Lanara patted one of the containers. “Who cares what’s inside? I’m more interested in the lock. Those conspiracy idiots let us get our hands on something we can reverse-engineer that’s way better than dumbass brains in giant spider-bot bodies. How is that even efficient?” She rolled her eyes and snorted so loudly it echoed in the cargo bay. “You have to develop and maintain all the secondary life support systems, so now you have a vehicle and a body to optimize. It’d make far more sense just to build a bigger tank. It’s like they’re purposely trying to piss me off with weird-ass inefficient designs.”
Erik snickered. “I don’t think that was their intention, but if they keep going, you might not need us around. You’ll finish them off yourself to defend the honor of engineering.”
“Don’t tempt me, Blackwell. If those assholes were half as smart as they thought, they would have had their own jumpship by now. I think they got lucky and found some alien stuff, and they’ve been playing off that. They aren’t very smart.”
Jia pursed her lips. “They’re most likely alien artifacts.”
“Lazy bastards,” Lanara mumbled. “Always taking the easy way out. I’m glad you killed those guys.”
The containers hissed and the lids separated. Wisps of white vapor floated out of the containers. Lanara pulled them both open while keeping up a mumbled monologue that Erik assumed involved insulting the conspiracy and inefficient monster designs.
The inner storage layer was small compared to the thick black fibrous material that surrounded it. Smaller clear boxes lined the inner chamber, blinking holographic displays over them displaying graphs and numbers that were meaningless to Erik.
He didn’t need to be a scientist to recognize sample vials.
They were filled with different fluids, some clear, some the familiar red of human blood, and some the now unfortunately familiar green of the yaoguai blood from the base. Two other containers contained small cracked, desiccated irregular chunks, both with withered vine-like structures protruding from them. Their color was faded, but hints of blue and green material remained.
Malcolm leaned forward. “Huh. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this.”
Bile rose in the back of Erik’s throat. “These look a lot like…”
He stared at Jia.
She nodded and licked her lips. “Some of it looks like Hunter biotechnology. Alien artifacts.”
“A lot of good men and women died for this.” Erik crouched by the containers, his eyes narrowed. “They died for fragments of a lost twisted-ass race the galaxy’s better off without.”
“We don’t know these are from Molino,” Jia replied softly.
“Maybe, but I’ll be happy to get back to Earth and let Alina deal with this garbage.” Erik’s hand twitched. He was half-tempted to march over to a grenade crate, grab some plasma grenades, and burn the contents to ash.
“I get why you’d care, Blackwell, but it doesn’t matter,” Kant suggested.
Erik glared. “Why the hell doesn’t it matter?”
Jia gave him a look of concern before turning toward Kant and awaiting his answer.
“Because we just took some alien artifacts from the conspiracy.” Kant offered him a hungry grin. “And from what little I know about those Hunters, that’s got to hurt.” He shook his fist. “Those bastards blew the base, so some of them must still be crawling around Chiron, but that doesn’t change the fact we took out all their pets, ventilated their Elites, and snatched their ancient alien tech. In other words, we thoroughly kicked their asses.”
A matching grin grew on Erik’s face. “You’re right. They didn’t get the Hunter ship, and they didn’t get these. Sucks to be them. Every time we show up, their solution is to blow their own base. We keep this up, and in a couple of months, there might not be any conspiracy bases left.”
Chapter Fifty
Jia slipped under the covers next to Erik.
They would arrive at the jumpship in less than twelve hours. A day after that, they’d be back in the Solar System. The destruction and death on Chiron felt distant, like a past life.
That sensation was becoming common after major operations. Even after the revelation of the Hunter artifacts, the whole experience seemed like an exotic vacation that just happened to involve laser rifles and missile launchers.
The feeling was perhaps a bit twisted, but she didn’t care.
Her gaze flicked to his missing arm. She respected his decision not to grow a replacement, but she would never understand it.
Erik’s superstitions had carried him forward for decades, including the relatively recent addition of the arm, and if he’d rather wait for another cybernetic replacement, she could do nothing to convince him otherwise.
“I’ve been sitting here thinking,” Erik murmured.
Jia leaned over and kissed his cheek. “That’s always dangerous. You should leave that to me.”
He grunted in agreement. “Perhaps. We can’t be sure those things are Hunter artifacts, but they probably are.”
“It seems probable. It explains why the conspiracy went to so much trouble to ship them around.” Jia rolled onto her side to look at Erik, resting her hand on her hip. “I also think we got lucky this time. Very.”
Erik shook his head. “Not lucky. Someone pointed us at them, remember?”
“Barbu? You think he knew about the artifacts? The ID still had to put together a lot of information to get us to them.”
“I don’t know who he is and what he knows, which is irrelevant at the moment. What matters now are the artifacts.”
Jia scrunched her brow, confused by the statement. “What about them? I assume we go back to Earth and hand them to Alina.”
Erik looked at her, face so close that she could read his indecision without him needing to speak. “Do we?”
This time, she tried to extrapolate why he would think that and failed. “Why wouldn’t we hand them over?”
