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  "Aye, ma’am."

  "Charlie, with me. Kyne, you have the Conn." She and Charlie walked off the Bridge, leaving Kyne behind to work his magic.

  "Aymar... Aymar... Something about that name is familiar."

  "Royce Aymar is husband to the Queen of Ventos Prime. Your best friend, Gloria, is his sister. You met him on the Cube several years ago when a terrorist group tried to assassinate Princess Losira."

  She cuffed him. "No, something else. Something Billy was talking about."

  They found Billy setting up in the Briefing Room when they arrived. Cmdr. William "Billy" Thurgood, Ange's half-brother and head of Network Services aboard the Protector was powering up the screen when they arrived. "Kyne gave me a quick rundown of what's happening."

  "What can you tell us about these grange?"

  "According to this Xura entity, they're transdimensional beings who wage war against other verses in the multi-verse. Data from the Maranta Five Disaster suggests they can only exist inside synth or robot forms while on this side, which means they can 'infect' computer systems."

  "And this Wraith?"

  "As far as the investigators could tell, it was a virus implanted during the first invasion attempt. Fortunately for us, it went berserk, killing everything and anything sapient on the planet including the first wave of grange to cross over."

  "And the destruction of the Tung'We and the Asgard?"

  "The Wraith was following its corrupted orders by killing anything which could pose a threat. The investigative team did find two anomalies. First: Pauly. It was originally thought that Pauly was proto-AI. It wasn't."

  "What was it, then?" Charlie asked, intrigued.

  "Unknown, but whatever it was, it disappeared right after Mr. Aymar lit off the self-destruct."

  "What about the second anomaly?" Ange asked.

  "There was a grange in the system before the others began crossing over. It was responsible for shooting Mr. Aymar. It too disappeared after the self-destruct was activated."

  Ange had a thought. "Was there any evidence of interstellar capability on Maranta Five?"

  "No, none." Billy replied as he scanned through the reports.

  "Then why destroy the only two ways off that rock? According to this Xura, only the intellects of the grange can pass through the portal, and only in limited numbers at one time." she said. "When we're finished with this meeting, I want you and Charlie to go through this data with a fine tooth comb. It may be nothing, or we might be missing something really important and you two are going to find out which. Pull any resource you need. You have my permission to hack any database you deem necessary."

  "Yes, ma’am."

  "Now, about this Harmon Aymar. Billy, you were telling me something concerning him the other day..."

  Billy explained about the hijacking and the destruction of the Spindrift, including the plan to use the Decimator against the Cube.

  "Damn. Did OffSec ever find out who was behind the plot?"

  "No, not to my knowledge. I did some checking and found that there is still a huge bounty on Atmar."

  "How huge?" Charlie asked.

  "Five hundred million credits," Billy replied.

  "But Atmar is dead," Ange noted.

  "Yes, but the bounty still stands."

  "Who issued it?"

  "All we know is that it originated on Tralaska over a decade ago."

  "And Harmon was the only survivor of the Spindrift disaster. What did he have to say when they pulled him out of the pod?"

  "Only that everyone on board the Spindrift died in the explosion."

  "Can we get transcripts of his interview?"

  "No. They're locked under a Double-Top Secret designation. It may be a court martial offense to even talk about them."

  "Anything else?"

  "Yes. For the last ten years, Harmon has worked as an operative for OffSec. His handler is none other than Ciara Devlin herself."

  "Ciara works field agents?" Charlie asked.

  "Only Harmon. No one else before or since."

  "Hopefully, I'll get to meet this Harmon Aymar. He sounds interesting," Ange said as she and Charlie headed back up to the Bridge.

  Chapter Ten

  On the Bridge of the Deltafish, Gloria and Aerith made final preparations for Gloria's sojourn into the grange stronghold. Meanwhile, in the aft shuttle bay, Harmon was finishing preflight while the others settled into their seats. After checking-off the last item on the list, Harm closed the flight log and called Deltafish flight control.

  "Deltafish, this is Conquistador. Ready when you are."

