FVN Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.8
Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.8
Exactly as the asshole lieutenant said, there were a couple of soldiers at my door right at 0700 hours to escort me to the mission briefing.
I wasn’t sure if it was because they reported to Dryden or just because they were soldiers from The Judicator, but they didn’t say anything to me—as unfriendly as they could possibly be while leading me through the massive vessel.
I couldn’t imagine working full-time in a place like this because it seriously almost took us an hour to make it to the mission briefing room. Once we arrived the escort left me there—not part of the mission team apparently.
The room was a normal command center like I’d seen a hundred times before, with Dryden and some other armored marine beside him who looked like he had officer’s stripes on his shoulders. In the general audience there were only 12 other people, and I was surprised to see they all looked surprisingly homogeneous—just a few Imperial races repeated, all looking rather plain and mammalian.
“Thank you for joining us, Agent Adam.” Dryden said stiffly, then waved to the rest of the audience, “Please, have a seat.”
I grabbed a spot in the back, and once I was down Dryden continued on like I’d never interrupted.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Lieutenant Dryden, and along with Commander Crisson, we’ll be your operational leaders for the mission.” Dryden explained.
Crisson was one of those generic aliens who honestly looked just like a pale green human; he was around my height, definitely more muscular than me, with bright red eyes and black hair in a classic military crew-cut. The only thing distinguishable about him was a long, jagged pink scar that started at his temple and trailed down to his neck.
Crisson nodded once, “Thank you Lieutenant.” He looked up at the audience, “I assume you all took the time yesterday to study the planetary intelligence report, so we’re going to move on from there.” He pulled out a small tablet and tapped it to activate a couple holograms in the center of the room, one displaying planet Congoren, the other showing a normal gojen, “Since it’s a primitive world, we’re going to remain fully disguised while planet-side, blending in with local customs and cultures.”
Dryden held up his arm to display a device on his wrist; he pressed a button, then turned a dial, and suddenly his body shimmered and flashed brightly, and then he took the form of a gojen. Dryden’s gojen form was about the same size he was normally, with dark red fur and pale red skin, and while his features had shifted to look more ape-like, I could still see where Dryden influenced the disguise underneath.
“You’ll all be retrofitted with customized camouflage devices, and once we’re planet-side you’ll be expected to always keep them active. Remember, the gojens have never had any contact with aliens—aside from their new Predazoan god, so it would obviously cause a panic if they saw us without our disguises.” Crisson explained.
A soldier in front held up a hand, “Is this one of those units with the physical barrier in place to make the disguise more believable?” He asked.
Crisson nodded once, “Standard procedure for long-term camouflage, there’s a subtle intrinsic field established in the cloaking device to create a low-level physicality to the illusion. It won’t stand up to high-impact contact, but you can interact with your surroundings and touch things without breaking the disguise.” He said.
There was that sci-fi magic at work again, technology I would never understand. It reminded me of when I first appeared on The Radiance where Kotlokk and Roote had been disguised as fucking movie characters after scanning my mind and memories to try and keep me calm while they questioned me about Eve.
Might be a little fun to wear the disguise myself for once.
Dryden deactivated his disguise and then pointed to a thin collar on his neck, “We’ll also be using translators so we can understand the gojen’s unique language.” He added.
Honestly, I kind of forgot about people having different languages since everyone in the Empire used standard Imperial Common—hell, I hadn’t even spoken English myself in so long I wondered if I’d forgotten some words. It’d been a while since I even watched any Earth media—made me feel like I was losing my culture then when I realized how long it’d been.
Made me miss Earth all over again.
From there they detailed how the drop planet-side would go and our normal daily operations. We’d land outside the main settlement in some secluded valley not far away and then travel to the city as though we were on a pilgrimage. We’d all be posing as a singular clan, the Golvenara (translated to fiery heart or something) named after the founder of our clan from three generations ago. We would supposedly be from a few tribes and families that banded together under Golvenara, so while a lot of us would be posing as direct cousins, apparently blood-ties didn’t matter as much as being in the same clan; that’s what really bound the gojens together, traveling together as a clan.
There was also a reason our team was comprised of only a handful of mammalian alien races; since we’d need to blend in with the locals, we needed to be able to mingle with other clans and that included sharing meals—a normal bonding experience for the gojens who would make their trade deals around food and fire. That meant they had to research what other aliens would be compatible with the local food so they could safely ingest it all. Interesting we were going to eat with the locals for once rather than rely on synthesized food or emergency rations.
