Veiled Designs Read online

  It’s not just my hide on the line anymore. Glad we both got out of there.

  Ruby was silent for a moment. >>Leaving that external processor is a problem.<<<br />
  The data—

  >>It’s not about what we missed out on. It’s what the Dyons get. There’s a sophisticated firewall around the drive that would take even the most sophisticated intelligence at least six hours to crack. Hooking up for an hour or two for a data transfer is fine, but leaving it there indefinitely opens the possibility for the Dyons to learn about our most advanced algorithms.<<<br />
  Ava’s heart dropped. Ruby! Why didn’t you have me go back for it?

  >>Because I extrapolated the potential scenarios and determined that once we were under attack, we would not be able to retrieve the device and make it off the planet. We could have gone back for it, but we would have been stranded. Either way, the drive would remain on the world. The option we pursued at least got the people out.<<<br />
  We need to go back!

  >>That task would have no chance of success with your current loadout. Regroup on the Raven with Widmore and assess the options.<<<br />
  Ava slumped in her seat. This may be the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.

  They rode the rest of the way to the Raven in silence.

  After the pod docked, the vessel and the team underwent a thorough decontamination and nanoscopic scan to make sure all the particles had been removed. Several hundred were found in crevasses within the pod and powered armor, and the samples were promptly incinerated.

  Once cleared, Ava and her team went up to the residential level to meet with Widmore.

  He was waiting for them in the kitchen. “What happened down there?” Despite his sharp tone, his expression was one of fatherly concern.

  “I feel like we simultaneously know more and less about what we’re up against, sir,” Ava began. She filled him in on the events leading up to their hasty retreat.

  “What a shitshow,” Widmore muttered when she was finished.

  “Yes, sir, it really is.” Ava glanced at her team. “We’d like to make this right. I need to.”

  Widmore crossed his arms. “Well, you weren’t able to make contact with them in a meaningful way. That was our main hope—to resolve this conflict in a civil fashion.”

  “I didn’t get the impression they’re interested in talking. Reya and Nox sure talked a big game, but the chorus was different.” Ava paused. “Huh, I just thought of something. Reya and Nox were paired in a person for an extended time. I wonder if being around humans changed them?”

  The major tilted his head. “How so?”

  “Well, Nox and Reya spoke in human terms about their motivations when I interrogated them. And I was able to get inside their minds—maybe that’s because they had a frame of reference from their time in a human body. They had integrated human experience into their being, just like the race integrates technology,” Ava explained. “But what if I couldn’t force a connection with the other beings because they’ve never been in a form like ours? They didn’t have that frame of reference.”

  “Hmm.” Widmore stroked his chin. “How might we go about establishing that common vocabulary?”

  “Slow, dedicated outreach.”

  “We don’t have that luxury.”

  “I know, sir.”

  Widmore rose from the table. “I’ll talk to Kurtz. Stand by.”

  * * *

  Waiting for news from field teams had always been one of Kurtz’s least favorite experiences as a commander. Situations such as this, when so much was on the line, made the waiting that much worse.

  He’d tried to keep himself distracted with the various administrative tasks his position demanded, but as the day stretched on, he found his task list looking a little thin.

  To his relief, a call from Major Widmore illuminated on his desktop.

  Finally!

  “Major, good to hear from you. What news do you have about Gidyon?”

  “I wish the report was better. We found a gas giant in the system, and a dwarf planet, which by all measures is an artificial creation,” Widmore explained. “Ava and her team went down to the surface, but they were unable to make contact with the aliens. They were attacked on their way out, and… we may have a situation.”

  Kurtz braced. “Which is?”

  “They were forced to leave behind an external processor.”

  Fuck!

  Kurtz fought to retain composure. “What do you mean they left it there? This race is known to appropriate technology. How could they be so careless?”

  “They were under attack. There was no way to go back.”

  Kurtz wiped his hands down his face. “We have no choice but to destroy the entire structure now.”

  “That’s a drastic move, sir. Ava would like another chance to interface with them.”

  “If that route had any chance of success, it would have come about on this first visit. No. They could adapt to our weapons at any time. We need to act while we can.”

  “Yes, sir.” Widmore gave a grim nod.

  “Get back here to headquarters. We’ll figure out our next steps.” Kurtz severed the connection.

  As if these aliens weren’t going to be difficult enough to beat. He would have liked the opportunity to learn more about the technology they used, but knowing that the adaptive algorithms on the external processor were there for the aliens to adopt, there wasn’t time to figure out a long-term strategic play. They needed to hit the enemy hard and fast. If only we had some inside information of our own…

  * * *

  Karen was still agitated after her field trip to the valley. What are they hiding down there?

  She hated having information dangled in front of her face and not knowing how to interpret it. The records they’d obtained from the facility were a disorganized mess. Only one bit of information stood out to her.

  She flipped through the items again on her temporary workstation in the Nezaran government office overlooking the city. The mining records had to be significant, if they had been stored at the remote site.

