"You what?"
Tonya opened her coverall enough to show Jennifer the ten-millimeter caseless pistol she'd snatched during the encounter. "He won't even notice it's missing until this evening, and even then he won't think of me."
"How can you be sure?"
"I'm sure," Tonya said with conviction. She'd planted the suggestion in his mind: he'd think he lost the pistol later in the day, and he'd try to cover it up. He would never even think of the woman he'd harassed.
I'm going to kill the fucking bastard the first chance I get, Ghost thought to her.
I have no objections to that. Just make it look like an accident.
Would ripping him from stem to stern could as an accident?
No, not really.
How about throwing him off a building?
That could work.
They walked for another hour to get to the abandoned house where Jennifer said the people who might help were staying. There was very little ground traffic in the city, and no air traffic at all. Locals walked everywhere. Only Federation troops and personnel drove around; they had confiscated all the cars.
"Anything I should know about your friends?" asked Tonya.
"They're fairly new here. I wouldn't say we were friends."
"But you trust them?"
Jennifer shrugged, as if to say that she didn't trust anyone.
Tonya sighed. It would have to do.
The house was unremarkable looking. Tonya had never actually seen boarded-up windows before, but out on the Frontier natural resources like wood were freely available. Jennifer had led her to the house in a circuitous route designed to avoid being seen as they approached. Now, Jennifer led her up to the sheltered basement door and knocked loudly in a complex pattern.
The door opened just enough to let them enter. They were immediately seized and shoved against the wall. This search was a lot more professional than the one at the checkpoint. Tonya didn't resist; she'd seen that at least one of the people covering them was carrying a slicer rifle. Illegal in the Federation, but not uncommon for big-game hunters on Frontier worlds. The slicer was a hypervelocity rifle that left people in chunks.
"Now, where did you get this?" a husky voice said in her ear. He'd removed the pistol from her coverall.
"From the last guy to stand that close to me," Tonya replied, keeping the worry she felt out of her voice. The pistol was obviously military issue, and these people might have the wrong impression.
You had to show off, didn't you? Said Ghost. Want me to intervene?
No, stay outside. I can handle this.
"You a Fed?" the man asked. She could feel the tension building in the room.
"Let her go, Kendall," said a man she couldn't see.
"I'd like to see you make me."
Oh, boy, Tonya thought.
"Dammit, you all know me!" Jennifer said. "Come on! Would I bring a Fed here?"
"If you're not a Fed, how did you get this?" Kendall asked. He pressed the gun against her head.
Wrong move. "You really want to know?" asked Tonya.
"You'd better start talking, or I'm going to start getting rough."
"Easier just to show you," she replied.
Tonya slammed her head back into the man's nose, grabbed his hand holding the pistol, and spun him around to keep him between her and the man with the rifle. She set her knee into the small of his back pulled him up onto his toes with an arm around his neck. She pressed the pistol against his temple and surveyed the room. Most of the people there looked more shocked than angry. One of them even looked amused.
"We good here?" asked Tonya.
"We're good." Tonya recognized the voice as the man who'd told Kendall to let her go. He was tall and lean, with brown hair and eyes; his skin was a lighter than normal for the majority of Federation citizens. The man with the rifle was smiling, the rifle pointed at the floor.
Tonya shoved Kendall away from her but kept the pistol trained on his head. Her neural computer was active and kept flashing a warning about the man with the rifle, but she ignored it. It automatically marked him as the highest threat due to the rifle, but he seemed like he was enjoying the situation.
"I'm Deegan," said the unarmed man. "This is Raven, and Simone." He pointed to the wounded man with the rifle, and to a good-looking woman with dark hair. "You've met Kendall."
"I'm Tonya," she replied. She lowered the pistol, but kept the targeting program active. She might need the extra speed. Kendall stood up and stanched his bleeding nose. Tonya didn't need to be an empath to know he was pissed off.
"You're a lot stronger than you look, Tonya," said Deegan.
