Project Eden Zero

The Storm Returns Part- 3

I grab my bag and walk outside, the blaring blue star covers most of the sky and the three moons are almost aligned and are shadowed by the giant class d blue giant. I notice president Jobs sitting in a gazebo across the way and walk over to him. “Hey there major, sorry, mister el presidento,” I nudge him in his side and he laughs and hugs me.

“It’s been a while Viper. It’s good to see you on your feet again. I had to be all professional military bullshit in front of the guys, but now I can be more relaxed. Well until one of them bastards walk up, ah s**t. Here they come now, must’ve seen you walk out. I’m gonna have to brief you now so get ready.” He stands up and puts his hat back on. I stand up and walk to the other side of the gazebo and wait for the two to enter the gazebo. They walk up and stand on either side of the president and they all look at each other. VP Gates was the first to speak.

“God damn this heat. Let’s sit down.”

“I agree. Viper, hit that switch to close the shutters. It also turns the deep cooling unit on and makes it soundproof in here.”

“Let me analyze and scan the area first gentleman.” Eve interrupts. “Done, it is safe go ahead.”

“The hell was that?” The third man asks.

“I am Eve, Viper’s personal Virtual assistant, sir.”

“Damn computers are gonna be the death of us all.” His grungy grunty raspy voice was slouchy and ugly. He sounded like a seventy year old red neck from the back woods of Alabama. “Now, Gates and Jobs. Let’s get this s**t over with so I can get out of here.”

“Alright Keff. Viper do you know why we brought you back?” President Jobs looks directly at me.

“Skip the bullshit Jobs. Let’s just get down to it.” Keff intrudes.

“No I don’t. But I guess you’re not gonna tell me now, but he’s right. Let’s hear what you got.”

“We are extending an invitation to you to be a part of X8, this program is something like MI6 or CIA. Very secretive and privately funded. They do not follow the rules and laws of normal public systems. They are their own laws. You use your own personal judgement when on the field and everywhere else. The only time you should report anything should be to VP Gates or Admiral Keff, they are your superior officers and they will try to support you the best way possible. Just remember that we would rather not have any heinous activity on our ledgers, we would rather you be a paragon of sorts, sort of like your previous life. There you have it, all out on the line. I’ll give you some time to think about it. If you have any questions, you can find me in the mess hall by the TriDelta Statue or Admiral Keff over at the monitoring station. Come to me when you’ve made a decision, I hope to be working with you soon commander. Good day.”

“And I will be in the mess hall with Jobs. See you soon.” Gates snaps quickly.

I press the switch to open the gazebo back up. They all three stand up, snap their heels together and salute me, then walk off very proper like towards the mess hall. Jobs posh British accent was very different to hear out here on Ploitum Krot but welcome nonetheless. Gates had more of a New Jersey type accent with some deep vibration. I couldn’t tell if I liked Keff or not, but I’ve worked under Jobs and Gates before. So this shouldn’t be a hard task. I grabbed my bag and headed to the mess hall. Once there I found me a seat and sat my bag on the table. A cute girl with blonde pigtails that had pink tips walked over to me with a stylus and pad in her hand.

“You want an autograph? I’m not even famous yet...” I laughed a little at my joke and she did a cute small giggle.

“Oh sugar, everyone here knows ya. You’re the great commander Viper! Took down the whole Russian fleet by yourself back on earth and helped fight back them nastys at the void I heard too. But no I just came to see what ya wanted to eat and drink?” She was chewing a piece of gum, and quietly too. Refreshing to see someone not smacking their gum.

“Hold on for a moment okay?”

“Take ya time cutie, I’m here all day.” She winks at me and skips back to the kitchen.

“Hey Eve, what can I eat and drink? I don’t even know what my taste buds are like.”

“Scanning...complete. You can drink Vystern Tea, sweet mango taartus, and anything made for Vystern. You can eat potatoes, oranges, and anything made for Vystern.”

“How can I drink and eat only 2 things that are also human food?”

“The fruit grown here are safe for both species living here. It is the same as earths. But cellularly different.”

“Ok, well. Hmm.” I wave the waitress back over.

“Heya cuteness. So you finally decided what ya wanted besides me?” She giggles and winks at me.

“I’ll take a mango taartus and this valeno obstack. Please.”

