Dissonance: Aurora Renegades Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 5) Read online

  DISSONANCE

  AURORA RENEGADES: BOOK TWO

  G. S. JENNSEN

  2016

  DISSONANCE

  Copyright © 2016 by G. S. Jennsen

  Cover design by Josef Bartoň

  Cover typography by G. S. Jennsen

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  Hypernova Publishing

  P.O. Box 2214

  Parker, Colorado 80134

  www.hypernovapublishing.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  The Hypernova Publishing name, colophon and logo are trademarks of Hypernova Publishing.

  Ordering Information:

  Hypernova Publishing books may be purchased for educational, business or sales promotional use. For details, contact the “Special Markets Department” at the address above.

  Dissonance / G. S. Jennsen.—1st ed.

  LCCN 2016935669

  ISBN 978-0-9973921-0-4

  For the person who once told me that if I could be anything,

  I should be fearless

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many thanks to my beta readers, editors and artists, who made everything about this book better, and to my family, who continue to put up with an egregious level of obsessive focus on my part for months at a time.

  I also want to add a personal note of thanks to everyone who has read my books, left a review on Amazon, Goodreads or other sites, sent me a personal email expressing how the books have impacted you, or posted on social media to share how much you enjoyed them. You make this all worthwhile, every day.

  AURORA RHAPSODY

  is

  * * *

  AURORA RISING

  STARSHINE

  VERTIGO

  TRANSCENDENCE

  AURORA RENEGADES

  SIDESPACE

  DISSONANCE

  ABYSM (2016)

  AURORA RESONANT

  RELATIVITY (2017)

  RUBICON (2017)

  REQUIEM (2018)

  SHORT STORIES

  RESTLESS, VOL. I • RESTLESS, VOL. II

  APOGEE • SOLATIUM

  VENATORIS

  (available in the Dark Beyond the Stars 2 Anthology)

  Learn more at: gsjennsen.com/aurora-rhapsody.

  See a Timeline of the Aurora Rhapsody universe in Appendix A, located at the back of the book.

  Colonized Worlds Map can be viewed online at: Map - Dissonance

  Portal Network Map can be viewed online at: Mosaic Map - Dissonance

  Dramatis Personae can be viewed online at: Characters - Dissonance

  SYNOPSIS

  * * *

  AURORA RISING

  For a more detailed summary of the events of Aurora Rising, see Appendix B or view the Aurora Rising Detailed Synopsis online.

  THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY is the history of conflict. This proved no less true in the 24th century than in ancient times.

  By 2322, humanity inhabited over 100 worlds spread across a third of the galaxy. Two decades earlier, a group of colonies had rebelled and set off the First Crux War. Once the dust cleared, three factions emerged: the Earth Alliance, consisting of the unified Earth government and most of the colonies; the Senecan Federation, which had won its independence in the war; and a handful of scattered non-aligned worlds, home to criminal cartels, corporate interests and people who made their living outside the system.

  Alexis Solovy was a space explorer. Her father gave his life in the war against the Federation, leading her to reject a government or military career. Estranged from her mother, an Alliance military leader, Alex instead sought the freedom of space and made a fortune chasing the hidden wonders of the stars.

  A chance meeting between Alex and a Federation intelligence agent, Caleb Marano, led them to discover an armada of alien warships emerging from a mysterious portal in the Metis Nebula.

  The Metigens had been watching humanity via the portal for millennia; in an effort to forestall their detection, they used traitors among civilization’s elite to divert focus from Metis. When their plans failed, they invaded in order to protect their secrets.

  The wars that ensued were brutal—first an engineered war between the Alliance and the Federation, then once it was revealed to be built on false pretenses, devastating clashes against the Metigen invaders as they advanced across settled space, destroying every colony in their path and killing tens of millions.

  Alex and Caleb breached the aliens’ portal in an effort to find a way to stop the slaughter. There they encountered Mnemosyne, the Metigen watcher of the Aurora universe—our universe. Though enigmatic and evasive, the alien revealed the invading ships were driven by AIs and hinted the answer to defeating them lay in the merger of individuals with the powerful but dangerous quantum computers known as Artificials.

  Before leaving the portal space, Alex and Caleb discovered a colossal master gateway. It generated 51 unique signals, each one leading to a new portal and a new universe. But with humanity facing extinction, they returned home armed with a daring plan to win the war.

  In a desperate gambit to vanquish the enemy invaders before they reached the heart of civilization, four Prevos (human-synthetic meldings) were created and given command of the combined might of the Alliance and Federation militaries. Alex and her Artificial, Valkyrie, led the other Prevos and the military forces against the alien AI warships in climactic battles above Seneca and Romane. The invaders were defeated and ordered to withdraw through their portal, cease their observation of Aurora and not return.

