Lancer

Chapter one: The Brig

Everyone was asleep when we reached the brig however the lights stayed off and they allowed everyone to sleep but me. I was called out of my seat by an auto soldier just like the one that had been standing guard. I was taken up to the captain's quarters where I could hear the familiar voice of corporal Cardoza and several others who I could not distinguish.

"Wait here till they ask you to come in." The soldier said, then walked back down the hall. From behind the doors outside, I could hear some sort of argument.

"I don't even know how to handle this colonel, no one has ever fully matched before. Besides that how the hell did that unit slip back into the pairing database? I heard his conditioning was faulty." One of the men in the room sighed and grumbled for a minute.

"I'm not sure either. Rogue has been a complete fucking nightmare to take care of and quite frankly I'm a bit tired of babysitting him, however we can't ignore that a 100% link could substantially benefit the elite. Personally I think we should let them establish a link and keep a close monitor on them." I couldn't hear much else because they moved to the other side of the room for some reason but a few minutes later, the corporal opened the door and asked me to come inside. As excited as I was to meet them, The sight of colonel slater, corporal Cardoza, and several other official elites made my stomach twist into a knot.

"Come in lancer, we'd like to have a chat with you." Doing exactly as I was told, I sat down on a small metal bench across from my superiors who sat in an arc of chairs around me.

"It's good to finally meet my star pupil even though it's under unfortunate circumstances I'm afraid." Cardoza said in her quaint but familiar australian accent.

"Likewise." "We called you up to talk about this business with your match up and for the sake of security we would like to ask you a few questions." The colonel said curtly folding his hands in his lap. Once I nodded shyly, The colonel began again.

"Why did you choose to become a Lancer in the first place?"

"I competed in online tournaments to pay the bills around the house. I received a recommendation and an application to apply for the Lancers from an automated score checker. I also did it to fight for my people and their freedom." The colonel nodded and the man next to him wrote furiously on a piece of paper.

"Were you at any point contacted by any third party for any reason during your training?" I shook my head.

"Aside from my mother and other members of my team, I didn't speak with anyone but my superior officers." Once again he gave a formal nod and looked me dead in the eyes.

"We understand that your father died in combat when he disobeyed protocol. The thermal core of his helmet was activated by his lancer killing him instantly. Would you be willing to kill your Promethean unit if they disobeyed protocol even if they were a member of your own family?" The colonel looked at me with cold lifeless eyes that tore down my guard when I looked at him. "I will uphold protocol no matter what. Soldiers are expendable. The mission is not." At this remark, Slater smiled. It was a favorite quote of his written by his predecessor Garrick magnuson the inventor of prometheus.

"I'm glad to hear it initiate. I have no doubt that you can handle your first mission as a lancer of the elite."

"Yes sir." "Your mission as it stands is to go about business as usual. You are not to speak of this conversation but at the same time it will be your duty to keep a close eye on your ward Promethean unit-452. If anything of interest comes to light let me know personally and I'll have it handled got it?" THe colonels stern attitude had melted away as did my fear until I recognized slater as the famous charismatic soldier that I had seen in all the books and magazines.