CODEX INITIALIZED
<LOG RESET @931.461.60231.14.vt920>CAS.QTERM
Constructs
tciv.art
Modifier
vslvsk
Connection
08.21.vt090
Dead Drop Messages
ANALYZING…
FILE TYPE: Corrupted Audio File
PERIOD: Present Day
TOPIC: Shell Trace, Assassin – Fragment #42, "Rendezvous"
SUMMARY: Fragmented journal log left on Tau Ceti by a Runner. The audio is corrupted; ONI has recovered the text data.
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The First Time We Met: I'm following her through a dream. We fell asleep and forgot who we were because Earth was a childhood sinking behind us. Tau Ceti was the reality. We fell asleep together and woke up alone. If we found each other again, then it was real.
I look through my hand as red light pierces it, blurred within a series of tunnels beneath the Marsh. On the other side, not far ahead, a Vandal shell kneels over dead silk; blue drips from a knife in her hand and pools at her feet. I inhale too sharply. She stands and turns, looking right through me, then leaves.
You Found Me in the Darkness: I am awake on Tau Ceti alone. Rifles rattle in the distance. I am running through the Data Wall. Loud metal reverberates through me. I find them, but my cloak isn't ready, and they see me.
I sit in a field of smoke as kinetics crack around me. I am waiting—crucial seconds—waiting to slip into translucent safety. A Vandal shell moves through the smoke with a raised long gun, branded by Arachne. I watch her for too long. She doesn't hesitate. Does she remember?
I Wasn't Sure Who You Were Then: Traxus contracts my services to retrieve salvage from the Marsh with two others.
I am silent as two shells walk in the open ahead of me towards Maintenance. She is in my crew, I am certain of it. This time she isn't a Vandal, but a Recon. Achromatic, Arachne-branded weapons. I pull up my hood as rain starts to fall. I haven't changed. I listen to her antagonizing our third, a Destroyer who complains we are moving too slowly. The way her voice swings across the words is how I remember you in between lives.
We linger too long looking for Deimosite, and he is the first to die when the gunfire starts. I slip away and watch her cut down two and drive her knife into their chests. I watch the last remaining enemy raise their Punch and fire. I watch the volt strike before I break stealth and fire my Repeater.
I decloak and raise her from death's brink and smile, but I am not sure. He crawls desperately, and I tell her to sink her blade deep. I am not sure.
But I Know Now: I am bleeding to death. UESC mass and sweep around me through Greenhouse. Six seconds until I'm revealed again. My shell is screaming this, like some ingrained self-preservation feature. I load my last magazine into my Overrun.
Two high-caliber shots scream overhead, shredding the nearest UESC Recruit. Three more bring down a Commander, followed by suppressing rapid-fire. An achromatic Vandal slides in beside me as my invisibility fails.
I drop my gun, grab her shoulders, and smile. I tell her to meet me under burning rain. She drives her blade into my chest before all the words leave my lips. It must be her.
I Know Now: Phosphorous rains over Flight Control, searing my second skin. It burns, but no one is looking outside. It burns. No one is looking and I am alone. I wait until the shell erodes into nothing and I ascend again.
===================================================================
TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]
FILE TYPE: Corrupted Audio File
PERIOD: Present Day
TOPIC: Shell Trace, Assassin – Fragment #42, "Rendezvous"
SUMMARY: Fragmented journal log left on Tau Ceti by a Runner. The audio is corrupted; ONI has recovered the text data.
===================================================================
The First Time We Met: I'm following her through a dream. We fell asleep and forgot who we were because Earth was a childhood sinking behind us. Tau Ceti was the reality. We fell asleep together and woke up alone. If we found each other again, then it was real.
I look through my hand as red light pierces it, blurred within a series of tunnels beneath the Marsh. On the other side, not far ahead, a Vandal shell kneels over dead silk; blue drips from a knife in her hand and pools at her feet. I inhale too sharply. She stands and turns, looking right through me, then leaves.
You Found Me in the Darkness: I am awake on Tau Ceti alone. Rifles rattle in the distance. I am running through the Data Wall. Loud metal reverberates through me. I find them, but my cloak isn't ready, and they see me.
I sit in a field of smoke as kinetics crack around me. I am waiting—crucial seconds—waiting to slip into translucent safety. A Vandal shell moves through the smoke with a raised long gun, branded by Arachne. I watch her for too long. She doesn't hesitate. Does she remember?
I Wasn't Sure Who You Were Then: Traxus contracts my services to retrieve salvage from the Marsh with two others.
I am silent as two shells walk in the open ahead of me towards Maintenance. She is in my crew, I am certain of it. This time she isn't a Vandal, but a Recon. Achromatic, Arachne-branded weapons. I pull up my hood as rain starts to fall. I haven't changed. I listen to her antagonizing our third, a Destroyer who complains we are moving too slowly. The way her voice swings across the words is how I remember you in between lives.
We linger too long looking for Deimosite, and he is the first to die when the gunfire starts. I slip away and watch her cut down two and drive her knife into their chests. I watch the last remaining enemy raise their Punch and fire. I watch the volt strike before I break stealth and fire my Repeater.
I decloak and raise her from death's brink and smile, but I am not sure. He crawls desperately, and I tell her to sink her blade deep. I am not sure.
But I Know Now: I am bleeding to death. UESC mass and sweep around me through Greenhouse. Six seconds until I'm revealed again. My shell is screaming this, like some ingrained self-preservation feature. I load my last magazine into my Overrun.
Two high-caliber shots scream overhead, shredding the nearest UESC Recruit. Three more bring down a Commander, followed by suppressing rapid-fire. An achromatic Vandal slides in beside me as my invisibility fails.
I drop my gun, grab her shoulders, and smile. I tell her to meet me under burning rain. She drives her blade into my chest before all the words leave my lips. It must be her.
I Know Now: Phosphorous rains over Flight Control, searing my second skin. It burns, but no one is looking outside. It burns. No one is looking and I am alone. I wait until the shell erodes into nothing and I ascend again.
===================================================================
TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [ ]