Infiltration

by A. K. DuBoff

  She turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself. The shared bathroom was large enough for six people at once, but she had the place to herself at the moment.

  I wonder if we’ll get any answers back at the station? Given the major’s reticence, she doubted it. But she could hope.

  With MTech headquartered on a planet in the same system as her homeworld, she was more familiar with them than some of her reconnaissance targets. She’d never had any reason to think of them as anything other than a respectable biotech research company, but any private corporation with military ties always put her on edge. If MTech was indeed working on a secret project with the Mysaran military, she didn’t like the potential implications for her loved ones on Valta.

  Kira dressed in a clean shipsuit, her standard garb while on any spaceship or station. The interior elastic material fit snugly against her body like a second skin, providing protection in the event of a rapid decompression. A black outer layer offered pockets and weapon holsters for practical use, and quick-release pouches in the collar and around the cuffs contained an emergency helmet and gloves to complete the pressure suit. Given the amount of tech packed into the garment, it was surprisingly sleek and flattering—though the tight fit always did take several minutes to get used to each time she put it on.

  Her team was waiting for her in their shared quarters down the hall. The four of them had slept, eaten, and trained together nearly every day for the past four years, and it had made them as tightknit a group as any in the Guard. Though she was officially in command, any time they weren’t on an active op, she would rather just be one of the team. They were friends, and that friendship kept them safe when it mattered most.

  “Learn anything?” Kyle asked as soon as Kira stepped through the door. He was perched on his bunk above Ari’s against the right wall of the compact room.

  “Squat.” Kira closed the door and leaned back against it.

  Nia, on the upper bunk to the left, tilted her head, her dark eyes narrowed. “We can’t do our job effectively if they keep secrets from us.”

  “Don’t I know it.” Kira shook her head.

  “We can’t let it happen again,” Ari grumbled.

  “What am I supposed to do? Sandren was fed bad intel—he didn’t know, either. We have to go in and do what we’re told. We’ve trained to be prepared for anything, and we showed that today.”

  The large soldier crossed his arms, highlighting the substantial muscles under his tight shipsuit. “I still don’t like it.”

  “Well that’s the nature of the job. Quit moaning,” Kira shot back. She pushed off the door and took the two steps to her bunk. “We got the job done today. That’s what counts.” She collapsed on the mattress.

  “The Guard has more than enough means to have anticipated we’d run into problems,” Kyle insisted.

  Kira flourished a hand. “Yes, someone lied. We can speculate all night about what MTech was up to, but we won’t know for sure until someone tells us.”

  “One of those times I wish I’d been able to download the info to internal storage so I could look at it myself.” Kyle’s youth on Lynaeda had given him a leg up when it came to technology, being one of the so-called ‘tech head’ planets in the habited band of Taran worlds situated between the core worlds and outer colonies. He was surprisingly un-modded for someone of his background—no AI pairing or significant body augmentations—but that was probably what had attracted him to the Guard’s sensibilities in the first place.

  Admittedly, Kira shared his regret that they didn’t have a copy of MTech’s data for their own review. “Best not to get ourselves worked up about it,” she said.

  Kyle sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

  “They did shoot at us. I think we have the right to be a little cranky,” Nia pointed out.

  Ari straightened on his bed across the narrow gap from Kira. “Speaking of cranky, your newest video will be paired with ‘She Can Move’.”

  Kira rolled her eyes. “That song is terrible.”

  “I knew you’d love it! It’s oh so appropriate.”

  Ari was lucky he was half a meter taller than Kira or he’d have a boot in his face. He was the brawn of the group—a weapons specialist paired with two hackers and a telepath—but he had a good head on his shoulders and a big heart, in addition to being one of the best marksmen in the Guard. As much as Kira razed him for his video-posting obsession, it amused her to watch the huge man take such care and attention to sync up the music with visuals. So long as that attention to detail continued to carry over to his planning of the team’s loadout for ops, she didn’t have complaints.

  All the same, Kira couldn’t let him get away with the videos forever. She had been quietly plotting her retribution—a practical joke that would leave Ari begging for mercy. He’d never see it coming.

  “Since the dire matter of musical accompaniment has finally been resolved and we’re at a dead end with the MTech investigation, who’s up for a game of Fastara?” Nia asked.

  “Sure, why not?” Kira agreed, eager for a distraction. She had been about to suggest the same activity for the jump home before they’d been so rudely shot at by the MTech missile-launcher.

  Kyle hopped down from his bunk. “Come on, Ari. The video editing can wait.”

  The other man groaned. “None of you are any fun.”

  Kira rolled her eyes. “Oh, I know, it’s shocking that I’m not thrilled about your entertainment coming at my expense.”

  “Hey, I’m turning you into a celebrity. You should be thanking me.” Ari grinned.

  She gave him a dagger-glare as she rose from her bunk, knowing it would carry more weight than any punch she could land on him—and was more professional.

  Ari swallowed. “Um, yeah, a game of Fastara sounds great!” He followed the rest of the team out of their cabin.

