Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.16

After the feast, Calmengar gave us directions for how to find them tomorrow, telling us to bring along our offerings for the New Light to see if we could trade and find something that would really please their new god.

We stumbled out of that feast-hall, our line moving more like a squiggle now, and I could see for most people around us they were about as equally inebriated.

For a race of people who put so much focus on respect, they certainly didn’t have a problem with people getting wild like that.

The gojens worked hard, but they played even harder.

When we finally returned to our camp, light was starting to fade, and I could see most of the visitors had left for the day, with just a few lingering around to finalize a trade.

In our absence the other team had clearly been successful; our circle had been widened to fit a new, large open tent that housed four kummo, a pen with a half dozen heffants, and one young grekken running around chewing on some bone with a little meat still on it.

Other than all the animals, I could see another cart had been added to the mix, with some extra boxes or crates filled with more trade goods.

When Crisson saw our line stumbling towards him, he cocked his head to the side, obviously surprised by how disheveled we looked.

“Was your foray into Coralia successful?” He asked mildly.

Dryden nodded along, “Naturally. We connected with a respectable clan and plan to meet up with them tomorrow to discuss trading and offerings to their new god.” He confirmed, sounding totally sober.

I lost track of him as the feast went on, but last I saw Dryden was being careful to only look like he was joining in with the festivities, probably wanted to keep a level head—or was just a stick-in-the-mud and didn’t know how to party if one came up from behind and kicked him in the ass.

Endynna too tried to keep her wits about her, but I saw she indulged somewhat at least to gather intel on what partying was like for the gojens—or at least that was the excuse she used to justify it.

As for me and the soldiers, we all fully indulged and joined in with the local gojens—even Thorrio, the researcher didn’t hold back much.

Our line dissolved into the camp and Dryden and Endynna continued on towards Crisson.

“I’ll brief you on the day’s events, and you can brief me on what happened back here.” Dryden said, turning and leading them towards the camp, “We can also see what command thinks of what we found about the temple today.”

Crisson sighed and nodded along, “Of course…” He muttered, still beyond done with all the micromanaging.

The officers and the agents disappeared into the leader’s tent, while the soldiers and researchers stayed outside—with our team telling the other group about the amazing feast we attended, obviously making everyone who was stuck dealing with the visiting traders more than a little jealous.

I didn’t join in with the fun, instead I hooked around to Eve’s statue to check in with her.

“Hey sweet-thing.” I slurred a little, then laughed and jumped up into the cart to sit with my legs dangling over the side with my back against the statue, “We actually had a little bit of fun today, got to feast with the locals.”

There wasn’t a response, not that I was surprised, but the silent statue bummed me out regardless.

I looked around to see the visitors had all left our camp by then, leaving our team alone for now.

I turned to face the statue, “Hey, would you mind giving me a cute little trill—let me know you’re in there listening?”

For a few moments the silence lingered on, but then I heard the softest little trill come from the statue—sounding musical, and somewhat mystical.

I smiled, then put a hand up on the statue, “Oh Evie, I miss you so much I can’t stand it.”

The trill died down, and that was all I thought I would get for the night.

“Miss Adam too…” Came Eve’s soft voice.

I sighed and turned back around to lean against the statue, “Some life, eh? We talked about all the adventures we’d go on, even said we’d tolerate being on an Imperial leash, so long as we’d be together.” I waved out vaguely towards the statue, “Don’t think we can really call this being together though.”

There were a few more beats of silence, then another little trill, “Soon…” Eve added quietly.

I quirked up an eyebrow, “We’ll be together again soon?” I asked.

I was hopeful for an answer—any clarification to what all she told me back on

Jessipie-90

about following along some plan to freedom, but she didn’t give me anything else. Maybe she was just talking about being together again soon outside the mobile containment cell. Hell, maybe in her weirdly primitive mind she forgot all about that plan to get us free.

Whatever Eve was thinking, she was silent from that point on—no more trills or anything. It was beyond frustrating dealing with her like this, and yet my protective side came back full-force, same as I’d felt back on Earth when she was a vulnerable little squid alien and I was insistent I would die for her.

I tried to hold onto that feeling, to push away my feelings of frustration and even resentment, and I knew she was suffering terribly being stuck alone in that disguise cell all this time, but still, it all sucked.

An hour passed with me sitting on that cart, resting against Eve’s silent statue, watching the soldiers build up the fire for the light fade—nothing better to do really.

Eventually, Endynna made her way towards me, breaking me out of my mindless musings.

“Dryden wants a word in his tent.” She said simply.

I cocked my head to the side, “Is that good or bad news?”

She shrugged, “Couldn’t say.”

Endynna seemed like a classic Imperial agent following all the rules and protocols, ready to drop the Predazoan asset and her handler at the first sign of trouble. For both her and Yendern I kept my guard up, figured there would be no information I could gather from them if I tried to befriend them or anything.

I hopped off the cart and made my way for the tent, pretty sure I already knew what this was about.

When I stepped inside, Crisson was just on his way out; he nodded towards me, and right before he covered his face up with the wrappings, I could see that clearly annoyed look on his face.

“Have a seat.” Dryden offered, waving to a stone table and a couple wooden stools I was pretty sure Crisson and his team acquired today.

