Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.1

Eve and I were alone in the passenger hold of the stealth vessel, and our pilot assured us we would be docking inside

The Radiance

shortly. We were silent as we rocketed through space, already past the Glorva Corp vacation stations, heading towards the outskirts of the Holistia Nebula. Eve had released me from the chitinous armor on her back as she returned to her normal form, wearing the organic goth-princess bodysuit-gown I hadn’t seen in quite a while ever since she’d gotten used to and

enjoyed

wearing regular clothes. We sat on the bench together, holding hands, with Eve resting her head on my shoulders. We were silent partly for the…

disagreement

we’d just had that created the awkwardness between us, but more than that we were both feeling quite anxious about our return, wondering how our future might change—how the Empire might try to control or even separate us now they likely knew we were in a committed relationship together.

A simple human agent and the Predazoan asset; a mere mortal dating an impossibly powerful Outsider god—the most dangerous lifeform in the universe. What a pair we made.

Thinking back on our journey so far, honestly it was surprising I’d survived everything thrown at me; it was around a year ago back on Earth I discovered Eve in her primitive little squid form, keeping her hidden from the American authorities. Of course being a rather simple man, I wasn’t able to keep her hidden for long; secret government agents attacked my grandparents’ farm and shot me, and while I was bleeding out Eve transformed and killed most of the humans attacking us, then we were somehow beamed aboard the Specialty Resource and Research Vessel

The Radiance,

whose mission it was to contain the rest of the escaped Predazoans.

Wanting to protect Eve, I signed on with the mission, acting as reckless as ever not thinking about the consequences, allowing a safeguard bomb to be implanted in Eve’s core that would be connected to a heart monitor implanted in me, so if I were to die Eve would too. I was only thinking of the now back then and had no idea how it would keep us bound to

The Radiance

, the Empire, and the Predazoan containment mission.

From there we went on our first mission, hunting Gamma-17 on Entana, and while the planet was mostly peaceful, my time down there was one whiplash of discovery after another. After a very short relationship with another woman, Doctor Tillia, we discovered Eve had been hiding her intelligence, and in a fit of jealous rage attacked us with some wild sonic-screech. After being confronted Eve revealed all and transformed once more, this time into an impossibly beautiful adult form, stating she was my perfect mate. With so much happening so fast, the lies and deceptions, I had no idea what to make of it all, so I resisted Eve at first, thinking she was trying to control me or use me in some nefarious Predazoan plot. I’d been foolish, not realizing the real enemy was the Empire controlling us while Eve was my one and only ally in all this wild intergalactic intrigue.

Eventually we found Gamma-17 and killed her, and Eve and I smoothed things out and we finally started a romantic relationship—the first good decision I made since joining in with the Empire. The love we shared was powerful and addictive, and honestly it could even be overwhelming at times, but the risk was worth the rewards, and now I knew Eve and our relationship was my main priority—above the mission, above the Empire, even above my own safety.

Next we went on our second mission hunting Gamma-12 in the Holistia Nebula, a system dedicated to vacation space stations all ran by Glorva Corporation. It was basically a vacation for us with wild new adventures to share with Eve in our new relationship, with sports championships, wild indulgent sex tours, and even a battlefield simulation tournament we all won. Of course, the good times couldn’t last forever as we finally discovered Gamma-12; we confronted her and everything seemed fine at first, like we finally found another peaceful Predazoan. But the Empire wasn’t interested in peace; too concerned with her unknown drive to supremacy to remain free in the Holisita Nebula, we were ordered to sabotage her room and contain her.

Obviously that all got fucked up same as usual, so we ended up in some wild battle where the space station was destroyed—the first in Glorva Corp history. I couldn’t believe all the carnage Gamma-12 caused—the unrestrained power of a Predazoan killing people like they were insects, crushing and consuming them like it was nothing. There was no small part of me that thought we actually did need to take some responsibility and help contain the rest of the Predazoans—take the mission seriously. But not at the cost of our relationship.

And yet with all that I somehow survived; members of our team died last mission, and there were several soldiers and marines who were killed the mission before that, but somehow I got through in once piece. Well, I guess it wasn’t so surprising when Eve was protecting me, saying I was her number one priority—said no one else mattered at all to her. She was obsessed with me as I was obsessed with her, but we needed to play along with the Empire and the mission to make sure they wouldn’t try to get between us now.

