Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 2: Jack (X5-417)

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Jondy, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Elle/X5-164, etc.).

Notes:  While I will have most of the original characters from my other AU appear in this one as well, for this AU for Krit’s designation I’ll be using the one he had in the show (471) as opposed to the one I’m using in the other AU (157). Thanks! Possibly more spoiler-ish stuff for the pilot/various season 1 episodes.

There was definitely a surreal feeling among all of us as we went through our usual morning routine. We got up with the morning bugles as usual, we showered and dressed as usual, and we marched out for line up and roll call as usual. The only problem was that Zack was not with us. He hadn’t been returned to us when we’d gotten up and we couldn’t look around for him during roll call and line up because it only would have gotten us a good yelling at from the trainers, who all seemed to be in an unusually bad mood this morning. I made extra sure to keep my eyes glued at that one point ahead of me and my posture extra straight.

One thing I did notice, though, was that when they did roll call for us X5s, Unit 7 was missing. Not only that, but not one of the commanding officers was present for line up and roll call. This was really weird. I didn’t know what was going on. We were lined up in rank order, which meant that I was at the end of our line so I couldn’t quite catch Max’s eye and see if she had an idea as to what was going on. I quickly glanced next to me to Parker, who barely shook his head and we quickly snapped back to full attention before the trainers could catch us.

“Okay, you dumb little maggots!” one of the trainers yelled after the last X5 in Unit 8’s designation had been called. “You may report to the mess hall for breakfast. Immediately after breakfast, you are all to report to Lecture Hall 5 for an emergency briefing. If anybody is absent, they will be severely punished! Now, move!”

We all turned around and went back inside of the building. “Maybe we’ll finally have some answers,” Brin said. “This is getting really creepy.”

“It’s definitely getting creepy,” Tinga agreed. “But we can’t do anything about it until somebody actually tells us something.”

“Why couldn’t they have told us while we were in line up?” Wayne asked.

“I don’t know,” Max said. She shrugged and brightened a little bit. “Maybe the commanding officers will be there and they want to wait for them. Maybe we’ll get Zack back at this emergency briefing. I mean, if it is an emergency, then they’ll want every soldier to be there.”

We went into the cafeteria and got our breakfasts and sat down at our usual table and started to eat. I took one spoonful of my oatmeal and I looked up and around the cafeteria and I frowned. The X5 commanding officers weren’t the only ones who were missing. I looked over at where X6 Unit 1 was sitting and I saw that their C.O., 405, wasn’t there like she usually was. I looked over to where X6 Unit 2 was sitting and their C.O., 183, was also missing. I continued looking around and I saw that none of the X6 commanding officers were present. I blinked. “You guys, none of the X6 C.O.s are here either.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Max said. She took a look around and her eyes widened. “You’re right!”

“That’s it, I’m definitely getting scared,” Elle said.

“Don’t get scared yet,” Max said. “Remember that phrase that Zane heard on that mission that he went on: No news is good news. We wait until we’ve heard something first.”

“Yes…Zack,” Ben said, adding the last part under his breath, but still just loud enough for us to hear and we all laughed.

Max blinked. “You’re right, I did sound a lot like him just then.”

“He better get back here and take command of us again if for no other reason that it might stop Max from talking like him,” Kenny teased.

“Yeah,” Krit agreed. “I don’t like the way she sounds normally.”

Max rolled her eyes. “I’m going to kick all of your butts later when I get the chance.”

“There’s our Maxie,” Ben said. “I knew that she was in there somewhere.”

We finished our breakfasts and we lined up and marched over to lecture hall 5 and inside. We were one of the first units there, so we actually found seats towards the front. We looked on as not only did the other X5 units with the exception of Unit 7 march in, but all of the X6 units as well.

“I wonder why there are here,” Eva said. Max started to reply, but we all suddenly quieted down and sat up straight in our seats as Colonel Lydecker came into the room. He stopped behind the podium and looked right at us. He looked just as angry as he had been the night before when he had taken Zack and I started to get pretty nervous.

“There has been an emergency situation,” he said. “By now, you should all have noticed the absence of X5 Unit 7. Last night, at approximately 0230 hours, X5 Unit 7 attempted to go AWOL from the facility.”

That shocked everybody, even us. We knew that one X5 had been running and had attempted to escape, but a whole entire unit? All fifteen members of Unit 7 had attempted to escape? How many got out? Did any of them succeed? I kind of hoped that they did.

Colonel Lydecker just glared at us, so none of us voiced our shock out loud. “Out of the fifteen members of Unit 7, only three made it across the perimeter fence. Five were killed as they resisted the efforts of the TAC teams to bring them back in and the other seven were brought back successfully. All seven remaining members of Unit 7 will be held in Psychological Operations for a period to be determined.”

I wasn’t nervous anymore, I was scared out of my mind. Psy Ops? Nobody in their right mind wanted to go to Psy Ops, and Unit 7 or what was left of it was stuck there for Blue Lady knows how long? Yikes! I remember back in October when Dash had died, they had taken Syl to Psy Ops since she had fired the shot that had accidentally killed Dash and had kept her there for a full month, even though it was an accident. Syl was a mess when she had finally returned to our barracks that one night before lights out and it was months before she seemed completely like her old self.

“Also, all other X5 and X6 commanding officers are not present as well,” Colonel Lydecker continued. “We have determined that the plan to go AWOL was conceived by the commanding officer of Unit 7, X5-333. As a precaution, every X5 and X6 commanding officer has also been taken to Psychological Operations for a period of no less than three months.”

Whoa! Zack was in Psy Ops? How dare they! I don’t get angry very often, if ever, but there was no question about how furious I was now. Zack didn’t do anything! And those poor X6 C.O.s. The X6s were still ranked among their units in age order, so those C.O.s were only six. Six years old and in Psy Ops! Who would do—that’s right, Lydecker just did that very thing.

“Let me make this extremely clear to all of you,” Colonel Lydecker said. “We will be watching you all very, very closely. If we catch even the slightest hint of behavior similar to that displayed by Unit 7, you will be sent to Psychological Operations immediately. No exceptions. The surviving members of Unit 7 are traitors. They will remain traitors and will be considered by each and every one of you as such until they have successfully completed reindoctrination. Am I making myself clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” all of us yelled.

“Very well,” Colonel Lydecker said. “You may all go to your regularly scheduled activities. Remember that we will be watching each and every one of you.” He nodded. “You are all dismissed.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” we all yelled again. We saluted him and got up and left the lecture hall.

“He’s going to be in Psy Ops for months,” Jace whimpered as we headed outside.

“Don’t worry,” Max said. “This is Zack. He’s going to be absolutely fine. There’s nothing that Zack can’t handle and that includes Psy Ops.”

“I can’t believe that they didn’t succeed,” Jondy said quietly.

“Three of them still made it,” Max pointed out just as quietly. We lined up and were quiet as the trainer approached us, though we managed to sneak quick glances at each other. I knew that things had changed around here. I hoped we could handle it.

TBC