Narrator (0:00)

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Come forward. Don't be alarmed. It's Tanix, isn't it? Yeah, that's me. What's going on? You don't know who I am? All I know is that my commanding officer told me I had to come here. That I'd be meeting with someone. And here I am. Are you brass or something? Well, I can understand you thinking that, considering we're meeting inside a Millicom facility. But no, I'm not one of your superiors. Then who are you? What's this about? My name is Maria Argento. I'm a contractor who's currently working with Medlicon on some high level tech advancements. Making better soldiers, as we like to say. I came here to Docherton today for just one purpose. To talk with you Taniks. Why me? Are you sure you've never seen me before? Go on. Take a good look at my face. You're from the facility. The lab. Good. That's right. The facility. Icarus Station. I used to see you outside my cell sometimes. Standing there. Watching me. It's my job. To watch, to observe. At Icarus Station. And other places just like it. So you're a supervisor or something? An overseer, actually. They're doing great work. Icarus. You were lucky to end up there. Maybe you don't realize that yet, but. What do you want with me, Overseer? I'm here to observe, just like always. I'm here to see how you're adjusting to your new assignment. I've done everything they've asked. Passed every test they've thrown at me. Oh, I'm sure you have. You're quite a physical specimen. But I'm more concerned about the other side of the equation. What's going on inside that head of yours, Taniks? I don't know what you mean. Alright, let's go back a bit. How do you feel about your time at Icarus station? I don't really think about it much actually. Come on, you can be honest with me. Mostly all I remember is being scared and in pain. Lying there on the cell floor. It seemed to go on forever. But then one day I woke up and it didn't hurt anymore. Your body stopped rejecting the Augments? I guess so. And how did you feel after that? Resentful. That I'd been taken and thrown in a cell and experimented on. The counselors came and saw you though, afterwards. Did they help you to understand? They told me that I'd been given another chance. That this wasn't just an opportunity. It was an honor. And do you agree with them? I guess so. You don't agree with them at all, do you? Like I said, you can be honest with me, Taniks. I'm not sure what I think. Let's try another angle. What are the positives that have come out of this from your perspective? People can't push me around anymore. I'm stronger, more confident. Good. Anything else? That's it, mostly. What about the negatives? There's still pain sometimes. Here in my side. Are you in pain right now? Yeah. How long since your last dose? Three days. Nearly four. You have to be more disciplined than this, Tanix. You know that you need to keep up your supply, don't you? I don't like taking it around the rest of the squad. My skin, it I. I don't like others seeing it. Well, I don't mind seeing it. So lift up your shirt. Come on, hurry up. What are you doing? Luckily for you, I have a vial of serum right here. I'll see you get your dose myself. But do you even understand what causes the pain in your side, Tanix? No. The Augments in your system are in conflict. Constantly pushing and pulling in different directions. In essence, your body is tearing itself apart from the inside out. This serum is the only thing that can interrupt that process. It calms things down. Brings everything back into harmony. Do you hear what I'm telling you? Yeah. So if you don't take the serum regularly, that process is going to continue unabated. The end result is that you will die. A horrible, slow, painful death. I don't think either of us want that, do we? No, we don't want that. Then go ahead. Lift your shirt. There. That wasn't so bad, was it? Can I go now? No, you can't. You said it yourself. You're not part of Millicon. I don't take orders from you. You may wear the uniform, Tanix, but underneath that get up, the place where it really counts, you belong to me. I made you what you are. And then you sold me to Millicon. Yeah, I did. And that means my reputation is at stake. Your performance out there in the field is crucial to my relationship with Millicon. If you fail, that damages my chances of future collaborations. I told you, I've passed everything they've thrown at me so far. I've been told by your superiors that something bigger is coming. The final phase of your trial. You have to get through that at any cost. So what is it you want from me? Just to know that your head is in the game. That's all. So where is it, Taniks? Where's your head? It's in the game. Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. Well that's good. That's all I wanted to hear. Great. Are we done here? You can hate my guts all you want, Tanix, but the bottom line is you need me. Because I'm the one that makes the stuff in the little glass vial. This serum of mine, it happens to be the only thing that can keep your body from. How should we put it? Unraveling. If you were to run out of it then. Well, the end would come in a very slow, agonizing way. I'm afraid the pain you've experienced up until now will feel like a cakewalk in comparison. You should remember that. Is that all this is? You just came here to threaten me? I just want you to have a clear understanding of what's at stake here. We both have a lot to lose. So Taniks, I want you to go out there and show them what our tech can really do. I will. You can count on it. In that case, there's nothing left to discuss. You're the first Taniks. The first of many. Everyone who comes after will look up to you. You should be proud of. Hey Summers. That's the long range comms. Looks like Sienna's calling in again. All right, let's see what she has to say. Hey Ross. How you guys doing out there? Sitting around and twiddling our thumbs for the most part. Tell me you've got some good News. See? Well, let me just say, this one was a challenge. I fed in those coordinates you gave me, and there wasn't a single hit. But you know me, I love a challenge, so I kept digging. You did find something, didn't you? Yeah, in one of the old archives. I'm sending through everything I found so far. You should see some blueprints and schematics on your comms unit any second. What are we looking at here? May I present to you, Corova Station. This place doesn't exist on any maps or official documents, but what I can tell you is that it dates back over a hundred years. It looks like it was first established as some kind of research center, a place designed to study various aspects of the local marine ecosystem or something. But somehow the funding fell through and it was never finished. Turns out the place was abandoned before it ever went into service. How convenient. A perfect little nest for Strickland to take up residence in. These building plans you sent through, are these up to date, Sienna? Oh, hell no, Rust. These are ancient. The originals, as far as I can tell. So Strickland could have made all sorts of modifications by now. Yeah, but the basic layout should still be the same. This thing is solid concrete built into the cliff face. Not the kind of arrangement you can just shift around however you want. This is good, Sienna. Perfect, actually. I'm thinking this should give us something we can work with. I'm still looking through the system to see what else I can find, but if I were you, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Something tells me this might be all I can get. You did great. See? As always, thanks for your help. Anytime, pal. You two look after yourselves, okay? Take care out there. And let me know if you need anything else. Yeah. Thanks. Later. Zoom out on that image, Rust. Let's see what we have. What do you think, Summers? Is this really enough to go on? It's pretty basic, I'll admit. But look here. See the layout here and here? I'm already seeing some similarities to the facility at Ripshore Island. Yeah, you're right. These smaller enclosures down on the lower levels could be turned into containment cells for prisoners. Easy. And there's a central data room designated on this level here that would work perfectly as control center, just like the one they had at Ripshore. That's assuming they haven't shifted things around too much in there. Like Sienna said, the way this place is built doesn't leave much scope for that. Besides, why would they bother moving stuff around if it already matches their requirements? Yeah, Makes sense. So where to from here? Before we come up with a plan, let's agree on what we're trying to achieve here. From my perspective, there are three objectives. The most important one being the safe extraction of captives. How many do you think are down there? It could be anything. 5, 10, 100. Who knows how many of those transports come through here loaded up with people. In that case, we'll just have to be ready for anything. Yeah, let's hope it's not too many. What's your next objective? I want evidence. Strickland will have research in there. Data from all of their experiments, test results, that kind of thing. But there may be other stuff, too. Personnel files, transit records, that kind of thing. You're hoping to find a documented link back to Strickland. Evidence? They're attached to this little shit show. If we can associate some of those corporate types back in the strata to Corova Station, that could be huge. Okay, getting evidence is one thing, but is anyone even going to listen to us? Strickland will just show up with a team of fancy lawyers and make this whole thing blow over. They can dry if they want, but they won't get rid of me that easily. You plan to take things into your own hands? Why didn't I realize that sooner? Yeah, come on, big guy, you know me better than that. Where are we going to find this data, do you think? The data store is our best bet. But there's no way of knowing for sure which room that might be. I can probably take an educated guess, though. If you look here, on the northern end of the complex, there's a ventilation shaft that should allow access. If we follow it all the way along here, we should pop out in the right place. The angle on this shaft is pretty steep. It's going to be a tough climb out. That way's no good. We'll have to find another way out. Something that's suitable for the extraction of prisoners. Those people are probably weak, assuming they can walk at all. So we can forget about using the ventilation shafts? There's no way they'd make the climb. Any ideas? As soon as I think of something, I'll let you know. