Nathan had gone for the most sinister, and least likely, explanation. Not that this same suspicion hadn’t immediately popped into Isrid’s mind, but he’d already discounted the possibility.
"I had the benefit of listening to their emergency channel during the whole episode,” Isrid said. "The explosives targeted section eight-D. It’s hard to damage TD warheads, and given how far their warhead storage is from section eight-D, I doubt they could make that claim stick. Besides, the treaty allows us to investigate losses.”
"We’ve got a bigger problem than the treaty—”
"I know we’ve been compromised.” Isrid cut off Maria’s words. "I received a text message, which I supposed to be from Andre, to meet him in the men’s locker room. It was an odd request, but the message was sent on the appropriate channel and decrypted correctly with our keys. I was lured there by someone using our own intelligence keys.”
"That’s not all.” Maria was pale. "Our sleeper agent was given orders to physically disable items on this station, perhaps to support externally placed explosives. Our own intelligence network was used to execute this sabotage.”
Isrid realized the ramifications of her words before Nathan did.
"You exposed our sleeper?” Nathan still hoped to climb over Maria in the political pecking order and he didn’t see the bigger picture.
"No, Nathan. I hadn’t sent the activation code yet. The sleeper contacted me after the explosion occurred.” Maria’s voice was steady and calm, but her body screamed, You idiot!
Nathan’s eyes widened.
"How much of our intelligence network is compromised?” Isrid asked quietly.
"The whole Hellas system could be exposed. The quietest recourse we have is to distribute new keys and channel protocols in face-to-face meetings. We’d repeat agent vetting at each meeting and change out equipment.”
"That would take forever,” Nathan said.
Maria nodded. "I said that was the quietest method we had. While it might not tip AFCAW intelligence to our problem, it’s not the fastest action we could take.”
"It also means that our problem, whether it be a double agent or compromised equipment, has time to adjust and infiltrate deeper,” Isrid said.
"But the Hellas system is the command center of AFCAW. We need operatives—”
A knock at the door interrupted Nathan. He and Maria looked puzzled until Isrid said, "The privacy shield. We can’t get any messages through their nodes.”
Nathan scowled and got up to physically open the door. Dr. Istaga stood outside.
"Sorry to disturb you, SP Parmet, but they couldn’t access you through the privacy shield. There’s been a stationwide announcement. A Minoan ship is inbound to Karthage Point.”
Nathan went white. Isrid acknowledged the message and thanked Istaga. Maria withdrew, melting into her chair. She became so still that Isrid could barely see her breathe.
"Well, that decides it,” Isrid said, once Istaga left. "I’m shutting down the whole Hellas system.”
"How’d the Minoans get the news of the explosion so fast?” Nathan’s lip lifted. "If AFCAW has so many leaks that—”
"It doesn’t matter,” Isrid said. "We can’t take the chance of being implicated in the station sabotage because the Minoans will consider that as noncompliance with the treaty. It’s safest for all agents to cease operations. Our intelligence network within and around Hellas will go dead. The sleeper, if implicated, won’t be able to lead the trail to us.”
"But the time and effort it’ll take to restart everything. The cost.” Nathan sounded aghast, then flinched at the sharp look that Isrid gave him.
"Send out the command,” Isrid said.
Nathan bowed his head and left to shut down their network.
"It’s lucky you were with this team, SP,” Maria said softly from her chair. "Only a state prince has the authority to shut down intelligence operations over a whole system.”
Luck. Coincidence. Yes, there was a hell of a lot of that going around, particularly involving Major Kedros. She had operational experience beyond what her records showed, but he expected falsified records for an intelligence officer. He could see she anticipated physical sabotage at the air lock, but didn’t find any. Had she already found the disablements mentioned by Maria? In that case, AFCAW intelligence already suspected a physical agent on the station. Then there was that floating message, as if this whole thing had been a test, or a punishment, for Major Kedros. This seemed personal, centered on her.
"If it’s necessary, we’ll need to divert Minoan attention.” Or divert their punishment. He spoke quickly, having little time left under the privacy shield. "This seems to hinge on Major Kedros and we need to find out how the saboteurs know her. If we find that link, we might have to implicate her to take Minoan heat off us.”
