by A. K. DuBoff
He gripped the handholds again and concentrated. This time, he allowed the charge to build up for a full minute before releasing it.
This has to work… Kaen’s chest constricted when the second beam also fizzled out.
“Looks like we can add ‘death-ray-proof’ to the list of ways the Trols have made life miserable for us,” Kira stated under her breath.
“Torpedoes? Plasma beams? What else can you throw at it?” Kaen questioned, hearing the panic creep into his tone. The Conquest was supposed to be able to take out anything. We don’t have a more powerful weapon to bring.
Jason laughed nervously. “Yeah, sure. I doubt they’ll do anything.”
A moment later, an offensive barrage fired on the alien ship. Upon impact, tiny explosive plumes erupted and were immediately extinguished.
“Damage assessment?” Kaen asked, already knowing the answer.
“Negligible,” Rianne replied. “It’s almost like the ship is healing itself. Would you like me to fire another round?”
Kaen exchanged glances with Kira and Jason. “We’re going to need another approach.”
— — —
Kira sighed wistfully in her mind.
When Kaen made no further comment about the thwarted attack on the Trol planet-ship, Kira spoke up. “I think we need to go on board, sir. Rather, I need to.”
Kaen scoffed. “Enough jokes, Captain. We need an actionable plan.”
“I’m serious, sir,” she insisted.
He looked like he was about to dismiss the statement again, then nodded. “Jason, is there somewhere the three of us could talk?”
“There’s a conference room.” He rose from his seat. “Rianne, withdraw and follow the Trol ship on a parallel course.”
“Aye,” Rianne acknowledged.
Jason directed Kira and Kaen through a doorway across the corridor from the Command Center’s entrance. The room was furnished with a conference table, and the wall opposite the door had a large viewport.
Jason extended his arm for Kaen to take first pick of the seats. They settled in.
“Now, what was your crazy idea?” the colonel asked Kira.
“It’s not as insane as it sounds, sir,” Kira began.
“I don’t see how it’s not.” Kaen crossed his arms. “For starters, that structure is large enough that it would take days or weeks to travel any appreciable distance on foot.”
For a normal person, maybe. Kira leaned forward with her elbows on her thighs. “That’s assuming the destination was somewhere deep inside. I’m not suggesting I go in to plant a bomb at the center, just find an access point where I can interface with the structure to disable whatever is keeping the disruptor beam from doing its thing.”
“If I may interject,” Jason said, steepling his fingers, “why would you volunteer yourself for such a mission? Sounds more like a job for a team of TSS Agents.”
“Kira has certain… augmentations,” Kaen replied on her behalf.
“More than that, you said it yourself, Jason—you can’t hear them the way I can. Are there other Agents who might have more success?” Kira asked.
“No, this doesn’t seem to be a matter of raw ability level,” the Agent replied. “You have a connection with these beings I don’t think the TSS will be able to replicate.”
Kaen folded his hands on the tabletop. “There’s no argument about your being able to interface with these beings, Kira. If we’re talking about disabling their defenses, then the ability to communicate hardly seems like the issue at hand.”
“Isn’t it, though? I’m the only person who’s been able to break their telepathic hold, as far as I know.”
“Regardless, they’ve been able to physically grab you,” the colonel insisted. “I saw the first mission recording from Gaelon—you barely made it out.”
“That was before we knew about the disruptive frequency,” Kira said. “That’s not something they can vent into subspace or whatever. They need it to survive. It’s their weakness, and we need to exploit it.”
“You want to do what you did in Gaelon?” Kaen asked.
She shook her head. “No, that took everything I had and it was a fraction of this size. And there’s no way we could get enough chemicals. To tackle this planet-ship, I was thinking that we need to create a temporary vulnerability—weaken it so we can use the TK weapon.”
“How?” questioned Jason.
“If it’s like the dwarf planet, there will be significant defenses,” Kaen added. “You’d be stuck in a matter of minutes, and we’d have no way to rescue you.”
“I don’t have the specifics worked out, just a general concept,” Kira replied.
“It would have to be me alone, because I’m the only one who’s been able to stand up to telepathic control,” Kira continued, undeterred by her AI companion. “The part about the particles being able to form bonds is a problem, but not if we can figure out a way to disrupt the frequency—maybe by charging the skin of a suit.”
