by A. K. DuBoff
How many people live on Duronis? A billion? More? She didn’t know the exact figure and really didn’t want to.
The trek to Evanwood Park took almost two hours. Though it was only three kilometers away, several of the people traveling with them were unable to move quickly, especially over various roadblocks in their path from destroyed structures to car wrecks. The city was an absolute mess, nothing like the thriving metropolis it had been that morning.
Seeing the rapid destruction and breakdown of normal social etiquette gave Lexi a renewed appreciation for the fragility of life. She’d seen her share of hardship and loss, but it had always been on a somewhat personal scale—family, friends. Never had she witnessed an entire planet attacked.
I stayed with the Alliance while they were planning this, and what do I have to show for it? A few files?
All she had wanted was to do good—to help. Instead, countless people had died, and she had also utterly failed in her original mission to find Melisa. Now, she didn’t know if she would ever find her friend; that trail had ended on Duronis, and what remained of the planet was falling apart around her.
“Almost there,” Kira said, breaking Lexi from her reflection.
The rows of city buildings to either side of the streets opened up into a broad greenspace with a grove of low trees ringing a pond at the center. Several hundred people were already in the park, some carrying packs and others with their clothes in tatters, so bloodied it was a wonder they were even standing.
“Stars, it’s either going to a take a big ship or a lot of trips to get everyone out of here,” Lexi said.
Kira looked over the scene with a frown. “That’s the problem with evacuating a planet—there’s no good way to do it. And especially without a port.”
More people were flowing in from the surrounding intersections. At this rate, there would be thousands packed into the space, which wouldn’t leave room for any craft to land. Getting everyone to disperse enough to make the necessary room was going to be a challenge when the time came.
“Any signs of rescue?” Lexi searched the sky for transport craft, not seeing anything.
Kira shook her head. “If any help does come, this is where they’ll be.”
“They are coming, though, right?” Lexi whispered, not wanting to raise alarm with the survivors.
“I need to believe so.”
Not the most reassuring statement. Lexi swallowed. “Okay.”
There was a very real possibility they might not make it offworld before the shield failed. She reached into her pocket, wrapping her fingers around her handheld. “Hey, Kira…”
Before she could complete the thought, the woman with the small child, whom they’d picked up at the beginning of their trek, suddenly pointed to Lexi and Kira, shouting, “They’re with the Guard! They’re going to get us rescued!”
The collective attention of the crowd suddenly shifted to them.
“Shite, that’s not good,” Kira said, barely above a whisper.
“Take me first! I’ll pay you!” a man shouted.
“Please, take my daughter!” another woman shouted.
The calls for priority evacuation soon overlapped in an incomprehensible cacophony. All the while, the crowd started to close in on Kira and Lexi as people jostled to get to the front of the nonexistent line.
They started to shove at each other. A few took up the salvaged items in their hands and began wielding them threateningly to anyone trying to get too close, all the while advancing.
“You’ve got to help us!” a man said, reaching out to Kira.
She sidestepped him just as a woman tried to grab Kira’s arm from the other side.
We can’t do anything to help these people right now. We’re just as trapped as them at the moment. Lexi’s pulse picked up, sensing the frenetic energy in the air. These people were on the edge, and one wrong move would send them into a frenzy.
“Go,” Kira whispered, nudging Lexi back the way they’d come.
“Where—”
The crowd continued to press closer, their cries for help escalating to shouted demands. Shoves turned into striking fists, and bits of rubble began flying through the air.
“Run!” Kira ordered Lexi.
Something was strange about Kira’s skin—like it had taken on a silver sheen in the evening light. Metallic-looking scales began to form, little droplets coming up through her flesh to combine into a second skin, giving her a bulkier, more muscular appearance. Even her fingers elongated into claws, and her mouth opened to reveal metallic fangs encasing her teeth.
Lexi stood there, dumbstruck, as the crowd recoiled. “What the fok?”
“Go!” Kira shouted at Lexi again.
She took a couple of stumbling steps backward and then turned and ran. How did she do that?
Kira had hinted that she had acquired some sort of unique augmentation while in the Guard, but Lexi had never heard about anything like this. Even the Lynaedans didn’t have nanotech that could enable that kind of shapeshifting—if that’s even what had happened.
Lexi ran blindly down several side streets, not knowing where to go. No one seemed to be pursuing her, so she stopped in an intersection that should make it easy for Kira to spot her when she broke free from the crowd.
Not more than thirty seconds since stopping, Lexi felt a breeze to her left, accompanied by a silvery blur. Kira, still transformed, skidded to a stop next to her.
“Over here,” she said, beckoning Lexi into a more secluded side street.
Lexi followed, unable to keep from gaping at her. “You’re… what are you?”
The scales began to break apart into what looked like liquid metal, and it absorbed back into her skin. Kira flexed her joints as the final shimmer faded. Portions of her clothes were ripped where the metallic form had over-stretched the fabric.
“It’s a long story,” Kira said. “Let’s just say I’m one-of-a-kind.”
“I’ve never seen nanotech like that. Is that what it is?”