"I’ll get whatever you need, SP.” Maria smiled and turned back to her equipment. She loved research, digging through data and hoping for gems. And usually, she was good at it.
"What?” The thought that she might be accused of the sabotage had never occurred to Ariane.
Jacinthe smirked. "Such an obvious solution. You killed Icelos and planted explosives to obscure the evidence.”
"That’s a ludicrous solution.” Ariane steadily met Jacinthe’s gaze. "I don’t have the background to get past system security and cut off station environmental control. Once you retrieve the body, you’ll find Icelos was dead before I arrived at the gym. You’ll also find physical evidence that this couldn’t have been done without inside—”
"Sure, divert us into an audit of our own security. Or a hopeless search for a bulkhead in the wreckage.” A hint of a sneer was on Jacinthe’s thin lips. "Meanwhile, we’re distracted from looking into you or your background.”
Who’s trying to divert whom, Colonel? Ariane mentally went through the chain of command that kept the cogs and gears of Karthage Point turning. Did command of the station revert to Jacinthe, as commander of the operational squadron?
Jacinthe turned to Captain Rayiz. "No word yet on who’ll replace Colonel Icelos. I spoke with the wing commander. She’ll wait on Hellas Daughter for the new facility commander. In the meantime, detain Major Kedros for questioning and I’ll get my pilots out to oversee cleanup operations.”
Captain Rayiz looked puzzled and intimidated. He opened his mouth to reply, but Ariane cut in, deciding to take the brunt of Jacinthe’s ire.
"Excuse me, ma’am, but command of the facility, as well as the ensuing investigation and cleanup, has passed to Captain Rayiz,” Ariane said.
Rayiz was commander of the Facility Security Squadron and Jacinthe couldn’t argue with the chain of command. Ariane thought she saw a flash of fear go through Jacinthe’s cold eyes, and then the woman went still. It was a deep stillness, happening within a discrete moment that might not have been noticed by anyone but Ariane. In less than a second, Jacinthe’s humanity came back.
"Captain.” Jacinthe inclined her head toward Rayiz, accepting his authority. "What’s the status, then?”
"Right.” Rayiz took a deep breath and looked relieved. "I don’t have need of your pilots or vehicles, Colonel Voyage, but thanks for offering. We’re collecting debris and we’ve already found the colonel’s body. Initial indications show carbon monoxide poisoning. As Major Kedros said, the time of death recorded on his implant occurred before she went through air lock eight-D-A.”
Jacinthe looked sour as Ariane tried not to show her relief. Since Karthage lost MilNet nodes in section 8D, she couldn’t be sure which of her movements had been recorded. Thinking back, she realized that the floating message hadn’t followed them inside the air lock, so that must have been outside the saboteur’s control.
"We know the infiltration of systems was done remotely,” continued Rayiz. "However, someone had to place the shape charge on the outside of the station and there was tight coordination between its detonation and hijacking of our systems. Command Post is going through logs to try to see when, and
where, our firewalls were breached. We’ll need to know what Icelos, Parmet, and you, Major, were doing in that section.”
Rayiz looked at Ariane for answers.
"I received a message in my quarters—” Ariane began.
"While you were still drunk off your ass,” Jacinthe said in a mocking tone. She smiled as both Ariane and Rayiz looked at her. "I have reports from the Company Grade Club bartender. I should formally rebuke you for conduct unbecoming a field grade officer, and for that, Major, I do have authority.”
"The bartender might be mistaken about the amount I drank.”
"By his observation, you drank as much as two other lieutenants who were in bad enough shape to require remedy treatments. Since they’re in my squadron, I can freely obtain their implant data. The bartender will vouch that when you left, you were impaired.” Jacinthe cocked her head in challenge.
Ariane’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t want Santorini to suffer on her behalf by having to provide blood alcohol readings or having his conduct questioned. This was all part of Jacinthe’s diversion.
