by Cary Caffrey
It was a perfect spot for a landing field, and yet there was no sign of the ship they had tracked. There was nothing here. The ship was gone.
"Where is it?" Miranda asked. "Where did it go?"
"It's here," Sigrid said. "It has to be. It can't have disappeared."
"It could be cloaked," Suko said.
Miranda gaped at her. "A cloaked ship? That's impossible. You can't cloak an entire ship."
"Why not?" Sigrid asked. "Mine can."
"Yours…?"
"Hers," Suko answered.
"Trudy," Sigrid called. "Are you sure these are the coordinates?"
"I can't be sure of anything, Sigrid. The signal's strange. There's definitely interference. Everything looks normal from here. But that ship… Sigrid, it definitely came down there. Right where you’re standing. It should be there. You should see it."
But there was nothing to see.
"Try coordinating with the Morrigan. Maybe the onboard sensors can penetrate whatever's causing the interference."
Suko nudged her then, pointing ahead. "Maybe it's not interference at all. It could be underground."
Of course. Sigrid cursed. It was so obvious. "Trudy—"
"I'm on it… Scanning… Don't worry. If there's something down there, I'll pick it up."
It started as a tremor. Sigrid felt the vibrations in her toes, growing stronger, the ground shaking, shifting below her feet. Instinctively, she grabbed Suko's arm, more to steady her nerves than her balance. Her first thought was earthquake, but her sensors detected no increased seismic activity. This was something else.
"Trudy? What did you do?"
"Nothing! It wasn't me! I swear."
The tremors grew in intensity.
"There!" Miranda said, pointing.
Leta gaped, staring. "What the hell?"
"More like what the f—" Suko started.
Sigrid hushed them all.
There, in the center of the open field, the ground parted, opening before them. Sigrid saw the sliver of bright light flashing skyward. The ground shook harder, the rumble growing to a mechanical roar as huge hydraulic pistons tore the ground apart—a wide iris sliding open. Sigrid stepped back, more out of instinct than from any danger. Suko did the same.
It was a doorway, an underground portal hundreds of meters wide. Sigrid strained trying to see inside, but all she could see was the bright light pouring out. Then she heard it, the unmistakable roar of a ship's engines firing from somewhere beneath them. She saw it now, rising from the depths, so large it barely cleared the portal.
Sigrid held her hand before her face, shielding herself from the fiery blast of its engines. Floodlights lit the bottom of the great ship; Sigrid saw the rail turrets lining her keel, the eight torpedo tubes in her bow. This was no simple transport or cargo hauler. This was a ship of war. A destroyer.
"Trudy…"
"That I saw."
Once clear of the portal, the destroyer's ascending engines kicked in. The girls had no choice but to retreat, taking cover behind the permacrete walls of the nearest building. The destroyer rose quickly into the night sky, disappearing behind the veil of smog and lowlying clouds. And the portal was closing, the iris quickly grinding shut, shaking the ground once more.
Sigrid rushed forward, determined to get inside, determined to reach the portal before it closed, but Suko held her arm.
"Sigrid, they'll see you."
"We have to get in there."
"I know. But that's not the way."
"Suko…"
But it was too late. The iris ground shut, and the area grew silent once more.
"We'll find a way in," Suko said. "A better way. I promise."
Leta stared at the closed iris. "I don't suppose they'll open if we knock."
Sigrid felt the comlink chirp for her attention again. But it wasn't Trudy; it was Selene in the Morrigan.
"Selene, do you have something?"
"I might. Sigrid, when those doors opened, the signal cleared. We got a good look inside. This place… Sigrid, it's big. It's bigger than Scorpii."
"Selene, if there's a way in—"
"I'm transmitting the data now. I'm sorry it's not more complete. We only had a second. I marked the coordinates. It might be a door. You should see it in your HUD."
"What?" Suko asked at her side. "What is it?"
Sigrid scanned the data—a partial grid-map of the area, just below and underground. It was a huge, sprawling complex, almost as large as the factory enclave itself. And then Sigrid saw what Selene had highlighted for her, and she smiled.
