Operation Hydra

by Cyndi Friberg

It struck her suddenly what Hydran had said. “He threatened my mother to gain the cooperation of her guardians.” She hissed out a sharp breath. “He hasn’t changed his act much over the years, has he?”

  She reactivated the log, her eyes intent upon the screen.

  “With accelerated incubation, the first set of twins was successfully delivered in six months. An additional eight female infants followed. The female has bonded with the children, but the male is growing progressively more aggressive, impossible to manage. I have samples of his DNA and a more than adequate supply of his semen. His actual abilities are minimal so I have decided to euthanize the male.”

  Krysta felt her belly knot but she couldn’t give in to the pain. Anger was the only emotion she allowed herself. Anything else made her vulnerable. She had to be strong. She had to think of the others still subject to Hydran’s cruelty. She must learn all she could and devise a logical plan for destroying him utterly. Only then would she give in to the weakness of emotion.

  “Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “He killed the male subject. He was my father and Hydran killed him.” Her voice cracked and she flipped down the Companion’s screen. “I would like to have known him, to at least see what he looked like.” She paused, her gaze moving to Trey’s. “Does this mean Gath fathered all of us? Is every person in the Center related? That would mean we’re not just Ontarian, we’re sisters.”

  Slipping his arm around her, he pulled her against his side, silently offering comfort and support. “Do you know the name of the female guardian?”

  “Rosalyn.” He brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “Bekka and Lorrisa must be the twins Hydran was referring to, the firstborn of Gath and Rosalyn.”

  “They’re my half-sisters. How will we determine who was born of Rosalyn and who was born of Krystabel?”

  He stroked her arm, gently, lightly, but she was too anxious to respond to his soothing touch. “A simple scan will tell us that. Hydran referred to you and Belle as Level Three. Have you ever heard that term before?”

  She eased away from him and opened the Companion. “Did you see it in the index?”

  “We hadn’t gotten to the L’s.”

  “Companion, access Level One.”

  Hydran’s face had aged at least ten years. Trey glanced at the date stamp as the entry began. “Every aspect of Level One has been successful. The children are healthy so long as they are allowed to mature normally. The original twins, whom the occupants have taken to calling ‘the elders’, illustrated the pitfalls of my impatience. Some of my earlier experiments were not well received by the occupants so I have begun to segregate the population into separate wards, according to their abilities.”

  She paused the log and ran both hands through her hair. “His earlier experiments? How benign that all sounds. He gave them drugs that accelerated the aging process, hoping their abilities would manifest more rapidly. You’ve seen them. They look twice their age. And he tortured them, Trey. He broke Bekka’s arm to see if Lorrisa’s body would react to the injury.”

  She shuddered, remembering the tearful conversations and countless memory melds she had shared with the elders, hoping to ease their suffering.

  “Bekka was in agony the whole time,” she went on. “Then Hydran found out that Lorrisa can project her being into Bekka, but they refused to cooperate with his tests so he blinded her.” For a moment, tears blurred her vision and the tightness in her throat made it impossible to speak. “Now the only way she can see is through her sister’s eyes.”

  “Are you and Belle able to share this sort of perception?”

  “No. With us it’s different. More like a completeness, two halves of a whole fitting together. We work almost effortlessly without conscious thought.”

  She took a moment to compose herself before they went on. “Access Level Two.”

  Five years had lapsed since the Level One entry. “I was thrilled when the second female began menstruating. Though she is too immature and unpredictable to trust with an actual pregnancy, I have begun an aggressive course of fertility stimulants. Her abilities far exceed the first female. I’m anxious to see if her progeny inherit her extraordinary powers. I intend to harvest as many of her eggs as possible and launch Level Two immediately.”

  Trey had her pause the log again. “It is possible on Earth to give birth without a woman?”

  Krysta smiled, pleased by the abhorrence in his tone. The concept had never felt right to her either. Children were meant to be carried within their mothers’ bodies, nurtured and protected. “The artificial womb was perfected seventy-five years ago,” she explained. “It’s called the Surrogate and guess who developed it?”