"Perhaps then, but not later. I’ll provide blood alcohol readings for the past two shifts. For the record, I’m volunteering this data and waiving privacy rights.” Ariane reached down to Rayiz’s desk and tapped for a keypad display.
Jacinthe looked surprised. "That’s not necessary, Major.”
It was already done. Ariane had tapped in her personal codes, laid her hand flat, and let near-field data exchange occur between her implant and the Karthage node in Rayiz’s desk.
"See for yourself, Captain.” Ariane gestured to the display on the wall behind Rayiz.
"That’s within civil sobriety limits.” Rayiz pointed at an entry made at the time of the explosion, stuck in the middle of the column of time-stamped numbers.
Sure, there was a hideous spike near her last drinking round at the bar. But, as Ariane knew, her body ate up the alcohol like a machine and her readings quickly stabilized.
"That doesn’t—” Jacinthe was interrupted by a station-wide announcement.
"This is Command Post, calling Condition Purple. Inbound Minoan emissaries. Repeat, Condition Purple.”
Purple? Who thought that one up? Ariane raised her eyebrows and exchanged glances with a tense Jacinthe and Rayiz.
"I’m betting that’s our treaty oversight. The baseline inspection has to continue,” Ariane said. "Let me do my job, Colonel.”
Jacinthe nodded. The antagonism washed off her face, leaving it drawn. She left, asking questions of Command Post as she took long strides down the corridor. "What’s their ETA? Uh-huh. They’re sending a shuttle for docking?”
Ariane watched her go. She turned to discover Rayiz watching her.
"If I were you, I’d stay under Colonel Voyage’s radar from now on,” he said. "I don’t know what she’s got against you, but then, Colonel Icelos never got along with her either.”
Interesting. Ariane wondered whether Icelos had also suspected that Jacinthe Voyage had somaural training, but Icelos hadn’t had the benefit of observing a practicing master such as Parmet.
"Colonel Voyage might not want to consider the possibility that someone on this station is involved.” She worded her statement carefully. It’d be better if Rayiz independently came to her same conclusions. "I think you’ll find physical disablement of the gym’s door and sensors, if you can recover that bulkhead.”
"You think there’s an anarchist here on Karthage— trying to stop the treaty inspection? Everyone, including some of our visitors, are military personnel.” Rayiz’s forehead wrinkled.
"I’d avoid using labels that make assumptions, such as ’narchist’ or ’enemy’ or ’saboteur,’ and you shouldn’t rule out criminal motives, such as graft, bribery, and blackmail.”
"You’re right.” Rayiz hesitated. "This seems more up your alley, being Intelligence, I mean.”
Ariane smiled at his unasked question. "I can provide help if you need it. After my statement, I’d like to observe your interview with State Prince Parmet. Remember, his diplomatic immunity can’t protect him from questions routinely asked of all personnel—which means you should ask me every question that you’re going to ask him.”
"Right. Let’s get started.” Rayiz began recording.
"As long as I’m free to meet the Minoan emissaries, if and when they board.”
"I don’t envy your job, Major. Now, please tell me what time you left your quarters. . . .”
Contrary to Rayiz’s advice, she ended up butting heads with Lieutenant Colonel Voyage only thirty minutes after she recorded her statement.
Ariane checked with the maintenance squadron to ensure that the explosion hadn’t damaged any of the warhead storage bays. Karthage was required, per the treaty, to open all warhead storage bays so the inspectors could view the entire contents. That was when she found out that Jacinthe was intending to immediately move several TD warheads, mounted on Naga vehicles, to Hellas Daughter.
"You can’t move those warheads to Hellas Daughter,” Ariane said, as soon as she caught up with Jacinthe. This was something she had to explain face-to-face.
"They’re mine to move, Major.” Jacinthe was in squadron ops working with her schedulers. She was too busy to waste time on antagonism, so her words were dry and clipped.
"You’ll violate the TD weapons treaty.”
"I’ve read the treaty, Major. We’re allowed transit times of five days between deployment areas.” Jacinthe didn’t bother to look at her.
