Chapter Text
Marcellus
Marcellus stood at attention, waiting patiently for acknowledgment, though his blood was near boiling internally.
“At ease.” General Hayes glanced up at him, eyes narrowed, “This better be important, Sergeant. I have enough on my plate.”
“It is,” Marcellus said coolly. He couldn’t let his emotions show in his face, voice, or scent. He had to look unaffected, “It’s about the upcoming mission-.”
“Not this shit again,” General Hayes said sternly, “For the last time, I am not letting you off planet. It’s against code.”
“Not officially,” Marcellus said, already prepared for the resistance. “It’s simply a recommendation. It would be illegal to make it against code.”
General Hayes sneered, “Right. And I’d bet you feel smug with all your special accommodations, am I right?” He stood up and rounded his desk. Marcellus could feel his anger, thick and noxious in the air. A displeased alpha, staring him down, towering over him. At least, it felt that way. Truthfully, Marcellus was tall for an omega at 6’1”, and General Hayes wasn’t much bigger. His presence, however, in all of his fury, made him feel massive. Marcellus knew better than to flinch, he kept his eyes trained on Hayes’, nearly a challenge. “Don’t forget that I am an alpha as well as your superior, you don’t give me orders.”
“I wasn’t giving orders,” Marcellus said, “I simply wanted to point out a potential issue.”
“Issue…” General Hayes scoffed.
“You want to take Private Andrews,” Marcellus shook his head, “He’s a good medic, but he’s green. He doesn’t have a quarter of my experience or education. This is a highly sensitive mission and he isn’t ready.”
“You’ve never been off-planet,” General Hayes pointed out, “He has.”
“On a day trip as part of his training,” Marcellus tried to avoid any tightening in his expression. It would be seen as him being overly sensitive, “He hasn’t seen combat yet. This is a special forces operation, I am a special forces medical sergeant. I’m the best option left with Major Harkeeves out on duty.”
General Hayes sighed, “You are an omega, Marcellus. According to the rest of the galaxy, there’s no such thing as a human omega. I know you understand how important it is for that perception to stay where it is. If word were to get out, it would make us look weak. It would make all of the omegas of Earth targets.”
When he says it like that, it makes it seem as though any of them give a shit about the omegas of Earth. Meanwhile, most of my kind are lucky not to end up homeless, prostituted, or dead. “I know that,” Marcellus responded coolly, “But I was able to enlist for a reason.”
“Ah, right-,” General Hayes went back to his chair and sank into it with a weary sigh, “You’re barren.”
Marcellus nodded, used to the cold word being used to describe him. “I am. I have a genetic anomaly that keeps me from having heats and makes me incapable of pregnancy.”
Like many of the non-omega population tended to, General Hayes screwed up his face in unconscious disgust at the idea of Marcellus having a pregnancy. Apparently, it was disgusting and immoral because omegas were inherently sexual beings or something, Marcellus never cared to unpack the ridiculous biases of the general population.
“Point being, I have no traits that can positively identify me as an omega.”
“Assuming you wear scent patches,” General Hayes tacked on.
“...Yes, and I always do,” Marcellus said calmly. “I wouldn’t have made it this far if I couldn’t maintain that.”
General Hayes paused consideringly, “You really don’t think Private Andrews can handle it.”
“It’s a bad time to test his readiness,” Marcellus replied. “We need to bring our men home.”
General Hayes slowly nodded, “Alright then. In this case, and this case only, I will allow it. If you do anything to distract the team or behave inappropriately, you will face severe consequences. Being an omega is no excuse.”
Marcellus’s teeth ground together furiously as he nodded in acknowledgement, “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
The ship was just like all the ones Marcellus had read about. It was massive, the size of a small building with artificial gravity activated on every floor. It was all sleek silver and white with massive digital displays everywhere for climate controls, lighting, or communication. Marcellus had spent many years as a teenager and young adult dreaming about living and working on a ship like this one, traveling across the stars and meeting aliens of every kind. But he knew better than to appear starstruck or show too much affinity for any alien species. After all, humans treated most aliens with a healthy dose of caution and as an omega in the military it was ‘suspicious’ to do otherwise.
