One Dark Future

by Michael Anderle

“Yes, I am, but not in the way you’re probably thinking. There are a lot of conversations going on, major ones.” Alina gestured to the ceiling. “Not everyone above my paygrade agrees with your call. The military in particular is irritated about the loss of potentially harvestable offensive and defensive technology.”

  “Bullshit,” Erik coughed. “That Hunter tech wasn’t anything like we use or even the Navigators used. There was no way they were going to be able to do crap with that.”

  “They don’t agree.”

  Jia scoffed. “What, you’re saying that the government would have preferred we let some rapidly-repairing ancient and advanced hostile alien ship run free in the Solar System? Did they bother to read about how the thing was going somewhere? If we got lucky—and that was a big if, considering the taunts about us being humans—it would have left. But it was far more likely it was going to jump to Earth and remind us why we’re supposed to be afraid of the Hunters.”

  “To be clear, Jia’s statement isn’t based on a potential misperception,” Emma offered with a withering glare at Alina. “It was almost certain that the ship was preparing an attempt at FTL travel, and the delay between minimal activity and being able to absorb full attacks from two heavily-armed ships was very brief. It wouldn’t have been surprising if it was back to full operation within days, if not hours. I know fleshbags don’t always value their lives, but it would have been a massacre, even if they’d gathered every ship in the inner Solar System.”

  Alina raised a mollifying hand. “I’m simply passing along what they said. Personally, I agree with your call. From what I’ve read, we don’t want any part of that disgusting technology.” She gestured at her chest and then Jia. “We’re on the same side, protecting humanity, and this new discovery, these Hunters, represent the gravest long-term threat to us.” She sighed. “I’m telling you all of this, not because anyone’s going to come after you. I don’t even think there will be a problem with the jumpship being at the base as long as you keep Emma with you, but I just want you to understand the mindset of the other people watching this.”

  “What is the mindset?” Erik asked with a look of disgust.

  “They appreciate the little information they can glean from what Emma and the surviving PNIUs recorded during the mission, but there’s a faction who thinks we’re far more likely to go to war with a Local Neighborhood race than run into another Hunter ship, and they believe we’ve thrown away a game-changing tool. Based on the Hunter ship’s attempt at communication using a dead language, they feel there’s little evidence of any significant recent activity, so they are operating under the impression there would have been minimal risk to any of the colonies or Earth.

  “Minimal risk?” Jia threw her head back and laughed. “They wanted to risk the lives of billions of people in our home system to get a leg up on a war that hasn’t even happened yet? We wouldn’t need the Zitarks to invade if we’d let that ship get away. The Zitarks could try their hand at taking over the mutant-infested planets left behind.” She motioned around the room wildly, her face contorted in fury. “That was their takeaway? If they really care, they should be telling the scientific community. ‘We’ve discovered a new ancient race who had obviously been on Earth and interacted with humans. Researchers need to re-evaluate their previous discoveries and theories.’ There might be Hunter artifacts sitting out there that people don’t understand because they’ve been trying to apply a Navigator paradigm to their examinations.”

  “I don’t care about all of that,” Erik offered. “The government can kiss my ass. I made the right call, and I’d make it again.”

  “I know.” Alina’s brow creased. She stared at the table for a moment before looking up. “You should know the general public isn’t going to be told about the incident. Despite half the government thinking this was a fluke, the other half is worried about panic, and both groups are worried about having to explain how a human ship took out such a powerful alien. For now, I think it’s best if you keep the truth to yourself. We don’t need more enemies. Despite the political ramifications, this is being viewed as a successful operation overall, even by some of the people who question destroying the ship.”

  “Shouldn’t we be doing the opposite of keeping a low profile on this?” Jia asked. She gestured to Alina. “I’m talking about the human race, not Erik and me. Not only should we be telling the public, but we should also be reaching out to the other races. If we’re lucky, that was the only Hunter ship left, but we’re still not sure if there were Hunters aboard, or if we were just facing a leftover AI. If a fully-operational ship wakes up in a populated system with a full Hunter crew, it might require a massive combined fleet to take it out. For all we know, this could be the thing that unites the Local Neighborhood races.

  Alina raised a brow. “There’s been some talk about that kind of thing too, but I doubt it’ll go anywhere. Again, everyone’s worried about short-term versus long-term. They’re already quietly covering up the ship’s destruction by suggesting there was a long-running weapons test that went poorly.”

  “If the Hunters killed the Navigators, they’re a threat to the entire galaxy.” Jia cut through the air with her hand. “What good does it do to worry about the short-term if you have no long-term?”

  “All true, Jia.” Alina sighed with a rare look of defeat. “But before we can even hope to risk trying to use this as a bridge to the other races, we need to get our house in order. Because there’s at least one group of humans who conveniently knew where to look for a Hunter ship and who have no qualms about killing people or turning them into twisted shells of themselves.”

  Erik’s expression darkened. “That’s been bothering me. Did the conspiracy know it was a Hunter ship, or did they think it was a Navigator ship? Do we have any way of figuring that out?”

