I never thought of myself as brave before, nor courageous; people call first responders heroes, but I never felt like a hero back on Earth. It had always just been a job to me; I could’ve very well have been a mechanic or an accountant, I just happened to follow a path that led me to become a paramedic.

  By the same token, I never thought of myself as a coward; working as a medic, I faced quite a few dangerous situations, even went into a couple burning buildings while working for the fire department. But I think I was always just too stupid to realize when I should’ve been afraid.

  Here and now, I should’ve been afraid. Like really, with the force of Predazoan drones barreling down after me, I know I should’ve been terrified.

  But something in me just clicked; I don’t know if it was instinct, I don’t know if it was purpose or duty, hell, maybe it was my medic training kicking in having me focus on working through protocols rather than think about the danger I was facing. But in that moment, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

  I pulled out my proton sword and activated it so the blade glowed bright red, then pulled out my plasma pistol in my off-hand—ready to dual-wield with the best of them.

  “Come on Eve, let’s get to work.” I said, my tone determined.

  Eve eyed me flatly, “You can’t be serious.”

  Kianna’s eyes grew wide, “Are you serious?”

  I looked out at all the Predazoan drones battering against the barriers and the soldiers behind them, slashing out with their claws and tentacles, trying to get around at anything available. The soldiers looked resolved, but it was obvious they were all scared; this was far beyond anything they’d trained for, beyond anything anyone would be able to prepare for.

  Forgetting the Empire, forgetting the mission, there were people before me who I could save—or at the very least, I had to try.

  Plus, being with Eve, more and more lately I felt responsible for the Predazoans, as though it would really be up to me and Eve to end the Outsider threat. Hopefully it wouldn’t always be about killing them, and I would love to sit down with one and figure out a peaceful solution, but for now, we needed to eliminate the danger.

  “Yes I’m serious; there’s a whole planet hanging in the balance, and since it really will come down to us—getting you to the capital to confront Beta-09, we can’t just abandon things here.” I confirmed.

  Eve continued to glare at me, looking like she found me more than a little annoying right now, but then she let out a long, weary sigh as she conceded to my whims.

  “Very well, my dumb, darling boy.” She pulled out both of her proton swords, “But stay behind me, let me take the lead on things.”

  I smiled and gestured forward, “Of course.”

  Eve rolled her eyes one last time, then stalked off towards the front line, slowly gaining speed and momentum.

  I followed after her, not really having much of a plan, relying on my stupid human instinct more than anything, but I was sure Eve would be able to easily take care of this mess, and I would do what all I could to help.

  Eve jumped over the repulser barriers with impossible grace, spinning in the air like an acrobat, then landed in the middle of the drones and unleashed an assault on them that was almost hard to follow—a blur of red proton lights and a mess of flying black flesh and ooze. The drones all screeched their high-pitched wails in challenge, but were quickly cut down as Eve moved through them with lightning ferocity.

  From what all Eve told me of the extra forms Predazoans could create, they were extensions of the main body, controlled by the Predazoan in the same way a person could control their fingers. But in the same way once a person’s finger was severed they would lose their control, you could destabilize the control the main Predazoan had on the drone forms, destroying them and rendering the biomass as useless.

  It was all about energy and draining that energy so the drone couldn’t keep its physical form. Just like how Eve’s little scout form destroyed itself back on Entana when it used all its energy to screech at me and Tillia, we needed to work to drain away the drone’s energy so it would lose physical form.

  Watching Eve fight, she was mostly beheading the drones and then destroying the remains with a quick flurry of sword strikes, destroying whatever control core the drones possessed that directly connected them to Beta-09. I wasn’t exactly sure what all needed to be done to destroy the drones, but from watching Eve I had an idea how to overwhelm them.

  I activated my superspeed and enhanced my perception so I could easily keep track of all the chaos around me. The drones moved fast too, but they seemed much more limited in their movements, probably constrained to the physical limitations of the bodies they were given.