Marcellus threw his travel bag into his bunk, the only solo bunk on the ship, and went into the communal area for a quick meal.
Most of the soldiers were already eating, so the line was pretty short and the food available was simple rice and some kind of ‘nutrient-rich’ sauce. Marcellus had long decided not to question what it contained for sanity’s sake.
“Nothing else back there? A rack of ribs maybe?” Theo asked the cook petulantly as he was handed his plate.
The cook raised an eyebrow, “You’ve got your food, sit your ass down already. Next!”
Marcellus offered a nod of acknowledgment to the cook that wasn’t returned as he took his plate and searched for an empty seat. In the back, there was an unoccupied table, which he was quick to take, hyper-aware of all of the eyes on him as he went. The only omega on the ship, the freak. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to.
“Sergeant,” Petra greeted him, sliding into the bench across from him just as soon as he’d sat down.
“Petra,” Marcellus offered her a smile.
“Finally getting an off-planet mission, huh?” Petra grinned, “About damn time!”
“I was just the best option this time,” Marcellus said.
“Just let me know if anyone fucks with you, alright?”
Marcellus had to resist getting irritated over her concern. It was valid, they went through basic together and she had seen first hand the level of harassment that was possible simply because of his omega status. Women weren’t typically treated with respect in the military either, but they were marginally more accepted and vastly preferred over omegas. “I can handle myself,” he said, smiling to soften the words, “But I appreciate it.”
“Yeah yeah,” Petra sighed, picking at her food, “Fuck, I hope our guys are alright.”
“The beacon Sergeant Major Beaker put out seemed to indicate that the team was alive,” Marcellus said, frowning, “But they’ve been stuck on that planet for three months, so who knows what they’ve endured.”
Petra’s expression darkened, “All that arguing back and forth about whether it was even worth it to rescue them cost a lot of time.”
Marcellus grunted in agreement.
Petra scooped up some rice and sauce and let it drop back onto her plate, “All I know is that I’m looking forward to putting a bullet through some of those creepy anteater bastards.”
“It’s bad form to call other species creepy,” Marcellus said, more out of habit than anything.
Petra narrowed her eyes, “What, you defending those things?”
Marcellus shrugged, “The Uari aren’t usually particularly violent; they are generally friendly enough with humans. Perhaps it’s a cultural difference from the central community. It seems these particular Uari settled on that planet several decades ago and haven’t been spacefaring since then. They have shorter lifespans than us, so they might have even forgotten about humans and intergalactic travel entirely.”
“So, what, that gives them the right to take our people prisoner? It was just supposed to be a regular diplomacy meeting.” She said sharply.
“I didn’t say that,” Marcellus replied, “I am only speculating as to what might have caused a difference in behavior from the usual Uari. Regardless of reason, they need to be brought to justice.”
Petra relaxed, “On that we agree.”
Captain Clark was a sharp sort of man, and he addressed the team with a stern, no-nonsense demeanor. He pointed to the large screen at the front of the room, it showed a 3D representation of a 4-story building with some rooms illuminated and others obscured in darkness. Each was labeled with a best guess at their use. “This is the layout of the enemy’s camp. It was sent with Sergeant Major Beaker’s transmission. It has been added to the ship’s information deck, so I expect all of you to study it extensively on our way to the planet, but I will give an overview now.” Captain Clark went on to describe the different entrances and the guards stationed in each section of the building. Then, he tapped the screen to continue on.
The screen was now showing aerial views of what was presumably the same building, surrounded by a few towers, walls, and then forests beyond those walls. “These are scans that our satellites were able to pick up from the planet’s surface, if you look here,” he highlighted an open space several miles away from the building, “There’s enough space for us to land. Once we are on the surface, our top priority is to remain undetected until we reach the prisoners. Sergeant Pine will do any necessary immediate medical care while we take care of any straggling enemy combatants,” he nodded in Marcellus’s direction, gaining Marcellus a few dirty looks. Captain Clark hardly seemed to notice, continuing on, “According to Sergeant Major Beaker, this base has relatively few staff and should be easy to clear out. After that, we will head back to ship and be in Intergalactic space before any of the other bases take notice.”
