Inversion (Riven Worlds Book Two)

by G. S. Jennsen

  Richard shot her a look, as if to say not now. “How do you plan to respond? Will you cease refugee flights?”

  Miriam’s eyes were a little bloodshot, and she seemed unusually jittery. Mia had heard tell that the path back from regenesis wasn’t necessarily a smooth one. But the priceless gift it bestowed…. “I haven’t decided yet. Future missions might paint a target on innocent Godjans, but if we leave them to their fate….” She shook her head roughly. “I need to think on it.”

  Mia took a step forward. “Commandant, please. I have an idea for how we can deal with the Savrakaths while also gaining an advantage in the Anaden situation. I’m sending you the proposal now.”

  “Very well.” Miriam read through the prepared message. It wasn’t long, and with a portentous sigh she leveled a weary gaze on Mia.

  Mia spoke up before the woman had a chance to voice an opinion. “We are at war against the Savrakaths. Anything we can do to hasten the end of the war will benefit us.”

  “I understand the logic behind your proposal. But this isn’t about logic, is it?”

  She didn’t flinch. She couldn’t. “My personal motives don’t matter if the logic is sound—and it is.”

  “With respect to the Savrakaths, perhaps, but not with respect to the Anadens, who we are always fighting a war against. A cold war, thus far, but a war nonetheless. Historical precedents tell us the Anadens will not distinguish military targets from civilian ones. The death toll they will inflict will be astronomical, and most of the lives lost will be innocent. I’m sorry, Mia, but I cannot give the Anadens carte blanche to do anything except stand down and surrender peacefully.”

  “But Miriam—”

  “Mia, I have been where you are right now. I understand, I truly do. But sating this bloodlust you’re feeling won’t bring him back, and it won’t give you peace. I’m sorry, but my answer is no. We will handle the Savrakaths ourselves.”

  Righteous anger ran free through her veins, and it was all she could do not to pitch a fit here in the middle of Command.

  Mia, she has walked this path, and she is correct.

  I’ll walk my own path, to its end.

  The diplomat’s mask fell across her features. “I see. Thank you for your time.” She spun rigidly and strode out of Miriam’s office.

  Special Projects

  Mia lurked in the atrium outside Concord Special Projects. The shift change currently underway created enough activity that no one took enough notice of her to realize who she was, especially since she was dressed in casual gray pants and a black sweater, her hair bound back in a low tail. No accoutrements of office gave her away.

  She waited another ten minutes before it finally occurred to her that what with the brewing Rasu crisis, Devon was probably working long hours these days. Her mind felt fractured, split apart by wide crevasses, and they made it so hard to hold a train of thought for long.

  She scanned herself inside, pulsed her ID to the security officer who challenged her, and barged into the Director’s office.

  Devon Reynolds stood behind his desk in an office decorated in giant frames of Emily’s art and an assortment of incomprehensible gadgets. His gaze was unfocused as he reviewed unseen proposals by mad scientists, but he stopped mid-stride on seeing her. “Mia. I am so sorry. I wanted to speak to you at the funeral—”

  “Hush. If you’re genuinely sorry for my loss, you’ll shut up for five minutes then help me with what I need.”

  To his credit, he went with it. “Okay, talk to me.”

  “I need you to break into CINT’s secure server and spoof a message from Richard to his informant at the Anaden compound on Epithero.”

  His eyes widened, if only a little. “What?”

  “Exactly what I said. I need to get an officially sanctioned message to Casmir authorizing him to take command of the Machim fleet and pursue a full-scale bombardment of Savrak. Miriam won’t approve the order, because she refuses to give the Anadens a centimeter of leeway, and Richard won’t send the message without her approval.”

  “CINT servers are locked up tight. I should know, since I wrote most of the security protocols.”

  “Excellent. Then you can get around them. Now, Marlee’s installed a backdoor routine into the CINT servers—yes, she’s already that good—so you can use it as a jumping-off point. But it’s only a listener and isn’t written to modify anything. She might be able to expand its functionality, but she’s…not available. I took a look at it myself, but it’s been aeons since I hacked a government-grade security system, and my skills are too rusty. But yours aren’t. You can do it.”

