Volume 5: Gamma-20, Chapter 5.35

After we all had dinner together, we met up at the robot bar to have one last drink before we’d wind down for the night, grab some sleep, and then leave

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behind.

Gadow stood in the center of the room, holding his drink in the air, “I just wanted to say a few words after everything that’s happened.”

“Speech!” Zemman shouted, and everyone laughed.

Gadow smiled and waved him off, “Not a speech, just something I need to say.” He paused then, turning serious, “I wanted to apologize for everything that’s happened during our tour of the Derrion System; this was my first contract as a captain, and I don’t know if there’s anything I could’ve done to change our fates—don’t know if a more experienced captain could’ve avoided this catastrophe, but with everything we’ve lost along the way, I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible.” He bowed his head low, “I’m sorry.”

“Boo!” People shouted and jeered at the captain, throwing empty cups at him even.

“Gadow, you were a wonderful captain; you can’t seriously blame yourself for this nightmare.” Reim insisted.

Lummy nodded along, “Yeah, we’re lucky we’ll be able to survive this mess at all—and it’s thanks to your leadership.”

Gadow tried to wave them off, but his crew continued.

“There was just too much out of our control.” Saba said.

Fierra turned to Gadow, looking serious, “Honey, please, don’t shoulder this burden; it was a tragedy, nothing you could’ve done to prevent it.”

I raised my drink then, “To Captain Gadow.” I cheered, and everyone joined in enthusiastically.

From there we split apart once more, heading off to our rooms for one last comfortable sleep before we’d all be cramped in the shuttle. We planned on waking up, getting cleaned up and then eating one final big meal where we didn’t have to worry about rationing supplies, leaving us six hours to spare to leave the system.

As always, Gadow and Fierra wanted their alone time, Durgo the asshole didn’t want to fraternize with the crew, but one more change from our usual group happened; Num and Willa decided to head off on their own as well to enjoy some private time.

It ended up just being me, Zyno, Reim, Lummy, Saba, and Zemman in our usual room for the night, but this time we pushed all the mattresses together so they were close in a circle, our heads all facing each other, absolutely like we were having a slumber party despite the incredible danger we were facing.

“Was anyone expecting that development between Willa and Num?” Zyno asked the group.

Saba giggled then, “Oh yeah, they’ve been throwing eyes at each other ever since they got drunk and made out over a cycle ago.”

Zemman let out a sad sigh, “Must be nice having someone now…”

The group got quiet then, knowing the pain Zemman felt at losing Cikirna; Zemman held himself strong and handled his work and responsibilities seriously and without complaint, but when he was off on his own, I saw him fall into a melancholy mood quite frequently.

“You know what sucks is there’s nothing you can really say when such a sudden tragedy takes the life a loved one. Sorry for your loss? She’s in a better place? You’ll find someone else? She’d want you to survive and be happy? All those words are basically meaningless.” I said, an old frustration I felt even back on Earth.

Zyno looked my way, “You dealt with those sudden tragedies when you were a medic on Earth, right? Giving people news on family members who died recently.”

I sighed, “Yeah, and it never got any easier no matter how many times I did it.”

“It seems like quite a strange career shift, working as some rescue-doctor on your home planet, now a soldier out in space. What happened in your life to bring about such a drastic change?” Reim asked.

It was all Eve, obviously, but I didn’t want to risk giving away too many details about my Predazoan girlfriend considering how her sister made everyone on

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suffer.

I shrugged, “Getting involved with the Empire and being taken away from Earth I guess, had to just hit the ground running—seems like I still haven’t really caught up.”

“And that’s your new life, moving mission to mission, meeting new people and facing these unbelievable threats over and over?” Lummy inquired.

I chuckled and shook my head, “When you put it that way it all sounds miserable.”

Reim sat up to look at me, “Isn’t it? I can’t imagine living in such danger constantly. For us, this was a dreadful nightmare we’ll never forget, and yet for you it’s just another mission.”

Zyno laughed too, “Hey, don’t sell it so short; this has been a nightmare none of us will ever forget either.”

