by Kal Spriggs
She squinted at her clock. Shit, she thought, we need to be ready to go in only an hour. She propped herself up next to her bunk and then prodded Aldera. “Aldera, wake up. We need to go.”
Aldera continued to snore.
“Mel,” Fenris's growl cut in from overhead. It was loud enough that Mel cupped her hands over her ears. Aldera started awake and struck her head as she sat up to fast. She began to swear loudly in German. “Mel, Aldera, you have one hour before you need to leave.”
“Oh,” Mel held her head in her hands, “I hate you so much.”
“I'm sorry,” Fenris said, “but you did ask me to remind you.” His gravelly voice didn't sound sorry. If anything, the warship sounded amused.
“Fine,” Mel said. She crawled across the floor towards her head.
She pawed around inside until she found a bottle of pills and then examined it in the dim light. That's the one, she thought, thank God I picked some up at Blisken Station.
She popped a couple pills in her mouth and then passed the bottle to Aldera. “What are these?” The woman asked, her voice still slurred.
How much did I drink, Mel wondered. She could vaguely make out several empty bottles. She hoped she hadn't consumed all of them or this was going to be wretched. “Take a couple.”
The other woman fumbled with the bottle and swallowed a couple of the pills, even as Mel crawled over to the toilet. She hoped that she had remembered to drink water, otherwise this would only help so much, she knew.
“What were they?” Aldera asked, “Why are we in the bathroom?”
“They'll sober you up,” Mel said. She felt her stomach turn over. “They work fast, so you might want to come over–”
Mel broke off as she doubled over and vomited into the toilet. She could feel her stomach clench and then she heaved again. I hate this part.
“Oh, that is foul,” Aldera said. “Wait... am I going to...”
A moment later, she pushed Mel over to the side and began to heave herself.
***
“Good morning ladies,” Johnny Woodard said as Mel stepped aboard the shuttle, followed by Aldera. Both of them were cleaned up and properly dressed. Mel still felt like death warmed over, but she just took another sip of water and gave Tank a nod.
“Everyone here?” Mel asked.
“Just waiting on you,” Bob said.
“Great,” Mel tried to smile and failed. She took another sip of water instead. It was a small sip, so as to let her stomach settle. Even so, her stomach did a flip-flop on her and she nearly spat it back out. She moved up to the pilot's seat. Normally Fenris could pilot the shuttle remotely, but given the distance they had to fly, she would rather be in control, else the time delay would be too long for Fenris to fly them reliably.
She brought the shuttle's systems online. It was a simple, civilian shuttle, generic in every way, other than the military grade transponder that would let them mimic a variety of civilian ones. Today, she knew, it would mimic a cargo shuttle from Vulcan Mining Concern. Fenris' scanning and Swaim's hacking had given them enough data to emulate that flight plan... and Mel felt confident enough that she could move into the appropriate flight pattern.
Fenris had already sent a falsified message to the shuttle in question, with an address and digital signature from Vulcan Security, ordering them to stand by due to a security risk. That should buy them enough time to get planetside. Since intra-system traffic didn't have to go through customs, that would mean they had an entry point... and as long as they made it to the meeting with Bob's contact, they could still make their part of the plan work.
Mel spared a thought for Marcus and Brian. She hoped that both men had found success, but she worried especially about Marcus. He had seemed so distraught before his departure. What if he had decided that he couldn't watch Mel become a mercenary? What if he had walked away?
For that matter, it was entirely possible that he had been caught on or before insertion. It wasn't hard to believe that his out-of-date implants had failed him... and that probably meant that they were going into a trap.
The plan is solid, Mel thought, we stick to the plan and we'll get through this. At least Brian would be dependable, she knew. He had the easiest role to play.
***
CHAPTER SIX
Time: 0900 Local, 24 September 291 G.D.
