Emma folded her arms. “If Agent Koval wasn’t exaggerating, perhaps the ID will be able to recover something useful. We’ll know soon enough, but it might not be as impressive as you want. For example, it might be nothing but accounts they use to fund clandestine projects. That could be very damaging without leading you directly to potential targets.”
“Then the CID can close those accounts if they want to.” Erik launched a grape into the air in a perfect arc that ended at his mouth and swallowed. “If they don’t have money, they aren’t going to be able to do anything. Starve them of their resources, and they’ll pop out of their holes and make themselves easy targets.”
“That doesn’t explain the faction tension and the murders,” Jia commented while she collected more cheese on a small plate, considering one of the cheeses before moving on without taking a slice. “Assuming that’s what happened. That’s the key. If we can manipulate the conspiracy into taking each other out, it’ll make our job a lot easier.”
Malcolm eyed his mostly full bottle and Erik’s empty one. “We still don’t know much about the top people other than Vand. The ID can do more to figure that kind of thing out than we can.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. What about Team Spotlight?”
Erik and Jia stared at him, awaiting an explanation.
“We shine the light of truth on the dark, corrupt underbelly of the UTC?” Malcolm explained with a sheepish smile, his hands on his hips.
“No,” Erik and Jia offered together.
“Team Dragonslayer?”
“No.”
Malcolm scratched his cheek and looked to the side, silent with his thoughts for a long moment before finally offering a new suggestion. “Team Obsidian? Team Justice?”
“No and no.”
“Team Fennec Fox?”
“Huh?” Jia stared at him in disbelief.
Malcolm shrugged. “Fennec foxes are cute.”
Jia groaned and face-palmed. “We don’t need a team name, Malcolm, cute animal-based or conceptual.”
“Fine,” Malcolm muttered. “It’d be cool, though. Just think about it. I don’t have to pick the name.”
Erik selected up a new bottle. “For now, let’s just relax. If Alina gets anything useful off that rod, we might not get much of a break.”
* * *
May 7, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Commerce Tower 122
Jia emerged from the gardening store with a smile, her small bag of seeds in hand.
She had a regular non-violent dinner date scheduled with Erik that night since they’d spent almost all of yesterday training.
She’d been curious and looked up sub racing, and found there were some places near Neo SoCal where people could try their luck. Between the Scar and other concerns, no one was doing much on the coastline of Neo SoCal. Everyone was afraid a boat or sub would crash and result in a dangerous leak.
Jia had her doubts, but she didn’t care about leaving Neo SoCal for another sub racing event.
A rematch was in order after her defeat.
It wasn’t that she had to win, but the challenge called to her. It didn’t have to be anytime soon either, but checking out the places wouldn’t hurt. She’d started considering when she might want to ask Erik about it when something blew all vestiges of sub racing from her conscious mind.
Jia froze and blinked, then closed her eyes and counted to five before opening them again.
“Okay, so I’m officially going crazy,” she muttered. “Good to know, or magic is real, which might be disturbing too.”
A small pack of jiangshi hopped down the concourse, not engaging with any of the people on either side. Some people watched with amused looks on their faces. Others took pictures with their cameras.
Jia’s brain had just begun to process a surreal pack of undead monsters raiding a commerce tower when the creatures stopped moving. Maybe there was something to Erik’s superstitions, but she found it hard to believe the first time she’d encounter something supernatural would be in the middle of a Neo SoCal commerce tower.
The Shadow Zone? Maybe.
Jia shook her head vehemently. Just because she saw monsters on the commerce level, it didn’t mean they were real. That was absurd. There might be twisted genetic aberrations out there, but there were no true monsters in the galaxy.
Loud rhythmic dance music flooded the air and the jiangshi grooved as a unit, their stiff movement from before replaced by carefully choreographed moves. One defied all stereotypes with a series of aggressive flips over his fellow dancers. The hopping zombies had become the dancing zombies.
Camera drones circled the dancers, taking footage from all possible angles. Unless some company had decided to genetically engineer undead dancers, the most likely explanation was a commercial or a show.
Jia sighed. She’d let herself get spun up for no reason. She couldn’t let Erik know the truth, or he’d never let her hear the end of it.
A small chuckle escaped. She could handle training against monsters when they only summoned flash mobs.
The real problem was that her entire life had become training and the job. She was pattern-matching everything now. That came with agreeing to help Erik, but a long vacation would be welcome. Once they finished off the conspiracy, she planned to spend a year doing nothing stressful.
Her PNIU chimed with a call.
“What’s up, Erik?” she answered.
“You busy? Our boss needs to see us.”
Of course she did. When exactly was that vacation going to happen?
Chapter Thirty-One
Alina was waiting for Erik and Jia in the Argo’s hangar when they arrived, which should have set off the alarms.
Lanara and Raphael weren’t anywhere in sight, which probably meant they were inside the ship working on something.
Erik didn’t mind.
Lanara was good at what she did, but she could be difficult to handle, and Raphael might try to corner him and ask him for every detail of his last mission. Being loved was superior to being hated, but he wasn’t sure being overly loved was better.
