I wasn’t sure if it was thanks to my newly enhanced durability or Eve’s protection, but I’d survived the crash completely unscathed.
Eve still had her tentacles wrapped around , holding onto protectively so I could barely move. I couldn’t see much of anything now, but I could hear the moans and groans of several dazed or wounded soldiers around us.
I tapped against Eve’s side, “I’m alright now Evie, you can let go now.”
Eve was looking around like she was on high-alert still, listening for any more signs of danger.
“Evie?”
Eve suddenly seed to realize I’d spoken, and slowly her tentacles retracted back into herself.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
I shook my head, “No, totally fine, thanks to you.”
Eve gave a small smile, “Think nothing of it, but I accept paynt in hugs and kisses.” She said cutely.
I smiled too, but now wasn’t the ti to be cute. I looked around to see Eve’s tentacle netting was retracting from all over the dropship, revealing the damage; I could see around half our soldiers were unhard and picking themselves up, surrounded by several injured troops and even a few dead bodies. The dropship itself was pretty mangled, with sparks showering down around us, and the massive hole in the front had opened to show the cockpit was barely hanging onto the rest of the ship, crushed so clearly no one inside could’ve survived.
I looked around behind Eve to check on the researchers and saw all four survived; they’d been close enough to Eve so her tentacle netting protected them all completely.
Kianna looked quite shaky, but clearly uninjured—though I’m pretty sure she just puked.
I leaned down to help her stand, “You okay?”
She waved off, still holding her mouth, looking like she might puke again, “I’m alright, thanks.” She turned to Eve, “And thanks to you of course; you saved us.”
Eve shrugged and said nothing more, still looking like she was trying to sense the danger—probably trying to sense Beta-09.
Doctor Gorgam stood up behind Kianna, seeming a little dazed himself—looking quite funny in the black soldier armor with his strangely squat frog body, “That really was so quick thinking on your part, not that it should be surprising at all, but it’s clear the enemy would’ve destroyed the vessel on entry if you hadn’t held it all together.” He confird.
Together with Kianna, they collected the other two researchers, Hennor and Ryo, who were looking around with wide eyes, obviously now rethinking their decision to agree to join on with the planet-side mission team.
A few of the soldiers had gotten up and were working on helping their injured squadmates, and I decided to join in the process. Working side-by-side with the marines, we extricated all the injured in a delicate process through the open hole in the hull since the bay door wasn’t working right.
Looking outside, Vyrane was kind of a strange-looking planet; we’d crashed out in the wilderness, and the surrounding trees were all dull grey that looked like a mix between palm trees and evergreens, with deep red leaves. There were other smaller trees with white bark and brighter red leaves, and so thick bushes and brush that were a much darker red so they were nearly black, while the grass on the ground was short and thick, all various shades of crimson. The forest around us looked like a sea of blood, while the sky was the sa color as our vibrant sunsets back on Earth even though it was the middle of the day, with reds, pinks, blues and purples all painted across the horizon.
Together with the marines, we laid out the injured soldiers in a row against so trees as the researchers acting as field dics started looking them over with their tactical d-kits. I hovered briefly to watch them work, seeing the futuristic technology that would’ve been great to have as a dic back ho; they had so multitool that could soothe burns and cauterize injuries instantly with so laser. One of the soldiers clearly had a broken arm, and while that couldn’t be fixed right away, there was a tallic silver sling they put the injured extremity in that instantly manipulated and secured the arm in a proper healing position, all after he’d been given a heavy dose of pain ds thanks to the dical multitool.
Captain Seash and Lieutenant Bryx took up their command positions easily, directing the efforts of securing the surviving soldiers, our supplies, and trying to reorganize ourselves to get back on track with the mission, looking over planetary holo-maps to see where we’d landed.
I gave them all a wide berth as I went back into the damaged ship once more to see if anyone needed any help, but saw Eve alone still standing towards the back, looking up at nothing—seeing nothing, lost in her thoughts and senses.
“Are you getting anything on Beta-09?” I asked Eve.
Eve didn’t respond for a few monts, then just slowly shook her head, “Nothing. With my senses dulled, I can’t even feel her at all down here—not even that distant reunion sensation. I’m almost surprised she could sense , but I guess the barrier doesn’t work both ways like that.”
