2023-02-05: Breaking News! Horror in The REA
- Cutscene: Breaking News! Horror in The REA!
- Cast: A news report detailing Yuliana Kafim's Nega Force and the Institute of Continuing Study
- Where: Various TV Stations and Online Broadcasts
- Date: 2023-02-05
- Summary: Footage of the Institute raid finds its way into the hands of broadcasters, and news of the REA's crimes against humanity break across the Earth Sphere. (Content warning for general human suffering, but this summary has taken efforts to be easier to read than the raw logs.)
There's sepia footage of a little girl receiving IV fluids attached to a pole which supports her as she walks down the hall, towards an unknown person wearing a body cam.
BREAKING NEWS emblazons itself across the screen. HORROR IN THE REA!
Colour returns to the footage, along with a clip of the girl saying, to a backbeat of distant combat and activity: "My mom called me Ila, but they call me 1521-T8, now." The audio of the footage fades in favour of a more familiar announcer's voice. "Footage uploaded to leak sites has just revealed a disturbing reality hidden in plain sight -- in the middle of the administrative region of Sri Lanka." The voice pauses, before adding, "... the following footage is highly disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised."
"In an attack apparently headed by G-Hound," and here there's a clip of Sophia's declaration, echoing out from the Hyperion: "ATTENTION CITIZENS: This area is now under a comprehensive travel interdiction by the authority of G-Hound! Remain in your homes and places of business! Enemies to Federation and to law recognized by all human governance are in the area! They are armed and extremely dangerous! Any vehicle found in use will be fired upon with live ordinance. This is your only warning."
"... an REA governmental office and laboratory were attacked and destroyed on the 4th of February, 0097. Our investigation has revealed that these offices belonged to the 'Nega Force', a military special operations unit -- and the laboratory was called the Institute for Continuing Study. Unknown agents which penetrated the internal facility have uploaded extensive footage." The report calls them 'unknown agents', but nevertheless, the news story has been carefully edited to show as little direct footage of the Institute's raiders as possible. The focus is purely on the victims and perpetrators of the Institute.
There's a clip of medical files being scrolled past on a screen -- though any ethical doctor would cringe to read them. Their patients (no, their subjects) are referred to as 'it', with callous disregard for their wellbeing and a sole focus on their utility as cyborgs, Cyber-Newtypes, or people with other strange capacities. They are spoken of only through their experiment research numbers. It is a horrifically dehumanising glimpse. It is only punctuated by footage of a teenage cyborg boy who is rescued from an isolation tank which isn't even large enough to stand in, muttering vague, inconsolate protests, and identified only by the ERN stamped on his prosthetics.
"The Institute for Continuing Study proves that horrific human experimentation is alive and well in the REA -- with a clear eye towards creating soldiers." Here, footage plays of a teenage girl with a bloodied knee, slumped beside a corpse. The audio cuts in, revealing her tearful denial: "I-I didn't mean to! I just panicked, okay?! It's not my fault! It's n-not my f-f-fault..!"
The footage skips to an adult Zaftran woman in another of those hospital gowns, clearly angry. "Coyote, Jianhong, Maive, and Iolanta... they were crammed inside that Ypotryll Gundam. But the screaming faded off, a few days back... they're not here any more. I don't know where they went yet. We were transferred here from Bailuo Laboratory -- they needed more bodies for this s(BLEEP)t -- but I wasn't suitable." The audio of the footage cuts out, and a voice-over intrudes on it. "Not only are these In Bello war crimes being committed almost in broad daylight -- but this testimony from the victims suggests that the Institute isn't even the sole blacksite the REA operates. We are continuing to investigate this 'Bailuo Laboratory'. More on this story as it progresses."
The footage cuts, now, to a young woman -- perhaps in her early 20s -- in a holding cell, sitting on a hospital bed. "W--wait, you're really getting us out of here?" Hope crosses her face, before she crushes it, shaking her head. "No -- no, I can't. My little brother, they know where he is. They said that since his sister's a Newtype... but if I just do this, they'll leave him alone!" The audio of the footage fades, as the announcer adds: "Footage of the victim's statements reveals both that this blacksite was experimenting on the mysterious phenomena known as the 'Newtype', with apparent access to individuals with true Newtype power. This contradicts several official statements that the 'Newtype' is nothing but a combat rumour. We were not able to reach those officials for comment."
The footage cuts to that same woman demanding, suspiciously: "Is this another test? I-I told you before, it was just a little slip, that's all! I'm loyal to the Republic! I'll just wait right here, just like the psychiatrist told me!" The voice-over cuts in, to explain: "Some of the methods which the REA have used to create these soldiers were caught on-camera. Please be warned that the following footage is highly disturbing."
