"We weren't here for you or your crew of misfits, if that's what you're wondering. I should kill you for bringing in that kill-bot and turning it loose inside a bar where we were conducting business, but you chasing a smuggler cartel boss out into the street makes me think you might know something I want. I'll get that before I kill you."
Jason could only watch as the heel of the boot descended towards his forehead, at least until it made impact and then he saw nothing.
Chapter 13
"Sir, Subdirector Ursic Pavon to see you."
"Send him in, Similan," Saditava Mok said, reaching over and killing the hologram of one of his Points as they were in the middle of giving a report. He looked up as the Subdirector of Imperial Intelligence strode in. Back when Mok was still a believer and worked for the Eshquarian Empire, Pavon had been one of his superiors. He'd most recently seen the subdirector when he'd traveled to Eshquaria to ask for Pavon's help during the crisis on Khepri.
"Colonel," Pavon said respectfully. "I see you've got quite a few construction projects going on here."
"Have a seat, Subdirector," Mok said, not getting up. "Yes… the confrontation with Arx ended up causing quite a bit of damage."
"Arx blew your home up like this?" Pavon asked. "He was usually more subtle."
"No… most of the destruction was done by the people who came to rescue me," Mok said. "So to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your company?"
"Believe it or not, I'm here officially and at the behest of the Empire," Pavon said. "We need information that we feel you may be in a unique position to sell us. You've heard the rumors about the political shakeups within the ConFed Council?"
"I have," Mok said carefully. He knew Pavon was an honorable man, but he was also a loyal soldier. It wasn't his intentions that were suspect, but those of the people who sent him. "I can't imagine that I would have any more information in that area than Imperial Intelligence."
"Of course not." Pavon laughed. "In fact, I'm going to give you something for free just so you understand the context of what we need. The short answer is that whatever rumors you've heard, the truth is far more shocking: Essentially, someone has wrested control of the Council away from the Pillar Worlds. Sweeping changes are being implemented behind the scenes that indicate a whole new direction in how the ConFed manages its member worlds."
"I've heard about the more aggressive posturing," Mok said. "Why does the Empire care? Actually, doesn't a more militaristic ConFed bode well for you since you sell them most of their weaponry?"
"You'd assume so, but that's part of what's changing," Pavon said. "Our sources have found conclusive evidence that the new leadership is unhappy with the current arrangement. They find it inefficient and risky to purchase weapons from an independent, sovereign power. There's been talk of either stepping up their own weapons production—"
"Which will take too long."
"—or using the Fleet to … absorb … the problematic Eshquarian Empire. You know as well as I do that, despite what we tell our citizens, if the ConFed moved against us with any real intent it would be a short fight. On numbers alone they have four times as many capital ships. The only thing that's kept the peace has been our usefulness and their inability to get a large enough consensus within the Council to move on us."
"And that's changed," Mok said.
"It has indeed."
Over the next four hours Pavon laid out the case Imperial Intelligence had built around the premise that the ConFed was planning on attacking the Eshquarians with the intent of absorbing their weapons manufacturing capability as well as giving them border territory with the Saabror Protectorate.
Mok began the conversation with a tolerant smile on his face as he viewed what Pavon was selling as utterly absurd. At the halfway point he was paying close attention to his former colleague's words and visual evidence. By the end the smirk was long gone and he was genuinely terrified by what looked like an inexplicable move by the ConFed. Would they really plunge the quadrant into war just to keep from paying the contract overhead for weapons from Eshquaria?
"Our analysts don't think it will come to that," Pavon said. "If the ConFed moves quickly against the Empire with overwhelming force, as we assume they will, then they'll be able to consolidate their new holding before anybody else can react. The element of shock will be on their side. The Protectorate will certainly not come to our defense, Seeladas Dalton's Cridal Cooperative will be in no position to help, and the Avarian Empire is across the expanse and still isolationist. There will be no one to come to our aid… most will be scrambling to cement some sort of deal with the ConFed after they see what happens to us."
