Eve really was insatiable, and despite my enhanced stamina with the new superhuman abilities, considering we spent all morning fucking around too, I simple didn’t have enough gas in the tank for another one, at least not with the time we had left before we needed to ship out.

  Kianna wasn’t ready for another round either and instead redressed herself in her battle armor (trying to hide the little vibrator she brought along) and insisted she needed to get ready for our departure instead. She thanked us for the show, told us she would be willing to watch any time, and of course would be more than willing to participate should Eve relax her rules.

  Of course she wouldn’t, and Eve growled at Kianna as she made a hasty retreat.

  We still had a little time to kill, but I figured we might as well get things ready and organized early rather than get caught up in something and risk being late, what with being on a short leash and all. I wasn’t used to being mister goody-goody trying to look like a model employee, but when you have a fucking bomb in your neck and your girlfriend has one in her core, it wasn’t something I was willing to play around with.

  Eve and I dressed in our battle armor and collected our gear and packs and made our way to the large conference hall to see most everyone was ready as well. Seemed like pretty much everyone was eager to ship out, the sooner the better I would imagine.

  We saw Kianna over with the rest of the researchers, and when she saw us her face turned red again and she gave us a little wave. She looked like she shared a little secret with us, but with the way she was blushing, she clearly wasn’t hiding the secret very well.

  I decided to look around and see if Lobae and Vinnago were nearby and if they would pick up something happened between us and Kianna, but I didn’t see them at all amongst the soldiers.

  I was only 10 minutes into explaining the plot of Kingdom Hearts to Eve when Captain Seash stood on a chair in the middle of the room so everyone could see him.

  “Alright people, the resistance in on their way with transport vehicles to escort us to Sesamna, let’s have a quick debrief before we ship out.” Seash said.

  Everyone pulled their chairs in a loose circle around Seash, who sat down in his chair and then started in on the debrief without preamble.

  “As some of you might’ve heard, it was Adam and Eve who connected with Lieutenant Almana, so once more, we owe them our thanks.” The captain confirmed.

  “Makes us wonder what the hell the rest of us are even doing here at this point.” One of the marines offered, and the soldiers around him all laughed.

  Seash smiled too, but he didn’t really look amused, “Yes, well it just means we have to work twice as hard now to follow their example.”

  I wasn’t really sure what Seash thought of us, but lately he seemed rather frosty. Maybe it was because we were showing him and his soldiers up—a pride thing. Maybe it was due to our obvious ideological differences, ever since I showed my obvious displeasure over the way they handled the Imperial soldiers. Maybe he didn’t like or trust the Predazoan asset and found it perverse I was fucking her. Whatever the reason, it felt like he was far from our biggest fan lately, made me want to be even more cautious around him.

  “It took quite a bit of convincing our team was legitimate, they had significant suspicions that needed to be dispelled first. While Almana and her team never had direct dealings with Reyn and his men, she’s been working under Berron for half a year now and wasn’t about to dismiss his concerns easily.” Seash explained.

  “In order to allay their fears, they needed to contact Imperial Command directly to authenticate our mission, and that required getting high-command involved to smooth over their suspicions as well. Everything’s been worked out, but to say our relationship with the resistance is tenuous at best is nearly an understatement.” Kotlokk added from behind Seash.

  Seash nodded once, “From here, it’s absolutely vital we do everything to foster and maintain this new working relationship with the Vyrane resistance; they’re our only shot at getting into the capital so we can complete the mission and free this world. That means we’ll be following their orders all along the way; they say fight, we fight. They say run, we run. They give any other orders, and our default response will be to diligently obey. Anything unusual comes up and we’ll clarify it for you, understand?” The captain asked.

  There were various shouts of confirmation from the soldiers, some doing the spartan shout while others only gave a begrudging yes. Seash side-eyed any soldiers who seemed uncertain over the arrangement, but he didn’t say anything else.

  “Alright, if everyone’s geared up and ready to move, we can head out to meet our agents and the resistance transport.” Seash confirmed.

  Well that explained why Lobae and Vinnago were missing, acting as spies against our new allies I guess.

  As we all marched out together with Eve holding onto my arm, I really had to wonder why the resistance would trust us at all. I mean really, half our team was fucking spies, and I didn’t think they did a great job hiding that fact, we were considered a special clandestine team after all. Other than that, our arrival on the planet was beyond suspicious; everyone not part of the team mysteriously dies in a disastrous crash despite the fact our landing trajectory was supposed to keep us away from the hot-zones? Even the way we pissed around planet-side, calling on our superiors for support, having to re-authenticate our team and mission’s legitimacy? I honestly had to wonder if the Lord Generals had to get involved to smooth things over with the admiral. I wondered if the Lord Generals greatly outranked Chyukk.

