by Kal Spriggs
Shaden hesitated, he didn't exactly know how to phrase a response.
"What he's trying to say is that one person will slip in and out easier than your pack," Janis said.
Primus gave a toothy smile, "Well, let's get together and plan this out before you make a decision like that. You don't know how capable my pack is."
"Yeah," Shaden said, "How about you bring some of your people by in the morning, after I've had some sleep."
"Whoa, man," Primus grinned, "you're planning an attack on a top secret ESPSec facility, guarded by who knows what... you sure you wanna do that in your mom's apartment?"
Shaden saw Moira snort tea out of her nose. She gave Primus a glare as she dabbed at it.
"You have someplace better?" Shaden snapped.
"Yeah," Primus stood. "Come by my den in the morning." He scrawled an address on a scrap of paper and passed it over. "Oh, and get some rest, you look like crap."
***
Shaden had managed to get a few hours of sleep before he, his mother, Moira, and Alex showed up at what looked to be an abandoned automotive shop the next morning. Shaden led the way to a heavy metal door and rapped on it.
A moment later, a dirty face peered at him through the dusty window. "You Shaden?" The high pitched voice asked.
"Yeah," Shaden said.
"Okay." Shaden heard the sound of several bolts being drawn and then the rusted door grated open. A short, spike-haired girl looked him up and down. "You don't look like much, you really sure you're the guy Primus told me about?"
"Um, no?" Shaden said.
"Huh," the girl scoffed. "Hey, Primus, your guests are here!"
She stepped out of the way as Shaden and the others came in, then slammed the door shut behind them.
Shaden looked around the garage and his first impression was that a bomb must have gone off. Bits of scrap metal, pieces of cars, and shredded pieces of electronics littered the floor. Furniture, most of it cobbled together from scrap metal, lay grouped around car frames, most of which seemed to double as beds, with mattresses, hammocks and piles of blankets stacked on them.
"Shaden," Primus called out, "over here!"
Shaden spotted Primus and three or four others gathered around what looked like a holotable cobbled-together from bits of electronics that shoudn’t have worked. Shaden's eyes went wide as he saw the display. He hurried over, "Primus, we can't have something like that here! ESPSec can hack it and use it to..."
He trailed off as Primus and his people snorted with laughter. "Not much worries, there trotter," Primus said. "Karl's got us covered."
"What?" Shaden asked. The street slang gave him a headache.
"Take a look at it, anything stand out?" Primus asked.
Shaden walked around the thing. He didn't notice anything amiss.
"It's not plugged in," Alex said, walking forward to look underneath. "No power cable at all... and a heavy unit like this can't run off batteries! For that matter, there's no wireless port. How would it have signal?"
"Yeah, trotter," Primus said. He nodded again at the man he'd called Karl. "He's really good with his brain, fella."
Shaden hadn't missed how Primus had adopted a low-class gutter accent. He wondered at that a bit, but he guessed it had to do with how he wanted his people to see him. "Electrokinesis?" Shaden asked.
"Yeah," Karl nodded, "Powering it up is easy enough, if you know what ya doin'. Pulling the signal, well..." The holotable switched from the cage match to what had to be the police security feed, with images from security cameras around the city. "That gets a bit more jazzy."
"I'm not sure I understand," Alex held up a hand, "are all of you psychics?"
The woman next to Primus gave a giggle, "What, you aren't?"
"Um, no," Alex said.
The expressions of Primus's companions went hard. Primus stepped forward, "You didn't say anything about bringing a normal here." Beside him, the others stepped forward menacingly.
"Wait," Shaden said, stepping in front of Alex. "He's not a psychic, no, but Amalgamated Worlds wants him dead, too."
"So what?" Primus snapped, "That means we should pity him? He hasn't lived his entire life in fear like the rest of us!"
Shaden looked to his mother, but she just quirked an eyebrow at him. Clearly she wasn't going to fight this for him. "Look," Shaden said, "he hasn't lived in fear of ESPSec, but he has lived in fear of InSec." Shaden met the eyes of the angry psychics, "Those who don't have psychic abilities are still every bit as much in danger as us. Amalgamated Worlds rules through terror and intimidation, backed by their military. They rule us through force, psychics and normals alike," Shaden said.
