The North PacificBoard

Josef Magyar had enjoyed several months of calm and satisfaction. It had been just a constant chain of symbolic gestures and paperwork. Reviewing and summarizing constabulary reports, approving new protocols and abolishing others. Attending the christening of the new heavy cruisers and inspecting the delicate bureaucracy of the military bases. All of this was repetitive, but it was not exactly bothersome. But as he closed the zipper of his plastic hazmat suit, he knew those days were going away for a while. He was in company of Eberhard Mann, who had become the chief scientist of Division C. What had happened to the previous one was not something he concerned himself with. The two of them were sprayed with chemical disinfectant as they crossed the airlock into a large, cavernous room whose walls were lined with titanium-clad tanks and tangled with tubes, cables and valves. Various terminals on the tanks displayed things like temperature and concentration of solution, as well as other technobabble he did not cared for.

"All right, Mr. Mann. I understand there is a reason for us being here?".

Mann nodded and pointed him to one of the tanks.

"Correct. Months ago, we were failing in how to preserve H. fati colonies in such a manner that they could be used for their, ehm, viciousness without them either dying away or becoming uncontrollable...and then dying. However, due to a rather lucky mistake, we have found an algae, later identified as the common Nordhafener algae, that establishes a sort of long-term symbiosis with H. fati that renders it in an active state without causing a frenzy, but also not in its weakened, inactive state. After several tries, we managed to discover the correct proportion of algae to H. fati cells in order to elongate the lifespan of the colonies.

As he had said that, the terminals of the tanks turned red one by one, emitting a short beep. Magyar, for a moment, felt afrid of what that meant, but he noticed Mann did not seem concerned.

"And with that, the last batch of iterations has died after about two months"
"Two months?" Magyar asked.
"Yes. Originally, H. fati colonies usually died in about 12 hours. But with our current solutions incorporating the algae, we are able to keep them in an usable, semi-active state for much longer".
"What about that one?" Magyar said, pointing to a still-green screen.

Mann seemed surprised and approached the tank. After several minutes inspecting the screen, he turned around with a smile

"This tank it's Iteration E. It not only remains stable, it has very good indexes of survival. This Iteration seems capable of remaining active for at least another week".

While Magyar was interested, that was not what he cared for. The program was costing dearly to the state, and they could not semi-fund it with the laundered money from the Southern Hemisphere forever.

"Doctor Mann, while I appreciate all this science around, I am the Head Executive of Security and Defense, and this program interests me simply because it has defense potential. Divisions A and B have already turned in full-in reports confirming the completion of their purpose. What does Division C has to tell me about their success?".

Mann remained there, just observing Magyar for a while. Then, he gestured around.

"What all of these tanks means, Mr. Magyar, is that we have managed to keep alive a tissue-devouring pathogenic bacterium that should have gone extinct 50 million of years ago but we have managed to keep alive for the Defense Forces use. What Division C has to tell you, is that we can give you various litters of Iteration E solution so you can load them into a warhead and condemn a few poor souls to a very painful experience. If you brought with you an empty warhead, we could fit you a H. fati warhead in less than 6 hours".

Magyar opened his eyes. And then smiled.

"Very good. Because there is a ship by the name of NVS Corsair that is waiting for you to ready their special munition".
Magyar concluded.