by Jan Domagala
Taylor was suddenly afraid.
“Of course,” was all she said, “hold on.” Her eyes took on the thousand-yard stare that Taylor was familiar with when anyone used their NIs to access a link to a computer.
“I’m in,” she said and then added, “I’ve accessed his call log.”
Taylor glanced around to see if anyone was paying them any attention and when he was certain that no one was even remotely interested he returned his gaze to the woman before him.
“Do you know anyone named Tanis Rygar?” she asked, then said, “Hang on, I’ve got the call I overheard, I’ll link it over to you, get ready.”
Before Taylor could say anything his NI had linked with hers. He was now in receipt of the call logs and he knew he was dead.
“Oh shit!” he said as he replayed the call in the receiver in his brain. He looked across at Tanya and saw her expression change.
“What?” he asked.
“An alarm has just gone off. I don’t know why, it’s never gone off before. Dad knows I’ve taken his file,” she said and her face was a mixture of confusion and fear.
“It was when you transferred the file to my NI, it triggered the alarm. Your NI must be authorised whereas once the data was transferred to me it was logged as an unauthorised transfer and set off an alarm. If what you say is true, and now I have no reason to doubt you as I have the proof, then they’ll come after us to prevent us passing it on to a third party,” he explained.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you think? Your father authorised the death of some Col Sec marines. Do you honestly think he’ll take the risk that we’ll talk to anyone about this? He’ll send someone after us,” Taylor said his face ashen as he knew his life was over.
“We have only one choice then,” Tanya said.
“And that is what?” he asked.
“We have to get to someone in Col Sec. My father can’t get away with this,” she said, more determined than ever.
Taylor looked at her and his training kicked in. Before working for Jonas Wilde he had been a Col Sec marine. He only took this job because the pay was better and his rotation was at an end. Now, at that moment, his old training took hold of him again and his mind raced with alternate scenarios for his situation. He had to get away and keep this data safe from the enemy; he also had to protect the young woman who had got him involved in all this.
“Come on, we have to move,” he said and offered her his hand. He now knew what he had to do.
10
Tanis Rygar was in his quarters in the freighter on the way back to Cordoba. He’d delayed the call as long as he possibly could but he knew he had to make it and take the consequences. He took a deep breath and called Jonas Wilde via a secure sub space channel through his NI.
“What is your status?” demanded Wilde when the call was received.
“Sir, I have to report that the chamber was destroyed,” Rygar said, hesitantly.
“And the Col Sec marines, are they dead?” Wilde had detected some reluctance to give a full report in his man’s voice.
“I’m afraid that some escaped, sir,” Rygar said.
“What!” Wilde was furious and Rygar could feel the venom in his simple exclamation.
“We were unable to prevent three of the marines escaping despite our best efforts,” Rygar said. “I take full responsibility, sir.”
“Damn right you take full responsibility....” his angry retort was cut short when the alarm sounded, set off by Tanya’s unauthorised incursion to her father’s files.
“What the fuck?” he said as he searched for the cause of the alarm. When he realised what had triggered the alarm he was dumbfounded. How could his own daughter do this to him? What did she hope to gain from this and who else would she tell. She’d already involved the security man Taylor and, because of his involvement, caused his death. He would have to get her back and try to contain this. He knew his daughter, if he got her back he would make her see sense, he would just have to close off all loose ends en route to her. If, when he got her back, she refused to see sense he would just have to take the necessary steps to ensure what she knew went no further and if that meant ending her life, so be it. He would not be stopped in this by anyone and that included his own daughter.
“Get back here as quickly as you can I want a full debrief ASAP,” he said to Rygar before closing the call. He had to take the necessary steps right away to contain this situation. Rygar had outlived his usefulness and Taylor had to be silenced. For this mission he would use one of the new Rover 5s. It was time for them to become the new team leaders and take their place in the hierarchy of the new OMEGA – his OMEGA. It was time to usurp Maxwell Eisenhower and take full control of the organisation that would propel him forward so he could fulfil his destiny as one of the most powerful men in the galaxy and, in time, the most powerful man in the galaxy.
With that in mind he made the call.
* * * * *
Hawk and the Valkyrie arrived on Earth and the pilot took the disguised freighter into a docking approach with Research Station One, which was the planet’s first orbiting platform. It was a huge city-sized station that was positioned in geostationary high orbit around the planet and had been in use since the mid twenty-first century. It was the stopping off point for most missions and had a permanent crew of five hundred personnel on six-month rotation. The base also handled large numbers of visitors from a few hundred to almost a thousand. Col Sec kept a permanent office there for debriefs and other consultations, but for this debrief Hawk would have to go to Col Sec HQ, Intelligence Division, where General Sinclair would handle it personally.
Once they had docked at Research Station One, Hawk got into a shuttle and piloted it straight down to Col Sec HQ leaving Colonel De Boer and the rest of the team to go their own separate ways, to their own debriefs.
On the journey through hyperspace Hawk had taken the time to formulate his debrief, going over and over in his mind just what had happened in the chamber, trying to make some sense of it all.
