by GARY DARBY
“Yes, it’s standard procedure,” the scout replied. “When there are deaths or missing in action during a mission.”
“And who does the investigation?”
“In this case, I would think a staff officer from Star Scout Command. Someone not associated with the operation.”
“No,” Peller stated. “It will be you.”
The man sputtered, “That’s not possible, it’s—”
“I don’t care what it is! You will investigate. In your report, you will imply that Marrel deserted his team to mine out an enormous deposit of Kolomite ore with unknown persons.
“In clear and unmistakable terms, note that only criminals carry out this kind of activity. And since you found Marrel’s footprints at the lode site, but no remains or body, there is strong reason to believe that he was either the leader or at the very least, part of the mining operation.
“Make it sound like they wiped the ground of all other tracks, but left some boot prints behind in an attempt to make it appear that those beasts carried Marrel off.
“Hype the dangers of Veni and that only someone under the supervision of an experienced Star Scout, in this case Marrel, could survive in that environment, take the ore, and get away undetected.”
One side of his mouth lifted up in a smug smile. “Put everything associated with the Kolomite in your report, the enormous quantity of ore; the lode’s immense value, all of it. Make that and Marrel’s desertion the centerpiece and everything else secondary.”
“But I don’t—”
“Understand? It’s simple. Everyone thinks Star Scouts are nothing less than brave, shining knights that roam the star lanes for the good of humanity.
“Let them smell scandal and every scout from private to the general himself will be out searching for Marrel. No one will want him caught worse than your pie-in-the-sky Star Scout Corps.
“And if Jadar Marrel is clean, he’ll want to find his brother most of all and clear the family name.”
Peller’s ice-cold eyes held the man fast. “I want that report to show that Marrel ran like a coward, left his comrades to die in a horrible fashion, and did it for the love of money. Do it right, and there won’t be a safe harbor for him anywhere!”
“I’m not sure that I can—”
“You can and you will!” Peller commanded.
He took a breath, went on. “Twist the facts, add a few subtle phrases and terms, along with the loss of evidence and anyone that reads the report will have no doubt of Marrel’s guilt. Understood?”
The man’s shoulders sagged, and his eyes revealed the blank look of a man ensnared in a tangled web of lies and deceit with no chance of escape. “I understand. Anything else?”
“No.”
Peller punched the end-transmission button and sat back. He’d have to give the man some help to ensure he was the investigating officer.
That was no problem, his official position allowed him to collect quite a stable of those who owed him. And he already knew just where he would go to collect what was due and get the job done just the way he wanted.
He inhaled and let his breath out in a long sigh. To send Kavon to Veni had been risky. But the lure of power had been strong in Kavon. Like father, like son.
Peller shrugged; he had sacrificed many others to get to this point. He couldn’t change course. He was that much closer to the final goal. If sacrifices had to be made to capture the prize, including Kavon—so be it.
Sometimes, to achieve greatness, one had to make sacrifices and sometimes at any cost.
He sat back and considered what he would do with that thousand kilograms of Kolomite once he had it in his hands.
A cruel smile lifted his thin lips. Like he had said, almost anything . . .
* * * *
The stark and insufferable memory faded, and Peller found himself staring at Double Star, who peered at him with a puzzled expression.
Peller sat up straight and asked, “If it was the same as Veni, any sign of Deklon Marrel?”
“None,” the man answered. “Just like before.”
Peller scowled while saying, “I will notify you with the details of the next operation.”
He ended the communication and sat back. In frustration, he clenched and unclenched his hands. So much time had passed and still no sign of Marrel, though his hatred still burned lava-hot to punish the one man who had beaten him.
But someday, someday, Marrel would be his and when he was, no quick and easy death for him.
No, he would suffer long and hard before he died and Peller would enjoy every moment.
Chapter Seven
Star Date 2433.056
Cheyenne Mountain, Terra
Star Scout Jadar Marrel’s brisk steps echoed down the wide corridor deep in the granite heart of Cheyenne Mountain. He hated being here, knowing the hard looks he would get, the whispers behind his back, the scowls of distaste and distrust from senior officers.
But when the commanding general said, “Git,” you got, and asked no questions.
The scowl on his leathery face, his hard-set light blue eyes, his compressed thin lips all spoke volumes of how much he disliked being in the mount.
“Put me barehanded in a cage full of giant Betarian Scorpios,” he muttered to himself as his boot steps echoed in the corridor, “set me down in the middle of Titan’s liquid nitrogen without a P-suit. Put me anywhere but here.”
Turning one last corner, he found himself standing on a wide skywalk that encircled a cavernous room. He walked to the guardrail and gazed upon the brain of Star Scout Command; the Intelligence and Operations Center, or IOC.
Even at this very early morning hour, dozens of Star Scouts and civilian technicians bustled in and around countless modular workstations that seemed to march around the enormous enclosure’s outer rim.
The low drone of voices intermingled with a muted hum that came from the huge overhead holographic projectors.
None of that compared, however, to the colossal StellarVue that floated in the room’s center. Like bees around a hive, scouts hovered at the hologram’s edges, inputting observations into their palm compus.
