The Empress Capsule (Audacity Saga Book 1), page 11
The Ursa envoy smoothed his paws through the fur on his arms, a gesture of relief. He didn’t care if she called them humans as long as nobody rifled through their genes any more than they already had. “Thank you, Commander,” he said, his scruffy, growly voice heartfelt.
The human envoy pulled out a tablet and tapped a few things. “I’ve relayed any information you might need about this port to your bridge. Please contact me if you need any further information.”
“Thanks. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll get started?”
Nodding, the envoys drifted away. Ellen waved Levereaux forward and jumped off the side of the bottom of the ramp, keeping her eyes down and away from the chaos that broke out in the wake of the envoys’ departure. Ursas surged toward the quarantine force field, ready to fill the space she’d vacated. Nova, Jenny, and Sidassian wisely followed as Ellen, on the pretense of a supply run, cut around the side of the ship and toward the ramp that led into the small town.
“Sidassian—you got that multi under control? Know your bullets from your lasers from your stun at least?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he shot back. “I was advised to leave some of these fancier modes for later.”
“I showed him which buttons to push,” Jenny added. “And which not to.”
Zhia chuckled from back at the ship, still on the line. “I’ll bet you did.”
“Shut up, Zhia. I’ve got his bubble gum, red death, and grill turned off for now.”
“What is red death?”
“Later, Sidassian. Just keep it to stun as much as possible. Merith, any signs of surveillance on the site?” Ellen said into her helmet comm as she darkened the visor to its usual, more private shade.
“Not finding any, Commander,” Merith answered. “I think there used to be some, but they appear very thoroughly disabled. Only craters left behind.”
“Good.” For a moment, Ellen dropped Sidassian from the channel. Hopefully the pause would be so brief he wouldn’t notice, but she didn’t care if he did. He’d probably have questions when he saw the mission go down anyway, but she’d push it as long as she could. “Jenny, did you and Bri have any trouble getting that detonator rigged up?”
“Bri helped us. It’s all good. We tested it.”
“You tested it onboard? How—”
“A lot of cigars were smoked in the making of this ‘package.’ ” Jenny’s grin came through in her voice.
“Right…” She pulled Sidassian back in. “All right, keep your heads up for any cease-fires falling apart around us, and this should be quick.”
The intel they’d received from Foundation higher-ups had indicated little security around this lab. Of course, that’s what they’d said about the lab where they’d found the Theroki. But presumably, the war zone had prevented the Enhancers from setting up their usual precautions; they’d probably figured they didn’t need them as urgently when surrounded by Unionies and Puritans determined to kill each other. But the Enhancers must have a plan for installing them at some point; her team could already be too late.
“You guys give it a slam, bam, thank you, ma’am, and get back to us,” said Zhia.
Sidassian snorted.
“The Theroki is never going to tell tales of your poetry if you talk like that around him,” said Nova.
“I gotta make friends first. Besides, do Theroki talk about poetry?”
“No.” Sidassian was aiming for deadpan, but Ellen could read the laughter in his voice. “Wait, does it involve a lot of blood, carnage, vanquishing of enemies, that sort of thing?”
“No. Most of the time.”
“Then definitely no.”
“I didn’t think quickies were your style, Zhia,” said Jenny. “Or carnage.”
“I keep my poetry poetic. But when it comes to quickies, well, that depends, little monkey.”
“On what?” said Jenny.
“Little monkey?” said Sidassian.
“She’s a good climber,” Nova put in. “You’ll see.”
“A good climber?” Jenny said. “Are you serious? Don’t undersell me to the new guy. I won the world championships in the three-hundred-meter speed climb on Capital and on Dexis Prime five times. I’m a legend, damn it.”
“And she’s not too shabby in the ego department either.” Zhia’s soft laugh filled the channel.
“Kiss off, Zhia.” Jenny made a rude gesture even though Zhia couldn’t see her. A passerby on the quiet road eyed them warily, and Jenny made a hasty gesture of apology.
