Molly rolled her eyes.
“I’m just saying,” Sean continued as earnestly, as he could given his resting cynic face, “we could just blow their ship up and that would be the end of it.”
Molly shook her head, but Paige interjected before she could respond. “Dude. You know that’s not what we do. We bring them in, find out what we can, and then follow the situation to see if we can bag ourselves some more bad guys.”
Sean screwed his face up. “I think we need to be prepared though. Just in case it comes to it.”
Molly conceded. “As always. Yes. Okay, make sure we’re equipped to do that… just in case it comes to it. But it’s never been, nor ever will be, our first course of action.”
Sean mock-saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain!”
Molly and Paige locked eyes, a stream of communication running between them, that could be summarized in one word. “Boys!”
Molly grinned, shaking her head fondly. “Okay, any other questions?”
Karina raised her hand. “Where do you want me?” she asked, almost hesitantly.
Molly paused before she spoke. “How about coming along on The Empress?”
Karina’s eyes lit up.
“Sounds like we’ll need someone to keep Mr. Trigger-Happy in line, anyway,” Molly added dryly.
Karina accepted the challenge with a nod. Sean looked a little less enthusiastic, dropping down in his seat another inch.
“Okay, we know what we need to do. Let’s move out. Brock, Crash, run an ETA through Oz when you know where we stand with The Empress.”
“Aye, Captain,” Brock saluted, jumping up from his chair.
The team disbanded from the conference room in a flurry of activity, each headed out to get started on their various tasks.
Special Task Force Offices, Undisclosed location, Estaria
“All right people! Listen in!” Director Bates called over the chatter of the conference room. “Lots to get through this morning. We’ve had preliminary results of the analysis that some of you were involved with over the weekend, and the news isn’t good.” She remained standing at the head of the conference table, her presentation slides already projecting onto the room’s holoscreen.
The eager students-turned-first-intake-of-special-agents in Carol Bates’ Federation-endorsed “spy school” sat in the conference room. They were suited, booted, caffeinated and ready to work.
Having graduated from Molly’s Skóli Uppstigs Academy, it was hoped that they understood more of what the world needed to correct the balance that had been increasingly off-kilter in the Sark System.
Despite this, Carol somewhat doubted they understood the enormity of what they were going to face, nor the sacrifices that would be asked of them as they entered this world of intrigue. This was an aspect of their world that most of the citizens were blissfully unaware of the sacrifices of the people standing before her now would ensure they remained blissfully unaware. Their mandate was to ensure the people remained safe, with a better existence when all was said and done.
She had done her best to explain the stakes to them during her pep talk when they first joined the project. However, the more she tried to dissuade them, the more they strained at the bit to begin, relishing the challenges ahead. In the end she gave up, assuming that they would form their own opinions eventually anyway.
Just under a dozen agents waited with bated breath for their boss to read them in on everything that was transpiring in the underworld. She felt half sorry for them, these bright young things. They were initiates in a war against the corruption that permeated the shadows of the political and commercial landscape. Where the ebbs and flows which governed the trends and motivations were manipulated to massage public ego and hide the discrepancies of the avaricious. The secrets which quietly ran the existence of the civilization, impenetrable by the media, even less so to the masses who lacked the resources to pull together the pieces the agents were about to be made privy to.
The report she had studied an hour earlier showed a picture emerging in the data.
“It seems that we weren’t far off with our projections,” she confirmed. “Now that we have the intel to corroborate it I can tell you categorically that there is indeed a power grab happening in the heart of the Sarkian civilization as we speak. This power grab seems to be motivated and propelled by profit. Nothing new there—except that it is the single most organized movement that we have ever witnessed in the recorded history of Estaria.”
She glanced at the young faces of her new agents as she spoke. With a seasoned crew she would have expected an air of tension and gravity to descend on the room. Instead she saw glints of mounting excitement in the eyes that stared back at her.
Federenials! she thought to herself. They think that they can’t fail, and that the Federation is going to step in as soon as things get too intense down here. Pah. They’ll learn.
“To that end,” she continued, shaking the distracting thought of Lance Reynolds’ arrogance from her mind, “the two new political appointments that were announced last Thursday are a part of this campaign. Our analysis of financial transactions over the last few months has confirmed that these were instigated, if not ordered, by the Northern Clan.”
There was a muttering amongst a couple of agents off to her left. She gave them a warning glare. “Cyber taps on key suspected conspirators have also alerted us to two more possibilities. The position of the Undersecretary to the Department of Holo Media, and the Head of Cyber Communications.”
One of the agents to her right raised his hand, his starched atmosuit wrinkling in an unnatural way.
“Yes, Cleavon.”
“Aren’t these positions already occupied?”
Carol forced herself to display a tight half-smile by way of encouragement. Molly had suggested that she try and appear more personable with the agents. “Nice catch. Yes.” She held the smile as she looked back at the group. “That’s exactly the case. And so, we suspect that the existing personnel will either be moved or taken care of in some other way. If there is a plot to assassinate them, then we’ve got a reason to intervene. We’ll have evidence to take them down with, and may even prevent the assassinations from occurring. Anything else will be much harder to prove.”
