Volume 5: Gamma-20, Chapter 5.8

For the most part, the mission seemed pretty simple; we were going to pose as mercenaries working on a deep space rescue vessel that responded to

Jessipie-90’s

distress signal. It would be easy to explain why we’d taken so long to get to them, saying their long-range communication must’ve been damaged, and we were only able to respond since we were in a nearby system.

I found it all crazy we were able to block someone’s communication system from halfway across the universe using deep space probes, especially a vessel holding some quintillion credits worth of cargo, but since the Lord Generals were in change and seemed to have unlimited resources, I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising.

I was thankful we wouldn’t have to create any ridiculous backstories either; we were a mercenary crew that ran on Imperial military contracts for patrols and rescues, no reason to get into any personal details about our lives with anyone on

Jessipie-90

. We had the basic foundation we all worked for the Lazaron Mercenary Guild and took the contract for a 10-cycle tour together on the same vessel, wouldn’t need to act all friendly like we were part of the same company or team or anything, basically strangers on the job.

The actual plan for the mission was once we entered the system we would hook our tow vessel to

Jessipie-90

with the idea we would take them to the nearest repair station, but would of course board their ship first to ensure crew safety and see if we could offer any quick repairs that would help them jump system without a tow—as per standard rescue protocol.

At that point, the others would mainly work as a distraction while Eve and I would explore their ship to hunt down Gamma-20.

Best case scenario, we would find Gamma-20 alone in her nest and Eve could take her out without even alerting

Jessipie-90’s

crew. Worst case scenario, Gamma-20 would be hiding amongst the crewmembers, and we might have to play a game of Clue to figure out who didn’t belong.

At that point we’d need some help from Zyno and Hennor, experts in Predazoan camouflage, along with Durgo and Roote, both clandestine agents trained in psychological warfare. Bryx was there for operational support, while Willa, the large marine woman, would offer whatever tactical support she could, smuggling combat gear onto

Jessipie-90

. Hopefully we’d eventually narrow things down and would be able to unmask Gamma-20 without any other crewmembers dying.

Obviously I was concerned over the lives of

Jessipie-90’s

crew, but Durgo made it very clear the cargo was even higher priority—even above keeping the Predazoan secret. They weren’t so worried about leaks this time around since there would be less than 20 crewmembers on

Jessipie-90

we could easily memory wipe if it came to it, so the mission parameters were all about the cargo and collateral damage.

Of course that made me furious, and I exchanged several heated words with Durgo, but he was insistent these orders came directly from the Lord Generals.

Zyno agreed with me but tried to soften the blow by talking about how vital it was the Empire maintain its ability to easily travel through void space and how rare it was to have such a huge shipment for one tour, saying this must’ve been in the works for decades.

I didn’t want to hear it, so tired of people’s lives being seen as disposable. I was still sick over everything that happened on Vyrane, all the people who died around me. Once again I felt responsible for the Predazoan threat, and despite my hatred for the Empire and my desire to be free of them, I shared the idea the Predazoans needed to be contained to prevent that massive loss of life they could so easily cause.

However now the Empire was worried about credits over lives, so our ideals conflicted once more.

As usual, Eve’s desire to hunt down her sisters didn’t make much sense to me. She insisted it was simply because she would follow me anywhere and if I wanted to take this mission she would too, and to cooperate with the Empire for now while working towards our freedom. I wasn’t so sure though, thinking she was getting something out of killing and consuming her sisters despite the fact she’d already reached perfection, and ever since she heard how Gamma-20 seemed to be focusing on the khrona crystals, she grew quiet and contemplative.

After the debriefing we were told we would be leaving in just two days, only enough time to review some of the mercenary guild protocols for rescue vessels. I didn’t even have time to meet up with Doctor Jumomo (not that I really cared), and we only saw our friends for lunch before time ran out on us.

The days passed quickly, and before I knew it the day of departure arrived. Eve and I were all packed up, able to take some comfortable clothes this time, along with some casual space armor and uniforms mercenaries might wear. We made our way to the hanger bay to meet with the rest of the team, stopping at the entrance when we caught Yun saying goodbye to Zyno.

“You’re sure you won’t be gone long?” Yun pressed, holding Zyno’s hand as though she didn’t want to let him go.

Zyno nodded, “Mission projection estimates we’ll be back home within two cycles, that includes travel time both ways.” He insisted.

Yun sighed, “I don’t like that we aren’t going to be in the same system—don’t know why

The Radiance

can’t jump to the Derrion System first.”

Zyno shrugged, “Commanders say we’re not done with Vyrane, still have teams working planet-side to contain the Predazoan secret. Apparently this is the most optimal use of resources.”

Yun glowered at Zyno, “I understand the

logic

of the decision, doesn’t mean it makes me feel any better.”

