Mindspace - Complete Series
Page 62
That’s a promising start!
Leon went in, and Nia and Ari got off their bunks.
“It’s sweet of you to be worried about her,” Nia said.
“Yeah, well, you were going up against a pretty nasty enemy,” Leon replied.
“She was a pro,” Ari said. “The rest of us got pinned like useless fools, but she kicked some major telepathic ass.”
“Made it look like nothing,” Kyle added. “After that performance, I think it’s safe to say that she’ll be actively embracing the new abilities from those nanites of hers.”
Leon’s stomach twisted, to his surprise. On the surface, he was thrilled that Kira had come to terms with the changes she’d undergone, but part of him had still been holding on to the person she used to be.
No, neither of us are those people anymore. We’re here together now, as we are.
He took a deep breath. “So, what happened in Gaelon?”
“Crazy shite,” Nia replied. “We had our plan all ready to go, and then they immobilized all of us.”
“I thought they could only get to people with a TR?” Leon asked.
“Yeah, we did, too,” Kyle admitted. “We were wrong.”
They filled him in on Kira’s heroism, using superlatives that may or may not have been appropriate for an official report.
“I know she was powerful, but that…” Kyle faded out at the end of his recounting.
Ari looked at him. “Kira’s not just our leader anymore. She’s a weapon unto herself.”
Leon frowned in spite of himself. Definitely not the innocent telepath I knew as a teenager.
But even knowing how much she’d changed, that didn’t make him love her any less. If anything, he was even prouder to know that she’d grown so much and there was still a place for him in her life.
“I guess we’ll all have to get used to those new abilities,” Leon said.
Kyle snorted. “Yeah, to say the least.”
“What’s this, now?” Kira said from the doorway.
“Kira.” Leon took her in.
She smiled at him, love in her gaze. “Hey. I was just coming to find you and saw that you were over here.”
“How did the debrief go?” Nia asked.
“Debrief-y,” she replied. “I don’t think we’ll ever have the complete story. Too many unknowns about where the Trols came from.”
“Just glad they’re gone,” Nia muttered.
Kira looked down at the floor, then plastered on a forced smile. “Not our problem to worry about now.” Her gaze met Leon’s.
“Well, thanks for filling me in,” he said to the team. “Catch you later.”
“See you at dinner,” Kira said to her team.
She and Leon exited into the hall and walked several meters to the nearest recess.
Kira pulled him out of view. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
Their lips met, and she relaxed against him. “It’s nice having someone to come home to.”
“From now on, you always will.”
— — —
Nothing about Ellen’s mission to Mysar had gone how she expected. However, with the Trols’ deceptiveness behind them, people on the world could finally begin rebuilding.
She looked around the conference table at Trisha and Fiona. The women had earned her trust in her brief time on Mysar, and she was happy they would have that foundation to build upon to help forge a lasting friendship between their worlds.
“I guess we can finally get back to why I was here,” Ellen said after a moment.
“Right, figuring out our new leadership,” Fiona said, followed by a sigh. “Garett is out of the running now.”
Trisha’s brow knitted. “How is he?”
“It’ll be a process to rediscover himself,” Ellen replied. “The TR has been dissolved, not that the Trols are around anymore to tap into it.”
“All the same, I feel better knowing there aren’t ticking time-bombs in our brains.” Trisha shuddered.
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” Ellen said.
“I guess the task falls to us, then.” Fiona drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “No small feat, selecting those who will determine the future of an independent planet.”
“The bigger question is, do we need to stay a separate world?” Trisha asked.
Fiona smiled. “If recent events prove anything, it’s that we’re stronger together than we are alone. If the Elusians and Valtans are amenable, I move that we unite the Elvar Trinary with the Taran Empire once and for all.”
Ellen pushed aside the work that sounded like it was about to become moot. “Do others feel the same way?”
Trisha shrugged. “The fact that no one has stepped up with a desire to hold a leadership position indicates to me that Mysarans are ready for a change in structure.”
“We’d have a lot of details to work out,” Ellen cautioned.
“Of course,” Fiona acknowledged, “but this is our chance to build things the right way from the ground up.”
Somehow my projects keep getting bigger and bigger. Ellen folded her hands on the desktop. “All right. Let’s get to work.”
— — —
When Kira had sworn revenge against Ari for all his pranks, she had known it would be a long game.
