Page 29

KIAN

K ian reviewed the latest reports on his tablet while in the background, Onegus and Turner brought Jade up to date.

Two situations, both critical, both demanding resources he didn't have. His jaw tightened as he read Grant's update about the enhanced Doomer attack in Mongolia. Thankfully, Lokan and Carol had managed to kill him, but the fact that Lokan alone hadn't been enough was concerning.

The guy was a one-thousand-year-old immortal, a three-quarters god, and a compeller.

"My Russian contacts are ready to retrieve them once they cross the mountain pass," Turner said. "They are impersonating Russian soldiers, which should be enough to keep the Doomers away. They don't want to get into an altercation with the Russian army. It should be smooth sailing from there."

Kian wasn't sure about that. Navuh was getting bolder.

"We have good news from Egypt," he said. "They've identified a potential lead—someone called Isa living in Cairo's cemetery district. They are going to try to track him down tomorrow."

Turner tilted his head. "The City of the Dead. Now that should be interesting. Why would an immortal live in a place like that?"

"Anonymity?" Onegus suggested. "Besides, they don't know if it's Esag. It might be just some random human who's good with his hands."

Jade leaned back in her chair. "I know that you are all concerned with finding the Clan Mother's mate, but the enhanced Doomer situation is more urgent, and I have a solution.

You should mix up the teams so there are at least two Kra-ell warriors in each one.

You should have also sent Kra-ell with the Guardians to Mongolia.

We can match the enhanced strength of the Doomers.

Your Guardians cannot unless they are wearing exoskeleton suits, which is impractical in most situations. "

She was right, and there were plenty of capable Kra-ell available, but not all of them wanted to serve on the force.

"There aren't enough of you to put two with each team," Kian stated the obvious.

She regarded him for a long moment with those big eyes of hers.

"Right now there aren't, but I can convince more to join the force.

When they hear about the enhanced Doomers, they won't be able to resist the challenge to prove that they are the superior warriors.

Also, as those who already joined the force have proven, we don't require a lot of training to be ready for action. "

She was right about that as well. The Kra-ell were natural killers, and the hardest part of training them was keeping them in line and having them follow orders. The easiest thing was just to unleash them on Doomers and watch them tear them apart, enhanced or not.

Onegus grinned as if Jade had delivered him the best news of the day, and in a way, she had. "If you can get more of your people to join, I will include at least one Kra-ell warrior with every strike team."

"Good." Jade offered him a rare smile. "I'm glad that you accepted my offer so eagerly."

"We don't have the luxury of refusing help," Kian said. "I've instructed William to accelerate the Odu development program, but regrettably, they won't be ready anytime soon. We need soldiers, disposable ones. I don't want to lose Guardians or Kra-ell to those enhanced monsters."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Onegus's expression darkened, and even Turner looked uncomfortable.

"What if they become sentient?" Onegus asked. "I'm not comfortable with regarding them as disposable, even if they start as machines. If they end up as people, they need to be treated accordingly."

"They will not be sentient," Kian said. "I'm not talking about the original Odus who have become part of our family.

The new models William and Kaia are developing will be stripped down.

They will need to be capable of learning and making tactical decisions, but they won't have the capacity for emotions or self-awareness. "

Turner still looked skeptical. "Things rarely go according to plan when you're dealing with artificial intelligence. The ability to learn and make decisions can lead to all kinds of unintended consequences."

"Do you have a better idea?" Kian challenged. "We're facing an enemy that's stronger and faster and outnumbers us at least a hundred to one. If we continue on the same trajectory as we are now, we will be wiped out."

Turner was quiet for a long moment. "I don't have a better idea, and I'm not opposed to developing an army of Odus. What I'm cautioning against is treating them as disposable machines. We should treat them as soldiers."

Kian snorted. "Am I the only realist here? Navuh is treating his fighters as disposable. Most politicians treat their soldiers in a similar manner. It's rare to see any politician who genuinely cares about the human lives lost to wars."

Turner nodded. "We are different, but I get what you are saying. So, how is William going to ensure that our cyborg army doesn't become sentient?"

"Simple," Kian said. "No curiosity subroutines, no self-reflection protocols, no emotional simulation. They'll be tools, nothing more."

"The Kra-ell have a saying," Jade said. "'The sword that thinks is the sword that chooses.' Be careful what you wish for, else your tools might decide they have better uses for themselves."

"I'm not an expert, so I leave this to those who are." Kian turned to Onegus. "Anything else on the agenda for today?"

"Just a reminder that you wanted to bring in the paranormals from Safe Haven and potentially use them in our new spy division. Eleanor is waiting for instructions."

“Call Eleanor and ask her to propose solutions. She's intelligent and cunning. She can take the time to consider the options and possible challenges and come up with better ideas than I would, especially given the little time I'll have available to dedicate to this."

Onegus flashed his famous megawatt smile. "They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but it's also a catalyst for change."

Kian frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"You're actually trusting someone else to make decisions. That's growth."

"I am asking Eleanor for options and suggestions. I will still make the decisions, so maybe there is less growth than you think," Kian muttered.

Onegus lifted his hands in mock surrender. "One step at a time. Maybe one day you'll be able to cross that bridge."