(So, I had been thinking over this decision of making advance chapters for subscribers in Ko-Fi. But for that, I need to set a stable update rate. I'm thinking about 3/week. One chapter everyday is hard since my own motivation does fluctuate a lot. So even if Monday I have no motivation, at least Tuesday I will force myself to write. So ideally, 12 chapters per month will be produced and released starting from this chapter.
Also, this decision is indeed abrupt but not decided yet. But I try not to affect the stable update rate. Only once I have enough stock of the early chapters then I will start the subscription. Which is about time I explain the subscription itself.
There are 3 tiers I planned. Outer Disciples, Inner Disciples and True Disciples. First tier gets 3 chapters early, the next gains an extra 3 and so on. Not set in stone yet.)
(Anyway, enjoy.)
"Should I inform the authorities? No… will they even believe me?" Adam ponders as he stares out the glass pane and looks at the spaceships outside the space station.
"Hey, System. Does my rank even hold any sway here?" Adam wondered and hoped it did or else it would be difficult to execute his plan.
"System?" Adam called again after a long silence.
"Great, it's not responding." Adam sighed and then he chose to explore first. His destination is the dockyard.
———
After wandering for a long while and got lost a few times, Adam arrived at the dockyard. There aren't as many people here as he expected. Most of the labor were done using machines
Also, he noticed the lack of any security forces or military at all. Surely there should be some, right?
"Excuse me. Do you know where I can meet the security officer of this space station?" Adam walked up to a random person and asked. He was given a strange look for a moment before he was given the direction.
Apparently, he was looking for them at the wrong place. Anyway, he still proceeds with his investigation. The virus should be coming from the planet Thera if the information he remembered is correct. So, he is looking for any spaceship that came from that planet. But his effort was to be wasted because there was no convenient terminal nearby containing the information he needed as he would expect. Normally, only the security would have such information. As such, he traced his step back to the square and took an elevator up to the top floor where the leader or overseer of this space station should be located.
Upon reaching the floor he was heading, he exited the elevator and found himself stopped by two human guards. Finally, an actual human he can talk to.
"Halt! Who are you trying to access unauthorized area." The guards stopped Adam because he obviously looked like a civilian and not a staff.
'Let's hope this works.' Adam prayed.
"I am an off-duty SAS Operator. I need to inform you boss about something very urgent." Adam said with oozing confidence, hoping he can at least intimidate these guards to cooperate even if his initial plan didn't work.
"SAS Operator? A soldier?" The guards look unconvinced as they scan Adam head to toe. However, they also couldn't just send him away if he really does have something urgent and important.
"Follow me. I need to verify your identity first." One guard told Adam to follow and he led him through the door and into an office.
The office looks more like a command center, managing and operating the entire space station. Numerous computers and staff working either on the spaceship traffic in and out of the dock or the other functions of the space ships.
"Over here." The guard led Adam to a receptionist counter and handed him a familiar device which he encountered when he was first approached by a receptionist lady after being teleported away from Remnant.
Adam placed his hand on the screen and it scanned his palm before a set of data appeared on a holographic screen.
[Military Info]
Name: Adam White
Type: SAS Mercenary Operative, Autonomous Special Operative (Temporary)
Rank: Assault Scout, Major (Temporary)
"M-Major! Apologies, sir." The guard's expression instantly changed as he gasped.
Thankfully no one saw his expression because he was equally surprised. Not just at his rank but also his status as basically a special agent which if the attached description is to be believed, he can outrank anyone except the High Command itself which is basically the General of the Army, the highest rank possible and he is just below that.
'I would slap myself in the face if I don't abuse the shit of this gift.' Adam said to himself while being unaware of the commotion he caused.
"This way, sir." The receptionist lady immediately guided him to the person he wanted to meet. He also didn't miss the flirtatious wink thrown at him. Had he been with him a week ago, he might have been tempted. But after tasting the 'heavenly technique' all others felt paltry in comparison.
Adam maintained a disinterested expression as he followed the receptionist lady that didn't hide the intentional and exaggerated hip swaying.
———
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr White. I wonder what warranted a visit from such personage as you? I heard you have an urgent matter to inform me?" The overall operational leader of this space station greeted him.
"Indeed." Adam nodded and proceeded to explain about the outbreak in Thera and how he suspected there is potential spreading towards this space station and requested help to investigate all vessels that came from or been to Thera.
Of course, the man was skeptical. The Kurios Space Port is a very important asset, both for the military and government of Aartis. It was heavily guarded by multiple military patrol fleets. But better safe than sorry. Also, he can't really defy Adam when he is operating under the autonomy granted by the High Command, which is equivalent if not greater in terms of power compared to the Federation as the High Command is basically an independent military organization while Federation is the federal governmental organization.
Just as Adam was about to savor the expensive tea served to him. An explosion occurred and a loud alarm started blaring.
Adam can immediately sense the gaze of the leader boring into his face. Considering what he just revealed to him, Adam didn't blame the guy when he realized shit about to go down and fate gonna say fuck em, Imma double down while I'm at it.
"Sir! An emergency occurred in the dockyard! People are going crazy and attacking other civilians." A staff member rushed into the office and said
Oh right, normal people shouldn't learn about the existence of the virus. They were kept in the dark. Typical government move.
Most of the poor civilians on board this space station aren't aware of what is even happening or what is about to hit them except him and the leader.
[Outbreak began!]