Erik exited his flitter and made his way to Alina, thinking about the engineer and the scientist. Alina didn’t speak until Jia joined them.
“Thank you for coming so promptly,” Alina offered. “I know how hard it is to be permanently on call, and I can be flippant sometimes, but let me reiterate that I value your skills and efforts in all the tasks I’ve assigned you.”
“I’m assuming this is important,” Erik replied with a shrug. “You’re not the kind of woman who jerks us around about unimportant things. If you end up being that kind of woman, our relationship will change.”
“Yes.” Alina’s mouth twitched. “I’ve got important things to share with you.”
“So much for our dinner.” Jia flicked an eye at Erik, but he hadn’t reacted. “But I’m not surprised. It’s been kind of a weird day.”
“I’ll get right to it then.” Alina tapped her PNIU. “We might be able to salvage your evening plans.”
A large image appeared behind her, depicting a long L-shaped ship docked in a sprawling hangar complex. Cables and likely grav generators kept it in place since the spindly design wouldn’t survive landing on a planet with appreciable gravity.
Construction platforms, drones, and extended gangways provided a sense of scale. While it wasn’t the largest ship Erik had ever seen, it dwarfed the Argo in length. It was also much narrower than the average Fleet ship.
Turrets covered the spine and belly of the ship, and plasma and laser cannons protruded from the bow and aft. The ship might not be as big as some Fleet capital ships, but it packed more visible firepower, and he assumed there were hidden torpedo and missile launchers.
They could have annihilated Sophia Vand’s ship with ease with that kind of weaponry, and he didn’t even know what its defensive capabilities were.
“It’s the jumpship.” Erik whistled. “And it’s heavily armed.”
; Alina nodded. “It is on all accounts. We’re not going to let the most advanced drive in the UTC travel on an easily-taken ship, now are we?” She gestured to the image. “And it’ll be ready within a week. Raphael’s on his way to the hidden construction base to help with last-minute adjustments and drive-tuning. He’ll also be spending that time transmitting data to Emma, so she can familiarize herself with the ship’s systems and prepare for the navigation process. This is the culmination of years of highly speculative research, and even if they end up not copying this thing, this ship alone could have major implications for the UTC’s future after you guys are done using it to help take down the conspiracy.”
Jia stared at the ship, her head tilted and her eyes clouded with disbelief. “They’re really going to do it? They’re really going to hand over something this important to two ID ex-cop contractors?”
The image zoomed in toward the back, highlighting large docking clamps. Alina gestured to them.
“This is where the Argo interfaces with the jumpship,” she explained before turning to Jia. “I’m not going to pretend there aren’t some people in the military who are unhappy with the idea, but the incident on Venus, combined with the attack on the jump drive research facility, has convinced the relevant key players in the government that a smaller, more agile team can accomplish what a network of agents or company of soldiers could not.” She shrugged as if to say, “What are you going to do?” then continued, “You two have a track record of success, and that means a lot to the people with the most influence.”
“This obviously isn’t on Earth,” Jia moved closer to see the image better before looking at Alina. “Where is it now?”
“I’ll let you know when it’s time for delivery,” Alina replied. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but that’s part of the deal we had to agree to for this to happen. There are still operational security concerns, but we’ve handled them with misinformation.”
“What misinformation?” Erik asked. “Give us what you can.”
“Among other things, the jump drive program is being officially canceled.” Alina’s delighted grin unnerved Erik. “Officially, it’s considered a failure, along with ‘unrepairable damage’ suffered during the Ascended Brotherhood raid. We can’t be sure the conspiracy will buy everything we’re selling, especially since we’re having to do it in limited channels, but even the people involved in the ship’s construction aren’t going to know the truth, at least not right away. In addition, we have at least one piece of data that suggests the conspiracy believes the ship will require years of active testing before the jump drive is usable. We were lucky that piece of information was in a briefing a while back, but it didn’t take into account the full recovery and stabilization of Emma.”
“Wait.” Jia rubbed her temples, the pain in her head manifesting clearly on her face. “Are you saying it’s ready to go? We can start jumping around in a week like we’re Leems?”
Alina laughed and shook her head. “No. It’s going to take a lot of tests and adjustments before you should jump anywhere without risking the entire thing exploding, but something a little more short-range, yes. Tests, mostly.” Her smile vanished. “But I don’t want anyone doing tests without you two on board.”
“You want us to risk our lives during the testing process?” Erik asked. “It’s not like Jia and I will bring much to the process. We don’t know anything about jump drives.”
“Yes.” Alina shrugged. “Everything you do is risking your lives. I’m not asking you to throw those away. If I didn’t have confidence that the damned thing wouldn’t blow up, I wouldn’t ask you to do this.”
“Why do we need to be on board for the tests?” Jia folded her arms, watching Alina with open suspicion.
“First of all, because without Emma, that drive isn’t safe, and leaving Emma alone with anyone else is probably a bad idea.”
Emma appeared beside Jia clad in a blue and black Fleet uniform. Erik smirked when he noticed her rank insignia.
She’d made herself an admiral.