"As of ten days after the signing of the treaty, we’re no longer allowed to store warheads at production facilities. Hellas Daughter is defined as a production facility in the Memorandum of Understanding.”
Jacinthe turned to face Ariane, crossing her arms. The schedulers, a captain and a master sergeant, stopped poking their slates and stared at Ariane.
"What would you suggest we do, Major?” Jacinthe’s voice was low, deceptively calm, and dangerous. "We have a mission readiness commitment of launching ten Naga vehicles, fully crewed and with warheads, within ten minutes of launch notification. The explosion left seven of our launch ports without power, so we can’t meet that commitment. Our backup has always been to move mission-ready Naga vehicles to Hellas Daughter and have them stand alert from the old test launch facilities.”
"You’re not allowed to move the warheads through N-space for deployment, only maintenance, and there’s no other legal facilities in-system,” Ariane said. She knew the list of allowed deployment sites in the Memorandum of Understanding. Whoever drafted the memorandum hadn’t provided the flexibility of deploying weapons anywhere else in the Hellas system. There was only Karthage Point, and Karthage had been damaged.
"Surely there’s provisions in the treaty for emergencies,” Jacinthe said.
"I’m sorry, Colonel, but lowered readiness isn’t considered an emergency by the people who wrote this treaty.” Ariane left the rest unsaid. Combat readiness isn’t important because your weapons system is going away. Combat readiness isn’t important because your unit is being deactivated in two years—yet in the meantime, you’ll still be evaluated and your future careers may depend upon your readiness numbers.
She was sorry. These crew members prided themselves on doing their duty, and doing it well. The Thirty-second had the best readiness numbers, for four years running, throughout the six operational squadrons in the three Naga wings. That wasn’t going to happen this year.
"You’ll just have to report your reduced capability and readiness to Wing Operations.” She had become what she’d always despised: an illogical administrative barrier to getting the mission done. No apologies could erase that.
Her ear bug chimed with a high-priority message from Captain Rayiz. "Major Kedros, we’re ready to interview the state prince.”
She quickly excused herself from the silent room.
CHAPTER 12
Alexander the Great’s consolidation of cultures and his introduction of eastern mathematicians to
Greek society on pre-Terran Earth is a source of inspiration within the Autonomist worlds. Autonomists still revere Alexander, and it shows when they name their children (41% of Autonomists name a child Alexander/Alexandra/Alexia, compared to 19% of Terrans). The second most popular name for females is Ariadne/Ariane, from the tales of King Minos. . . .
—Names from Our History, Iona Sands, 2873.042.10.05 UT, indexed by Democritus 31 under Metrics Imperative
Edones started prying apart the bars of bureaucracy that kept Matt from the evidence of Nestor’s murder. Matt had to grudgingly admire Edones’s cool composure. When Matt wanted to launch at any one of the many petty officials they spoke with, and choke him or her into cooperation, Edones only smiled in his bland manner and coldly tried another tack.
Ari, however, was nonnegotiable. Messaging or speaking directly to her was forbidden. Edones insisted that news of Nestor’s murder would distract Ari from her mission and he wouldn’t divulge her whereabouts. Matt, however, already had a vague idea of where she was assigned; her in-system call was a clue. She was still in the Hellas system and he’d backtracked her message to the point where it transferred between MilNet and ComNet. The timing could match a common data dump point used on the route toward Hellas Daughter and Karthage Point.
"There’s no need to worry her about Nestor’s murder, nor your situation,” said Edones.
My situation? This was the closest Edones had come to admitting that Matt might be in danger.
One sticking point was whether Matt should be allowed to leave Athens Point, considering his potential as a witness. Edones pointed out to a perpetually scowling Captain Sanna that Matt arrived at the murder scene after Athens Point Security Force personnel. What information about the murder could Matt provide that hadn’t already been discovered and analyzed by Sanna’s own people?
Captain Sanna was their last barrier in a long list of approval authorities. He was barrel shaped and the high collar of his uniform did nothing to alleviate the impression that he had no neck. His dark curly hair and mustache were unruly, in contrast to Chief Inspector Stephanson, who sat quietly to one side.
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