“Shit, so we’re blind while she can still freely sense you? That’s going to keep us totally exposed.”
Eve nodded once, “Exactly. I think I’m going to have to use camouflage myself this mission.” She turned to and smirked, hooking a thumb over her back, “Going to need a whole new wardrobe while we’re at it.”
I looked around to see the armor on Eve’s back was totally destroyed, showing off a fair amount of pale skin all the way down to the top of her ass crack. It was a sexy little exposure that stirred so passion in , but considering what we were dealing with now, I had to push those feelings aside until we could be properly settled.
“Here, why don’t you co back out with , and we’ll see if there’s so spare armor in with the supplies.” I offered, holding my hand out for Eve to take.
Eve smiled and took my hand as I led her through the damaged craft and back out with the rest of the survivors.
“Do they know how many we lost?” Eve inquired.
I shook my head, “Not sure yet. We have a few injured, several are dead, but even more are just missing at this point; I don’t know if they’re going to count them as casualties or what.”
Eve nodded along, “If they were pulled out of the hull while we were still in the upper-atmosphere, I’d be very surprised any survived.”
I was leading Eve back over towards the researchers when Vinnago and Lobae rounded on us, moving with clear purpose.
“There you are.” Lobae announced, looking both relieved and concerned.
“Allow us to thank you for saving all our lives, but we’ve run into a spot of trouble.” Vinnago continued quickly.
“More trouble?” I said.
Lobae’s expression turned grim, “Yes, it seems we’ve had an exposure.”
I quirked up an eyebrow, “What, because Beta-09 could sense Eve while we made our descent?”
Lobae shook her head, “Nothing to do with Beta-09, this is all about Eve.”
I was about to inquire further, but raised voices pulled my attention away.
I looked over to see Agent Kotlokk and two other agents standing in front of the regular Imperial soldiers, only four left, standing in a tight circle, looking around rather frantically.
“I know what I saw! Those tentacles that exploded out of her were exactly like what we’ve seen inside the bodies of reanimated separatists!” Commander Reyn insisted.
Kotlokk held his hands up peacefully, “Calm down man, how could tentacles co out of a person’s body like that? Are you sure you’re not confused with the atmospheric entrance ergency kit? I believe that’s what saved us.” He said calmly.
“Don’t treat us like idiots; that wasn’t any technology we’ve installed in our vessels. It was biological, and it ca out from one of your squad mbers!” Reyn insisted.
It was then I saw Commander Reyn and the other Imperial soldiers were all unard, while the clandestine agents had a hand stealthily placed near their sidearms. I wasn’t sure how exactly that happened, but if I was a betting man I’d put my credits on the agents always sliding things in their favor at the first sign of a confrontation—and I doubted the regular soldiers noticed until it was too late.
Together with Eve, Lobae and Vinnago led us over to join with the argunt.
“There, there she is, that’s the one!” One of the Imperial soldiers pointed to Eve.
Kotlokk gestured to Eve’s exposed back, “And look, no tentacles at all, no black flesh of any kind. She took damage like the rest of us.” He turned to , “Has she been checked out by the dics?”
I could tell right away Kotlokk was roping in with his lie, and to try and keep the peace I knew I needed to play along, “Yeah she’s been cleared. The ergency kit damaged her armor when it deployed, but she didn’t sustain any injuries during the crash.” I offered dismissively.
Eve seed wary, probably unsettled around all these people with their heightened emotions while her senses were diminished, not used to being so cut-off from how people were thinking or feeling. She leaned a little closer against , still holding onto my arm.
Reyn slashed an angry hand through the air, “We’re not stupid! There’s no such kit in the entire Empire that could keep the vessel together like that, and now you expect to believe her armor suffered such damage while leaving her skin completely unmarred? What the hell is going on here—who is she?”
The other Imperial soldiers joined in, demanding to know what was really going on, how Eve could do those things—how we survived at all.
“What is she, so living biological weapon?” A soldier pressed.
“Is that what we’ve been fighting down here all along, so rogue living weapons? And you’re the team to co in and clean up the Empire’s own ss?” Reyn demanded.
I did everything I could to keep it from showing on my face, but Commander Reyn and his soldiers guessed exactly right.
