A man sat behind a desk in a dimly lit room, in a lab coat, black hair partly in his face. Across from him, a worried man in a dark suit uncomfortably sits. Numerous files are on the table detailing genetic sequences, chemical bonds and hypotheses.
"You realize what you're asking me to do, don't you? The Order would have both of our heads if they knew we were even discussing this." The nervous man could hardly keep his composure.
"Reeve, I'm not asking you to do anything. Think of the potential, if we could augment human bodies with the attributes of Nomad cells..." He leaned in closer, "This could be our peak. Augmented humans without the parasitic side effects. Cellular regeneration, improved cognitive speed, faster reflexes, telepathy. It would only be the beginning."
Reeve shifted around, "No wonder no house would have you. You're completely mad."
"Mad? No. But driven, yes. Everyone writes these organisms off because of the infestation. But if we simply splice cells... We could possibly prevent the indoctrination and simply get physiological benefits. One sentient being instead of two."
Sighing, Reeve sank back into his chair. "Where would we even put you? The Core would simply steal your work. The Order would likely kill you. That leaves Zoners. They will not want to be involved in your genetic experiments. We can't just sneak on board, they'll notice missing power. Stations this deep keep tabs on all of their resources."
The man reached into his pocket and clicked a remote. A projection of a planet showed above a hologram. "We'll start the project on the far side of Primus. The planet is already a wasteland and the radiation will help mutate the genetics. Once we start getting results, our soldiers," He grinned. "The Project will move on."
Reeve furrowed his brow, then stood up, "Hojo, you're completely insane... I'll have an automated transport get you a base on Primus. I need a drink." Reeve quickly exited the room.
Hojo returned to his desk. His mind brimmed with ideas. No one was willing to go this far. The Core, so short sighted in their search for technology. The Order, too bound up in their ethos to defend the current idea of humanity. Hojo reclined, he knew he could create augmented humans, it was just a matter of how many attempts it would take.
Hojo looked out the window of the transport. She was old, but she would do. The hull was pockmarked from the impacts of micro-meteorites and close calls with pirates, but she had a functioning Zoner IFF and wouldn't be suspected with all of his gear in the hold.
The transport lumbered toward the Omicron Kappa jumphole, he punched a few buttons and the blast shields came down on the windows and ship began to dock. A sudden shattering stirred Hojo from his thoughts, a beaker shattering. "Lousy ship. Dampers are failing.", he muttered.
A sudden deceleration let him know that he was through the jumphole. He flicked a switch and the blast shields slowly rose with a groan. Hojo looked out at the system, he had often wondered about the odd shape of the asteroids within the field in Omicron Kappa. He had no time to ponder though, Nomad gunboats were seen in this sector occasionally. He was off to Primus.
Primus had always been a bit of a wasteland. Too scarred by radiation for the Zoners to really settle in, the perfect spot for a secluded lab. After the docking ring, he entered the coordinates Reeve had given him and the transport took off through the atmosphere towards wherever Reeve had decided to put this base.
Suddenly, the transport descends into a canyon, Hojo sees the faint light of a moor. "Perfect..." he grinned. Not once had the base shown up on his scanners. The transport moored with a sudden jerk and then powered down. He sat for a moment, taking in the gravity of what he was about to discover. Still, there was no time to lose, so much work to be done.
The bay doors opened and robots commenced unpacking the transport. "I'll tend to these personally." as he nods toward some samples in cold storage. He walks past the bustle of the unloading to a communicator. "Reeve, you've done well. This will work magnificently. So many samples around as well. Now, we'll need some... volunteers. Sell them on a vacation, or tell them you're taking them somewhere else. I don't care just get me subjects."
"I'll make some calls, I'm sure we can get some people..." Reeve wasn't comfortable with this. First it was just lab tests, then it was tissue samples. Now he wanted live subjects kidnapped? He wasn't sure when it would be too much.
He watched on screen as Hojo walked off down a dark corridor, until he was completely enveloped in darkness.
Hojo stood in the observation room, his furrowed face only lit up by the light bleeding through the one-way window. The computer next to him read out "Subject #46, Test #267 Commencing."
A mechanized arm moved into position and slid a needle into the subjects chest to begin the serum injection. It had to be the chest for the highest chance of success, the other extremities lacked the necessary blood flow. He intently monitored the subjects vitals, so far so good. Suddenly an adrenaline kick, then heart rate spiking, body temperature going wild. Alarms began to scream from the computer, as if it were fearing for the subjects life. Hojo shrugged off the alarms. The computer had been meant for a hospital and bedside monitoring. Not exactly the tool for gene splicing, but it would do until he could get better facilities.
In the observation room, the subject regained consciousness and was convulsing. He was completely unaware of what was happening. Reeve had picked him up in the Sigmas, promising him work out in the deep Omicrons. well, he was certainly in the deep Omicrons, that much was true.
"Subject expired, timestamp-" Hojo was already walking out the door, another failed test. He sat down to ponder. He needed more advanced equipment. The tests had been going for weeks without success. Each time, the subject would either reject the cells violently or the cells would begin to mutate so rapidly that stability could never be achieved. Both led to death minutes after injection.
He sat down at his comm station to send a message to Reeve when a different alarm sounded. "Proximity warning. Unidentified vessel in low orbit." He calmly moved to the security station. Had he been found out? Could a subject have escaped and signaled? He turned the scanners to the sky.
No, he thought. no... What's this? He brought up the telemetry from the passive scans of his base.
"Deep space travel... A ship that size must have a massive crew.... 2 biodomes... self sustaining perhaps?... Enormous energy signature, the core must be massive." He had a devious idea. If he could infiltrate this ship, perhaps as a doctor, not only would he be able to harness that core and test in different environments, he would have endless subjects. Perhaps the odd crew member, or dock hand from wherever they moor.
He shook his head, he was getting ahead of himself. He needed to hail them. "Hail vessel, this is Research Station Helios." His console lit up, an active scan from the vessel Not a problem, he thought. His lab and the subject chambers were heavily shielded.
A female voice answered "Research Station Helios, this is the Ikaruga. We don't have you listed as an installation planet-side."
"Well, isn't that just typical. I'm the last crew member here, we were shutting down the base but I fear something happened to my transport off world. Is there any chance I could come aboard?" He grinned to himself.
The Ikaruga was silent for several minutes. "Helios, we've spoken with the Captain, a freighter is inbound to extract you."
Now, he thought to himself, all I need to do is insert myself into the crew and carry on.