Eve helped me back to the rest of our group, although I didn’t really need it, she just wanted to dote on me since I had a couple injuries, although nothing to be concerned about.

  Of course, when we returned to the teams, I shouldn’t have been fucking surprised to see everyone’s guns out and pointed at each other.

  “Oh, come on dude.” I groaned.

  The few survivors of the Radiant Clandestine team including Captain Seash, Lieutenant Bryx, Agent Kotlokk, Vinnago and Lobae, along with a sparse handful of marines and a couple power armor soldiers, with the cowering researchers behind them, held their guns trained on just over two dozen surviving vyranes, hardly ten feet between them all.

  “Adam, now would be a really good time to intercede on everyone’s behalf—show off that diplomacy you were talking about.” Almana said mildly, keeping her gun pointed right at Seash in the center of it all.

  “I just want to know what the fuck is actually going on, and after everything our planet’s endured, I believe we’re owed that much.” Ferro added, holding a rather sizable pulse-rifle in each hand, ready to go down as the most badass dual-wielder I’ve ever seen.

  “That information is beyond classified, and I’m afraid we simply can’t—” Seash started.

  I let out a super loud, frustrated sigh which turned into a growl that turned into a shout. I walked into the center of everything, Eve hanging onto me all the while. I turned to glare at the Imperial side, “Seash, just shut the fuck up, or I’ll kill you myself.”

  Seash’s lip pulled back as he snarled, “Listen here you—"

  Eve snarled too, but it was clearly otherworldly and sounded like a curse, and it shut Seash up quick.

  “Do not talk back to my Adam.” She said darkly.

  With Eve watching my back, I turned to the vyranes, “Alright, you want the story? Here you go…”

  And then I told them; as good of a storyteller as I could be, I told them everything. I started with Earth of course, raising the cute little squid version of Evie, how we were a happy little found family with my grandparents until my own government tried to attack us, and from there we were saved by the Empire. I told them about the Predazoan project and how dangerous they were and how the Empire told me there should be no way a Predazoan would obey me the way Eve did, so they allowed us to remain together so long as we worked for them in hunting down the other Predazoans. Of course, there were strings attached and I told them all how they would only allow me to stay with Eve if I allowed them to implant a bomb in her core, and the idiot that I was I didn’t think there was any way around it, just desperate to stay with my Evie. I told them how they trained me, made me feel like I was a valuable member of the team, and then we went on our first mission on Entana. I skipped over a few details, but then told them Eve revealed herself to be much more intelligent than anyone thought at first, and rather than just loving me like family, Eve was in love with me as a mate. I admitted things were awkward for a time, got a few laughs even from some of the soldiers despite the fact everyone still had their guns out. But then I told them how Eve and I were bonded in ways no one could ever understand—how I didn’t even understand. I told them I knew it was unhealthy, told them I was surely going to be consumed someday by the impossibly powerful, immortal Outsider god. But then I told them none of that mattered and how people really couldn’t help who they fell in love with.

  I sat down then, and most everyone else sat with me, and most of them lowered their guns, and then I started telling them about our time together in the Holistia Nebula. It might’ve been bold, but I told them how sex with Eve was absolutely out of this world indescribable and beyond what a normal human would ever experience, and every day with her was a joy and how much fun we had on the different vacation stations. Eve started chiming in here and there, adding a few details when needed, or giving me the business when she felt I deserved it. People always laughed when she did—even Almana seemed relaxed now when Eve spoke. We told them about the friends we made and how Eve could be so charming and human, despite insisting she didn’t really care about anyone else. Then it was time to tell them about our time on Hedonism-36, and Kianna turned bright pink, and even Lobae blushed when I told our audience what all happened. Apparently, I wasn’t telling the story exactly right, as both Kianna and Lobae decided to jump in and set the record straight, trying to explain away some of their more hedonistic behaviors. Everyone laughed, and despite how embarrassing it all seemed, none of the vyranes judged us, and we all confirmed that it was a wild adventure we would never forget.

  I told them about a few more of the really cool space stations, then spent plenty of time telling them about the War-Sim tournament and how Eve absolutely dominated with all her amazing Predazoan abilities. A few of the vyranes accused us of cheating, but we all had a good laugh over it.