  He eased into the chair behind his desk wearing a pained expression. “At the cost of my job and a fairly important friendship.”

  She blanked on what he could possibly mean.

  I believe he is referring to Richard’s friendship.

  Of course. How had she forgotten? Crevasses. “And what of my friendship?”

  “That’s not fair, and you know it. What we share? It’s closer than any friendship. But what you’re asking….”

  Maybe they had once shared something closer than friendship, shared a constant stream of thoughts and intentions bubbling beneath the surface of their existence, but it was long in the past. Like Alex and Morgan, she’d largely shut out the Noesis in recent years. It was so damn loud and unceasing, and as her public stature had grown, so had the value of her privacy.

  “It won’t come back on you. If anyone finds out, I will take all the blame—at the cost of my job, yes, but I really don’t care. Devon, what if it was Emily the Savrakaths had killed? I saw what almost losing her did to you all those years ago. If it was her, wouldn’t you go to any and all lengths to make them pay?”

  “I would.” He smiled to himself. “When you frame it that way, it will be my honor to help you exact some vengeance.” He glanced around his office, wheels spinning behind his luminescent amethyst eyes. “Not from here, though. It’s too easily traceable. Let’s go to my house.”

  “No, let’s go to mine. This way if they do trace the incursion, again, I take the blame.”

  “But—”

  “No ‘buts.’ I’ve got the equipment you’ll need.” She forced a smile. “And Devon? Thank you.”

  29

  * * *

  CONCORD HQ

  CINT

  When he finally reached his office, Richard sank into his desk chair and dropped his head into his hands. It had been a brutally long two days filled with sorrow and frustration. And though he was only on the periphery of both, he felt their weight nonetheless. If Will were here right now, his husband would say it was okay to take a break, to go easy on oneself. But Will wasn’t taking his own presumed advice, as he was currently hard at work setting a trap for Ferdinand’s informant in CINT.

  They all felt a driving need to get in front of the spiraling disasters that had wrecked the last week. To halt the spiral, then get ahead of events and find a way to wrest control of their fates. For him, this meant ensuring Concord strongholds remained in Concord hands while gaining actionable intel on Ferdinand’s plans—

  His door signaled an entrant a split-second before it opened; he’d obviously forgotten to lock it behind him. He looked up to find David standing in the open doorway.

  “Go away, David.”

  “You’re upset with me. I understand. But—”

  “I’m not upset with you—I’m angry with you. There’s a difference.”

  David nodded in apparent understanding, then promptly sat down in one of the guest chairs, like Richard hadn’t just asked him to leave. “Fair point. I’m sorry I betrayed your trust.”

  “Forget the breach of trust. You stole the access codes of the Director of CINT—me. It’s called a crime.”

  “Not so much ‘stole’ as…kept them around in case I needed them. I have Miri’s, too, if that helps.”

  Richard regarded him incredulously. “How can that possibly help?”

  “Because it pro
ves I only have them so I’ll be able to help the people I care about in an emergency, which is exactly what I did by using Miri’s access codes during the coup attempt to lockdown Command. See?”

  “The circumstances were different. Miriam was…incapacitated. I’ve been right here at HQ this whole time—seriously, I can’t remember the last time I slept in my bed at home. You could’ve asked me for access to whatever you wanted at any time.”

  “Would you have given it to me, knowing what I planned to use it for?”

  Richard pressed his fingertips to his temples. “Possibly. I don’t know. I wouldn’t have let you or Caleb steal a Ghost, but I might have been persuaded to loan one out for a sanctioned rescue mission.”

  “You understand I couldn’t take the chance.”

  “No, David, I don’t understand.”

  “It was for Marlee. This is family we’re talking about. I couldn’t go after her myself because I knew Miri was going to need me very soon, but I had to give Caleb every possible chance to rescue her. Is this honestly a surprise to you?”

