Great, so the Predazoan asset and handler who were supposed to stay out of sight and out of the way until we made it to the capital would now be under the direct supervision of the resistance team leader. There was nothing we could do about it, but I was getting so sick and tired of everything working against us constantly. How the hell were we supposed to explain staying out of any conflict or skirmish we might get into? Would Almana believe the heavy weapon specialist wouldn’t take part in any regular fights until it was time to drop the hammer (not that we even had one). Shit, it would’ve been more believable if high-command did give Eve some outrageous heavy weapon, didn’t mean she had to actually use it.

  And for my role, I was some communication technician trained to coordinate with Eve’s specialty, but aside from some clever lies and a phony backstory, I had no real gear to back it up.

  You know what, fuck it, those Lord Generals were so stupid in setting up this mission, plus binding their greatest asset to drastically reduce her power, I was honestly hoping at this point we’d fail just to stick it to them.

  Of course, then millions or even billions of innocent people would suffer.

  I could only shake my head at the stupidity that led us to our current predicament, a predicament in which I would have to lie and cheat to work my way through. Wouldn’t be up to the soldiers, wouldn’t even come down to the agents, no, the burden would all be dropped down on me and Eve.

  There was no way I wasn’t going to have words with the Lord Generals once we made it back to The Radiance or The Judicator—if we all survived of course.

  Once everyone on our team was partnered up and had a resistance escort, we all loaded up on the buses together. Even with the escort soldiers splitting them up, the resistance still outnumbered us, so they formed up in the front and back of the bus, leaving our team protected in the middle for some reason.

  Felt more like we were being guarded rather than escorted, but the resistance had good reasons to be so suspicious, so I couldn’t really fault them for it.

  Inside the hover transport it really was like a regular bus. It had several rows of bench seats that fit two people each, felt like we were all crammed in together especially with all our armor and gear, but at least the seats were cushioned properly.

  Eve and I sat at the back of our section, with Almana in the seat directly in front of us, and without any further delay, the two buses floated off together.

  Same as with the car service back in town, the large transport glided along so you couldn’t feel anything from the road as you traveled. Having been born and raised in Michigan, everyone was always complaining about the roads—how shitty they were, or how often they were shut down for construction. Here on Vyrane with vehicles that floated over the roads, I figured that wouldn’t be much of an issue.

  I had the window seat and leaned my head against it, while Eve beside me leaned her head on my shoulder, both of us watching the scenery as we rode through town.

  We were completely unimpeded by traffic, as everyone cleared the way for us when we drove through, and in no time at all I could see we passed through some checkpoint and headed beyond the city limits as we transferred onto some major highway.

  “I’m sure most of the information’s redacted or restricted, but have you been on many missions like this before?” Almana asked, sitting up in her seat so she could look back at us.

  Eve had fallen asleep on my shoulder (seemed like she was sleepier now that she was contained in the inhibitor field), leaving me to answer all the questions.

  I tilted my head back and forth, considering how I should answer, “A few.”

  “And they were a success?”

  I nodded, “All so far.”

  “So what are your projections for success on this misison? We hammered into your commanders for a while with that question, but they refused to answer it straight.” Almana pressed.

  I gestured to the sleeping Eve, “If we can get Eve into the capital, it’s a 100% success rate.”

  Alama’s delicate dark eyebrows rose up together, “Really? You just need your specialist to get into the capital and you’re completely certain you’ll succeed, no doubts at all?”

  I shook my head slowly, “We’re the last ditch of the last-ditch effort; we’re who you send in when there’s no other options. But once we’re in, it’s guaranteed we’ll succeed.” I shrugged, “Might not be pretty, will have endless collateral damage, and everyone working with the enemy is as good as dead, but your planet will be freed from the separatist threat.”

  Almana continued watching me, digesting my words. It looked like she didn’t believe it or was trying to reason out if it was too good to be true. I felt a little awkward being so scrutinized.

  “Does she use the same weapon for every mission, or does she have some rotation of doomsday devices she unleashes depending on the situation?” She asked.

  Doomsday, way to make it sound super badass, I’d have to remember to use that one.