Saba nodded, “Sure, some missions are worse than others—this one maybe the worst you’ve ever been on so far, but the point is after it’s all over and we’re back home safe in Imperial space, you’ll eventually ship out on another dangerous mission hunting down some specialty threat or whatever.” She reasoned.

I waved my hands out vaguely trying to reign in their negativity, “Forget all that noise for now, what about you guys? Once you’re free of this nightmare, what are your plans for the future?”

The

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crew took their time in thinking over their answers—honestly, they probably hadn’t even thought that far ahead when it was so hard just surviving every day.

Lummy let out a weary sigh, “I guess it depends on what the company does after this mess. Considering Gadow’s following proper procedure, all our licenses and credentials are still probably safe. However, most deep space mining companies are strict and even superstitious and wouldn’t trust crews from a destroyed vessel with another valuable contract.”

“They can really just fire you like that even though the catastrophe clearly wasn’t your fault?” I asked.

Lummy shrugged, “Sure. Some of these companies are beyond ancient, have roots in the Old Empire even, and if they think a crewmember might be a source of bad luck for another vessel, there’s no law that prevents them from removing the source of that luck.”

“Thankfully, there’s thousands of mining companies out there, so long as we aren’t blacklisted, we should be able to get another contract for a deep space freighter with someone else.” Zemman added.

“You really wanna head back out into deep space again though after everything you dealt with out here?” Zyno asked.

“I’ll probably take a shorter contract, might not even work in deep space, but I’ll still want to work on a freighter vessel to some degree.” Saba admitted.

“I don’t know, despite how terrible this turned out, the money for a long deep space contract really can’t be beat, and since we’re gonna lose the profits from this contract, might as well try to make up for it somehow.” Lummy reasoned.

Zemman sighed, “Me and Cikirna were going to take another contract right after this—was going to be our last one. The original plan was for us to take three long deep space contracts, then retire in the Envenna System on one of their paradise planets. Now, I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

I looked over at Reim who was silent with a thoughtful frown on her face, “What about you Reim?”

She shook her head slowly, “Originally I took this contract to help with my research on deep space nutrition and the long-term effects of synthesized food on people, but the outcome of all that data is obviously useless now.”

I quirked up an eyebrow, “You mean you aren’t normally a deep space contract kind of doctor?”

Reim smiled bitterly, “Not at all.” She looked at me, “What amazing luck I chose this contract to help with my research.”

“Shit, yeah that really sucks.” I tilted my head to the side, “So what are you going to do? Continue with the research some other way?”

Reim shrugged, “Honestly I think I’m just going to abandon the project, head back home and work for my father’s private practice—that’s what he always wanted anyway.”

Zyno chuckled and shook his head, “All across the Empire, amongst all the different planets and races, everyone still has the same kinds of issues with their parents.”

“Oh I’ll drink to that.” Lummy confirmed, then frowned, “Shit, I don’t have a drink…”

I laughed at that, “Small comfort no matter how big our problems get, the roots of the issues are always the same.”

Reim pulled her pillow close and hugged it, looking over at me, “Enough deflecting with everyone else’s story, what about you? Are you really just going to head out on another mission after all this?”

I shrugged, “I have to.” I waved around at everyone else, “You all have your strict contracts with the mining company, and I have mine with the Imperial military.”

Reim quirked up an eyebrow, “They force you to go on all these missions?”

Lummy looked concerned too, “They didn’t force you to get all those genetic modifications, did they?”

I laughed and shook my head, “No, it’s not like that; I told you all I got into a spot of trouble in the past—including getting all those enhancements, so now working for the Empire is the best way to get clear of all that trouble.”

Reim sighed, “You’re so vague and mysterious it’s beyond frustrating.” She started ticking off fingers, “You talk about a home world no one else has ever heard of, talk about your troubled past and all the illegal modifications you’ve had done to your body, then you say you work for a mysterious branch of the Imperial military in order to clear you of your past troubles, and to top it all off you prevent anyone from getting involved with you over some mysterious girlfriend of yours who seems to motivate you above everything else.” Reim glared at me, “I don’t know if you’re trying to annoy us or make yourself seem even more attractive, but it’s working on both ends.”

