Star Force: Divergent (SF74) (9 page)

She read a bit more, then found the command that would
log her in. It was another hidden switch underneath the ‘doorbell,’ and when
she flicked it with her Lachka a single orb popped up above the hologram no
matter what setting she was using. Another switch over the doorbell would log
her out and she tried it just to make sure it worked, then logged herself back
in, with it only being a presence indicator rather than an ID. No logs were
kept as to who was here or not, given that this was a clandestine facility.

“Well then,” she said, thinking about what to do next.
There were no instructions about that, and it seemed like she was on her own
from here on out. She decided to finish reading the instructions until she came
across he query, then went back topside to move her speeder inside a
concealment canopy situated half a mile off. Once it was tucked away she headed
back down, closed the hatch behind her, then stripped down to her
underware
, grabbed some sugar sticks from the pantry, and
laid out on one of the couches and decided to make a movie night of it…both as
a chance to take a rare off day, and to test the nagging feeling in the back of
her mind that she was still being watched and evaluated.

She didn’t think it was true, but being totally off
the grid and without assignment seemed so odd she needed to poke it with a
stick to make sure it was truly her imagination…and an imitation of laziness
would be the best way to draw a reaction.

In the meantime she’d just visibly chill, while trying
to work through in her head what her next move would be. If she really was
alone and free to do whatever, then she needed a plan and a damn good one. All
throughout her training she’d been goaded into figuring things out on her own,
and it seemed like this was now going to be put to practical use. She had to
learn to use her psionics and turn them into both weapons and tools…and how she
did that was totally up to her.

But first things first. Pretend to be a lazy twit and
do all sorts of things a soldier/warrior would never do and get a feel for this
newfound freedom by being a bit stupid, then if she was still left alone, get
to work on developing the skills that she never thought she’d have. Superpowers
were for Archons, and they’d deemed her worthy enough to share.

Jyra wasn’t totally sure what that meant going
forward, but she expected it to be something big…though getting to that point
seemed to be another challenge without a clear cut path. One thing she knew was
that whatever she did, she needed to do it her way from here on out.

Now she just needed to figure out what her way was…

9

November 22, 2897

Epsilon Eridani
System

Corneria

Jyra stood in one of the training chambers in the
Nest, this one tailored for some wild Lachka work that she was nowhere near
ready to try, but it also had some novice settings and the one she was using
now had a small thud suspended in an IDF field three meters in front of her.
Where she stood was outside the field, with the transition being invisible to
the eye but noticeable in her Pefbar. It was a thin barrier, but the energy
made a small ripple in her spherical vision, which at this point she’d learned
to focus into a cone to get greater range.

Thanks the IDF, there was no gravity effect on the
thud and it floated aimlessly with her tugging on it with her telekinesis. One
of the first tricks she’d learned from the Archons’ notes was that she could
tie the mental commands to a physical stimulus, and Jyra had been relying on
that heavily in her early training as both her skill and raw power grew. Now
she was trying to undo that handicap, for her mind didn’t want to use her
Lachka without the physical commands.

That too had been detailed by those who had developed
these powers before her, but oddly enough it was virtually unmentioned in the
Archons’ notes. Rather it was in a much smaller collection of data compiled by
other Arc Commandos, and to which she would be adding when she learned anything
of merit. Apparently they had encountered the same problem, in which their mind
had developed a ‘thinking’ mode and an ‘acting’ mode with the Lachka. The
physical theatrics separated the two, and they had also had to unlearn the
distinction early on, for a few that didn’t had a world of trouble figuring out
how to do things without having a hand or twitching an eyebrow to get it to
engage.

Getting it to engage was the problem, for as Jyra made
the little thud move ever so slightly away from her she intended to curve it to
the right also…but the command never executed. Instead the
mashable
marble continued towards the back of the cylinder where the edge of the IDF
was. When it got there it would pass through and fall to the ground, so Jyra
reluctantly raised her right arm and motioned for it to return. Her Lachka
engaged without fail and brought it back, allowing her to spin it around in a
corkscrew without too much trouble. It was amazing how much control she had by
using her arm, despite the fact that it was purely for theatrics. The tissues
in her mind were emitting the Lachka field, and she’d wished she started
learning to control it directly from the beginning.

It had been so difficult to just get a twitch that
using the physical coordination had been recommended by the Archons, but they
hadn’t said anything about
untraining
it later. Maybe
they didn’t have this issue or maybe it just wasn’t a big deal for them. They
were Archons after all, and Arc Commando or not, they were still far beyond her
in multiple disciplines. Perhaps all that intellect they sported made this
easy, but for her it had become a pain in the ass.