[Protect the civilians while they are evacuating.]
Adam has a bad feeling about this but he puts his premonition aside and gets to work.
"You handle the evacuation. I will handle the situation in the dockyard." Adam ordered without waiting for a response before he exited the office and rushed toward the elevator.
———
At exactly 1800 terran time, an explosion occurred in Kurios space port. It was believable to be a terrorist attack.
The nearby Mercenary fleet on duty patrolling the airspace of the space station immediately received a distress signal from the space station.
"This is the Overseer of the Kurios space port, requesting help from all nearby patrol fleets."
"I repeat. This is the Overseer of the Kurios space port, requesting help from all nearby patrol fleets."
"Copy. This is the Centurion's patrol fleet. We received your distress call. Enrouting, ETA in 10 minutes."
The SAS patrol fleet belong to the Centurion faction enroute to the space station. They expect either daring space pirates or terrorist groups. But zombies are an enemy they least expected being this close to Aartis. Not to mention, they are the Nightmare Variant. The worst kind of Variant to ever encounter.
Why? Well, Nightmare Variant is not only ten times stronger and durable, they also have this purple aura which strengthens their resistance, weakening any type of damage they receive despite how illogical it sounds. Nightmarish Zombies also have a high chance of mutating into other Variants ontop of being Nightmare Variant. As its namesake stated, fighting against those Nightmare Variants is nothing short but a nightmarish experience, especially those that came unprepared.
———
Back to Adam.
"Damn."
That's all Adam could utter when he got to the dockyard and saw what he was up against.
Nightmarish Variant.
This following passage concludes Adam's emotions and reactions. 'I came to look for copper and I found a landmine. Duck!'
Thankfully, Adam had long maxed out the Augment and Enc- Elite Augment his favorite weapon, his good ol Ronson 5X5 Shotgun ★★★★(Prem) +10 [Deadly:12, Overclock:12, Pierce:12, Adaptive:12].
All hail Augmentations. If not for his Adaptive Augment, his guns would have been no different than BB for these zombies which conveniently have Fast Regeneration as part of the Nightmare Variant ability. With Adaptive Augment, he can ignore their resistance to outpace their regen and actually kill these schmucks.
"Don-" Adam tried to warn the security forces of the space station about the abnormality of the zombies. But he was a tad bit too late.
"What! Our guns aren't working!" One of the security guards shouted in a panic while trying to shove away the zombie that was trying to attack him.
"Run!"
"Ahhhh!"
"Help me! Aahhh!"
It was a very haunting scene seeing those guards helplessly being devoured. Of the ten security forces, only three survived. The rest were killed before Adam managed to rescue them.
"Stay behind me and shoot whatever you can. Just don't try to get close." Adam ordered the guards he rescued before he returned to confronting the Zombies.
Although the number of zombies are numerous, they are thankfully just small fries. Basic zombies which even being a Nightmare Variant, they were simply a little bit stronger. Not overwhelmingly because they are very weak to begin with.
Armed with only his trusty shotgun, Adam soon cleared up Dockyard 3 where these Zombies were crawling out from.
"You." Adam points at one of the guards who immediately stiffened and saluted. "Yes, Mr White?"
"Contact the control room. Ask if the Zombies manage to spread to other parts of the space station." Adam said before he turned to the other two. "You two go check if there are any other Zombies. If there is, don't engage them and quickly inform me."
"Is that clear?" Adam asked to confirm his order.
"Yes, sir." The three replied and got to work.
Adam nodded his head approvingly before he turned to the cargo ship where this zombie came out from. He will be investigating the vessel on his own. He is not gonna risk bringing the other three with him when they are proven incapable to protect themselves.
Boarding the spaceship, Adam first noticed the interior of the ship was very strange and worrying. Purplish fleshy roots spread around the wall and floor of the interior like tree roots, dried blood stains, bullet casings, weapons, etc are scattered around the ground. Apparently, this entrance was the location of the final resistance of the ship crews before they succumbed. However, how did they manage to enter this space station then? Surely someone would notice or the crew might have reported the abnormality to the control room when they are asking access to the Dockyard.
Anyway, Adam enters the bowel of the ship and finds the fleshy roots grew bigger until they cover the entire wall and floors. He tried inspecting each room and the cargo space to find anything that can help him determine the cause of this outbreak on the ship. But other than a bunch of ruptured red pods, he found nothing that could help.
He then exited the ship feeling disappointed. Upon exiting however, the security guards inform him no Zombies were left in Dockyard 3. But, there are zombies found in Dockyard 5, 6 and 10.
"Control informed us that the patrolling Mercenary fleet had arrived to provide help. They are taking care of Dockyard 5 and 6 right now."
"That left us with Dockyard 10." Adam mutters. "Lead the way, quickly."
"Y-Yes!" The three security guards hurried and led Adam to Dockyard 10.
Somehow, Adam felt something wasn't right. Like he glanced over something or missed the point entirely. But, he had no idea what that feelings meant or what it was pointing him towards. So, he just do what he think is the best and that is to eliminate all the presence of Zombies in this space station. Anything else will be taken care after he dealt with the zombies.
—————
[Qualification Test]
Objectives;
- Survive until the completion of all missions. (Pending)
- At least 20% of the Aartis population survives. (Pending)
-Exterminate all Infected. (Pending)
- Investigate the cause of the outbreak on Kurios Space Port. (Optional) (Pending)
…
…
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