Without so much as a pause, Senior Agent Daniel Travis took over the briefing, his raspy voice in stark contrast to the Director’s.
“These images were recorded three months ago by a Special Operations team the OSI sent to investigate a possible lead.”
The projector showed a blurry, somewhat ill-defined shape of a man. Seconds later it was enhanced by applying several filters, and it became clear that it was Krador. The lines of his dress indicated he was in a blue-trimmed military-style uniform, but not one that Angelika had seen before. He was surrounded by a group of heavily muscled humanoids, each wearing similar clothing.
“Those men surrounding Krador are his personal assistants, and may also act as his bodyguards. As you may be able to deduce, they are not natives to Jido.” The image panned out a little farther, and Angelika could see dozens of copper-colored aliens—most like Jidoans—erecting some sort of scaffolding.
Angelika knew very little about the planet or its inhabitants, save for the fact that they were known Kafaran sympathizers. “So he’s taken refuge on Jido.”
Martell nodded. “We’ll get to that in a moment.” The image panned out to several hundred feet. It now showed that Krador and his escorts were actually on a gantry, and the enormity of what was below the former admiral took the breath out of Angelika’s lungs. It had multiple, large-caliber gun emplacements, as well as scores of smaller beam and missile weapon launchers. Based on the viewable section in the image, the craft had to be at least two thousand feet long.
“What is that behind him?” she finally managed to ask after studying the image for a long moment.
“A battleship unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Our Special Operations team indicated that two of these vessels are there at Jido right now, as well as a whole armada of smaller warships, and they are getting ready to sortie as we speak. All indications are that this is an invasion force, designed with the sole purpose of eradicating the Sector Command presence in Beta Sector, or anything else that gets in their way.”
Chapter 5
As the weight of Agent Travis’s words settled on her, Angelika resisted the urge to make any sort of movement that might betray her trepidation. She stared at the image of Krador, surround by his guards and standing triumphantly near the newly constructed battleship, and she began formulating the impact of the information she had just received. “What’s my mission, sir?” she finally asked.
With that question hanging in the air, the lights in the briefing room returned to half luminescence.
“We cannot let that fleet leave the Jido system, Agent Jordan,” Travis began. “And, in the event that they do, we absolutely cannot let Krador retain command. He has detailed knowledge of our most vital ships and their weaponry, not to mention our combat tactics and fleet compositions. The reports we’ve received from our covert team on Jido show that this enemy fleet is more than a match for anything we have within three sectors. With the Third Fleet and most of the Second Fleet engaged with the Kafarans, an incursion from Jido right though our unguarded backdoor would spell disaster of the highest magnitude for millions. Your mission, simply put, is the elimination of Krador, and to disable as much of his fleet as you can and in any way possible. This is a Priority-One operation, Agent Jordan. The safety and security of the very heart of the Unified Collaboration of Systems is on the line.”
Oh, is that all? Well, I don’t suppose this would be a good time to tender my resignation then, would it? “I understand, sir.”
Travis nodded, then turned to Martell, who in turn looked to the Director.
“Permission to…break protocol for a moment, sir?” Martell asked the stone-faced Director.
The silent being at the head of the table gave no verbal response. He simply nodded his head so imperceptibly that not a single hair on his head moved.
“Angie,” Martell began. “This isn’t going to be easy.”
“It’s never easy, sir,” she replied.
“What I mean is, Krador is going to be on the lookout for you. The Special Operations team we sent in, there were ten operatives on that team, all of them with as much—if not more—experience than you have. Krador tracked every one of them down in less than three weeks. We have no idea how he did it, and that makes this mission all the more dangerous. Only one member of the team managed to escape, and we can’t even ascertain his precise location.”
“I’ll find a way to get there undetected, sir.”
“The problem isn’t getting to the planet,” Travis injected. “It’s getting to Krador, killing him, and getting out in once piece.”
Angelika noticed out of the corner of her eye that, as Travis had uttered the word “killing,” Vice Admiral Remus’ eyes darted to the scar-faced agent before resting back on her. She couldn’t resist the opportunity to find out what the vice admiral’s ultimate role in all this was.
“Admiral Remus?”
His left eyebrow crooked up. “Agent Jordan?” he replied.
“Up to this point, we’ve heard from Agent Travis on the current position of Sector Command. While I’m sure he’s more than qualified, I’d very much like to hear your professional opinion on this.”
“Take care with your words, Agent Jordan,” Travis scolded from across the table. “I’m not in the habit of letting my briefings get out of hand.”
“And I’m quite sure that none of us are in the habit of being at the mercy of a renegade Sector Command fleet admiral with enough firepower at his disposal to wipe out entire cultures,” she snapped back. “The Unified Government isn’t solely responsible for creating this monster.” She then turned her eyes back to Remus. “Sector Command is as well. And I want to know everything they know, or this mission will be doomed to failure before I even leave this station.”
“Vice Admiral Remus has given us all the information at his disposal,” Travis offered more casually than Angelika expected. “What more could he have to say on that point?”
