Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.24

I sat down against a tree, hugging my knees, my mind completely blank for the first time in a long time as the emptiness of those soldiers’ deaths rang out in my mind, playing over and over again.

“Darling please, talk to me.” Eve said quietly, sitting on the strange red grass beside me.

I shook my head slowly, not really seeing anything in front of me, “What do you want me to say? They murdered those men, and we just stood around and let it happen.”

“There was nothing we could do Adam; look what the Empire has done to contain us. You think we should protest against them now, all for the sake of those random soldiers?”

“What, because we didn’t

know

them, their lives didn’t matter? That’s a very inhuman way of looking at it.” I insisted.

“I understand how you feel Adam, but please understand I don’t feel the same way. To me, not every life has the same intrinsic value, and considering how much more valuable our lives are on the cosmic scale, it was much more important for us to remain compliant and uninvolved.” Eve explained.

Finally, I looked up at Eve, “You don’t think all life has the same intrinsic value? Eve, if you want to be

human

, you need to respect the sanctity of life;

all

life has value.”

Eve shook her head slowly, “Again, we see things differently; you say all life has value, yet you have no problem killing and consuming animals, you have no problems killing insects that annoy you. Right there you hold value over life differently.”

I sighed, “All

people

have value at least, Eve.”

“And yet I would see people the same as animals or insects; the distinctions you make don’t make any difference in the grand scheme of things—when you measure life by millennia rather than minutes.” Eve clarified.

If Eve was trying to make me feel better, she was doing a shit job of it—honestly, made me feel worse.

“Eve, I don’t want to talk about it.” I said simply, resting my forehead on my arms over my knees.

Eve was silent then for a few more moments. “I’ve upset you.” She said in a small voice.

“Yes, I’m

very

upset—everything about this is upsetting.”

Again, more silence. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

I let out another long sigh, “I don’t know—nothing really. I just want to be left alone with my thoughts.”

Instead of leaving me alone, Eve hugged me, wrapping a couple tentacles around me, “I won’t leave you alone Adam, I’ll never leave you. I’m very sorry if I don’t say the right things a human would in these times, and I’m sorry I might not understand the complexities of your emotions, but even if you want to remain in silence, allow me to comfort you with my embrace.” She said sweetly.

And then she was silent, resting her head on my shoulder, just being with me. It really was a rather simple gesture, but I had to admit it did make me feel a little better. Still didn’t improve our situation, and I had no idea what I was going to do or say when I returned to the team, but for now, I was comforted by Eve’s gentle embrace.

I don’t think a lot of time passed while Eve held me in silence, but it was enough for me to collect myself and get my thoughts back in order.

“So, what are we going to do about Beta-09? You said you might need to camouflage yourself for this mission.” I asked.

Eve nodded against my shoulder, “I think it would be best, otherwise she could send her forces to attack us whenever. Even now she might be sending her puppets after me, so it would be prudent to quickly ghost away in a new form without being seen.”

“And how’s that going to work? I’ve seen you play around with some shapeshifting here and there, but it’s either mild things to change your regular form, or you turn into some sort of monster to fight people.” I inquired.

Eve chuckled lightly, “Pretty much what you saw from Gamma-12 back in the Holistia Nebula, but of course with my own little artsy flair.” Eve stood up and took a few steps away, then flashed me a bright smile, “Take one last look at this beautiful form, you might not see if for a few cycles.”

I laughed and waved her off, “Yeah yeah, I’m more curious to see what you’re going to come up with as a replacement.”

Eve stuck her tongue out at me, and then in between blinks I saw her form shimmer and melt into itself, and then suddenly she was completely different—a new person entirely.

“What do you think?” Eve said, spinning around to show off her new body with a flourish.

Eve had transformed into a celicapoz, completely alien, and honestly very exotic and beautiful. Her skin was still pure white, but it was translucent now, so it almost seemed like it had a silver sheen to it. Her black hair and tentacles were gone, instead she had dozens of long silvery-white tentacles that reached down to her lower back, with a translucent squid-veil at the sides of her head. Her eyes were deep sapphire now, and they no longer glowed at all, but instead were all just one solid color without any noticeable pupil or iris difference. Her nose wasn’t as pronounced on her face, almost blended right in, but she still had those full, pouty black lips—with the long black nails to match. Same with all the celicapoz I’d seen so far, Eve’s outrageous body and curves had diminished significantly so she was much more slender with milder, elegant curves; she didn’t look like some anime porn-star wet dream, but it was still quite attractive.

Eve had completely changed her appearance to look like a white celicapoz, and if I hadn’t known her, I was sure I’d never question she wasn’t a natural alien, but somehow, I looked at this new form and I could still see my Eve in there. Maybe it was a personality thing, maybe it was some of the very Eve-like flair she added to the form, maybe it was the mischievous way she smiled that was exactly how I knew my Evie smiled, but I looked at this new alien person and saw my Eve right away.

