Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 55

Liam climbed into his transport vehicle. It was a baseline model with the security package as its only upgrade. He’d never cared much for luxury. It was impractical and anything could be augmented to look anyway you wanted for a much cheaper price, so why bother? However, he had a family so the security features couldn’t be overlooked

As he cruised through the city toward his home, he contemplated all he’d seen over the last couple days. Major Lucius Edwards was proving to be the asset Colonel Victoria Golshan had promised. No one in all of Vanguard was even on the same plane as he was in regard to unlocking psionic’s true potential. How had she put it? The paradigm had changed, and he was the only one really understood to what degree. As for the people around him, his Combat Development Team and those closest to him were making strides in the same direction. If Prodos did lose Vanguard, it would be a shame. At least Colonel Edmond of Lethal Accord was reasonable. Much of what Lucius was doing would likely be adopted into the training of Earth’s force.

He still worried that Lucius was a potential bomb that could go off any time, but even Liam was starting to believe there was something special about the boy after his fight with the Manticore King. He more closely resembled a machine than human in the way he sat aside his emotions and fears. Liam had already ruled out him being a sadist. There was no indicator that he enjoyed the pain he experienced or caused others. Psychopathy was also easy to rule out. Even though he seemed to be able to turn aspects of himself off, he didn’t turn them off entirely. He’d noticed how the boy had been giving Marabella the cold shoulder since the interview on Mia’s Haven, but after taking the castle, he saw her in the crowd, and it was obvious empathy that drove him to approach her. If anything, he felt things strongly and turned them off so that they wouldn’t distract him.

Was he a mentally healthy young man? To selflessly give of oneself could be a sign of weak mindedness to a person that scored high in the agreeableness trait. They could simply be taking the path of least resistance according to their natural personality traits. To describe Lucius that way was completely unrealistic. As much as Liam could tell, he was hyper conscientious. He was disciplined and super focused on long-term goals. So why did he still question the boy? Was it his own inadequacy?

Then there was Victoria. He’d personally become greatly interested in the effects of emotional stress on psionic development. She’d already shown him a level of psionic control he’d never seen before and hadn’t seen since. To be able to heal, though, could not be placed on the same level as skill or control. Only a handful of human beings were able to do it, and she had come out at the exact moment the man she cared for was in need with the needed ability. Maybe it was only possible because her level of talent, but he couldn’t be sure.

He'd seen her conversation with Peter as far as the blurred image of them behind the microdrones could show. It was hard to make out anything, but when she’d left, he was sure she was going to check on Lucius. Liam had tried to observe the meeting between the two, but privacy settings had disallowed it.

As he was traversing an underground tunnel, the lights inside his vehicle brightened as if something was wrong. His personal AI announced, “I am sensing a mechanical failure. We are pulling into a service tunnel. Self-repair will commence once we’ve come to a full stop. If found inadequate, service drones will be called. Sorry for the inconvenience, sir. I’ve already sent a message to your wife that you may be a little late getting home.”

“Thank you,” he replied, leaning his head back against the cushion.

When the vehicle came to a stop, he jerked his head toward the sound of the opening door. A familiar outline was standing there waiting. The figure nodded its head as it stepped inside and took a seat across from him.

“Lieutenant Colonel Peter Hinson,” Liam said warningly. “What are you doing here.”

“Liam,” Peter replied, ignoring his tone. “I have a problem, and you’re going to help me fix it.”

“Why here—like this?”

He grinned, which made Liam feel even more uncomfortable. Peter answered. “I’ve found that the best way to keep secrets. isn’t always by staying silent. Sometimes, telling the right people is far more beneficial. I am going to tell you a secret, Liam.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you have daughters.”

Clenching his jaw tight, he took a few deep breaths before responding. “You’re threatening me?”

“Yes, but I’m not using your daughters to do it. I mention them for a different purpose. To threaten women and children is considered dishonorable amongst the Ekseliksi. Here.”

He handed Liam a digital card. It wasn’t of physical substance, but as he reluctantly took it, the data was transferred to his display. It was a list of names. More than one hundred of them. Quite a few he recognized, his brother, uncles, and cousins, but most of the names he didn’t.

“This is a list of the men in your family up to your fifth cousins. If you don’t recognize them, that’s understandable. Earthlings don’t often value distant family relations.”

“You’re threatening me with this?”

