Endgame Read online

  ENDGAME

  MINDSPACE: BOOK 4

  A.K. DuBoff

  MINDSPACE: ENDGAME

  Copyright © 2018 by A.K. DuBoff

  All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles, reviews or promotions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  www.akduboff.com

  Want to be notified about A.K. DuBoff’s new releases?

  Newsletter signup:

  www.subscribepage.com/akduboffnewsletter

  Editor: Jen McDonnell

  Special thanks to Beta/JIT readers:

  Craig Martelle

  John Ashmore

  Jim Dean

  Leo Roars

  Charlie Obert

  Kurt Schulenburg

  Troy Mullens

  Nick Rayl

  Eric Haneberg

  Curtis Johnson

  Ron Gailey

  Kelly O’Donnell

  Sarah Weir

  Larry Omans

  Micky Cocker

  Daniel Weigert

  Peter Manis

  James Caplan

  John Findlay

  Kelly Bowerman

  Publisher: BDL Press

  Cover Design by Andrew Dobell (www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk)

  Cover Copyright © 2018 A.K. DuBoff

  First eBook Edition: February 15, 2019

  Kindle Edition

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Foreword – The Cadicle Universe

  Key Terms, Cast, and Locations

  Book Three Recap

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  Also by A.K. DuBoff

  Author’s Notes

  About the Author

  Foreword – The Cadicle Universe

  The events in the Mindspace series are a self-contained story arc set in the larger Cadicle universe.

  Tarans are the predominant race in the Cadicle universe; humans are a Taran sub-race. Because these characters aren’t human, they use different swears and terms. Most of the Taran sphere falls within the purview of the Taran Empire, governed from the planet Tararia. There are several rogue colonies on the outskirts of the Empire, some of which broke away from the Empire so long ago that they have forgotten their Taran ancestry, such as Earth.

  Chronologically, the Mindspace series takes place after the events in the original Cadicle series and before the forthcoming Cadicle sequel series, the Taran Empire Saga.

  There are references in Mindspace to the Bakzen War and a political coup related to the Priesthood. These are the central events in the original Cadicle series, so it is recommended to read that series first if you’d like to experience the events in chronological order. However, prior knowledge of this broader story universe is not required in order to read and enjoy the Mindspace books.

  Key Terms, Cast, and Locations

  KEY TERMS

  Taran – The race of all people in the Taran Empire; synonymous with human

  Tararian Guard – The primary military force for the Taran Empire

  Jump – Faster-than-light travel through subspace

  Beacon Network – The navigation method for subspace jumps, maintained by SiNavTech

  High Dynasties – The seven ruling families of the Taran Empire, collectively a governing council

  Tararian Selective Service (TSS) – A quasi-military organization specializing in telekinesis; a complement to the Tararian Guard

  Telepathic Receptor (TR) – An artificial neural structure composed of the mineral valteron; makes an individual susceptible to remote telepathic control

  Priesthood – The former governing body of the Taran Empire

  CAST

  Tararian Guard

  Kira Elsar – Captain, team leader

  Ari Lanmore – Lance corporal, weapons specialist on Kira’s team

  Kyle Asher – Lance corporal, technical specialist on Kira’s team

  Nia Boro – Lance corporal, technical specialist on Kira’s team

  Terence Kaen – Colonel, Kira’s chain-of-command (formerly possessed by an alien presence known as ‘Nox’)

  Lucas Sandren – Major, Kira’s commanding officer

  Leon Caletti – Civilian consultant, geneticist/scientist, Kira’s significant other

  Jack – Technical specialist in Leon’s lab

  Tess – Technical specialist in Leon’s lab

  Deanna Olvera – Major, Orion Station head of security

  Doctor Elric – Lead medical doctor for Orion Station base

  Allen Lucian – General, leader of Orion Station base

  Crew of the Raven

  Rodrick – Captain

  Aleya – First Officer

  Sven – Support systems engineer

  Gil – Mechanic

  Elusian Alliance

  (member world of Taran Empire)

  Elton Joris – President

  Ellen Caletti – Press Secretary, former Mysaran spy (Leon’s sister)

  Nico – Assistant to President Joris

  Mysaran Coalition

  (independent world)

  Trisha Mercer – Mysaran political liaison for Ellen Caletti on Mysar

  Fiona Wyles– Mysaran government administrator, and former ‘enforcer’ for Chancellor Hale

  Cynthia Hale – Former Mysaran chancellor (deceased, formerly possessed by an alien presence known as ‘Reya’)

