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

  “Where does this put the risk profile vis-à-vis the rest of AEGIS’ fielded equipment?”

  “The development cycle has been fast, even for Prevo-developed technology. But I’m comfortable saying for the proposed usage, the risk profile of the Caeles Prism is lower than that of several of our deployed and active systems.”

  Miriam flashed a rather sardonic smile. “Like the Rifters themselves.”

  Kennedy was fully in professional mode. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Most of the Alliance and Federation vessels don’t have integrated Prevos, of course. I’m told that with a simple hardware connector installation, a Prevo on one vessel can move a second vessel as well, albeit with a concomitant increase in the power required to do so.”

  Kennedy nodded. “We’ve tested that scenario as well. The spike in the power required is the sole material issue. For reasons related to the nature of the movement, the two vessels have to be in a parallel formation and move through the wormhole simultaneously, so the diameter increase is considerable. But it doesn’t seem to be physically harder for a Prevo to do.”

  Miriam lifted a hand in resignation. “I’ll take their—and the test results’—word for it. Installing these connectors and linking them to specific partner ships across many thousands of vessels is a nontrivial task. We’ve prioritized the most crucial Alliance and Federation vessels under several mission profiles, and we began installing them on the highest priority ships this morning.

  “The fieldable fleet on some missions will be reduced for a time, but we weren’t sending everyone on every mission, in any event. We should be able to mitigate any gaps in capabilities until the installations are complete.”

  She looked pointedly around the table. “Does anyone have objections to bringing this technology live for active missions?”

  Field Marshal Bastian motioned animatedly, as he tended to do. “We’re all in at this point. We’ve got targets painted on our and the anarchs’ backs now, and we’ve got to be able to fight back in return. I have difficulty wrapping my head around the tech, but the test data says it works. I advise we move forward.”

  Malcolm sighed audibly. His hair was perfectly cropped and his BDUs were as clean and crisp as ever, but Alex thought he looked worn down, arguably beaten. A muscle under his left eye jerked repeatedly as he strained to keep his gaze fixed on Miriam and no one else. Caleb’s absence didn’t appear to be easing his discomfort much.

  “We’re hamstrung without it, and with it a multitude of opportunities and targets open up. All due respect to the safety data, but I’m sure it’s dangerous as hell. So is everything we do. No objection.” He sank down in his chair like a shadow retreating from the light.

  Morgan waved a hand dismissively when Miriam turned to her. “I followed Alex’s lead and modified the Rifter on my ship to work as a Caeles Prism yesterday. I’ve used it six times already, but now I seriously want a couple of thousand more ships to come with me so we can do some real damage. Also, ESC One-Delta wants its Rifter back.”

  “A replacement Eidolon Rifter is on the requisition list for the next trip to the Presidio.” Miriam’s focus shifted down the table. “Alex? This is your brainchild. Any concerns?”

  It would work, even on so large a scale. She had absolute confidence in the theory and the underlying technology, as borne out by the multiple wormhole traversals the Siyane had made. Still, the real world could be a cruel bitch, and she felt the weight of responsibility for so many lives. But it must be nothing compared to the weight her mother felt every minute of every day.

  Seeking to lighten that weight by the smallest amount, she beamed to the point of cockiness. “Did I mention I swung by a galaxy way out past the fringes of the Local Galactic Group yesterday afternoon? No concerns.”

  “You did not. Very well, the Caeles Prism is approved for active use. We will use it judiciously, as this is not the kind of tool one should get sloppy with. Here are the potential targets for the first mission.” A labeled intergalactic map appeared above the table.

  Alex leaned forward to jump in before they had a chance to start debating and get mired in really tall weeds. “Actually, I have an idea for a maiden mission.

  “I’ve no doubt these are all important strategic targets, but mine will make for a dramatic statement, which we need to deliver. Also, the risk is mitigated, because we won’t be traveling to a far-off location that will be difficult to return from in a reasonable time should something go wrong with the Caeles Prism.”

  Her mother dropped one elbow on the table and her chin to her fist, an uncommonly informal pose for her. “I’m listening.”

  “Thank you.” She zoomed way in to a tiny point on the intergalactic map, sending a sea of stars whizzing away in a blur. The viewpoint sharpened on a single G3 IV star the color of straw. Six planets orbited the star, and tiny blips denoted numerous space stations and other structures.

  “My proposed target is the Machimis stellar system—specifically, its sun. More specifically, the Dyson rings orbiting its sun.

  “The rings send metric fucktons of power not only to Machimis, which is responsible for enormous quantities of parts production and assembly for their war machine, but also to two orbital factories and a space-based military hub. While they’re busy guarding their precious gateway, let’s jump straight into their sun’s inner orbit and destroy their primary power source.”

  Miriam considered the rotating system above the table. “They’ll be able to patch together some amount of emergency power in fairly short order, I assume, but I doubt it will be enough to replace…” she called up a small screen beside her “…thirty yottawatts of power per day would be the technical measurement for ‘metric fucktons.’

