Partners

If she didn’t get hurt doing this, as Doctor Dan had warned. She wondered if Jess had ever gotten hurt doing her job. It sounded dangerous, even more than the tasks she’d been programmed for.

There was a man standing in front of Jess’s door, one that she remembered from the communications hall.

“Hey Jason.” Jess greeted him. “Reports not ready yet.”

“I guessed.” He held his hand up, with had a small, gun like device in it. “Ready for this?”

Jess stopped, and looked at him. Dev thought she might be angry, and she wasn’t sure what was going on. But after a minute, the tall woman relaxed, and waved a hand at the plate on her door for it to open.

Dev started to walk around her, to go to the other side of the hall around the corner where her own door was.

“Wait.”

Dev turned, to find both of them looking at her. “I was going to work on some sims.” She said. “I found some in the catalog in that room.”

“You can come in this way.” Jess indicated her quarters. “I wanted to introduce you to Jason here anyway.”

The man didn’t like her. Dev could tell. But she nodded in agreement and followed them inside, standing quietly as Jess walked over to her workspace chair and then turned, releasing the catches on her jumpsuit and pulling it half down to expose her upper body before she sat down.

Dev blinked a few times as she found herself handling a slew of inputs all at once, some really unexpected. Jess’s body was a rich, golden color and she could see a few faint scars, which answered her earlier question. But the most striking thing was the intricate designs on her arms, start at the tips of her shoulders and going down. There were black lines and color, and small dots in an uneven pattern between them, and she realized one whole limb was complete down to the wrist, and the other halfway.

Wow. She had nothing at all in programming for this. What was going on? She knew no one in the crèche had markings like that.

“Jason, this is Dev.” Jess said, putting her forearms down on the chair and leaning back. “She’s going to drive my bus for me.”

The man looked at Dev. “Yeah?”

“Dev, this is Jason. He’s also an agent.” Jess said. “He’s about to carve me for my last gig.”

‘Hello. It’s nice to meet you.” Dev addressed the man politely.

He stared at her. “Charmed.” He said briefly, then turned his attention back to the gun like device, which he triggered, producing a vivid blue light at the tip. “Don’t you have some cleaning to do or something?”

Jess abruptly lashed out with one leg, slamming her booted foot against the man’s knee and sending him careening to the floor, juggling the gun frantically as he fell. “Don’t be a jackass, Jason.” She warned. “It’s not her fault she’s here. “

“Son of a bitch are you crazy!” Jason managed to get hold of the device and rolled over. “I could have shot the whole fucking room out!”

“We have plenty.” Jess didn’t look either alarmed or sorry. “Bain wants this project to succeed. I’m not going to be the one who prevents that, and if you have a brain cell left in your head you won’t either.”

Jason paused in the midst of getting to his knees and stared at her, his eyes narrowing as Jess’s brows hiked meaningfully. “Oh”

“Sit.” Jess waved Dev to one of the chairs near the workspace. “Not many people get to see one of us get marked.”

Dev had absolutely no idea what was going on. “Okay.” She managed to answer. “What does that mean?” She sat down and tried to assimilate everything that had just happened, but her thoughts wouldn’t settle properly and she gave it up after a minute.

Jason got up and pulled a chair over, settling himself next to where Jess was. “I get you.” He said, making some adjustments. “It’s just really damn hard.” He looked over at Dev. “No offense meant, kid.” He said. “I’ve just been at this a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of people kicked downstairs for your kind.”

Dev still had no idea what was going on, or what downstairs was. “I’m sorry.” She replied. “I can tell you none of us wants to harm anyone.”

“Of course they don’t. They’ve got no more choice about being here than you and I did, Jase.” Jess said. “If you want to be mad, be mad at the bastards at the top. They made the decision.” She flexed her arm and turned it slightly. “Put it there.”

Jason grunted.

“Being marked.” Jess turned to Dev. “They don’t let us put patches on these suits anymore like in the old days. You could get a patch or a mark for all your achievements. We can’t do that now so we do this.” She pointed at her arm. “For every gig, for every mission, we tell the story here.”

Dev stared in fascination at the designs.

“Where it was, what it did… “ A high pitched buzz sounded and Jess licked her lips, setting her feet squarely on the floor as Jason leaned close with the device in his hand. “Who we lost.” She took a breath. “Who we killed.”

“Ready.” Jason braced the hand holding the gun with his other hand. He waited for Jess to nod, then he carefully pulled the trigger, and the blue light jumped from the gun to Jess’s skin, with a high keening sound and a faint sizzle.

Dev felt a shiver go down her spine. She could see Jess’s body stiffen and her eyes closed, though her breathing remained steady.

“Didn’t think I was going to get this mark.” Jess said after a minute or two.

“Yeah.” Jason murmured softly. “Lot of dots for this one.”

“Thirteen black. Don’t short em.” Jess said, in a clipped tone. “Twelve of them there and Joshua.”

“Hm.” Jason grunted.

Dev felt very out of depth. She could smell the faint scent of burned flesh, and she could see the muscles in Jess’s legs jumping and she realized whatever this was probably hurt a lot. There were a lot of marks on her arms, and the whole thing seemed just a little insane to her.

“Green or no?”

Jess was silent for a while. “ Can a complete failure be a green?” She asked. “No. Leave it clear.”

“Okay.” Jason made another adjustment. “Color.” He warned, leaning close again, and the high buzz returned.

“Joshua’s the reason you’re here. “ Jess looked over at Dev. “He was my partner. My tech.” She said. “The other side bought him and he led us into a trap and knifed me in the gut.”

Dev’s eyes widened.

“Bastard.” Jason muttered.

“So you’re going to be my bus driver.” Jess said. “You’re never going to be my partner. You understand? No offense.”

Dev lifted her head a little and their eyes met. “I do understand.” She said. “Doctor Dan told me what happened. I’m really sorry for you. It must have been terrible.” Her eyes never left Jess’s and as the silence lengthened, the buzz faded.

Finally Jason cleared his throat. “Sucks it took one of them to say that.” He said. “None of us did.”

Jess’s gaze dropped, and she sat there just breathing for a minute. “You done?” She said. “I’ve got weather to look at.”

Jason decommissioned the gun and clipped it to his jumpsuit, getting up from his chair and dusting his hands off. “Yeah.” He said. “Put some rub on it when you get a chance. I’m going to get some grub.” He turned and left, and the door slid shut behind him with a faint thump.

It was awkwardly quiet for a minute. “May I look at it?” Dev asked.

“Sure.” Jess murmured.

Dev got up and went to the chair Jason had used, settling down on it and studying the red raw design now carved in Jess’s skin. “Wow.”

“Stupid tradition.” Jess sighed. “But once you start you can’t stop it.” She looked at her arm, then at Dev past it. “I always promised myself I’d retire out before I got both sleeves.” She pushed herself to her feet. “Now I really do have weather to study. “ She indicated the inner door between their quarters. “Get some rest. I’ll call you in when it’s time to talk about the mission.”

“Okay.” Dev got up and went to the door, then she turned. “Thanks for letting me help you.” She said. “And thank you for showing me the dining hall.”

Jess settled behind her desk and leaned on it, gazing at Dev thoughtfully. “If nothing else, we’ll learn something.” She said. “You’re interesting.”

Dev paused with her hand on the touch-plate for the door. “I think you’re interesting too.” She replied, with a faint smile, before she triggered the latch and went through it, letting it close behind her.

Jess sat back in her chair and drummed her fingers lightly on the arms. Then she exhaled and pulled the sheets Stephen had given her over, unfolding them and reaching out to touch the console pad. “Ouch.” She grimaced, as she pulled at the newly raw skin on her arm. “Maybe it wasn’t smart to do that when we’re flying tonight.”

She adjusted the light and studied the report, touching a finger on the dotted lines and sweeps, grimacing as she analyzed the information. “Or maybe not.”

**

Dev stood for a minute in her chamber, just listening to her own heartbeat slow and settle. Once it had, she went over and got a bottle of liquid from the dispenser, opening it and drinking it down in a draught.

Then she went and sat in her chair, trying to decide what to do. Jess had told her to get some rest, but Jess had also inferred that they might be going out on a mission tonight so she realized her tech skills would be put to a very real test very real soon.

She’d been in the sims for the carriers, of course. She’d known she would have to pilot them, that was part of the programming and she’d done a whole shift in the lab for that. But sims were sims, and she decided she’d set up a session and review everything just to be sure.

That decided, she went in the sanitary facility and used it, still bemused by the swirling water. Then she came back into the main part of the chamber and went over to the bed, sitting down on it curiously and then laying down on her back.

Very different from the crèche and it’s snug, rotating pods that cradled you and rocked you through the night.

This was cool, though yielding, the surface conforming to her body in a comfortable way, but wide and spacious giving her room to spread out as much as she wanted.

The pillows were also mild and yielding, and they cradled her head, making it easy to relax. She did so for a few minutes, watching the lights adjust themselves as the pressure of the bed was detected an analyzed.

The illumination softened and darkened, and she found herself thinking about everything she’d seen in the long day.

Her leaving from the crèche. The arrival at Interforce. The killing of the director. Being given her things. Being given this space. Lunch.

Jess.

She thought about the design she’d seen cut into Jess’s arm, and how sad it seemed to her that these people, these soldiers seemed to have so hard a life, that they had to carve their accomplishments into their own flesh and get no thanks otherwise.

And what had Jess meant when she said she hadn’t had a choice to be here either? Dev looked at the faint glints of mica in the rough cut ceiling. That she didn’t really understand, nor what she’d meant when she referred to Elaine’s tech as an outsider.

What did that mean, really? And, what had Jason meant by knowing people who were kicked downstairs, as he had said, because of her kind?

Did he mean they’d lost their place here, because of bio alts? Dev frowned. What was downstairs? Could it really be that natural born people had been displaced like that? She’d always thought that bio alts did tasks no natural born would want to, and they would have gone on to do something more interesting or rewarding in its place.

Surely that was true. Surely they didn’t just throw those natural born out. Dev got up and walked around, feeling a burst of nervous energy. That’s how it was in the crèche. The natural born people did the important jobs, and the bio alts did the rest.

She climbed up the steps to the training area, and seated herself at the console.

But. She put her hands on the pads and keyed them. But here she was, doing a natural born person’s job. This had been Joshua’s job.

His job, and his rooms and Jess, his partner.

But she wasn’t to be Jess’s partner. Jess didn’t want that. Joshua had betrayed her. She was just here to help.

She wanted to help. She wanted to do well for these people.

She wanted to do her best, certainly, for Jess who had defended her, and been nice to her, and who apparently wanted her to succeed.

Who found her interesting. Dev studied her reflection in the console.

Interesting.

**

Part 4

Jess took a sip of her kack, her eyes flicking from one screen to the other studying her options. The weather had put a halt on an immediate leave and now it looked like she was going to have to wait for daylight to go.

Sucked. She scanned the metrics again. It really was a fairly simple plan. She’d target the laboratory she knew they had the new growth tech in, aiming for a supply station entrance halfway up the hill the place was built into.

No doubt she’d draw a crowd. They’d cut off trying to communicate with the two teams, hopefully giving the impression they’ considered them destroyed and were no longer interested in them. Wouldn’t b the first time, both sides knew it.

You cut your losses. Made no sense wasting precious resources chasing after a lost cause. Jess knew if she hadn’t made her own way out in her last gig chances were no rescue would have been attempted for her.

She didn’t resent that. It was just the way it was – they were valuable resources, sure, but they were, as she’d told Dev, expendable when there were other things at stake.

Her comm buzzed, and she tapped it. “Drake.”

“We meeting?” Jason asked. “Weather tanked.”

“Yeah. Bring Elaine over.” Jess said. “We’ll be plus eight to go, but might as well go over the outline.”

“Be there.” Jason cut the comm off.

Jess leaned over and tapped another button. “Dev?” She waited. After a pause, she tapped again. “Dev?”

With a soft crackle the circuit opened “Yes.” The bio alt’s voice responded. “My apologies. I was investigating the wet space.”

“The what?” Jess stared in puzzlement at the comm..

“There is a space in the sanitary facility with a pipe over it.”

“Oh. The shower.” Jess said. “You were taking one.” She listened to the faint sound of breathing coming over the comm., as her new next door neighbor considered what she’d said. That was one thing she’d noticed about Dev – she waited to talk until she knew what she wanted to say.

“Yes.” Dev finally concluded. “If you mean, I went under the pipe and got very wet.” She added. “That was unusual.”

“You don’t have showers upside?” Jess found herself weirdly distracted by this odd conversation.

“We do.” Dev said. “But they don’t involve getting wet.”

“Oh.’ Jess said. “Well, dry off and come over. We’re going to run the plan.”

“All right.” The bio alt replied. “Thank you.”

The comm cut off. Jess gazed at it in bemusement for a minute, then she went back to the console screen and started assembling the information she would need to lay out the statistics and the routes to her colleagues.

Two minutes, and a knock on the inner door sounded. Jess pressed the ingress key and the door slid open, revealing Dev’s slim figure. The bio alt’s hair was damp, slicked back off her forehead and giving her finely etched features a slightly tougher cast. “So water’s a novelty for ya, huh?”

Dev sat down in one of the chairs across from Jess’s workspace. “Running water, yes.” She agreed. “They made all the water in the crèche. They told us it was expensive. The natural borns had it, I think, in their quarters but we used flash rad to clean our skins.”

Jess leaned on her elbows. “Radiation?”

Dev nodded. “It would burn off our sleepclothes and the first layer or so of skin.” She said. “Effective way to get rid of dirt and any bacteria.” She inspected her hand. “I think I like water better.”

A soft chime came at the outer door. Jess pressed the release button, then sat back as Jason and Elaine entered. “C’mon in” She swiveled both displays around and slid them back so everyone could see them as they approached warily and took the seats next to Dev.

“Okay.” Jess sorted out the sheets. “Weather cranked us.”

“Heard that.” Jason said. “Shaking the roof upstairs.”

Jess nodded. “Big e-stat storm coming overhead. Met figures it’ll clear by oh six.” She touched a control, and displayed a map on the screen. “Here’s the frontal boundary.”

“Big one.” Elaine commented. “Wouldn’t want to be out in that. Is it going to reach the other side?”

“That’s our cover.” Jess ran the scan forward. “See that? It’s scheduled over the drop site just before twelve hundred. We come in behind it. “

Both Jason and Elaine nodded.

“Then we…” Jess motioned between herself and Dev. “Split off, and head for the front door of the lab there.” She pointed. “You two come around the side here, and tuck in behind the cliffs.”

“You’re not going to drop in there, Jess.” Jason said. “That’s suicide.”

Jess shook her head. “Not in my plans but I want them to think I am. “ She said. “I’ll take out the outer post here.. “She pointed at a lonely outcropping surrounded by sea. “With the guns and then come in at wave level. “

“Freak them out.” Elaine said. “And with the chop they can’t be sure you’re alone.”

Jess nodded.

“So then we wait for the plugs to rush off to grab you, and we go get Dirk and Patrick.” Jason said. “We get out. You get out, you join us, we run for home.”

Jess nodded again. “Real basic. Nothing fancy. We just want to get them back.” She pushed two slips of film at them. “Here’s the plotting coordinates. If I were you, I’d wait until we’re underway to program em in.”

Both agents looked very uncomfortable. “Brents gonna freak.”

Jess shrugged. “Fact is, Bain said he thought someone was still talking from inside.” She said. “You want to risk it?”

“Jess.” Elaine leaned back and crossed her legs at the ankles. “I was thinking about that. Doesn’t make sense they’d use the same vector twice. They don’t, y’know?”

Jess grunted.

“How do we know it’s not … I mean, maybe it was Bricker.” Jason said. “I remember taking classes with him a year ago or so – he didn’t seem like such a hothead jerk back then. I liked him.” He went on. “So maybe he was turned, and he turned Josh?”

“Jase’s right. He has changed… or he did change, anyway.” Elaine agreed. “When he was a group leader, I always thought you could trust him. Hell – he was given just like we were.”

It was tempting. Jess studied her colleagues, and the silently watching bio alt. Tempting to think it was all Bricker, and now that he was dead, they could relax and be safe again. “Josh liked Bricker.” She allowed. “He used to have dinner and drinks with him.”

Elaine eyed her. “Rumor said more.”

Jess put it all aside. “Maybe.” She lifted a hand. “But right now, we don’t’ have time to look at that. Let’s get the teams back, then we can regroup. If we’re lucky, you’re right, and it was him but if you don’t tell your techs, and the plan gets spilled we know two things – one, you were wrong and it wasn’t him, and two, there’s still someone out there.”

“Damn I hope it was.” Jason groused. “I hate walking around with clouds over my head, and we’ve got the new group coming in next month on top of it. That’s twelve more unknown vectors. “

Six new agents, six new techs, fresh from the ops academy. “I know.” Jess agreed. “But it’ll be good to get some of those empty bays back in action. I ‘m starting to feel like a really dying breed here.”

They were all silent after that.

“So, flight deck at oh four?” Jason finally said. “I’m going to get some bunk time. My head’s exploding.” He stood up, stretching his body out. “Meet you all for breakfast?”

Jess and Elaine nodded, and Elaine stood to join him in leaving. They stood in awkward silence, then they turned and went to the door, leaving Jess and Dev alone behind them.

Jess studied the door somberly for a moment, before she turned her attention back to the bio alt. “You ready to do this?” She asked bluntly.

Dev considered the question. “I have done all the reviews I can on the sims.” She said. “I am as prepared to execute your request as I can be, given the circumstances.”

“Sims aren’t the real thing.”

“I know.” Dev said. “I’ll do the best I can.”

They were both quiet for a minute. “So you figured out the shower, huh?” Jess said. “I never thought about that whole water thing upside. We have so much of it.” She paused. “Want to see a lot more than that shower?”

Dev’s eyes searched her face with interest. “Sure.”

“C’mon.” Jess got up. “It’s close to dark, but we can still see it.” She led the way out of her quarters and went along the corridor, turning left at the central corridor and heading down a dark gray painted hall.

They passed three section scans, then she turned right and went into a longer corridor with low, green tinted lights. It was empty except for the two of them, and as they continued, the air became a little thicker and wetter.

“We can only stay out a few minutes. Storm’s coming overhead.” Jess turned a final corner and faced a thick metal door, with a prominent palm scan. Letters stenciled in black on it were clearly visible.

“Exernal Access. This is an airlock.” Dev read them. ‘What does that mean?”

Jess grinned, and keyed the door. It opened with a grinding, sucking sound revealing a square metal box. She stepped inside, and waited as Dev joined her with a somewhat cautious look at the stark walls.

Then she keyed the outer door, and processed the lock. The inner door sealed, and then the outer released, with a pressure change that made their ears pop. At once, the box was filled with the intense smell of salt and a damp wind buffeted them with a roar.

Jess stepped forward onto a small rocky outcropping, and leaned her arms on the rough stone wall. After a moment’s hesitation, Dev joined her, the bio alt’s hair and her own lashed back by the ferocious wind.

Dev put her hands on the stone, the surface feeling cold and damp under her touch as the airlock door closed behind them.

It was strange. She was looking out over a wild, white ruffled surface under a cap of solid, multilayered dark and light gray, and in the distance she could hear a heavy, almost continuous rumble. “W.. .what is this?” She asked, raising her voice above the sound.

“It’s the ocean.” Jess replied. “This is what used to be called the Atlantic Ocean, matter of fact. “ She glanced around at the high cliffs, weather worn and stark. “It’s water.”

