by A. K. DuBoff
“This organization has been terrorizing the Outer Colonies for months,” he began. “Their senseless violence had claimed millions of lives. While this raid is unlikely to dismantle the organization’s leadership, it is an opportunity to thwart their development of a new weapon that could lead to even greater losses.
“Our goal is to minimize casualties on all fronts—subdue and restrain—but lethal force is authorized in the event the situation demands it. There may be hostages, and protecting those innocents is the priority. In particular, our top target is Leon Caletti; consider him a part of the TSS family, and get him home safely.
“We will break into our established teams. Since we don’t know what exactly we’re walking into, each team will adjust its operations to fit with the actual conditions. Maintain telepathic contact at all times. Disable operations and rescue captives. It’s as simple as that. Once the immediate threat has been neutralized, we can conduct a thorough sweep for information-gathering purposes. Any questions?”
Everyone shook their heads; they’d been over the available information on the way over and were already as prepared as they could be.
“Kira, you’re with me,” he told her.
“I’d like to go with you, too,” Lexi said.
“That’s not a good idea.” He added telepathically, “I was okay with you coming on the ship, but I don’t feel right about you walking into a dangerous scenario like this.”
“I might not be trained as an Agent, but I’ve gone up against these people before.”
“Yes, and while those actions have been forgiven, you are still a civilian and should not be taking violent acts toward others in the future.”
She scowled at him. “They’ve taken my friends, Jason. I want to see this through.”
“Bringing you would be showing biased judgment. I can’t.”
Lexi paused. “I can identify key members of the organization’s leadership on sight. That makes me essential.”
He considered it. Though bending the rules, it was a reasonable justification. Even so, he wasn’t keen on her walking into the heart of danger. “I would rather you stay here.”
“Very sweet, but pass. I promise, just telekinesis for defense. Let me be another set of eyes for you.”
“All right,” he agreed. “Upon further consideration, Lexi can identify key persons of interest who may be on the premises, so she will accompany my team, as well.”
Kira raised an eyebrow at him and glanced at Lexi.
“The more the merrier.” He smiled at her and then headed toward the space-to-surface stealth shuttle berthed in the belly of the ship.
The team followed, and they geared up in anticipation of their imminent arrival to Quel.
Going in with a large group of Agents plus Kira and Lexi might be overkill, but Jason couldn’t be certain about what they would find inside the facility. In the end, he’d rather have too many people than not enough.
“Slow and steady,” he instructed as they piled into the shuttle that would take them down to the surface.
Kira had donned body armor since she didn’t have the ability to keep a telekinetic shield in place like the rest of them. She went through her weapons checks with cool proficiency.
The Agents had little to prepare, being weapons unto themselves. They did carry sidearms just in case, but any Agent tactical team was all about telekinesis first and foremost—far more powerful and precise than any ballistic or energy weapon. Their TSS Agent outfits looked too lightweight for running into a potential combat scenario, but the fabrics were all rated to protect against kinetic and energy weapons fire; the TSS didn’t advertise that fact, but every Agent knew their standard issue uniform was more than just about style.
He had Lexi put on specialized light armor, since he was unsure of how successfully she would be able to maintain a personal shield, and he would never forgive himself if she took a stray shot.
“You sure you want to go in with us?” Jason asked her telepathically as she fidgeted with the coveralls; though lacking the aesthetic flare of the Agent uniforms, the garment was still form-fitting enough to show off her figure.
“For the thousandth time, yes!”
There was no arguing with that enthusiasm. “Okay. Stay close. Keep your shield up.”
He headed to the flight deck of the stealth shuttle and prepared for launch. It was go time.
— — —
Being forced to watch others commit atrocities was almost worse than doing it himself, Leon realized. The security guards had placed him in a chair in the corner of the lab with instructions to not move from the seat.
Why am I still here? He would have expected them to send him to his cell-like room, where he’d been sent to sleep for a few hours each night. The fact that he’d been made to sit in the corner like a child in timeout was certainly meant to be a demeaning punishment.
For Leon, however, it was the opportunity to watch others work without any distractions. He studied each of their movements, looking for any tells that they weren’t fully invested in their tasks. Some of them were here willingly, but others were definitely forced participants.
In particular, Carla kept glancing over at him with a worried crease in her brow. She was only playing along for fear of her own wellbeing. Leon was guilty of the same thing, though apparently he had a lower tolerance threshold than her. This wasn’t the time for moral judgment; she was his best chance at having a friend to help him get out of here.
Leon was plotting how best to stage a diversion when a heated conversation caught his attention on the other side of the lab.
“People are coming. They say it’s the TSS,” he overheard someone say.
Leon’s heart leaped. Thank the stars! He may yet live to see tomorrow.
He considered trying to make another run for it but thought better. More likely, he would be shot or injured trying to break free than actually make it out. If the TSS really was on their way in, they could subdue the opposition without any trouble.
That line of thinking came to an abrupt halt when Edward entered. “Change of plan. What better way to test our new weapon than to eliminate our encroaching enemy?”
