Raising Caine - eARC (61 page)

Downing looked, and sounded, like he was swallowing glass. “I do.”

“He has a daughter. Katie.”

“I know. I pulled his dossier.”

“So you know about the quid pro quo that the Ktor used to turn him: his cooperation in exchange for her life.”

Richard’s eyes were hard, unblinking. “They are right bastards.”

Caine wasn’t sure whether Downing was referring to the Ktor, their megacorporate lackeys, or both. And didn’t care, at the moment. “If my guess is right, they didn’t give Katie a full cure; Dora overheard one of the Ktor say as much. And frankly, that’s exactly what I’d expect of them: to let the disease come back, clean up all their loose ends.”

“I agree. And it’s an awful situation. But what do you want me to do?”

Caine leaned forward. “I want you to use your authority, your power, to make it right.”

Downing leaned away sharply. “Caine, assuming that I could get permission to—”

“Fuck permission. You’ve got the leads you need. Macmillan was approached in the waiting room. That gives you a place and a face. And that face is sure to be all over the security cameras. I suspect that face didn’t arrive at the hospital by public transport, so that face is also connected to a vehicle. You track down that vehicle, and that face. You grab that face from whatever well-appointed apartment or sybaritic retreat it happens to be occupying and you put a bag over it. And you take that bag off when you have that face in a cold, well-lit room and you squeeze that mother-fucker for everything he knows. Someplace, there is a connection between that face—that malicious bastard—and whatever cure he slipped into Katie. I’ll even bet there are still some samples out there, just waiting to be used to turn some other desperate parent into a traitor. So you find that face, and that drug, and you save that poor girl’s life.”

“Caine, what you’re asking—I can’t just—”

“Richard, I will not listen to your bullshit. Not this time. This is a little girl who was a victim of our enemies. The timing makes it a near-certainty that they bred the cancer that was in her. And then they turned her father against everything else he loved to save her. You will do this, you will save that girl, or I will hold you—I will hold
our
side—responsible. Do you understand?” When Downing hesitated, Riordan lifted his hand to the table. He deposited its contents—a holstered CoBro liquimix sidearm—immediately to his right. “I asked: do you
understand
?”

Downing leaned even further away, eyes wide. “Bloody hell, Caine, what’s come over—?”

“I am going to ask this. One. More. Time. Do you
understand
?”

“Yes, yes, of course. But I—”

“No buts, Richard. And no excuses or backsliding or consulting with your superiors. If you don’t save her, then I will—and then I become your worst problem. Your
worst
problem. Do the right thing and—who knows?—we might actually become real friends. But I’m giving you a choice, right here, and right now: you can obey your precious rules and regulations and intelligence protocols and let Keith’s little girl die, or you can stand up for basic human compassion and loyalty, and resolve not to allow these monsters to screw with our children.” Caine felt his face grow suddenly hot. “With our
children
, for fuck’s sake.” Riordan rose so swiftly that his chair fell over. He spun and stalked away; if Downing called after him, he wasn’t aware of it.

Because all he could hear, again and again, was what Dora had told him about Macmillan’s death, about what the Ktor commander on Disparity had said: “Family is our strength, but it is your weakness.” Riordan walked through the dust and post-combat debris littering the marshalling area of Site One, and thought:
and you Ktor actually believe that, too. Because part of the price you’ve paid for all your enhancements is love. But that love—and the loyalty it breeds—is not just our best virtue:

It is the weapon I will use to destroy you.

Dramatis Personae

The Humans

(traditional Chinese and Japanese names list family names first)

Qwara Betul: Archivist/recorder; legation to Beta Aquilae

Piet Brackman: First Pilot, SS
Arbitrage

Joe Buckley: Quartermaster/Purser; legation to Beta Aquilae

Oleg Danysh: Physicist; legation to Beta Aquilae

Richard Downing: Director, Institute of Reconaissance, Intelligence Security; Riordan’s handler:

Philip Friel: Engineer, legation to Beta Aquilae

Etienne Gaspard: Ambassador Plenitpotentiary, legation to Beta Aquilae; CTR Consul

Hirano Mizuki: Planetology/exobiome expert; legation to Beta Aquilae

Trent Howarth: Staff Sergeant, NZSAS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae

Ben Hwang: Biologist and senior scientist; legation to Beta Aquilae

Emil Kozakowski : Former master of the SS
Arbitrage
; (former) employee of CoDevCo

Morgan Lymbery: Aerospace and drive expert; legation to Beta Aquilae

Keith Macmillan: Warrant Officer Class 2, British Army/IRIS; legation to Beta Aquilae

Tina Melah: Engineer; legation to Beta Aquilae

Miles O’Garran: Master CPO, SEAL/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae

Caine Riordan: Commander, IRIS/USSF; security chief of legation to Beta Aquilae

Christopher “Tygg” Robin: Lieutenant, SAAS/IRIS; security staff of legation to Beta Aquilae

Bannor Rulaine: Major, US Special Forces/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae

