The assault team consisted of me, Bryx, Durgo, Roote, Willa, Brunt and Toku. We tried to argue against the two sorrendelm security officers coming with us, telling them this was definitely going to be outside their normal job duties, but they insisted it was their responsibility to ensure the safety of the crew.

Brave men, but they had no idea what they were getting into.

For that matter, neither did any of us really; the Predazoans were simply too unpredictable to ever properly prepare for.

Once again, for more reasons than I could even count, I missed my Evie.

We formed up tight as we marched through the halls of Jessipie-90, with Bryx leading our company following along some mapping hologram being projected from the digital device on his forearm. I worried the drones might jump out at us from the vents at any moment—could swear I heard some chittering or scratching in the walls around us, but so far our march was uneventful.

Everyone had a headset to stay in constant communication, and aside from Bryx and I who wielded the heavy carbine rifles, everyone else was equipped with a plasma pistol and plasma torch. I didn’t think the pistols would do much, but I was hopeful the torches would cause enough pain to be a distraction; it seemed like the extreme heat was painful to the Predazoans with how their biothermal lasers would tear into each other, and while obviously the little plasma torches were nowhere near as powerful, I figured a few burns could do something to give me or Bryx a window for a shot with the lethal acid rounds.

We also spread the remaining repulser shields among us, but some of them were quite low on power now, so I wasn’t sure how useful they would be.

Our team made it to the compression system bay to find the massive bulkhead doorway had been torn apart and warped away from its framing, looking like it had thousands of scratch marks from hundreds of clawed tentacles. We moved forward into the airlock area and found a few scattered remains of the four robots we used to investigate the storage area.

“Gadow, found your robots, all destroyed.” Bryx said into his headset.

“Copy.” Gadow said simply, but I could hear he was on edge waiting for the orders to start the purge—on edge waiting to see if we’d even make it that far.

I knew it was foolish to put my safety at risk since if I died it would kill Eve too, unless her being in void space would somehow block the signal—a grim hope. But considering the options, I was our best chance of successfully making the purge happen, so it was either risk my safety now against a Predazoan or risk my safety every day in a vessel filled with her drones while we waited for the void singularity to claim our lives.

No good choices either way.

We continued until we got to the area where the sector sectioned off into 20 different entryways, and even after seeing it over livestream it was crazy how large it all was.

“Looking for section F.” Gadow said over our radios.

Thankfully, section F was on the bottom row and somewhat close to the center. Bryx directed our team forward and we marched into the dark, metallic hallway that seemed like a futuristic tomb. It was wild how large and spacious it all was, how massive the tanks were—almost like skyscrapers, taller than almost every building back on Vyrane. The lighting sucked down here with those little dim strips guiding our way. We activated some shoulder-mounted lights to help illuminate our path, once again making it look like we were moving through a haunted house.

The main sections were further organized into subsections; even numbers on the right with odd numbers on the left, 5,000 tanks in every subsection. Thankfully subsection 04 was the next one over, so it wasn’t like we had to travel for days to get to it.

Still, over halfway into subsection 04 to find tank 3558, it took us over an hour to make it there.

Everyone formed up around the tank entrance, with Bryx out in front by the heavy metal door, ready to initiate the purge process.

“Alright, we’re just about ready to move in.” Bryx declared.

Roote put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, pointing up at the massive security door that seemed like it belonged on a giant bank vault, “Wait, look, the door’s still sealed.”

Sure enough, there was a single metal bar that was welded over the middle of the door, locking it into the framing.

“Shit.” Bryx muttered, then turned away, “Gadow, we’ve got a bit of a problem here, we forgot—”

His words trailed away when I jumped up on the doorway and pulled at the bar, causing the metal to whine as I ripped it away, unsealing the door in a matter of seconds.

“Hello? What was that Bryx? Can you hear me?” Gadow’s voice echoed in our headsets.

Bryx chuckled and shook his head, “Never mind, we’re about to initiate the tank purge protocol.”

“Copy, standing by.”

Durgo took a step forward and started working on the digital console beside the door, getting to a screen that asked for a code to initiate the purge timer.

“It says we need a code to start.” Durgo said.

“Hang on, let me generate it.” Gadow said, then paused a few moments, “GHXG121243599, that should do it.”

Durgo plugged in the code and once it was accepted a warning alarm started blaring around us, with a few yellow flashing lights on the corners of the massive tank.

“Warning! Warning! Tank evacuation protocol initiated; you have 10 minutes to confirm the process. Warning! Warning!” A mechanical voice started sounding off.

“Well, not like we hoped to sneak up on Gamma-20 anyways.” I shrugged.

Durgo ignored me and spun a large crank that unlatched huge mechanical arms which secured the door shut. Once it was unlocked, Durgo pulled on the door, then had to leap away as it seemed to open by some automated process.

