Destroying the evidence

As he was struggling to breathe in the iron-like grip of his creation, Samuel's brain and processor implants were running in overdrive to calculate a possible scenario of escape. The conclusion he came up with was that there is a 90% chance that Cillian will use him to escape the facility. So while Cillian was making threats, the doctor was thinking of plans to recapture Cillian, but even his supercomputer brain didn't predict what happened next. A laser beam blasted straight through Cillian's brain and killed him. As he fell back, as the hand that held him in the air lost all power, he was still contemplating what happened. He fell first, followed by Cillian's lifeless body. His eyes followed Cillian's to get a glimpse of who made such a move, and his heart felt an indescribable feeling when he saw the perpetrator, who was unsteadily holding the gun—frightened, his one and only daughter, Alisa.

Samuel got up and ran up to his daughter, taking the gun from her hand before inquiring, "Are you alright, Alisa?"

She took a second to compose herself and let it sink in that she killed someone. "Don't worry, Dad, I am alright."

Samuel held his daughter's trembling hand, his face showing the struggle in his mind. "What's the problem, Dad?" Alisa asked as she noticed her father's struggling face.

"Do you know what you've done, Alisa?" Samuel asked in a sad tone.

"What's the matter, Dad? Is it about me killing Subject Zeta? surely his experimental value cannot be compared to your life " Alisa asked in a confused manner.

"You don't understand how important Subject Zeta was to the foundation. The only reason we were allowed to keep him is to help him awaken, and after that, he was supposed to be transferred to the Arkans to be part of an elite unit. His value easily outweighs mine, yours, and everything in this facility combined!"

Alisa was taken aback by this. She only saw Cillian as Zeta, an experiment that only serves the foundation. It seems that he had misjudged the situation earlier.

"What will we do now? Report to the foundation?" she asked in an anxious tone.

"No, the foundation should never find out that you killed Subject Zeta."

He had worked for the foundation for decades and knew what such a failure of duty entailed. He might be spared due to his usefulness, but the others are at the mercy of the organization. He looked around at the dead guards, the wounded researchers, and the dead Zeta. His eyes fell on his daughter's anxious face. After a few seconds of thought, he had a resolute look on his face. He stood up and ordered, "Keep everything that happened here a secret. Anyone who spills the beans should know what's coming to them." Everyone present nodded without any hesitation. They also knew that something serious was up from the doctor's expression.

10 minutes later...

"What, he's dead? Do you know what that means for us?" The sole guard commander, the sole C-rank in the facility, yelled in anger.

"I know exactly what it entails. That's why I am talking to you and not the higher-ups. Look the researchers won't say a word. I can make it look like an accident and make it seem like he got accidentally obliterated without a trace during an experiment with higher-dimensional energy. But I need your cooperation with it."

The base commander slumped back into his chair in thought. He knew the reason the doctor was trying to cover up this incident, but it didn't matter much knowing the reason behind it . If the higher-ups find out, no one will be spared, including him, the base commander responsible for providing necessary security. The best thing he could hope for is a demotion. So after some contemplation, he decided that it was in his best interest to support the doctor. "What do you want me to do?"

The doctor said in a serious tone, "Get rid of the bodies. Incinerate them and dump what's left into the star. By the time news reaches the higher-ups, there should be no trace of the bodies left."

"Why go so far?"

"Because I don't like risks. There's no telling what type of resonance abilities are available at HQ. So the best way to avoid any suspicion is to destroy all evidence as thoroughly as possible."The doctor replied.

"Well, you are the brains. I will see to it that the bodies are disposed of personally."

The commander said, leaning back in to his chair.

"That would be best."

The doctor nodded in approval. The base commander moved fast after the meeting was over. He personally moved the bodies of Cillian and the dead guards to one of the facility's incinerators and ensured that the bodies were properly disposed of. But to his surprise, Cillian's body, even after two hours in the furnace that easily reached over 1000°C, was only charred and basically intact.

"This guy's resonance is a pain in the rear, even after he's dead!"

He swore in his mind. Even after 8 hours of burning, Cillian's torso and head were still intact, although they were burned to charcoal by now. The base commander had enough, and since the ashes were going to be buried in the local star anyway, he didn't bother with what was left of Cillian. The contents of the incinerator were moved to a specially made box that was undetectable to most observation methods, including resonances. The job of disposing of the box was left to the grunts who were unaware of the contents of the box but didn't want to know anyway. It wasn't the first time they were tasked with such missions, so they complied without any hesitation. As the spaceship took off from the base and made its way to the local sun, a group of prying eyes were observing them from afar. In a small ship that looked barely spaceworthy, Captain Blancher's gaze was fixed on the screen that showed a ship that was leagues better than their own.

Blancher was a D-grade small fry pirate captain with only a single small ship that survived off salvaging and small-time black market deals. The reason why his crew was in this supposedly inhabited system is that they heard a rumor about a secret research base hidden somewhere here. Blinded by the fortunes he could make he decided to go on a wild goosechase withb little to no information.He and his crew been searching for the last two months for this supposed hidden base but didn't manage to find anything. However, as he was losing hope, his ship's radar picked up a launch from one of the planets in the system. They decided to check it out, and to their delight, they actually found a ship—not just any ship, but an advanced one with no insignia! Just the information about the ship and its planet of origin would be worth a fortune on the galactic Dark Net!

They really wanted to check out the planet for the base that the ship originated from, but just seeing how advanced the ship they were observing drained all the enthusiasm from the pirates. So they decided to silently follow at a safe distance and observe.

In the foundation scout ship, two guards were complaining as they navigated the ship toward the sun.

"Man, how do we always get stuck with the boring missions?"

"Knock it off. This is a direct order from the base commander."

"I don't care. The trip to and back from the sun will take us at least 10 hours because of how careful we have to be around the gravity of the sun, and it's super tedious work. Why don't we just get a clear line to the sun and shoot the damn box into it?"

"You know the commander's order. We must ensure that the box is properly disposed of."

"Whose gonna know how we did it? We only need to dump the box into the sun. No one cares how far we do it from."

"But what the base commander said—"

"The base commander isn't here, is he? Just chill. You may not know this, but these things happen all the time. Just dump the box, and we can chill for the next 12 hours. I have something special that I got off favor from Jason in logistics stashed in the emergency ration compartment."

This argument persuaded the guard, and he decided that there was no problem in doing things this way. So instead of slowly approaching the sun, their ship accelerated toward it. And when they had a clear line of sight to the sun, they abruptly turned the ship and simultaneously opened the cargo bay, emptying its contents. The contents were sent hurtling toward the sun due to momentum. After they confirmed the cargo's trajectory, the scout ship left. But as the scout ship left, another ship emerged from the darkness of space. The ship abruptly accelerated toward the discharged cargo, blasting toward the sun. Moments later, a beam originated from the ship, enveloping the cargo, slowing it down, and then slowly pulling it toward the ship. The ship also slowly decelerated to avoid entering the gravity of the star.

Inside the ship, Captain Blancher had a wide grin on his face. Not only him, but the entire crew was smiling. They had hit the jackpot!