The inside of the tent looked a little more furnished from what I saw when they were setting it up; aside from the table and stools, the bedrolls for our commanders looked new, more like stuffed mattresses with animal furs and pelts rather than the crappy rolls us grunts were using. There was a wooden table with a tray of dried meats and fruits, looked like the offerings the visitors would’ve brought us when they came to trade. There was a crate of goods in the corner, and I could see a plasma pistol that obviously didn’t belong was peeking out.

The tent looked like it was fit for a clan leader, seemed rather authentic even, except in the center of the table was a small, circular computer console displaying a hologram of the gojen settlement with incredible detail.

I sat down on a stool, and Dryden took one across from me. He had his face unwrapped, and he waited for me to unwrap mine so he could see me while talking.

“Your problem is you think you’re always right, that you know best, and you can’t help but insert yourself into every situation you’re involved in.” Dryden said without preamble.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Dryden continued on quickly, “See? Right there you want to argue and justify your actions, rather than listen to your commanding officer.” He pressed.

I closed my mouth and locked my teeth together, forcing myself to be silent while Dryden berated me.

He shook his head slowly, “I don’t know where your inflated ego comes from, thinking you know better than people five times your age with 10 times the amount of training.” He narrowed his eyes at me, “Is it a human trait, this insufferable desire to insert yourself in the center of everything? Have you developed a hero complex while working alongside the Predazoan asset—or was it after your illegal genetic enhancements?” Dryden chuckled to himself then, “Maybe it’s not even that; we have reports on all your Earth entertainment and legends—so obsessed with being the hero of every story.” His smile fell and he turned his harsh glare back on me, “Make no mistake, Agent Adam, you are

not

the hero of this story—you aren’t the Lord of the Rings trying to defeat Voldemort so he can rescue Princess Zelda or whatever nonsense your parents told you as a child.”

I really had to bite down on my tongue then to keep from lashing out at the fool of a man who mixed up the media from my home planet.

Instead, I took a deep calming breath and let it out twice as slowly to settle myself before I spoke, “Would you mind clarifying exactly what you’re referring to, Lieutenant?”

Dryden’s impatience was clear on his face, but he was careful in his response too, “While we had dinner with the Dennosh Clan, you found yourself frequently at the center of things, correct? Did the thought ever occur you should stay on the sidelines rather than draw attention to yourself?”

We were feasting—

partying

, sure there were a few times I joined in with the central conversation with Calmengar, but he made it a point to spend a little time with everyone in the clan—wanted to get to know all of us.

“Would it have been better for me to remain silent during the feast?” I asked, seriously wondering what Dryden actually expected me to do.

Dryden’s eyes narrowed into angry slits, “That would’ve been better than inserting yourself into the forefront of things. Agent Endynna noted six times through the night you took control of the conversation, once before the feast even started.”

Holy shit these people were beyond insufferable; I rubbed at my eyes in a frustrated gesture, “Tell me what you want me to actually do.” I lowered my hand and looked at the man, “Cut it out with telling me to follow orders when you aren’t

giving

me orders, specifically tell me what I should be doing while we’re walking around the settlement and intermingling with the natives.” I said.

“You’re not supposed to be doing anything—that’s the point!” He jabbed a finger towards me, “Your only role is to be Alpha-03’s handler, and right now we’re gathering intelligence and don’t have any use for the Predazoan asset, so we don’t have any use for you.” He insisted.

I held my hands out, “So you literally don’t want me to do anything—legit, you want me to just walk around at the back of the line and remain silent all day?” I pressed.

Dryden nodded, “Exactly, that’s

exactly

what your orders are.”

Honestly, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of doing nothing up until that point, I didn’t think having a few simple conversations during a feast would count against me.

“Then what’s even the point of me being on the away team—what’s the point of me even being here?” I asked.

Dryden smiled that nasty smile of his, “The point, Agent Adam, is to see if you can follow orders—no matter how dull or tedious, no matter how they might go against that stupid hero-complex of yours.” He pointed at me again, “Remember, this isn’t a

normal

mission for you, this is remedial training, and if you want to pass your training, you’ll follow along with everything I say as though

I

was your New Light.” He said smugly.

He accused me of having a hero-complex, but Dryden clearly had a superiority complex.

I gestured to the computer console, “So what’s the plan now? I assume you told the Lord Generals about my

insubordination

—probably failed me right there.”

Dryden’s smile fell, “Despite what you might think of my motivations, you passing this training will actually make me look better overall when this mission is completed successfully.” He nodded once, “I didn’t tell the Lord Generals about your performance today, I didn’t feel it warranted their attention.” His smug grin returned, “Consider this a friendly warning.”

I couldn’t believe it; the asshole wanted me to be

thankful

over this nonsense—like he was doing me a favor. I didn’t believe for one second he was being magnanimous or anything, probably didn’t have enough to totally fail me in the training now—probably tattled to the Lord Generals, but they’re still trying to get control over Eve so they told him to keep me around for a little longer until they could figure something else out.

Whatever, total bullshit, but nothing new—not even unexpected; I knew something like this was going to happen the second I talked to Calmengar—the dumb human stepping outside his role same as always.

Well, if they wanted me to be silent and do nothing for the rest of the mission, fine, that was exactly what I was going to do.

But while following along with their ridiculous rules and protocols, I was going to do anything I could to help Eve work through whatever brain damage was going on with her, to build her back into the threat she was supposed to be.