Why had OMEGA wanted the chamber destroyed if there was nothing of value inside? Was it merely to waste time for Col Sec so that they wouldn’t learn what their real objective was? What was their real objective? He had so many questions and not enough answers. He wasn’t sure he would get the answers he needed any time soon either.
Going over his report with Sinclair was his only solution. He hoped a new pair of eyes and ears would identify something that he’d missed.
They had no time to lose; they had to get to the bottom of this riddle before OMEGA unleashed whatever fiendish plot they had planned. With that in mind he increased his pace through the corridors of Col Sec HQ towards Sinclair’s office.
* * * * *
Taylor and Tanya left the restaurant, got into the nearest sky-cab and left the area as quickly as they could.
“Where are we going?” asked Tanya, looking out of the windows as the sky-cab soared into the flight lanes.
“We just need to get away from that area because your father will look there first. As soon as we are away from there, I’ll contact someone I know in Col Sec and see if they can send an operative to help us. It’s imperative we keep on the move until they can reach us otherwise your father could track us through your NI and from what you’ve told me, we don’t want that to happen,” replied Taylor. The screen between the passenger compartment and the pilot of the sky-cab was down and locked. They could communicate via an intercom panel in the screen, which could be locked from the passenger side to ensure they had privacy during their journey.
“We’re in real trouble aren’t we?” said Tanya, which was more of a statement than a question. “I’m so sorry to have dragged you into this,” she added sincerely.
“I can think of better, much easier and safer ways of getting to know someone without endangering their lives,” replied Taylor concentrating on his next move. Then he glanced across at his travelling companion and smiled to let her k
now he was okay with it all. “But I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” he added and reached across to hold her hand, squeezing it gently to reassure her that they would be okay.
“Do you think that Col Sec will believe us and send someone to help?” she asked a little nervously. This was an awful lot to take in. She’d lived what she had always considered was a normal life; normal if your father was the right hand man to a multi billionaire, possibly one of the ten wealthiest men in the galaxy. In her few moments of normality she realised that she had lived a rather sheltered life compared to others, but she also realised that what she had got herself and Taylor into was not normal either and that others of her generation would probably handle this no better.
“Let’s see shall we,” he said, accessing a sub space com. channel via his NI and contacted the person he knew in Col Sec. He just hoped he was in HQ on Earth. “Matt, I don’t have a lot of time but I need your help,” he said.
Matt Hawk was in Sinclair’s office when the call came through deep in his debrief. “Gavin? I’ve not heard from you in ages man, but look I’m in the middle of something here I’m going to have to call you back,” he replied and was about to close the call when Taylor said, “Listen Matt, it’s about the deaths of some marines recently in a chamber somewhere.”
That immediately got Hawk’s attention. Linking the call with Sinclair he said, “Tell me.” Taylor told him everything he knew including all the files that were passed over to him by Tanya to corroborate what he was saying. When he’d finished he said, “So Matt, what do you think, are we screwed?”
“Oh boy are you ever, but don’t you worry, I’m gonna do everything in my power to help you. I want you to get yourself immersed in the most populated area you can find, they’re less likely to try and get to you if there are people around you. I’ve logged your signal into my NI so I’ll be able to track you and find you wherever you go, okay. Don’t worry I’ll get to you and get you to safety; in fact I’m leaving now. I’ll contact you when I reach Cordoba,” Hawk ended the call and looked at General Sinclair.
“Sir, this is the break we were hoping for. I’ve got to get to them before Jonas Wilde sends someone to shut them up,” he said getting to his feet.
“Jonas Wilde, I can’t believe this. He works for Maxwell Eisenhower, why would someone so powerful want to get involved with a criminal cartel? Why would he need to, it just doesn’t make sense?” said the General bewildered by this new and disturbing development.
“It does make some sort of sense in the way that our attackers had better weapons than ours. They had technology that was just a step ahead of what we have and who supplies most of our tec. and weaponry, sir, the Eisenhower Mega Corp,” Hawk replied.
“This has just got a whole lot worse than we ever dreamed possible, Matt. If they can supply troops with weaponry more advanced than ours how are we supposed to defeat them? You have to get to those two; we need that proof so that we can deal with Wilde if he is, as they propose, behind all of this. Take Colonel De Boer and as many men as you think you need and bring them back safely.”
“I will, sir. I’ll take point and inform the Colonel to follow on my six. I need to leave now. Tell De Boer I’ll contact him when I find Gavin and Wilde’s daughter and he can coordinate our extraction,” Hawk said as he walked towards the door.
“You got it Matt and good luck,” Sinclair said as Hawk left the office.
It seemed that they had been given an opportunity to combat this new threat but he wasn’t sure if things had just got better or worse. Only time, as they say, will tell.
* * * * *
“We need to find somewhere like Matt said, with a lot of people,” Taylor said, after his call with Hawk had ended.
“I know somewhere, the mall; it’s in the centre of the city. There’s everything there and at this time of day it’ll be jammed with shoppers. Once the shops close there’s plenty of other things such as cinemas, restaurants and gaming halls which will have enough people for us to get lost in,” Tanya said.
