Marlee accompanies Mia to Mirai. Shortly after they arrive, word reaches Lance of Kiernan’s rescue, and of the fact that some Rasu may now know the location of Namino, where Kiernan’s ship was based. The Asterions begin preparations for the possibility of a Rasu attack, and Mia and Marlee go with Lance to DAF Command on Namino. There, Marlee meets Grant Mesahle and convinces him to take her into the city for a tour.
Caleb and Felzeor track Eren to Lethe, but Eren has already departed. Caleb searches the hotel room Eren had rented, finds evidence of the hypnol Eren had procured, and deduces what Eren is planning.
At Concord HQ, Eren breaks Torval out of detention and imprisons him in the cargo hold of Eren’s ship. Caleb and Felzeor reach Concord HQ minutes after Eren has absconded with Torval. They confer with Richard until he’s called away by Miriam, then decide to go drop in on Marlee.
Rasu arrive in the Namino stellar system, and Lance deploys his fleet. Miriam orders the AEGIS, Machim, Novoloume and Khokteh fleets to Namino and accompanies them in the Stalwart II.
On learning of the impending battle, Ferdinand elasson-Kyvern conspires with other Anaden elassons to subvert the new alliance. He kidnaps Casmir before the man can report to Namino with his fleet.
The Asterion fleet engages the Rasu. Concord forces arrives at Namino and join the battle, but the Machim fleet is a no-show. Mia reaches out to Ferdinand, who threatens an all-out rebellion against Concord. The battle is nevertheless turning the Asterions’ and Concord’s way when massive Rasu reinforcements arrive. Miriam appeals to Lakhes for the Kats to join the battle, but Lakhes declines.
Alex arrives at Namino to find the battle going badly for the good guys. After checking in with Miriam, she leaves the Siyane in Valkyrie’s hands and goes to the Initiative to warn Nika that they’re about to lose Namino. Nika and Dashiel decide they need to get the Vault to a safe location, and they’re debating where and how when Mesme shows up and offers to safeguard the Vault. Nika is skeptical, but Mesme’s pleas and Alex’s promise that she trusts Mesme convinces Nika to agree to it.
A Rasu leviathan attacks the Stalwart II. When it can’t do any damage, it changes shape and surrounds the Stalwart II, enclosing it entirely. Rasu then melt and infiltrate the ship via tiny seams in the hull; once inside, they solidify and attack ship personnel. When the Rasu are about to reach the bridge, Miriam activates the ship’s self-destruct mechanism.
Valkyrie shows Alex what happened to the Stalwart II. Alex tells Nika that whatever she’s going to do to rescue the people still on Namino, she needs to do it now, then opens a wormhole and vanishes.
Nika prepares to go to Namino and fight the Rasu invaders. Joaquim Lacese arrives at the Initiative, eager to join her. Joaquim leads the way through the d-gate to Namino; just as Nika is stepping through, the d-gate shuts down, as does every d-gate leading to Namino.
Caleb learns that Marlee has gone with Mia to the Dominion. He sends a furious message to Mia, demanding that she get Marlee out of the warzone immediately. Mia insists that she’s trying (unsuccessfully) to get Marlee to leave, and Caleb tells her to open a wormhole to her office and he’ll personally come retrieve Marlee.
Marlee gets separated from Grant and begins trying to get pedestrians into the DAF Command basement as Rasu land in the city and go on the attack. Caleb arrives at Mia’s office, and Mia opens a wormhole, joining him just as Rasu reach DAF Command and attack Marlee. Caleb is rushing through the wormhole to rescue her when it shuts down, denying him access to Namino. When Mia is unable to reopen it, Caleb announces he is going to get his niece and walks out.
