“Chief Lockhart believes he can reboot Jem’s system. By removing the Jemison from dry dock, we’ll be committing an act of treason. I am not going to force any of you to help. There will be no repercussions from me or anyone on this crew if you want to sit this one out. Once we’re in orbit, anyone who wishes to remain behind will be able to take the escape pods. You can remain in the hangar without shame, but you have to make the decision now. Once we start this, there’s no turning back.”
A couple men eased away from the group and took a seat near the row of benches beside the escape pods. A woman joined them. Gareth’s heart sank as whispers hissed across the group, friend against friend debating the right course of action.
“I’ll help.” Lieutenant Etherington stepped forward, startling Gareth because the guy was a known prick who abused his authority to get laid. “Once you reboot Jem, you’ll need the engines online before command realizes what we’re doing.”
A handful of engineers followed their department head in support, but for every few who joined, another took a seat. The same pattern repeated across the remainder of the crew. In the end, close to fifty people sat against the wall while the rest awaited orders.
“Thank you, everyone,” Ethan announced. “As for the civilians, I’d like to ask all of you to please go with the escape pods.”
“What?” The wife of one of their marines pushed through the crowd. Melissa Abernathy worked in the science lab as a civilian technician.
“This is a military matter, ma’am, and I don’t want any families put in the crossfire if it comes down to a fight.”
“We have as much right to help rescue the queen as anyone else here,” she argued.
“I know you do, Melissa,” Ethan said, his voice strained. “But you have a little boy to watch over.”
Abernathy stepped up beside his wife. “Zeke is safely away with his grandparents, sir.”
“I know that, but what I don’t know is if I can get both of his parents back to him,” Ethan replied, his voice soft. Both Abernathy and his wife fell silent. “I won’t fault you if you choose to go as well, son, but at least this way I can ensure Zeke has his mother. My directive stands, all civilians will vacate the ship once we take off.”
“Yes, sir.” Abernathy walked with his wife to where the others were sitting. For a moment, Gareth thought he would join her. Instead, Abernathy hugged his wife tight and whispered something against her ear. They kissed, and then Melissa sat down while Abernathy joined his fellow marines.
He couldn’t imagine how hard it had to be for them. Then again, maybe he could.
Once upon a time, Gareth had loved a wife and child of his own.
Ethan looked out over the divided group and gave a single nod. “All right then. Those of you who are remaining, head to your battle stations and prepare. To the rest of you, good luck. It’s been an honor serving as your captain.”
At the conclusion of Ethan’s speech, Gareth slipped into a service corridor and pried an access panel from the wall. After pulling the panel into place behind him, he crawled on his hands and knees into the heart of the ship to bypass the hydraulic doors guarding Jem’s server.
Due to a combination of physical and electronic locks controlling all sensitive and highly restricted areas of the ship, a passcode was necessary to enter the A.I.’s core. They had lost access when Admiral Scarot placed their ship under lockdown and no amount of hacking would help if he couldn’t jack his datapad in the port.
He reached an open hole descending into darkness, lined by red lights. His heart raced, and his sweaty fingers slipped on a ladder rung on the way down, but he caught himself and made it to the bottom safely, to crouch in the center of two intersecting tunnels. A quick glance at a virtual map on his datapad told him to veer left. A few minutes later, he crossed paths with a small team of engineers.
“Access denied?” he asked them.
“Trying to get to the FTL core for a manual restart but this nutter got us lost,” one of them replied.
“I haven’t taken the long route in ages, okay?”
“Go back down and take the second right,” he told them. “The access panel there will lead straight into the hyperspace drive.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
He reached a grate beyond the next turn and peered through narrow slits into the A.I. core. The room glowed with the light of multiple consoles, though most had been deactivated. Two years ago, in the aftermath of Kaiden’s rescue, Gareth had made it his goal to learn everything he could about the A.I. and her operations. She’d been taken offline, leaving them all like sitting ducks.
