Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.7

I was still reelin from the whole ordeal, but Dryden clearly wasn’t much of a talker anyways—or just hated me too since he was clearly an Imperial sycophant.

He had a couple power armor soldiers with him as an escort, and I wasn’t sure if it was just standard procedure for an officer to be accompanied while they walked around

The Judicator

, or if they were there specifically because of me.

It was a far walk to get anywhere on this dumb vessel, and while riding along our second moving walkway traveling at ridiculous speeds, I decided I was sick of all the silence.

“So, where exactly will I be staying? Another prison cell, or real living quarters again?” I asked.

Dryden nodded once, hands tight behind his back as though he was trying to hold himself as rigidly upright as possible, “We’ve got temporary crew quarters for you, don’t worry, you’re no longer our prisoner.” He glanced my way, a small frown playing on his face, “You should be grateful for our benevolent Lord Generals.”

I wanted to grab his big red head and turn it into jelly, show him how benevolent I could be by giving him a quick and painless death. In the end I decided to ignore his annoying comment and continue on with my questions.

“And is there any chance I could at least visit Eve while she’s in containment?” I asked without much hope.

Dryden shook his head slowly, “The Lord Generals aren’t done with her—thanks to how uncooperative she’s being in case you were wondering. You and Alpha-03 will be reunited once we’re on Congoren. Until then, the two of you are to remain separated.” He said stiffly.

His answer was expected, but it still soured my mood; another four days apart from Eve, I was really starting to hate this new pattern.

“Are you in charge of the Congoren mission as well as overseeing me and Eve’s training or whatever?” I inquired.

“I’m in charge of the Predazoan asset and you as her handler, which of course is a major component for the mission. As such, there’ll a joint command between me and another officer who will handle some of the day-to-day operations.” Dryden explained.

So realistically I was totally stuck with this asshole.

“And is it safe to assume we’ll be having a briefing soon for the mission objectives and operations?” I asked.

Dryden nodded once more, “Naturally, but we’re still getting things organized, so the official briefing will be tomorrow.” He turned and glared at me, “However, don’t think you can just slack off until then; you’ll be given a planetary report with all the pertinent information and intelligence so you can familiarize yourself with the planet, its people, and of course their recent history with the Predazoan. We’ll expect you to be properly informed before we have our briefing tomorrow to go over our strategy.” He confirmed.

I gave him a flat smile, “Great.”

Conversation abruptly died then, and honestly I was more than happy for it. I could somewhat understand the people who believed in their work for the Empire like the researchers and the soldiers, but I really couldn’t stand these fanatical types. Compared to all the soldiers working for the Empire just following orders, I definitely thought people like this lieutenant would pose a much more serious threat to Eve and my freedom.

They’d be the type who would rather kill us than see us free simply because their Lord Generals demanded it—no concern over safety or even self-defense, just complying with an almost religious kind of zealotry.

After about an hour of traveling on the moving walkways, we rounded a corner and entered a section of

The Judicator

that was surprisingly busy.

There were soldiers all through the hallway in various states of casual clothes, clearly off-duty for now—seemed to be the soldier barracks section of the vessel. We walked down the hallway, and I could see dozens of open bunkrooms, equipment and workout rooms, day rooms and some lounges, even a couple dining areas and a small cafeteria.

We continued down the double-decker hallway, and it seemed like it housed hundreds, maybe even thousands of soldiers, but considering how big

The Judicator

was, it might’ve only been one of several soldier barracks on the vessel.

While our little group walked through the busy area we were mostly ignored, except when a soldier directly crossed our path, they would throw a quick salute to the lieutenant before moving on.

Seeing how populated it was, I couldn’t help but be concerned over my temporary lodgings.

“I’m not going to have to share a bunkroom, am I?” I asked.

Dryden shook his head, “Don’t be absurd. Despite your consistent insubordination, you’re still a high-ranking agent, and there’s perks that come with such a station—along with plenty of responsibilities you frequently neglect.” He added snidely.

If I didn’t know any better I’d swear the angry red alien was actually trying to pick a fight, but I refused to be baited and ignored him as usual.

We rounded another corner and the next hallway was nowhere near as busy, hardly any soldiers walking through now. We didn’t have to walk much farther until Dryden stopped me before a door on the corner.

“Here we are.” Dryden said, then opened the door and led us all inside.

The room certainly wasn’t spacious, but at least it wasn’t a prison cell, though there really wasn’t much difference between the two. There was a nice cot in the corner, a private bathroom, a hover TV, a closet with some cabinets, and even a small workstation with a computer/tablet combo. There was also a viewport on the far wall, but it had the shielding activated to block out the view so we couldn’t see into void space.

