Bethany Anne dropped her head. “Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me, too. There’s no question I need to pull back slowly to give them time to adjust, but that doesn’t fix their resource issues. I want to avoid them going into recession if we can.”
“How about we don’t send Leath into recession at all,” Lance suggested. “Can you do anything with the expansion they’re looking at?”
Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “That’s where my thinking is right now. I’m not going to endanger the treaty. I have to be smart about this. Storming in all guns blazing because I’m pissed the Leath are behaving like, well, Leath is only going to end in victory for the Seven. I’ll coordinate with Nickie and pick a nice, quiet system that’s rich in the elements the Leath need.”
“Feed the information to Harkkat. Got you.” Lance nodded in relief. He knew that was the closest he would get to acquiescence from his daughter. “What about the high possibility that whoever they send to the Interdiction will encounter the Ooken?”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “I’ll make sure the video gets back to Leath.”
Devon, The Hexagon, Network Command
Tabitha adjusted the weight of her bag to shift the item poking her in the side. “Tell me again what happened. You got an alert from CEREBRO?”
“No, from Winstanley. CEREBRO were in shock or something.” Sabine gazed at Tabitha with concern shadowing her eyes. “This is the fifth time this kind of damage has been done, but the first on a vital system. I refuse to believe any longer that it is a coincidence.”
Tabitha followed Sabine with a sinking feeling. “Maybe I agree with you. Nobody who can access network command would cause damage on purpose, and no one can access the levels below without being logged onto the system.”
Sabine stopped at the unmarked door to the core vault and touched a finger to the biometric pad. “That’s why I asked you to come down here. None of this makes any sense.”
Tabitha stepped back when the door opened with a soft hiss. “Don’t you worry. We’ll get to the bottom of it. There’s always an answer.”
Sabine smiled thinly. “I hope so.” She led Tabitha along high aisles formed by racks filled with EI cradles, her footsteps echoing in the stillness. “Who would want to hurt CEREBRO?”
Tabitha looked at the cradles. The cool, dry space was dim, whereas it was normally bathed in the bright glow of innumerable blinking lights emitted by the legion of EIs who formed this planet’s part of CEREBRO. “How many cores are stored here at the moment?” she asked.
Sabine shrugged, lifting her hand. “Maybe twenty-five thousand? The holonetwork is more Mark’s thing. N’importe quoi. They all moved into the Etheric when the attack occurred and have refused to leave since.”
Tabitha saw no sign of intruders as they walked. She stepped into an open space where two paths intersected and dropped her bag on the oversized table in the middle. “CEREBRO, run me through what happened. Let’s see if we can figure it out.”
The EI group answered from a speaker embedded in the table, sounding somewhere between violated and extremely pissed. “There is nothing to tell, Tabitha. We lost Clarence with no warning. Sensors detected no life signs in the core room at the time of the attack. The cameras all malfunctioned, so there was no footage to recover.”
Tabitha was beginning to understand why CEREBRO were so freaked by the mystery. “For real? That’s a clue. We know they can be seen if they knew to disable the cameras. What about before Clarence went offline? Were there any unauthorized accesses to the core room?”
“The logs registered no entries between Mark leaving at eleven-thirty pm and Sabine arriving six minutes after Clarence went offline,” CEREBRO told her flatly.
“Here,” Sabine called. “I’ve found what’s left of him.” She moved so Tabitha could get a closer look at the remains of the small cube that had housed the EI Clarence.
Tabitha dragged a chair over from the table and stepped up to be at eye level with the cradle. She sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as she surveyed the damage. “How? What takes chunks out of metal with its teeth?” She touched the small, serrated indents on the edge of the torn metal. “Sonofa—” She pulled her fingers back when they were cut by the sharp edges. “Sabine, you’ve gotta see this.”
Sabine brought another chair over and joined Tabitha. “It’s a mystery, that is for sure.” She scratched her head, peering at the cradle with dismay. “Winstanley, how did you miss this happening? Your sensors, did they not detect a thing?”