A cool draft reached his fingertips as he raised the grate. After setting it aside, he dropped down into the room and huffed out a breath, which fogged in the chilly temperature. The electronics suite making up Jem’s core blinked in a series of white, blue, and green lights. The center console, however, glowed red.
“Gonna get you fixed up,” he muttered.
The entire mission hinged on him getting Jem online again. While he trusted their flight lieutenant to get them airborne, too many of the ship’s operations relied on a human pilot cooperating with the machine. Without a full crew, Jem was no longer a luxury. They needed her.
Gareth plugged into the main server then pushed the button to initiate the manual reset.
“Status report,” Ethan’s voice crackled over the communications.
“Engines are prepped and ready to fire on your word, sir,” Etherington reported.
“Chief Lockhart?”
“Almost there. Fire when ready.” His fingers flew over his virtual keyboard, initiating the complex series of codes and reroutes to get around the command lockout. The console beeped and flashed green, then ship systems returned to full functionality.
“We’re in!”
Jem’s voice surrounded him, a smooth welcome issued from several speakers. “Hello, Gareth Lockhart.”
“You have no idea how grateful I am to hear your voice, Jem. Listen, we’ve got work to do.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jinx burst into the small lounge where the crew liked to gather for friendly card games and meals, his eyes huge in his pale face. He radiated excitement, his energy practically tangible. Kaiden didn’t need psychic abilities to pick up that much.
“Holy shit, you guys, you won’t believe what just came over the broadcasts.”
Evangeline seemed unruffled, as if she were used to her techie running around like a crazy man. Maybe she was. “Well? Spit it out already.”
“The queen. They busted her out right under the Royal Guards’ noses.”
“What?” Nisrine jumped to her feet. “Who? The assassins?”
Kaiden mentally jacked into the communication network and looked at the news to find multiple stories unfolding in real time. Holy shit. They’d done it. He even watched captured footage of his brother holding off a barrage of fucking gunfire with telekinesis, his psionic shield covering the ground assault squad who rushed a gurney bearing the queen onto the ship.
Damn. They hadn’t been joking at all about Gareth’s power increase.
They’d blown a hole in the side of the hospital. Those ballsy bastards. His heart swelled with pride every time a news station looped it. Journalists and military specialists were racing to uncover the identities of the people involved.
“The Jemison,” Jinx said. “Chancellor DuValle and the admirals put out a full-blown alert for their capture.”
Nisrine sat back down beside him, but tension remained in her frame. “How did they even manage it?”
Jinx shrugged. “No idea. The reports just said they broke lockdown and attacked the hospital. There’s some footage of the Royal Guard trying to fight them off, but your buddies went in so hard they didn’t have a chance. The psychic with them was amazing.”
“They got my message,” Kaiden said. Relief and fear coursed through him in equal measure. Relief that their queen was out of an assassin’s reach, but fear for
the crew who were a family to him, because now they had an even larger target on their back. “Every network is reporting the story and all military channels are full of chatter regarding their capture. Every ship is going to be mobilized to find them.”
“Well fuck me,” Evie muttered. She laughed and leaned back in her seat. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just, I think I like this captain of yours.”
“Commodore,” he and Nisrine said in unison.
Evie snickered. “Commodore. Sounds like a good man.”
“One of the best,” Nisrine said in a soft voice. “Kaiden, can you get in touch with them?”
“No, not right now, but I’ll keep trying.”
“Thanks for letting us know, Jinx, but I think you should get back to your post now.” Evie prompted. She waited until the kid left before turning to the others. “Well? What do we think of this?”
“It’s a variable I hadn’t exactly considered, but all in all, it frees us from worrying about the queen,” Nisrine said after a moment of thought. “She’ll be safe with our crew.”
“All right. What’s our next step?”
“We need to focus on what we can do, Evie,” Nisrine replied, rubbing her temples. “That means going after the admiral.”