  I followed behind Eve as she unleashed her vicious assault against the drones, using my own proton sword to severe the heads or spines of the drones around me, then charging up my plasma pistol to blast away at the remains, watching them turn to black ooze as they fell.

  More than ever, it felt like I’d stepped outside of reality now, like this was all just a game or a simulation. I mean really, I spent 30 years back on Earth, constrained by strict rules and physics, living a rather boring life. But here I was fighting some abominable alien menace with fucking superpowers and laser weapons.

  And craziest of all, I was really good at it.

  Eve took most of the drones’ attention, giving me a rather safe window to follow behind, but I wasn’t a slouch as I worked through the masses. I was usually surrounded by a few drones, some of which were already badly damaged by Eve’s assault. I could see the drones would regenerate from some of their injuries, regrowing limbs or chunks from their chitin, but once the damage was dealt to their head, that seemed like something they couldn’t recover from.

  It seemed like everything around me was moving in slow-motion, and even though I was trying to be careful not to show off too much of my power so I wouldn’t reveal I’d been enhanced by Eve, I still had to move superhumanly fast to avoid the drones’ claws and tentacles.

  Eve continued with her forward momentum, looking like she was dancing with her blades, spinning around and using techniques that made it seem like she’d been a sword master for decades now. Meanwhile, I was slashing my sword through the drone flesh like some brute swinging a baseball bat, but it got the job done.

  I wasn’t totally out of danger though, even with my enhancements, and I was for once glad I wore the uncomfortable battle armor as a few errant claw swipes raked against me, breaking through the outer layer of the shielding, but I reacted fast enough I could dodge the rest of the strike before any damage could be done.

  Still, I was on edge like never before—even running into a burning building didn’t have my senses on fire like they were now. I was hyper-aware of everything around me, and with my enhanced perception to match my superspeed, it made every detail around me even more vivid as I had extra time to see it all.

  “Push back everyone! Advance!” I heard Bryx call out from behind us, taking the window Eve and I created for them to press the advantage, to start their own assault with their heavier weapons, explosions of plasma erupting all around now.

  Things were finally turning around now that we weren’t being pressed into a corner. With the soldiers having more room they were able to properly focus and implement their strategy of overwhelming one foe at a time before moving onto the next. Of course, these drone forms were different from the assimilated soldiers and could withstand a lot more laser fire, but their heads were much more vulnerable with whatever control core they had inside.

  ~You know you can be really annoying sometimes~ Eve said in my inner-ear, causing me to flinch back in surprise and nearly lose my footing while dodging a drone’s claw.

  ~You want to talk about this now?~ I pressed.

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  From where I stood I could see Eve was maybe 50 feet away, casual as could be beheading two drones in a row and then bisected another diagonally without slowing down.

  ~Why not? Not like this tedious work requires my full attention~

  My own momentum was slowing down as Eve was distracting me, causing me to completely miss a sword strike against a drone’s neck, forcing me to jump back so I wouldn’t get skewered by its claw.

  ~Yeah, well for me it does; over here fighting for my life and you want to have a fucking casual conversation~

  I thought I heard Eve’s trilling laughter, but she was too far for me to know for sure.

  ~Oh please; if you unleashed your full power, things would be much easier for you~

  I couldn’t respond right away as two drones rushed me at once, and I had to side-step their sweeping tentacles, firing off a few shots from my plasma pistol to distract them to give me the opportunity to move back in and stab the closest with my blade, then sweep around to cut down the other.

  ~Have to be careful so I don’t show off too much of my enhanced abilities in front of the Imperials. They’ll know I’ve been enhanced somehow, but I don’t want them to know to what extent. Besides, I see you over there holding back just the same~ I reasoned.

  That time I definitely heard Eve’s laughter, ~Darling, if I unleashed my full power, the planet itself wouldn’t survive~

  I rolled my eyes then but didn’t say anything about her boasting—not like it was anything new of course.

