“It’d be a nice posting if the local branch wasn’t a nest of vipers,” Asya said. “We’ve come a long way from debate club. Back then, I never would have anticipated a mid-air rescue from an exploding plane.”
“Are you sure the local branch has been taken in hand?”
“Quite certain,” Asya said. She had been briefed by the International Committee while they were still in flight, passing the information on to Jason and the members of the Sydney branch.
The Lyon branch had discovered that their Operations Director had gone rogue and sold them out to the EOA. Their Steering Committee realised that unless they came very clean, very quickly, their branch was going to be purged. That was a rare event, given that the International Committee itself did not have the authority. Only by agreement of the majority of the Network’s member branches could one of those members be acted on punitively. Scrambling to avoid that fate, the Lyon branch had invited the International Committee in, giving them free rein to sweep in and administer operations until local affairs were back in order.
The Network office was not located in one of Lyon’s gorgeous buildings but in a disappointingly plain office park. As with the Network’s Sydney branch, Jason could detect a magical array protecting the core sections of the building. They were taken to an area on the ground floor that did not contain sensitive operations and was not within the array’s protective magic.
In a briefing room full of milling people, Jason was given several introductions. One was to Hector De Lange, a Belgian man from the International Committee who was in charge of proceedings. Another was to the leader of the International Committee’s assembled tactical response team, Acting Director of Tactical Operations Karen Espinoza. She was introduced to him by Bruce as the acting Ditto.
“I’ve heard that you can fight like a category three or better,” Espinoza said to Jason.
“It takes the right circumstances,” Jason said.
“Well, we’ve put together a multi-branch platoon of three nine-person sections, with four category threes to a section,” Espinoza said. “I’m willing to take you on, if you want it. I’d like you see what you can do for myself.”
Espinoza was a bullet of a woman, all no-nonsense capability. Most of the silver-rank tactical personnel Jason had seen looked like models for a line of military-style fashion. Even with the beautifying effects of silver-rank, Espinoza was every inch the soldier.
“I’d like that, Acting Director,” Jason said, “but I’m not sure you want me. Whatever objectives you might have around Barbou and whoever he’s with, my only objective is getting my friend back. Most likely, that lands us on the same side, but if it comes down to getting her back or catching Barbou, there are circumstances that could put us at odds. You’re probably better off without that kind of liability in your ranks.”
Espinoza gave Jason an assessing look.
“I appreciate your forthrightness,” she said. “If you’re not part of my tactical operation, what do you intend to do, exactly?”
“Whatever it takes to get my friend back,” Jason said. “I’m hoping that what it takes is letting you and your team do your thing, but I get a feeling that it won’t go that smoothly.”
“It never does,” Espinoza said. “Alright, Asano. I don’t want you running around rogue if I can help it, so how about this: attach yourself to my team, and if you’re going to go wandering off, let me know.”
“You’re being awfully accommodating, Acting Director.”
“Just call me Espinoza,” she said. “My information is that you’re the solution to our escalating monster level problem.”
“That’s the idea,” Jason said.
“That’s why I’ve been told to keep you safe and happy. Frankly, I’d rather keep you where I can keep an eye on you. If you’re going to cause me problems, I at least want to see them coming.”
“That sounds fair,” Jason said.
Hector and Espinoza called the room to order and began a briefing into the upcoming operation. Everyone was seated, Jason at the back with the Sydney branch, with Asya sitting next to him.
“The Lyon branch,” Hector said, “had been hiding more than an off-the-books black site. We knew of the existence of this black site, although not its location. That, as it turned out, was just another layer of misdirection, designed to keep us from realising a deeper secret. A member of the Lyon branch’s Steering Committee will explain. Mr Abreo, if you would?”
A haggard-looking man moved from the side of the room to take Hector’s place behind the speaker’s podium. He had a core-fused bronze-rank aura and being in a room full of more than a dozen silver-rankers wasn’t helping reduce the stress that looked to have kept him from a good night’s sleep.
“My name is Paul Abreo, and as Mr De Lange said, I am part of the Lyon branch Steering Committee. Unfortunately, many of the decisions that led to us all being here today were, at least in part, mine. I’ve been asked to provide some context before Mr De Lange goes into the detail on upcoming operations.”
He tapped the touch screen on the podium and a map appeared on the wall monitor behind him.
“In 1948,” Abreo said, “local Network operatives discovered a number of anomalous factors with an incursion space dimensionally coterminous with an area near Saint-étienne. Not only did it have multiple apertures in the region, which is unusual in and of itself, but the incursion space remained stable past the normal window. In short, it had become a permanent dimensional space.”
Jason had wondered if Earth had any proper astral spaces from the moment he learned about the proto-astral spaces. Now he had his answer.
“The Steering Committee of the Lyon branch at that time,” Abreo continued, “made the decision to monopolise the dimensional space and any potential benefits it offered. Which meant hiding it from the rest of the Network. At the time, the Network was much more fractious than—”
“Justifications can come later,” Hector interrupted. “Relevant details, Mr Abreo.”
Abreo sighed, clearly reluctant.
“In order to monopolise the space,” he said, “it was required to hide the astral space from the Network. Obviously, the fact that every branch has access to the grid was a problem, given that the grid’s express purpose is to identify and monitor dimensional spaces. As this predated computer monitoring, there was some leeway. The initial action was to disable the grid in that local area, claiming that there was an infrastructure collapse. While the branch told the International Committee that they were working to fix it, they were, in fact, developing the means to falsify the grid being active.”
Abreo paused, looking around the room with trepidation.
“They were successful,” he said. “That sector of the grid has been offline for the last seventy years.”
That statement triggered a susurrus of murmured disbelief.