Bird Killed With Half Rock

Sar'ka City Restaurant

Captain Thorn, gathers with the team to share urgent news. He relays the message from Commander Mori, his voice firm and suspicious in a low tone,

Thorn: "Five minutes ago, Mars Politic House was struck by a meteor, and Senator Axel Thorne is dead. They don't know if this is connected to our previous missions, but by orders from higher-ups, we gotta go investigate the incident."

The team absorbs the shocking information. A somber atmosphere fills the room as they process the magnitude of the situation. The captain, despite the fact that this investigation might not be related to the sun particle, maintains a composed demeanor, ready to lead the team into another investigation.

Kuznetsov: "I'll pay Anya." Said the Sergeant raising his hand and calling the waitress, "Check Please."

As the team rises from the restaurant table, Kuznetsov handles the bill. Dr. Simmons speculates,

Simmons: I kinda feel this is some kinda payback from HQ for not being able to perform the way they wanted us on the previous mission," as she walks with the team.

Boarding the vehicle one by one, with Tatsuki and Tanaka at the very back, Marlow and Simmons in the middle, and Captain Thorn in the driver's seat, the conversation continues while waiting for Kuznetsov.

Thorn: "I don't think they are expecting anything from us by investigating this incident. It might be a personal matter, a payback, just like you said, but I won't let it bother me." mentions the captain, now focused on the task at hand.

Marlow: "Well, that's kind of childish." says Marlow.

Thorn: "They are trying to prove if I'm reliable on missions under emotional stress, that's all, this was technically a day off, but she called on purpose. A meteor incident can happen on a daily basis, but since the Senator is involved, she probably saw that as an excuse." explains the captain, his tone serious.

Marlow: "Still. Sounds pretty childish to me. But, okay, I guess," says Lieutenant Marlow, looking out the window.

Kuznetsov, taking the co-driver's seat,

Kuznetsov: "I wonder what these guys are gonna do now."

Thorn: "I don't know, but now with the senator out of the picture, Mars will have to rely on the military for a while." responds the captain as he starts driving, focusing on the road.

Tanaka: "I'm sorry, but who exactly is this senator?" asks Tanaka, confused.

Kuznetsov: "Senator Axel Thorne is the Big Dog of Mars politics, technically the governor or president. But well…I guess we have no president now."

The revelation leaves the team in a somber silence for the remainder of the journey.

***

Mars Political House

As the team arrives at what was the Mars Political House, Captain Thorn turns off the vehicle and addresses the squad,

Thorn: "I don't want you guys to change the way you work in this investigation, okay? This might not be our main mission, but let's try our best. I just want to see if the case is related to the other missions," he says, the team nodding in understanding before stepping out of the vehicle.

The Mars Political House, after being hit by a meteor, displayed a scene of pure destruction. The impact had left a gaping hole in the structure, exposing the interiors. The outer walls bore the scars of the collision, with debris scattered around the vicinity. The once imposing and organized architecture now stood in disarray. Smoke rose from damaged sections, and emergency responders secured the area. The building, once a symbol of political power, now wore the marks of a tragic incident, leaving an eerie atmosphere in its wake.

The squad proceeds to enter the remains of the Political House. Looking for any type of information regarding the sun particle. Tanaka, and Dr. Simmons started their part of the investigation by searching through the terminals, meanwhile, Tatsuki assisted Tanaka as he went through the terminals.

Lieutenant Marlow, accompanied by Kuznetsov and Captain Thorn, ventured to the site where the meteor impacted. Emergency responders continued their search for life signals amidst the debris. Marlow, reaching the meteor's location, discreetly collected a sample. She turned to meet the Captain and Kuznetsov, both of whom acknowledged her actions with a nod.

After Marlow collected the sample, the captain suggested,

Thorn: "Let's regroup with the others." nodded and left the scene.

The trio then made their way back to Tanaka and Dr. Simmons, ready to share their findings regarding the incident at the Political House and possible connection to the sun particle.

