by Robyn Bachar
The captain had commandeered a vid theater and gathered all their troops together in it to explain their battle plan. The result was a boisterous gathering of pirates and privateers who looked like they were waiting to see the newest blockbuster action drama. Ryder suspected it’d quiet down once the gravity of the situation sank in. Ryder sure as shit didn’t find it funny.
“Thank you,” the captain said to Stryker. “Well, the good news is that we have a solid lead on the Soviet super weapon.”
“And the bad news?” This question came from a new addition to the group, former Alliance privateer Captain Priyanka Kapoor of the Sydney. A solid recruit, in Ryder’s opinion, even if her chief of security had shit taste in rugby.
“The bad news is that we’ve been looking at this whole thing the wrong way. Most of us are former military and fought in the war. We expect the enemy to fight with bigger, meaner guns. But that’s not what this is.”
“So it is a bioweapon?” Stryker said.
“Yes and no. Again, soldiers think in terms of chemical warfare or viral weaponry. But that’s not how politicians think. For centuries the two superpowers existed without openly attacking each other. We didn’t fight each other because we couldn’t fight each other. We’d both end up destroyed.”
“A no-win scenario. Every schoolchild learns this,” Ken Takei said.
“Which is why the Soviets decided to change the rules of the game. They either lost control of or destroyed several of their most valuable colonies during the war. A bigger gun fired in another war would just cause more damage. They decided to prevent another outbreak of rebellion, and possibly regain control of the colonies that joined the C3, by changing the people themselves.”
Lindana activated the holographic display and an image of the implant appeared—first the device, then its position within the human brain, and finally zooming out to show an anonymous figure rotating slowly in midair.
“What is that?” Stryker leaned forward and peered at the image.
Lindana motioned to Gabriel, and he took the floor. “The original implant was designed by the Alliance to deliver dead drops tailored to a specific intelligence agent. I have one myself. A chemical trigger interacts with the implant to produce a message that only the agent can see. The technology was stolen by the KGB, and taken a step further. The implants designed for their agents allow them to upload a complete cover persona. A perfect sleeper agent, steered by their subconscious to complete mission tasks.”
“They’re building an army of super soldiers,” Captain Takei said.
“Not quite.” Gabriel shook his head. “That implant proved to be unreliable. Most test subjects didn’t survive.”
“How many agents died because of the implant?” Captain Kapoor asked.
“Nearly all of them. This implant has only a 0.01 percent success rate of bonding with its subject.”
“I’m one of the lucky 0.01 percent.” Jiang tapped the side of her head. “And my implant was damaged, so I don’t recommend trying to pry it out and sell it on the black market. Sorry.”
Captain Nyota cleared her throat. “I also don’t recommend trying to pry anything out of my pilot’s skull. We’re rather attached to her.”
Understatement. Ryder squeezed Jiang’s hand.
“It wasn’t a piece of the weapon that we uncovered,” Sveta said. “It was a piece of the equipment to mass produce new, upgraded implants. They call it Project Compliance, because these devices will create compliant colonial populations. That is why they killed over it. That is why they are still killing. If it were a new bomb, they would let the information leak to put fear into the hearts of their enemies. But they want no one to know of this because exposing their plan will cause more rebellion. Once the implants are in place, the Party can ensure that knowledge of its existence is blocked by the implant itself.”
Tense silence hung over the room in a pall, as though everyone was so horrorstruck that they couldn’t breathe.
“Do you think Soviet agents were behind the Alliance’s attack on New Nairobi?” Stryker asked. “Maybe one of these super agents like your pilot, imbedded deep in Alliance intelligence?”
“It’s possible,” Lieutenant Steele said. “We need to develop a way to scan for the KGB’s implants from a distance. At the moment they’re only detectable using large diagnostic equipment, and I doubt their agents will volunteer for a scan.”
“They’ll do everything in their power to avoid being scanned,” Jiang said.
