FVN Volume 2: Gamma-17, Chapter 2.21
Volume 2: Gamma-17, Chapter 2.21
“You’re absolutely sure?” Agent Kotlokk pressed.
Eyes unfocused as she kept her senses concentrated far away, Eve nodded, “Definitely. If we move now, we might even be able to catch her before she goes back underground.”
Before Eve even finished speaking, Kotlokk was on his communicator calling in the other teams. Doctor Wit too was working frantically, coordinating with The Radiance to get them to send us a drop ship with more soldiers.
Another cycle had passed with minimal activity on the investigation-side of things; no changes in anything planet-side. We’d spent the days rechecking sensors, doing planetary scans, going over disappearance sites, patrolling high-traffic hot-zones, but still nothing.
Until suddenly, after an enjoyable goodnight reward kiss with Eve, she sat upright as though she’d been struck by lightning, saying she sensed Gamma-17’s camouflage dropped—Eve had a lock on her location.
As for my relationship with Eve over the past cycle, there was a strange new awkwardness between us. I was resisting these new romantic feelings I was starting to have for her, and I could tell she sensed the change. But rather than try her luck and seduce me during my confusion, she seemed shyer than ever, blushing and turning away from me—giggling for almost no reason at random times. Once we’d been on-site, and when Eve crouched down I couldn’t help but just admire how sexy she was with her outrageous curves, letting my imagination run wild and free. Eve nearly had a fit of nervous giggles, her face bright red (sensing some of what I’d thought) and she had to excuse herself for a solid five minutes before she could get back to work. It felt like we were a couple of awkward teenagers that knew we liked each other but didn’t want to openly admit to anything at this point.
By now Eve had been planet-side for several cycles and everyone on the ground teams had gotten so used to her, they were all treating her like a normal person—everyone calling her Eve, asking her opinions and actively engaging with her. Even Doctor Runa who’d once been terrified of the Predazoan no longer had an issue working beside her. She seemed to finally be accepted as a valuable member of the mission team, rather than just some dangerous but vital asset.
We’d rushed to Kotlokk and Wit’s room in the middle of the night with the news of Eve’s discovery, and they’d come to trust her to the point they were ready to reallocate all our resources to follow her lead.
Doctor Wit turned to Kotlokk, “Command says they can send us a single drop ship, that’ll be 12 marines and eight more power armor soldiers.”
Kotlokk turned back to Eve, “Do you have precise coordinates? We can have the drop ship land right there to maintain the perimeter.”
Eve activated the holographic map on the tablet and zoomed in to a specific section of the capital—that GPS mind of hers working perfectly, “The Sturlington Stadium—an indoor stadium, large and secure, plenty of space for her to make a nest for herself. I can sense she’s already started consuming and assimilating a good amount of biomass; she probably only decided to risk dropping her camouflage to consume a significant number of people, she wouldn’t take the chance only to consume a single person here or there.”
“Any idea how many?” I asked.
Eve shook her head, “I can’t sense them, just Gamma-17, but I can feel she’s already consumed...10—no, 12 people.”
Kotlokk and Wit exchanged a grim look, “Civilian casualties, we need to put a stop to this immediately, no chance for containment at this point.” Kotlokk confirmed.
Ignoring their worries, Eve walked out to the balcony, “I can try to slow her down, keep her contained, but you need to get that drop ship down as soon as possible.”
“How can you contain her from here?” I asked.
Eve ignored me too, but as we all watched, several large black growths manifested off her arms and back, and once they were significant size, they seemed to explode off her—or hatch more like. The forms she created were like nothing I’d seen before, like strange squid-bat gargoyles; there were a dozen of them, each about three feet tall, with large bat wings. They were all black, and their bodies looked like elongated squids with long upper arms, but instead of feet they just had a dozen short tentacles. The strange creatures took to the air and flew off surprisingly fast for the heart of the city. Eve turned back to us, “There, that’ll help distract Gamma-17, but they won’t stop her.”
“What were those things?” I pressed.
Eve returned to my side, looking up at me with wide innocent eyes, “What, you don’t recognize your children, daddy?”
“What?”
Eve rolled her eyes and giggled, then leaned up to kiss my cheek, “I’m teasing, silly. Just simple drone-forms—good for infiltration and combat.”
I clutched at my heart, trying to recover from the heart attack I’d almost had, “Right, okay yeah...”
Before I could scold Eve for her wildly inappropriate timing with her jokes, Kotlokk’s communicator made a chiming sound, “Alright, command sent us a shuttle too, we’ve got a roof pick-up. We just need to collect our team’s marines and soldiers, then we can head right off to the stadium.”
Again, before I could respond, Eve stepped forward, “I think Adam should remain here with the researchers.”
Everyone turned to Eve with no small amount of surprise, “What the hell are you talking about? I’m combat trained.” I patted at the plasma pistol and proton sword attached to my tactical belt—the first time I’d even worn them since coming to Entana.
Eve gave me a flat look, “Running through a cycle’s worth of combat simulations and being equipped with sidearms is not enough to prepare you for a fight with a Predazoan; it’s too dangerous, Adam.”
I crossed my arms and glared at Eve, “After all the work we’ve put into this investigation, I’m not going to just sit off on the sidelines.”
“And you think you can do something to help? The marines will be little more than a distraction, and the power armor soldiers might have the destabilizing acid, but there’s little they can do to defend against Predazoan might.” She gestured to herself, “Only I offer us the chance at victory; there’s nothing you and your little weapons can do to help.”