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Alright. Do you want to start gathering up the ammo packs? You're getting ready to leave already? Might as well. It's still going to take us hours to get down there and navigate those ventilation shafts, so there's no time to waste. People could be suffering and dying in there right now. Which of these guns are you gonna take. And don't even think about saying all of them. We need 10 people to lug all this shit. Agreed. We should only take the weapons that are best suited for the assault. Judging by the size and shape of the corridors on those blueprints, there's not much point taking long range rifles. This is going to be intimate. Close quarters all the way. Make it right up in their faces, huh? Yeah, I thought you'd like that. Grab that stuff over there for me, Rust. Let's make a pile right here. Ah, now we're talk. I think I found my weapon of choice. A crowbar. Wait, that's not even one of mine. That must have just been sitting here in the back of the bomber. Yeah, it's perfect. Got a real nice weight to it. I'm offering you a chance to load up with a state of the art Q5 repeater and high velocity frag rounds. And you're going to choose a crowbar? Hey, don't underestimate a good old fashioned lump of steel. These babies have gotten me out of a jam plenty of times over the years. Well, if we come across any boxes that need opening, I'm sure you're gonna be all over it, Rust. A crowbar to the face will take down those bad guys just fine, Summers. You'll see. Yeah, I can't wait. Come on, let's get to it. Hey, wait a minute, Summers. You never told me about the third objective. Oh, that one. That's easy. The third and final objective is simply this. To kick Strickland's ass. Do you think we'll have time to fit that in? If we don't, we'll make time. That's one part of the plan I have no intention of leaving out. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision makers. 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But listen, Ximena, the point is, we have some wounded here. They were caught in the crossfire and shit. Some of them are barely holding on at Crosstown. No, we're back home in Tinkford again. We managed to find a safe house. Why didn't you take the wounded to get treatment? Because we can't risk it. Millicon are out there patrolling the streets. We're cut off. And these people can't be moved again. Not with injuries like this. Okay, what can I do? You have supplies there, right? At the distribution center? Stim packs and that kind of stuff? Well, yeah, but is there any way you can get them here? Me? There's only so much I can carry myself. We'll take anything you've got, Ximena. Even if it's whatever you can fit inside a backpack. I'll tell you what, Angelina. Let me see if I can push the situation up the food chain. If I can get one of the administrators to organize. No, don't do that, please. Why not? What's the matter? We can't risk that kind of attention. If the administrators get involved, that intel will get leaked to Millicon, and next thing we know, they'll be pounding down our door. Thinking we're part of the resistance. Well, Ximena, you're the only one I trust. It has to be you. Please, for old times sake. Fine. Give me the address and I'll see what I can do. Oh, thank you. I'll tell the others. They'll be so relieved. I'm sending the location through now. Do you have it? Yeah, I got it. But please don't get your hopes up, Angelina. Like I said, I can only carry so much. By the sounds of it, there might not be enough to go around. It's fine, Amina. Thanks. Oh, and don't bring anyone else. Don't even tell anyone, okay? The way things are going, I. I don't know who to trust anymore. Sure. Just hang in there, Angelina. I'll see you soon. All right. Crichton, the personnel have left the corridor. I think we have some time to ourselves to now. Are you finally ready to share your plan? Yes. I think the moment has arrived. Here, I'll show you what I have in mind. What are we looking at? I've walked from one end to the other of almost every floor in this facility over the last few months. And during that time, I've had the opportunity to map things out with what I believe is a high degree of precision. This diagram shows a three dimensional view of Corova Station and includes all of its most critical locations. Here, on the very top level. This is the exit? Yes, that's our final destination. But there are a number of hurdles we're going to have to overcome before we can get there. Firstly, there are the guards. They're going to have a strong advantage over us because they'll be carrying guns and we won't. So we have to avoid confrontations at all costs. I've seen those guards and other personnel walking endlessly through these corridors and recovery recent days. How do you propose we avoid them when their numbers are so plentiful? I have a plan for that, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The second hurdle is the electromagnetic locks that are employed on the upper levels and on the exit itself. These are tough to break and would take far too long to circumvent in any normal circumstances. So how do we get around them? Well, I have an idea. One day recently, when I was working on an installation near the exit, there was a power outage. The systems at Corova are shoddy and fall over with alarming regularity every few weeks. If I'm not