by A. K. DuBoff
Four soldiers against an unknown number of Mysaran soldiers would make for difficult odds. However, Kira was confident in her team’s superior tech and training.
“Shite!” Kyle froze behind her.
A second later, Kira noticed the issue. The stairwell they were headed for wasn’t a closed stairwell the way it had looked on the facility plan—it was actually an open lobby, and it was filled with people.
“Ah, fok.” She evaluated the lobby on her HUD, expanding the view to see the upper level. It appeared that the people on the ground level were office workers getting ready to leave for the day, while there were at least two armed guards posted outside a sealed door upstairs, which led to the chancellor’s chambers.
“Your orders, ma’am?” Ari prompted.
Kira weighed the options. “We need to get upstairs. The guards are almost certainly looking for us, but I doubt all of these workers are in on it. With the stealth suits, we should be able to slip right through the crowd and walk up the stairs.”
“That’s… a little crazy,” Kyle replied.
“Hiding in plain sight, right?” Kira said. She wasn’t sure she believed it, but they didn’t have a lot of options. If nothing else, it was unlikely the Mysaran soldiers would open fire in a crowded room. At least, she hoped they wouldn’t.
Nia shifted on her feet. “Maybe there’s a back way?”
“No, there isn’t,” Kyle countered. “I don’t like this plan, either, but this is our only way up there.”
“Problem with one way up is there’s only one way back,” Ari chimed in. “The chancellor might not even be there.”
Kira nodded. “You’re right. It’s a worthwhile risk if we know we can get to our target, but we don’t. Is there any way we can determine the chancellor’s position before making a move?”
“That really depends on the computer system,” Kyle replied. “If they were expecting us, all of the information we’re seeing may be fabricated to tell us what we want to see.”
“There has to be something that can’t be faked,” Kira insisted.
Nia tilted her head. “Well, there may be.”
Kira turned to her. “What do you have in mind?”
“We can trust the sensors on our suits. We’d have to compare those readings with what we observe on the central computer system,” Nia explained.
“I have an idea,” Kyle mused.
“I’m all ears,” Kira said.
“I think I can patch my suit into the facility’s internal security system. Based on what I saw in the communications room earlier, the security authentications aren’t very sophisticated. We can use the facility’s sensors to collect data, and the suit will reconcile the inputs.”
Nia nodded. “Yes, that could work. Reports can easily be doctored, but the sensory processor in our suits can tease out what’s real.”
“And how does that get us Hale?” Kira asked.
“Oh, you’re forgetting how good I am,” Kyle replied. “Once we narrow down where she might be, we just look at the video feeds until we see her.”
“And if there aren’t video cameras in that room?”
“There will at least be a computer or viewscreen with an integrated camera we can activate remotely. If there isn’t, then we scan for audio and locate her voice signature.”
Kira nodded. “Okay, try it.” She followed Kyle back in the direction they’d come. “If this doesn’t work, we’re going to have to shoot our way in.”
“When have I ever led you astray?”
The soldier did have an exceptional record of quick thinking and creative solutions. At present, Kira was far more inclined to trust him than herself, even if the plan did sound a little crazy.
Kyle led them to a private office he’d identified, likely belonging to a security officer, which was equipped with a terminal that offered direct access into the security system. Getting past the firewall would take some work, but that wouldn’t be a problem for the tech-savvy soldier.
“Give me a few minutes,” Kyle said as he got settled at the workstation. He began pairing his suit with the console in anticipation of the sensor integration.
Kira kept an eye on her HUD while she waited. It still didn’t seem right that there had only been guards at the entrance and they hadn’t seen others since. Moreover, the stun effect of the sonic blasts would have worn off minutes before, yet there had been no general alarm. “What the fok is going on here?” she muttered to no one in particular.
“Is there anything Mysar offers over other worlds?” Nia asked.
“This planet’s resources are a bigger topic than what’s happening in this facility,” Kira countered.
“Maybe not,” the soldier continued. “If the aliens made a point of placing people in key positions of power within the government, maybe it was for some other end.”
Kira considered the statement. “For the sake of argument, yes, Valta or Elusia are far more habitable worlds. Mysar is different in two ways—its people, and the amount of metals in its soil.”
“What do you mean about the people?” Ari asked.
“The culture here,” Kira continued. “It’s more… aggressive than the other worlds in this system.”
“Just like the neural chemistry in Kaen and Jared,” Nia completed for her.
“When I was inside Kaen’s mind, I sensed Nox’s hunger. I didn’t know for what at the time, but I’m beginning to think the aliens feed on—this is going to sound weird—negative emotional energy. After all, think about the TRs.”
“It does sound a little weird,” Nia agreed, “but too many observations are stacking up at this point. So, couple a chronically bitter population with an abundance of metals and that sounds like evil aliens ramping up their forces.”
“Come to think of it, all those coded logs did indicate much higher-volume mining activity than would be expected for a population this size,” Kyle interjected without looking up from his work at the desk.
“Mining Mysar and manipulating its people, but for what end?” Kira questioned.
