by A. K. DuBoff
Having never spoken with the mayor directly, Ellen contacted the reception desk at Tribeca City Hall and requested a transfer.
“Who shall I tell him is calling?” the receptionist asked. “This line is marked as Gilbert Jern. You don’t sound much like a Gilbert.”
“No, I’m using his office. My name is Ellen Calleti,” she replied. “I’m the press secretary for President Joris of Elusia.”
“This is a Mysaran access code.”
“It’s complicated. Please, I need to speak with Mayor Korwen right away.”
The receptionist took a slow breath. “One moment.”
The line went quiet for five seconds, followed by a beep as the video call connected on her monitor.
“Hello?” an older man answered. His white, bushy eyebrows were even wilder than Ellen remembered.
“Mister Mayor, my name is Ellen Calleti. I grew up in Tribeca.”
The mayor placed a pensive hand on his chin. “Philip and Martha’s daughter?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “There aren’t many violet-eyed children. I remember you and your brother.”
“That’s us.” She smiled. “Well, I’m working with President Joris now on Elusia, though I’m currently on assignment on Mysar. I understand that the president has already reached out to you regarding a security threat to our system.”
“Ah, yes.” The mayor scoffed. “And you thought if I heard from a local, I might listen closer to what was being said?”
“Forgive my frankness, sir, but this isn’t a matter of opinion. An alien ship the size of Mysar is three days from entering the Elvar Trinary. If it arrives, and augmented shields aren’t active on Valta, the planet is at extreme risk of destruction. All you need to do is authorize the installation of the equipment upgrades at the generator outposts.”
“There are two key facts you’re not taking into account, young lady.”
Ellen resisted rolling her eyes. Oh, this will be good.
“First, I’m the mayor of Tribeca—I don’t speak for the whole planet.” He leaned forward toward the camera integrated in his monitor. “Moreover, Valta isn’t an Empire world. Are we to trust that this equipment installation doesn’t come with strings attached?”
“Membership status in the Taran Empire has nothing to do with this. Why would you turn down protection from a threat?”
“All I see is a holographic image. For all I know, this is a ploy to give the Empire a backdoor into taking over Valta to exploit its unique properties. There might not be an alien ship at all!”
Ellen stared at him with disbelief. “You think the Guard would mislead you like that?”
“I know nothing of the central Taran worlds other than they deal in wars and try to sway others to their will. Valta is a small, peaceful world. We need no part in such things.”
“I can appreciate your position, Mister Mayor, but time necessitates that I be blunt: if the Empire wished to take over Valta, they would simply take it. Allowing them to install equipment doesn’t change anything, other than protect the planet from the real threat.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone.”
“Well, I don’t appreciate you refusing to participate in this project.” Ellen glared at him. “I recommended President Joris reach out to you because I thought you would be able to help. I see that I was sorely mistaken.”
“I know you grew up here, and your parents have always been upstanding members of this community, but you left home long ago, Ellen. You are now a citizen of Elusia, and I have no innate trust in you.”
This was a mistake. Ellen took a deep breath. “I only want what’s best for Valta.”
The old man shook his head. “You have other worlds to worry about now.”
“The Elvar Trinary will be united, whether you go along with this plan or not. The certainty, however, is that if you don’t cooperate, we will come by force, and you’ll have no say in the future dealings of the world.”
He scoffed. “You have no authority.”
If power is what motivates him, then I need to hit him where it hurts. Ellen curled her lips, eyes narrow. “Not on my own. But, unlike you, I have made friends with very powerful people. They care about the system’s well-being, too. That equipment is getting installed, no matter what you do now. Whether or not you have a political future in Tribeca, however, is still up for discussion.” Ellen folded her hands on the desktop. “So, I’ll ask you again. Will you facilitate the Guard’s access to the shield generation stations?”
The mayor sat up straighter in his chair. “When you put it like that, perhaps this is the time to start a relationship with the Empire on the right foot.”
“I’m so glad to hear you’ve reconsidered. The Guard techs will be in touch when they arrive. Select nine staff to serve as liaisons with the maintenance team at the stations—keep the reason for the installation need-to-know.”
The mayor nodded. “Fine. But if the Empire wrongs us, you’ll need to live with the fact that you did this to your home.”
“I’ll know I saved my home. I can live with that just fine.”