“Right, but how do you plan to do that? We can’t exactly waltz into her military office.” Evie leaned forward and clasped her hands together, letting them hang between her knees.
“Got it on good authority that Scarot will be at a board meeting in Bromwicham tomorrow,” Kaiden said.
As the majority stockholder of a company in the defensive technology sector, the admiral attended biweekly meetings. From what they’d dug up on her, Scarot frequently dipped her fingers into as many lucrative pies as she could.
Evangeline crossed her arms. “And you need to get close to her.”
“We need someone to sit in on that meeting. I can eavesdrop, but it isn’t the same as having a body present who can ask questions and probe during the discussion. There’s other government figures on the board, too.” As he spoke, he moved his fingers and cycled through holographic portraits of other members of parliament.
Nisrine moved close enough to read over his shoulder from behind. “If I recall, Queen Catherine spoke of prohibiting conflicts of interest in the future. She named it a dangerous practice, said people would make decisions based on the financial outcome rather than what was good for the monarchy.”
He gazed thoughtfully at an article and nodded. “Agreed. It’s no surprise DigiTeq was endorsed by Scarot to become the Navy’s choice A.I. interface provider when she stands to make millions from the contract. Fortunately, the Lexar stepped in with free upgrades.”
“Yeah, but many folk distrust Lexar technology and would rather pay to have human-made programs,” Nisrine said. “So DigiTeq still stands to make money.”
Evie chuckled. “There are better systems on the market. Gryphon can outmaneuver the best program written by DigiTeq, and he only costs a fraction of the quid.”
“I aim to please,” the A.I. replied. “Though I am not as advanced as a Lexar A.I, I will always do my best.”
Evangeline snorted. “So. How do you plan on getting inside?”
“We have to replace one of the members.” Nisrine ran her finger down the list. “It’ll have to be someone we can abduct and conceal for a short time while the others are unaware. Kaiden, run a comparison against all stockholding female members of parliament with approximately the same height and build as me.”
“Out of five female board members, your physical qualities bear a sixty-nine percent match with Lenora Maddox. You’re two inches too tall and three cup sizes too large to pull this one off, Nissie, unless you have some nifty tricks I haven’t seen yet.”
“No need for your usual tricks. I can do you one better,” Evangeline told them. “I happen to have a prototype model for a holographic infiltration kit.”
Kaiden whistled. “Where did you—”
“Not outing my sources.” Evangeline winked.
“Useful, but how will we overcome the biometric scans and security measures?” Nisrine asked.
Kaiden waved off her concern with a gesture of his hand before saying, “Leave that to me. I pulled it off a few times while traveling with you to hide my cybernetics. I’ll overlay Maddox’s vital statistics over yours and convince the computers to report those. You only need to look the part and fool the eyes around you.”
This time, Evangeline mimicked him with a whistle of her own. Her smile was both warm and teasing, the gesture as sincere as the words to follow. “Impressive talent you have there. If you decide to cut your losses and abandon this military thing, I’ll be glad to have you.”
“I don’t quite think I’m ready to become a mercenary just yet, but the offer’s appreciated.”
The conversation returned to their plan for infiltrating the building. Maintaining the secrecy of their connection to the Silver Gryphon remained crucial to Kaiden’s scheme. He didn’t want to show their hand and reveal their allies, and more importantly, he wanted to keep Evie free of UNE trouble.
The mercenary captain chuckled at his expressed concern. “It wouldn’t be the first time I was wanted for aiding and abetting a fugitive, but you’re right. I doubt I’d be able to bribe my way out of this one.”
“Aye, you’d be in the brig beside us, or worse, at this rate. It’s a real shame we don’t have more than one of those chameleon devices though. I hate the idea of sending her alone into hostile territory. Security will be high.”
“Then you and I will have to remain near to supervise and yank her out if things fall to shit.”
“How?”
Evie stood and beckoned him to follow. “Why don’t the both of you accompany me to the hangar? I have the perfect idea.”
