After the unification of all nations on February 5th, 2015, the newly formed ADVENT coalition had the nearly insurmountable task of untangling 193 nations' infrastructure, fusing it with the Elder's superior technology, then merging it into a single system. ADVENT employed millions of engineers from every discipline, working tirelessly for years in a sort of "New New Deal," doing their part to connect humanity once and for all. Then, once the work was done, ADVENT needed people to maintain these systems, people familiar with them, and who better to do so than the very humans who'd helped design them? With this idea in mind, the California Computational Agency was formed, along with tens of thousands of other regional offices.
Now, the CCA was laid out fairly simply: the director was overseen by a member of the local ADVENT board (who the more paranoid believed was run by aliens), and in turn, oversaw several managers. One of these managers, Clark Hopper, managed the back-end development group, an assembly of coders and engineers who dealt with the nitty-gritty inner workings of the software ADVENT used. Usually, his orders came filtered through the director, so he was somewhat surprised when a company ID by the name of "Martin Cubrela" called him one afternoon.
Clark turned his attention from the twin monitors on his desk to look at his phone. He wasn't sure just who this Martin Cubrela was, but as soon as he swiped up to accept the video call, he recognized him as the CCA's ADVENT supervisor.
"Hey, Clark!" Martin said, "How's it going?" The man's neat black hair and turtleneck sweater gave him an air of a silicon valley entrepreneur, with his round frame sunglasses added a touch of poshness to the whole look. Clark could see a few greenish splotches peeking out from under his collar, but he knew enough to keep any dissident thoughts to himself.
"Uh, it's... going fine." Clark briefly glanced up at one of his screens, showing a list of mundane email chains he'd been going through. "What's the occasion, sir?"
The man on-screen broke into a brief chuckle. "Oh, you don't have to call me sir, Clark, Martin's just fine. To answer your question, though, I'm calling due to a recent development in the ADVENT coalition. You've heard about the recent string of terrorist attacks, right?"
As if on some cosmic cue, the news feed on Clark's other screen began a story on just such an attack, showing an edited clip of a raid on an ADVENT building. "Yes, I have."
"Well, the coalition is starting to worry about our people on the ground, and what could happen if they fell into the wrong hands. In light of this, they've decided to assign ADVENT officers to certain positions to guarantee their safety."
He knew the ADVENT administration was linked to the aliens, and frankly, Clark didn't mind trading a bit of freedom for a lot of security, but this seemed a step too far for them. "Sir, I'm completely loyal to the ADVENT coalition," he hurriedly said, letting his suspicions get the better of him. "I wouldn't even dream of siding with any sort of terrorist organization."
Martin's only reaction was a reassuring smile. "Oh, we know, we know... while you haven't been stress-tested as much as some, you've proven yourself an able and loyal employee. It's why we're deploying these officers in the first place, to keep our most trusted assets safe and sound."
"I see... are officers being assigned to the other managers as well?"
"Nope, just you."
Why was he getting such special treatment? Was it because he was deemed the most "loyal" of the lot? "What about the director, is he getting a bodyguard?"
"No, he'll make do with his current security team." Although his eyes were hidden behind his reflective sunglasses, it was easy to tell Martin was assessing Clark's reaction. "You see, you're in a rather unique position," he preemptively explained, "The other departments don't deal in highly sensitive information. If a terrorist is going to go after one of our engineers, it's going to be one with access to our programs' backdoors... someone with the keys to the kingdom, so to speak."
"And the director isn't important?"
"He's got something of a bird's eye view of things. He knows the basics of how everything works, but isn't nearly as... intimately involved."
So he was the weak link... he could understand that. To give decent support, he knew all the little entryways and loopholes in the code that could bring it all down with a few well-placed scripts. "When's this bodyguard going to be arriving?" he eventually asked, resigned to his fate of having a babysitter at work.
Martin momentarily glanced down at something off-screen. "Well, she should be arriving any second... she's got full clearance, and she can find your office easily enough."
"Wait, she?" Clark didn't think he'd ever seen a female ADVENT trooper before... but then again, it was hard to tell through that blocky armor.
"Yes, she's one of our most trusted operatives... I'm sure she'll be able to keep you safe without imposing too much."
