applenilune

[applenilune]

Trepidation | three - Notions

SUMMARY~ Three years ago a Colonel from the Deepspace Fleet was murdered by his wife, now, rumors about a mind controlling chip are circulating on the Fleet’s corridors, making the officers feel scared and unsafe. Colonel Caleb is assigned to find out if they are true. But, why is a murder case from three years ago related to rumors about a chip? What does the former Colonel wife knows about that? Can Caleb get to the bottom of the mystery, without getting too close and attached to her?

Previous episodes- ONE | TWO

Pairing - Caleb x Non MC female reader

Rating - M! Explicit!

Tags~ 18+ MDNI, Dead Dove, dark themes, slow burn, eventual smut, trauma, mental illness, slightly gore descriptions, manipulation, murder allegations, conspiracy, stalking (I’ll add more as I think of them)

A/N : Hello! Chapter three is here! Thanks again for all the likes on the previous chapter! It means a lot to me that someone out there is reading and enjoying the story, I want to apologize is there’s any mistakes with the past and present tense of the story it’s slightly proofread so i hope there’s not many of them, also… I’m dying to write the fluff and spicy stuff but I don’t want to rush the plot, I’ll try to get there soon.

Word count- 3,053

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65423068/chapters/168370972

Y/N couldn’t really wrap her mind around everything that happened, the Colonel’s visit had her facing two hard realities, one, that she wasn’t really crazy after all, that she hadn’t been imagining things, she had been watched, tracked down, that the night she was attacked and drugged someone inserted that chip into her and forced to kill her husband, she tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t believe her, he even said she needed professional help, he also said that she was losing her mind, and that scared her to the core, because she never had a response as to why her? What had she done wrong to deserve that? Was she only used as a tool to eliminate Davian? If someone wanted to kill him, why did they not organize an attack or something, why they had to go through all the trouble of putting a chip on his wife and had her kill him? And two, Could she really be released from Sky Vault? Did she deserved to be released? After all, even if she wasn’t in the right state of mind, she still committed the crime, she still had her husband’s blood on her hands.

And what would she do if she was released? She had no family, no friends, no money, no job. If they let her go, will she still be at the mercy of whoever put her through the pain and hell that she was navigating through? Was she really worth of the second chance?

Colonel Caleb’s words were repeating over and over on her mind. Especially when he said that she would help not only both of them, but someone that might be going through the same situation as her.

She knew how hurtful it was, that everyone around you thinks that you’re insane, that you’re not the same person that you used to be, that you are not in control of your own actions.

How it felt to have all your happiness sucked out of your life.

Given all that she reviewed in her mind, it appeared that she already made a decision.

The next day, after Sky Vault’s morning routine was completed, they took her again to the same room where they took her before, this time, Caleb was already there, he was sitting on the chair with a lot of papers on the desk, he looked at her, hoping that she had decided to cooperate with him and the investigation, he needed her, her help, and he was willing to do and say anything that needed to be said in order to have her on his side.

The nurse that was accompanying her was preparing to lock the restraints on her wrists but Caleb stopped him, giving him a disdain look that made the man and y/n froze at his harsh demeanor.

“Stop it, there’s no need to do that, please just leave us alone” he declared in a sharp tone.

“Yes, Colonel” he simply responded and left the room. Caleb’s eyes followed him as he left, with an annoyed and disgust expression on his face, then when they were alone, he redirected his attention towards y/n and showed her a gentle smile, she was looking at him in awe, she thought to herself, how could he be so charming and scary at the same time?

He sensed her anxiousness and he didn’t want her to feel like that, he wanted her to trust him. So he changed his demeanor quickly.

“My apologies, I really just think is unnecessary to restraint you like that, I know it can hurt” he explained.

“It’s okay,” she said “they can be rough sometimes but, we aren’t here on a vacation, we’re here because of the wrong this we did, right? thank you though.”

He offered her a thin smile, then his face went serious.

“We’ll miss y/n” he sighed “I’ll go straight to the point, since we can’t really move forward if we don’t get to an agreement, are you willing to cooperate with the Farspace Fleet on this investigation? We are offering to review and amend your legal situation, of course, this would only take effect if the resolution of the case is applicable and relevant to yours”

Y/N swallowed hard, thinking about it again, this was the last opportunity she had to back out. She would have to revive and reveal to the Colonel all the things she mourned and tried to forget.

“I…I’ll cooperate with the investigation” y/n replied with a quavering voice.

Caleb showed her a satisfied smile, that made her feel just a little bit more nervous.

“Excellent, We are going to get at the bottom of this, I could read on your file that you told the investigators about feeling watched and followed, can you please explain to me how it started, when did you realize about all that?”

Y/N looked down, trying to reminisce of the events that led her to this exact point.