  MTech

  (Research company based on Mysar with a branch on Valta)

  Monica Waylon – Director of MTech’s lab on Valta (deceased)

  Jared Frey – Monica’s research assistant at the MTech lab (formerly possessed by an alien presence known as ‘Nox’)

  LOCATIONS

  Orion Station – Tararian Guard base

  Elvar Trinary – Kira’s home system (planets: Mysar, Valta, Elusia)

  Tararia – The central planet of the Taran Empire

  The Story So Far…

  A week after being infected with experimental nanotech that turned her into an alien hybrid called a Robus, Captain Kira Elsar of the Tararian Guard is learning to embrace her new abilities. However, her transformations are painful and random, putting her and her team at risk.

  To mitigate the dangers, the Tararian Guard arranges for Kira to be paired with an AI named Jasmine. With a new friend and team member inside her head, Kira and her covert ops team embark on a recon mission to investigate the Gaelon System, suspected to be the base of operations for the mysterious telepathic aliens that subverted the Mysaran chancellor and Colonel Kaen in the Guard. Nicknamed the Trol, these beings appear to control their hosts using an artificial structure in the brain dubbed a ‘telepathic receptor’, or TR.

  Further investigations by Kira’s scientist boyfriend, Leon, and his team reveal that Kira has an innate resistance to the aliens’ telepathic influence because of the properties on their homeworld, Valta. Th
ose Valtans who manifested telepathic abilities—like Kira—have resistance, but anyone else who’s ingested Valtan material is at increased risk for alien subversion. Leon and Doctor Elric roll out a testing program for the Guard and everyone in the Elvar Trinary.

  Leon’s sister, Ellen, has been working on Mysar to rebuild the planet’s government after Chancellor Hale’s death. She’s having a difficult time identifying suitable leadership candidates, and her search leads her to discover a dark, startling truth about the extent of the Trol infiltration in the government. A secret underground facility appears to have been the heart of the aliens’ operations.

  Kira and her team discover a dwarf planet in Gaelon, which is emitting a strange signal. They investigate on the surface and discover an underground facility, at the center of which is a cavern composed of valteron, the same mineral as that found in the neural TR structure. The team comes across a narrow, kilometer-deep pit in the ground where Kira hears a chorus of Trol voices. While trying to escape the underground facility, Kira is snared by the floor and walls, which seem to turn to sentient particles in an instant. The team barely escapes.

  Back at the Orion Station Guard base, the broader team pieces together that the dwarf planet is a massive transmitter—and it appears that it is oriented to allow remote telepathic control of forces to invade the core Taran worlds. The planetary alignment presumed to allow the device to function will happen in a matter of days. They need to act.

  The Guard attempts to get a specialized TSS ship to destroy the dwarf planet, but there isn’t time. Instead, the team devises a plan to dissolve the Trol stronghold using scaled-up version of the chemical cocktail that proved effective in dissolving neural TRs.

  Aside from the complications of getting the chemicals manufactured and transported in time, information also comes to light that there is a Trol pit on Mysar—and the chancellor’s Trol possessor, Reya, is still residing in this refuge. Working with Ellen on Mysar, Kira’s team identifies the exact location of the pit so they can launch a simultaneous strike on Mysar and Gaelon.

  Chemicals aren’t enough. The strange signal observed in Gaelon is critical to the valteron mineral structures maintaining their form. To destroy the Trols, the team needs to disrupt the signal.

  With the Guard fleet surrounding the Gaelon dwarf planet, Kira forms a telepathic link with the Trol—transmitting the disruptive signal with her mind. The ships deploy the chemicals, breaking apart the planet at the same time the pit on Mysar is destroyed. The Trol threat appears to be eliminated.

  Kira and Leon aren’t convinced. They assumed the Trol transmitter was designed to send a signal toward the inner Taran worlds, but perhaps they’d had it backward the whole time. There might be other Trols out there, and they could arrive at any time.

  CHAPTER 1

  Captain Kira Elsar peeked out of the Protheon office door into the hallway. There were still no signs of security reinforcements.

  “Sorry, Dave,” she said to the poor sap bound in stasis cuffs on the office’s floor. “Looks like your buddies are still out for lunch.”

  He muttered something through his gag. Though the words were unintelligible, the profound displeasure in his tone came through just fine—not surprising, given that he was getting acquainted with the flavor of his sock.

  “I told you we wouldn’t do anything if you cooperated and kept your mouth shut,” Kira replied to his mutterings. “You had to keep talking.”

