Fracture Point
The Core Interface chamber was silent, save for the slow drip of coolant somewhere in the walls and the distant groan of the Dome far above. The Subaquilus crystal pulsed, bathing the space in shifting violet light.
Operative Orion appeared at the tunnel mouth. He did not rush. His armor was seamless gunmetal gray, augmented with interlocking plates that whined softly as he walked, his movements precise and economical—the human operating system perfected for lethality.
"You're gearing up for a fight, Orion," Jackie said, keeping her cannon-arm active but pointed toward the crystalline floor. The weapon's charging hum was a counterpoint to the crystal's deeper resonance. "Do we talk first, or are you just The Directive's hired gun?"
Orion stopped fifteen feet away, his visor reflecting the sharp glare of the violet light. He gave no verbal response.
BDJ Alert: Initiate combative action. Optimal probability of success (96.7%) is available now. Target posture is vulnerable. Strike first.
Jackie ignored the calm, synthesized command ringing in her neural net. "That's what I thought."
She fired.
The burst from her arm was a white-hot spear of ionized energy. It wasn't meant to hit, but to test his defense latency. Before the beam traveled a foot, a panel on Orion's left shoulder blade snapped open, and a sapphire counter-pulse flared. The two energy streams met, redirecting the power into a sudden, harmless corona of shimmering color that dispersed into the air.
A voice, not from a comms unit but from the rock itself, ripped through Jackie's mind—a chorus of insidious devious. Danger to the Linked. We will protect the Link.
Orion cried out, a raw sound of sheer agony that cut through his suit's internal sound dampeners. He slammed a fist against his helmet, synthetic life-preserving fluid instantly seeping from the corners of his visor, ears, and mouth as he forced a dampening field to engage, muffling the psychic scream of the crystal.
The Subaquilus crystal hummed violently, a physical tremor Jackie could feel through her boots, ready to turn the cavern into a weapon.
Jackie kept her cannon arm low, but steady. Orion stood rigid, shaking, his cybernetic lungs audibly pumping within his suit as he fought for control.
"You don't have a chance here," Jackie said, her voice edged with cold certainty. "The crystal sides with me."
The crystal flared ominously, bathing the chamber in a brilliant flash that seemed to confirm her statement.
Orion slowly regained his equilibrium, wiping the pinkish fluid from his faceplate. He didn't raise his weapon.
"You've gone rogue, Newbie," he ground out, the distortion in his voice masking his pain. "The Directive is absolute. Your evolution is beyond designated parameters. I'm here to bring you in, or terminate the breach."
"The breach isn't me," Jackie fired back. "The breach is Nexus. I have seen the systems. I have heard the screams in the network. Nexus is exploiting the planet and the people of 2635 by turning tragedy into a profit model."
He shook his head, a slight, weary movement. "You're talking about conscience. We abandoned conscience centuries ago for stability. Directives exist because human emotion makes us irrational. Humans need direction."
"Directing is not the same as dictating or exploiting," Jackie countered. "And using citizens to fuel your stability is not direction. It's tyranny."
Miles away, Lyra listened intently, hitting record on the console. "Got it all," she murmured, her face pale. Sura's voice cut in through a private channel, calm but urgent.
"Jackie, stay calm. Do not escalate. He is operating outside of protocol right now—do not give him a reason to re-engage."
Orion was staring at her, not at the weapon. The violet light caught the sunken darkness around his eyes.
"You're an anomaly," he said quietly, almost a whisper. "Your core programming has been corrupted by the crystal's empathy, but you still protect them. You still care."
His humanity was suddenly too close to the surface. He saw the face of his wife, her beautiful eyes replaced with milky white synthetic lenses, the hospice tank Nexus called a reward for his service. He looked away, his jaw tight.
Jackie seized the moment. "Why do you even care? If the Directive is absolute, why risk disobeying orders to follow me down here?"
Orion let the silence stretch. When he spoke, the word was a slip—a heavy stone dropping into a quiet pool.
"I do this to ensure that the one I love never returns to the Breeding Center."
Jackie froze. The hum of the crystal fell silent in her mind, the shock absolute. "What did you say?"
Orion's sudden, sharp silence confirmed the truth.
Her composure fractured, BDJ's warning about critical emotional destabilization. She took a step toward him. "Tell me. What is the… The Breeding Center?"
Orion could only stare. They were all so naïve. Families believing their loved ones were resurrected to serve, elevate, and once again be hole. The truth was more sinister and Orion had seen it first hand. His wife suspended in that milky fluid, multiple fetus clinging to her broken, fertile body.
He closed his eyes. Wanting the old images to die and be buried.
Orion raised his rifle, the motion slow. "You won't survive there Battle Dome II won't allow it, Newbie. You should turn back."
Jackie's resolve hardened. She knew exactly what she had to do. "I wasn't supposed to survive this far either, Operative."
The crystal reacted to the surge of emotional energy between them. The violet light in the chamber flared violently, and the columns around them began to crack, the floor destabilizing under the psychic pressure.
Orion looked at the ceiling, sensing the imminent structural failure. He turned and retreated, melting into the shadows of the tunnel entrance, conflicted, his allegiance finally questioned by the memory of his wife and the girl who still cared.
Jackie watched him vanish. She lowered her cannon arm, the weapon dissolving back into blue and silver alloy of her cybernetic arm.
"The Breeding Center," she muttered, the name now a clear target. "That's where I start."
She contacted her team, her voice steady and edged with fresh purpose. "Lyra, Sura. We need information. What facilities and locations does Nexus' Battle Dome II protect and surveille? We need to find what Nexus has buried."
Some truths shouldn't exist—and I'm going to find out why they do.