  "Conquistador, courier drone is ready. You are go for stealth field activation."

  "Deltafish Control, this is Conquistador. Activating stealth and waiting for launch command, over."

  "Roger, Conquistador. Opening bay doors."

  Overhead the massive doors separated to reveal a blue sky filled with spotty white clouds.

  "Launching courier drone in three... Two... One... Launch."

  In front of the Conquistador, a small robotic drone lifted off the deck. Once it was clear of the doors, it headed northwest toward a waiting command ship outside the quarantine area. The drone, carrying reports, dispatches, and data logs, left at this same time daily when weather and conditions permitted. Anyone watching from the arcology would see nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Conquistador, launch!" flight control ordered.

  Harm pushed the throttles forward, and the Conquistador left the deck, passing unseen through the open doors. When the freighter was clear, Harm set course for a position above the landing area where they would wait for Gloria to perform her magic.

  "Flight Control, this is Conquistador. We have arrived on-station and are awaiting clearance to land."

  "Roger that, Conquistador. Standby."

  Harm set the autopilot before leaning back in his chair. "Now we wait," he announced to his passengers while closing his eyes in a futile attempt at clearing his mind.

  "Can we talk?"

  Harm looked over and saw Royce sitting next to him in the copilot's seat.

  "How the hell do you move so quietly, especially wearing all that?" Harm asked referring to the Marine battle armor he was wearing.

  "Practice and cat-like reflexes."

  Harm suppressed the urge to open a can of tuna. "What's up?"

  "I wanted to apologize for what I said in the briefing room. You know I didn't mean any of that."

  "Come on, Cuz, you meant every word, and I don't blame you. What's it's been? Not even three years since you and Gloria returned to each other's lives. Hell, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had shot me on the spot."

  Outside the glimmering force field disappeared as the radio squawked, "Conquistador, go, go, go!"

  It was show time!

  ###

  The Bridge was alive with activity as the invisible Conquistador flew to its hold point outside the glimmering force shield covering the arcology.

  "Science Officer," Cmdr. Nachase said, "anything on sensors?"

  "No, ma'am. No contacts within the quarantine zone."

  "Damn, Mr. Aymar has one set of jacked generators."

  When Harm called in that they were ready on his end, Nachase reported, "Captain, Conquistador is on station and standing-by."

  "Very good, Commander. Dr. Aymar, are you ready?"

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Then you may proceed."

  "Roscoe, this is Gloria, how do you read?"

  "Five by five, Ms. Gloria."

  Gloria stopped and looked at Aerith while having a thought. "Roscoe, can you set up a second simulation with the entities we have in the rabbit hole?"

  "Yes, ma’am, easily. The lead entity seems to be fond of having a large entourage."

  "Doctor?" the captain asked.

  "It's always better to have a backup, sir. Aerith, game for a little exploration?"

  "Yes, ma’am!" Aerith said as she donned her headset and activated it.


  "Proceed, Doctor," the captain said. He was a firm believer in backing up everything.

  "Roscoe, create a wrapper for both Aerith and me, then send us in."

  "Yes, Ms. Gloria. Working. Three... Two... One... Activate!"

  The room shifted as an image from inside the arcology was superimposed on what they could see inside the sub. It was dark, but they could make out numerous lower-tier laborer synths moving about.

  Using both the boat's and the Conquistador's scanners, along with the memories stored in her synth's body, Gloria was able to pinpoint the location of shield control. "This way," she said to Aerith as she headed down a side passage.

  "Damn, Cuz, that's one ugly synth you're wearing," Aerith said.

  "Yeah, I can see that," Gloria said as she looked at Aerith's feed with her Elven eyes. "They really abuse these things, don't they?"

  They heard footsteps coming down the hallway, so they stopped talking while they assumed the standard submission posture. No sooner had they gotten their heads down when a high-caste warrior turned a corner and strode past them, shouldering Aerith into a wall in the process.

  "Are you injured?" Gloria asked when the brute warrior was out of earshot.

  "I'm fine," Aerith replied as she threw a softball-sized metal object into the air.