So I didn’t feel bad when I thought she looked incredibly sexy and wanted to break in this new body at the earliest opportunity.

With her body much more slender now, she held onto the armor so it wouldn’t fall off with the damaged back, but when she caught me trying to get a sneak peak, she smiled mischievously, “You like this new form, darling?”

I scratched at the back of my head, wondering if I really

should

find it attractive, wondering if Eve would get jealous of…

herself

?

“Honestly yeah, it’s kind of exotic and exciting.” I admitted.

Eve’s smile grew as she strolled over to stand me up so she could trail her finger along my chest, “And you’re wondering if you should be attracted to this new form since it’s so different?”

I smiled sheepishly, “You got me.”

Eve smiled brilliantly, that same smile she always did in her other form, “Of course it’s okay, darling. It’s still me—still my heart, mind and soul. I told you before biology is my plaything, so I would have no problem playing around with it—for both of us. I would take on any form you wish, be any race or person, transform for any wild desires you want to fulfil; there’s no reason to ever worry over it. So long as you give

me

—the

real

me all your love and attention, it doesn’t matter what physical form I take.”

I looked down at the celicapoz Eve and had to admit it was already opening me up to the idea of trying Eve out in all kinds of wild and exotic alien bodies and forms.

But now wasn’t the time for all that. Eve transformed for a reason—to hide from Beta-09 for the mission. And even though I was still pissed with the mission team and how they murdered those soldiers, we needed to hurry up and get a move on so more lives wouldn’t be needlessly lost.

I gestured to the armor Eve was barely holding onto, “That’s good to know, and I’ll certainly take you up on the offer later, but for now, we’ve got to get you some properly fitting armor.”

Eve nodded, her playful attitude quickly replaced by seriousness, “Are you ready to face the soldiers again? We can take more time if you need it.”

I shrugged, “Might as well get it over with. The faster we can move along, the faster we can complete this mission and get back to working on how to be free of the Empire and all their supporters.”

***

When we returned to the dropship we saw all the supplies were out and organized, most of the injured soldiers were back up and working, and Eve got a few sidelong glances as she strolled through in her new form.

I went right for the supplies, and we found a new set of battle armor, so Eve switched out of her old broken armor like it was nothing and changed into the new armor, activating it so it fit her form perfectly, sadly hiding away nearly all her curves. Still, Eve was sexy no matter what she wore, and her cute new exotic face was more than enticing.

“Agent Adam, is that Eve with you?” Captain Seash called out, walking over to us with Bryx and Kotlokk.

I was irritated to see they were all acting so normal after the murders but wasn’t surprised of course. I bit down my revulsion and put on the mask of compliance as I gestured to the white celicapoz beside me, “Yeah, she needed to activate her camouflage so Beta-09 wouldn’t be able to track her now.” I hooked a thumb over to the destroyed ship, “That’s what happened with us while up in orbit; Beta-09 sensed Eve somehow and went on the offensive, targeting Eve specifically during our descent.”

Kotlokk nodded along, “I wondered if it was something like that, it simply didn’t make sense for all their planetary defenses to focus on one dropship.”

“Right, but Beta-09 probably sensed where we touched down, so it would be best if we get a move on quickly.” Eve advised, leaning over to grab onto my arm.

“Already working on it, we’ll be having a mission briefing in a few minutes once we’re ready to ship out.” Seash explained, then paused, looking at me, “Adam, I just wanted to check in with you, make sure there won’t be—”

I held up my hand to quickly cut him off, “Problems? Of course not, wouldn’t want to give you an excuse to execute me next, right?” I said flippantly.

Seash could see I wasn’t about to talk about it and knew it caused a rift between us. But he could also clearly see Eve and I were ready to move, to just get on with the mission at this point, so best to just drop it.

Seash turned to Kotlokk who nodded once, then he turned back to me, “Very well. Gather your supplies, collect anything else you might need from what’s left from the surplus, otherwise everything else will be left behind.” He said, then turned and left with his entourage.

We collected our packs from the pile, then looked around for anything else we might need. Everyone grabbed some of the extra rations—pure protein-calorie bars that were vital for any futuristic space soldiers who would be roughing it through unknown territory. We grabbed up some hydration capsules—again, fancy space magic technology that made no sense to me, plus a few other field supplies.

Kianna made her way over to us while we finished packing everything away, “Hey, you okay?” She asked me discreetly.

I snorted a derisive laugh, “Damn well better be, not like there’s anything we can do about it.”

She put a hand on my arm, “Adam, seriously, it’s really

not

okay, but there’s nothing any of us could’ve done.”

