CHAPTER 1: FINDING THE UNDEAD

“I’ve called to order a meeting of our esteemed council. Redrum please arrange for a meeting so that our team can meet accordingly”. Ragefish sent a voice transmission across all DM space stations as she rose out of bed. She couldn’t help but feel strange after the nightmares she had been having. She snapped her fingers once she stood up. Small artificially intelligent robots began to suit her with a sheer armor underneath her clothing. She wore simple lightweight garment and only wore specially marked clothing to represent her leadership when she attended meetings of the great galactic council. Her face seemed expressionless as she stared out the space station window while the AI suited her up. Once they were finished, she cracked her neck on both sides and exited her quarters. She closed her eyes and exhaled.

                Outside her quarters, Redrum was sitting patiently with a tablet ready to work with her in setting the schedule and day. She nodded her head and he stood up. He began to explain the setup of their potential day as well as express the concerns he had in alliance development.

“Good morning Fish! Glad to see you are awake and well – lets get started shall we?” He pointed down the station hall and they began to walk as he spoke. “First and foremost, I would like to express that our workshop has been producing a number of items – every member has contributed a great deal of effort in keeping it strong. I noticed strong patterns of scans and covenant kills. Our alliance development is going good… but I’ll be honest it could be better.. We fell behind and our rankings have dropped”. He intently paused and looked at Fish awaiting a reaction to the news he had just delivered. They continued walking and she stared straightforward which signaled him to continue. “We have MASSIVE growth opportunity in WL. I think we should take them over. We have the resources, the men, the building structures…it’s really a no brainer…anyways.. I scheduled the meeting you requested with the team. A great banquet will be held…..”

“Move the banquet a week out, after my meeting with the council. I have a feeling we can kill two frigates with one missile if you know what I mean…” He looked at her in angst. All the time consumed in planning…sometimes Redrum really needed a vacation. She turned to him and finally looked him in the eyes. “I have a very important message to the team. I owe it that all our new recruits will be available for this message. Red, we have been through a lot. And I owe you my gratitude for what you did for me. We both came a long way since my arrival here”. She touched her heart with her right hand and held his shoulder with her left. She walked into the great council room as Redrum stood there in the station hall.

It had been such a long time she he thought about the first time they met. She had been a much different person then. It took a long rehabilitation for her to be where she was now. He remembered when he first found her stranded among in a system close by. She had was on an abandoned space station with no memory of how she got there. In fact, many of the founding members of DM had appeared in a similar fashion. Redrum recalled himself waking up in a station that had been so run down, if he had slept any longer, he would have suffocated to death. He had flashbacks of the nightmares from things he didn’t understand. People and faces that felt like a distant memory. He recalled finding her when he went on an expedition to scout new lands. He saw her floating in zero gravity – in a similar armored suit that was slowly running out of oxygen. Her head appeared to have been hit quite hard and she had been bleeding behind the mask. He climbed in and grabbed her, clipped her to his belt and called back to the station. “Guys, we need a evac in sector 3-4-0. I found something…or someone. We need to get her medical attention”.

“Copy that Red! Wait did you say her?” Cpt Splooge sent out a distress signal to the nearest station that could pick the two up.

“Fuck dude…does it matter.. get a fucking ship over here pronto!” Red looked at the armor she was in. It was definitely older than his, but it was familiar to him. He noticed an insignia of a fish.  Something like the things he had seen from his dreams a long time ago. They got her to the medical sanction in their main station near the headquarters. The rest of the original DM members were there. Imp opened the loading dock that he had cleared and Leatherface had prepped the medical bed. All the officers ran down the hall with Redrum as he put an oxygen mask on her.

“Who is she?” Imp asked inquisitively. “Where did you find her??” Cpt Splooge said as he began to send a transmission to AK47 to ready the medical center. The DM team was curious and excited unsure of what was to happen next. The mysterious girl was in comma for a while until she finally woke up in panic. Red remembered the countless nights she would be screaming. Finally, she had been calm enough to explain she had no memory. Red told her that the DM team was a mixture of men who had the same past. They all grouped together here and found a family in one another. But for some reason, Redrum felt she was special. He told the team he would be stepping down as the leader of DM and giving it to this new girl. The officers looked around in confusion, but ever since he saw the fish insignia on her armor, he knew she would be the rightful leader who he would refer to as, ‘Ragefish’.

Redrum smiled as he snapped back to reality. Ragefish was no longer the wild and reckless animal she was when she had first arrived. She was calm. Composed, Most of all…she was objective. He turned around and walked to the loading dock to do legions with the other officers of DM. He sent out a message letting everyone know the banquet had been postponed. He immediately received a wave of feedback.

“BRO, are you fucking kidding me! I want to feast my fucking eyes out!!!” CptSplooge replied.

“Thanks for the message, its been received” Spock replied.

“Post-poned my ass!” Glory_Hole replied.

Redrum looked through the rest of his messages. He saw one from Imp.

*I found another one. This guy seems like he has been knocked out for a while. Remember that armor Fish was wearing when she got here? This guy has the same armor…But he has a different insignia…all it says is Yesman..*

Redrum began to think as he stroked his chin. He sent a voice transmission back in a hurried tone. “You sure it’s the same armor as Fish???? 100%... not a fucking question?!?!?”

*Bro…I would never forget a material like that. I never seen anything like it. It’s the same. Should we clear the med dock?*

“Clearing the medical dock…bring him in…make sure he remains unharmed at all costs! I’m on my way”. It had been a long time since Redrum had recovered another “floater”. He sent messages to all personal and directed an immediate medical evac for the newest find. Imp flew in with the cargo hold and landed his fleet. They rushed the new floater to the medical station as per procedure. They laid him in the bed and the medical AI began to do their work.

Behind the window glass, Imp leaned over and whispered to Red as he stared forward watching the AI at work.

“So…what are we going to call him?” Holding a straight face, Redrum leaned back into Imp and responded.

“Yepman”. He stood back up and looked forward. Something incredible was about to happen. He wasn’t sure what it was… but he knew that great change was ahead.