Chapter 17

17

J esh's eyes adjusted instantly as she stepped from the airlock into the pitch-black corridor of the storage facility. The air tasted stale and recycled with an underlying tang of… something that bothered her onboard. She set it to analyzing the scent in the back of her mind as Ryke gave the signal for them to move out.

Her boots made no sound on the grated metal flooring as they fanned out. The corridor stretched before them, but their movement triggered the facility's lighting system. Harsh, white light flooded the corridor, momentarily blinding her despite her ocular enhancements. She blinked rapidly to clear it.

"Draanth," Ryke cursed as he keyed his comm. "Anson, we've got motion-activated lighting down here. Can you sort it?"

After less than a moment's silence, the lights snapped off and Anson replied. "Done. I've looped the motion sensors. You're all ghosts."

They moved forward, a team of shadows in a world of black. Her onboard automatically mapped their progress, overlaying the outpost schematics onto her vision. She paid attention to their surroundings as well. The walls were a uniform gunmetal gray, unmarked except for occasional navigation signs and emergency instructions. Overhead, a tangle of pipes and conduits ran the length of the ceiling, disappearing into maintenance hatches at regular intervals.

Her unease grew with each step. They should have encountered at least two guard stations by now. Something wasn't right. Even an automated facility should have some signs of life… maintenance drones, security bots… something . But everything was clean, almost sterile, as if the facility had been scrubbed of all traces of human presence.

"Ryke, we need to stop. Something's wrong here."

The team leader turned with a frown. "What is it?"

She gestured at the empty corridor. "Where is everyone? We should have encountered guards, drones, something by now. It's too quiet, too empty."

As if to punctuate her words, the comm crackled to life and Mira's voice filled their ears. "Guys, I'm not picking up any life signs in your vicinity. The whole place reads as deserted."

"Yeah," Ryke replied. "It would. No one's here."

"Not the issue." Mira's voice was tight. "I'm not even reading your bio-signatures."

"Maybe they've got some new cloaking tech," Davis suggested, his human eyes darting nervously from shadow to shadow. "Something that can fool our sensors."

Ryke rolled his shoulders. "Okay, something's off. Stay alert, everyone. If it's a trap, we need to be ready for it."

They kept going, deeper into the facility. She used her enhanced senses to pick up any sign of danger; a shadow where one shouldn't be, a scent that didn't belong, or the faintest sound of movement that wasn't them. She used her onboard to monitor heat signatures, electromagnetic frequencies, and even minute changes in air pressure. But there was nothing, just the soft whir of the air recyclers and the barely audible footsteps of her team.

Electromagnetic disturbances approximately fifty meters ahead. Possible security measures or surveillance equipment , her onboard warned her as they turned a corner.

She looked along the corridor. Nothing was obvious. Can you identify the source?

Negative , her onboard replied. The signal is too weak for precise identification. Recommend caution.

She nodded. Understood. Keep monitoring and alert me to any changes .

"Something up ahead," she warned the group. "Fifty meters."

The group snapped to attention, Ryke motioning for her to take point as the three men brought up the rear. She stepped lightly as they approached the source of the disturbance, and she frowned as the wall of the corridor opened up.

She froze, her eyes narrowing. A junction sprawled before them, branching off in three directions where her map showed only a straight corridor.

"This shouldn't be here," she murmured, her instincts on high alert.

We need an alternative route , she told her onboard. Can you find one?

Analyzing facility schematics. Cross-referencing with current position .

"What's going on?" Ryke murmured. When she'd stopped, the men had fanned out, taking covering positions facing down the corridors so no one could sneak up on them.

"This isn't on the plans," she explained, weaponry held lightly in her hands. She couldn't see any movement in any of the corridors branching off the junction. She still couldn't work out what the disturbance was, just that she could feel it against her skin. Dammit… why couldn't she have been a Cancer class? If she was, she'd have been able to dive into the outpost systems and rip them apart with a thought to find out what she wanted.

New route identified , her onboard announced. Left passageway. It will add approximately 7.3 minutes to our journey but avoids further areas of electronic disturbance that could be surveillance.

She nodded. Keep monitoring for any other discrepancies. I don't like surprises.

Acknowledged. Continuous scan initiated.

With a gesture to her companions, she headed down the left corridor, her senses hyperaware of every shadow, every potential threat as she followed the route her onboard pointed out to her.

Finally, they reached their destination—a nondescript door at the end of yet another featureless corridor.

