by A. K. DuBoff
Kira scratched her head. “My biology is really fuzzy.”
Leon shrugged.
“Such an organism would be self-replicating,” Jasmine continued. “Over time, sending a signal of the same strength would produce a stronger and stronger resonance effect. If the dwarf planet is indeed a transmitter, the gas giant is a self-sustaining megaphone with ever-increasing volume.”
Kira scowled. “I don’t like the sound of that. Who are they talking to?”
“Or is it for them?” Leon countered. “We know they project themselves over great distances to exert telepathic control.”
“Could this be what allowed them to link to Kaen and Jared, all the way to Guard headquarters?” Kira wondered aloud.
“Perhaps,” the AI confirmed. “Linking the signal to biological resonance for those with innate telepathic abilities would maximize the likelihood of success.”
Kira paused. “Wait, say that again.”
“Linking the—”
“No, rephrase it another way,” Kira instructed.
“One method to improve communication is by tapping into naturally occurring extrasensory abilities,” Jasmine said.
“Telepathy and biological resonance,” Kira mused. “That sounds an awful lot like Valta.”
Leon’s eyes widened. “Yeah, it does.”
“If the trace amounts in the gas giant are enough to produce this magnified effect, then using Valta in the same way would produce exponential results,” Jasmine concluded.
Kira’s pulse spiked. “We need to find out if there are any other worlds like this.”
“I’ll get authorization from Colonel Kaen to arrange a scan around the neighboring systems,” Jasmine confirmed.
Leon took a slow breath. “It might not be nearby.”
That was an unfavorable possibility Kira couldn’t ignore. “Question is, what would they want to control from a distance?”
— — —
Kaen sighed. I can’t wait to go back to the enemies with ships and bodies that we can shoot, like civilized soldiers.
He was about to read some recent mission briefs to distract himself from the Trols when his desktop illuminated with an incoming call from Elusia.
Joris is persistent, I’ll give him that.
“President Joris, what can I do for you?” Kaen greeted, plastering on a smile.
“Colonel, thank you for taking my call. I know you have many more pressing issues than Elusia. However, I was hoping to get an update on where your investigation stands regarding Gaelon?”
I’ve never told him that’s where we’re investigating. Kaen’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask about that system?”
“Ellen has uncovered some information regarding Hale’s former activities, which point there. I have a hunch your leads indicated the same system.”
No sense denying it now. Kaen nodded. “We completed an evaluation and are in the process of determining the best way to eliminate the threat.”
“May I ask what you found?” Joris pressed.
“The details are classified,” Kaen replied. “Given that your world is involved in this matter by proximity, I appreciate your concerns. I assure you, we’ll relay any critical information once we have a full understanding of the situation.”
The president frowned. “If I may be candid, I recognize that this is a military matter. But as a member of the Empire, the Guard is our military, and I need to be aware of any threat to my people.”
World leaders have a way of trying to make themselves the center of the universe.
Kaen took a calming breath. “To be equally candid, we’re still gathering information. Unless you have something new to add to that investigation, I respectfully request that you let me do my job.”
“Ellen was able to find someone who’d been inside a facility on Mysar with a strange pit.”
Kaen came to attention. “What about it?”
“They heard the voices,” Joris said. “I think you’ll be interested in what those voices had to say.”
CHAPTER 15
Following their brainstorming session, Kira and Leon took the opportunity to get in a workout. While not quite as much fun as the exercise earlier in the day, it was nice to be able to fall back into a routine that didn’t involve a quarantine chamber and shackles.
Kira set down the weights after their third set. Next to her, Leon was flushed and sweating.
“I could keep up with you before, but it’s not fair with your new upgrades,” he said through panting breaths.
“You don’t need to match me move for move,” she replied.
He stretched his arms and legs. “I have to push myself if I want to improve.”
“And here you were worried about not being tough enough for the Guard.” She smiled.
They completed one more set and then headed to their respective quarters to shower.
As she was stepping out of the shower in her washroom, Kira’s comm chirped with an incoming message. She wrapped a towel around herself and answered it, voice only.
“We have new information from Ellen Calleti,” Sandren stated. “She made a discovery on Mysar that connects to our ongoing investigation.”
“What kind of discovery, sir?”
“We’ll discuss at 16:00. Leon and the colonel will meet us in the standard briefing room.”
Kira checked the clock; that was in ten minutes. “Yes, sir. On my way.”
She quickly dressed and then sent Leon a message for them to meet up at the end of his residential hall, which was on the way from her location.
He was waiting for her when she arrived. “Ellen really knows how to insert herself into the middle of things, doesn’t she?” Kira commented. “Not to mention, that woman can’t keep her mouth shut.”
“Ugh, I know.” Leon sighed. “Did Sandren say any more about the new information she discovered?”
“Just that she found something on Mysar that connected to our findings in Gaelon,” Kira replied while they headed for the briefing room. “If Kaen and Sandren have called a meeting with us, it must be significant.”
“Finally putting together a plan of action?” Leon questioned.