"What's the timetable?"
"They've already begun repositioning three squadrons with another six shifting around to put them in striking distance while making it look like normal maneuvers."
"What do you need from me?"
"This is a longshot, but we've still not been able to identify who is the power behind these moves. With that in mind, I've begun to think that maybe this isn't a political operative," Pavon said.
"You think someone like me has grabbed control of the Council?" Mok asked.
"It fits." Pavon shifted uncomfortably. "No purely political animal would have the stomach for this sort of drastic, direct action. Someone like yourself, in charge of vast empires with invisible borders, may have tired of being illegitimate and decided to step up into the spotlight. We know the ConFed is lax on organizations like yours and it's not a stretch to think someone may have collected enough information to extort a sizeable number of councilmembers."
"So you want me to see if one of the quadrant bosses has decided to become an emperor?" Mok asked, trying not to laugh in his associate's face. "I can ask around and see if there's any talk."
"I'd appreciate anything you can give me." Pavon stood, indicating an end to the meeting. "A pleasant midday to you, Colonel."
Once Pavon was gone, Mok cancelled the rest of his afternoon schedule and turned to stare out the window. The work crews had almost rebuilt the western turret from when Jason Burke had blasted it from the foundation with that accursed ship of his during their rescue. Under any other circumstance he'd have sent Pavon packing without any assurances that he would help. Someone in his position couldn't be seen as being too chummy with high-level government officials. It made those he worked with nervous. But if the very existence of the Empire was at stake? At heart he supposed he was still a patriot even if the Empire didn't want him, and he was compelled to act in her best interest no matter how much he told himself he didn't care anymore.
"Similan! I want the Twelve Points on a holo-conference in an hour… there will be no excuses for being absent."
"I obey."
"He's coming around."
Jason cracked his eyes open and confirmed what he’d already suspected when his brain managed to kick-start itself back to full wakefulness: He'd been captured and was now restrained to a heavy-alloy chair that he had little hope of breaking out of. His vision cleared quickly, and when he saw that his captor was Jurg, he remembered that the Chenyx Six captain had stomped the hell out of him outside the bar.
"Welcome back, Captain," Jurg said. "Like I said before I beat you senseless… imagine running into Omega Force on this planet. What are you doing here?"
"I was trying to get a drink before you shot me with a stun dart, asshole," Jason said as he began testing his restraints.
"Don't bother, we used hardened cuffs," Jurg said. "I know that you're a lot stronger than your size lets on. So if you were getting a drink, why were you running out of the bar?"
"Watching my figure," Jason said. "I was going to jog off some calories first before—"
"Let me stop you right there." Jurg raised a hand. "While normally this sort of thing can be fun, we're on a tighter schedule than usual. Why were you chasing after Oo'cor?"
"What the hell was that noise? Was that supposed to be someone's name?" Jason asked. "Look, je
rky… if you wanted precise answers out of me then you shouldn't have stomped on my face. You're really—" Someone from behind him smacked him across the back of his head with enough force to slam his teeth together.
"Shut up, Burke," Jurg said. "Like I said, time is short. Did you really think we were going to sit here and start pulling out your claws one at a time? We have much more effective methods at our disposal." He nodded to the person behind the chair and Jason's head was shoved back down while somebody forced a hardline into the connector for his neural interface behind his left ear. As the intrusion software began to do its thing, he felt like someone had poured scalding water directly into his skull. The sensation made him squeeze his eyes shut and grunt in pain.
"That's right, Captain… it doesn't matter how tough you are once we're inside your head. I'm sure your little code slicer has you upgraded with the newest and best defensive protocols, but it'll just be a matter of time. Soon Eldireer will be able to pick out enough details from the visual cortex buffer to see why you were following a mid-level smuggler boss, and maybe even where you bought that delightful new kill-bot you unleashed. Poor manners, but still impressive."