“Lieutenant, you are paying attention to the dock area, correct?” Ellen cut in.
“Dane’s got it handled, Commander. I’m inside painting. Just kidding. I’m watching these Ursas like a fly on shit.”
“Again, I don’t see how you expect poetic accolades when you talk like a sailor.” Nova’s voice held a smile too.
“We do spend all our time in the deep. Are we not sailors? But to answer your original question, little monkey, quickie preference is determined by an advanced algorithm I’ve developed—”
“Simmons help you with that?” Nova snickered.
“No, I’m not sure that boy’s old enough to write algorithms for things like that.”
Ellen blushed inside her helmet, as Simmons was six or seven years older than her. But he had a sweet face, a quirky nature, and no commander’s voice to frighten people away from making jokes like that.
Then again, maybe they just waited until she wasn’t on the comm.
“Tell me about this advanced algorithm,” drawled Jenny. “Maybe I should adopt it.”
“It figures in partner hotness, partner proximity, available time window, and also available nearby equipment.” Zhia was smirking, she could tell.
Ellen shook her head. “Equipment? You better not be having sex in my gym again, Lieutenant.”
“Again?” Sidassian sounded endlessly amused by all this.
“Hey, you wanted banter,” Ellen muttered. The road they were following had thinned of vehicles and creatures on foot mostly, but a few stragglers remained. They’d cut into the woods as soon as it got a little quieter.
Zhia cleared her throat. “I always follow orders, ma’am. Got my own gym equipment in my cabin now.”
“Good,” was all Ellen could say to that. She was fairly certain the “gym” only consisted of a pull-up bar, but she wouldn’t steal from Sidassian the opportunity to imagine something more elaborate. There, she’d done her part to help him live a little. She could cross that off the list and promptly forget any notice of the masculine angles of vicious, rusted armor.
“How often does that algorithm calculate out to zero?” Nova asked.
“Most of the time. When’s our leave comin’, Commander?”
“When you zip it and check the damn calendar yourself, Lieutenant.” Some banter was fine; they were all excited and also nervous about potential action. But at this point she was ready to get serious about the hunt.
“Point taken, ma’am. Good luck, kids.”
Ellen cut out everyone but the four of them from the channel; Zhia could ping her if they had a problem. Finally, the main road cleared of people for a moment as they rounded a bend. The rest of the team sobered with her as she gave a hand signal and they turned off and into the woods. The maps overlaid the objective and the optimal route, convenient since there was no real path here, but the birch forest wasn’t thick enough to make that much of an issue.
They reached the Enhancer lab quickly. It wasn’t off the beaten path; they’d just hoped to come up behind it to lessen observation and resistance.
“Sidassian, stay here and cover us and our exit,” she ordered quietly. “Nova, start the scan. Can we confirm intel?”
He frowned at her but complied, hunkering down at the edge of the forest. In actuality, even if this lab had less security than most, it might still have cameras. He hadn’t explicitly signed up for this part, and he didn’t deserve to go on camera and be recognized as associated with them for one quick and simple mission. If the shit hit the fan, then things might change. They also didn’t have cloaks to hide his noisy-as-hell suit. Nova had the only operable cloaker left, and it was on the fritz too.
“Negative on Arakovic, Commander. Let’s see about the rest here… MIA search running.”
Ellen winced, both at what Sidassian had heard and at another dead end. Her personal mission was not a secret, though, so what did it matter?
“Here we go.” Nova held up the tablet, and they all crowded around the thermal scan. Ellen tried not make a disgusted face and failed. “No MIAs on our list. Looks like at least eight Ursa captives…”
“Mostly Ursa, ugh. Those bastards,” Jenny said. It was true. Some of the short, bear-like forms had been changed, mutated to host more human features… Longer legs, narrower ribs, smaller skulls. Extra limbs were visible—failures, she hoped—but some mutations didn’t show up on a thermal scan, such as alterations to their hair, noses, and claws. Enhancers were often just as concerned with the aesthetic as the functional.
