Three cycles of this planets orbit have passed since that day. Awards and commendations were given to the crew. Fresh and experienced staff were relocated to the system. Those of the building stratum had erected a permanent facility on the dark side of the planet’s massive, tidally locked moon. I was appointed as one of the four Lead Directors of this Initiative, one representing each stratum stationed on site. I was representing the Scholar Stratum, F’Kath was there for the Engineering Stratum, D’Nith was there as the Head Diplomat and G’Rosh was the Military commander of the Cohort stationed on site. G’Rosh and I got along rather well, myself being a veteran of the Jibel insurrection several years prior, and chatted as we walked to the meeting room.

“About time the menials finished this base.”

“You and I both know how tiresome the bureaucracy of the builder stratum are, I just glad we can finally begin our investigation.”

“Indeed, I can’t say I’m not worried though. From our preliminary observations these being are the farthest thing from unified. From a technological standpoint, they are far too young. Nearly the entire species is dedicated to agriculture while only select individuals are put into more meaningful pursuits.”

“You are right about that. But can you believe their numbers? Estimates put them at over 300,000,000 individuals. At this stage in our own history we had only a dozen million or so.”

“I’d chalk that up to high birthrates rather than anything meaningful H’Sash. They are so fragile. Whether it is sickness, battle or their own ineptitude the ways in which they die are baffling. Not to mention their lifespan is only an eighth of our own.”

The conversation halted as we approached the entryway of the meeting room. D’Nith and F’Kath were already chatting over a glass of Grion Oil and beckoned us over, extra glasses in hand. D’Nith ever the diplomat raised his glass. The room was filled with important officers from each stratum who attentively waited for D’Nith to speak.

“Well my friends. Now we can begin our greatest endeavor. Our names, as well as the names of everyone on this base will be placed upon the highest reverence in our archives. Let’s try to make the tale an adventure and not a tragedy, hm?” Our quills rustled in amusement at the jest. “Let us make our people proud! GAL’VROST!” an echoing of toasts rang out and after a pause to drink the room cheered. Finally, we could begin our work.

The Scholar stratum was stationed in the largest portion of the complex. Laboratories, medical bays, specimen holding rooms, equipment so new there wasn’t even a smudge to muddle the reflective sheen. My mood however was dower, for I had to oversee a most unsavory task. I was to abduct at a minimum three subjects for testing and medical study. In simpler terms, kidnapping. Certainly not the greatest impression we could give to these people, however, without proper data and preliminary medical and safety screenings who knows what pathogens and diseases they could be carrying. The risk for open communication was too great, so the call was made.

The automatic door sliding open momentarily startled me as the ethics of this task plagued my mind.

“Dawning Director H’Sash” My female assistant flush blue with excitement greeted me

“Dawning V’Roth. Any developments?”

“Nothing of note, the list of potential subjects has been sent to you Personal Device.”

“Thank you V’Roth.”

“Don’t be so down sir, we are just following protocol. We won’t harm them.”

“I hope you’re right.” I flicked through what could only be called a target list until one tab caught my eye.

“Show me group 3298 Please.”

A younger male nodded nervously “At once director.” Barely passed his thirtieth cycle by the thinness of his quills. Good for him, we all must begin at some point.

“On Monitor 1 Director.”

“Thank you.”

“Subject 3298-1, Male, is currently performing agricultural labor while Subject 3298-2, Female, is attending to Subject 3298-3, Male, inside of the domicile.”

“Interesting. Any thoughts from all of you as to why this species might live this way?”

A timid silence fell over the room but was eventually broken by another young researcher. “Perhaps this is some sort of tradition?”

“Ah a good guess, but this is deeper than that. For you see in our observation we’ve identified that this is known to these people as a ‘Family’ and can range widely from two individuals to tens of direct relatives. They do not use the commune system as we do, where our purpose is predetermined and our birth givers are irrelevant. You can also say this is necessary for individuals require far more time in adolescence than our people so parentage and child rearing is generally very important in every culture globally. You see-“

“Director! Activity detected near the target location.” His tone denoted this was not something mundane.

“Have the nearest drone investigate.”

“It appears that a group of vessels have run aground nearby. Their crews are evacuating ashore. They are heavily armed.”

I tossed aside my Personal Device and grabbed the railing in front of me.

“Director?” V’Roth looked at me in both confusion and apprehension. I watched as the male stopped his labor and ran to his home to begin barring its entrance. We’d observed these kinds of raids for months now. Raiders descended from the North by ship and absconded with anything of value or use. Sometimes they burned what they could not steal.

“That settlement is being raided. This is an emergency. Abduct the subjects immediately or this chance will be lost.”

"Could we not simply pick another group Director?"

"The other groups are not connected in such a way and with this group we can learn more about cultural and societal norms than we could from unfamiliar individuals.

“Confirmed. Insertion Team: Immediate deployment. Retrieve tagged targets only.”

A short pause was followed by a crackle of static “Affirmative.”

“Get me a line to G’Rosh.” The hardened face of my friend flashed up on a side panel.

“H’Sash. What is it.”

“We’re going now. No time to explain, prep the chamber.”

“Right.” That was his best quality. No unnecessary questioning, no shock from new orders or change of tone, just cold calculated action when it was needed. A perfect warrior mindset some would say. I’d be inclined to agree.

The helm cams of the insertion team showed the interior metal plating of a dropship violently vibrating as it breached the atmosphere. The Units numbers were displayed on the bottom left of the screen. 01 through 06

“Deploy in 3…2…1…Begin” The drop-ship doors hissed open.

The genetically enhanced soldiers accelerated immediately towards the home and burst through one of the openings in the side. Almost immediately 03 was grappled and pinned to the floor, his arm bone audibly snapping as he howled in pain. The male was taken aback, no doubt expecting the barbarians and not G'Rosh's Shock team. He said something under his breath, made some sort of hand sign on his chest, then moved in between our team and his family. The male had an unnatural strength to him and it took 02 and 04 together to restrain him long enough for sedatives to be administered by 06. 01 and 05 apprehended the female with far more ease though it was still difficult to separate the female from her offspring even once unconscious, so they simply took them both together. Time was running short as several fires sprouted up from nearby homesteads. The raiders were almost upon them. 04 assisted 03 back onto the dropship while 06 dragged the male aboard with the help of 01. 05 managed to transport both the female and infant himself. 02 managed to take several items of particular interest from the home after the initial subduing.

“Targets secured. Camouflage reapplied. Returning to station.”

“Prepare the chambers immediately.” I was going to have a lot of work to do.