"Raised on a higher-than-standard-gee world," Tonya replied.
"So who are you, really?" asked Kendall. "Because you sure as hell aren't a local."
There was something odd about the way he said local. "I'm Lt. Commander Tonya Harris, Sentient Concord Special Operations. You may not believe me at first, but I'm here to help."
"Help with what?" Deegan asked. "Exactly?"
"There's an alien presence here on the planet that is manipulating things toward disaster."
"We know," Deegan said quietly.
"What?" He'd genuinely surprised her.
"That's why we're here."
Chapter Thirty
The news of Admiral Wincenty Ludwiczak's death reached Admiral Meleeka just as she was finishing lunch.
"Wincenty is dead?" She couldn't quite get her mind to accept it. "How?"
Her aide, Kevin Jones, looked troubled. "Apparently he was murdered, ma'am. The word is that it was violent and horrible. They're saying it was Concord agents."
"That's ridiculous," Meleeka replied. "Why would the Concord do such a thing? How would they have gotten into a secure installation? And who are they?"
Jones blushed under her implied rebuke. "Some of the other admirals' aides, ma'am."
"Let me guess," Meleeka said dryly. "Admiral Kazakov's."
"Well..." Jones hesitated. "Yes, ma'am. I'd rather not give any names, though. It was just idle talk."
"Loose lips sink ships," Meleeka said, quoting the old wet-navy adage. "See that you knock down any rumors like that you hear from now on. The Sentient Concord wouldn't do something so stupid. If they were going to take out anyone, it would be Kazakov or myself. Besides, they would have been discreet. They're not idiots."
"But what if it is true, ma'am?"
He flinched under her regard.
"It isn't true, Kevin. Believe me. I'd know." She waited for him to nod. "Now leave me for a bit. I need to think."
"Yes, ma'am." Jones looked relieved to go.
She knew that he hadn't meant to antagonize her. Things like that could be bad for one's career, and Jones was a career man. He would never do anything that would hurt his chances at advancement. Somehow, that didn't make Meleeka feel very good. She'd rather have someone she knew was solidly loyal, like Tebrey. Nevertheless, she needed soldiers like Tebrey out in the field, not rotting away behind a desk.
Admiral Meleeka sat back from her unfinished lunch and considered her options. She was furious, and having a hard time keeping her feelings in check. With the murder of Wincenty – they had been old friends, and she was struggling not to let grief cloud her judgment – she was going to have to take steps to protect herself. There was no doubt in her mind as to who was, in fact, responsible for the murder. She was also sure that the murder was merely a prelude to what was to come.
Long ago, when she first learned of the entities that were threatening to destroy the Federation she loved, she had acquired a little insurance for herself -- the insurance of mutually assured destruction. She had gotten ahold of a pocket nuke. She'd kept it in her desk, but now... Now it was time to start carrying it. She'd seen what the entities had done to people they'd gotten ahold of, and she wasn't going to let them take her alive.
For her own sake, and for all of those who had put their trust in her, she would do what had to be done. She
knew the enemy would be able to make her talk if she let them. She wasn't about to. She couldn't allow anything to interfere with the plan to save the Federation. If she was taken alive, then humanity might just as well say goodnight. If the enemy found out who was supporting her, then there would be no one left to fight the darkness.
Meleeka took a deep breath and armed the nuke. It was now keyed to detonate if she sent it a specially encoded message through her datalink.
As a failsafe, it was also keyed to detonate if she died.
Tonya Harris wasn't used to someone catching her off guard. "I'm not sure you understand what I'm talking about. What kind of alien are you looking for?"
"Well, I wouldn't say we were looking for it, exactly." Deegan glanced at his companions. "We came here knowing that something was going on that would need a bit of... extraordinary intervention. We didn't know what the cause was until I went to the meeting last month. I knew as soon as I came near Cassandra. Unfortunately, she knows that we know, which is why we're hiding out. Raven was lucky to get away with his life after she took him."
