Alex and Caleb shared a look, and she shrugged. “We can only speculate, but it’s possible they want us to win.”
Miriam positioned her elbows on the table. “Hmm. Okay. In that case, I welcome the minerals to our side of the fight. What does this mean for us?”
“It depends. What do we need to know?”
Richard perked up at the near-mention of intelligence. “After what happened today—or technically yesterday now, I suppose? We need to find out exactly what the Directorate knows about the anarchs, and arguably about us. I realize getting to central Directorate databases isn’t practicable, but on security matters Vigil should serve as a reasonable substitute. So we need to find out exactly what Vigil knows about the anarchs, and arguably about us.”
Caleb nodded. “I agree. Right now, the Directorate thinks it’s knocked the anarchs back on their heels, and by extension, us. If we dally, they’re likely to try to move in for a killing blow, assuming they can. If we can determine what we do and don’t need to guard against, we can conserve resources. Better still, we can use the resources freed up to move faster than the Directorate. We regain the advantage, retake control of the conflict dynamic and deliver a counterpunch attack. An intelligent one.”
Like Richard, he was correct, if in the abstract. To make even half of those things happen, though, they needed a concrete action plan soon—or preferably, now. David propped against one arm of his chair. “Does Vigil have a central headquarters location? Do we have this information?”
Eren chimed in. “They do. Also dozens of regional offices, but they’re managed out of an especially large, dull, dreary headquarters station in MW Sector 9.”
Commander Lekkas half-raised a hand. “I’m game to blow it up. Then it wouldn’t matter what they know, since they wouldn’t know it any longer.”
The woman sitting beside her—Brooklyn Harper, Marine, girlfriend—gave Lekkas a screwy look.
Eren shook his head. “As big a fan as I am of blowing things up—and I truly am—they’ll have copies of their important files at satellite locations, because the Directorate is afraid of networked systems. Bits and pieces will be stored wherever somebody thinks they’re needed, so you’re not going to be able to destroy it all without bombing a lot of locations. Which, for the record, is an excellent alternative.”
Richard and Will had been conferring in hushed tones, but now Richard returned his attention to the conversation. “Honestly, destroying the data stores isn’t a practical solution. Even if we could guarantee destruction of all the files, there will be people who’ve already internalized the information they hold, which brings us back to needing to know what they know.”
Miriam eyed Alex down the table. “Alex, if we can get you inside Vigil HQ, do you think you can tell us what’s in their databanks? Or copy it and bring it here for decryption and study?”
“You bet I can.”
“It’ll be a tremendous amount of data.”
“Good thing I have an Artificial in my head who has her own databanks waiting to be filled.”
No one so much as blinked at the statement, and David was again reminded how much ‘unusual’ everyone in the room must have seen lately. Three days alive after almost three decades dead, and he might not be the most noteworthy creation in the room.
Miriam dipped her chin in concession. “Granted. All right, ideas on how to move forward?”
Richard settled back in his chair. “If we break in, hack their server and leave, they’ll correctly assume we have some of their files and alter their behavior accordingly. We need to know what they know without them knowing we…know it.” He rubbed at his face. “Sorry. I guess I could use a bit of sleep.”
Miriam smiled kindly. “We all could.”
It must be true, yet David felt invigorated. He let his gaze roam across those here. A lot of skills were represented at the table; many of these people were among the best, if not the best, at their specialties, and those specialties included skills that would have been called fantasy in his first lifetime. Several of the people here were the only ones in multiple universes able to do what they did.
His gaze completed its pass and fell on Miriam.
May I run with an idea for a moment?
You don’t need to ask permission…I’m sorry, it’s not fair of me to give you mixed signals. Yes, of course you may.
He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “Alex, you proved on Chionis that you can open and maintain a wormhole on solid ground leading to solid ground elsewhere.”
“A small one, at least.”
“Big enough for a squad of Marines to walk through, because they did so earlier today. Can you create one with an entry point at a secure staging area and an exit point somewhere inside Vigil HQ?”