Melissa Sleeman: Advanced science and technology Expert; legation to Beta Aquilae

Vassily Sukhinin: Chief negotiator and Deputy Director of IRIS, Sigma Draconis; CTR Consul

Ayana Tagawa: Executive Officer of SS
Arbitrage

Karam Tsaami: Pilot; legation to Beta Aquilae

Jorge Velho: Captain of SS
Arbitrage

Dora Veriden: Personal security for Ambassador Gaspard; legation to Beta Aquilae

Peter Wu: Lieutenant, Taiwanese Army/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae

Xue Heng: EMT and assistant quartermaster; legation to Beta Aquilae

The Ktor

Ulpreln Balkether: Evolved; Crew of
Red Lurker

Vranut Balkether: Evolved; Crew of
Red Lurker

Zurur Deosketer: Evolved; Crew of
Red Lurker

Tegrese Hreteyarkus: Evolved; Crew of
Red Lurker

Pehthrum: Intendant; Crew of
Red Lurker

Brenlor Perekmeres: Evolved and Srin; Captain of
Red Lurker

Nezdeh Perekmeres: Evolved, Aware, and Srina; Executive officer of
Red Lurker

Idrem Perekmeresuum: Evolved; Second Officer of
Red Lurker

Jesel sul-Perekmeres: Aspirant; Crew of
Red Lurker

Suzruzh sul-Perekmeres: Aspirant; Crew of
Red Lurker

Sehtrek: Intendant, Crew of
Red Lurker

Tlerek Shethkador: Evolved, Srin, and Ambassador to Earth/CTR; Captain of
Ferocious Monolith

Olsirkos Shethkador-vah: Evolved; Acting Master of
Ferocious Monolith

The Slaasriithi

Hsaefyrr: Third Ratiocinator of the Third Silver Tower

Mriif’vaal: Senior Ratiocinator; Overseer of the Third Silver Tower

Thnessfiirm: spokesperson for the cerdorae assisting the human survivors on Disparity

Unsymaajh: spokesperson for the convectorae assisting the human survivors on Disparity

W’th’vaathi: spokesperson for the ratiocinatorae assisting the human survivors on Disparity

Yiithrii’ah’aash: Prime Ratiocinator; Ambassador to Earth/CTR

Useful Acronyms and slang

ACS: attitude control thruster

AMP: automated munitions platform

CIC: combat information center

CINC or C-in-C: Commander in Chief or Commander in Charge

CoDevCo: Colonial Development Combine

CTR: Consolidated Terran Republic

HALO; high altitude/low opening

MAP: magnetically (or magnetohydrodynamically) accelerated plasma

PDF: point defense fire

RFS: Russlavic Federation ship

ROV: remote operated vehicle

TOCIO: TransOceanic Commercial and Industrial Organization

UCS: United Commonwealths ship

Ktoran glossary

Aboriginal: a low breed of original Earth stock; unmodified
homo sapiens

Agra: A junior officer who is neither Evolved nor Intendant.

Aspirant: the progeny of a particularly accomplished and genetically preferred huscarl; these children are being considered for Elevation to Intendant; rarely, directly to Aspirant. If they fail the first step of Elevation (to ’vah or Aspirant), they are typically demoted.

Aware: an Evolved that can exercise the power of Reification (self-reference;
homo transcendens
)

Berem(a): (m./f.) A generic term that indicates aristocratic birth or station, but which does not signify any particular rank (and usually, implies an absence of special rank within that social class). Akin to “sir” or “madame.”

Catalysite: a symbiot or “cataylst” that amplifies Reification control and power

Devolysite: a devolved version of the “catalyst” symbiot that is senstive to various quantum entanglement alterations

Evolved: a member of the Ktor master geneline (
homo imperiens
)

Elevation: the process and rite by which low-breeds (usually Intendants) become Evolved

helot: a low-bred servitor, typically commanded by huscarls; many subclassifications exist

huscarl: direct, prized low-bred servitors; the class from which Intendants are usually drawn

jur: prefix; a particularly promising individual of one of the low-bred classes (a jur-huscarl, for instance, is likely to be the father of a sur-Intendant)

lictor: A junior officer rank, particular to the Aegis forces that answer solely to the Autarchs.

Srin/Srina: an aristorcrat of the Evolved, whose accomplishments, geneline, or both qualify them for elevation to Hegemon or Autarch. (pl.; Srinu)

sul: the prefix or short-form referent (’sul) signifying an Aspirant

Tval: one whose geneline has become corrupt, distant from the core line, or is otherwise not suitable to become the Hegemon of a House or Head of a Family, but who is otherwise unrestricted in their ambitions

-uum/’m: no longer of the core or progenitorial geneline of a House

vah: suffix added to a name that indicates the progeny of an Elevated Aspirant. Also shortened as ’vah, this status may be extended in the event of disappointing achievement, or other failures. Only in extreme cases, or several generations of a geneline remaining as ’vahs, is a ’vah demoted.

Wilding: a low breed that was not raised under Ktoran dominion