“Approaching

The Radiance

now.” Our pilot announced, and I looked out the viewport to see us sweep towards the massive ship, looking almost invisible in the great vacuum of space, with three long ovals in a triangle that seemed to curve inward, all centered around a rounded cylinder in the middle. We hooked around to the bottom of one of the ovals and I could see the bay doors opened with another of those forcefield airlocks active, and in no time at all we docked safely back home.

Eve and I stood as the door to our shuttle opened and we stepped out quickly, holding hands as always, looking around for anyone else from the mission team. We saw another shuttle nearby with a few of our friends gathered around it, Agent Lobae and Agent Vinnago with Doctor Kianna who appeared to be crying.

“Guys, you’re okay!” Kianna nearly wailed, running over towards us and jumping up to give us hugs.

Lobae and Vinnago made their way over to us in a much calmer manner, both wearing grim expressions.

After Kianna released us, I looked around at the group, “So, what’s the status?”

Lobae shook her head slowly, “Uinda and Densdor are dead, Zyno is in the med bay undergoing surgery, but it’s looking good for him now.”

“Oh thank God.” I breathed out a sigh of relief.

Vinnago shook his head too, “That’s about the only good news we have;

Leisure-53

was destroyed, death-toll in the thousands. Our agents are already running damage control heading out into the system now, trying to make it look like a pirate attack with some kind of biological weapon. We’ll see how well that all takes.” He explained.

Kianna wiped away her tears and tried to steel herself, standing up straight and strong, “Meanwhile rumors are running wild amongst the researchers with no small number of them wanting to quit the mission and return to the satellite sites; a lot of people are saying this kind of fieldwork isn’t what they signed up for—isn’t what they trained for.”

I nodded along, “Because of Densdor’s death?”

Vinnago nodded too, “It’s causing a massive rift between the research and military sides of the mission, people saying they should be completely separate operations.”

Lobae held up her hands in a weighing gesture, “Research on one side, containment on the other.”

I shrugged, “Honestly that makes sense.”

Lobae shook her head, “Problem is with how mysterious the Predazoans are, there’s no military force available that could easily contain them, so we need the researchers here in the field providing us all the data they can with any new developments.”

“Have there been

any

developments? Seems like we’re still always just relying on Eve to kill the other Predazoans.” I reasoned.

Kianna shook her head, “Not enough to justify endangering researcher lives in the field, hence the huge divide.”

Vinngo sighed and shook his head, “It’s just going round and round like that, no one willing to relent on either side. Seems like high-command is going to get directly involved soon.”

I felt the bottom of my stomach drop, “High-command, like the supervisors—the big dogs in charge of the whole mission?”

Lobae nodded, “Especially after

Leisure-53

was destroyed, things aren’t looking good for anyone.” She added.

Kianna looked between me and Eve, “What are you two going to do?”

I didn’t really have an answer for her, but Eve wrapped her tentacles around my shoulders and chest protectively, “There’s nothing in this universe that will be able to come between us, I assure you.”

I loved Eve’s dedication, but declaring how unbreakable our love is wasn’t exactly a plan. I let out a quick sigh, “I dunno yet, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.” I looked around at the rest of the team, “For now at least I’d really like to see how Zyno’s doing.”

Kianna favored me with a soft smile, “I was waiting for you guys to return, but I’ve been eager to see him too.”

Lobae and Vinnago exchanged a look, then turned back towards us, “Unfortunately, we’re being called for an emergency damage-control meeting, so we’ll have to meet up later.” Vinnago confirmed.

“Give Zyno our best though, alright?” Lobae waved, then the two of them left together at a brisk pace.

Eve and I turned to Kianna, with Eve still holding onto me rather protectively—same as she did when she was worried I was in danger on the same station as Gamma-12, made me wonder if she thought I was in danger now too. “Ready?”

Kianna nodded, “Follow me.” She said, escorting us out of the busy shuttle bay and into the familiar halls of

The Radiance

, the home we hadn’t seen in over 18 cycles, and yet it still felt like home all the same.