“What’s our next step?” Stryker asked.
“The plan is the same as before,” Lindana said. “We need to steal the prototype. Then we can expose it before they have a chance to begin implanting it in their colonists.”
“Do we care, though?” the drunk pirate asked. “I mean, if the Soviet Union wants to hardwire their people into compliance, that strikes me as their problem, not ours. My crew signed on because you said there was imminent galactic peril. This doesn’t sound very perilous to me.”
Jiang snorted. “You think they’re going to stop at their own people? I can almost guarantee they’ve figured out a dozen scenarios to get the Alliance and the C3 to use them, too. Like, give one of their agents the cover of a vid game designer. He markets it as the next big thing in interactive gaming and voila! Vulnerable Alliance citizens ripe for the picking.”
The man’s smirk crumbled. “Oh shit. That’s terrifyingly plausible. But still, not everyone’s going to sign up for brain surgery.”
Jiang shook her head. “The new implant doesn’t require surgery. We’re still figuring out how they’re distributing it, but it was described as simple, bloodless and undetectable.”
“And nearly ready for implantation in colonists, which is why we need to act now. One of the main researchers on Project Compliance is Dr. Ivan Koslov. Thanks to the data brought to us by Lieutenant Chen and Chief Ryder, we now know that Koslov is currently visiting their main research facility, and the location of that facility.”
Ryder grimaced at the thought of invading another glass fishbowl of doom like the lab beneath Arzamas-16. An isolated spot like that would be a bitch to break into. Was Jiang’s palm print still in the Soviet database? It’d be nice if she could simply unlock the front door for them. The image shifted to display a large cargo transport ship, the sort meant to ferry enormous pieces of machinery to new colonies. It was a monster—more than four times the size of the Mombasa. Someone whistled low, and Ryder silently agreed. Catching a behemoth like that would be like trying to ride a raging bull.
“This is the Chelyabinsk-70,” Captain Nyota said. “She’s a floating research lab, which is one of the reasons why we’ve had such a bitch of a time locating her. The Chelyabinsk moves to a new system every three days. We’ve located where she is right now, and we currently have a ten-hour window to catch her before she jumps again. This is our best shot at catching her, but fortunately for us, catching cargo ships is what we do best.”
Lindana grinned, and the assembled captains nodded.
“So here’s what we’re going to do.”
Chapter Sixteen
“I’ve decided,” Jiang said. “I’m keeping this ship. I think I’m going to name her the Tiger Shark.”
She stole a glance at Ryder, who shifted uncomfortably in the copilot’s chair. “Boss, don’t get me all worked up when we’re on the clock. That’s just mean.”
Jiang grinned. “Can’t help it. I’ll make it up to you later.” She checked the countdown and breathed deep before hitting the intership comm. “All hands prepare for real space. Hyperdrive deactivation in thirty seconds.”
“How do you think they’re doing?” Ryder asked.
The plan was to stagger the attack. The vanguard team had jumped into the system fifteen minutes before the rest of the fleet to create a distraction and draw off
the ships guarding the Chelyabinsk-70. Jiang’s strike team was part of the main group. The plan was to swarm the Chelyabinsk-70 like fleas on a dog to overwhelm its defenses.
It was a solid plan, but that didn’t calm the anxious butterflies assembled in her stomach. It was simpler when she only had herself to account for on a mission, and simpler still when she didn’t care if her team members lived or died. Anxiety for her allies’ welfare was distracting, but she tried to breathe through it.
It would all work out. Ryder had her six, and together they were a force to be reckoned with.
“Ten seconds.” Jiang continued the countdown, then deactivated the hyperdrive. The physical shake, rattle and roll of rapid deceleration was instantly accompanied by shrieks of proximity alarms and frantic comm chatter.
Shit.
“Call it out, Chief,” she ordered. Her hands tightened on the controls as she narrowly missed colliding with a Soviet fighter.