  What’s significant about this information?

  Karen looked at the production logs again. Not working in the mining industry, the volume number was meaningless to her on its own. She brought up a calculator app on her desktop and divided the numbers by days in the year to get a feel for daily output.

  She frowned. It seemed like a lot, but it was entirely possible she was making something out of nothing. To be sure, she dug around in the computer system for the Nezaran annual report from the previous year to look at the GDP metrics.

  Her breath caught in her chest. “This can’t be right.”

  She re-checked her math. Did I get the timeframe wrong?

  When she verified her source data from the valley site, the numbers she’d used for her calculations checked out.

  “Trisha, Fiona, come in here, would you?” she called over the comm.

  A minute later, the two women arrived from their own offices.

  “Yes?” Trisha asked.

  “Take a look at this. Am I missing something?” Karen flipped the information displayed on her desk so they could get a better look.

  Fiona frowned. “That can’t be right.”

  Trisha shook her head. “How could mining production be five times more than all the materials used on the entire planet?”

  “I was wondering the same thing.” Karen slumped back in her chair.

  She could understand production being one, or maybe even two, times Nezar’s own consumption, due to trade within the system, but five times… She couldn’t even wrap her head around where the labor resources would come from to extract the material.

  “I can’t find records for what happened to any of the ore,” Karen continued. “It’s noted in these logs as being mined, and then it just disappears.”

  “Material on that scale doesn’t just go away.” Fiona crossed her arms. “Someone is hiding it.”

  Karen pointed
to the absurd quantity of ore. “Where could anyone possible hide that?”

  “In that underground facility, maybe?” Trisha ventured.

  “Why pull it out of the ground only to stick it back in the ground elsewhere?” Karen shook her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense, either.”

  “Do you think it was transported offworld?” Fiona asked.

  Trisha scowled. “If that’s the case, then to where?”

  “There is one other place I’ve heard mentioned in relation to these aliens,” Karen replied. “Gidyon. As challenging as it would be to get the materials over there, it makes more sense than hiding a bunch of ore somewhere on Nezar.”

  “Gidyon?” Fiona said with a raised eyebrow. “There’s nothing in that system.”

  “Actually, I had always heard it was too dangerous to venture into because of radiation,” Trisha countered.

  “On Coraxa, they told us it was a bad place, but gave no real explanation,” Karen said. “Needless to say, that’s a lot of talk with nothing to substantiate it. Given we were also not told that the Nezaran chancellor was actually an alien puppet, I think it’s safe to say that not everything we’ve been told over the years is accurate.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” Fiona conceded.

  Trisha nodded. “Now that there’s a new source of information, we need to reset our understanding.”

  “I agree,” Karen said, “which is why I wanted to run this by you. This evidence points to a scale that’s beyond our capability to address on our own.”

  “Did you find anything else in the data from the facility aside from the mining records?” Fiona asked.

  “Perhaps, but I have to admit I’m not sure what I’m looking at. There’s a ton of information here, but it looks like it’s encrypted somehow—or completely disorganized. I don’t know.”

  Fiona looked over her shoulder. “Something about this is familiar…”

  “If the goings on in that place are as messed up as they seem, we need to get the information to someone who can interpret it.”

  Across the table, Fiona’s face paled. “I know where I’ve seen this code before! It’s what Heizberg used when she wrote messages to the people we now know were subverted.”

  Karen looked up from the desktop. “We need to get this to the FDG.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I’ve never had a mission go so fucking wrong, Ava chastised herself, as the Raven made its final approach to FDG headquarters.

  She’d tried to keep the thought private, but she felt Ruby pick up on her feelings.

  >>You were given an impossible task, and your team made it out unharmed. That’s the best outcome we could have hoped for.<<<br />
  I never should have allowed them to leave that drive unattended. I know better.

  >>It seemed like the right call at the time.<<<br />
  Ava only shook her head in response.

  Widmore had been surprisingly understanding about the situation, but Ava doubted Kurtz would be so forgiving. She was already walking a fine line with field ops, following her unexpected upgrade to a Hochste, and such a gross error that compromised the FDG’s security might tip her over to a desk job.

  Except I’d die in an office post.

  Though she was sure Luke would be thrilled, it was hardly a deciding factor when she envisioned her future career path.

  >>They’re not going to bench you,<< Ruby soothed.

  You have no way of knowing that.

  >>I know enough. You weren’t the only one who left that drive there. Nick and Samantha signed off the action, as did I. You don’t share the full brunt of that decision.<<<br />
  But I was in command. I had the final say.

  >>My report will say you acted in the best interest in the moment. There was no wrongdoing.<<<br />
  Ava didn’t share the AI’s confidence. While Ruby’s endorsement would carry weight when it came to the FDG command’s review, it didn’t make Ava feel better about herself.

  Did the Dyons get to me? Or have I just been too distracted by my own issues to focus on the mission the way I should? She didn’t have an answer, but thorough med and psych evaluations were in order either way.

