by MJ Blehart
“What is your obsession with making clones into people?” asked Feroz. “Some offense, Jace—I mean, you’re likeable enough for a humanoid animal. But you do realize you and your kind aren’t people, don’t you?”
“I don’t know about that, Feroz,” Jace said. “In fact, sometimes I think my kind are more ‘people’ than your kind.”
“I am sure this would make for a lovely debate,” Feroz said, “but I haven’t that kind of time. It’s been a lovely chat, but what’s it going to be, Onima? Kara? I applaud your continued cleverness, but even if your backup arrives, we have you outgunned. So, you need to turn Dr. Deng and Mr. Ivanov over to me.”
“That’s not happening, Feroz.” Onima gripped Ivanov’s arm with one hand and held her pistol in the other. She wished she were still holding both her pistols. “Also, while you have us outgunned, if your forces open fire, you’re highly likely to hit your friends. I’m sure Bettani and Nazari would be displeased if you let them get hurt when you were sent to retrieve them.”
“Yeah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Feroz said. “But things have changed. As you have clearly worked out for yourself, both Director Ivanov and Dr. Deng have been instrumental in our operations. But we’re past them both now, so their safety is less imperative.”
Onima should have seen it coming. But it was already too late. Feroz raised his pistol and fired a plasma bolt right into Dr. Deng’s head.
Before anyone else could move, laser blasts began on the other side of Feroz’s transport. A moment later, both Teru and Yael emerged, firing repeatedly at the two armor-shelled goons nearest their position.
Onima pushed Ivanov back toward a pillar between the opening of the warehouse and the road as Feroz’s associates began shooting at them.
Jace was at Onima’s side, placing himself between Ivanov and the armor-shelled goons. Though three were down, at least five were firing toward Ivanov, Jace, and Onima.
As she reached for her second pistol, a plasma bolt struck Onima in the thigh. She dropped to her knees with a shout of pain, but still managed to raise both pistols and start firing rapidly at their attackers.
Jace was still between Ivanov and three of the goons. But Onima could do nothing but shoot at the armored shells and watch in horror as a plasma bolt hit Jace in the chest—followed by another, and then one to his shoulder.
Jace was thrown back into Ivanov, who barely shifted, frozen in place as the clone bounced off him before stopping at the pillar.
As Jace leaned against the pillar they’d been trying to get behind, Onima saw Ivanov take at least five plasma bolts and drop to the pavement.
Before Feroz’s armor-shelled companions could turn all their attention on finishing Onima and Jace off, a new sound reached Onima’s ears. It was followed by shouts and increased weapons-fire away from her team.
A second transport—like her own—had arrived: Warrant Teams One and Two from the Daedalus had joined them.
Now the armor-shelled goons shifted their attention to the new and more dangerous threat. The warrant teams were in full armored shells of their own and were on the attack.
Breathing for a moment, with the loss of an immediate threat, Onima looked toward the gray transport—and saw Feroz firing at someone. But she’d lost sight of Kara, Teru, and Yael. Was he shooting at them or the warrant teams?
She raised her pistols, but before she could pull the trigger, at least two or three plasma bolts struck Feroz.
He dropped from where he’d been standing, at the edge of the command capsule’s doorway. Onima fought the pain in her thigh and stood. Before she could move, however, Feroz pulled himself into the transport’s command capsule and closed the door behind him.
It shuddered, then accelerated away, gliding over the road.
Before Onima could give orders, a pair of agents climbed back into the command capsule of the CBI transport and took off in pursuit of Feroz.
Onima now saw Kara with Teru and Yael: they had been who Feroz had been shooting at. Warrant Teams One and Two had either dropped or disabled the last of Feroz’s armor-shelled thugs.
“Careful!” Kara called. “Their suits might be rigged to vaporize!”
Onima glanced at Dr. Deng’s body. Feroz’s shot had gone through his forehead and likely killed him instantly. Then she saw Ivanov’s body, counting six distinct plasma bolt hits on his chest, belly, and head.
Her eyes found Jace, standing but slumped against the pillar. He had taken three plasma bolt hits, two to the upper part of his chest and one on his left shoulder.
She stumbled toward him, grunting in pain as she put weight on her injured thigh. Her suit might have looked like any other formal businessperson’s outfit—except it had an inner layer that offered some protection against laser fire.
Jace was not wearing his CBI jacket with that minimal protection. He’d taken the full brunt of all three shots.
Before she could get to him, there were a number of shouts, and a familiar buzzing, hissing noise. Onima closed her eyes as the armored shells flashed, vaporizing along with their occupants.
Onima opened her eyes. Jace was looking at her. As she approached, he groaned and said, “That hurt.”
Kara, Teru, and Yael were jogging to them. “Jace!” Kara exclaimed.
“I’ll bet I look awful just now,” Jace said weakly.
