Veiled Designs: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Uprise Saga Book 3)

by Amy DuBoff

  “You modified your own records, yes?” Luke questioned.

  “I did, but those were subtle clues. It would have been a different matter if real-time scans found something anomalous.”

  “Hmm.” Luke crossed his arms. “Maybe it’s nothing, then.”

  “No, go on,” Widmore encouraged.

  “Well,” Luke continued, “I was going to contrast Heizberg’s condition to Kurtz’s. Reya had complete control of her, and Gidyon is a hell of a lot closer to Nezar than it is to the Dren Cluster.”

  An icy vice gripped Ava’s chest. “The control point may be even closer than that,” she murmured.

  “What are you thinking?” Kurtz prompted.

  “That pit on Nezar. What if those are their nests, or whatever you want to call it?”

  Widmore paled. “If that’s the case, when Heizberg died, the being never left Nezar.”

  Ava nodded. “Reya may never have been based in Gidyon, like Nox was.”

  Kurtz swore under his breath. “How many more of these nests could there be?”

  “No way to know, sir.” Ava replied. “But if the other planets resonated with the signal from Gidyon, that might give us some indication.”

  “Running a broad scan like that would take weeks or longer,” Widmore said.

  “Could we put the locations of the planets up on a map?” Luke spoke up.

  “Why?” Ava asked.

  “If they have nests in Gidyon and Nezar, they don’t need a long-range transmitter to communicate. Where were they planning to send their soldiers?”

  Without commentary, Widmore hurriedly brought up a holographic map and plotted the real-time location of the four worlds in question.

  Everyone stared at the resulting image in stunned silence. The artificial dwarf planet and gas giant in Gidyon were directly in line on opposite sides of the system’s star. That line continued through Nezar and the Alaxar star. Finally, at the end, Coraxa was mere days from coming into alignment.

  “That’s not a coincidence,” Ava whispered.

  “No, I’d wager it’s not.” Kurtz manipulated the model and zoomed it out so he could extend the line beyond the two systems. Once complete with Coraxa, it would be headed straight for the worlds in the center of Federation space.

  Ava groaned. With a target in mind, the aliens’ motivations became much clearer. “Well, fuck. They were never just trying to get the Nezaran military to go after Alucia. They were just biding their time to make their big move.”

  “Like a parasite,” Luke murmured. “Using up its host and then moving on to the next, to continue to multiply.”

  “Are they just after the raw elemental materials? Or the people to make more soldiers?” Widmore cut in. “What’re they specifically after—what’s the end game?”

  “Suffering,” Kurtz said with a grunt. “They feed on negative energy. The first step was to cultivate a food source—the disgruntled population of Nezar. It sustained them while they put the next phase in action: creating a militia to be their reapers. Peaceful Alucia was the perfect target destination to send their new soldiers, where they could rain down suffering on the innocents.”

  Luke looked like he was about to be sick. “They made all those preparations without us knowing.”

  “They could go after Alucia with just anyone—they already had Nezaran soldiers,” Widmore said.

  Kurtz nodded. “But those soldiers couldn’t accomplish their ultimate ends of expansion. Alucia would just be a snack to fuel them for the real objective.”

  Widmore’s expression turned grim. “Other Federation worlds.”

  “Except, following Luke’s theory, it appears their telepathic influence weakens when it gets too far away,” Kurtz continued. “But with Were strength, vampiric processing speed, and a stronger Etheric connection through their nanocytes, the soldiers they sought to create using Ava as a template would be able to withstand having more channeled through them, and therefore be effective at longer distances. Having such a soldier as a vessel, the Dyons could roam the galaxy to feed on the negative energy from the suffering they inflicted without breaking their connection to their safe base in Gidyon.”

  The meeting attendees sat quietly as they processed the realization.

  “If they weren’t so evil, I’d be impressed with the ingenuity,” Ava broke the silence.

  “A planet-sized bio-amplifier is pretty brilliant,” Luke agreed.