  "What the hell is that?"

  "I think it's a grenade," Aerith said as they continued to walk. "Mr. Rude lost it when he ran into me."

  "Did your father teach you that trick?"

  "Actually, I taught him," Aerith said as Gloria stopped in front of a nondescript door.

  "We're here," the elder elf said as she tried the door. This time it opened without a fight.

  The two ducked inside and quietly closed the door behind them. "Over here," Aerith said as she walked over to a long console. "This looks similar to the defensive systems control console on the Deltafish. Captain, can you see this?"

  Back aboard the Deltafish, the captain motioned to the defensive systems officer, Lt. Contash, to join Aerith and Gloria at their positions near the view screen. "You're correct, Ms. Aymar. That's an old style sensor control console," Contash said as he examined the screen. "Got it. Center of the console, three buttons in a column. Those are the power feeds. Press the top one then wait for the light next to it to go out. Repeat for the middle one, then the bottom one."

  The Lieutenant was interrupted by pounding on the door. "Oops, we've got company," Gloria said as she pressed the top button. Shortly after, the top light went off.

  The pounding got louder as she pressed the middle button."

  "Cuz, we really need to hurry, Aerith said.

  "You think?" Gloria replied testily as the second light went out.

  As she pressed the third button, the door started to shake in its hinges. As the third light went out, the door burst open to reveal Mr. Rude and several heavily armed friends standing in the hallway.

  "Who the hell are you?" Rude said. "And where did you get that?"

  Gloria looked over at Aerith and saw her holding the grenade, only now it was covered with flashing lights.

  "Is this yours?" Aerith asked as she tossed it to the rude warrior while she and Gloria broke their connections to their synths.

  ###

  The Aymars pulled off their headsets just in time to see a ball of flame erupt from the side of the arcology as the force field dome evaporated.

  "Conquistador, go, go, go!" Nachase yelled into the radio.

  "I love it when a plan comes together,” Aerith said as the others looked at her in disbelief.

  ###

  "Hang on everyone," Harmon yelled as he killed the thrusters, sending the small ship into a free-fall toward the roof. Seconds before impact, Harm pushed the throttles forward, stopping their descent only feet away from the roof's surface. The building rocked beneath them as flames and smoke billowed past the edge of the roof just in front of them. A moment later, they were safely down on the roof.

  "Welcome to Hephaestus, ladies and gentlemen. Please check the overhead bins before exiting the spacecraft."

  "What the hell just happened?" Royce said as he peered out the forward windows at the smoke continuing to billow upward from the side of the arcology. "Marta?"

  Marta tapped her earpiece and listened. "Deltafish reports the shield is down after a side of the building blew out. Shit!"

  "What’s wrong?" Royce asked.

  "Your sister took my daughter on a little field trip. It seems Aerith used a stolen grenade against a rude synth warrior."

  "Are they OK?" Harm asked.

  "Yes."

  "Good. Now she has another skill to put on her resume. Not to defer an argument, but we need to get off this ship. I have no doubt a number of synths are coming up here to secure the roof."

  "He's right," Royce said as he closed his visor and activated his suit. "Team, button-up and move out."

  The rest of EMEF Team One powered up their suits and walked down the ramp while checking for any hostiles. They were followed by Xura, and finally, Harm who grabbed a pendant out of a drawer. Once everyone was waiting at the entrance to the building, Harm pressed a button on his watch which retracted the ramp and closed the hatch, leaving behind an invisible ship.

  "Xura, any idea what the entry code is?" Harm asked as he knelt down to examine the lock pad.

  "Nope. I got inside using other means."

  "Is that how you ended up in a giant pickle jar?" Harm asked as he pulled out his hacker ball and set to work cracking the lock.

  "Yeah, they were waiting for me. I keep underestimating how cunning Cmdr. Lorq is."

  Harm stopped and looked at the Inspector. "Do I hear a rivalry in those words?"

  "Funny," Xura replied.

  "Quiet!" Marta said. "I think I hear people coming up one of the other stairwells. Harmon Aymar, open the damn door!"

