Vira Episode One Read online

  Again Park’s stomach kicked, but again it was a minuscule sensation. Maybe it was hunger or the consequence of partying all night. But ultimately, it was irrelevant. Because if Park wanted to be ready for this mission, he would make himself ready. It was as simple as that.

  When Park had gone through the Academy, he’d gotten a reputation in his first week. None of the other Academy staff or students had ever met a recruit like him. He didn’t need to be browbeaten to take orders. He just did it. No complaints. He rose to any occasion, no matter how dire.

  Adaptable Park, that’s what they called him. He also had a reputation for being able to scrounge a solution from any problem. He was just as good when it came to engineering and jury-rigging weapons and tech from broken machinery as he was with combat.

  And he was fully aware of this fact. Which led to another nickname – Arrogant Park. Some people would care about that – some people would be ashamed. Park wasn’t. It fit him to a T.

  He was aware of the fact the Admiral hadn’t blinked in the last minute – like she was using her eyes to scan his very mind. “I’m going to stress once more that this is unlike any mission you have ever been sent on. And she is unlike any asset you have ever worked with. I’m also going to give you one more chance.”

  “I’m not going to back down,” Park said firmly.

  “Let’s wait until you meet her. Remember, your responsibilities during this mission are simple—”

  “Do everything I can to ensure the mission is a success,” Park spoke over the top of the Admiral.

  Forest paused for several seconds, her gaze hard. “The mission will be a success depending on whether you can control Vira. Plain and simple. This is not a standard combat affair. You will not be going in there guns blazing – she will. All you must do is keep her secret from other Coalition assets and the general public at large. Do you understand?”

  Park nodded automatically. To be honest, he didn’t understand. Perhaps mentally, but not physically. He was used to taking charge in any combat situation. Sure, there were combat specialists out there who were brawnier, stronger, agiler, but nobody could push themselves as hard and as far as Park.

  Maybe there was something about his gaze that alerted the Admiral to the fact he wasn’t truly comprehending the import of her statement, because she let out a low growl. “Follow me. You’ll decide once you’ve met her.” Without another word, Admiral Forest pushed off from the desk.

  She’d been fitted with a discrete biomedical exoskeleton that would help her maneuver and retain balance. They were several connected joints that sat flush against her skin underneath her uniform. But as Park fell into step behind her, it was clear she wasn’t using them. Because Admiral Forest was a woman who chose to do everything the hard way.

  Stumbling, she made it to the door, swiped her wrist to the left, then to the right, and activated the invisible sensors in the smart metal.

  Park heard several mechanisms shift within the wall, some so deep, they made the floor shudder.

  When Park had walked into the Admiral’s office, he’d done so through the basement level hallway.

  But now, as the doorway peeled open in front of him, he was met with a completely different sight.

  He was on one of the lower basement levels. Though once upon a time Park wouldn’t have had the security clearance to travel deep below the command building and into the numerous sub-level basements, that had all changed during the Circle Trader incident. And since the incident, so had the sub-level basements. They’d been rebuilt completely, fitted with new security systems that, theoretically, would stop something like the incident ever happening again.

  You see, the Coalition desperately needed to tighten security at the Academy, throughout the rest of the Coalition states, too. For something was coming – and that thing was the Force.

  Though Park usually had a cool, calm affect, at the thought of the Force, his stomach kicked. Again, it was such a slight sensation that he could barely notice it, but by God, it was there. For good reason. If all of the high-level intel he’d learned about the Force was correct, then the Coalition would have to pull out every stop to prevent them from spilling into the Milky Way. And if the Force were allowed entry into the Milky Way, that would be it. There would be no fighting them. Even if every single race in the Milky Way joined together – from the Coalition to the Barbarians to the Kor – it simply wouldn’t count. The Force, at the fundamental level, consumed energy, and they would greedily lap up every single source of energy throughout the entire galaxy, from biological to technological. They would leave nothing but destruction and dust in their path.

  Admiral Forest strode through the new hallway. As she did, it changed actively around her, the wall panels never sitting still as they grated and ground on invisible tracks. It wasn’t some mere distraction or a strange form of decoration – as part of the new security protocols, the new sub-basement levels were in constant movement. It didn’t mean any of the scientists and officers working in any of the numerous labs would suddenly be crushed as Admiral Forest decided to willy-nilly create a hallway to her destination – the constant movement was monitored and kept in check. It simply meant that if the situation dictated it, and a serious security breach occurred, the entire subbasement system could be changed. Incoming combatants could be cordoned off and key personnel could be kept safe. It was just one of the many new systems the Academy had been forced to put in place as the threat level in the Milky Way just kept getting higher.

  And that, if you believed the briefing he’d had, was why the Academy was finally letting Vira go.

  This wouldn’t be easy. Though Park was always full of bravado and happy to take on any mission, no matter how unlikely it was to succeed, even he could appreciate this was out of the ordinary. He’d never seen any of the usually stiff-lipped, competent Admirals like this. Whenever they spoke of letting out Vira, he imagined they had the same grim, slightly terrified and yet awed expressions soldiers on old Earth would have had whenever they spoke of using nuclear weapons.