Tonya nodded. She'd noticed the primitive splint and bandages on the man's leg but hadn't said anything. She'd assumed his injuries had been gotten in a skirmish with Federation forces. The scar on his face looked older. "So you're what? Federation Internal Security? Working with Admiral Meleeka?"
"No. It's more complicated than that, I'm afraid."
"It always is." She sighed. "My companion is still outside standing guard. Would you mind if she came in?"
Deegan shrugged. "I don't see why not."
Kendall looked he wanted to object, but ended up walking off, muttering.
"Try not to be scared. She isn't dangerous."
Thanks, Ghost thought sarcastically.
Tonya opened the door and waited a moment for Ghost to come in, then closed it again. There were gasps when Ghost revealed herself, but no one did anything stupid. Interestingly, Deegan didn't seem surprised.
"Her name is Ghost, for obvious reasons," said Tonya. "Now, you said Raven had been taken by Cassandra. What makes you think she's an alien?"
Raven locked haunted eyes with hers. "She showed me."
Tonya glanced at Deegan, and he nodded. Tonya knew the look in Raven's eyes; she'd seen it in her own. "Okay, maybe we are talking about the same thing." She sat on the floor and leaned back against Ghost. "I still don't understand who you are or who you work for."
"We aren't Earth Federation," Deegan began. "We didn't even know about it until we arrived here. Who we work for is a bit more, well, complicated."
"How could you not know about the Earth Federation?" asked Tonya. She pinged each of them with her datalink, but was unsurprised to find that they didn't have implants. She did get an echo from upstairs, but those implants were not ones her system was accustomed to. She assumed they belonged to Kendall.
"We didn't arrive by conventional means."
"And who you work for?"
"As I said, it's complicated," Deegan hedged.
"I don't have anywhere else to be."
"Wait a minute," Jennifer interrupted. "You told me when you joined the resistance that you represented one of the mining consortiums."
"I'm sorry, but that was a necessary fabrication. Under normal circumstances, we're not supposed to reveal our mission to any of the locals, but this isn't exactly normal. I suspect we're going to need your help to keep things from going to hell around here."
"You've lied to me from the beginning, and you want me to still trust you?" said Jennifer. "Fuck that. Tonya, you can do what you want, but I'm out of here."
Tonya caught Jennifer's arm before she reached the door. "I'm staying to find out what's going on, but I need to know that I can count or your discretion."
"I'll not turn you in, if that's what you're asking. You, I sort of understand. Them, I don't. You have something that will help the resistance, come find me."
Tonya let her go.
"She'll come around," said Deegan. "Her heart is in the right place."
"She's not my problem," Tonya replied. "My problems just keep getting bigger."
"Problems always do."
"I'm here undercover to assess the threat to the civilian population by the aliens that we call Theta entities, and to neutralize that threat."
"That is easier said than done," Deegan said. "This one is powerful. She's old and cunning. It isn't going to be easy to take her out. You'd lose in a direct confrontation. To be honest, I wouldn't want to have that fight, either."
"No shit," Tonya said. "But I'm not here to dick around. If there is a Theta here, it's my job to take it out. From what I've heard, Cassandra seems like a good candidate, but is she the only one?"
Deegan shrugged. "As far as I can tell, yes. She seems to be working alone. They don't usually get along all that well with their own kind," he added.
"I've noticed," said Tonya. "But that doesn't mean they don't have minions. They could have human agents or even Jaernalith lurking around."
"Jaernalith?"
"The less said, the better. You'd know them if you saw them. Chances are, there aren't any around. They tend not to be subtle." Tonya studied the three foreign agents. She didn't know if she could really trust them, but she needed allies. "I have a small ship and equipment. The crew can't leave the ship, but if things go sour, we have an escape route."
"We have our own ways of escape, if needed," Deegan said.
"Look, I've been straight-up with you," said Tonya. "You need to make a decision. Do you want my help or not? If you do, you're going to have to tell me who you work for and what you're really doing here."
