"That's progress," Kage said. "He has a deeper voice than he used to, but at least he's talking now."
"A parrot can talk, Kage." Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "But yeah, at least this is going forward and not backwards. Doc, better get up there and make sure it doesn't start messing around with something and kill us all."
They all started filtering out, but before Jason could slide out the hatch, Crusher barred his path with a massive arm. "I know what you're up to," he said ominously. Jason just stared at him, trying to figure out how much he knew.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"This mission," Crusher went on. "You're still on it because you know Chenyx Six is still chasing this guy. You're pissed you were captured so easy and you want some payback."
Jason almost blew out the breath he had been holding in relief. As usual, Crusher didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.
"You got me," he said. "That bother you?"
"No, but if we're flying into this for revenge, it's probably smart to let me know so I can back you up."
Jason just furrowed his brow at that before shrugging and giving up what Crusher's ulterior motive for the conversation was. "Will do. Good talk." He patted the massive shoulder and slid out of the room before the conversation got any stranger.
The truth was that he wouldn't mind stomping a new hole in Jurg, and he knew the merc captain was likely either hunting the officer or hunting him after the damage he did to the ship, but it wasn't the main reason to not abort the mission. He needed to get Alocur face to face again and find out what the squirrely pru spook was up to.
The conspiracy theories aside, the interest in battlesynth hardware and personnel looked an awful lot like he was trying to set up a new business venture somewhere. If so, who were the clients? If it was the ConFed, then he was likely helping them to eliminate one of the few people that knew who was controlling the Council. If Alocur was in bed with them and had stolen a heap of battlesynth tech… the results could be nothing short of catastrophic. He highly doubted that the new ConFed would employ the same ethical restraints as the Kheprians when it came to the development and deployment of battlesynths.
Chapter 17
"The Eshquarian Campaign went as you predicted, much to the surprise of our Fleet masters."
"Of course it did. And why wouldn't it? The Eshquarians were as surprised as your Fleet masters that we were actually going to impose our will through use of force. For over two thousand years you've all squabbled back and forth, but nobody has had the vision or the courage to unify you."
"Is that what we're doing? Unifying people?" Councilman Scleesz asked. He was now actually Minister Scleesz under the new regime, a title he wasn't used to or even sure he wanted given the price so far. "Because the Eshquarian Empire—"
"Is no more. We'll allow them to maintain the illusion for a short time that they might retain their independence while we bring them into the fold, but soon all the old vestiges of their pitiful little empire will fall away, replaced by systems we put in place. You're not having second thoughts, are you, Minister?"
"Of course not," Scleesz said in a way he hoped was convincing. Years ago, when this new player had approached him through intermediaries and had suggested this course of action, he'd dismissed it out of hand. The next time a representative met with him, they brought enough material of his own illicit activities to ensure his execution on his own planet. He remembered the day well, almost to the exact instant that he realized he was compromised and that he'd serve this new master to save his own wretched skin.
At first he viewed the turn of events with a pragmatic eye. New factions, families, or star systems would rise to prominence and, for a time, control the ConFed Council through bribes or threats. None of it really mattered because nothing ever changed. Member systems still came to the Council with their petty concerns, the Core Worlds would ignore them for the most part, and their mighty Starfleet would only get involved if a dispute really got out of hand. As long as everyone paid their taxes, something that happened automatically thanks to the Kheprians, then everyone got along well. Why should he be too concerned about the latest in a long line of power-hungry opportunists?
As it turned out, he should have feared for much more than his own life and reputation. It quickly became apparent that this newcomer was not only a foreigner from outside the ConFed, but was cunning and utterly ruthless in how he went about achieving his goals. In less than ten years he'd managed to control all the Core World delegates within the Council completely and all without ever making a public appearance. The truly terrifying part to Scleesz was that as quadrillions of citizens went about their lives, they had no idea that something truly evil had taken root in the ConFed's already-rotten core. They'd learn soon enough, though. This attack on the Eshquarian Empire was only the beginning. The Fleet would roll over the lesser local powers in short order and then, once his grip on quadrant was ironclad, he would set his sights on the Avarian Empire.
Madness.
"Damn, they really have cleaned things up. The last time we were through here there was orbital trash trailing along behind Torus," Jason said.
"I think that was part of their defensive strategy," Doc said. "It only left three approach vectors unless you wanted to risk colliding with one of the burned-out wrecks they just left abandoned."
The Phoenix had been stuck in a holding pattern for the last six days as Mok had been unable to get them the landing clearance he'd promised. It wasn't that the crime boss was lacking in juice, it was more that the heavy construction happening within the station meant that even if he could get them a priority clearance there wasn't any room in the main or auxiliary hangars for a ship as small as the Phoenix. The name of the game was anonymity and landing the gunship with no cargo on a special permit was a surefire way to be memorable.