“Assuming that works, isn’t there still an issue of how long it would take to get anywhere, once inside the ship?” Jason pointed out.
Kira looked to Kaen. “That might not be an issue.”
The colonel nodded. “Perhaps it’s time we fill you in on exactly what Kira can do.”
CHAPTER 9
“You can create localized spatial disruptions like Agents?” Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s right,” Kira replied. She suspected he’d want a demonstration, but that would have to wait for later.
He hadn’t been as shocked about the disclosure of her Robus state as she would have expected. Perhaps his close ties to the Priesthood’s genetic experimentations had desensitized him, or maybe he was just the kind of person who took information in stride. More than anything, he’d seemed the most upset about the disclosure that a former TSS trainee had gone on to work as a twisted scientist for MTech.
“I don’t understand how nanites could be responsible for those kind of abilities,” the Agent continued. “And your AI, Jasmine, helps regulate the transformations?”
“That’s right. Near as we can tell, the nanites maintain some sort of subspace connection to draw energy to aid in their replication, for remote communication, and to vent excess heat or whatever else they need to do,” Kira explained. Leon had gone over it enough times with her that she felt reasonably confident she was using the right language. “Our science team has speculated that activating the subspace link can create a localized subspace distortion, which enables a form of super-speed—or ‘stopping time’, as I hear you call it in the TSS.”
“It’s not the explanation that’s giving me pause. It’s the idea that a rare genetic ability can be mimicked through nanotech. You can essentially manufacture Gifted people,” Jason said.
Kaen nodded. “That appears to be what MTech was trying to do. However, the treatment didn’t take in most individuals. We believe Kira’s innate abilities as a Valtan telepath interacted with the nanotech—but there are only a handful of Readers on that world.”
“So, it’s not a work around to the Generation Cycle,” Jason said to himself.
“No, we don’t believe so,” Kaen stated. “We’ll share ever
ything we’ve learned, though it appears the application of these nanites is limited.”
“I know some people who’d like to make that assessment for themselves,” Jason said. “But the matter at hand: what to do about this Trol vessel. I’d volunteer to go in with you, Kira, but I’m under express orders not to leave this ship.”
“In that case,” Kaen stated, “I must endorse Kira’s proposal to embark on a solo mission into the Trol ship with the hope of disabling the defenses—provided a suitable counter-measure to the particle anchors can be identified.”
Jason nodded. “The TSS’ resources are at your disposal, if there’s anything we can do to assist.”
“I’ll talk with my team,” Kira replied. “I have an idea.”
“I look forward to the details,” Kaen said.
“Yes, sir. I’ll get back to you soon. Thank you, Jason,” Kira acknowledged.
“Of course. Here to help.” He smiled.
Kira excused herself and then headed toward her temporary quarters. she commented to Jasmine while she walked.
Despite her statement, Kira still believed her proposed approach had the best chance of success. If the Trols were able to dispel the force of a TK weapon capable of ripping apart a planet, then it stood to reason that they could dispatch a person with ease. She was, thus far, the only person they’d expressed long-term interest in capturing alive. That made her the singular best chance of being able to gain access to the planet-ship without being vaporized on the spot.
Jasmine was silent for several seconds.
Kira smiled.
With her AI committed, the next step for Kira was to get the remainder of her team in place. She sent a message to Major Sandren requesting a video conference with Kyle, Nia, and Ari at the top of the hour.
When the designated time arrived, Kira settled in front of the computer terminal in her quarters. “Hi. Thank you for meeting on short notice.”
“Was the explosion spectacular?” Ari asked, stars in his eyes.
Nia punched him in the shoulder. “Do you think she called us here to talk about what an awesome view it was? The plan didn’t work, obviously.”
Sandren cast them a stern look across the conference table. “Kira, please fill us in.”
She nodded. “You’re right, Nia, the plan was a bust. Turns out the Trols figured out a way to absorb the TK blast, maybe by venting it into subspace.”
Everyone on the other end of the conference call leaned forward, eyes wide.
“I thought the weapon was unstoppable,” Sandren murmured.
“Needless to say, it caught us by surprise,” Kira replied. “We don’t know the ‘how’, but the blast may as well have been a flashlight shining into a black hole.”
“Well, fok.” Kyle crossed his arms.