“Of course it isn’t safe without me.” Emma saluted. “And you’re worried that I can’t manage the jump remotely.”
“Raphael has made it clear that you can’t,” Alina replied.
Emma harrumphed. “I won’t challenge him in that regard. I presume, given the unusual nature of the task, that is likely accurate.”
Alina inclined her head toward the hologram of the jumpship. “But it goes beyond that. Right now, the political winds are blowing our way. The DD has even agreed to this cover-up within a cover-up to help throw the conspiracy off our trail, but that doesn’t mean they might not change their minds, especially if there’s a major mission failure. If you’re aboard the ship, it gives us more leverage should that happen. We might be able to delay the process of reclamation without having to do anything too stupid.”
“By ‘too stupid,’ you mean repel a military attack?” Erik asked.
“Something like that.” Alina sighed. “So yes, I expect you to participate in jump tests. If you want to take down the conspiracy, this ship might end up playing a key role, and we need to get all the use out of it we can.”
“It’s only a matter of time before the conspiracy discovers it’s still around, misinformation or not.” Jia lowered her arms. “If they could find the research base, they’ll be able to find references to its use, or they’ll see it.”
“That’s true,” Alina replied. “But they have to know what they’re dealing with. It’s not a Leem-style jump drive, and we have no reason to believe the conspiracy understands that it’s different. They likely believe we’ll need to fly it to the outer planets before we can use it, just like a Leem drive or an HTP. Even then, the required size of Leem jump-capable ships is a lot larger than ours, so the conspiracy will be looking for something a lot bigger.” She ticked off fingers as she spoke. “Between the misinformation campaign, their likely ignorance of the exact nature of our jump drive, and whatever is going on in the conspiracy, we can conceal it from them for a while. By then, I hope it’ll be too late.”
Erik took in the information, already imagining the possibilities. “If we get this thing dialed in properly, we can beat them anywhere, right? Even in-system?”
“Exactly. And that’s huge.” Alina nodded at the Argo. “The jumpship has state-of-art stealth capabilities. Sure, it’s not going to turn invisible, but we both know in space, it’s about your total signature, especially from a distance. You jump somewhere and keep it in stealth mode, then fly the Argo to the location. We might even convince the conspiracy that the Argo has the jump drive. That might prove annoying in its own way, but it’s far easier to replace the Argo than the jumpship.”
Jia pointed at the hologram. “That’s all well and good, but aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves, considering it hasn’t been fully tested?”
“That’s true, but Raphael seemed to think it won’t take a huge amount of time to get it into full operation. We’re probably talking months, not years.”
“He’s an overly enthusiastic fanboy.” Jia tapped her lips with a finger. “He’s not going to tell the Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice their magic jumpship isn’t going to be ready for a year and look bad.”
Alina chuckled quietly. “He’s got his quirks, I’ll grant that, but I’ve seen no indication that he’s offering bullshit about the drive. No one’s saying you’re going to be able to jump to Molino in a week, but I think we’ve got some useful momentum on our side. It’s something to be happy about. Things are going our way.”
“You mistake me,” Jia replied. “I’m not unhappy, just skeptical.” She inclined her head toward Erik. “It’s helped keep me alive since meeting that one there.”
Erik looked at her, and his determined innocence would have fooled a jury of his peers. Probably all women, and maybe a few guys.
Emma cleared her throat. When everyone turned toward her, the faux admiral looked far too smug.
“I was curiou
s about something unrelated to the jump drive,” she explained.
“What?” Alina asked.
“The data rod,” Emma replied. “And your alleged special recovery technology.”
“Ah.” Alina gave a quick nod. “I was getting to that, but now is as good a time as any to discuss it. It was mostly destroyed.”
“Mostly?” Emma frowned. “Are you saying you successfully retrieved data from it?”
“Yes, partial files here and there.” Alina wrinkled her brow and looked down, showing rare but obvious frustration. “The techs estimate we probably got less than ten percent of the original data, and it’s not like we got complete files. We got snippets of a variety of files.”
“I congratulate your technicians. That’s a significant achievement, given the damage.” Emma sounded genuinely impressed without a trace of sarcasm in her voice.
“And did you find anything useful?” Erik pressed. “Preferably the location and names of all members of the conspiracy?”
“A lot of it was encoded, and we’ve managed to mostly get through that, but it’s not looking as promising as you might have wanted,” Alina replied. “But we’re doing our best. The files are mostly records concerning the Vand Foundation’s charity efforts.”
Jia grinned, the familiar hunger back in her eyes. “Conspiracy money laundering tools. That’s pretty useful.”
“Probably. What’s more interesting is that some of the records were flagged by whoever put the files together on that rod, but the criteria for why the records were selected remains unclear. There’s so much data loss, it might just be we don’t have enough to see the big picture.” Alina tapped her PNIU and killed the image of the jumpship. “There is one suspicious record we found, and we found other interesting stuff upon follow-up in other sources. You hear about the Llewellyn Observatory incident?”
“The one that blew up?” Jia narrowed her eyes and lowered her voice. “A type of accident that hasn’t occurred in decades.”
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