“As soon as I find out where Vigil HQ is, absolutely.”
“Good. Okay, this gets us inside. Now, how do we steal data from the headquarters of a police/paramilitary organization without them realizing we stole it?”
“I can put a squad inside, but I don’t see—”
He tilted his head in Jenner’s direction. “Sorry, that was a rhetorical question—I have an idea how we do it, so bear with me. I suspect you were about to protest by pointing out how their security will be alerted when we breach the station, and clearly it will be. We should address the problem with a two-pronged approach. Once inside, can we shut down their transit tubes and their internal comm system?”
Nobody responded, and he chuckled. “That one wasn’t rhetorical. Anyone?”
Eren made a prevaricating motion with his hand. “Transit tubes in the immediate vicinity, yes. We—the anarchs—have a spike you can use to short them out for a spell. Comms? Unless their communications hub happens to be located down the hall from their Data Control server, you’d need two separate infiltration teams and two separate wormholes.”
“Which is probably impractical, not to mention unsafe.” He turned his attention to his son-in-law. “Caleb, I heard how you created some impressive shielding bubbles with your diati down on Chionis. How wide can you stretch one of those, and for how long?”
Recognition dawned in Caleb’s expression. Clever kid. “Wide enough, and long enough.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. And nothing can get through a diati barrier, in any dimension—everyone knows this, even the recently resurrected.”
Now Miriam seemed to catch on to where he was heading with this, too. “But everyone on the outside of the diati barrier will realize something is happening inside it.”
“True, but I bet they won’t have time to think about it too hard if their station is also being assaulted from the outside by a suitably intimidating fleet.”
Lekkas’ eyes narrowed. “You mean attack the station as if we’re trying to blow it up?”
“Oh, never fear, Commander Lekkas—and Eren—we are going to blow it up. Just not until our people have what they came for and are safely out of harm’s way.”
Lekkas grinned wolfishly. “Everyone inside dies, and no one’s left to tattle on us to the Directorate, who will assume we destroyed it in retaliation for the attack on Chionis.”
He nodded. “Which will be true, if not the entirety of the truth.”
Eren waved his arms around in the air in a bid for attention. “Great idea—and again, serious fan of blowing things up—but every Vigil officer is Anaden, mostly Machim or Praesidis but all Anaden. Now, I’m sure everyone at the table is familiar with regenesis—especially the recently resurrected.”
David smirked. “Touché.”
Caleb opened his mouth to respond, but Eren motioned him off. “Caleb, you think the diati barrier will also block the transmission of the fallen Vigil officers’ poor sodding souls to a regenesis lab. You’re right, it should. But Helix Retention was encased in a solid shell of diati, and your pet Inquisitor, Nyx, showed up looking none the worse for wear at Plousia Chateau shortly after getting disintegrated at Helix Retention, no? We’re missin
g a loophole somewhere.”
Caleb frowned, but Thomas picked up the thread. ‘If I may interject, I believe I can offer a possible explanation for the anomaly Eren asi-Idoni has referenced. The information the anarchs have provided on the regenesis procedure, scant though it is, indicates that the Anaden cybernetics tasked with storing and transmitting the necessary data retain internal power sufficient to transmit for approximately forty-two seconds after a body expires.’
Eren rubbed at his jaw. “That…sounds true.”
‘We can assume that whoever or whatever was maintaining the diati barrier at Helix Retention perished when the facility did, at which point the diati barrier would have dropped. If Inquisitor Nyx’s body expired in the same explosion, there should have been time for her consciousness to transmit after the barrier disappeared.’
Eren held out his hands and pushed his chair away from the table. “You got me. Back to this fabulously ludicrous plan.”
David caught Caleb’s attention once more. “So you would need to keep the barrier up for nearly a minute after everyone inside it is dead.” His eyes passed across the others in turn. “And everyone inside it has to die.”