"To be honest, we're not actually working for the same group. Raven, Simone, and Kendall came here looking to avert the civil unrest that they believe is coming. I'm here on my own, investigating the possibility of there being one of the things you call Thetas."
"On your own?"
"I was given no orders to come here." His tone suggested that coming here had even been against the wishes of his superiors. Whoever they were.
"But you won't tell me who it is you work for?"
"Please forgive me, but I can't."
Tonya brushed against his mind with her telepathy, but his shields were good. Real good.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't try that," Deegan said. "Simone is also a telepath, by the way, and Raven has had considerable experience shielding his mind."
Tonya sighed. "I had to try."
"I took no offense. I expected you to make the attempt. I would have been worried if you hadn't, honestly."
"Do you know where Cassandra lairs?" asked Tonya.
"Why?"
"Because I need to scout out the situation for myself. I'm not going to kill someone on your recommendation."
"I didn't think we were talking about killing anyone," Simone said. "Cassandra is dangerous, but I'm not sure about this whole killer alien stuff."
Tonya kept her face blank. She was surprised that there was dissention in their ranks -- aside from Kendall, of course. "What would you have us do?"
"There has to be some way to keep her manipulations from hurting others," Simone said. "There isn't any reason to kill."
"If she's a Theta, it's kill or be killed," Tonya said. Deegan was nodding agreement. "I'm not planning on acting tonight. I just want to get a feel for her myself."
"Whatever she is," Raven said, "she has to die. She's a sadistic bitch. For just an instant, she showed me what she really looked like."
Tonya noticed Simone flinch. She must be extremely sensitive; Raven hadn't been emoting that loudly. "She showed you what would scare you," Tonya said. "Who the hell knows what they really look like?"
Chapter Thirty-One
Ana made her way across the university campus to her evening history class. The campus was large and sprawling, like the cities of the Concord. It was also extremely crowded, at least by her standards. She was mildly bewildered by the other students; people of al
l species from a dozen worlds came to Dawn for the prestige of graduating from one of the capitol world's universities, even a lesser school like the University of Mozambique. Ana just didn't want to feel ignorant anymore. She didn't care about prestige, or fashion, or whatever current fad the other students were following.
It didn't help that she was older than most of the other students. Much older, and not just in years. Most people entered college at sixteen and were done with their first degree by twenty. Ana was twenty-one and had just started college that year. She was also older simply by way of experience. Her years on Cedeforthy had hardened her. She'd seen death at close hand. She knew and cared about the war that threatened to destroy her new life. She didn't understand how the other students could be so uncaring.
Of course, she knew a lot more about what was going on between the Federation and the Concord than they did, not to mention the problem of the Thetas. That was one thing that bothered her, actually: being told what she could and could not talk about with people. Back on Cedeforthy, she may not have been able to find someone who was willing to talk to her, but when she had, what she said wouldn't have been censored.
Ana entered the classroom and sat near the front, next to one of the few people she knew on this world. She'd shied away from making friends with anyone at the university. The one time she'd tried, her lack of knowledge about social interactions had caused a lot of embarrassment for her. She hadn't meant for the girl to think she was coming on to her, but the girl had thought otherwise. Ana had been surprised when the girl had started kissing and touching her. It had been nice, but she was married, and hadn't discussed whether sleeping with women with okay with her husband. She didn't want to violate his trust. She'd left the girl confused and angry.
"Hello, Ana," Jeroen said to her with a smile. The smile seemed genuine, although he never would have spoken to her back home. He and her husband had traveled far together and become friends, but Jeroen's social station was so far above hers that they would not even have seen one another.
"Jeroen," she replied back with a nod. Even now, she had to struggle to keep from calling him Prince Jeroen. On Cedeforthy, he was heir to the Lyonan Empire, and most likely the whole planet, once the unification was accomplished. He was here on Dawn to get an education befitting a future emperor. Of course, here he had no status other than that of a good-looking, wealthy young man. From what she'd heard from Jane, he'd been enjoying that status well enough.
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