"Is this it?" Covak asked, automatically covering her back as she stepped forward to the access panel. It was the work of moments to hack the simple encryption, even for a Taurus class. The door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing… nothing.

"What the…" she breathed, holding an arm out to stop Covak from stepping in front of her as she swept her gaze around the room.

It was empty, completely and utterly empty apart from a single console in the middle of the floor, its screen dark and lifeless.

"I don't understand," Davis muttered. "He should be here. The intel was solid."

The skin between her shoulder blades crawled, every cell in her body screaming that they'd walked into a trap.

"We need to leave," she snapped, stepping back. " Now ."

But it was too late. The air around them shimmered, like heat waves rising from sunbaked hull plates. Between one heartbeat and the next, the lights snapped on, and the empty room transformed into a nightmare.

Towering armored forms materialized out of thin air and in the corridors behind them, surrounding the Reapers in a suffocating circle of steel and weaponry. The massive robots loomed over them. Each was easily twice the height of a man, bristling with an arsenal of advanced weaponry that glinted in the harsh light.

"Ambush!" Ryke roared, his voice drowned out by the sudden din of weapons fire, plasma bolts and laser beams lighting up the air.

The Reapers dove for cover. Bodies hit the ground, rolling and diving behind whatever meager protection they could find as the heated smell of ozone and burning metal filled their nostrils.

"Scorperio suits!" Davis bellowed from where he'd taken cover behind a support strut. "Aim for the joint servos and sensor arrays! The neck and lower back are vulnerable! Watch for the shoulder-mounted launchers. They're slow to reload!"

Jesh crouched behind the central console, ducking in as far as she could as energy bolts sizzled through the air, leaving scorch marks on the pristine walls. She risked a quick glance over the console, her enhanced vision zooming in on the advancing Scorperio suits. They moved with terrifying efficiency, servos whirring as they adjusted their aim. A barrage of laser beams sliced through the air, forcing her to duck back down as the heat seared past her face.

"They've got us pinned!" Covak bellowed from somewhere to her left. "We need a plan, now!"

"How the draanth did they even know we were coming?" Ryke shouted, his voice barely audible over the deafening roar of weapons fire.

Through the din of battle, Anson's voice cut through the comm channel. "It's her! She sent an encrypted message off-ship before we left!"

Her blood ran cold as she realized how her off-ship message could look. "It was to Zero!" she shouted back. "I was just updating him on?—"

Her explanation was cut short as an explosion rocked the room, showering her with debris. As the dust settled, she caught Covak's eyes. The hurt and betrayal in his gaze pierced her heart more deeply than any weapon could.

"Covak, I swear, I didn't—" she began, but he had already turned away, focusing on the fight at hand.

The Scorperio suits moved with a fluid grace that was terrible and fascinating all at the same time. She bit off a curse. The Reapers were being outmaneuvered, the Scorperios' advanced technology giving them a devastating edge.

As one of them bore down on her position, she reached out with her cybernetic senses, trying to hack the Scorperios' control systems.

For a moment, it seemed to work. The Scorperio faltered, its movements jerky and uncoordinated. A spark of hope ignited in her chest, only to be snuffed out as it straightened up again, its smooth movements and forward momentum back as it headed for her.

Worse… Searing pain lanced through her skull. The result of her hacking attempt. She stumbled backward, her vision blurring as the backlash overwhelmed her systems.

"They're too advanced!" she shouted, her voice hoarse. "I can't?—"

Her warning was cut short as a massive hand closed around her throat, brutal pressure that lifted her off her feet. She found herself staring into the faceless visor of the Scorperio suit, its grip tightening with inexorable force as it tried to crush her windpipe.

Through the haze of pain, she saw Covak charging toward her, his face contorted in a primal roar of rage and desperation. But before he could reach her, another Scorperio intercepted him, slamming him to the ground with bone-crushing force.

"No!" she screamed, struggling against her captor's grip. "Covak!"

She watched in horror as Covak went limp, his eyes rolling back in his head. Instantly, she knew what she had to do.

"Stop!" she choked out, forcing the words past the iron grip on her throat. "I… I surrender. Just… don't hurt him."

The Scorperio holding her paused, its featureless faceplate regarding her with cold indifference. Slowly, deliberately, it lowered her to the ground.

As her feet touched the floor, her eyes locked with Covak's. He had regained consciousness, his gaze filled with pain, doubt, and desperate longing. She wanted to run to him, to explain everything, to make him understand. But it was too late.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed.

