The Deadliest Lifeform in the Universe Loves Me-Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.22

The Deadliest Lifeform in the Universe Loves Me-Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.22

The debriefing with the admiral and his council didn’t last long, it was mostly just them relaying all the major or recent developments down on Vyrane. They wouldn’t be giving us our orders, that was something the special teams would all be managing themselves; we were here to help them after all, coming in to rescue the Empire’s regular forces with our advanced tactics.
Once we were dismissed from the assembly, all the teams were directed back out to the station where we’d be meeting up with our planetary escorts. I could see up at the front of the line some soldiers from the different teams were giving each other the business, getting competitive and either bragging about past exploits or boldly proclaiming they’d be the ones to free the Vyrane capital.
Eve and I stayed out of it, hanging back at the far end of the long line of Imperial soldiers we weren’t sure wouldn’t become enemies if they found out who we really were.
“Are you worried we’ll be fighting a Beta Predazoan while you’re contained by the inhibitor field?” I asked.
Eve marched beside me like a good soldier, but she was clearly trying to lean as close to me as she could while keeping up appearances, “It’s going to be more difficult, tedious and frustrating even, but there’s no way a Beta Predazoan could ever overpower me.” She confirmed.
“You’re sure?”
Eve looked at me and smirked, “Do you doubt my power, darling?”
I shook my head, “No, but I’m worried for you all the same. Wish it was just another Gamma Predazoan we had to deal with, instead our enemy will be stronger than ever while we grow weaker.”
Eve’s eyes narrowed into a glare, “I’m not
weaker
, Adam, just limited—restrained.”
I grinned at her defensiveness, “Of course sweet-thing, but still it sucks you’re limited now when fighting a more powerful Predazoan.”
Eve sighed and shook her head, “I’m worried for you more than anything; I told you before your recent enhancements wouldn’t do much to protect you against a Gamma Predazoan, so against Beta-09, we’re basically back where we were
before
we made any changes to your biology.”
I remembered how Eve said a Beta Predazoan would be able to easily kill me with one swipe of their tentacle, could out-speed and overpower me as though I was as weak as any regular human. But I refused to be useless and let Eve do all the fighting—all the work. I wanted to actively shape our future together.
I would just need to practice with my new abilities and learn to use them tactically, assist Eve in any way I could. If two titans were fighting, a fly buzzing around one of their ears might end up being just enough of a distraction to make a difference in the end.
“So, what’s the deal with these assimilated people? Are they totally dead and controlled by Predazoan biomass like some weird flesh puppets?” I inquired.
“That’s what Beta-09 seems to be doing, just like what Gamma-12 did with Tremaan. We don’t
have
to kill people to control them, but it’s the easiest way to consume and cultivate biomass while spreading ourselves over a planet, assimilating it all into the network of our hivemind.” Eve explained.
“If the goal is to just increase her forces over the planet, why not create and unleash those extra drone-forms all over everything instead?”
Eve shook her head, “Camouflage for one, keeping the enemy confused would greatly destabilize them, and also to mask their work from the rest of the Empire or anyone else who might be looking for a Predazoan. Plus, that would require
a lot
of extra biomass while using dead bodies only takes a little; we inject a small portion of our biomass into the body to overtake and consume the flesh, then repurpose it to work under our direct control. It makes them a little more vulnerable since our biomass can be destabilized when the assimilated body is damaged beyond what we can control—like a marionette that’s been damaged so much the strings can’t hold it up any longer.” She said.
“Then our regular weapons can kill these flesh puppets, it doesn’t take the destabilizing acid rounds?” I pressed.
Eve nodded, “They’ll be more resilient than regular people—no concern for pain, no sense of fear. But if you damage the host-body enough, there isn’t anything left for the biomass to control, and since the biomass has been integrated into the puppet’s system, the biomass loses its stability and form and will be rendered useless.”
I quirked up an eyebrow, “So the Predazoans
do
have limits to their crazy Outsider god magic.”