"You almost sound like you want to overthrow the government," Primus responded. He didn't attempt to advance any closer and his people had slightly more thoughtful expressions.
"I think we don't have the numbers or resources for that," Shaden hedged. In reality, the thought of a violent overthrow of Amalgamated Worlds appalled him. Somehow his indoctrination still held in some ways. He wanted a strong, central authority. He just felt that the people in charge needed to be replaced and their policies reversed
The books he had read, especially the banned history books, suggested that a violent overthrow rarely solved things for the better. Violent change often led to power vacuums where those with ambition and ruthlessness came out on top.
"Either way," Shaden said, "Alex here, and Moira too," he gestured at the redheaded woman, "aren't psychics, but they've both helped me. Their enemies are our enemies... why can't we work together?"
Primus scowled, but he nodded acknowledgement. "Tally," he said. Shaden took that as agreement, though the slang made his head hurt.
"Okay," Shaden said. He looked at Karl, "Can you bring up this address, preferably without them knowing we looked it up?" He passed over a slip of paper after the young man nodded.
A moment later, the holotable cleared to show the overhead imagery of the facility. "Nice," Moira said. She pointed at a mark on the corner, "That's from an InSec satellite, dated yesterday." She looked at Karl, "You have that kind of access?"
Karl gave her a grin, "Oh, yeah, skirt, I got my fingers in all the systems."
"Okay," Shaden said, pointing at the central buildings. "These used to be living quarters, either a military barracks or dorm rooms. The central ones are converted to offices on the lower level and living areas on the upper floors.
Shaden frowned, "I think there are tunnels that connect most or all of the buildings and I think that the lower levels, the basement areas, have been converted to labs along with this building here," he pointed to one set off from the others. "My memory isn't great about where those are located, much less the interior layout."
He saw questions in their eyes and he moved on before he had to explain. "They have two guard posts down at the waterfront, here and here." He pointed out the locations. "Another one at each of the two gates," he pointed at those, both the fortified main gate and the less-guarded side gate that Janecek had led him out.
He paused in thought, "I think their guard component is made up mostly of ESPSec regulars. They had two squads of Amalgamated Worlds Military, but they're down one squad now. I'd guess a hundred or so total personnel. They'll have exterior and interior checkpoints, because they'll have patients they're guarding as well. They'll probably use the commandos as a reaction team, they'd be wasted on sentry duty."
He pointed along the edge of the facility grounds, "Standard tactics would be motion and heat sensors along the perimeter. They can't do that as effectively along the waterline, too much motion, which is why they have the two posts. They'll respond to any breach with an initial reaction team, probably a team of five. If it escalates from there, they'll mobilize and call for reinforcements."
Primus gave him an odd look, but he didn't say anything.
"One or two people might be able to slip in," Shaden said. "Anything larger than that and we would face too much opposition, escalating un
til they bring in overwhelming force and lock the place down."
"Talley," Primus said after a moment, "you seem to think going in alone is the slick." He leaned forward, his face intent, "I don't like the numbers, trotter. One man against a hundred?"
Shaden shifted uncomfortably, "I don't want to fight anyone there... I want answers. If we somehow hit them with overwhelming force, they might do something drastic like destroy the lab." He wanted to learn everything he could about what they'd done to him, if they destroyed it, he might never learn the full extent of what they’d done. I would never be safe, he thought.
"What about this Halving, trotter?" Primus asked. "He is the one that twisted Cezero." The edge to his voice told Shaden that if he couldn’t deal with the man, then Primus would.
"Yeah," Shaden nodded. "And he's done worse than that. I'll have to confront him." He tried to put every bit of confidence he could into his voice.
"You betta mean kill," Primus said.
Shaden looked down. He had only killed in self-defense until now, but he didn't know if he could win any kind of fair fight against Halving. Halving's abilities, his intelligence, and his knowledge made him dangerous. Shaden's best bet would be to hit him without warning and to not give him the chance to defend himself.
