Rubicon: Aurora Resonant Book Two (Aurora Rhapsody 8) Read online

  After he leaves the Siyane, Eren is approached by Miaon, a fellow anarch. Miaon reveals that it is Mesme’s contact and urges Eren to help these strangers. Eren visits an anarch friend, Thelkt, for information on how to obtain the intel Alex and Caleb seek.

  Mesme takes Alex and Caleb to a nebula hiding a massive store of Reor, the unusual mineral those in Amaranthe use to store data. Mesme reveals that the Reor is sentient, but no one else suspects this. Alex tries to interact with the mineral; she’s unable to communicate directly, but the Reor creates a new slab of itself for Alex.

  Caleb dreams of the distant history of the Anadens, as relayed by the diati. When they are invaded by a powerful enemy, the Anadens face annihilation. The ethereal diati joins with the Anaden’s greatest warrior, Corradeo Praesidis, to defeat the enemy. The Anadens thrive, then face an uprising by people seeking to join with synthetics. The conflict ends in a purge of AIs and AI-sympathizers and the formation of the Dynasties. The diati propagates into Corradeo’s descendants, losing its coherence. The Anadens grow more oppressive as they abandon the ethos Corradeo espoused, but the diati cannot prevent it.

  Nyx follows Aver’s trail until she uncovers one of the hidden Mosaic portals. Rather than traverse it, she goes to Katoikia, the Kats’ homeworld, and seizes two Kats in stasis chambers to interrogate.

  In response to Nyx’ visit to Katoikia, the Kats evacuate the stasis pods kept there and take them to the Mosaic for safekeeping. Mesme invites Alex and Caleb to witness the exodus.

  While exploring Katoikia, they uncover a hidden structure where a Kat named Paratyr monitors locations around Amaranthe, watching for Directorate aggression. Alex is drawn to a scene of an aquatic species called Galenai; she uses sidespace to “visit” their underwater city. Paratyr tells her the Directorate is expanding into the Galenai’s galaxy, and the Kats have flagged the Galenai for possible evacuation to the Mosaic.

  Alex and Caleb leave Katoikia to meet up with Eren on a quest to infiltrate Machim Central Command and steal what intel they can. Thelkt sends Eren the Machim data server access codes, delivered by Felzeor, an intelligent avian. Felzeor has an engaging personality, and Caleb bonds with the falcon-like anarch in the short time it’s on board.

  After Felzeor leaves, Eren tells the story of how he became an anarch. Over a century ago, he encountered unfamiliar aliens serving as sexual slaves to the Idoni Primor. Recognizing their extreme fear and distress, he fled in horror. Soon thereafter, the Directorate eradicated the species. Disgusted with his leaders, he fried his neural link to the integral, dropped off the grid and made contact with the anarchs.

  When they reach Machim Central Command, Caleb impersonates an Inquisitor to get inside, while Eren guides him. They reach the server room, and Mesme transports Alex to their location. She and Valkyrie hack the server and are downloading a plethora of military data when security forces arrive. An officer puts a blade to Alex’s throat; Caleb orders Valkyrie and Mesme to flee then surrenders. Eren refuses and is killed. Caleb and Alex are rendered unconscious and arrested.

  Valkyrie flees to the Mosaic then Aurora, where she transmits all the data from Machim Central Command to AEGIS. Then she travels to the Idryma portal and bids Lakhes to accompany her to Amaranthe.

  Eren awakens in a “regenesis” pod, for Anadens are able to transfer their consciousness to new bodies when they die. He fills in his supervisor, Xanne, then insists they rescue Alex and Caleb. Xanne takes his request to the leader of the anarchs, Sator Danilo Nisi. After hearing Eren’s story, he authorizes resources for a rescue mission.

  Caleb and Alex wake up in separate detention cells, both restrained and subjected to interrogation by drones that jolts them with electricity when they refuse to answer. Caleb’s diati absorbs the jolts, keeping him from injury; Alex is not so lucky.