Taylor looked at her, smiled and said, “Good girl, we’ll get through this okay.” Operating the com. panel in the screen he said, “Take us to the mall please.”
11
Hawk made his way to the spaceport as quickly as he could. The shuttle that had brought him to Earth not so long ago was still where he had left it, so he simply boarded it once more and prepared for take off. General Sinclair had already logged his flight plan to Research Station One with flight control so all that was required was for him to start the engines and take off which he did with alacrity.
He was soon at the station and heading for the Valkyrie. As he boarded he went to the bridge where Captain Jefferson was waiting for him.
“Welcome aboard Matt, your flight plan has already been logged by General Sinclair. Where to this time, sir?” Jefferson asked as he rotated in the command chair to greet Hawk as he entered.
“Thank you Cap, we’re going to Cordoba,” said Hawk as he came to stand by Jefferson.
“I’m not going to ask what this is about. No doubt it’s another black op or you wouldn’t be here, just do me the courtesy of informing me if we’re heading into harm’s way please so that I can take the necessary precautions.”
“No guarantees Cap, sorry, you know as well as I do how these things go but I’ll do what I can, will that do?”
“I suppose it’ll have to,” Jefferson said, turning to his helmsman, “Let’s get this show on the road. Inform the dock commander we’ll be leaving immediately, I assume there’s some haste to your mission,” this last was directed at Hawk who nodded his agreement.
Leaning in close to the Captain Hawk said, “Do I detect some reticence in you Cap, about this mission?”
“I was hoping for some down time before we went off on another mission. My crew have not had any shore leave for months, except for a few days after the Stryder mission. We’ve been hard at it getting the Valkyrie ready for her new duties.”
“I know what you mean, it’s been the same for me too but this is important and when we get back I’ll do what I can to get you some R&R, is that acceptable?”
Jefferson smiled as he sat back in the chair. “There’s no need Matt, I knew what I was agreeing to when I signed on, we’re just tired that’s all. We’ll do what is required of us, you don’t have to worry.”
“Oh, I’m not worried, but I need you at your optimum and for that you all need to be well rested, but for now we’ll just have to suck it up and get the job done. I know you won’t let me down on that score,” Hawk replied.
“You’re not taking any back up this time?” asked Jefferson. “Colonel De Boer is to follow me and wait for instruction to coordinate our extraction from the planet,” explained Hawk.
“Extraction, so this is a rescue op then? How many are you going to pick up?”
“Two people, they carry proof that is vital to our fight against a group of terrorists who could do untold harm to the Confederation. My job is to go to Cordoba, rendezvous with them and bring them back safely so that we can assess the aforementioned proof and take the necessary steps to bring the terrorists to justice. There you see, I could tell you after all.”
“Are you expecting any opposition?”
“Of course, the bad guys aren’t gonna want us to get our hands on this proof so they’ll send someone to stop me, who or how many is an unknown factor but I’m sure they’ll present themselves when the time is right.”
“Back into the fire then I see.”
“I’m afraid so, yes. It comes with the job.”
“Okay, then you’d better hang on, we’re about to make the jump,” Jefferson said and the pilot, who had already taken the Valkyrie away from the station, entered the coordinates into the nav-comp then took the craft into hyperspace.
It was just a short jump and the Valkyrie was soon in the Praxima system. They re-entered normal space close to Cordoba so that they could go into orbit as soon as possible.
&
nbsp; “Here we are Matt, go do your stuff, I’ll have you tracked from your NI. As soon as the Colonel arrives I’ll keep him informed of your status so that you can coordinate your efforts,” Jefferson said.
Hawk said, “Wish me luck,” and left the bridge heading for the docking bay where he’d left the shuttle. As he took the shuttle out of the docking bay towards the planet Cordoba he accessed a battle com. channel to call Taylor. “Gavin, are you and Miss Wilde still together and safe?” he asked.
“Matt, glad to hear your voice again, Cap. We are together and at the mall just strolling around the shopping area. It’s getting near closing time for most of them so we were going to head into one of the gaming halls,” replied Taylor with a trace of relief in his voice.
“I’m en route to your location, I’ll be there as soon as I can, just hang tight okay?”
“Will do Cap, how many guys you got with you?”
“Just me, but don’t worry I’ll get you out no problem,” Hawk said with conviction.
“Just you, sir, oh that’s just great,” Taylor said.
“Have faith,” Hawk said then broke the call off to concentrate on piloting the shuttle.
Taylor turned to Tanya and said, “You know when he said earlier that we were screwed, well, he wasn’t kidding.”
* * * * *
The Rover 5 was walking through the mall looking for Tanya Wilde and the security guard Gavin Taylor. He was tall, at least six feet six tall, with a muscular physique that was hidden beneath a well-tailored suit. In appearance he was exactly the same as the other Rovers except for a more masculine appearance, if that was possible. He had perfect balance and coordination with increased strength, speed and agility and he followed orders implicitly with no trace of a conscience, the perfect killing machine.
