Abysm (22 page)

But he knew if they lost here, Earth would never be safe. So he persevered.

Then there was Seneca. The cowards had sided with the abominations, kowtowing to their corporations with their influential Artificials and deadly new toys. Proof they should never have been allowed to govern themselves.

And they would pay for their choice.

As the straggling remains of his more useful people here on Romane began arriving at the safe house in twos and threes, he checked in on the state of affairs on Seneca.

Faith, what’s your teams’ status at the Parliament building?

Twiddling their thumbs while looking threatening. My bet is the authorities will be sending in assassins or worse soon, though. I’m itching for an endgame here.

The time for brinkmanship was over.

When they raid the Senatorial offices, blow the other location.

The whole building?

Do you have sufficient charges to blow the whole building?

We do.

Then fucking blow it.

Can I at least get clear first? Wait, never mind. I’m done asking. I’m going to get clear first. Then I’ll blow it.

Well she was getting a mite cheeky of late. He’d need to deal with the insubordination at some point, but there were pressing concerns of greater importance at present—like how
he
was going to get clear of this mess.

SENECA

C
AVARE
I
NTELLIGENCE
D
IVISION
H
EADQUARTERS

“Our teams are in position, Director. Ready to move on your order.”

Graham didn’t hesitate. The OTS terrorists’ sole demand, nullification of the H+ law, was not going to happen, and no one expected the terrorists to accept it, lay down their weapons and wait to be arrested. “Go.”

He watched the live cam feeds from the two team leads in a split screen as they breached the Parliament building. The intent was to disable those with the guns before they could kill their hostages in retaliation. Disabling them instantly was preferable, but the only way to do that was to disable everyone in the rooms where the terrorists held the hostages.

He assumed the senators would forgive him the order if it meant their lives were saved in the process.

Two agents accessed the service ducts feeding into the rooms the old-fashioned way—by crawling through them. Once they reached a proximity where the effect could be limited to the targeted areas, they injected a potent nervous system suppressor into the rooms via the ventilation system.

The terrorists—and the hostages—lost fine motor control in less than two seconds. Guns dropped from hands; everyone stumbled; most fell to the floor.

The next second the incursion teams blew the doors. Flashbangs preceded their entry. The cumulative detonations created chaos and an eruption of confusion. There were a few brief tussles, but the agents had the advantage from the first move.

It was all over in less than ten seconds. Two rooms, two teams, no casualties.

Graham exhaled in relief. What could have been a catastrophe instead became a clean win—

An emergency alert flashed across his vision from Tessa/Cleo.

Multiple explosive devices targeting Military Headquarters. Remote detonation, projectile delivery systems staged at building perimeter. Recommend immediate underground evacuation.

Eleni received the alert the same time Graham did, as the Prevo had co-opted the entire government security network to broadcast it.

Her gut reaction was skepticism. It seemed unlikely anyone from OTS would succeed in hiding explosive devices near the complex. But the stakes were far too high for caution or hesitation, so she instantly initiated covert evacuation procedures.

No alarms rang out as the staff began moving to the bunker beneath the massive building. From outside, where any OTS spotters must be, nothing would appear untoward. It should buy them some time to get people to safety.

The security MPs went on alert and prepared to sweep the surrounding blocks, but Eleni ordered them to hold until the staff had reached safety below ground, as such a move stood to spook anyone watching.

She left her office and strode quickly but calmly through the halls toward the security office, where she would be able to keep better tabs on developments. On her way she continued to monitor the evacuation progress and study the incoming cam feeds on a whisper—

Graham saw the cascading explosions from the window of his office on the top floor of Division. Military Headquarters was located over five kilometers away, but the flames roared upward to consume the skyline.

He sank into his chair in shock. Had the hostage-taking at Parliament been a feint the whole time, a diversion to distract police and other security personnel? If so, it had worked like a charm.

Bloody hell! The warning had come hardly a minute before the strike. No way had more than a few dozen people made it to safety.

The complex was heavily fortified, though, with sturdy, reinforced walls and a number of mitigation features in its design. Perhaps the destruction hadn’t been total. Perhaps rescue personnel would find many survivors.

His gaze drifted back to the window, where the horizon already darkened from billowing plumes of smoke and debris.

Sure, and perhaps Medusa had just been a lonely, misunderstood spinster in need of a spa day.

INTERMEZZO
III

AMARANTHE

E
RIDIUM
II
S
YSTEM 4
A
-
CC
57

T
HE PATH DATA IN THE RODENT’S SHIP
had been gibberish, but beneath it lay an interpreter, and beneath the interpreter lay standardized, properly formatted Communis Coordinates.

Conclusion #4:
  The species which assisted the native population is an Accepted Species.

This conclusion would have severe consequences for the Accepted Species, but all in due time.

Aver ela-Praesidis arrived at the first set of coordinates and found nothing but empty space. However, attached to the coordinates was a quite specific signal wave frequency. He created the wave.

A ring opened directly in front of him. Judging by the plasma wall it enclosed, the gateway the ring created was inter-dimensional in nature—a wormhole across a distance at a minimum, but also possibly a dimensional bridge.

His search of the Annals of Artificial Spatial Objects for similar configurations retrieved a match to Katasketousya technology. Specifically, their Provision Network gateways.

A secondary signal followed the triggering signal wave. He activated it as well, but detected no physical change in the object or the surroundings. A passcode, then. He accelerated through the gateway.

New space, unconnected to the sector where he’d been an instant before, awaited him on the other side.

It remained a three dimensional physical space, however, and was unpopulated save for an ordered series of low frequency wave patterns. He quickly determined the frequency of one of the waves matched details in the next set of data he’d extracted from the rodent’s ship.

He followed it to its termination point and sent the accompanying signal.

A smaller ring appeared, this one clearly enclosing a dimensional bridge.

Interesting.

He considered returning now to report the Katasketousya to the Praesidis Primor as the offending Accepted Species. But as an ela rank he had a degree of freedom of action and license to pursue new avenues of inquiry an investigation generated.

Instead he recorded an update in his local file for later transmission and traversed this new portal.

Assignment Designation:
  I-4617-D883-J955

Interim Mission Update:
  The resident species was sent to a wormhole gateway/dimensional bridge located in the outer heliosphere region of System 4A-CC57. The gateway leads to the Katasketousya Provision Network.

I am investigating the Provision Network more closely (i) in search of the current location of the remaining population of the species native to 4A-CC57 and (ii) to uncover evidence of the extent of the Katasketousya malfeasance.

— Aver ela-Praesidis

Inquisitor 9166Æ, 47
^th
Astyn Lineage, 9
^th
Epoch Proper

PART
IV
:

GRAVITATIONAL
COLLAPSE

“The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

21

SENECA

C
AVARE
I
NTELLIGENCE
D
IVISION
H
EADQUARTERS

R
ICHARD WENT STRAIGHT TO
D
IVISION
from the spaceport. He skipped his office and Graham’s office to find Will down in Strategic Development in Tessa’s lab.

On seeing Will, he had to fight off the urge to grab him and kiss him rather vigorously. But they had an audience, so he settled for a hug and a murmured endearment.

While he’d been gone his husband had thrust himself right into the middle of a host of terrorist attacks and assassination attempts and God knew what else.
Administration my ass.

Satisfied Will was generally unharmed, if a bit exhausted-looking, he pulled back from the embrace. “I’m glad you’re safely inside Division. I assume the building and perimeter have been swept for explosives?”

“They have.”

Richard’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You weren’t safely inside until about ten minutes ago, were you?”

Will’s grimace told him what he needed to know. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“You are. What’s the latest from Military Headquarters?”