by Amy DuBoff
“Kate, why are you shutting me out?” Banks asked in a low voice.
“I’ll let you know if I find anything conclusive,” Kate responded, grabbing her warmed food.
Banks chuckled and he set his food in the warming tray. “You don’t suspect me, do you?”
Kate hesitated. “I don’t know what to think. You have a lot of encrypted communications and files tied to your account.”
“Well yeah, I’m the High Commander.”
“I need to be thorough.”
Banks sighed. “And I appreciate that, but don’t waste your time looking into me.”
“Then what are those weekly calls to Tararia all about?” Kate questioned.
The High Commander retrieved his own warmed meal. “Official business.”
“With whom?”
“That’s not important.”
Kate glared at him. “Then why won’t you tell me?”
“Fine, finish your investigation,” Banks said. “I can’t order you to trust me. Do what you need to do.” He spun around and stomped out of the mess hall.
He’d do the same thing in my position. Kate doubted he was working with the Bakzen, but there was something he didn’t want her to know. The conversation confirmed that her suspicion wasn’t unfounded, if not for the right reasons.
Kate took her meal and returned to her quarters. Once back at her computer, she wrote a message to Cris: “Banks is hiding something. Find out what.”
CHAPTER 6
“We’re here,” Alec announced as the blue-green shroud of subspace dissipated.
Finally. “Call up Headquarters. Get Banks,” Cris instructed. The message from Kate had him on edge, fueling his own suspicions.
Kari activated the comm link. The image of the High Commander appeared at the front of the domed room.
“Cris, what happened?” Banks was clearly trying to appear calm, but not quite succeeding. “We heard chatter that you were near Arnca?”
“Yes. Our jump drive malfunctioned—somehow lost the signal beacon. A distribution cell blew in the process,” Cris explained. “We managed to find a replacement cell on Arnca. Oddly enough, it’s from the TSS Infinity.”
“The Infinity? Interesting…” Banks withdrew in thought.
Cris eyed him. Time to get some answers. “Hold on. I’m going to transfer the communication.”
Scott gave Cris an approving nod as he got up to go to his private office directly off the Command Center.
Cris brought up the video feed on the holoprojector above his desk. Banks looked concerned.
“First,” Cris said, “have you made any progress on identifying the source of the security breach?”
“Nothing solid.” Banks looked uncomfortable. “Cris, do you trust Matt?”
Cris almost laughed. “Matt? Matt is your lead?”
“Kate has her sights on me for some ridiculous reason. But Mat… there’s some circumstantial evidence—”
“Well, you’re looking in the wrong place,” Cris said. “I can see how he’d have the right access, but it’s not him. I’ve looked him in the eye, Banks. I’d see it if he was deceiving me. I’d sooner believe it was Scott or you, because at least then I’d be up against the mental guards of an Agent.” None of them would go after Wil, would they?
“If it’s an Agent, then it could be anyone.”
Cris looked down. “Or more than one person.”
Banks sighed. “I wish I had an answer for you. But it isn’t me and I don’t know who.”
Cris paused, staring levelly at the High Commander. “But there’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Concerning what?” Banks set his jaw.
“Concerning everything. Since I left Tararia, I’ve picked up little hints here and there. I don’t know if it’s all connected, but it’s clear that you know more about the Bakzen—and this mission—than you’re letting on. It’s time you tell me, Jason.” It had been a long time since Cris had called the High Commander by his first name, but he needed something to let Banks know that he wasn’t about to back down.
Banks groaned. “I’ve tried to protect you and your family, Cris. I really have.”
“Just tell me what this is all about!” I can’t take all this sidestepping anymore. Not while Wil is out there.
Banks stood abruptly and paced in a circle. “Fine,” he said at last. “You’re right. You need context if you’re going to get Wil back.” He took an unsteady breath. “The TSS is already at war with the Bakzen.”
The statement was so absurd. At war? He was about to push back and demand the truth, but Banks’ level stare stopped him. Cris swallowed, suddenly unsure. “I thought war was years away, if it would happen at all. I haven’t seen any reports, budget—”
The High Commander shook his head. “You wouldn’t. There’s a separate division.”
A separate division of the TSS? “Is this recent?”
Banks rounded his shoulders. “Far from it.” He shook his head and grimaced. “The Bakzen conflict has been going on for hundreds of years. Intermittent, but a constant threat.”
Cris felt faint. “How is that possible? I would have seen something—”
“Jotun,” Banks replied. “Anyone assigned to the Jotun region in the outer colonies was drafted for the war.”
A code word. Cris let out a slow breath. It did make sense, though he didn’t want to believe it was possible. His pulse quickened as he thought through the implications. “There are military installations out there, but hardly a battlefield.”
“You’ve been looking in the wrong place.” Banks paused. “Have you ever thought about the location of TSS Headquarters?”
What does that have to do with anything? “Well, I suppose. Earth is at the very outer reaches of the galaxy. It’s—”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“What, then?” It was all Cris could do to curb his frustration, desperate to know the truth that Banks was so intent on hiding.