  “We don’t know, and no, we don’t.” Alina offered him an apologetic look. “We’ve got the data from the rod you recovered on the sub, and we’ve got data Emma was able to pull from the conspiracy ship before it blew to hell. At a minimum, that gives us more investigation leads, including digging deeper into the Vand Foundation, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.” Alina’s smile returned, unnerving Jia. “But it’s almost certain now, based on what we’ve seen and the second ship being there, that there is an internal struggle within the conspiracy. We might not know enough about them to use that directly to our advantage yet, but it at least means they’ll be distracted, so we’ll have more opportunities to probe and dismantle their operations. I don’t mind winning with constant but small slices.”

  Malcolm blew out a breath and tugged on his collar. “I don’t want to sound like a total psycho, and I know I wasn’t there, but what if the Hunters aren’t gone, and they somehow manipulated the conspiracy to send people there to wake them up?”

  Jia’s stomach tightened. There was a certain logic to that, but being logically consistent wasn’t the same thing as being true. She suspected that if ancient aliens were behind the conspiracy, many aspects would be different.

  Alina gave Malcolm an appraising look. “I’d be lying if I said the thought or at least one similar hadn’t occurred to me, but I suspect if there was some member of an ancient alien race around, they would have found a way to go to that ship themselves rather than send humans.”

  Erik chuckled. “Maybe Garth was right, and they’re hiding as platypuses until it’s time to take over.” He shrugged when everyone gave him a surprised look. “Not saying I believe it, but a week ago, I would have thought it was crazy to find an ancient alien ship sitting in a comet. But I’m not that worried about the Hunters.”

  “Why is that?”

  “If they show up again, we can just double-gate them.” Erik slammed his fist into his palm. “In this case, it’s the humans running around with Zeus’ lightning bolt.”

  Emma rolled her eyes. “You weren’t paying much attention when Raphael explained it, were you?”

  “I paid attention to the
part where it could kill the enemy and we’d have to be close to do it.” Erik frowned. “What’s the problem?”

  “What we did was incredibly dangerous, and there’s no guarantee we can do it again without destroying ourselves. In addition, we were also fortunate that we were in a specific position in the system where we could do it. If that Hunter ship had been closer to Earth, we wouldn’t have been able to layer the gates like we did, and the ship would either have escaped or destroyed us.” Emma frowned. “Therefore, it’s not an ultimate weapon, Erik, unless all our battles are fought at the farthest edges of every system, and I think that’s an unlikely scenario.”

  “Then we need more and better weapons,” Erik grumbled. He looked at Alina. “On both ships.”

  Alina nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. For now, good job. I understand how frustrating it can be saving people and not having anybody ever know about it, but I know, and I appreciate what you’ve done. And I’m not the only one. Don’t let my warning earlier make you think everyone in the government is out to get you.”

  Erik waved a hand. “Not important to me. We stopped those asshole aliens, and we screwed with the conspiracy. That’s a double win. I just want you to find us a new mission, so we can keep it up.” He offered her a feral grin. “Maybe we can lure the conspiracy to the edge of the system and double-gate them.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Comfortable, so comfortable.

  Jia lifted her beer to her lips as she nestled her head on Erik’s chest. They lazed together on his couch. There had been some discussion of a training date, but taking a couple of days off not worrying about either a cancerous conspiracy or homicidal ancient aliens was well-deserved.

  Erik knew that if either of them ran themselves ragged, they wouldn’t last. Also, the conspiracy might have taken a hit, but they were still out there.

  Other thoughts, buried and delayed while they were in survival mode, resurfaced, some good and some stabbing deep into his soul. It was time to stop stalling.

  Erik blew out a breath. “There are things we need to talk about.”

  Jia sat up. She took a sip before setting the beer on Erik’s coffee table and offering him a soft smile. “We could have talked about things for a week on that ship.”

  “But we were both coming to terms with what happened,” Erik replied with a shrug. “But now we don’t have a mission or Alina hanging over us. I figure there are fewer distractions.”

  “Okay.” Jia’s voice was soft. “I don’t have a problem with talking. Let’s do it.”

  “I think we both realize what must have happened on Molino now.”

  Jia looked into his eyes. “Alien artifacts. That must have been what they were hiding. The government would have forced them to turn them over, and even if they smuggled them out, they would have been logged and left a trail for someone to follow. They needed to cover their tracks, even if it made them look suspicious as hell.”

  Erik gave a slight nod. “It’s the only thing that fits. The only thing worth killing my entire unit over. The only question I have is whether those artifacts were from the Navigators or the Hunters.”

  “Does it make a difference?” Jia asked. “Either could potentially unlock powerful technologies.”

  Erik shook his head. “I suppose it doesn’t make a difference, but I’m wondering now if they knew there were artifacts on Molino before the colony was established.”

  Jia furrowed her brow as she considered the question. “I don’t think so. I can’t explain how they stumbled onto the Hunter ship, but if they had an easy method for finding artifacts, I think we would have seen more evidence of it. I think they’re keeping an eye out, but that’s not the same thing as being able to pinpoint things easily.”

