by Aer-ki Jyr
The equipment coming up was a mix of seized weapons and industrial compounds…toxins mostly, that The Word had been storing rather than recycling or shipping out. A few other pieces were computer components that the techs thought warranted a closer inspection by specialists, hoping that some data might be able to be gleaned from the hardware.
Other than that, The Word had done a commendable job of covering their electronic tracks, but David expected Star Force’s teams, given an unlimited time to search the base, would come up with something useful. Until then all he had left to do was oversight on the runners they still had an eye on and see if they led anywhere of interest. That he could do from elsewhere, so this was going to be his last trip on site before heading back to the spaceport.
“Here you go,” the chef said, coming back with a none too small package inside a semi-translucent plastic bag. “Figure you guys burn a lot of calories, and if I’m wrong about your appetite I left you with a bit of a choice. Enjoy.”
“We eat more than you’d imagine,” David assured him, gladly taking the sugar-laden donuts. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure,” the chef said with a large smile as the Archon slipped out of the kitchen through the front doors and into the lobby where half a dozen people were standing in line at the counter for the chef to return, while about 15 others were sitting around eating donuts and sipping coffee. David’s nose wrinkled at the smell of the foul liquid, which oddly none of the Archons favored…at least as far as he knew.
He tolerated the smell and the odd looks as all eyes of those not with their backs to him followed him out the doors and onto the street, where he finally reached into the sack and flipped open the lid on the hard plastic container, pulling the top donut out and taking a bite on his way down the sidewalk. A few minutes down the road and a long hover truck passed him by on the airway five stories up, being only the third aerial vehicle he had seen.
This one, however, was familiar, with a giant Star Force emblem on the side of the cargo compartment. It flew over the smaller buildings and between the taller ones, then slowed to a stop above the road crossing the donut shop and descended to near street level, then ducked off into the parking lot before landing on wheel-based skids.
David didn’t turn back to watch, continuing on his walk through the small city until he came to the small airport it contained. There he processed through to a private terminal where a single mantis was parked. He picked up the pilot from the lobby on the way out, then was flown back to Phoenix directly where he linked up with the ongoing tails that were still pursuing The Word’s personnel, some of which were now out of the country.
He set up shop there for another two days, finding each of the operatives in question to either disappear or make themselves available for pickup at some pointless location. One checked into a hotel and didn’t leave the premises, while another went home to visit his parents. David knew they were intentionally making themselves visible, and went so far as to leave some of them out in the open to see what they would eventually do if Star Force didn’t pick them up.
That was more of an in-your-face gesture to The Word than any real hope of tracking them to something revealing, but you never knew. He wasn’t going to be in charge of this operation for much longer, but there were sections of Star Force that would stay on the matter indefinitely and chase targets around the star system if asked…so he figured he might as well see where it led.
One of those long term tails, having camped out at a spa resort, left after 3 days and, ironically, headed to the Phoenix spaceport, having purchased a ticket for transport to Mars…but when the man arrived he checked himself into the security station, saying that he had a message for Nathan.
David had the man placed in a holding cell while he checked on other leads, wondering if this might be some type of distraction. Meanwhile he had Nathan, who was still in the spaceport along with Assad just in case one of the leads led to another Word facility, head over to the security station to see what message the operative had for him.
The Archon lazily made his way down to the holding cell, stopping by one of the food stations in the terminal on his way, and wondering if The Word knew he was here or had just shown up at the closest Star Force spaceport.
Nathan entered the holding/interrogation cell room by himself, having had all other security personnel leave it prior to his arrival, and chewing on a ‘sugar stick,’ which was essentially a long, tubular cookie that was baked extra thick and layered with various types of decorative confections.
“Archon,” the man greeted respectfully.
“Let’s hear it,” Nathan said, biting off another small piece of the treat…not because he was hungry, which he was, but in order to give his body something to do in order to cover his facial expressions. He wanted a mask to observe from behind, rather than being the one observed.
“As the Agent said, your conversation was being recorded, including your face, which was how we identified you,” the man said plainly, letting Nathan know that somehow during his ‘escape’ he had not only been in contact with The Word, but they’d given him information and instructions…meaning their ‘covert’ rep just went up a notch in the Archon’s estimation. “First off, congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Nathan said, nipping off another piece of the stick.
“You’ve dealt us a significant loss. Not a crippling blow, by far, but one that we did not expect Star Force capable of dealing. Admittedly the death of the students was a mistake on our part, but you’ve proven yourself more…adept than we gave you credit for.”
“I assume this comes from your boss and not your own opinion?”
“It does.”
“Please continue,” Nathan said, drawing an imperceptible frown from the man who’d expected him to inquire as to his source of information.
