Of course, she hadn’t lent out any flak jackets on the sly for illegal clandestine operations, so it wasn’t a surprise the numbers matched.
She signed off on the supply check with her authorization and opened the next locker. Grenades, of three different varieties—
The hiss of the door opening was so near to silent, if the armory wasn’t quiet as a tomb she might not have heard it.
“Suit up.”
She tensed at the recognition of the familiar voice but schooled her expression before turning around to face Malcolm. “Sir?”
“I said suit up. We have a mission—a real one.”
She eyed him warily. “I thought you were angry with me.”
“I am angry with you. But we still have a job to do.”
The nightmares had been tamer last night, but she felt strangely off-kilter. Like she were standing on a cliff where the jagged cracks at her feet refused to commit, never breaking off to send her plummeting into the abyss yet never healing to become safe, stable ground.
But she still had a job to do. “Yes, sir.”
“The pertinent information’s in the system. Briefing will be in half an hour. Review the team makeup and mission parameters and let me know of any suggested changes before the briefing.”
She called up the file and started scanning the summary on a whisper screen. “You’re going on the mission as well?”
“I find I could use a bit of forced self-defense.”
AFS SARATOGA
MILKY WAY SECTOR 17
On meeting Eren asi-Idoni, Brooklyn immediately understood why Morgan had rambled on about him for nearly a minute after she’d met him, before cutting herself off to apologize while blushing. The long, audacious hair, the shining, naturally defiant eyes, the sleek, black-on-black attire and roguish manner? They would definitely have caught Morgan’s fancy.
She simmered for two seconds before reminding herself that looking was merely an act of detached appreciation, and she had no reason to be insecure.
Still, she cut off Eren’s long-winded introduction. “Yeah, Lekkas told me about you. Let’s just get to the mission details.”
“ ‘Lekkas’? Ah, the fighter pilot, yes?” He grinned wolfishly—but at her glare tamped it down. “Right, then. Yes. The mission is to rescue as many of the captives the lab is imprisoning as we can. The tricky part is, we need to get on the station and disable the security as quickly and quietly as possible, else the staff will simply gas all the captives as soon as they realize there’s a breach in progress.
“Once we negate their ability to do so, we can proceed at a more leisurely pace, as it were. Oh, and I should mention that some of the prisoners won’t be suitable for rescue.”
“Because some of them are aliens who haven’t been socialized?”
“Oh, none of the aliens in the lab have been socialized. But some of them might have poisonous bristles for skin, for instance. Or be more inclined to disembowel you than accompany you. That sort of thing.”
She massaged her neck; she’d spent too much time canting it sideways doing inventory, and now it ached. “I don’t suppose you have a list of the prisoners and their basic characteristics, so we’ll have an idea of what to be on the lookout for?”
“Where would the fun be in that?”
“Living. Living would be the fun in it.”
He waffled in contemplation. “Yes, there is living to consider. We’ll try not to open the cage locks until we know what’s inside. Will this be sufficient?”
“Not really. But if it’s all we’ve got, we’ll work with it.”
Malcolm showed up in the briefing room on the Saratoga then, and the last of the team members filed in seconds later. Harper closed the door and nodded to Malcolm.
“All right, everyone. The mission is the rescue of prisoners from an Anaden-run experimental lab facility. We will be taking three hybrid squads, designated Alpha, Beta and Charlie. Alpha will be led by me, Beta by Captain Harper and Charlie by Major Grenier. Each squad will include two medics and a tech officer, as well as an anarch representative, who will serve as our on-scene experts.
“Each squad will be taking a separate transport, as we will need room for the evacuees on the return trip. Stealth will get us inside the perimeter.”
He gestured to one of the Prevos on the mission. “Captain Rodriguez will scout ahead via sidespace and attempt to locate a weak point in external security. A targeted EMP will exploit the weak point to simulate a technical problem with the security system, and we will infiltrate the facility in the ensuing confusion. From that point on we will be weapons hot. Elimination of staffers at the facility is not a mission objective, but they should be considered hostile.
“Once inside, our first priority is removing the ability of the staffers to institute an emergency euthanasia protocol against the prisoners. The second objective is to free all prisoners it is practicable to do so, ensure they reach the transports and evacuate them from the facility.”
Rodriguez spoke up. “Sir, what does ‘practicable’ mean here?”
“Excellent question. This is an exobiology research lab, which means we don’t expect any of the prisoners to be members of what the Anadens call the ‘Accepted Species.’ Instead, they are likely be members of alien species the Directorate has deemed not worthy of…well, of continuing to exist. Now, I’m certain many unfair judgments were made on that front, but a portion of the prisoners will be violent or otherwise dangerous. Some may not be transportable.”
“Not transportable?”
Malcolm raised his palms in prevarication. “Your guess is as good as mine, Captain, but I suspect you’ll know it when you see it. Once the security system has been disabled, the three squads will split up inside to cover more ground.
“Again, the primary mission objective is to rescue as many of the prisoners as is practicable and deliver them safely to Anarch Post Alpha on Chionis. We’ll also be placing remote detonation micro-bombs at strategic locations inside the facility, but the decision of whether to detonate will be made on the scene.