“Expansion or war, most likely,” Ari speculated.
All the pieces began falling into place in Kira’s head. “The Gaelon System is close enough that it wouldn’t take too much effort to transfer materials from Mysar to there. So, this could be just an outpost.”
Nia crossed her arms. “Great, so taking out Hale might not even get us the real bad guys.”
“Not necessarily. She’ll likely have all the information we need to locate who she’s working with,” Kira said. “I never thought this would end with her.”
“Good,” Kyle cut in, “because she’s not alone.”
“You located Hale?” Kira rushed over to look at the monitor on the desk.
Kyle pointed to several dots on the facility layout, displaying the data that had been filtered through his suit’s sensors. “She is up on the second level, but not exactly where we were headed. This section is walled off from the rest of the building and appears to have direct access to the underground levels.”
Kira studied the layout. “Is that a doorway from the chancellor’s chambers?” She indicated a break in the fortified wall.
“I think so,” Kyle replied. “If we go in that way, we’ll need to pass by two sets of guards. I suggest we go down and come up through here.” He traced a path with his index finger along the screen.
“The access point in isn’t too far from here,” Kira observed.
“No, and now that I’m in the security system, I can block their ability to pick up any traces of our stealth suits.” Kyle’s voice hinted at a smile behind his opaque faceplate.
“You really are good.” Kira smiled back.
“Don’t stroke his ego,” Nia cautioned.
“Oh, this is just praise for my unmitigated awesomeness,” Kyle shot back. “Relevant architectural layouts and a real-time feed from the facility security system are being routed to your HUDs now.”
Nia sighed. “Show off.”
Once Kyle had returned the desk to look like how he’d found it, Kira motioned her team into the hall. She jogged toward the back entrance Kyle had identified.
Fifteen meters down the corridor, she heard approaching footfalls and the faint scuffing sound of tactical gear rubbing against body armor.
“I think those guards are finally awake and back after us,” Kira warned her team.
“They can’t see us,” Kyle assured her. “As long as we don’t physically run into them, we’re as good as invisible.”
“They can’t have gone far!” one of the guards shouted down the hall. “They disappeared from the feed in the chief’s office.”
The voice was getting closer.
Kira halted her advance and pressed herself against the side wall. A moment later, a group of soldiers came around the nearby corner, headed straight for her.
“Never should have let them make it inside,” another soldier grumbled.
“Their tech wasn’t supposed to be this good,” the first replied. “We’re not just dealing with the Elusians anymore.”
The six armored guards passed by, coming within half a meter of brushing against Kira. She kept her cool and waited until they were well past before she moved.
“Let’s get to the chancellor’s position,” Kira told her team while she resumed the jog toward their destination.
Upon reaching the supposed back doorway to the stairwell, Kira was unable to see the entrance. “Is this it?” she asked Kyle.
“Yeah, must be a hidden panel,” he replied. He walked back and forth twice in front of the location. “This part of the panel is definitely narrower.” He ran his gloved hand over the surface.
“There have to be controls somewhere.” Nia joined him in the search. “Ah! Here’s an access port.”
The two soldiers used their interface tools to hack into the door lock. After thirty seconds, the wall clicked, followed by a hiss as the panel swung inward.
“Well, so much for keeping our location secret,” Ari said.
“I tried to block the security notice but no guarantees,” Kyle said. “Better hurry.”
They slipped through the opening, and Kira pressed the control next to the door to close the panel. The stairwell was unadorned, with cast concrete stairs and a metal railing. It extended down at least five stories, but the lights were off so Kira couldn’t see the bottom. Their destination was the level above, so she sprinted up the stairs.
At the top, Ari took the lead, his gun drawn and ready. He peeked around the corner. “I see two guards at the access door,” he reported. “No additional locks.”
The visual confirmed what Kira saw on her HUD. “We’ll need to get as close to the chancellor as possible without being seen. Once we have her in custody, we’ll have a bartering chip for getting out of here.”
“I see four guards inside with her,” Kyle reported.
Nia hugged the side wall as she crept forward. “There are more in the anteroom.”
“Take out the two soldiers outside with a sonic blast,” Kira ordered.
“Aye.” Ari fired off two rapid shots, and the guards dropped to the floor.
“Go!” Kira ran forward with her team. They took up positions on either side of the door. “Let’s see if we can lure the others into the open.” She tapped on the door with the butt of her handgun.
A moment later, the door cracked open and a guard stuck her head out. “Is everything—”
Kira shot her with a sonic blast.
The woman dropped to the ground in the threshold, forcing the door open the rest of the way.
“Oh, shite!” Kyle swore.
Kira’s HUD updated. The room on the other side of the chancellor’s chamber didn’t have four soldiers, but a dozen.
“Shite, they must have been masked in the system and our suits couldn’t read them through the walls,” Kyle said.
“Okay, so shooting our way in was a bad idea,” Kira realized.
Gentle footfalls approached the doorway, and Hale came into view. “If you attack me, Ellen dies.”