A haunted look settled over Erik’s face. “We’re doing well against the conspiracy. We’ll win. I can’t say I always knew that, but now I do.
Jia nodded slowly. “I’d hope so. I wouldn’t take them on if I thought it was hopeless.”
“We don’t know what their true goals are,” Erik continued. “But we do know a lot of pushing at the boundaries of tech is involved. Yaoguai, Tin Men, and their interest in the jump drive and Emma.”
“I’d agree that is an accurate summary.” Jia lowered her elbow so she could rest her cheek on her hand. “The Hunter technology is another way they can get away from the government, so they have a chance of controlling and defeating anyone who comes after them.”
“HTPs, antigrav, and Emma,” Erik replied. “What do they all have in common?”
Jia thought for a moment. Erik got distracted for a moment in her eyes before she answered, snapping him back to the conversation. “They’re all technologies that were partially developed from something reverse-engineered from ancient alien technology.”
Erik looked away from her and stared at the ceiling. “Exactly. The UTC has laws, and the Purists have done their best to drill those into people’s beliefs, but it’s hard to resist temptation.”
“I suppose.”
“We saw what Hunter tech can lead to,” Erik continued. “The conspiracy is halfway there because they got a head start, but let’s be honest. The main reason the government abandoned cyborg soldiers was CPS more than giving a crap about Purists. It’s hard to get someone to not use a weapon if they think it’ll give them an advantage.”
Jia shook her head. “Not as hard as you’d think. It’s not like when you were in the Army and you dropped nuclear, nano, or bio bombs on colonies. Sometimes restraint is enough, but it’s good to have the option. But what are you getting at?”
“We could dump the artifacts into space and then pulverize them into atoms with our weapons,” Erik explained. “Remove the temptation.”
“Alina might not agree with
that, not to mention other people in the government. They weren’t thrilled about the destruction of the Hunter ship.”
Erik snorted. “We didn’t have a choice.”
Jia placed her hand on his chest and spread her fingers. “I understand, Erik. We couldn’t risk that thing going anywhere, but these artifacts aren’t the same thing. They’re not an active Hunter ship driving people insane and converting them into minions.”
“It’s dangerous to play with fire,” he argued.
“I understand that. But that ship taught me something important, and it’s a reason why as nervous as the Hunter artifacts make me, I don’t think we should get rid of them.”
Erik turned back to focus on her. “What’s that?”
“Humanity thought we had everything figured out,” Jia replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “We thought we’d be the masters of the universe. First contact changed that thinking, but not much. The aliens are different but manageable. The Navigators were far ahead of us, but they were dead. However, the Hunter ship teaches us that demons still prowl the void, waiting for victims.” She rested her head lightly on his shoulder. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting thousands of years to catch up. We never know when someone might stumble upon another Hunter ship.”
He considered her words, broke them down, and applied the raw materials to what he knew about her.
“We need to have a weapon ready?” Erik suggested. “You think our side needs to know more about them.”
“Yes,” Jia breathed. “A weapon more reliable than nested jumping. A sword to kill demons.”
“Deliver the artifacts, huh?” Erik felt her head ride his shoulder down as he let out a breath. “Life was simpler when this was only about revenge.”
Jia sat in the galley, sipping tea.
They were only two hours out from the jumpship. She would need to get accustomed to the monotony of post-mission quiet. The tension running up to a mission made it easy to ignore the copious stray thoughts that threatened her calm.
The door slid open, and Anne stepped through. She offered Jia a polite nod before heading over to get coffee. They hadn’t become friends, but the agent was no longer on the verge of a scowl whenever they ran into one another, and Anne seemed less competitive when it came to darts.
She didn’t speak until she filled her coffee cup and took a sip. “I have something to say to you. Something I’ve been meaning to say for a while, but…pride is a difficult thing.” She looked down at her morning drug of choice before continuing. “It makes it easy to justify certain behaviors, and as time passes, the problem compounds itself.”
“I know that from personal experience.” Jia set her cup down. “What is it?”
Anne took a seat across from Jia. “I want to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Jia raised an eyebrow. “What for? I’m not upset you beat me yesterday, and I’m glad you’re agreeing to play with us. I think Erik can use some normalcy until he gets his new arm installed, though I don’t know why he insists on having a drone hold his darts before throws instead of letting me do it.”
“This isn’t about darts.” Anne averted her eyes. “When Agent Koval approached me about this assignment, I wasn’t what anyone would call enthusiastic about it. I think I made my position clear to both of you.”
Jia picked her cup and took another sip. “You weren’t subtle in your dislike if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“I respect Agent Koval, but I have never been comfortable with how unorthodox she can be.” Anne stared into her coffee with a pained expression. “I’ve seen it now with my own eyes. You two get things done. I might be good, but that didn’t stop me from needing your help.”
“Erik’s saved me countless times.” Jia waved a hand. “And I’ve saved him countless times. Teammates watch each other’s backs.”
Jia noticed that Anne’s smile held actual warmth, the feeling working its way into her eyes.