  "Aye, Captain," he replied as the door clicked and opened. The seven of them got inside just as the door opposite theirs burst open. Two-dozen heavily armed synths poured out of the opening and took positions around the roof's perimeter. "There goes the neighborhood," Harm said as he quietly closed the door behind him.

  "Jam it," Royce said. "They'll think the explosion knocked out the system."

  Harm obliged by placing the hacker ball against the lock and held it there while flames and smoked issued from the pad's edges. "As you wish, sir Elf."

  "Xura, lead the way," Marta ordered as she checked the area with her armor's built-in scanner.

  "By your command, mon capitaine. This way," she said as she left the balcony and headed down a nearby corridor.

  After a few twists and turns. They made their way down a stairway coming to a door at the bottom. Marta scanned the area beyond and nodded. Sgt. Zon opened the door and walked through, taking position off to one side. She was followed by Regus and Sana who took flanking position while the rest followed. They found themselves on a balcony of sorts, overlooking an expanse at the center of the arcology.

  Royce, Marta, Harm, and Xura peered over the railing. They could see figures—presumably synths—busily attending to a large device in the center of the floor. Turning their focus upwards, they saw a huge device suspended over the center of the shaft directly over the device below. "What the hell is that?" Royce asked.

  "I have no freakin clue," Xura said. "As the Creator is my witness, I have never seen the likes of it anywhere in my travels."

  Sana scanned it. "Sirs, whatever it is, it was built using local-grown tech and parts."

  “It’s a matter of energy balance. They can transport a lot of souls with a minimal outlay of energy or move a lot of matter using a shit-load of energy. Large amounts of energy require long recharge times,” Xura explained. “If you bring too much matter over in a short time, you risk a catastrophic failure of the local space-time continuum.”

  "Sir," Sgt. Zon said, "with all due respect, how do the hostiles intend to leave this arcology? Without transportation, they're trapped here inside
the structure."

  Royce's frown deepened as he looked around. "Sana, scan for FTL engine signatures."

  Sana panned her scanner around. "Nothing sir. I detect no signal that would suggest any type of spacecraft is present within scanner range except for the Conquistador."

  "Harm, any chance they can take Conquistador?" Royce asked.

  "I've taken precautions. No one flies my ship without my express permission."

  "Dammit, then we're missing something, and this place is too big for us to perform a thorough search." Royce tapped his earpiece and said, "Deltafish, this is Royce. Do you copy?"

  "Major, this is Deltafish. We copy, over," Cmdr. Nachase replied.

  "We need some probes over here. Does Gloria have anything in inventory which could swim over and enter through the breach? We need a high-speed search of the building. We're looking for any type of spacecraft."

  "Royce, this is Gloria. We've got two probes which will do the trick. I've modified the boat's communications system to take over for Roscoe, so we'll be able to still buffer the signals."

  "Who's going to drive them?"

  "Aerith and I."

  Royce looked over and saw Marta's visor shoot up. She mouthed an emphatic no. Harm, on the other hand, nodded approval. "She'll be fine," he said to his wife. She looked at him with the "We'll talk later" look before closing her visor.

  "Just be damn careful," Royce said as he closed the connection. "Listen up. The shield is down, and I think Gloria and Aerith made sure that it stays that way. We need to find out what the hell is going on here and see how big a threat the League is facing. Xura, any thoughts on where we can get the intel we need?"

  "Yeah, one, but you're not going to like it."

  "Try me. I'm really tolerant when I have to be."

  "There are two people who have the whole picture of this operation. One is Cmdr. Lorq, the supreme commander, and other is Agent Nash, a low-life spy who really needs to have his existence ended."

  "You're not telling us to..."

  "Yes, we find Nash, interrogate him, then send him on to the Great Beyond."

  "I'm sorry, but we're not going to kill someone because you dislike them."

  "It's not that hard. I can show you the blaster settings to use..."

  "Enough! We’ll find this Nash, snatch him, and interrogate him, but we will not execute him."