It was hard to see on his alien insectoid face, but with his large hexagonal eyes narrowed, it looked like Kotlokk was getting angry, “Stand down soldier; you have your orders and we have ours. None of us know exactly what’s been happening down on Vyrane, and to make any wild accusations—”
“No, fuck that.” Reyn interrupted quickly, “Our orders were nullified when we found out you had a major connection with the enemy.”
“How do we know you aren’t with the enemy? For all we know you’re a bunch of spies and double-agents.” Another soldier added.
Lobae stepped forward, “Our team has the proper authorization and qualifications for the mission; we were properly vetted by your commanders, so who are you to question them and their orders?” She asked.
Reyn looked back to his soldiers, and they all seed to co to an agreent, “Well maybe we should see if Command wants to change our orders once we tell them about these new developnts.”
That was the worst thing Reyn could’ve said, as suddenly all five of our agents pulled their guns out and pointed them at the four unard Imperial soldiers.
“Whoa, what the fuck guys?” I shouted, trying to push Lobae’s gun down, but she refused to budge.
“On your knees.” Kotlokk said coldly.
Reyn stared at Kotlokk with pure loathing as he and his soldiers got on their knees and placed their hands on their heads.
“This is what it’s co to? Kill the grunts so the cleanup crew can sweep away the Empire’s nastiest secrets? I hope you all burn for this.” Reyn said, proud and defiant.
“You’ll get yours, bastards.” Another soldier added.
Having no luck with Lobae, I moved away from Eve to stand before Kotlokk, “Kotlokk, seriously, what the fuck are you doing?”
Kotlokk didn’t move, still pointing his gun at Reyn, but I was in between them now, “Step aside Adam.”
“I fought for the Empire, believed in their causes, seen good n sacrifice their lives for its people, and this is how it ends, gunned down like pushkins on our knees?” Reyn said, his voice an icy whisper.
No idea what a pushkin was, I assud it was so idiom relevant to normal Imperial citizens. But I wasn’t a regular citizen of the Empire, and I couldn’t just stand around here and let four innocent n be murdered because they discovered part of Eve’s identity.
“Kotlokk, seriously, I’m the handler, let handle this.” I insisted.
Kotlokk shook his head, “No Adam, this has gone beyond your role as handler; the responsibility of keeping the Predazons secret is mine.”
Before I could respond or plead with him more, a black tentacle with a razor-sharp edge pointed in Kotlokk’s face, causing him to flinch back and nearly lose his footing.
“If you don’t stop pointing that gun at my Adam, you won’t need to worry about your responsibilities any longer.” Eve said darkly, a low growl in her throat. She walked over to stand beside with the one tentacle manifesting from her back to circle around in a wide arc before ending in front of Kotlokk’s face.
He quickly lowered the gun and held his hands up peacefully, “Eve, I’m just following my orders here.”
Eve nodded once, “That’s fine, but you won’t threaten my Adam while you do it.”
“What the fuck is she?” Reyn demanded, looking at the tentacle coming out of Eve’s back with abject horror. He stared down a gun like it was nothing but looked at Eve like she was an unbelievable monster, fear obvious in his eyes—in all the soldiers’ eyes.
“Adam, please, walk away and let us handle this.” Lobae said delicately, lowering her gun.
I turned towards her, “So you can all, what, kill these n for questioning their orders—getting roped into so crazy plot they had no reason to get involved with in the first place?”
I realized why I was suddenly so defensive over the Imperial soldiers; aside from being against the idea of random murder, I also saw quite a bit of myself in them. I was just so dumb human who got wrapped up in a crazy intergalactic mission that was way beyond , now bound by an evil Empire with no hope of escape. There was no way I could stand by and allow these soldiers to be victims sa as —to allow more suffering at the hands of the Tritentarian Empire.
“We must keep the Predazoans secret, Adam.” Kotlokk said slowly, almost sounding sad, but it was clear he was resolved and would see his duty through.
I shook my head, “No way, fuck that, I’m sure we can work sothing out. Maybe detain them for now, explain the mission and what all is happening?”
“We simply don’t have ti for that now, Agent Adam.” A steady voice called out, and I turned to see Captain Seash making his way towards us with a few of our marines.
Seash stopped just outside the circle of Imperial soldiers and pulled out his own sidearm, pointing it at Reyn, “The is the ssy, unfortunate side of the mission you’ve never had to see, but it’s a necessary one.”