“Pretty much. So, new plan,” she continued. “I know you’re not going to like it, but I want to go into the ship to access its central systems. I can plant a device to allow you to tap in remotely. You hack it, disable their defenses, and we blow them up. Simple.”
Her team stared at her blankly.
“You do realize you’ve lost your mind, right?” Kyle said. “Go onto the ship… alone? Not a chance.”
Sandren shook his head, clearly agreeing with the candid assessment.
“I’ve thought it through,” Kira countered. She gave them an overview of her plans for a suit design to make herself untouchable.
By the end of the explanation, only Nia looked semi-convinced. “There’s still any number of ways you could be captured or incapacitated. It’s not worth the risk of going in alone—especially if the TSS has volunteered Agent assistance.”
“Going in with a team is a bigger risk,” Kira insisted. “Knowing the Trols, they’d either kill or subvert anyone else. Me they want. It’s not worth risking other lives. I know I can beat them.”
“I don’t like it,” Kyle maintained.
“You don’t have to like it. I need you standing by to execute a remote hack. You and Nia are the best. With your skills and the TK weapon, the Trols don’t stand a chance.”
“There’s one part you haven’t covered,” Sandren spoke up for the first time since the beginning of the conversation. “What’s your exit plan?”
“That will be a moving target,” Kira replied.
“We never send a team in without an exit strategy,” the major stated.
“We won’t even know the way in until I find it,” Kira replied. “Can’t really plan a way out until we know where I’ll be coming from.”
He shook his head. “Unacceptable.”
Jasmine considered the question.
Kira returned her attention to the conference call. “Okay, let me get your thoughts about this beast and see what we can figure out.” She shared a three-dimensional model of the Trol ship, based on what the Conquest’s scan suite had been able to piece together, combined with the preliminary survey data.
Several details that had been missing from the long-range scan they’d viewed at Orion Station had changed their impression of the ship’s operations. While the specifications about the cylinders remained unchanged, the information regarding the configuration of protrusions and the central tower-like structure had taken on significantly more detail.
What had previously looked like a solid tower, in fact, had an opening at the base. That opening had allowed the scan to get a better look inside, which had revealed a series of passageways, leading to a cavernous space, twenty-three kilometers below the tower.
“That looks a whole lot like a scaled-up version of the cavern we encountered on Gaelon,” Nia observed.
“My thought, as well,” Kira said. “And near as we can tell, this structure in some way
functions as a hub. That means there has to be some way to interface with the ship from here.”
“That’s a really big assumption, Kira,” Kyle said. “If you get in there and it’s not like we assume, you’re going to be out of luck.”
“He’s right,” Sandren agreed. “The structure in Gaelon was likely influenced by the collaboration with the Mysaran government and MTech. There’s no telling what kind of tech might be in this other thing.”
“I mean, it’s a foking planet-sized ship!” Ari exclaimed.
“I know it sounds crazy,” Kira replied, keeping her tone calm and level, “but we have already weighed the risks. Jasmine and I agree that the threat to the Elvar Trinary is too great for me not to try this. Colonel Kaen agrees.”
“I ca—”
“No,” Kira cut Ari off. “This isn’t up for negotiation.” She paused. “Sir, may I speak freely?”
Sandren nodded. “I think you already have been. Go on.”
“All of you have a home somewhere,” Kira began. “You joined the Guard so you could make sure that your people would always be safe. Well, right now, my homeworld is about to be blown up by a group of aliens that doesn’t even know what it’s like to be an autonomous being with a body and loved ones. They’re after raw minerals and a group of slaves they can possess and throw into battle with the express intent of inflicting as much suffering as possible.
“I don’t know if this plan of mine will work, but there’s no foking way I’m going to sit around and hope we come up with a solution in time to save them. My entire career in the Guard has prepared me to do whatever is necessary to protect those I love, and that’s what I’m doing now. Don’t try to stop me. It isn’t your decision to make.”
She looked at her friends’ drawn faces on the viewscreen in front of her. “You don’t have to like it, but I hope you’ll help me. This plan has a lot better chance of success if you do your part.” She focused on Sandren. “But, sir, I don’t want this to be an order for anyone on the Raven. I want the team to be committed to this of their own accord.”
After a moment of silence, Nia nodded. “You know I’ll always have your back.”