  The Raven docked in its typical berth, and Ava went to grab her travel items from the cabin she shared with her team.

  “When are we going back there to finish the job?” Samantha asked as she grabbed her bag from her bunk.

  “I don’t know,” Ava replied. “There are a few ways this could go.”

  “That whole place needs to be destroyed,” Edwin stated.

  Ava turned to face him. “We’re talking about another race here. It’s not an easy decision to just wipe them out.”

  “Who’s to say that’s all of them?” Nick countered. “This group has shown themselves to be a threat to us, and they’ve been unresponsive to our attempts to open a dialogue. We can’t just ignore them.”

  “They’re in an unoccupied system. If they don’t venture beyond that, maybe it won’t matter,” Ava said.

  Samantha shook her head. “No way.”

  “They need to go,” Edwin reiterated. “Think about what that tech tried to do to us.”

  Ava heard the hollowness of her own statements. She played the role of cautious advisor because her guilt told her that perspective needed to be voiced, but her true feelings paralleled her team’s. The aliens had tried to capture her, and she didn’t much like being treated like a possession. When she’d tried to have a conversation, they didn’t engage.

  She had nothing left to say.

  “We’ll obey whatever direction Kurtz gives,” Ava stated. She slung her travel bag over her shoulder. “I’ll talk to you after my debrief with Widmore and the colonel.”

  Her team wished her well while they exited via the gangway, and Ava headed straight for FDG Medical.

  “How are you feeling, Ava?” Doctor Dwyer greeted her after a nurse directed her to him.

  “Good,” Ava replied, hopping on the exam bed. “Ruby was able to counter some negative effects during the op, so it seems to be working out.”

  The doctor smiled while he initiated a full body scan. “Glad to hear it. I’ll take a copy of your records from her and look for anything concerning.” He tilted his head. “Is there anything you’d like me to be on the lookout for, in particular?”

  “I have no idea what those logs even look like.”

  “I mean, do you have any concerns about your state? Any incidents of note?”

  “Oh.” Ava looked down. “I guess, shortly after we arrived on the planet, we went into a formation of rocks that we later determined are made of the same substance as my TR. I got a bad headache, and Ruby was able to block it out. The only other thing that’s maybe worth mentioning is that I…” she faded out as she sought the right words. “I guess, I didn’t feel worried at times like I maybe should have.”

  “Can you quantify that at all?” Dwyer asked.

  “Not really. And it’s not something I noticed at the time. I only bring it up because Sam asked me at one point why I wasn’t running for the door. Aside from when I almost shifted while we were in battle, I was perfectly calm. I feel like I should have at least been… unnerved when we were walking around.”

  “All right, I’ll look at your medical logs and send a copy of the interface data to Jack for analysis. We can run your medical stats alongside the mission recorder from your suit to make sure your physiological reactions are in line with what they should be.”

  “I’d like to know if something’s wrong.”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it,” the doctor assured her. “It could be a product of the new AI interface, or something related to the nanocytes. Or maybe it’s nothing at all.”

  Ava nodded. “I trust my team, and they need to trust me. If something is off, we need to address it.”

  “Absolutely.” He examined the results of her body scan. “In the meantime, everything looks normal. Well, your new normal.”

  Ava breathed a si
gh of relief. “At least there’s that.”

  Doctor Dwyer motioned her down from the exam bed. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve gone through the logs.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “Try to get some rest,” he bade her as she prepared to go.

  Ava smiled. “That part is still the same as it’s always been.”

  As soon as she had exited Medical, Ava messaged Luke over the comm system on the station. “Hey, I’m back.”

  “Already? That was quick.”

  “Don’t sound so excited,” she jested.

  Luke sighed. “Of course I’m glad you’re back. I’m at my lab—should be finished with this task in another half hour or so. Should I message you then, or do you want to come here?”

  “How about—” Ava cut off when she saw an incoming message from Colonel Kurtz. “Wait, I think I’m being summoned. I’ll get back to you,” she told Luke.

  “See you soon.”

  Ava switched over to the other call. “Sir, what can I do for you?”

  “Major Widmore has filled me in on what happened in Gidyon, but I’d like to hear it directly from you.”

  Ava’s chest tightened. “Yes, sir.”

  “We’re waiting for you in the conference room by my office.”

  “I’ll be there right away.”

  Ava was thankful Ruby left her to her own thoughts for the walk. She already had her talking points in mind for each of the likely scenarios. Her worst fear was being put on desk duty until her condition was fully understood—if that could ever happen—but it was more likely that only her fitness for command would be questioned, and she would remain in the field as a specialized tool for the FDG to direct as it saw fit. While not ideal, that option was still preferable of the two.

  With that outcome in mind, Ava strode into the conference room with as much confidence as she could muster. Colonel Kurtz and Major Widmore were seated behind the long edge of the table opposite the door.

  “Sirs,” she greeted.

  “Have a seat, Lieutenant.” Kurtz gestured to the chair nearest the entry.