  Then I went back and told them about our confrontations with the enemy Predazoans, Eve’s sisters. First I told them about Gamma-17 on Entana, then about Gamma-12 in the Holistia Nebula. I was asked a few follow up questions on the generations of Predazoans and what all that meant, so Eve jumped in to help clarify, telling everyone how the Prime Predazoan was revived from the remains of a true Predazoan, and the Alphas were cloned directly from her, and then the next two generations, Beta and Gamma, had been modified clones in the attempt to control them better, which actually weakened their abilities.

  Of course, then people wanted to know what kind of Predazoan had attacked Vyrane, but I told them not to get ahead of themselves.

  Next, I told everyone what happened when we returned to The Radiance and how we were court martialed and blamed for everything that went wrong on the previous missions. Right away the vyranes all screamed about the injustice and took our side, and they threw more than a few accusations at Seash and Kotlokk; they didn’t have any defense ready, and in fact some of the information I was telling them now was news to them even, so they mostly just kept quiet and listened.

  I told them all how they put fucking bombs in my neck, how they had Eve contained in her inhibitor field—yep, even admitted all that to them. The vyranes were all horrified then, wondering how the Empire could ever justify such actions against their own people—heroes as they said it. Kianna cried when she heard everything we suffered through saying there was no justification for their actions, how we were such good people and always so kind to her. Lobae too apologized again, insisting she still wanted to be friends, using the open forum as a chance to try to make amends. I appreciated the offer, but told her we just weren’t at the point we could trust agents of the Empire now, and she seemed to accept that answer, but both she and Vinnago insisted the door to friendship would always be open for them.

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  I didn’t even care what all I was admitting at this point, didn’t think about the consequences, didn’t care if it was reckless or impulsive, I just did not care anymore. We’d been with these people for over a cycle, watching dozens of them die—dozens of our own died all around us as we fought our way here. I had no fight left in me, only truth, and my very human heart.

  And then it was time for the big bombs; I told them the truth of our mission. I told them our special forces team was obviously a fabrication, how the entire point was just to get Eve to the capital to fight her sister Predazoan by any means necessary. I then admitted Seash and his men executed the standard Imperial soldiers after Eve saved everyone because they wouldn’t back down and wanted to communicate with their commanders over what to do about Eve. A few of the vyranes started raising their guns again, but I insisted they set them back down, that we would have peace between us.

  Then I rounded things out by telling them how we met Almana, how she never had any idea what a Predazoan was at first, how we took her for a ride all the while and how sorry I was for it. I told everyone in the circle how amazing Almana was, how she was probably the best leader I’ve ever worked under and how I was privileged to be able to call her my friend and how I was just so sorry for the shit we put them all through.

  And then finally I told them all it was a Beta Predazoan Eve fought, so yes, not the most dangerous of the bunch; all this destruction caused by a midlevel Predazoan, all this death.

  And there were still 17 left to contain.

  Once my story was done, I let out a long, weary sigh, and it felt like a thousand pounds was lifted off my shoulder; as the old saying goes, the truth will set you free.

  I stood back up and dusty my knees off and then cracked my back, “Well, that’s my story, hope it answered everything—hope it gave you all closure.” I turned to Seash, “You should radio for the pickup now.”

  Seash had remained standing the entire time, and even though he hadn’t reacted to anything I said, I knew there were several things he’d never heard before.

  “Adam, you know with our protocols, we can’t just—”

  I slashed a hand through the air, “Just what, Seash? Hmm? We destroyed their entire fucking planet, and now they know why so many people died, you want to punish them for it?” I pressed.

  Seash looked to his men, but there wasn’t anyone willing to stand beside him; I didn’t know if it was my story or the fact we’d all bonded with the vyranes, but no one was willing to use violence against them now.

  Seash let out a long sigh, “I’m not saying we need to punish them, nothing as extreme as what happened when we first dropped planet-side.” He said, keeping his voice almost eerily calm.

  I crossed my arms and glowered at him, “What, take them aboard The Radiance for a memory wipe?”

  Almana stepped forward, “I would rather die than forget my time with Adam.” She insisted.

  I stood guard over all the vyranes, with Eve and Almana on either side of me, staring down Seash on his own, nothing but his precious protocols to back him up.

  Before either of us could say anything, Kotlokk stepped forward, “I actually have a suggestion.”

  Everyone turned to Kotlokk who suddenly looked quite pleased with himself.

  “Well, our company is always looking for trustworthy, capable soldiers, and I would say you’ve more than proven yourselves in handling a Predazoan threat.” He reasoned.

  The vyranes looked at each other, wondering if they just received a job offer after all this mess.