“Let’s hope so.”
They arrived at the conference room and found that Sandren and Kaen hadn’t yet arrived. Kira and Leon took seats by the door and waited for the two officers.
“It’s frustrating having most of the image but to still be missing key pieces of the plan,” Leon muttered. “Some of the motivation, some of the means, but it doesn’t connect.”
“As one of those pieces, I can assure you it’s much more unsettling from where I’m sitting.”
He reached over and took her hand. “Sorry.”
Kira quickly extracted her hand when Kaen and Sandren entered.
“It’s about time we take over this conference room and stick up a theory board with lines connecting all the dots, eh?” Sandren jested.
“Does that mean Ellen didn’t offer up a unifying theory of everything?” questioned Kira.
“Not yet, but we did get another clue,” Kaen replied. “Since her debrief following the incident with Chancellor Hale, it would seem Ellen has been on the lookout for suspicious activity. Today she discovered evidence of a pit on Mysar, which sounds suspiciously like the one you found on the planet in Gaelon.”
Kira frowned. “Oh, that sounds bad.”
“It is,” Kaen said with a heavy sigh that concerned Kira more than his words. “We just got the results of the scans for that signal. Aside from the gas giant, it’s also somehow resonating with Mysar and Valta.”
Kira and Leon exchanged glances.
“What was the timing?” Kira asked.
“Too fast to be through normal space. There must be a subspace component,” Sandren responded.
“Hmm.” Leon placed his hand on his chin.
Kaen gave him a quizzical look. “Idea?”
“Sorry, it’s tangential to this. One of the mysteries has been abo
ut the nanites’ replication. If this nanotech has some sort of subspace connection, that might explain how the nanites are able to draw enough energy to quickly transmute matter while also venting heat and radiation from the conversion process.”
“I guess that does make sense, in a way,” Sandren said. “The long-range telepathic control seems to operate like a subspace comm link.”
“Which makes the dwarf planet a… giant subspace signal transmitter? But for what??” Kira looked at the faces around the table.
“I suggest we go back to what we learned about Monica’s research on Valta,” Leon suggested. “They were trying to make soldiers.”
“And I was supposed to be the template for that,” Kira said.
“Right. Breaking that template down to its components,” he gave her an apologetic grimace, “there’s a telepathic receptor, enhanced physical strength and veracity, and super-speed.”
“All things one would hope to have in a soldier,” Kaen stated. “Well, except maybe the telepathic part.”
“That’s the key,” Leon said, shaking his index finger. “They wanted a soldier they could control. And control remotely.”
Kira folded her hands on the tabletop. “That’s an interesting point. Is the degree of control based on length of time paired with a host or distance from the transmitter?”
He nodded. “Exactly. Now, Colonel Kaen, Nox was with you for three years. Even after that much time, you were still able to exert enough control to overpower the being for short bursts.”
“Yes,” he acknowledged. “But perhaps it didn’t fully integrate with me in order to avoid raising flags in my medical exams.”
“You modified your own records, yes?” Leon questioned.
“I did, but those were subtle clues. It would have been a different matter if real-time scans found something anomalous.”
“Hmm.” Leon crossed his arms. “Maybe it’s nothing, then.”
“No, go on,” Sandren encouraged.
“Well,” Leon continued, “I was going to contrast Hale’s condition to Kaen’s. Reya had complete control of her, and Gaelon is a lot closer to Mysar than it is to Orion Station.”
An icy vise gripped Kira’s chest. “The control point may be even closer than that,” she murmured.
“What are you thinking?” Kaen prompted.
“That pit on Mysar. What if those pits are their nests, or whatever you want to call it?”
Sandren paled. “If that’s the case, when Hale died, the being never left Mysar.”
Kira nodded. “Reya may never have been based in Gaelon, like Nox was.”
Kaen swore under his breath. “How many more of these nests could there be?”
“No way to know, sir.” Kira replied. “But if the other planets resonated with the signal from Gaelon, that might give us some indication.”
“Running a broad scan like that would take weeks, or longer,” Sandren said.
“Could we put the locations of the planets up on a map?” Leon spoke up.
“Why?” Kira asked.
“If they have nests in Gaelon and Mysar, they don’t need a long-range transmitter to communicate in those systems. So, where else were they planning to send their soldiers?”
Without commentary, Sandren hurriedly brought up a holographic map and plotted the real-time location of the four worlds in question.
Everyone stared at the resulting image in stunned silence. The artificial dwarf planet and gas giant in Gaelon were nearly in line on opposite sides of the system’s star. That line continued through Mysar and the Elvar star, and ended with Valta. The configuration was mere days from coming into full alignment.
“That’s not a coincidence,” Kira whispered.
“No, I’d wager it’s not.” Kaen manipulated the model and zoomed it out so he could extend the line beyond the two systems. Once complete with Valta, it would be headed straight for the worlds in the core of the Taran Empire.