"We're still working the bugs out of it," Jason grunted. "I'd actually bought it as a live-in butler for the ship."
"You just never shut up, do you?"
"So tell me, Jurg, why is Chenyx Six chasing this guy?" Jason asked. "I'm a victim of circumstance here—wrong place, wrong time—but what's the quadrant’s most overpriced merc crew doing on Nott harassing the locals?"
"This isn't a two-way flow of information, Burke," Jurg said. "We captured you, remember?" The merc then appeared to be distracted by something behind Jason and, without a word, walked out of the room.
Jason lost track of time and his thoughts flitted about wildly and seemingly at random. He knew this was a side-effect of the intrusion software trying to worm its way past his neural implant's security protocols. Actually reading someone's mind through the device was impossible, as was trying to control someone through it, but if you meddled around enough, it would disorient the subject. What they were trying to do was see if they could pull any images or fragmented data from a memory buffer that their computer could recompile and give them a clue as to what he'd been up to.
He was also somewhat concerned that Chenyx Six was being so forthcoming about capturing him and allowing him to remain conscious during the extraction. That usually meant that they had no intention of allowing him to leave wherever he was alive. These guys weren't stupid and leaving him alive and pissed off afterwards wouldn't be wise.
"What is taking so long?" Jurg demanded as he stormed back into the room.
"I… don't know." The tech sounded genuinely confused. "There is … something … actively working against the intrusion programs, and whatever it is, it's far more advanced than anything I've ever seen. I doubt even Kage could have cooked up something like this. What'd you do, Burke? Steal the latest wetware from ConFed Intel Section?"
"Don't blame me because you're too incompetent to get past an outdated firewall in an implant that's almost fifteen years old," Jason said.
"You won't be so cheery if we decide this is taking too long and just cut your head off to take with us," Jurg growled. "Just give us what we want and we'll let you go."
"Do you think I'm as dumb as you look?"
Jurg reared back to punch him again when there was a blast from somewhere in the building behind him. The overpressure caused everyone to flinch in pain and the blow that Jurg had intended for his captive never landed. A bellowing roar echoed through the building, causing Jason to look up at Jurg and smile widely.
"It's Crusher! We need to get out of here, now!" A member of Chenyx Six—Jason couldn't remember his name, only that he was supposed to be some badass close-quarters fighter—ran in from the back of the room. "He's breached the first floor and something has taken our auto-cannons offline! They have a straight shot up to this level."
"That'd be Kage," Jurg said, staring hard at Jason and leveling a weapon at his face. "No hard feelings, Burke. It's just business… you know how it is."
"Piss off," Jason said, glaring up at his captor.
Before Jurg could fire the weapon, something buzzed into the room and landed on his wrist. When the merc leaned forward to see what it was, the tiny object exploded with surprising force. Once the smoke cleared, Jurg was looking at a charred stump where his hand used to be.
"You bastards!" he roared. "I'll kill you all for this! When I'm—" Another powerful blast rocked the building and took everyone not strapped to a chair off their feet. Jurg didn't waste any more time with idle threats or theatrics. He grabbed his tech, who was scooping all the material on a table into a satchel, and dragged him from the room in the opposite direction from the blast. The big, dumb one who had warned them that Crusher had broken their perimeter seemed to waffle on whether to flee or not when another savage roar ripped through the air, this time much closer, and the dying screams of some poor bastard reached them. This got him moving and he ran out the door after his captain moments before Kage walked in.
"Pretty cool, eh?" The code slicer was grinning ear to ear. "We weaponized a few of those little micro-drones we bought on Pinnacle Station last time we were there. They don't work worth a damn outside in moving air, but inside a building they do the trick."
"Just undo these restraints and quit patting yourself on the back," Jason growled, knowing it was too late to give chase. Jurg wasn't stupid, and he would have multiple egress routes and vehicles stashed all around the impromptu safe house.
