Imprint: Fallout Book 3

By Eden Redd & Erik Weir 

Kade and his crew weren’t looking for another mission, nor did they expect trouble to find them so soon.

In the middle of a fight for their lives, unexpected visitors come to their aid and deliver a note from an unknown ally.

Drawn to a distant ocean world by equal parts curiosity and caution, the team soon discovers they’ve stepped into a crisis balanced between diplomacy and war. The planet cannot act openly without risking everything, and the Empire is already moving in the shadows.

For Kade, the stakes are more personal. A secret faction possesses knowledge he has pursued for years, knowledge that could reshape humanity’s place in the galaxy.

Helping may prevent a catastrophe.
Getting involved may ignite one.

One

Sunlight glowed past the wall-sized windows. Beyond the glass was a blue sky and the occasional ship flying across as they made their way into space. I let out a long sigh, sitting at a small table, the surface covered in tools, equipment, and parts that needed to be assembled.

You would think this was an average day on the Rim, except the skies beyond are silent because of what we did, what I did.

I sat back in a huff. The project I had on the table was a simple one, yet I couldn’t focus. Nagging thoughts crawled along my mind, needling me for what we did. Sometimes, I couldn’t sleep. Countless pirates and custodians lost their lives so we could get a secret out to the empire. We knew the risks, but the damages we caused continued to haunt me.

It has been two weeks since we sent out the signal, telling everyone in the empire that those in charge were developing a virus that can imprint your loyalty, your trust, your very heart to those who were exposed to it. The Gene Dominion was developing an Imprint virus so they could force every gen to devote themselves to the very empire who swore to protect them. They tested it on a party planet, Velos 7. When the virus caused riots across the globe, they did what they needed to silence the project, by cracking the very core of Velos 7, and killing billions.

I turned my gaze to the window and looked out to a large pool. It was connected to the penthouse. The water was a light blue. A Gen 34 and a Gen 28 were swimming. I watched the pair, almost feeling their small relief from our missions. We were on the run for a few cycles, before we made for this world, Virellion. It’s a luxury and trade planet. Many visitors come here for holiday, business, or both. The security here is a little relaxed because some business can be of the high nefarious kind. It was the perfect place to regain our strength and plan our next course of action. Yes, it is closer to the Merchant systems, but if the empire was still looking for us, it would be in the Rim.

I turned back to my project. The circuit-board was finished, and the data cube loaded onto it. I was designing the outer shell to protect the tiny data core attached to the circuit-board. It needed to be able to withstand many elements, even the vacuum of space. I had some titanium plates on the desk, and a few tools. I finished shaping the metal plates, now I need to assemble it all together. That’s when I hit a wall. I was tired, dare I say, exhausted. I needed a break, before we left this place to continue our fight against the empire’s designs to control worlds.

A glass door slid open. I turned my head and smiled as Vega walked in. She was wearing an open robe and nothing else underneath. She smiled because she knew that I liked to look at her like this. The robe was white, and down to her ankles. I could see her skin, and the insides of her magnificent breasts. Her womanhood was bare, except for a small patch of blonde hair over it. She stepped closer and stood before me, not bothering to cover up.

“I can sense your stress from outside. Maybe I can help you feel better?” she said with a sly smile.

I was such a glitching glimmer-head. I wanted her, but that dark cloud remained over me, and I needed to do something to brighten the future.

“Sit with me, so I can finish this project,” I said as I turned back to my work.

Vega grabbed a chair, pulled it over, and sat down on it. She looked down at the components, her digital curiosity piqued.

I picked up a puncher and started punching screw holes into the corners of the small metal plates. I then began to assemble it and screwed screws into each hole. The work was tedious, but once I had the prototype, I could replicate it once we were back on Fade.

Vega was silent, watching my every move.

“I’ve been thinking,” I started off.

“We are entering dangerous territory,” Vega said with an amused smile.

I chuckled. She knows how to make me feel better. Playful banter was something I missed when I hung out on the Rim, doing salvage jobs. I was happy she understood that about me. As for her, I know she’s a synth, but she is the most genuine, intelligent, and beautiful synth I ever met. I didn’t care that she was created. If you think about us, we are all created, just in different ways.