The aliens’ motivations were clear. Kira swore under her breath. “They were never just trying to get the Mysaran military to go after Elusia. They were just waiting to make their big move.”
“Like a parasite,” Leon murmured. “Using up its host and then moving on to the next, to continue to multiply.”
“Are they only after the raw elemental materials? Or the people to make more soldiers?” Sandren cut in. “What’re they specifically after—what’s the end game?”
“Suffering,” Kaen said with a grunt. “They feed on negative emotions. The first step was to cultivate a food source—the disgruntled population of Mysar. It sustained them while they put the next phase in action: creating a militia to be their reapers. Peaceful Elusia was the perfect target destination to send their new soldiers, where they could rain down suffering on the innocents.”
Leon looked like he was about to be sick. “They made all those preparations without us knowing.”
“They could go after Elusia with just anyone—they already had subverted Mysaran soldiers,” Sandren said.
Kaen nodded. “But those soldiers couldn’t accomplish their ultimate ends of expansion. Elusia would just be a snack to fuel them for the real objective.”
Sandren’s expression turned grim. “Other Empire worlds.”
“Except, following Leon’s hypothesis, it appears that their telepathic influence weakens when it gets too far away,” Kaen continued. “But with a more robust physical form and enhanced telepathic links, the Robus soldiers they sought to create using Kira as a template would likely be effective at longer distances. Having such a soldier as a vessel, the Trols could roam the galaxy to feed on the suffering they inflicted without breaking their connection to their safe base in Gaelon.”
The meeting attendees sat quietly as they processed the realization. Even if some of the details were off, the facts fit too well to dismiss the hypothesis entirely.
“If they weren’t so evil, I’d be impressed with the ingenuity,” Kira broke the silence.
“A planet-sized bio-amplifier is pretty brilliant,” Leon agreed.
“Evilness and aptitude aren’t up for debate here. The question remains: how do we stop them?” Kaen looked around the table.
“The way I see it, sir,” Kira replied, “their plans hinge on the dwarf planet in Gaelon. We destroy that transmitter and it’ll cripple them.”
Sandren nodded. “We need to address that immediate known threat. If Gaelon is a home base, which it seems to be, the best action is to cut off the head of the beast.”
“Agreed.” Kaen nodded. “Based on what we know, any suggestions for the best approach to take these Trols out?”
“Aside from a big boom?” Kira asked.
“I’m not sure we could trust conventional weapons for a task like this,” Kaen said. “Completely annihilating a planet is a tall order, even for a fleet.”
Kira sat up straight. “It’s been done with a single ship, during the Bakzen War.”
Kaen frowned. “That would require calling in the TSS. I’m not even sure if that ship is still in commission.”
The Conquest was famous even outside the annals of the TSS. The ship was fitted with an ateron relay system, specifically designed to focus telekinetic energy. Few TSS Agents had the raw power to operate the weapon, but it could be turned into a planet-killer in the right hands.
“It may be worth considering, sir,” Sandren said. “I know the TSS has started to demilitarize, but a weapon like that would be much more… thorough than anything the Guard could throw at the planet.”
“If I may interject,” Jasmine said over the comm.
Kaen nodded.
“The Conquest’s TK weapon would be effective in the Gaelon System, but addressing the other Trol ‘pits’, such as on Mysar, will require a more targeted approach, due to the nearby populations,” the AI said.
“We can pick off the survivors afterward,” Kaen replied.
“I advise against that approach,” Jasmine stated.
Kaen tilte
d his head. “Why is that?”
“Because we don’t know how these beings move, or exist, or… anything, really. As a scientist, I must err on the side of caution. Remove the option for the enemy to retreat before you engage.”
“You mean, take out the pit on Mysar first?” Kira clarified.
“Yes. There may be other strongholds, but if we don’t know about them, that suggests they aren’t an immediate threat. Mysar is. Make sure those people are safe, and then blow up that Gaelon planet.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” Kaen acknowledged. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some calls to make.”
CHAPTER 16
Kira found her team working out in the gym. The three soldiers were in the middle of a wrestling match, so Kira allowed them to settle the competition before she announced herself.
Not surprisingly, Ari came out on top.
“Well done!” Kira called out.
“Kira? When did you get here?” Kyle asked.
“Only a few minutes ago,” she replied while walking over.
Nia gestured to the mat. “Care to join us?”
“Not now. I came to fill you in on what’s going on with Gaelon.”
The members of her team came to attention.
“I wish it was better news,” Kira continued. “We’ve just learned that the Trols have harnessed a bio-amplifier to boost their telepathic signals.”
“Should we know what that means?” Nia asked, looking around the circle.
“Details aren’t necessary. The point is, that signal strength is about to get a whole lot stronger, and we suspect that the aliens have something planned.”
Ari crossed his arms. “What’s the plan?”
“Kaen is trying to get access to the TSS Conquest.” Kira smiled in spite of herself. It wasn’t every day they got to witness such powerful technology. Not that she had much hope of being able to actually see it in action, but getting to watch the footage from the ship’s records would still be an experience.