“Yes. Some of these men you value. Some you do not. If you betray what I’m about to tell you, your family name will be removed from the Earth. But that is not my only threat. One dimensional threats are inefficient. You see, the information you’re about to learn is a threat on its own accord. If you leak it, I won’t try to contain it, but make sure the information spreads wide. As you’ve probably already gathered from my words, I am Ekseliksi. As is Victoria. What you’re not yet understanding, is that she is the daughter of Earth’s greatest enemy, the Teleios. If he learns that she is here, and it’s even hinted that it’s against her will, the treaty between our people ends. There will be no virtual war, but a real one. And he will come here. Directly to your home planet to retrieve her. One of the reasons why she is here because we’re convinced you can stop him.”

Liam prided himself as a fighter, even if he was more an intellectual than a soldier, but this wasn’t a bar fight or someone threatening his family. He didn’t even know where to start. “What do you want from me? Why bring this to me?”

“I’ve come to you specifically because you’ve proved you were willing to do what it takes to protect your daughters. Even if that meant playing the bad guy.”

Liam remembered the night he betrayed Victoria and Prodos vividly. Especially the calculating surprise in the girl’s face, and the torture the boy had inflicted upon him. He felt much regret, but it was in truth a simulation. It wasn’t without meaning. However, it was categorically different than betrayal or treason.

“Let me ask you a question, Liam. Why would the Epithumia, Victoria’s mother, be willing to send her daughter into the jaws of the enemy while in my care? It’s a hypothetical. You don’t have to answer. You see, I am considered by the Ekseliksi to be a mutt and a cripple because my psionic talent is so lacking. However, there is something I excel at. The reason I was sent when others were not. I manage threats. There’s one other thing you must understand. Victoria isn’t just the Teleios’s daughter, but the close thing I have to one. And like you, I’m willing to make the required sacrifices to keep her safe. Even if the cost is planet Earth and everyone on it.”

What Liam was hearing was so grandiose that it was almost unbelievable. If the analytical part of him wasn’t also dragging all the experiential data he’d collected from observing Victoria, he would’ve rejected it outright as nonsense. This side of Peter, the man following her, was also too much to ignore as well. He never seen the man exaggerate.

“You didn’t answer,” Liam said, showing some backbone. “What do you want from me?”

Peter watched him for a long moment before concluding something. “Now that that is out of the way, lets get to the good stuff. You see, the threats are a necessary precaution, but your role in this is something I believe you’ll support wholeheartedly. You see, Victoria’s purpose in coming here, isn’t as a spy, or to undermine Earth in the virtual war. She is here to save you.”

Swallowing down the knot forming in his throat, Liam spoke. “Go on.”

“Her mother, as well as Victoria, do not agree with her father. After the war has started, when the time is right, she will make herself known and try to bring many Ekseliksi to her side. When her people see that the Teleios and Epithumia are in opposition, their archetypes for the perfect man and perfect woman, the illusion of unity between them that has lasted three centuries will shatter. The chaos should give Earth a few generations of peace.”

“Here’s where you come in. Victoria is as intelligent as any human being you will ever meet. That is why it seems she can do the job of multiple combat generals. She processes information, conceives solutions, and makes predictions at a speed like that of no living person on Earth. It’s harder for her to hold back than it is to perform. But she is also a young woman. It is forbidden for her to marry anyone other than Vasileia, or Ekseliksi royalty, yet she has fallen in love and committed herself. This is dangerous on many levels.”

“Major Lucius Edwards?”

“Yes. I saw that you tried to observe their time together recently.”

“That’s why you’re here?” Liam asked and started to raise his voice. “It’s my job to observe them.”

Peter held up his hand. “It is. But you’re right. That’s why I’m here. Your role will be two-fold. One, confuse the media reporting that they are together. Your opinion holds a lot of weight even if you can’t stop the speculation all together. Just an alternative is enough.”

“You want me to lie?”

“I want you, as an expert in your field, and someone who knows them both personally, to give an assessment that will confuse the narrative and keep them safe. Because, let me be clear. Even if Victoria succeeds, if she is found to have consorted with an Earthling, even one whose an Ekseliksi convert, they will assume he dishonored her and there will be much bloodshed only ending in his death.”

“You want me to talk her out of this relationship then?”

“No. I want you to train them. Just as you trained Heather—to hide their relationship. Remember, I said she’s like a daughter to me. She can find something here, with him, that she could never find in Ekseliksi space. Happiness.”