Angelika’s eyes were still on the admiral. “With all due respect, sir…I’m still waiting.”
Remus blinked several times before nodding. “There’s more.”
Travis was livid. “What? More? You were ordered to cooperate fully with my—”
“Daniel.” The single word, uttered from the lips of the Director, caused all the blood to immediately drain from Travis’s face. His mouth gaping open, Agent Daniel Travis slumped back into his chair, probably contemplating whether his next assignment would be to a waste removal detail. The Director then turned to look squarely at Remus. “Please, accept my apology for the outburst, Vice Admiral Remus. It’s…unbecoming of an agent of Mister Travis’s position to disrespect an officer of your rank and caliber. I’m sure Agent Jordan would agree.” As he said her name, the stone-faced Director turned to gaze at Angelika. “Wouldn’t you?”
The way he said her name, with all the speed of cold molasses in the dead of winter, nearly stopped her heart. It was almost as the word itself never escaped his lips, but was instead transmitted directly into the recesses of her mind, echoing off every nuance of her consciousness.
“Yes, sir. I would,” she replied, far more coyly than she intended.
Vice Admiral Th-ma Remus shifted uncomfortably in his seat before continuing. “The ship buildup that led to Admiral Krador’s ultimate dismissal was under my direct command, as you should have guessed by now. However, I was also Maros’s commanding officer while he was stationed aboard the heavy cruiser Delphinium.”
Travis was beside himself. He’d somehow managed to find enough of his voice to begin speaking again, albeit in a much more subdued tone. “What? I thought Captain Tanis was his CO.”
“Commander Tanis was the Executive officer of a light cruiser. As you will see by looking into his officer evaluation reports, he was selected to be the next commanding officer of the Delphinium, but was killed in action prior to his actual assignment to that position. The OSI contacted me, and with the help of some physical manipulation of my
appearance, I was put in his place in an undercover assignment to keep a close eye on Krador. Since Krador was being groomed for an ambassadorial role, both the Unified Government and the OSI needed firsthand experience with the man. I was the one chosen to get that information.”
“And you succeeded.”
“I did. And when Krador turned down that position and was transferred to the Fleet construction yards, my undercover operation was complete. The OSI returned my physical appearance, and I moved into a new position at Third Fleet command. No one was the wiser.”
“Except that now, even after he was still under your command, he turned sides and is now cooperating with an enemy of the Unified Government.” Travis snorted. The remark was disregarded by the Director.
There was a poignant moment of silence on the vice admiral’s part as he looked down at the desktop. “Yes.”
Regardless of the pity she took on the man, it didn’t take away from the very real danger they were now faced with. “Why didn’t you stop him when you had the chance, Admiral Remus? You must have certainly known something was up.”
Remus nodded. “There were rumblings. Rumors, really. Nothing more. Certainly nothing to charge Maros with anything at that time, much less suspect that he was about to commit an overt act of treason.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“Rumors, Agent Jordan, that unfortunately unfolded into reality. Everything he delivered in his speech after he had killed the president had been whispered about in the passageways and docks of the construction yards. Most of it, anyway. His dissatisfaction with the Unified Government and his disillusion with Sector Command…it all turned out to be true. A great many people lost their lives because I failed to act on those rumors. I’d give everything I’ve earned—every accolade and award, every command and every promotion—to have Maros Krador on our side right now. The war with the Kafarans is not going well. The situation is far worse than the general public knows, even far more drastic than most in the Unified Council know. We need a warrior, a hero of Krador’s stature, to help boost morale in the ranks of Sector Command and to secure us some much-needed victories.”
Remus’ admiration for Krador only heightened Angelika’s fears. It was one thing to have to track down a disloyal, substandard officer. It was quite another thing to hunt for someone who had advance Special Forces training, not to mention the esteem of one of Sector Command’s highest-ranking officers.
“Let’s put Sector Command aside for a moment, Admiral,” Angelika said cautiously. “You worked more closely with him than most anyone in the fleet. You’ve observed him and you’ve made detailed reports on those observations. What can you tell me about the man himself?”
Remus seemed to find a new batch of resolve, now that the guilt of being Krador’s former commander had a temporary mental reprieve. He leaned forward, his olive-colored hands steepled together in contemplation.
“Maros Krador is the most driven person I’ve ever met. Once he sets his mind to something, you can be assured he’ll find a way to accomplish it using any means possible. When dealing with him, you must remember that he has backup plans for anything he sets his sights on. He’s cool under pressure, and methodical in his approach; he’s just as likely to shake your hand as he is to shoot you in the back. And trust me: you’ll never see it coming.”
“Weaknesses?”
“Not many, I’m afraid. That’s what propelled him so quickly through the chain of command. He almost never let a kink in his armor show.”
“Almost?”
“If he has one fault at all, Agent Jordan, it’s his single-mindedness. He’s convinced that he can invade Unified space, and that he’ll be victorious in doing it. Nothing will alter that plan, even if another is suggested or something unexpected comes along, and that includes OSI agents.”