  ~I’m more surprised you aren’t concerned for my safety; we both know I’m risking my life here fighting the Predazoan drones, yet you haven’t protested once~

  ~First, you’re so fucking stubborn, what would my protesting do? You’re going to do what you want to do, and the only way I could stop you is if I straight-up dragged you away. Second, don’t you dare think for a moment I’m not watching you for the first sign of trouble; if it gets to the point your life is actually at risk, I’ll immediately take you away from here, abandoning all the fools to their fate, let them fend for themselves for once~ Eve countered easily.

  Well, I guess I should’ve realized Eve would be able to watch me all the while she was fighting, able to move faster than I could ever comprehend, and able to perceive things way beyond anything I would understand. Made it seem like I was just playing around here now—like Eve was just allowing me to help save our soldiers.

  Whatever, not like it made a difference one way or another; the soldiers needed help—Vyrane needed our help, and I was going to do everything in my power to save this planet, even if it was nothing compared to what Eve could do to end this conflict.

  The soldiers in the back had pushed their line forward now, really hammering into the remaining drones. Eve had cut a massive swath through their numbers, and I followed along after to help thin the numbers even more.

  What seemed completely insurmountable at first was greatly diminishing now; there had been over a hundred drones around us at first—two hundred maybe, but we’d cut them down to just a few dozen.

  All the while we’d been fighting them, the drones never seemed to change how they fought, always rushing towards us with mindless ferocity, no plan or strategy I could see. Even the assimilated soldiers seemed to utilize classic military tactics, but not these drones. No, they were just a swarm unleashing their power and fury against anything nearby.

  I really had no idea what Beta-09 was planning, why she would even trap us down here to begin with. What was it all for? Had it just been a random trap, or was she specifically targeting our group as we headed towards the capital? Eve insisted her camouflage was still active and kept her hidden, so was this really just a random attack?

  Either I was missing some puzzle piece that would explain what was going on, or an ambush like this might simply be unleashed against any opposition. Both options were equally terrifying, but if this nightmarish trap was meant for anyone part of the resistance, more than ever we needed to hurry and bring an end to the conflict, to spare the vyranes from such a horrifying end.

  As we continued to work through their numbers, things actually got much easier for us, no longer crowded from all sides, and with less screeches echoing around to demoralize or disorient us. Eve was able to cut through the surrounding drones so easily there were barely any stragglers left, with the occasional single drone rushing around her to head straight back towards me. When it was a one-on-one fight it was incredibly one-sided; their claws were vicious, their tentacles ferocious, but when I speed up my perception so time seemed to slow down around me, it was all so easy to avoid. The claw inched forward, and I was able to duck to the side, taking my proton sword and cutting the drone’s arm off at the vulnerable elbow joint. It didn’t react at all, didn’t show pain or even fury. It just lunged at me with the other claw then, and I cut that off too. It screeched at me in challenge, then whipped its tentacles after me, but I was able to cut them away before they even reached me. The drone’s injuries rippled and bubbled as it started to regenerate, but in that moment of vulnerability I had the perfect opportunity to behead the drone. And once its head fell from those broad, spiky shoulders, I watched as its form slowly lost its shape and it melted into useless black ooze around me.

  “Everyone fall back; we’ve got a way out of the tunnel!” Kotlokk announced, using some megaphone device to project his voice over the chaos of the battle.

  The number of drones around us had thinned so much it almost seemed pointless to retreat now, but I saw the soldiers slow their advance and then back away towards the exit ramp. I took a moment to see some of the soldiers worked on disabling the repulser shields and store them away while a line of soldiers stood before them in defensive positions. They were taking the opportunity to pack the gear away, rather than abandon it in the tunnels.

  Considering we still had a decent distance before we made it to the capital, it was definitely prudent to save all the equipment we could.

  “Come on Eve, let’s pull it back!” I called out, cautiously retreating myself now.

  “I’m almost done Adam, just give me a few more seconds!” Eve responded, moving even faster now to finish up with the last few drones around her.

  I returned to the ramp and stood to defend the rest of the soldiers as they made their way through the entryway that had been created in the blockade, but there really wasn’t anything left for me to help defend against.