  “No, of course not. Doesn’t make it right.” Richard sighed. “Your entire life—both of them—you’ve always acted as if the rules don’t apply to you. You simply do whatever you want, with no respect for boundaries. It’s been entertaining to watch from the sidelines over the years, but now? Your contempt for the rules has become contempt for me.”

  David leaned forward, clasping his hands at his chin. “No. Never.”

  “Can you blame me for thinking otherwise?”

  “Yes! You’ve known me for…I can’t even guess how to count the years, but a damn lot of decades. You know I have never, ever treated you with anything but respect.”

  “I thought so, but here we are.”

  David’s brow knotted up in consternation, which was at least an improvement on blasé conceit. “You’re not going to forgive me for this, are you?”

  Richard wished he had a better answer. He didn’t want to alienate his oldest friend, but a line had to be drawn somewhere. As he’d told David not long after the man had returned from the dead, he wasn’t the sidekick any longer, and he couldn’t allow that to change now. “Not for a while, no.”

  David nodded thoughtfully.

  “This is the part where you leave.”

  “No…it isn’t. I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Is there no limit to your hubris?”

  “Fine, don’t do me a favor. Do Miri one. Do Concord one. Ferdinand still has a plant in CINT, doesn’t he?”

  “The leaker? We believe so. Will’s trying to pin down their identity, and in the meantime, I’ve locked down all CINT intel under the guise of the coup. Well, it’s less a guise and more a legitimate reason.”

  “I want you to unlock one piece of information and see that it gets to Ferdinand.”

  He cast his eyes to the ceiling. He was a patient man, but his wit’s end was five seconds away at most. “What information?”

  “The location of the two remaining Savrakath antimatter facilities.”

  “Why?”

  “I heard about the meeting with Mia today. Miri’s correct—we can’t give the Anadens free rein to take out the Savrakaths. They’ll do as much harm as good, and possibly more. But so long as the Savrakaths possess antimatter weapons, they are a threat to us. Command is otherwise occupied at the moment, which means we have to let the Anadens take out those antimatter facilities, for all our sakes. As a bonus, you can use the opportunity to put a trace on the intel. Identify the leaker and, after they’ve passed it on, fire and arrest them.”

  Frustration morphed into anger once again. Had David heard a damn word he’d said? “So now you’re going behind Miriam’s back as well? Doing what you think is best instead of letting her—letting any of us—decide for ourselves.”

  David spread his arms wide, his expression veering toward a glare. “I have to do something, Richard. Miri is overwhelmed simply trying to…breathe, to exist again in this world. We are all hanging by unraveling threads here, and I have to find some way to help hold everything together.”

  The anger faded as swiftly as it had flared. David had several flaws, but a lack of sincerity had never been one of them. All these bull-in-a-china-shop actions of his were intended to ensure they didn’t lose anyone else.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, I do. But this is not the way. You convince Miriam to allow the leak of this information, and I’ll do it in an instant. But not before then. I won’t betray her trust, or the chain of command for that matter.” He dragged both hands down his face; it was possible he really did need a good night’s sleep. “Maybe your actions the other day will save Marlee’s life. Or maybe they’ll get her and Caleb both killed. Either way, the people you’re claiming to want to help? By cutting them out of your decisions and charging ahead with your own ideas about what’s best for everyone, you’re hurting them instead.”

  30

  * * *

  CONCORD HQ

  Consulate

  Mia darted around her office in a frenzy. Her limbs lurched to and fro, out of sync with the muscles controlling them and driven by a primal, vengeance-fueled energy that might be the sole thing keeping her upright and functioning.

  Devon had helped her send the message under Richard’s name to the CINT informant on Epithero, who hopefully would cooperate in making certain it reached Casmir. But it could be days before she’d learn if Casmir had received the message, much less if he’d agreed to the directive it contained, succeeded in convincing Ferdinand of his sincerity and managed to return to the bridge of an Imperium. Each of those days stretched ahead of her like a literal eternity.

