The Sapphire Pass: All-Father

Ophelia

*beepbeepbeep*

*click*

Ophelia pressed the off button on the alarm clock she was given, doing her best not to let the fatigue rattle her. That wasn't acceptable, she would be sent for reprogramming or worse, T&C.

*focus*

Today would be her first mission with her new team member Orion. He was from SAM- South, somewhere near old world Bolivia. He lost his partner too, about a year ago, so he'd been sent here to train with her and become her new partner. Either that, or she was his new partner. They didn't really specify, because they never did. Him being here though made it seem like he was her new partner and not the other way around though, if she was his she'd likely have been sent to SAM-Central or Capital.

She hadn't been on a mission in over a year, and her last two partners hadn't lasted long. None of the missions went right, not since Othello died.

She brushed it off as she watched Alpha Team walk past on their way to the cafeteria. She grabbed her towel,falling in line with her new teammate following behind her. Everyday was the same. Wake, eat, tabs, train, shower, rest, repeat. Not that anyone cared anymore. Not unless they were on tabs or part of The Free.

The only difference was during mission days, when training was replaced with whatever mission they were tasked with. There were three teams so missions were roughly once or twice a week, the only break in the monotony.

As she was lost in thought she ran into Kendra. The sharpshooter and navigator of Alpha Team. She was resentful that she wasn't the team leader but only when she was on reds or blues. Kendra's light brown eyes whipped around, startled but completely devoid of any other emotion.

"Tripped," was the only thing she could say before quickly resuming her place in line.

If they knew she was thinking anything other than put one foot in front of the other, follow schedule, it would end badly.

That was the exact reason they were tabbed before missions. They had to be able to think and react. None of the early missions before tabbing were successful. If anything went wrong in a way they hadn't predicted it was even more vital that they were able to think creatively.

It was time for breakfast. Sitting and eating as blankly as possible. Stomaching the brick of "food"was terrible enough, but having to do it without speaking or showing any signs of discomfort or boredom, that was hard. It has all the necessary vitamins and nutrients they needed on one solid, albeit gelatinous, lump. It tasted like cement, dirt and dog food got together and then someone added gelatin into the mix.

She had to eat it all, without gagging.Trying her hardest to swallow it without chewing seemed to be the easiest way to do that. Swallow, water. Swallow, water. 16 slices and then freedom. She sat up straight looking at her new teammate Orion.

He was born the same day she was during the first round during year O2 which meant they were both 23.

It had been more than 70 years since everything changed and James V. Alleghan along with 21 others had stepped into positions of power. In essence there were only 22 cities worldwide. In each of those cities 200 children were born each year.The first hundred on June 1st and the second hundred on December 1st.

In a few months Kieran and Kendra would be moved to the Pregnancy and Birthing Center, more commonly called the PBC. Every team was eventually tasked with going to create "genetically superior" offspring. If Orion worked out as her partner, they would be come Alpha Team. Then they would training with Yew and Yara until the other two were brought back as trainers. Eventually, they would be moved to the PBC and replace Kendra and Kieran as trainers once they returned. A never ending cycle.