Bryx looked back at the rest of the team, “Alright everyone, if it seems like we have no chance against Gamma-20, continue with the purge protocol.” He said, then turned back to the tank entrance, “Eyes open, follow me.” He took a deep breath to center himself, then slowly entered the massive tank.

The inside of the tank was as dark as everything outside, and there were rows upon rows of smaller storage tanks stacked up all around us, making the inside of the tank seem like some crazy maze of tanks on tanks on tanks.

We continued down what seemed like a raised catwalk in the middle of the tank, with rows of the smaller tanks underneath and above us too—all around as far as I could see.

“How the hell are you supposed to find anything in here?” I asked.

“You aren’t. The crystals are all secured in easy to transfer tanks for when they make it to the company refinery.” Gadow explained. “After the crystals have been compressed and completed, they aren’t supposed to be touched by anyone, otherwise it can disrupt or destabilize them.”

If a person touching the crystals would render them useless, I guess I understood why they were so worried about keeping them secure with all their protocols.

Still didn’t excuse profits over people.

“Look, off in the distance, I think I see a light.” Bryx announced.

At the far end of the main tank it looked like there was something shimmering through a wide range of colors, although it seemed like it was being obscured by something.

When we got towards the end of the catwalk, it became obvious what it was.

Predazoan biomass all over hundreds of ruptured tanks, with their crystals all scattered around, most looking like they were half-melted into the black tentacle netting.

“Shit, exactly like we thought.” I hissed.

Before anyone could react, a long black and silver tentacle whipped out from the shadows, ripping Brunt in half at the chest.

“Fuck…” He sputtered, then collapsed as a useless lump of flesh.

“Contact!” Durgo announced, and everyone threw their repulser barriers on the ground and tried to form up in defensive positions, even though we had no idea where our enemy was.

We saw a shadowy form fly overhead, so we all shot randomly after it; I tried enhancing my perception to slow things down, but my abilities weren’t helping much in the dark.

We heard giggling off in the distance, echoing all around.

“I was wondering when you’d finally come to play.” The voice said, sounding sickly sweet, reminding me of Eve so much it twisted my stomach in a painful way.

We saw the shadow flash before us and followed after it with our guns, but we refused to move from the safety of our repulser shields.

“I was fine to share the space, you know? We didn’t have to start killing each other—at least not right away.” She nearly sang.

I felt weirdly angry at hearing her taunts, as though upset this lesser Predazoan would dare claim to be a superior being anywhere close to my Eve.

“Come out and face us, Gamma-20! No more games, no more bullshit.” I challenged.

“Gamma-20? No no no, I don’t want to be called by that false name.” She said, then I heard a heavy thud slam behind us as she landed on the catwalk.

“Call me the Crystal Queen.” She said grandly.

Gamma-20—the Crystal Queen didn’t look like any of the Predazoans I’d seen so far. Her basic shape was that of a weasel over 10 feet tall and three times as long, hairless, with dozens of jagged tentacles on her back, and large pincers at the sides of her mouth like a giant centipede. She was also covered in a mix of black reptilian scales and heavy plated chitin, looking like it was all melting together. What set her apart from the other Predazoans though were all the khrona crystals on her body, dozens of them, some melted into almost flat shapes tight against her body while others were jagged and sticking out surprisingly far. They glowed with that strange iridescent light inside, and when she stood up tall before us they all seemed to glow brighter—as though she was presenting her form to us like we should be impressed.

I smirked, “Crystal Queen? That’s a dumb fucking name.”

Gamma-20 shrieked and lunged forward, bashing against our repulser barriers.

We all unleashed our weapons on her, but she was fast to avoid them and leapt away, bounding up and over the smaller storage tanks, graceful as a cat.

“Anyone got any bright ideas?” I called out.

“How about you don’t antagonize our deadly adversary.” Durgo snapped.

Gamma-20 jumped over us again, whipping her tentacles after our barriers. They held for now, but a few of them were starting to flicker as though they would run out of power soon.

Bryx picked up his barrier and turned the dial so it shrank until it was the size of a tower shield, then he picked it up and started moving forward with it.

“We need to keep moving, get to the internal failsafe in case we can’t destroy her!” He ordered grimly.

Everyone followed his example and carried their barriers with them, but before we could get very far, Gamma-20 jumped down to block our way forward.

“I have to say you’re all quite rude house guests.” She hissed.

Bryx leveled his carbine rifle and shot Gamma-20 right in the face. For a few moments she didn’t react, as though surprised he had the nerve to shoot her, but when the acid started eating away at her flesh, she shrieked so loudly everyone flinched away.

“What have you done to my beautiful face?” She demanded, then snarled with otherworldly fury and whipped her tentacles after Bryx.

He was able to protect himself with the repulser barrier, but he was still sent flying off his feet. He went soaring past everyone until I caught him easily despite the fact the man was almost a couple feet taller than me.