Considering what all I experienced when I was directly exposed to void space a little while ago, I didn’t think I’d ever want to look back out into the void again—my curiosity on the matter was more than satisfied.

Dryden waved out towards the closet, “You’ll find you’ve been provided a few spare uniforms and some casual wear.” He then pointed to the computer, “And all the planetary information will be available there, so I’d suggest you get to work reviewing it right away.”

I looked at the small room, sure it would suit me fine for now, but of course it wouldn’t feel like home or anything—no place would feel like home without Eve.

I turned back to Dryden, “Do the Lord Generals normally have you working as an escort and a tour guide? Seems like you’ll do any odd errand they demand of you.”

Dryden bristled and stood up rigidly, “I serve the Lord Generals at their pleasure, and any task they would ask of me is worthy of my station, whether that means I need to guide around some new recruits, or babysit a belligerent liability who has no idea how serious his responsibilities are.” He said pointedly.

I opened my mouth to snap back, but Dryden held up a hand and continued regardless.

“I should have you know I’m older than I look and put plenty of time in active duty, so I’m no stranger to combat or planetary missions. As such, the Lord Generals put me in the field whenever they deem it’s necessary to utilize my expertise once more.” He narrowed his eyes at me then, “You should also know I’m a strict taskmaster and I take my role very seriously, so understand I’m not going to cut any corners with your training once we’re planet-side. Regardless whether you think I’m babysitting you or not, you

will

follow all my orders, and you

will

follow them to the letter. Do I make myself clear?”

I could tell what kind of man Dryden was then; he was unremarkable, having probably worked in the service of the Lord Generals for a long time, but only making the rank of lieutenant. He would have no great leadership qualities, he wouldn’t command the loyalty of his crew. Instead, he would be there as a direct extension of the Lord Generals’ will—the boss of all yes-men, kissing ass to get him where he was today as the Lord Generals’ errand boy but never having accomplished anything that would lead to a greater promotion.

There would be no winning Dryden over, I would just have to suck it up and follow along with everything he said if I had any hope of passing this training.

I was going to have to swallow my pride on this one.

I nodded once, “Yes sir.” I said stiffly, and it was almost painful to utter the words—like they burned in my throat. I wanted to puke.

Dryden smiled then, the little greaseball, and I could see he totally got off on the power and authority—the worst kind of boss to have. He nodded too, “Glad we understand each other, Agent Adam.”

He turned with his power armor soldiers and made for the door, then paused briefly and looked back, “We’ll expect you bright and early for the briefing tomorrow, 0800 hours. Will you need another escort to find your way there?”

I crossed my arms and looked at the man, “Do I have a choice?”

Dryden’s smile grew, “I’ll have them pick you up at 0700 hours.” He said, and then left with an undeservedly arrogant stride in his step.

***

Since I had almost nothing to preoccupy myself with, I decided to get on the computer and look over the planetary intelligence after all.

Planet Congoren was resource rich and rather similar to Earth, although with nowhere near its diversity in climates; the planet was a mix of mostly deserts with some lush forest lands and nothing in between—no ice, no rain forests, nothing tropical, and a lot less water without any massive oceans like on Earth. The deep soil and ore were apparently very valuable, and while I didn’t understand everything in the geological report, it made me wonder if the excess of untouched recourses on the planet had anything to do with the Lord Generals’ decision to send us to the planet.

As for the native inhabitants, the gojens, they were a mammalian-based alien race of hairy ape-people. From the pictures provided they were just a little shorter than the average human, rather stocky, with fur all over their bodies with just their faces, chests, hands and feet clear of the fur. They also had pointed ears and surprisingly fair features, almost made them seem more like ape-elves rather than ape-men. They were about as diverse as humans when it came to colors—their fur and skin, however they were divided into different tribes or clans rather than sub-races like humans were.

They were definitely a primitive people having never developed any kind of technology; their culture seemed a match for ancient Rome combined with medieval Europe and Arabian nomadic traders thrown in. They domesticated local animals, used carts and carriages, but the most advanced invention they had was a simple pully-system.

For the most part they lived as nomads traveling across the desert sands until they found a forest and stocked up on resources before moving on, staying within their clans and trading with other tribes they came across. The oldest tribes followed the same routes over several generations, circling the entire planet and revisiting the same forest havens, but never settling down in any of them.

Apparently it was part of their culture and religion to wander over the planet endlessly; they believed when a clan lived long enough to circle the globe multiple times, leaving their dead along the trail as they travelled, they would eventually become a part of the planet, and only then would their clan be able to rest and cease their endless travels in the afterlife.

