Death Before Dawn (Image from Era: The Consortium – Revival)

“At 2:30 this morning, Cutlass unit was compromised.” Commander Nihil’s words, given through a video feed, to a Resistance debriefing room shocked the gathered members.

“What?”

“How did this happen?”

“That’s impossible!”

“The members of Cutlass unit had been deep undercover for the past three months infiltrating a high level Smertios Security research vessel.” Murmuring from the group made it obvious not everyone was aware of Cutlass unit’s orders.

“There were signs in the last 72 hours that something was happening off plan.” The commander was interrupted by a flurry of indignation.

“Then why didn’t you take them out?”

“That’s reckless!”

“What happened?”

“Before all communication with Cutlass unit ended, we received one final transmission from Captain Madison.” The commander’s face faded and a grainy video of Madison, leaning in close to a recording device in a dark room, filled the communication display.

“They’re gone. They’re all gone. They picked us off one by one just after midnight.” The captain turned to look behind him and dropped his voice. His eyes were wide and they roved all around the dark room. “I’ve checked, there’s no one left. It’s just me.There’s nothing more that I can tell you but it’s clear now that they knew all along. They knew who we were… they knew from the very beginning…” There was a loud noise from the back of the room and a scuffle. A hand reached in front of the camera. Static, then nothing.

The debriefing room was silent. The commander came back on the screen

“I didn’t bring you all here to tell you that Cutlass unit was destroyed.” The commander’s face was grim. “I brought you here because we believe one of you set them up.”