Thorn: "What did you find Tanaka?" asked with a tired expression.

Tanaka: "Nothing to report on my end." responded disappointed.

Thorn: "That's alright. You?" Now he asks Simmons.

Simmons: "I gather really good information that connects politics to the sun particle mission." reports Dr. Simmons with a tired sigh.

Thorn: "What did you find?" ask the captain seriously curious.

Simmons: "Well, it looks that specifically the Senator was working together with Lead Scientist Wakame Hana, And The first in command, Commander Okomo Shio." Simmons stops for a second after looking at the captain's confused reaction, then she continues, "As of yesterday, they've been working on some technological weapon capable of destroying planets, the reason behind the particle H.E.A.T is her true nature and its immaturity. They tried a prototype weapon using a substance from the particle, near Mars' North Pole Military Base, the test was a failure and killed around fifty to sixty soldiers. This prototype was a single shot pistol and the reason behind the failure was how potent was the substance."

Kuznetsov: "That shit is crazy." Interrupted Kuznetsov trying to absorb all the information given.

Simmons: "And that's not all." mentions with a worried face.

Thorn: "So, I'm guessing this weapon they want to build is for military purposes. What does this has to do with Mars' Politics"

Simmons: "To answer the military part of your comment well, Yes and no." continues Simmons "They wanted to start a war, with Earth and the other planets, for power. They thought they were no match against Earth due to their evolutionary science, they also mention witnessing Earth destroying planets already. But ironically, Earth was destroyed and they decided to keep going with the plan, but they didn't expect to lose the particle. Now with the particle lost, their plan is on a hiatus until we find that particle. The political part of it is a little bit twisted. The Senator would have become Mars' Ruler, leaving Lead Scientist Wakame And Commander Okomo as his left and right arm, IF the plan was a success. Using H.E.A.T as a weapon and implanting fear, was their plan to start ruling the system like tyrants."

Marlow: "This is unbelievable," said the lieutenant in disbelief.

Tanaka: "This changes everything. I don't want to keep being a part of this." mentions the tech, with a mad but disappointed expression.

Thorn: "The problem is not any of that." begins the captain, "The real problem is the fact that we CANNOT mention this to anyone. The moment one of us spits any of this information to a leader, or someone connected to them, we are dead. We gotta keep investigating until they get what they want or we are dead." ends the captain as he pulls the phone.

Marlow: "Who are you calling?" ask concerned.

Thorn: "Commander Mori. I'm gonna tell her that we didn't find any link between this case and the particle. Then we can go back to the outpost to discuss a plan or something. Wait for me in the car, once I'm done with the call we are leaving." responded the captain, now turning his back to the team, while waiting for the commander to answer.

The squad began walking to the vehicle, tired and concerned about the real reason behind their mission. Moments later the captain enters the vehicle and takes the team back with him to the Operation Outpost, where they will devise a plan regarding the true objective of their superiors and how to approach the mission without having to suffer any casualties.

***

Sar'ka M.B.O. Outpost Barracks

Back at the Operations Outpost, the team engaged in a comprehensive conversation, sharing the information they gathered from the Mars Political House and their previous missions.

Thorn: "What do we know about the particle so far?" ask the captain as Tanaka pulls out a holographic notepad in the round table.

Simmons: "On our first mission we found that the scientists were experimenting in some kind of energy manipulation involving the particle H.E.A.T." mentions the doctor while Tanaka writes down in the notepad.

Kuznetsov: "Isn't there where we discovered that "Project Sol" thing?" asked the blond sergeant as he joined the conversation sitting next to the captain.

As discussions unfolded, Lieutenant Marlow initiated a test on the meteor sample she had collected during the investigation.

Tanaka: "Yes." confirm as he writes, and he continues, "Which consisted of an artifact connected to the sun particle, and according to the encrypted data, the artifact has immense power."

Thorn: "At this point it is obvious that here we are talking about the plan the Senator was a part of." mentions the Captain disgusted by the reality of the situation.