  There were less than two dozen drones left, but they were all centered around Eve. She danced with her blades, moving so fast it was getting hard to see without speeding up my perception; it was getting to the point I wouldn’t even know how I could explain her abilities to the vyranes. Genetic and cyber enhancements were common among Imperial soldiers, but they could only ever increase your natural abilities so much—surprisingly limited from what I heard. The way Eve was moving now, it almost looked supernatural.

  Since there was nothing else for me to fight against, I just helped guide the rest of our soldiers through the blockade, waving them on through like some TSA agent or something.

  Seash was there of course, helping the evacuation as well, throwing an angry glare at me every chance he got.

  I just sighed, unable to ignore his gaze any longer, “Everyone would’ve died if we hadn’t gotten involved.”

  “You don’t know that for sure, Agent Adam, and once again you disobey direct orders, doing whatever you fucking want.” He said surprisingly calm despite his words.

  “Then what the hell would you have us do? Seriously just wait around for half our soldiers to be killed before you finally relented and told us to get involved? Or actually just let you all die and complete the mission on our own?” I pressed.

  Seash waved the last of our soldiers on through, turning his full attention to me now, “For the first time in your life, I would have you follow orders and trust we do, in fact, have a plan.” He let out a long, weary sigh, “I can’t even imagine how much of a pain you were back on Earth; I wouldn’t be surprised if your human superiors are glad you’re gone.”

  I laughed at that, finding it wildly hilarious Seash went there.

  In response, Seash actually smiled, but he didn’t really look amused. He gestured out towards Eve who was just playing around with the last of the drones, “Collect your Eve once she’s finished. And for the vyranes’ sake, please, please come up with a good explanation for why the two of you were able to fight this abominable army by yourselves.” He narrowed his eyes at me, “And I should like to hear why you could keep up with a Predazoan too.”

  Before I had a chance to reply, Seash turned and headed into the hole in the blockade, making his way up and out of the tunnel.

  So, the secret was out I was clearly enhanced, and of all people Seash would have access to my real medical records to know I hadn’t gotten any standard Imperial soldier modifications. Question was, would that be a problem for us?

  “All done darling!” Eve declared cheerfully, skipping on after me, looking like a schoolgirl who just won a dance competition.

  All around her there was desiccated black biomass and tarry ooze from the destroyed drones, the only remains of a force of abominations hundreds of bodies strong. And yet before Eve, it was honestly nothing—like seriously nothing. Even for me, thanks to Eve’s enhancements and power, I held my own surprisingly well.

  Eve leapt into my arms and threw arms around my neck, kissing me fiercely.

  After a few moments, she pulled back, eyes dancing with amusement, “Did I do good? Do I deserve a reward?”

  I chuckled, but it turned into a sigh, “Yeah sure, what do you want?”

  Eve shrugged as I set her back down on the ground, but she kept her arms around me, “To get the hell off this planet, leave it all behind and let them deal with their own mess.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “How is it their own mess when all this was caused by a Predazoan?”

  Eve finally pulled away and waved me off, “It’s the Empire’s mess, and Vyrane is technically part of Empire.”

  “Okay, but considering they’re still a frontier world, I don’t think it’s fair to say they had any part in what’s happened.” I reasoned.

  Eve’s eyes narrowed into a glare, “Really? You’re going to argue semantics with me instead of a reward?"

  I shook my head and laughed again, “Tell you what sweet-thing, let’s just open a running tab for all your rewards and bribes, and once we’re totally free, and you’re no longer constrained inside the inhibitor field so we can actually touch each other, you can cash it all in—multiplied with interest for pain and suffering.” I offered.

  Eve’s eyes sparkled with amusement, and she trilled a cute little giggle, and for the first time in a long time I almost forgot all the shit we were dealing with—forced to deal with. That cute, girly giggle of hers was musical and enchanting, and I could listen to endlessly at the end of a hard day.

  “Deal.”