“I really wish that I could know exactly when and why, it’s one of those things that you really don’t realize until you are already deep inside the situation, it was something that started small, like when you are walking down the street and feel someone looking at you, then you turn around and realize that there’s actually no one there, that you were maybe imagining things, so you brushed it off and keep walking, it started like that, but then, it became a reoccurring sensation, I would feel it at my work office, or when I was showing a house to a client, or when I would go grocery shopping, it was so often, that I started to feel anxious everywhere I’d go, I would be constantly looking over my shoulder to see if somebody was there, and I would ask anyone around me if they could see someone looking at me or following me. But they would always look at me like I was exaggerating and changed the subject. It was so scary to the point where I didn’t wanted to leave the house, every day I’d feel anxious, vulnerable, exposed. I was hyper vigilant of everything and everyone around me.”

Caleb was putting his entire attention on her, he didn’t wanted to miss any single detail. He could sense how she felt, how fear ran through her body while she talked about it, how her body was slightly trembling, how deeply was she affected.

“I started receiving phone calls, mostly from private numbers, because of my job I needed to answer every single call, as it could be a potential client, but… nobody would answer, I could hear them breathing, but they never said anything, then it was gifts, they studied me so well that at first I thought they were from Davian, but when I asked him, he always said that it wasn’t him, but brushed it off saying that maybe a client bought them to thank me. I didn’t feel safe, I started to miss work, and lose clients because I was afraid to leave my safe space, my home.”

“Did you express your concerns about this to your ex husband?” He asked, curiously.

Ex husband. Y/N was taken aback by the question, Caleb was technically right, she was no longer married, her husband was dead, but even if three years had passed, she actually never thought about it like that. She had mourned the loss of her partner, yes. They were high school sweethearts, she was accustomed to her life beside him, she didn’t really knew or imagine a life without him until he passed, he was her only family, until she took his life. And it had cost her so much to accept that.

Y/N chuckled. It felt like someone just grabbed her shoulders and shake her into reality. She found that silly and funny. Now it was Caleb who was intrigued by her sudden reaction.

“Sorry” she stated as she pursed her lips and replaced the grin with a saddened smile and turned her gaze away from Caleb “I just never thought about Davian like that, I mean, I know it’s been years, and I know he’s gone…” y/n stopped herself for a moment before continuing “it’s just that, you mentioning it like that just…makes it real for some strange reason”

“I’m really sorry y/n” Caleb added “I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay” y/n interrupted him before he could finish the sentence, she didn’t want him to pity her, she just wanted to go trough it as quickly as possible “you don’t have to apologize Colonel, and yes, I did told him, but, as I’m sure you are aware, being a Colonel is really time consuming, he had so many things to take care of, sometimes he didn’t came home at all, or he would and then he had to leave in the middle of the night, or he had to work even if it was his day off, he didn’t have time to deal with my childish fears… as he called them”

“It was a regular thing that he had to work overtime or on his days off?” He asked curiously

“Not at first, now that I’m remembering, maybe like a year or something before he died”

Caleb offered her a small nod and a smile as a sign of understanding, yes, as a Colonel he could understand how demanding the job could get, the fact that he was handling this case even though it wasn’t on his job description was proof of it, the job could get busy, sometimes you had to work overtime, or you had to be gone for days or weeks when the fleet headed to the Deepspace tunnel, but not as busy that you couldn’t even pay attention to your wife that was feeling threatened on your day off, that by law, no one at work should disturb. Was there a possibility that he could be doing something else besides work?

“Then what happened y/n?” Caleb urged her to continue

“Then… they took over my safe place.”

“Your house?” He asked, she nodded. “How?”

“I don’t know, I wish I could tell you like, a magnificent story like the ones you see in movies but it was actually simpler than that, I would just, notice my things were moved out of place or, just straight up disappeared, cliched stuff, like I was being on a 24/7 surveillance, maybe that’s why no one believed me”

“Don’t feel like your story isn’t valid y/n, we don’t know what’s going onto someone else’s life or mind, but we could try to understand, and… I believe you” Caleb stated

Y/N could only look a him, she couldn’t find a response to give him to that statement, he was the only one that had treated like a person since she started feeling watched, her husband called her crazy, her coworkers called her crazy, the fleet called her crazy, treated her like she was worth nothing. Just a murderous monster. She just gave him a thin smile.

“For how long did all that went on y/n” he asked.

“Maybe like, two years or so, I don’t really know, when I started realizing about it, maybe it had already began, and I brushed it off at first, it was all in my imagination until… the attack”

“Attack?” Caleb noted, as he furrowed his eyebrows, he didn’t remember reading about that on the notes of her case, and he read it multiple times, maybe that meant that she was starting to believe in him, to trust in his offers, and that was what he wanted, he really wanted to help her, this case occupied his mind entirely, he felt sorry for her, and he knew that by helping her he’d help himself solve this, so far, he didn’t knew if she was lying, if there was actually a chip, but by showing her that he believed in her, maybe she’d believe in him.