Miriam stared at the table surface for several seconds, then lifted her chin. “They slaughtered nearly a thousand anarchs on Chionis in deliberately brutal, depraved ways. I don’t have a problem giving that order.”
22
ANARCH POST SATUS
LOCATION UNKNOWN
* * *
A WISPY, HOARSE VOICE EMERGED from the cushioned depths of the medical cot. “If you’re trying to wake me up, stop being so subtle about it and just punch me in the shoulder.”
Eren donned a confident, teasing smile as Cosime’s eyes fluttered open. “Your shoulder’s busted, darling, so punching it would be counterproductive to you getting better.”
She looked up at him, but her eyes didn’t quite focus. The doctors had her on a steady stream of painkillers, and the Curative Unit had admonished him to expect her to be groggy.
“Am I? Going to get better?”
“Most definitely. You are banged up a little, so it’ll take some time, but you’ll be flipping circles around me soon.”
“Felzeor? The Curative Units won’t tell me his condition….” She tried to crane her neck to peer around the medical suite, but the brace on her shoulder restricted her range of motion too much. Her voice remained weak, too, and she was so pale; when coupled with her normally fragile appearance, she looked as if she would shatter at the slightest touch.
The lack of proper air she’d suffered for those minutes on Chionis hadn’t inflicted any permanent brain damage, thank Athena, but her throat and lungs took a beating from their protracted struggles. Her left shoulder, collarbone and upper humerus had been pulverized by debris, and after three medical procedures the bones and supporting parts were now more synthetic than organic. But she was alive.
Eren stood. “I’ll do better than tell you. One second.” He moved behind the head of her cot before limping over to Felzeor’s special capsule and tapping on the glass. Green, refreshingly alert eyes popped open. “Do you feel up to saying hi to Cosime?”
The Volucri bobbed his head with as much enthusiasm as his own injuries allowed. Eren opened the lid and gathered Felzeor in his arms then carried him back over to the cot.
“Cosime, you’re awake! You’ve been asleep for ages.”
“Have I? Gods, Felzeor, what happened to you? Are you in there under all those bandages?”
“Maybe. I hope so. A building crushed me, stabbed me, ripped off most of a wing and suffocated me.”
Cosime face blanched in horror. “Oh, dear.”
“ ’Tis okay. Caleb rescued me and brought me here. I think. To be honest, I don’t remember much about what happened.”
Cosime grimaced and gingerly readjusted her position on the pillow. “Me either. Something tells me that’s for the best, for both of us.” Her gaze shifted to Eren. “But I remember you were there. I remember you told me to keep breathing.”
“And you listened to me, for once.”
“Don’t get used to it. Are you hurt?”
He shrugged. “Only a few scrapes. I’m good.”
Felzeor clucked in disapproval at the white lie, but if Cosime couldn’t see the brace and heavy bandages on Eren’s leg, he wasn’t going to draw her attention to them.
“All right, Felzeor, I’d better get you back in your capsule before the Curative Units start yelling at me.”
“They always yell at me. Be well, Cosime.”
“And you.”
He tucked Felzeor into his capsule with a stern glare. “Do what the Curative Units tell you. They know how to take care of you so you can heal.”
Felzeor grumbled while he settled on the cushions, but his eyelids were drooping before Eren got the lid shut.
When he returned to Cosime, he realized she was worn out, too. The brief interactions had sapped her of what meager energy she’d summoned.
He half-sat on the edge of the cot and took her hand in his. “I’m going to be kind of scarce for a little while. We’re planning to move hard and fast on the Directorate, and there’s a lot to do. I need to throw in with everything I can muster to guarantee we win. But that’s going to be tons easier for me to do knowing you’re on the mend. So concentrate on recuperating, even when in practice it simply means resting. Okay? For me?”
She managed a weak smile. “I want to argue with you, but I’m so tired. Right now, I think resting is all I can do. I’m sorry, I wish I could help.”