The stage was set. With the help of Sven, and a friend responsible for ordering fresh produce, Kira had procured all the materials she’d need to turn Ari into his own viral sensation on the Net.
She’d arranged an assortment of fresh flowers on the table, with a vase filled with water sitting nearby. Based on his assertion of making arrangements in the past, it’d drive him crazy seeing the incomplete task.
To top it off, Sven had helped rig a helium tank with a remote trigger under the table. All that she needed was to get Ari in place.
“Hey, Ari,” Kira called over the local comm. “Could you meet me in the cafeteria on Deck 7? I think they need some help getting ready for the party later.”
“Sure,” the soldier replied. “On my way.”
Kira crept into a closet with slotted doors that gave her a clear view of the table with the flowers, from where she would be able to film Ari in action using a combat recorder she’d disconnected from a helmet.
Shortly after she was in place, Ari entered the room. He looked around for other occupants and then wandered toward the table with the flowers.
After five seconds of staring at the vase and flowers, Ari sighed. “Can’t just leave them here to wilt,” he mumbled while picking up a bundle of stems.
Kira covered her mouth to keep in a snicker as he continued to arrange the flowers in the vase.
Kira watched him work for another five minutes. At last, Ari stepped back to admire his handiwork.
He smiled. “That looks delightful,” he said in a voice two octaves too high. “What the fok?” He clapped his hands over his mouth.
Kira busted out in uncontrollable laughter. <‘That looks delightful’?!> she repeated in her mind to Jasmine, unable to speak aloud through the laughs.
Kira emerged from her hiding place with a grin on her face. “Hi, Ari. Whatcha up to?”
The soldier stepped in front of the flower vase. “Just, uh, helping out for the party,” he said, his voice returning to normal.
“Oh, this?” Kira gave him a quizzical look, sneaking a peek behind him. “I thought you were on banner duty.”
“Banners? Since when do we make banners for anything?”
“I’m sure it will seem appropriate after you get your first million hits.” She smiled sweetly at him and then sauntered out of the room.
“Shite! You didn’t…”
She glanced back over her shoulder. “I warned you.”
Leaving Ari to fume, Kira traced the halls to the real party location, which would be getting underway in the next half hour. Nia had roped her into setup duties, but that was a welcome change of pace after being shot at and mind-controlled for the last two weeks.
She greeted her friend, and they began the final preparations for the celebrations ahead.
At the designated time, their colleagues arrived and began partaking in the copious refreshments.
Kira smiled at Leon when he entered and worked her way over to him. “This is a good chance to meet the support staff that keep this place running,” she said around a mouthful of cheese and crackers. “Best to stay in their good graces.”
“I can only imagine.”
She introduced him to some people, and then eventually found herself surrounded by her team. Ari had decided to show his face, but he shot her an icy glare every chance he got. Kira couldn’t wait to send a link of his new video to the rest of her team.
With Leon by her side and her friends around her, Kira’s heart was filled with the sense of fulfillment and belonging she’d always desired.
Eventually, Kira’s cup ran dry and she went to get another round. When she turned back to the group, she realized that Leon had wandered off. She spotted him several meters away, leaning against a table and staring out the viewport.
She moseyed over. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.” He stood up and faced her.
“I thought you’d be more enthusiastic about joining in the celebrations.”
Leon smiled and reached out for her hand. He squeezed it. “I couldn’t be happier to be here with you.”
“Then why isn’t all of you here?” She tilted her head and gave him the questioning look that she’d perfected over their years together as teenagers.
He sighed, yielding to her just as she knew he would. “There’s something that’s been nagging at the back of my mind that I didn’t want to bring up at the meeting.”
“What’s that?”
“When we drew that line in space from Gaelon to Valta, we only traced it the one direction. What if there was something else further out in space, beyond the Empire’s territory?”
Kira frowned. “Like a Trol homeworld?”
“Yeah.”
Kira took a deep breath. “If that’s the case, then we just royally pissed them off.”
This is the end of Mindspace Book 3
THE STORY CONTINUES IN ENDGAME…
ENDGAME
MINDSPACE: BOOK 4
CHAPTER 1
Captain Kira Elsar peeked out of the Protheon office door into the hallway. There were still no signs of security reinforcements.
“Sorry, Dave,” she said to the poor sap bound in stasis cuffs on the office’s floor. “Looks like your buddies are still out for lunch.”