“Well if this helps, since I’ll be traveling through void space, the time dilation will make it feel longer for me, so you won’t have to wait as long in comparison to us on the deploy team.” Zyno reasoned.

Yun pulled her hand away from Zyno’s and crossed her arms as she narrowed her gaze on him, “Is that really what you want to say to try and consol me now?” She pressed.

Zyno looked down awkwardly, “I’ll message you the moment long-rang comms are established.” He looked up at her meekly, “And I’ll miss you.”

Yun smiled, clearly satisfied by his answer, “Much better.” She said, then leaned in to give him a tender kiss, their tentacles tangling around each other briefly before slowly pulling away.

“Aww, aren’t you two just adorable.” I said in a cutesy voice.

Yun and Zyno pulled apart quickly, both looking away as their faces flushed.

“Jackass.” Zyno grumbled.

Yun turned to me, “You’ll keep him safe, right?” She looked to Eve beside me holding onto my arm, “Both of you?”

Eve waved her words off, unconcerned, “As I always tell you people, the safest place is around my Adam.” She looked at Zyno, “Make sure you stay close while we’re on the mission; don’t want a repeat of what happened with Gamma-12 after all.”

Zyno paled a few green shades when he remembered the grave injury he suffered in the Holistia Nebula as Yun threw him an almost accusatory gaze, “You hear that? Make sure you always buddy up with Adam; don’t go exploring on your own or anything, alright?” She insisted.

Zyno threw his hands up, “When have I

ever

seemed like the adventurous type who wants to go looking for trouble?”

I chuckled and turned back to Yun, “Don’t worry about it Yun, I’ll keep your green-bean safe.”

Yun giggled then, “Green-bean? I rather like that.”

Zyno threw me another glare, then gave Yun one final hug and kiss before she allowed us to leave her and head into the hanger bay.

“So, that’s still going well?” I asked Zyno as we all walked together with our packs and gear.

“Like you wouldn’t believe—impossibly well. Seems like we never get tired of each other, and even though we’re working for different units after the restructuring, we still brainstorm with each other when we’re alone.” Zyno told me.

I quirked up an eyebrow, “Is that allowed?”

Zyno smirked, “Not technically, but so long as we don’t leave a data trail it’s fine—everyone dating someone from a different department does it.”

I hooked a thumb back towards the entrance to the bay, “And the celicopaz lack of a sex-drive, that isn’t a problem?”

Zyno blushed and looked over towards Eve, as though embarrassed we were talking about that around her. Eve just rolled her eyes and did her best to look like she wasn’t listening.

Zyno leaned in closer to me, “You know, it really isn’t a problem, not like some people make it out to be. The most common complaint is the requirement for an aphrodisiac to get into the mood kills spontaneity, but since I’ve never been spontaneous, I actually prefer planning everything out.”

“How does that work exactly?”

Zyno sneaked a quick peak to make sure Eve was still

pretending

not to listen, then turned back to me, “Alright, so Yun still has romantic desires to be with me, just without the biological desire for sex. One of the ways we can work around it is if we have a nice evening planned, she’ll usually take a low-dose aphrodisiac to kind of balance everything out, and everyone ends up satisfied. Plus, she’s told me before if I’m ever really in the mood I can just tell her and she can take a higher, short-acting dose that’ll get her in the mood right away—although I’m not so bold that I can bring myself to ask for that very often.”

“Seems like it’s working out fine, don’t get why other aliens act like it’s a problem.” I said.

Zyno shook his head, “It’s working out great for us because we’re taking the time to communicate and build something more than just sex. I could also see why it might be demoralizing to have a partner that literally never asks or wants to initiate sex on their own without taking medication first, but that doesn’t bother me either; Yun loves spending time with me as I love spending time with her, and she’s actually pretty affectionate when we’re alone together. We have this great companionship that doesn’t need sex for her to be satisfied, and honestly that’s sometimes all I want too.”

I was glad my buddy Zyno was happy, but that couldn’t be me; I had a pretty high sex-drive, plus the fact Eve and I were physically addicted to each other. I’d say we had a strong companionship between us, but it was almost dwarfed by our insatiable need for each other sexually.

I looked over towards Eve to see she had a huge, mischievous grin on her face—knowing exactly what I was thinking. I just rolled my eyes and turned back to Zyno, “Well I’m really happy things are working out between the two of you. Have either of you said I love you yet?”

Zyno looked even more embarrassed than when we were talking about sex, “Oh, uh, no not yet—don’t want to rush anything.” He said, staring at his feet.

Eve snorted, “It’s so

obvious

you love her though.”

Zyno looked horrified, as though Yun might overhear a dreadful secret, “Will you keep your voice down? It’s too soon for any of that; I don’t want to freak her out and make her think I’m taking this all too seriously.”

I shrugged, “Better that than her think you aren’t taking her seriously at all.”