“Well, there was no use for me to tell the investigators that I was attacked, they just wanted to convict me, and I was… really not okay” y/n replied

She hugged herself, as if the roommate had gone cold all of a sudden, she was trembling slightly and as she tried to steady her breath she continued

“A couple of months before Davian died, he went on a Deepspace tunnel exploration, he would be in there for at least two weeks, I didn’t want him to go, at this point, I couldn’t go anywhere without feeling like I was being followed, I didn’t wanted to be by myself and being without him for so long made me extremely anxious, he tried to comfort me, he said everything would be okay, that I should call the evol police if anything happened, and he left” y/n sighed and then went on “Everything was fine for the first couple of days, I went to work and then went back home. One day, my boss called me, she said that a client wanted to look at a property that we have been trying to sell for some time, it was a really expensive property on the outskirts of Skyhaven, she told me the client could only see the place at dawn, apparently it was some business person whose only free time was at dawn, I didn’t wanted to go, being by myself so late, it wasn’t really something that I wanted it to do, but I had already been failing at work because of my fear, so I couldn’t really said no.”

Caleb said nothing, urging her to continue, but he could already feel a terrible feeling building inside him, anticipating the things that she was going to say.

“I drove to the place before dawn, I needed to check it in advance, to make sure that the property was in good condition for when the client arrived, and I waited, and waited, until the night arrived, but no one ever showed up, I nearly fall asleep inside the place, and since it was getting so late, I tried to call my boss to tell her that the client hadn’t come, but there was no signal, I started to get scared, I gathered my things in order to leave, and as I prepared the lights went off” tears started to form on y/n eyes, her hands were shaking. “I was petrified, I couldn’t even call the police, not even emergency calls were available, and I had that feeling…the feeling that I wasn’t alone. I prepared to run to my car, everything outside was pitch black, the only source of light was the moon. “Y/N took a deep breath and then continued “The property was far away from any neighbors… they knew what they were doing, they had it all really well planned, I gather all the courage that I could find within myself, and I started running towards my car, but I didn’t get far, I felt like my legs were failing me like, I was so scared that I couldn’t run fast enough, before I could reach my car, I felt a pair of arms surrounding me from behind, I tried to scream and I fought to get away from their grip, but of course, I wasn’t strong enough, then they covered my mouth with one hand and with the other they injected something on my neck, I started to feel weak and dizzy, and I passed out, at first I didn’t knew what they’ve done to me, when I woke up, I was at home, laying on my bed, strangely nothing was out of place. My car was parked outside. Two days had passed since I were drugged, I went to the bathroom, I stripped and checked my entire body. There were no marks on my body, they didn’t sexually assaulted me, I stood there, looking at myself in the mirror, crying uncontrollably, wondering what the fuck they done to me. I didn’t knew at first that they had put a fucking chip inside me.” When she finish talking, it was like all the fear that she felt had transform into anger. Her eyes were still red, but her expression was resentful.

“You must have been really scared, I’ve been there too, I’m really sorry for everything you went through, y/n and I thank you for confiding these things to me, I know maybe this question makes no sense but do you have an idea of who would’ve wanted to do this to you? Or your ex husband?” he asked on a softly spoken tone.

“That’s why I’m telling you Colonel Xia” y/n reached out to him and placed her hand on top of Caleb’s hand “Because maybe you could help me get that answer. That’s all I want to know, why me? why us? what have I done wrong to deserve this? What sin am I paying for? Please, help me.”

Finally tears started running down y/n’s face, for some reason Caleb didn’t like to see her cry, he felt like he needed, he wanted to protect her, like there was some sort of weird energy pulling him to her, all of this had started like a case, a mystery he needed to resolve and he was still curious about the resolution, and he would definitely get it, but y/n… He couldn’t get her out of his mind since he was assigned to the task and read her file, and when she reached out to him while she was feeling overwhelmed, he felt like a shock of electricity had ran trough his entire body, he wanted to get up his chair and wrap her on his arms, tell her that he was going to get the resolution of all of this, he was going to do everything in his power to solve it, but he couldn’t do that, he needed to act like the professional he knew he was.

“Don’t worry miss y/n” he confidently stated as he looked straight into her doe like eyes still full of tears “we will get those answers very soon.”