Dev looked out over the wild scene, breathing in the rich, mineral scented air. The water was only about a hundred feet below them, crashing against the wall of rock sending spray up so high it almost reached them.

It was amazing. Dev could only stare at it in wonder, it was so unlike anything she’d ever experienced or thought she would experience. “It’s big.”

Jess chuckled. “It’s very big.” She agreed. “We’ll be flying over it tomorrow. “ She touched the wall. “These cliffs this old place is tunneled into used to have a huge waterfall coming over it. Now the water’s taken over. “ She looked down at the surging waves. “It’s our life now. We generate power by it, take food from it, and it’s why you have a water shower. We’ve got plenty of it. About the only thing in the world we have plenty of.”

Dev could feel the rumble move through her, and she looked out over the surface of the water, seeing a seething motion that seemed never ending. She edged forward and looked down over the wall, seeing the white foam at the base of the cliff washing over the rocks and rushing in and out of holes she caught a brief glimpse of.

They were standing on a small niche, with room for probably a dozen people on it. “What is this for?” She asked Jess. “This little place?”

“Just for us to look.” Jess answered. “To see storms coming in.” She pointed a a line of gray. “That’s what’s keeping us here tonight instead of going out. See those flashes?”

“Yes.”

“Electromagnetic surges. They’ll knock a carrier right out of the sky. Shorts the systems out.”

“Oh.” Dev could see the crackling bolts, and the flashes in the far off clouds. “That sounds difficult.”

“We have a cavern downstairs.” Jess said. “Sometimes we go down there, when it’s calmer, and swim.”

“Swim?”

“We jump in the water. In the ocean.”

Dev looked at her with unabashed wide eyed astonishment.

The rumble got a lot louder, and Jess turned and keyed the door. “Time to go in. Storms too close.” She waited for the panel to enter, then ducked inside and closed the door as soon as Dev cleared it. When it shut, the sudden lack of sound was almost ear ringing.

Dev ran her fingers through her hair, straightening the wind blown disarray. “That was amazing. Thank you for showing it to me.” She licked her lips a little. “It’s salty.”

“Yes.” Jess agreed. “Ocean’s full of salt. We scrub it to make it drinkable and then the salt’s used for cooking with the rest of the stuff they scrape out of it.”

They walked along in silence for a few minutes. “Do the colors mean something?” Dev asked as they crossed from the gray back into the dark blue, heading for the lighter blue of the residential corridor.

“Sort of. They say they used to all be the same color, and everyone spent all their time getting lost so they changed them up so at least you can see if you’re in ops.. that’s the blue tones, or med, that’s yellow, or security, that’s red, and so on. There’s a chart in the docs in the system. You can look it up.”

Dev thought about that. “They did that upside too.” She said. “You could tell where you were, what level, and that kind of thing by the walls.” She paused. “But it wasn’t as big as this and there was nothing like what you just showed me. The only thing a little bit like that was the null grav gym.”

Jess keyed her door open. “The what?” She waved Dev forward.

“Null gravity gym. It was a big padded place they turned off grav in, and you got to play catch me, and ball, and do exercises.” Dev said. “It was in the top of the crèche, and it had a clear ceiling, You could float for a minute, sometimes, and just watch the stars.”

“Stars.” Jess paused in the center of her quarters. “I’ve read about those.”

Dev stopped at the internal door between their quarters and looked back. “If you ever come to the crèche, I’ll show them to you.” She offered. “I think they’re really nice but not nearly as exciting as the ocean is.”

Jess met her eyes, then looked away with the faintest of smiles. “Get some rest.” She ordered. “The alarm will go off at 0300. Then we’ll get to see if Bricker and Bain were right, and you’re worth something to the job or not.”

Dev nodded, then passed through into her own bunk, letting the door shut behind her.

Jess looked at the door briefly. Then she started towards her workspace, but midway there changed her mind and went back to her bed instead. She lay down on it and put her hands behind her head, looking up at the mica infested ceiling of the chamber.

“Stars.” She murmured. “Huh.”

**

Dev went to the wardrobe module and examined the drawers again. In the crèche, she’d slept in the soft paper garments they all changed into before getting into the sleep pods, which would be sucked off and recycled the following morning.

Here she wasn’t really sure what to do. After a few moments thought, she stripped out of the jumpsuit and hung it up, leaving her in her underwear. Then she put on a light undershirt she’d found on the shelves, that came down to her mid thigh, and had half sleeves.

That seemed all right. She went over and pulled the covers down on the bed, climbing into it and pulling them back over her. The surface of the bed conformed to her at once, and the lights dimmed, and she felt the covers warm to her skin.

She was tired. With the time alteration and the early start to her day, the tension and the activity had kept her on edge since they’d left the crèche and now she was glad to relax her body, and know she had some time to rest before her first big trial.

It was exhausting, she’d discovered, to be in such a strange place, with all strange people, all disliking her for various different reasons.

No one really wanted her to be there. She was a little sad about that, because having a placement here had been so exciting for her, despite how hard and strange the programming had been. She had been looking forward to being able to use that training, and it made her feel bad to know that so many people here were against that.

Only the man with the gun seemed to be for it, and Doctor Dan. The agents didn’t seem to trust her, and the other techs definitely didn’t want her around.

Then there was Jess.

Dev thought about Jess. She wasn’t really sure what Jess’s view on her was. She’d gotten the impression, in fact, Jess had said outright that she was working with her just because the ma with the gun wanted her to.

She had said, also, that she didn’t consider Dev a real part of her team, just a driver.

It seemed quite clear.

But really, Jess had been the only one in the place so far who had a friendly word for her, and who had offered to help her find her way.

Was that because the man with the gun wanted it that way? Dev rolled onto her side and settled her head comfortably on the pillow. If so, she was glad. At least there was someone who was willing to talk to her like she was a real person.

She wanted to do well for Jess. She’d gone through the sim a dozen times, and hoped it would be enough to let her drive the carrier for real.

She trusted her programming. She only hoped Jess would trust her.

**

The alarm bonged softly at 0300. Jess blinked, as the lights inside adjusted and produced a quiet glow that gently illuminated her quarters. With automatic motions, she got out of bed and shook herself, letting the last shreds of sleep fall away.

Wisps of her last dream faded with them and she didn’t’ try to recall what it was. There was an aching tension in her shoulders that meant it was a bad one and she was just glad it hadn’t gone on long enough to wake her screaming.

She retrieved a mug of kack from the dispenser and opened it, taking a long swallow as she walked into the sanitary unit as the lights helpfully came up inside. She used the facility, then she started the shower running, pausing before she entered to go back into the main area and trigger comms to the overhead speaker on listen.

The familiar drone of the ops center filled the air and she listened for a minute, hearing nothing alarming, and then went back and took off her sleepware and stepped into the steaming water.

It felt good and she stood for a bit, letting the water pound against her. She pulled in a breath full of steam, the flat metallic scent of the water so very familiar to her. She took a handful of scrub and burnished her skin with it, then used another handful and washed her hair.

Old custom. Most people in the world now used dry scrub or didn’t bother. The rain came almost every day, and everyone got caught out in it. To deliberately wet yourself was something that had come to be seen as wasteful and strange, but here in the fortress they all did.

They had the hydro power to run the desals, and the scrub was made from throwaway elements, so why not? Jess rinsed her hair out again, and stood for another moment, letting the hot water relax her muscles. It was one of the marks of Interforce, that neatly cropped, clean shaven look that was a long ago holdover from the national forces they’d all descended from.

She got out and shut the water down, then toweled herself dry and made her way thorugh the main chamber to the dressing station, popping it open and taking out a set of underwear and putting them on. Then she opened the second part of her cabinet and removed a drop suit, slipping into it and snapping the catches on.

Unlike the jumpsuit they all typically wore in the facility, this was different. It was far heavier and had lightweight body armor built into it protecting her most vital areas. There were integrated comms and leads for the carrier systems and buckles and clips for her weapons.

She picked up her boots and carried them to the workstation, leaning a finger on the comms. “Dev?”

“Yes.” The answer came back immediately.

“Ready?” Jess asked.

“Yes.”

“C’mon in here.” Jess released the button and sat down to pull her boots on. A moment later the inner door opened and her tech entered. She briefly scanned her slight form, noting she had found and put on the carrier ops rig and was holding her own boots in her hand. “Sit.”

Dev did, putting down one boot and putting on the other.

“You sleep okay?” Jess asked. “I can imagine most of this is pretty strange.”

Dev glanced up at her. “Really well, thank you.” She said. “It’s very comfortable.” She put on her other boot. “I really like the wet thing. It makes my skin feel good.”

“The shower?” Jess smiled briefly. “Yeah, I like it too.” She stood up, and after Dev did also, she scrutinized the bio alt’s gear with a critical eye. “They give you programming for this?” She pointed at the suit.

“Yes.” Dev said. “But also, there are some things that are left to natural sense.” She said. “Like putting underwear on, and that sort of thing. We don’t need programming for that.”

Jess started chuckling. “You are really different from the rest of the bio’s we have here.” She admitted. “Are there many like you topside?”

Dev straightened her cuff a little. “I’m the only one they’ve produced in my set so far.” She said. “So I guess no.”

“Ah.” Jess pulled her hair back in a tail and quickly braided it, then tucked it into her collar. “So you’re one of a kind, eh?”

“Yes.”

Well, that was interesting. Jess climbed the steps up to her weapons locker. “Let me just get rigged, and we’ll grab some chow.” She opened up the case and took out the stun knives, sliding them into their sheaths and added her sidearm into it’s holster.

Her heavy weapons were in the carrier, but she took the time to clip on a utility flash and a multitool then she trotted down the steps and waved Dev towards the door. “Let’s go, kid.” She said. “Time to make the doughnuts.”

Dev followed her willingly, but had a slightly perplexed expression on her face. “What’s a doughnut?” She asked. “And how do you make them?”

“They’re mythological.” Jess said.

“Oh.”

**

Dev had to stop a moment just to stare when they entered the carrier hanger. It was a huge cavern, larger than any space she’d ever seen inside before, and it was full of parked vehicles, most huddling in the dark.

Three were lit, however, and several bio alt mechanics were moving around them with pads and tools. Jess headed towards the one furthest on the left and she quickly trotted to catch up with her as Elaine and Jason split off and went to their own crafts.

Overhead were giant panels in the roof, on tracks that apparently opened to let the carriers out. The whole place smelled of organics and synth oil, and echoed with the sounds of latches engaging and bangs of tools.

Dev’s eyes took in the carrier Jess was nearing. Her programming kicked in, and the outline of the squat, powerful vehicle hit familiar chords as information about it poured in. The outside color was mottled gray, except for the identification code stenciled outside the hatch, and Jess’s last name printed underneath it.

Jess palmed the hatch lock and ducked inside as it opened and Dev followed her, trying to take everything in as quickly as she could.

Programming gave her the inside before she saw it, and she nodded as she moved past the strapped down bucket seat Jess would ride in and went up into the nose of the carrier, where a second station was waiting for her.

The inside of the carrier was packed with gear. Mostly electronic, monitoring and scanning systems, gyros, and positioning rigs. To one side a rack was lashed that held long muzzled laser rifles and one heavy projectile cannon, and the drop pack with it’s jet systems.

Dev went to the pilot’s seat and settled into it, feeling the gimbals shift as it took her weight. She took a breath and looked around at the console, comforted when a mental image of the sim settled over the reality of the controls and they started making sense to her.

“Run the checklist.” Jess’s voice was cool and a little distracted.

“Yes.” Dev flexed her hands, and settled back into the seat, waiting a moment until the programming kicked in and her fingers reached out to start the sequence. ‘Systems coming live.” She warned, as the console came to life and in rapid succession, the equipment packs to her right and left followed.

Jess slowly sat down and watched in bemusement as the carrier came alive around her, as the slim hand of the bio alt went through touches and settings as though she’d done it many times before.

Dev activated the leads and hooked them into her suit, sliding the comm rig over her head and tucking the ear cups into place. She flicked her eyes to the registration number and then keyed in a command. “Carrier BR27006 systems check.”

“Stand by.” A mechanical voice answered. “Stand by BR27006.”

“Standing by.” Dev said. She looked at the console readouts, and pulled a pad over, keying in the various settings and supplies they reported. She saw an incoming request, and reviewed it. “They are asking to setup an intercom.”

“Go ahead.” Jess said. “That’s Jason. It’s so we can talk to each other.”

“Intercom set to channel 4500, sideband 2.” Dev spoke into the comms. “Read back?”

“Confirmed.” A male voice answered. “Channel 4500, sideband 2. Brent out.”

Jess quickly checked the heavy arms, then she reached over and punched the door seal, closing out the sounds of the carrier bay. At once, the internal sounds of the vehicle, the click and whir of the life support, and the low hum of the pre start engines became obvious.

She could see Dev making adjustments, and she pulled her own pad over, and scanned the system readouts. After a moment, she looked at the back of the pilot’s chair and let out a small, surprised breath. “Damn.”

“BR27006, systems check complete.” A voice called quietly in Dev’s ear. “Stand by for switch to internal systems.”

“Standing by.” Dev watched the readouts, as the umbilicals were removed and they were on internal power. She could see the spool ups for the two big engines and the launch jets and she triggered the restraint system that closed around her holding her snugly to her seat.

Her feet in the boots found the side jet controls, the chair gimbal moving to adjust for her height. Now that the internal systems were online, whispered voices started in her ear as systems came up to flight ready and reported to her. “I think we’re set.” She reported to Jess. “Everything’s online and green.”

Jess was seated in her chair, with her arms folded. “You actually know how to do this.”

Dev turned in her seat and looked back at Jess. “Yes.”

“Unreal.” Jess settled a comm set over her own head and triggered it. “Blue group 1, Blue group controller.”

“One, Tac 1.”

“One, Tac 2.”

The answers came back in clipped tones. “Report ready.” Jess said. “We are ready and standing by to launch.”

Bare hesitation. “Tac 1 ready.” Jason answered. “Standing by.”

“Tac 2 ready’ Elaine followed a beat later. “Standing by.”

“Ask control to open the gates.” Jess told Dev. “We’ll launch first, you all follow. When we get to the first set of coordinates, I’ll split right you split left. Copy?”

“Understood.” Jason reported.

“Gotcha.” Elaine said.

“Control, this is BR27006. Requesting access for flight please.” Dev spoke into the comms.

Even through the hull of the carrier, they could hear the roof opening, the huge metal panels grinding apart and allowing a thunder of water into the bay, drops falling and slamming into the carrier roof with a muted roar.

Dev settled herself and put her hands on the engine throttle controls, her mind going over her next few steps. She was glad she had the programming so solid for this, everything seemed familiar to her and the readouts all clicked in her mind.

“BR27006 this is control.” The voice said. “Access is granted. Launch when ready.”

“Go.” Jess said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Dev took a deep breath, and let it out, then she thumbed the launch jet controls and felt the carrier shift under her. In the next moment, they were rising past the carriers on either side, and she gently puffed the side jets to position them under the wide opening.

It was like the sim, and not. The rumbling and the sensation was the same, but there was a spatial difference she realized immediately and she gave the launch jets a little more power to get them up and out of the cavern.

Below her, she spotted the two other carriers lifting to follow, and then she was above the hatches and into the steady rain still falling around them. She shifted sideways again, and rotated the carrier 360 degrees on the horizon, looking at the endless expanse of craggy lifeless land and then the equally endless expanse of ocean.

The two other carriers emerged from the cavern, and hovered, as the big panels slid shut. Dev programmed into the coordinates Jess had given her, and then she turned. “Ready to fly.”

Jess was still watching her, with her arms crossed, and a bemused smile on her face. “Let’s go, then.” She said. “So far, you’re doing fine.”

Dev smiled back, then she turned and settled herself again. She opened the controls for the propulsion engines and triggered them, waiting for them to engage forward motion before she shut down the launch jets and they started forward.

The rumble of the carrier grew and the engines spooled up, increasing their speed as they left the cliffs behind and headed out over open water. It was very dark, but the multiband sensors in her forward display let Dev see in front of her as though it were daylight.

She increased the speed, and then settled down to watch the readouts, tweaking the trim on the carrier until the outer rumble slowed, then faded, as they went through the speed of sound.

“Jess.” The intercom crackled.

“Yes, Jason?” Jess leaned back in her chair.

“You driving that thing?”

Jess chuckled. “Nope. I’m sitting in the back, about to start checking my guns.”

“Shit.”

Dev glanced behind her. “I’m sorry if I’m causing him disturbance.” She returned her attention to the readouts, making a slight adjustment to their trim.

“That was a compliment. Don’t’ worry about it.” Jess said. “Okay, I’m going to check out the weapons systems. Don’t make any loud noise. I’ve got a jumpy trigger finger and I don’t want to shoot Jason’s butt from under him.”

Dev’s eyes widened a little, and she turned around again to look at Jess.

Jess grinned, and winked. “Keep your eyes on the road, kid. We’re going to have us some fun.”

**

The long trip had given Dev ample opportunity to explore all the controls on the carrier and she was now reasonably comfortable with them, settled back in her chair as the water skimmed under them for mile after mile of ruffled white gray surface.

Jess had tuned the weapons systems that were rooted in her console, laser cannons mounted on all sides of the carrier along with two racks of flash bombs in eject tubes. Now she was working with the pad at her station, keying in trims on the cannons and keeping an eye on their progress.

She hadn’t spoken much. Dev occasionally glanced back at her, noting the absorbed expression as s she went about her tasks. “Sixty minutes to edge of the storm.” She said, as Jess looked up and met her eyes.

“Good.” Jess said. “Okay, here’s the plan.” She got up and came over to where Dev was sitting, kneeling at her side with her pad in her hand. “This is the layout of the base.” She leaned her forearm on the arm of Dev’s chair and indicated a wiremap diagram.

Dev looked at it attentively. There was a triangular block in the center, with a tracing over it outlining entrances and a landing field. “Okay.”

“We go past the Gibralter outpost.” Jess pointed at the wedge. “That’s where they should pick us up and start chasing us from.” She moved the pad image along and pointed at a set of scattered islands. “That’s the Spanish Archipelego where most of the experimentation happens, and this is the control center at Andorra.” She indicated another large wedge. “That’s our target.”

Dev nodded.

“The service port those other teams were going for is here.” Jess swiped at the pad, enlarging the wedge and pointing out a ruggedly cut square depression just below the summit, obviously a landing pad. “They’re pinned down here.” She swiveled the diagram and pointed to an uneven overhang in a narrow part of a V shaped crack in the rock.

“Okay.” Dev agreed.

“So the tricky part is, we need to keep this thing in one piece while they chase us.” Jess said. “It’s got halfway decent shielding but it won’t take more than a couple direct hits, and being blown to molecules would ruin my day.”

“Yes.” Dev nodded. “Mine too.”

“So you need to let them get close enough to think they’re going to catch us, but not close enough for them to nail us. “ Jess said. “You can use these ridges here, and the edge of the cliffs - they have to think we’re going for the service port.”

“Okay.”

“So then we are.” Jess said. “You’re going to put me down in that entrance and I’m going to leave them a calling card just for what they did to me the last time.”

Dev looked at her. “I don’t remember you going over that in the plan.”

Jess smiled. “What I didn’t tell everyone they can’t tell anyone else.” She said. “If Bain’s right, and there’s another leak inside Interforce, then they’ll expect me to just try and draw them off from the others, which means, they won’t really chase me. “

“Okay.” Dev nodded slowly.