  “Evilness and aptitude aren’t up for debate here. The question remains: how do we stop them?” Kurtz looked around the table.

  “The way I see it, sir,” Ava replied, “their plans hinge on Gidyon. We destroy that transmitter, and it’ll cripple them.”

  Widmore nodded. “We need to address the immediate threat we know about. If Gidyon is a home base, which it seems to be, the best action is to cut off the head of the beast.”

  “Agreed.” Kurtz nodded. “Based on what we know, any suggestions for the best approach to take these Dyons out?”

  “Aside from a big boom?” Ava asked. “Because our best bet is to blast them from orbit.”

  “It would take some time to get a ship with an Arti-Sun weapon over here,” Kurtz said.

  Ava sat up straight. “That death-ray tech they used on the Yollin fleet back in the day? That would do the trick.”

  “If I may interject,” Ruby said over the comm.

  Kurtz nodded.

  “A giant death-ray is an effective weapon for the Gidyon System, but addressing the other bases will require a more targeted approach, due to the nearby populations,” the AI said.

  “We can pick off the survivors afterward,” Kurtz replied.

  “I advise against that approach,” Ruby stated.

  Kurtz tilted his head. “Why is that?”

  “Because we don’t know how these beings move, or exist, or… anything, really. As a scientist, I must err on the side of caution. Remove the option for the enemy to retreat before you engage.”

  “You mean, take out the pit on Nezar first?” Ava clarified.

  “Yes. There may be other bases, but if we don’t know about them, that suggests they aren’t an immediate threat. Nezar is. Make sure those people are safe, and then blow up that Gidyon planet.”

  Ruby, I’m surprised to hear this side of you! Ava said privately to the AI.

  >>I think you’re rubbing off on me.<<

  “I’ll take it under advisement,” Kurtz acknowledged. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some calls to make about getting us a death-ray.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ava found her team working out in the gym. The three Weres were in the middle of a wrestling match, so Ava allowed them to complete the competition before announcing herself.

  Not surprisingly, Edwin came out on top.

  “Well done!” Ava called out.

  “Ava? When did you get here?” Nick asked.

  “Only a few minutes ago,” she replied while walking over.

  Samantha gestured to the mat. “Care to join us?”

  “Not now. I came to fill you in on what’s going on with Gidyon.”

  The members of her team came to attention.

  “I wish it was better news,” Ava continued. “We’ve just learned that the Dyons have harnessed a bio-amplifier to boost their telepathic signals.”

  “Should we know what that means?” Samantha asked, looking around the circle.

  “Details aren’t necessary. The point is, that signal strength is about to get a whole lot stronger. Coraxa is coming into alignment with the rest of the setup, and we suspect the aliens have something planned.”

  Nick frowned. “Isn’t that kind of a poor design, needing planets to be in alignment? It’s incredibly rare for everything to sync up.”

  “I was wondering about that, too,” Ava replied, “but we don’t have enough information to know the long-term implications. What I can say for certain now, though, is that we don’t want to find out what happens when Coraxa does align.”
>
  “What’s the timeframe we’re working with?” Samantha asked.

  “Four days, give or take. I mean, it’s planets we’re talking about here, so the scale for what you’d consider a straight line is a little arbitrary.”

  “So, too close for comfort. Got it.” Edwin crossed his arms. “What’s the plan?”

  “Kurtz is trying to get us a ship with an Arti-Sun weapon.” Ava smiled in spite of herself. It wasn’t every day they got to witness such powerful technology. Not that she had much hope of being able to actually see it in action, but getting to watch the footage from the ship’s records would still make for an experience.

  “Holy shit.” Nick whistled.

  “Yeah, but let’s not forget what’s going on here,” Ava reminded her team. “I know the Dyons have been nothing but awful to us, but we’re still talking about potentially wiping out a race.”

  Samantha frowned. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

  “We can’t think of the enemy in those terms,” Edwin said. “They wronged us, and we need to do what’s necessary to make sure they don’t hurt us again.”