When she steadied the thud inside the field she let
her arm drop back to her side and focused only with her mind, missing the first
3 times before the fourth finally took and started it floating towards her. She
tried to get it to move to the right into a crude, box-like corkscrew but
couldn’t get it again until the third try. After that it took six tries to make
the next turn, then four for the next with the thud getting closer and close to
the edge as it spun outward.

But at least she was able to do it every now and then,
even if it wasn’t reliable at this point. That meant she could train it, and in
time it would get easier…or so the other Arc Commandos had noted.

Just as Jyra was about to use her arm to keep it from
flying out again a tone sounded in the chamber that spooked her enough that she
lost her lock on the little thud. She glanced up, pondering what the sound was
as the thud dropped out of the invisible field and fell towards the floor.

The Arc Commando reacted instantly, reaching a hand
towards it and pulling it towards her just in time to avoid it hitting the
ground. It flew up into her palm and she clamped down on it tightly with her
hand, smirking with the realization that that was both the fastest and
strongest pull she’d managed to date, and all on instinct. Maybe her problem
was she was overthinking this too much.

But to the sound her mind returned, with one
possibility rising to the forefront. She knew there was a ‘doorbell’ but she’d
never heard what it sounded like. If that was the case that meant someone else
had arrived, which would be her first guest since she’d arrived at the Nest 6
months ago.

Jyra chucked the thud off to the side of the chamber
where it would eventually roll into a collection moat, then hit the ‘off’
controls on the way out before accelerating into a jog and heading back through
the huge facility to the commons room to find an armored figure looking at the
hologram with the introductory data and one tiny orb floating about it
indicating her presence here, though she doubted he knew that if he was also a
newb
.

“Hello?” she said as she stepped inside, prompting him
to turn around and stare at her through his solid helmet that gave no clue as
to his identity. If she’d been wearing her armor it would have identified him,
but on most days she was in casual or training gear, with today being the
later.

“Hello,” he mimicked, though his voice was a bit
altered by the speakers to give it that telltale Commando tinge.

“You fresh out of training or one of the vets?”

“Just got back from Antarctica.”

“Well then, take your armor off and have a seat,” she
said, pointing to a couch while she jumped over the edge of another and laid
down with her feet up. “I’ll fill you in on what I can. I’m about 6 months
ahead of you.”

A pop sounded as he disconnected his helmet and pulled
it off, revealing short black hair and pale skin, but a face she wasn’t
familiar with. “You’re Jyra?”

“That’s right. Have we met?”

“Not exactly,” he said, pulling apart his armor and
stacking it in a neat pile on the floor. “I saw you a few times in the hallways
and other people mentioned you.”

“Sorry, I should remember you, but my mind’s not
clicking.”

“That’s alright. It’s not like we were there to
socialize. What am I here for?”

“To chart our own course, apparently,” she said,
crossing her arms over her chest and looking him over. “Nobody was here when I
arrived and I’ve been alone ever since. Training and learning, mostly.”

“Is there anything else?”

“There can be,” she said ambiguously. “It seems this
facility is completely unmonitored. I did some crazy stuff early on just to
test that theory and nobody came to give me a lecture.”

“Six months alone?”

“Yeah. I thought there’d be more Arc Commandos popping
in and out, but nada so far.”

“Is that what this place is for?”

“It’s called the Nest and is a huge training facility
reserved explicitly for us. I haven’t received a single order since I arrived,
and I don’t think I will until I figure out how to use my psionics and the
other stuff they have here.”

“What stuff?” the man asked, finally free of his armor
and sitting down on the couch.

“A lot of cool toys I’ve never seen before, and a list
of codes that will make your head hurt. The ones we got in training were the
small ones, it seems. These are very high access and extremely hush
hush
. Do you have a name?”

“Oh, sorry. My bad. I’m Linty. Linty
Innon
.”

“Jyra
Hemman
, if you didn’t
catch my last name.”

“No I didn’t. So Jyra, what kind of crazy stuff were
you talking about?”

She shrugged innocently. “The kind of stuff you don’t
have to explain when no one is watching.”

“So me being here is going to crimp your style, then?”

“Unless you want to join in.”

“
Hmmn
, I feel obligated to
ask what we’re supposed to be doing first.”

“Did you come alone?”

“Yes.”

“Speeder?”

He nodded.

“There’s a hidden parking lot nearby. I’ll show you
where in a moment, but for now you need to trust me.”

“Ok…”

“Stand up,” she said, doing likewise.

“And?” he said, looking at her and seeing that they
were spot on the same height.