  Alex reconciled with her mother during the final hours of the war, and following the victory Alex and Caleb married and attempted to resume a normal life.

  But new mysteries waited through the Metis portal. Determined to learn the secrets of the portal network and the multiverses it held, six months later Caleb, Alex and Valkyrie traversed it once more, leaving humanity behind to struggle with a new world of powerful quantum synthetics, posthumans, and an uneasy, fragile peace.

  * * *

  SIDESPACE

  (AURORA RENEGADES BOOK ONE)

  PORTAL NETWORK

  Mnemosyne has been exiled by the Idryma Conclave, the Metigen group who controls the portals. The Conclave placed bombs at the Metis Portal intended to destroy the apparatus if it opened, but Mesme disabled them before the Siyane traversed the portal.

  Alex and Caleb discover a star system of planet-spanning, flora-based intelligences. The first world they visit is aggressive and tries to kill them when they damage a leaf. They escape, but while fleeing one of the plants cuts Alex and injects a toxin into her bloodstream.

  The next planet is peaceful. While exploring, a tree induces Caleb into a trance-like state in order to communicate with him. He realizes the life-form can heal Alex’s injury and convinces her to let it treat her. They name the intelligence ‘Akeso’ and spend several days with it.

  On visiting the third p
lanet, they discover its resident is trying to expand off-world and is terraforming its moon. When their presence is detected, it attacks the Siyane. They return to Akeso to warn it of the threat from its neighbor. To do so, Caleb must expose Akeso to the violence and death of his past, notions it has never conceived of. Troubled, Akeso asks them to depart.

  The next portal space they visit harbors life which is the polar opposite of Akeso—an inorganic species called Ruda. When the first Ruda they meet realizes they’re organic, it tries to dissect them to study how organic life functions. Valkyrie convinces the alien they are more valuable alive. They agree to share data on humans, and in return the Ruda share details about their nature with Valkyrie. She uses it to begin weaving her quantum circuitry into the hull of the Siyane.

  On Portal Prime, Mesme confers with the Conclave leader, Lakhes, about these humans’ exploration of the portal network and what it means for the Metigens’ plans.

  Alex and Caleb finally meet a humanoid, space-faring species—and are promptly taken prisoner by the large, cat-like aliens known as Khokteh. They’re held captive until Valkyrie develops a translation program and they’re able to plead their case to the leader, Pinchu. He releases them, and they become friends with Pinchu and his wife, Cassela, as they’re shown the aliens’ capital city.

  The city comes under attack by a rival Khokteh faction, and Cassela is killed. Pinchu appeals to his gods for a weapon to exact vengeance, and it becomes apparent the gods have long been arming all the Khokteh and pitting them against one another. Also, the ‘gods’ are actually Metigens. Alex confronts the Metigen that Pinchu summoned; it warns her not to interfere in what she does not understand.

  The Metigen provides Pinchu an anti-matter weapon. Caleb and Alex try to convince him not to use it due to its immense destructive power, but blinded by grief at Cassela’s death, he refuses to listen to reason. His fleet travels to the attackers’ planet and levels the settlement, killing hundreds of thousands. Alex and Caleb return to Portal Prime, intending to confront Mesme about what they’ve seen.

  Mesme’s consciousness is not there, but they discover a stasis chamber containing a body identical to the alien ‘little gray men’ of Earth legend. Unable to learn more, they decide to continue exploring.

  Valkyrie has now integrated herself into the hull of the Siyane. Alex is able to use their link to effectively ‘become’ the ship, opening up a new level of existence and perception to her.

  Mesme is called before the Conclave to answer for Alex and Caleb’s actions. It’s revealed the Metigens are smuggling species threatened by a mysterious enemy out of the master universe and into the portal spaces. Further, humans are viewed as a dangerous threat by some Metigens, as a great hope by Mesme.

  AURORA / MILKY WAY

  Mia awakens from her coma, healed but at a price: her connection to her Artificial, Meno, must remain open in order to fill in gaps where the neural damage couldn’t be repaired. Devon introduces her to a hidden quantum dimension the Prevos can use to mentally travel to any location in an instant and observe events in secret. Mia dubs the dimension ‘sidespace.’

  Miriam is grilled about Noetica by an Assembly committee and its chairman, Pamela Winslow. Winslow challenges Devon’s fitness and the continued use of a Prevo in military affairs.

  When his superiors find out his husband works for Federation Intelligence, Richard is forced to resign. At Miriam’s urging, he and Will move to Seneca, where he agrees to act as a consultant to his friend, Senecan Intelligence Director Delavasi.

  Kennedy and Noah start a company to design ships using adiamene, but Winslow tries to force Kennedy to sell adiamene only to the Alliance government. She refuses, and after subsequent attempts to convince her fail, her father disowns her. Noah convinces her to move to an independent world, one free of Alliance interference.