Eve shrugged, “Limits created when using host-bodies and combining their biomass with our own; since the host-body has those limits, that’s why the vulnerability exists.”
“Do you think we should tell Captain Seash about all this, that it’s Beta-09 down on Vyrane and what we can do to fight against the Predazoan flesh puppets?” I asked.
Eve tapped at her chin as she thought it over, “What do you think? Would we benefit more by keeping them all in the dark, letting them fumble through this mission blindly while we follow along with their orders exactly as they demanded, or by going above and beyond our station and proving ourselves useful to those who hold our chains?” She asked evenly.
It was definitely something to consider; on the one hand, fuck the Empire and the Lord Generals and all their stupid
restructuring
, let them suffer the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the soldiers and researchers on our team didn’t have any part in how we were bound by the Empire, and many would surely die if we didn’t give them all the information and help we could. And maybe, just
maybe
, it would show us in a good light if we were acting like team players.
I let out a long weary sigh, “I think it would benefit us more if we do everything we can to make sure the mission succeeds with the fewest casualties possible, the least amount of collateral damage, all while keeping the existence of the Predazoans secret.” I confirmed.
Eve nodded once, “If that’s what you believe, so be it; we’ll tell Seash what we know when we can have a private word with him away from the regular Imperial soldiers.”
I put a hand on Eve’s shoulder, “But it’s not just what I think, Eve; we’re partners in all this, so I want to know what you think too. I want us to make the decision together.”
Eve shook her head slowly, “The problem is I
can’t
make a decision, not on this. To me, all these soldiers’ lives are expendable; I really, honestly do not care if we’re the only ones to survive this mission in the end. And I am so
hateful
of the Empire after what they’ve done to you I simply can’t look at this objectively.” She gave me a soft smile, “On this, I give you full authority to make a decision.”
“You’re sure?”
Eve nodded, reaching forward to hold my hand as we marched on in the back of the line of soldiers, “This is a time when we need to consider other people, and your judgment in dealing with people is always much better than mine; my razor focus on you blinds me oftentimes to the point the decision honestly
should
be left up to you. Despite everything that’s happened to us, you can still look at the Empire and think of the right diplomatic response to our situation, while I think about all the ways I’d like to kill and consume them.”
I chuckled at that, “Of course, sweet-thing, anything to help.”
***
We separated from the other special forces teams when we ended up in some barracks, waiting around for our Imperial escort. Since we were finally alone with just our mission team, we decided to pull Captain Seash aside and tell him what all we knew about the Predazoan and her flesh puppets.
Seash was quite unsettled when he learned we’d be confronting a Beta generation Predazoan, but he covered it up quickly and said he’d message high-command to inform them of this new development, though was sure nothing would change for mission operations.
As for how to deal with the flesh puppets, Seash listened intently when Eve told him how they would be immune to pain and fear but could be destabilized and destroyed with enough damage to their body. Really, that just meant our soldiers would need to really concentrate their fire on enemy center-mass (standard military practice) to the point it would obliterate them. When Seash relayed this new information to the rest of our team, he quickly strategized it would be best for our soldiers to attack targets together to quickly work from one enemy to the next, rather than spread ourselves too thin when fighting against foes who wouldn’t care about minor injuries. It would be all or nothing against the separatists, trying to destroy them as fast as possible so Beta-09 would lose control of her puppets before they could overwhelm us.
We didn’t have to wait very long for our Imperial escort to arrive; six soldiers in standard grey and blue battle armor marched into the barracks, all looking like hardened soldiers eager to join in with the special forces team.
“I’m Commander Reyn, operational leader of the escort team.” The man introduced. Reyn was a slender blue celicapoz with that classic, nearly translucent skin, with long blue tentacles instead of hair. Reyn quickly introduced the rest of his team, and after Captain Seash reciprocated for the rest of us, the two started the operational debriefing with all the soldiers.
~If I have to sit through any more of these meetings, I think I’d rather just join up with Beta-09~
Eve communicated through humming vibrations.
~You’re telling me~
I responded.
