Unfaithful Covenant

by Michael Anderle

Immortality would be hers, and they’d die mere aspirants and pretenders. Nature would be Julia’s greatest assassin. Some would perhaps require expedited ends, but it was obvious what she needed to do.

  On Earth, she’d let herself be swept into their way of thinking, their timetable. Turgid. Static. Foolish. The timing of her plan would be difficult, but if she could use their plans and resources to light the conflagration, her capstone plan could proceed. That would be the point at which she might need to kill other members of the Core. They would never agree with her plan for the simple reason it was about increasing her power, not theirs, but they might be cowed into supporting it.

  In either event, she didn’t care. She would assure the continuity of the human species under the wise rule of an immortal, a society led by a goddess of vast reach, influence, and power.

  Julia understood something all the members of Core should have understood if they truly had a long-term vision of the future. The Hunters and Navigators had provided the tools. Humanity simply needed to apply them in the most efficient way. It’d taken over a century, but they were almost ready.

  Adaptability was the key to survival. An organism that learned to adapt would learn to conquer not only its niche but the environment around it. She’d let Sophia’s painfully narrow view of the future blind her for too long, but now the awesome destruction the Last Soldier had wrought against the Hunter ship had kindled an idea.

  The sacrifices of the Ascended Brotherhood and others had been necessary, more than she’d realized. She saw that now. If their attack hadn’t failed, the government wouldn’t have decided to help the Last Soldier and the Warrior Princess, and that wouldn’t have led to the destruction of the Hunter ship and her special inspiration.

  Julia’s talents might not lie in the area of hyperspace physics, but she employed many people who were masters of that discipline. Sometimes science wasn’t about discovering what was not already known. It could be about figuring out the mechanics of something observed. Reverse-engineering it. They were close now. So close.

  She stood and headed toward her door. A few billion sacrifices to guarantee the safety of humanity was a bargain, all things considered.

  A wicked smile crossed her face. She’d outmaneuvered the Core, the government, and the Last Soldier. It was time to give a different order, just as she had for New Samarkand. If her calculations were right, her loyal agents on the colony should have already received it, but she wouldn’t hear of the results for another couple of weeks—a long wait for something so entertaining, a glorious celebration of the dawning of a new order.

  The rest of the Core might have wanted more time and resources drawn to New Samarkand, but there was no point in further delay. It was time to invoke true fear and initiate her plan. It would take months to come into fruition, but what were months when she’d already waited decades?

  “You will all die for the good of humanity,” she intoned. “Die for your future goddess.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  An hour later, six Army exos stood in the hangar, a maintenance truck with parts and ammo beside them. The rest of Cabrina’s squad lounged on crates, chatting quietly. They’d shared brief conversations with Erik and Jia but seemed content to keep their distance. Lanara kept glancing from the MX 60 to the soldiers and frowning as she filled the holes in the MX 60 with a long composite injector tube connected to a nearby cylindrical tank.

  Jia was watching all this unfold from the bottom loading ramp of the Argo. She didn’t worry about working with Army assault infantry. She’d done it enough times before to know they were disciplined, hard-working men and women who could adapt to the most dangerous situations. The Hunter incident had proven that beyond any reasonable doubt.

  Cabrina finished a joke. Her soldiers laughed, and she murmured something to them before making her way across the hangar to Jia with a slight frown.

  “Everything okay?” Jia asked, hoping the lieutenant hadn’t changed her mind about Erik or the plan.

  “Sure.” Cabrina looked around. “Where did Ma…Erik go?”

  “He’s going over some things concerning the ship with our data guy,” Jia explained. “We want to make sure we have all the available options before we commit to anything.”

  Cabrina smiled at the Argo. “It’s a nice ship. The data guy’s also working on decrypting the intel you mentioned?”

  Jia shook her head. “That’s our…data girl. She’s working on the problem at a remote site.”