  I shook my head again, “Sorry, that’s a trade secret.”

  If Almana was upset she didn’t let it show; she had an amazing poker face from what Id’ seen so far.

  “Well, so long as our planet is freed, I suppose that’s all that matters.” She said, then sat back down in her seat.

  That sounded like a dismissive answer if I ever heard one—like she was only dropping it for now, not for good. That was exactly what I was afraid of, having to be on guard with what I said all the time, lying to this new ally constantly. I was good at telling stories, which turned me into a decent liar, but I wasn’t some trained agent or anything—didn’t want to keep lying to people constantly anyway.

  We continued traveling along the highway for another couple hours, and the further we got from the city—or the closer we got to the warzone, the lighter the traffic got until it was almost entirely gone except for the occasional military vehicle.

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  It seemed like all the other transports we passed were something for civilians that’d been modified and repurposed for military use. I could see some vehicles that looked like local security squad cars or something that’d been souped up, others were large bulky vehicles that had extra shielding installed, maybe a large, mounted gun on top. At least outside the hot-zone I hadn’t seen anything that even resembled a tank. Made me wonder if all the real military vehicles were saved for use on the front lines, or if the planet wasn’t allowed to keep real military hardware after joining the Empire.

  I didn’t know much about Vyrane culture, but they seemed pretty respectful so far. But when it came to warfare or crime or whatever, I had no idea what they were like before they became a part of the Empire. Were they a peaceful planet that achieved enlightenment and reached out beyond the stars to spread their gifts, or had they been militaristic and sought to conquer, only to be conquered instead and forced to assimilate their armies into the Imperial military forces?

  Made me think of Earth once more, and despite all its problems—the greed and corruption, the violence and pollution, I still missed it, and I worried about its future and how it would assimilate. Either we’d need to completely change and become a peaceful people to join in with the Empire, or we’d stay on our destructive course and either kill ourselves before leaving the planet, or foolishly wage war against an intergalactic Empire; I couldn’t see us bowing down as we are now.

  Even though I saw the Empire as an evil, corrupting and controlling force that couldn’t be stopped, I still thought it would be in humanity’s best interest to join in with them. Yes, that would mean they’d just assimilate into the evil totalitarian Empire, but what would be the alternative? End up alone in the massive universe, stuck in our system with such limited resources? No, forgetting how horrible the Empire treated us, for the average citizen it was basically paradise—so long as they followed all the rules and obeyed the laws.

  I wasn’t sure if I fell asleep like Eve or if my mind was just wandering for hours, but it took me a moment to realize we were slowing down, and then suddenly stopped. I looked out the window to see a few more resistance vehicles blocking our way forward, with a rather sizable force framing the roads, all looking our way, all with their guns drawn.

  Before anyone from our team could work out what was happening, the resistance soldiers in front and behind us all stood up and pointed their guns at us.

  “Alright, just one more security measure before we can continue with the mission.” Almana said, standing up in her seat, her plasma rifle pointed right at my face, then turned to face the rest of our team, “Everyone get up and form a single line out of the transport, staying with your partner and escort.” She commanded.

  Our soldiers had been caught totally unawares, but while they were complying, they began throwing around accusations and questions to the point no one could even begin to answer.

  “Please people, please. All we need is your cooperation for the next couple hours, then we’ll be back on our way.” Almana insisted.

  “And where exactly are you taking us?” Captain Seash asked, cool like you wouldn’t believe.

  Sergeant Gryme pointed his gun forward for Seash to follow the path, “We’re taking you to a security center to have you tested, make sure none of you have been assimilated.”

  It was basically involuntary, but I couldn’t help but look over at Eve who finally woke up amidst all the activity. I wondered if her camouflage would work, if she’d be able to fool the vyranes into think she was a natural alien, or if they’d come to learn she was something else.

  As though sensing my thoughts, I heard the little buzzing in my ear.

  ~Not to worry darling, even to the most sophisticated Imperial sensors, I would seem like a regular celicapoz~ She communicated through vibrations as she calmly got up and started following after Almana, holding my hand and leading me along with her.