“So then I can get into the service port, and give them something to really worry about. That will draw them off.”

“But they’ll come after you.”

“You’ll have to draw them off, then come back and pick me up.” Jess agreed. “It’ll be tight.”

“I’m sorry, you did realize I’ve never actually done this before.” Dev reminded her. “That wasn’t anything I ever even sim’d.”

Jess studied her face, at fairly close range. “So we’ll find out for sure if you’ve got the chops for it. Otherwise, chances are we’ll both croak.”

Dev studied her somberly. ‘That seems like a non optimal plan.” She commented. “Are you sure you want to do it?”

Jess felt a prickle of surprise. One thing Joshua had never done was question her. Techs didn’t. They weren’t the strategic part of the deal. What did this bio alt know about risk anyway? She looked back at Dev, taking a breath to tell her off when she was caught by the expression on her face.

Serious. Intent.

Concerned.

She re-sounded the question in her head. “Why wouldn’t I want to do it?” She countered.

“Well.” Dev glanced at her consoles, then back at jess. “If something happens and it doesn’t work, then both the other teams, and two with us, and you and I might not return. Does this achieve your goals?”

Jess revised her anger. “I’m gambling on the fact that theyre more interested in me than the others. If I focus them on me, the rest of the teams have a much better chance of getting out of here in one piece.”

Dev considered that, and they sat in silence studying each other. “I will do the best I can to do what you ask then.” She finally said. “It would be a good thing if we all got out in one piece.” She swiveled around and put a hand to one ear. “BR27006.”

“Long range scan, one inbound.” The soft speech sounded in her ear.

“What is it?” Jess asked, since she’d left her commset back on her station.

“They say they are picking up a single signal inbound to us.” Dev said. “Directly ahead.”

‘Interesting.” Jess scuttled back to her station and slid into her chair, swinging the commset up and onto her head. She pulled the pad around and started tapping on it, her eyes flicking to the various screens and readouts on her own console.

Dev focused on the air ahead of them, still full of rain, and wisps of cloud they were traveling through. She adjusted her scans and after a minute, they picked up the inbound signal also, a quick pan showing no identifying squirts that would mark them friend or otherwise.

It was coming fast, though. The comp quickly tabulated a vector and she heard Jess behind her starting to activate the weapons systems.

Her harness snugged down and the inside lights, already fairly dim, went to ice blue. She saw two panels come active and she adjusted the power leads from the engines as they shunted energy to the weapons systems Jess was now spooling up.

Dev took hold of the throttles and keyed off auto gen, holding the course by hand as she adjusted the side jets. The incoming object was heading right for them, and now the scan was warning distance. “Five minutes out.”

“Do you have an ident?”

“No.” Dev flexed her hands on the throttles. “Do you want me to evade it?”

“Hang on.” Jess got her hands into the triggering gloves and activated the targeting system. At once, she had a heads up display of what Dev was seeing through the front windows, and side panels that showed her the sensors on the outside of the carrier. “Let it come close enough for visual, then turn to port and come up over it.”

“Okay.” Dev reviewed what she’d have to do, and nodded to herself. She put the scan up on one monitor and watched it, seeing the blip getting larger and larger on the display.

“Tac 1, Tac2.” Jess’s voice sounded over the intercom. “We’re going to engage the incoming. Stand clear of my zenith please.”

“Done.”

“Clear.”

The male voices answering almost sounded alike, except one was a little deeper than the other. Dev had met the other two techs at the dining hall and their reaction to her had been so unfriendly that Jess had felt she needed to say something to them about it.

Dev wasn’t sure that was a good thing. She understood why they felt the way they did. Certainly, she thought the two men and also the other agents had resented Jess’s words. But she had to admit to herself she had gotten a certain odd sensation when it had happened that she still hadnt’ figured out.

“Okay, here it comes.” Jess said. “Get ready.”

“Ready.” Dev replied. She focused her attention on the forward window, trading the scans for realtime. Ahead of her, she could see the heavy cloud bank they were flying under and she searched the edges of it for the first sight of the oncoming craft.

A faint flicker, then there it was. “Visual.” Dev said. “Evading.” She took the craft into a bowing turn to the left, then hit the bottom jets and the starboard side ones, boosting the carrier up and over the intruder.

“Circle back.” Jess yelled.

Dev held the turn, then rotated the throttles and blended the jets to bring the carrier around in a tight turn, half on it’s side . She spotted the craft and dropped down to come alongside it, close enough now to see it clearly. “It’s another one of these.” She said in surprise.

“Fuckers.” Jess slid around in her station. “Tac 1, Tac 2 loose empty, probably rigged. I’m going to take it out clear standby.”

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

“Hold her steady.” Jess told Dev, as she brought the guns to bear and and fired at point blank range. As a stitching of fire creased the other carrier a bright pinprick of fire erupted near the engines. “Crap! Take her up! Hurry!”

Dev reacted instantly, kicking in the bottom jets and hauling the throttles up at full power, booting the starboard thrusters and peeling the carrier off at a high G high speed arc that took them up into the clouds.

An explosion behind them rocked the air, rumbling through the carrier walls as they punched through the lower cloud layer, and they were between that and the upper one. Dev hit the scan and located the other two carriers, and completed the turn, pitching down through the clouds again and sending out a location burst ahead of them on shortwave before she hauled the carrier into a tight turn to bring them back on course.

Her heart was hammering, a little. She was almost at the point where she was overrunning the programming, the sims not quite up to replicating the events she found herself a part of.

“Okay.”

“Erf.”

Dev glanced quickly back over her shoulder, spotting Jess righting herself in her chair. “Are you all right?”

“Peachy.” Jess put her commset back on. “Tac 1, Tac 2. Stable?”

“Stable, confirmed kill.” Jason answered. “Nice. Sent a squirt.”

“Stable.” Elaine echoed. “Close in scan showed that to be BR24004.”

Jess exhaled. “Crap.”

“Got that.” Jason replied. “So we know.”

“Damn it.” Jess muttered, clicking off comm and staring at the readouts. “Damn it, damn it. They’re probably both gone. This is a goose chase. That was one of the two carriers that we’re after.”

Dev adjusted her controls again and put the carrier back on auto nav. She half turned again in her seat and looked back at Jess. “I’m sorry, but does that mean the people we’re going to try and retrieve are not as expected?”

Jess gazed quietly into nothing for a moment. “They’re probably either dead or wish they were.” She said. “It’s hard to get into one of these carriers if the people inside it don’t’ want you to.” She glanced at the hatch. “There’s an integrity sensor and when it’s breached the gun systems implode.”

“Oh.”

“That carrier looked untouched.” Jess felt sad. “So they must have been let in, to tamper with it, and given codes.”

“Oh.” Dev’s voice took on a completely different tone. “You’re… “ She paused. “We’re not supposed to do that.” She corrected herself. ‘Programming told me.”

“No, Dev. We’re not supposed to do that.” Jess sighed.

“So are we continuing on this course?” Dev asked after a long moment’s silence.

Jess sat back in her seat. “Let me think about that for a bit, kid.” She let her head rest against the back of the chair. “Just keep us on track for now.”

Dev turned back around and ran her eye over her settings, then she peered out the forward window, seeing the bulky outline of the clouds overhead in the eerie glow of the infrared. She checked the clock, and snugged her straps a bit tighter, wishing she had a drink of water somewhere around.

She heard Jess unstrapping and moving around, but she kept her eyes forward, watching the horizon for the first sign of land, wondering how this latest development was going to change the plan.

After about five minutes, Jess appeared at her elbow, handing over a sealed vacuum container and opening one of her own. “If it were two carriers I just blew up, we’d have turned back already.”

Dev examined the container, and opened it, finding a cold, slightly fizzy beverage inside. She took a sip of it, wondering if Jess had somehow heard what she was thinking.

“But there’s still a team there.” Jess went on. “And I can’t just go back and leave them and not know.”

“Okay.” Dev nodded. “I’m sorry something happened to that other one. I hope it isn’t as bad as you think it is.” She lifted the container. “Thank you for the drink. I needed one.”

Their eyes met briefly. “There’s a dispenser there, behind the scan console. It’s tucked in back, you can barely see it.” Jess said. “Sorry. Should have told you when we came in. It’s not standard.” She was perched on the edge of the console, running the edge of her finger against the container.

Dev wasn’t sure what to do. She sipped her drink, watching her readouts and from the corner of her eye, watching the silent figure at her left hand side.

“Anyway.” Jess straightened abruptly. “So maybe we won’t drop. At this point, I don’t know what to expect when we get there.” She went back to her station and sat down, setting the container in a swinging holder as she went back to looking at scan.

Dev put her own cup down and ran over the engine settings, making sure the power levels were where they needed to be and everything looked normal.

Normal. Dev had to rub the bridge of her nose for a moment. Normal? She had gone from her classes in the crèche to driving a half strange transport into a big fight in just a sun’s complete turn. Her life could not possibly have changed more than it had in the last day.

Could not possibly.

“Thirty minutes to the edge of the storm. “ She told Jess.

Jess put her pad away and drained her drink. She got up and went to the drop pack, checking the harness carefully and running the device thorugh its diagnostic checks. Little more than a set of small, tightly controlled air jets it was designed to let a person wearing it fall out of the lower hatch of a carrier and land without killing themselves.

Or that was the theory anyway. Jess had several long healed bone breaks from using the thing, but it was safer and more controlled than either gliders or chutes and in an area like they were going into, full of cliffs and rocks, at least it would give her a chance at an upright landing.

She opened the harness up and got it clipped, ready for her to step into if the time came. Then she set up one of the big laser rifles in it’s holder on one side, and a grenade launcher on the other, balancing out the weight.

She made sure they were secured, then she sat back down in her seat and powered up the weapons systems again.

So what was the plan now? Jess glanced up at the pilots seat. Joshua would have asked a dozen times already, nervously messing with switches and toggles up there. In contrast, Dev was quietly running her checks, and getting ready to take the ship off auto nav, her eyes never ceasing to move over the readouts watching them closely.

Very surprisingly competent. Jess was uncomfortably stunned at the level of knowledge the crèche had given this kid in a week, aware of just how long it would have taken a natural born person to get to this level.

On the one hand, at least she knew the kid probably wasn’t going to drive the bus into a cliff. At least, not more so than any of the other techs. ON the other hand, if they could do this with just one week’s lead time…

Holy shit. Maybe that’s what Bain really wanted. Get rid of all the troublesome, stubborn artifacts in the company and replace them with cute, competent, smart kids.

Who he could trust.

Who he could order by the dozens if he wanted and not have to pay the family tender rights.

Jess stared at the back of Dev’s head. Should she let that happen? “Did you say you were the only one of you?” She asked, suddenly.

Dev turned and looked back. “Yes.” She said. “I always sort of envied my crechemates who were part of a set group. They always had people to talk to.”

Jess managed a brief smile. No, there would be no instant conversion. Even bio alts took the same years to grow up and mature as natural born did. So even if Dev did work out, it would be… “How old are you?”

Dev’s nose wrinkled a little. “Seventeen and a half standard years.” She admitted. “We’re not supposed to be assigned before eighteen, but this was a special request.”

A kid indeed. Jess did the math. Even if it did work out, she’d be either retired to a watchman’s role, or dead by then. So what the hell. “I wont’ tell anyone.” She said. “Let’s get in there, and see what we see. Play it by ear. I’d like to find out at least what happened to our four.”

Dev nodded. “I”ll do my best.”

“I bet you will.”

**

They were moments from the edge of the storm, and Dev throttled back to match the carrier’s speed with with the energy shot edge of clouds she could now clearly see on the horizon. She checked the positioning estimate and saw the edge of the Gibraltar outpost on the far position on the grid.

That was where Jess said they would start chasing them. She rechecked the sensors, moving from one view to another until she was sure they had a good view all around the shuttle so she could see things coming at them.

The scan would tell her positioning, but she knew enough about the systems to know that sometimes they weren’t one hundred percent correct. It was good to be able to see for yourself too. The sims did that - more than once she’d requested a perimeter view and found obstacles, or once even a stalled shuttle that the scan hadn’t reported.

So she checked and rechecked, feeling a nervous ball start to form in her stomach as they crept closer.

This was hard. Dev wasn’t sure she was up to this task, it’s demands overrunning the amount of programming she had for it. She knew what to do, but she also knew things would start happening so fast she would have no time to think about it.

“Okay.” Jess exhaled, bringing her systems live. “Let’s get ready to run the gauntlet, kid.”

Dev had no idea what a gauntlet was or why they would want to run one, but she settled her hands on the controls, put her boots on the thruster pedals and hit the toggle that would flood her comms with all the inputs of the carrier.

Instantly, the sound of the wind outside trickled in, and she could hear the thunder and crackle of the storm. The screens over her seat came alive with views around the carrier and she focused on the forward screen, where she knew the storm would roll over their target any minute.

Behind it, they were hidden. There was so much disruption in the atmosphere in the leading edge no scans could see past it. They were coming in hard behind it, the two other carriers to their left and right, a few thousand feet to their rear.

Dev’s heart started beating faster. She felt uncomfortable, her mouth was dry, and her hands felt shaky. Her forward display was showing the nearby flashes and behind her, she heard Jess hitting contacts, making a strange low noise as she did so.

Disconcerting.

“Dev?”

“Yes?”

“Good luck.” Jess said, in a quiet tone. “Just go with it.”

Dev had no idea what that meant. “Okay.” She agreed. “Storm is over Gibralter, standy by for clearance.”

“Here we go.” Jess brought the targeting systems online and started hunting. “Tac 1, Tac 2. Soon as we clear for scan, split left. We meet at the drop zone. Look for the remaining carrier, and report.”

“Understood.” Jason said. “Meet you on the flip side.”

“Go.” Elaine added. “Luck.”

“Thanks.” Jess said, clicking off just as the storm cleared the rocky promontory and her scan came alive with signals. “They can see us.”

Dev sorted the incoming signals, almost feeling the scans bounce off the hull of the carrier as the storm rolled over the big rock and exposed it’s raw, rugged flank to them. She could see lights peppered across it’s surface, and then a beacon flared out, heading towards them.

Instinctively, she pitched the carrier forward and nosed down, and the beacon flashed past them. Dev saw lights start to flash on the rock face and then scan told her multiple targets were moving towards them and she hauled the throttles up and hit the engines to full.

Two dart shaped forms came whipping towards them. Dev pitched the carrier to bring the nose right between the attackers, trying not to flinch as a barrage of laser fire came right at them.

A bare second later, return fire flashed past in her peripheral vision and the two darts split to either side, and she arched between them, seeing another line of darts now heading their way.

“Draw them to the right.” Jess said. “Get behind the rock then go down to the deck. The waves’ll confuse em.”

Dev waited for the line to come into range, then she pitched down, then hard right as a hail of hard point missiles rattled against the hull.

“Bastards.” Jess twitched her fingers, keeping on scope as the carrier turned half on it’s side, and the projectiles thumped against the well shielded bottom. The gyros kept pace with the motion though and she let loose a burst of laser pulses that streaked against the gray sky and wrote a stitching of fire across one of the darts.

It blossomed into fire and the machine headed for the water, a small ball heading the other direction marking the pilot’s ejection.

Jess tracked the ball, and squeezed off a shot just as her world turned up side down as the carrier did, before it just as quickly rolled around right side up and then she was under at least five G’s as they went into a steep climb.

Targets, targets. Warning bells chimed in her ears and she focused on her task, firing long, ripping bursts at the dozens now of ships heading toward them.

Laser fire was everywhere, blossoming to the right and to the left, and blanking scan briefly as the carrier dodged the shots.

She was heartened, by the reaction. The defenders hadn’t been there waiting for her, she’d had a good ten minutes inbound before they reacted. That could only be a good sign. She now capped off the comms, putting the intercom between her and the other two carriers on battle silence., knowing they would be doing the same. “Go go go.”

Dev didn’t take a second to look back. She was fully engaged in figuring out how to get out of the way of the dozens of ships chasing them, and keeping the carrier in constant erratic motion to dodge the bolts headed their way.

It was scary. She tried to keep them all in view, her heart thumping hard, seeing a group of six heading her way that triggered, suddenly a burst of programming. Something told her about that group, and about that formation and as she pitched away from them she saw them split apart.

She knew, somehow, that they were going to encircle her. She focused on the six, and saw them curving around, and she saw the two heading for the waves to cut off an escape that way. She rolled the carrior and dodged a blinding flash of laser fire then she caught sight of three of the darts closing in on her.

A blast hit them on the left side. She felt the shudder and two red alerts started flashing on the board. Another flash went to portside, and then she twisted the throttles, kicking the side thrusters hard as she slid under one of the darts and the screens momentarily blacked out, as the rumble of counterfire hit at such close quarters it nearly fried the scans.

Another alarm went off as she turned in the other direction, then she pitched the nose down and skimmed past one of the lower guards so close the dart peeled off and dropped into a spiral to avoid hitting them.

Fire erupted all around them. Dev was totally unsure if it was against them or from them, the flares were so vivid it was causing sparkles in her own eyes. She pushed the throttles forward and dove for the waves, seeing them white and stark against the rock as the gray light grew around them.

She saw one of the darts cross her path, and she turned the carrier onto it’s side as the dart fired at point blank range, their bottom armor rumbling as it absorbed the energy, and the vessel shuddered again as their own guns cut loose.

There was an explosion so close to them they lurched sideways in midflight, and she righted their flying angle and looked frantically around. For a moment, they were in the clear and she saw a ledge projecting out from the big rock and she aimed for it, intending to duck under it and curve along the rock.

She could see a sudden flare of lights along the granite surface, and scan erupted as the darts who had been diving at them diverted and streaked for the wall to get between her and it.

She heard Jess laugh behind her, but she wasn’t really sure why. She dodged a spinning dart heading for the waves and reached the ledge moments before the rest of them, turning alongside it and increasing speed as she felt Jess let loose with the guns in a long, continuous, rumbling barrage.

The rumble was replaced with a larger one and all of a sudden the darts were heading away from her, and the rock and she had a clear shot around the edge of the promontory.

“Faster.” Jess commented. “Got a boom coming behind us.”

A what? Dev obediently pushed the throttles forward and kpt as close to the rock as she could, sensing a motion in the air behind them. She checked the rear sensors and her eyes nearly came out of her head when she saw a fireball exploding out from under the ledge.

She hauled up on the controls and shoved the throttles forward again to full speed, hearing the imminent collision alerts and feeling the buffeting as the advance wave of the explosion caught them and she felt the carrier start to tumble.

She went with the motion shoving hard on the side thrusters to keep them away from the rocks as she fought to regain control over the carrier. The two big engines flared, and she was almost deaf from the alarms and the sound of impacts against the hull.

No control. She abruptly cut the engines and felt the carrier drop out of the rampaging explosion and plummet for the surface of the water as the energy flared over their heads.

“Dev?”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t mean to show you the ocean this soon.” Jess’s voice sounded concerned.

“Oh.”

Dev was aware of the approaching surface, and she flared the side and bottom jets, evening out the flight of the carrier before she cut the mains in again so close to the waves they washed the bottom hull.

Then they were past Gibralter, and in free air again. Dev gained altitude and started running checks, watching the scan reports for attackers. “Where are they?”

“Keep moving!” Jess called out. “Head for Alterra.”