Banks bit his lip, as if questioning whether he should go on. “I mean its position in subspace.”
Cris sighed. More skirting. “It’s to keep all the trainees from getting out of line, because of the natural telekinetic dampening. Every new trainee knows that.”
“Yes, that’s what we tell them,” Banks murmured. He looked down and shook his head, still torn. “In reality, the training program would be far more effective if the entire facility could be in normal space like Level 11—the one area where we can really train anyone. But, the rest of Headquarters was constructed in subspace because of those dampening properties.”
“If not for training, then why?”
“Because subspace is the one place where we could be on a level field with the Bakzen.” Banks looked like he regretted the statement immediately.
Cris almost gagged. His pulse spiked. “Are you saying the Bakzen have telekinetic abilities?”
The High Commander looked ill. “Very powerful abilities. But it’s more complicated.”
Stars! What are we up against? Cris exhaled slowly, almost shaking. “Go on.”
After a moment, Banks nodded. “There are pockets, rifts, in the fabric of space. An echo of this physical world, existing between our plane and subspace. Any ship or built structure within the rift is invisible from our plane, and vice versa. Only a massive electromagnetic object in the physical plane, like a planet or a star, is visible within the rift unless it has been brought through using specialized jump drives. The true Bakzen threat is within one of these rifts.”
“Okay…” Cris felt more unsteady with every word, his chest tight.
“While this physical plane has been relatively untouched—outside of the outer territories, at least—we have been at war with the Bakzen within the rift for centuries. At the beginning of the war, the Bakzen banned together to tear apart space, enlarging what was once a minute rift so that it now encompasses several solar systems. The border of that rift is now marked by the Defense Barrier.”
Stars! What if Wil was taken into the rift? Cris’ heart pounded in his ears. “How do we get in?”
Banks let out a slow breath. “Historically, only stationary transport units could be used to access the rift—gates with a specialized subspace field generator to target the narrow band that can support physical life within the rift. Only a handful of ships have been created to travel to the rift independently. The Infinity was the prototype for this new class of rift ships, though that detail was highly classified. We’ve refined the design since then, but only recently could we spare the resources to upgrade a ship outside of the active war zone. That’s really why the Vanquish was in for maintenance—for those retrofits.”
“Which is why you were so insistent I take it on this mission.”
“Right. Of course, I never thought those upgrades would alter the performance in any way. The delay…”
Cris shook his head. “It may have been sabotage. We don’t know.”
“At any rate, the nav computer is now loaded with a ‘Jotun’ protocol to assist with plotting to a point within the rift.” The High Commander took a deep breath. “But, unlike us, the Bakzen don’t need ships to travel between the rift and our plane.”
Cris froze. “What?”
“The Bakzen can consciously travel between the rift and our physical plane. It’s instantaneous and highly accurate, unlike our jump drives. What’s worse, some of them can even extend the field to encompass small ships, like a fighter jet—just jump next to a TSS ship, fire, and jump away before we know what’s hit us. That ability has always given them a major advantage in the war.”
Cris was crippled by a sense of defeat. He collapsed into the chair next to the desk. “Why even send us here, if you knew what we were up against? We don’t stand a chance.”
Banks shifted on his feet. “Because we need Wil back. We need to end the war.”
The blood drained from Cris’ face. “What about Wil?”
The High Commander looked down.
“Tell me! What do you want with my son?” Cris demanded.
Banks took a pained breath. “To fight the Bakzen, we need a bridge—someone who can effortlessly travel to the rift, just like they can. So, hundreds of years ago when it became obvious that the Bakzen could not be defeated by any conventional means, genetic purification nanotech was introduced into multiple bloodlines on Tararia. The nanotech was designed to select someone with the best traits of a given bloodline and bring them together with a complementary mate from a different family—mimicking the instant attraction of a natural ‘resonance reaction.’ This pairing continued, with minimal external intervention needed, until it eventually came down to you and Kate.”
A knife stabbed into Cris’ chest. His heart thudded in his ears. “No, it can’t—”
“The result of your union was the ultimate goal. Wil. The embodiment of genetic perfection as we know it—where a whole new set of abilities would be unlocked. The Cadicle, or ‘enlightened one’ in the Old Taran doctrine of the Priesthood. A Primus Elite for the TSS.”
Wil… All the chaos, the fear, the anger, that had been churning inside Cris came to a sudden stillness. The clarity of truth. But he fought it. It was too much to accept. The life he knew, the love of his wife—it couldn’t all be fabricated. He coughed and gasped, but couldn’t get a full breath. It can’t be true… “You engineered us?” he stammered.
Banks took a step forward. “They were desperate, Cris. It seemed like the only way.”
Cris’ vision blurred and his throat felt raw. He shook his head, still not wanting to believe. “I doubt that genetic engineering was what the founders of the Priesthood had in mind for the Cadicle. Let alone an instrument of war.”
“Much has changed in the thousands of years since the Priesthood’s inception.”