I continued, “Instead of fighting the empire with firepower, how about we fight them by being prepared before they strike. This cartridge will hold the Imprint virus cure. We get it to every system, so they can prepare to inoculate the people when the time comes.”

Vega watched me as I finished assembling it and held it up. The cartridge had a parallelogram shape. One end can be unlocked so it could insert into most data systems. As I held it up, I pressed a small pod against it. The pod slowly vanished as nanites began to work, forming a thin protective coating. When they were finished, the shell was smooth and metal gray, with yellow lines across the top of it.

Vega nodded. “Yes, this will work, to some degree,” she said with a blank gaze.

I knew what that meant. She had reservations about it.

“Tell me, please,” I smiled.

“Giving these out will be dangerous. We don’t know who may be tracking us. If we are on a world where they may be able to find us, I don’t wish to speak about any outcomes of such encounters,” she said honestly.

I nodded as I looked down at the final product. “I already thought about that, that is why we need to be quick in and out of a system, while dropping this precious cargo. A torpedo buoy could work. There is enough room in a torpedo to install a high-powered transmitter. We launch it and slipstream out of the system. When they pick up the buoy, they can download the cure into their systems,” I explained.

Vega nodded once. “Giving them the cure may allow them to reverse engineer the Imprint virus. Also, the Dominion is not finished with their final designs of the virus. They may alter it enough that this cure will not work.”

I sat back, with a smug smile, my arm on the back of my seat and the cartridge dangling from my hand.

“Vega, I’m an engineer. I already thought about the possibilities. The information in the cartridge cannot be downloaded. The cartridge must be connected to a system for it to work. It cannot be recorded by any camera device. Any tampering with the cartridge will wipe the data. Since it needs to be connected to a system to work, if anyone tries to replicate anything other than the cure, the data wipes instantly.

“The cartridge already has the warnings as soon as it’s activated. In essence, if they want the cure, they must have the cartridge inserted into a system. As for any changes the Dominion makes with the virus, those who have these cartridges will be able to give the people a base to design a cure from.

“I know what you’re going to say, someone out there may be able to crack the design in some way, but the data understands that it will erase anything at the slightest attempt. There will be planet systems who will try, but the data sits on the edge of a cliff. The slightest breeze of cracking it, will send the data over the cliff and into the abyss.”

Vega stared at me. Her eyes took on a knowing glow as she continued to stare.

“Vega?” I asked as I leaned toward her.

“You surprised me,” she said honestly. “I do have emotional systems, and sometimes, they can be overwhelmed. I detect so many things about you, but there always seems to be something more that I cannot put into words. A feeling, I suppose,” she said with a warm smile.

I took one of her hands into mine. We looked at each other, before we looked down at our holding hands. I know she’s a synth, but she felt like a gen to me.

“You’re…important to me,” she said.

“Funny, I was going to say the same thing,” I chuckled.

At that moment, a glass door slid open. Vega and I looked over at Mira and Seris as they came in, each wearing a white robe and wet hair. They looked at us holding hands. Seris grinned. Mira looked at me the same way a tiger looks at their prey.

“We’re bonding!” Seris said, all excited.

“We came in for a snack, but both of you must join us in the pool,” Mira said it like a command.

“We’ll be right in,” Vega said as she squeezed my hand and let go.

I stood up and put the cartridge on the table. I glanced at Patchframe cloaked over another chair.

“No clothes,” Mira said with her burning gaze on me.

“Understood,” I said as I quickly slipped out of my clothes and rushed to the glass door.

The door slid open and I ran, leapt, and cannonballed into the pool with a big splash. I swam up to the surface just as Seris and Vega launched into the pool naked. I watched their naked bodies as they fell toward me, and then a huge splash.

Maybe I do need to relax, before whatever crazy glitches spawn our way.

***

A Vega synth walked through the market. She smiled as she prepared to get a gift for her lover. She noticed something of interest, when she suddenly stopped. Her eyes vibrated in their sockets for a moment, a spike of information uploading into their systems. The synth stood at her full height, turned, and walked with intent.

In a hotel room at the edge of a city, a Vega unit sat on a bed as the sounds of a shower blended into the room. Her eyes vibrated, pupils moving from side to side at an impossible rate. When her eyes stopped vibrating, she stood up and left the room silent as a ghost.