“Please, we’re Imperial citizens sa as you all. We have families and friends, people who love and care for—” One of the soldiers started, the youngest of the group.
“Quiet Jokalve, they’ve made up their minds; we’re all already dead n. Don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you beg.” Reyn said coldly.
I tried to take a step forward, but Eve held back from stepping in front of another gun, “Why? Why can’t we all just calm down and talk things out? They’re soldiers, they understand duty and orders and everything, right?”
I felt like I was going crazy now, the only person who seed to have any problem with the idea of just murdering these poor n—even Lobae and Vinnago, our supposed friends seed resolved to see their orders through; to obey their Empire and do anything it might demand of them.
I would bet if it demanded they kill us, they would see those orders through too.
The tentacle retracted back inside Eve, and she pulled on my arm to get out of the way of the confrontation, “Co on Adam, let them get on with it.” She said gently.
I looked down at her, horrified she was so unconcerned.
But what should I have expected? Eve fully admitted she would be fine with everyone else on the mission dying except , and now that soone’s life was on the line right in front of —now that I could see how dismissive Eve was over life and death, I realized how much it actually bothered .
Despite how much I loved Eve, it was hard to accept this inhuman side to her sotis. I understood she was fundantally different from regular people; what god would be concerned over the lives of insects? But since I was still human, her attitude was rather unsettling.
However, I could deal with my feelings later, for now I wanted to do all I could to protect the soldiers.
“Please, Captain, just let talk to them—explain the mission and what we’re doing here.” I insisted.
Seash shook his head slowly, “It doesn’t matter what you say, even if they’re completely convinced our mission cos from the highest authority in the Empire, it’s still too dangerous to allow them to move freely amongst regular citizens on Vyrane, risking our exposure. The most we could ever do would be to detain them aboard The Radiance and perform a comprehensive mory wipe.” He explained.
I waved a hand towards the soldiers, “Then let’s just do that!”
“We’re on a hostile planet with very limited resources; we need to pick up and move as soon as possible, reorganize and reorient ourselves, and get back within mission paraters even after almost half our team is injured, missing, or dead. There’s no way we could detain anyone now and aren’t in the position to request aid from The Radiance while evading enemy forces. Logistically, it’s simply not feasible.” Bryx added thodically.
I tried to step forward again, but Eve held back once more, “Adam, please, leave it, co away with now so we can get ourselves sorted; we have a lot of work to do and things to discuss before we head out.” She insisted.
I couldn’t believe it, everyone was complicit—okay with just executing these n like it was nothing. I looked around to see any soldiers not tending to the wounded had ford a periter around us, watching and waiting for their orders, ready to obey any monstrous duty that could be requested of them. I looked off to see the researchers try to busy themselves with their tasks, sneaking glances our way all the while, but they refused to get involved—refused to stand up for what was right.
Seash nodded once, “Walk away, Agent Adam. That’s an order.”
Eve manifested a couple tentacles again to wrap around as she finally led away, holding onto protectively while she made sure I wouldn’t be a part of their nefarious plot. I felt numb and sluggish as I walked away, sick to my stomach even. There was nothing I could do, no way I could reason with them to spare innocent lives. It was then I realized it wasn’t just Eve and I who were bound within the Empire, they were all slaves—tools to be used and disposed of whenever it was deed necessary.
I tried to turn back again, but Eve tightened her grip around and continued to lead into the forest, away from the soon-to-be dead n.
I felt an emptiness in my heart I couldn’t really describe, but it reminded of a ti long ago when I walked into a scene back on Earth when a man murdered his family, spraying blood and brains all over the walls. I felt like a piece of my soul died back then, and now again I felt a deep loss within my spirit.
Eve didn’t say anything as she led away, holding onto protectively, but also forcing to move forward. Her only concern was for and my safety then, and honestly, it really upset —made the differences between us and our humanity more obvious.
It was then I heard the shots ring out, quick and precise laser blasts, and then all was silent.
Eve stopped with then and embraced , held onto with her arms and tentacles, silent as I stood there with my arms down to my side, numb and dumb with no idea how to move on from there.
n I’d just t—innocent n were gunned down, all for learning the truth of the Predazoans.
And I just stood there and let it happen.
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