CHAPTER 11
Leon had told himself he’d get used to Kira going off on missions, but that was easier said than done. As the hours passed without hearing from her, he found himself growing increasingly concerned that something was wrong.
This should have been a quick op—get there, blow the ship up, come home. Why the delay? He didn’t have an explanation.
Even Jack and Tess were quieter than usual. As much as he tried to dismiss his worry, it kept nagging at him.
“Should we have heard something by now?” he asked them as the afternoon turned to evening.
Tess turned around from her station. “I don’t want to feed any concerns you may have, but yeah, I kinda did expect there to be something on the local Net by now.”
“Blowing up a massive planet-ship is a pretty big deal,” Jack agreed. “Footage of that would be circulated as soon as it was available.”
“Unless they opted to keep it covert, so no one got freaked out about there maybe being other alien ships out there,” Leon replied.
The two lab techs exchanged glances. “Yeah, no,” Jack said.
Even Leon didn’t buy his own rationale.
“Just because they haven’t fired on the ship yet doesn’t mean anything is wrong,” Tess added. “And regardless, I’m sure Kira is fine.”
“Yeah, I know.” He slumped in his seat.
“Assignments like this are always the worst,” Tess said. “I dated a soldier on one of the special ops teams for a while. I eventually got used to him going off on routine missions—protection detail, retrieval, what have you. But every so often, he’d go out and wouldn’t tell me anything about the mission. Whenever he said he was heading out but got really quiet after he told me, I’d know it was one of those… the sort that sometimes not every member of the team would come back from. I hated every second he was gone.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “When was this? You never mentioned him before.”
“We were only together for about five months, and it was before you and I met. I guess it never came up.”
Not sure if that was meant to be helpful, but it wasn’t. Leon turned back to his workstation. “Like you said, I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Sorry, I—”
Tess cut off when the door suddenly opened.
Major Sandren popped his head inside. “Good, you’re all here. I need you to do something for me.”
Leon came to attention. “Of course, sir.”
The major stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”
The three scientists nodded.
“The TK weapon had no effect on the enemy ship,” Sandren revealed.
“Stars! Really?” Jack exclaimed.
“Obviously, we don’t want word of that getting around. We have a new plan, which involves go
ing aboard the alien ship to form a direct interface. If we can temporarily disable the countermeasures, we can use the Conquest’s TK weapon and end this.”
Leon’s stomach dropped. “Who’s going aboard?”
“Kira volunteered.” Sandren held up his hand. “And before you say anything, I objected, too. She made a clear case for why she’s the only person equipped to go, and I begrudgingly have to agree.”
Even without being a part of that conversation, Leon knew exactly what reasons she would have cited. And it did make sense… He hated that.
“What’s this favor you need?” Leon asked, trying to focus on the things that were within his control.
“I need you to go over the scans from the ship—I’ll get you access to the latest data collected on the Conquest. Our plan hinges on being able to interface with the alien ship so Kyle and Nia can hack it, but it’s unclear if we’ll be able to make a standard connection, either physical or wireless,” Sandren explained. “I’d like you to apply what you’ve learned about the structures in Gaelon to see if you can devise a backup method of interfacing with the Trols’ systems.”
Tess looked at Leon across the lab. “We could use the Gaelon debris.”
He nodded. “Yeah, and look at the logs from the Orion Station hack to isolate the signal that activated it.”
“I should be able to establish a datalink protocol based on that info,” Jack said.
Sandren smiled. “Sounds like you have it handled. We’ll need your solution in twelve hours.”
Leon sighed. Of course they do.
But it was for Kira, so they had to make it happen.
— — —
With her team in transit, all Kira could do was wait for their arrival. However, sitting around idly wasn’t her style.
She rolled onto her back on the bunk in her temporary quarters. She had the room to herself, but it was less than three meters wide and four deep. If she spent another minute cooped up, she was going to lose it.
Kira hadn’t considered that part of the plan. With an electrostatic skin in place over her armor, the Trol particles would theoretically be unable to latch onto her and secure her to the ground like they’d done on Gaelon. She’d been so focused on that physical element that she’d been neglecting the telepathic part.
When presenting the idea, she had brought forth the pertinent fact that she could resist succumbing to telepathic influence, unlike others. However, she’d forgotten why.