“Yes, of a somewhat alien variety. It’s classified.” Kira checked the main intersection. “Looks like I got away without pursuit.”
“I didn’t know you could do that. And you ran so fast… How?”
“Transdimensional energy transfer,” was all Kira said at first. When Lexi gave her a confused look, Kira added, “The nanotech is stored in my musculoskeletal system, and my embedded AI, Jasmine, can activate it to form a sort of exoskeleton. That’s actually why she was paired with me.”
“How does all of that store inside you?”
“I’m a lot heavier than I look.”
Upon reflection, Lexi realized that the bunkbeds and chairs always did seem to react to Kira like she was a large person rather than her relatively petite build. “It’s incredible.”
“Though not without its downsides. Feels like I’ve been run over by a car every time I do that.” She flexed her hands. “Jasmine can only dial back the pain so much without causing other performance issues.”
“Yeah, that didn’t look very comfortable.”
“But running at superspeed is pretty fun. You should see how high I can jump!”
A shout sounded from the main street. Kira fell silent and motioned for Lexi to crouch behind a dumpster with her.
The sound of heavy footfalls from multiple sets of feet passed by, then silence.
Kira listened for a few seconds longer before speaking. “We need to find a different extraction point. Now that we’ve been identified, there’s no way we can hang out in that crowd without getting ripped apart.”
“Can’t we disguise ourselves?”
“Yeah, but…” Kira sighed. “There’s a bigger issue. A rescue of this scale is going to a take a lot of time. The information you have needs to be a priority to get off-planet.”
“That’s what I was going to talk about with you earlier,” Lexi said, taking out her handheld. She offered the device to Kira. “You should be the one to hold onto this.”<
br />
“Why?”
“In case we don’t make it, they’ll know to search you.”
“We’re going to make it out of here.”
“Please, Kira, take it.”
Reluctantly, Kira took the device, but she fixed Lexi with a level gaze. “I’m only holding onto it for safekeeping. I’m not leaving this planet without you.”
Lexi shook her head. “Do I really deserve to make it out? I helped the Alliance.”
“None of this was your doing. It’s not your fault.” Kira placed one hand on Lexi’s shoulder. “You want to make an impact? Then come with me so you can help us track down the Alliance’s leadership with the full resources of the TSS and Guard at our disposal. This action took them from a public nuisance to a major security threat for the Empire. No more watching and observing. We’re going to take these bastards out.”
I guess that is the best thing I can do now, Lexi realized. Dying on Duronis wouldn’t accomplish anything, but she could fight for the rest of her life to make the Empire safer for others.
“Okay,” she agreed. “So, how do we get off this rock?”
Chapter 13
Jason wasn’t used to spending an entire subspace jump in the pilot’s chair on the flight deck of a ship. Though it would have been fine to leave the craft on auto-pilot for the voyage, he was too wound up to rest, so he opted to stare out at the ethereal light of subspace and let his mind wander.
By the time he dropped back into normal space, he was itching for action.
The craft he had selected for the mission was a survey ship, equipped with an independent jump drive and short-duration living quarters, complete with a galley and four cabins. He wasn’t sure how long he might need to hang around, so the craft seemed like the right balance of easy maneuverability and adequate functionality.
Duronis was a mess, even from orbit. Patches of the planet emitted an orange glow from where the landscape was being overrun by massive fires. The orbital structures were in ruin, which would make for a significant hazard during entry and exit from the planet’s surface.
Jason ran a scan of the area; two TSS ships and four Guard transport vessels popped up on the HUD. He identified the TSS craft that seemed to be operating as the lead for the relief efforts and sent a communication request.
A vidcall opened on the holographic overlay of the front viewport.
“Agent Jason Sietinen reporting in,” Jason announced. “What’s the status?”
“Sir! I wasn’t expecting anyone else here,” a middle-aged woman replied. She was dressed in Agent black. “Agent Leotti. I’ve taken command of the airspace. The Guard is currently running shuttles to get as many civilians offworld as we can, but we don’t have the transport capacity for more than a few thousand.”
“Have you been able to determine if there’s a credible threat to the planetary shield stability?”
She nodded. “Yes, and the tech specialists from the TSS Fairview are currently planetside working on it.”
“Any estimates on their likelihood of success?”
“It’s looking promising that they’ll be able to stop it from going critical, but we’re not all the way in the clear yet.”
“What about the conditions on the planet’s surface?”
“No estimates on casualties yet, but it will be in the millions. We have a ship en route to airdrop supplies near the main population centers that were most affected, assuming we can get the shield situation under control.”
Okay, so there is a bit of good news. Jason nodded. “Have you heard from a Captain Kira Elsar with the Guard? She was working on a joint mission with the TSS.”
“No, sir, not since the Enforcers got her tip about the shield. I was apprised of the situation. I’m afraid we haven’t had the resources to spare to go look for her.”
“Okay, I’m going down to pick her up myself. Keep working on getting as many people as possible to safety.”
“All right. Be careful down there.”
“Always.”
He ended the call and plotted a course down to the surface to the coordinates Kira had sent him.