Zyno sighed, “I think she knows how serious I am—seems like she can see right through me.” He looked up at me, “I just don’t want to fuck it up, you know? It hasn’t been that long since we’ve been official, just a few cycles now.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers, “Holy shit, it is

so

hard to keep track of time in space, especially when you’re traveling between planets with different orbits and timelines.” I looked over at Zyno, “I could’ve sworn you two have been together longer than that.”

Zyno chuckled, “You’re probably thinking of when we first hooked up on

Hedonism-36,

but we didn’t start officially dating until a little while after we returned from the Holistia Nebula.”

I waved him off quickly, “Right right, okay yeah, definitely don’t rush anything; keep the pace steady, and if you can help it make sure she says I love you first.” I told him.

Eve pulled me by the arm to look at her, “Why?”

I waved towards Zyno, “If he tells her he loves her first, she’ll hold all the power in the relationship, have him wrapped around her little finger. Zyno’s gotta do what he can and hold himself strong.”

Eve quirked up an eyebrow, “Really?”

I smirked, “Definitely, that’s why I hold such power over you now; you played your hand too early sweet-thing, told me you loved me before we were even dating—back when you revealed your true form to me.”

Eve made a scoffing noise, “

Really

? And that gives you power over me—as though I don’t have any power over you?”

I shrugged, “Never said you didn’t, but could you imagine how one-sided things would be if I broke down and confessed to you first, if you somehow switched things around and played things way cooler, seduced me without being all desperate for my dick? I daresay I’d be putty in your hands.”

Zyno chuckled then, “Like you

aren’t

putty in her hands.”

Eve nodded at Zyno, “Thank you.”

I lifted my chin and puffed up my chest, “But I stood tall and strong, despite the onslaught of the alien goth baddie throwing herself at me over and over, and now I hold all the power in the relationship, totally in control—in charge of my own destiny.” I said grandly.

Eve broke down laughing then, hugging my arm tight during her giggle fit, “You are such a

dumbass

Adam.”

I smiled at her, “Yeah, and you love me for it.”

Eve looked up at me, eyes shimmering with adoration, love obvious in her smile, “I really do.”

Zyno just sighed, “And now it starts; you two will be all over each other while I’ll be in a totally different system from my girlfriend, missing Yun more and more each day.”

I pushed him on the shoulder, making him move over a couple feet, “Hey, no one said you had to stick around the weird couple that grosses people out with our PDA.”

Zyno moved back over towards me quickly, “Are you kidding? Safest place is by your side, so no matter how excessive your PDA gets, you won’t be able to get rid of me so easily.”

The three of us all laughed together as we made it over to the far end of the hanger bay. Most of the hanger was filled with dropships and stealth fighters, a few spy vessels and some orbital probes, but there was a whole section of vessels we had that would be able to blend into more mundane situations. There was a regular shuttle vessel, a couple regular dropships, a space-taxi, a few hover-cars, and even a pirate gunship. For our mission, we’d be taking a towing vessel, a decently sized ship with a huge magnetic towing cable system.

The tow-ship wasn’t pretty, looking like a long, blocky rectangle with a few random squares bolted onto the sides, not even symmetrical. It was black, grey and red, looking weathered and aged—couldn’t tell if that was just for aesthetics or not. It was as long as a full-sized jet on Earth, comfortable for the crew we had, and it had its own lifepod vessel attached to one side, looking like a dark derelict space-bus.

The rest of our team was waiting around for the helper-bots to pack away their gear, gliding up and down the ramp with diligent ease. Zyno, Eve and I dropped our gear before the ramp, and the available robots took it aboard the vessel right away.

“We already have departure clearance from high-command, once the rest of our gear and supplies are packed away we can head out.” Bryx informed us, looking over a tablet to confirm our equipment.

“Can we head up to check out the ship?” I asked.

Bryx shrugged, not even looking away from his tablet, “Go for it.”

Zyno split off from our group to go talk with Hennor, so Eve and I went up the ramp together to enter the towing vessel.

At the top of the ramp by some digital display—controls for the ramp and airlock, there was a worn plaque that looked like it had a plasma burn on the edge, covering some of the details on the specs of the ship, but the name was still clear.

“

Krook Hook

. Nice, sounds badass.” I said.

“Do you think all the damage and aging is natural, or have they dressed the vessel up to look old and battle-scarred?” Eve asked.

“Honestly, I was about to ask you that.” I admitted.

We walked into the entryway, checking out the strangely worn ship. The hallways were rather bare, with plain grey plating for walls, with black plating for the floors and ceiling. There were rust spots, more plasma burns, some loose wires even. There was one spot where a full plate was missing, revealing all the circuitry underneath.

I grabbed a fistful of wires that almost seemed loose, “Doesn’t seem very futuristic.”

Eve pulled my hand away before I could break anything, “Says the man from Earth whose people haven’t invented interstellar travel yet.”