Sigrid saw the side door.
*
The helmsman of the Morrigan swiveled his chair around to face his captain, Lt. Commander Selene Tseng. The raven-haired pilot stared at the young officer, waiting for him to say what he clearly had on his mind.
"Well?" Selene said.
He cleared his throat. "You didn't tell them?"
Selene crossed her legs, her eyes fixed on the monitor ahead. "Ms. Novak has enough on her mind, Ensign. She doesn't need to worry about us."
"Yes, but—"
"Stow it, Ensign. That's an order."
The helmsman swallowed. Wisely, rather than argue, he turned his chair back around to tend to his duties. Still, his eyes kept darting up to the monitor—and to the CTF frigate that filled the screen.
"Captain," the communications officer said, "they're hailing us again. They insist we explain why we initiated an unauthorized scan of a Federated factory on the surface. They're demanding to board us. They say if we don't…" The young woman looked up from her post. "Ma'am—Captain, they say if we don't comply, they're authorized to use deadly force. They say they'll fire on us."
Selene sighed, dragging her hand over the length of her face. "Well, I don't know about the two of you, but I think I've had just about enough of this sitting around."
"Ma'am?"
"Get the crews to the weapons pods. You better let engineering know we'll need all the power they can spare. Prepare to engage our cloak."
Selene studied the CTF frigate on the screen. At nearly eight hundred meters it dwarfed the Morrigan, threatening to swallow the small scout in the maw of its bow tubes.
"Captain, with all due respect, that ship outguns us twenty-seven to one. The odds of us—"
"Don't tempt me with the odds, Ensign. The best hand doesn't always win at poker."
Selene sat back, her fingers steepled before her.
Though, I'd gladly take a pair right about now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A Sister's Secret
The 'side door' Selene had found was located in a building not far from the landing field. It was a squat, grey structure, featureless, completely identical to any of the others around it. Sigrid might have missed it were it not for the men standing guard at the entrance.
Heavy bars sealed each of its darkened windows. Razor wire lined its eaves. A security fence had been erected, wrapping its way around the entire perimeter. The only way in or out was through a security gate by the front. An entire platoon of soldiers guarded the entrance with two APCs watching their flanks. Neither the vehicles nor the soldiers worried Sigrid, but the lone mech sitting parked and idling nearby certainly did.
She shuddered at the sight. Just four of these machines had taken out a company of Kimuran mercenaries on Alcyone, laying waste to the entire Academy. One had very nearly taken her life on Scorpii.
Sigrid crouched low, signaling the others to halt behind her.
"Now what?" Miranda asked, kneeling at her side.
"I don't suppose there's a back door to the side door?" Suko asked hopefully.
"This is it," Trudy said through the com. "I can't see any other way. Unless you want to pull a full-frontal assault, you're going to have to go through here."
Suko snickered at Sigrid's side, covering her mouth. "Trudy, I think the term is frontal assault."
"What'd I say?"
"You said full, as
in, full-frontal."
"What's the difference?"
Sigrid fixed Suko with her best scowl. "It's all right, Trudy. We'll make our way in here."
"You do see those soldiers?" Miranda asked. "And what about that mech?"
"We can take 'em," Suko said. "Those mechs are kitten play—no offense, Ms. Kane."
"None taken."
"Trudy?" Sigrid asked. "Any idea yet what's inside that place?"
"There's a passage. It's deep, Sigrid. That's all we know."
"That's hardly solid intelligence," Miranda cautioned. "This could still be a trap."
"Ms. Kane, this whole thing's a trap."
Miranda turned to glance at her, curious, interested. "And yet here you are. And none of this bothers you, does it? You have a job to do, and you'll do it. And that's all there is to it."
Sigrid frowned back at her. "Is that a question, Special Agent?"
Miranda gave the smallest of shrugs. "An observation."
Sigrid ignored the remark and took a quick inventory of their munitions. One rocket launcher, a sniper rifle and a collection of small arms, knives and grenades—and one very small hybrid-fusion device. Dealing with the patrol was a simple enough thing, in theory, but it would be messy and dreadfully loud. If they weren't careful, all the security forces were sure to come running. They needed a quieter way inside.