  She wanted to watch Savrak burn, and she wanted to watch it burn now.

  “Senator? The Godjan girl is here to see you.”

  Mia jerked to a halt, surprised out of her reverie by the Consulate receptionist’s comm. The Godjan girl…. Oh, Vaihe. Right.

  The words to send the girl away hovered on her tongue. She was in no condition to play gentle, supportive diplomat to a frightened refugee. But so long as she resided in this office, it remained her job to do so, and for some tiny part of her conscience, this still mattered.

  “Send her in.”

  The door opened a moment later, and Vaihe peeked inside, as if unwilling to commit herself to entering.

  Mia motioned to her. “Please, Vaihe, come on in. Let’s sit, shall we?”

  The girl wore a loose-fitting jumper in a bright clover-and-citron floral pattern and woven slippers. Had she made the clothes herself?

  Mia sat down on the couch and waited until Vaihe joined her, then shifted around to half-face the girl. “How have you been doing? In Marlee’s absence, I told you to contact me if you had any troubles or concerns, but I haven’t heard from you until now. Is there a problem?”

  “No, no problems. I mean, everything’s so strange, but people are being nice to me. Helping me. I wanted to ask you…Miss Marlee…I haven’t seen her for so many days. Is she okay?”

  Mia froze her expression in place rather than let it broadcast the wave of guilt and despair that rushed up to drown her, which would terrify the girl into hysterics. There had been no word from Caleb since he’d left for Namino and no constructive word from Nika about the situation on the ground there. Best case, Marlee was scrambling to survive on an alien planet under siege by monstrous, nearly unkillable invaders. Worst and most likely case, she was dead…and Mia had hardly thought about her in days. Her heart couldn’t be broken any more thoroughly than it already was.

  But Marlee had risked her life to save this alien girl, and Mia owed it to her to continue to protect Vaihe for as long as she was able. “Marlee’s doing fine, don’t worry. She’s on an extended mission for me, and unfortunately she can’t comm home while she’s gone. But she did tell me to let you know she is so sorry she had to leave you for a little while, and she hopes to be back home soon.”

  A huge smile broke
across Vaihe’s face. “Good! I miss her. She’s so kind to me—” her eyes widened in horror “—you are, too, Senator Miss Requelme. So sorry if I offended.”

  “You didn’t, Vaihe. You’re doing wonderfully, and you don’t need to thank me.” She struggled against a resurgent need to pace and scream and cry. “Is there anything else I can do for you today?”

  The Godjan fidgeted on the edge of the couch. “I am not brave. I am not a fierce warrior like you and Miss Marlee are. But I want to help my people. I’ve been talking to the others you rescued from the Okshakin, trying to help them understand how they’re safe now, and how the people here are nice. But I want to do more. Is there a way for me to do more?”

  “Vaihe, you are brave. You were brave to escape Savrak with Marlee. You’ve been brave every day of your new life here.”

  “I don’t feel brave. But I do feel…lucky. Please, I want to help.”

  Mia’s ears burned as shame washed over her. Here she was fixated on blood-soaked vengeance, while a simple refugee girl with no family and no home was determined to save lives. This might be the last productive, positive act she undertook in this job, but the least she could do was help the girl in her quest.

  The problem was, she still hadn’t heard whether or to what extent Miriam intended to continue with the RAR refugee transports. If blowing the transports up was the new Savrakath modus operandi, it was foolish and counterproductive to continue them. And if her message to Casmir worked…she was forced to concede that Miriam was correct about the Anadens’ approach to warfare. Machim warships and troops would not stop to distinguish between military and civilian, between Savrakath and Godjan. So if she and Vaihe intended to save more Godjan lives, they needed to do it soon.

  She leaned forward to gaze at Vaihe intently; the girl shrank away, and Mia hurriedly softened her body language. “Do you know of places around Savradin, or even outside the city, where many Godjans congregate? Live or work together in large numbers?”