Unraveling Conspiracy (Forgotten Fodder Book 3)

by MJ Blehart

  “Semi-credible?” asked Jace.

  “Well, in that it caused the jury to be unable to find her guilty. So, she was tried and found innocent.”

  “Let’s take a closer look at that,” Onima said. “Jace, what are you thinking?”

  “The words of a dying Siddique clone,” Jace said. “‘Gray and Chuang,’ ‘Deng,’ and ‘Naz.’ ‘Naz’ was clearly only part of the word they wanted to say—or, more likely, name.”

  Jace heard Onima suck in a breath between her teeth. “Naz…Nazari.”

  “Makes a whole lot of sense, no?”

  “We have quite the trail of disconnected breadcrumbs here, don’t we?” Kara said.

  “Teru, do you know where Diane Nazari is now?” Onima asked.

  “Yes,” Teru replied. “She has been running a wellness center on Calvert in the Barnard’s Star solar system.”

  “I think I know where we’re going next,” said Jace.

  “Marshal Gwok, Jace,” Kara began formally, “can I speak to you in my office a moment?”

  “Sure,” Onima said. “Teru, pull up everything you can about Ms. Nazari, her pre-war and wartime records, as well as everything else about her present situation.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Teru.

  Jace stood up and followed Onima into Kara’s office. Kara closed the door behind them.

  “What’s on your mind?” Onima asked.

  “After everything we’ve been through,” Kara began, “it’s important that you know I am with you. Despite my governor. And that’s the first thing you need to know. Last night, I got a comm from Director Rand.”

  “Oh?” asked Onima, immediately on the defensive.

  “He is, of course, aware of our situation. I took this as an opportunity, however, to feed him some misinformation.” Kara took a deep breath. “So, I claimed that you had hit some unexpected roadblocks, and that I had taken this as an opportunity to get into your best graces. I implied to him that Feroz hadn’t gotten much data at all, nor made any real connections. I really downplayed everything we’ve learned. I also implied, however, that I have gained not only your total confidence, but that of Deputy Director Samarin.”

  Jace could have sworn the temperature in the office dropped.

  Kara continued, “He knows that Samarin sent a new cryptanalyst, and that they will be attempting to recover the data Feroz destroyed. I was supposed to reach out to him again to let him know if any data was recovered. I did—but told Director Rand that nothing of any substance was salvageable.”

  “I really dislike this,” Onima said. “I don’t trust Rand or his motives, especially the way Bettani spoke of him.”

  “I know,” Kara said. “But that’s why I’m giving you all this right now. By sharing this with you, I hope you will find that my feeding misinformation to Rand might benefit you and Samarin. Remember, I am also working directly for the executive director.”

  Onima looked unhappy but nodded. “After all we’ve been through together, I want to trust you, Kara. I knew Feroz for a long time and never suspected he might betray the CBI like he did. Trust is earned.”

  “For what it’s worth,” Jace put in, “I trust you too, Kara.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Onima sighed. “If I live to regret trusting you, Kara Martinez, you might not survive it.”

  Kara chuckled mirthlessly. “Fair enough. Might I remind you, however, of something rather important that only we three know. I have not told Rand.”

  “What’s that?” asked Jace.

  “I placed a tracker on Vladimir Bettani,” Kara said. “Although, between the damage done to the Aquila’s infodrives and all that’s happened since we got back from Aarde, there’s been no opportunity to activate it and see where he might be.”

  “But will it work even if he left the planet?” asked Onima.

  Kara broke into a wicked grin. “Oh, yes. It’s quite the powerful tracker. It won’t leave his system for weeks. So long as he’s not on a ship traveling at warp, he can be tracked.”

  “No offense to Teru,” Jace began, “but can this be done without anyone but us knowing it?”

  “That depends,” Kara replied, “on whether you count Captain Barr as already being in the know.”

  5

  Onima noted as soon as she, Jace, and Kara entered it that the bridge of the Daedalus was noticeably different from that of the Aquila.

  The large tabletop in the center of the room was oval; it had been rectangular on the Aquila. To port and starboard were large display screens, both 2D and 3D, and a half a dozen seats facing the center. Six people, total, were occupying the spaces.

  There was no step down to distinguish the Daedalus’ bridge from the information center, and it had a smaller space between the two sections. Instead, there was a raised island area one step up at the center, featuring a round tabletop with seats to its left and right.

  Hovering above the tabletop was a 3D, realtime image of the CBI Daedalus. Stations featuring various controls and screens formed a crescent in front of it.

  There were four seats facing screens and indicators to both port and starboard on the other side of the island.

  Forward of this was an immense viewport at the center, with a wide viewscreen below it. Two more stations were located there, but set back just a bit further than they had been on the Aquila.