I knew she was right of course—hell, I couldn’t do anything in the end either, but it still pissed me off I was the only person who gave voice to my protests.

“What’s done is done.” I offered insincerely.

Kianna could see I was in no mood to talk about it, so she just dropped it. She turned to look at Eve, a small smile playing on her face, “Nice choice for camouflage, although I’m not sure if you’re aware, but white celicapoz are incredibly rare and all basically treated like celebrities; their unique beauty is legendary throughout the Empire.”

Eve waved the words away, “The black and white always fits my aesthetic more, regardless how rare it is.” She smiled and turned to me, “Besides, if I’m to remain camouflaged for the duration of the mission, I figured I should spoil Adam with some rare delicacies.”

I quirked up an eyebrow, “Isn’t a human/Predazoan hybrid even

more

rare? Only one of you in the entire universe. How many white celicapoz can there be? A thousand? A million?”

Eve leaned forward to hug me from behind, “I should like to spoil you with

every

rare treat the universe has to offer.”

“Alright everyone, gather round for the briefing.” Lieutenant Bryx called out.

I let out a weary sigh, having to sit through another fucking briefing.

Eve and I stayed outside the circle while the soldiers and marines took a knee around Seash and Bryx as though they were on some dumb football team. Seash activated his tablet, projecting a holo-map of the planet. He looked up at the holographic planet for a few silent seconds before turning away to face his soldiers, “First and foremost, I think we all owe Eve our heartfelt gratitude; without her quick thinking, I don’t think any of us would’ve survived the crash.” He started a mild clap, and everyone quickly joined in, “Thank you for protecting us.”

Everyone offered Eve their various praise, but she waved it off dismissively.

Once the applause died down, Seash’s expression quickly grew somber, “All told, we lost 15 soldiers today, all good people who died in the line of duty. I say we take a moment of silence to honor our fallen comrades.” He said, then bowed his head.

I rolled my eyes so hard I was surprised nobody heard it; Seash counted the six Imperial soldiers in with the fallen, despite being responsible for four of their deaths. We also lost four marines, two power armor soldiers, one clandestine agent, plus the pilot and copilot. Several others had been injured in the crash, but thanks to that medical multitool, only two remained with significant injuries, one with a broken arm, the other with a broken leg, both secured in those futuristic silver braces.

Once he was finished with his silence, Seash raised his head and turned to the holographic map, quick to move onto other business. “We’re about 30 miles off from our original drop point, which puts us a couple days out from Wesseran. We’re going to have to rough it from here on out, breaking our backs to make up for lost time. There’s also some concern our target Beta-09 could’ve sensed Eve during our descent, but since she’s established camouflage, if we put some fast distance between us and the crash site, we might be able to slip by without enemy engagement. However, we’re not going to take any chances, so we’re going to double up on guard rotation throughout the night.” There were a few groans from the soldiers, but Seash waved it off quickly, “I know, you’re all tired and some of you are hurt, but protocol for post-engagement applies even starting from orbit.”

Bryx stepped forward beside Seash, “We’ve still got six hours of planet-side daylight left, so if we keep a good pace we can make the halfway point today, and arrive in Wesseran by tomorrow, and since it’s out of the hot-zones, we might be able to park up in a hotel with some real beds for the night if you all pull your weight to keep the timeline.” He confirmed.

That certainly got the soldiers motivated, and already they were talking about how much they wanted a real bed and bath after surviving the crash.

It was wild to me how quickly they all moved on, not just from the Imperial soldiers they killed (although that was still a huge part of it), but we all just crash landed on the planet and nearly died, and even now were being hunted down by some vicious enemy that might know where we are, and yet the soldiers were more concerned with any luxuries they could score tomorrow night.

I was still upset with them of course, but I had to admit I admired how easily they could adapt and overcome; I’d suffered PTSD that took over six months to recover from, and even now I felt my mental state was rather vulnerable. I honestly wish I could forget and just march along like a good soldier, to leave all the shit behind me, to move forward towards my future with Eve without a care in the world. But my mind, unfortunately, was just too messy to let go of all that clutter.

Seash deactivated the hologram, “Take five minutes to collect yourselves and your gear, then we’re marching on out towards Wesseran.” He gestured to two marines in the front, “Dazz, Shena, you two will be taking point.” He ordered, and they offered their affirmatives with that Spartan shout. Captain Seash looked around to the rest of the troops, “No complaints, no grievances, leave your troubles behind and we’ll all be happier for it.” He said, sounding-off like he was repeating some soldier’s oath.

I looked up to the brilliant sky, looking like some watercolor painting of a sunset, it was absolutely beautiful. And yet the very start of our time planet-side was already filled with death, tragedy and betrayal.

I honestly wished I could just leave my trouble behind, like Captain Seash said, but I had a feeling even if I did, new trouble would be waiting for me right around the corner.