Cronos: The Orion Project

Chapter 39

Devon watched as Jackson's airship landed in the hangar next to theirs. He crossed his arms as they filed out of the ship with a prisoner in tow. He nodded to Jackson and received one in return. He turned back to his team as they chatted at the bottom of the ramp of their airship.

"Our mission went great!" Lucas exclaimed. "We gotta do that again!"

"And tear up a whole city?! Nuh uh! No! We can't be doing that!" Alyssa cried.

"Ah c'mon! We only tore up a highway! It wasn't that bad!" He grinned.

"Lucas, you can't be serious." Rose sighed.

"What? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Not all of us are as battle hungry as you are." Eune said.

"They've got ya there Lucas." Devon shrugged.

"Aw man...." He slumped.

"Let's go get out of our armor." Rose said. "I need a shower."

"Same here, I'd like to clean myself after the bloodbath ya put us through, Lucas." Alyssa said.

"I agree." Eune nodded.

"You go on ahead." Devon said. "I'll go give my report to Doctor Seraph first."

"Good luck!" Lucas said cheerfully as they filed out of the hangar.

Devon looked back to Jackson as he also stayed behind as his team handed over their prisoner to some other personnel. He walked up to him and watched the man get dragged away.

"Was that your mission? Capturing that guy?" Devon curiously asked.

"No, no it wasn't." Jackson sighed and turned to him. "But this man should know where to find our target."

"I see. Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, no injuries. Well, no major injuries. Probably some light bruising but nothing serious. You?"

"I might be sore for a few days but, nothing from anyone else. This armor does wonders during combat." Devon said tapping his chest.

"Haha! Yeah, I know what you mean." Jackson chuckled.

"Will Seraph be happy with this?"

"Probably." Jackson crossed his arms. "But, who knows? Dad's always been strange."

"W-what?" Devon did a double take.

"What?"

"Dad?"

"Oh! Y-yeah." Jackson sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Doctor Seraph is my dad. But he was pretty adamant on me taking my mother's name over his. I couldn't tell you why."

"Well then, I wasn't expecting that." Devon hummed thoughtfully.

"Yeah, just, don't tell anyone I let that one slip. I'm not supposed to let anyone know."

"Sure, I can keep it secret. Did he tell you to do that?"

"Yeah, Dad has more secrets than every government combined. It's in his blood at this point." Jackson sighed.

"Don't worry." Devon laid a hand on his shoulder. "I won't tell a soul."

"Thanks man. We should...probably go and see him."

"Yeah, let's get this over with."

They continued to chat on the way to Doctor Seraph's office. Hydros joined them halfway there.

"Hey! How'd the mission go?" He asked.

"Fine, took a prisoner, no one was hurt." Jackson summarized.

"I heard some of the details, but not everything. I assume it didn't go to plan?"

"No, we weren't prepared to face a Warlock of that caliber. But we'll be ready next time." Jackson confidently said.

"I'll be waiting for the good news." Hydros spotted Vic down a hallway. "You two go on ahead. I need to catch up with Vic."

"Take it easy."

"See ya later Hydros."

...

"I assume you found something?" Hydros leaned over the table and folded his hands together.

Vic nodded and pulled out three data drives. Each one a sleek black and a singular blue light in the center of each.

"These detail most of what we already know." Vic said, pointing to the two on his right.

"This one, however, is different." He gestured to the last one on his left.

"Different how?" Hydros questioned.

"I took a risk and pushed further into Orion's database. I could only find so much on Doctor Seraph and The Project. It seems Seraph is making preparations."

"What kind?"

"To further push the limits of the current Zealots."

"Okay? That doesn't too crazy. There's gotta be a catch." Hydros mused.

"I said the current Zealots." Vic emphasized.

"You mean..."

"On one of the other islands in this Archipelago, he's already getting another batch of Zealots finishing their training. I think he plans on making more after that. Each 'generation' will further the results of the next." Vic explained.

"He's much farther along than we anticipated." Hydros mumbled. "Is the next generation stronger than the current?"

"I couldn't tell you that. That info was too hard to crack. But, with what I found, I think the third generation and any after will be weaker."

"Why?" Hydros quirked an eyebrow.

"Materials don't come cheap. The bonds the first gen have will only reach the third generation. Any after that and it'd become too expensive to acquire more."

"So, we just have to hope that the first generation can overpower the rest? Or what can we do?"

"I don't know, sir. Whatever is going to happen, it ain't gonna be pretty." Vic leaned over the table.

"Then we'd better prepare ourselves. Gather the men, we need to talk."

They both stood from their table, Hydros pocketed the data drives and they exited their barracks, purpose filled their strides and a twinge of fear pricked their thoughts.

'This is gonna be one hell of a headache later.'