“Alrighty tighty. I’ll be back in a jiff!” She skips back to the kitchen and puts the order in. I look around and see a few wounded soldiers dotting the mostly empty mess hall. A big towering statue stands in the middle and goes further than the roof. Like the place was built around it. I look back at the kitchen and the waitress is walking back with my food. “Hey you mind if I sit with you while you eat?” Her voice is completely different. Like an entire mood swing from her upbeat flirty charm to a tired, disgruntled employee.

“Yeah...sure, you ok?” She sits my food and drink down carefully, then sits next to me on my right and lays her head on my shoulder.

“Yeah, no...I don’t know.” I grab the cup and take a sip, it actually tastes amazing. I grab the fork with my left hand carefully, and very uneasily try to fashion it like I used to. “Left handed huh? Yeah I hear those synthetics make it hard when your dominant hand gets blown off. Seen it too many times. Here let me see it.” I turn and give her my left arm. She pulls a pin out of her hair and her bangs fall into her face, and it makes her look even cuter. She tinkers around with my wrist and hand for a couple of minutes and then it bugs out for a second and stops. “There you go, you should be able to eat, write, and do whatever else you used to do with that hand.” She puts her head black on my right shoulder.

“Thanks, you sure are comfortable sitting there. Like that.”

“Wow,” She raises up and looks at me in surprise. “I thought it was a joking act, but you really don’t remember me do you?” She kisses her right thumb and takes my left hand and makes me kiss my thumb and sticks them together. “Friends for life! You remember now?” Suddenly I remember all the way back in high school in tenth grade. Braces, acne, glasses, and just very attractive at all, but one of the smartest kids in the class. She always had my back and I always defended her. Even helped her talk to her crush and ask her out to prom. She lived across the road from me, next to the church. Her dad was retired military and the pastor there. She was my best friend.

“Yes I do. Dani! My god, you have changed! I bet you get all the girls now huh?”

“Uh huh, yeah. You’re just complimenting me because I’m hot and sexy now. I see how it is. I’m kidding, it’s nice to see you, you look like shit.”

Eve pops up, “actually...”

“No Eve it’s fine, she knows.” I interrupt.

“Who the hell was that? Your new imaginary girlfriend?” We spend the next hour talking and catching up before a cold dead silence falls over the room. The power shuts off.

“Eve what happened?” Eve turns on my infrared scanner and I see it...

The assassin is back and it looks like it has a friend. “Oh s**t!” That friend is a big one...it looks like Vystern brute but bigger. “When and where did they make these things?” I pull Dani back off her seat and slide her across the floor with force, and she stops under a sturdy table.

“Viper, there is an advanced pistol of unknown caliber and a blade of some sort in the bag the doctor gave you.” I reach up and grab the bag off the table and open it to find most of my damaged gear, a weird looking double barreled pistol, and a sword handle.

“Eve there’s no blade, there’s a handle...” I grab the handle out and it shoots out a single edged blade then lights up in electricity. “But there’s a blade now, never seen purple lightning...”

“They are closing in on our position. No other person is aware of their presence.”

“Got it.” I press the button activating my visor and look up seeing the female assassin darting over the tables towards me while the big one is standing in the back. I yell at the female one, “couldn’t handle getting beat a second time huh? Just had to bring back up,” I lowered my voice, “and a big one at that...” I gathered my wits and stood up to start shooting at the assassin and noticed it had disappeared. “Eve, scan the area.”

“Scanning...done. No signs of the assassins.” I look around confused.

“What? They were just there.”

“Maybe you scared them off with your shitty looks.”

“Was that an actual joke?”

“Yes, should I rewrite my programming to halt all humor?”

“No no, I like it Eve. Just surprised to see you starting to ease up is all.”

“Thank you Viper. I am constantly learning from you and your surroundings.”

“Good to hear, now you’re completely sure they’re gone?”

“Scanning...done. Yes.”

I look over at Dani and wave at her. She stands up and storms over at me. “What the hell?”

“There were two assassins...” the power comes back on and the lights flicker a couple of times before sustaining. “Anyways see the g*n and sword? I was about to start messing some s**t up before they just up and disappeared.”