  “They’ll be spending valuable time seeking and building replacement sources instead of coming after us. And we will, again, catch them off-guard and unawares, which keeps them scrambling. Reacting instead of acting. As for the mission itself, if we focus on directing our firepower efficiently and work fast enough, they may never get the opportunity to shoot at us.”

  Miriam nodded with increasing enthusiasm. “Maneuver warfare does have a certain elegance to it. Also, it happens to be one of our few viable strategic options against an enemy with vastly superior numbers, so I believe we will continue to pursue it. Other opinions?”

  But everyone again fell into line without argument, including the irascible field marshal. The complete lack of resistance felt a little odd, until Alex realized why. Rychen had represented a powerful voice at the table, and the magnitude of his absence was palpable. Even when he’d agreed with her mother, he’d done so colorfully.

  When silence took hold, Miriam continued. “All right, the Machimis stellar Dyson ring assembly is our target. I’ll send out a mission profile and vessel assignments later today. Unless new data comes in necessitating a delay, we’ll move at 1530 local tomorrow. Dismissed.”

  Alex watched Malcolm mope out of the conference room ahead of everyone else and shook her head ruefully. She noted how Mia waited a solid ten seconds before standing herself. After a brief hesitation, Alex stood to leave with Mia.

  Her mother waylaid her efforts with a surprise hand on her shoulder. “Inspired idea, Alex.”

  “I hope so. I’m still not military, but maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

  “It is in your blood.”

  Her mouth opened, ready to spill all the secrets queuing up on her tongue; she choked back the words beneath a forced cough. Soon. “I guess so. I need to catch up with Mia, but ping me if you have any questions or ideas before tomorrow.”

  Her mother stepped away to talk to Escarra, and Alex hurried out the door.

  She fell in beside Mia in the hallway, matching the woman’s purposeful gait to keep up. “So I have used my hyper-tuned powers of observation to deduce that Malcolm hasn’t come crawling back, hat in hand, just yet.”

  Mia sighed, her expression briefly grim. “No. The thing is…I knew the kind
of man he was from the beginning. But I suppose he didn’t truly know the kind of woman I am.”

  “He’ll come around. I thought he was going to start crying every time he almost looked at you in there, which was approximately every five seconds. He’s patently miserable. He simply needs to let his damnable honor get out of its own way.”

  Mia huffed a breath. “I don’t want him to ‘come around’—I want him to open his eyes wider and understand. But I’m not convinced he can do that and remain the man he is, which I don’t want to change. Splendid corner I’ve worked myself into, isn’t it?”

  She stopped outside the building exit. “I’m sorry to run, but I’m scheduled to meet with the Sator in a few minutes. Thank you for checking on me, but I’m fine.”

  50

  ANARCH POST SATUS

  LOCATION UNKNOWN

  * * *

  “ARE YOUR PEOPLE FINDING Post Epsilon suitable, Ambassador?”

  A warm but professional smile adorned Mia’s face with minimal effort. Just fine.

  The practiced, poised demeanor had become second nature for her, and a little thing like an emotionally devastating personal crisis would not knock her off her game.

  No, she corrected herself. This was not a game. This was her job and, she was starting to concede, her calling. All the more reason to perform it superbly, every day and in every circumstance.

  “Very much so, Sator. Thank you for extending your hospitality so generously to us. Having a place where we could, to put it bluntly, retreat—where our feet could touch soil and we could breathe fresh air—” She blinked; she was all but quoting Malcolm, dammit. “It’s done a great deal of good for morale. Functionally, it has also helped to have a central, accessible location where our officers and advisers can meet and work.”

  He arched an eyebrow at the last phrase. “Ah, yes. I understand certain of you have been rather busy devising an alternative travel method to enable you to avoid the gateways.”

  “ ‘Hacking the universe,’ my friend Devon calls it. He is prone to grandiosity, but he regularly earns the right to be. Yes, we have developed a somewhat practical way to open temporary wormholes and have engineered the power needed to traverse them.”

  He acted dutifully impressed, but given the teleportation gates and the Zero Drive, the notion of taking shortcuts through space plainly wasn’t foreign to him. Possibly the notion of lowly humans discovering and engineering it on their own was, however.

  “By ‘we,’ you mean your hybrids. Those of you who have sacrificed a degree of your…I suppose ‘humanity’ would be the correct word, to bind yourself to SAIs.”

  “We call ourselves ‘Prevos,’ Sator, and we’ve sacrificed nothing. I’m sure you realize I count myself among them—the eyes are a dead giveaway.”

  “Forgive me. I meant no insult. Old prejudices by an old man, but I should mind my inclinations better. And I’m compelled to say, the extent to which you peacefully coexist with unaltered Humans is both surprising and heartening. It should be a lesson to reactionaries who instinctively flee to fear.” He gave her a self-deprecating shrug. “And a lesson to me.”

  He is very, very good.

  He is. Then again, he’s had a long time to perfect his presentation.

  How long, I wonder?

  I think everyone is wondering, Meno, but he holds his secrets close.

  “You have many aliens fighting alongside Anadens as anarchs, Sator. I appreciate the flattery, but it seems like a lesson you must have learned long ago, if you ever needed to at all.”

