Beyond the Horizon: New Dawn

24) "Seventy-Six"

Seventy-Six sat at the edge of bed contemplating whether he should return to sleep or not. If it were up to him, he would. But he received a message a few minutes ago from Twenty who asked him to come to the galley. Apparently Thirty did well with the man from the Freedom party at the bar and wanted to share her findings. Seventy-Six would rather the information be sent to him, but he understood that the meeting was an excuse for the crew to see him.

He had not left his room in a little over a day. What happened at the bar on Mars resulted in him wanting to isolate himself. It had nothing to do with the brawl in the restroom with the druggies, but instead the fact that he could feel his mental state slipping. To combat it, he spent the majority of the previous day meditating. Seventy-Six could not recall a single time he had meditated before, but he found it soothing. Any doubts or confusions he had about his identity just fell away. It was a rare time where he was at peace with himself. He was worried that seeing the other members of the Task Force might ruin that.

The room lit up bright blue after Seventy-Six called out to the computer. He told it to display their current flight path. A hologram projection of Earth and Mars appeared with their ship closing in on Luna. They were currently decelerating towards Luna and would be stationed outside it in about an hour. Both The Serenity and The Stormpike were outside of Earth which caught Seventy-Six's attention. He assumed that another battle with the PCU erupted or advancements were made with the ceasefire. Both of which did not interest him in the least. He decided that he had spent enough time in his room. He got dressed and headed towards the galley.

Twenty, Thirty, and Thirty-Five sat at the table in the galley. Seventy-Six sat down next to Twenty and greeted them. Twenty took a good look at his face. He seemed astonished by what he saw then mentioned how his wounds had healed up nicely. Seventy-Six remembered how he had only informed Thirty-Five and Zero of the true nature of his surgery. To the other Task Force members, he only received treatment for his MPD. Twenty demanded to know Seventy-Six's treatment. He still had a bruise on his face from the flying knee Zero had dealt him. It was a mark of shame to him, so Seventy-Six understood why he wanted it gone. But all he could tell Twenty was that his wounds were not as bad as his. Twenty's face sank and he turned to face Thirty.

"I take it it was an eventful evening," Seventy-Six said in reference to their night at the bar.

"Beyond eventful," Thirty responded.

"What'd you find out?"

"The Freedom Party are going to be a problem. They're also making a move to unite the Underground, but it's not to change Mars. They believe in the Underground being a completely sovereign nation."

"That's stupid. It won't be sustainable."

"You'd be surprised at how many people would argue that with you, but I digress. On the surface, they're a political party. In reality, they're a gang. They're heavily armed and some of their recruitments come from intimidation and terror."

"Terror?"

"While the Radiant Dawn was rising to prominence they saw a spike in terror activity against the Surface. Some of that was them, and some of it was the Freedom Party."

"And in doing that it marked the Radiant Dawn as a terrorist group."

"And stalled out their growth."

"So what do you think?"

"I don't know. I don't care for politics. But I do know a problem when I see one."

"I don't think we should touch them yet," Thirty-Five suggested. "They're the largest party the Underground has. We should focus on absorbing the other ones."