Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1 (Splintered Galaxy Book 3)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “Just tell me where to go,” Onatiasha said. It was a mentally painful thing to say. If anyone else had been watching, they would have thought for sure she and Zhinbryo had been indoctrinated into their beliefs.

  Gayir pointed toward the window, toward the oversized ship to be exact. “You’ll be coming with me and Di’aria aboard that,” he said. “I want you to become part of its ground assault crew when we attack Earth.”

  … … …

  ►► Leviathan, Y’ouipa shipyard

  ► Uelcovis system

  Gravity on a ship, it was a feeling Yominv had a tough time getting used to. The Leviathan like the Abyssal Pelican employed many psionics aboard the ship, many of them creating gravity in every section of the ship. Both Yominv and Noylarlie stepped aboard the bridge, impressed at the size of it and the team required to operate it.

  As he sat in his commander’s chair, a holographic screen appeared providing him with an updated list of events regarding changes to the ship, namely its roster. Di’aria and Gayir came aboard along with two new members to the order, Onatiasha and Zhinbryo. He’ll have to commend her later, converting enemies to their cause only made them stronger while weakening the opposition.

  “Admiral!” said one of the of the many shipboard psionics. As much as it pained Yominv to admit it, he hadn’t quite learned everyone’s name just yet. The ship had a crew of thousands.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “The psionic network. My mind has come across reports that our forces have engaged the humans at Saturn.”

  The fleet fighting at Saturn, it wasn’t good news to him as he ordered them to hold at Uranus. Even if the humans attacked first, they were not to follow let alone launch any of the attacks they planned. This was someone acting on their own accord, that someone had better be the empress, at least then there was nothing he could do about it other than grit his fangs knowing she got in the way of the order’s plans.

  “Under whose authority?” Yominv asked the psionic.

  “Captain T’esih made the call.”

  Captain T’esih, of course it would be her to do this and keep him in the dark about it. Yominv groaned angrily, then folded his hands together in attempt to keep calm and focused. “I placed her in command to watch over and defend the fleet, not send them into battle,” Yominv said. “Have them withdraw at once.”

  Yominv saw the young psionic close his eyes to relay Yominv’s message telepathically. The psionic grimaced sometime later then reported his news. “I can’t reach their psionic’s mind. They must be too occupied with the battle!”

  Yominv’s groans turned into hisses. T’esih needed to be stopped before she got herself killed along with whatever ships she ordered to come with her. Even if she were to win, it would force the humans into thinking of another strategy, one that would complicate the brilliant one he had concocted.

  “Can you send us to Sol?” Yominv asked Noylarlie.

  “Having two wormholes open at once is hard, I nearly had the one linking Paryo to Uranus fail sending us here,” she said. “There’s no telling how many of our ships are traveling in it this very second.”

  “Space bridge will take too long,” Yominv said.

  “It was used a few minutes ago anyway,” a communication officer reported. “The psionics onboard need time to rest.”

  Wormhole and space bridge were officially not an option, and even then, given the size of the Leviathan, it would take years for them to arrive in Sol. Yominv would have to use a transport to get there in reasonable amount of time, and that was if the space bridge was an option. There was one last method of travel available. “Is the jump drive ready?” Yominv asked.

  “Installed, but not tested,” said a bridge officer.

  “Excellent,” Yominv said, accessing the terminal on the arm of his chair. “We shall test it now.”

  … … …

  ►► Kasidey’s Transport

  ► Uelcovis system

  Kasidey and Whigli watched the Leviathan’s engines prep from a monitor. Her delivery of the MRF signaled the completion of the ship and its unique method of transportation. Instant teleportation throughout the galaxy, provided the psionic minds aboard were up to the task.

  While Whigli watched with intrigue, she input a new course taking the transport far outside of the system, away from Hashmedai scanners and psionic ESP. The fewer people that knew she could create wormholes, the better.

  “Now what?” Whigli asked her.

  “As I said,” she said, smiling at him. “We’re going to make the galaxy a better place. Next stop, our new home.”

  “Aren’t we supposed to return to Hannah and the others?”

  “Forget about them. In a few months the order, Hannah, and all these galaxy nations will mean nothing.”

  Her mission was officially complete. The order had exactly what it needed to carry out their duties. Should they fail, her masters would find another way. Their transport disappeared beyond the border of the system. Once they were out of ESP and scanning range, a wormhole opened sending them to a remote section of the galaxy no human, Radiance race or Hashmedai, had ever been to.

  CHAPTER 24

  ►► Abyssal Explorer transport, Oyuri

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Chloe doubled checked her layout while Stolanei and Karklosea entered a brief trance to get a better feel for the area. The transport they rode down to the surface remained idle at the landing pad next to the camp overlooking the Lyonria ruins.

  Chloe wore Radiance combat armor, complete with a helmet as the life-support systems inside would be needed once they leave the transport. The gem remained inside a side container, she periodically checked it to see if its radiating light had calmed, it hadn’t. Something in that city got the damn thing excited, and she had a feeling they were very close to finding out what it was.

  The psionic duo awoke from their trance, seemingly surprised at whatever the hell they experienced. Stolanei spoke first, “The city.”