  “It’s never that straightforward.” Nick shrugged. “But, that’s all above our paygrade. If bad guys need taking care of, we’re here to get the job done.”

  “I, for one, will be happy to see the Dyons go,” Edwin reiterated. “While an Arti-Sun blast is easy, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands dirty.”

  “Too many firefights in the last two weeks have made you bloodthirsty,” Samantha ribbed.

  “We have seen a lot of action. I thought we were back to covert ops, and then this whole mess happened.” Ava sighed. “Not to mention everything with me.”

  “Yeah, how are you doing with your… condition?” Samantha asked her.

  “It seems to be going well now,” Ava replied. “I mean, well enough. Nothing has happened since my pairing with Ruby.”

  “You two still getting along?” Samantha looked up while asking the question, indicating that Ruby was included in the question.

  “I am quite pleased with our pairing,” Ruby replied over the comm. “Ava has introduced me to many new experiences.”

  Don’t you dare say a word about me and Luke, Ava warned in her mind.

  >>Don’t they know you two are together?<<

  Yes, but it’s different when it’s explicit.

  >>Is there really that big of a distinction?<< Ruby questioned.

  There’s a lot of subtlety to the human experience, I’ll leave it at that, Ava replied.

  Ruby thought for a moment. >>I guess I still have a lot to learn.<<

  There’s plenty of time for that. We’ll teach each other.

  >>I look forward to it, Ava.<<

  In the meantime, don’t give Edwin any more fuel than he already has.

  Ruby smiled in her mind. >>I’ll be more careful. And soon you’ll get even.<<

  Ava returned her attention to her team. “Ruby and I are working well together.”

  Unfortunately, Ruby’s statement hadn’t been lost on Edwin. “That was a deflection. What aren’t you saying?”

  I don’t need to call any more attention to my relationship with Luke. That’s between us. Ava decided the best course was to get back to the bad guys. Talk about evil telepathic aliens never got old.

  “Before our pairing, Ruby worked almost entirely in medical labs. We didn’t want to freak you out with the idea of having someone along with no combat experience.”

  “You’re the one holding the weapons,” Edwin pointed out.

  Good, he took the bait. Ava nodded. “Yes, but in this particular matter, she’s helping to regulate my physiology so I don’t transform without meaning to. Some degree of a neurochemical surge is necessary in our line of work—Ruby is still learning how much is useful to me. We think, back on the Gidyon planet, she may have dialed it back too much for me, and that’s why I wasn’t feeling anxious when it seemed like I should have been.”

  Samantha eyed her. “Yeah, you were acting off.”

  >>Or it was the aliens trying to get you to stay,<< Ruby interjected in Ava’s mind.

  No need to make them worry about that.

  >>I thought you wanted to be open and honest with them about everything related to missions?<<

  Ava sighed. She was trying to hide the truth, probably because she didn’t want to admit to herself how close she’d come to succumbing to their trap.

  “There’s something else we discovered,” she went on. “When the dwarf planet was sending out those telepathic frequency bursts, it was interacting with me. While we were going down that exit tunnel, I may have been under a subtle telepathic influence.”

  Nick’s brow furrowed. “So they can get to you.”

  “I’m not sure,” Ava replied. “It wasn’t complete. I think it may have been something to do with the proximity to the pit, which seems to be some sort of nest for them. A source of strength and power.”

  “Hmm,” Edwin mused. “And their control weakens the further away they are, like when Kurtz was way out here?”

  “Exactly.” Ava nodded. “For all we know, it’s possible that all of us were being influenced in some small way while on the Gidyon planet. This isn’t an enemy we can predict or understand with what little we know about them.”

  “All the more reason to blow up the planet and be done with it,” Edwin muttered.

  “We may still have an issue on Nezar,” Ava continued. “It appears that there’s a pit on that world, too, and that may be where the beings live.”

  Samantha’s mouth dropped open. “And you didn’t lead with that?”