“And as your handler I need to be there while you handle it.” I snapped.
A low growl started rumbling in Eve’s throat, but Doctor Wit stepped between us, “We absolutely don’t have time to debate this, the shuttle will be arriving any minute.” He turned to Eve, “For the sake of protocol, we do need your handler on site.” He turned to me, “But she’s right in the fact you will be no help in this fight; you’re to remain beyond the perimeter of the confrontation, understood?”
Neither of us happy with the outcome, we both nodded our reluctant agreement.
Another chirp from Agent Kotlokk’s communicator, he looked down and his insectoid face turned serious, “Alright, the shuttle is on the roof.” He looked at Eve and then to me, “It’s time we finally confront Gamma-17.”
***
The marines and power armor soldiers were always prepared to deploy at a moment’s notice; we didn’t even need to knock on a single door, everyone was already out in the hallway ready to meet us. The marines were in full tactical gear now, decked out head to toe in futuristic black body armor with the gold Imperial accents. It strangely looked like a mix between regular body armor you might see on a soldier back on earth, and a traditional samurai—all neat and folded together, very organized and minimalistic. There was also a subtle shimmer I could see on their gear, probably some minor forcefield. The power armor the soldiers wore was much different, making them look like small black and gold Gundams; the armor was blocky and robotic, with a few accents that seemed only for flair, like spiked wings at the shoulders and horns above the visor. The marines would be using sonic-concussion rounds which would supposedly disorient Gamma-17, while the power armor soldiers would be at the front line with their rail guns loaded with destabilizing acid.
Honestly, I was starting to feel a little underprepared, just in black tactical pants, the simple silk-plated sleeveless tactical vest, and my couple of sidearm weapons.
In the shuttle with Eve and me, there was Agents Kotlokk, Uinda and Frenk, with Brujo, Lugnore, Argenna, Westler, Bento and Darnia. They each had their tablets up with some holographic orders being displayed; location, drop zone, risk factors, tactics and strategy. Each of the soldiers had their own little rituals to get prepared for the battle ahead, some rechecking their gear, one eating some nutrients bar, one seemed to be praying, and a couple were going back and forth over the mission details.
I didn’t have anything to prepare, no strategy—no role in the upcoming assault. I hated to admit it, but I was feeling a little out of place.
Eve reached for my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, “I want you to know Adam your safety is my number one priority; I don’t care what happens to Gamma-17, I don’t care what happens to the soldiers, I don’t even care what happens to any citizens we find down there, I only care about you.” She looked into my eyes, her gaze deadly serious, “If your life is ever in danger, I will drop everything to ensure your safety.”
I sighed and shook my head, “Eve, I’ll be fine. I’ll stay out of the way just as planned.” I opened up the little case Wit gave me before we left, “Here, it’s the specially designed earpiece for you; I know you’ll probably have to change form when you fight Gamma-17, so just place this inside whatever you use as an ear.” Eve took the little white ball and rolled it around in her hands, changing its shape as though it was made of putty. She put the piece in her ear and shoved it in deep with her finger. I put my own regular earpiece in and turned away from her, “Can you hear me?”
“Yes, loud and clear.” Eve confirmed in my earpiece—sounding far from happy.
I smiled in return, “See? I can stay far away and still act as your handler; I’ll be safe.”
Eve sighed and shook her head, “Your lack of fear is what has me so worried; you saw what I was capable of when I just barely consumed any biomass, yet we’re to confront another Predazoan who’s had more time to prepare, could be so wildly unpredictable you can’t even imagine what all she’s capable of.”
I quirked up an eyebrow, “Are you worried about fighting her?”rapped inside. Even from across the field, I could hear faint screaming coming from the buses.
So that was the plan; undo the camouflage to consume three busloads of people, then Gamma-17 would probably disappear again. Good thing Eve locked on her trail in time.
I could see across the stadium field the other teams were all in place, we had Gamma-17 and her hostage buses surrounded.
Eve suddenly turned to me, “Adam, go into the stands and stay put; don’t leave your seat until I come for you, okay?” She urged.
I was about to respond when suddenly an ear-splitting shriek ripped through the air, causing me to buckle to my knees. Around me, I could the marines and soldiers were all fine, probably their headgear protecting them.
Without waiting for me to recover, Eve picked me up with her tentacles and placed me into the lower level of stadium seating a good hundred feet away. Her tentacles were gentle as they placed me down, and honestly I felt rather insulted by the whole thing—like I was a child being put in the corner.
“I’m sorry, we can talk about it later, just please stay put for now, okay?” Eve’s voice echoed in my headset.
“Alright, you be careful too, alright?”
The shriek finally died down, and I could see a form begin to rise in front of one of the red buses. The form was mostly humanoid, pure black with several layers of plating over its entire naked body that was only vaguely feminine. She had four long arms, with a tail like a snake, and she was lifted into the air on a dozen black tentacles from her back. She seemed to be holding something, and at first I was worried it was a person, but I took out my digital scope to zoom in on the Predazoan and saw she was holding one of Eve’s drone-forms. She ripped it in four pieces and tossed it aside as it turned into black ooze. She stood up tall and defiant and swept her glowing yellow gaze across the field, zeroing in on Eve right away.
“Contact; engage!” One of the commanding soldiers shouted, and immediately the soldiers took their trained positions and started firing with practiced precision.
After several cycles of investigating, the assault on Gamma-17 had finally begun.