***

“Holy shit, I really thought I was going to die back there.” Zyno said animatedly, sitting up in a hospital bed with Yun on the edge beside him. Despite his supposed brush with death, Zyno was cleared and already out of surgery—fancy space technology stitching up his wounds in a matter of seconds with crazy medical lasers. Now he was just resting and relaxing in bed, soaking up all the attention he was receiving from Yun.

“Shut up, don’t even talk like that.” Yun scolded, holding out a drink for Zyno to take. Zyno took it graciously and then swallowed a big gulp, clearly thirsty from the blood loss. He returned the cup to Yun and she took it easily, totally doting on him like a worried lover.

Nothing like a brush with death to help romance progress.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to shield you with the rest; you very well could’ve died if Gamma-12 aimed higher.” Eve confirmed.

Zyno waved it off, “Please, you saved as many as you could, and we all know your main priority was Adam anyways.” He smirked, “Should’ve stayed closer to you I guess.”

I smirked too, “Well now you know where the safest spot is, I suggest you stay there.”

Yun reached over and grabbed Zyno’s hand, “You want to tell him the other thing too?”

“Oh right.” Zyno’s smile turned bright, “Doctor said your field-tourniquet definitely saved me, prevented me from bleeding out; you saved my life, Adam.”

I waved it off, “No big deal, just my old paramedic training kicking in.” I held up Eve’s hand in mine, “It’s Eve who saved us all really, kept the station intact as long as she could.” I gestured to the rest of the team, “She said she pushed you guys into a room so you all could jettison out into space with the other passengers.”

Kianna nodded, “That’s right, jostled us all around and the next thing we knew the strange shield-ball just kind of melted into goo around us, then we noticed we were in an escape pod shooting out away from the station. Roote hailed

The Radiance,

and they sent a stealth shuttle to pick us up; it was all over in minutes.”

“Yeah, seriously Eve, thank you.” Yun added, and the others all joined in.

Eve shrugged, “It was nothing, really.” She said, honestly sounding like it was nothing to her.

“So, what all

did

happen with Gamma-12? From that shield-ball and then the room, we couldn’t see anything.” Zyno asked.

Eve wasn’t in a very talkative mood, so I delved into the explanation, even telling them how I’d been fused into Eve’s armor and went along for the ride. I told them all how Gamma-12 was consuming hundreds of passengers to gain the biomass to fight Eve, but it still wasn’t enough. I didn’t tell them about the crazy laser Eve unleashed, just told them how she had strength and power beyond anything Gamma-12 could contend with, and then how we went out into the vacuum of space to finish the fight, with Eve consuming Gamma-12’s core.

“That’s two for two now, is that making you much stronger?” Zyno inquired.

Eve tilted her head back and forth, “Yes and no; it will never make me stronger than achieving perfection, but it certainly helps…

diversify

my powers and abilities, and that’s definitely useful.”

“Like you acquire new abilities?” Yun asked.

Eve shrugged, “Not exactly, more like it gives me different insight into how to implement my powers—how to manipulate my cells. Also adds some extra unique biomass that can be implemented differently, and of course I gain some of the other Predazoan’s memories—their knowledge.”

Kianna’s eyebrows shot up, “You get smarter when you consume other Predazoans?”

Eve sighed, “Again, not exactly…” She shook her head, “It’s too hard to explain to you all now.”

I could tell Eve was getting frustrated, and while I wasn’t exactly sure why, I knew I needed to step in to help her out. I turned to Zyno, “When do the doctors say you’ll be able to walk around again?”

Zyno shrugged, “Just a day off the leg should be fine.”

Yun rolled her eyes, “I think he should take it easy for a cycle, but he’s being stubborn and wants to get back involved with the researchers to assist with the grievance they’re submitting.”

Zyno blushed a little and looked down at his lap, “Well, I’ll have you to take care of me while I recover, right?”

Yun looked away, a blush on her face too, “Of course…” She said softly.

It was a cute moment, but it felt like we were audience to something that should’ve been private, so I decided to shift topics once more, “Wait, so you want to get involved in the grievance too?” I looked around at Kianna and Yun, “What about you two?”

