Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.7

It wasn’t easy reigning Eve in; she was absolutely ready to go to war, tentacles and claws fully extended, eager to tear into all the soldiers before us—ready to destroy

The Radiance

and

The Judicator

, probably the entire Empire if I hadn’t stopped her. But I didn’t believe for one second mission command or even high-command wouldn’t have backup failsafe controllers, and I wasn’t about to risk Eve’s safety like that. After a stern order from me, Eve reluctantly went into her containment cell, and I walked begrudgingly into mine.

The power armor soldiers pushing our hover-carts with the mobile containment units were silent as Eve and I were next to each other, separated by repulser fields, completely trapped with no way to get out.

I sat down in my mobile cell and let out a tired, defeated sigh, “I’m sorry it’s come to this Evie.”

Eve was still standing in her cell, pressing against the forcefield as though she would break free if she could, “You have nothing to apologize for Adam; if these fools seek to punish us, they risk losing their only hope in containing the rest of the Predazoans.”

I shook my head slowly, at a total loss for how to proceed, “No, it really is all my fault; I never should’ve agreed to join in with the Empire in the first place, definitely never should’ve allowed them to put that failsafe on your core. I guess I just never thought it would come to this.”

Eve looked over at me, her eyes burning with fury and determination, “Don’t give into despair just yet Adam; I will not allow them to take you from me, I’ll fight for us to my dying breath.”

I gave Eve a sad smile but didn’t have the heart to respond to her passion. The problem was we were totally at their mercy now; there was nothing we could do to be free from the Empire’s hold over our lives. I already sealed our fates a long time ago when I let them put that bomb on Eve’s core, and even now I wouldn’t let Eve fight against them and risk them setting off the bomb. It was completely hopeless; we were at the Empire’s mercy now.

I was ashamed to admit it, but at that point I had given up.

They escorted us through the connecting chamber between vessels, and once we were in between the airlocks the soldiers left us there as the air cycled through, purifying and recycling it completely.

Eve trilled in annoyance, “Clever bastards, they’re really not taking any chances now.”

I quirked up an eyebrow, “What happened?”

Eve sighed as the power armor soldiers rejoined us to take us into

The Judicator

, “They just purged the air of any toxins or particulates.” She turned to me with an even gaze, “Made sure no invisible spores could make it through to

The Judicator

.”

I nodded along knowing what that meant; Eve was completely trapped in the containment cell with no chance of breaking out of this one—no spores in the air to work her magic and free us should things turn sour. Eve was as powerless as me now.

Eve sat down in her containment unit, looking at me with a soft smile, adoration for me deep in her eyes, “I love you Adam, and no matter what happens, I promise I’ll take care of you.”

I shook my head at her, “Don’t tell me you’re giving up too?”

“I’ll never give up on you Adam—I’ll never give up on

us

. Remember what you said, how you’d be fine being a slave to the Empire for a thousand years, so long as we can be together? For me as well, I’ll do everything in my power to secure our future, and whether that means I must fight to tear down the system that works to separate us or shackle myself in chains and work for the enemy, I’ll do whatever I must to stay by your side.”

I put my hand up on the containment cell, feeling the subtle hum and staticky buzz, “I love you Evie, forever and for always.”

Eve also put her hand up then so it was facing mine, barely a foot between us, yet the distance might as well have been a mile. I wanted to touch her so badly, to embrace her, to kiss her, to feel her skin against mine. I wanted to love her, to dominate her and be dominated by her, to be spoiled and to spoil her. I wanted to spend days in bed with her, and then just as many days lazing around on the couch with her. I wanted to go on adventures with her—take her camping back on Earth. I wanted to reintroduce her to my grandparents—the new adult version of Eve. I wanted to have a family meal with everyone and tell them all about our adventures and then sneak her up to my room to make love to her as though we were a couple of teenagers. I wanted to find some distant planet where we could build our own farm, living simple lives tending to alien livestock where no one knew where we were. And then I wanted to get dangerous with her, working as bounty hunters—be a real space cowboy with Eve. I wanted to get rich and lazy with her and live decadently, then throw it all away to be a starving artist with her once again. I had a hundred hobbies and a thousand interests, and I wanted to share them all with Eve—live a thousand lifetimes with her. I wanted to be human with her, raising regular children with her—even if they needed to be cloned somehow. And then eventually thousands of years down the road I would be fine being consumed by her—become whatever Predazoan hybrid she wanted me to be, share our minds or cells or whatever horrors the darkest parts of her hivemind envisioned for us. I didn’t even care at this point; I just wanted to be with Eve—forever and for always.

I stood up in my containment unit, a fire burning in my belly; I wasn’t going to give up, I wouldn’t allow the Empire to separate us. I would fight and die a thousand times to protect my little Evie. I didn’t care if she had the powers of an Outsider god, I knew she needed me—needed my protection. She was still much more vulnerable and emotional than even she understood, and I had to be there every step of the way to help her grow as a person—as a

human

.