Are they seriously going to try to control this ‘weapon’ to attack only the TSS raid party without hurting us? It was an absolutely absurd notion. The only thing it was going to do is get all of them killed.
The other scientists in the room got to work prepping for another test. In the back chamber, a dark-haired tech was tending to Rachel.
Edward stepped into the room to say something to the tech and then left. The tech’s reply was inaudible.
“No, we’re doing it now,” Edward continued the conversation on the comm. “I don’t care what you think! Do it!”
Leon wasn’t sure what specific order had been given, but it clearly wasn’t good. Rachel was again strapped to the chair in the testing room, still—thankfully—with a distant expression of blissful ignorance about what was being done to her. The lab tech was wringing his hands nervously, his deep brown eyes darting between the woman and Edward through the window in the main lab. “You’re not going to hurt her, are you?” he asked over the intercom.
Edward glanced at Rachel. “Whatever happens, happens.”
The tech shook his head. “No, this isn’t what we—”
Edward slapped the console in front of him. “Do your job or get out! I don’t need your sniveling.”
The man shrank back at the outburst.
“We will proceed with the linking,” Edward ordered. “Prepare the subject.”
Leon shifted in his chair, wishing he was anywhere else right now.
Edward sneered at him from across the room, his lips curled with a declaration of smug victory.
The scientists took their stations, and Brandon began barking out orders as the self-declared leader of the group. Results-minded Edward didn’t seem to care who took the lead so long as the work was being accomplished on his increasingly aggressive ti
meline.
Having been in the chair for several hours with a poor view of most workstations, Leon wasn’t sure how much had changed in the group’s approach to the task since the last test. He remained convinced that there was a fundamental flaw to the theoretical framework itself, so no amount of fine-tuning would change the issue. It was simply impossible to force a bond like this without an adverse reaction—much like an organ couldn’t be placed in a foreign body without a tissue match and anti-rejection therapy.
The scientists entered commands on their stations. In the testing room, Rachel began to writhe against her restraints. Once more, her skin took on a strange flush that seemed almost like a glow.
As her tremors increased, a strange buzz of energy filled the room, hurting Leon’s inner ears. His head felt fuzzy, as if the neurons in his brain were vibrating in tune with the frequency. The odd sensation distorted his senses.
I shouldn’t be able to feel anything with this test. Something is wrong.
The thought was a vague feeling at the back of his mind. He struggled to process the observation.
I need to go.
That thought was clearer. Actionable.
Everyone else in the room seemed to be fighting against the same mental blocks. They stood motionless, as if in a trance.
The buzzing beckoned for Leon to stay still and accept his fate, as well. Except, an impulse deep within him screamed that he needed to get away.
This is your chance. Get back to Kira!
He bolted upright to his feet, almost knocking the chair over in the process. The other people in the room were still frozen in place, their eyes unfocused as the oppressive buzzing intensified.
“Get out of here now!” he shouted. “You’ll die if you stay here.” Leon ran toward the door, which was no doubt guarded on the outside.
Surprise was his best weapon, coupled with years of sparring with some of the top soldiers in the Guard. Hopefully, it would be enough.
He hit the door release. It was still unlocked since Edward was inside the lab. The guards would no doubt think it was their boss exiting. Leon used that to his advantage.
The moment the door slid aside, Leon reached through and grabbed the first guard’s arm, twisting it around to pin the man’s face against the wall. He then kicked to his side to strike the other man off-balance. The two seem to have been entranced by the buzzing, which was still audible outside the lab but wasn’t quite as intense the further out he went.
He landed firm blows on the two guards to knock them unconscious; there was no way to know how long they’d be out, but he didn’t intend to be there long enough for it to matter.
He took off down the hall. After a moment, he heard quick footfalls behind him.
“Wait!” Carla called out. “I’m coming with you.”
Leon’s heart lifted.
The lab tech and three of the other scientists soon followed, including Nora. He was disappointed that half of the group remained behind in the lab, but that was their choice.
“Do any of you know the way out?” Leon asked the group.
“No, but we’re in an underground facility,” Nora said. “We need to go up.”
Up. Good, I can work with that. Leon waved them onward. “Come on! Let’s find a way out.”
— — —
Lexi kept a tight grip on her armrests during the shuttle flight down to Quel’s surface. The voyage itself was so smooth that she barely noticed a sensation of movement, but she was anxious about what was to come.
What are we going to find in there? What have they been doing? She couldn’t change her past role in helping the Alliance, but she could now help prevent further tragedy.
In his seat on the flight deck, Jason was stoic and focused. He’d trained for these kinds of tense moment for his entire adult life, and she had no doubt he’d be nothing but professional for the duration of the mission.
She was surprised he had agreed to let her accompany the TSS team. Though she had confidence in her own survival abilities, it was no doubt unusual for a civilian to come along. It spoke to his growing trust in her more than any words ever could.
This is a chance to prove I can be a worthy partner. It wasn’t so much about proving it to him but proving it to herself. She’d let her Gifts be an afterthought for most of her life, and now it was time to embrace every aspect of her being.