Location: Danzig, City of Neuhaven, Neu Emshaven System
Brian spat blood as the interrogator rubbed at his knuckles. Brian gave the man a smile. His left eye was swollen shut and his nose was broken. He hated this part of an interrogation, it didn't matter what he said, they were trying to break him.
“You think this is a game?” the man demanded. The man's harsh German accent made his words all the more ominous.
Brian just smiled at him and spat blood again. At least they had spared his teeth, so far. Probably, so that they could understand him when he gave them what they wanted. “I think I'm going to wear your fists out. Never hit a man in the face with a closed fist. I think I broke your knuckle, there.”
The man cursed and drew back his hand again, but a voice spoke from behind him, “Halt!”
His interrogator lowered his hand and stepped to the side, “Kaptain.” There was a tone of respect or even fear in his voice. Clearly the new security chief had made an impact, Brian thought.
Kaptain Sebastian Lokisen stepped forward. The tall, handsome blond man considered Brian with cold dark eyes. “You know,” the security officer said, “this can go on for several weeks. Sooner or later, you will tell us what we want to know.”
Brian gave him a nod, “I know.” He knew that everyone had their limits, sooner or later a good interrogator could get information from anyone. Brian had experienced many stages of the process, from both ends, though he had never reached his breaking point. That didn't mean it was an experience he wanted. Most men who broke were never the same... and Brian had no desire to emulate that. He leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.
“Your man here isn't very good,” he said as Kaptain Sebastian leaned forward.
Brian lunged. His surprise attack almost succeeded, but his foot slipped in the blood and spittle on the floor and instead of crashing bodily into the Kaptain, he only ran into the man's knees. Kaptain Sebastian stumbled back, but he didn't fall and Brian was prone on the floor. His guards were on him in an instant and they kicked at his sides. Brian tucked his head, even as he felt a sliver of cold metal against his cheek on the floor, right were the Kaptain had been standing. I got you, you bastard, he thought, even as he moved it into his mouth.
The guards beat on him for a few minutes before they dragged him erect. “Are you finished?” Kaptain Sebastian demanded.
Brian just gave him a broad, bloody smile, even as he moved the tiny bit of metal over into his cheek. You'll pay for that, he thought.
“Take him away,” Kaptain Sebastian snapped. “Let him consider what his life will consist of, now that his friends have abandoned him.”
As they dragged Brian away, he got a look at the Kaptain's watch. It was almost time. Mel and the others would be there soon, they would count on him being in position. I can do this, he thought to himself, yet as his guards threw him into his cell and slammed the heavy steel door, he felt a moment of doubt. What if he couldn't?
***
“You have yet to break him?” Lindsey Baden demanded. The Chief Operations Officer twirled her pen in her hands, even as some part of her longed to go down and finish the interrogation herself.
She felt the familiar hunger surge, what her father and older brother had described as their dark ecstasy. It's been weeks since I had a proper session, she thought. Yet the Kaptain didn't know about her personal enjoyment and she didn't want to give him that leverage over her, not until she had something appropriate over him. Certainly, she figured, he had heard the rumors. She had encouraged the spread of those, it kept people on their toes to hear that their boss tortured people for kicks. She had to admit, sh
e loved to see the look of panic in their eyes during a meeting when they thought they were in trouble.
But he didn't have proof and while the big corporations had the system's law enforcement in their pockets, well, there were some things that were nasty enough that they couldn't be overlooked.
I've the appointment tonight, she thought, I can satisfy myself with the woman that Erlin will provide. Dieter would pick the woman up in only a few hours and would prepare her. Lindsey felt herself flush as she thought about that. She had to limit herself to the women that Erlin provided. Erlin's people shipped them in from off-world, women that his people recruited, often from working-class families, lured by offers of wealthy executives needing child care or tutors. By the time one got to Lindsey, they were terrified, frightened creatures who knew just how dangerous their circumstances had become.
