Page 60 of Alien Mercenary's Wife
Mason leaned forward, her expression grim. "The fuckers aren't just attacking us anymore… they're going after our fucking credibility."
Reese frowned, sitting up straighter. "Meaning?"
"The batch numbers," Hughes said, with a sigh of defeat.
Ice formed in Reese's stomach. "What about them?"
"They're gone," Mason said flatly. "Disappeared from the military records overnight. No trace they ever existed."
For a moment, Reese's brain froze. Their whole case was screwed without those numbers.
"How is that possible?"
"We must've rattled the cage of someone with very high clearance," Mason replied, bite in her voice. "The kind of someone who can rewrite military procurement records without leaving fingerprints. I… don't even know what level of security clearance that would need."
Hughes rubbed his face with trembling hands. "It gets worse, Captain. They're not just denying the batch numbers existed… they're claiming we never received military implants at all."
"What?"
"According to the revised records," Mason continued, pulling up documents and sharing them on the screen, "our neural interface units were black market purchases made by individual soldiers who wanted 'performance enhancements beyond standard military issue'."
"What the fuck?"
Reese stared at the documents. "So they're saying we bought defective implants illegally?"
Mason nodded. "That's about the size of it, captain."
Reese shook her head, trying to wrap her head around it. "So… So how the fuck were we supposed to operate our suits, if they didn't give us implants? Scorperios require a direct interface with the pilot's nervous system. Everyone knows that."
Not only did everyone know that, but it was the main selling point of the Scoperio program when it launched. With a direct interface to the suit, training time was significantly reduced. It meant that they could field Scorperio units at the rate it took a soldier to heal from the surgery… far less time than it took to train a pilot to use the tank units before.
"Exactly." Mason's smile held nothing to do with amusement. "But… No military procurement means no government liability. No Nexus Dynamics contract means no corporate responsibility. As far as they're concerned, as far as the courts are concerned, we're just a bunch of veterans who made bad decisions and are now trying to game the system for compensation."
"Fucking hell." Reese almost dropped her coffee cup on the desk by the console. "How many people bought this bullshit?"
"Enough," Hughes said, almost hunched in on himself. "The judge reviewing our motion accepted their argument. Apparently, it's not unheard of for soldiers to seek unofficial enhancement technology."
"Unofficial enhancement technology," Reese repeated the words with disgust. "Fuck's sake. Is that what they're calling it?"
"It gets better," Mason growled. "They've produced documentation showing that several veterans in similar lawsuits had previously been disciplined for unauthorized equipment modifications. Makes it look like we're part of a pattern of soldiers who ignored regulations and are now facing the consequences."
Reese closed her eyes for a moment.Shit. It was a perfect setup job. Turned them from victims into criminals.
"How many of those disciplinary actions are real?" she asked, sitting up.
"No idea." Mason's expression hardened. "But I'd assume they're about as genuine as our black market procurement records."
"So what's our next move?"
Hughes shifted uncomfortably on screen. "That's where things get complicated, Captain. Our lawyers are reconsidering their involvement."
"Reconsideringhow?"
"They've dropped us," Mason said bluntly. "Cited concerns about representing clients who may have engaged in illegal procurement activities. Apparently, their reputation couldn't survive being associated with our case."
And there went their last hope. They had no lawyers, no evidence… nothing.
"Fuck." The word escaped before Reese could stop it.
