“Enlighten me.”
Sanda held no illusions that the Prime Director was actually confiding in her. As far as she knew, Okonkwo couldn’t even get drunk, no matter how much whiskey she tossed back. Her metabolism had been tinkered with as surely as the genes hacked to give her unnaturally vibrant green eyes. Sanda sipped her whiskey, smooth as silk, and wished her parents had been able to afford the same metabolism boosters.
“We”—she lifted her wrist, turning it so Sanda could see the scar there—“are called the Acolytes. Normally we select our number from the quieter members of the Keepers, the ones without political ambitions, the ones who will slip into obscurity in the moment of their death. Keepers like Nakata—not your brother or Lavaux, naturally. The order made a mistake in my selection, but once I discovered their existence, I played down my ambitions until I was inducted.”
Okonkwo flashed her a sly smile. “No Prime Director before had understood the Acolytes and their directives. I aimed to change that, to file down the lines between my fractious colleagues. They kicked me out promptly after my political ambitions became clear, but by then I’d already learned their history and objectives.”
“And what did you learn?”
“That even the eldest of their number doesn’t know the full scope of what they do, and that appears to be by design. The order was founded by Maria Salvez, Halston’s lover, without Halston’s blessing. Does that surprise you? When our fearless founder was designing her government for the stars, her closest adviser thought her vision was incomplete.
“You see, Halston was above all a visionary. She believed in humanity’s right to expansion, believed that if we only worked together, we could achieve great things.”
Sanda said, “And yet she hid the secret of the gates in the skulls of Keepers.”
Okonkwo tapped the side of her nose. “She did, for even one so optimistic as Halston couldn’t avoid the reality of the power of the gates. Such knowledge… well, humanity had already seen many cold wars. Halston was not about to let us devolve into an arms race, not when becoming an interstellar species was within our grasp.
“Salvez did not believe the creation of the Keepers was a complete solution. If Halston believed in human potential, Salvez believed in human nature. The guardcore was Halston’s response to Salvez’s concerns, but after that, Halston would hear no more about it. Salvez, clever thing that she was, created the Acolytes in secret—a secret she kept even from Halston. Their purpose is the preservation of the society Halston created. When an Acolyte overhears a young Keeper sounding a touch too seditious at a party, they attempt to befriend and correct without alerting that Keeper to their purpose. It is a subtle, but valuable, order.”
“I don’t see a lot of subtlety in Nakata attempting to kill Jules Valentine for information.”
Okonkwo waved a hand. “All things stray from their origin, and the source of the rogue guardcore has been a particular thorn in the Acolytes’ side. They’ve been chasing them down for years.”
A suspicion itched in the back of Sanda’s mind. “How long have they been chasing these fake GC?”
“Oh, a hundred years or so.”
She swallowed hard, thinking of Keeper Kenwick’s head floating in that pillar. If he had a body, would she have found a tattoo there? Had Kenwick stolen the coordinates for destruction, or preservation? “In all that time you haven’t figured out how the defectors are being recruited? How is that possible?”
A flash of irritation crossed Okonkwo’s face. “Because they’re not defectors. We believed they were, too, at first. How else could they gain access to technology guarded so well? We are in the secrets business.” She tapped the back of her head, where the chip was implanted. “But no. We have no evidence to that effect.”
She gestured to the GC standing by the door. “Demas, darling, explain it to the commander.”
Sanda jerked her head around to watch the GC as their shoulders rose and fell with an obvious sigh. No one, not even the Prime Director, was supposed to know the names of the GC.
“Are you sure about this?” Demas asked in their computerized voice.
“She has been betrayed on all fronts, old friend. A little honesty couldn’t hurt. You won’t tell, will you Greeve?”
Sanda worked her jaw around to get some saliva back. “No, Prime Director.”
“There you go.” Okonkwo waved her hand impatiently at Demas.