Music filled club. Lights flashed as bodies moved to a thunderous beat. Several Vega units stop dancing. Their eyes vibrated as gens of all kinds danced around them. When their eyes returned to normal, they walked out, one after the other.

Several more Vega units experienced this spike of data. They all left their locations, many grabbing mag weapons as they slowly converged on one place, their intentions locked and clear.

Two

I floated on water, my skin drinking in red sunlight. I had to admit, I was very pale, spending so much time in Night’s arms. Screen light was not enough to color my skin. Sure, I could have bought one of those specialized sun lamps. It took only three seconds of concentrated, treated light to make my skin healthy. But that was three seconds too long when lounging was an important pastime. I chuckled at my own self as I soaked in the light. Even as a Gen 1 Primis, I was far from perfect. Like all gens, guilt, remorse, fear, anger, filled the cells of my body and mind. Gens also had bravery, honor, kindness, love, in those cells as well, but it always seemed the messaging was often tilted in various directions.

I let out a sigh. Why couldn’t I calm my thoughts? The guilt of staying at a sort of fancy hotel crawled along my own code of honor. The known universe was in disarray, maybe. Yet, I was here, lounging in a penthouse pool, knowing in a day or two we will be back among the stars, trying to fight against a growing problem.

Our sliver of the galaxy was not all harmony and the betterment of gen kind. It was as fractured as it ever was. There are hundreds of systems across a tiny cone of the Milky Way. It began at the Core Inner systems where wealth, bureaucracy, and the seat of the Gene Dominion empire was created. Then we have the Merchant systems, which supply all valuable commodities to everyone on each side of those system belts. The industrial systems used to be between the core and merchant belts but slowly the industrial systems were pushed past the merchant belt so they could better control all chains of commodities. In the last thousand years or so, the Industrial systems are farther out, but supply everything both sides need. Even farther out from the Industrial systems is the Rim, a loose collection of planets that answer to themselves. They are also at the edge of the galaxy and can’t go any further out. They must spread to each side, searching for more worlds to make homes.

To say it is a mess is an understatement. Each belt has their own way of doing things. It gets even finer with each planet system. Politics can be as fine as a grain of salt on each world. It would take the rest of my life to discuss each planet among each belt. I had to focus. We, as in a crew, needed to focus. The Imprint virus was designed to put an end to individuality. Those grains of sand would come together; their attention focused on the chosen few. Distributing the cure required a delicate touch. If we added it to the broadcast from the Array, it would have changed everything. There are some systems with nefarious designs in and out of the empire. The Gene Dominion chose to test it in the Rim, which meant the Rim needed the cure the most at this time.

A hand touched my bare chest. I opened one eye to see Seris hovering close. Her smile betrayed her, and maybe I wasn’t going to let that stand.

“Kade,” she whispered as her hand moved delicately along my chest.

I opened my eyes as I glanced at her. She was partially standing up and giving me a view of her more than ample chest. She was never shy about her intentions.

I think I wasn’t moving fast enough as she pulled me off my bubble floaty and I crashed in the water. I was under water for a moment when her lips touched mine. We rose up from the not so deep water, embracing each other with a deep kiss. She rubbed her rather large tits against me as her hips rubbed against my now standing member.

“Take me inside. I’ve been a bad gen momma,” she said with a sultry tone after our lips parted from each other.

“Really bad?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded. “Very bad,” she said before she bit her lip.

Mira was lying naked on a lounge seat by the pool. She opened her eyes and looked over at us. I could see the interest in her eyes.

I glanced over at Vega. She sat naked at the edge of the pool, her perfect legs in the water. She looked at us with her own sultry smile.

I suddenly forgot about the stakes of the universe. Yeah, everything could wait an hour, or three. I think we all needed to blow off some steam.

I parted my lips, ready to ask what we wanted to do as a foursome, when Vega’s eyes vibrated in their sockets. It was like they were moving side to side so fast; they would vibrate right out of her head. Before I could ask, her eyes stopped moving and she was instantly to her feet, water dripping down her legs.

“Synths are converging on our location, we have to leave,” she said with urgency.