“We move in twenty minutes. Dismissed.”
43
EXOBIOLOGY RESEARCH LAB #4
MILKY WAY SECTOR 23
* * *
HARPER REVIEWED THE LIMITED INTEL in the briefing package for the third time during the trip to the facility. The Saratoga took them most of the way, then the three transports detached five megameters out from the target. Each transport was capable of carrying one hundred troops, so for now her vessel was near to empty.
The Anaden joined her and the pilot in the cockpit as they detached. “Have any questions?”
“Dozens, but I doubt you’ve got the answers to them.”
“Probably not. I was supposed to blow this place up a few weeks ago. I got side-tracked by Caleb and Alex before I could get it done.”
“That does happen. You were simply going to kill everyone inside?”
“It seemed the most merciful choice. Better than leaving them there to suffer.”
“Huh.” She frowned noncommittally. “Why the change of heart?”
He gazed out the viewport, looking so soulful she rolled her eyes behind his back…and used her ocular implant to snap a quick visual for Morgan’s later enjoyment.
“Everyone deserves a second chance at life. And now I have heavily armed friends who can give it to a few of them.”
“Passing through the external security perimeter. Eighty kilometers to target.”
Harper stood to face the main cabin. “Rodriguez, you’re up. Everyone else, mission check.”
“Weapons Green.”
“Systems Green.”
“Tech Green.”
“Mr. asi-Idoni, have you equipped the personal shield we provided to you?”
“Bloody please call me Eren.”
“Fine. Have you?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s some sort of combination of defensive protection and a Veil?”
“Correct. The
protective aspects are engaged at all times, and to activate the concealment features of the Veil, tap any point on the module with your finger. The Veil will grant you one hundred percent invisibility at movement speeds up to—”
“Oh, I know. Been there. I’ve got fond memories of my head being blown off—not on account of any failure of the Veil to live up to expectations, though. That one was all me.”
She stared at him for a second, then shook her head dismissively. He was very odd. All the Anadens she’d met were odd, presumably due to being so close to human yet not. But he was an extra helping of odd.
Rodriguez’s voice held the soft, distracted tenor that accompanied sidespace delvings. “EMP target location is beneath the docking bay, sixty-two meters in at 18.4°.”
The pilot readied the launch. “Syncing with Alpha and Charlie, and launch in three…two…one…mark.”
The EMP missile was too small to track visually, but its brief journey was visible on the radar. The green dot reached the location, flared briefly and vanished.
“Outer and inner force fields disabled.”
So far, so good. “Take us in, Lieutenant. Pello on point, Odaka on rearguard. Once the hangar is secure, Shanti and Verela will remain in the hangar with two members each of Alpha and Charlie squads to protect the transports, and soon enough the evacuees. Eren, when we move, stay behind me and don’t try any heroics.”
“But…heroics is what I do.”
“Today, your heroics will be helping us rescue the prisoners inside. You’ll accomplish this by not getting yourself killed.”
He arched an eyebrow. “You do know I don’t really die, right?”
“Yes, but you’re no good to me or the mission if you’re lying in a medical capsule back at Post Alpha. No heroics.”
He grumbled something Brooklyn took for grudging assent, and she turned her attention to their approach.
They remained cloaked and undetected as they passed a departing Anaden cargo ship on their way into the hangar. They were lucky only one other ship was docked, as otherwise there wouldn’t have been room for the three large transports.
The pilot called up a new screen. “Normal atmosphere detected in the hangar. Internal environmentals must be on a different system than external security.”
“Good.” They’d take breather masks nonetheless, in case the place got vented or any of a dozen other calamitous eventualities occurred.
The instant the transport settled to the floor of the hangar, the clock was ticking. “All Veils active.” She opened the hatch. “Move out.”
An alarm beeped unobtrusively in the hangar, an indication the staff was aware the security force fields were down. No one appeared to be panicking, however—not until they saw their coworkers begin to collapse, rendered unconscious by unseen attackers.
Harper fired close-range tranquilizer darts into the necks of two advancing guards in rapid succession. ASCEND’s study of the dead Inquisitor had produced a chemical formulation designed to target Anaden physiology. It seemed to work, as the targets collapsed to the floor in less than a second.
Hopefully most of the staffers were Anaden, because for now they had nothing suited for any other species.
Sergeant Pello (Beta): “I’ve located what looks to be a security office left off the right hallway, four meters distance.”
Brigadier Jenner (Alpha): “Major Eaton, investigate and attempt to disable internal security systems.”
Eren asi-Idoni (Beta): “I can help with the disabling.”
HarperRF (Beta): “Redale, with Eren.”
The rest of her squad secured the hangar. They were invisible, so she monitored their movements and status via implanted trackers connected to her eVi’s combat routine. The unconscious guards were gathered together in one spot and put under guard, and everyone de-Veiled. They likely showed up on cams, but it wasn’t as if no one knew the facility was infiltrated and under assault.
While Malcolm secured the neutralized staff and Major Grenier directed the placement of the first micro-bombs, she checked in on progress at the security office.
