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 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.”
<My, you’re in a mood today!> Jasmine interjected in Kira’s mind.
<You heard him! No one makes fun of my red hair,> she replied to the AI.
<I feel sorry for anyone who tries. You were across the room and had him on the floor faster than I’ve ever seen you move.>
<I’m finally getting the hang of directing these new nanites. May as well put them to good use.>
Jasmine made her equivalent of a sigh. <Right, that’s the best possible use for those abilities.>
<Hey, gotta start somewhere!>
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.
<Jasmine, do you have anything on this guy?>
<Mark Elmer, middle manager in the Shipping division. I don’t see anything on his calendar to explain his presence in this part of the building,> the AI rep
lied.
<Maybe he’ll go right past us,> Kira suggested. <If we close the door and are quiet—>
“Who would be accessing those files?” Mark muttered while consulting his tablet.
<Great, there goes that theory.> 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. <How do I get rid of this guy?> she asked Jasmine.
<I thought that’s what you were doing!>
<Well, fok.> She smiled. “I think I heard something about pizza in the lunch room.”
<Kira, is this seriously your plan?> Jasmine did not sound amused or the least bit confident.
<Food is a great motivator! If I can distract him…>
“I’m vegan,” Mark replied.
<Shite. Is there vegan pizza?>
<Kira! This isn’t working.>
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—”
<Jasmine, who’s a higher-up mentioned in those files we just pulled? Someone who may be busy with other things.>
<Darlene is on vacation until the end of the week, according to the Out of Office notice on her email.>
“—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.