“Vanguard is engaging local forces,” Ryder said. “But it looks like the Soviets called for backup. There are two border patrol groups in system. One closing on the vanguard, the other protecting the Chelyabinsk.”
Jiang smiled. “Let’s see if we can thin their numbers. All hands brace for combat maneuvers.”
The team should be fine back there—a military-grade ship meant a smoother ride, but she doubted that they would agree as the artificial gravity system tried to compensate for the ship’s rocking and rolling.
Jiang raced after the fighter she’d nearly collided with and caught the bastard right in her crosshairs. Nice, but too easy. Two more ships swung about and targeted her. They probably thought the Tiger Shark was on their side, part of the patrol reinforcements, until she vaporized their comrade.
Jiang kicked the engines to full and zoomed to close with her attackers. Another chorus of proximity alarms shrieked to life, and she scowled.
“Can you mute those?” she asked.
“With what, a bullet?” Ryder said. “You really need to stop playing chicken with the Red Navy. It’s bad for our health.”
She grinned like a madwoman. “Bet they blink first.”
“Boss, no.”
“Dodge this, Comrades.” Jiang fired her weapons and raked both ships. One shuddered and exploded, but the second returned fire.
She winced as a coolant line burst behind them, and she banged the shutoff before anything toxic filled the cockpit.
“He’s coming around,” Ryder said.
“Not for long.” Jiang looped and dove. The Tiger Shark’s hull seemed to whine in protest as its pilot pushed the ship to its limits, but finally Jiang got a target lock on the other ship. She fired, and it exploded into shrapnel.
“We’re clear, boss.”
Jiang nodded. “I’m starting for the Chelyabinsk now.”
The Chelyabinsk-70 was firing in all directions in a vain attempt to defend itself from the pirate cloud descending upon it. The ship was heavily armed, but its targeting system was overwhelmed as it attempted to track too many targets. The Tiger Shark took a hit, but the damage was minimal. Jiang skimmed along the Chelyabinsk’s hull until she found a spot she deemed safe, and then she eased close.
“Extending docking clamps now,” she announced over the comm. The ship shuddered once and then quieted as the clamps locked on. “Cutting a hole. Gear up and meet us at the airlock.”
* * *
Was it wrong that Ryder thought Jiang was gorgeous in her heavy armor? If so, he didn’t want to be right. She donned her helmet, sealed her armor and gave him a thumbs-up. Ryder reveled in the simple joy of having his repaired and reattached prosthetic grant him the ability to return the gesture.
They’d decided on heavy armor for this mission, hoping that it would protect them from any biological hazards that might happen if the wrong thing was shot in a science lab. Ryder sealed his helmet and the HUD popped into view. The HUD displayed the name and vitals of each team member at the edges of his vision, which was both distracting and a morbid way to instantly know which of your men had died. For a moment he flashed back to the battlefield just before he reached for the grenade that changed his life—
Focus. This wasn’t the war. This was a mission.
Ryder squared his shoulders. “Door knock in three, two, one.”
The advance team shoved the cut circle of hull into the Chelyabinsk, and it hit the ship’s deck with a clang. The team piled through the entrance. Jiang was taking point for now, because she was small and fast enough to dodge most anything the Soviets could throw at her. Ryder was the last to exit the Tiger Shark, and he engaged the security system to prevent stray commie scientists from stealing their ride.
The area was clear, and they double-timed it down a corridor until Jiang held up a fist and brought the group to a halt.
“Data access point,” she said. “I’m going to link my tablet and let Maria’s programs loose.” She pulled a panel out of the wall and yanked wires free. “Should get us an up-to-date copy of the ship’s schematics.”
Ryder nodded. They needed a better map—the one they’d stolen from New Leningrad listed several dozen labs contained within the Chelyabinsk, but no way to determine which belonged to Koslov, or was tasked with developing Compliance. That mystery was one of the reasons several teams were storming the ship at once. They had a short window of opportunity to search the ship before its distress signal brought down the might of the Soviet navy on their small fleet.