  ~What are you thinking, darling?~ Eve asked in the buzzing whisper in my inner-ear.

  I was also surprised how quickly I adjusted to the inner-ear bone communication; it wasn’t startling to hear Eve’s words directly whispered into my ear now, no more than it would be if she snuck up behind me and said something. It might catch me off guard now and again, but it wasn’t jarring at all like I was originally worried.

  ~You think the resistance is dumb to trust us?~

  Eve nodded once, ~Absolutely. We’re beyond suspicious at this point, but I believe desperation has caused them to reach out for any potential allies~

  ~Works in our favor I guess~

  ~We’ll see~ Eve said cryptically.

  It could’ve just been her suspicious disposition, but I felt like Eve was really working to keep a close eye on everything going on with the mission. I doubted it was to help the mission succeed—to help the Empire at all. No, it felt more like survival instinct than anything, like Eve was really trying to focus on any potential threats while her senses were all dulled. Made me wonder if she was even more vulnerable than she let on, made me wonder if she was actually in danger now.

  I hated to think about it, especially now that my abilities had been enhanced beyond superhuman, but I really would need to listen to her when she confronted Beta-09, to stay out of harm’s way if I would just be a distraction for her. Of course, that was all well and good to say now, but how would I react when I saw the love of my life in danger? Would I really be able to stay away, or would I risk it all to help anyway I could?

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  We headed outside to find two large transport vehicles waiting for us. They looked like large buses that had been repurposed for military use. They were hover vehicles of course, a sleek dark grey with a simple rounded finish where the hover part started at the bottom, but the side seemed reenforced with heavy, black metal panels for armor. In front of the hover buses was Lieutenant Almana, now wearing form fitting black fatigues and body armor, looking almost like a spy herself. She still seemed to have a bit of her punk flair, which I appreciated, wearing the dark makeup that contrasted well with her pale grey skin, with those messy red buns styled around her large curling horns.

  The resistance soldiers seemed to be geared out better than their militia counterparts; they all wore that black armor that seemed like it was more fitting for a space-faring race, although still a little more basic than our battle armor—like a mix between fatigues and armor. Their weapons also looked like plasma rifles, much more sophisticated than the rails guns the militia soldiers used but still outdated compared to our pulse-rifles.

  Looking around, it seemed like there were over 40 resistance soldiers on Almana’s team, and since we were down to 26 after the crash—24 if you counted out our two wounded soldiers, we were clearly outnumbered.

  Maybe the resistance didn’t really trust us after all.

  “Everyone from the Radiant Clandestine Special Forces Team, I want to thank you all for the sacrifices you’ve already made coming to our planet, but from here on out we’re going to be moving with a purpose.” Almana declared, having no problem projecting her clear voice that had an attractive feminine, smokey flair to it. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear this vyrane took a page out of 1990s punk and grunge Earth style.

  Looking around, I could see the resistance soldiers clearly respected Almana. I wasn’t sure if it was her personally, or if their culture just believed heavily in respecting their leaders or superiors. I didn’t know Almana very well, but so far I’d been pretty impressed—glad someone on the planet was willing to take a chance and use our team properly.

  “We’ll travel to the city Drevor by transport, but since that’s a warm-zone leading into enemy controlled territory, we’ll need to coordinate with another resistance team while we stay there for a night. From there, we’ll be heading down a long stretch of highway until we finally make it to Sesamna. The Fryle Freeway is directly in the thick of the hot-zone, so we might have to abandon the transports depending on how we’re progressing. Once we’re all safely in Sesamna, we’ll meet up with Ferro’s team so he can lead us all into the capital so you can complete your infiltration mission. Our time in Sesamna is going to be very dangerous, so it’s imperative we have proper cooperation and communication between the teams.” Almana said, looking around at all our soldiers—as though trying to single out anyone who might try to act against the resistance’s orders.

  Almana took a second to look around at all her men, collected herself, then continued, “Now I’m sure you’ve all been properly debriefed on the separatists, their forces, and what we’re really up against. For those of us born on Vyrane, this technology is like nothing we’ve ever seen before, so obviously we’ve had a terrible time fighting against it. We have reports of entire platoons getting wiped out, only to rise from the dead, reclaim their weapons, and fire against previous allies. We have no idea how they’re able to assimilate any person, living or dead, regardless of previous loyalty, but it’s made us all professionally cautious and wildly distrusting. Everyone will be assigned a parter within their own team, and a second partner from the resistance team. Anyone who goes missing for any extended period will be considered compromised and then quarantined. Any unusual or erratic behavior will lead to being quarantined. Any sign of disobedience will lead to being quarantined. You so much as forget your manners and you will be quarantined.” She said adamantly, and I could see all her soldiers were emboldened by her words—encouraged even.