All the doctors in the room exchanged a look of determination and gave affirming nods, “Damn right, we aren’t trained for this kind of field work; we should all be in labs running experiments on how to assist the agents and soldiers, not running boots on the ground next to them.” Zyno confirmed.

“Densdor shouldn’t have died—never should’ve been put in that kind of dangerous position in the first place.” Yun added.

Kianna crossed her arms and looked back towards the door, “Second we made it back to

The Radiance

, Doctor Gorgam called a meeting with all the head researchers; he’s spearheading the whole campaign.”

I quirked up an eyebrow at that, “Really, Gorgam? He seemed like a real company man.”

Kianna shook her head, “For the sake of the

research

, not all the fieldwork and at the risk of his fellow researchers’ lives; he’s drawing a hard line in the sand now.”

I crossed my arms too, “Think it has any legs?”

Yun and Kianna exchanged a look, but Zyno let out a weary sigh, “Honestly no; problem with these clandestine missions is how hard they work to limit exposure and discovery. If command thinks letting the researchers out to work on satellite sites poses a greater risk for leaks, no amount of grievances stand a chance of making any difference.”

“And considering how noisy we were last mission and how hard the agents are scrambling to contain the fallout now…” I offered, letting my words trail away.

Zyno nodded, “I don’t have much hope of being freed from active-duty anytime soon.”

“So long as they don’t force us on

field duty

I’ll be fine.” Yun reasoned.

Eve scoffed, “Well, aren’t you all just cleaning up your own mess? If not you, who

else

should be risking their lives trying to contain the wildly dangerous Predazoans?” She said rather scornfully.

None of the researchers seemed to know how to respond to that, and honestly Eve did make a valid point; it was the researchers who created and then unleashed the Predazoans in the first place, and then it fell to the Imperial military to clean things up. If anyone should be risking their lives, shouldn’t it be the people who caused the mess?

However, everyone who was

directly

responsibly for the creation of the Predazoans was dead—killed when NX-947b was destroyed by Eve and her sisters; all the researchers aboard

The Radiance

had been working on various satellite stations—Zyno told me before he was out in deep space on some station running experiments on a small sample of Predazoan cells to see how the camouflage worked. As far as I knew, he was as removed from the actual creation of the Predazoans as possible.

So really, who was to blame? The researchers who inherited the duty/data from their dead predecessors, or the military who was trying to contain and control everything that was left? Hard to say since I was just a dumb human stuck in the middle of everything.

Not wanting to get into any kind of altercation, I decided to just move past it, turning to Kianna, “Any idea what Eve and I should be doing while this is going down? You got the researchers and their grievances, the military working on damage control, and then there’s just us waiting around for the next target.” I asked.

Kianna sighed, “Honestly? The two of you should just lay low for a while; there’s no doubt you saved our lives on

Leisure-53,

and we never could’ve stopped Gamma-12 without Eve, but the station

was

destroyed, and civilians

saw

Eve unleashing her Predazoan power.” She paused for a moment, looking at Zyno and Yun, then back to me, “Plus, it’s widely known now you and Eve are in a committed relationship.”

I grimaced, “Dammit.”

Kianna shrugged, “You just need to wait out the storm I imagine, let things between the researchers and the military resolve on their own, and hopefully by then we’ll have our next target and you two will get swept up into another mission.”

I let out a weary sigh, “Here’s hoping.” I turned to Zyno, “You gonna be okay on your own?”

He rolled his eyes, “Please, I’ll be fine; I’ve got Yun looking after me for now.” He gestured to me and Eve, “It’s you two I’m worried about.”

I shrugged and looked around the room, “Well if anyone hears anything give us a shout, otherwise we’ll be holed up in our apartment, waiting for all this drama to blow over.”

With that we offered farewells to our friends and made our way back to our long-abandoned crew quarters, finding it wild how different everything was after the mission; when we completed our first mission, everyone aboard

The Radiance

was celebrating to the point people actually got in trouble for how much they partied. Now, no one was happy with how the mission ended, everyone was gearing up for fallout, and here Eve and I were just hoping we could be forgotten and left alone—free to be together without Imperial interference.

I was glad Zyno was okay, and it good to check in with our friends, but I couldn’t shake the feeling like we had an axe held above our heads, and one wrong move would cause it to swing down, leading to our doom.