  “Good.” Cabrina nodded. “With all this rebel bullshit, it’s best to keep the noncombatants as far from the front lines as possible.”

  “I’m sure our data guy would agree with you.” Jia smiled.

  Trusting Cabrina in battle and trusting her with information about Emma were two separate things. Among other issues, Emma’s secret wasn’t Jia’s to freely share, and now that she and Erik were looking the other way while the AI conducted her progeny experiment, it was more important than ever to be cautious about mentioning her to others. That’d probably bite them in the ass eventually, but they had a long list of other problems to worry about first.

  Cabrina nodded and stared at the Argo, her frown deepening. “We might not need your data girl if this rebel’s not full of shit. He still secured? I know he sounds like he wants to help, but he might change his mind if he thinks he can steal something nice from your ship.”

  “Malcolm—that is our data guy—has him locked down tightly in a room. No PNIU, alarms if he tries anything.” Jia gave the ship a long, thoughtful look. “I’ve never considered imprisoning anyone on our ship before. It’s surprisingly easy.”

  “Every Fleet ship has a brig, every Army base a jail. I’m used to it, but you were a cop. Cells are new to you?”

  “No. I think it’s more about mindset.” Jia let the thought linger for a moment. “I don’t think like a cop anymore. I don’t know if that’s a bad thing, but I can’t deny it.”

  “Who knows?” Cabrina sat on a nearby crate. “And now you follow Erik around, taking down these mysterious conspiracies?”

  “Did you mention that part to your commander?” Jia asked.

  Cabrina shook her head. “It’s not relevant to what’s going on here. Our mission is to take out the rebels and whoever is supporting them. If I complicate things by trying to shove ghost work through military channels, it’s not going to help your mission or ours. Besides…” she looked down, her expression grim, “for all I know, there are people like that in garrison. It would explain a few things about how things happened here and how the rebellion managed to do so well early on.”

  Jia sat beside her. “You think the conspiracy has infiltrated the Army?”

  “Obviously.” Cabrina shrugged. “At least partially. I’m not saying I don’t trust my chain of command, just saying that mentioning what you two told me doesn’t add much. Whoever’s above me who needs to know that kind of thing probably already knows it, one way or another. Besides, I’ve got my own selfish reasons.”

  Cabrina reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny holographic projection. She tapped it, and an image of a man in an Army uniform appeared. The family resemblance was unmistakable.

  “I switched from the Fleet to the Army to honor my brother,” she explained. “But now I have a chance to nail some of the bastards who worked for the people who killed him. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to taking revenge with my own hands. I just hope that rebel’s not messing with us.”

  “I don’t think he is.” Jia surveyed the hangar slowly, taking in the laughing soldiers and the scowling but busy Lanara. “Call it a hunch from my time as a detective.”

  “I thought you didn’t think like a cop anymore?”

  “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my ability to read people. He feels like a broken man trying to do the right thing in the end, and besides, his motivation is the same as yours.”

  Cabrina let out a weak scoff. “Revenge is easy to get behind.”

  �
�Yes, sir.” Cabrina tilted her head as she listened in private to her commander.

  Jia crossed her arms, her heart pounding harder than she would have expected over a simple conversation. It might have helped if she could hear both sides.

  After two hours of waiting around, Cabrina’s commander had contacted her. She’d been talking to him for several minutes while Jia and Erik waited patiently. Based on the one-way snippets and Cabrina’s body language, Jia was hopeful the mission had been approved, but she couldn’t be sure.

  “I understand, sir,” Cabrina continued. “We’ll do our best. Thank you, sir.” She took a deep breath before speaking to Jia and Erik. “They’ve approved the mission, with the understanding we’ll have your active support. But it’s limited in scope.”

  Erik furrowed his brow. “How limited?”

  “They want one squad performing a recon push to verify the rebel’s intel before they commit more forces to destroying the site,” Cabrina explained. “The rebels are still pushing. Not as strongly as before, but a lot of forces remain tied up. So, that makes eight of us, counting you two. Unless your data guy can suit up.” She nodded at the Argo’s cargo bay. “I see you’ve got two other exos in there.”