She paused and focused her attention on the three agents down the right-hand side of the table about halfway back. “Bravo team: Elroy, Dhashana, and Cleavon, you’re on protecting the personnel. Charlie team: Alisha, Joshua, and Rhodez, you’re on the investigation. The two teams will collaborate in order to make sure the targets stay alive, get what we need to follow the chain of command back and get the guys who are pulling the strings.”
She eyeballed each of them as she spoke. “Think you’re up to it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” all the agents responded, almost in unison.
Carol nodded. “Good.”
She poked a few of the holographic keys on her wrist holo and a presentation screen lit up in the center of the table.
“Ok, Raza and Soraya, you’re on the existing appointees. One is in the Department of Near Space Communication, the head of which is Garet Beaufort. As you’ll see when you look at the file, the position that has been filled is the undersecretary to the office.”
Raza, the only Ogg on the team raised his hand. “Ma’am? What’s our working theory on why it’s the undersecretaries and deputies that are being targeted?”
“Good!” Carol applauded. “We suspect it’s because such appointments draw very little media attention, but they have the same access to intel and decision-making influence. But we don’t want to conclude that until we know for sure. If we can understand the motives behind the shuffle, then we may be able to deduce who else might be at risk.”
Carol flipped her holo closed, and the presentation screen folded away. “Raza, see if you can convince a judge to get cyber-surveillance on both of them. It would be nice to know where we stand.”
Soraya, who was occupying the place next to Raza inte
rjected. “Isn’t that the Garet-guy that Molly rescued in the early days?”
Rhodez became animated. “Yeah. Before she faked her own death?”
All agents turned their full attention to Carol for the answers.
Carol pursed her lips. “I believe so,” she admitted reluctantly. “Like I said, it would be nice to know whether that was a mistake or not.”
Raza made a note on his holo. “I’ll get right onto it, ma’am.”
“Good,” Carol responded. “As soon as we get permission we want to have eyes and access to both appointees. And their bosses.”
Carol noticed that she had brought her mocha into the meeting and it was going cold. Dammit. “Elroy, I’d also like you to finish collating the data we’ve been analyzing over the weekend and get it onto the secure server for Molly to review.”
“Yes ma’am,” he confirmed.
“And Soraya, while we’re waiting on the judge, could you do a download and see if there is anything new from our friends in the sky?”
Soraya nodded and made a note.
She took a quick sip of the untouched mocha. “Ok. Any other questions?” Carol asked.
The newbie agents were quiet.
“Ok, off we go. Keep me posted on any developments as they happen. Other than that, we’ll reconvene for an interim briefing tomorrow at 8 am again. Dismissed.”
The agents got up and scuttled back out to their consoles in their windowless office space. They were much quieter than they had been in a class at the university. This was their chance to make an impact. To shine. To catch some bad guys and maybe eventually experience all the things they admired that they heard in Molly’s tales.
For this small cohort of graduates, this was a fantasy come true.
And no one wanted to do anything that would mess that up.
Cleavon hurried out to his desk and before he even sat down he was on a secure outside line to fix an appointment for a quiet off-book meeting with a judge who had been read in on the nature of their special task force.
He uttered the code word and waited on hold, watching around the office as his classmates hurried to execute their orders. Holoscreens jumped to life as each one settled at their enhanced and secured consoles, tapping into the network of intel and chatter that was the lifeblood of their new world.
He sat down and leaned back as the data rolled down his screen. Life didn’t get much better than this.
CHAPTER THREE
“Hans, I need a word,” Director Bates muttered to him quietly as his teammates left the meeting room.
Hans hung back discreetly while the others filed out before pulling out the chair nearest the door. He hadn’t said a word during the meeting. Nor asked about what his assignment was. He understood he had a slightly different role to play in this organization.
Carol closed the door after the last of the agents had left. “I want you to investigate something else. It's just a hunch at this point, but some of these personnel changes are reminding me of an operative turned mercenary I used to know when I was in the field. You’ll have to be extremely careful though. I want you to work closely with Philip.”
As if deliberately choreographed, Philip arrived at the transparent meeting room door. He tapped on the glass before letting himself in. “Oh, you've started without me?”
“Not really,” she told him. “Just getting to it.”
He wandered in with a steaming cup of mocha and sat down at the table on the opposite side to Hans, leaving Carol still standing at the head of the table, as if still presenting to a group of agents. She seemed to relax a little and pulled out her own chair to sit too.
“You told him about your Sneaky Steve theory?” Philip asked with an almost flirtatious grin.
“Just getting into it,” she repeated.
“Carol has been after him for years,” Philip confided, hiding his grin from Carol behind his hand.
Carol eyed him amused and exasperated. “I hope you’re not suggesting that my instincts are tainted by a mere vendetta?” she challenged.