“No. Don’t you dare be sorry. You’re alive, which is the greatest gift I could ever ask for. Make sure you stay that way.”
She nodded as her eyes fought her efforts to keep them open. He stood, then leaned in and placed a soft, lingering kiss on her forehead. When he drew back, she was asleep. He gave her hand a final squeeze and departed.
Eren found Thelkt in the break room, lounging around as if he wasn’t recuperating himself. Scattered splotches of his iridescent skin glistened more brightly than the rest, as though damp—new skin, still forming—but otherwise his friend would look no different if he were hosting a dinner party.
Eren hobbled across the room, making an effort to not appear gimped. Many of those here suffered from more severe injuries than he did, but his ego was nevertheless taking a hit. The urge to crack open the leg brace and rip off the bandages was strong, oh yes, it was strong indeed, but he resisted—even though it was going to keep him off the Vigil HQ mission. In a day, two at most, he’d be able to throw the brace out an airlock and once again run from his monsters like a champ, so he persevered.
Halfway to Thelkt, he caught sight of faint movement in a nearby corner. Two shadows shifted like smoke wafting up from a lazy fire; secretive whispers emanated from their presence.
He couldn’t say if one of them was Miaon, but it didn’t matter. Eren cackled triumphantly. “Aha! I caught you—there is more than one Yinhe!”
As he stood there watching, the shadows drifted together, entwining one another until they had merged completely. “Is there?”
He blinked in disbelief, blinked again and finally tossed an arm dismissively in the now single shadow’s direction. “I give up.”
With an overdramatic groan he limped the last several meters to where Thelkt waited. “Eren, my friend, please sit.” Thelkt gestured to the couch opposite him. “You should know better than to try to outwit a Yinhe.”
“Well, I am appallingly obstinate.”
“Undeniably. How’s the leg?”
Eren eased down and adjusted his position so the offending leg could extend out at an angle. “Damn near immobile until I can take this godsawful brace off, which should be tomorrow. Then, though? It and me will be ship-shape. You’re doing pretty good, right? I heard they’re releasing you today.”
“Allegedly. Releasing me to what, I can’t say.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I want you t
o do me a favor.”
“If I can.”
On second thought, Thelkt might not be up to hosting dinner parties quite yet. He seemed…weary. He wasn’t a fighter, and the toll of such devastating violence had taken its due.
“When Cosime and Felzeor are well enough to be moved, I want you to take them home, to Hirlas, and stay there to look after them. Cosime needs to breathe her real, natural air, free of tubes and artificial mixtures, to truly heal. She needs to bask in the light and warmth of her native sun. And Felzeor’s never going to thrive locked inside a cold, clinical spaceship. He needs the open sky.”
“He can’t fly.”
“He’ll never fly so long as he’s confined here.”
Thelkt nodded thoughtfully. “I don’t disagree on any particular point, and I want to see them recover as much as you do. Part of me yearns to remain in the thick of the revolution as it at last nears its apex…but I sense the time for subterfuge and surveillance has passed, in which case I am not needed.”
“You are needed—Cosime and Felzeor need you.”
“Very well. I will do as you ask, though it is hardly a favor. It is the best course for us all.” He regarded Eren curiously. “And you? What are you planning to do once you get the leg brace off?”
“There are a few details to square first, but if all proceeds as it should? I aim to go kill them all.”
PART IV:
SWORDS & SHIELDS
“In short, all good things are wild and free.”
— Henry David Thoreau
23
PLANET PD-8344C
PEGASUS DWARF GALAXY
LGG REGION VI
* * *
THE TRANSPORT FROM THE AFS SARATOGA settled to the rocky surface of the uninhabited planet thirty meters from where Caleb and Alex stood beside the Siyane. Though halfway across the LGG from the planet where they’d first traversed a teleportation gate to Post Satus, the stark emptiness of this landscape evoked a similar feeling. Breathable air did not alone make a planet habitable.
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