The mission briefing was another overview of what we’d already established back on
The Radiance
, but this time with the extra details for how our escort would be getting us around the planet. We’d drop down on the outskirts of the city, Wesseran, just outside the hot-zones. There, we’d meet up with their contacts in the resistance, a vyrane man named Berron. Once we connected with the resistance, we’d be traveling through their underground network to avoid as much combat as possible on the way to the capital. Once we made it to the closest city beside the capital, Sesamna, we’d be transferred to
another
resistance leader, Ferro, who would get us through the sewer system and into the capital. From there, we would take over completely, infiltrate the capital and eliminate the leader of the separatists.
Of course,
how
we were going to do that was kept secret from Commander Reyn; the escort team would remain behind with the resistance once we made it to the capital to begin our assault. We obviously didn’t want them to know about the Predazoans, so that was a condition of ours for the mission operations.
With everything going according to plan, the operation was scheduled to take less than two Imperial cycles. If we
really
accomplished everything that quickly, I’d have to admit the Lord Generals might actually know what they were doing with the planning and restructuring of our mission operations. However, for now, I remained skeptical.
Captain Seash turned off the hologram display of Vyrane and stood up, “Alright people, we have our strategy, we have our escort, and we have our timeline. All we need to do now is see it all through. Are you with me?” He asked.
His soldiers all gave an affirmative shout, sounding like the 300 Spartans about to go fight the Persians. Eve and I just looked at each other, feeling like total outsiders.
After hyping themselves up, the soldiers and our escorts led us to another hanger bay where a dropship awaited us; the standard Imperial vessel was larger and bulkier than the one we took from
The Radiance
, even had a big battle scar on the side of the hull.
I was worried the vessel was damaged, but all the other soldiers looked at it like it was a good like charm—happy it must’ve survived some battle.
We filed in and to say it was cramped would be an understatement. There were no benches or seats now, everyone was standing, gear at the ready, holding onto metal loops hanging from the ceiling as though I was on a fucking bus.
Kianna squeezed next to Eve, suddenly looking quite nervous, “Sometimes, I really hate my job.” She admitted.
I smirked, “At least you know where the safest place to be is.” I said, nodding to Eve.
The pilot announced overhead we were about to disembark, and instead of the gentle hum I was used to, there was a steady vibration as the old dropship roared to life. Even as old as the dropship appeared, Imperial technology was still beyond anything I understood, so when we took off, I barely felt it.
Now that the mission was finally underway, I could see how the people around me really felt about it. The researchers looked rather green about the gills, and I had to stop myself from laughing when Kianna held onto Eve with her free hand. The clandestine agents appeared focused, looking at everything as though nothing could be trusted—as though the threats were everywhere. I couldn’t see much of the power armor soldiers, but they appeared relaxed—business as usual. Our marines seemed pumped up, eager for action they haven’t seen in probably over a year now working aboard
The Radiance
. The standard Imperial soldiers looked eager too, almost excited—like this was the career opportunity of a lifetime, able to work with a special forces team, they probably thought it was a one-way ticket to a promotion. Kinda sad we were tricking them over the whole thing.
And then of course there was my Evie, who just looked annoyed cramped in the dropship around all these other people, clearly wishing it was just the two of us alone somewhere—free and unbound to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. For her, I was sure, she just wanted to get this all over with, ready to continue to fight for our freedom over everything else.
But then there was me, and while I was still so angry at what the Empire had done to us, I had to admit part of me was excited for the adventure. I’d never been in a war before, so obviously I was nervous—scared even, despite my recent power-ups. But this was one of the lives Eve and I talked about, running and gunning through the universe together, living dangerous, exciting lives. Sure, I wish circumstances were different, but at least I was with Eve.
~What are you thinking?~
Eve asked through the ear-bone.