Assassination, Shaden thought, exactly what he and ESPSec wanted of me.
"Yeah," Shaden looked up and met Primus's gaze, "That's what I mean."
***
They had split off as they considered the options. Primus seemed engaged in discussion with Shaden's mother, while Shaden had cornered Karl. "So how do you do it?" Shaden asked.
"Well," Karl said, "Mebbe if you don't know, I can't tell."
"I've never tried," Shaden said.
Karl glanced over in Primus's direction, but his gang leader didn't look their way. "Talley," he grumbled. "Trotter, you feel the sparks?"
Shaden closed his eyes. He reached out with his mind and tried. Most of what he felt and shut out as noise was... stuff. Thoughts and emotions he could recognize, now. Heat and motion, radio waves, the movement of air... and yes, the tingling energy of electrical lines. They sizzled, like bacon in a frying pan. He opened his eyes, "Yeah, I feel it."
Karl scowled, "Mebbe I can show you." He pointed at an old television, bulky and large, it had to be a couple centuries old. "If you feel the sparks, you can mebbe move them, a few at a time, make a stream."
Shaden frowned at that. It didn't sound anything like his prior teaching. Then again, Janecek had casually dismissed so much as being impossible. He closed his eyes and he reached out with his mind. He could feel the flow of individual electrons, flashing past so fast that they seemed to be a constant stream, shifting back and forth in alternating currents.
Could he do the same to the old television?
He reached into the old television and felt where the current should flow. Beside him, he heard Karl whistle, "Yeah, dats the way."
Shaden didn't know how to shift the electrons, whether they would flow like water or if they would require the brunt force that he needed to pull energy out of heat. He tried to push them, then pull, but other than the smell of ozone, he didn't seem to have any effect.
Finally, as he heard Karl start to snicker, he shoved hard.
He heard a sharp snap and then the television exploded, raining electronic guts and glass down around them. "Oh, trotter," Karl said, "that was froyo."
Primus walked over and nudged a piece of smoldering wreckage with the toe of his boot. "Trotter, that was... impressive."
"Thanks," Shaden said. "Sorry about that."
"No problem," Primus said. "Karl had to practice months before he did more than burn out electronics. That's why we had such old junk. Blowing it up like that, it might be useful." He turned back to talk to Shaden's mother before he could respond.
Moira walked over and punched Shaden in the shoulder, "Nice job! That was pretty cool."
"It wasn't like I meant to..." Shaden muttered.
"Hey, trotter," Karl said, "let’s mebbe try it again, eh?"
***
"Staff Sergeant Alethea Shade," a cold, pitiless voice spoke from behind her.
Shade didn't turn around, didn't play the other woman's game. She recognized Colonel Givens' voice from her other encounters with the woman. "Colonel," Shade said, "I'd rise and report, but I'm a little tied up right now." She put every bit of anger she could muster into her voice. She didn't know what she had expected upon being brought in. The bag over her head had been bad enough, but she had sat in this interrogation room for hours, manacled to the chair and chained to the table, like some kind of criminal.
"I spent some time reading your records," Colonel Givens said as she came around the table. She set a fat folder opposite Shade. "You know... I initially didn't approve you for duty here."
"Oh?" Staff Sergeant Shade asked, "Darn, you mean I could have gone somewhere else?"
"I was overridden, because the Bureau of Defense didn't want to give up anyone else... and because someone higher than me thought your animosity for InSec would be an asset."
Shade looked away at that. "Is this what this is about? I followed protocol, those bastards opened fire--"
"I don't care about what happened to the InSec team," Colonel Givens said. "I care about the rest of your report. You mentioned a powerful psychic, not our project's rogue, but a woman. You also told Captain Zhun that the InSec agents seemed to be working with her."
"That's what I saw," Shade replied.
"If that's what you saw... how did you escape alive?" Colonel Givens said.
"I told Captain Zhun," Shade said, "the bitch hit my squad with a truck. Somehow our team's ESPSec psychic and I survived that, but we were pinned underneath. Then there was some sort of bomb or explosion..."