“Now that we have been introduced by name, allow us to make a full introduction. The Word is a Human organization. We have no nationalistic ties. No corporate agenda. And we are fully committed to our goal of returning our people to purpose. We look at your recent seizure of our Colorado base as a failure on our part, we were forced to kill to cover our tracks. Had we been wise we never would have been backed into that corner. It was our error that led you to us, and we do not hold you accountable for the end result, only our own ineptitude.”
“We will, however, hold you accountable for any future actions against our organization,” he continued. “We are not inherently your enemy, but if you choose to oppose us, we will view and treat you as such.”
Nathan held up his hand to forestall further comment, then finished the mouthful he was on. “Does The Word favor hunting, sacrifice, meat-eating, female denigration, and subservience of ‘lesser’ races?”
“Females have their roll, as do males. We would not define that as denigration. As for the others, the answer is yes, naturally.”
“Then naturally we are and always will be your enemy.”
The man stared him evenly in the eye as the Archon took another disinterested bite. “I have three remaining messages to give you, in that case.”
“Shall I get a datapad?”
“No need. They are simple enough, and you’re undoubtedly recording this conversation anyway. First, we are aware of many of your surveillance efforts. If you wish to oppose us, then discover the error of your ways, cease your efforts and we will reciprocate. This need not be an eternal conflict.”
“Oh, you have no idea how stubborn we can be.”
“Two,” he said, with his demeanor changing from calm to an iron firmness. “So long as you operate against us, so too will we operate against you. To date we have not done so. This is fair warning. Cease now or we will begin targeting you directly.”
“I thought we were important to the future?”
“There are many possible futures, not all of which you are present in.”
Nathan waited for the third message, but the man chose to remain silent. Mimicking him, Nathan took a
nother bite and chewed for a minute, with the crunching of the sugar stick the only sound in the room save for the tiny hum from the shield separating the two men.
He visibly swallowed down the lump of sugary carbs, then gestured at the man with his other hand. “And?”
“Treguna…Mekoides…Tracorum…Satis…Dee.”
Half a second after the he pronounced the last word there was a flash on the shield wall, then a pressure wave hit Nathan and he blacked out.
He woke to a pounding headache and a twisting of his legs around his torso at the waist, then realized he was being moved and reflexively clenched his muscles to straighten his posture.
“He’s coming around,” a voice said as Nathan blinked his eyes, one of which was clouded by liquid that his nose soon identified as blood.
Nathan’s foot found the ground, then a flurry of hands helped stand him up as well as supporting his weight as he swiped his free arm over his right eye, followed by the cuff of his uniform.
“Can you hear me, sir?”
“Don’t call me ‘sir,’” Nathan said, seeing security uniforms around him as he tried to clear his head, which he noticed was ringing as well. “Where am I…what happened?”
“You’re a few meters down the hall from where the prisoner…exploded.”
Nathan focused on the man’s face, then the hallway around them began to materialize. A couple second later he could see the blast zone emanating from a doorway down on his left. He waved off the supportive hands and nudged his way back down there, then looked inside.
“Where’s he at?”
“Bits and pieces are everywhere, si…Archon. There’s no corpse remaining.”
“I’d recommend,” another security officer said, “that we get you to a medbay. You’ve got shrapnel damage over your entire body.”
Nathan glanced down, both at the rubble on the floor from the walls that were blown out and the growing red spots scattered over his white uniform. He grimaced, then reached up to his forehead and pulled out a piece of debris…which resulted in an increased blood flow that he swiped at with his other arm.
He looked at the shrapnel…seeing that it was a bit of bone.
“Nobody touch this room,” Nathan ordered. “I want an analysis team looking for residue traces. Any other security alerts?”
“None reported.”
“Check anyway, just in case this wasn’t isolated...I can walk, but clear the way…and have a medic meet us on the way so I’m not leaving a blood trail across the spaceport,” Nathan said, taking one more glance at the blast zone.
Message received.
9
May 29, 2405
Solar System
Earth
“You have something?” David asked as he launched himself up out of the staircase and into Davis’s office.
“I’m sorry it took so long,” the Director said as the Archon sat down opposite him, “but we had to send the fragments down to the pyramid for a closer analysis. Our equipment isn’t sensitive enough to detect the explosive when it detonates properly, which it did. It’s called Dargomir, and takes up residence in the body’s tissues…all of them. The man wasn’t carrying a bomb, he was the bomb.”
David frowned. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s rare. A specialty amongst some assassins, I’m told. Very high end tech on the black market. I’ve only got 3 cases of it ever being employed, all of which had the target ingest the explosive in liquid form, then detonated with a precise frequency microwave burst. It triggers the compound to explode simultaneously, leaving little behind to analyze. On occasion there will be pockets that do not detonate, but if there’s not it’s untraceable, yet obvious due to the nature of the damage.”
“Was he carrying the detonator on him?”
“Not on him,” Davis explained, “inside him. We think it was imbedded in his neck near his vocal chords. There was a tiny mark visible on surveillance recordings, but there wasn’t anything left after the explosion to analyze. We suspect the trigger was the phrase he spoke just before he exploded.”