The GC stepped away from the door and, hesitantly, reached up to press the button that retracted their helmet into their collar. Sanda’s heart lodged itself firmly in her throat. Even if she could speak, she’d have no idea what to say. The GC were lethal. Unknowable. Shadows in the dark, slick as knives and just as precise.
But Demas, as he shook out his matted ear-length hair, was just a man. A man with faint wrinkles around the corners of his almond-colored eyes. Formally, he bowed to Sanda.
“I am Demas, the present controlling mind of the guardcore.”
“I…” She cleared her throat. “I thought you didn’t have a, ah, leader, and everything was done by anonymized vote.”
“That is more or less correct. Complete anonymization is impossible, as selections for recruiting must be made. There are very few of us with the authorization to hire new members. We do not select anyone who poses the slightest risk of betrayal.”
“If your selection procedure is so precise, then where the fuck are these GC coming from? Because I believe your protocols are tight, I do, but I also know GC tactics and equipment when I see them, and that’s what we faced at Monte.”
“We do not know,” Demas said carefully. “None of our number are missing. None of our equipment is missing.”
“Can’t you DNA-test the dead GC? Figure out who they were?”
He gave her a rueful smile. “Major Greeve, our armor is outfitted with a wide variety of chemicals ready for injection. Stimulants, focus aids, pain suppressors. This is normal. These GC have modified the usual suite of injections to include a dissolvent. The moment the armor has detected the death of the occupant, the dissolvent is released and the body liquefied, its DNA contaminated beyond our abilities to reconstruct. Captured rogue GC have demonstrated a willingness to dissolve themselves before samples can be taken.”
“Fuck,” she whispered.
“I agree,” Demas said.
“And that’s all you have? They’re not your people, you don’t know who they’re working for, and you don’t know what they want.”
A shadow passed across Demas’s face. “We’re working on it.”
“For around a hundred years?” Sanda stared between them both, incredulous. This was the most powerful woman in the universe, and the recruitment head of the most dangerous group of soldiers. There was no way. No way.
“Oh…” Sanda shook her head and laughed ruefully. “Right. Like you’d tell me.”
Okonkwo smiled thinly. “Sorry, dear. We have our suspicions, but we have very little facts, and even then…”
Sanda nodded. “I understand.”
“You don’t, actually.”
Sanda lifted her head. “I’d like to.”
Okonkwo took a drink, set her cup down, and ticked off points with her fingers. “It is a fact that the rogue guardcore are not coming from within the order. It is a fact that they have access to real GC armor and ships, and yet none of our supplies are unaccounted for. Before your engagement with them on Monte Station, we had yet to see a full-scale battle between them and outside forces. We’d only heard rumors of small, unauthorized skirmishes.”
“They attacked Arden, Nox, and Jules in Atrux’s Grotta two years ago after Nakata’s death,” Sanda said. “Took over the streetlights, apparently.”
Okonkwo’s eyes narrowed and she flicked a glance at Demas, who began typing something into the screen embedded in the wrist of his armor.
“This is the first we’ve heard of it. Thank you. It seems something about you and your associates draws these people out. Everyon
e involved is extremely circumspect, otherwise we would have found and crushed them ages ago.”
“Have the Nazca collected any information on this?”
“Not to my knowledge.” Okonkwo leaned forward. “Tell me, did your Nazca on Janus escape? They’ve played dumb to us so far, but considering your assertions, it may be time to squeeze some truth out of them. I hate to do it, they’re so damn slippery, but it is possible.”
Sanda shook her head. “It was Leo Novak. He escaped Janus with the other scientists, but you won’t be able to interrogate him, I had to kill him. He was attempting to flee Monte with the nanite sample right before the station was attacked. You’ll find his body in a shuttle underneath the space where the Thorn was docked.”
Okonkwo’s gaze drifted to the side as she accessed an ocular implant and sent off a message. “Thank you, Greeve. His body will be collected and examined. We’ve been wanting to get a look at Nazca implants.”