The ship’s hangar easily fit a small shuttle and their stealth craft with room to spare. At the far end, Kaiden saw several cargo pods opposite the bay’s entrance. Evie led them to the nearest one and pulled open the heavy doors.
A pristine pair of sleek hoverbikes occupied the storage pod, harnessed upright with anchor cables. One gleamed the bold crimson of fresh blood, with a nebula pattern of dappled golden stars. The second reminded him of a lightning bolt, blue with silver streaks. He was immediately envious, missing the bike he’d left at home in his mother’s garage. Part of him had been startled to discover she hadn’t sold it during his disappearance.
“Can you drive one?” she asked him.
He rubbed his hands together. “Does an Eloran piss in the ocean?”
A cool autumn wind disturbed Kaiden’s hair while he lay prostrate on a rooftop across from the office building where the meeting would take place. The crew of the Silver Gryphon may have been crooks, but he had to admire their style.
With Evie’s help, Lenora Maddox had made an easy catch. The woman followed the same routine day after day, first grabbing the morning paper and a coffee from a local cafe on her way into work. While Ranulf posed as a chauffeur employed by the driving service she preferred, Evangeline spiked the woman’s hot brew during an accidental brush in the shop. Apparently, she preferred fetching her own coffee to avoid fuck-ups with the order.
She’d passed out before they reached the end of the street.
Kaiden kept tabs over Nisrine’s commlink while Evie’s second-in-command fetched her at the next corner. The narrow time frame between the abduction and scheduled meeting granted her the remainder of a thirty-minute drive to delve into the woman’s mind and cram Lenora’s life, personality, and work habits into her own memories.
It wasn’t a gentle process, but they benefited from the soundproofed vehicle.
“Pulling up now,” Nisrine informed the team. “Are you in place, Kaiden?”
“I am. Are you good?”
“A little headache but nothing I can’t endure. I got what I needed from her, that’s what counts.”
“You get in and you get back out, Nissie. That’s what counts.”
“I will,” she said in a soft voice after a brief pause.
Sending Nisrine in without backup could prove to be a lethal mistake, but he couldn’t deny the pragmatism in their plan. She was alone in enemy territory, surrounded by the very people demanding their arrest.
Their target lay before him, a multi-story edifice of glass and metal owned by Admiral Scarot. Down below, a stretch limousine slid into the parking space on the curb, shining ivory and gold. Nisrine emerged.
Thanks to the holoprojection suit, Nisrine had been transformed into a slim brunette in a chic pantsuit. Beneath her narrow, pointed nose, a thin pair of lips frowned sternly at her surroundings. Wide-set eyes beneath a broad forehead would have benefitted from an alternate hairstyle instead of the severe bun she currently sported. Despite the detraction to her looks, she carried her chin high and moved with purpose.
“I’ll stash away our guest as planned,” Ranulf muttered over the communications line. His task had been to abandon the vehicle as well as its occupant in a safe zone outside the city. “Good luck, everyone.”
Concentrating on his surroundings, Kaiden pushed his mind through the security barriers of the building until he located Nisrine’s signal. She reached a checkpoint and his senses fanned out over the room. He placed the correct biometrics in place, and she passed through without difficulty. He grinned.
“Everything is green for you, Nissie.”
Utilizing the building’s own security system, he watched her through the surveillance cameras with over a hundred feeds at his disposal, using them as an alternate consciousness. The building had become an extension of his mind, its many cameras his eyes, its pressure sensors individual nerve endings connected to his brain. His immediate surroundings became a blur, Evangeline forgotten behind him where he trusted her to guard his back.
Nisrine moved down the hallway, entered the elevator, and then exited on the top floor. She joined a slow, trickling flood of people headed toward the conference room
“Lenora!” a stout man with a round, jiggling belly cried. Kaiden dubbed him Saint Nick. “What a pleasure to see you’ve made it after all.”
Kaiden (The Nova Force Book 2) Page 21