  ~You’re sure?~ I asked, worried for my Evie despite the fact she was an immortal, Outsider god.

  Eve smiled at me, eyes dancing with amusement, as though the whole thing was just a silly little affair—a funny side-stop on the way to Beta-09.

  ~Of course~ She confirmed, but then her smile fell, ~However, they should have great care while treating us as prisoners; we both know how I hold grudges, and their fear of assimilation won’t save them from my wrath should they disrespect me~

  And just like that, now I had a different fear, concerned what Eve might do to these innocent soldiers just trying to protect their home planet from dangerous invaders.

  ~Easy, sweet-thing~ I hummed while we stepped off the bus, following along the rest of our line.

  I looked around to see most of our soldiers appeared irritated, but not afraid at all. I suppose they took solace in knowing none of us were assimilated and thus wouldn’t be in any danger. Of course, the resistance could be lying and leading us off to be executed anyway; proper comeuppance for how we killed those Imperial soldiers.

  We continued off the highway and onto a grassy path, and far ahead I could see some steel compound that looked like it hadn’t been there very long—a rush job for the sake of the war.

  As our soldiers were escorted forward, and I could see with the way the resistance soldiers moved our people it wasn’t with any malice, rather it was like they were moving people through airport security. Made me feel a little relief like this really wasn’t going to be a big deal at all.

  “Except you, communications technician Adam, you’ll be coming with me.” Almana said, steering me over to another doorway.

  Eve started to growl low in her throat, and she made the move to go with me, but a resistance soldier stepped before her and raised up his gun.

  “The lieutenant says just him, you go back with the rest of your team.” He warned her.

  Eve looked like she was about to openly snarl, but I waved her off quickly, “Evie, it’s okay, you head in with the others, I’ll be fine.” I confirmed.

  Eve’s eyes darted around, looking like a predator about to take down prey—take down everyone around us. The soldiers looked a little amused, as though wondering what this unarmed girl could do against them.

  They had no idea.

  Eve looked at me, ignoring everything else around us, “Are you sure?”

  I nodded once, “I’ll be fine, sweet-thing, I can take care of myself. Trust me.”

  I couldn’t begin to guess why I was being singled out but considering I had new superpowers I was eager to try out, I was pretty sure I could escape if things got dicey.

  Eve seemed to understand what I was thinking and finally relented, “Very well. I’ll wait for you darling.”

  She turned then, nose high in the air like she was a fucking princess and all the soldiers around her were far beneath and continued on with the rest of our team.

  I turned back to Almana and the couple soldiers who stayed with us to see her watching me with an intrigued look on her face.

  “You have an…interesting relationship with your specialist.” She said mildly.

  I just chuckled at that, “You have no idea.”

  They continued walking me to the side entrance of the compound, and when we got inside I saw what looked like an outdated repulser cell, all blocky and staticky, with a single metal egg-chair in the center.

  Almana gestured for me to continue inside, then reactivated the repulser field to lock me in. for a brief moment I felt a flash of panic when I remembered the last time I was locked in a repulser cell—the court martial with the Lord Generals, but I did everything I could to push those thoughts away and focus on the now—focus on my new power and how I could escape if things turned sour.

  One of the other vyrane soldiers handed Almana a tablet, and she started scrolling through some information I couldn’t see as this one didn’t project a hologram.

  “Adam Samson, communications technician, probationary citizen of the Empire, from a pre-contact world called Earth.” She stopped reading, then looked up at me, “Human.”

  The fear had been replaced by confusion now, wondering why the hell Almana was going over my history like it was at all relevant to the mission. If she mentioned The Radiance, sure, there’d be reason to worry. If she said something about a Predazoan, yeah, it would be time to freak out. But why single me out and not Eve? Really, what was the point of all this?

  “Yeeaah?” I said slowly, wondering if there was some hidden question in her words.

  Almana lowered her tablet, looking at me with an annoyed glare, “You can drop the act now, we aren’t stupid, you know? It’s obvious you’re a central player in this mission—the key to the team’s success. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say you were the real hidden weapon that will lead to the destruction of our capital.”