  “Dude should be thanking you for not going all mind-control on him,” Kyle said while he worked at the terminal next to Nia.

  Dave’s eyes widened.

  “Yeah, that’s right, buddy,” Kira said, casting what she hoped was a menacing glare. “I could make you dance to whatever tune I wanted to play, if you force my hand. Just stay nice and quiet while we finish our work.”

  The bound security officer remained motionless and silent on the floor.

  Kira nodded with satisfaction. “That’s more like it, thank you.”

  Jasmine interjected in Kira’s mind.

  she replied to the AI.

 

 

  Jasmine made her equivalent of a sigh.

 

  Compared to some of their ops, the mission had thus far gone according to plan. Dressed in office attire with light armor underneath, her team was meant to blend in with the other workers, accomplish their task, and then leave before anyone was the wiser. Dave’s presence had been an unforeseen complication when they reached the datacenter control office deep within the facility. However, one underpaid, untrained sentry didn’t stand a chance against one of the Guard soldiers, let alone Kira’s team of four.

  While Kira recognized that Dave was just doing his job, and she’d likely been harder on him than necessary, she couldn’t help being on edge. It’d been calm in the month since the incident in Gaelon with the Trols. When things seemed to be going well, it almost certainly meant a crisis was right around the corner.

  “I’m almost in,” Kyle reported, looking over the information displayed on the eight monitors mounted above a glass desk along the wall opposite the door.

  “These encryptions are deceptively tricky,” Nia commented from the terminal next to him. She tugged at the neck of the blouse under her pantsuit.

  “One of these days, we’ll come across something that challenges you,” Kira said.

  “Can’t wait.” Kyle glanced over his shoulder at her. “And we’re in.”

  “Good work.” Kira approached his computer station while Ari took over covering the door. “So, what are we dealing with?” she asked.

  “Shockingly, not all of the company’s dealings have been as above-board as they’d like us to believe.” Nia scanned over the information displayed on the main screen.

  It was exactly the information they’d come to retrieve—financial transaction records, cargo logs, personnel assignments. There was no way Protheon would be able to deny smuggling charges with the Guard having that information in hand.

  Kira crossed her arms. “Are there any corporations that aren’t up to no good?”

  Kyle began transferring the data to an external drive. “Few and far between, that’s for sure.”

  “We’ve got company,” Ari whispered from the doorway. He readied his multi-handgun on the sonic stun setting.

  “Of course we do.” Kira sighed.

  Her team wasn’t supposed to be in the Protheon corporate headquarters, and it was critical that no one trace the infiltration back to the Tararian Guard. Dave could say whatever he wanted, but there was nothing to connect Kira’s team to the Taran military. If too many people showed up and started asking questions, though, it would become exponentially more difficult to hide the reason for the intrusion.

  “Transfer is complete,” Kyle stated from the terminal. He disconnected the external drive.

  Kira pulled her multi-handgun from the satchel that was part of her disguise as a business professional. She tucked the weapon in the back waistband of her pants, under her blazer. “Make sure your digital tracks are covered,” she told Kyle and Nia while moving toward to door. “I’ll see if I can get rid of the visitor.”

  Ari stepped aside. “Good luck.”

  Kira nodded, then peeked outside to see what they were up against.

  A frazzled-looking businessman was marching down the hall in their direction, a frown painted on his face and a tablet clutched in his hand.

 

  the AI rep
lied.

  Kira suggested.

  “Who would be accessing those files?” Mark muttered while consulting his tablet.

  Kira composed her face in a pleasant smile, then ducked out from the communications room and closed the door behind her.

  “Oh, hey, Mark! Nice to see you again,” she greeted him with a wave.

  The man stopped in his tracks. He gave her the once-over of someone trying to place a face with a name. “Uh, hi. Haven’t seen you for a while,” he replied after a pause. “Do you… work over here?”

  “Just consulting on some projects,” Kira replied. she asked Jasmine.

 

  She smiled. “I think I heard something about pizza in the lunch room.”

  Jasmine did not sound amused or the least bit confident.

 

  “I’m vegan,” Mark replied.

 

 

  It was time for a different tactic.

  “Are you here about the security notice?” Kira asked, shifting gears.

  Mark frowned. “Yes. You got it, too?”

  She took a step toward him and dropped her voice. “Look, I’m not even ‘officially’ working on this project, but I said I’d keep an eye on this while—”

 

 

  “—Darlene is out of town,” Kira continued out loud. “I was hoping to take care of this quietly. I don’t want her to lose faith in me. I really need this job.” She bit her lip and tried to look meek.