Jason kept an eye on the scan data during the descent to the planet. Conditions on the surface were dicey; even finding a place to land would be difficult.
The comm system flashed an alert on the main console: ‘Communication network failure’. It wasn’t unexpected, but it confirmed this rescue would be a challenge. To coordinate with Kira about the pickup point, telepathy was his only option.
While Jason didn’t love the idea of going to the planet alone, there was no way he would leave Kira stranded. That was no way to treat a fellow officer, let alone a friend. Still, he’d have no backup for the first time in his career—at least none close enough to intervene at a moment’s notice. He was, frankly, shocked his father had agreed to the mission, but he was glad; he didn’t want special treatment, only going on assignments that were safe and comfortable. Whatever other TSS Agents faced, he should shoulder the same burdens—and take the same risks. That was why he had been so insistent to take on this rescue himself.
He piloted the survey ship to the coordinates, relying on instruments since visibility was limited by a combination of smoke in the air and this side of the planet presently being in the shadow of night. With the power grid down, there weren’t even city lights to offer guidance.
The ship finally dropped below the upper cloud layer, offering a slightly better view of the ruined metropolis. Great pillars of smoke still rose from dark pits where incendiary devices had been set off hours before. At least a quarter of the buildings had been leveled to piles of rubble. He’d never seen that kind of destruction firsthand, and there’d been few incidents on this scale since the end of the Bakzen War. This rivaled some of the worst footage he’d seen from the aftermath of those wartime attacks.
He arrived at Kira’s provided coordinates, finding the space empty. The area was in ruin.
Shite, where is she? If she had made it off the planet, she would have certainly reached out to the TSS to let them know where she was. That meant she was still somewhere in the city. It had been approximately six hours since their last communication. Though she could move quickly, there was only so much distance she could cover in that amount of time. It was a reasonable area to cover.
Jason extended his mind to search for her telepathically. He’d spent time with her in person before, so he had a sense for what her energy felt like.
There were still hundreds of thousands of people in the city, and at first he was overwhelmed by the frantic thoughts of the survivors. Their terror flooded through him. He pushed it to the background, filtering out everything that didn’t fit his memory of Kira’s presence.
He allowed his consciousness to roam while he circled the survey ship over the city.
At last, he found her mind amid the chaos. “Kira, where are you?”
“Jason? Fok, you have impeccable timing.” It didn’t feel like talking to an Agent—she was adept at telepathy like them, but the different nature of her abilities made it more like communicating with someone without Gifts.
“I wasn’t about to leave you here. Are you okay?”
“Yes, and I have a plus one.”
“All right. I’m working my way to you,” Jason said. “Is there somewhere I can land a twenty-two-meter ship?”
“Not really. The best landing site became untenable.”
He kept his cool. “Okay, I’ll get as low as I can. Try to find somewhere elevated where you can jump in through the side hatch.”
“Roger. I think I have a good place. See you soon.”
Jason traced Kira’s movements with his mind, cross-referencing her location with the area map on the HUD. He saw her intention was to climb up the remains of a building that still had four floors intact and a clear space to one side.
As he brought the ship into position, he saw two small figures working their way up the rubble. Kira easily stood out with her red hair, and a b
runette woman was with her.
Jason opened the side hatch with the controls in the flight deck, sending a gust of smokey air through the ship. He watched out the side viewport as Kira took up the other woman in her arms and then leaped the distance onto the survey ship—an easy bound for her augmentations.
A thud and shuffling sounded down the corridor from the flight deck as they touched down.
“Clear!” Kira shouted.
Jason resealed the hatch with the remote controls and set a course toward space.
Kira jogged up to the flight deck, followed by her companion. “Thanks for the lift! Stars, what a bomaxed day.”
“Glad to see you in one piece.” He glanced back at her, noting her tattered clothes. “Mostly.”
“Had to shift to get out of a tight spot.” Kira took the seat next to him on the flight deck.
The other woman sat down at the station behind Kira. Jason recognized her as Lexi Karis, the woman who’d submitted the video that had kicked off the entire investigation. While he’d found her pretty in the video, he was mesmerized by her in person.
Though they’d never met, he found himself drawn to her and comfortable in the way he was with longtime friends. Despite the distance between them on the shuttle, he felt a closeness.
She turned and looked directly at him, as if she had sensed him watching her. The moment their gaze met, it was like he was struck with a bolt of electricity. The world around him faded into the background. There was only her. His heart pounded in his chest and breath came short. His skin was on fire.
What in the stars? He yanked his gaze away and the sensation faded. Was that…?
— — —
Lexi’s heart pounded in her ears. She’d never been in the presence of an Agent before, but this one in front of her wasn’t what she had been expecting.
She’d heard about Agents having a certain aura about them, but this… this was something else.
For starters, the young man was strikingly handsome. Lexi didn’t have a ‘type’ per se, but she could only imagine that he’d be to anyone’s taste. She was surprised Kira was able to talk to him so casually—perhaps because she was already in a committed relationship. But Lexi felt suddenly more self-conscious than she ever had about her own appearance, aware of how much of a mess she must look after crawling through tunnels and running through a smokey city for hours.