The building EI replied from the speaker. “There was no indication anything was occurring, exactly the same as the other instances. CEREBRO is correct; this act was committed by a ghost.”
Tabitha wiped the drops of blood that remained on her healed fingertips onto her shirt and stepped down from the chair. “You’ve been reading again, I see. Go through it again, compile all of the scan and sensor data from each incident, and send it to my HUD.” She took a collapsible carton from her bag and opened it on the table, then retrieved her tool pouch and got back up onto the chair. “I’ll send Clarence to Eve to be searched for malicious code. It could be that he activated his self-destruct to stop a breach of the system.”
Sabine gasped, her hands meeting over her chest involuntarily. “You think someone tried to hack CEREBRO?” A thought occurred. “What if it is someone attempting to get to the children?”
Tabitha’s lip curled at the suggestion. “If they are, they won’t live to regret it. I’m on this like a Yollin on the sugar trail. Where’s Demon these days?”
Sabine shook her head. “Demon has gone walkabout. She’s been doing that a lot these last few weeks. It might be a week or two before she comes back.”
Tabitha selected two tools from her pouch and began to work the bolts holding the cradle. “It’s okay. Ashur and Bellatrix might still be here.”
“Ashur is, I know,” Sabine told her. “I think Bellatrix left for their place right after the gala. She and Demon rubbed each other the wrong way.”
“Like those two were ever going to get along,” Tabitha joked. She eased the desecrated cradle out and hopped down from the chair again. “Okay, this is ready to go. I’ll get you a packet of dot-cams that aren’t linked to NARCS. You just have to remember not to link them to the main system. Bethany Anne’s security measures.”
Sabine frowned, not getting Tabitha’s meaning. “I know that the vault is to stay hidden. What is ‘narcs?’”
“Mm-hmm.” Tabitha gently placed the cradle in the carton. “Nanocyte Active Reconnaissance Camera System. Basically, it’s surveillance that can’t be outwitted.” She secured the carton and activated its signal-nulling function. “I couldn’t make an acronym fit for ‘snitch.’”
Sabine chuckled. “Riiight.” She shifted from one foot to the other, her worries resurfacing. “Thanks for helping with this.”
Tabitha smiled. “Don’t mention it. It’s just the weirdest situation. I mean, what could get in or out of here without us knowing?” She packed her tool pouch, then placed the carton in gently on top before fastening the bag she’d brought it all in. Her eyes widened as a thought occurred. “Sabine, did you search all the hangars for stowaways?”
Sabine nodded, confused by Tabitha’s line of questioning. “Yeah, sure. None of the ships have been damaged.”
“All of the hangars?” Tabitha pressed. “Including the ones with the mothballed ships?”
“Why would we check there? All those ships are…” Sabine grimaced when Tabitha’s point clicked home. “The Izanami.”
Tabitha nodded, slipping the bag strap over her head. “Yuh-huh. We’d better get down there and take a look.”
Approaching Qu’Baka, QSD Baba Yaga, Primary Bridge
“My home,” Mahi’ announced as Qu’Baka grew large in the near distance.
The light of the local star reflected off the shining white surface, which was in turn diffused by the suspension of particles caught in the planet’s gravitationa
l wake. The effect gave that part of the system a pale glow.
Mahi’ spread her arms wide, her expression one of pure joy. “It is a beautiful sight to behold after all these years.”
Bethany Anne stood front and center at the viewscreen, searching for something positive to say about the uniform ball of ice they were coming up on. “It’s very…”
“Cold and deadly?” Michael supplied less than helpfully. He tilted his head back and activated his chair’s holoHUD to confirm his supposition with the scan data coming in.
Mahi’ chuckled and came over to join Bethany Anne at the screen. “Wait until we get down there before you decide that.”
Michael collapsed the HUD and got up to look at the planet with his own eyes. “Either your people have better cloaking technology than this ship has sensor equipment—which I highly doubt—or this planet is trapped between the ice and the molten core.”