  While working in Annie’s lab, Devon is attacked and his link to Annie severed. When captured, the attackers admit they acted on orders from Winslow. Separately, Dr. Canivon is on her way to help Devon when she’s kidnapped by mercs working for Olivia Montegreu.

  On Seneca, Delavasi gets a tip that Olivia is behind the kidnapping, and Richard relays the news to Miriam. Deducing that Olivia intends to become a Prevo, Richard leaks the intel to the Order of the True Sentients terrorist group in the hope they will attack Olivia, delaying her transformation. The leader of OTS is revealed to be Winslow’s son, Jude, when the leaked information reaches him.

  Mia uses sidespace to eavesdrop on Winslow and discovers the woman intends to have Devon killed and to seize control of all the Artificials at EASC. With Annie’s assistance, Devon and Mia steal Meno’s hardware and flee Earth. At the same time, Morgan Lekkas visits a black market tech dealer and has him burn out her Prevo connection to her Artificial, Stanley, then leaves Seneca.

  Malcolm Jenner leads a risky incursion into Olivia’s base on New Babel. He rescues Dr. Canivon, but not before she performed the Prevo procedure on the woman. Malcolm attempts to kill Olivia, but her personal defenses protect her from harm.

  Malcolm receives orders, faked by Annie, to take Dr. Canivon to a space station above Pandora. There they find Mia and Devon waiting. Canivon repairs Devon’s damaged Prevo hardware and operating code, then Annie transfers her consciousness directly into his brain cells.

  Devon wakes up transformed—his muscles stronger, his irises brilliant lavender and his mind subtly changed by Annie’s presence. He contacts Morgan, now on Romane, and learns before she burned the link to Stanley, he, too, transferred his consciousness into her mind.

  * * *

  CONTENTS

  PART I

  LIMINALITY

  PART II

  EMPTY PLACES

  PART III

  HEROES & VILLAINS

  PART IV

  WHAT LIES BENEATH

  PART V

  HACK THE GALAXY

  PART VI

  THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY

  PART VII

  PUPPET MASTERS

  APPENDICES

  DISSONANCE

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  PART I:

  LIMINALITY

  “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,

  make violent revolution inevitable.”

  — John Fitzgerald Kennedy

  PORTAL: AURORA

  (MILKY WAY)

  1

  ANDROMEDA

  INDEPENDENT COLONY

  * * *

  GALACTIC DOMINATION wasn’t so difficult.

  Olivia Montegreu’s transport landed on the roof of the Andromeda Government Administration Center. It met with no aerial resistance, as the building’s meager defenses had been disabled by her people on the ground an hour earlier.

  Target 100% secured. Local defense force eliminated. All personnel accounted for. Casualties: 27%.

  She exited the small ship and, instead of entering the building via the service access, strode to the low wall running the length of the rooftop.

  An aquamarine ocean stretched to the horizon, and a salty breeze sent wisps of her hair dancing across her face. Andromeda. The colony had been aptly named: like the mythological princess, all it did was stand around being beautiful.

  Worth little from a direct financial perspective, it nevertheless held substantial strategic value. Now that the pesky Metis Nebula problem was out of the way, many interests were looking to explore and expand into the Norma Arm of the Milky Way and beyond, toward the Galactic Core. From here, she’d be well positioned to assist in those ventures. The fact it also gave her yet another colony crowding in on the Federation’s border? A nice perk.

  Front-line recruitment of mercenaries and enforcers up 203% in the last three weeks.

  Increase acquisition of Daemons, grenades and micro-bombs accordingly. Allocate additional cargo transports to deliver weapons as required. An unarmed mercenary is a useless mercenary. />
  She’d crushed the domineering personality of her Artificial in a matter of days. It now bent to her will, obeyed her commands and provided her a continuous stream of status updates without so much as a snide retort. She had no need of its opinion; she only needed its power.

  She sensed the access door open at the other end of the roof, and it prompted her to peer over the edge. The street below was rather a disaster, what with the blood and bodies and barricades piled high. Galactic domination may not be difficult, but it did on occasion create a bit of a mess.

  At the sound of multiple feet coming to a stop behind her, she finally turned to greet her guests.

  A sweaty, bruised, beaten shell of a man sagged between the two men who held him upright and in their control. An open cut across his forehead dribbled blood into his left eye, causing him to blink repeatedly in a futile effort to clear it. The crumpled shirt beneath his jacket hung in tatters. Such a brave man, to have fought so valiantly.

  “Good evening, Governor Karas. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Olivia Montegreu, and you work for me now.”

  His eyes widened in horror—a common enough reaction to even hearing her name these days—causing the stream of blood to divert down his nose. He jerked backward and tried to wrench away.