Dev started to respond to all the alarms, seeing clear scan for the moment. She shut off all the emergency alerts, starting some of the programs that would repair what could be repaired inflight. The systems started shunting power, whispers in her ear reporting damage and status.

They had taken damage in the rear shielding, and three of the external sensors were gone giving her little view on the port side. The forward sensors cleared after a repair, and she looked out to see a gray lit day and a stretch of ruffled white gray water with a few lumps of island rising in the mist.

Her heartbeat settled a little, as she realized she’d gotten through her very first air battle. “Wow.”

She heard Jess release her harness behind her and after a moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder. With a start, she half turned and looked up, blinking a little sweat out of her eyes. “Yes?”

Jess smiled at her. “Good job.”

Dev smiled tentatively back.

Jess reset some triggers and then retrieved another two of the drink containers, handing one over to Dev before she returned to her own chair.

Dev set the container into it’s swivel and wiped her damp hair back off her brow. She could imagine she still felt the pressure against her shoulder of Jess’s fingers and gave herself a moment, just a small one, to savor this bit of accomplishment.

Then she went back to the boards, continuing the process of resetting alarms and assessing damage. They were running at top speed a thousand feet over the waves and she could see fog rising from the water everywhere, swirling behind them as their exhaust stirred it.

It was eerie, and a little beautiful.

“They’ll be waiting for us at Alterra.” Jess said. “We need to make this fast. I’m feeding you up the coordinates to the science center. Head right for it.” She keyed something into her pad. “Make em believe we’re going to ram this thing right into entrance.”

“Okay.” Dev said. “Are we actually going to do that?”

“No, Dev. Dying’s not on my schedule today.” Jess chuckled a little. “Just make them think we are. Then go somewhere else.”

Go somewhere else. Dev turned and shook her head a little. She saw the coordinates plot on her navigation grid and she flexed her hands, putting them back on the controls and taking off the auto nav.

At the edge of the grid she could see the Alterra escarpment, and as she did, she saw a set of blinking lights erupt from it. “Is that them?”

“Yes,” Jess slammed back into her seat and pulled her controls around. “Looks like they spotted us.”

The lights multiplied and doubled, tripled, filling the screen with alerts and causing the scan to erupt. “There’s a lot of them.”

“Yup.”

Dev could see them coming in from all directions. “This is going to be difficult.”

“Only hard things are worth doing, kid.” Jess said. “Remember that.”

Dev stared at the oncoming armada. “Okay.” She shifted her hands on the controls. “I will try to remember that.”

“Good.” Jess tightened her harness and took a deep breath. She got herself set and made live the guns, checking the power reserves and finding them acceptable.

She hoped her diversion would let Elaine and Jason check the place where they’d last seen the other two teams. She had no idea what they would find given the carrier she’d blown up. But they knew where to look and they knew what to do with what they found.

She checked the time, and checked her plan grid. Then she started the targeting systems and let the targets flood her consciousness.

There were a lot. She lined up the first six and launched a blast on alternating forward guns, glad the carrier’s weapon systems had a slightly longer range than their enemy’s. She could see them forming into attack circles and one of them dove right for them.

In a heartbeat, they were in the center of a circle of death. The enemy ships matched synch with them and started firing, and Jess fired back, then found herself inverting as the carrier did a barrel roll and the lasers rotated with the ship, nailing at least part of all of the enemy fighters.

Then they were through that bunch and going nose on to a second, when two of that group dove right at them.

Jess fired the forward guns and as they flashed by she grabbed a breath as she inverted again and went under heavy G as the carrier turned on it’s tail and her fire went right up the tailpipes of the retreating enemy ships and blew them out of the sky.

Holy crap.

Still upside down, Jess found herself launching a plasma bomb towards a cluster of fighters and then just before she started getting lightheaded they were right way up and she was holding her triggers down on the forward guns as they went full speed through enemy lines.

Dev was concentrating as hard as she could. She was aware of the strain on the engines under her control, but she used all the power she had to keep the carrier on a constantly shifting course as the air around her was filled with enemy fire.

Some was hitting the carrier. She had alarms going off again. The forward screen was almost constantly whitewashed with their own return guns as Jess blasted a path for them through the enemy ships.

The carrier was larger than the defenders, and better armored. The defenders were more agile and faster.

Dev spotted the entrance to the science center, a flat platform halfway up the escarpment with thick barracades in front of it. The door looked like it was big, and metal, and pretty much the same as the ones in the Interforce facility.

She spotted another wheel of figures fit themselves around her and she did another barrel roll, then her eyes widened as she came out of the inversion right into the path of a larger, more well armored craft.

She could see the laser cannons on top of it so she sent the carrier almost straight down, flinching a little as two of the enemy crashed into each other over her head. She pulled up in a high G arc with all her engines firing, gritting her teeth against the pressure as she came up just under the bigger craft, hearing Jess let loose with the upper guns on it.

‘Nice!” Jess yelled.

Dev managed a brief grin as she dove for the waves again, seeing huge breaking waves below her. She could feel the impacts on the hull of fire and a quick glance at the monitors showed a dozen darts coming after her all shooting continuously.

Alarms blared.

Dev aimed right for the sea, hearing the mounting damage in her commsat. She knew she had to get out of range of them before the lasers blew the carrier apart.

Jess was firing the rear guns. “Not much juice left!” She yelled.

Dev pulled the nose up just as they reached sea level as a huge breaker rolled up right into her path. She shot down the center of it, taking the carrier right through the huge phosphorescent tube of water as Jess let out a shout of surprise.

They shot out the other end of the tube and Dev blinked as the salt wash cleared and they were moments away from the escarpment.

She heard a huge disruption behind her. But there was no time to wonder what it was as she fought to control her craft and get the nose up before they went headlong into the rock face.

By a whisper they didn’t. She shot up the face of the cliff as Jess launched plasma bombs in a thumping salvo against it. She held the carrier in it’s straight up climb until they shot up over the top of it and right into the cloud layer just above.

A blue light was flashing hard on the comms console. Dev didn’t have time to look at it though. She arched the carrier over as they reached an altitude almost too high for the jets and curved back over into level flight.

Her heart was absolutely racing. She could feel shivers going up and down her spine and she was alternately feeling flushed and chilled, panting through her open mouth as she caught her breath.

“Keep going!” Jess yelled. “Go go go! They got them! We did it!!”

Dev stared in confusion at the console. “What?”

“The light.” Jess pointed. “That’s an ultraviolet squirt from Jason. They got them. Get out of here! We did it!”

Dev looked around, and checked the scan, and found only fading targets, blips they were leaving behind as they raced between the cloud layers back in the direction they came. “W.. why aren’t they chasing us” She asked. “Where did they go?”

Jess laughed. “Don’t look a gift horse in the ass, Dev. Just fly.”

Dev wiped her brow and let out a long exhale, chills still running up and down her spine. “Wow.” She said. “That was crazy.”

Jess chuckled again.

“But I liked it.” Dev said, unexpectedly. “I really did.” She half turned in her chair and looked at Jess. “It was fun.”

Jess peered at her from behind her targeting console, seeing the intense sparkle in her pilot’s eyes. “Hm.’ She grunted softly. “We may just have to keep you.”

“Excuse me?” Dev leaned towards her. “Did you say something?”

Jess smiled. “Take us home, Dev.” She said. “Before this thing falls apart.” She leaned back as the battered craft rumbled through the thick, moist air. “There’s a lot more work to do.”

Part 5

They were the last ship back. Dev held the carrier, limping in on one engine, steady as she watched the recovered vessel with it’s four passengers and the two that had gone with them sink through the wide opening into the landing bay.

It was still raining. But it was a steady unrelenting drizzle and the winds had died down, allowing Dev to relax as she waited.

Jess was in her seat, tapping furiously on her consoles and pad, occasionally chuckling to herself. She seemed to be in a very good mood, and Dev cautiously evaluated the idea that she’d done okay in their mission.

Her first one. She had, at least, brought them both back in one piece if the carrier wasn’t, and since they’d gotten the other teams back, she figured the whole thing might have been something of a success.

Not too bad, for someone who had only driven a sim before now. Dev glanced at her reflection in the curved forward shield, noting her sweat dampened hair. She raked it back and settled her hands on the controls again, the feeling of the throttles against her palms starting to become comfortably familiar.

She moved the carrier forward, tilting the nose down a little with a boost on the landing jets to give her a good view of the bay. She could see clear airspace and she leveled the craft, then increased the lower jets and cut off her main engines.

The carrier drifted downward, clearing the bay opening and settling lower and lower into the vast cavern. “BR27006” She spoke softly into the comms “Requesting landing pad.”

The comm crackled immediately. “BR27006, landing pad 82 cleared for your approach.”

Dev located the spot, marked with big, easily read numbers and she adjusted the side jets to move them over, hovering above the numbers before she cut power to the landing jets and they settled slowly into place.

There was a team waiting. She recognized a group of Ceebees, in pale orange jumpsuits with kits and hoses in their hands and as soon as she cut power to the drive systems, they bolted forward towards the carrier.

Two sprayed the outside down with something. “What is that?”

“Sealant.” Jess said, still slouched in her seat. “In case we popped a line. Don’t want to blast anyone with anything.” She now had her hands folded over her stomach and was just relaxing. “When they make the hookup, send the logs and the flight recorder detail over to storage.”

Dev nodded. “Yes.” She had been waiting, in fact, for specifically that. She saw a light come on midway up the console, and ran her fingers over the keys, accepting the connection and setting up the synch.

Another light, and she shut down internal power, and they went into pitch darkness for a few seconds before the external connection kicked in and the lights came back on, along with internal ventilation now being supplied from the dock.

It felt good, the air was cool and fresh and not full of half baked sealant. Dev blinked a little, and unbuckled her harness as she turned her seat around and watched the webbing retract.

“So.” Jess regarded her. “NM-Dev-1, you can pilot a carrier.”

“Yes.” Dev smiled. “Apparently so.”

“Where’d you pick up all the upside down stuff?” Jess asked. “I’m betting the other side’s never seen one of these do that before cause I sure haven’t.”

Upside down? Dev frowned a little, and her head tilted to one side. “You mean this?” She lifted one hand and tilted it back and forth.

“I mean when you were flying with the bottom of this thing pointed skyward.” Jess explained.

“Oh.” Dev nodded. “In space… “She pointed upward. “In the crèche, you get to train in a null grav sim for some of this. It’s all.. um.” She considered. “There’s no right or wrong side up. You learn in all dimensions.”

Jess studied her face intently for a long moment. “Interesting.” She said, finally. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Dev. You did as well or better as anyone I’ve ever seen driving this bus. “

“Are you surprised?”

“Yes.” Jess nodded.

“Me too.” Dev replied, with an almost impish grin. “Sims are one thing, but real is different. This was very difficult.” She said. “Mostly because I didn’t have any programming on what to do. They don’t give you programs to know what to do when you are flying at a mountain with twenty planes chasing you and shooting at you.”

“Ah.” Jess murmured. “So you just did that on instinct.”

Dev considered that carefully. “I’m not sure what that means.”

“You didn’t think about what to do.” Jess clarified. “You just reacted. You just did it.”

Dev considered again, then nodded. She half turned as the comm crackled, reaching over to accept a key.

“BR27006, you are cleared for exit. Systems stable, please release locks and proceed to debrief.” A stolid male voice intoned. “Agent Drake, Mr Bain’s compliments.”

“Hah.” Jess stood up and stretched. “C’mon. Let’s get the brain hosing out of the way and go get a drink. We earned it.” She waved Dev forward, and keyed the hatch, waiting a moment as it unsealed and popped outward, swinging clear to let them out of the craft.

She stepped out and down to the ground, as two bio alt techs edged past her, carrying toolkits. She waited for Dev to follow her, not missing the looks of the other bio alts as she left the carrier past them.

Mixture of envy and awe. Jess was intrigued, but she put it aside as she turned to regard her craft. Always a little battered by weather and battle, this time it looked like the carrier had been driven right through that big storm front and then right into the side of the mountain they were currently standing inside. “Shitcakes.”

Dev turned and looked, her eyes getting big and round. “Wow.”

Every inch of the craft was scored by fire, it’s outside a dark and creased dappled gray. One of the external engine pods was sliced through, dripping lurid green fluid on the ground. There was a huge rent right along the side, it’s end just shy of the curve of the nose where Dev had been seated.

A man came up next to Jess, dressed in a deep orange suit. “Holy shit, Drake. What the hell did you do to that thing?”

Jess glanced at him, bemused. “You should see what the other guy looks like.” She said. “Sorry, Clint. Looks like a total overhaul.”

The man snorted, then seemed to notice Dev for the first time. “Who’s this?”

“This is Dev.” Jess supplied. “She’s my p.. pilot.” She felt her tongue stutter, and felt a pang. “Wait till you see the logs.”

Clint was regarding Dev thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah. I heard about that.” He said. “Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand. “Hope you don’t do this everytime. Too much work.”

Dev politely shook his hand. “I’ll try not to.” She said. “They’re very sturdy pieces of equipment.”

Clint beamed.

Jess sighed. “The way to his heart is through a hydraulic tube c’mon.” She touched Dev’s sleeve. “They’re waiting for us in debrief.”

They walked along the marked floor, as techs and support people swarmed around them, and the other three carriers who had just come in. The rest of the crews had already gone down the tunnel, so Jess wasted no more time and turned off the rocky floor into a tall, scan equipped deep blue hallway.

She felt the tickle as she passed through, and saw Dev blink a little. “You feel that?”

Dev looked at her. “Yes. The scan, you mean?”

“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “That’s all security. You have to be coded to go through. If you’re not, you get enough of a blast to take you out when you’re inside. Some places, like central command, you get more than that.”

“Oh.”

“I”ll show you the grid when we get back to quarters. We’re coded everywhere, but not everyone is. Good to know if you’re walking with someone outside ops.”

“I see.”

Jess led the way towards a closed automatic door, and put her hand on the pad outside it. “Drake, J, and NM-Dev-1 for debrief.”

The pad glowed, then the door opened, and they went in. “Gotta show you the rec, and your rad area too.” Jess commented, as they went through another door and into a larger room, this one half full of people. “But we’ll get a drink first.”

Dev was content to follow along, listening to Jess’s ramblings. She considered them, cautiously optimistic that they seemed to be trending towards a tendency to let her stay, at least for a little while.

She recognized Stephen Bock in the room, and the four agents they’d gone with, and four people she didn’t know, along with the man with the gun, Bain. She stopped as Jess did, and she watched Jess spread her arms out as they all started making noises at her.

Very strange. But Jess looked pleased, so she supposed it was all right. She followed Jess over to two open chairs and they sat down next to each other. She looked over at the man wit the gun, surprised to find him smiling at her.

She smiled back.

“Well.” Bain leaned back. “Welcome back, you four.” He looked at the four people Dev didin’t know. “None the worse for wear I see.”

“Was a little tough sir.” Sandy Tucker responded. “Me and Roger tried to make our own diversion with our boat, but they didn’t buy it. We thought we were going to have to try and climb out when all of a sudden they all took off.”

‘Right.” Jason said. “By the time we crested over the ridge just east of them, Jess, the guards all hauled ass and it was easy peasy getting to them and getting out. They didn’t even leave a comms watch.” He glanced at Dev then back at Jess. “What the hell did you do to draw them off?”

‘We can roll the flight recorder.” Jess said. “Faster that way than for me to tell it.” She eyed Sandy. “I guess you know I blew your boat up.”

Sandy nodded. “Jase said.” She looked at the tall, very muscular man next to her. “Mike figured that might happen. We didn’t really have any way of broadcasting it wasn’t rigged, or that you’d believe it if we did.”

The tall man grunted. “Fuckers. They knew we were coming , Jess.” He looked across the table. “We came in polar, and we just cleared Gibralter and they were on us. Chased us to the ridge and we got under cover – blasted the ones who had the guts to come at us, but we were stuck there.”

“Saw you on scan.” Jason said. “It was a bad plan to start with.”

Both Mike and Sandy looked uncomfortable. “Well, you made your view clear.” Mike said, stiffly.

Bain had been watching and listening, and now he cleared his throat. “He was right.” He said, in a mild tone. “It was a damn fool idea, and now we had to put three teams at risk just to get us back to square one.”

Mike looked sullenly at him.

“What about you?” Sandy suddenly asked, looking at Jess. “I thought you were out. Didn’t you stand on your pride about that?” She pointed at Dev. “Now you’re here? It’s here? What’s the deal?”

Bain cleared his throat again. “Agent Drake was thoughtful enough to agree to my request that she remain with us.” He said. “I’m quite gratified. “ He looked at Jess. “And how is the experiment going, Agent Drake?”

Jess remained expressionless. “I’ll let the flight recorder speak for itself.” She remarked. “But I’ll be more than glad to continue with it.” She folded her hands on the table. “I like the results so far.”

Dev’s ears perked. That sounded like a positive thing, since she strongly suspected she was the experiment in question.

“Hmm. Indeed.” Bain’s eyes twinkled a little. “Then by all means, let’s see this recorder.” He nodded at Stephen, who was sitting in silence, just watching everyone. “Mr. Bock. Please proceed.”

Stephen got up and went to the console, triggering the big display in the back of the room. The panels slid open, and he adjusted the room lights, then keyed in the recording that Dev had sent from the carrier. “Here we go, sir.”

He sat down as the scene recorder rolled, presenting a view from all the carrier’s sensors overlayed to produce an almost three dimensional presentation. One one corner was a mission clock, and on the other a base readout of the carrier’s systems.

They heard Dev’s voice quietly asking for flight access, then the recorder started forward.

“Go to time lock 1140 loc if you want to see the other carrier blown out.” Jess said. “And 1150 loc if you want to see the exciting stuff.”

Bock looked at Bain, who nodded. He got up and keyed in the change, and suddenly the carrier was accelerating towards the hulk of Gibralter and the defender’s beacons flared.

It didn’t really take that long. Dev was a little surprised at how fast it all went once it started. When she’d been doing it, it seemed a lot longer. She relived the dives and rolls, nodding a little as the carrier wove it’s way through the enemy, rolling over and over as it darted between defenders and through arcs of fire.

“Holy shit.” Sandy said, after a few minutes utter silence.

Jess sat back in her seat and smiled. She could see Bain’s face, and even his craggy old eyes were wide and astonished, as they blasted past Gibralter and she laid a line of fire inside their control center. Then they were past, and she could feel her heart start accelerating as she relived their one team attack on the heavily defended science center.

“Oh my go… whoa!” Jason yelped, as the carrier dove for the waves.

Diving, diving, the alarms going off, redlining the carrier with all that evident on the screen as they pulled out and into that damn rolling wave at the very last minute, the enemy behind them splashing into the water unable to stop.

Wild.

Then she sat back, remembering the incredible pull of gravity on her body and the ache still in her arms as she kept firing, all the way up the escarpment and over the top into the clouds in one long, screaming, rumbling run that ended in gray silence and the bleeting of overworked systems.

“Holy shit.” Sandy said, again.

“That’s about it.” Jess said, in as normal a voice as she could muster. “The rest you know.”

The lights came up a little as Stephen cut the replay off, and they all turned around and stared at the two women seated at the end of the table.

Even Bain, his customary dismissive, offhand façade dropped like a rock off the cliff, his jaw hanging slightly open.

Jess smiled briefly. “Can we get the one by ones done? I owe my pilot here a drink.” She jerked her head in Dev’s direction. “And as a matter of fact, I think you all do too.”