It wasn’t a unique resistance thanks to her own telepathic skills or a natural ability. Rather, it was a byproduct of shifting to and from her Robus state. Though neither her innate abilities or the new nanites were a sufficient safeguard alone, the combination of attributes had proven effective in breaking the Trols’ telepathic bonds, and Jasmine’s presence ensured that she would always be able to transform when she needed to.
Even with that winning combination, though, there were still risks. Kira had only transformed completely a handful of times before—mostly due to a lack of adequate practice space at Guard headquarters and on the Raven—so Jasmine didn’t yet have sufficient data to regulate her physiology to its optimal performance. The only way to gather that data was to go through the exercise.
Jasmine countered.
Jasmine directed Kira toward an empty cargo bay in the bowels of the ship. The vessel was enormous compared to the Raven—or most other ships she’d been on. Despite its size, it managed to maintain the feeling of a place where people could live for an extended amount of time. Subtle decorations on the walls and furnishings in the common areas lent a communal atmosphere, which was evident in informal gatherings between groups of soldiers.
Several individuals cast her an evaluating look as she passed through the halls, and a few nodded in greeting. She smiled and nodded back, but none of the exchanges lasted for more than a second.
Kira chuckled in her mind.
The corridor leading to the cargo bay access door was empty, aside from two workers making plans for after their shifts ended.
Jasmine sighed.
Kira smiled to herself. She’s right. Leon is waiting for me. As much as she loved cake, Leon would win out every time.
Upon reaching the target cargo bay, Jasmine got a lock override for the door from the ship’s AI—one of the CACI clones.
The entry led to a balcony overlooking the open space standing three decks tall, seventy meters wide, and a hundred deep. Along the back wall, a massive hatch provided direct access for loading in cargo. Completely empty at the moment, it would provide unobstructed training ground to hone her transformation skills.
She descended the side stairway one story to the deck.
Kira took a deep breath and centered her mind. Her previous shifting attempts had been made while she was in an agitated state, specifically at times when she was angry. Such potent emotions clouded judgment, though, and she needed to learn to transform without losing her cool.
Jasmine began altering the chemical mixture in her body and brain to mimic the state that had triggered past transformations. With the physiological change, Kira had the sudden urge to punch something, but she kept the impulse in check.
I’m in control. I dictate what I do with these powers.
Tingling spread from her fingertips and forehead toward her core. She looked down at her hands and saw metallic scales spreading across her arms under her shipsuit’s sleeves, and her silvery nails were extending into razor-sharp claws.
she commented to Jasmine.
Kira flexed her arms and legs when the transformation was complete, her shipsuit taut around her broadened shoulders. While still not as strapped as the soldiers on her team, she stood at least six centimeters taller than normal, and the nanite augmentations made her limbs appear thicker and more toned. She ran her tongue along the back side of the nanite fangs.
Even her senses were enhanced—noticing the metallic scent of the filtered air, minute scuffs on the deck tiles from where a crate had been dragged, or even the faint echoes of the conversation in the hall that had previously been undetectable.
The amount of sensory input at her disposal threatened to overwhelm her, so she did her best to block it out and focus on her own physical state.
As a baseline, she began by jumping straight into the air. The first attempt was a little under two meters, close to her standing height.
Kira ran halfway across the depth of the bay, then turned back to face the elevated entry platform.
She took off at a brisk jog, careful to hold herself back from going into super-speed mode. Ten meters from the platform, she bumped up the pace a notch and then leaped for the platform.
The air whooshed past her as she extended her clawed hands for the railing. It was so close—almost within her grasp. Her claws grazed the bottom lip of the platform.
She plummeted downward.
The deck met her face and chest, knocking the air from her lungs. “Ow,” she moaned, rolling to her side.
Kira rose to her feet and gingerly rubbed her sternum, careful to keep her claws angled away from her body.
For the second attempt, Kira took a faster pace and also waited an extra stride before pushing off the deck. This time, she sailed through the air and was able to easily grasp the upper rung of the railing.
Jasmine had her complete the exercise another five times at various speeds and leap points to establish the variables.
The first two attempts resulted in Kira’s face becoming acquainted with the deck of the entry platform, her foot having caught while trying to clear the rail.
“Oof.” Kira picked herself off the deck. “I didn’t think this exercise was going to beat me up.”
Kira rolled her eyes.