The pain in Onima’s thigh was annoying, but she was more worried about Jace. He may have still been standing, but all his weight was pressed against the post.
Three of the warrant team members were at Onima’s side now. The nearest lifted their face shield, and Onima identified him as Special Agent Wei.
“Marshal Gwok,” Wei said. “You’re injured.”
She waived him off. “Never mind me. Jace needs a medic right now.”
“Charis! Garrett!” Wei called out. “We need you!”
Every warrant team had at least two field corpsmen. There would be four on the ground presently.
“Wei,” Onima addressed the agent, “have Team Two go into the office area of the warehouse and round up anyone still inside. Take Team One to go find the clones and lend them a hand. Make sure you identify yourselves as CBI; they’re armed.”
“Yes, Marshal,” Wei replied.
“And make sure they are being careful around all the scientific equipment in there,” Onima added before he could step away. “We’ll need to identify and catalog all of it before we’re through.”
“On it.” Wei moved off, shouting orders to get the warrant teams underway.
Kara had removed Jace’s coat and shirt. Onima winced at seeing his injuries.
“You got damned lucky, Jace,” Kara was saying as Onima limped nearer. “The chest shots were both grazes. If those had hit you full-on, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation.”
“Doesn’t feel lucky,” Jace said.
“Do clones have a higher pain tolerance?” asked Kara.
“No idea,” Jace said. As he shifted his weight against the post, he groaned again. “Remember how I said I probably look pretty awful? Yeah, I’m feeling pretty awful too.”
Charis and Garrett arrived and gently nudged Kara away. All deputy marshals and higher could perform basic first aid, but the corpsmen were more skilled, being specially trained.
Onima looked once more at Ivanov. His eyes remained open, but he was unmistakably dead. “Damned Feroz,” she breathed.
“He was definitely injured,” Yael said, stepping up to Onima. “I know I got at least one shot into him.”
Onima shook her head. “But he got away. Maybe the agents that went after him will catch him. But he keeps proving to be one slippery snake.”
“Marshal,” Teru said, “as a ranking agent, do you want me to supervise the warrant teams?”
“Yes, thank you, Teru,” Onima replied.
Teru was a deputy marshal. Though Special Agent Wei was the ranking field “sergeant” for the warrant team, it was always a good idea for them to
have a marshal or deputy marshal to report to. It also kept necessary legalities better handled.
Now Garrett approached Onima. “Marshal Gwok, Jace is stable. None of the shots he took are life-threatening. We’ve called in our transport to fly here for a pickup. Can I look at your injury?”
“Yes,” Onima said, and Garrett knelt and began to look over Onima’s charred thigh.
“Onima,” Kara said, “I’ve still got all the data we took off Dr. Deng’s terminals. Also, thanks to Teru, we recorded our entire encounter with them.”
Onima nodded. “It’s something. I just hope that even without the doctor and Mr. Ivanov, we have enough to finally move against Gray and Chuang. Before it’s too late.”
21
During the war, Jace had managed to never get shot.
It was not a pleasant experience. Fortunately, the medical bay of the Daedalus was well equipped—and Dr. Patel and her team were very good at what they did.
Jace spent just one night in the medical bay following his being shot three times during the confrontation with Feroz and the Gray and Chuang armor-shelled goons.
Dr. Patel affirmed Kara’s observations: both chest shots were indirect and had only grazed him. Had they been direct, he would most likely have been killed.
The shot to his shoulder had sheered through his collarbone, but the damage done was not permanent. The morning after, Dr. Patel declared him recovered. Still, he’d be sore for a few days.
Jace was extremely grateful to Dr. Patel and her staff. Clones didn’t tend to get treated for injuries—at least, not since the war had ended. He was grateful he’d earned enough respect to be treated no differently than any other member of the team.
After going to his cabin to get cleaned up and change into fresh clothes, Jace joined Onima, Kara, and the others in the MBCC.
Once more, they were gathered around Teru’s workstation. Jace still found the respect he received from both the CBI operatives and Daedalus crew disconcerting. He wondered—not for the first time—how he’d return to his normal life after the investigation ended and Onima returned him to Raven.
“Jace,” Onima said as he approached. “Welcome back. How are you feeling?”
“Like I was somebody’s punching bag,” he admitted. “But Dr. Patel assures me there was no permanent damage. If I were an operative, I’d have permission to return to active duty.”
“Scared the hell out of me to see you like that,” Kara said. “Damned Feroz.”
“Speaking of Feroz,” Jace said, “did they catch him?”
“No,” Onima said. “He had gotten just enough of a head start that, although they pursued him into the center of Lebassier City, they lost him. He probably had a predetermined spot to ditch the transport. We ran a sweep and did a satellite search, but he’s good, and we got nothing. He eluded us.”
“Damn,” Jace said.