"InSec says they dropped a guided munition on the warehouse to prevent the escape of a colonial terrorist operating in league with SIGIL," Colonel Givens said.
Staff Sergeant Shade stared at the woman in shock, "SIGIL? Seriously? What the hell..." She shook her head. "Look, I don't know anything about that or any Colonials. When I came to, I was locked up. The only person I saw that entire time was the rogue psychic you sent me after."
"Your implant recording shows you were taken to a shielded facility. Which suggests more resources than our rogue psychic could have," Colonel Givens said. "Which means you were captured by SIGIL. I already know that you lied to Captain Zhun, our screening software picked that up. What did you tell SIGIL?"
"I didn't talk to SIGIL," Staff Sergeant Shade snapped. "Christ, I might have been born in the outer colonies, but that doesn't mean I sympathize with those murderous bastards!” She hadn’t known that SIGIL was involved. It didn’t make any sense in the face of what Shaden had told her. If I had even suspected…
“You know,” Colonel Givens said in a thoughtful voice, “I think you’re actually telling the truth… more the pity.” The ESPSec officer leaned back and crossed her arms. “We’re benching you. I’ve already signed orders for you to be detached as a military liaison with the International Police Force headquarters here in New York City, pending further investigation into whatever it is you’re hiding.”
Shade’s stomach fell at that. A posting like that would mean the end of her career. If she were lucky, they’d let her finish out her contract, but in all likelihood, she would be mustered out of the service, probably with evaluations bad enough that she wouldn’t be able to get a job washing dishes.
Assuming they don’t find out the truth, she thought to herself. If they even suspected that she had given away the location of the facility to the man they had sent her to kill…
She didn’t let any of that show on her face, though. “Colonel, that investigation will show I did nothing wrong.”
Colonel Givens stood from her chair. “Most likely. But that’s immaterial to me. Goodbye Staff Sergeant Shade.”
***
“Well?” Colonel Alicia Givens asked as Captain Zhu
n stepped into her office and closed the door. Despite her self-control, she couldn’t help the impatience she felt as Zhun pulled up his notes on his tablet.
Captain Zhun was a political appointee, which meant he knew exactly how much he could get away with. The late and unlamented Captain Schultz had at least been properly terrified of her. Incompetent in every other way that mattered, apparently, she thought.
“Only a few hours after the confrontation with InSec, our security protocols located at least a dozen searches through government databases for ‘Project Archon’ and all of them focused on ESPSec,” Captain Zhun said. “Most of those access points were with InSec data terminals, but at least three were military and one was internal to our own Bureau.”
Colonel Givens frowned at that. The Command Council had hoped that the Bureau of ESP Security had remained untainted, but it seemed they were wrong. All data terminals with high enough access to find Project Archon were those that required command authorization. It meant at least one of the Bureau’s Regional Commanders had been compromised.
The fact that InSec was so highly compromised merely confirmed what General Xin Chou had suspected for years. There was no other explanation for how easily SIGIL had avoided the Bureau of Internal Security’s various efforts to corral them. The only question in Colonel Givens’ mind was whether the senior officers in InSec had gone along willingly or if they had been mentally compelled.
Even that doesn’t matter, she thought, once we strike the head from the snake we can gut it at our leisure. “What’s the final analysis on the commando and our missing psychic?”
“Since we gave the kill order to his bomb implant, it is unlikely that he has survived,” Captain Zhun said. “As for Staff Sergeant Shade, our best analysis puts it at sixty percent that she gave up something of value, either willingly or knowingly. The margin of error is so high because she either doesn’t feel guilt over it or she doesn’t realize the impact of the information… assuming she did give up information.”
“She did,” Colonel Givens said with undue certainty. She felt she had a good read on the female commando. “It is likely that SIGIL has suborned our rogue test subject. I see no other reason for why he led her team into that trap. She probably gave up something seemingly innocuous… but the kind of information that SIGIL needed to put the last pieces together. It could be a name, it could be a location. It doesn’t matter.”