  “Yes, there’s something in that Lyonrian city that’s creating the psionic wave,” Karklosea said. She then addressed Chloe. “What about you Major, does your gem react?”

  “It gotten brighter since we’ve landed,” Chloe said. “I think it’s worth checking out these ruins.”

  “Very well,” Karklosea said, reaching toward the back to get an environment suit for herself and Stolanei.

  Chloe frowned, having realized that this would make their psionic powers useless, so she reached upwards to the overhead weapons locker, and produced two rifles for them.

  … … …

  ►► Camp Site, Oyuri

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Odelea’s delicate hands placed the second last item into her bag, her data pad. She was geared up in her environment suit within her room, ready to meet up with Eicelea and Vynei to explore their secret discovery as agreed. One last thing to pack away, the data crystal which contained her notes and discoveries regarding to the data that was recently shared with her via Eicelea’s data pad. She held the data crystal in her hands thinking about some of the progress she made with the translation.

  “Now, now, didn’t your mother teach you to share?” A mysterious voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “I... I can’t,” she whispered back. She tried to put the data crystal away but her hands stopped midway. A force was compelling her not to do that, just yet.

  “You can, and you will,” said the voice. “Share your findings with the others before you leave.”

  Odelea tried to resist. One would think it would be a simple task, just ignore it and move. But the more the voice spoke, the more it felt like doing what it said was the right thing to do. Her hand wouldn’t move the data crystal in her bag, every thought of moving resulted in it moving toward her computer. This later resulted in her loading a copy of the files into it, and sending a transmission out.

  “You want to share these findings,” said the voice. “Just like y
ou wanted to shoot Telinei and take over his research.”

  “I didn’t want to kill him!”

  “But you did. His unpublished works now have your name on it. You wanted it. Tell the others about what you found. Draw our enemies out into the open under the false pretense that something good is waiting for them.”

  … … …

  ►► Whisper safe house, Courelia slums, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Jazz and Vaishea spent the last few days taking refuge at the safe house, mulling about, debating on what move they should make next, listening to Heurol rant about how he can’t figure out Vaishea’s mission and worst of all sleeping.

  On the hard, cold floor.

  With no blanket or pillow.

  Jazz’s back and neck radiated with pain when he was awoken by Heurol, shouting some stuff to him and Vaishea he could care less about. “You need to get up now,” Heurol shouted to them.

  Jazz groaned. “I don’t wanna go to school.”

  “Your human humor is not welcomed right now,” Heurol said. “And if you don’t help me with this task, you won’t be welcomed here either.”

  “Fine, geez,” Jazz said after a ten second pause. “What is it?”

  “Come with me,” Heurol said then faced Vaishea. “You too.”

  Jazz slowly rose from the floor, trying very carefully not to cause his body any more discomfort than it already was in. He could see Vaishea was in the same predicament, awoken from an already rough sleep on the floor. She smiled at Jazz shaking her head. Word, we’re on the same page here, he thought.

  They sluggishly followed Heurol into the central computer lab of the safe house. A few of the personnel inside eyed a three-dimensional projection of a Linl woman wearing a lab coat. Heurol stopped next to the projection, stroking his chin before turning around to address Jazz and Vaishea.

  “I’ll keep this short since we might not have enough time,” Heurol said. “This is Miraja, who also goes by the name Katotea. She’s a sleeper agent we sent into the R&D mountain complex some time ago with false memories, just like you Vaishea.”

  Vaishea’s eyes rolled while her arms crossed. “Whatever.”

  “We ‘programmed’ her to temporarily remember her true memories and mission once every nineteen hours for a period of twenty minutes, just long enough to send us a report,” Heurol said. “We haven’t heard from her in days.”

  “Ya’ll want me to go in and find her?” Jazz smirked. “To earn my keep?”

  “Does the name Hannah sound important to you human?”

  “Shit,” was the only world Jazz could muster. Not because Hannah was here, but because these Whisper spooks knew so much about him and the reason he came to this corner of the galaxy.

  “Our missing agent confirmed Hannah visited that complex some time ago. Therefore, the Celestial Order is up to something inside. I think it would be in your best interest to go, outside of the fact that I want you to be useful to us so long as you remain here.”

  “You’re kidding me, right,” Jazz said. Heurol, Vaishea, and Jazz were handed Radiance lab coats by the safe house staff while several other agents entered, all donning the same attire.

  “You want to learn about Hannah’s last known location here, we want to know what’s going on in that lab and what happened to our agent,” Heurol said. “Welcome to The Whisper my friend, what’s left of it.”

  Jazz held onto the soft fabric of the coat, shaking his head at it. Too fuckin’ soft, “So are you going to wipe my memory and replace it with a fake one for my cover?” he asked.

  “Ideally, we would,” Heurol said. “But we don’t have time to program a fake one for you and the rest of us, besides what’s the point? Our missing agent went in with one, now we can’t get hold of them, which is worrying.”