Dev was absolutely not sure what response would be appropriate, so she decided not to have any at all. She remained silent, her hands folded on the table, a mild look on her face as the rest of the group stared at her.

“Not bad for her first flight, huh?” Jess finally said.

Bain relaxed into his seat, and exhaled. “Indeed.” He commented. “Been a very educational day.”

**

Dev was content to stick to Jess’s side as they all entered a wide, low room with comfortable looking chairs. She took a seat next to Jess as she listened to the rest of them chatter, glad to be able to participate in what was evidently a positive experience.

The other agents and techs ignored her. That was all right, from her perspective. She was satisfied that Jess and the man with the gun were happy with her and she was looking forward to the moment when she could go and get in the wet thing and maybe have a chance to read a page or two of her book.

She wondered if she could find Doctor Dan, and ask him what he thought about the mission. She knew a lot of the programming she’d been given was his, and she was curious if it had turned out as he’d expected.

“Dev?”

Dev looked up. “Yes?” She reached up in reflex and took the glass she was being handed, her eyes darting to Jess’s face in question. “Thank you.”

“You ever had booze?” Jess inquired as she watched her sip at the contents.

Dev blinked and moved the glass away. The drink was a very strange mixture of fruits and something that fizzed and something else that burned as she swallowed. “If that’s what this is, then definitely not.”

Jess chuckled.

“So, how far are you going to take this?” Sandy asked, indicating Dev. “Obviously you’re sucking up to Bain but for how long?”

“Are you really that much of an asshole?” Jess responded.

“Takes one to know one.” Sandy shrugged.

“Then I’m going to take this all the way.” Jess steadily met her gaze. “Dev can go as far as she’s able in this place as far as I’m concerned.” She leaned back in her chair and extended her long legs out. “And at least I’m not sucking up to someone who got his brains blown out for being a moron like you were.”

“Hey c’mon.” Jason gave them both a look. “We just had a successful mission here. Let’s not act like jerks.”

“That was Bricker’s idea!” Mike pointed at Dev.

“She.” Jess corrected him. “Was Bricker’s idea. But no one here can say why.” She took a swallow of her drink. “Bain’s reason for wanting her here might be a whole other thing.”

“Bricker just didn’t buy into your bullshit mystique.” Sandy was unrepentant. “At least I don’t pretend to like you, Jess, or kiss your ass for any reason unlike everyone else apparently.”

Dev was listening, her head swiveling to regard each speaker. At this last, she turned and looked at Jess, then scanning down her long form to her seat, then back up to her face. Her brow creased in confusion. “You have a lot of unusual customs.” She commented mildly. “Programming definitely didn’t cover that one.”

Jess started laughing, and Jason did too, and after a long, frozen moment the rest of them reluctantly started to chuckle.

“Shit, it.. “ Mike caught Jess’s sharp eye. “She’s got a sense of fucking humor. “ He grudgingly conceded.

“Look.” Jess said. “She’s a one off. Just go with the program.” She leaned her arm on the chair arm next to Dev’s. “So much shit’s going down right now who knows how it’s all going to end up. “

“One off?” Mike asked warily.

“I’m an experimental set.” Dev spoke directly to him. “I don’t have crèche mates.”

All of the agents in the group seemed to relax just a little.

“There isn’t a dozen of her back there waiting to take over.” Jess clarified. “So chill out. Go yell at Bain if you want to for her being here. It’s not her fault.”

Dev took a drink from her glass. She was not at all sure if she liked it, but everyone else seemed to so she was willing to give it a try.

It was very strange and a little difficult being here with all the other people.

The outer door opened and Stephen Bock came in. He stopped to grab a drink from the tray that had been set up near the grouping of chairs they were in, and sat down in an empty one. “So.” He looked at them. “You all done sniping at Jess and being rude to her tech?”

“Fuck you Stephen.” Sandy said.

‘You want to be put on report for that?” Stephen asked. “I had to put up with your attitude when I was an agent, Sandra. I don’t have to now.”

“You don’t have the balls.”

“I do.” Stephen clicked his commset. “Please send a recorder down here from ops.” He said. “I have a disciplinary action to execute.”

Sandy stared at him. “You bastard.”

“Guess it’s different now that your sugar daddy got his head blown off, huh?” Jason produced a brief smile. “We all know that wasn’t his ass you were kissing.”

“You all can go to hell.” Sandy got up, and her partner Todd did too. He hadn’t said a word the entire time they’d been in the room, and followed her in equal silence as she left the lounge.

“We’re going to go get cleaned up.” Mike also stood. “C’mon Nappy.” He glanced at Jess. “Thanks, Jess. All bullshit aside.” He extended his big, muscled hand. “You put it out there for us.”

Jess returned the clasp, then released it. “Anytime.”

“Anyway.” Stephen looked tired. He looked over at Jess, who was sitting next to him. “Bain wants to see you in a bout an hour.” He said. “We’ve gotten some interesting intelligence he want to review with you.”

Jess nodded. “I’m going to go grab some grub then.” She stood up. “Interested, Dev?”

“Yes.” Dev responded immediately. “That would be nice.” She put her cup down on the tray and stepped aside, as Jess came around her chair and headed for the door.

“We’ll go too.” Jason stood up. “Been a long time since breakfast. Stephen? You up for chow? Been a damn long day.”

They walked together through the hallways towards the dining hall, as Stephen came along with them. Dev stuck close to Jess, but then, out of the corner of her eye she saw Doctor Dan come out of a doorway and spot her.

His eyes lit up. He crossed the hallway and intercepted them, the group slowing as he approached and watching him warily. “Congratulations.” He nodded at them, then turned to Dev. “Excuse us.”

The group moved on, leaving them behind. Dev did however, catch Jess looking back at her, the tall woman’s eyebrows slightly lifted. “I’ll be right there.” She said, with a little half wave.

Jess waved back, and pointed at the dining hall then ducked inside.

Dev turned back around. “Hello, Doctor Dan.”

“Hello, Dev.” Doctor Dan leaned forward and gave her a hug. “I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate you for your work today.”

Dev smiled. “It was difficult.”

“I just bet it was.” Doctor Dan chuckled. “I saw the recorder. You did an amazing job for your first flight.” He put both hands on her shoulders. “Really good, Dev. Everyone thinks so.”

Dev glanced at the now dissappeeard group. “I don’t’ think everyone does, Doctor Dan, but the person I was the pilot for was very pleased with me, I believe.”

Doctor Dan’s gray eyes warmed as he looked at her. “Jess is very pleased with you.” He said. “And she’s got a good reason to be. You achieved a very significant thing together.” He glanced casually around, but they were alone in the hall. “I’ll be going back to the crèche tomorrow, Dev.”

“I won’t be?” Dev felt a little, excited thump in her chest.

“No, you’re staying here.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Do your best.” He told her. “You can trust Jess Drake, and you can trust Alex Bain.”

Dev nodded. “You trust them.”

“I would trust Alex with my life, and have.” Doctor Dan said, in a serious tone. “And you can too, but you can also trust Jess, and I hope she comes to trust you.”

Dev hesitated, then she nodded again. “I hope she does.” She said. “I want to do good work for her.” She watched Doctor Dan’s face, as he smiled gently. “People here sometimes aren’t nice.”

“I know.” Doctor Dan. “Be strong, Dev. In the end, people who try to hurt people like you, end up only hurting themselves. “ He let his hands drop. “I have sent you my personal comms link to your quarters. Use it if you need to. If you just want to talk or tell me something, do it.”

Dev smiled. “I will.” She said. “Thank you for everything, Doctor Dan. I’ll do my best here.”

“I know you will.” Doctor Dan gave her another hug. “Go get some food. Is that okay for you so far?”

“It’s fine.” Dev said. “Will you come eat with us?”

He shook his head. “I think I will make your new colleagues very uncomfortable.” He patted her back. “I’ll be by to say goodbye before I leave. Go on now.”

Dev clasped his hand and released it, then she turned and headed for the dining hall, pausing as the scan picked up her badge and opened the door as she approached.

Once it closed, she took a breath and released it.

Then she looked around and spotted Jess, who was standing in the line. She quickly went over to join her, coming to stand next to her in front of the food dispenser.

“Your buddy give you a pat on the back?” Jess asked.

“Doctor Dan? Yes. He’s going home tomorrow.” Dev replied. “He wanted to tell me that, and compliment me on my work.”

Jess punched in two sets of codes. “So he was saying goodbye?”

“Something like that, yes.” Dev smiled briefly. “So I suppose I’m staying.”

“Oh yeah, you’re staying.” Jess pushed a tray at her. “Later on I’ll show you around the place the right way.” She picked up the tray and headed for a large table where the others were sitting. She took a seat and Dev took one beside her.

‘Lot of people coming in.” Jason said, glancing around. “All the prep people for the new class.” He forked up some of his fish. “Thought for a few days they’d cancel it.”

“Yeah.” Elaine agreed. “Brent, don’t you know one of the newbies?” She looked at the tech, a man of middling height and very black hair. “I thought you said you did”

Brent nodded. “Cousin of mine.” He admitted. “I tried to talk him out of it but the jackass didn’t listen.”

Dev listened politely, as she chewed. The tray held some different things than last time, a crispy cake she liked very much, some chewy protein she guessed was probably fish, and some things in hard shells, which tasted salty.

“So. Um. Dev.”

Dev swallowed and looked up at Elaine, with a start of surprise. “Yes?”

The agent leaned against the table. “I’ve always wanted to ask this. What the hell is the collar for?”

“Oh.” Dev put her fork down. “It’s a programming interface.” She said. “It gets installed right after you mostly finish growing, when you start to get skills.”

“Ah huh.” Elaine said. “So, it’s a plug?”

“Not really.” Dev unsealed the neck of her suit and peeled it down low enough to expose the collar. “There are leads that the programming system connects to but then there are leads go up through the back of your neck here..” She touched the back of her head. “And into your cortex.”

“They put wires in your brain?” Elaine said, after a pause.

“Yes.” Dev agreed. “It’s how they give us programs.”

“How do they do that?” Jason asked, curiously.

“I don’t know. I’m not a programmer.” Dev smiled briefly. “It’s a special skill, not many natural born can do it. “

“Natural born.” Jess looked at her. “Is that what you call us?”

“Yes.”

“Weird.” Jason shook his head.

They all went back to eating. Dev closed the collar on her suit and took a sip of the pale fizzy drink, which she was getting to like, and she felt okay about getting the questions since at least they were asking and not just talking at her like they were before.

Good sign, she supposed.

“What do you suppose Bain wants?” Jason asked Jess. “That guy scares me. Don’t care who knows it.”

Jess shrugged. “Can’t be too bad. We all made it.” She said. “Besides, one of the things I noticed going in was that we surprised them.”

Elaine was nodding, her mouth full.

“Felt like that to us too.” Jason said. “I expected we’d get ambushed… hell, I told Elaine we were probably flying into a net coming around the side of that ridge they were hiding under but it took them time to react and I figured they didn’t know we were coming. “

“Which is strange.” Elaine said. “Because you know we don’t usually leave our kind there in their clutches. If it had been me, I’d have expected us.”

Jess grunted. “Point.”

“Yeah.” Jason frowned. “Hell, though, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the ass.”

Dev made a mental note to access her pad when she got back to her quarters and start looking up some of the odd verbal utterances she’d heard so far from Jess and her other colleagues. She’d heard that thing about the horse twice now, so she figured it had to mean something pretty important,

“So who else is coming in the class?” Elaine asked. “Twelve for us and?” She looked at Jess. “Any idea?”

Jess scraped the last of the fish from her plate. “Repair chiefs, some security, and from what I hear, a dozen of the biological guys for downstairs.”

“Huh.”

“There are some pilots and mechanics coming from the crèche.” Dev offered. “They were staging them when I left.” She added. “They were talking about new vehicles.”

“Ah.” Jason was listening to her. “Finally! They’ve been rebuilding those carriers since I was a baby.”

“Last year?” Elaine elbowed him.

“Shut up.” Jason elbowed her back.

“Good to see a new bus if it’s true.” Brent allowed. “So many things are falling off mine I was afraid I’d tank someone on the deck when we took off.”

“Yeah, if they give them to us, not the newbies.” Tucker spoke up for the first time. “Member what they said the last time, that they had to get the good stuff cause they didn’t know better. We could handle all the crap.”

“Well.” Jess rested her elbows on the table and cradled her mug in her hands. “Anyone tries to pull that bullshit line on me I just point them at her.” She pointed at Dev. “They didn’t come any newer than she did this morning.”

Tucker and Brent gave Dev a grudging nod. “Yeah that’s true I guess.” Tucker said. “Sides what your rig looked like when you got back I figure they’d got to build it up from base steel anyhow.”

They finished lunch and filtered out the door, most heading for the residential quarters on the next ring of hallways outward. Dev walked quietly along at Jess’s side, as it got quieter and quieter when the two other teams peeled off to their rooms.

Jess and Dev’s quarters were, Dev realized, at the end of the half ring hall. Right across from them was the entrance to the ops center, it’s outline grid a sedate blue unlike the raw red of the previous day.

She paused as she went past Jess’s door towards her own, to absorb the idea that this place was, now, for her, a home.

For now long? She didn’t know. But she had passed the first test of this new assignment and earned herself a continued presence with the possibility of a longer term stay.

“Hey, Dev?”

Dev turned, to find Jess in her doorway. “Yes?”

“Change then come over. I want you to come see Bain with me.”

Ah. Hm. The man with the gun. “Okay.” Dev agreed.

Jess came over and leaned against the wall, folding her arms across her chest. “Don’t let the jackassery get to you.”

Dev looked at her, blinking a few times. “Is that… supposed to refer to the rude attitude?”

Jess nodded. “We’re all pretty hard on each other. Sandy and I never got along.”

“No problem.” Dev said.

“Does it bother you?” Jess asked, in a quiet tone.

“Does it bother you?” Dev returned the question.

The tall, dark haired woman studied her in silence for a long moment. “Hmp.” She finally grunted. “Damn good question.” She turned and headed back to her door. “Very damn good question.”

Dev waited until the door closed, then she turned and went to her own quarters, scanning through and letting the heavy panel slid shut behind her. She stopped and looked around, taking in the room with a fresh set of eyes.

On the workspace, there was a packet, and some covered pads, delivered when she was on the mission, apparently. So this, for now, was home. She bypassed the table and headed for the sanitary space, already looking forward to the wet thing, and fresh clothes, and the tour Jess had promised her for later.

Today had, after all, turned out to be a really, really, really good day.

**

Dev looked up as she heard a buzz at the door. She got up and went to it, triggering the latch and stepped back as the door slid open and Jess entered. She was dressed in one of the more casual jumpsuits, with fewer pockets and softer fabric.

Dev had realized that there were a few different kinds of garb. One was this type, and she was wearing the same now too, and another was the kind she had worn to pilot the carrier which was a heavier fabric, with clips and embedded links for the carrier’s systems to plug into.

She liked the lighter one. It was very comfortable. She’d made a note to ask Jess about the sleeping clothes though. “Hello.”

“Ready?” Jess’s eyes swept briefly over the interior. She spotted the packet on the workspace and walked over to it. “You open this?”

“No.” Dev said. “I didn’t know what it was.”

Jess worked the clamp and opened the padded envelope. “C’mere.” She shook out the contents into her hand then turned as Dev approached. “Last bit of archaic crap we use.” She reached up and took hold of Dev’s jumpsuit collar.

Dev stood stock still, not really sure what was going on. She could feel the warmth of Jess’s fingers against her skin , though, and she decided it felt nice.

“There.” Jess let her hands fall, producing a brief smile as Dev gave her a questioning look. “It’s like the one I have.” She touched the insignia on her collar. “Except the bottom enamel strips are green instead of black.”

“Oh.” Dev reached up to feel the item now fastened to her suit. “Thank you.”

“It doesn’t mean anything except that you’re one of us.” Jess said. “I guess when we coded you in as ops tech, it triggered the whole process so that included this.” She picked up a few other items that had dropped out of the packet. “This is your chit card.”

Dev studied it. “Okay.”

“When you go on missions, you get credits.” Jess explained. “You can take this and go to the exchange, and trade the credits for stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Stuff. You know, like…” Jess paused. “Well, I guess you probably don’t know. Nevermind, I’ll take you there and show you. It’s easier than explaining.”

“Okay.” Dev replied amiably.

“You can also use it at dinner for drinks or extras, which I’ll show you today too.” Jess concluded. “And this pad template – you can specify what you want in here and supply will take care of it for you. Like something other than crackers for the dispenser or a different temperature profile.”

“Okay.” Dev said.

“You can put the card in your ident pack.” Jess said. “Okay? So let’s go talk to Bain. I want to get your status clarified before I have to go and have back alley fights with everyone I work with.” She turned and led the way to the door.

What did that mean? Dev wondered. She followed Jess through the hallways, passing the ops center and continuing around the curve into a gray shaded hallway she hadn’t been in yet. This one had two scans, which she felt as an itchy tingle as they went through.

At the end of the hallway was a shielded door, guarded by two big security officers. They regarded her and Jess as they approached, and only at the very end did they move aside and key the door open.

Jess ignored them. “Thank you.” Dev murmured as she went by, seeing a pair of pale blue eyes half hidden in a blast helmet regarding her before the man turned and face forward again.

They walked into a small outer office, and the door behind them closed. Jess stood quietly before the inner door, looking around a little as a soft sets of bings and clicks sounded, then the inner door opened.

“Ah.” Bain was seated behind a big desk, watching as they entered. “ Right on time, Drake. And I see you brought your charming companion with you.” He got up and came around the desk, extended his hand to Dev. “Hello, my dear. You are very welcome to this meeting.”

Dev politely shook his hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“You did some excellent work.” Bain told her. “Extraordinary, for your first flight, hm?

“I did the best I could.” Dev smiled. “I’m very glad it all worked out correctly.”

“Yes.” Bain went back behind the desk and gestured for them to sit down in the two chairs in front of it. “Well, Drake, looks like your plan succeeded.” He steepled his fingers. “Hm? All of you returned and I’ve gotten some intelligence here that indicates you left some.. hm… consternation shall we say behind you?” He pushed a folder across the desk.

Jess took it, and flipped through the plastic like sheets inside. “Ah.” She grunted. “So that’s what that ledge was.”

“Hm. Yes.” Bain nodded. “Plasma station. Took out quite a quarter of the mountain face when it exploded. I daresay you left your mark.”

Wow. Jess sounded the word silently in her head. She selected a grainy picture and passed it to Dev. “Big boom.”

Dev studied the picture. For a moment, it was a blank, then suddenly the memory flashes popped in, and she recalled the high speed dive past the cliff. She tried to tie in that memory with the picture, which showed a huge hole where the ledge had been.

“Well done.” Bain said. “I would guess you’ve set them back quite a bit, Drake. Sure you ddin’t make any more friends on that side though.”

“Mm.” Jess gruned. “Wasn’t the lab they had the new growth experiment in though.”

“Ah, no.” Bain agreed. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. That needs to be addressed. I want you to do it.”

Jess closed the folder. “Two days ago I wasn’t even cleared for active duty.” She said. “One day ago I was being processed out.”

“And?” Bain cocked his head at her.

“There’s probably a better choice than me to take on a new mission.”

“I disagree.” Bain shook his head. “I realize you were involved in several very stressful incidents, but given the resources we have right now, I cannot recommend another in your place.” He watched her expression. “Besides, your wish to leave us was all based around the presence of your new associate here, and I believe you have, as they say, gotten over that.”

