• Chapter 1

    "Hidariude, Kichiku, Renzokuken." the voice came from nowhere in particular, purposely disconnecting the soldiers from their commanding officer, "You three have been chosen for this mission because you are our elite, the best of the best, the three most successful members of our program. Not only are you the stongest, fastest, and most able bodied soldiers ever known to humanity, but you are also the most reliable. You three must complete this mission flawlessly and leave no trace. Your target is a commune. They will appear peaceful, but do not be fooled. Among their numbers are former 7th Moon personnel. We do not know what technology and secrets they may have taken with them, but we have reason to believe that they have converted the members of the commune into a militia. If this militia is not stopped, it is believed that they may in fact become a threat to our company's mission. For our security, you must eliminate this threat. The coordinates have been preprogrammed into your shuttle. Board immediately, the auto-pilot will take you where you need to go, eliminate everyone and return."

    The three boarded their space shuttle and it ejected into space. 7th Moon didn't get it's name for nothing, it was the seventh satellite colony in Earth's orbit. When it was found that it was all but impossible for life to survive on any other planet in the solar system due to the proximity to the sun or lack thereof, focus was placed on colonizing the moon and artificial satellites sharing it's orbit. The most successful colony was 7th Moon, sponsored, owned and operated by a conglomerate of biotech and cybernetics companies. Structured use of their technology led to a terraforming project that made it arguably better than Earth. Now the security of this postmodern marvel lay in the hands of three soldiers who owed their very existence to the artificial world.

    Upon arrival on Earth they immediatley went to work killing everyone in sight and destroying all property. Kichiku was responsible for leveling buildings and using debris to destroy ther fields. His muscles had been infused with genes from the hercules beetle so that every fiber was proportionately stronger and his anatomy was rearranged with grizzly bear DNA to maximize his muscle mass. His strength made him the perfect wrecking machine. Renzokuken was the gunner, the eyes of a hawk for perfect aim, the nervous reflexes of a snapping turtle, and the muscles of a woodpecker to handle the recoil, all making him deadly with a gun. He could easily take out each person without wasting a single bullet on a miss or even a non-lethal shot. Hidariude was responsible for clean up. His body had originally been made to be an ideal human, using only DNA from the best humans. However, an anomaly caused him to be missing his left arm. He was salvaged by the cybernetics division with a cybernetic arm powered by a somatic mutation from electric eel DNA. The arm contained retractable blades that could slice up anything that his partners missed.

    "Think we got everything?" Renzokuken asked.

    Hidariude listened for any voices, all he heard was the wind. "I think that's all."

    "Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to burn what's left. I'll go to the far end of the compound and see if I can outrun the fire back to the shuttle. You two go on back." Renzokuken left his partners.

    Kichiku had not said a word.

    Hidariude tried to get a response from him, "Not bad for our first mission, huh?"

    Kichiku remained silent.

    Suddenly the silence was broken by a movement in what remained of a house destroyed by Kichiku. A small child was crawling out of a cellar. He could not see Kichiku and Hidariude behind what remained of a wall. In his quiet little voice he whimpered, "Mama? Papa? Where are you?" He crawled over to a fresh corpse and nudged it. "Papa... wake up papa... papa? WAKE UP!"

    Kichiku slowly walked over to the crying child. He reached out to embrace the child in a hug. As a tear slid down the surprisingly gentle giant's face he whispered, "I'm...I'm sorry."

    Renzokuken returned at this point. "What's going on? Did I miss one?" He drew his gun.

    Hidariude grabbed Renzokuken's gun hand. "Are you mad?"

    "What? It's not like I'd actually hit Kichiku. I have perfect aim. Even as huge a target as he is I can still shoot around him and kill the kid without even grazing the big guy."

    Kichiku turned to face Renzokuken, "You won't kill this one. No more. Why are we even doing this? In all these buildings I have found no weapons. These people are innocent."

    "Do you know for sure they are innocent or is that just what you want to believe? What else is being kept hidden like the kid? We can't risk the security of 7th Moon on any survivors! We have orders and we can't ignore them!"

    “I don't know what to to believe anymore, but I know this child is no threat to 7th Moon. His parents blood is on our hands, that is enough, more than enough, this ends now.”

    The fire Renzokuken had set crept up on them. Kichiku grabbed the child and ran.

    Hidariude tried to chase after them, but they disappeared behind the flames. Hidariude felt something grip his leg. The child's father was reaching out, he wasn't quite dead. He was holding some small device, and with his last breath he whispered, "Take this."

    Renzokuken screamed at Hidariude, "They got away! This is on your head when we report back to headquarters!" They boarded the shuttle and lifted off.

    While Renzokuken stewed in the front of the shuttle, Hidariude sat in the back and just stared at the empty spot where Kichiku had been on the first trip. All he could think of was Kichiku's forbidden question, the question no soldier was ever supposed to ask...

    "Why?"