Mahi’ laughed long and deep. “Life on this planet didn’t spring whole from the ice. The molten core is what made it possible to begin with.”
“I can’t see how else it might have occurred,” Michael remarked, waving his hands to make the image zoom in on a landscape composed of sheer drops carved into the ice by centuries of scouring solar winds. “There’s no geothermal activity anywhere on the surface and no atmosphere to speak of above. If you hadn’t told me this was your species’ planet of origin, I’d have dismissed it as a lump of valuable but lifeless ice.”
Mahi’ smiled with the confidence of a female who knew she was right as the ship closed on Qu’Baka. “As I told you, life on our world flourishes under the surface.”
John looked up from the field-stripped weaponry laid out on the hard-light holodesk at his station. “How? You don’t get any light down there.”
Da’Mahin growled. “Tell us how the BYPS works, and maybe we’ll think about telling you.”
Mahi’ slapped the back of her younger brother’s head. “There’s enough light from the fissures to provide a day/night cycle. Water from the melt sustains the flora, and heat from the core prevents it all from freezing.”
She growled at Da’Mahin, “You can learn how human technology works by attending a Library and taking the appropriate training course, the same as anyone else. What’s the word I’m looking for?” she asked Bethany Anne. “The one that implies a level beyond stupidity?”
“Dumbass,” Bethany Anne supplied, a smirk touching her lips.
Mahi’ pointed at Da’Mahin. “Dumbass, yes. Resume your position, and keep your opinions to yourself if you want the privilege of attending me in the Empress’ presence. It would be no fur off my back to have Kel’Len guard me instead.”
Da’Mahin bared his teeth. “You can’t do that!”
“Out,” Mahi’ told him, pointing at the lower-level exit. “Report to Captain Jameson and tell him I have gifted him with your service for the remainder of this journey.” Her tone left no room for argument.
Da’Mahin sulked out the door, to little effect since everyone had forgotten about his tantrum before the bridge door closed on him.
Mahi’ touched her fingers to her temple. “I swear by all that is holy, one of these days, one of those males is going to push me too far.”
Bethany Anne gave her a sympathetic smile. “What are you going to do?”
Mahi’ returned Bethany Anne’s smile. “I could make an investment in the flamethrower industry.” She shrugged at the look she received from Bethany Anne. “You didn’t grow up with siblings, it’s clear.”
Michael snickered. “I have to agree, although flamethrowers are a solution I hadn’t considered. Siblings can be a pain in the ass at the best of times.”
John snorted. “Then why are Stephen and Barnabas still around?”
Michael lifted his hands. “They’re still around because it’s not an honorable thing to commit fratricide.”
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes and tapped her console to open a ship-wide connection. “Attention, all hands. We are approaching Qu’Baka. Team leaders to the war room.” She repeated the order, then let go of the comm button. “Let’s go.”
9
Bethany Anne’s quartet was last to arrive at the war room, having been farthest from the command deck to begin with.
Michael, John, and Mahi’ took their seats at the interactive table and chatted quietly between themselves while they waited for the briefing to get underway.
Bethany Anne wasted no time with pleasantries once she had connected her internal HUD to the holoprojector in the table. While she couldn’t miss the clear divides in the room, she didn’t have the inclination to hold their hands through the challenges of a new alliance. There would be plenty of opportunity for bonding over near-death experiences once the expedition got underway.
She took the chair reserved for her and jumped straight into the briefing. “First things first. It’s fucking cold down there. Scans show there’s a surface temperature of minus seventy-two, the windchill factor dropping that to a temp even we wouldn’t want to piss into.”
Addix shuddered. “I don’t even want to consider what that’s going to do to me.”
“I have furs,” Kel’Len offered. “We should be able to fashion something for your body shape.”
Mahi’ gave Da’Mahin a warning glare before he could protest. “Good idea, Kel’Len. Addix, can you make it a short distance?”