  Captain Barr was in the information center, talking to one of his bridge crew seated there. He turned to acknowledge Onima and her team. “Marshal Gwok. Deputy Martinez. Mr. Rojas.”

  “Captain,” Onima said. “We need you for a moment.”

  “Carry on,” Barr said to the crewman, who was the engineering supervisor, relaying info to the bridge from Chief Elyas in engineering.

  Barr approached the trio. “We’re all adapting to the new layout. Warp control and engineering got moved behind the captain’s nest—though, admittedly, the bridge and information center are tighter together.”

  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Onima asked.

  Barr chuckled. “Good thing, really. The Daedalus has better combat proficiencies than the Aquila did. We’re better armed, but still purely defensive. You may not have noticed, but we didn’t bring the Darts over because we got improved Dart II shortrange fighters. I know at least three Confederation Defense captains that are going to be insanely jealous of me.”

  Onima grinned. Though theirs was a wholly professional relationship, she had been working with Barr for quite some time. She trusted him implicitly, and it pleased her that while they were getting a new ship, they weren’t getting a new captain. Or, frankly, other crew replacements.

  “This is a permanent move, then?” Kara asked.

  Now Barr’s face turned grim. “Yes. They are likely going to take the Aquila apart and salvage her. Aarde hasn’t a proper dock for the level of repairs that the Aquila needs. She may be easier to scrap and recycle than to repair and return to service. The hull damage is one matter, but the loss of the A-N Drive is a bigger issue.”

  “Don’t they basically build the ship around the drive?” asked Kara.

  “Precisely,” Barr replied. Then, “Do you have coordinates for our next warp?”

  “Yes,” Onima replied, “but we need to do something first.”

  “How may I be of assistance?”

  “Can we speak privately?” Onima asked.

  Barr gestured, and the trio followed him to the captain’s island.

  As they stepped up to it, Onima got a better impression of it. The holographic display of the ship was still beside the two seats, but the crescent of controls and such in front of the captain’s chair had an opening at the center and a step down to the rest of the bridge.

  The second seat was for the first officer of the ship. But due to the nature of how the Office of Confederation Defense and the CBI operated, a dedicated first officer was unnecessary.

  To all intents and purposes, Onima was that first officer—though one could make
the argument that she was the captain and Barr the first officer. But since the captain was solely responsible for starship operations, it really didn’t matter. One of the other bridge officers would serve in his place if Barr were to be disabled.

  She was a bit surprised that there was more than enough room for the four of them in the captain’s nest. Barr tapped an icon on a screen, and Onima felt the energy change.

  “Cool, right?” Barr asked. “The captain’s nest features a dampening field.”

  “For conversations in person and comm signals?” Onima asked.

  “Yes,” Barr acknowledged.

  “Perfect,” Onima said. “Can Deputy Martinez access the sensors to look for a signal?”

  “Of course,” Barr said, gesturing to the first officer’s seat.

  “Thank you.” Kara sat down.

  Barr looked to Jace. “How are you feeling, Mr. Rojas? Better, I trust?”

  “Yes, thank you, Captain. And please, feel free to call me Jace.”

  “Very well, Jace,” Barr said. “Please know you are welcome on the bridge anytime you need, and you may comm me if there is anything at all I can do for you.”

  “Thanks, Captain. I really appreciate that,” Jace said.

  Onima knew this sort of thing still made Jace uncomfortable. Of course, as a clone, getting respect from non-clones was virtually unheard of. After he had saved the Aquila from crashing into Aarde, Barr had personally visited the medical bay to check on Jace and thank him. Onima knew that winning Barr’s respect was no small feat.

  “Deputy Martinez, how are you doing?” Barr asked.

  Kara was tapping at icons and keys on the screen in front of her. “I should have everything coded correctly to access that tracker. It’s just not responding as quickly as it should.”

  “Does it have a distance limit of some sort?” asked Onima.

  “No,” Kara said. “But then, if he’s many systems away, it will take time to get the response signal back from the inquiry.”

  “If the person you’re tracking is traveling at warp presently, you’ll get no response,” Captain Barr said.

  Kara sighed. “True. Not willing to give up on this just yet.”

  “What sort of tracker are you using?” Barr inquired.

  Kara was tapping away at the screens, but said, “It’s a touch-transmission biochip nanodroid dermal implant. Class III.”

  Barr whistled low. “That’ll be in the recipient’s system for a good month or so.”

  “Class III?” asked Jace. Onima suspected he knew as little about this as she did.

  “Capable of FTL transmission,” Kara replied. “It’s limited to tracking. No bio-readings or such.”

  “Not tech employed by anyone outside the AECC,” Barr told them. “Both the NEEA and NECC employed biochip nanodroid dermal implants during the war to track certain individuals across space.”

  “How do you know about these?” asked Onima.