“I looked it up. It comes from an old movie. Older than me, actually.”
“Treguna…Mekoides…Tracorum…Satis…Dee. It’s a spell from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, an obscure Disney movie. Did you see it?”
“No, I just googled it. It’s obscure enough that someone wouldn’t randomly say the words and accidentally trigger the device, but as to why they chose that particular phrase I don’t know. Aside from Star Force personnel, no one alive was even born in the century that it was made. If you think there’s some hidden meaning in it, I’ll have a look.”
“No need,” Davis assured him. “I actually have seen the movie and recognized the words. Coupled with the warning the operative gave Nathan, I think the spell is indicative of how they’re going to deal with us.”
“How so?”
“In the movie the spell takes inanimate objects, suits of armor in a museum, actually, and brings them temporarily alive to fight for the witch against a superior military and defeats them. The Word knows, and has admitted to the fact that they can’t match us in raw power. I think the spell is them telling us that their power is going to come from an uprising of sorts. Something or some things that appear innocuous will turn out to be our demise.”
“Sleeper agents?”
Davis shook his head. “No, bigger than that. I think they’re declaring an unconventional war, and the way they delivered the message indicates that they’re fully committed to carrying it out. They know sacrifice is an advantage they have on us, and I expect we will see many more examples in the future…though no suicide bombing spree. They know we won’t bow to social pressure.”
“I wouldn’t call sacrifice an ‘advantage,’” David argued.
Davis waved off the notion with a hand gesture. “The darkside operates with a slightly different bag of tricks, some that we’d never touch. That can offer our enemy a tactical advantage in a limited number of situations. Correct?”
“The lizards use suicide bombers to great effect, but when you know it’s coming you can guard against it. I’d call an advantage something your opponent can’t retaliate against.”
“Such as?”
“Our orbital bombardment capability. The races that use plasma weapons can’t hit the surface from orbit, we can with rail guns. Hence we have an advantage.”
Davis smiled. “I stand corrected. What word would you use?”
“It’s an avenue of attack. This Dargomir, is it always detonated with the same frequency?”
“I believe there are several options, each of which is determined by the molecular structure of the explosive.”
“Then they’re not the only ones that can detonate their bodies,” David pointed out.
Davis tapped a finger on his desk as he thought. “I’ve had this information for 5 hours now, and that thought had not occurred to me. Though the idea of random people exploding amongst crowds is not something we can allow. How do we confine the damage?”
“Choke point detonations, though they’re not practical. Have an armored room that each person has to pass through individually. Blanket each one with a microwave burst. If they blow they only take themselves with them. Is there a way to sniff out the explosive prior to detonation?”
“I’m told it requires physical contact, but I’ve already assigned a team to start work on a remote detector.”
“What’s it take to create the explosive? Something rare, I hope.”
“I’ve already got a list of targets compiling. Some of which we’re buying out. I’ve also got some idea now of what The Word is importing to their bases, some of which is exclusive to a handful of suppliers. I’m going to start waging an economic war that will hopefully slow them down, or force them to start creating more and more industry of their own. The ones I can’t take out of their reach we’ll monitor closely.”
“Green Team calls dibs.”
“You’ve got it, but I nee
d you down in Antarctica.”
“For what?”
“Taryn agreed that an Archon training summit is needed. We’re sending word out that anyone experiencing any sort of superpowers, no matter how slight, should report to the pyramid indefinitely. I’ve got a full medical research team standing by exclusively for the project. Between them and the pyramid database and equipment, I’m confident you’ll be able to sort things out.”
“Am I going to be down there by myself?”
“At present the list stands at four. You, Aaron…who will be there in 3 days, Mathis-831, and Angel-676. The latter two are Clan Croft that Taryn discovered recently insystem, and she guesses that there will be many more popping up once word gets around. Both are mild cases, like yours. Nothing as extreme as Jason, as of yet. I’m hoping you’ll be able to get some answers before anyone else potentially gets to that point.”
“You think that’s predetermined?”
Davis bobbed his head in indecision. “The problems Jason reported could be isolated to him, but I wouldn’t bet very many credits on that.”
“Neither would I,” David admitted. “These abilities have been dormant so long I can understand us having problems waking them up.”
“Find a way to do it gently, please,” the Director asked.
David mock frowned. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“The faster you get adjusted, the stronger you’ll be.”
The Archon narrowed his eyes. “I was just thinking that. Sure you’re not developing any telepathy? You’re older than the rest of us.”
“No, no mental abilities popping up here. And I don’t think it has to do with age. Your advanced training is probably shaking them loose. All four of you are from the first batch of trainees, and have become some of the strongest…so I don’t think I have to worry about myself any time soon.”
“A bit premature there, given that we don’t know what’s happening yet…and especially considering that I’m only an acolyte and there are plenty of rangers that are currently unaffected.”