“Gross.”
“Facts of life and technology, my dear. We’re all half computer these days. Demas, tap your Nazca contact. I want to know what they know about Novak and why my name was used.”
“I’ve already sent the order.”
“You know me so well. Any other gifts for me, Greeve? You spoke with Valentine—what does she want?”
Sanda frowned into her glass. “I’m not sure Jules is after anything personally. Arden and Nox seem to think she’s protecting another member of their old crew. Rainier might be holding that person hostage to force Valentine’s cooperation. I don’t know her well enough to say, but she seemed out of her element on Janus.”
“Interesting, if not entirely revelatory. Now, your mission register claimed you were on your way to reconnoiter a suspicious location before you went on a jaunt to Janus. I assume this is behind the deadgate Lavaux was taking Bero?”
“Yes.”
“Which deadgate?”
“It’s here in Ordinal.”
“Ah. So that’s why you stayed in my neighborhood.”
“Yes…”
“… But?”
Sanda flicked her gaze down, embarrassed. “I did not tell General Anford where the coordinates were located.”
Okonkwo laughed. “And you were going to do what, exactly? Accidentally hit the power button and trip over the threshold? Deadgates can’t be spun without authorization, as Rainier was bound to find out if she attempted to use her nanites.”
“We were going to look around the area.”
“I see. Arden Wyke thought they could spin it, did they? Well, I’d almost like to see them try, but you’d bring all the guardcore and fleet in the area down on your head. Not to mention the autonomous berserkers.” She tapped one finger against the rim of her cup. “Well, if Lavaux wanted a peek behind that gate, then it may be worth looking into. I want you to head there once you and your crew are recovered.”
“Prime Director, I was going to anyway.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know, dear, but at least allow me some pretense of giving you orders. I shall update Anford. Now, considering we cannot anticipate what’s on the other side of that gate, I want you to borrow one of my finest weapons. Take Demas.”
“Malkia—” His voice pitched high in protest, but she held up a hand to cut him off.
“I have plenty of guardcore to watch my backside.”
“With respect,” Sanda said carefully, “my crew is going to have a very difficult time working with a GC after today.”
“Oh, but they won’t be working with a GC, will they? They’ll be working with Demas. It’s quite different. And there is no need to fear he may work for our shadowy friends. Demas is my personal agent, we’ve known each other all our lives, isn’t that right, Demas? Old childhood playmates.”
He nodded stiffly, but there was a flash of reverence in his gaze that made Sanda believe Okonkwo was telling the truth.
“If I take Demas, I need you to give me Liao. She wants a chance to right the wrong she’s done at Janus. If we encounter more nanites, then she might be useful.”
“I wasn’t aware that this was a negotiation. But, very well, you may have the doctor if you believe she’ll be of use and if she wants to go with you.” Okonkwo’s gaze unfocused as she tilted her head, listening to a voice in her ear. After a moment, she sighed.
“It seems the false guardcore got to your Nazca first. The body’s gone, the blood sprayed down with the same dissolvent used on the guardcore dead.”
CHAPTER 50
PRIME STANDARD YEAR 3543
WHEN THE MOMENT’S PICKED FOR YOU
Dressed in a Prime jumpsuit and strapped up with fleet weapons, Demas could almost pass for a normal soldier sent along by Okonkwo to help get the deadgate spun up. Almost. Maybe it would have worked if her crew were all fleeties—Knuth and Conway were giving the man side-eye but keeping their traps shut—but there was no way Sanda could keep a lid on Nox and Arden’s suspicions. Hell, even Liao glanced over her shoulder more often when Demas was in the room.
So Sanda waited until they were a day’s flight away from Okonkwo’s ship, then called a general meeting on the command deck.
“Story time’s over,” she said. She gripped one of the ceiling loops in the forward area of the deck, turned so she could keep everyone in sight. Demas raised his eyebrows, but didn’t look like he was about to turn hostile. Of course, someone like Demas wouldn’t telegraph that unless they wanted to. “Demas is GC.”