* * *
CONTENTS
* * *
PART I
THE UPSIDE DOWN
PART II
OLDER & FAR AWAY
PART III
THE TIES THAT BIND
PART IV
THE WAY FORWARD
INVERSION
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PART I
THE UPSIDE DOWN
CONCORD
1
* * *
CONCORD HQ
Command
Milky Way Galaxy
Alex Solovy stumbled through the wormhole from Mirai and straight into her father’s arms. Warmth and strength enveloped her in a loving cocoon, and for a fleeting moment she was a little girl again, trusting in her father to make the world right and safe. “Dad….”
“I know, milaya. It’s going to be okay. She’s going to be okay.” His voice shook, a reminder that he was just a man. A good man, but not an omnipotent one.
There had been a time in Alex’s adolescence when she’d wished with all her young heart that this was the way events had gone—wished he’d been the one comforting her over her mother’s heroic death in the First Crux War instead of the other way around. Now, she couldn’t conceive of ever having entertained such a fantasy. Yet she’d never felt more grateful that her father once again lived and breathed in this world.
“I saw it happen, Dad. The Rasu…they swallowed the Stalwart II whole.”
“And then infiltrated the ship. Your mother made the right decision. The only decision a true leader could make to shield us from the enemy. She’s a hero, and in a couple of days, we’ll be able to tell her so.”
“But what if there’s a problem with the regenesis—”
“No ‘buts’—not today. We need to have a little faith is all.” He offered her a weak, fragile smile. Without any forewarning of her arrival, he hadn’t cleaned himself up, and his blotchy cheeks glistened from wiped-away tears. “How did you get past the wormhole block on HQ? Never mind, you don’t have to answer that question. I’m glad you did.” His gaze darted toward the door behind her. “But I’m afraid we have a more immediate problem than the Rasu to contend with.”
As if on cue, the distant, muffled sounds of…weapons fire?…echoed from beyond the door. She stepped out of his embrace, wiping her own tears off her cheeks as she frowned in confusion and growing dread. “What’s going on out there?”
“Anaden forces, we believe led by Senator Ferdinand, are trying to take control of Command. Trying to take control of all of HQ, I suspect.”
“Because they know Mom is…?” She couldn’t utter the word; to say it aloud would give it the weight of truth.
“No, I doubt they’ve gotten the news yet, and the trouble started before….” His voice trailed off; he couldn’t say it either. “They’re trying to effect a coup because they’re petty tyrant svilochnaya who can’t be bothered to learn how to play well with others.” He squeezed her hand, his grip strong and reassuring, then went around behind her mother’s desk and called up a screen. It showed the security cam feed from the Command atrium and the branching hallways leading to offices, meeting rooms, servers and equipment storage.
Red warning lights flashed throughout the area, and blast doors had engaged to block off all external points of entry. “I came to the office as soon as I caught wind that there might be trouble, and I was able to activate the priority defenses before any attackers reached the Command wing. We, and the critical data stored here, should be safe for now.”
He pulled up a new screen from the control panel, deftly punched in a series of commands and opened a comm channel. “Bastian, I’ve unlocked all the human world-facing Caeles Prisms. Get your Marines onto HQ pronto.”
“Acknowledged. The first teams will arrive in eighty seconds.”
Alex frowned anew as she worked to piece together exactly what was happening here. Her head spun to the point of vertigo. Events were spiraling out of control around her, and she felt as if she were drowning beneath a malevolent hurricane.
Valkyrie, I could use some help. I need to be present in the here and now so I can help my dad and safeguard Mom’s work, but I’m really struggling. Do what you can to shut down this panic, these ricocheting
emotions, and help me focus. Just for a little while.
Of course. Try to concentrate on what you need to do, and I will ensure it gets easier to do so over the next few minutes.
Thank you. “Why are you talking to Field Marshal Bastian about bringing in Marines? Where’s Malcolm?”
“I don’t know. Off the grid.”
‘Off the grid’? What did that even mean? Valkyrie? Tell me the Rasu did not get him as well.
Meno does not have much in the way of further information. Malcolm was not present at Namino, however; he was instead leading a raid on Savrak and has not yet reported in.