“Not yet, Fruhlien,” Kaptain Sebastian said. “I paused the interrogation to allow him some time to recover, I was worried that the interrogator might break his jaw.” He said it off-hand, as if this were a minor thing that one had to deal with on occasion.
Lindsey gave a moue of displeasure at the physical description. She far rather preferred the small kit of knives that her brother had gifted her over brute force.
“I don't want the details,” she said. “I want results.”
If this new infiltration attempt was a continuation of earlier efforts, she needed to know. She had not shared the details of the earlier operation, in part to spare the Mercenary Guild any embarrassment. They were a useful entity and public disgrace would anger them, possibly to the point that they would refuse contracts from Odin Interstellar. Yet if they had sent another group for the contract against Odin's Eye, she might reconsider that choice.
She shifted in her seat, “Now, what else? Have you finished the improvements to external security?”
“I have, Fraulein,” the security officer said. “We have implemented physical inspections of all personnel as they enter and leave the outer areas. We have also stepped up our monitoring efforts of personnel on their off-duty hours. Already we've identified several individuals as potential security threats and my people will deal with them over the next few weeks.”
“Security threats?” Lindsey frowned, “Why was I not informed?”
“They are all minor things,” he said. “Drug addiction, child pornography, things that would allow someone to blackmail them, but not active threats. We're monitoring them and as I said, my people will deal with them appropriately.”
She smiled at his tone. Clearly there would a trickle of suicides and accidental deaths over the next few months. “Excellent. What about Doctor Farber's lab?”
Kaptain Sebastian hesitated, “Fraulein, I've noticed odd activity from the Doctor. Some of the connections of Odin's Eye are tapped into communications channels.”
“I know,” she nodded, “but his algorithm needs direct access to data as close to real-time as possible. Doctor Farber's software is still within our firewall system, despite the ties to the outside, so it wasn't viewed as a risk.”
Kaptain Sebastian smiled humorlessly, “My predecessor didn't view it as a security risk, but I have replaced him for a reason.”
Lindsey gave a slight nod of acknowledgment at that. Indeed, he had replaced the other man for good reason. It was true that there was some risk that someone would hack through the Eye's communications channels and into the network to bypass the firewall. “What do you recommend?”
“I would like your permission to set up a monitor on the communications traffic his program has with the system network,” he said. “That will allow us to see if someone has tried to bypass the firewall... or if the Doctor has tried to slip any data out.”
Lindsey frowned. Doctor Farber had been very insistent about the necessity for his algorithm to access exterior data in near-real-time. “Will this slow the data flow?” Lindsey asked.
“My technicians say that it will not,” Kaptain Sebastian said.
Lindsey thought about what he had said. The bit of paranoia about the Doctor was well taken. He wasn't a company employee, he was a freelancer... and while his invention had thus far looked to be very profitable, it was also quite possible that the Doctor had ulterior motives. After all, his computer program could access their core network... who knew what secrets he might be learning and then possibly selling?
“Do it,” she said. “And ensure that if we detect any unreported traffic on that link, that you report it to me first of all.” An attempt to hack into the network would be dangerous enough, but if the doctor had slipped information out... I will have to make certain that anyone who knows about it is killed, Lindsey thought, before they can tell anyone else.
“That is all I have to report, Fraulein,” Kaptain Sebastian said.
“Very well, you may go,” Lindsey waved a hand absently. She returned her attention to her reports, but her mind lingered on the possibility of Doctor Farber's treachery. It would have been hard for him to do, she knew. He lived under constant supervision and his every movement and communication was monitored... yet what if he had engineered this as an opportunity to access their database?
If that was the case, Lindsey would make certain it was the last thing he would ever do and she would introduce him to her own private knife collection.
***
“Hey, now,” a man in Vulcan Mining Concern's uniform rushed forward, “This is a private pad. Your shuttle doesn't have the right markings, I don't know who told you to set it down there, but they were wrong.” Clearly the faked transponder code wouldn't work for anyone who could see the shuttle.