He muttered something through his gag. Though the words were unintelligible, the profound displeasure in his tone came through just fine—not surprising, given that he was getting acquainted with the flavor of his sock.
“I told you we wouldn’t do anything if you cooperated and kept your mouth shut,” Kira replied to his mutterings. “You had to keep talking.”
“Dude should be thanking you for not going all mind-control on him,” Kyle said while he worked at the terminal next to Nia.
Dave’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, that’s right, buddy,” Kira said, casting what she hoped was a menacing glare. “I could make you dance to whatever tune I wanted to play, if you force my hand. Just stay nice and quiet while we finish our work.”
The bound security officer remained motionless and silent on the floor.
Kira nodded with satisfaction. “That’s more like it, thank you.”
Jasmine made her equivalent of a sigh.
Compared to some of their ops, the mission had thus far gone according to plan. Dressed in office attire with light armor underneath, her team was meant to blend in with the other workers, accomplish their task, and then leave before anyone was the wiser. Dave’s presence had been an unforeseen complication when they reached the datacenter control office deep within the facility. However, one underpaid, untrained sentry didn’t stand a chance against one of the Guard soldiers, let alone Kira’s team of four.
While Kira recognized that Dave was just doing his job, and she’d likely been harder on him than necessary, she couldn’t help being on edge. It’d been calm in the month since the incident in Gaelon with the Trols. When things seemed to be going well, it almost certainly meant a crisis was right around the corner.
“I’m almost in,” Kyle reported, looking over the information displayed on the eight monitors mounted above a glass desk along the wall opposite the door.
“These encryptions are deceptively tricky,” Nia commented from the terminal next to him. She tugged at the neck of the blouse under her pantsuit.
“One of these days, we’ll come across something that challenges you,” Kira said.
“Can’t wait.” Kyle glanced over his shoulder at her. “And we’re in.”
“Good work.” Kira approached his computer station while Ari took over covering the door. “So, what are we dealing with?” she asked.
“Shockingly, not all of the company’s dealings have been as above-board as they’d like us to believe.” Nia scanned over the information displayed on the main screen.
It was exactly the information they’d come to retrieve—financial transaction records, cargo logs, personnel assignments. There was no way Protheon would be able to deny smuggling charges with the Guard having that information in hand.
Kira crossed her arms. “Are there any corporations that aren’t up to no good?”
Kyle began transferring the data to an external drive. “Few and far between, that’s for sure.”
“We’ve got company,” Ari whispered from the doorway. He readied his multi-handgun on the sonic stun setting.
“Of course we do.” Kira sighed.
Her team wasn’t supposed to be in the Protheon corporate headquarters, and it was critical that no one trace the infiltration back to the Tararian Guard. Dave could say whatever he wanted, but there was nothing to connect Kira’s team to the Taran military. If too many people showed up and started asking questions, though, it would become exponentially more difficult to hide the reason for the intrusion.
“Transfer is complete,” Kyle stated from the terminal. He disconnected the external drive.
Kira pulled her multi-handgun from the satchel that was part of her disguise as a business professional. She tucked the weapon in the back waistband of her pants, under her blazer. “Make sure your digital tracks are covered,” she told Kyle and Nia while moving toward to door. “I’ll see if I can get rid of the visitor.”
Ari stepped aside. “Good luck.”
Kira nodded, then peeked outside to see what they were up against.
A frazzled-looking businessman was marching down the hall in their direction, a frown painted on his face and a tablet clutched in his hand.
on his calendar to explain his presence in this part of the building,> the AI replied.
“Who would be accessing those files?” Mark muttered while consulting his tablet.
“Oh, hey, Mark! Nice to see you again,” she greeted him with a wave.
The man stopped in his tracks. He gave her the once-over of someone trying to place a face with a name. “Uh, hi. Haven’t seen you for a while,” he replied after a pause. “Do you… work over here?”
“Just consulting on some projects,” Kira replied.
“I’m vegan,” Mark replied.
It was time for a different tactic.
“Are you here about the security notice?” Kira asked, shifting gears.
Mark frowned. “Yes. You got it, too?”
She took a step toward him and dropped her voice. “Look, I’m not even ‘officially’ working on this project, but I said I’d keep an eye on this while—”
“—Darlene is out of town,” Kira continued out loud. “I was hoping to take care of this quietly. I don’t want her to lose faith in me. I really need this job.” She bit her lip and tried to look meek.