Chapter 5

Kira sighed; true to form, Ari could shrug off any amount of combat if he

had a new video project to obsess over. “Shite, that’s right…”

“What now?” Nia asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Kira grumbled, shooing her team from the

shuttle.

She parted ways from them when they headed for the showers so she

could debrief with their commanding officer. She’d been under Major Lucas

Sandren’s command for the past two years, and he was her favorite CO to

date in her nine years with the Guard. Though he’d been rough on her at

times, he was fair and had never sent her into a mission without a thorough,

accurate briefing. Until today.

Sandren was in his office behind his compact desk. He leaned forward in

his chair. “Captain, I—”

Kira slammed her hand on the interior control panel to close the door.

“With all respect, sir, what the fok?”

“I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have sent you in there alone if my intel had

been accurate.” Sandren looked genuinely contrite.

Kira’s shoulders slumped. “We weren’t properly equipped for a firefight

like that. We almost…”

“But you made it out.”

“And then they kept shooting at us! What’s a Mysaran cruiser—”

“That was an unexpected wrinkle, yes.” Sandren fixed his brown eyes on

her. “Were you successful?”

“Yeah, barely.” She retrieved the portable drive from the pocket on her

chest and tapped it against the open palm of her left hand. “What is this?”

“The higher-ups have been tight-lipped about the whole thing. You did

your part.”

Something about his tone indicated he might know more than he was

letting on, but Kira was too tired to argue. “The MTech guy I spoke to said

this wasn’t just about a potential civil war with Mysar. Whatever it is, there’s

some foked up shite going on down there.”

“The presence of the Mysaran military made that much clear.” Sandren

took the drive from her and stared at it in his hands. “Right before you

docked, word came down that they’ve increased the security clearance on the

op.” e security clearance on the

op.” “Retroactively? That—”

“I know.” Sandren nodded solemnly. “We’ll debrief back at base.”

— — —

Monica Waylon braced for the worst. “How much did they get?”

“Enough,” her assistant, Tim, replied. “Phase One and Two trial reports,

expression models, the analysis of—”

Monica held up her hand to stop him; ultimately, the details didn’t matter.

Her research with MTech had been exposed. The bomaxed Taran authorities

were threatening to ruin everything, as usual. Years of effort would be for

naught if she couldn’t keep the project moving forward.

“At least the test subjects had already been relocated,” Tim offered.

It was small consolation, but Monica needed to embrace any good news

at her disposal. “Yes, there is that.”

Even though she was the project’s director, she still had superiors

watching her every move. They’d been berating her for months about the

expense of her new research lab on Valta, but she now felt vindicated—

having anticipated that they’d need a facility with better security. Her

proactive preparations meant that their work in the new Valtan lab could

continue without drawing additional unwanted attention, whereas the raid

would have spelled disaster if they had still been operating solely out of the

moon lab. However, if the Tararian Guard was intent to intervene, she’d be

forced to take drastic action.

Monica smoothed her shoulder-length brown hair. “I’ll update our

benefactors about our status. Check on the Phase Two subjects.”

Tim eagerly rose from his workstation. “Right away.”

She watched him go. He’d been spending too much time with the

subjects recently—getting attached. Their work demanded complete loyalty

to the cause, and they couldn’t afford such distractions. She made a mental

note to look into how Tim had been spending his visits to the holding cells;

he was just as disposable as the Phase One subjects.

For now, though, her collaborators were awaiting her call.

As soon as Tim had entered the cellblock, Monica logged into the secure

platform she used to communicate with her associates. Her digital avatar—a gray, androgynous figure—appeared in the holoconference on her behalf. She

was soon joined by the representations of two of her associates, Nox and

Reya—blue and green figures, respectively.

“The situation isn’t good, but it’s salvageable,” Monica stated.

“What was the Tararian Guard doing at the moon?” Reya demanded.

“The better question is, why was that lab still inhabited?” Nox countered.

“We were assured that it would be empty.”

“There were delays in transferring the rest of the weapons cache,”

admitted Monica. “Unfortunately, that retrieval team hadn’t wiped the local

servers yet. If I’d had warning, I would have tried to make other

arrangements.”

Reya’s green avatar shook its head. “Two hours later and the Guard

wouldn’t have found anything meaningful.”

“These are the risks of operating in the shadows,” Nox said. “Once the

Empire’s prying eyes are no longer on the Elvar Trinary, we can operate

freely.”

Monica’s eyes narrowed. “But the Empire is involved now. And they’re

persistent.”

“We do have contingency plans in place,” Reya offered. “Is it time?”

Nox’s blue avatar nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I may have a solution that

will solve all of our problems.”

— — —

President Elton Joris of the Elusian Alliance was certain his Mysaran

neighbors were up to something devious. He was no stranger to their political

posturing, but unusual fleet activity coupled with rumors about MTech’s

research over the past several months had put him on high alert. At least his

contacts would soon be able to tell him just how much danger Elusia was

really in.

Maybe we should have invested more in our military, but how were we to

know Mysar would move against us? He prayed that it wouldn’t come to that.

The Elvar Trinary had been settled by their ancestors to escape war; he hated

to think a civil dispute might rip them apart.

A knock sounded on his door. “Enter,” Joris stated.

Nico cracked opened the door and slipped inside. “Sir, I verified that the

new draft of the reunification agreement includes those language

modifications you requested.”

“Good. Thank you for coordinating that review,” Joris acknowledged.

Nico was young, but he’d proven to be a capable and dedicated assistant.

Given what Elusia might be facing in the near-term, he’d need members of

his administration he could trust.

“Sir, I was wondering…” Nico began tentatively.

Joris waved him the rest of the way into the office.

Nico closed the door and approached Joris’ desk. “Sir, about those

changes regarding the defense assurances… Are you concerned about

Mysar?”

Capable, dedicated, and astute . Joris folded his hands on his desktop. “I

began these discussions with the Taran Empire because it is my belief that we

should mend ties with our Taran brethren. I hope Mysar sees fit to follow our

lead.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then we won’t be alone.”