  Their go-to gaming spot was the galley, not far down the corridor from their cabin. Though there was a proper rec space on the deck below, having proximity to snacks always made the game more enjoyable. There’d been a few mishaps along the way in that respect early on, but a mandatory napkin rule had eliminated card grease and salt smudges.

  Kira grabbed the galley’s designated Fastara deck from a storage cabinet near the pantry and got situated in her usual seat at the table. She soaked in the ethereal blue-green light of subspace shining through the viewport—still an incredible sight after nearly a decade of traveling between star systems.

  “Who’s dealing?” Kira asked her team.

  “I will,” Kyle volunteered, sitting across from her. “I won’t have any more of Nia’s nonsense like the game on the way out here.”

  Nia smiled innocently. “The universe saw it fit for me to deal myself winning hands.”

  Fastara had been spacefarers’ staple entertainment for as far back as anyone could remember. Even growing up on a backwater planet, Kira had spent many nights in her youth playing the game. The complex rules took time to pick up, since there were a lot of contingencies based on the specific cards in play. Her team had set their own house rules, as was customary—incorporating favorite practices from each of their backgrounds. Nia had often found ways to exploit her own house rule, which favored the dealer, but it was all in good fun.

  Kyle began dealing out the plastic playing cards, with the colored symbols face-side down. “First person to ten?” he asked.

  “Of course,” Kira confirmed; they never played any other way, but they always asked just the same. She evaluated her hand once Kyle finished dealing—a pair and several run potentials depending on what was dealt into the common pool.

  “Blue dominant,” Kyle stated, as was his place as dealer to set the high suit for the round.

  Nia groaned when she saw her own cards. “My lucky streak has ended.”

  “Thank the stars for that.” Ari, to Kyle’s right, laid down a blue pair as his opening move.

  Kira could work with that.

  They went ar
ound the circle several times, playing cards when they could and drawing when they were unable to make a move. After the common pool of cards built up a little, Nia got the telltale glimmer in her eyes that she was sitting on something good in her hand.

  “I’ll trade you for the green diamond,” Kira offered, trying to anticipate her friend’s move.

  “Not a chance,” Nia declined.

  Bomax, she’s going to block me. Kira knew she had already lost the round, though it wouldn’t be realized for a few more rotations. The competitive side of her was miffed, but she’d learned long ago that it was important to keep the game in perspective. It was sport among friends, nothing more.

  “Aaand, bam!” Nia laid down a perfectly structured run in her hand, connecting to two common pools on the board.

  “Shite!” Ari threw down his cards.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t helping being so awesome.” Nia beamed, clearly pleased with herself for turning around a terrible hand.

  Her sharp wit and adaptability made Nia an asset to Kira’s team. Unlike Kyle being born practically with a computer in his hand, Nia had led a simple childhood on a freighter. She was entirely self-taught, learning computer systems by effecting repairs on her parents’ aging ship. The youngest on the team, she still had some growing up to do, but Kira was certain that Nia had a bright future in the Guard—provided she didn’t kick the wrong general’s ass in a game of Fastara.

  “Successful round?” Major Sandren ask, coming down the corridor from the access ladder.

  “Yes, sir!” Nia gloated.

  “Depends on who you ask,” Kyle grumbled.

  Sandren chuckled. “Good to see you’re recovered from the firefight earlier.” He headed for the refrigerator.

  Kira smiled. “Sweet victory is the best way to get over a sideways op, sir.”

  “Not that you’d know anything about winning.” Nia playfully elbowed Kira.

  “Hey, I came in second. Cumulative points, my dear. I’m still in it.”

  Nia eyed her challengingly. “Uh huh.”

  Sandren selected a bottle of juice from the refrigerator and then walked over to the table. “You all performed admirably under the circumstances today. Command asked me to pass on their thanks.”

  A thank you? The op follow-up kept getting weirder and weirder.

  “Did they find what they were looking for in the info?” Kira asked.

  “We’ll know soon.” Sandren nodded to the team. “Enjoy your game.” He departed.

  Once Sandren entered his cabin, Ari leaned forward over the table. “All of this feels… off.”

  “For sure,” Kira agreed, “but nothing we can do about it now.”

  Nia gathered up the cards to shuffle the deck. “You heard the major—we’re under orders to enjoy our game.”

  “Your turn to deal,” Kira said. We may as well play while we can. She had a feeling that things were about to get serious.

  — — —

  Colonel Terence Kaen reviewed the information extracted from the MTech lab. It confirmed his worst fears.

  Shite! Those sick bastards don’t know when to stop. As he flipped through the pages of lab reports on his tablet, his face paled the more he saw. They were going to lose containment on the situation if they didn’t act fast.

  MTech, the preeminent research institution in the sector, was based on the planet of Mysar. The Mysaran Coalition was the most aggressive of the three planets in the Elvar Trinary near the border of current Taran Empire territory. Colonists had set out to the fertile system several hundred years before, settling Mysar, Elusia, and Valta in an attempt to escape the chaos in the Taran Empire surrounding the war with the Bakzen. While Elusians valued peace and harmony as they established their new culture on the border world, Mysarans had followed in the grand Taran tradition of conquering and expanding. Caught in the middle was Valta, a lush garden-planet with such unique properties that it was at constant risk for exploitation.