Tag list: @mcdepressed290 @coolprincejelly

[applenilune]

Trepidation | two -Astonishment-

SUMMARY~ Three years ago a Colonel from the Deepspace Fleet was murdered by his wife, now, rumors about a mind controlling chip are circulating on the Fleet’s corridors, making the officers feel scared and unsafe. Colonel Caleb is assigned to find out if they are true. But, why is a murder case from three years ago related to rumors about a chip? What does the former Colonel wife knows about that? Can Caleb get to the bottom of the mystery, without getting too close and attached to her?

Pairing ~ Caleb x Non MC female reader.

Rating ~ M! Explicit!

Tags~ 18+ MDNI, Dead Dove, dark themes, slow burn, eventual smut, trauma, mental illness, slightly gore descriptions, manipulation, murder allegations, conspiracy, stalking (I’ll add more as I think of them)

Word count ~ 1,818

Hello! It took a while but chapter two is here! Trepidation is also being posted on Ao3 here’s the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65423068/chapters/168370972 I’m really grateful for all the people who liked, reblog and left kudos on ao3. I hope you’ll keep enjoying and supporting the story. The chapter is not that long but I expect the next one to be.

The Sky Vault Institution was a facility handled by the Farspace Fleet, it was built many years ago in Skyhaven to held and provide treatment for mentally unstable patients.

It wasn’t originally intended that the fleet controlled the place, but since they had to handle some convicted felons and the fleet basically controlled everything around Skyhaven, just a few years after it started operating they took over the entire facility.

The access to the place was extremely restricted, far away from civilization, near the edges of Skyhaven, surrounded by thick forests and tall gates.

The main building, designed based on an antique Gregorian architecture style made the place look almost dismal.

Y/N hated the place, it reminded her of the humiliation, of the disdain looks that everyone gave her, that she was robbed of any chance to have a normal life ever again, but that was also why she had accepted the fact that she was gonna die there.

That was her punishment, for being a fool, for not explaining her concerns to her husband on a different way that the way she did, she couldn’t get punished for her actions if the place she was secluded in were a nice place. And Sky Vault was not a nice place, especially since it was handled by the fleet.

She tried her best to remain invisible, she didn’t want to make friends, not that the personnel were going to be her friends with her of course, but the other patients who were even more disturbed than what she was told she was were better friend options.

She navigated her new life like a ghost, not talking to anyone, and just observing and obeying whatever orders they gave her.

She just wanted to go through this torment as peacefully as possible, the only thing that she liked about this place was the fact that she was safe, whoever it was that had inserted that chip on her, in Sky Vault, they couldn’t reach her. At least that was over.

Y/n would follow the same routine every day, she would wake up with the sun, go to the showers, eat whatever plain and flavorless breakfast that they gave her and then they would let her and the rest of the patients that had “good behavior” go outside for an hour to the “garden” like she’d like to call it, but it was more like a backyard, there were only a few flowers growing here and there and trees, there were a lot of those since the place was surrounded by a literal forest, she would sit on a bench that was under a big oak tree and she would look at the sky, that was the only part of the day that she could let herself enjoy, just feeling the breeze, she would look at the sky because if she looked down she would see the fence that surrounded the place, and that was a reminder that she would never leave.

That day she was sitting there, listening to the few birds that sang on the trees and the murmuring from the other patients who liked to talk to themselves a lot, when she saw one of the nurses walking towards her.

“Miss, you need to come with me right now, please stand up” he said coldly, she knew he wasn’t asking, they never asked, they commanded. And she didn’t even bother asking why since she knew in advance that they wouldn’t give her an answer.

She stood up from the bench and started following the nurse, who was walking away already, not waiting for her to get up.

He took her to a room on “the basement”, like everyone called it. It was the staff’s floor, she’d never been there before, naturally, patients weren’t allowed in there, so she started worrying, “what now?” She asked herself. He typed a code on the panel at the side of the door, and they walked inside a large aisle, that was dimly lit. There were a lot of doors there but, she didn’t bother looking at the signs next to them.

The nurse opened one of those doors and gestured at her to get inside.

It looked like an interrogation room, like the ones they took her when that horrible night happened, it was almost empty, except for the table, the two chairs (one of which had a restraining electronic system) and the little red lights on every corner that indicated that there were cameras.

She sat on one of the chairs and the nurse activated the restraining mechanism to her wrists. Then he left.

She sat there for a good twenty minutes, just looking at the table in front of her. She felt curious, this interrogation all of a sudden, three years after she was already convicted wasn’t at all normal. Should she be scared?

Finally, the door opened again, she remained looking at the front, the person who entered closed the door and walked towards the other chair, the one without the restraints, finally she looked up, and she froze.

It was a man, but what made her feel uneasy was the fact that he was wearing the same uniform that her husband used to wear. A colonel’s uniform. Her eyes started to itch, like she could cry.

He looked at her for a few seconds, expressionless, but then, like he slipped a mask on his face, he smiled at her.