Marlow: "Was it him the real mastermind behind those plans?" ask Anya Marlow as she pull a holographic screen with some information she gathered and continues, "It looks to me that the Senator was only the public face of the plan the idea of destroying planets seems to be more of a military objective, which leads us to the First in Command Okomo Shio."

Thorn: "So you are suggesting that the senator was being used by the Commander as the political face of their operations?" asked the captain in disbelief.

Marlow: "I'm not saying he is innocent, I'm suggesting that the mastermind behind the plan is not him. That the plan is still up on the table as long as the particle exists."

Tanaka: "That information right now is not the main topic. Ahem!"The teen clears his throat and a brief silence takes over.

Marlow: "That's rude." mumbles Marlow.

Tanaka: "We are forgetting about the fact that there is not only one particle, there are tons." continued Tanaka.

Thorn: "There were eight, now only six and one of them was not registered, the particle from Earth I believe." mentions the captain with a firm expression before continuing, "Anya and I forgot to mention this information but we barely had time to talk about our discoveries on Phobos."

Simmons: "Oh yeah! That's right." exclaimed Simmons in a low tone realizing the truth about that detail.

Marlow: "We all know that these particles are not just some kind of substance inside a test tube vial, right?" Ask Marlow as the team nods, "Well the captain and I have encountered two of these particles." said the Lieutenant.

Kuznetsov: "How in the world are you guys alive?"

Thorn: "We got lucky I would say." responded the captain crossing his hands.

Marlow: "Anyways." continued Marlow after being interrupted, "We both encountered the particle we are searching for, and another particle which we don't know, which particle it is. But before the encounter, I was able to get some information about all the particles." she stops before pulling a list out of her holographic screen, pinch it and drag it down to the table. Now with the information displayed for everyone to see at the round table alongside Tanaka's notepad, she continued, "When we found this, the Captain pointed out a really curious coincidence. Our Squad name is mentioned in this list, next to the name of a planet. The Captain suggested that our name is based on the name of the particle we are looking for, which in this case is H.E.A.T. But it doesn't stop there, on this list you can see that there's two Code Names and Two planets crossed out, when you look at the planets names," she stops once again to point out the first planet crossed out in the list, "the first one is Venus, which tragically failed their experiment causing the planet to blow into pieces. The other one in the list is Neptune, which humanity lost contact with for over 20 Earth years before declaring the planet experiment a failure."

"An This?" asked Dr. Simmons pointing at the blank space between Venus and Mars.

"That is the reason I think Mars thought they were no match against Earth." said Thorn as he leaned back in the seat before adding, "Earth didn't offer any information regarding their particle. I believe they were the ones who blew up Mercury, after finding footage that shows the particle destroying the science facility and after such a situation, Mars kept their experiments lying low before Earth destruction, they probably thought that if Earth managed to find out what Mars was planning, they would have declared war."

Kuznetsov: "Makes sense to me." said Kuznetsov before adding, "Tyrants fighting over who has more power."

Simmons: "So Mars is now basically trying to claim the throne by having the most powerful weapon in the solar system," Dr. Simmon said in deep thought.

Thorn: "Is there any more information out there that needs to be added?"asked the Captain while his eyes traveled through the room staring at each member waiting for answers.

Tanaka: "I think that's about it." mentioned Tanaka after everyone else shooks their head.

A beeping noise came out of a device sitting in a corner of the room. The lieutenant walked towards the device that was analyzing the meteor sample and stood there for a couple minutes. Meanwhile the squad kept talking about the mission with the others.

Dr. Simmons stands up from her seat and joins Marlow.

Simmons: "What's taking so long?" she asked.

Marlow: "I- uh. I don't know. Something doesn't make sense on this test." Marlow's response was one filled with deep confusion.

Simmons: "What doesn't make sense?" asked, now worried.

Lieutenant Anya Marlow turns around and faces the rest of the group wearing the same confused expression Simmons witnessed and notifies the test results.

Marlow: "Captain, the meteor turned out to be a piece of the disappeared half of Phobos."