the fellowship of the thing The Fellowship of the Thing - I'm bored. Let's mess around! (Retired)

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"Ways to keep us from turning traitor.  Or at the very least, a way to stop anyone who went rogue."  He swallows.  "It's a ridiculously complicated procedure.  Stupidly expensive.  Puts an agent out of commission for almost seven months.  But the results were worth it, I guess."  Martin takes a deep breath.  "It's an implant.  In the spine.  A bunch of wires hooked up to a mini comp on one end, and various important things on the other."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"How are a bunch of wires supposed to stop anyone from going rogue?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"When they're hooked up to the stuff that keeps your heart beating and your lungs working, it's a pretty strong incentive."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"They can just... kill you?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"Not anymore.  But before.  When I was back there, yes.  It does a couple other things as well.  None of it good."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"What kind of government were you working for? You weren't under the Fenon Clan, were you?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"What?  No.  I have no idea who the Fenon Clan is."  How to explain the situation on Earth?  "I was under the command of the International Security Coalition.  Most of the time."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"Inter...national? So, like, an entire unified planet?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

That's darkly hilarious, Martin thinks.  "No, that was what they were working towards.  But there were a lot of people who didn't like the plans they wanted to enact."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"So it was a dictatorship? Feudalism?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"I think a dictatorship.  It was before I was born.  By the time I was seven or so, the original philosophies were pretty much dead and everything was just a mess."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"So they just took you and stuffed a computer chip in your brain or whatever?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"No.  There was a lot that happened before that.  It wasn't until after Mica that they made the choice to add the implants.  There were a lot of agents around that time who made what the brass considered 'concerning choices'."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"Who was Mica?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"A friend of mine who died.  He was one of the best of us, in a lot of ways.  His death... it caused a lot of cracks."  He can distinctly remember how much of an uproar it caused.

[Channelknight Fadran]

"What happened to him?" Ayia asked tentatively. "How'd he die, I mean?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"Bad terrain, bad intel, it was one of the worst.  But there was a sniper.  We had to leave him behind."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"How many of you were there?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"On that mission?  Mica, Reese and myself.  They really wanted that facility taken out."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"I meant total. Soldiers like you that they... altered."

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"Oh.  I don't actually know.  I think there were at least five.  There were a few without implants as well, who were in it of their own accord."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"So they didn't exactly enslave entire populations for an army of supersoldiers?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"No.  People would have noticed if they did that."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"How'd you escape?"

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

"I didn't."  He frowns.  "They needed to get rid of pretty much everything related to the YTP, and some scientist wanted to test something they'd come up with, so they did both."