“Good morning, miss y/n” he said, he had the sweetest voice, manly but also very soothing, she couldn’t move, not even a finger. He pulled the chair and removed his hat off, he put it on the table as he sat down in front of her. “I’m Colonel Caleb Xia, it’s a pleasure meeting you”

Y/N felt like she was going to faint, she didn’t knew this man, and it wasn’t really him that made her feel that way, but seeing him wearing those clothes made pieces of really painful memories flood her mind, like he turned on the light-switch of a room that she didn’t ever wanted to light back on. She looked down on her lap, feeling almost dizzy.

She tried to regain her control as quick as possible, she felt hot, almost short of breath, y/n took a deep breath, she wasn’t going to cry in front of this man, she didn’t even knew why he was here to begin with.

When she looked back up she really took a look at him, who was still watching her with his brows furrowed, with a look of curiosity on his eyes.

His eyes were purple, his hair a deep grey-ish brown that looked almost black with the soft lights of the room, he was handsome, he looked elegant, and she could tell that he was tall even while he was sitting. He had some friendly and approachable features, but she could also feel that he was not entirely like that, otherwise he wouldn’t be a Colonel, people with high ranks at the fleet couldn’t be all rainbows and innocence.

“Are you feeling alright, miss?” He asked, as he softened his gaze “you’re looking a little bit pale, Do you want me to call a medic?”

Y/n just denied with her head, she felt like no sound would come out of her mouth even if she tried.

“Good” he simply said. “Well, I’m sure you are a little bit startled by this situation, since it was really abrupt but I assure you that we’re only having a friendly conversation”

She was determined to not let the Colonel perceive her as weak, so she tried her hardest to regain her composure.

“Why a Colonel of the Deepspace fleet, all of a sudden, want to have a ‘friendly’ conversation with me?” She asked, her voice trembling just a little bit.

“Because, we could help each other, Miss y/n” he said with a toneless voice. “You see, we’re having a situation where people are saying that there’s a controlling chip being developed, and the fleet can’t let this escalate, you may have information that could help me get to the bottom of the issue.”

Was he for real? Was this some kind of joke? She couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“What makes you think that I’d want to help you? I told the fleet about this and they just laughed at my face, and now you’re asking for my help? If there’s one thing that I would never do, is trusting in the Deepspace fleet ever again”

“I’m asking for your help because I could help you too, y/n” he said, looking straight into her eyes. “I’m asking for your help because I can offer something in return”

She bit the inside of her cheek, she could feel her body stiffening at his words, even if she was restrained, she clenched her fists.

“Oh yeah?” She said with a tight voice “and what exactly is that thing that you are offering me?”

He laid back on the chair, relaxing a little bit of his rigid posture, then he responded with a low voice

“Freedom, perhaps” and he smiled teasingly.

Y/n felt lightheaded, like the air in the room was suddenly sucked out.

“Freedom from what?” She replied.

“From this place, of course, from the stains of your past, you could just…start over” his voice confident.

“I don’t trust you, or anyone on the fleet, so, what’s the catch? What’s in it for you?”

He pursed his lips “I’m just doing my job y/n, that’s it.”

She didn’t knew if she could trust this man, she didn’t even know if she could trust herself, and… freedom? She could actually receive that? Was she worthy of it? Her mind went blank.

“Look, y/n, I don’t mean to distress you,” he declared with a honeyed tone “I know this can be difficult to process, that it could bring you back to a place in your mind that you don’t want to revisit, but, if the information we have, and the information you have is real, that would mean that you were right, you could help other people that might go through the things you went through, and maybe you could leave Sky Vault”

Caleb stood up from his chair, took his hat and put it back on his head. Y/n could only look up at him, confused, speechless.

“Why don’t you think about it today?” Caleb declared with a gentle smile, he needed her to trust him, otherwise, he knew that she will never open up to him “I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about it. I really hope you decide on helping me. It will be beneficial for both of us”

With those last words he left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

What should she do?

[applenilune]

Chapter two of Trepidation will be posted tomorrow!

Also! I’m posting on Ao3 too, here’s the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65423068/chapters/168370972

[applenilune]

Trepidation | one -The file-

SUMMARY~ Three years ago a Colonel from the Deepspace Fleet was murdered by his wife, now, rumors about a mind controlling chip are circulating on the Fleet’s corridors, making the officers feel scared and unsafe. Colonel Caleb is assigned to find out if they are true. But, why is a murder case from three years ago related to rumors about a chip? What does the former Colonel wife knows about that? Can Caleb get to the bottom of the mystery, without getting too close and attached to her?

Pairing~ Caleb x fr

Rating~ M! Explicit!

Warnings for this chapter~ mentions of death, mental illness,blood and suicide.