  It was then I realized I would have no idea what it was like living this nightmare for a year, always suspicious the soldier next to you could have been assimilated by some mysterious technology beyond anything your planet could ever understand. I figured most only survived this long because they were rightly suspicious, and yet here they were forced to work with strangers, some mysterious team from the Empire with a shady backstory and a grand plan to drive into the very center of enemy territory with the idea we could end it all with our clandestine heavy weapons.

  Almost made me feel bad we were deceiving them, but since the result would lead to freeing their planet I figured it just about evened out.

  “While you’re traveling under our escort, you will follow our commands first and foremost; I understand you have your own orders, but we’ve survived this long by following strict protocols to prevent major information leaks while eliminating the first sign of separatist assimilation. This is nonnegotiable, is that clear?” Almana said sternly, and while I thought she was young before, while wearing the mantle of command she almost seemed twice her age—however old that might be.

  Our soldiers and marines all gave their enthusiastic affirmative—probably eager to get into the action finally. Regardless, Almana seemed pleased with their response and bowed her head in that respectful way I was seeing a lot from the vyranes.

  “And of course, thank you all again for what you’re doing for our planet.” She gestured to the grizzled old vyrane soldier beside her, “Sergeant Gryme will be making the rounds to assign everyone their escort soldier, so if you all could quickly pair off so we can hurry up and get things underway.”

  Sergeant Gryme almost looked too old to be a soldier, with dark grey skin that was cracked like old leather, with stubby horns that looked almost too small for his stocky body. He was short for a male, barely taller than Almana, but as he started barking out orders to his men in a gravelly voice, whatever he was lacking in size he made up for with volume.

  Eve turned to me, “Want to be on my team, handsome?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

  Even though she was just fucking around, my stomach did that little flip—butterflies, like I was a fucking teenager and had a crush this amazingly beautiful girl.

  “You know you still get me. Even after all this time?”

  Eve cocked her head to the side, “What do you mean ‘get you’?”

  I gestured vaguely between us, “You get me—you just do. The way you flirt with me, how you say my name, sometimes how you just look at me, it makes me feel like a fucking teenager again—like I’m nervous around you as though you might turn me down for the prom or something.” I clarified.

  Eve trilled a little giggle and turned around to lean in closer to me, “And you still get me, you know that? Everyday I’m with you, I’m filled with new and exciting emotions; some are thrilling and exciting, others are terrifying and make me a nervous wreck.” Her smile turned softer then as a little pale blush rose on her cheeks, “And when I’m around you, I get antsy and eager hoping you’ll ask me to the prom.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “What a pair we make, eh?”

  I could see it in Eve’s eyes same as she could probably see in mine, but we longed to embrace each other then, regardless of the scene around us; we longed to ditch the battle armor, longed to be free of the inhibitor field, longed to feel each other skin-to-skin once more. But we couldn’t, not now—not yet. But soon, even if we had to free a hundred worlds from Predazoan control, or had to burn down a hundred Imperial ships, we would be free.

  “Hey you two, good to see you again.” A smoky female voice called.

  Eve and I turned away from each other to see Almana was before us, stoic but also eager.

  “Hey, glad everything worked out with our command, looking forward to working with you guys.” I offered.

  Almana smiled, and it made her look younger again, but not enough to break away the mask of command—the responsibilities of her rank, “All thanks to you of course. We made sure your commanders knew it was all thanks to you two we were finally able to connect.”

  I waved it off, “All thanks to Melna really. Will she be okay on her own while you’re away in the field?”

  Almana nodded along, “She’ll stay with some family friends. I’ve been sent away on assignment before, so it’s nothing new to her. She’s probably eager for the break, get up to all kinds of trouble while I’m away.”

  I chuckled at that, “Kids will be kids no matter what planet or galaxy they’re from, that it?”

  Almana laughed at that, but stifled it quickly, “Something like that.”

  I looked behind Almana to see her sergeant barking after a couple of our soldiers, having them switch around with some other escort they were supposed to have. At least it looked like our people were following orders properly.

  “Should probably make our way over to your sergeant, get our escort.” I said mildly.

  Almana held up a hand quickly to stop me, “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve decided I’m going to be your escort.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “Wait, really? Shouldn’t you be with our captain or something?”

  Almana shook her head, “No, Gryme will stay with them. But for you two, the way I hear it, the mission can’t succeed without you; apparently, everything rides on your heavy weapons specialist here.” She said, gesturing to Eve.

  I smiled then, making sure it didn’t look forced, “Protect the package, is that it?”

  Almana smiled too, wider than before, making her look like the punk office lady we met back in her house just yesterday, “Something like that.” She repeated almost playfully.

  And just like that, another fucking complication we had to deal with.