The Genesis Saga Chapter 202

The lab was rocked by a faraway explosion and the lights turned red right as the Highest finished injecting the human with its latest dose of nanites. Hoping to find a way to convert what was in its system into sothing a gru’ul could host. The shrill alarm sounded, and it knew that the a’vaare had co for the test subject.

The Highest shrieked in frustration. It was so close! Only a few more experints would provide the final insight it needed to complete its adaptations. It clicked in consideration, wondering what to do next. If the a’vaare made their way to the laboratory, they would rescue the human, and it would lose the only success their experints had for the next step in their evolution.

It quickly ran towards the terminal in the room and ordered all gru’ul within the facility to swarm the breach and eliminate the invading force. Then, it called for back-up ships from one of the motherships orbiting the system. The Highest was quickly inford that both motherships were engaged in heavy combat and that they had few resources to spare to protect the Highest from the invaders before they found the lab.

The Highest’s brains thought rapidly for a solution, ultimately deciding to abandon the human still strapped to the table — now unconscious — and bring with it a copy of the research in the lab. It opened the terminal and grabbed the two data crystals inside, unwilling to let any harm co to its most recent advancents. Decision made, it ordered its three remaining assistants to arm themselves with the orange chemical and defend the experint with their lives. Backup had been called, but it was uncertain whether they would arrive before the a’vaare.

Duty done, the Highest abandoned the human and its brethren to their fates and fled deeper into the facility where it was sure to survive. It would not risk dying and losing all of the data during an attack. The Highest refused to prevent the next phase of the Mandate from coming to fruition.

***

Everything burned. Everything hurt. Adrian awoke to an incessant high pitch shrill and the sound of gunfire. His vision swam as he struggled to bring the world back into focus. Vague shapes approached him, and he tried to jerk away by reflex, only to be stopped by his restraints. The figures spoke to him in a language other than shrieks and clicks, and he struggled to understand what was being said.

They sounded vaguely like Beor and Rann, but Adrian was sure it was his mind playing tricks on him. There was no way they would be in the sa facility he was. They didn’t even know where he was to begin with, and he doubted they would have been able to find him.

Suddenly, his arms were freed, and he was hauled up into a sitting position. He cradled his head with one hand and instinctively used the other to weakly push away the gru’ul that had co for him. He heard his na called out one more ti and suddenly, the world snapped into focus. His vision cleared and his ears stopped ringing. The sound of gunfire had quieted down, but the high pitch shrill of the warning alarm remained.

“Adrian,” Beor called out once more, this ti with urgency in his voice. “We need to go.” He turned his attention back to Eimir and saw that he was finishing cutting through the final restraint on Adrian’s legs. “Get up,” he urged.

“Beor?” Adrian slurred. He took in the scene around him as he was helped to his feet. He stood with a wobble and was propped upright by a person in black combat armour. Beor undid the tinting on his face mask, showing Adrian that it was actually him. “Why are you here?” Adrian asked. “How did you find ?”

“We’ll explain later,” Beor said, “but for now we need to return back to the ship.” Adrian took a few tentative steps forward, finding his balance rapidly with each one and was soon steady on his feet. Beor relayed the information to Jyn, who swiftly gave the order to retreat back to the ships waiting for them outside of the facility.

The remaining soldiers didn’t need to be told twice, and the remaining group was soon on the move back through the halls that led them to Adrian. Gru’ul appeared in larger numbers the closer they got to their destination, bent on preventing them from retreating at all costs.

As the group fended them off, they eventually passed by the room that Ava had taken note of on their way to the lab. “Jyn,” Ava interrupted, “we’re back at the Highest’s room. How much ti do we have left?” she asked. She knew this was her chance to make a difference in the war and atone for the harm she’d done to others, one she wouldn’t let slide.

“We have twenty minutes left until ti runs out,” Jyn responded. He eyed the engraving briefly. “How long will it take you to hack their systems?” he asked. The group didn’t have any ti to lose, and every second spent inside the gru’ul facility was one where an a’vaare was dying in space covering for them.

“A couple of minutes at most,” Ava said. “Let at least look at them, and I’ll be able to give you an estimate. If you feel it’s too long, we can leave,” she pleaded.

Jyn thought furiously, weighing the outcos if successful. “Fine,” he decided, making an executive decision. “Aim to disable or destroy their research if possible. You have five minutes at most.” He called the group to a halt and updated their orders. They were to defend Ava while she hacked the gru’ul database.