A flicker of movement caught Ryder’s attention. “Security drones. Keep her covered.”
He opened fire as a pair of drones sailed toward them, but his first few shots barely dinged the drone’s armor. The team scattered as they sought cover, but Ryder stood his ground, putting himself between the drones and Jiang. He grunted as he took a blast to the chest.
CHESTPLATE AT 73% ARMOR RATING, the HUD warned. Ryder could live with that. He’d worry if it dropped below ten.
Ryder fired again, and with the support of his team they dropped one of the drones.
“I’m in,” Jiang said. “Tablet is handshaking now.”
Another round of fire and the second drone was downed. For a moment everything was quiet, then the ship erupted with noise.
“That’s Maria’s pandemonium program,” Jiang said. “It’ll mask our movements.”
And keep them essentially deaf to any other important sounds around them, but it was a sacrifice Ryder was willing to make in this situation. A new schematic popped into view on his HUD and marked their position aboard the Chelyabinsk, along with a list detailing the locations and names of each research lab. Several labs were connected to Project Compliance, and Ryder focused on the nearest one.
“Disengaging.” Jiang disconnected the tablet and drew her pistol.
“We’re going for Lab 1138. Move out,” Ryder said.
The lab in question was two levels down and one section over. A lot of ground to cover in this chaos. Ryder grimaced but remained alert as Jiang led them through corridors filled with flashing lights and wailing alarms. The Chelyabinsk’s deck shimmied and shook under their boots as the ship endured the fleet’s bombardment. Their allies were trying to disable the ship and its defenses, but one wrong hit could cause a chain reaction that killed everyone on board.
“Do we risk the lifts?” she asked.
He hesitated—a ground facility would have staircases, but on a ship emergency ladders connected the levels. It was a choice of risking being trapped in a lift or being pinned down and picked off on the ladders.
“Lifts, but engage the tablet first,” he said. “Maria’s programs should keep them from rerouting us.” Though it wouldn’t save them from being cooked alive or dropped to their deaths.
Whether by luck or divine intervention the team survived the journey—never had a two-floor journey felt so
long before. They charged down the hall, stormed the lab and found more chaos within. Scientists scrambled about, frantic to save their work from the invaders. One of them yelled, “Do it now!”
A bright light momentarily blinded Ryder, and when his HUD cleared he ordered the team to stun the scientists—after all, they were civilians.
“What did they do?” he asked after the last lab coat dropped.
“Damn it,” Jiang said. “They’ve blanked the data drives.”
“Shit,” Ryder said.
Jiang checked the fallen scientists. “Koslov isn’t here.”
“Then we move on to the next one. We’ll try a quieter entry.”
The room shuddered, and snickers echoed over the comm. There was little quiet left on the Chelyabinsk at the moment.
“Move out,” he ordered.
* * *
Jiang wasn’t sure if she was relieved that Koslov wasn’t among the scientists in the first lab. On one hand there was still a possibility of recovering data on Compliance in another lab, but on the other hand it meant she still had to face him. Her nightmares had been plagued with the flickering image of the doctor from the vid they recovered on Arzamas-16—the mad scientist calmly prattling on as she was laid out like Frankenstein’s monster on the table behind him.
She allowed herself a small smile at the Earther reference—Ryder would’ve been proud.
The next lab was two sections aft, close to the ship’s engines, which made the journey more dangerous. There were a thousand ways to die in a ship’s engineering room, and Jiang wasn’t eager to experience any of them.
Jiang held up a fist as they approached a turn in the corridor, and the group paused behind her as she checked the path ahead. Thick black smoke hung suspended like morning fog, obscuring her view. Shit. Something was on fire and the ventilation system had been damaged.
“Lieutenant?” Ryder said.
“Corridor is filled with smoke,” she said. “Can’t see through it. Might be nothing. Might be an inferno.”