I had already been willing to die for Eve—took a bullet like it was nothing back on Earth. Here and now, I made a promise to myself; I would die before I allowed anyone to separate us.

Eve looked at me, eyes shimmering with tears, such a fierce, profound love deep in her beautiful glowing eyes. I could tell she sensed my resolve—no, she sensed my

love

, and it touched her deeply, gave her strength, renewed her spirit. She took in a deep breath and recentered herself and her tears cleared away quickly. She stood up with me and nodded, “We

will

be together, forever and for always.” She said with resolute determination.

***

Our journey through

The Judicator

was quick and uneventful; it didn’t look too different from

The Radiance

, save it was way more massive. We had to take several lifts and moving walkways, and after about an hour we were taken to some holding area where we were to wait for the court proceedings to start.

Fully contained as we were, they still left us with a dozen power armor soldiers to guard us.

I turned to Eve, wanting to get a battleplan straightened out before we were taken before high-command, “Alright, what are you thinking now?”

Eve frowned thoughtfully, “They’re accusing you of dereliction of duty, and I saw on that list of charges it was mostly about damages that’ve occurred on the missions so far, and the people that’ve died during them.” She turned to face me, “I say we make it plain there would be no hope of this mission succeeding at all without us.”

I nodded along, “You mean go on the offensive?”

Eve quirked up an eyebrow, “As opposed to what? Beg their forgiveness and assure them we’ll try harder next time?”

I shook my head, “No, you’re right, they need us, and they need to know that.” I waved towards the door, “Back during the debriefing on

The Radiance

you tried to reign me in when I got argumentative. How do you think we should play it now?”

Eve shrugged, “That’s going to depend how they approach this; match their energy, don’t get all heated if they don’t. We don’t want to come off as reckless or unstable in a simple meeting.”

“But if they really start digging into us?”

Eve nodded, “We need to defend ourselves, can’t let them think for even a moment the mission would succeed without us.”

I gestured between us, “And what about us? How open should we be about that?”

Eve’s gaze was even more determined now, “I’m done hiding our relationship; whatever happens with our roles or how they want to restructure us, I will make it very clear we have no problems working for them and their mission, but we will do so as a couple—and we’re stronger for it.”

I nodded at that, “Right, and the entire reason you achieved perfection is as my mate—the reason you’re the strongest Predazoan. Surely they’ll have to see the benefits there.”

Eve smiled brilliantly. “That’s an excellent point darling; we’ll make sure they understand that if they decide to question our relationship.”

I tapped my knuckles against my head, “Not just a pretty face.”

Eve’s smile turned playful, “Oh, but it’s such a pretty face.” She looked me up and down, “All of you is pretty—gorgeous really. I can’t wait to feel your skin against mine once we’re finally free of these cages.”

I couldn’t believe how much I already missed Eve, just the fact I

couldn’t

touch her now was somehow unbearable even though it’d only been like an hour, “I want to fuck you so bad, I feel homesick when I’m not inside you.” I admitted, my voice low and eager.

Eve trilled a seductive little moan, “I feel empty when you aren’t inside me, did you know that? I feel hollow right now, and there’s an unbearable ache in my pussy demanding to be filled.”

“I want to kiss you and tear into you, I want you to sit on my face and then ride me until I can’t walk. I want you to drug me up so I can stay hard inside you for three days straight.” I said desperately.

Eve lifted her shirt to reveal her perfect breasts and pressed them against the repulser barrier of the containment unit, squeezing and rolling her silky white skin and perfectly pale nipples against the translucent wall in a wildly arousing way. “I want you to make me beg, make me weak, make me cry and plead for more. I want to spoil you, dote on you, love you. I’ll be slow and gentle as you get rougher, teasing and abusing me. I love you so much Adam, I want you so bad right now—”

The door opened to our room and Eve and I suddenly remembered we had an audience of 12 power armor soldiers who had awkwardly turned away from our cells while we were getting all into it. Eve covered herself quickly as the red alien officer walked towards our containment units.

“High-command will see you now so we can begin with the proceedings.” He said curtly and gestured for the power armor soldiers to escort us to the next area.

Despite all the danger we were in, Eve and I couldn’t help but laugh, doing all we could to stifle our giggles. Eve made some obscene gestures and mouthed what all she wanted to do to me, while I responded with my own vulgar motions and whispers.

We must’ve looked like complete fools as the soldiers took us to the courtroom where our future would be decided, flirting and giggling like a bunch of idiots. I don’t know if it was Eve’s intention, but I suddenly found myself in a much better mood, ready to face our potential doom with determination—and a hard-on.