Tags~ 18+ MDNI, Dead Dove, dark themes, slow burn, eventual smut, trauma, mental illness, slightly gore descriptions, manipulation, murder allegations, conspiracy, stalking (I’ll add more as I think of them)

A/N: HELLO! This is my first fic after Years without writing anything, but the chokehold that Caleb has on me is so strong that I needed to write something for him. I’m a huge fan of thriller/mystery/romance books so that’s why I wanted to write something kinda dark, also, something that I want to mention, English is not my first language so I apologize in advance for any mistakes that I could have made but I hope it’s still understandable. ALSO, I’m approaching this fic as a “beginning of the toring chip”, so it’s not going to be a 100% accurate depiction of the chip that we saw on the game, but it still will be kinda related. To finish, the female character has no name so in this chapter I put it as y/n but I’m not really sure about it so, maybe I’ll change that later, let me know how you feel about that.

Almost everyone on the fleet knew what had happened with Colonel Davian Vayne, he was young, 27 years old when he died, he was extremely smart and capable of handling the officers on his command, he never hesitated when it came to take hard decisions on his department, all of his work was clean and in perfect order, maybe that’s why he had become colonel at such a young age, everyone knew and liked him, he had the perfectly life, he was wealthy, his parents owned a chain of very fancy and famous restaurants around Skyhaven, and with his status as colonel the money only kept growing, he was elegant and charming, tall and broad, his blonde hair and hazel eyes drew attention from all the woman on the fleet, he was the type of men who everyone respects, who everyone raised their eyes to look at. He seemed to have no flaws.

He was also married, his wife was a real estate agent, not everyone knew her at the fleet, they had only see her a couple of times when one of the fancy dinner parties took place and everyone was encouraged to bring someone along, to make the parties more fun and interesting, who wouldn’t want to know how was the life outside the farspace fleet job? who do you live with? who were you when you weren’t using the uniform?

Colonel Davian’s wife was really a lovely person, said by the few people that met her, the few times she was on one of the fleet’s dinner parties she was always engaged in small talks with everyone learning about her husband’s teammates and their families, talking about her job and her life as a colonel’s wife, she was beautiful, they said, her delicate features, big beautiful eyes, soft skin and long jet black hair made all the people turn to look at her when she entered a room.

They made the perfect couple, what else could you ask from a partner? They were both so painfully perfect.

So, it came as a shock when everyone found out that colonel Davian Vayne had died, or better said, was murdered, by his own wife.

People refused to believe it, there was no way, how could a woman like Y/N Vayne kill her husband on such an horrific way? But she did, there was no doubt about it, she was the only one there with him the night he died, there was no one else’s fingerprints or anything that could lead to believe that someone else did it, that someone had forced their way into their home and attacked him, and when the officers deployed by the fleet arrived at their home and saw her covered in blood they immediately arrested her.

The scene itself was heartbreaking, the living room of the fancy house was dimly lit, decorated on the most elegant furniture, everything remained dark and silent, the lights on the kitchen were the only ones on, the officers approached the area, and saw her, she was out of her mind, on her knees in a corner on the floor of the fancy kitchen crying uncontrollably and screaming in pain with a knife on her hand, she was hurting herself, like she was trying to kill herself too, trying to join her husband, making cuts all over her body, they attempted to calm her down but she was so out of herself that it took them a while to get the knife out of her hands. Her night gown was covered in blood, hers and her husband’s, and everything else in the kitchen was covered in blood too, like if someone had took a bucket full of blood and just splatter it around everything on the kitchen.

The colonel’s body laying lifeless on the floor, also surrounded by an insane amount of blood, his throat had been cut, really deep, it made everyone on the scene felt sick to their stomach.

When she was asked why she did it, she didn’t said anything, she refused to talk with anyone, locking herself inside her own mind, they seemed to have a perfect life, a beautiful dynamic between them, what reason could she possibly had to kill her husband in a really horrible way?

Everyone decided that she was just crazy, something must have snapped on her mind, for her to, all of a sudden, attack her husband and end his life so abruptly, specialists ran a few tests on her, and a few weeks after the murder she was put on trial for killing her husband, Davian Vayne, and condemned to life imprisonment, but since she was declared mentally ill and unstable, they put her on a mental facility, where she would spend the rest of her days.

That had happened three years ago, and even though when it happened it was all that people talked about in the fleet’s office, as time went on, it began to become less and less of a conversation topic. Until almost no one talked about it, until the events even started to morph into something that made no sense at all, no one talked about it anymore, unless someone brought out a memory about colonel Davian Vayne and his work, then all of the stories about the incident were talked on the corridors, people felt sorry about their story and then moved on with their lives.