I’m sure he’s fine. He always is.
David reached under the desk, and his hand reemerged gripping a military-issue Daemon. He already had his own weapon holstered on his belt, so he tossed it to her. “In case they get through.”
She instinctively checked the weapon over, letting muscle memory step her hands through the safety protocols Caleb had long ago drilled into her. Then she hung it off her belt and flicked her wrist in front of her. A lash of shimmering white electricity whipped out from her bracelet, crackling the air before it dissipated away.
David arched an eyebrow. “Let’s hope they don’t get that close.”
She studied the door, a wave of redirected anger flooding her veins with adrenaline. “I kind of hope they do. If the Machim fleet had shown up at Namino like Mom ordered it to…” her throat constricted, and she had to force the words past it “…everything might be different now.”
He came up beside her and touched her shoulder. “We can’t look backward. We have to focus on what we can do now to protect Concord and its people.”
“Right.” Always the champion, even when it must be so damn hard for him. She checked the atrium visual. “Do you think they’ll be able to break through the defenses?”
“Not unless they get control of Vigil security systems and deactivate them remotely.”
“Well, are they going to get control?”
He shook his head. “Richard won’t let them.”
“Richard and what army?”
Caleb Marano rushed out of the Consulate wing in the direction of the central transport station, his mind focused on formulating a plan to rescue Marlee from the Rasu to the exclusion of all else.
Assuming Namino still resided on this physical plane of existence, he needed a ship to reach it. Or…he glanced to his right, toward the wide hallway leading to the Caeles Prism Hub. If Mirai remained reachable, he could walk through a wormhole and be there in seconds, then find whatever crazy Asterions were planning to storm Namino and join up with them.
But taking that course of action would leave Marlee’s fate largely dependent on the mercy of strangers. Not his first choice. So a ship, then. Puddle Jumper didn’t have a Caeles Prism installed, and besides, it was little more than a glorified shuttle and would instantly get torn to shreds if it wandered within a parsec of warfare. On the other hand, he needed to run by the house and grab the archine blade Nika had given him as well as some other gear, and from there he could use Akeso’s Caeles Prism to get reasonably close to Namino. Did he dare risk it with Puddle Jumper?
He didn’t even consider trying to take the Siyane. Alex was off fighting Rasu with it and—he stopped cold in the middle of the hallway. Alex. Was she safe? In his head, she chided him about how that was never the pertinent question to ask. But the battle had obviously gone badly, and he hadn’t heard from her in several hours.
A squad of Marines jogged past him toward the Consulate offices wearing full combat gear. Not Vigil officers, but AEGIS military personnel. What the hell was going on?
But he couldn’t get involved. Whatever the problem was, the Marines could surely handle it. He set off again.
He needed to tell Isabela what had happened to Marlee before he left for Namino, though he had no idea how he was going to manage to get the words out.
Laser fire streaked across the open space of the atrium ahead, and without consciously deciding to do it, he ducked behind a pillar and drew his Daemon. Seriously, what the hell?
Six Vigil officers, all Anadens, advanced through the atrium with their weapons drawn, heading toward the section of the station that led to Command. More laser fire erupted from an obscured hallway on the other side, and the Vigil officers scurried for cover. All except one, who took a direct hit in the chest; his shield depleted, blood and tissue exploded out from the exit wound in the man’s spine as he crumpled to the floor.
Disparate events over the last hour that Caleb had noted then ignored sprang into his mind. Richard’s sudden troubled demeanor as he sprinted out of Detention after receiving a message. An overheard curse on the levtram about the Machim fleet not showing up at Namino. The Consulate receptionist saying Mia had requested new security measures—the Marines? Now Vigil officers were opening fire in the middle of HQ, and they weren’t the only ones.
Coup.
He crept along the curving atrium wall, keeping out of the line of sight of the Vigil officers as he advanced on their left flank.