Something about the term "most trusted operative" seemed a little off, but Clark couldn't put his finger on any definitive reason. "Alright... I'll let my people know she's coming."
"Eh, it might be a bit late for that," Martin said with a grin. "Anyway, I wish you the best, and I hope you get along with your personal protector. Goodbye!"
"Bye."
With that, Martin hung up the call, leaving Clark to ponder just what this development might entail. Having an ADVENT blockhead looking over his shoulder naturally made him a bit nervous, but he had nothing to hide... he just did his work at work and left anything slightly seditious back home. Clark let out a small sigh, then turned off his monitors and stood ups from his desk, hoping to avert any misgivings they might have about an ADVENT soldier showing up in their office.
However, once he opened the door leading to his compact office, he heard several panicked gasps and faltering conversations. That alone proved his bodyguard had arrived, but something about the tone seemed wrong... these weren't "oh shit, it's the cops" gasps, these were "holy fuck, a monster just walked into our office" gasps. Clark wasn't sure what to make of it until he looked toward the elevator, where instead of a blocky helmet peeking over the cubicles, he saw a reptilian head with a cobra's flared hood.
The thing had green scales marked with black and white stripes, partially "covered" by a headpiece that ran from its scalp down its spine. It seemed to stretch upward just a tad as its yellow, slit-pupil eyes scanned the room, then locked onto Clark's with a sense of determination. The reptilian head ducked down behind the cubicles, only to re-emerge around a corner as the rest of its body slithered down an aisle toward his office.
Now that it was out in the open, there was no doubt about it: his "bodyguard" was an alien... a viper, to be precise. He'd heard about them online, and had caught glimpses of them in some footage, but that didn't suppress the shock he felt as the diamond-backed snake creature slithered toward him. In one of its hands was a full-on plasma rifle, a graceful looking weapon with a glowing green power cell. It wore body armor and bracers similar in color to a trooper's, but much more streamlined and form-fitting, even going so far as to have bulges for what may or may not be breasts. Clipped to its chest plate was a surprisingly mundane ID badge, and as the viper slithered up to Clark, it plucked off said badge and held it up. "Lieutenant Hssara," it said in moderately accented English, "ADVENT Civil Security. You're Clark Hopper, I presume?"
As Clark peered at the badge, he realized that the red text on the black background confirmed her identity... there was even a little mugshot of her snake-like features above the ADVENT logo. "Yeah... that's me," he hesitantly replied, "Are you..."
"Your personal security detail? Yep." Hssara stuck out one scaly hand, each of her four fingers tipped with black, claw-like nails. "Pleased to meet you."
Somehow, her casual tone of voice and human air of interest put Clark even more on edge, but he still shook her hand. "You too..." Peeking past her allowed him to see curious heads poking out from around the cubicles, whispering about the alien arrival in conspiratory tones. "Hey, uh... do you mind if I talk with my team for a bit?" he asked the viper.
"Oh, not at all," she replied, backing towards his office door. "I'll try to stay out of the way." He could've sworn she'd winked at him, but he wasn't sure an alien even knew a wink's significance.
Clark could already tell his team was beginning to wonder, and seeing how Hssara hadn't done much to introduce herself, he decided it would be best to clear the air. "Hey, everyone? Could I have your attention for a moment?" After a moment, a legion of heads peeked up from their cubicles, and a few expressions grew shocked at the sight of the viper standing behind their boss. "As most of you've noticed, we have a new arrival in the office... this is Lieutenant Hssara." The viper gave a small wave, easing no one's anxiety. "She's just here as extra security, not to spy on anyone or conduct arrests. I'm sure you've all heard about the recent terror attacks across the west coast... Hssara's just here to keep us safe if that ever happens to us." He took a brief glance toward the viper, then added, "If at any point you feel uncomfortable with having her around, come talk to me, I'm sure we can work something out. That's all."
After the conclusion of his address, his team gradually began getting back to work, although he could still hear a few of them whispering behind their cubicle walls. Clark knew none of them had ever seen an alien in person, and he also knew how many conspiracy theories and horror stories were floating around on the internet. There were tales of gestapo-style arrests, horrid genetic experiments, and even people being eaten alive, though no one ever provided any concrete proof. In the interest of removing the distraction, he retreated back into his office, had Hssara follow him in, then closed the door.