There was so grumbling, but nobody outright opposed Jyn’s decision. The group of fifteen soldiers took position around the engraving as Jyn and Ava approached it. The wall disappeared, opening up into a pristine, white room with a single terminal in the middle. Various holograms floated around it, displaying information that only Ava was able to understand. She darted towards the terminal and imdiately got to work.

She quickly realized that she needed the Highest’s badge to activate the terminal and called Jyn over. He ran as fast as he could, with Adrian and Rann entering the room as well. The wall reford behind them as Jyn approached Ava, sealing them inside.

Ava snatched the badge from Jyn and put in the slight depression on the terminal. More screens flared to life, as well as a holographic keyboard. Ava imdiately set about her task, infiltrating the systems. Reaching behind to the back of her neck, her skin moved out of the way, and she withdrew a thin sliver of a cord. She pulled it towards the badge and attached it to the small bead in the middle. With a direct connection established, she was able to enter the gru’ul systems with ease. Such a thod had been impossible at the facility in the Arvis Sector’s systems due to their corruption.

“How long will you need?” Jyn asked.

“Three minutes and twenty seconds,” Ava replied. If Jyn was taken aback by the preciseness of her answer, he didn’t show it. “Is that too long?” she asked.

Jyn checked his tir. “It’s acceptable,” he replied. Before he could say more, he received panicked update from Beor, who was fighting in the corridor outside of the room.

“Jyn,” Beor said through their comms, “we’ve got company. We’re being sward. We can only last — oh shit,” he exclaid. Through the comms, a horrible screaming sound was transmitted. “They’ve got injectors for the orange chemical!” Beor said as soon as he could. “Whatever you’re doing in there, you need to hurry.”

“New tiline,” Jyn relayed to Ava. “You have exactly one minute until we need to leave.”

“That’s not enough ti!” Ava exclaid. “I can either sabotage them or download their plans, which do you want to do?”

“Sabotage them,” Jyn replied firmly. “I want their ability to attack Verilia crippled. The scouts in space have been collecting information on their planetary defenses.”

“Alright,” Ava responded.

The seconds passed by as Ava rushed to et her new deadline, each one an eternity for Jyn and the blink of an eye for her. Right before she was about to upload a virus to the systems, she noticed sothing peculiar, making her pause her work. She accepted the prompt, and the terminal opened up, revealing a data crystal housed inside. Her eyes widened and she made a last-minute change to her code.

She uploaded the final version of her virus to the gru’ul systems and withdrew the slim wire attached to the Highest’s badge. She quickly bent down and snatched the crystal from the terminal and turned towards Jyn. “I took their data crystal!” she announced, flourishing her prize. “Their systems are sabotaged and if we bring this back, I can decode it and access everything the Highest could on its terminal.”

“Excellent,” Jyn said. He grabbed the badge from the depression in the terminal and turned towards Rann and Adrian. “Let’s move. We need to hurry back to the ship as soon as possible.” Without waiting for their replies, Jyn relayed to the group in the corridor that they were done. When he received the all-clear to leave the Highest’s room from Beor, he darted towards the wall and the others followed, not wanting to be left behind. Ava was the last to exit, clutching the crystal as though her life depended on it.

A deep sadness coursed through Jyn when he saw the bodies on the floor, followed by burning anger. Six people had died defending them. If they failed to return to the ship now, then their deaths would have been worthless. Luckily, Eimir and Beor were amongst the living, though their combat armour was scuffed and burned.

“Eliminate the remaining gru’ul and continue forward,” Jyn ordered. “You are to protect Ava,” he said, pointing at her for all to see, “with your lives. Adrian as well.” His soldiers imdiately began carrying out their task, firing upon the remaining gru’ul. Two more people died, one having been shot with the orange chemical. His screams were so bad that another soldier put him out of his misery with a shot straight to the head re seconds later.

Adrian and Ava ducked for cover, trying their best to avoid the hail of gunshots aid towards them. Once the gunfire died down, Jyn imdiately ordered the remaining soldiers to move forward according to Ava’s instructions.

Ava, not having remained idle, had already mapped out the most efficient route back to their entry point. Jyn had barely finished giving the order when Ava transmitted a map with the most optimal path to every soldier guarding her and Adrian. The group imdiately took off sprinting, bounding through empty rooms with abandon. They moved so quickly that the majority of rooms were free of enemies.

They encountered minimal resistance until the made it back to the room right before the hatchery with the explosives planted within. They breached into the hallway and were t with imdiate gunfire, instantly killing the two lead soldiers standing at in the wall’s aperture.