I thought leaving Tararia was an escape, but this! Years of service to the TSS, and deceit was his payment. Cris clenched his hands. “I won’t let you use Wil! As soon as I get him back, we’re out.”
Banks stared at him levelly. “Walking away isn’t an option. Wil is destined to fight the Bakzen, and to end the war. It’s what he was made to do.”
Cris glared back. “You’ll have to find someone else.”
“We can’t, Cris! Everything rests on him.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you lied to us our whole lives.” Have I never had control over anything?
“It was easier if you didn’t know. When the time came, we were confident Wil would do what needs to be done.”
Cris shook his head, eyes narrow. “He may have grown up in the TSS, but that doesn’t make him your pawn.”
“But he has a sense of duty. Once he knows what we’re up against and what we need from him, he’ll see it’s a role he has to fulfill.”
“You have no right to use him.” Cris’ mind raced. Is there any way out?
Banks softened. “I know you feel like walking away right now. I would, too. But you have to understand, this goes beyond who we are as individuals. Tararia has called upon us, and we need to answer.”
Cris paused to let the words sink in. True leaders put the Taran people first. If there really is that great a threat, then I can’t turn away. He looked down. Hurt and anger still seethed within, but it wouldn’t help him find his son. “How could you lie to me all these years?” His voice shook more than he hoped it would.
“I’m so sorry, Cris. I knew this day would come eventually, just not under these circumstances. I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Cris could tell Banks was sincere in his sentiment, but that didn’t make it any easier. Apologies don’t change that they’ve been manipulating us this whole time. Do the secrets never end? “So this is what you meant right after I said I wanted to marry Kate, when you said our child would be extraordinary.”
Banks nodded. “And he is, Cris. So very extraordinary. I feel privileged to be a part of his life.”
“We trusted you.”
Banks bowed his head. “I hope that trust can be rebuilt.”
What good is any of our history when the entire foundation was built on lies? “Have you been involved since the beginning?”
“Since you were born, anyway,” Banks replied. “I had recently graduated from the TSS as an Agent when I was pulled into Jotun. Over the years, I moved to Lead Agent, and eventually on to High Commander four years before you arrived at Headquarters.”
Everything in my life has all just been one master plan. Cris’ stomach turned over. It’s not fair. To me, to Kate… to Wil. Do they realize what they’re asking of him?
“I tried to protect you, Cris,” Banks emphasized to break the silence. “I would never have kept any of this from you, but I had my own orders to follow.”
“And who issues those orders?”
Banks hesitated. “The Priesthood of the Cadicle.”
The TSS reports to the Priesthood? Cris laughed in spite of himself, on the verge of hysterics. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why is the Priesthood involved with the TSS?”
“Because the TSS exists to train people like us with telekinetic abilities, and the Priesthood has a vested interest in our care.”
Cris stared at Banks, incredulous. “We are talking about the same organization that condemned those very abilities?”
“Political sentiment doesn’t always align with underlying needs.”
This is insane. “They tried to kill me! Why go through all that planning to ‘make’ me only to then stage an assassination?”
Banks looked down. “That was an error in judgment, and I’ve always resented them for it. They weren’t sure you would follow through, either.”
Either… “I wasn’t the first, was I? My brother Tristen!”
Banks withered. “Cris, this is not something you want to dive into.”
“On the contrary—”
“Our entire race is at stake. Do you understand that?” Banks pleaded. “The Priesthood knew we needed
a military leader, not a politician.”
Cris’ stomach churned. They killed him. Just like they tried to kill me. “I had no interest in politics.”
“No, but you were deemed too independent.”
“So they were threatened by me.” They should be. Especially now.
“They were wrong, and they admit it. You’re more than we could have hoped for.”
Cris threw up his hands. “How did this even get started? Who are the Bakzen?”
Banks turned pale. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“I just can’t, Cris.”
“Bomax, Banks! You expect me to continue on, despite just having turned my entire world upside down, and yet you’re still keeping things from me? You better have a foking good reason for not telling me.”
Banks looked down. “I can’t tell you because you will tell Wil, and he can’t know.”
What wouldn’t they want him to know? Cris was about to respond, but Scott stuck his head into the office.
Scott startled when he saw Cris’ expression. He inched back from the door. “We need to figure out what we’re doing. We’re completely exposed here.”
Cris nodded and returned his attention to Banks. “This conversation isn’t over.”
Banks looked him in the eye. “Do whatever it takes to get Wil back.”
“I know.”
CHAPTER 7
“That’s a hell of a fence,” Cris said with distaste, still reeling from his conversation with Banks. The Defense Barrier. The border of the rift. He felt queasy thinking about what was just out of sight.
“I take it we’re going to ignore the giant, flashing ‘keep out’ sign?” Scott quipped.
Cris wasn’t in the mood for joking. “You know we don’t have a choice.”
The satellites placed in strategic alignment formed a nearly impenetrable mesh of sensor beams. After what he had just learned, Cris wished they could just turn around and forget about it. But, Wil was somewhere inside. He couldn’t give up. “Kari, have you found any weak areas in the grid?”