Two unconscious bodies lay on the floor near Eren, who argued in furtive murmurs with Major Eaton. She grabbed the arms of one of the bodies and started dragging it out. “Double-time it, people. Major, Eren knows the procedures and protocols better than we do.”
Eren reached around Eaton and entered a quick series of commands on a panel. “There. Now they can’t gas the holding cells or cut off life support. And…here’s the security code to unlock the individual cells.”
Eaton shrugged in acceptance and attached a micro-bomb to the console, then began hauling the other body out.
“Hold up, one more thing.” Eren reached into his pack and removed one of the small mineral slabs used for data storage here and fit it in an input slot.
She glared at him in question, but he just held up a finger while swiftly entering new commands.
“Five seconds, Eren.”
“Mm-hmm.” He removed the slab and returned it to his pack. “Now we have all the data the lab kept on the prisoners. It’s too wordy and obtuse to be of much use now, but it’ll help us take better care of them at the post.”
“Great. Now move.” She resumed dragging the unconscious body back to the hangar, where she deposited it with the rest.
Brigadier Jenner (Alpha): “Alpha squad will take the left wings of the first and second floors, Beta squad right. Charlie squad, start on the left wing of the third floor and work your way in. Go.”
The diminutive creature was led into the office by two armed guards.
Though Nyx had seen the form when it lay dormant in the stasis pod, animation and motion made the physical body even less imposing.
Her nose wrinkled up in disgust. “Aren’t you a pitiful little thing?”
The Kat didn’t respond, instead letting its oversized head hang limply to rest on its chest. Open cuts and dark bruises decorated the skin exposed by the thin sheath it wore, and she wasn’t certain it was capable of walking without the assistance of the guards.
The scientists at the lab had, after some experimentation—experimentation that had killed the other specimen—discovered that by gradually shutting off the stasis pod functions in a specific order, they could force a Kat’s consciousness into its body. Once the subject was awake in a physical form, and thus more controllable, they had continued their interrogation and investigation.
Administrator Logiel ela-Erevna motioned dismissively in the direction of the Kat as he circled around behind his desk. “We can’t get anything out of the creature. The biological study is interesting enough to keep it alive for now, in particular what we’re discovering about the ways in which they’re able to sustain their bodies for many tens of thousands of years. The other Inquisitor interrogated it extensively, though, so I’m not sure what else you think you can learn. But have at it if you wish.”
“Ziton did not possess all the relevant information during the time he was here. We’ve recently uncovered new facts.” Nyx crouched to study the Kat more closely. “Eusebe, yes? Tell me how you went about introducing diati into the Humans’ realm.”
The Kat’s tiny lips moved slightly.
“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you, so do speak up.”
“Don’t know…anything. Not my work.” The voice remained barely a whisper, weak, thready and despondent.
She dropped the rest of the way to her knees, then reached over and lifted the Kat’s chin with her fingertip. It offered no resistance.
“Yes, you claim you didn’t work in the Network. I remember. The Humans have used interesting dimension cracking weapons and defenses in their attacks. But after the exploit your colleagues just pulled at one of the hidden portals, we now know it’s not the Humans’ technology. It’s yours, and that means you provided it to them. How does this technology work, exactly? How can it be countered?”
Enormous black eyes surrounded by wan, sagging skin stared blankly at her
. “I have nothing left to give you. Kill me.”
She groaned and stood. “You’ve rendered the prisoner useless, Administrator. Can’t you at least feed it or something?”
“We are feeding it. It refused to eat the biologically compatible food we supplied, so we’ve been infusing nutrients intravenously.”
“Pain response?”
“Oh, it’s extremely responsive to negative reinforcement. Given the extent of our efforts in that regard, it’s possible the creature has told us everything it knows.”
Eusebe bobbed its head raggedly. “Yes. Done. Kill me.”
She considered the Kat critically. “If I promise to put you out of your disgusting misery before the day is out, will you answer my final questions?”
Now it slumped lower between the guards. “Nothing left to answer, nothing left to share.”
“You lie, Eusebe. You may not know about the diati, but if you studied black holes as you earlier insisted, I guarantee you know how the dimension cracking technology works. So tell me about it, and if I’m satisfied with your answers I’ll grant your request.”
“I don’t—” The ring of multiple alarms cut the Kat off. The guards holding it upright instinctively tensed and unholstered their weapons in response to the alarms.
As they did, Eusebe slipped out of the grasp of one to hug the leg of the other. It caught the weapon as the guard was bringing it up, thrust its head in front of the muzzle, and closed a hand over the guard’s to press the trigger.
Brain matter and sallow blood sprayed the guard and the wall behind him, and the lifeless body crumpled to the floor.
Nyx threw her hands in the air in a growl of frustration. “Arae! Now I have no Kats left to interrogate and no planet left to acquire more from. Your Primor will hear of your poor performance in this matter, Administrator.”
But Logiel was ignoring her to frantically peer at panel after panel of flashing alerts. “The lab has been infiltrated. We’re under attack!”
Rubicon: Aurora Resonant Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 8) Page 27
