right?"
    "Yeah, I know," Nadil grumbled, "but c'mon at least I've left my room in the last two weeks!"
    Ash laughed, "okay, okay. You two have made your point. Let's go get some food and talk all of this over."
    "Fine by me," Nadil chucked a rag back into the bucket of cleaning supplies and stood up.
    The three of them walked to the lift and rode up to the cafeteria in awkward silence. They hadn't discussed their first mission yet, much less Nadil and Saji's unapproved side trip.
It was mid-morning, so the cafeteria was all but abandoned after the initial breakfast rush. After grabbing some food, they all sat down at a table tucked away in the corner. Their current mission wasn't supposed to be under wraps or anything, but it felt strange discussing things in the open.
"So..." Ash poked at their food, "where do you guys wanna start?"
"First of all, how are you doing? I haven't seen you outside of dropping off food since we got back," Saji said softly.
"I'm fine, really. My breathing device has kept any episodes under control, so all good there."
"Great, so on to actual business, anyone figured out where to find these guys?" Nadil took a giant bite of his food, "bekuzicamtfinanitin."
Ash and Saji gave him a blank stare. Nadil swallowed, "I can't find anything," he repeated.
Saji sighed, "me neither. Human history is... not well recorded."
"Tell me about it," Ash muttered under their breath. They inhaled slowly, "alright, so here's what we know. Two hundred years ago, someone made a microscopic organism that was designed to wipe out humans, it almost did, and now someone is trying to do it again. Oh, and Nadil's old buddies are helping them. For some reason."
"I wouldn't say buddies," Nadil grunted, "but yeah."
"So, what can you tell us about them?" Saji asked.
"Honestly? Not much. They control a lot of planets in a lot of systems and they use fear to do it. And they have a LOT of enemies."
"And they are the ones making the pathogen, at least to some extent, right? I mean those scientists used to work for your boss."
"Yeah. I have no idea why they would want to do this though.
Ash drummed their fingers on the table, "If all humans were wiped out, what advantage would it give them?"
"None," Nadil squinted his eyes, "there's not enough human beings left in the galaxy to pose a threat.
"Great, so we have nothing," Ash groaned, dropping their head down on the table. They were sitting in dejected silence when everyone's communicators suddenly beeped.
"Grick, we're late," Nadil groaned.
"We should probably go, you know how he is," Saji tapped Ash on the head, "are you alright?"
Ash twisted their head to look at her, "this whole situation sucks."
Nadil grabbed their wrist and started dragging them towards the lift, "couldn't agree more, so let's go fix it."
A few minutes later, they entered a briefing room full of very experienced looking adults, all of whom were looking very solemnly at the display hanging from the wall.
"Oookay, I feel underqualified to be here," Ash whispered to Saji.
She smiled faintly, "you're the most experienced cadet out of our squad."
"Somehow, that makes it worse."
"Sorry," Saji whispered sheepishly.
Kyo motioned for them to join him. "What took you so long?" he hissed. They started to defend themselves, but he just held up his hand, "actually, we'll discuss this later. Pay attention." He turned back to the room, "alright, like I was saying, we know a number of ships flew between the lab and this planet," he pointed to an image on the display of a jungle planet, "What we don't know is why. I suspect it's a supply chain, or something of that nature, but we can't be sure." Kyo pressed a button and the display shut off. "To confirm our suspicions, we're sending teams to the lab and the unknown planet. One team will await the next ship at the lab. They've probably been warned to stay away now that we've blown their cover, but on the off chance someone shows up, we want someone there. The other team will find out what exactly is going on in that jungle."
One of the agents raised his hand, "who's going where?"
"Squad 78 is going to handle the lab. My squad's in the jungle."
There was a series of nods from the agents, though Ash could tell the lab squad seemed disappointed. Kyo pressed a button, "alright, further information has been sent to your reampads. Go ahead and grab whatever gear you'll need. I want everyone to depart in one hour."
The entire room saluted, one hand behind their backs and one in front of their stomach, then turned sharply and headed out the door. The second the agents had left, Kyo whirled around, "where in the universe were you?"
Nadil rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his eyes, "the cadet dorms are really far away."
"It's a five minute walk." Kyo snarled.
Ash stepped in front of Nadil, "we're sorry, we were getting some food and lost track of time."
Kyo sighed, "Alright, but next time, I want you all here early."
They all nodded, letting out sighs of relief.
"For the time being, I want you all to head to the armory and grab some weapons," Kyo said.
    "For real?" Nadil's eyes were shining.
"You are far too excited, but yes. We don't know what we're walking into. Ideally something you know how to use, alright? If you can't use it correctly, don't bother. Now get out of here."
"You aren't coming with us?" Saji asked nervously.
Kyo patted his holster, "don't need to."