  “Those aren’t for Malcolm.” Erik chuckled. “He can’t pilot an exo. We normally would have a couple more people with us, but shit happened before we set out.”

  Cabrina snickered. “’Shit happens’ defines the military.”

  “Malcolm can and will provide active drone support,” Jia noted.

  Cabrina shook her head. “Given the way they take down drones in rebel territory, along with the jamming, I don’t know if that’ll help, but I’m not going to complain. Garrison resources are stretched thin, so they expect us to lean on you two and your fancy ghost tech. My commander said, and I quote, ‘Let those ghost fuckers do something useful for a change.’”

  Jia wondered if it would have been possible for them to try to convince everyone they were contractors. Their last few missions stretched that so much that their cover identity was close to becoming nonviable, but if they were going to keep ending up in situations like the rebellion, it might not matter.

  Erik gave a light shake of his head. “Contractor, not a ghost. But let’s go talk to the rebel.”

  Jia, Erik, and Cabrina headed for the Argo. They’d made it to the cargo bay when Malcom pinged Jia’s and Erik’s PNIUs with a private message.

  Not sure if you want her to hear, but I just received a file from Emma. It’s not location data according to her, mostly override codes, but play the message I just sent. It’s best if I don’t interpret the rest.

  Jia held up a hand to stop Cabrina. “One sec. Something just came through. Our data girl.”

  Cabrina nodded eagerly. “Sure.”

  Emma’s voice was tense. “Mr. Constantine has hopefully summarized my initial information in an efficient way before you hear this and has sent along the necessary codes. I will be direct and brief. These files also indicate that three high-yield fusion bombs were delivered to a mercenary encampment, along with primary orders to prepare for detonation. They are awaiting their secondary confirmation order from an unknown superior who appears to be off-world. There’s no specific information indicating when that secondary confirmation might arrive, but the wording strongly suggests they expect it imminently.”

  “Damn it,” Erik growled, kicking the floor. “We’ve got WMDs, Cabrina.”

  She swallowed. “You’re serious? Even the FSA wouldn’t…. But it’s not them, is it?”

  Erik shook his head. “No, and we don’t know when they’re going to blow them, but it might be soon.”

  “If she contacts her commander again, do you think we’ll be able to get more support?” Jia asked.

  Erik frowned. “They’re not going to commit to a major mission deep in rebel territory on that skimpy of evidence, not in the middle of fighting another rebel offensive.”

  “He’s right.” Cabrina grimaced. “We took a lot of hits in the first wave. Everything’s in rough shape all over the colony. If they send a major force, it will leave gaps in our defensive line that the FSA and mercs have to be watching for. HQ might agree to it, but it’s not a decision that’ll be made quickly, not with everything else going on.”

  Jia locked eyes with Cabrina. “Are you willing to commit your squad, then? Not just to recon, but for a full raid? We can’t sit around and wait on this.”

  “I…” Cabrina sighed.

  “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission,” Erik offered with a lopsided grin. “That was the first lesson I learned when I became an officer. This fits with what Sokov told us, a mysterious delivery at a merc camp. I don’t think a complicated trap where they let us get data that can only be decrypted by a specialist and then send us a merc makes sense. I think the Lady smiled on us to give us a chance to save a lot of people’s lives.

  “And it’s not like you’re violating orders. You have been ordered to check out the site. If we decide to go a little above and beyond and don’t die in the process, do you really think anyone’s going to complain?”

  “Fine. I’ll go brief my squad.” Cabrina spun on her bootheel. “But if that rebel is lying, I’ll kill him myself.”

  Damir sat on the edge of the bed when Jia and Erik entered the cabin. “Is it time?”