  “Bigotry is a slippery demon, Ambassador, as is the arrogance that begets it, and the distance between altruistic paternalism and vain prejudice is short.”

  “Yes, sir.” This was beginning to sound like a confessional. It was possible their presence here was triggering a bout of introspection for him. If lending a kind ear led to a closer relationship between AEGIS and the anarchs, she would lend it.

  “We’ve struggled with those issues in our past as well. We enjoy thinking we’ve overcome them, but I suspect it’s a battle that’s never completely won.”

  “Indeed. It has recently been suggested to me that the anarch cause will win a greater number of adherents if I vow to pursue regenesis methodologies for the other species.”

  Was this the cause of the introspection? Humans may not have developed regenesis yet, but Mia had been brought back from the dead as surely as if they had, when she awoke on a virtual beach to a new existence in a new world. She knew better than most the incomparable value in losing and regaining life.

  “My first question would be, why haven’t you already?”

  “Resources. It took us—my ancestors—many centuries to develop the deep understanding of Anaden physiology, psychology and neural systems needed to accomplish it. Every species is fundamentally unique in a thousand details, and the science and technology needed will be unique as well. It will not be a trivial matter for even a single additional species, and to put it bluntly, we cannot afford it.”

  “And when you can afford it? When we unseat the Directorate and you no longer have to spend your resources on concealment and survival? Why would you not share your knowledge with scientists from the other species and give everyone the opportunity to enjoy what the Anadens take for granted?”

  “Arrogance, of course, and the prejudice hiding behind paternalism. Which is, self-evidently, no reason at all. Thank you, Ambassador, for gently showing me there is only one right decision.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  That earned a brief chuckle. “On to more pressing matters. This new wormhole technology works, then?”

  “Oh, yes. Our people have spent the last several days running extensive tests and trials. They are confident in both its functionality and safety, so long as basic precautions are taken.” She didn’t divulge tomorrow’s planned mission. It was for Commandant Solovy to reveal or not at her discretion.

  “Good. I look forward to seeing the battle joined once again. I will be making a wide and public appeal for support soon, and it will be helpful to have a measure of firepower backing up my claims and promises.”

  “It is why we are here. Is there anything else, Sator?”

  “A small matter, more for your information than action. Several of the aliens your team helped to rescue from Exobiology Lab #4 have biologies ill-suited to the cold climate of Post Alpha. We’re going to transfer them to Posts Delta and Epsilon in the hopes they’ll be more comfortable there. We would keep them out of your way, but our other locations aren’t equipped to care for refugees.”

  “I’m confident it won’t cause any trouble, sir. After all, everyone at Post Epsilon is alien to us.”

  “An excellent observation. It is easy to forget this. In any event, I’m told all the aliens being transferred are docile. You’re under no obligation to do so, but if any of your people are interested in helping Administrator Udiri-jun with their acclimatization, I suspect he will welcome the assistance. As you pointed out, you are outsiders, and as such you may be able to identify challenges, or opportunities, we miss.”

  She nodded graciously. “I’ll pass on the invitation.”

  PALAEMON

  ANARCH POST EPSILON

  Mia found Devon in the main tech lab on Epsilon, for the second day in a row. He was talking animatedly to one of the anarch engineers, toeing his chair back and forth while his arms motioned through the air.

  “You seriously don’t have an empire-wide public communications network? What do you do if you need to contact a station in another galaxy? Or if you want to look up information on some…famous painter or something?” He tossed a wink at Emily, who was sitting out of the way against one of the walls.

  The engineer looked uneasy. “Usually, if we for some reason need educational information, we request it from one of the sector hubs. With respect to business matters, there are procedures to be followed to initiate contact. I won’t bore you with them. Do you do things differently?”r />
  “Back home, we have this quantum network—we call it the exanet—which is accessible by anyone, anywhere. It contains almost the entire sum of human knowledge, except for some classified government secrets and private intellectual property. We can use it to communicate with any person or facility, no matter the location. And that’s the boring stuff. We can also use it to create virtual, multi-sensory spaces and share them with others.”

  “Like an integral?”

  “No, that’s the Noesis. Sort of. Anyway, no. The exanet is merely a quantum architecture—a framework that provides the basis for ubiquitous interconnection, but on our terms and time. It’s such a simple concept. With all this cool technology you have, why do you not have this one?”

  Control. Allowing so much freedom of association and access to information is dangerous. If knowledge and connections were allowed to flow freely, people might start to get ideas. They might collude.

  Devon scanned the room until he spotted her standing in the entryway, propped against the door frame. He motioned her inside.

  And people would. The Directorate is wise to fear the consequences.

  He was doing quite a good job of selling the innocent curiosity routine, and for now the anarchs seemed to be buying it.

  She entered the lab but paused at the periphery of the workstation Devon was disrupting and gestured for Emily to join them as well. “Having fun?”

  Devon grimaced. “I only hope I’m asking the right questions. Some of their tools are almost identical to ours, but then their infrastructure is insanely advanced, and they don’t use it how you’d expect. A five-dimensional quantum architecture underlies almost all of their systems. Do you know anything about these Reor slabs they use for storage?”

  She shrugged noncommittally. “I think Alex does.”