Ellen glanced at Kael to gauge his reaction. His brow was furrowed, apparently with concern. Good. She was glad to see it wasn’t something he could easily shrug off. He looked like he was struggling to process just what it was he was seeing. Even if he had worked for the Enhancers, it didn’t necessarily mean he’d known what went on inside. Or agreed with it even if he’d known, she reminded herself.
“That small one looks like… something else. Don’t recognize the species,” Nova said. “That’s odd—thought I’d learned them all by now. It’s almost like… does that look like a spider to you? Or an octopus? We’ve got three scientists on the second level. Two security out front? But not seeing any out back. We should be good.”
Ellen nodded crisply. “All right. Camo on. You all know what to do. We ready?” Nods all around. Jenny’s suit switched into a mottled pattern meant to match the birch forest and snow around them. Ellen’s was doing the same thing. Nova would wait until the last moment to switch on the cloak since it’d been malfunctioning. No reason to push it.
“Well, isn’t that snazzy,” Kael muttered, clearly jealous.
Ellen hesitated. Their next little ritual would reveal more than she’d prefer to the Theroki. But it was a tradition, a mantra they’d repeated on many missions in the last five years. Bad luck to leave it out now. She took a deep breath, checked her suit stats one last time, and then at the last second cut the Theroki from their comm channel. She nodded to Nova.
Nova thumped a fist over her heart. “When governments fail to police science…”
“Science will police itself,” Ellen finished.
“Hoo-ah,” grunted Jenny.
Ellen looped Sidassian back in, hoping this pause was also brief enough that he wouldn’t notice.
“Fight bravely, sisters. And Theroki.” Nova grinned at them, then faded into nothing as she switched on the cloak.
“Get to it,” Ellen barked. She and Jenny darted for the main control panel dead ahead. She tried not to be amused at Nova’s little addition. Reaching the wall, Jenny swung a grappling hook, but it failed to find purchase at the top. She glanced at Ellen and shrugged, turning on the climbing pads in her suit. That expensive edition was more than worth it for her. Ellen knitted her hands together and gave Jenny a boost up. Their climber clung on to the smooth ventilation stack and started pawing her way up.
Ellen pulled the control panel open, ripped the main explosive off her leg pack, and stuck it inside. It adhered automatically to the control panel’s door. She switched on the sensors and then hooked the seeking cable to the nearest electronics. It’d find its way into the network.
Shutting the panel door, she pulled out the tiny camera and crouched to throw it in the grass below the panel. She switched it on, then glanced up. Jenny was nearing the top of the stack and signaled she didn’t need help. Ellen sprinted back toward Sidassian, hoping there actually weren’t any security cams other than her own. She’d prefer to blow this ice cream stand when they were back in orbit, but she’d do it sooner if they had to.
“Adan,” Ellen barked into the helmet comm. “You got a visual?”
“Got it. Will monitor, Commander,” Adan said.
“We’ve got a nice visual of Jenny’s ass too,” came Fern’s voice accompanied by laughter.
“Cut it out—no distractions till we’re back on the ship,” Ellen said calmly.
A tough hand clamped over her bicep, and she snapped her head to meet Sidassian’s gaze.
“I didn’t peg you as the assassin type,” he said quietly. Her helmet overlay confirmed he’d opened a private comm channel to her, which left his voice feeling overly intimate. “Or the murder-of-civilians type either.”
“That’s good, because I’m not.” She jerked her arm out of his grasp, thankful once again her armor was superior to his.
“I know,” he said softly. “So just tell me. What are your people doing?”
She shoved aside the faint pleasure that stirred at those words and shook her head. “I’ve been trying to spare you incriminating details. No one’s going to die.” Also, she hadn’t wanted him to realize her mission and his might conflict—and become her instant enemy. Why did she care? They could just leave him here if that was the case, but she had no desire to do that or cause it to happen.