Four combat drones buzzed out of the opposite hallway and opened fire on the Anadens. Two of them went down in the initial volley before one of the others tossed an electricity grenade into the fray. Ozone sizzled in the air as the drones shorted out and dropped to the floor.
In the fleeting chaos the exchange created, Caleb flattened against the next pillar, then swung out, sighted down on the closest Vigil officer and pressed the trigger on his Daemon. A body fell—
—pain ripped through his skull, and he staggered back into the wall. His legs weakened, struggling to hold him upright. Had he been shot? He felt blindly around his head, but his hands came back bloodless even as jagged bolts of agony stabbed at his eyeballs from the inside.
All does not want this stop no death no blood
The wail of sorrow engulfing him drowned out the cacophony of continuing weapons fire. This was the first time in fourteen years that he’d killed someone. He tried to tell himself that since it was an Anaden, it didn’t count. Didn’t matter. But Akeso didn’t recognize the difference.
The pungent odor of blood and gore reached his nostrils, and he doubled over and vomited up the lunch he and Felzeor had eaten earlier.
Stop no more
Dammit, Akeso, people are in danger. I have to protect them, don’t I?
The wail diminished to background noise, and he fought to regain the concentration required for him to assess the situation. The final attacker was now on the ground, presumably taken out by whoever was defending the hallway leading to Command.
He stepped into the atrium, hands in the air, and stumbled past several bodies to reach the opposite wing.
“Caleb!” Someone grabbed his arm and dragged him into an open doorway as an explosion behind him rattled the walls. “There are more attackers incoming. Stay in cover.”
He blinked and looked over to find Richard Navick motioning four men—CINT agents he thought, all human—out into the atrium. “Richard? What the hell is happening here?”
“Senator Ferdinand is leading a coup to take control of Concord agencies. David and Alex are holding Command from Miriam’s office for the time being, but the automated defenses won’t last for long if the attackers assault Command in force.”
His heart seized up for the second time in this eternal hour. Please, don’t take anyone else from me today. “What is Alex doing in Command? She’s supposed to be on the Siyane at Namino.”
Richard looked up from an aural he’d instantiated to stare at Caleb strangely. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Miriam blew up the Stalwart II to prevent the Rasu from capturing it.”
“Miriam’s dead?”
A new volley of weapons fire erupted from the atrium, and Richard peered out, Daemon raised. “Hopefully just for the moment.”
Fuck.
Alex, are you okay?
You mean am I hurt? Physically injured? No
, I’m not. But I am so damn far from okay. Where are you?
About a hundred meters from you. I found Richard.
Good. Keep those bastards out of here.
Caleb inhaled through his nostrils and grimaced past the resurgent shooting pain in his head. He could give her the protection and time she needed. He must, or else he was nothing. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan—” Richard ducked back inside as arcing laser fire raced past “—is to reach a more defensible position and hold Command until a Marine regiment from AEGIS arrives, at which point we will clear the entire station of insurgents. Arrest them, detain them, interrogate them, and learn where Ferdinand has holed up to oversee his little coup attempt, then repeat the process with Ferdinand and his cronies.”
“Can we?”
“Can we what?”
“Hold Command until the Marines arrive?”
“Right now, the blast doors are engaged, so even if we go down, they can’t get inside.”
“Those doors can be overridden by Vigil Security. Ferdinand’s an idiot, but if the Machim officer orchestrating this attack has any operational sense, Security will have been the first place they targeted.”
“Oh, it was. Loyal Vigil officers—non-Anaden officers—have held it so far, and I’ve ordered the first two Marine squads to reinforce them. This means it’s just us, a couple of CINT agents who happened to be in the area, and those blast doors safeguarding Command for now.”
“We’ll be enough. What about the CINT offices?”
The muscles around Richard’s mouth twitched and tensed. “Will’s locked the suite down and is barricaded inside with the rest of the agents on site.”
Inversion (Riven Worlds Book Two) Page 2