A sharp pain exploded into agony at the base of her skull, and darkness rushed in to claim her. The last thing she saw was Covak's anguished face, a silent scream on his lips as she was torn away into darkness.

Her eyelids fluttered open, Jesh's vision blurry and unfocused. The harsh white light above her seared into her retinas, and she winced. She tried to lift her arms to shield her eyes, but nothing happened.

What's happened? she asked her onboard as she tried to move again, but the familiar voice was silent.

Panic surged through her, hard and fast.

She couldn't move. Anything. Not even the slightest wiggle of her toes.

The sharp, sterile smell of antiseptic filled her nostrils, triggering memories of pain that made her catch her breath as her panic threatened to surge out of control. She blinked away the bright spots in her vision, and then she could see past the lights trying to blind her… she was in a medical bay. But this wasn't the warm, comforting environment of the Lady's Dream .

No, this place was cold, clinical… and very familiar.

A figure moved into her field of vision, and her heart rate spiked as she recognized him. Dr. Tanner loomed over her, his thin lips curved into a smile that had nothing to do with humor and everything to do with causing her pain. Now she had her memory back, she remembered him… and the years of torture he'd subjected her to.

"Ah, our troublesome subject is awake," he said, peering at her from behind the thick glasses.

"How are you feeling, Jesh? That is your name. Isn't it?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. How did he know that? When she'd been here before, she'd made sure to keep everything about herself that she could from him and his team. No information had passed her lips, so all they knew was what they could glean from her body and her implants.

The doctor's smile widened, revealing teeth that were too white, too perfect. "Oh, don't look so surprised. We reviewed the footage from the aliens' assault on the storage facility. Quite enlightening, I must say. It seems you've finally regained your memories."

Anger flared within her, burning away the grogginess. Whatever they'd used to keep her under, it was effective. She tried to ping her onboard again, to enlist its help in purging her system, but there was no response. A chill rolled down her spine. What if they'd removed it? But that was ridiculous, while an onboard could function without a body, the organics of a Zodiac body couldn't function without an onboard…

"Jesh is the name the aliens gave me," she snarled. "And when I get up from here, I'm going to rip your spine out through your asshole."

His eyebrows shot up, and he chuckled coldly as he reached for something by her head. She tried to move to see what he was doing, but her body was locked into place. A prison of unresponsive flesh. A wave of coldness washed through her, followed by an odd numbness in her throat.

"I'm afraid I can't allow any of that kind of talk," Dr. Tanner said in a chiding tone. "I've taken the liberty of freezing your vocal cords. We can't have you causing any more trouble. Can we?"

Her eyes widened as she tried to speak again but couldn't. That coding had been disabled when the Zodiacs had broken free of their captors. How had he known how to re-enable it?

He moved closer, his bald head gleaming under the harsh lights. She could see the faint scars from failed hair transplants crisscrossing his scalp. He reached out and patted her arm. If it could, the skin of her arm would have crawled to the other side of her body to avoid his touch.

"Now, let's discuss your friend. Shall we? The large one… Covak, I believe his name was?" His pale eyes gleamed. "What an utterly fascinating specimen. I've never seen anything quite like him. Humanoid, yet so physically imposing. I'm quite looking forward to the dissection, I must say."

Dissection. They'd killed Covak.

Her heart stalled in her chest and then cracked at the grief and rage surging through her. The scream remained locked in her throat, her body unresponsive even as her heart shattered into a million little pieces.

"While xenobiology isn't really my specialty," the doctor continued. "I'm sure we'll learn a great deal from him. It's not every day we get to study a new alien species."

He turned away from her and moved to the side of the room. With a dramatic flourish, he pulled back a curtain. Behind it, a row of Scorperio suits stood like silent sentinels.

"But let's talk about you, shall we, Jesh. Do you see these?" He gestured toward the suits. "This is your contribution to the advancement of humanity, even though… well, technically you're not really human. But that little niggle aside, the technology in your body allowed us to create these beauties."

She stared at the suits as anger rolled through her. They'd kept her here, tortured her and killed Covak for these?

Tanner ran his hand over one of the suits' arms. "It's just a pity the human operators burn out so quickly. We tried our best with the neural technology we took from you, but the interface with their nervous systems was… well brilliant," he said with pride, but then his lip curled. "But their nervous systems couldn't handle the load and—" He spread his hands. "But they did sign up. It's not my fault they didn't read the paperwork."