  They got dressed into their outfits, a holo mirror reflecting Jazz’s appearance. An appearance that was just too nerdy for his liking, he was a fighter, not a scientist. Vaishea grimaced at her look as well. There was no doubt in his mind she would rather wear the jumpsuit uniform rather than a lab coat and data pad. Fake ID tags were handed to them along with everyone else in the room while Heurol stepped behind an agent manning a computer workstation.

  “Where’s that tram?” Heurol asked the agent.

  “Half way there now,” he said as a hologram appeared showing a tram moving through a tunnel on the side. “Here’s its location.”

  “All right let’s do this,” Heurol said loudly to everyone.

  The agents stood next to him while signaling for Jazz and Vaishea to step over. Heurol then entered the all too familiar stance, of a mass psionic teleportation.

  They vanished.

  … … …

  ►► Tram En route to Radiance R&D complex, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Jazz, Vaishea, Heurol and the group of Whisper agents reappeared aboard the tram in question while it sped through a snow blanked transparent tunnel. A massive blizzard moved into the region by the looks.

  Heurol placed his lab attrite on as he looked around to verify everyone else made it and said. “I’m surprised that worked.”

  “What worked?” Jazz asked.

  “I never teleported a large group of people onto a small moving object,” Heurol said. “Had my aim been off, we’d be outside right about now.”

  “Or plastered on the front of the tram,” Jazz said, taking notice of how fast the tram was moving.

  “How is this any different from teleporting onto a ship that’s moving?” Vaishea asked Heurol.

  “Ships at least have signals I can lock in on.”

  Minutes passed while the tram neared its destination, the mountain complex outside of the arcology. The snowfall and darkness from the outside world shrouded the mountain from sight, even when they got close to it. It wasn’t until the glass tunnels became a rock face tunnel they knew they had entered inside.

  “Okay, Vaishea, Jazz, you’re with me,” Heurol said to them, then turned to address the rest of his team in their language.

  “What’s their role in this?” Jazz asked.

  “They are going to spread out and search,” Heurol said. He then handed both Jazz and Vaishea mag pistols. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said pointing at their weapons.

  “What’s that?” Vaishea asked Heurol as he placed a strange looking handheld device in his pocket.

  “It’s used to restore memories of our agents provided we have a backup copy of it,” he explained. “I suspect our missing agent isn’t reporting in due to an error in the false memories we gave them. Much like Vaishea.”

  “Hey!” she shouted back at him, still maintaining her stance that she is who she claims to be.

  Jazz felt the tram slow from its rapid commute then come to a full stop at an overly lit platform. Radiance and their damn love of the light, he thought as they all stepped off, giving the fictitious notion to everyone in the distance that they were lab workers coming in for their shift at work.

  The team moved forward as planned, the agents broke off into small groups, venturing into the complex. While Heurol, Jazz and Vaishea moved toward a specific location led by Heurol. They walked through the halls, decorated with plants from the Javnis and Aryile home world. Armed rangers patrolled the halls with their armor protected bodies. A diverse mix of Radiance races walked back and forth through the halls wearing lab coats just like them prompting Jazz to avoid direct eye contact, he was still a wanted man back at Courelia city, no need to have someone recognize him here and blow the whole mission apart.

  A security check point allowed them to move further inside the mountain complex, giving them direct access to the many labs in this section. From what Jazz could see from the windows of the labs he passed, most of the labs in this section were focused around building, designing, or testing equipment. Some labs had workers tinkering with combat armor, others with weapons, a few others had workers handling gear Jazz couldn’t reco
gnize. The empire would kill to learn of all of this intel, Radiance was clearly planning to step up their war effort against the Hashmedai.

  Heurol led them into an empty lab, his ID card was scanned at the door, triggering it to unlock and slide open. Light automatically turned on as they entered, illuminating some prototype cybernetics resting on a table and computers forming a ring around said table.

  “The agent we sent was assigned to work here,” Heurol said, removing his top. With his cybernetic implants on his bare chest free, he could utilize his powers. “Move fast, my mind can’t loop the security cams forever.”

  Vaishea nodded and ran toward the nearest computer, attempting to review its logs and files making Jazz feel utterly useless. He didn’t exactly know what he should be looking for, nor was he familiar with Radiance computers or have any fancy psionic powers to help them stay hidden. He kept his eyes peeled for signs that might indicate if Hannah was ever in this lab, the primary reason he didn’t fully object to coming in the first place. Too bad there was nothing to be seen that would indicate that.

  “Lots of hardware here,” Jazz said, commenting on a glass shelf at the end of the lab.

  “Psionic cybernetics, they were developing newer upgrades,” said Heurol.

  “According to this five days ago a batch of prototypes were sent deeper in the complex for further testing,” Vaishea said reading off the computers holo screen.

  “Five days ago? That’s when my agent vanished,” said Heurol, moving in closer to read her screen. “Further testing? Does it say what kind of tests?”

  “Nothing else, looks like it was classified, well at least the sector they entered was a classified one,” she said.

  “To my knowledge these upgrades were far from being tested on live subjects, there’s no need to remove them from here for further tests unless they’ve been lying about its status.”

  “I don’t suppose we got clearance to enter those restricted areas?” Vaishea asked Heurol.