Jess pondered this. “Yeah, now both her and I are taking crap from every direction because of it.”

“Indeed?”

“Indeed.” Jess said. “This started off as a hair brained scheme by Bricker. Everyone knew it. Now everyone needs to know what the deal is.”

“Hm.” Bain tapped his fingertips against his lips. “My view is, yes, it was a hair brained scheme that unlikely as it was, worked.” He said. “The people up at LifeSource took him seriously, and gave our friend here what skills they could in so short a time, and this morning it was amply demonstrated that their cobbled together effort performed as well as any of our training programs could.”

“That’s true.” Jess agreed.

“Hm. Well then.” Bain “I have decided to inform everyone that Bricker was making that request on my orders.” He said. “I never mind taking credit for someone elses insane ideas so long as they prove out, hm?”

“I see.” Jess said, slowly.

‘So then this becomes my idea, and my plan.” Bain gave Dev a s mile. “Since it has already proven to be a success. We will instruct LIfeSource to continue on developing this program, and will hopefully be able to use it’s results in the future.”

Dev shifted a little. “Excuse me, sir.” She said. “Is it really a good idea to presume success based on so limited an evidence?”

Both Jess and Bain stared at her.

“Do you doubt your abilities, my young friend?” Bain asked.

“Yes.” Dev said. “I havent’ seen that much of them. “ She explained. “I trust the programming they gave me, but you are risking a lot on untested skills.”

Jess half turned in her seat so she was facing Dev. “You don’t want to stay here?”

Dev met her eyes. “I do.” She said. “But I don’t want to disappoint you.”

Jess felt the lengthening silence as she studied the young, intense face next to her. Finally she took a breath. “I’ll take my chances.” She said, shifting to look back at Bain, who was watching them both with an expression of bemused interest. “If you do this, you need to do it all the way. Give her full status. Let everyone know. Then they’ll stop taking shots at her.”

Bain tapped his fingertips together again. “Agent Drake.” He said. “I certainly can send any amount of directives but I think it will take more than that for your new comrade to be accepted.” He gave her a meaningful look, one scrubby gray eyebrow hiking up.

Jess looked away, then back at him. “You do your part, I’ll do mine.”

Bain smiled. “Deal.” He said. “Now, about that mission?”

Jess settled back in her seat. “We can’t do a frontal assault again. They’ll be keyed to it. I’ll need to insert.”

Bain nodded.

“Send me all the intel.” Jess finally said. “I’ll work up something.”

“Splendid.” The old man gave her a fond look. “Now, for a more pleasant subject. In recognition of your performance in this morning’s rescue I have added a senior level achievement to your records.”

Jess’s eyebrows rose.

“And I have advanced a benefit and comfort package to your colleague.” Bain pointed a forefinger at Dev. “Since I know she came from the crèche with very little. Enjoy it, my dear.”

Dev had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded good. “Thank you sir.” She said. “I will continue trying to do my best.”

Bain leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Thank you.” He said. “People, we were in a serious crisis point yesterday. I’m glad we made our way through it, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Intelligence showed us that in this case, Agent Drake, there was no leak of information regarding your attack.”

“Not that I could tell, no.” Jess agreed. “But does that mean we snuffed the leak, or they’re just in hiding, biding their time?”

Bain inclined his head.

“The key is, who turned Joshua.” Jess continued. “Was it someone on the outside or someone on the inside.” She looked Bain in the eye. “I don’t think Bricker had the brains for it.”

Bain smiled faintly. “He was my nephew.”

Only years of field service let Jess remain in her chair and not roll onto the floor. She knew her eyes had widened and she clamped her jaw to keep it from dropping.

“My sister’s son.” Bain went on, in a reflective tone. “She gave him over when he was five. I never thought he really did have the brains for it either, but he made it through the course.” He sniffed. “I agree with you, Drake. I don’t think he was the leak, and he wasn’t the one who turned tech Joshua.”

“So that person’s still here, if it was an inside job.”

“You think it was.”

Jess gazed at him. “I spent almost every waking moment with him for nine years on the outside of this facility. No one outside got close to him.”

“Hm.”

“But inside?” Jess went on. “That was different.”

Bain sighed. “I have security doing an investigation on it.” He admitted. “Very low key.” He turned to Dev. “You will let us know, won’t you my dear, if anyone asks you to do something against us?”

“Yes.” Dev answered immediately. “That’s wrong.”

“Is that what your programming tells you?” He cocked his head slightly.

Dev thought about that for a minute. “They gave me the rules.” She said, after a bit. “But this .. I think that’s an in here thing.” She touched her chest. “It feels wrong.”

“Hm.” Bain nodded in approval. “Very good.” He focused back on Jess. “Be on your way, Drake. I’m sure you have things to settle. I’ll have intelligence send you an info pack, and will expect your review in the very near term.”

Jess nodded and stood. “Thanks.” She said. “I’ll let you know what I think.”

Bain chuckled. “Of that I have no doubt.” He sat back as they left, resting his elbows on the chair arm and twiddled his thumbs. “Dj?”

Doctor Dan came out from behind the big console behind them and came around to sit in the chair his bio alt had so recently vacated. “Well?”

“Damn fine job.” Bain told him straightforwardly. “Now, tell me the truth. This wasn’t a last minute rush thing.”

The scientist shook his head. “No.” He said. “I’d been planning to introduce the idea to you, so I’d done the prep with Dev.” He added. “The last set of tech skills, yes, that was a rush. We had to write that on the fly, but I had the schema outlines already done.”

Bain nodded. “I think she’ll do well She has an interesting mix of intelligence and given knowledge.”

“She’s a good design.” Doctor Dan agreed. “She won’t turn, by the way. They’ll have to kill her first. The one thing about the way I engineered her logic structure that wasn’t entirely logical.”

“You understand that at a gut level.” Bain smiled faintly at him.

“Yes.” He smiled just as faintly back. “I’ll miss Dev. I really enjoyed watching her progress.”

‘I’m sure she’ll be fine with Drake.” Bain stood up. “She’s already taken up a protective stance over your protégée as well as having been sufficiently distracted to allow her to get past that recent disaster.”

“She’s good people.” Doctor Dan said, as he joined Bain and they both disappeared behind the console, through a hidden door and into a quiet hallway. “I think Dev will do very well with her.”

“Hm.” Bain eyed him. “Sure you don’t want a job?”

Doctor Dan smiled a little. “I have a job.”

Bain snorted.

**

“So I suppose I really am staying.” Dev said, as they walked along the corridor. “That was a very interesting meeting.”

“I told you that you were staying.” Jess chuckled. “Yeah, it was.” She admitted. “We’ll have to go back and see what kind of swag we got. I’m glad he put you in for something.” She stepped into the lift, and waited for Dev to join her. “Let’s start at the top, and work our way down.”

“I’m not sure what that means.” Dev confessed. “But it sounds nice.”

“Here’s the roof.” Jess led the way out of the lift to a huge open space, with solid glass covering all of it. Overhead the thick, dark clouds were drifting, and once they’d cleared the lift encasement they could see all around them out to the horizon.

Dev turned around in a circle, looking at the vast, open barrenness on one side, and then out across what was now becoming a familiar venue of open ocean.

“When the new class comes in, we’ll all gather here for the induction ceremony.” Jess told her. “With any luck I’ll get you started on the right foot with them and we can work from there.”

“It’s difficult isn’t it?” Dev said. “

“Hm.” Jess looked at her. “Would it be easier for you if you stayed down with the rest of the bios?”

Dev put her hands behind her back. “Of course it would”

“Do you want to do that?”

“No.” Dev replied without hesitation.

Jess smiled. “Good.” She waved her hand. “Let’s go. I’ll show you the gym and the rad facility, that’s on the next floor, and then we can go past the reference center and stop in at the exchange.”

“For the stuff?”

“Yeah, we’ll get some stuff. “

**

They had, in fact, gotten stuff. Dev sat cross legged on her bed, surveying the items around her with a sense of bemusement. She had learned a lot of new concepts including what rad was and why it was important to her, what the concept of luxury was, and the answer to the mystery of what to sleep in.

It was a little overwhelming. Dev looked around her living space. Now not only did she have this place but she had another place, sort of like the little cubicle in the crèche, where she could study and do research while she was getting her required dose of sun replacement.

She had more space to herself here than anyone topside, even the most important people. It was amazing and a little strange, but she suspected she’d get used to it after a while.

Now, this stuff. Dev sorted among the items. The exchange was full of stuff that Jess had called luxuries, items that were not given to them, but must be earned. This included stuff from topside, she was surprised to see and she’d gotten a package of the little sweet puffs they’d eaten on rare occasions in the crèche.

You could also get things to wear, and Jess had told her it was easy to see the most successful agents and techs because they didn’t wear jumpsuits in off-time – they wore some of the things you could get in the exchange or – this was very interesting – things they bartered for in the living spaces outside.

For now, Dev had gotten a few pairs of soft short leggings and sleeveless shirts to sleep in, as that’s what Jess told her she used. She set those aside and the puffs, and pulled over the box she’d found when she’d gotten back.

That was from the man with the gun, Jess had told her. The box was full of things like insulated drink containers and a pack she could take on the carrier with her with compartments to carry things in. It had straps and hooks that would fasten to the console near her seat.

It was nice. She liked it. There was also a folding tool she could use to get into hatches, that also had a knife in it – she’d seen Jess carry one and a thing to wear that was thick and heavy and had a hood that was very warm when she put it on.

A jacket, Jess had called it, for when they were outside and had to leave the carrier.

Very interesting.

Next, she removed a sanitary kit she could take in the carrier also. It had wipes and little bottles of something you could put on your skin and mouth rinse. She could, Jess had told her, order more for it when she’d used it all.

Also very interesting.

Dev got up and found places for all her new stuff, in the drawers of the big cabinet mostly. Once that was done, she picked up her book from her workspace and climbed up into the relaxing area and sat down on the couch.

She had some time before Jess came back and she settled back in the couch, opening the book and reading from where she’d left off.

**

Jess finished requesting data, then she logged off the intel system and sat down at the small desk, using a stylus to make a few notes on the folder she was carrying. She wrote in silence for a few minutes, then glanced up as the door behind her opened.

Shit. She cursed silently. “Hello Jared.”

The tall, spare medical director came over and sat in the seat next to her. “How long did you figure on ignoring the request to med?”

“I’ve been busy.” Jess said, continuing to scribble. “Besides, what would be the point? Bain put me back into service. He ranks you.”

“Yeah and I heard what he does to people who disagree with him.” Jared spared a brief smile. “I wouldn’t have said no to him either. But you still have a hold on your chart – want to spend ten minutes with me and get it cleared legit?”

Jess checked the time on the console. “If its only ten minutes, sure.” She finished writing and stood up. “I’ve got an appointment to get to.”

She followed Jared down the hall, out of the gray section into the white, passing suite after suite of examination and operation rooms most fortunately now not in use. She’d spent her time in those rooms and like any other agent hated the place.

Jared led her into a small exam room, the one she knew was right next to his offices. She sealed and put the folder down on the desk and lay down on the exam table, feeling the warmth and tickle of the diagnostic systems.

“You look like you’re feeling better.” Jared commented, from behind the console. “Your back still giving you problems?”

“No.” Jess shook her head. “A little tender, that’s all.” She clarified. “Still a little heat sensitive.”

Jared nodded. “Hold still.”

Jess felt the scan focus on her head and she closed her eyes.

“How’s your sleeping?”

“Okay the last few days.” Jess cracked one eyeball open cautiously, then opened them both as the scan faded. “Been too busy to think about it.”

“Hm. That’s what I thought.” Jared came from around the console and appeared next to her. “I can still see adherence in there. You could have gotten into trouble going out.”

Jess lifted a hand and wiggled it’s fingers. “The only thing I exercised yesterday were these. “ She said. “I shot the hell out of everything while sitting on my ass.”

Jared snorted, then chuckled a little. “I heard. About that, and about your new pilot.” He studied Jess’s face. “How’s that going?”

“She’s fine.” His erstwhile patient said. “Pretty good pilot. Not a bad personality. “

“For a bio alt, you mean.”

“For anyone. She’s a nice kid. We’re getting along pretty well.” Jess responded. “Bain’s just sending orders down to make her permanent.”

“I saw. I got them.” Jared said. “I want to see her too, to get a baseline. You think that’s going to work? Most people I talked to didn’t.”

Jess half shrugged. “Most people you’ve talked to haven’t worked with her. They think bios are walking jelly bag brains. Dev isn’t. She’s not one of us, but she’s not one of them either.”

“Huh. You sure that’s not just wishful thinking?”

“Talk to her and form your own opinion.” Jess said. “Done now? I’ve got places to go and people to see.”

Jared leaned against the table. “I’m done. You look like you’re finally on the right track again, Jess. You had me worried there for a few weeks. Maybe everything going to shit was good for you.”

Jess smiled wryly. “Kicked my head out of my ass, you mean.” She interpreted. ‘Yeah, maybe. At least I’m not upchucking all night from nightmares.”

“No you aren’t.” He turned off the scanner. “Your bodyweight’s stopped dropping. I’m going to release you officially so they don’t have to keep overriding me from ops.” He said, in a droll tone. “Nice to know just exactly how much authority I really have.”

Jess sat up and swung her long legs off the table. “Don’t feel bad, Jared. Bain steam rolled over pretty much everything but then – he’s the old man.”

“Yes, he is.” The medico agreed. “A lot of people got the shit scared out of them by him. No one expected … I mean, you hear the stories and all that, but no one thought he’d just come in here and start shooting.”

“No.” Jess retrieved her folder. “But he did.”

“What I’m wondering now is – will he stay here, or is he going to pick someone to replace Bricker?” Jared watched her face closely. “What do you think?”

Jess shrugged both shoulders. “I’m just an agent. I try to think as little as possible.” She turned and headed for the door.

“Senior agent, now.”

Jess looked back over her shoulder and grinned, then she went through the door and was gone.

**

The dining hall was almost empty when Jess and Dev entered it. None of the other agents or techs were there, just a few console operators from the ops center nearby, and alone in the corner, Stephen Bock.

Jess gave him a casual wave as she took a seat at a small table and motioned Dev to do the same. “So here’s how this works.” She said. “That screen shows you what’s available tonight. You tap on what you want, and they deliver it.”

“I see.” Dev regarded the screen. “Why do they do that, if they make you go pick it up the rest of the time?”

“Tradition.” Jess said. “There are some things we do… just because that’s the way we’ve always done them and no one wants to change it because it meant something way back when.” She keyed something into the pad. “I’ll throw a few credits at this.”

Dev studied her choices, and made her selection. Then she folded her hands on the table and regarded her tablemate. “Is it something like these?” She touched the insignia at her neck.

“Something like that.” Jess agreed. “You’ll see more of the traditional stuff when we attend the incoming ceremony for the new class.” She smiled. “I remember when it was me up there. I”d never seen any place like this before.”

Dev pondered that. “We have… I guess it’s sort of like that when we graduate from basic learning.” She said. “We all come into a big room, and they take record of all our designations and where we would be going for advanced classes.”

“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “I had that in school.”

“Then they took us all to medical and had our collars installed.” Dev touched her throat. “They said we were all grown up then.”

Jess leaned her chin on her fist. “So… they don’t do that special programming with you until you’re older?” She looked up as a bio alt waitservant approached, with a tray. “Thanks.”

The man placed the drink she’d ordered on the table, and then, with the barest hesitation, put a second one in front of Dev.

“Thank you.” Dev looked up at him.

The man nodded, then he straightened and went back into the preparation area.

Jess snorted and shook her head.

“That’s a Ceebee 245.” Dev commented. “They do that – the serving thing, up in the crèche too, for the natural borns in the fancy places.”

“They do?”

“Yes.” Dev said. “They don’t give us any programming until we graduate basic. They teach us the regular way before that. Reading, and writing, and basic skills.”

“Huh.” Jess sipped her drink. “I guess that’s not too different from how I grew up. I was in pre school until I was five, and they gave us the aptitude battery.” She said. “Then they sent me to the academy, on my sixth birthday.”

Dev took a sip of the glass she’d been given finding a medium fizzy beverage with a taste that reminded her of the soy nuts that had sometimes been served in the crèche. “What is this?”

“Beer.” Jess said. “Like it?”

Dev tasted it again. “I think so.” She said, after a pause. “So what did they teach you at the academy? Is that where all of the people here went?”

“What did they teach me.” Jess mused. “I hardly remember. Like you said, reading and writing I suppose. Some math, geography. History. How we got to be in the situation we’re in, that sort of thing, for classes.” She paused, as the server came back and put down their plates. “Then at… I guess around age ten they start teaching us the business.” She lifted her hand and made a circle over her head, encompassing the structure around them.

“So, you knew you wanted to do this?” Dev cut a bit of the fish on her plate and put it in her mouth.

“Wasn’t given a choice.” Jess was plowing through her meal.

Dev stopped chewing. “Really?”

Jess looked up at her. “Really.” She washed her mouthful down with a swallow of the beer. “Didn’t really want a choice, that’s what the battery is for. My family’s been doing this for ever, so when I tested high it was a foregone conclusion that I’d go, and I’d graduate, and I’d come to a place like this and do what we do.”

“Wow.” Dev took another sip of the fizzy beverage. “So all the other people we work with, the ones we went on the mission with, they all did that too?”

“Not exactly. The agents, me, and Elaine, Jason, Sandy… we all did. So did Stephen over there, and the guy who got his head taken off. Anyone who wears the black bars like I do. They do the whole course, from childhood.” Jess explained. “The techs, like Brent, come in around your age. They get schooled on the outside, and if they pass the tests and the background checks and the psych, they get admitted.” She forked up some of the fish and ate it. “Damn, that’s good.”

“Oh.” Dev was also enjoying the taste. “So that’s why I heard someone call them outsiders?”

“Yes.” Jess nodded. “They come to what we call field school. During that, they get matched to an agent, and then sent out as a team usually with a couple others to someplace like this.”

None of this had been in the programming, Dev realized. Only the rules and regulations of Interforce, and the technical knowledge she’d need to do the job.

“There are always more techs than agents.” Jess said, after a short silence. “We get in the way of blasters more often.” She gave Dev a wry wink. “But we can choose to leave. I almost did the other day.”

“Yes.” Dev murmured. “I’m really glad you didn’t.”

Jess paused in mid chew, as she met the serious, earnest eyes gazing at her. After a moment she hastily swallowed. “Yeah, I’m kinda glad too. “ She said. “It’s gotten a lot more interesting here lately.”

Her tablemate looked a touch puzzled, but then smiled.

They both looked up, a little startled, as they heard a throat being cleared nearby. Stephen Bock was standing by their table, his hands in the pockets of his jumpsuit.

“Stephen.” Jess motioned to a seat. “Join us.”

“No, just stopping to offer my congratulations.” Stephen said. “I saw your ranking change. Well deserved, Jess.”

“Thanks.” Jess accepted the words with a brief nod.

“And congratulations to you too.” Stephen turned to Dev. “The system recorded your permanent assignment here. So welcome.”

Dev had put her utensils down when he’d started speaking and now she nodded. “Thank you.” She said, politely. “I’m glad I was able to contribute to good results.”

“Well, you did a good job, and I hope we can trust you to keep Jess’s ass out of the fire again in the future.” Stephen said.