There's a clip now of a grown redheaded woman in a lab coat, aiming a gun. "Tell me, Wira," the woman in the footage asks, not unkindly. "What drives the dog?" And there's footage of a man in a pilot suit, as he replies: "Protection." The next clip is of that man leaping in front of a bullet -- though the footage artfully obscures who shot it -- in order to protect that scientist from harm. "As you can see," the clip jumps to that scientist, far more unsympathetic as she explains: "you cannot hurt me, here. All our patients are so loyal..." ... and the next shots are of the Zaftran victim from earlier sobbing over what's clearly that man's dead body.
"This footage clearly shows the high levels of indoctrination -- even brainwashing -- which this laboratory was using to create its soldiers. Testimony from one of the agents identified this scientist as Dr. Fenhua Tian, whom we have confirmed is an REA psychiatrist with ties to several publicised interrogation incidents. Dr. Tian was killed, apparently in self-defence, shortly after this event."
The footage cuts to another stark, sterile white room, with three cloning pods. Through the obscuring red liquid, it's still clear that there are three women being grown there -- not yet complete -- and quite deceased. "The Institute for Continuing Study was evidently even trying to clone soldiers," the voiceover explains. "Horrifyingly, these women were killed due to the difficulty in transporting them." As the announcer says this, footage of the monitor attached to one of the screens is displayed, with the warning message shown there. It says: LIFE SUPPORT TERMINATED AS PER ORDERS FROM DR. PATEL, REASON: "No time to transport subjects under escalating time pressure. Experiment aborted. We'll grow more later."
The footage cuts, now, to the outside of the Institute. A Taita -- a four-legged tank of a mobile weapon, neighbour to the wanzer -- is shown on screen. The first recording is of an older man. "You have assaulted the Da Han Zhong territory of Colombo, Sri Lanka. And you will be met with deadly force. I am the REA's Major Pham, responding with my squadron, the Nega Force." Another audio recording of radio chatter, clearly later from the fight, plays: "These aren't people, Colonel. They're wetware. ... and they're the Republic's property."
"Damning audio logs from G-Hound's battle against what were, apparently, largely brainwashed soldiers, reveal how the people in the charge of the REA view their victims: as less than human." The voiceover continues. "A Major's clear and informed involvement in this project raises several disturbing questions as to the complicity of the REA in these crimes."
As more footage from the raid plays, the voiceover goes on to say: "Documents released on various leak sites apparently tie Major Pham's Nega Force to dozens of assassinations -- including of high-profile government officials, military targets, and prominent civilians. While the Nega Force's official remit was in 'putting negative pressure on dangers which the army cannot handle', it was apparently an open secret that a special operations squadron such as this would be involved in saboteur activities. Disturbingly, in particular, they seem to have placed this pressure on other governments -- including fellow Federation members. They even exerted control over their own country, with several of the documented assassinations being tied to the REA itself. While protest is legal in the REA, it seems, disturbingly, as if this squadron was deployed to address any dissatisfied elements who became sufficiently loud and disruptive. Notable defectors were also represented in the data we received."
A photograph of Major Vinh Van Pham appears, in full military regalia. "High-ranking officials from the REA have declaimed the actions of Major Pham, citing his previous 'blunder' in Jiyuan -- where his orders inadvertently resulted in widespread death and devastation -- as a clear reason why he would sabotage the Republic from the inside. An official statement released earlier today declares that the Nega Force and the laboratory they oversaw are grievous rogue elements, and they call on their friends in the Federation to help them address this stain on their honour, promising to prosecute them to the highest degree of the law."
The footage cuts to a bald woman with recent surgical scars, opening the cockpit of her Tiandong 3, and leaping onto a Nu Gundam waiting to receive her. "These statements follow the actions of one Captain Yuliana Kafim during an investigation into the ruins of JOSH-A, where she was associated with a dangerous kaiju event. Footage of Captain Kafim during this incident reveals a clearly deranged woman, apparently another indoctrinated subject of the Institute for Continuing Study. Republic Officials have declined to comment on what Captain Kafim's role in the REA means for the REA's involvement with that apparently reality-threatening event. As this footage shows, Captain Kafim escaped the battle and is currently at large."
Two more photographs appear. One shows a pale-skinned Chinese woman with pink hair and strange, red-ringed eyes, clearly cybernetic; the other shows a dark-skinned Indian man with an absolute mane of shaggy orange hair and a lazy smile. "Two other agents of the Nega Force, Lieutenants Wen Yuan and Parminder Chaudhri, are also at large. The REA has called for their immediate detention in order to amass charges against them and reveal what they call the truth of the situation. We understand that efforts to find them are currently undergoing, but we were not able to gain comment on, quote, 'an ongoing military operation'."
"Government officials from Sri Lanka have travelled to Da Han Zhong in an effort to reach their leadership with their concerns over being used to host these horrors. Official state media asks restrained questions of the REA's leadership, and many voices, interviewed in the street, are upset that a rogue team would bring such trouble to their Republic. Regardless, several fringe voices in the REA question whether this was all the action of one isolated Major -- and what that might mean for their country."
"More on this situation as it develops."