One bright spot had been that their proximity to the station had allowed Kage to slice into their network and use a sizable chunk of bandwidth to begin combing through records, trying to get a match on the images they'd pulled from the Phoenix's com server. If they could get a generalized location from hits on security cameras, it would help give them an edge when it came time to actually get on the station.
A not so bright spot during the prolonged wait was that the battlesynth seemed to have regressed after a flurry of activity once Jason applied the software bridge. It had gone from stating basic concepts and asking questions to then just repeating “Lucky” over and over. After a while it stopped even doing that and was now just sitting on the floor near the galley, refusing to move. Cas had told him to calm down and that these sorts of aberrant behaviors were to be expected when a process as complex as integration was attempted while both the matrix and the body were fully powered up. Jason told Cas to shut the hell up or he would dig the implant it lived on out of his head with a spoon. The nonsensical threat must have worked as it had been mercifully silent.
I have an idea.
"Spoke too soon," Jason muttered.
What?
"What?" Kage asked. Jason waved him off and waited for the voice in his head to elaborate.
We'll never get a landing spot with this strategy. There are heavy construction haulers lined up halfway around the planet. However, there are about two dozen hard dock points that the Phoenix could easily connect to. Have your gangster buddy falsify some credentials for Kage to go and do maintenance in the security complex.
"Why there?" Jason asked under his breath.
He'll be able to search through images using the hardware at the source. It will be more efficient than trying to scour through directory after directory using the uplink.
"Doc, I have an idea," Jason said and quickly relayed what he wanted Mok to do in order to get Kage where he could do the most good.
"That's… really not a bad idea," Kage said thoughtfully. "We'd even be able to take in a sizable chunk of armament hiding inside equipment cases. Make sure that Mok lists the co
ntract as general maintenance and not repair. It'll be suspicious if our docking permit comes through before I have a chance to break their system."
Jason sat and basked in the adoration of the crew as they told him how brilliant his idea was and how impressed they were that he'd thought of it. Through it all he swore he could almost feel Cas sulking in the background. By the time Mok's permit breezed through and the Phoenix was given docking instructions, Kage and Twingo had managed to fabricate a set of two rolling cases that would easily house—and more importantly sensor-shield—any personal weaponry the team might want to bring along.
In a decision that set off another heated argument, Jason decided to split the crew evenly and only take Crusher and Kage with him onto the station. Twingo and Doc would man the ship and be on standby for a quick escape, and the battlesynth would continue to hold down the deck plate in the galley as it still stared off into space, oblivious to their presence. Once that was settled, and Jason had finally convinced Crusher that most network analysts wore sleeves and didn't wear armor, he pulled the Phoenix out of the holding formation and began to chase after Torus Station.
Jason asked Cas what it calculated the odds at that they would be able to identify and grab the fleet officer without any trouble, but apparently the AI wasn't speaking to him at the moment.
Chapter 18
The construction taking place within Torus Station was so expansive that the three of them were ushered through the security checkpoint without much more than a curious glance at the hulking Galvetic warrior that was claiming to be a network analyst. Kage could talk the talk, however, and Verans were renowned throughout the quadrant as experts in technology, so within ten minutes of exiting the airlock they were walking freely inside the hollowed-out asteroid.
Kage had been so convincing and had done such thorough recon before they'd even docked the Phoenix that the poor sap managing the security checkpoint called for a vehicle that would take them directly to a place it called Central Operations, or at least that's how it translated. The code slicer confirmed that it was exactly where they needed to be heading and they all piled into the automated ground car that could barely fit the three of them and the two-wheeled crates of gear.
"Credit where credit is due: I'm impressed," Crusher said. "Either you've just decided to begin taking your job seriously, or you've had some extensive training while we were gone. Good job, Kage."
"Thanks," Kage said distractedly. "Now the main issue will be that we don't have the credentials to gain access through the main entrance to the operations center. The security there will be far more stringent than those slobs working an auxiliary passenger hatch. I couldn't risk falsifying three badges because the security codes rotate too quickly."
"I assume you have a way around that?" Jason asked.
"Of course." Kage smiled. "It's actually not too difficult, but it won't be comfortable. We can get into the lower levels through an access tunnel."
"That doesn't sound bad," Crusher said. "Just as long as by 'access' you don't actually mean 'sewer.'"
"It'll be a little bit worse than a sewer," Kage said. "It's where the main power lines that feed the center make entry. There won't be any permanent damage, but the side effects of being near high-power lines for the length of the tunnel are… unpleasant. Also, we can't take any energy weapons with us and we'll need to manually power down our neural implants. That includes your ocular implants, Captain."
"That's not a big issue for us, but isn't yours a lot more specialized?" Jason asked before covering his mouth to mask his next word. "Cas?"
"It'll boot back up even quicker than yours will," Kage said. "Don't worry. I've switched it off manually before since mine shows up at a distance on most scanners."
There will be no issue for me if the implant is switched off. I will come back as if nothing happened.