  “Would that be Meditek?”

  “Gee, how’d ya guess?” Turning back to the Companion, she hesitated over the next command. “He said Belle and I are the only products of Level Three?”

  He grimaced. “I think the only stable products was the phrase he used.”

  “Companion, access Level Three,” she said. They had come too far for her to bury her head in the sand.

  “Well, wonders never cease,” Hydran began. “After two years of frustration, the second female has agreed to carry a pregnancy to term. I have reason to believe that the results of a naturally gestated pregnancy will surpass all my other efforts. Besides, what she doesn’t know is I haven’t sat on my laurels these past two years. I have been painstakingly engineering the perfect embryo. This child should have dazzling powers and intellect.”

  The entry shifted but didn’t return to the index. “Impregnation was successful. Her body has accepted the embryo.” Another hesitation. Hydran fiddled with the printout spread before him, his gaze not quite meeting the camera. “I don’t know how she did it but the embryo split. She created twins when I only impregnated her with one child. I’m tempted to terminate the pregnancy, but she has sworn she will never carry another child, which leaves me stalled out at Level Two. The more I learn about these creatures, the more fascinated I become. How was she able to split the embryo? Why? Will both twins survive?”

  Krysta flipped off the Companion and dashed into the bedroom. She heard Trey following her but couldn’t decide if she wanted the comfort of his embrace or privacy to let her feelings unravel. He decided for her, his arm looping around her waist, his warm breath against her hair.

  “I take it you didn’t know?” he asked softly.

  “That my mother somehow split Belle and me into two separate beings when we were meant to be one? No. I knew none of this.”

  Turning her, Trey tried to pull her into his arms but she wasn’t ready for his embrace. She twisted free and rubbed her face with her hands, trembling with the effort it took to keep the emotions at bay.

  “What does this mean?” she whispered. “Do we both have souls? Why would she do this?”

  His expression was confounded. He was obviously searching for something to say or do to comfort her. Deciding he had been on the right track after all, she wrapped her arms around him, snuggling against his heat.

  With a rumbling chuckle, he offered his embrace. “It had to be your idea, huh?”

  She didn’t argue. He felt wonderful and smelled even better. She didn’t want to move, definitely didn’t want to think.

  “Where do the occupants believe they came from?”

  “They believe, as I once did, that they suffer from a rare genetic abnormality.” She raised her face, meeting his curious gaze. “We were told that when people with this abnormality are discovered they’re brought to The Center for treatment. But the more extensively I was treated, the more suspicious I became that Hydran had no interest in curing the abnormalities. He wanted to control and eventually recreate them.”

  Suddenly, Krysta stepped out of his arms and headed back to the outer room. Trey reluctantly followed. Each of her movements hummed with anxious energy. It was obvious she didn’t want to listen to the rest of the log, but she seemed unable to ignore it either.

  “
Krysta,” he caught her arm, drawing her toward him, “the file isn’t going anywhere. We can take a break if you need one.”

  “I’m not afraid of the log.”

  Fear wasn’t the only emotion swirling in her expressive purple gaze, but it was definitely a contributor. “I didn’t think you were. Overwhelmed…maybe. Confused…for sure. How could you not be?”

  “Actually, I’m less confused right now than I’ve ever been,” she said calmly, but he didn’t believe a word of it.

  “Uh-huh. So you want to explain it all to me?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned her hip against the table. “Hydran found out that there were Ontarians on Earth so he decided to breed his own test colony to experiment on and play with. It’s not really that hard to understand. He started with Rosalyn and Gath because my mother was still a child. Gath became unruly so he killed him but continued to breed Ontarians with his sperm.”