mistaken, halfway through the outage, Becker's men attempted to bring in a new transport through the outer doors. But without power, the doors wouldn't budge. So the workmen were forced to revert to a manual crank system. And I can tell you, that thing looked heavy. They were struggling to move it. Plus, it was a two man job. One man on each crank. That's why I need an accomplice, Crichton. One who is strong enough to handle the second crank. So your plan is to wait for a power outage so that the electromagnetic seal is broken, and then open the outer doors via the crank? That's the gist of it. In that case, we'll be forced to wait for one of these outages to occur, I take it? No, we won't be waiting. We're going to speed things up a little by creating our own power outage. How exactly do we do that? Look here. See these conduits? This is the main power feed. I propose that we set off explosives at these locations, effectively knocking out the power to the upper levels. Set off explosives? What explosives? The explosives that I've been secretly planting into the walls all over Corova Station. See, Becker and his team think that I'm some kind of docile simpleton who just does whatever he's told, but the truth is, I've been plotting my escape from the minute I stepped out of my confinement sea. Where did you get these explosives? I made them. Didn't I tell you? I'm an expert when it comes to weapons and munitions. I've been working with them for years. And it's amazing what you can make from simple, common ingredients that are just lying around the place. If you know what you're doing. So all this time you've been drilling into walls, ostensibly restoring the data grid, and at the same time I've been planting a little extra. Yes, and hiding the evidence when I patch up the walls at the end of the job. As a bonus, every single detonator is able to be activated remotely by me through the data grid. I just have to enter the command in this remote detonation unit I put together and boom. You're a clever one, Jonas. I'll give you that. So these explosives take care of the power, but what about the problem of Becker's workers and guards? Actually, the explosives solve that problem too. See, the personnel are least active in the early hours of the morning. Most of them retire to their quarters and only emerge at dawn. I've placed detonators in each of these locations. Here, here, and a few more places we which happen to be at the entrances to their living areas. Once we activate the plan. These explosions will effectively trap a large percentage of the personnel in their rooms. That will make our journey to the exit far less difficult. Well, I must say, this plan sounds quite incredible. Jonas, you are a force to be reckoned with. Let's not celebrate too early. It's not quite ready yet. We still have to finish planting detonators in a couple of other locations, just to make sure. There's complete separation between us and the personnel. But after that, we should be set. Yes, of course. Just tell me what you need me to do. I'll need your strength, Crichton. But more than that, I need your commitment. All this planning and painstaking attention to detail will come to nothing if you can't hold up your end of the bargain. Can I trust you? Of course you can trust me. I only ask the same from you. You want my trust? Yes, I do. Well, do you have it? Not completely. Though you're holding back, aren't you? I don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you show me who you really are? Let there be no falsehood between us. I have shown you. No, you haven't. You're still hiding behind that contraption on your head. My breathing apparatus. I'm not wearing this so I can hide. This mask allows me to breathe. Don't patronize me, Jonas. Maybe you think you can fool Becker and his simpletons, but I've seen apparatus like this before and I know its true purpose. You don't want anyone to know who you really are. I told you, I'm a wanted fugitive. If anyone knew the truth. Stop cowering behind that mask, Jonas. Stand up, tall and proud. Let there be nothing between us from this moment forward. Go on. Let me see. Who are you really? Alright, if you really want to see, then I'll show you. My name is Hagmire. Jonas Hagmire, at your service. This podcast is made possible by my supporters on Patreon. If you'd like to hear ad free early release episodes as well as my exclusive series the Strata. Luna, head over to patreon.com BeyondTheDark your support means I can keep bringing you more seasons of the strata. Season 12 Stronger Than Blood Starring Jason Churroi, Rhiannon Mashallah, Elisa Marteja Michelle Mosley Wyatt, Henry Paul Warren, Chloe Elmore, Rebecca Tanron, Troy Allen, Leonie Schlesing, Elaine Arman, Toby J. Smith, Joseph Tweedale, Zachary Scott, Garrett Nile, Adam McLachlan, Gavarock and Armin Cabral. Credited by Mark R. Healy A Beyond the Dark production the Fable and Folly Network, where fiction producers flourish. Shop the Sherwin Williams Memorial Day sale and get 30% off paints and stains May 16th through the 26th, with prices starting at $34.29. It's the perfect time to transform your space with color. Whether you're looking to revamp your bedroom, living room or home office, we have you covered with bold hues, soothing neutrals and everything in between. 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