I looked down to see she was hiding a smirk,
~Why?~
Eve’s eyes danced with amusement,
~I can see your mind working through something now, and I hate that I can’t sense it. I’m curious what has you so distracted as we’re about to depart for a dangerous mission~
I chuckled and shook my head,
~That’s it, danger with my Evie. Could be fun~
Eve rolled her eyes,
~Bound and enslaved as we are, might as well enjoy it?~
~Something like that~
Eve smiled brightly,
~I love you, my darling, ridiculous, wonderful silly boy~
~I love you too my…Evie~
I couldn’t hum much more than that, I was still pretty limited in what all I could communicate through humming vibrations.
But it got a laugh out of Eve, so I guess it was good enough; she trilled a cute little giggle and leaned against me, eyes aglow with that loving adoration.
“It’s going to be a little bumpy folks.” The pilot announced as he left the Command Station.
The viewports were all incredibly small, so it was almost impossible to see where we were going; it seemed like we hooked out wide to get around all the siege stations and the planet-side bombardments, but when the dropship started shaking, I figured we were still somewhat inside the orbital war zone.
Kianna clung tighter against Eve, “Holy shit, this is horrible, I think I’m about to—” Kianna covered her mouth quickly as the dropship rattled again as something must’ve struck us.
“Shield integrity 80%” A feminine computer voice announced.
The soldiers started exchanging confused looks, like something wasn’t going according to plan at all.
Captain Seash pressed the comms button on the wall, “Pilot, we’re supposed to swing
around
the hot-zone, no need to ride so close!”
The dropship rattled again, violently this time, enough a few people lost their grip on the hanging metal hoops.
“I don’t—I
did
hook around outside the hot-zone!” The pilot called out, then grunted and cut the comms off quickly.
“It’s like the planetary weapons are following after us!” The co-pilot added, and I heard a quick scuffle over the comms and they cut off once more.
There was another blast against our dropship, and this one was strong enough to knock half the soldiers on the ground.
“Shield integrity 40%”
“Oh fuck, she knows.” Eve said beside me.
“What are—” I looked over to see Eve’s eyes wide with realization.
Eve quickly turned to me, “Beta-09, she can probably sense I’m here. She’s secured herself a nice little nest, and she’s probably worried I’m here to try and take it.”
“Then her planetary weapons are
all
targeting us now?” I pressed.
Before Eve could respond, our dropship was struck again, and a small fire started towards the shuttle doors as some electrical units flashed out a shower of sparks.
“Shield integrity 15%”
An alarm started blaring out then, and I saw another fire start towards the front on some panel right behind the cockpit. The soldiers started scrambling around then, grabbing some futuristic fire suppression gun, others getting out some emergency jump-kit—getting ready in case the dropship totally broke apart.
“We’re in the upper-atmosphere!” The pilot announced desperately.
There was nothing I could do then, just hope my new durability would let me survive a fucking spaceship crash landing.
Suddenly, I heard the screeching sound of metal rending, and daylight flooded into the dark hold. The ship was tearing in half, right behind the cockpit, causing several soldiers to get sucked out as though they were ragdolls—their haunting screams gone in a fraction of a second.
I activated my enhanced speed so everything seemed to slow down around me, and I could see the ship was only seconds from completely breaking apart.
Working faster than any of the soldiers could see—faster than even
I
could perceive, a giant network of black tentacles ripped through the back of Eve’s armor and started wrapping around me, and then everyone else in the dropship. The netting of tentacles continued along the walls and ceiling, then through the holes in the hull to completely cover the outside of the ship to try and hold it together—all still connected to Eve.
Even with my enhanced speed, I could barely react in time, but for Eve, this was nothing. She pulled me into a protective embrace, just the inhibitor field between us.
“Brace yourself Adam, we’re going to crash in just a few seconds.” She warned me, sounding surprisingly calm despite the impending disaster.
With my activated superhuman perception, the seconds elongated several times over, and I could hear all the desperate cries of fear and confusion from all the soldiers. It was complete chaos inside the dropship, and the only person with any semblance of control was Eve.
The seconds passed faster than I thought, and in one terrible, monstrous thundering sound, we crash landed on the surface of Vyrane.

Volume 4: Beta-09, Chapter 4.22