“That they do.” Anne agreed. “I’m not going to lie and say I’m going to get comfortable with your overly dynamic style anytime soon, but I don’t regret this assignment anymore. I feel like I can accomplish great things with you two.”
“You remind me a lot of me when I first met Erik.” Jia snort-laughed, a hand covering her nose as a blush touched her cheeks. “Though you’re not nearly the naïve idiot I was. I won’t embarrass myself by telling you some of the things I believed.”
Anne extended her hand. “I apologize for being a bitch, and I hope we can continue taking down the monsters hiding in the shadows together.”
Jia shook Anne’s hand firmly. “We both needed time, and we’ve got it. But that doesn’t mean Erik or I expect you never to question us. We’ve developed a good rhythm, and we’ve got great noses for trouble, but as teammates, we need to take advantage of each other’s strengths.”
Anne returned her attention to her coffee, smiling.
Chapter Fifty-One
August 25, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Private Hangar of the Argo
Erik wasn’t surprised Alina was waiting in the hangar when the Argo arrived.
She hadn’t sent a message ahead to say she would be there, but he assumed there was no way she wanted to have ancient alien artifacts sitting around, waiting to be stolen by a strike team of yaoguai and Elites.
He ordered Emma to open the cargo bay door and headed down the ramp with Jia and the two agents. By the time he arrived, Alina was walking up the ramp, her ponytail swaying.
She was in her skintight tactical suit, a rifle slung over her shoulder, ready for action.
Erik nodded at the recovered containers in the bay. “Bring your flitter in here, and you can grab these and run.” He looked past her. There was no limo this time, only a boring-looking mid-range gray model. Inconspicuous, but probably deadly.
Alina motioned to Erik. “You really should get that regrown.”
“I’ll stick with what works. Emma’s already set things up for me. I’m getting my replacement tomorrow.”
“If you say so. Oh, and Adeyemi will be getting you a new laser rifle.” Alina walked over to the containers. She looked down at them with an odd expression on her face. “Every successful operation against those people is important, but if these are Hunter artifacts, this was a nice, deep cut.”
Kant looked pleased with himself. Anne stood there, arms folded, face unreadable.
“What happens now?” Jia asked. “What is the protocol when the government gets their hands on ancient alien artifacts from a race we’re still not admitting to the public even exists?”
Alina squatted near one of the containers and ran her hand over it. “This isn’t something the ID will follow up on. In this case, we’re just another layer—delivery boys and girls. The verification of the existence of the Hunters might have been recent, but it’s not like no one anticipated we might find some other race as important and advanced as the Navigators. There are teams, the best people, who’ll look into these artifacts.”
“In other words, they’ll disappear into a government lab.” Erik eyed the crates. “And no one else will know about them.”
“That’s not necessarily true.” Alina smiled. “Don’t be so down, Perseus. You slew a lot of monsters and brought back tools that might help us slay more. Radical honesty with the public has its place, but they don’t need to know everything all the time.”
“I just want to make sure we don’t end up as another conspiracy, playing with dangerous toys and silencing anyone who knows too much.”
Alina chuckled quietly. “A government’s always a conspiracy of sorts, and we ghosts do all sorts of questionable things. I can sleep at night, knowing I do my job to protect innocent people, not to enrich or empower those who are already rich and powerful.” She stood. “But do you care that much?” Her gaze shifted to Jia. “Everyone has their own reason, but is it enough?”
“Is what enough?” Erik asked.
Alina gestured to the container. “I
s this enough? These may or may not include artifacts that were likely taken from Molino. Does it change anything to know your soldiers died for ancient secrets?”
Kant’s smile faded. He took a breath through his nose, his face reddening. Anne shook her head at him.
Erik stared at Alina, his mouth twitching. He wasn’t sure if she was baiting him or if it was an honest question. Honesty about his motivation had propelled him from Molino to Earth. His view of the future might have changed after meeting Jia, but not everything else.
“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “It never did.”
“It didn’t?” The corners of Alina’s mouth twitched into a frown. “Why do you say that?”
“Because they didn’t deserve to die there, not like that.” Erik turned away from her. “I never really cared about the why. I care about the who. It’s not like I would not have chased their killers down if they were normal terrorists used as a cover story. You’re just lucky that it turns out the people I want are involved in something a lot bigger. Don’t worry. I’ll see this to the end because that’s how revenge works.”
“Good to know.” Alina ran her finger over her PNIU, and her flitter lifted off and flew slowly toward the docking bay. “I’m not going to act like I care all that much myself. You’re using the ID to help you get your revenge, and we’re using you to help destroy a threat to the UTC. It’s a mutually beneficial agreement.”
“For now,” Jia interrupted.
Alina gave her a sweet smile. “Yes, for now.” She waited for her flitter to turn around and land and the trunk to open. “I’ll let you know what we find. The possible Hunter artifacts are the big win here, but the conspiracy has the other items in there for a reason.”
“Like I said.” Erik’s smile turned cold. “Doesn’t really matter.”
“Kant.” Alina nodded at the flitter’s trunk. “Load them up. Please. As for you, Jia and Erik, I’ll see you soon.”
Desperate Measures Page 37