But things changed when Gamma-11 arrived on the planet. Reports were vague since the planet was outside the Empire and didn’t have direct surveillance, but over the past couple years hundreds of clans have ceased in their wanderings and started congregating in a central location around this newly discovered divine being. At first it was just nomadic encampments making pilgrimages to visit this new god, but as more began to congregate the encampments started turning into more permanent settlements, and eventually the clans started working together to create their first actual city centralized around the new god, abandoning their old ways and their old religion of endless wandering.

Gamma-11 was directly influencing the gojen’s development.

Apparently in the very center of the settlement, the gojens created a grand temple where they worshiped their new god, bringing her offerings and resources consistently while the settlement continued to expand. On the surface everything seemed peaceful—no war or hostile takeover, but there were a few records of several gojens dying during the construction of the temple, which created the concern people were being offered as living sacrifices—although those reports were unsubstantiated. It wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be true though since a Predazoan needed the biomass, but information was limited for now—we didn’t even know what kind of form Gamma-11 had taken, and the gojens were very protective of their new deity and didn’t let just anyone in to see her.

Not all the wandering clans abandoned their old ways and instead some incorporated the new grand settlement into their routes, making a pilgrimage to see the new god before continuing on. According to the intelligence report, that seemed like the best opportunity for us to get to see Gamma-11, by disguising ourselves as a wandering clan on a pilgrimage to see their new deity.

It was kind of funny, but from the reports it seemed like this was going to be another stealth mission where we’d need to have a cover story and disguises and everything, but since the planet was pre-contact, there wasn’t much at stake in the event we were discovered.

As much as I hated to admit it, this mission did honestly seem like a good training opportunity.

Still, I’d have to see what all Dryden would demand of us, how he would want to utilize the Predazoan asset and her handler. And since Eve was going to be contained in the cell until Dryden decided it was time to release her for the secret mission, I was sure it would fall to me to play along with all their rules and protocols.

I read over the intelligence report again and again—nothing better to do, until I basically had everything about Congoren and the gojens memorized. We’d be fully disguised on this mission and would need to blend in with the culture and everything, and they were all about bartering; they didn’t have any centralized currency, instead they had over a dozen they used for various goods or services—or sometimes they just traded the goods or services directly. We’d need to follow along with their laws and their customs, their weird greetings and the way they displayed respect to different clans—older tribes were always to be more respected, while younger clans needed to prove themselves serious on their path or pilgrimage.

Honestly, it was a lot to keep track of, but I found it kind of fun researching this unique alien race and culture, like a mix of archeology, anthropology and a little bit of science fiction.

But then it suddenly hit me; why the hell was I studying at all? Every time I went above and beyond my station, trying to fight or save the lives of those around me, I was always reprimanded and told I was being insubordinate. For all I knew, Dryden was going to have me stay in the far back of the convoy, remaining absolutely silent while we dealt with the locals, instead focusing my attention on getting Eve to cooperate—to follow along with Dryden’s orders.

At that point my enthusiasm in studying the planetary intelligence died off, and I shut down my tablet, turned on the TV, and just crawled into bed.

I wasn’t tired, but I still felt drained—drained of spirit, of motivation, even my love seemed to be drained out of me now, alone in that little room.

I tried calling out to Eve by vibrating the inner-ear bone, but I wasn’t surprised there wasn’t a response—doubted I would get much of a response from her at all anymore.

I wondered what happened to my Eve back in the void to change her so much, if it was really as she said and she was just overcharged with void energy—a conduit for her void soul, whatever the hell that meant.

Would things get better once we were reunited on Congoren? Would we be able to laugh and joke together once more? Or was she going to remain in that weird stasis state?

I didn’t know what I could do to fix things, didn’t know what I should do to help Eve along with her plan to get us free—whatever that was.

After everything I suffered recently—surviving void space, surviving Gamma-20, surviving being stranded in deep space, and surviving the Lord Generals and all their harsh punishments, I just wanted Eve there to comfort me, to hold me and baby me and tell me she loved me over and over until I fell asleep to her sweet soothing words.

Instead, I was alone in that dark, cramped, foreign room, and I could’ve honestly been imprisoned for how isolated I felt, with no way to fix it.

For the first time in a long time I didn’t have a plan of action, no goal to fight towards, nothing I could actually do. I just had to wait and hope and pray things would turn out alright.

Wait, hope and pray—that was all I could do. So once again, I felt totally and completely useless.

In that moment, I couldn’t help it, but it felt like the Lord Generals had finally won.