"We should stash weapons strategically around the place since we'll not likely be coming back out the way we're going in," Kage said. "Blades are fine and the captain's railgun won't be affected as long as he removes the powerpack."
"Will do."
The rest of the short ride was spent using whatever imagery they could find over the public nexus of the operations center that would give them a good place to stash their equipment. By the time the vehicle slowed and the holographic display instructed them to disembark, they'd found a place near a side exit where someone had piled up a decent collection of hand tools and a rock cutter that used four rotating laser emitter heads to cleanly carve channels into the asteroid's nickel-iron surface. The two crates they'd brought with them fit right in after Jason had grabbed some black soil from recent landscaping and rubbed it all over their too-clean surfaces.
"The entrance to the power junction is over there. I should be able to slice through that lock without trouble," Kage said. "It won't be very secure since the building has redundant power systems… this is just to keep out the vandals and petty thieves."
"That and no sane people would willing walk through this access tunnel," Crusher said.
"That too," Kage agreed and pulled a device out of his pocket while Jason and Crusher slipped on their lightweight armor and weaponry. "Hold still and I'll shut your wetware down with this. It's easier than trying to enter the proper sequence at the connector in your heads."
Once he'd waved the device over his head, Jason felt like everything became a lot dimmer without his ocular implants smoothing the light out. It wasn't until his friends spoke that he really felt the difference: He couldn't understand what they were saying since each was speaking their native tongue.
"We'll need to practice a bit more for this contingency," he said in Jenovian Standard, a language he used so much with the implant's help that he was decently fluent in it.
"Except that Crusher's mouth can't properly pronounce all the phonetics for Jenovian," Kage said. "His teeth get in the way. Come on, the sooner we're in, the sooner I can switch you back on."
The tunnel that ran under two streets and into the operations center was nondescript, dark, and had the expected trunk lines anchored to the walls and ceiling. What made it unique, however, was that the radiated energy off the high-power lines made them all instantly nauseous, screwed with their balance, and induced near crippling headaches along with an odd metallic taste. Jason had to assume that he was being permanently damaged and shoved Kage along to get through the tunnel and into the building as quickly as possible.
He didn't think he was going to make it and was struggling to keep his thoughts coherent while his feet plodded along automatically. Jason was in such a daze that, by the time Crusher wrenched open the flimsy gate that was probably more to keep vermin out than intruders, he had to be pulled into the basement of the building. Kage led them quickly through a short corridor and then, once he slammed the shielded door closed, the effects of the radiated energy began to dissipate immediately. The code slicer had them both lay on the floor and went about reactivating their implants.
I will counteract the effects of the radiation. Stand by.
"Everyone okay?" Kage asked.
"Let's never do that again," Crusher groaned and rolled into a sitting position. "Captain?"
"I'm good," Jason said as Cas used the implant to control the emergency medical nanobots in his body to erase the headache and disorientation. He pulled the powerpack for his weapon, then the spare. Both were showing errors. "Damn… these didn't make it."
"So we have no standoff weapons?" Crusher asked.
"Nope," Jason said. "Lead the way, Kage. Let's do this as quick as possible."
"What the hell sort of power are they using here?" Crusher rubbed at his head. "There's no way that's not going to have permanent side effects."
"Theoretically the damage is non-cumulative… but I would definitely have Doc check you over once we're back on the ship," Kage said. "We need to go one floor up and then you two will get the fun of overpowering a manned security station before we can get to a direct access node.
"
As it turned out, Kage's information was incorrect and there was nothing more substantial than a flimsy door with a mechanical lock to keep them out of the access point. Showing his disappointment, Crusher pulled one of his blades and wedged it into the doorframe, the molecular edge easily slicing down through the locking mechanism without making it too obvious someone had been tampering.
While Jason moved to check all the other points of entry, Crusher posted up by the door they came in through while Kage broke out his equipment and began connecting into the station's systems. Since they'd come in on the backside of the hardware firewalls that protected access points near the docks and hangars, it didn't take him long to force his way into where he needed to be. By the time Jason returned, he'd already uploaded the search parameters from the images they'd pulled off the Phoenix and had the computers churning through the data for matches. Almost immediately partial hits began popping up and Kage had to reset his search filters to chop out anything under an eighty percent certainty as they didn't have the time to comb through false positives.
"We have enough ninety-plus hits that I'd say this guy was definitely here," Kage said. "Starting an analysis of movements over the time period most of these images were captured. With any luck I'll have his daily routine down and we can snag him at a shop while grabbing his morning tea."
"I wonder if there'd be a decent market here for coffee," Jason mused, causing Crusher to roll his eyes.
"We have a problem," Kage said. "Nope, we have two problems… which one do you want to hear about first?"
"The most immediate," Jason said.
"Your buddies from Chenyx Six are here, and by here I mean they're already on the station and coming towards the operations center," Kage said. "Public security camera picked them up getting into a ground car on the hangar level."
Omega Force: Legends Never Die (OF10) Page 15