  “I’ve got a family on Vyrane, can’t exactly go galivanting off into space.” Ferro countered.

  Kotlokk held his hands up peacefully, “No one’s saying you need to come aboard The Radiance, but we’re in desperate need for more resources and allies, even people who might need to stay planet-side to make sure the Predazoan secret remains secret.”

  Gryme crossed his arms, “You mean we’d be grafted into the fold, working on keeping the rest of Vyrane in the dark.”

  “Or the rest of the Empire who comes investigating Vyrane.” Kotlokk added.

  The vyranes seemed to agree this was probably the best outcome they could hope for, although there were still some obvious reasons to be cautious.

  “What if we wanted to come aboard The Radiance?” Almana asked.

  I looked down at her, but she refused to look up at me then, focusing on Kotlokk.

  Kotlokk shrugged, “It would be a different process that would need to be settled once this mission has been fully cleared, but we’ll certainly have openings.” He reasoned.

  There was a little more debate, but the vyranes all came to the same conclusion this was a good deal.

  “Alright, sign us up as your Vyrane liaisons or whatever; we’ll keep your secrets and clean things up around here.” Ferro offered.

  Kotlokk’s insect mandibles turned inward in what was probably a smile, “Prefect, I’ll go ahead and collect all your information, and once things have settled down on our end you can expect to receive your assignments.”

  “We’ll get paid for the shit too, right?” One of the vyrane soldiers asked, and everyone laughed.

  Kotlokk with Vinnago and Lobae got all the vyranes’ contact info, their Imperial citizen numbers along with their Vyrane information. It seemed like they were really being diligent with them, so I hoped it wasn’t all bullshit.

  Cynical, I know, but after everything I’ve survived, I just couldn’t help it.

  Seash didn’t say anything and instead called for The Radiance to send a dropship to pick us up. We didn’t have long to wait, and the brief celebration for a successful mission quickly turned into sad goodbyes. Quite a few of the vyranes and Imperials hugged it out, and people exchanged comms info wanting to stay in touch. It made me really hopeful things would work out all right for the vyranes once we left.

  The classic stealth transport touched down just a few feet away from us, looking like a ghost until it opened its bay doors.

  The vyranes offered fond farewells as our team all boarded the transport off the planet, while I hung back with Eve and Almana.

  Neither of us could say anything at first, and Almana still refused to look at Eve. Instead, she moved in for a hug, and I was pleased to see Eve didn’t try to stop it—though I did hear a low growl in her throat.

  “Thank you Adam, for everything.” Almana said quietly, tears shimmering in the corner of her eyes.

  “Hey, listen, I don’t…” I wanted to tell her I trusted the Empire as much as a two-headed snake, but even that was giving them too much credit. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to say it, instead I wanted to be hopeful the Empire would honor Kotlokk’s word—provided it wasn’t all a trap in the first place.

  “Make sure you message me, let me know how the planet’s doing and how you and Melna are getting along, alright? Just check in when you can.” I said.

  Almana nodded, and I knew she wasn’t dumb and could guess exactly what I was thinking, but neither of us wanted to give into cynicism now.

  “I will, and…” She took in a deep breath, “I think I’ll apply to work aboard The Radiance, if they’ll have me.” Finally she looked at Eve, then back at me, “The way you tell it, it sounds like you’re short on allies.”

  I smiled, “That would be awesome.”

  Almana bowed low and respectfully then, and I bowed in return. I could tell there was more Almana wanted to say, but they were things that would need to be said in another life. Instead, she turned and marched to join with the rest of her team, waving goodbye to the strange, beautiful human who saved her planet alongside his crazy Predazoan lover.

  Eve and I got onto the transport, and without further delay we rose into the air and headed out into space. I looked back out the viewport to see Vyrane from far away looked totally peaceful now; no more orbital bombardments, even the siege stations that had surrounded the planet liked like they were already changing their positions.

  I sat back in my seat and Eve leaned her head on my shoulder, watching me with that starry-eyed look of hers, making me feel like I was loved and wanted like never before, and in that moment I felt hope; I felt hope for the planet Vyrane, hope for Almana and her people, and even hope for Eve and myself.

  Despite all the shit we had to deal with, despite all the death, despite the fact the Empire was constantly trying to trap and contain us, there was one thing they could never take from me—something that was fiercely human, that burned within my spirit, and that was my hope.

  I had hope for the future, hope for my forever, hope that would lead me to freedom with my Evie.

  Volume 4 End