  “We’re not talking about a science experiment. This is the life you’ve been forced to live. You can’t tell me you’re not angry. I’m furious and—”

  “The children of Rosalyn and Gath are Level One. The children of Krystabel and Gath are Level Two.” She babbled on as if he hadn’t spoken. “And Belle and I are Level Three, carried within the womb of Krystabel and enhanced by God knows what.”

  She was determined to review the facts it seemed, so he suggested, “Perhaps that’s why your mother split the embryo. She sensed what Hydran had done and wouldn’t allow him to control a person with so much power.”

  “Hydran doesn’t control me,” Krysta snapped.

  Trey watched her carefully. The only tears she’d shed had been for Bekka and Lorrisa. When her dam finally broke, she was going to be inundated with emotion, shaken to the core.

  “What if all of the power had fallen to Belle’s docile personality? There had to be a reason. Your mother knew what she was doing.”

  She stepped away from the table. “Why do you suddenly sound as if you knew my mother? You know nothing about her.”

  Should he tell her of E’Lanna’s vision, of Charlotte’s certainty that Krystabel was still alive? He wasn’t sure he believed it himself. How could he convince her? She had so much to accept already. It would be better to give her more time.

  He nodded toward the Companion. “Is there a Level Four? Maybe we can find out what’s going on in ward D.”

  Returning to her chair, she reactivated the device, waiting for the file to load. “Companion, access Level Four.”

  “There is information contained in Level Four with a higher security clearance than you are allowed, Krysta,” the Companion responded.

  “Well, can you show me the areas allowed within my security clearance?”

  “Do you automatically negotiate with everyone?” Trey chuckled.

  “When it’s necessary, which is often.”

  “I am ready when you are,” the Companion said.

  “He even sounds like Drakkin,” Trey grumbled. “I’ll have to show this to the Mystics and see what they make of it.”

  “Proceed,” Krysta said.

  “Level Four is ready to launch,” Hydran’s voice droned. His fingers formed a steeple in front of his face and deep creases now framed his eyes and mouth. “The implants are brilliant, better than I ever dreamed. The ward D tests have proven their dependability over and over. We’re ready for the final phase. But I don’t know where to turn. Inbreeding has inherent risks but how—where do I get another male?” Hydran flipped off the recording device, abruptly ending the entry.

  “Inbreeding?” Krysta’s gaze shot to Trey. “Of course. He can’t go farther than the first generation without diluting our Ontarian blood. He can’t breed the male donor to his daughters.”

  “Gath cet Fintar has two hundred and fourteen children,” Trey shook his head amazed by all the implications.

  “What do you think he meant by implants? What are they testing in ward D?”

  Her voice sounded thin, shaken. Saebin. Her best friend was in that ward. “We’ll know as soon as we blast our way in. Vee wants it put to a vote, but after what we’ve learned today, I know my officers will not hesitate.”

  “Will not hesitate to what?”

  “My ship is called the Gale, but she has a big sister. She’s a prototype and has yet to be fully tested, but this situation calls for drastic measures. I’ll contact Overlord Cyrus as soon as we return and ask him to dispatch the Tempest.”

  Chapter Nine

  With a frustrated curse, Krysta slumped back in the bathtub, submerging herself to the chin in warm, sudsy water. She’d managed to fill the crazy thing and even found the setting for lavender-scented foam, but nothing she tried activated the water massage.

  Oh well, she’d just soak.

  Trey stomped into the bathroom and her arms instinctively crossed over her breasts.

  “Little late for that, don’t you think?” he muttered.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Fully dressed and scowling, he stood across from her, leaning against the long counter behind him. “Vee has taken it upon himself to declare a state of emergency. My crew is in an uproar. Dro Tar is ready for mutiny.”

  “Against Vee, not you, I presume.” He glared so she quickly suppressed her amusement. “What happened?”

  “Hydran sequestered the children. He took them to one of the common areas and won’t let any of the other occupants near them.”

  She didn’t want to disregard his concern prematurely but Hydran pulled crap like this all the time. “There are eleven children under the age of fifteen. Were the mothers told why the children were needed or were they just told to report?”