“You owe me a bottle of Caneridge,” Nox shot to Arden, who threw their arms in the air and rolled their eyes.
“You said he was a spy for Okonkwo, not GC. That’s different.”
“Same thing.” Nox half turned to Demas. “Isn’t it? You’re definitely reporting back to Okonkwo, there’s no other reason for you to be here.”
He smiled tightly and inclined his head. “It’s true. I work for the Prime Director, but I believe that must be true of everyone on this ship, is it not?”
Uncomfortable glances all around. Sanda scowled. “My people are Prime citizens and soldiers and I won’t have you making them second-guess their reasons for being on this ship. This is about you, Demas, though I suspect that’s not something you’re used to.”
“Ah.” He floated backward as he unfolded his arms and reached out to steady himself against the wall. Nox reached for his sidearm at the motion. Sanda cut him a look, but when he met her gaze, she found she didn’t feel like telling him to stand down. Demas took all of this in impassively. “Forgive me, redirection is trained into us.”
“Funny. Blowing holes in people is trained into me,” Nox said.
“Nobody’s blowing holes in anyone.” Sanda rubbed the back of her neck. “Look, no one on this ship was going to trust you with or without knowing who you are, Demas, so I’m sorry for dunking you in the shit headfirst, but I won’t keep your identity from my crew. No matter how nicely Okonkwo asks.”
He inclined his head. “Arden is not the only one winning bets today. Okonkwo believed you would blow my cover as soon as possible. I gave you until we reached the gate.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, then. There are too many secrets going around for my taste right now. The facts, people, as we know them: Okonkwo is an ex-member of an organization called the Acolytes, of which Nakata was one, dedicated to preserving and protecting Prime. They’ve been preoccupied with tracking down fake GC, and according to Demas here, those GC are coming from a source no one can identify. There aren’t any GC missing, and none of their equipment is, either.”
“Whoa wait,” Conway said, “I’ve gone gun-to-gun with a lot of ships, Commander, and that’s gotta be bullshit, because those ships at Monte moved and acted exactly like GC ships. They’re not knockoffs.”
“No, they’re not. They’re both real, and they can’t be. It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s not the biggest pain. Kicking Keeper Nakata out of our sphere of shady shit, that means Jules has gotten herself tangled up with something else. Something the GC and the
Acolytes have been working their asses off to root out, but haven’t been successful so far.”
“Rainier has to be in the middle of it all,” Arden insisted. Their fingers tapped against the arm of their chair as if they had a keypad underneath them.
“I agree,” Sanda said, “and while Okonkwo was playing it down, this is probably the closest they’ve come to getting names and reasons about these fake GC. Rainier is using them to protect her interests somehow. We need to find out what those interests are.”
“You realize chasing down those coords is walking into an ambush, right?” Nox said. “Whatever’s there, Keeper Lavaux was willing to bring the biggest weapon in the universe there for safekeeping. He had to have had something there to defend it, or something there he wanted to use Bero to defend.”
Her secret hadn’t been hers alone while Graham was here, and though she’d tried hard not to think about it ever since seeing him off from Okonkwo’s ship, that sense of loss needled her. But she was grateful, too, that he was safe on a shuttle back to Ada.
Sanda thought of Graham’s advice to pick her moment. It was strange, not having him on deck. As much as he’d irritated her by pushing back against her orders, having a member of her family close had felt safer, somehow.
Now that they had walked into the lion’s den, she needed to come clean. She’d trusted her crew this far, and they hadn’t let her down.
Demas was going to be a problem, but she couldn’t let her team go through that gate without knowing the full scope of what might be on the other side. If they got injured or killed, and knowing the truth of the coordinates could have saved them, she’d never forgive herself.
“Since it’s honesty time, you should all know that Lavaux did not have these coordinates.”
Chaos Vector Page 34