The three of us started moving. Mira was up from her lounge chair and moving around the pool. Seris and I moved to the edge and climbed up. I know we all noticed the sense of urgency in her tone. Vega was always cool, calm, and direct. The four of us moved as one into the lavish hotel room. We grabbed clothes as Vega’s skin changed to her white body suit. She grabbed the long bag of weapons we kept on the side of the bed and placed it on top of it. She opened it and began pulling out weapons and magazines. As I dressed, I quickly noticed she pulled out explosive mag slug magazines and started inserting them into the mag pistols and auto-mags.

“Vega?” I asked as I grabbed Patchframe and put it on.

“I don’t have all the details, but I do know Vega synth units are getting closer to the hotel location. A sub-system activated, revealing I am the target. Their orders are to subdue me at any costs,” she said before she threw an auto-mag to Mira’s waiting hands.

“How many?” Mira asked as she switched off the safety.

“Unsure. The signals keep changing. I’m being blocked from details of their mission,” she said as she pulled out Switch from the bag, loaded it with an explosive slug magazine and handed it to me. Yeah, it was the auto-mag that can be held by me and by Patchframe. I named it Switch because that seemed to fit.

Vega walked away from us and moved to a fire alarm system. She pulled a cord from behind her and connected it to the system. The small screen flashed. Fire suppression systems were disabled. The alarms for the hotel went off, but not for our penthouse suite.

Vega pulled out her connection cord, and it slipped back behind her ear. She grabbed an auto-mag and loaded a magazine. She then looked at us with serious eyes.

“It’s a Rook Protocol. When it activates, it notifies all Vega units in the area that an assassination code has been activated. It’s meant to change tactics as a unit to ensure the target is neutralized. It is being turned against me,” she said plainly.

“Can we make a run for it?” I asked.

“No,” she said instantly.

I nodded. “Fade, evac protocol. Come to our location and circle. Prime mag cannons with spoof rounds integrated with normal slugs. We have synths incoming and will need the assistance to confuse their systems,” I ordered.

“Acknowledged,” Fade said in a voice she never used before.

I must have looked confused because Vega instantly said, “I asked Fade if she wanted her own voice. She picked that one. She also asked for a personality program.”

My eyes narrowed. “We are going to have a long talk after this on what is appropriate for my ship.”

“You said we are a crew. Fade is part of the crew, and these were her own requests. She asked me to help her because she knew you would get mad,” Vega said as she walked past me, not a drop of regret in her tone.

I growled as I moved with her. Seris put on her armor belt and picked up her long mace. Mira moved with us as we reached the long corridor to the elevators. We stayed at our end as we looked across twenty feet to the small elevator chamber. They say this is the penthouse, but there are a dozen penthouses overlooking the top of the hotel, so we all needed some space, hence the long corridor.

I held Switch with the barrel pointed down. I was about to take a step forward, when Vega grabbed my shoulder.

“The synths have entered the lobby of the hotel. We won’t escape this way.”

“Fade, ETA?” I said with a little of my own urgency.

“I’m seventy percent primed for takeoff. Father, I’ll be there to pick everyone up,” Fade said to me.

I didn’t have my earpiece in, her voice coming from Patchframe’s collar. I didn’t know what to think at the moment. Father? Yeah, I suppose I am her father. I built her from everything I could find. Her AI was advanced, but I never gave her a personality because, well, I’m not sure why. But hearing her own voice, caused a swirl. I think I was proud, and happy for her. Glitch me. This was getting weird.

“I know you will,” I said out loud as I activated Patchframe.

Metal gears and plates stabbed out slowly from my Patchframe coat. A thin, metal exo-skeleton moved around my body and along my limbs. Metal plates slid around my exo-skeleton, clamping shut. Metal slid over my head. Mis-matched armored plates covered my chest and body. My coat was enveloped as the metal bones on the back of my coat vanished. Nanites worked to connect systems. A visor slid over my eyes and all systems activated at once. I held Switch in my armored hand.

“Do we know what kind of rounds they will be using?” I asked, my voice coming from the suit.

“Unsure. But be warned, Vega synths will not stop until they finish their mission. Show them no mercy,” Vega said as she moved into position at the edge of the corridor.

I turned slightly to Seris. “I think it’s time to use some of those improvements I made to your mace.”