  As a policy, the Taran Empire didn’t get involved in civil disputes. However, Elusians had expressed a desire to rejoin the Empire now that the Bakzen conflict had been resolved and the corrupt Priesthood on Tararia had been overthrown in the post-war aftermath, so the ongoing tension with Mysar was a concern. Kaen himself had gone to meet with the leadership of the Mysaran Coalition three years prior, and they insisted there was no cause for worry. All the same, the Tararian Guard was poised to step in covertly if the situation continued to escalate—and it was undoubtedly trending in that direction.

  Kaen dialed President Elton Joris of the Elusian Alliance. Few individuals had a direct line to someone in such a position, but Kaen’s task demanded the utmost discretion, and that meant no intermediaries.

  The president answered after ten seconds, his piercing blue eyes and white hair contrasting against the dark background of the room. “Colonel, do you have news?”

  “The team was able to retrieve the data archive, sir. It’s not good.”

  President Joris groaned. “What did you find?”

  “They’ve completed their first live trials.”

  “This is a nightmare.” He wiped his hands over his face. “Is the Guard prepared to take action?”

  “We’re standing by to assist, sir, but we’re in a tough spot so long as Elusia isn’t officially in the Empire.”

  “I know, I’m working on it.” The president paused. “They’ve built a new lab on Valta. We need to get someone on the inside to find out what they’re doing in there.”

  Kaen nodded. “I know just the person.”

  CHAPTER 4

  The following morning, the Raven arrived at Orion Station, the Tararian Guard outpost where Kira was presently attached. SiNavTech’s network of navigation beacons made interstellar subspace travel easy and quick, especially with the Guard’s long-range jump drives.

  “Are your mission reports filed?” she asked her team as they debarked from the Raven.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ari replied. “There has been a full report of the mission.”

  Kyle and Nia snickered.

  That bomaxed video… Kira rolled her eyes. “I have to go meet with the brass.”

  Nia’s eyes sparked. “I wonder if Kaen has seen the video of your dancing?”

  “Hey, that mission is classified,” Kira reminded them. “If command catches wind that you leaked classified documentation, don’t expect me to save your necks.”

  Momentary panic flashed across Ari’s face, then he relaxed. “You almost had me for a second.”

  Stars, she really did care about her team too much, and they knew it.

  “Just… don’t push your luck. I’ll see you later.” She jogged away for her scheduled meeting with Colonel Kaen.

  Under normal circumstances, Kira would have cursed the stars for needing to endure an audience with one of the most notoriously rigid, domineering officers in the Guard. This time, though, she wanted answers. If getting that information meant turning the charm up to eleven with the hardass officer, she’d do it.

  The administrative section of the Guard base was situated at the center of the star-shaped space station, where it would be the most protected in the unlikely event of an enemy assault. Each arm of the star configuration contained a central concourse leading to starship berths and bays for the significant complement of fighter craft.

  To expedite her trip to the center of the facility, Kira hopped in a car along the maglev track running the length of the concourse. At the central hub, she exited the car and jogged the rest of the way.

  After pausing to make sure her shipsuit was in regulation compliance, she knocked on Kaen’s office door.

  “Enter,” a baritone voice called from within.

  Kira plastered on her most professional smile and entered. “Hello, sir. You wanted to see me?”

  “Have a seat, Captain.” Kaen gestured toward a metal chair across from his desk.

  “Thank you, sir.” She sat down but didn’t bother to get comfortable. Prior
experience with that particular seat had revealed it was impossible.

  “I understand that you ran into some trouble at the MTech lab.”

  He has such a way with understatement. Kira nodded. “Yes, sir. Our intel said the facility was abandoned, but we encountered armed guards and a military assault mech.”

  “A mech? Indoors?”

  “Barely fit in the hallway, sir.”

  Kaen frowned. “I’m glad your team was able to fulfill the mission objective despite those setbacks.”

  ‘Setbacks’? That’s how he’s going to play it? Kira leaned forward in her chair. “Sir, may I speak freely?”

  He gave the hint of an exasperated sigh but quickly composed himself. “Permission granted.”

  “Someone doctored the mission brief.”

  Kaen studied her. “What makes you say that?”

  “The resistance we encountered wasn’t some new arrival that walked in moments before us. They had been there, and there wasn’t any shielding around the facility to have hidden the thermal outputs. Someone knew that facility was occupied, but the Guard wouldn’t have received data retrieval authorization for an active private lab. They wanted us to think it was abandoned so we’d go in.” Kira crossed her arms.

  “I can’t deny the possibility,” Kaen said after a ten-second pause.

  “Was it you, sir?”

  The colonel’s eyes widened. “Why would I put one of my best teams at risk like that?”

  “Because you knew we could handle it, like we did.”

  “Your team is quite skilled.” Kaen folded his hands on the desktop. “Few others would have been able to access those files.”

  That was a roundabout admission of guilt, if ever there was one. But why? “Before we left, the man I… ‘interrogated’… indicated that there’s something going on with the Mysarans, and potentially beyond that.”