  Despite the fact she still wasn’t using her exoskeleton, as the Admiral neared a door that suddenly appeared through the ever-changing hallway, her back straightened, and for the first time, her stance became strong.

  She paused at the door, coming to a full stop as her shoulders tightened and she sucked in a deep breath. For a woman who had a reputation for never being rattled, she looked just as scared as a brand-new recruit.

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  Park wasn’t sure whether the question was meant for him or her, but he settled on uttering a, “Yes.”

  That statement would haunt him for life. For, though Park couldn’t appreciate it yet, he’d never been less ready for something in his life….

  Chapter 2

  Lieutenant Rogers, the Apollo

  He sat there hunched over the pin gun, his stiff fingers stroking the smooth metal.

  Beside him on the small console of his equally small quarters, his burnable communication device sat. His gaze slid methodically between the gun and the device as he waited.

  Waited. And waited.

  Finally the small electronic screen of the communication device lit up, casting a red glow against the underside of his face in this otherwise dark room.

  Rogers lurched toward it, left-hand banging into the pin gun and almost sending it spiraling off the console and onto the floor.

  He caught it just in time, teeth clenching.

  That could have been bad.

  The communication device beeped again, and even though the electronic tone was emotionless, Rogers’ fragile, paranoid psychological state told him it had a sense of urgency. As if this little device could appreciate just how important this was.

  With a stuttering breath, he snapped up the device, first pressing his thumb against the tiny biometric reader against the side of the device, then tapping the top of it in a prearranged set of movements.

  He waited half a se
cond, then the device finally registered that it was him.

  It switched on.

  A minuscule hologram no larger than his palm appeared over the device.

  Admiral James Jones. The leader of the revolution.

  As soon as Rogers thought that – as soon as he allowed the promise of the revolution to swell in his mind – his back stiffened, his head angled down, and his breath stilled in his chest.

  “Are you in position?” Jones spat.

  “I’m in position,” Rogers said as he even snapped a salute.

  Jones didn’t react. He simply kept his unblinking gaze locked on Rogers. “I’m relying on you – the Coalition is relying on you,” he added.

  A cold, quick, prickling sweat slicked across Rogers brow, descending and collecting between his shoulder blades. “I will not fail.”

  “Make sure you don’t. Are the traps in place aboard the Apollo?”

  “The bomb is set.”

  “Don’t hesitate to use it if you have to.”

  Rogers didn’t pause. Perhaps he should have. He’d served the Coalition all his life – he should have more loyalty for it than this. But that was just the thing. What Rogers was doing was loyalty. It was the highest form, in fact. For he was seeing beyond the closed minds of the Admirals to the storm that was brewing. He would not let that storm consume the Milky Way.

  “I will not hesitate,” Rogers said without further pause.

  Jones nodded, made brief, calculating eye contact, then ended the feed.

  Rogers sat there in the dark, reaching a hand out to his left and letting his stiff, cold palm and fingers rest against the pin gun.

  He was ready to do what would need to be done.

  …

  Park

  The Admiral didn’t question him again. She shifted forward, brought her hand up, spread her fingers wide, and lifted her arm from left to right. It activated an invisible scanner in the door. The scanner wouldn’t simply be picking up biometric readings from the Admiral, but would be analyzing the Admiral’s unique patterns of movement.

  It took several seconds, but finally there was an audible click and a buzz.

  The door opened.

  It was no ordinary door. It didn’t slide easily into the recess allotted for it in the wall. It grated, and as it did, countless sub shields and mechanisms switched off.

  For some damn reason, it was the door that finally hammered home to Park how serious this mission was.

  Atmosphere and unidentified gasses spilled from the sides of the door until finally it opened in full.

  And out walked a young woman.

  Vira.

  … Park didn’t know what he’d been expecting. But it wasn’t what he got. When Admiral Forest had mentioned that Vira was a Spacer, Park had envisioned Vira would be decked out in subspace armor, with one of the long subspace weapons the Spacers were renowned for.

  That’s not what he got.

  He got what looked exactly like a cadet.

  An ordinary, bog standard cadet.

  She was human – or at least had the full appearance of a human. She wasn’t particularly tall, wasn’t particularly short, and was of average build.

  As for her general looks, they also were average. Nothing was particularly special, and nothing would make her stand out from the crowd. She had drab brown hair, equally drab brown eyes, and nothing that would usually catch his attention.

  Except for one fact – she’d been standing behind that door. A door that looked as if it had the requisite thickness and technology to withstand a heavy cruiser slamming into it.

  And that fact made Park swallow.

  Vira? She noticed. With the quickest, slightest move, her head ticked to the side, her ponytail brushing over her neck. Her gaze darted from left to right, up and down as she looked Park over completely.

  Park remained still.

  Admiral Forest let out a hard breath. “Vira, this is Park.”

  “I know,” Vira said. Her voice, just like the rest of her, was completely ordinary, if a little sweet and innocent. Definitely not the kind of voice you would associate with what everyone was telling him was one of the Coalition’s greatest assets.