“I’m almost wondering if he made up the girlfriend to keep people from getting close or something.” Lummy added, clearly irritated at the idea.

I looked over to Zyno, “Zyno?”

Zyno chuckled, “Oh no, his girlfriend is

very

real, and she’s a hundred times more dangerous than Adam, and more unpredictable and volatile than you could ever imagine.”

I glared at him, “I’ll tell her you said that.”

Zyno rolled his eyes, “You know it’s true—

she

knows it's true too.”

“Is your girlfriend part of the special threats team as well?” Saba inquired.

I nodded, “Yeah, she’s actually a really important part of the team—vital really.”

Reim let out an angry huff, “Then why isn’t she here helping you if she’s so dangerous and important? We needed all the help we could get against that Predazoan monster, and if she’s really so special she probably could’ve done something about it.” She insisted.

Boy if she only knew the truth; Eve could’ve handled her little sister so easily we might not have had any casualties once we came on board, and she probably could’ve fixed the warp reactor too—maybe could’ve stopped the warp gate from collapsing into a singularity even.

Of course I wasn’t going to tell them all that, instead I just sighed, “I know, I wish she was here, but the truth is she’s missing.”

Reim’s expression softened, “Oh my, really? What happened?”

I looked over at Zyno and could see he was quite curious how I was going to spin things, but was clearly staying out of it.

“Honestly, we don’t really know what happened, it was right before this mission. She kind of just…disappeared.” I admitted awkwardly—not sure how I could bring up Eve being in the void without admitting she was a Predazoan herself.

Lummy looked taken aback, “What do you mean she disappeared? Was she kidnapped or something? Are you sure she didn’t just leave you?”

I shook my head quickly, “No, no she definitely didn’t leave me.”

Saba gave me a skeptical look, “I don’t know, that seems really strange to just up and leave your partner like that and for no one to know where she is.”

Seeing I was floundering, Zyno decided to jump in, “We’re thinking she’s on some secret assignment; our commanders won’t say anything about it at all, so clearly they know something and aren’t telling us.”

Reim looked like she was annoyed by Zyno’s excuse, “Well I don’t like that at all.” She gestured to herself, “If it was me, I wouldn’t just abandon you without—”

“Eve didn’t

abandon

me!” I snapped, causing Reim to flinch back.

I probably just looked defensive at that point, but the truth was Eve sacrificed herself to save me, trapping herself in the void to ensure we’d all make it out alive. I wasn’t about to let anyone show disrespect by slandering her now.

I sighed, “Look, I’m sorry, but Eve’s protected me and saved my life more times than I can count. For all I know she’s on some dangerous mission, risking her life to protect our entire operation, and I won’t hear anyone belittle her sacrifice.” I insisted.

Reim looked away, appearing quite ashamed then, “I’m sorry Adam, I really didn’t mean to offend, I was just worried about you.”

Lummy nodded along, “Yeah, we didn’t want to cause any offense, but you’re a really great guy and we just wanted to make sure you get what you deserve.”

I smirked then, “Well I definitely don’t deserve Eve, so I wouldn’t go that far.”

Zemman sighed, “Now I’m just wildly curious since you talk about her as though the universe revolves around her.” He looked over to Zyno, “Seriously, is she even close to how Adam describes her?”

Zyno chuckled and shook his head, “Adam might seem like a lovesick puppy when he talks about Eve, but to his credit she’s absolutely indescribable.”

Reim pressed her face into her pillow, “Way to make a girl feel self-conscious…”

Lummy groaned, “Considering our survival rides on a successful shuttle launch tomorrow, I was going to see if you’d be interested in going wild tonight in case this was gonna be our last night alive, but it sounds like Eve’s got a lock on all your attention and affections even when she’s missing.” She said, looking rather frustrated.

I chuckled but it quickly turned into a sigh, “Sorry Lummy, maybe in another life.”

She smirked at that, “If we can’t escape the void singularity, that next life might be closer than you think.”