Dev looked at him, then she glanced at Jess, as one eyebrow hiked up. “They didn’t cover that in the programming either.” She apologized. “I’m not really sure what to do with your ass.”

Jess hastily swallowed what was in her mouth and clapped her hand over it, snorting and then dissolving into laughter.

Stephen covered his eyes, and sat down in the seat abruptly.

Dev regarded them with mild amusement until they recovered their composure. “Sorry about that.” She apologized. “I don’t really understand some of the things you say sometimes. I have a few I need to look up in the reference library later on.”

“What he meant was.” Jess cleared her throat and wiped a tear from her eye. “He expects you to keep me out of trouble.”

Dev pondered that, taking a sip of her beer. “Isn’t our job to get into trouble?”

Stephen started chuckling again. “You really do have a sense of humor.” He complimented her. “But I think Jess would have said, your job is to cause trouble.” He rubbed his eyes. “Ah well, it’s been a day.” He let his hands rest on his knees. “Recap tomorrow, Jess?”

“See you in ops.” Jess agreed, giving him a nod as he got up and headed for the door to the hall. After the door closed behind him, she looked back at Dev. “You can just ask if you don’t understand what the hell I’m saying, y’know.”

Dev smiled as she finished up her meal. “I will next time.” She said. “Sometimes I can guess what it is by the conversation around it, but all the stuff about horses and asses and things confuses me. “

Jess chuckled again. “You’re so damn funny.”

“Is it? I mean.. am I?” Dev put her utensils down. “I wasn’t trying to be that time.” She paused, and looked up as the server came back again, putting down a final set of plates. They contained a square of dark brown substance, which she studied as the man removed the other plates. “Thank you.”

“Ahhh. “ Jess pulled over her own plate. “Now that’s a rare treat. I didn’t think they were doing these until the induction ceremony.”

“They were testing them, ma’am.” The server replied quietly. “We were instructed to give them to all the patrons here tonight.” He turned and disappeared again.

“Hey, wait.” Jess called after him. “Bring us over some kack, then. These don’t go with beer.” She broke off a corner of the substance and popped it into her mouth. “Mm.”

Dev tentatively did the same, mouthing the substance as her eyes opened wide. “Oh.” She blinked. “Wow. What is that?”

“It’s called a brownie.” Jess was busy with her own. “I guess because it’s brown.” She regarded the item. “One of the very few things from the old times they can still make, though I think they make it now with rice flour from the paddy caverns and gulls eggs.” She looked up. “Like it?”

“Yes.” Dev answered immediately. “It’s really nice.”

Jess looked up, then looked around carefully. ‘Want to see if we can steal whatever’s left back there?”’

Dev looked up from her plate. “I thought I was supposed to keep you out of trouble?”

Jess just grinned at her.

Part 6

Dev curled up on her side, pulling the light cover over her and settling her head onto the cool pillow. The lights were already dim in her quarters and she exhaled, as a moderate quiet descended over the room and she took a breath of air that still held a hint of plastic from the unpacking of all her stuff.

She could hear various soft noises, of course, doors opening, and the far off sound of the air circulators and machinery. Noises like that had been a part of her existence since she could remember, though, so she found them soothing more than disturbing and after a minute, they faded back and she was able to ignore them.

Closer at hand, though, now she could hear faint sounds next door, beyond the inner panel that separated her room from Jess’s. Motion, as though the agent was pacing. The sound of the dispenser opening and closing. ;

Voices. Dev listened, and thought she caught Jason’s low, male tones, then a definite echo that was Jess’s laugh.

She liked that sound. Jess didn’t laugh often, but when she did it made her face relax and brighten and her eyes sparkle and Dev was glad to see that because she knew she’d caused it herself a few times and Jess seemed to appreciate the humor when she had.

Very good. Dev stretched and exhaled, finding herself very happy.

It felt good to lie there quietly, after the very long, very active day. Her body was tired but there was so much to think about she didn’t really want to just go to sleep right away.

Jess had shown here where the flight log was in the computer, so she could look over it and she decided she would tomorrow to see what she’d done, and what improvements she could make. Then there was the carrier to go inspect, and Jess said she’d take her to the systems workshop and show her where she could build the modules they would use.

And Jess was working on a new mission for them, so maybe she’d find out about that tomorrow too, and there was the gym to explore, and…

Phew. Dev smiled into the darkness. So busy, but that was good.

She was wearing her new sleeping clothes, finding them really comfortable and light, and her whole body now cozy and warm in the big bed. She could feel sleep slowly coming over her despite her best intentions and though there was more to think about she let her eyes close.

She was just drifting off when the door buzzer chimed, a soft light coming on next to the inner portal as her eyes popped wide open again.

Quickly, she got out of bed and went over to it, putting her palm against the scan plate and blinking a little as it slid open and the brighter light of Jess’s quarters flooded in. “Oh, hello.”

“Whoops.” Jess was holding something in her hand, her body outlined against the light. “My bad. Didn’t know you were sacked out. “

“Only just.” Dev said. “Is there something wrong? Do we need to do something?”

“No.” Jess leaned against the doorway. “I won a flask off Jason on a bet on our rescue. Thought I would share a glass with you since we both were part of it.”

“Oh!” Dev smiled, and took a step back. “That would be very nice.”

Jess took that as an invitation and crossed over to the worktable, taking a seat in one of the chairs and setting what she was carrying on the table. She had two small cups in her other hand and she put them down as well, the items softly scraping and clunking against the hard surface.

Dev sat down in the other chair, and waited, watching her. Jess was wearing the same short outfit she was, and the low lights outlined her tall form with an interesting mix of points and shadows. The red mark, from the burning had gained a black bumpy outline and Dev wondered if there would be one for the thing they’d done that day.

Then she figured she could just ask, and she did.

“Hhm.” Jess was pouring a measure of the liquid in the big bottle into the cups. “Not usually for a rescue, no.” She said. “That gets a different reward.” She indicated the thick jacket hanging outside the gray cabinet. “That, or my promotion, that kind of thing. Missions are planned. They’re.” She pondered. “Attacks, not defenses.”

“I see.” Dev took the cup when it was handed to her. “What is this?”

‘This comes from topside.” Jess said. “Matter of fact, it comes from the other side’s topside. It’s honey mead.” She held it up to the light, displaying a rich, golden color. “From their Ag station. They’ve still got bees there. We lost all ours.”

Dev sniffed it. “How interesting.” She said. “We learned about bees in the crèche, but I’ve never seen them. They just used artificial pollination in the gardens there.”

“Hold that out.” Jess said, and then, when she had, touched her own cup to the one in the bio alt’s hand. “To this experiment, however far it goes.” Then she brought the cup to her lips and sipped the contents. “Welcome, Dev.”

‘Thank you.” Dev copied her, finding the liquid thick and rich, and sweet, burning very gently as it went down her throat into her belly. It almost made her shiver. “Wow.”

Jess cupped her hands around her glass and smiled. “What do you think of it?”

Dev took another sip, pausing to think. “It’s very different.” She said. “It feels like it’s staying on my tongue a long time after I drink it.”

“Uh huh.” Jess studied her, intrigued and a little surprised at the supple power of her new pilots body, now relatively exposed in the light clothing. Her arms and legs were firm with muscle and she had visible definition under her light golden skin.

Jess hadn’t expected that, but then, she had to admit she never really had thought about it too much before either.

Bio Alts in the citadel were just window dressing. Jess had no idea if any of them even had names. She certainly never bothered to look at them with their clothing off.

But this one, now.

This one interested her. She watched Dev cautiously swallow another mouthful, and after a brief pause, lick her lips, an approving expression on her face. “Like it?”

Those clear, pale eyes lifted and met hers. “It has alcohol in it?”

“Yes.” Jess chuckled briefly. “Our one remaining vice.”

Dev nodded. “In the crèche, too.” She admitted. “Doctor Dan gave me some before I left, but it was really different from this.” She said. “I like this, and the stuff we had at dinner.”

“Yeah, the beer’s not bad.” Jess leaned against the workspace table. “You get to taste some really weird stuff on the outside. You’ll see.”

Dev looked up at that, and grinned. “I will.” She said. “I’m glad. We heard stories about downside from some of the people that came to the crèche, but it sounded so strange we didn’t believe most of it.”

Jess grinned back. She was getting used to seeing the collar, she realized, the faint glowing traces not really seeming out of place around Dev’s neck. The metal itself was very thin and flexed a little as Dev moved and she wondered if it was ever uncomfortable.

What would it feel like? She only just stopped herself from reaching out to touch the thing, and supposed Dev didn’t pay much attention to it. Guess you could get used to pretty much anything, she decided. “Does that bother you?”

“Huh?” Dev looked around, then at her. “What?”

“The collar.” Now, Jess surrendered to curiosity and lifted her hand up, touching it with her fingertips. “Does it pinch, or whatever?” She could feel the almost smooth surface shift a little, as Dev swallowed.

“No.” Dev cleared her throat, glancing aside with a touch of embarrassment in her expression. “ Don’t think much about it usually.”

Jess lowered her hand. “It feels warm.”

“Body heat.” The bio alt explained briefly. “When I got it put on at first it used to… “ She paused. “I felt it, sometimes. But now I don’t.” She looked up at met Jess’s eyes. “When you get programmed, the sensors come down over your head and clip into the slots here.” She touched the collar herself. “Then they tell you to go down, and when you come back up, there’s a bunch of new knowledge there.”’

“Huh.” Jess rested her chin on her hand. “Do you know ahead of time what you’re getting?”

“Sometimes.”

“Did you ever get something you didn’t like?”

Dev considered that soberly. Had she? “I don’t think so.”

Jess grunted softly. “I can remember some classes I wish I hadn’t been forced to take.” She admitted, “You’re lucky.”

Dev looked thoughtful for a long moment, then she smiled. “Yes, I am.” She glanced away and then back again. “Are we going to go outside soon? For this mission thing?”

‘Yes.” Jess replied. “I just haven’t planned out when and where yet. But it’ll be soon. They want this taken care of before it can take hold.” She added. “So get some rest tonight. We might be on the move after they get me the weather and mechanical status tomorrow and then the timing and sleep gets pretty random.”

Dev nodded. “Night and day didn’t mean much in the crèche. At end of schedule, you just reported to your sleep pod, and stayed in it until the cycle completed. She looked around the room. “I like it better here. You don’t know what might happen.”

“You like that?”

“I think it’s really interesting.” Dev replied. “Everything’s new and different.”

Jess leaned her elbows on her knees, and studied her cup. “I never thought about it like that.” She admitted. “Every day is different here, in a way.” She exhaled. “So I better let you get some rest and go sack out myself.”

“Thank you for the drink.” Dev finished hers. “It was very nice of you.”

Jess met her eyes, and smiled. “Ah.” She stood up. “Dangerous for me to drink it all myself. I end up walking into walls and singing.” She took Dev’s cup and the bottle. “I’m glad it worked out this morning, Dev.”

“Me too.” Dev smiled back, letting her elbow rest on the back of the chair she was sitting in. “You know, it’s the one thing we bio alts all really want. To find a place we can belong, and to do good work.”

Jess raised the bottle, and then she turned and approached the door. It slid open as she neared, and then closed behind her.

Dev sat there for a while, absorbing the sweet taste on her tongue, and replaying Jess’s words in her head. She decided she liked the agent a lot, appreciating her straightforward ways and her quirky sense of humor.

And she had been, except for Doctor Dan, the kindest person Dev had met so far anywhere, almost treating her just like another natural born sometimes. It was nice, and it made her feel really good and with an abrupt suddenness, she realized no matter what difficulties they would face, she wanted to be here, and not go back to the crèche.

Even if it was hard. It was good not to have proctors all around her, or the sameness of classes, or being treated like just one face among many.

It was good to have interesting people around her, even if some of them were rude. It was good to be able to do hard, and difficult things.

Abruptly, the door between her quarters and Jess’s opened, making her blink as the tall, dark haired woman leaned into the opening. “Hello.” She murmured, half sitting up and peering through the shadows.

“Door’s not locked.” Jess outlined the obvious. “So just don’t scare yourself if you walk by and it opens.” She ducked back away and the door closed again, leaving the room once more in quiet peace.

Dev studied the door, quite surprised. She could see the scan pad light was now a calm green instead of the red it had been before, and she wondered what that was supposed to mean. She diligently searched her programming, but there were no references to anything like that in there.

Figures. Dev got up and went behind her workspace, sitting down and pulling her pad over to her, logging in with a thumb press and calling up the rulebook of the citadel, which had provided her with a lot of useful information so far.

After a few minutes reading, she pushed the pad back, unsatisfied. There was nothing in the book about doors, or quarters, or anything like that. Dev rested her chin on her hand and frowned a little. Then she sighed and got up, returning to her bed and snuggling back under the covers.

Maybe it didn’t mean anything. Maybe it was just Jess’s way of saying she was happy with having Dev on her team.

Maybe she’d just gotten tired of ringing the bell.

Dev let her eyes close again, this time, fading into sleep before she really had a chance to think about anything else.

**

Jess set the bottle down in her cabinet, and put the glasses on the tray underneath. She studied it for a moment, and then she turned and wandered over to her bed, dropping down onto it and looking up at the ceiling.

She was tired. It felt good to be tired, in the way that you got when you’d expended energy in doing something worthwhile rather than just hung around the citadel kicking yourself.

Body tired, instead of mind tired. She stretched and settled herself, squirming around and getting under the covers as the lights dimmed down around her, as her eyes caught the soft glow of the light across the room.

What, she pondered, would her new pilot think about the door? Would she understand why Jess had turned off the security between them? Probably not. She smiled wryly. Hell, she really didn’t understand why she’d done it, except that she’d realized she had found a little bit of sympathy in her for Dev, who had been thrown into her world with only the barest of preparation for it.

She’d always been a sucker for the underdog, and Dev had risen to the challenge, with a calm courage that surprised and charmed her, and made her want to do what she could to keep the kid on the right track.

Everyone had thought Dev was going to be at best, and embarrassment and at worst, a mortal danger to the people she was here to work with, and it made her feel good to know she’d had a part in having the bio alt prove otherwise.

Jess wanted her to succeed. She smiled into the darkness. She did, and in the silence of her own conscience she could admit that she did and it had nothing to do with what Bain wanted either. It felt good to have something to focus on that kept her interested.

Dev interested her. She suspected she would go in interesting her. She also suspected they could achieve good things together, and success. Jess rolled over onto her side and wrapped her arms around her pillow.

She felt her body relax, and she spent a few minutes going over the day in her mind, before the pictures slowly faded into her dreams and she was out, her breathing slowing and evening, a smile still on her face.

**

The alarm brought Dev standing up in an instant, her heart thundering, as she looked around her in shocked bewilderment. The lights had snapped on in her quarters, and she could hear noises outside, but in this very moment she had no idea what to do.

The alarm was a low, unnerving howl, growing to a climax and then falling again, setting her nape hairs on edge as the screen above her workstation lit up showing a grid of the citadel with lots of flashing red points.

Something was wrong. After a second of indecision, she bolted for the door between her and Jess’s quarters reaching it just as it popped open, revealing the dark haired woman halfway through getting into her jumpsuit. “Oh!”

“Get kitted up.” Jess said. “We’re under attack.”

Dev scooted over to the dressing case and started getting out of her sleep ware, glad of the clear direction. She hesitated, and then grabbed the suit she used in the carrier, jumping into it and sliding the catches closed with one hand as she grabbed her boots with the other.

“Where are they??” Jess’s voice bellowed from the next room. “Airborne?!”

Dev got her boots on and grabbed her pilots kit, shaking her head to clear it as she headed again for the door that had stayed wide open.

Jess was fastening her sidearm, her head bent towards the comms unit on her workspace. “The dock? The shuttle dock?”

“That’s right!” A voice answered. “Stupid bastards are pounding the landing pad, shuttle’s in there was about to leave!”

“What the hell?” Jess grabbed her heavy rifle. “C’mon, Dev.” She said. “Stay close to me out of the way. Not sure if we need to launch or not.”

“Yes.” Dev was, again, very glad for the clear direction. “I’m ready.”

Jess looked at her, then smiled briefly. “Yes, you are.” She said. “Good choice on the suit.” She turned back towards the door. “Central, live fire in the halls coming down.”

“Watch out! We heard fire in the outer halls! They may have penetrated!” The voice came back. “Ops to all details – stand by! Stand by we may have enemy in the complex!”

“Shit.” Jess slammed her comm helmet on her head and headed for the door. “Put your hat on, kid. You see anyone pointing anything at you dive for the floor.”

“Yes..” Dev put on her own unit, clicking into the comm stream and hearing an eruption of voices as she settled the earpiece in. She got right behind Jess and stuck with her as they went out the door in the front of Jess’s quarters, and entered the hall.

Lights were flashing a deep, warning red. The entryway to central ops was likewise lit up and down the curved hall there came the sound of heavy, running footsteps.

“Go in that entryway, put your back to it.” Jess stepped out into the hallway and blocked the way into ops, swinging her heavy rifle up and into position as a group of dark clad bodies came barreling around the curve at her.

Dev did as she was told, hitting the wall with her back just as she heard Jess release the safety mechanism on the big weapon she was holding.

“Halt!” Jess let out a powerful bellow.

“Whoa whoa!” The man in the lead put the brakes on and held a hand up. “Security! Hey! We’re friendly!”

Dev quickly poked her head out from behind the steel entranceway and saw six men in heavy armor ramble to a halt and duck for cover, despite the fact they were far more heavily armed and outnumbered the lone agent holding the hall against them.

She could see their widened eyes and had to wonder.

Jess kept them hopping for a second, then she shifted the muzzle of the heavy gun. “What’s the scoop? Nothing’s down here. You guarding ops?”

“Affirm.” The man in front said.

“Right.” Jess surged into motion. “C’mon, Dev.”

Dev followed her down the hall and past the security guards, as they rapidly came past them and took up station at the entrance to the command center. “They were scared of you.” She commented to Jess, as they sped through the central hall.

“Sure.” Jess was turning her head from side to side, her hands shifting on the gun. “I’m an ops agent. We’re nuts and they know it.”

“I see.”

Jess heard the sound of live fire percussion up ahead and she slowed a little, hugging the wall. “Actually, what they really know is that if I think they’ve turned, or working against the best interests of the organization in my estimation I’ll blow them apart.”

“Oh.”

“They have to wait for permission to blow me apart.”

“Oh.” Dev’s vocal inflection changed completely.

“Stay behind me.” Jess flattened herself against the wall. She could hear the explosions and she sidled forwards and reached the curve, ducking down and snaking her head around the edge to see what lay past it.

The hall, surprisingly, was clear, but she saw flashes past the next set of doors. “Okay, c’mon.” She straightened and moved along the hall, coming around the bend and seeing Jason and Brent crouching just out of the line of sight. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Jason glanced past her, then back down the hall as Jess and Dev joined them. “Fucking mess. I swear this place is going to shit.”

“What’s up?” Jess touched her ear. “Don’t hear crap on com.” She said. “Anyone know what the deal is?”

“Shuttle landed. Next thing we knew we had inbound, and a big bang on the dock.” Jason said, in clipped tones. “Heard blaster fire in the outhall. They blew the cams so no one can see what the hell’s going on.”

“Let’s go. Next door.” Jess pointed, then she led the way forward, with Jason right at her side.

Brent and Dev followed along. Dev noticed Brent was also carrying his pilots’ gear and he, like her, didn’t have a weapon. She hadn’t seen any of the techs carry a gun, and she figured that was why she had no programming at all about them.