  Nyx deactivates a stasis chamber and interrogates the Kat until it reveals details on the Mosaic and the Kats’ work there. She relays to the Praesidis Primor what she’s learned. He sends her to interrogate the Human prisoners, then informs the other Primors of the Kats’ betrayal. They issue an Eradication Order for the Kats and decide to destroy the Mosaic, except for the portal spaces providing crucial provisions to Amaranthe.

  Eren rejoins Valkyrie and Mesme on the Siyane with a rescue plan. Mesme reveals to Eren that the species he encountered at the Idoni party, leading to his rebellion, were not all eradicated. Called Faneros, many were smuggled out to safety in the Mosaic.

  Nyx arrives to interrogate Caleb. She asks what he is and where he came from, but he refuses to answer. In frustration she draws closer, and he steals her diati until he’s strong enough to break out of the restraints. He then drains her of diati, incapacitates her and goes in search of Alex.

  When he reaches her cell, his diati allows him to pass through the force field easily. But he’s unable to deactivate the force field, and he has to trust the diati to protect her as he carries her through it.

  Security is closing in when Eren and Mesme appear. Mesme transports Alex to the Siyane as an assault mech attacks. Caleb destroys the mech, then Eren insists Mesme transport Caleb next. Once they’re gone, Eren detonates explosives he brought, destroying the facility.

  Informed the Directorate is sending a military fleet to the Mosaic, Alex and Caleb rush to get a message to Miriam: it’s time to bring her own fleet. During the trip, they work on a plan to keep the Machim fleet out of the Mosaic.

  The Machim fleet acquires special Igni antimatter missiles and a doomsday device called a Tartarus Trigger. Further interrogation of the Kat prisoner reveals the ultimate truth: Humans are the genetic recreation of Anadens. The Directorate wants the Tartarus Trigger taken to the Aurora portal space and detonated, annihilating the Aurora universe. Meanwhile, a separate Machim fleet bombs the Kat homeworld.

  The Siyane joins the AEGIS fleet in the Mosaic. Alex reunites with her mother then briefs Miriam on their plan.

  The Machim fleet arrives at the Gateway to the Mosaic. It promptly explodes, hit by negative energy missiles from the Siyane and stealthed fighters nearby. The explosion takes out a large chunk of the Machim fleet; while it’s still recovering, the AEGIS fleet materializes behind it.

  The battle is joined. AEGIS enjoys an advantage in most respects, but the Igni missiles can damage adiamene hulls. Prevos in the fleet work to identify which ships are carrying the missiles, then take them out first.

  Paratyr appears in the cabin of the Siyane in ethereal form. The Kat warns them about the Tartarus Trigger on the Machim command ship Imperium. If detonated, it will annihilate every molecule for parsecs, then possibly the entire universe.

  Malcolm devises a way to bypass the impenetrable shields of the Imperium and is about to try it when Alex stops him, as the odds of the Tartarus Trigger detonating when the ship is destroyed are too high. Mesme volunteers to infiltrate the ship and transport the device away.

  Alex uses sidespace to determine the device’s precise location, then Mesme surrounds it and both vanish. Alex gives Malcolm the all clear, and he destroys the Imperium. The remaining Machim vessels retreat, handing a decisive victory to AEGIS.

  The AEGIS Council, now including Alex and Caleb, convenes on the Stalwart II to determine the next steps. They are interrupted, however, by a message from Sator Nisi requesting a meeting.

  Alex, Caleb, Miriam and Mesme travel to Nisi’s headquarters. When they meet Nisi, Caleb realizes the man controls diati as well. Miriam and Nisi spar, and the lack of trust on both sides is evident. Alex challenges Nisi, and he admits the anarchs are not powerful enough to defeat the Directorate. Rather, they are a force designed to be of maximum strategic value when the fulcrum that will change the cosmos arrives.

  He believes that fulcrum is not the AEGIS fleet, but rather Caleb.