Once we were inside the city, we’d need to learn what was required of the clans to go and see the new god in the temple. We’d need to integrate ourselves with the local leaders and band together with some of the other clans to prove we were worthy of seeing the deity, bringing some offerings or whatever. We’d be bringing along some rare supplies from The Judicator we could use as bartering materials to hopefully put us in an advantageous position, but nothing that would be obviously alien that wouldn’t belong on the planet. We’d transport rare rocks, cloth and other materials, even some creative works our computer system was able to replicate what was popular amongst the gojens—pottery, wood carvings, various artworks, stuff like that. We’d even be able to create some of their various currencies that would give us an edge in bartering right away, thanks to the planetary intelligence we acquired.
The one area we’d be lacking in would be owning any animals, obviously we couldn’t really synthesize them, so right away when we made it to the central settlement, our clan needed to barter and buy some local animals to help pull our carts and make us look legit.
Considering how unique the culture we needed to blend into was and how we had no idea how long it even take to get into the temple to confront Gamma-11, I couldn’t believe how strict all our orders were; it was obvious the Lord Generals’ names were written all over the plans with the way they didn’t allow much room for improvisation, and it was really going to limit what we could even do on a daily basis—and I knew Dryden wouldn’t be the kind of guy to ever deviate from the Lord Generals’ plans.
Of course, as always, they were idiots to think they could properly plan for all the potential variables, but since I was going to be on a strict leash here with this remedial training nonsense, I wasn’t about to step even a toe out of line.
Dryden could just die in the sand for all I cared at this point.
Once we were actually permitted inside the temple and could see what the situation was with Gamma-11, we were to report back with high-command for how to proceed rather than make the operational decisions ourselves. For this mission we’d be in constant contact with the Lord Generals and wouldn’t be allowed to make any major moves without their direct approval—one way to try and manage those variables, I guess. Unfortunately, sometimes you were left without time to go and have a nice friendly chat with your superiors when your fucking life was on the line.
Honestly, it sounded like it was going to be a huge disaster constantly having to get approval from the Lord Generals before we could act, the one saving grace was the fact the world was so primitive we didn’t have to worry about our clandestine mission being discovered through advanced Imperial tech, and in the event we got into a violent confrontation with the locals we could easily overwhelm them—although engaging in combat with the gojens was strictly prohibited unless our lives were threatened with no hope for retreat.
“After we’re able to see the temple’s layout and report back on the situation with Gamma-11, the Lord Generals will direct us to move forward with either containment or elimination of the target.” Dryden explained, then turned to look directly at me, “Once we have our orders, it’ll be time to unleash Alpha-03 for the final confrontation.” He held up a hand to stop me before I could question anything, “Now make no mistake, she’s to follow her orders down to the smallest detail to hopefully mitigate any potential fallout with the primitive locals; we’re there to try and limit the damage Gamma-11 has done in influencing their development, so we certainly don’t want to cause any extra damage ourselves.” He narrowed his eyes at me, “As the Predazoan asset handler, it’ll be your responsibility to ensure she follows your orders, and you’ll do so by following my orders. Are we clear?”
I nodded once, “We’re clear.” I said stiffly.
Dryden held my gaze for a few more moments, “Remember, your compliance along with the results of the mission are what determine if you pass this training, otherwise...” He smirked, “Well, you know the consequences.”
Lovely he was putting me on the spot there in front of the whole team—probably trying to bait me so I’d fail right then.
Instead, I just nodded again, “I understand.”
Dryden’s smile was more of a sneer—honestly he just looked nasty; he was obviously getting off on the little power-trip over me.
Despite all the combat I’d seen on missions, I still hadn’t killed anyone—didn’t think I could really. However, Dryden was honestly making me reconsider my passive, peaceful nature.
Dryden turned to the rest of the audience, that nasty smile still on his face, “Alright then, we have our orders and another three days to perfect even the most minor details.” He looked over at Crisson, “What should we work through next?”
Crisson held up one of the little disguise bangles, “Why don’t we get everyone fitted with their disguise devices?” He offered, then shrugged, “Or we could break for breakfast first and tackle it when we get back.”
Dryden shook his head quickly, “No no, let’s get the work finished first, then we can have a break.”
I could see a few of the soldiers in the audience shift uncomfortably in their seats—obviously unhappy they had such a harsh taskmaster leading the mission.
I couldn’t help but smile then; despite all the shit I was dealing with and how horrible the next mission would be, at least I wasn’t the only person who hated Dryden on the team.
***
Over the next few hours, we picked apart every little detail of the mission to ensure we’d be following along with the Lord General’s orders down to the letter—the letter of the letter. It was beyond obvious the soldiers were getting sick of Dryden’s micromanaging, and I could tell even Crisson seemed annoyed.
