1) Any person who the Sarcodinay Empire deems so irredeemable that their 'score' is dropped into negatives and an execute-on-sight order is issued, 2) The most dangerous members of the rebellion, 3) A total badass (League of Free Worlds slang).
Somewhat over 100 years ago, humanity was on the verge of wiping itself out. Wars, catastrophic climate change that was real no matter how often the oligarchs claimed it wasn't, skyrocketing inflation; you know, the usual stuff.
But what really almost did us in was The Plague; a variant of tuberculosis that wasn't just resistant to medicines, it actively laughed at them. People died in droves, which compounded the problem with other diseases, lack of food production, and Lord of the Flies mentality amongst the survivors.
Then, as if by miracle, they showed up. The Sarcodinay. Different enough to be clearly alien, similar enough to make statisticians incredibly cranky. And with them, they brought a solution to the problem.
All we had to do was acknowledge that they, and their galactic empire, were in charge.
Humans, being humans, were of two minds about this. Some wanted the safety, the cure, the blessed comfort of roofs (in the form of domed cities) over their heads and food on their table.
Others wanted freedom, no matter the cost.
Humans, being humans, rebelled.
It didn't go well at first. But it did go. And gradually, we gained allies in the form of the shape-shifting telepathic kantari. We developed new technologies, ones that even the Sarcodinay, with their vaunted thousands of years of dominance in the galaxy, couldn't imagine. For, humans being humans, we adapted.
Then, suddenly, the empire declared a cease-fire. They would return Earth to human rule and leave all the 'colony' worlds we'd established (mostly using ship/factories we stole from the Sarcodinay themselves) alone. Humanity would return to self-governance.
Suddenly, we had everything we'd wanted for over 100 years.
So why did it feel like a trap?
Full Negative is the story of Malory McLain, a Full Negative extraction operative for the League of Free Worlds' Intelligence Operations. On the eve of the signing of the peace accords, Malory becomes aware of a series of assassinations, seemingly the work of random strangers, that threatens that peace before it can truly begin. As she investigates deeper, she starts to realize that, all unaware, she's near the center of the entire thing.
Full Negative goes live today, Tuesday the 18th of March at 1 PM PDT/4 PM EDT/8 PM UTC. Join us, and have fun!