“Take off your clothes.”

“What?”

“Trust me,” she said in all seriousness.

He eyed her for a moment, then decided to just go with
it, suspecting some sort of test. When he pulled his shirt off Jyra did the
same, mimicking his disrobing until both of them were standing there in the
nude.

“How do you feel now?” she asked.

“Odd. What’s this about?”

“Turn around and walk to the edge of the couch.”

“An explanation would be good.”

“Walk,” she insisted.

He sighed, then turned around with Jyra moving in a
flash as soon as his eyes were off her. She headed the other way, grabbed two
throw pillows off another couch, and winged one at him.

It hit him in the head, spinning him around on
instinct. “What is this?”

“Defend yourself,” she said, winging the other one at
him then grabbing for more elsewhere in the room.

“Are you serious?” he said in a laugh.

“Defend or be pummeled,” she said, picking up a pair
and, instead of throwing them at him, ran towards him and whacked him across
the face with one melee style. He ducked the next slash and dove onto the
couch, grabbing one of his own before stepping into the throw pillow fight with
both of them hitting each other with more accurate and skilled attacks than any
sleepover could hope to imagine.

“Is that the best you’ve got, rookie!” she yelled,
bringing both in front of her and using them as a battering ram to knock him
back onto the couch, then she stood over him and whacked him multiple times
before he leg swept her and she fell onto the floor giving him enough time to
roll over the back of the couch and escape.

He laughed uncontrollably. “I don’t know what this is
about, but I’m really starting to like you.”

“Good,” she said,
chucking
another pillow his way. This time he caught it out of the air and added it to
his own arsenal as Jyra backtracked and went to find more ammunition. When she
came back to him the pillow fighting got more serious, with her trying to take
him down and him noticeably resisting. She feigned an opening, let him knock
her legs out from under her with a pillow whack to the thigh, then she did a
somersault curl around his legs to half get behind them, then she knocked his
left slightly askew with a pillow hit before snaking her arms through and
around his ankles enough to dump him backwards onto the not so soft floor.

A moment later she was on top of him and wresting to
pin his arms to the ground, but the best she could do was get them over his
chest. She locked him up there, then stared him down.

“How do you feel now?”

“Very confused,” he said with a smile.

“This isn’t all play, I promise.”

“Then what is it?”

“A shortcut.”

“To what, pregnancy?”

Jyra snorted. “Hell no. Besides, we’ve both had our
genes reworked so that isn’t possible.”

“You said something about trust earlier. Or is this
just the result of you spending 6 months alone and going stir crazy?”

“Maybe a little, but you know damn well we’re training
to operate solo for as long as necessary.”

“So then why are we inches away from making magic?”

“Like I said, it’s a shortcut. I’ll admit, it’s a very
odd shortcut, but then again that’s the point. I never would have considered
anything like this before, but it all comes back to trust. What did San tell
you about our mandate?”

“Are we really going to have this conversation like
this?”

“Yes, and you’re going to like it. Now answer my
question.”

“He said a lot of stuff, actually.”

“What did he tell you about trust?”

Linty frowned, trying to draw a connection and think
this through, whereas a normal person would have been just happy to have a hot,
nude chick on top of him.

“That the Archons trust us to operate off the grid, no
oversight.”

“And how are we supposed to operate?”

“Like ghosts.”

“No, I mean how are we supposed to do things when
they’re not watching?”

It took him a moment, then his eyes flashed in
realization. “This is your idea of how Arc Commandos should, what, say hi?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” she admitted.

“You are crazy,” he said in a nice, almost
complimentary way.

“No, just savvy. I’ve had 6 months to think this
through, though I’ll admit only coming up with this idea in the past few
minutes. If there’s a fun way to do something, why do it any other way?”

“I’m still waiting on the ‘something’ bit. How does
this mission relate, or do you just really need to get laid?”

“We’re not fucking,” she said apologetically. “That
would inhibit thinking. I just need us exposed and on the verge to get us fully
awake.”

“Oh, I’m definitely awake.”

“Good, now just listen and learn. Or rather, unlearn.
I was sent here with no instructions, and I’m assuming you are the same way.
We’ve been tasked to operate on our own, and how we train to use our psionics
and everything else past this point is totally on us. The Archons aren’t
guiding us anymore, we’re on autopilot. It finally dawned on me a while back
that they’re not interested in making us into mini Archons, they want us to
become something different. Something unique that we create ourselves, so we
shouldn’t be holding to Archon protocol, or a lot of other stuff we’ve picked
up over the years. First in the maturia, then Commando training, and in the
field, and then the training you just finished.”