Rage boiled within her. With a wave, Tanner released the freeze on her vocal cords.

"You fucking idiot!" she yelled, her voice hoarse. "Zodiac tech isn't meant to be integrated with a human neural system! You're killing people!"

He turned back to her, a cold smile on his face.

"Oh, I know," he said softly. "But that was just the first wave. Now, though…" His eyes gleamed fanatically. "Now we have all of your neural circuitry, so I'm confident we can overcome those last few… niggles."

A chill ran through her. So that's why she couldn't move. They had literally torn her apart, piece by piece, until she was nothing more than a shell.

"Don't worry, though," he said. "We're leaving your core systems intact for now. I've always wanted to observe the shutdown process."

He smiled at her, the cold, clinical expression not reaching his eyes. "I estimate you have a few hours left. We'll leave you here in ‘recovery' to reflect on your contribution to humanity. It's the least we can do."

With that, he turned and walked away, the sound of his footsteps against the polished floor echoing. The door hissed shut behind him, leaving her alone with the Scorperio suits and the silence.

Tears welled up, blurring her vision before streaming down her cheeks. Covak was dead. A fresh wave of pain washed over her as the pieces of her heart cracked into smaller pieces. He had died trying to protect her, and it was all her fault. If she hadn't escaped, if she hadn't involved him and the Reapers, he would still be alive.

Her breath caught on a gasp and a hiccup. She loved him. She loved him and she would never see his smile again, never feel his strong arms around her. She hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye. The tears spilled over, running down her cheeks and pooling in her ears. She couldn't even wipe them away. Some fucking super-soldier she was.

She blinked, her gaze falling on the Scorperio suits. They just stood there, mocking her. This was her legacy—not the peace the Zodiac had wanted when they'd broken from their masters… but more weapons.

Rage boiled over in her veins. How dare they? How dare they take her technology, her very being, and twist it into this? How dare they kill the man she loved and then tell her to die quietly, proud of what she had "contributed"?

Fuck. That.

She was getting out of here if it was the last thing she did.

The anger gave her strength. She focused on it, let it fill her, fuel her, pushing against the prison of her own body, the heavy tech useless without the neural circuitry to control it. Her finger twitched and brushed something.

She froze. What was that?

She fought to move her head. It felt like a ton weight, all her muscles straining with the effort. Her vision swam, blurring and refocusing as she fought to regain even such a tiny movement. Finally, her eyes locked on to something at the very edge of her field of view. Her breath caught in her throat.

It was dull and metallic, little more than a component, unremarkable to most. But to her, it was as familiar as her own heartbeat. It wasn't just any piece of technology. It was a part that belonged inside a Zodiac's skull.

Jex's onboard.

In their haste to strip her systems, Tanner and his team must have missed it. Or perhaps they'd left it behind because they couldn't use it. Somehow, they'd managed to crack her coding to freeze her vocal cords and more…

Jex wasn't like her. She was a Mark 3 enhanced model, but he was a Mark 7 enhanced Taurus. If she could bring herself back from the brink of death, they had no idea what a Mark 7 was capable of.

With every ounce of strength she had left, she focused on her hand by Jex's onboard system. It was like trying to lift a mountain with her mind. Every neuron screamed in protest, every remaining circuit she had threatened to short out. If her onboard had been active, she was sure it would have been screaming warnings at her.

Slowly, painfully, her hand moved. Millimeter by agonizing millimeter, she willed her fingers to close around the small device, every muscle trembling with the strain. But then she had it, Jex's consciousness cradled in the palm of her hand.

Sweat beaded on her brow as she took a moment, breathing deeply to try and regain her strength. She already felt like she'd been in battle for a week straight, but she couldn't stop now.

Gritting her teeth, she struggled to raise her arm. The weight of the onboard was impossibly heavy, as if gravity itself was working against her. Was this how humans felt… so weak and fragile? The realization struck her like a physical blow. Without her cybernetic enhancements, she was little more than human. From her great strength, she was reduced to this… a weak body barely able to perform a simple task.

Summoning every last reserve of strength she possessed, she lifted her arm and hurled Jex's onboard at the nearest Scorperio suit. Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision as she watched it. She'd tried, but she had nothing left.

She smiled softly, bitterly. "I'm sorry, Covak," she whispered into the silence. "I hope I made you proud."

Her eyes fixed on the ceiling, seeing not the harsh lights above but the stars beyond. Somewhere out there, Covak was waiting for her.

She hoped even a cyborg like her could follow him…