  “What’s the plan to deal with that situation?” Nick asked at the same time.

  “It’s a work in progress,” Ava replied.

  “Hold on,” Samantha said. “That means Reya was close to a pit when you overpowered her.”

  “I guess she was,” Ava realized. She’d been so preoccupied with thinking about how Reya may have escaped Chancellor Heizberg when the body died that she’d missed the other implications. “Maybe I can stand up to them.”

  “We always knew that, Ava,” Nick said with a smile. “Don’t sound so surprised.”

  “After what happened on Gidyon, I was having serious doubts,” she admitted.

  “Fortunately, you have us to believe in you,” Edwin said.

  Ava smiled at her team. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.”

  Edwin tapped his chin. “I’m torn between you wasting your gifts as a carnival-style fortune teller, or going dark after pushing away everything you ever loved and becoming a super villain.”

  Ava stared at him. “Wow, you have a very high opinion of the moderating effect of your friendship.”

  “We are pretty awesome,” Nick added.

  “For what it’s worth, I think you’d only use your super villain powers to go after other bad guys,” Samantha said, patting Ava on the arm.

  “Thanks, I think?” Ava gave the group a quizzical look. “Anyway, since I am an FDG officer, and not those strange alternate reality versions of me, we’ll be working within the official channels to take care of the Dyons.”

  “Which means… more waiting?” Samantha asked.

  “For now, but not much longer,” Ava told them. “We have a constrained timeline, so I expect we’ll be heading out within the day.”

  Edwin’s eyed narrowed. “Constrained by what?”

  “Less than four days until the planets are aligned,” Ava said under her breath, so low her team wouldn’t be able to hear the response. “Nothing to worry about!” she added at normal volume.

  Nick exchanged glances with the others. “I missed that first part.”

  Ava gave him a reassuring smile she didn’t quite believe in. “We’re going to take care of business in time, so it doesn’t matter.”

  Her team still looked uneasy, but they nodded.

  “Take care of any business around here that you need to,” she advised. “We may be de
ploying on short notice.”

  “Aye,” they acknowledged in unison.

  “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have instructions.” She gave them a parting nod and headed into the hallway.

  >>I’m curious why you shared what you did and withheld other information,<< Ruby commented once they were alone.

  It’s part of being a leader. I want to maximize my team’s effectiveness—tell them enough to be motivational, without so much that it’s overwhelming.

  >>How do you find that balance?<<

  I trust my instincts, Ava replied.

  >>Ah, intuition. Gaining an understanding of that was when I began to evolve beyond an EI; though my appreciation for the nuances has continued to mature, ever since I have become an AI.<<

  You’re young like me, Ava said. The more we experience, the better our gut instincts will be.

  Her stomach rumbled.

  Ruby, was that you?

  >>Sorry, I couldn’t resist.<<

  Ava rolled her eyes. Oh, hey, speaking of messing with physiology, did Jack ever post any findings about my nanocytes, based on the analysis of your field recordings? she asked.

  >>He did,<< Ruby replied. >>The report begins: ‘The behavior of Ava’s nanocytes is weird.’<<

  Seriously? That’s the actual opening line of the official report?

  >>It is.<<

  Suddenly, Ava had a better appreciation for what Luke contended with in the lab on a daily basis.

  Does the report go on to say anything useful? she questioned the AI.

  >>It confirms what we already suspected. The nanocytes trigger a transformation with relatively low biochemical shifts in your physiology. In other words, you could sustain the state for an extended time.<<

  That does fit with the theory that these soldiers were designed to torture victims to prolong the negative experience.

  >>Yes,<< Ruby agreed. >>But the ‘weirdness’ part of the report is in relation to something that we had missed when we were looking only at the higher-level expression. When you were on Gidyon, on the verge of transforming, the signs of what I now know to be subtle telepathic influence were diminished.<<

  The revelation caught Ava by surprise.

  Are you saying that the Hochste form would break their hold over me?