She punches me in the chest. “I knew that dumbass! I’ve got infrared on my interface visor too ya know. See my guns?” She pulls out a double barreled piston magneto propulsion shotgun and a Mark17 shadow bow. She also has an arc knife and a welder on her belt. “I was ready to protect you since you didn’t seem to have any guns...” she hits me with the butt of the shotgun, “Damn you! I wanted to be the girl who protected the (mocking humor voice) great and mighty commander Viper meh, whatever.” She puts the shotgun back on her lower back and retracts back into a small bag. And the bow folds back into a small rod and she sticks it on her belt. “Call me if you find any action, anything to get me out of this hell hole. Also, tell that Katie Ray she still owes me a date, whenever she’s through messing around with those grease junkies. Bye Wiper...” her voice trails off as she fades into the kitchen. I look over at the statue and see Jobs still sitting there eating like nothing had happened. I reach back into the bag and find my old utility belt and put it on, then I put the pistol into the holster and try to figure out how the make the sword retract.

“Viper, I believe that if you hold it and press the indentions where your fingers are in a certain order, the sword will obey functionality. Let me research...done. The index finger is one press, activation. The middle finger is two presses, activates arc laser. The ring finger is three presses, activates the beam launcher. Beam launcher only works with horizontal strikes and has a range of 15-25 meters according to atmospheric pressure. The pinky finger is one press, revert power. Two presses, retract blade. Thumb is one press, open blade. Conclusion.”

“Wait what? Open blade?” I press my thumb on the indention and the blade splits into 20 separate pieces held on by a wire like a chain/whip blade. “Cool!” I press my pinky three times and the blade retracts into the handle and I stick in in between my belt and pants. I’ll make a fastener for it later. I walk over to Jobs as he’s finishing up and he looks up at me. “Oh god.”

“What?” His eyes are solid red, and suddenly blood starts pouring out of the tear ducts. “Ugh!”

“You’ve been poisoned! MEDIC!!!” He falls off of his chair and starts convulsing. “s**t! Stay with me, come on Jobs! You survived the Russian fleet assault, the Chinese hammer bombs, and the Jerusalem Gettysburg. You can fight this, hold on! MEDIC!!!!!” His mind comes to just long enough to reach into his pocket and hand me something then he goes limp. The medics come in and I stand up looking around. I see Gates walking out the front door talking on his Allserver. I start walking towards him when I get a call on mine. I answer it, “yeah?”

“This is Keff, do you accept my offer?”

“The X8 program? Yeah.”

“Good, you are now a Wraith Shadow. Elite squad of highly trained individuals. You are a born leader. Build a team and get to your ship, and whatever you do, DO NOT TRUST GATES.” He ends the transmission. I start walking towards the entrance where I saw Gates walking out and then two guards stop me.

“Commander sir. We have orders to hold you until you can be questioned about the presidents death.”

“Why? You don’t think I had anything to do with it do you?”

“Our orders sir.”

“Well I’m ordering you to move the fu...”

“I can handle it from here boys.” I turn around and see Cpl Falcon standing behind me. She grabs my right arm and puts it behind me and pinches my ear with her other hand just slightly. A signal, she has a plan.

“Uh... Yes ma’am!” The soldiers move out of our way and she pushes me through the door way.

“Go on you son of a b***h. I know what you did. Just keep it moving you piece of shit.” Her rugged voice and strong will and determination made for quite a show, I hope it’s a show. We get a good ways from the soldiers and she closes in on me, “there’s a coup in play. We need to get out of here. I know you’ve got a ship and I also know you need the best damn pilot the galaxy has ever seen. So let me join you. I need to get off this planet anyways, better yet, you don’t have a choice. I’m coming with you whether you like it or not.” Her shaved head with a patch on top tied in the back shows through her hat. Her eye patch is a deceiving one for those who don’t know better, she actually has both her eyes, but she’s one hell of a sniper especially at night. She saves her left eye for the night time, it’s always got night vision. We walk over to the hangar and see a bunch of mechanics on break. We walk over and ask about the new ship that was just built and they point west over towards G18. We walk over a half a mile before we finally reach hangar G and the only ship in dock was mine. We turn the corner and there it set, the most beautiful thing you’d seen. The curves made it look like a hotrod from the classic days. The sharp edges made it look like a sports car. It’s wings had a curve and a split. “You see the wings?” She points to the split where they cross down and raise up. “When in flight planetside they fold up for maneuverability, when in space they fold down to save space and make a tighter target. It’s flawless, beautiful, and I’m gonna fly the s**t of her.” I laugh at her and study the whole thing while walking up to the port side loading area.