From there, Captain Clark went over the plan piece by piece, while Marcellus primarily focused on the profiles of the known prisoners. Three armed guards, a linguist, a negotiator, and a highly skilled trader. It was a small crew, certainly not intended for hostile engagement. Marcellus memorized their information: blood types, allergies, previous conditions, and anything else that could be important to their care. He didn’t stop there, he also put in research into all of the medically significant flora and fauna of the planet, in case something went wrong with his supplies. He would prove that he was the right choice for this mission.
The planet was smaller than Earth, and mostly covered in trees. There were a few Uari bases there, located near sources of freshwater, but other than that, life on the planet was limited. It seemed to be mostly plant and insect life, which worked well enough for them since those were the primary food sources of the Uari anyway.
They landed, silent and partially cloaked, on the surface of the planet in the dead of night. Captain Clark approached Marcellus while he was double-checking his supplies to ensure he had what he might need for their comrades’ care.
“Sergeant Pine,” Captain Clark greeted him.
Marcellus stood at attention, “Sir!”
“At ease,” Captain Clark nodded approvingly.
Marcellus relaxed, though he wondered what the Captain might have to say to him. They had never interacted before, so he wasn’t sure how strict the man was or what his views were on omegas.
“General Hayes said you were the best,” Captain Clark remarked.
Marcellus barely avoided raising both eyebrows in surprise. “Did he?”
“Yes, is that accurate?”
“It is,” Marcellus said.
“But you didn’t expect him to say it.”
“I am an omega,” Marcellus said simply.
“I expect you aren’t often offered appreciation for your skill,” Captain Clark said cautiously.
“That is true, but who among us is?”
Captain Clark smiled, just the slightest wisp of one, “True. I wanted to tell you to let me know if you have any trouble. Your role is going to be crucial, so if you need anything, like putting some of these guys in line-.”
“I can handle it,” Marcellus said, immediately bristling at the notion that he’d need to be hand-held by the Captain. “I- thank you for the offer, but I can do my job. And I’ve dealt with difficult teammates before.” He went quiet to avoid sounding too defensive.
Luckily, Captain Clark didn’t seem irritated, “Sure. Just wanted to offer. We’ll be moving out in 10.”
The trek through the forest that night was long and grueling. They were equipped with night-vision goggles over their faces and heavy packs that seemed to get heavier with each step. Marcellus had little trouble, he was religious about staying in good condition, he couldn’t afford to fall behind or be seen as weak, but some of the others started to slow as the sun rose.
Right as sunlight broke over the treetops, the Uari compound came into view. Their snipers climbed nearby trees, getting good angles to take out the tower guards. There were only two towers, they clearly weren’t expecting company, and the Earth Coalition soldiers breached the compound in under 10 minutes.
Just inside, Captain Clark made the signal for them to split up. Marcellus was meant to go with a small team on the least-traveled path to find the prisoners. The rest of the force intended to clear out the compound completely. Uari were nocturnal, so most of those inside were asleep and Captain Clark was taking their main force to incapacitate them.
Marcellus knew the way to the prisoners’ cells by heart, so he took point with his hand phaser drawn. They had silencers on every weapon, a big part of the mission relied on stealth until the last moment. There weren’t many guards there, but if backup was called from one of the other compounds, it could get messy quickly.
An Uari soldier rounded the corner, pausing as he took in the force of humans before him. He was tall, definitely larger than the average human (most Uari were), with dark grey skin and hoofed feet. His hands were three-fingered and held an Uari-crafted phaser which were decent, though they weren’t as good as human-made. He was hairless, featherless, and scaleless with eye stalks that could rotate 270 degrees and a long pointed protrusion that housed his nose and mouth at the end like an anteater. They were odd-looking by most human standards, though Marcellus personally always thought the Uari were rather cute. He didn’t let that opinion stop him from firing a round into the Uari’s head, knowing to aim further down to hit his brain compared to where it would lay on a human.