  CONTENTS

  PART I

  FOR EVERY ACTION

  PART II

  THE DOPPLER EFFECT

  PART III

  TRANSCENDENTAL DISARRAY

&
nbsp; PART IV

  SHATTERSHOT

  PART V

  SECRETS, LIES & SPACETIME MANIFOLDS

  PART VI

  LAWS OF MOTION

  PART VII

  ILLUMINE

  PART VIII

  LIFE, INTERRUPTED

  RUBICON

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  AMARANTHE

  YEAR 6143

  12TH EPOCH PROPER

  PART I:

  FOR EVERY ACTION

  “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can,

  and keep moving on.”

  — Ulysses S. Grant

  1

  MACHIM FLEET FABRICATION CENTER

  MILKY WAY SECTOR 46

  * * *

  CAPTAIN BROOKLYN HARPER LANDED IN the Machim Fleet Fabrication Center server room face-to-face with a hulking orb of mechanical death. A weaponized appendage extended out from its shiny black casing to lock the sights of a plasma cannon on her forehead.

  “Halt, intruder.”

  Of all the bloody timing. She snapped her left arm out to knock the cannon off-kilter. At the same time, she pressed the trigger on her far smaller weapon, held close in at waist height in her other hand.

  The laser from her Daemon tore through the metal casing with relentless efficiency, and after a jerking shudder the drone promptly exploded.

  “Dammit!” Brooklyn threw her arms over her face in a protective cross and dropped to a crouch as metal fragments shot in every direction and the few heavier, larger pieces that remained intact thudded to the floor.

  The ensuing racket echoed once through the cavernous room before being absorbed by thick, insulated walls.

  Sotiras: Are you injured, Human?

  “I’m fine.” She shot a quick glare at the shapeless lights trembling in the corner as she stood and lowered her arms.

  Sotiras: But there is—

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “Shit. Sorry, Harper. It showed up the same second you did.”

  HarperRF: “Noted. Tell the Kat to watch the door and tell me where to go.”

  Sotiras: I am right here, Human. You may tell me yourself. Also, I should note—

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “Sotiras, please watch the door for additional incoming security. Harper, take the third aisle down to the large vertical enclosure.”

  The Kat spun off toward the entrance, and Brooklyn took a step back to see which aisle might be the third one. She jogged down it until she met what was either a wall or a very tall block of hardware. It was unmarked and seamless.

  HarperRF: “Is this what I’m looking for?”

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “Yep. At 1.8 meters height, cut out a rectangle up to 2.1 meters height, all the way across.”

  She gripped her blade hilt, brought it up to eye level and activated it. The plasma sliced cleanly into the material, and a few cuts later a section of the covering fell away. She propped it against the equipment to her left while her eVi filtered the bright white glow coming from inside the opening she’d created.

  The interior contained a circuit of some kind. Hyperfine traces of darkness divided the light in a rigid, ordered pattern. Deeper inside, beyond the circuit, lay stacked slabs of a translucent onyx mineral.

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “Okay, see the junction? The thicker cluster near the bottom right? Stick the bypass module to it.”

  Everything looked like a ‘cluster’ to her. She palmed the small bypass module and started moving her hand from the center downward and to the right.

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “Down farther. Over a little more—there.”

  Suspicious of what could result from of her ignorant tampering, she exercised proper caution as she positioned the module in front of the thickest grouping of traces and applied pressure to it, then drew her fingers away. To her surprise, it stayed where she’d put it. The traces appeared virtual to her eyes, but apparently they had some physicality.

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “And we’re set. Wedge the section you removed back in place as best as you can. Hopefully they won’t find our handiwork until it’s too late. Sotiras, as soon as she’s done, get her out of there and back to the Saratoga.”

  Her blade had done precise work, and the rectangular piece of metal fit perfectly in place. Once she nudged the last corner a touch to seat it, no glow escaped to betray the seams.

  Sotiras: Security reinforcements are approaching.

  HarperRF: “Ready.”

  Pinpricks of ethereal light encased her to blot out the surrounding walls, and she arrived on the bridge of the AFS Saratoga two seconds later. The purposeful sounds of a full bridge mid-mission were briefly jarring after the tomb-like silence of the server room, but not unwelcome.