“Yeah yeah.” I sighed and looked around the hallway, “Still, pretty sure all this damage is real.”

The hallway was a little cramped, but not unbearably so—like the cabin to a private jet, just enough for two people to walk down comfortably.

“What better way to blend in than to send us out in a worn old vessel?” Eve reasoned.

“You think it’s safe?” I asked.

Eve shrugged, “One way to find out.” She said, then grabbed my hand and started leading me deeper into the ship.

We passed by a lounge area that looked like it would only be comfortable for four people, with a hover TV screen before a small plain couch and two worn armchairs that looked like they survived several wars. There was a small kitchenette with bulk processed protein meals and a water filtration system that could collect and produce moisture from space, looked old and questionable though. There were two bunk rooms with a half dozen simple cots each, and a couple washrooms and a shower that were literally no better than what we had at our pop-up camps down on Vyrane. Overall, it seemed like it was the size of an apartment cramped up to fit inside a jumbo jet, just comfortable enough for eight people, but any more would be a nightmare.

“You know what this all reminds me—” I started.

“The Millenium Falcon.” Eve finished for me, nodding along with my thought.

I stopped her abruptly in the hallway of the old space vessel so she looked at me with a concerned expression.

“What?” Eve pressed.

Without answering, I leaned forward and kissed her deeply, passionately, pressing her up against those rusted metal walls. Eve was surprised at first but quickly wrapped her arms around my neck as she melded into the kiss.

I pulled away from her and looked deep into her eyes, and she still appeared rather confused over my reaction.

“I love you so much, Evie.”

“Because I got your Millenium Falcon reference?” Eve inquired, looking at me like she thought I was insane.

“Absolutely, that’s all love is: getting each other’s weird, obscure references constantly.” I said seriously.

Eve sighed and shook her head, then just laughed as she pulled me into a hug, “And I love you, my silly, ridiculous, darling boy.”

Eve pulled me by the hand and started leading me down some tight spiraling staircase into the basement of the ship.

“I mean really, who else in the Empire would ever get a Star Wars reference with me? And it’s not just the fact you got my reference; you called it out before I could even say it!” I insisted, having to duck my head down as we walked through the narrow maintenance pathway, pipes and wires all around us now.

Eve laughed once again, “Yes yes, what would you do without me?”

“Either be bored all the time or just constantly misunderstood.” I answered honestly.

Eve looked back at me, a smirk playing on her face as her eyes danced with amusement, “But what about girls back on Earth? Surely they would get your references?”

I held up a hand to stop her, “First, we’re not on Earth, and I’m glad for it.” I gestured to the maintenance shaft around us, “Wouldn’t be having these crazy space adventures if I was still stuck back home.”

Eve nodded along, “Right right.”

I held up two fingers, “Second, even the dorky girls back home never got

all

my references; I simply had too many interests or hobbies and would lose them somewhere along the way.” I started ticking off fingers, “Anime fangirls wouldn’t get my American comic references, or gamer girls wouldn’t get my obscure movie references, I crossed too many genres with all my interests.” I gestured to Eve, “And not to put too fine a point on it, but there’s no nerd-girl alive anywhere close to as sexy as you.”

Eve smiled brightly then, “Naturally.”

I smiled too, “You’re just the perfect package; outrageously hot, a wild sex fiend, and you get all my dorky references—make your own dorky references even.”

Eve leaned forward to wrap her arms around me, giving me a quick kiss, “Hmm, almost sounds like I’m you’re perfect mate or something.” She said innocently.

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah.” I turned her around and gave her a quick spank, causing her to giggle as Eve continued leading me through the bowels of the ship.

Eve brought me into some room in the far back with a large chrome sphere that had a bunch of smaller black bulbs around it, with some large platinum coiled cylinder in the middle. Compared to everything else on the ship, this device looked totally pristine.

“I thought as much.” Eve said with no small amount of satisfaction.

I quirked up an eyebrow, “What is it?”

Eve gestured to the fancy, futuristic device, “This, my lovely boy, is a warp reactor, and a brand new one by the looks of it.”

I looked over the strange device, “So this thing opens warp gates, eh?”

Eve nodded, “Right. I figured they got some old, retired vessel so it could easily blend in as a junk ship, but they’d update all its main systems.” She smiled at me, “Nothing to worry about then; despite looking all decrepit, the ship will be quite safe and surprisingly powerful.”

“Shit, they do something like that back on Earth with race cars too, when it looks all junky but has a crazy engine under the hood.” I snapped a few times as I tried to remember the name, “Sleeper cars, I think.”

“Pretty much the same premise here.” Eve confirmed.

I shrugged, “Alright, you’ve convinced me.” I hooked a thumb back the way we came, “Wanna head back up to see if we’re ready to depart?”

Eve grabbed my hand and interlocked our fingers, “Lead the way.”