Kira held up her hand for her team to remain motionless and silent.
“I know it’s you, Kira. I can feel you.” Hale stepped over the fallen guard’s body.
How does she know me by name? Did Ellen tip her off? Kira slowed her breathing, even though she knew it wouldn’t make a difference to the suit. Her heart pounded in her ears, and the chancellor stepped within a meter of her position, looking straight at her.
“Your mind is very powerful. It’s a shame you won’t use it to its full potential,” the older woman stated. “Are you ready to embrace your new self, Kira?”
Kira swallowed. I will never become the monster she wants me to be.
A presence appeared in her mind. “Ah, there you are!”
Shite! Kira tried to block the alien, but she couldn’t force it back.
“At last we meet, Kira. No need to be scared now.”
In front of her, Hale smiled. “Perhaps you need some additional motivation. They’re here!” she shouted.
Inside the meeting room, two more guards entered with Ellen. Her hair was mussed and her pantsuit was wrinkled, but otherwise she looked unharmed.
“If you value your associate’s life, you will show yourselves,” Hale stated. “I won’t ask again.”
Kira closed her eyes and took a slow breath. “We can’t let a civilian get hurt. Disable the stealth but don’t disarm,” she instructed her team over the internal comm.
She deactivated her own armor’s stealth and then immediately said over the external speaker, “All right, Hale. Let’s talk.”
CHAPTER 21
Standing face-to-face with the chancellor, Kira could feel the strength of the alien presence within her. Anyone other than a true telepath could easily mistake that power for the magnetism of a natural leader, but Kira knew better. There was more to this woman than just charisma.
Unfortunately, to learn more about the presence within, Kira couldn’t play it safe. The being had allowed a temporary mental connection, but Kira had no chance of forcing her way into Hale’s mind without an optical link.
She reached for the release on her helmet.
“What are you doing?” Nia hissed over the team’s internal comms.
“To take out the alien, I need to get to Hale herself,” Kira replied. “Telepathy is our only way out of this.” She undid the helmet’s latch and slipped it from her head.
A pleased smile touched the chancellor’s lips. “Ah, so now we can really meet.”
“I’m who you’re really after. Let Ellen go,” Kira demanded.
“So you can shoot all of us and leave? No.” The chancellor shook her head. “The only way your team is getting out of here is if you stop treating me like the enemy, Kira.”
“Sorry, but holding civilians at gunpoint isn’t really helping your case,” Kira retorted.
“A necessity driven by your stubbornness. You say you are willing to hand yourself over in exchange for her, but you have no genuine intention of doing so.”
It wouldn’t take a telepath to know that much. No one who made that offer ever really meant it. The statement was a stall tactic. In any other negotiation, Kira might have been able to exert some small measure of telepathic influence to make the subject believe her. This time, whatever she said, the chancellor would see right through it.
Thinking back over her career, Kira realized it was rare for her to be truly open and honest with anyone. Careful word choice and omissions were a part of communication, conscious or not.
Now, though, she wouldn’t have anything to hide behind. She would have to face the unshielded mind of this unknown enemy.
“Spoken words are never going to achieve a resolution to this standoff,” Kira stated, looking directly at the chancellor.
“At last, some truth,” the older woman replied. “Let us get to know one another.”
A presence returned to Kira’s mind. “Such wasted p
otential. You can be so much more.”
“Who are you?” Kira replied, trying to trace her way back to the alien’s mind. She could feel it in the distance, deep within Hale, but there was a wall around it.
“I am what allowed you to be.”
“That’s not an answer!” Kira shouted in her mind. “You want to lead me, so show your true face.”
A mental image of a landscape appeared. Kira didn’t recognize the world as any place she’d been, though the elements were familiar—forest over gently rolling hills, a lake, mountains in the distance. It could almost pass for Valta if it weren’t for a chartreuse tint to the sky.
“What is this place?” Kira asked. “This doesn’t tell me who you are.”
“But it does,” the presence replied. “Open your mind.”
Hesitantly, Kira allowed herself to delve deeper into the image. What Kira had taken to be trees now looked strange to her. They were rooted in the ground and branched like the organic foliage she knew from her home, but these structures were too rigid. A breeze passed through, yet no branches swayed.
“These are mechanical,” Kira observed.
“Not quite, but also not wood. It is our… home.”
The mental image zoomed out, showing that the forest was arranged as a circle nestled within the valley. The trees formed an intricate pattern, almost like Kira was looking at circuitry. The forms were so familiar. She wracked her memory about where she’d seen the image—sometime recent.
“This is what we saw in Kaen’s mind!” Kira exclaimed telepathically.
“Before, you saw the receiver. This is the transmitter.”
“It’s massive.”
“One individual is easy to control.”
A chill spread through Kira. Their plan was always to build an army.
And, of course, there would need to be a way to control that army. With the right control network, one individual couldn’t only possess a remote target, a whole group could be under a single individual’s command.
Kira swallowed. “Why are you showing me this? Now I know what I need to destroy.”