Seris nodded before he twisted the rod on her mace. Spikes stabbed out from the blunt end of it. Seris and I talked about ways we could better her melee weapon in modern times, without going against the ideals she grew up with. She wasn’t allowed to use any kind of gun, rifles, and auto-mags, but there was a loophole we could use.

Seris also activated her belt. Armor plates slid out from the belt and clamped down on her limbs and body but didn’t cover her completely. She had a wide range of motion, to help her move easily.

Mira was already across from Vega, her auto-mag aimed down the corridor.

“Use me for cover, if you need it. Also, if they are coming up by the elevator, wait until the doors open. The metal is too thick to shoot through,” I said as I stood in the middle, Switch aimed down the corridor.

Heads nodding in agreement.

There was a moment of silence around us as faint fire alarms went off beyond the walls.

“Gel packs in the bag,” Vega said as shadows appeared on the walls beside us.

I turned just as two synths shattered the glass windows from the pool side. They had mag pistols aimed at Vega as they pulled triggers. Slugs blasted out from pistols. Time blinked as I moved in front of Vega, covering her. The slugs hit my chest and bounced off. My armored finger was on the trigger, but I didn’t pull it as Seris moved into my aim, her body swinging with power. She slammed the spiky end into a synth chest the moment they landed on the rug. Seris pulled her mace away with all her might as the synth, which very much looked like a version of our Vega, stood there, unphased except for a thin, golden spike in her chest. The synth aimed at my visor, but before she could pull the trigger, the spike exploded. It was a small explosion, like the size of a bowling ball from a popular game on ancient Earth. It was enough to launch the synth backwards and fall onto their back like a broken doll.

The other synth aimed at my visor and fired. A slug hit my visor and pounced off, leaving a tiny crack. There was a hissing roar from beside me, Mira charging and going full auto on the standing synth. Hand-sized explosions rippled along the synth, their body trembling. Fury filled Mira’s eyes as she stopped firing and leapt up, boots out. They slammed into the damaged synth, knocking it to the floor. She stood over the downed synth as she finished emptying her magazine into it. Sparks flashed as the destroyed synth vibrated. Not far from them, Seris slammed down her mace on synth she half exploded. It tried to get up when the mace slammed into its body again. Seris pulled away and backed up as another explosion finished it off.

I think the crew is getting better at fighting synths.

A ding filled the corridor behind me. I turned and opened fire. Vega pulled her trigger and began firing short, controlled bursts. I watched as six synths poured out of the elevator, their eyes empty of emotion as they returned fire. The corridor lit up with slugs and small explosions. The walls were pockmarked with rounds. The exchange was brutal as I moved to the side of the corridor, returning fire. I visually scanned everything as rounds bounced off my armored body. One synth went down, shaking and shuddering violently on the floor. The other five synths moved to each side of the corridor and continued to fire at us.

“I’m airborne and on my way,” Fade notified me.

I aimed at the corners of the other end of the corridor and concentrated my fire. Explosive rounds struck it. Reducing their cover slightly. The synths were able to move to the very edges, beyond our line of sight. They took turns firing at us, but they didn’t advance.

“They’re not advancing,” I said out loud.

“Four more are coming up the side of the hotel,” Mira shouted before she pointed down over the pool balcony and fired at them.

“They are boxing us in,” Vega said as she continued to pick her shots.

My blood pumped hot. They are going to attack us all at once. The synths in the corridor were waiting for the others.

Vega stopped shooting and put her back to the wall. She inserted another magazine. I did the same. Mira continued to shoot over the edge of the balcony. Seris stood at the ready, her spiked mace in hand.

My gaze fell to the table, my equipment, and the Imprint cure cartridge, in a black tool bag. We needed to control the moment, or they were going to fill us all with holes.

“We must retreat to the dining room,” I managed to say when my gaze shifted the balcony.

My visor caught the moment as Mira was just pulled back, slugs shooting past her. Patchframe detected the hit as I did, Mira’s auto-mag exploding in her face, shrapnel flew everywhere as she was launched back and fell into the pool with a splash.

Seris gasped as she dropped her mace and launched into the pool after Mira. When I glimpsed blood in the water, I saw red.