  “The mercs are going to nuke the colony,” Erik explained. “We don’t know when, but we know it’s going to happen. We need to move and do it now. It’s just going to be eight exos and you. I’m going to give you all your guns and a scout bike to keep up unless you can pilot an exo. I assume you’re not enough of an idiot to want to die in a nuclear explosion.”

  “I see.” Damir swallowed. “I can’t pilot an exo, but I can drive a scout bike. I saw one in your cargo bay.” He stood. “They sink so far, and I think that’s the bottom, but then they dig a hole and sink farther.”

  Erik extended his hand. “Sokov, you’ve got your reasons to fight. We’ve got ours, but right now, we both only care about one thing: saving this colony.”

  Damir shook it. “Thank you for believing me.”

  “Thank you for caring more about your colony than your own life,” Jia replied.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Eight exos running through a city sounded a lot like a herd of stampeding cattle. In this case, those metal cattle were trailing after Damir on the sleek scout bike. Their resounding footsteps were eclipsed by the thunder of artillery and the boom of explosions in the distance. The gunfire grew more frequent and closer as they moved deeper into the city. Cabrina had been right. The battle was far from over.

  The team maintained a tight formation. They’d already passed through one empty checkpoint, deep craters marking the road and the scorched bottom half of an Army exo speaking to its fate. Malcolm’s drones followed them, the man doing his best to make them aware of threats and steer them around them. They didn’t have time to waste on fighting anyone else. For all they knew, the detonation command was coming any second, and even if it wasn’t, they couldn’t take the chance the bombs might be moved.

  Erik’s heart thundered. He tried to convince himself that the mercs would attempt to flee before setting off any nuke, but the Core wasn’t above sacrificing useful pawns. They’d proven it again and again. The mercs might believe they’d be safe and an Elite would set off the nukes. He had no problem believing a brain in a can would give his life for the Core. Their minions had proven that, from the Ascended Brotherhood to the scientist in France. He had no idea what the leaders of the Core believed, but their top servants displayed fanatical zealotry that made the average terrorist, rebel, or even Purist look lazy and uncommitted.

  Cabrina scoffed, then sent a transmission to just Jia and Erik. “We’re heading to what is likely to be a heavily defended location, potentially even an enemy HQ, and we’ve got eight exos, a guy with a sniper rifle on a scout bike, and some drones that’ll probably end up being useless when we get closer.
Everyone volunteered for this, but we might be making a mistake.”

  “We’re stopping WMDs,” Erik replied without a hint of concern. “Even if these guys have nothing to do with the conspiracy, it doesn’t matter. This is easy math. Nine people for hundreds of thousands. We have to get this done.”

  Cabrina chuckled bitterly. “You make it sound so easy. But then, this is what you do, huh? Travel around the galaxy taking these people on? Doing that kind of calculation again and again?”

  “Sure, but I always assume something important when I do this kind of thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That’ll I win.” Erik jumped over the burned-out wreck of an armored military transport. “It makes things easier and forces you to try to win.”

  Acrid smoke choked the area, but the rebel continued moving forward at a modest speed, allowing the exos to keep up with him. He swerved back and forth to avoid holes, collapsed chunks of buildings, and destroyed vehicles or exo remnants. A scout bike was wonderful in certain environments, but a crater-filled colony wasn’t one of them. They didn’t have time for him to hike to the site, though.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Damir muttered. His limited transmission to Erik, Jia, and Cabrina couldn’t have been an accident.

  “This is what a rebellion is,” Jia countered. “When you throw away the existing order, you get chaos. You don’t overthrow the people in power without innocent folks getting hurt.”

  “Outsiders came in,” Damir complained. “They corrupted our ideals.”

  “Outsiders your people brought in,” Cabrina muttered. “Don’t kid yourself, Sokov. Those mercenaries are here because the FSA brought them in. Because those mercenaries are here, those nukes are here, and now everyone might die.”

  “Somebody I work for,” Erik began with a chuckle, “would say beware Greeks bearing gifts. Guess that applies to mercs, too.”