Portable turbolifts jockeyed for position so that their human riders could scan the massive light green ball’s higher quadrants, with its pinpricks of mini-suns, shaded areas of cosmic gas, and dozens upon dozens of digitized coding lines.
The StellarVue displayed the locations of Star Scout operations along with the Imperium Navy and SciCorps missions in interstellar space.
In addition, the IOC team kept track of star and planetary locations, singularities, neutron stars, and rogue planets, asteroids wandering into interstellar shipping routes, gamma ray bursts, gravity wells, and a host of other categories.
All pieces of information the organization needed to know in order to plan where, when, and how to send Star Scouts on their missions.
Even as Jadar watched, the StellarVue began to change to another sector of the cosmos and the planning cycle began anew.
Jadar drew back and glanced at several side tunnel openings, trying to discern which led to the office of Star Scout Command’s intelligence chief, Colonel Shar Tuul.
He started to ask a nearby technician which way to go when a shouted, “Jadar!” caused him to turn. A figure waved at him from the StellarVue pit.
With a little uncertainty, he raised a hand in reply. The figure yelled, “Stay there. I’ll be right up!” The Star Scout hustled over to a turbolift, rode it to the first level, and stepped out onto the circular ramp.
“Gee, Jadar,” he smiled, pointing at Jadar’s worn field uniform and holding out a hand for a handshake, “no need to get all gussied up to visit, we’re just plain folks down here.”
Jadar met the man’s grin with a tentative smile, took the man’s hand, and without making it apparent glanced at his nametag, Shar Tuul, Colonel, Star Scout Command.
“Sorry, sir, the general ordered me to report upon debarkation at Lindbergh Field, so I did
n’t change to garrison garb.”
Shar chortled. “Hey, no need for ‘sir’ with me. I know it’s been over twenty years but since we’re just about the last of Taylor’s Trail Blazers on active duty, none of this rank business between us, okay?”
“Sure, whatever you say,” Jadar replied in a cautious tone, his body stiffening just a bit at the mention of Taylor’s Trail Blazers.
“Great,” Shar responded. “You look terrific, little less hair, a bit of silver dust on the sides, but otherwise you look just like I remember you.”
“Thanks, you too. You look like you’re in tip-top shape. Must be hitting the VirtualReal jogging program on a regular basis.”
Shar’s smile dropped just a bit. “Uh, yeah, thanks.”
Hesitating, Shar shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Any problems with security?”
“No, I guess the general’s signature still carries some weight around here.”
“We let him think it does, just to humor him. Speaking of, you contacted him when you grounded?”
“I did. Told me to hot-jet it over here, said you’ve proven that the Asteroid Belt is Lost Atlantis and the Atlanteans want to join the Imperium.”
“Nah,” Shar chuckled. “Everyone knows that Atlantis is inside a volcano at the South Pole. It’s the Lost Ten Tribes that inhabit the belt.”
Jadar gave a polite smile while saying, “Well, this is all pretty mysterious. A few days ago I'm star side worrying about rations and energy pacs for my scouts, and out of the blue I’m yanked back here.”
Shar’s manner went from light-hearted to serious. “Sorry, I know this is pretty fast, but time is not our friend here.”
He jerked his head toward an empty corridor. “This way.”
Shar led Jadar around the walkway. A Star Scout lieutenant came out of a side passageway and gave the two a token greeting. She glanced at Jadar’s name tag and for a moment, her step faltered.
Noticing her misstep, Jadar glanced sideways, but after Shar’s quick nod in response to the young officer, he shrugged it off and continued.
Shar stopped in front of a secondary security door. He lowered his gaze before speaking quietly. “Look, before we get started, I want to clear the air between us. You know that business about your brother on Veni.
“I should have said this to you years ago, but didn’t, and I’m sorry. But you’re here now, so I wanted you to know that I didn’t believe a word of it back then, don’t believe it now.”
Their eyes locked. “The brother of the Jadar Marrel that I know wouldn’t be capable of such things.”
Jadar’s expression remained impassive, but he could feel the heat creep up the back of his neck like someone had placed a warm glow worm on his skin.
He hadn’t made it a half hour in headquarters before Veni raised its ugly head and old, hurtful memories came flooding back.
Jadar tried hard to avoid the many Star Scout officers who still remembered a very distasteful incident that scarred their illustrious reputation.
Veni and Marrel. Two names linked forever in infamy.
It took him by surprise though, to find someone who expressed support, versus the hard stare and stony silence that he often received from other officers.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” he replied with a small nod.
A smile creased Shar’s face, and he pressed his palm on the molecular identification pad. The door slid aside, and he ushered Jadar into a roomy but meager office.
Large window panes overlooked the operations well. A sim-leather couch, a few body contour chairs, and a dark gray compudesk made up the entire furnishings.
An olive-skinned man of medium build with close-cropped black hair rose at the sound of Shar’s and Jadar’s entrance. Shar held up a hand to the two. “One second while I take care of business. Then I’ll make the proper introductions.”
He stepped to his console and tapped on one disk-sized area several times. The windowpanes became opaque, and the background humming noise stopped.
Whoa, that’s odd, Jadar thought, sound damping and vision proofing in the most secure facility in the whole command?