In the half second between eye contact and shooting, Marcellus felt the briefest regret he always did at taking a life.
And then they moved on.
After the next 4 Uari guards were taken out, Marcellus’s team came across the prisoners’ cells. There were only five prisoners, split into three cells. Marcellus took a key card they had swiped from one of the guards and used it to open all of the cells, quickly coming in to assess his patients. They were all conscious, though they were clearly malnourished and completely naked with their wrists and ankles bound with electromagnetic shackles. Their skin was marked with burns and scrapes. They had likely been tortured. Marcellus quickly dressed wounds and used his electromagnetic stabilizer to release the shackles. They were all very disoriented, but he hoped he’d be able to ask the question niggling at him. Marcellus directed his team to start transporting the patients he’d already treated, he expanded the transportable stretchers from his bag and they were each carefully lifted and deposited on them, letting the anti-gravity tech carefully float them down the hall with the soldiers’ guidance.
“Mr. Eckley,” Marcellus walked beside the most coherent of the prisoners. The linguist.
Mr. Eckley frowned, clearly trying to focus, “Yes?”
“Where is Sergeant Major Beaker?”
Mr. Eckley blinked, “He- he’s dead.”
“Are you sure? Did you see him die?”
“I-, yes. It was a few days ago,” Mr. Eckley sniffed, tears springing to his eyes, “It happened right in there.”
Marcellus nodded, “Okay, Mr. Eckley, I’m sorry for asking you about that. We’re going to get you back planetside in no time, alright?”
Mr. Eckley nodded, closing his eyes as though he wished to transport there with a thought.
“Sergeant Pine,” Captain Clark said, suddenly emerging from another hallway as they headed towards the exit.
“Sir?” Marcellus gestured for someone else to steer Mr. Eckley’s stretcher, and within moments, the soldiers and his patients were gone.
“We took over the control room and it seems like they’re having some kind of transmission come in. You speak Uari, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Marcellus said, resisting the urge to correct him on the language being called ‘Aarian’.
“Alright, come on, we might need you to translate.”
The control room was marked with the bodies of dead Uari. Marcellus stepped over one to enter and immediately, he started to translate the chatter coming in from the speakers.
“They’re saying…” Marcellus’s heart dropped, “Another Uari ship is landing, right now. In the courtyard.”
“Shit,” Captain Clark snarled, “How long do we have?”
“Less than 5 minutes, they’re already deplaning,” Marcellus sat at one of the control chairs, taking a microphone in hand. He glanced back at Captain Clark, “Our people are in the east wing, right?”
“Yes-.”
“Have them head towards exit 3, I’ll guide the Uari to the west wing to buy time.”
“If you do that, you could get stuck here,” Captain Clark said, frowning.
“If I don’t, our guys are going to be found and the Uari won’t be friendly.”
It was a split second kind of decision. Captain Clark seemed used to those, because he hardly hesitated, “Fuck, fine, go for it. I’ll let you know when we’re clear. Come on!” He gestured to the other soldiers and they filed out, leaving Marcellus to grab the microphone and start responding to the chatter.
“We have intruders! ” Marcellus tried to sound frantic, “They’re heading towards the west wing! ”
“What!? What kind of intruders? ”
“Human! ” Marcellus said, “Human soldiers! ”
“How many? ”
Marcellus hesitated, “Unclear, at least 30 . All in the west wing so far. I am barricaded in the control room for now, but they haven’t bothered to enter here.”
“Very well, we will intercept them.”
Marcellus kept up a constant back and forth as he tracked the incoming Uari on the command room cameras. Then, the radio on his hip blared, “Sergeant Pine, we’re out, get out of there!”
Marcellus jumped up from the command chair as he watched the Uari starting towards his hallway.
“What is your name? ” came on over the speakers.
Marcellus didn’t bother answering, he booked his way out of the command room, shouting into his radio, “I’m going now, Captain!”
“Hurry.”