  He slouched and shoved one hand into his pocket. “I don’t know. Vee seems to think it’s a big deal.”

  “How did Vee find out?” She relaxed against the tub. If the occupants weren’t in an uproar, it sounded as if Vee overreacted.

  “Dro Tar mentioned it when she returned to the ship after her shift.” His gaze assessed her, lingering intimately over her half-concealed curves. “You’re not concerned?”

  “There could be any number of reasons for it.” Her eyes drifting shut. “Tell Vee if the mothers aren’t throwing a fit, there’s nothing to worry about. My guess is one of the mothers made him angry so he’s punishing everyone. Don’t forget, Hydran’s specialty is head games.”

  He wasn’t gone long but Krysta started when his deep voice disturbed her sleepy haze.

  “I told him—” She nearly jumped out of the tub and he chuckled. “Relax. It’s just me.”

  Just me. Yeah right. Just the most dangerously charming rascal to ever cross my path. A slow, simmering heat rippled through her and it had nothing to do with the bath.

  “I told Vee we’d head straight to The Center in the morning. We’ll tell Hydran one of the mothers contacted you. He knows you’re telepathic, right?”

  “Sure. My telepathy doesn’t work that way, but it might rattle his cage to think it does.”

  Reaching up, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Anything that rattles Hydran’s cage works for me.”

  Drawing her knees up to her chest, she looked at him thoughtfully. “You know, there are a lot of things I still don’t understand, but this just made me think of one more. How are the occupants still having children? Hydran knows he can’t breed us to our father, so who fathered the new generation? For that matter, who fathered Saebin?”

  “If you want to talk, fine, but I’m naked and I’m in there with you,” he paraphrased.

  She laughed. “If we play out that scene again, I’ll have to punch you in the eye. The swelling has gone down. Would you like me to heal the bruise?”

  Trey smiled, pushing away from the counter. She hadn’t apologized for punching him. It would have been a meaningless token if she had. He’d deserved the punch and he admired her honesty. It had taken courage to stand up to him, but it had also been incredibly foolish. Many men would have repaid violence with vio
lence and felt justified.

  “I’ve gotten used to it.” He kicked off his boots.

  Her gaze followed him closely as he undressed. They both needed to relax and unwind but she better cool her stare or they’d be thrashing about on the sleeping station in no time.

  “For the longest time, Saebin, Belle and I were the only ones whose mothers were at The Center. We just presumed everyone else had been taken from their families.”

  He’d been so distracted by the prospect of climbing into the tub with her he’d forgotten what they were talking about. Giving himself a mental shake, he asked, “When did the second generation begin?”

  “I think Saebin is the oldest and she’s in her late twenties. I’m not sure of her exact age.”

  “Obviously, I can’t answer your question. Once we liberate The Center, we’ll start sifting through all this information.”

  She sighed and sank back into the water. “Operation Hydra is like a rotting onion. Layer upon layer. Each layer we peel back reveals another and each smells worse than the last.”

  “Well, we’re just about ready to dispose of this rotting onion. I told Vee our trip to Meditek was an unbelievable success and had him send for Lyrik. He should be here in the morning.”

  “Who is Lyrik?” Her voice sounded soft, distracted. “What a beautiful name.”

  Trey laughed. “The spelling is different, and the Ontarian meaning has nothing to do with music, but I’ll tell him you like his name because you’re not going anywhere near him.”

  That caught her interest. She scooted toward the edge of the tub. “And why not?”

  “Lyrik cet Barrel and I trained together in the City of Tears. I count him among my friends, but he can be ruthless when it comes to women.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning he has been known to bend the boundaries of the social alliance. Lyrik commands the Tempest.”

  “What is a social alliance?”

  He hadn’t meant to get into all of this tonight. They needed to relax. She would learn about Ontarian customs soon enough. But he had no choice now. His little hell-raiser was too curious for simple evasions.