Shar came around the desk. “Okay, we’re ready. Lieutenant Colonel Jadar Marrel, meet Mr. Teng Rhee. Teng works for the Imperium’s Security and Operations Group.”
Jadar’s sudden taut stance and expression caused Shar to say, “Relax, Jadar, like you, he has personal clearance from the general.”
“Sorry,” Jadar replied and shook Teng’s hand. “Not my place to question—your show.”
Teng gave Jadar a knowing smile. “Believe me, I understand your feelings. Let me assure you that I wouldn’t be here unless my organization and yours thought it imperative.”
“I’m just a simple scout,” Jadar replied. “If General Rosberg wants you here, it’s not up to me to question.”
“And speaking of the Old Man, I need to get him on the horn,” Shar remarked and turned to his console. A second later the hologram of a mature-looking woman in a Star Scout uniform appeared.
“Major Tomas,” Shar greeted the woman. “The general asked that I notify him before we began our meeting.”
“He’s expecting your call,” Major Tomas answered. She glanced down and said, “Security lock-in is Bravo Orange.”
“And matched at Zulu Yellow,” Shar replied.
“Transferring you now.”
The holo-image of Tyson Rosberg, commanding general of Star Scout Command appeared. His vibrant hazel-colored eyes lighted on Jadar. “Good to see you, Jadar. Sorry to bust you out of your star side ops, but you’ll understand why in a few minutes.”
Jadar nodded in response while Rosberg gave a little head bow to Teng Rhee. “Mr. Rhee, thanks for making yourself available on short notice.”
“At your service, general.”
Rosberg launched right into the business at hand. “Jadar, I'm relieving you of your battalion command.”
Startled, Jadar straightened and started to speak but Rosberg held up a hand to stop him. “Put your thrusters in neutral, it’s not for poor performance.
“Your efficiency report from your brigade commander will give you top marks—as usual. But now I need you for something much more important than ramrodding troops.”
He looked straight at Jadar. “The reason that you're here is that this concerns the Gadion Faction.”
Jadar’s eyes hardened and turned cold. One too many run-ins with Faction henchmen Out There had left him with nothing but hostility toward the infamous group.
“You’ve got more experience with the Faction than anyone else in Star Scouts,” Rosberg declared, “and I need your help to counter these Sagittarian slime slugs.
“Jadar, we have reliable intel that leads us to believe that the Faction is targeting our scouts far beyond what we’ve experienced so far. In fact, it’s almost as if they’ve declared war, and we’re dead center in their bull’s eye.”
His eyes flashed, and he declared, “They’re killing my scouts, and I want it stopped. If this continues, for every team I down planet for exploration, I’m going to have to send four or five times that number of scouts just to guard that one team.”
An anguished look passed over his face. “If that happens, there won’t be any more Star Scouts. The High Council will disband us and turn our mission over to the Imperium military.”
His eyes became like stone. “And at the rate they’re killing us Out There and disrupting our operations, that scenario could happen within a few years.”
He drew in a deep breath. “Or less.”
Chapter Eight
Star Date 2433.056
Star Scout Command Cheyenne Mountain, Terra
“Wha—” Jadar began, but Rosberg stopped him with a raised hand. His gruff voice was strong, his eyes laser like. “Starting right now, we’re going to act, and stop these cold-blooded murderers from killing more of our teammates. We’re taking the fight to them.
“We’ve watched this for some
time, tried to react the best we could. But the time for watching is over.”
He paused and locked eyes with Marrel. “Jadar, I want to be clear on this. I suspect you were a bit shocked to find a member of SOG inside the mount. I’m aware that SOG is beholden to the current crop of political masters whereas we are an apolitical, neutral organization.
“If I could handle this in-house I would, but we don’t have the resources, and they do. A select committee of the High Council knows about this temporary association, and they’ve provided formal approval.
“Jadar, you and Shar are to form an ad hoc task force with Mr. Rhee. In the next few minutes, they’re going to share with you some very disturbing information regarding Faction activity and capabilities.
“Exercise the highest level of security protocol at all times with this intel. My intention is to limit the number of people that have access to these data to the barest minimum, and for now, that means just you two.”
The general paused before saying, “That even includes my chief of staff, Colonel Romerand.”
Rosberg couldn’t help that Jadar’s eyes and lips went tight at the mention of Ri Romerand but that was another matter for another time.
The general continued. “If you’ve got information that you think I should hear, contact Maggie Tomas. She’ll have you on my priority call list.
“That’s enough from me.” He waved a hand toward Shar. “You’ve got your marching orders so Shar, take over. I’ll see you and Jadar in my office tomorrow—bright and early.”
“Yes sir,” replied Shar and Jadar together while the general’s image faded.
Shar gestured to Teng. “Why don’t you begin?”
Teng nodded and spoke to Jadar. “As you know, over the years the Faction’s methods have included everything from assassinations to bombings, extortion, bribery, kidnappings, and sabotage, just to name a few.”
He paused before saying with a little catch in his voice, “And horrific incidents such as the massacres at Brolin’s Colony, or Science Outpost Eighty-Three.”