Everybody imdiately dove for cover but were too close to the opening for it to shut. Beams of plasma peppered the walls, lting them. Jyn called out to Ava, asking if there was an alternative path into the hallway leading to the hatchery.

Ava scrambled to create a new route and confird that it was indeed possible. Jyn then ordered for half of the soldiers to remain behind to provide cover fire while the rest went around. He wanted to attack the remaining gru’ul from multiple sides, hoping that the surprise would take them out while they suffered minimal casualties.

The soldiers closest to the wall’s opening peeked and fired shots of their own, slowing the incoming fire. During the brief pause as the gru’ul on the other side took cover, half of the group turned and retreated along Ava’s new path. Jyn hoped dearly that those protecting their retreat would survive the battle long enough for the rest of them to make it to the other side.

The group encountered no resistance along their path save for a lone gru’ul appearing into the hall right behind Jyn and aid its gun at his back. Adrian’s eyes widened and he bounded towards the creature before anybody had the ti to react. The gru’ul lurched in surprise as Adrian jumped upon and seized its hideous head at the neck.

Using the tried-and-true thod of brutal decapitation, Adrian pulled with all of his strength, his muscles flexing under the strain. The gru’ul’s head ca clean off with a pop, bathing Adrian and Jyn in its green blood. Surprise was the only thing left adorning its features as Adrian took a mont to stare into its hollow eyes with a cold satisfaction.

Adrian threw the head behind onto the floor and dismounted. Everybody stared at him in mute shock over the display of physical prowess. “What the actual fuck,” one of the soldiers said through her comms. Everybody in the group heard her words, their stunned silence mirroring them. “That shouldn’t have been possible,” she stamred.

Gru’ul were notorious for being unnaturally sturdy, a property that had astounded Verilian xenobiologists for decades. Now that the Mandate had co to light, it was clear that their durability was indeed unnatural. Jyn looked from the fresh gru’ul body falling onto the floor towards Adrian.

Jyn silently regarded Adrian. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “You saved my life.” Split seconds were the difference between life and death in his line of work, and Adrian’s lack of hesitation to protect him filled him with gratitude. Jyn was keenly aware that he would not have reacted in ti to protect himself. The feeling towards Adrian was alien to Jyn, but he welcod it.

Adrian wiped his hands on a clean part of his clothes to remove the blood. They ca back stained green, but he was unbothered by the fact. “You’re already in the process of saving mine,” he said. “It only seed fair I return the favour.”

“After everything I’ve done to you, why didn’t you let it shoot ?” Jyn asked, perplexed. “I know you must hate .”

“Hate is a strong word,” Adrian replied. “I might not like you, but I am grateful for everything you’ve done for . I thought I was going to die here,” he said. “Again,” he added after a mont’s pause.

Jyn simply nodded in acknowledgent, unsure what to say. He spurred everybody into action, hoping they weren’t too late to save their fellow soldiers with the impromptu delay. Ava alerted him the mont they were about to breach the wall into the next room. Jyn called the group to a halt and had them take up position close to the square pattern along the wall, but not near enough to activate their badges.

Once his team was ready, Jyn alerted the soldiers at the other entrance and gave the order to storm the room beyond. His soldiers rushed the wall, guns hot and at the ready. They wasted no ti in shooting into the crowd of gru’ul dispersed around the room.

Three gru’ul went down quickly as the other group rushed in during their mont of surprise. Soldiers split up, covering for Adrian and Ava as they made their way towards the square pattern that would lead to freedom. Jyn trailed right behind them, ensuring that any enemy that ca close or aid directly at them received a prompt dose of plasma bolt.

Ava made it to the wall first and wasted no ti rushing into the room that lay beyond. Adrian was next followed by Jyn. It took a mont to process the imnse amount of bodies littering the floor in the room. Gru’ul and a’vaare alike were sprawled on the ground, bleeding and missing limbs.

Adrenaline shot through Jyn at the sight. He should have known that radio silence from the group he’d had stay behind to guard their entry point ant sothing was wrong. Added to the fact that gru’ul controlled the room preceding the hatchery, he should have realized that they’d all been wiped out.

A movent in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A single, lone gru’ul peered out from around one of the vats, its gun aid directly at Adrian. Jyn’s eyes widened as he recognized the gun to be one containing the orange chemical. Without any other thought, he launched himself towards Adrian, shoving him out of the way. The gru’ul pulled the trigger and sent the projectile flying towards Jyn, who was now right where Adrian had been a re mont ago.

The needle pierced Jyn’s skin, and his world turned white with pain so pure that ti ceased to exist for him.