  Brigadier Malcolm Jenner greeted her with a nod from the command overlook, then turned toward a grouping of tactical screens…then back, wearing a frown. “Um, Harper….”

  “What?”

  He pointed to her left shoulder. She craned her neck around to see a four-centimeter shard of drone jutting out of the back of her upper left arm. The material of her tactical suit had sealed around the metal to staunch the bleeding, so the extent of the damage wasn’t immediately apparent.

  Residual adrenaline and automated eVi injury mitigation routines masked any pain, but she grimaced anyway. “Hell.”

  I did try to inform you that you were bleeding. The Kat hovered closer and more confidently now, here in the safety of the bridge.

  “Whatever.” She returned her attention to Malcolm. “What’s our status?”

  “Waiting on the go-ahead. Your job’s done, though, so get to Medical.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but then it occurred to her she might have additional, less obvious shrapnel embedded god knew where. “Fine. But for the record, this does not count as a ground incursion. You still owe me a real mission. Sir.”

  He gestured to the lift, staring pointedly at her until she pivoted and headed in its direction.

  She was halfway there when the pain kicked in.

  AFS SARATOGA

  The Machim Sector 46 Fleet Fabrication Center sprawled across nearly three megameters of space in a lengthy orbit around a distant blue giant star.

  A central structure sat at the center of an immense labyrinth of latticed assembly lines, not dissimilar to the Presidio’s design. Machim battlecruisers in various stages of completion hung in four rows down the primary production lines. Smaller semi-enclosed adjunct structures assembled a host of smaller components, which were ferried by ring channels to the production lines. Mechs buzzed through the facility like ants scurrying over an anthill.

  Was there a single living creature at the facility, Malcolm wondered?

  The Anadens were reported to be wary about synthetic intelligence, so presumably someone was on site to ensure the mechs and the lines’ operational ware didn’t get unruly. But it didn’t seem as if there were many. He started to reflect on how it would keep the body count low, but if they were Anaden even that wouldn’t matter. The notion of an enemy who perpetually came back to life was taking some getting used to.

  The mission kicked into gear then, saving him from twisting his brain into knots over the matter.

  Alexis Solovy (Siyane): “I’m patched into the security system. Referencing the mission Tactical Grid, trip sensors are located at:

  Q1 S 21° E z -12°

  Q1 N 67° W z 41°

  Q2 S 35° W z -80°

  Q2 N 26° E z 54°

  Q3 N 19° W z 61°

  Q3 S 11°W z -3°

  Q4 S 84° E z -59°

  Q4 N 25° E z 22°

  “Each trip sensor is linked to four proximity mines. They’re outfitted with failsafe triggers, so EMPing them won’t do any good. You’ll have to shoot them from a distance or something.

  �
��The force field barrier is powered by three generators located inside the barrier at Q3 NW 6° z -9°. I’ve got a couple of authorization codes a disguised ship or two can use to get inside.”

  Commandant Solovy (AFS Stalwart II): “Our first priority is to take out the force field. AFS EW-08, when I give the order, project the false cargo ship hull and proceed through security using one of the authorization codes Alexis provides. Once inside, target the generators using negative energy missiles, then stealth and keep clear of the blasts.”

  Commander Lekkas (AFS MA-Primary): “ESC Flights Two and Four, stage yourselves in range of the trip sensors and be prepared to neutralize them the instant the generators blow.”

  Acknowledgments scrolled up the screen to his left alongside auxiliary chatter.

  Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II): “EW-08, proceed. All ships, combat alert status.”

  The fleet was situated too far away from the target for Malcolm to be able to see the electronic warfare craft’s progress. However, a stealthed companion provided a visual feed, and Malcolm monitored the disguised ship on a second screen as it approached the heavily guarded entrance gate.

  An electronic warfare craft was an unlikely choice for an infiltrate-and-destroy mission, but in this case it was the correct size to pull off the disguise, being close in size to a standard Anaden cargo ship. It also wielded the best holographic projection capabilities, making the disguise believable. Nevertheless, the small, precision negative energy missiles it now carried constituted its entire payload and stretched its loadout capabilities to the maximum.