The world kept moving, besides the lost of a lovable and capable colonel, there was nothing stopping the world from spinning, especially on the fleet, they had a beautiful memorial on his honor and then, that was it.

Since his wife had been convicted and the case had been closed, people just decided to move on, there were other cases, there were other problems, other wars that needed to be fought, other matters that needed to be addressed.

Work at the fleet kept coming so everyone just kinda forgot.

If it didn’t actually happened to anyone in your family or someone close to your heart, then it just became a corridor gossip, and those were never ending too, there was always someone else’s business to discuss, the adjutant did this, the first sergeant messed up the mission, the lieutenant cheated on his wife with the cafeteria girl, half of the battalion died on the deepspace tunnel, the captain was attacked by a wanderer that appeared at his office, etcetera.

People always talked, that was something undeniable. That’s what people do, no matter where you work at.

Recently on the corridors there had been a rumor spreading, people claimed that, there was a chip of some sort, being developed by some technology company that wanted to establish those chips on the fleet, or their officers, to be more exact, to control and keep them on the fleet’s track, wipe their brains clean so that they could write the actions of the employees using the chip, like robots, soulless machines devoted one hundred percent to their job, to make them do what they wanted. To keep the fleet pristine and flawless.

People were starting to get scared, word spreaded like wildfire and it started to affect the fleet’s image, the information wasn’t still out in the public eye, but if they didn’t stop it, it eventually will.

That’s why Caleb was sitting here, in the General’s office. He wanted him to dig deeper, to find out if the claims were true, he had been receiving comments from concerned people who wanted to know if that information was actually true, there was really a chip being created and designed specifically for mind control of the fleet’s employees?

Caleb had become Colonel just a few months after Colonel Vayne had passed away, now, he occupied the place he once had, the General had decided that Caleb was more than well prepared to take the place as the new Colonel, all his skills and knowledge, and all of the experience and decision making he had made on the deepspace tunnel were more than enough to prove that he was perfect for the position, yes, colonel Vayne had died, but they couldn’t leave his place empty, he had died, but the show must go on. The fleet needed to fill the position. And Caleb was the perfect choice. No one had doubts about it.

Caleb was sitting straight, his hands intertwined on his lap, his expression stoic as he listened to the General speaking to him across his desk. He had explained all of the concerns and lies that were being discussed amongst the officers and he thought to himself that it was an stupid rumor with no fundament, but he also understood the way that this could affect the work of the fleet. They wouldn’t want a collective panic surge forming in the minds of the employees. It would make them look weak. And that is the last thing the fleet wants, to look weak.

“As I’m sure you are aware Colonel, we cannot let this situation escalate more, if we let all of this nonsense talking continue, it will affect our performance as a whole. I need you to conduct an investigation about this, I know it’s not really your specific job but, I cannot let a lower range officer take care of this, you have my full trust, your work has been anything but perfect, so all of this, it has to be just between us, I don’t want this to grow bigger until we have full knowledge and control about it. When you’re done with the investigation, you report it directly to me”

“I understand sir, you don't have to worry” Caleb said with a calm demeanor “I will personally take care of it”

The general pushed an e-file pad that was sitting on his desk on Caleb’s direction, he had his hand placed over the file, not wanting Caleb to take it yet, until he had finished talking.

“This is a classified document, the information that resides in these pages is knowledge of a few people, not even you as a colonel, could have access to it, I’m giving it to you because the minute that these comments came into my ears, this file was the first thing that I thought about, I think it could help as a start”

“If you allow me sir,” Caleb said “You really think that this corridor conversations require a deep investigation?”

“People is getting startled, not even me as the fleet’s General had any sort of information regarding any sort of chip, we cannot leave anything to speculation, we need to maintain this corporation afloat, if there is any sort of mind controlling chip I want to know, we need to protect our people”

Caleb nodded, then the General release the folder and pushed further towards Caleb for him to grab it, then took a small piece of paper and wrote down the password Caleb would need to unlock the e-file pad, when Caleb took them, he stood from the chair and prepared to leave.

The General was really committed to his work, he was one of the few people on the fleet that actually cared about the people under his wings, more than the wellbeing and orders of the higher ups, Caleb thought to himself that, that was actually more of a weakness than strength, but he wasn’t the General…yet.

“I’ll start working on it right away sir” he said, as he saluted the general and then turn away to leave his office, when his hand was over the door handle the General said:

“Not a word about this to anyone Colonel, until we know what we’re actually dealing with. You and I are the only ones that know about this, let’s keep it that way.”

Caleb opened the door without responding, since it wasn’t actually necessary, and he stepped outside, this was the most odd request he had received, to him, all this situation made no sense, the officers were focusing on a stupid hallway gossip instead of doing their jobs, but since the General had asked him, he literally had no choice but to dig into it. And he was the best at his job.