“Maybe he died from his injuries,” Kara said. “I know that’s harsh, but he’s been nothing but trouble since betraying the team. I know he definitely got shot.”
“I saw him get hit too,” Onima said, “but I also watched him take that transport. Unfortunately, I doubt that was the last we’ll see of Feroz Jones.”
She went on to tell Jace that after the shuttle had picked him up to get him back to the Daedalus, another shuttle had been sent down to collect multiple pieces of evidence from the warehouse.
“We secured it and have gotten a lot of data thus far,” Onima said. “Sorting through it will take time.”
“Too true,” Teru agreed.
“What about Gray and Chuang?” Jace asked. “We had Ivanov and Dr. Deng. We made a clear tie between the virus and the company.”
“Yeah.” Kara sounded annoyed. “The company already issued a formal statement this morning disavowing Kaji Ivanov. They claim he had rented and staffed the warehouse entirely on his own and of his own volition.”
“Seriously?” Jace asked.
“Oh, yes. They thoroughly disavowed him and any ties to the warehouse.”
“They also tried to spike all the data at the warehouse,” Teru added. “But I stopped that. I then created a reverse spike of sorts and sent it to Gray and Chaung’s central database.”
Jace raised an eyebrow. “Meaning...?”
Teru grinned. “Any attempt to delete and destroy data related to Ivanov will be archived. Which means they’ll be unable to spike it.”
“Unless Feroz works to counter your counter,” Onima remarked.
Teru frowned. “He can certainly try. And if anyone had a chance of succeeding, I admit it would be Feroz. But he won’t. I’m still better than he is.”
“Let’s hope,” Kara said.
“After yesterday,” Onima said, “we should finally have enough solid evidence to take this to the courts. The CBI will be able to present this to the AECC leadership and stop the coup from going down. We’ll have enough hard data to get a warrant to really look into Gray and Chuang and their connection.”
“Which means,” Kara added, “we take a look at Ivanov’s offices—hopefully before they clean them out.”
Jace understood the difference between circumstantial evidence built on supposition and admissible evidence with factual proof. Though some of their methods had skirted the accepted legalities, they’d still produced legitimate results. Everything they’d found in the warehouse was usable proof that Gray and Chuang was connected to the clone virus.
Which led Jace to his next thought. “What happened with the clones?”
“They got and found their people,” Onima said. “The security forces may have been better armored, but they were hard-pressed against battle-hardened clone infantry.”
“It was pretty impressive,” Teru said. “When they started coming out of the warehouse, they had taken two-thirds of security prisoner. It seems they preferred disabling them over killing them.”
Jace felt a sense of pride over that. “Were the warehouse security people in the usual blue armored shells with black helmets?”
“No,” Teru said.
“They were in armored coats and had visors and rifles,” Onima elaborated. “But they were also identified to be private security rather than Gray and Chuang employees.”
“So much for having company security to question.” Jace shook his head. “I take it all the clones who had been held by Gray and Chuang for their experiments were examined for the virus?”
“Yes,” Onima said. “In fact, Dr. Patel should be here with the results of that shortly.”
“Hopefully Dr. Deng wasn’t lying when he said the virus wasn’t airborne yet.” Jace didn’t like the idea that perhaps all those clones had been freed but might be returned to Pao-hui-burg only to infect everyone there.
“That’s why we asked them all to remain at the warehouse,” Onima said, adding, “under CBI protection. Warrant Team Three is with them, having collected their weapons. While they appreciated the guns we provided, they understand why we’re not going to let them retain them.”
Jace imagined a slum full of clones a decent distance from any major city—armed—would make no one comfortable. “What did we learn about the ongoing experiments with clones,” he asked, “since we knew they were being abducted from Pao-hui-burg semi-regularly?”
“Dr. Deng had some rather extensive notes,” Teru said. “Initially, he was seeing if the virus was any more effective in its original purpose in one clone type over another—hence why they took a mix of both NEEA and NECC clones. Since infantry far outnumber all the rest, that was his main focus. But he still worked on heavy infantry and cavalry clones from time to time. Unsurprisingly, he also did some more random samplings of the—and I’m quoting his notes directly here—‘more useful’ clones.”
Despite still being second-class citizens, clones with abilities more adaptable to the post-war galaxy were that much more respected. Of course, they were by far the minority among clones in the first place.
Kara remarked, “Does it disgus
t all of you as much as it does me that Dr. Deng seemed to see clones as lab rats?”
“Given some of his record,” Onima replied, “it’s not shocking.”
“Well,” Teru continued, “he also experimented with virus delivery, dose, and adding additional compounds to either make the virus do as they’d originally engineered it to—or kill faster.”
“It tends to act rather quickly,” Onima said.
Teru nodded. “It depends on several factors. It would seem Dr. Deng noted this. Sometimes it killed in a matter of days, other times weeks. And in a few instances, it went dormant and didn’t do anything.”