“You’re going to have to think outside the box on this one, Angie,” Martell said. “Way outside. If Krador has a way of sniffing out agents, then you’ll have to do everything in your power to not become a target while simultaneously making sure your objectives are accomplished.”
Angelika looked at the three men. “What can you tell me about the Jidoans?”
Martell shifted his eyes to the other two men, as if he was waiting for them to answer. When no such answer was forthcoming, he turned back to Angelika. “Not much. It’s a high gravity world, but not uncomfortable by human standards. They’re isolationists…at least, they used to be. At some point before the war, they signed a nonaggression pact with the Kafarans and began trading with them.”
“Weaponry?” she asked.
“We’re not sure. Again, intelligence on their planet is sparse. We simply know they were active traders with the Kafarans before Krador arrived. Not long after he showed up, they began building warships for him.”
She raised an eyebrow at the statement. “Coincidence?”
“Doubtful,” Travis huffed. “It doesn’t really matter. What matters now is that they have a fleet of warships, and they are intent on using them against our forces.”
There was something that wasn’t being said here, and Angelika hated being kept in the dark. “Sir…gentlemen, with all due respect, I’m not entirely sure I’m the right person for this assignment. I’m sure there may be other agents who could—”
“You’re right, Agent Jordan,” Agent Travis inserted. “You’re not. At least, you weren’t our first choice for this assignment. Initially, we had tasked our special covert unit with this operation, but Krador discovered them. Now they’re dead, and you were next on the list.”
“There’s no one currently more qualified to do this than you, Angie. Trust me on this,” Martell said, and he softened the statement with a smile, the kind that he usually flashed when he was about to give her an assignment that was well below her competence level.
It eased her trepidation, but only moderately. It was the foolish—and usually quickly killed—agent that went fearlessly into an assignment. Cockiness was akin to assumptions, and Angelika was loath to make those about anything or anyone. She’d seen too much of the underside of the galaxy to fully trust anyone, even the men in this room.
“Do I have a contact for this assignment?”
The assembled men looked to Travis. “That’s where we get back into our story of Krador. That special operations team I mentioned—the one where only one agent was able to escape? He’s the only one who will be able to get you close to Krador. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been so desperate to find him.”
“Who is he?” she asked, wondering if it was someone she’d known from past affiliations.
“He’s one of ours,” Admiral Remus replied. “Sector Command. That is, in a manner of speaking. He’s the lead Intelligence officer for the Third Fleet. That means he has a rank commensurate with his pay grade in the OSI in order to better blend in with the ship’s company when the fleet is deployed.” Despite the gravity of their current situation, Remus managed a slight smile. “I don’t know if you’ve taken a poll lately, but Sector Command and the OSI don’t have the best of relationships with one another.”
She knew full well what the admiral meant. She’d had her fair share of run-ins with Sector Command, most of them ending with her having to wrest control of the situation from the military. It wasn’t that the OSI disliked Sector Command; it was just that the OSI often found that Sector Command was more of a hindrance than they were helpful.
“So I’ve heard, Admiral. So, does this double agent have a name?”
Remus nodded sharply. “Katashi. Lieutenant Commander Toyotomi Katashi.”
“And the Commander is…missing?”
“Yes and no. To put it bluntly, we know which planet he’s on, but not exactly where on the surface. We can’t send in an extraction team without further compromising his cover. Besides,” Remus said with a soft chuckle, “he’d probably refuse to get rescued by them when they showed up.”
The tone of the admiral’s words caused a smile to flutt
er across Angelika’s face. She got the impression that the admiral felt that this Toyotomi Katashi was something of a cowboy. She liked the man already.
“That’s your first priority, Agent Jordan,” Travis said. “You will need to get to the Torval system and locate him.”
The Torval system. That meant Concordia, the only habitable planet in that area. A den of thieves, protected by a small navy of pirates, and surrounded by an asteroid field too dense for any capital ship to safely traverse. When combined together, these all contributed to the inhabitants of Concordia being a rather paranoid lot. There were purportedly hundreds of listening stations placed throughout the Torval system, and any ship entering was immediately challenged. For the right price, these stations could also be linked together, forming a massive antenna that could be directed at nearly any point in space. It was rumored—though not substantiated—that both the OSI and Sector Command had, at one time or another, paid that price. While it was a neutral—and thus, untouchable—planet, it was surrounded on all sides by Unified member systems that were well protected by Sector Command. As long as a pilot knew how to navigate the lanes between the Sector Command outposts, Concordia was as safe as it got for would-be criminals.
And misplaced OSI agents, it seemed. “Will Agent Katashi be expecting me?”
“Expecting you?” Martell repeated. “That’s a very interesting question.”
Angelika cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “How so?”
“Because the only reason we know that Katashi’s on Concordia at all is because he sent out a Level-One communication requesting that you meet him there. And by ‘you’ I mean you, Agent Jordan. Personally.”
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