She knew what they were, of course. She’d seen pictures of them. But she’d never encountered anyone with them in the crèche; even the security proctors who were in charge of keeping order didn’t carry anything more than a shock stick.

The sounds of the explosions got abruptly louder, and then they heard yells.

Jess started running and they came around the corner in time to see the outer doors explode inwards, with a percussive shock that nearly knocked them off their feet. “Breach! Breach!” Jess yelled into her com. “Seal the ring! They blew the outer door!”

Dev heard a deep rumbling sound that rattled her bones and as she glanced behind her she saw huge portals sliding shut blocking off any escape back down the corridor. As they closed she felt the air compress around her, and then they were in two sets of curved hallway blocked off from anything other than whatever was making so much noise up ahead.

“Down!” Jason bellowed, and they all fell flat on their stomachs as fire came down the hall, slamming into the wall behind where they’d just been standing.

Jason and Jess started firing back, spraying the opening with heavy blasts as they spotted friendly fire from inside the alcove shooting back at the blasted outer door. “We have enemy action on the dock.” Jess called into the com. “We’re moving in. Stand by to vent on my mark.”

“Standing by. Shuttle crew sealed their flight deck, ops.” The com came back. “They took some heavy damage.”

“Roger that.” Jess started swarming forward across the ground, firing as she moved. Jason angled after her getting a slightly different line of fire and crossing hers as they covered the opening and prevented anything from emerging from it. “Too bad. They could just lift and end our problem.”

Dev clipped her gear to her suit and copied Jess’s motions. She tried to keep behind the two ops agents as best she could, without bumping into the stolidly crawling Brent.

She felt a little helpless, and looking at her fellow tech, she thought maybe he did too, since he looked like he was in a very bad mood and he flinched every time the weapons made a loud noise.

He glanced at her. “Don’t like being a target.” He muttered. “Sucks.”

Dev nodded in sympathetic agreement. “It would be better to be flying.”

For a moment, Brent stared blankly at her, then faintly, his lips twisted into a reluctant smile. “Yeah.”

“Movement!” Jess aimed down a line, and blasted a red flare towards the smoking entrance, as Jason rolled to one side and took his own aim, hopping sideways at the very last moment as a blue blast scored the ground where he’d just been lying. “Watch it!”

“Same you!” Jason saw a round blob travel inside and caught it with his blaster, sending a wave of energy through the hall along with a booming roar. “Trigger bomb! Watch your eyes!”

Then all at once a lot of things happened. The opening they were moving towards filled with big, blocky figures and Jess and Jason hauled up onto their knees, blasting away as fast they could as the intruders blasted back at them.

Fire landed all around them and Dev rolled over and hugged the wall, ducking her head as a bolt hit the surface just over her so close she felt the heat against her shoulder blades.

“Duck!” Jess yelled, as she removed something from her belt and threw it, then went flat to the ground and covered her head.

A guttural yell was heard, then a moment later a deep, violet flash flooded the hall, followed by a ripping sound and a huge, ear rending thump.

“Clear!” Jason yelled a half second later, and the two agents scrambled to their feet and bolted forward, with their techs a couple steps behind them. The opening was now empty, and the steel stained a deep, smoky black and they ran through a field of energy that made them all twitch.

It was almost painful. Dev almost cried out. But it faded as they jumped over the still bodies on the ground and they were in the outer entry.

It was almost unrecognizable. The door to the shuttle bay had been blown apart, and the console Dev had first seen as she entered was nothing but shards. As they crossed the threshold there was movement to their left and Jess turned and aimed in a motion so fast and smooth it seemed there was no thought at all involved.

Her eyes tracked and targeted the motion and just as quickly, she turned her weapon aside and then turned 360, checking for other intruders as she trusted her senses in marking the threat as a friendly.

The motion continued though, and through the haze and smoke a figure appeared with a blaster in hand and joined them. “Thanks for not blasting me, Drake. Would have been a pity after all that.”

“Doctor Dan.” Dev blurted, in deep surprise.

“Yes.” Doctor Dan tipped the blaster muzzle up and let it rest against his collarbone. “Haven’t had to do that in a while.” He observed the destruction, and the scattered bodies on the outside, as well as the pile of silent figures on the inside. . “Nice grenade hit.” He complimented Jess.

“Thanks.” Jess regarded him in bemusement. “Was that you laying down fire from the back there?”

“Mmhm.” Doctor Dan produced a brief smile. “Certainly got the old blood pumping, I’ll admit.”

“What the hell happened?” Jason asked, as both he edged out into the pad, and swept the area. Overhead, the sound of a carrier engine was heard, and they looked up to see four of the big vehicles hovering. “Are we clear?”

“Affirm, ground ops.” The com crackled. “We’re clear airside. BR76004, BR76003, remain in formation until released. BR75003, BR74034, return to base.”

“BR74034, clear.”

“BR75003, clear.”

Two of the carriers split off and disappeared, while the remaining to started a slow circling patrol over the shuttle bay.

“We’re clear groundside.” Jess reported. “Six down need a cleanup. Drake on com.”

“Affirm, will send, thanks Drake.”

Brent was kneeling beside one of the intruders and he kicked them over with his boot. “Stormers.” He glanced up. “They get dropped? Where’s the log?”

Dev slowly looked around at the destruction, and then at Doctor Dan, who was standing easily with the gun resting against his shoulder, as natural with it as Jess had been. He turned his head and looked back at her, his gentle smile appearing.

“You all right, Dev?” He asked. “Terrible way to wake up, isn’t it?”

“Different.” Dev acknowledge. “I took no harm.” She added. “Did you?”

“No.” Doctor Dan shook his head. “Despite me being far too old to be messing with these things, I managed not to crack anything besides a smile this time.”

Jess came back in from the pad, shaking her head. “What the hell was that all about?” She wondered. ‘This is the most heavily defended part of the citadel and they know it. What were they after?”

Doctor Dan cleared his throat. “Me, probably.” He said, in a diffident tone. “I was about to board the shuttle to leave.” He peered outside. “I heard the engines overhead and got back inside just as they came down right on top of the pad.”

“You?” Jess stared at him.

“Mm.” Doctor Dan thumbed the safety back on the gun in his hand. “Apparently I’ve made a breakthrough they don’t want continued.” He said. “Somewhat the same as the vegetation advance you will likely be trying to circumvent on that side, Agent Drake.”

“Breakthrough.” Jess turned and looked at Dev, then back at the doctor, her eyebrows lifting.

Doctor Dan shrugged modestly. “I was listed on the passenger manifest.” He indicated the grounded shuttle. “I should be flattered. They sent a six man team in. I suppose they were supposed to get me between when I left the citadel door and before I cleared the hatch.”

“And then what?”’

“Well, either kill me or take me.” Doctor Dan said, dryly. “They’ve got their own bio alt program, you know. Never got very far though. They just have some very basic models.” He smiled again. “The one thing I suspect they didn’t expect is that I’d know who they were and start shooting at them.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to wait for you to leave here?” Jason asked.

“Interforce is the last stop on this shuttle run. It goes right up to the station after that. They could try to blow the shuttle up out of the sky, but it would go up and into space before they probably caught her.” Doctor Dan said. “But it sure was audacious.”

“That’s damn sure.” Jess ran a hand through her hair, and grimaced a trifle. “Well, glad they got skunked anyway.”

Now, the room was starting to fill with people. Dev kept to one side, as technicians poured in and Stephen Bock arrived at a run, puling up to a halt next to their little group. “Came in at sea level.” He said. “They were up and over the ridge before the systems caught them and in there.” He looked at the bay. “They dropped a team and went topside. Too fast, and too high for us to follow.”

“Huh.” Jess grunted. “Told you they’d get an advantage going half space with those damn things.” She said. “We can’t chase them.”

‘Wasn’t my decision.” Stephen said, shortly. “Everyone clear?”

Jason looked around. “Looks like.”

It was then that Bock noticed Doctor Dan standing there. “Mr. Bain was asking for you.”

“I bet he was.” Kurok handed over his blaster to one of the security men, who took it gingerly. “Well, it appears I’m stuck here for a while longer.” He patted Dev on the shoulder. “Let me go see what the old man wants.”

He turned and left the outer lock, passing through the inner corridors and disappearing as the rest of them watched him go.

“You said he was a scientist?” Jason asked, quizzically.

“He is a scientist.” Dev said. “He programmed me.” She added, after a brief pause.

“Huh.” Jess’s brows twitched. “That might explain a few things.”

“What?” Jason looked at her.

“Never mind.” Jess exhaled. “Well, they got us good, that’s for sure. Never had the guts to go for our bay before.”

“You pissed them off.”

A cleanup team was removing the enemy bodies, zipping them into bags and latching the bags to the weight carrier they’d brought with them. Technicians were moving aside the destroyed console, and someone else was erecting a set of temporary lights in the corner.

A squad of security showed up, with a portable blast barrier they started to set up to close the gaping hole in the wall

Stephen shook his head. “That was ballsy.” He regarded the outer door. “We’ll need to keep the inside seal on until they get that rebuilt.” He glanced at Jess. “You think it’s their way of sending a message back for what you did?”

Jess shrugged. “Stupid if it was. Besides, you heard Kurok. He thinks they were after him.” She said. “And I wouldn’t say he’s wrong.” She added. “C’mon Dev. Let’s go get breakfast now that all the fun’s over.”

“That was fun?” Dev straightened out of her jumpsuit, twisted askew from her crawling on the floor. “I think I liked being chased by all those planes better.”

Brent snorted. “Score.”

“Yeah, well, let’s get chow before the old man blows up.” Jason joined them “Not gonna be a happy day.”

**

Dev entered her rad station, her book tucked under her arm as she paused to review the space in front of her.

She liked it. The room was low ceilinged, and cozy, with translucent couches and chairs and towards the back, what Jess had explained to her was a meditation space that was lit in a soft blue light and had a padded floor to sit on.

She put her book down on the table and went to the small closet in the wall. She removed her boots and her jumpsuit, and put them inside, feeling the faint movement of air against her bare skin as she went to the control panel.

She put her palm on it. After a second, it chimed. “Name.” A soft voice asked.

Dev studied it for a minute. “Dev.” She pronounced.

The system digested that. “NM-Dev-1?”

“Yes.”

“This system will code your presence recording you as “Dev”.” The voice said. “Stand by for scan please.”

Dev waited, and felt the tickle over her skin as the system reviewed her body. This felt totally normal to her, and she remained still, breathing easily. “This is my first experience.” She said, after a pause.

“Acknowledged.” The voice answered. “This session will consist of one standard hour. Advise this system if you experience any difficulty, or if discomfort results.”

“Yes.” Dev agreed. “Thank you.”

Talking to machines was often easier than talking to people. Dev felt the light change, and she felt faint warmth on her skin as the rad came on and bathed her. There was something in the quality of it that made her smile and she walked into the space with the chairs and picked her book up, sitting down on one of the couches and leaning back.

Jess was working on the mission plan, and she suggested that Dev get her rad in and that she’d come get her when she was ready to go over what they were going to do. That seemed like a good idea to her, and now she was content to relax in the light, enjoying the warmth and the soft sound of the machinery around her.

In the crèche, there never was an issue about getting sunlight. It came and went constantly, and you could always count on catching some in the dining hall, or the gym, or just in the halls while you were waiting for a class.

And, of course, in the sleep pods as they rotated up along the rim of the crèche they were exposed to the sun as the covers turned translucent and so, she’d never had to think about it before.

Here, she did. Dev stretched her legs out on the couch. She wondered what people outside the citadel did, and made a mental note to ask Jess about it later.

She set her book down and folded her hands over her bare stomach, thinking about the attack they’d suffered in the morning. It had been scary for her. She had felt a little like she and Brent were more of a hindrance than a help and it bothered her a lot that there hadn’t been anything she could do to help Jess at all.

If they had been ordered to launch – then there would have been good work for her. But they had bypassed the hangar deck when they went into the last curve and then all she and Brent could do is stay on the ground and hope they didn’t get blasted.

Brent had even talked to her about it. Commiserated with her. Dev had felt sort of good about that, since it was the first time the tech had even spoken to her outside ship com. She’d even walked back to the dining hall at his side and it hadn’t really felt uncomfortable.

That was nice. She didn’t want the others to feel bad all the time around her. Dev studied the calm, dim room. She would finish her rad, she decided, and then maybe go do some work in the gym. Maybe by then, Jess would have her plan all worked out.

**

Jess slowly sat down at her desk, grimacing a little as her back protested. The spot where she’d been stabbed had ended up slamming against a door handle in all the tumult and she’d felt a sharp spear of pain that at the time, she’d ignored.

Now, it was throbbing, and the jolts of pain were going up her spine and through her neck and giving her a banging headache.

She should go to med. Jess glowered at the screen in front of her, and rested her forearms on the desk, debating the issue with herself in silence.

If she went to med, she’d be stuck there. They’d ground her again. Jess studied her twined fingers. Before she hadn’t really cared that much, after Joshua she’d been more than glad not to be under any pressure either to take a new partner on or go out in the field.

It had been all right, to her, to step down after she’d gotten back from the failed mission, spending her time either curled up in bed convalescing or out on the ledge, just watching the sea. It had been a long time – hell, it had been since her entrance into field school since she’d taken a break and just let life run past her for a while.

Now? Jess exhaled slowly. Now, after Bain showed up, and she’d gotten promoted, going offline wasn’t really her first option. Bain wanted her to take care of this problem, and she had a feeling if she did, there might be more in it for her than he was letting on.

Now things were exciting and good things were happening. Bricker was gone and she saw an opportunity for her to really get herself ahead.

And then there was Dev. Jess pondered her new pilot. Dev the surprisingly skilled. Dev the surprisingly courageous. If she went offline, Bain would surely put her in team with someone else, so as not to lose those significant skills and then what?

Would any of the other agents treat Dev the way she had? No one really liked the idea of the bio alt, especially now that she’d proven herself more than useful. They’d probably find away to get her into an ‘incident’.

She didn’t want anything bad to happen to Dev. Jess relaxed a little, and felt the pain ease. She wanted to keep on working with Dev and have her be part of the success she could feel out there ahead of them, just outside her reach.

So going to med was out. Jess very slowly sat back. Then she got to her feet and went over to the big cabinet, opening it up and fishing inside her gear pack for one of the packets of analgesic she’d stored in there. She got one out and opened it, then swallowed the tabs down with a quick, dry gulp.

“Now what?” She mused. The idea of sitting at her desk made her grimace, so she went over and picked up the info pad, carrying it with her as she slowly climbed the steps up into her relaxation area and adjusted the flexible couch, stretching out on it on her stomach and setting the pad on the shelf at the head of it so she could see the screen.

It wasn’t entirely comfortable, but it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable and she’d gotten used to the position as her back had started to heal once they’d let her out of the hospital. She settled herself and keyed the pad controls; calling up the mission plan she’d started to work on.

It would be a tough run. She studied the layout of the laboratory. There would be no getting in there any easy way, especially after their attack yesterday. She could see the bounce backs showing multiple layers of scan and as they themselves would be, figured the lab and all the outer defenses would be on a very heightened alert.

So.

Jess studied the intel report on the lab. Approach from the air wouldn’t work. She zoomed in on the facility, realizing after a minute that the latest sim scans were based on digital input that probably came from her carrier.

From their carrier. She watched the replay, remembering that long dive and the feel of heavy G’s on her as Dev made the old bus stand up and really shake its booty.

Jess smiled, and then went back to studying the screen.

The lab was buried into granite promontory. The defenses were hardened, and she watched the scan as a transport arrived, going through several layers of security before it was allowed to dock on an isolated landing pad, the muzzles of heavy blasters visible surrounding it.

She watched as guards came out and inspected the transports manifest, and then, the pilot was remanded back inside and a troop of unfriendlies came out to offload whatever the contents or people were.

No easy way in that route.

Jess studied the promontory. If the facility was anything like the one she was in, though, there were infrastructure components she might be able to take advantage of. She knew that they had to generate power and feed themselves not too differently than Interforce did, that the granite cliffs likely held the caverns full of phosphorescent organisms, the ultraviolet lit growing platforms, the captive fisheries, the rakers of seaweed or else some form of equivalent technology to let them feed themselves and create the power needed to run the scientific technology.

She tapped a request into the pad and waited for a response, her body slowly relaxing as the pain medication took effect. As she tapped on the edge of the shelf her mind drifted, and she found herself wondering what Dev was up to.

That puzzled her. Why would she care? Why should she care? Jess frowned, but nevertheless, she keyed over to the locator and tapped in Dev’s name. After a brief pause, the locator came back with a coordinate, and she grunted, satisfied her pilot had taken her advice and gone to rad.

Hm.

The thought of the warm glow suddenly sidetracked her, and after a pause, she got up off the couch and took the pad with her, easing down the steps and crossing over to where she’d left her indoor boots.

Putting them on, she went to the door and through it, heading for the rad area through sparsely populated halls. Why not get a dose of rad herself? It had been several days, after all, and she could just as well go over the plans flat on her stomach in her dose room where at least she’d get something useful out of her time while she waited for the intel to come back.

The drugs had made the pain bearable. It remained as a dull throbbing, but at a level where she could put it aside, and it didn’t affect her moving and walking. Even her headache had faded a little and she sighed in relief as she passed through the central corridor and turned right down into rec.

A good portion of the citadel was at the attack site, either cleaning up, or taking readings, making reports, developing plans to prevent it from happening again and there was no one there to see her arrive at her door, putting her palm on the lock and passing inside.

Once the door shut, she paused, and stood there thinking.

Time was of essence. Jess reasoned. Why not get even more done at the same time? She walked over to the com and typed in a code. After she heard a faint buzz, she leaned closer. “Dev?”

There was a brief pause, and then the buzz stopped. “Yes?” Dev’s voice came back. “I’m here in the sun space, as you suggested.”

Jess nodded to herself. “I’m in mine.” She said. “Mind if I join you? I want to go over the plan.”

There was another brief pause. “I don’t mind.” Dev responded. “That would be nice. It’s sort of making me want to go to sleep in here.”

“Yeah. It does that.” Jess said. “Be there in a sec.” She released the com and turned, leaving her space and walking the short distance down the corridor to the one assigned to her pilot. She put her palm on the lock and the door opened, letting her inside.

She paused in the antechamber, setting her pad down and glanced into the main section. Dev was relaxing on one of the couches and for a moment Jess felt a little lightheaded and short of breath. “Damn drugs.” She muttered. “How do you like this?” She added, in a louder voice.

“It’s nice.” Dev responded. “It feels nice, though it’s different than being in the real sun.”

‘Is it?” Jess stripped out of her jumpsuit and inhaled sharply, as an injudicious motion sent a bolt of pain through her shoulder. She waited for the pain to ease, and then she folded the suit up and put it on a shelf, and added her boots to it. “What’s the sun like?”

“Well.” Dev turned her head as Jess entered, and their eyes met. “It’s.. um.. a lot brighter for one thing.” She said, after a pause to clear her throat. “When it comes into the crèche, all the regular lights go off, and it’s just… it’s different.”

“Mm.” Jess eased slowly down on the chair next to the lounge Dev was on. “So it’s.. I remember reading that it was yellow.”

Dev shook her head briefly. “In space, it’s white.” She said. “It feels good.” She looked up at the ceiling. “This feels good too, but not the same way.” She looked back over at Jess. “It’s too dark to read from.” She held up her book.