“Shit, thanks.” Bryx said, then jumped out of my arms to get back into the fight.

Gamma-20 looked like she was trying to claw the acid off her face as it continued to burn her, all the while the other members of our team were attacking her with the plasma torches, but she didn’t seem to care she was so focused on the pain the acid was causing her.

Bryx and I rushed forward together, but when Gamma-20 saw we had the same weapon that caused all that damage, she shrieked and leapt away again.

“Hurry, let’s keep pressing on!” Durgo insisted.

We ran until we got into the center of Gamma-20’s nest and seeing it up close it was almost unbelievable how chaotic it was; the biomass netting wasn’t organized at all, instead it looked like she’d just been desperate to spread over as many crystals as she could, mashing the smaller tanks into her nest without any concern for structure. The half-melted crystals looked so weird, like there were intermingling veins spreading back and forth between the biomass and the crystals; it was quite hard to make out where one started and the other began.

Bryx held up the digital device on his forearm that displayed some tracking hologram, pointing us towards the inner-tank failsafe.

“Not far now, just a few hundred feet over to—”

Bryx’s words cut off midsentence, and he had a rather stunned look on his face, then a moment later a massive silver spike ripped through his chest, lifting him into the air on the end of some thick tentacle.

“Bryx!” I called out.

The tentacle whipped him back and forth and then flung him off into the distance.

Bryx had dropped the heavy carbine rifle, and Willa rushed to pick it up.

“Oh no you don’t.” Gamma-20 taunted, appearing from underneath the catwalk, slinking around with her long weasel-centipede body. She stomped her foot on the gun, destroying it before Willa could get close.

I knew there was no way Bryx could’ve survived, not from that injury. But instead of letting myself be overwhelmed, I channeled all those feelings into anger and used it to focus my attention on our target.

I flexed on the speed organelle as hard as I could, pushing myself to my limits as quickly as possible. I had the carbine rifle in one hand and a proton blade in the other and rushed towards the arrogant Predazoan.

Gamma-20 seemed surprised by my speed at first as I slashed after her, only for my blade to be deflected by her study armor. Refusing to back down, I stabbed it forward as hard as I could, driving it a couple inches into the meat of the Predazoan.

Expecting her to cry out in fury, maybe run away again, I was taken by surprise as well when she grabbed me up with a tentacle around my ankle, lifting me upside down into the air.

“And what manner of creature are you to possess that kind of strength? Such physical feats should be impossible for a mortal like you.” She said, then leaned forward to smell me, “Stranger still, why do I detect the stench of one of my sisters on you?” She narrowed her glowing yellow eyes on me, “Who are you?”

Refusing to engage, I righted my carbine rifle and blasted her in the face like Bryx had, causing her to drop me on the ground as she cried out in pain.

Following up with my opening, the others started shooting streams of blue plasma after her, and this time Gamma-20 did react as she made a hasty retreat.

I turned to Durgo, “Dude, we’re no match for a Predazoan on our own, we just need to hit the failsafe and get the fuck out of here.”

Durgo looked like he wanted to argue, but after Bryx’s death and the loss of a carbine rifle, he knew we wouldn’t survive much longer.

“Fine, let’s get this over with.” He hissed.

We continued to the end of the main tank, but the far wall was totally covered in biomass netting to the point where we couldn’t see a control panel anywhere.

“Shit, where is it?” I pressed.

“Should be on the far—” Toku started explaining, but just then Gamma-20 jumped down and snatched him up in her jaws.

Durgo, Roote and Willa started shooting plasma after Gamma-20, and I shot her with the carbine rifle, but she was being cautious now, dodging our attacks with incredible speed and precision. We could only watch in horror as Toku was fighting against her fangs and mandibles, trying to get his head clear as his body was being torn apart.

“The f-far l-left c-corner—” Toku’s words were cut off as Gamma-20 crunched down on him loudly, then swallowed the remains.

I threw down my repulser barrier, “You three go after the failsafe, let me try and hold her.” I insisted.

Without wasting another moment, Durgo and Willa quickly left to rush off and find the control panel, but Roote stood beside me, throwing down his repulser barrier beside mine.

“If you think I’d trust an untrained agent like you to fight a Predazoan on your own, you’ve got another thing coming.” He insisted, sounding like he was trying to make a joke out of it—gallows humor.

I smiled then, a strange kind of battle-grin, but I refused to take my eyes off our enemy.

“So long as you don’t slow me down.” I jabbed back, a weird sense of amusement, horror and adrenaline coursing through me.

Gamma-20 finished consuming Toku, taking her time with it, licking her lips as though savoring all the blood and flesh. Once she was done, she stood up tall and proud, again as though putting her crystals on display—a testament to her journey to perfection.

With just me and Agent Roote there against the terrible Predazoan who’d already killed several members of our team, I had no idea what we could actually do against her terrible power, but I knew one thing for sure in that moment…

I wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep