Work Text:
Ever since Eva sits as director of the taskforce, she knows the risks and challenges she’ll encounter in order to save the planet from mass extinction. During the first months of her office, she got multiple threats from the governments of the world—Mostly because Eva asked for multiple impossible requests to them as they found her request ‘unnecessary’. But Eva is an amazing negotiator and diplomat, with her sweet mouth she was able to gain trust, securing the Taskforce’s funds, and they granted her requests. And now, she’s interested in how far her immunity and status is.
When she was recruiting Dr. Ryland Grace to find out what the space dots are, she did a quick background check. He has one living relative—his twin, Colton Grace, prefers to be called with his stage name Colt Seavers—and one deceased older brother. No mention of their parents. He got his doctorate and was a post-doc when he was still in his twenties. The academia community told her about his eccentric theory about goldilocks zone and water is unnecessary for life to evolve. They told her how he was kicked and disgraced from the community completely because he told Dr. Scyther—her science advisor, for now—a ‘staggering waste of carbon’. He’s been working as a middle school teacher ever since. But one thing that surprised her is that the astrobiology community genuinely recommended him to investigate the space dots as he was one of the brightest astrobiologists.
She was expecting an arrogant young teacher, as the community told her about the UNESCO Conference where Ryland Grace was fired. Instead, she met a humble, very modest young teacher who was really passionate about teaching science. Despite everything else, they were right. In less than a week, Dr. Grace found anything they needed about the dots, all he did alone. He even named it, the astrophage he said, means ‘star eater’. It’s such a shame that one of his theories is proven wrong because the star eater is a water-based life. After that, Eva no longer needed him but after he found out that the astrophage is the cause why the sun is dimming and how it affects life on Earth, he went back to her when her team packed the lab.
“I want to help,” he said. “Give me the dots.”
“Several research institutes already asked me for their parts. Nothing left,” she said. “Besides earlier you said you didn’t care about the dot—”
“I do now! I have kids—my students!” Ryland yelled, surprising her and her crew. “You need someone competent enough to study it, do you? How to stop it from eating the sun? Why do these guys go to Venus? I can help! My kids, I don’t wanna see them facing an extinction event. Please.”
“Three dots, and that’s it.”
“Just three?”
“Plus one you killed,” Eva replied without looking at her tablet. “So?”
“Fine, get your men out of my lab,” he said as walking to the airlock and prepared to wear his hazmat suit.
Eva then assigned Carl and two FBI agents as his guard. Carl gave her daily updates about Ryland’s progress. Everyone in the science community now knows about the basic astrophage biology thanks to him, but they still haven’t figured out why they went to Venus. She made a fun bet with her science advisor, Dr. Scyther, who will find out first why the astrophage went to Venus—the handpicked, disgraced scientist of hers in his makeshift lab in an abandoned building or his group of brightest and smartest scientists around the globe with much more advanced equipment. She now owns an aircraft carrier thanks to the Chinese government, she secured more funds to build the Hail Mary—the spaceship they need to go to Tau Ceti, and most of the countries in the world now signed to the Hail Mary Accord. She was in the middle of moving her remaining office from Europe when Ryland called her in the middle of the night when he found out how the astrophage breeds. In 6 days after he was given the space dots, he found out how the astrophages breed. With no time to waste, Eva immediately orders the US air force to pick Ryland up from San Francisco and bring him to the Gansu as fast as they can. And less than 24 hours later, Ryland was standing in the ship’s runaway and tried his best not to throw up again.
“The astrophage, can we breed in on scale?”
“Probably, yea? I mean it’s possible,” Ryland replied, he looked pale and was going to vomit. “Where are we anyway?”
“South China Sea,” Eva replied nonchalantly. “Can you do it?”
“South China what—hold on—”
Eva brought him to the meeting place where he told everyone how to breed astrophage. Dr. Scyther was there too and was genuinely both surprised and disappointed it's him that found out how it breed. Ryland then gets sworn in by her and she welcomes him to the team, explaining why they need to know what actually is the astrophage and its real purpose for the project—aside how to get rid of them. Immediately after that, Ryland was appointed as astrophage biology lead scientist, replacing Dr. Scyther. When Ryland is excused to rest, the man comes straight to her office as he was asked.
“Looks like I won the bet, Dr. Scyther,” Eva smiled. “Even your best scientist couldn’t keep up with him. He’s all alone, figuring out everything with our makeshift lab, and using only simple, yet very creative solutions. Looks like becoming a school teacher made him brighter than before, don’t you think?”
Scyther couldn’t argue. Part of him agreed on what she said about Ryland Grace is the few genius scientists he met that have creative, yet ridiculous thinking. His ego blinded him when he fired him. He just sat and looked at her eyes. “I am accepting my loss, Ms. Stratt,” he finally said. “But do you really think letting him work here is the best idea? What would the other scientist think when a literal school teacher is their supervisor?”