  “I wasn’t born into service to the Office of Confederation Defense,” Barr replied. “I’ve served for over thirty years. I began my service as an officer in the NEEA at the start of the war. But once the clones were created, I resigned my commission and was recruited to the Office of Confederation Defense.”

  Onima had figured that Barr was in his late fifties. This just confirmed it, as the war had begun thirty years ago.

  She was just starting to get concerned when Kara called out, “Got him!”

  “Where?” Jace asked.

  “Not Aarde,” Kara said, “which explains why it took so long. I haven’t used this in years and forgot that an initial ping can take some time to get a reply, even at FTL speeds. Mr. Bettani is on Calvert, in the Barnard’s Star solar system.”

  “Well, that’s a convenient coincidence,” said Jace.

  “Coincidence my ass,” said Kara.

  Onima glanced over Kara’s shoulder at the 3D image of the starchart. A dot blinked at planet Calvert. “Can you tell where on the planet he is?”

  “Not at this range,” Kara admitted. “But once we get in orbit? Oh yeah.”

  “If I had any ESCA to wager, and I was a gambling man, I’d bet we find Mr. Bettani at Ms. Nazari’s wellness center,” said Jace.

  Onima chuckled. “I suspect that’s a sucker’s bet.” She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure you’re both right: this is no coincidence.”

  “Am I right to presume that we are going to Calvert?” asked Captain Barr.

  “You presume correctly,” said Onima.

  “May I?” asked Barr, gesturing to the dampening field.

  Kara turned off the display. “Of course, Captain.”

  Captain Barr reached for a panel and tapped an icon. Onima felt the energy change as the muted ongoing sounds coming from the rest of the bridge returned to their ever-present background hum.

  Barr called out, “Navigation, plot a warp travel course for Calvert, in the Barnard’s Star solar system. Warp control, run an A-N drive pre-warp status check and prepare to engage.”

  “Aye, Captain,” someone behind the nest called.

  “Aye, sir,” someone in front of it replied.

  “Communications,” Captain Barr continued, “inform the acting captain of the Aquila that we’re preparing to leave the system. Get clearance for warp from Kapteyn’s Star system control via warp bubble.”

  “Yes, Captain,” replied the appropriate officer.

  “Care to stay for the bubble?” asked Barr.

  “I would love to,” Onima began, “but we should attend to some other business.”

  “Very good,” Barr said.

  “Captain,” the communications officer called, “Acting Captain, Aquila, wishes us safe travels and bright stars. System control has cleared us for warp.”

  “Very good,” replied Barr.

  “Thank you, as always, Captain,” Onima said.

  “You’re welcome,” Barr acknowledged.

  “Captain, warp drive is green.”

  “Very good,” Barr replied. “Warp control, extend the warp bubble emitters.”

  Onima led Jace and Kara out of the bridge.

  They made their way back to the MBCC. Without a word, they all walked into Onima’s office.

  As she closed the door, she could see the warp bubble outside her viewport. Perhaps she could have allowed them time to observe the bubble forming around their new ship, but she knew that it was selfish on her part, and that there was work to be done.

  Kara and Jace took the seats before Onima’s desk.

  But as she sat down, Onima couldn’t help but glance out the viewport again. “I can never get over how gorgeous the warp bubble is.”

  Kara grinned. “There is something soothing about it.”

  “I agree,” Jace remarked.

  “People tend to have only one of two reactions to warp bubbles,” Kara went on. “Fascination or fear. You either can’t stop staring at them, or you can’t look at them at all.”

  Onima chuckled as she continued to watch the colors shifting around the Daedalus. “One reason people dislike too many viewports on some starships.” She sighed and turned to Jace and Kara. “We need to talk a moment about our team.”

  “I presume you mean those most in-the-know,” Jace said. “Besides us, that included Feroz. It still includes Yael and Dr. Patel.”

  “What about me?” Kara asked.

  Before Onima could respond, Jace said, “After all we’ve been through together since you joined us, I think you can be trusted. You got us out of a tough scrape and have been helpful frequently. I can’t speak for Onima, but I think you’re on the level.”

  “Thank you,” Kara said.

  “Kara,” Onima began, “like I said before, I trust you. But I knew Feroz a long time, and this betrayal hit hard. I still don’t know you well—it’s been just a few weeks—but professionally, I respect and trust you.” She took a deep breath. “Personally, I want to trust you. We have a lot in common, you and I, and you’ve been nothin
g but an asset to my team. Just don’t let me down.”

  “I won’t,” Kara replied, looking genuinely touched.

  “I suppose I should ask the same question,” said Jace.

  “What about you?” Onima snorted. “Jace Rojas, you are probably the most honest and sincere person I have ever met. I can’t express, professionally, how glad I am you agreed to accompany me from Raven. More than once I have owed my life to you, you realize.”