Mel looked over at Claude who just gave her a nod. “Ah, my friend,” Claude said as he swept forward. The handsome con-man had adopted a broad smile, “Do you not recognize the man, there?” He pointed at Bob who was just coming down the ramp.
“Uh, no?” the man said.
“That is Captain Le Roi, of the Vulcan Phoenix,” Claude said in a shocked voice, “he is the nephew of the company's owner, you did not know this?” For just a moment, Mel would have believed him, he sounded so earnest.
“How should I know that?” The man said, “I'm just a mid-level manager.” He looked around, “Mein Freund, it does not matter who he is, he can't just park his shuttle here.”
“My friend,” Claude said, “Do you not see the two beautiful women with him? They are his women. He is here for his uncle's party. Do you want to make him late to the CEO's party?”
“I...” the man looked at Mel and then at Aldera. “Schiese, I don't want to get fired, I'm just trying to do my job!” Mel felt a bit sorry for the man.
“I understand this,” Claude said in a reassuring voice. “Look, we will only be here for a few hours, probably leaving in the early morning hours. Tell you what. How about I rent the pad. That way, if anyone asks, you can tell them we're authorized to be here.”
“Rent, you say?” the man asked. His brow furrowed as he thought that one through.
“Yes, the owner's nephew would not trust a public landing pad, after all. So we will rent this pad, from the company, for his private shuttle. I have some money that my master gave me to cover incidentals. Would you say a thousand Guard Dollars would be adequate to rent this landing pad until our return?”
“A thousand Guard Dollars?” the man asked. He blinked at Claude and then looked again at Bob and the others. Slowly, realization dawned on his face, “In cash, you say?”
“Yes, friend, of course,” Claude said as he took out a wad of bills.
“Yes,” the man nodded, “Of course I can rent you this landing pad, he's the owner's nephew, after all. A thousand dollars.” He gave a broad smile as Claude slipped him the money. “I'll make certain we top off your fuel tanks as well.”
“Thank you, friend,” Claude said. “Captain Le Roi will no doubt remember your excellent service and mention you to his uncle.” The manager scurried away and Mel shook her head.
Mel came up beside him, �
��His women, huh?”
Claude gave a shrug, “You and Aldera are both beautiful enough to pass for it. And from what I understand, the current fashion among the elite is for their... escorts to double as armed guards. So... it works.”
Mel just rolled her eyes. Then again, this was why they had brought him. They headed down the corridor and then paused as they came up to the security checkpoint. Claude went forward again. “My friends, might I introduce you to Captain Le Roi...”
***
Mel stared at the remaining crate for a long moment. Bob and Aldera had taken the other two to stage them for the next part of the plan. This one, though, was the one that worried her.
She wished she could talk with Fenris. Somehow the warship made her feel secure. Yet he was at the very edge of the system and any communication with him would put them at risk of discovery, even if it didn't come with a long delay.
“Thinking deep thoughts?” Johnny Woodard asked.
“Huh?” Mel asked. She blinked at the medic. “Yeah, sort of.” He seemed over his earlier anger, which was good. Maybe now that they were committed to the plan he felt some of the tension ease. That was how Mel felt, anyway.
He gave her a smile, “Anything I can help with?”
Mel shook her head, “I don't think so.” She snorted, “Well, not unless you can magically make the rest of this work out perfectly.”
Tank shrugged, “It's a good plan. I'd say it will work even if a few things go wrong... but maybe I'm biased.”
“Oh?” Mel asked, “Why is that, because you want to survive?”
“No,” Woodard said, “Because I kind of like the girl who came up with the plan.” He said it with a smile, but Mel could hear the sincerity in his voice.
It blindsided her. She hadn't been close to anyone besides Marcus, not beyond a few childhood crushes. It was all the worse for the fact that her relationship with Marcus was so complicated, now. Neither of them felt comfortable enough to be intimate... yet they had shared too much to be just friends.