Bethany Anne interceded with a wave of her hand. “It’s irrelevant, but thank you. Addix, you’re staying aboard to maintain overwatch.”
Addix jumped to her feet, her mandibles splaying in anger. “I am not that fragile, Bethany Anne. I wish to take part in the operation.”
Bethany Anne raised a finger. “I don’t give a shit about your hardiness. It’s your attention to detail I want. I don’t trust anyone else to watch our backs.” She glanced at Da’Mahin as she spoke, pondering his reaction to Kel’Len’s offer to assist.
Da’Mahin growled low in his chest at the attention. “My honor is unquestionable.”
Michael’s lip curled. “Keep telling yourself that,” he scoffed. “Perhaps you can repeat it so often it will eventually drown out the knowledge that you failed to protect both your sister and her son.”
Da’Mahin jumped to his feet, teeth bared. “I was a child when Lu’Trein’s coup happened, younger than Tu’Reigd is now.”
Michael’s eyes flared red. “How does that account for the difficulties you have brought them since? My wife has compassion in her heart for others, and therefore, a great deal of tolerance. I do not.” He stared at Da’Mahin with utter disinterest. “I will hear no more casual declarations of honor from you. Honor has little to do with the empty words that fall from your young mouth so freely, and everything to do with your actions.”
Da’Mahin faltered, thrown by the truth Michael spoke. He dropped his gaze with the twin realizations that he was indeed the less honorable in this altercation, and that riling up red-eyed humans was never not going to be a bad tactic for continued survival. “I apologize.”
“Sit down, Da’Mahin.” Bethany Anne ordered. “We haven’t got time for this.”
Izanami turned to Mahi’ with a sad smile. “I have read your histories. You were once a respected people, upstanding if somewhat easily moved to violence. The Seven have twisted your way of living into a mockery of everything Bakas stand for.”
“It is more than a mockery,” Mahi’ stated baldly, the depth of her emotion on the subject clear for all to hear. “My twin has dishonored our ancestors. Destroyed everything our parents worked to gain for the good of our people. Qu’Baka has become isolated from the Federation, and our people have turned against each other.” The silence after Mahi’s words was cut only by the sharp tapping of Bethany Anne’s nails on the table. “No longer.”
“This shit,” Bethany Anne spoke slowly, reining in her urge to waste energy on rage, “is exactly why I will not rest until the Seven are done and gone. My husband has his honor. I want Justice. Fuck honor. P
eople shouldn’t need to be told how to do right by each other. Common fucking decency isn’t exactly difficult to maintain.”
Nobody at the table had an argument for that.
Michael inclined his head. “Agreed. You were saying?”
“That Addix will remain here and keep her eyes on everything that goes down on the planet.” Bethany Anne got to her feet and leaned in with her hands on the table to make her point. “Trust is key, and not just to our success in recovering this planet. The war doesn’t end here. It will continue as long as the Seven have the ability to inflict their will on others.”
She banged a fist on the table, causing the wood to shudder at the impact. “There is an old human saying. ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the vein.’ We are no longer separate. We are one, bound by our alliance and one purpose—to beat the ever-living shit out of the Seven. To wipe them out wherever they rear their ugly fucking heads and strip them of every resource they have until they have nothing left to hurt anyone with.”
Bethany Anne saw the moment her words reached the group. However, now wasn’t the time to stop for a touchy-feely kumbaya moment. “Get your shit together. You’re all smart, and you’ll work it out. We have a plan to lay out.” She had the holoprojector put up a rough 3D model of the Citadel and its surrounding environs. “This map is built from Mahi’s records, merged with what geophysical data we have. It will gain accuracy once we get some drones down there. We can assume the Citadel hasn’t changed too much, and that the front door isn’t accessible to us just yet. Mahi’?”
Mahi’ made a see-saw motion with one hand. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Unless you are considering a frontal assault as our opening gambit?”
Bethany snorted softly. “If this was a military base, that’s exactly what we’d do. Is there another way to get below the surface? One that isn’t so public?”
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