The pilot set the shuttle down a mere fifty meters from the small shack marking the entrance to the underground facility. With its special stealth tech, it would be all but invisible on standard scans. Even so, it was possible the Alliance had still spotted the main transport ship when it dropped out from subspace and moved into orbit; they had to proceed as though the enemy knew they were coming.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Jason said. “Cody, stay with the shuttle and prepare to get us out of here in a hurry if needed.”
“Aye, sir,” the young Agent acknowledged from the pilot’s seat while Jason and Lexi moved back to the passenger transport area.
The Agents stood attentively, awaiting their commander’s go-ahead.
“Andy, you can do the honors.” Jason gave a nod to the older Agent.
“My pleasure.” Andy motioned for the five other Agents in his team to join him at the rear of the shuttle, ready to make their exit. They would be the lead infiltration team to clear the path for the rest of the unit into the facility.
Lexi sensed the energy around each of the Agents where their protective shields encompassed their bodies. Her own shield seemed a little unsteady by comparison, and she was happy Jason had insisted she wear something more robust than street clothes.
I’m going to need to learn how to do what they do! That might be a bold ambition considering these Agents had been training since they were teenagers, but she made a vow to try.
Andy hit the rear hatch release, and the back wall of the craft folded down to form an exit ramp. He took the lead as the group of Agents made a run for the entry.
The building’s door ripped from its hinges in a single, smooth movement. A moment later, the Agents disappeared inside.
Jason got a distant look in his eyes for a moment. “All right, top level is clear. Let’s move in.”
Lexi fell into step behind him as they jogged through the calf-high grass to the entryway. The sun was getting low in the sky, casting long shadows from the mountain range surrounding the valley. A crisp breeze swirled by, carrying a scent of damp earth and ozone.
Her senses were hyper-alert, looking for any potential threats in the landscape. So far, it seemed clear.
Cries of surprise and rending metal carried from inside the building as the advance team worked its way inside.
Jason led his team in first, followed by Kira and then Lexi.
The Guard soldier had a multi-handgun drawn, set to sonic stun; a toggle allowed it to also fire kinetic rounds. She had showed it to Lexi during the voyage over, and based on her rundown of the features, Lexi got the impression it was her favorite weapon.
I’ll stick to my mind, thank you. Lexi telekinetically knocked aside a rock in her path as if to prove a point.
She passed through the open doorway and into the shadow of the building. The hallway inside was illuminated but seemed dim compared to the afternoon sunlight outdoors.
Four Coalition guards were bound and propped against the wall near the entry door, three with their eyes wide in a mixture of fear and surprise, and the other seething with palpable disgust and rage. The latter was no doubt one of the Gifted-haters that had been so common within the Alliance. Lexi was sure to shoot the woman a nasty glare as she passed by.
The corridor beyond was featureless aside from sconce lighting, just bare concrete walls and a metal support structure at three-meter intervals. The hall was five meters across, which seemed conducive to staging items for transport down the solitary elevator that stood six meters down the corridor, where the building burrowed into the hillside.
Andy and his team were w
aiting outside the doors.
“I don’t like the ‘one way in and out’ deal,” Jason said. “Any signs of a stairwell?”
Andy nodded toward a smooth section of wall next to the elevator entrance. “It feels like there’s a void through here, but we haven’t spotted a control switch.”
Jason turned back to look at the bound guards. “Where is the stairway entrance?” he asked. A hum of energy surrounded him—a subtle telepathic command, nothing too invasive, but enough to encourage a response.
“Baseboard on the right,” one of the scared-looking men said.
His angry female companion shot him an accusatory glare.
Andy kicked at the baseboard in the indicated location. After a couple of tries in different spots, a section of the baseboard depressed and the wall next to it popped open.
With a nod from Jason, Andy and his five Agents slipped through the opening and began descending the poured concrete staircase.
Two of the Agents from the third team following Jason’s group inside broke off to stand watch at the entry. The remaining Agents fell in behind Lexi as they entered the stairwell.
Musty air assaulted Lexi’s nose the moment she passed through the hidden door. This was obviously not a well-used mode of access, and the facility clearly wasn’t new construction. Perhaps the Coalition had repurposed an old outpost from the planet’s early colonization history.
She wound her way down the switch-backing stairs for four stories, halting when she noticed the Agents up ahead had stopped to examine a side door—the first they had encountered in the stairwell. The steps continued downward for another two stories.
A light buzz of energy in the air indicated a heated telepathic conversation was underway between several of the Agents.
Jason closed his eyes. A hum of energy swelled around him, unlike anything she had experienced before. There was an intensity to just being in his presence under normal circumstances, but to actually feel him tapping into his power was incredible. She sensed him extending his consciousness throughout the facility, looking for other people and potential threats. While most trained Gifted could perform such a search on a limited scope, she had never witnessed anyone able to expand their senses in the way Jason was doing. There wasn’t a hint of straining; this was routine and easy for him, making it that much more impressive.