  “Evidence?” Erik let out a dark chuckle. “You mean like full-conversion Tin Men immune to cybernetic psychosis syndrome? Or Leem-human hybrids who are tougher and faster than either race?”

  “That’s not the same thing. Those are just iterations on existing technology.”

  “So is the jump drive.” Erik shrugged. “I’m just saying, these people are not just steps ahead of us, but steps ahead of the entire Intelligence Directorate. But it doesn’t matter.”

  Jia’s eyebrows lifted. “It doesn’t?”

  “Yeah. I’ve got a simple solution to the problem.”

  “And what’s that?”

  Erik’s smile turned lupine. “We take them all out. We’ve made major inroads against them, and I’m sure Alina and the rest of the ID are sifting through the data and finding new targets. And now we have the jumpship. They’ve got to fix it and further calibrate the drive, but it means there’s nowhere in the galaxy they can hide.”

  He lay his head on the back of the couch and his muscles loosened. It felt like it’d been years since he could relax like this after all the danger.

  Men had died, but that wasn’t new. He would honor their sacrifices the same way he was honoring the Knights Errant: by hunting down the people directly or indirectly responsible and making them pay.

  A comfortable silence spread between Erik and Jia. She returned to resting her head on his chest but left her beer on the table. He almost laughed, remembering how a single beer used to be too much for her, along with a single use of her stun pistol, but now he couldn’t imagine anyone else at his side in battle or in a bar.

  “That’s not what I thought we were going to talk about,” Jia murmured.

  “Oh?” Erik kissed the top of her head. “What did you think we were going to talk about?”

  “The truth about us,” she replied. “It came out during the mission, then we both pretended it didn’t happen. It’s not like us to be cowards.”

  “I don’t know if that was pretending or cowardice.” Erik sighed. “We had a lot of shit to take care of, and everything has its time and place.”

  Jia lifted and shook her head before settling it back in its comfortable spot. “That’s an excuse we both keep telling ourselves. That there will always be a better time, but there’s always something that’s going to be happening. I was tired of waiting for you to get the hint, but I don’t have to because I know how you feel.” She turned her head and kissed him. “I love you, Erik.”

  “I know, and I love you, Jia.” He eyed her. “I kind of mentioned it.”

  “Sure, when you were worried about us dying.” Jia shook a finger. “Don’t even try mentioning the conspiracy.”

  Erik pulled Jia up and turned her until he was looking into her eyes. “I could get you killed.”

  “I could die falling in the shower, and it’s not like you’re dragging me along.” Jia smirked. “I would think by now you get that I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, and there’s no man out there who can force me to go against what I think is right. Just ask our first captain.”

  Erik laughed. “That’s true.” He stroked her cheek. “You make me think…”

  She wasn’t so patient this time. “What?”

  “That there’s something else after the conspiracy. A future other than just revenge.”

  Jia leaned closer and gave him another light kiss. “Is that so wrong? Having a future?”

  “No,” Erik breathed. “It’s not. It’s just not something I thought I could have after Molino.”

  “You didn’t die on that moon, Erik,” Jia patted his chest. “It’s okay to want to live. I’m going to be at your side and there with you in the future. For now, we can concentrate on taking out the conspiracy, or whatever occasional ancient alien race shows up and threatens us.”

  Erik laughed at her knowing smile. “Fair enough.” He nodded in the direction of his bedroom. “I know something else that could get our minds off the conspiracy.”

  Jia ruffled his hair. “Sure, use them as an excuse when you want some.” She sat up, grabbing his hand to pull him up. “I’m also not shy about doing things I want to do.”

  The Story Continues with Desperate Measures

  Pre-order Desperate M
easure for Delivery on October 2, 2020

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  August 9, 2020

  Thank you for not only reading this book but through these Author Notes as well!

  Where do we go from here?

  I have to admit, I’m getting a little lost between what I just finished (editing the final draft of Book 09) and what is releasing (in this case, book 08.) Sometimes, I want to integrate the two stories and talk about something that I just finished, assuming you have read that story, when in reality, you are finishing the previous book.

  But I am concerned that the book previous to this might have happened two books ago, and it will prove the suggestion that I’ve lost my mind.

  Because it’s only a suggestion until I do something to prove the suggestion is right.

  I hope you enjoyed this story. We are getting closer and closer to the answers to who did what to whom, what power do they hold, and will the group or groups responsible get away with it, or will Jia or Erik deliver them a final goodbye?

  What will Erik do with Emma to help save her? Will they have to give everything back to the military (including Emma), or is that little concern that in the end, they will be too dangerous because of what they know to be allowed to live?

  If they know too much, can the military do anything or make it quiet enough with Emma around?

  Strange are the thoughts of an AI.

  Being forewarned is forearmed. While I don’t personally believe those at the top will do anything catastrophically stupid, I don’t have the final book laid out, so I can’t be sure.

  I’m a cynic. I absolutely believe that the inclination to be stupid in thoughts and deeds escapes no one. We all upon occasion fight the negative, selfish proclivity to do without consideration for the repercussions.

  Which, generally speaking, isn’t a big deal for you or me. However, when you are high up and entrusted with power, a slip-up might have magnified results.