Philip pantomimed being attacked for his disclosure. “I would do no such thing!”
“Good,” she said firmly, reactivating the presentation holo with her wrist device. “This is Sneaky Steve, as we used to call him. He'll be around Philip’s age now, so probably also slowing down.” She dropped the comment as if it were an innocuous observation. A detail that might help her agent in assessing the threat.
“Hey!” Philip protested.
“Focus!” Carol instructed, moving swiftly on and enjoying her ability to playfully taunt him. “It took us forever to catch onto him because... well, he was so sneaky. Hence his imaginative nickname. None of his victims would be killed in the same way. And in fact, they'd often go undetected for the longest time because more than half the time we'd never recover a body.”
Hans shifted slightly in his chair but kept his expression neutral as he assessed the intel on the screen.
Carol continued. “Most of those cases still officially went down as missing persons.”
Hans had a hand over his face, his arm leaning on the arm of the chair. He moved his hand to speak. “How was he getting rid of the bodies so efficiently?”
“We found traces of acid at one of the victim's houses in the bathroom. We think he...”
Carol didn’t finish her sentence. From the grimace on Hans’ face, she didn’t need to.
“Even if he wasn't involved in our disappearing government employees, if he's around then we need to do something about him. He’s a nasty piece of work and needs taking off the streets.”
Philip bobbed his head as Carol spoke. “Permanently,” he added in.
“Which is why this is a private conversation.” Carol’s face grew dark. “To be clear, you are hereby authorized to use any means necessary to take this man out of play.”
Hans nodded abruptly, once. “I understand.”
“We'll get you access to the file while you're in the building,” Philip explained, “but you won’t be able to access it from anywhere else.”
“Of course,” Hans acknowledged.
“You'll report directly to Philip on this one too,” Carol added. “Ok. That's it. Any questions?”
“No, ma'am.”
“Excellent.” Carol stood up. “Good luck, Hans.”
Hans got to his feet too. “Thank you, ma’am.” He nodded to Philip and headed out to the workstations to join his colleagues.
Carol waited for the door to close behind him. “You think he can handle it?” she asked, her gaze following him down the stairs and into the main office.
Philip took a sip of his mocha. “He’ll be fine.” He laughed quietly. “Reminds me of myself at that age.”
Carol snorted lightly. “What? Young?”
Philip narrowed his eyes at her but thought it prudent not to continue his musings.
Ola Restaurant, Spire, Estaria
Arlene arrived at the restaurant feeling uncharacteristically flustered. The maître d’ had sent her through to find her “friend.” The lighting was low, and it was a semi-casual arrangement, creating a relaxed ambiance. She recognized a silhouette over at the far window waving, guiding her in.
She wandered over between the tables, noting the ones occupied by diners. A smooth melody emanated from hidden speakers in the background and the smell of onions and garlic hung in the air.
“Ben’or!” she exclaimed, approaching his table. He stood for her, hugging her as though they’d been friends for years.
“I’m glad you made it. It did cross my mind that you might have been too tired after a full day’s work and that secret off-world meeting of yours.”
She waved her hand, as he pulled her chair out for her. “It wasn’t secret.”
Ben’or smiled knowingly.
“Ok. So, it was a little. But not for you. I have clearance to tell you something about it.”
He raised one eyebrow as if he knew what was coming. Arlene was about to
question his expression when their server appeared to take their drinks order.
Ben’or ordered an Estarian wine, commenting that he’d seen some documentary about it on the way over. Arlene wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or if this Zhyn warrior turned diplomat really did have access to information as mundane as their farming and winery practices.
“So,” he began as the waiter walked away “Do you want me to tell you about the wine we’re going to drink, or would you like to invite me onto your project first?”
“How did you-?”
“Well, why else would you be given clearance to talk to me about it.”
Arlene blushed. “Of course,” she admitted shyly. ”It’s been a long day.” She caught him up with the general things that had been happening before the server arrived with their wine, uncorked and poured it, and then left them to talk.
“The problem is with the university, and since you’re such an excellent diplomat I just thought you’d be able to see it from an angle that maybe we haven’t considered yet.”
“Oh. You want me for my mind!” he teased.
Arlene frowned playfully. “What else would I want you for?”
Ben’or held up his glass to toast her. “We can begin with my mind, then.” He winked at her as their wineglasses touched. Arlene felt herself flush again and tried to calm herself by taking some discreet long breaths.
It had been a long time since their Moons of Orn adventure, and though they had hit it off and promised to stay in touch, their individual duties and responsibilities had kept them from spending much time communicating. The extreme distances didn’t help, and as far as Arlene knew Ben’or didn’t have access to Gate technology.
All of that made her feel that it was more her responsibility to head out to see him, but then one talisman after another had dragged her on one trip after another and kept her a little too busy to be allowing herself to indulge in a romance.
But now, here they were.
Ben’or listened raptly while Arlene explained the situation with the university, and how they were about to be closed down.
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