"Looks like they're going to be called Chenyx Three now!" Crusher gloated. He strutted into the room as Jason pulled the last of the leg restraints off and stood up. "What did those clowns want with you, anyway?"
"You probably killed a bunch of local contractors. I don't think all six were here in the building," Jason said. "Jurg was after the same target we were. How is he? They had him in that room you just walked in from."
"That was him?" Crusher winced. "I … well … he's been better."
Jason just stared at his friend. "You blew him up when you breached the wall, didn't you?"
"It was an accident."
A dozen responses flitted through Jason's head, but in the end he just walked silently from the room to look at the aftermath of Crusher's overzealous use of explosives. Despite the damage to the room and the cartel boss himself, Jason was shocked to find he was still clinging to life.
"Why?" he croaked out.
"Sorry… you got caught up in something you didn't really have anything to do with," Jason apologized, actually meaning it. "Were they looking for the ConFed captain that sold you his shuttle?"
"Is… is there any hope?" Jason couldn't tell what he meant until he saw he was trying to gesture to his broken body.
"I’m not sure as to the particulars of your species… but you seem pretty screwed to me," Jason told him. "Those bastards in Chenyx Six really did a number on you… I think they had the room set to blow to cover their escape." Crusher gave him a thumbs up at that last bit.
"Com unit?"
Jason nodded to Kage, and the Veran began rooting around in the debris, trying to find a com unit on the off chance it had survived the explosion. He found it within a minute of looking under what was left of a table and placed it in the smuggler's remaining hand.
"What did they want to know? What did you tell them?" Jason pressed. The smuggler ignored him, his good hand working the com unit even as his breathing became more labored and his eyes began to lose focus. Apparently satisfied, the com unit slipped from his hand and the dying crime boss eyed Jason, seeming surprised that he was still there.
"Enoch Line," he gurgled out before his head lolled over and he was dead.
"Are you happy?" Jason hissed at Crusher.
"I'm not sad." Crusher shrugged. "What's Enoch Line? Is that a name?"
"I don't know," Jason said. "Let's ask him. Ah! That's right! You kill
ed him with an explosive blast that, looking at the door right over there, seems to have been completely unnecessary."
"I don't tell you how to do your job," Crusher said defensively.
"Whatever." Jason waved him off while Kage finished up picking through the room for any bits of intel that could be helpful. "Where's the battlesynth?"
"Hopefully back at the ship," Kage said. "After it wiped out half the crowd in that bar, something went wrong. It began twitching and making odd noises before it locked up and fell over. Twingo came and picked it up with a borrowed ground car."
"That's probably not good," Jason said, picking up the discarded com unit.
"What was he doing?" Crusher asked.
"It looks like he just put out a contract on Jurg's crew," Jason said. "Guess he bought my lie about who blew him up."
"Nobody will be dumb enough to try and collect on it," Kage said. "Chenyx Six is part of the guild, and even the other heavy hitters wouldn't want take them on."
"Don't be so sure," Jason said. "These are smugglers, not mercenaries. It's a different ecosystem. They have their own hitters that might take a crack at Chenyx just on principle. Either way, it'll give them something else to worry about than getting in our way."
"We're leaving?" Crusher asked.
"Not much reason to stay unless you'd like to blow up another cartel boss," Jason said. "I want to get the hell out of the Reaches and see what this Enoch Line business is all about, if it even means anything. Chances are it's the product of the last few random firings of a dying alien's neurons."
"Let's try to remain positive about this," Crusher said. "Unnecessary negativity can negatively affect outcomes."
If he'd been armed, Jason had no doubt that he'd have shot Crusher on the spot.
Chapter 14
"What the hell is that?" Crusher asked, pointing across the spaceport.
"Looks like a disagreement turned into a firefight," Jason said. "Not exactly noteworthy around this place."
Omega Force: Legends Never Die (OF10) Page 12