Suko turned to Leta at her side. "I don't suppose you're up to stripping down to your skivvies and strolling over there."
Leta considered the proposal. "If you think it will work."
"That might be a little hard to explain in this situation," Sigrid cautioned.
Sigrid heard the hiss of released pressure, the whine of servos as the mech's armored canopy popped opened. The pilot emerged and climbed down the leg of the walking tank. He dropped to the ground and strolled—rather casually, Sigrid thought—toward the security gate. He paused to exchange a polite greeting with the replacement pilot going the other way.
The mech sat empty, beckoning its welcome.
"Right," Suko said. "I got this one."
Sigrid reached after her. "Suko, wait!"
But it was too late. Suko was on her feet, already moving from the shadows and into the street. Sigrid held her breath. Incredibly, Suko walked calmly out from their position of cover. She emerged into the street under the lights and walked straight toward the waiting soldiers. The men and women looked up, startled and bewildered, uncertain as to what to do. Weapons were raised, but none fired. An officer strode forward, his hand raised. He called for Suko to halt, but she simply waved back. Sigrid heard her mumble something about a disturbance a block over. She even pointed in the direction from which they'd come, suggesting the officer send some men to check it out.
Sigrid gaped, completely amazed.
Suko didn't stop. She headed straight past him, walking toward the vacated mech. It took the bewildered officer that long to reach for his comlink. But by then it was too late. Sigrid saw the smoke pellets drop from her hand and heard the pops. Three gas grenades followed quickly. Inky black smoke burst forth, billowing out, shrouding Suko and the entire area in choking darkness. Some of the soldiers reached for their masks. The ones who reached for their guns were felled, dropped by the anesthetizing agent that swirled around them. Panic and confusion set in. Men fired blindly, wildly, hitting nothing, hitting their squadmates.
The APCs were not affected by the smoke or gas. They fought to bring their guns to bear on her, but Suko was already gone. Blindingly fast, she sprinted the rest of the distance, scrambling up the side of the waiting mech. She didn't bother closing the canopy, simply whirling the thing around, and aiming the machine's hulking chain guns at the helpless personnel carriers, pouring it on. Sigrid heard the guns whirring up, the deep-throated blasts of its 40 mm cannons. The shells burst forth at sixty-four rounds per second, tearing apart the lightly armored vehicles. Two hastily launched missiles screamed toward her, but even these were shredded to bits under the devastating barrage.
As quickly as the fight had begun, it was over. Sigrid heard the footfalls of the lumbering tank as it emerged from the smoke, Suko seated triumphantly atop it.
Sigrid waited until the last of the traces of gas were swept away before breathing again.
"Door's open," Suko declared. She pointed a thumb in the direction of the building behind her.
Dusting herself off, Sigrid rose from her prone position. "Are you proud of yourself?"
Suko looked back over her shoulder at the carnage. "Well, a little."
"I thought you said you were going to do this quietly," Miranda said, unable to hide her irritation.
"That was quiet," Suko objected. "They didn't get a single warning out. Listen. No alarms."
"Not yet!"
"All right," Sigrid said, pulling them apart. "Let's go before more of them show up—and leave that thing here," she added, pointing to the mech.
"I don't know," Suko said. "Firepower like this might come in handy."
"It stays. Now, let's go."
Moving quickly, they entered the building. A single metal door admitted them into a small lobby. The security kiosk sat vacated—whether that was before or after Suko's distraction, Sigrid didn't know. There were no doors or exits, only a single long corridor that led to a lift at the end.
The lift doors opened as they approached, and the girls entered. Sigrid stared at the panel. The passageway they sought was down below, deep underground. There was nothing for it. Sigrid pressed the button.
The lift's descent was slow; the lift clanked and juddered with the passing of each floor. Not for the first time, Sigrid wondered what might be waiting for them. She scanned ahead, searching. If she could trust her sensors, she sensed no movement beneath them, no life. Still, all of them had their weapons at the ready.