We got fitted with our disguises, and mine made me look like a funny gorilla version of myself with the same light skin-tone and my dirty blond hair color as fur all over my body. It was pretty cool how you could still interact with objects and touch things and the disguise molded into them perfectly—it seemed like sci-fi nonsense, but I thought it was awesome anyway.
We then had our translators calibrated to our normal speech patterns and tones. The device itself was a thin collar that directly altered the words that came from your vocal cords, as well as a small earpiece that would translate things in real-time without any delay—same as the researchers used to speak English with me when I first went into space.
Once we’d finished up with the gear, we actually did break for breakfast—or lunch now after all that time passed, and while it was normal for officers to have their meals separate from the rest of the crew, when I started off on my own one of the soldiers grabbed me up and pulled me along with the rest of his group.
“Come on now, no reason to go it solo when we’re all on the same team.” The man said, then held out a hand in greeting, “The name’s Kinn.”
Kinn looked like a mix between a big-eyed alien and an angry elf. He was a little taller than me, light sky-blue skin, with bright blue eyes and ridges instead of eyebrows, stubby pointed ears, and a black mohawk that turned into a ponytail.
“You’re the Predazoan handler right?” Kinn asked.
I nodded along as I shook his hand, “That’s me.”
He smiled brightly, and I could tell he had that golden retriever energy about him, “That’s awesome man.” He gestured towards his group, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.” He offered.
The two agents and the couple researchers on the team had already split off on their own, leaving me with just the eight marines who would be heading planet-side with us.
Same as everyone else, they were all mammalian aliens that looked surprisingly normal as far as aliens went, and Kinn pushed me along into the center of them.
“Everyone, this is Adam, the Predazoan asset handler.” He said brightly.
I waved awkwardly, “Hey everyone.”
The group seemed rather excited as they all stepped up to introduce themselves in turn.
Giamma was a revoran female, looked rather young and like a supermodel same as all the rest, but her hair was cut short and spikey to fit the soldier look.
Nedo was another blue/blue alien like Kinn, shorter than Kinn and a little paler, with his strip of black hair buzzed short.
Drummon looked almost like a human, with dark brown skin and rather plain features, but his head was twice as tall as a normal human with strange bone plating over his forehead.
Wininn was a male revoran, too skinny to look like the classic pretty boy, and he had an eyepatch over his left eye, shaved almost bald too—looked like he was purposefully trying to not look like a regular attractive revoran.
Herra was a female yelvum—like Doctor Densdor who died back in the Holistia Nebula mission. She was tall and slender with yellow skin and bright red hair pulled into a tight bun, and I had to say she was way more attractive than Densdor was—he looked goofy while she looked quite elegant.
Finally, there was a pair of those feline aliens like Lobae, both male, one with dark blue skin, Orro, while the other had deep purple skin and much stubbier cat ears on his head, Bodda. Each one had a short military haircut with their blue and purple hair, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I was being alien-racist, but it looked like they were related.
Overall, everyone was somewhat close to the same height, maybe a foot between us either way, but never more than that—probably helped with the camouflage device.
I was surprised how friendly they all were, shaking my hand or offering a pat on the back, I hadn’t expected soldiers on The Judicator to get along with the weird Predazoan handler.
Then again I’d befriended Willa on the last mission, and she was even sent away to work aboard The Radiance after her performance—probably got a demotion for supporting me.
Then I remembered how high-command treated their soldiers now, as mere tools to be used and thrown away, not even given authorization to study up on their Predazoan adversaries—kept in the dark over all the danger we’d be facing.
It was then I realized we really were all in the same boat—the grunts to be used as tools for war on the whims of our commanders. And while I couldn’t exactly trust the soldiers since I was sure they’d turn on me if their commanders ordered them to eliminate the Predazoan asset and her handler if it came down to it, I figured a little camaraderie with the soldiers would make the mission a little more tolerable.
I smiled at the friendly soldiers and their playful banter as we headed off to the cafeteria, and Kinn leaned over to whisper to me.
“Truth be told, we’re all a little excited to be on the mission team with the Predazoan asset and her handler.” He admitted, acting like he was being sneaky, but speaking in full volume so everyone could hear him.
I couldn’t help but laugh at that, “I can imagine, especially with the way things have been restructured so the soldiers aren’t given clearance for most of the mission intelligence.”
When the soldiers saw I was in a friendly mood, they stopped goofing around and all turned their attention towards me—so obviously hopeful I was in a sharing mood.
I sighed and shook my head, a smile on my face all the while at how expectant they were.
“Alright alright, what all do you want to know?”