  “Introduce yourself,” the Admiral said after a pause.

  “I’m Park,” Park said automatically, “Lieutenant Park. I’ll be—”

  “He won’t do,” Vira said flatly as she turned around and walked back into the room.

  For the first time, Park caught a glimpse of it. He expected some kind of laboratory, or a small med bay maybe.

  What he got was a well-appointed living room. There were several couches, a massive bank of screens, various paraphernalia, and even an old-school bookcase.

  Vira walked right over to the couch, flopped down, crossed her arms, and stared at the bank of screens as they suddenly turned on.

  She’d given no verbal or physical command to switch them on, but that didn’t matter.

  “Vira,” the Admiral said, letting out a trying breath as she shuffled into the room, “we’ve talked about this. The Admirals have selected Lieutenant Park here—”

  “Well select another,” Vira said flatly.

  Though Admiral Forest had walked into the room, Park remained in the doorway. Firstly, it didn’t feel right to enter what was obviously Vira’s room. Secondly? Apparently she didn’t want him.

  Park had been prepared for a lot of things, but he hadn’t been prepared for Vira flat-out refusing to work with him.

  … Seriously? He’d been prepping for this mission for the past two months. Why hadn’t the Admirals seen to it that he’d met Vira earlier?

  Still sitting on the couch, Vira unhooked one of her arms from around her middle and pointed at Park. “He’s becoming angry,” she pointed out.

  “Vira,” the Admiral’s tone was angry but guarded – lacking the usual bluster it had whenever she was correcting a junior, “we’ve talked about this. You can’t use your abilities to point out people’s mental states. It’s rude.”

  Vira didn’t reply.

  Park? He kept his feelings in check. Though Admiral Forest had pointed out Vira’s considerable physical skills, she’d obviously left out the fact that Vira had psychic abilities. He doubted they were full-blown – doubted she could actually read the contents of his thoughts – but that wasn’t much comfort.

  Combat specialists like Park who were sent on sensitive missions were always given extensive mental training to ensure they could guard their thoughts from races with psychic abilities. You never knew when you would come across a Mindair, and you had to have the ability to close your thoughts off with a flick of a switch.

  And Park did that. Easily. He’d topped the class when it had come to mental defense.

  Though Vira hadn’t looked at him since she’d flopped down on the couch, for the first time, she arched her head to the right. “He’s attempting to block his emotions from me,” she pointed out. She still had that somewhat sweet, innocent voice, and suffice to say, it didn’t match her cold, objective statements.

  The Admiral snorted. “Of course he’s attempting to block his emotions off from you. Lieutenant Park, like all senior-level combat specialists, has gone through extensive mental training. He topped his class, in fact, and has one of the highest mental defense scores of any recruit to have ever gone through the Academy.”

  “I have the highest score,” Vira pointed out.

  Park wanted to think that there was a bratty quality to what Vira was saying, but that wasn’t quite right. It had that immediate innocence of someone who’d never been taught social skills.

  And something clicked in his head.

  This was what the Admiral had meant.

  Perhaps the Admiral could read his mind, because she made momentary eye contact. “You can back out if you choose to. As I’ve already said, this will be no ordinary mission.”

  “I won’t work with him,” Vira said flatly once more as she went back to watching the screens.


  The Admiral looked at Park meaningfully. She also nodded to where she was standing. “Enter, Lieutenant, and convince Vira that she will be working with you.” From the quality of the Admiral’s tone, to her stare, it was obvious that Forest was testing Park.

  If he failed? He’d lose the mission. If he succeeded?

  … Park hadn’t signed up to be a combat specialist to babysit brats.

  But he could hardly walk away yet. He took several steps into the room. It was far more spacious than he’d been able to predict from outside. It extended far in both directions and to the left headed down into some kind of training area. It was massive.

  Of course it was massive – Vira was a Spacer.

  Park had been through some pretty tough training situations in his life, but he couldn’t even begin to imagine how Vira trained.

  But that wasn’t the point.

  He cleared his throat. The Admiral’s eyes were on him, and so were Vira’s.

  “Why am I not appropriate for this mission?” he asked Vira directly.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. He could tell it wasn’t just in irritation. No, she would be using whatever extended senses she had to continue to assess him. And even though he was technically using all of his skills to guard his mind against psychic intrusion, she would still be able to garner plenty of other information from his stance, to his heart rate, to the size of his pupils.

  Park stood his ground. “Answer,” he said.

  “You don’t have the requisite mental control,” she said.

  Park could have played this several ways. He chose to let a wry, albeit small smile spread his lips. There was many a woman around the Academy who would blush at that exact move, but he wasn’t at all surprised when Vira remained unaffected.

  “As the Admiral already said, I have some of the top marks in mental defense that have ever been recorded at the Academy,” he pointed out.

  “I have the top marks,” Vira said once more, almost sounding like a petulant child. Almost. Because the look in her eyes wasn’t petulant. She didn’t look as if she were rubbing his nose in anything – she simply looked as if she were earnestly trying to tell the truth.