"It's too quiet," Suko said, breaking the silence. "I don't like it."
"You'd prefer a fight?" Miranda asked. "Soldiers shooting at you? Bombs exploding?"
"Better than all this sneaking about. At least I know where we stand."
Before Miranda could fire back, Sigrid heard the ding as the elevator doors parted.
Sigrid's eyes widened. There were guards here, three of them. Their mechanized armor might have shielded them from her scans, but the soldiers did not live long enough to raise any alarms.
Miranda watched as Suko wiped the blade of her katana on her trouser leg.
"Feel better?"
Suko slid the blade back into the saya on her back. "Much."
Sigrid stepped over the fallen men. "What is this place?"
Suko joined her, staring into the gloom. The room spanned the entire level. Tall pillars reached up toward the ceiling high above them. The floor was grey, caked with dust, but except for a scattering of empty storage containers, it was quite empty.
"It's been cleared out," Sigrid said. "Evacuated."
"Whatever happened here," Miranda said, "looks like we missed it. This place has been empty for some time."
"Stairs," Leta said, pointing ahead. "Looks like we keep going down."
Sigrid strode forward, Suko at her side, Miranda and Leta falling in behind. No one spoke as they walked. Suko continued to scan the room, staring up at the ceiling. Sigrid followed her gaze, but found only shadows.
"There's no one here, Suko. It doesn't look like there ever was."
"Then why do I feel like we're being watched?"
It was irrational, illogical, but Sigrid felt it too. They were close, Sigrid could feel it now, close to Harry Jones, close to the end.
They reached the stairwell without incident. It was pitch black here. Miranda was forced to cling to Suko's arm. In the monochrome of her night vision, Sigrid saw the look of displeasure on the agent's face. She couldn't blame her frustrations. Miranda was a skilled agent, a highly intelligent woman, but here she was helpless, completely at their mercy.
Down they went, level after level. Only Miranda's blind footsteps made any sound
on the metal studs. Five levels, twelve. Sigrid began to wonder if they would ever reach the bottom. Worse, Selene's schematics provided no more information, not at this level. And still they went down, plunging ever deeper.
It was some time before they reached the bottom. Sigrid stepped from the last rung, scanning ahead into the darkness.
She blinked as the lights flicked on; Miranda stood by the switch.
Much like the level above, this floor was one wide, open room. While equally abandoned, it was far from empty. Sigrid spied the medical equipment left behind, the computer terminals, scanning equipment, the banks of monitors, all of it unplugged and powered down. She also counted seventy-two beds lined up in four neat rows.
The smell of antiseptic, industrial cleansers was enough to overwhelm her. It was also too familiar. Sigrid had the horrible feeling she'd seen this place before.
"It's Alcyone," Sigrid said, stepping forward. "It's just like on Alcyone."
It was. Larger, yes, more ambitious, but the similarities were unmistakable, impossible to ignore. Sigrid recognized the equipment easily—she'd seen it often enough growing up. How many sessions had she endured with Dr. Garrett, all in a place like this.
"Wait," Suko said. "Those beds…"
Sigrid turned. The beds weren't empty. Not all of them. There were people here. Girls. Women.
Forty-eight beds lay occupied. Cautiously, Sigrid approached the closest and pulled back the sheet to stare down at the girl strapped there. She was naked, bound and shackled to the metal backing. There was no movement, no sound.
Miranda came to her side. "Is she…?"
The girl's eyes were closed. She looked to be peacefully at rest. "Yes, Ms. Kane, she's dead."
Leta stood by one of the monitors. She activated it, the screen illuminating her face in a pale glow. "She's not the only one," Leta said. "They all are. All forty-eight. They're all dead."
They were female, all of them. All bound and restrained in the same fashion. Sigrid picked up a chart from the hook at the foot of the bed and tapped the screen. A single word glowed for her attention at the top.
"Unsatisfactory."
Sigrid's fists clenched, her knuckles whitening. It was just like on Scorpii—more failed experiments.