Marcellus pushed his legs harder, sprinting through monotonous hallways at breakneck speed. He was a few corridors away from the exit when rapid footsteps made him stop suddenly, skidding on the floor for a second as he backed up to press hard against the wall. Several Uari ran past, just a hallway down from him. They’re already here . Marcellus didn’t let panic take over, he simply turned to take an alternate route, only to stop not too long after when more Uari passed him. All the while, he could hear their hissing anger. They were furious over the deaths of their comrades. And they were closing in.
Marcellus dashed into a side room, closing the door quietly and trying to think of a plan, a method to get out. His mind was blank of ideas, there wasn’t much he could do, not now. He lifted his radio, “I’m surrounded. I don’t think I can make it out. Destroying my tech now.” Marcellus’s phaser was still on silent and he laid out his radio, shot it, then took out a tool to destroy his phaser as well. He hesitated.
The radio was one thing, it could potentially allow their enemies to trace his people. But the phaser could be useful if he intended to fight his way out. The question was, did he? Marcellus knew there were too many to kill with his phaser and get out alive. And if his weapon was still intact, it could be reverse engineered and used against humanity. Besides that fact, Marcellus didn’t want to kill if there was no point or survival expected. He quickly disassembled his phaser and stomped on the pieces as he heard steps rounding the hallway outside.
Marcellus breathed in deeply and lifted his fists. For all that he may have given up his weapons, he refused to go down without a fight.
Marcellus woke in a cell, but it was unlike the ones he had freed his patients from. He groaned, bruises from his final, desperate scuffle with the Uari twinged and pulled. He was lucky to avoid any broken bones; though he winced when he realized he had been left completely naked. When he looked around the room, it was darker than he had come to expect from the Uari compound. He could hardly see anything, though he could feel that his wrists and ankles were bound in electromagnetic shackles. He stood on shaky feet and felt that the ground underneath him was made of loose dirt and rocks. It shifted with his weight as he limped towards the light filtering faintly through the bars at the front of the cage. Slowly, he adjusted to the dark. It was a relatively small cell, probably only 7 by 7 feet, and the bars were made of rough metal. The bars were thick, but Marcellus could tell from touching them they were rusted. Squinting beyond them, it seemed clear that the cell was in some kind of cave system, possibly to avoid a second rescue mission.
Marcellus’s inspection was cut short by a quiet shuffling sound. Marcellus froze, the sound was coming from… above . Marcellus turned and looked up, eyes locking on two figures obscured in shadow clinging to the ceiling of the cell. Two sets of luminescent eyes returned his gaze.
Then, both of the figures dropped down onto the floor of the cage. They were massive, completely contradicting how easily they managed to stay hidden right above Marcellus’s head. Each was easily seven or eight feet in height and they were an alien species that Marcellus had never encountered before in any of his studies. They were both feathered and the smaller of the two was brightly colored with deep blue and purple spotted feathers and a massive mane of smaller feathers that seemed puffed up in a show of some emotion that Marcellus didn’t know enough to interpret. This one had silvery-green pupils that seemed to shimmer in the dark, and an all black sclera. The other had nearly all black feathers with golden eyes and a much less obvious mane.
Marcellus assumed they were male, but it was difficult to tell when they had no clear genitalia. Besides, many alien species had vastly different concepts of gender when compared to humans. Perhaps they only have cloaca or something along those lines. Both of them were otherwise relatively humanoid, upright walkers with two legs and a human-ish head. The notable differences came with their nose-less faces, the feathers that came off their arms to look a bit like wings, and the talons on their hands and feet. Though their feet were very different from a human’s, they had the Anisodactyl feet of an Earth bird, aside from the fact they were massive and appeared much sturdier.
The silver-eyed bird man’s feathers settled slowly, and he let out a series of beeps and chirps that Marcellus was completely unable to parse. Each sound prompted a parting of lips and gave a flash of bright white fangs that appeared serrated and could certainly grind meat into paste. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand your language,” Marcellus said cautiously.
The gold-eyed bird man seemed to jump at the sound of Marcellus’s voice. He stepped a little closer and mimicked Marcellus, eerily similarly, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand your language.”
Both bird men tilted their heads, clearly waiting for Marcellus to react.