“Don’t spare me. I’m not going to let you just kill them all. You said this was a humanitarian ship.”
“It is. And I just said no one’s going to die.” She glared. “How do you know it won’t conflict with your mission?”
“Trust me, it won’t. I only need to get to Desori X. The only things that conflict with that are people stopping me from going or taking what I need to deliver. This is clearly neither.”
And if he realized they ought to stop him from going, before she did?
That was the real kicker.
She glanced back at Jenny. She was making her way down now. A little more time. “Tell me what’s really in your package, and I’ll tell you our real mission.”
“What, plant bits aren’t doing it for you anymore? C’mon. You know I can’t do that. I just want to know I’m not enabling terrorism here, if you don’t mind.”
“Terrorism!” That actually wasn’t an entirely unfair characterization, but she still let her offense be heard. “You’re one to criticize, Theroki.”
“You do appear to be blowing up a civilian lab with people inside.” He didn’t rise to the bait she’d thrown.
“We’re not.” She sighed. “Fine. I guess there’s no harm in explaining we’re not terrorists. You saw the three components in the briefing. Mine will hack the security system and then blow up the security control panel, permanently disabling it.” Her hacking pack would also nuke their research and any systems it could reach, but she left that tidbit out lest it sound too familiar. “Their jails won’t be worth shit to imprison people much longer, at least not without some major replacement parts. Jen is placing a virus in the ventilation system that should undo some of the genetic experiments these people have been subjected to. Experiments performed without their consent, I’ll point out. The virus will return them as best we can to standard Ursa features. It probably won’t work for that other creature in there, but we didn’t know it was there when we designed the virus.”
“You designed it? Damn it, I knew this was a rogue outfit.”
“Levereaux designed it.” She didn’t confirm or deny his other accusation. In some ways, he was right, they were a rogue outfit. An extremely well-funded and vast one.
Many rogue scientists had small holdings throughout the systems, some running cities, some owning hospitals or large laboratories that rivaled cities in size. Some worked in small, well-fortified homes with large security forces, but many exerted pressure through viruses both digital and biological. The Foundation was not so different from them except it generally had a hell of a lot more resources and quite a bit more conscience.
Instead of one rogue scientist, there were twelve. Extremely wealthy ones too, of families that had been in science for generations, all the way back past the Movers to Old Earth, where they’d made their fortunes. Wealthy enough to buy her ship, rehabilitate her after the loss of her chip, and send her off souped-up and ready to start trouble. And the Audacity was only one cell. No one talked about how many cells there were, but she estimated ten or twenty. Cells didn’t know about other cells unless they ran into each other or had to work together, and that had only happened once for her so far.
But she wouldn’t mention the Foundation to him. Not yet, likely not ever. It was insane to even consider recruiting him, but… she would still think about it.
“What about the other?” Sidassian’s gruff voice brought her back to the present moment.
“Gas to keep them all knocked out long enough for the virus to take. And hopefully the Ursas will get a head start on escape, but we can’t be sure exactly how it will dissipate.”
“Those two guards outside the compound could keep them all prisoner even without locks on the cells.” He gestured with his multirifle in their direction.
“Yes, we know. We’re hoping they’ll come inside to check on the scientists when they don’t respond or at the end of their shift and get hit by the gas.” Typically her team went in, but Simmons wanted them experimenting with techniques that put themselves less in harm’s way. Probably wise. And this low-security compound with its low number of prisoners was a prime candidate for trying something different.
“You should take those guards out to be sure.”
“Glad to see you’re onboard with the mission, Theroki.”
His cool gaze did not change. “I can do it, if you won’t. You ladies gun-shy?”
She glared at him. He might be able to resist being baited, but she apparently couldn’t. “Are you serious? I should send you marching straight in there for that damn comment.”
He held up his palms in either defense or apology.
“We’re just following our orders. In this case, our nonlethal orders.”
“Well, you have one of the crew watching, don’t you? Mo. She’s a sniper, right?”