Caleb walked expressionless straight to his office, people turned around to salute him, but he didn’t bother to respond or even look at them, when he arrived, he ordered his secretary to not interrupt him under any circumstances, the curiosity about knowing what was in that file that he was just granted access was itching on him, and also, he wanted to be finished with this nonsense as quick as possible, he locked the door behind him, and walked to sit on his chair, he placed the file on the desk and looked at it like hesitating for a second, what was he going to find out inside of it?

He opened the file, and when it asked him, he introduced the password the General had provided him to unlock the e-file pad. It opened, what it said on the first page on bold letters made him furrow his brows. What does this case had to do with the rumors about the chip? It made no sense, why was the General giving him this file?

FARSPACE FLEET INVESTIGATION BUREAU

CASE 00MI1608

RESTRICTED ACCESS

PLEASE RETURN THIS FILE IF YOU ARE ON LEVEL 08 OR BELOW

YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED

ASSASSINATION OF COLONEL DAVIAN VAYNE

AUGUST 2045

The murder of colonel Davian? He was killed three years ago, what his murder file had to do with a fucking mind controlling chip? He relaxed a little bit on the chair, the general had given this to him for a reason. He started reading the file to find out why.

The file had a lot of pages, this specific case was handled by the fleet itself because the victim was a high rank officer, Caleb was fixated on the information from minute one, it was like reading a suspense, thriller novel, everything was so intriguing to him.

The firsts pages of the file were about the night the murder had taken place, as it said, it was a quiet summer night, the Vayne’s were at home and all of the sudden something has snapped up in his wife, the investigators wrote that they were probably arguing about something in the kitchen, when Y/N Vayne suddenly decided that she had enough. Took one of the expensive chef knives that laid on the kitchen island and cut her husband’s throat.

Caleb moved onto the next pages, there were pictures of the crime scene, it was kinda like what the stories around the fleet were told, Davian was on the floor, his throat had been cut so deep that you could see the muscles tore open, the floor was so covered in blood that it was like if someone had moped it with a bucket full of blood.

Caleb was desensitized of watching this types of scenes, no one with a high position on the fleet wasn’t accustomed to this sort of stuff, you had to handle the hard situations, so he didn’t even flinch at the images.

The next few pages were images of Mrs. Vayne’s body, she had apparently been tryin to end her life too, there were cuts made by herself all over her body, her arms, legs, neck, stomach, almost everywhere. She wasn’t successful in her attempts of course but Caleb thought that that was a strange way of trying to kill yourself.

He continued reading the file.

After the colonel’s autopsy, there were physical and psychiatric tests that were conducted on his wife.

The doctors wrote that she refused to talk to anyone for almost a week, it was like she was in some kind of mental lockdown, almost like she refused to believe that this was her new reality. That she had killed her husband.

They had her arrested on the hospital, hands cuffed into the bed, but somehow when she was not being watched she broke free from the restraints and began hurting herself again, when the officers, nurses and doctors entered the room, she was again covered in blood, she was on a frenzy, she had a deep wound in the back of her neck, arms and legs, she had also bitten herself really hard, they searched the room, looking for whatever weapon she had used to do that to herself, but they found nothing.

After that incident she calmed down, it seemed like she had just waken up from a long dream or a coma, or so they thought because now, when she started to speak again, she began talking about how someone had been tracking her down, someone had been following her and watching her, and she also said that someone had implanted a chip on her body, and against her will, they made her kill her husband.

She had no full memory of the night it actually happened, only flashes of memories, she couldn’t explain what had driven her so numb or mad that she murdered her husband so brutally, but she kept repeating that this was not entirely her fault. That they needed to investigate further, that they needed to find out who had done that to her to find out who the real culprit was, but there was no evidence to back up any of those allegations. It was all her doing. And she was saying that only to escape the sentence.

Caleb had to read that again, She said someone had been watching her, put a chip on her body and were controlling her actions. Whoever did that to her, made her kill the colonel, her husband.

A chip.

A controlling chip.

Caleb had to stop for a moment, analyzing the situation, this was why the General had told him that it might be related to the chip rumors happening now. It made him feel, amused, desperate, desperate to know the truth, eager, excited, almost.

He didn’t like not having the full story but…He liked challenges, they were too…enticing. And mysteries, he liked those, and Y/N Vayne was buried in mystery so deep that he wanted to dig her up.

The rest of the file were the prosecutors notes, the case they built against her, so that they could give her a sentence, thanks to the test ran by the psychiatrist’s they had decided to put her on a mental facility, she was obviously sick on her brain, she was out of her mind. She just talked nonsense, right? It was all nonsense? Now he wasn’t so sure.

He knew what he had to do first, to get to the bottom of this entire situation.

He had to talk to her.