“Perhaps they would look down on him like how you did just now,” she answered calmly which made Scyther taken aback. “He has a doctorate just as you did, he defended his thesis just as you did. His theory is indeed ridiculous, one which proved wrong, but he did all of this without personal interest or gain. The only reason he begged to be here is because he wanted to save his kids—his students from mass extinction. I have to admit, it’s noble, Dr. Scyther.”
“Aren’t we all here trying to save the Earth?”
“Yes, but I did it because it’s my duty and I didn’t use it for my personal gain,” Eva replied, still in an eerily calm voice. “And I hope it does extend to my scientists, including you, Dr. Scyther.”
He understood what she meant. “Are you saying I’m using you and this research for my own personal gain? Don’t be ridiculous, Stratt,” he mocked.
“And yet you are still looking down at him,” Eva defended Ryland. “Dr. Ryland Grace will be your new colleague in astrophage biology research and that is final. And if you have a problem with that, you are excused from leaving the team.”
“He’s a school teacher!”
“And you have a problem with that? Ignoring his degree and all his astrophage finding?” Eva argued back. “Understood, Dr. Scyther. You have an hour to pack your things.”
“Really, Stratt?”
“I am giving you a choice, Dr. Scyther. This isn’t about seniority or who is smarter, but Dr. Grace has proven that he’s beyond capable,” Eva said as she closed her document she’s been signing. “And if you do have a problem with that, you are excused to leave.”
“ESA will be disappointed in you.”
“I have no affiliation to them after the UN inaugurated me as this taskforce director,” Eva paused. “And if they do have a problem with that, tell the current administrator that I am above them and they have no authority on me.” Dr. Scyther stood up and was about to leave the room and Eva called him. “You are still very welcome here, Dr. Scyther.”
“I will think about it, Stratt,” he said without looking back.
Days after Dr. Scyther and several of his scientists leaving the Gansu—or Stratt’s Vat they said now—the scientist department’s work ethics, time frame, and projects suddenly increased positively under Ryland’s leadership. Some still look him down, but every time that happens Ryland proves them wrong. Ryland still talked like a school teacher, he still simplified things and somehow that made every work become faster as the scientists could understand it perfectly, with small errors sometimes happening. Months later in the midst of chaos to finalize the breeding device prototype, the Vat docked in Batam Island to fill their supplies as well as attending ASEAN heads of states meetings in Singapore. Eva knew the danger of her current job. She knew spies, agents, or whatever the Heads called them would come and swoop anything valuable for them. About a month ago, an MI-6 took a vial of Ryland's astrophage sample and she caught him. She personally went to London just to talk with the director of SIS and days later, she got a letter of apology from Her Majesty the Queen as well as a couple of millions of Pounds as compensation and they gave back the vial. And today, the same thing happened and this time it's a shadow agent. Ryland didn’t specify what but he already told the soldiers and security guards to increase their patrol—implying he saw suspicious activity and it’s likely a spy or maybe a shadow agent.
“You look like you need to sleep, Dr. Grace,” Eva said as they were on their way to Shangri-La for their meeting.
“It's fine, I can sleep later after the meeting,” Ryland sighed, leaning his head against the window and trying his best to stay awake. “Say, if you saw a ghost in your life, would you run or face it?”
“Ghosts aren't real, Dr. Grace.”
“Just humor me, Stratt.”
“Well,” she sighed as she looked at the skyscrapers of Singapore. “I will face it so I have no regrets after.”
“I see,” Ryland whispered as he closed his eyes. “Let me take a quick nap, please wake me up when we get there.”
The meeting went normal. The ASEAN heads agreed to help them and they signed the accord. Next agenda is luncheon but Eva has another meeting she needs to catch up on and let Ryland to lead the luncheon on her behalf. But getting kidnapped is not on her agenda list. She realized it when the driver took a turn somewhere else instead of going to the bay. She kept calm as today is the third time she got kidnapped after being a director. Sierra Six—CIA’s best shadow agent—sat right in the driver seat and demanded why she took Ryland. Eva’s thought went back to when she first recruited Ryland and there’s a dead brother mentioned on that file. Sierra Six is the dead brother. The agent gave her a demand, let him work there as Ryland’s bodyguard and in return, he can assure absolute security and secrecy for the taskforce. That’s not a bad demand, but per protocol Eva still needed to check the background of the man. Eva could hear the police siren from afar and it's a high possibility that they look after her. When the siren got closer and a few black SUVs parked behind them, Eva agreed on his demand.
As soon as they landed on the Vat, Eva started doing background checks on Sierra Six. Like the other Sierra agents, his identity was wiped completely. There is only one name, his real name, written on Ryland’s file. Eva sighed and put down her tablet. The transfer of him to the taskforce would be hell and maybe she can try to challenge her authority—her life has been stale these days anyway and she’s up for a challenge. As she predicted, it is hell and the CIA still wouldn’t let go of Six, so she came up with another idea. She asked for Donald Fitzroy’s favor for handling the transfer for a couple of days and she’ll come up with another proposal. As she went back to the Vat after her vacation to the CIA Headquarters, she scheduled a meeting with her first officer and head departments.
“There’ll be some issue with the tether used in future spacewalks,” Dimitri said, reading his report on his tablet. “We need to make a new tether that will last longer than today's ISS tethers. Most space agencies will immediately replace the tethers if they found it unfit for the activity and we have no such luxuries. Lokken and I already run some scenarios, and if we can, maybe recruit someone fit to design and test the tether. Can we do that? Hiring a team for that?”
Their problem is conceded the same as the topic that will be discussed, she thought. If Six here and Ryland is her second in command, she too can drag the last brother to join the taskforce. She knew Colt Seavers got a master degree in mechanical engineering and bachelor in physics, he knew how wires work, and he’ll fit for the job. “A risk specialist is actually a good idea,” Eva nodded. “Very well. Dr. Grace?”
“Yeah? I’m so sorry, I was—” He apologized, clearly not paying attention and Lokken had to nudge him.
“A risk specialist, do you know someone with that skill, Dr. Grace?” Stratt asked him but her second-in-command stammered with the answer, so she turned to his bodyguard and asked the same question. “What about you, Six?”
“They may have the skillsets but they’re killers, not engineers,” the agent replied.
Stratt nodded and she excused everyone, except the brothers, to leave the room. She told them to recruit Colton Grace to the taskforce. She already expected Ryland would refuse it, but she didn’t expect Six would agree to it. The last time she heard before going to another meeting is that the brothers actually went to Yogyakarta to pick up their brother and while waiting, she called Dr. Lamai, her chief medical officer. She ordered her chief medical to immediately do a full medical check-up to Six and Colt, that include blood work to see if they have the coma gene. She also asked her to put their test as priority and Dr. Lamai nodded. She did, not long after Colt landed on the vat, 8 hours later. The result came in a day, faster than usual and it surprised the whole team. Lamai read the result and was shocked. She immediately paged Eva and the director replied instantly. Lamai went to her office to present the result and Eva just nodded, as she already knew everything. She told her not to tell anyone about it and any medical check-up of the Grace brothers would be a priority like the astronauts team.
“Dr. Grace, please handle the entire operation for a few days until my return,” she asked Ryland who’s still recovering from his stabbing incident. “Please be aware of your health as well, you can ask the other head department to help you. I will be back before you know it.”
Ryland just sighed. He looked exhausted, but she had no choice. “Will do, be safe, Stratt.”
“You too,” she said before boarding the jet.
She landed in DC in less than a 24 hours and went straight to the CIA Headquarters where Donald Fitzroy had been waiting for her. He told her how the CIA has postponed every request about Sierra Six for months and she just nodded. She told him to not worry. They entered the meeting room where the CIA directors are waiting for her.
“Apologize for the wait,” Eva said as she sat beside Fitzroy. “Let’s get straight to the business because I had no time for bullshitery you will say later as I have a mission to save this planet. Courtland Gentry-Grace will be exonerated for his past crime of homicide, release and abolish his status as Sierra Six and weapon of the CIA and also exonerated for everything he has done as a Sierra agent for the past 20 years.”
“Your demand is getting ridiculous, Stratt,” said one of the directors who sat beside Denny Carmichael.
“My demand is always ridiculous when it comes to saving the planet,” Eva said coldly. “Asking for someone’s freedom is just an easy task for me, and I didn’t ask, I order you for that.”
“You had no power for that, Stratt,” Carmichael said.
“I do, actually,” she said. “I happen to outrank your Deputy Director, your president, even your benefactor as well. So, I will repeat this one more time before I will go to your Deputy Director, the President, and the ministers and tell them that you disobeyed my order.” Carmichael was taken aback.
Carmichael and his bosses glared at Fitzroy as if they needed help, but Stratt caught that. “Another thing. I order you to leave out Daniel Fitzroy, Margaret Cahlil, the Grace Brothers, and their families in this matter. He’s merely here because, in a way or another, he’s a parental figure for Courtland Grace. Are we clear?”
“Stratt—”
“I said, are we clear?” Eva said in a more stern and commanding tone.
“Yes.”
Eva nodded. “Then pass this memo to your Deputy Director. I want an answer in a day and that’s final,” she said.
“What will you do with him once he’s free, Startt?” Suzanne Brewer asked.
“He has his purpose later, but not as a weapon. When that time happens, all of humanity has his back.” Eva said as she packed her bag. She stood up and looked directly into their eyes. “One more thing before I leave. Petrova Taskforce is an independent organization and we're above the law. It's not just me, we are permitted to do anything if it's about to save the planet, I just happen to be the one who approves everything related to it. If you try to mess with one of us, that includes Courtland Grace, I will make sure the world will know. I hope you understand.” She walked straight to the door. “Well, excuse me, I had another meeting with the US Department of Justice and the UN. Have a good day.”
Fitzroy followed the woman and ignored the awkward tension of the room. “What do you mean with that, Stratt?” he asked. “The whole of humanity has his back, what’s your plan?”
Eva Stratt just smiled. “I will do everything to save the world, Mr. Fitzroy. Cortland Grace will be embarking on a journey and all humanity will have his back.”