by Frank Carey
"I rest my case, then," Trent said enigmatically.
Christa shook her head. "Why don't we move on? What about Team Nina?"
"Like us, they have three primary members--driver, engineer, and network. The driver is Claud Dilan, retired Space Marine and son of Lady Anna of House Traina. The team is financed via Traina's vast volcano mining interests..."
"Not to mention a secret fleet of pirate ships they use to supplement their income," Harm added. "Actually, I should have said 'had," since they lost most of them when they tried to take on Adm. Mitrell. From what I hear, House Traina is barely holding on and a loss here could significantly accelerate their downfall."
I stared at my husband in shock. "Where do you get this stuff?" I asked. I could feel my eyebrows knitting together.
"I hear things," he replied as he sat down and read Team Nina's dossier.
I swear, the stories about phenomenal elf hearing acuity were true. Taking a cue from my husband, I opened Nina's jacket and read through it. That's when I saw it, the section on sanctions and accusations.
Even in this age of the kinder and gentler League, sports like suit fighting are rife with competitors who push the envelope when it came to bending rules which is why professional sports have referees, umpires, and line judges. Their job is to make sure rules remain bent, not broken.
Suit fighting is no different from the ancient forms of football, basketball, auto racing, baseball, or even remote control vehicle competitions in that it pits one opponent or team against one or more opponents or teams, though there are more ways to cheat due to the technology involved. That's where sanctions and accusations come into play. If a team is caught cheating, it can be sanctioned and a record of the sanction is placed in the team's record. If no sanction is made, the accusation is recorded so that the statisticians can look for trends in the team's behavior. Team Nina has the lowest sanction rating while its accusation rating was the highest of any team. This combination of high and low ratings screamed they were doing something nefarious but getting away with it. "Bobby, what the hell is happening out there?"
"Every team Nina plays against reports problems they accuse Nina of causing. Brenda froze for a second during our match with Nina, and I couldn't determine a reason, though it could have been the electronics we’d used. We still won the match, but the dropout made the win too close for comfort."
"How was Team Nina rated at the beginning of the season?" Harm asked.
"Low to medium when compared to the other teams. Their wins surprised even the most seasoned bookies."
"Yet they had no sanctions?" Christa asked.
"None, even after off-field review. If they're doing something, they're keeping it well hidden," Trent explained.
I'm a Marine, trained by the best in the business. Royce was always big on teaching us to improvise, adapt, and overcome, so I wasn't worried about this. Harm, on the other hand... "Husband, would you mind staying in the pits to lend a hand?" I asked as a way of gently breaking it to him that I plan to go ahead with the match.
"Try to keep me away," he replied.
I could see the relief on my children's faces. Even though they were more than capable of keeping Team Luciana train running, it was nice to have him around just in case. "So, we're on for tomorrow night?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Harm said. "I saw the Marta was scheduled to arrive any time now."
Damn! "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "I doubt they even know we're here," he said as he thumbed through the rest of the folders. "Hmmm," he said as he pulled an envelope from the pile.
"What's that?" I asked. It wasn't a dossier jacket, but more like a private communique.
He put the others down before examining it. "It’s a priority one, eyes-only packet from Chasm. I used it to cover my escape--excuse me, my exit--from OffSec Records. I completely forgot about it." He handed it to me.
I narrowed my eyes at my forgetful husband as I took the envelope from him. "I swear, you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached," I muttered as I opened it and read the contents. What the...
"So, I get to meet the rest of the family?" Trent asked.
"Yep, and especially Shenda's babies," Christa said gleefully. "They're about two..."
"Sixteen," I said in shock. I could feel the blood drain from my face.
"Months?" Bobby asked as his brows knitted together. "But I thought they were born two..."
"Years. They're sixteen years old. My grandchildren are sixteen years old," I said as harm took the envelope and contents from my shaking hands.
"That's impossible," Christa said.
Harm shook a thumb drive from the envelope and plugged it into a port on the table. An image of two teenagers, a boy and girl, both ash gray with glowing blue eyes and waving tail, appeared. "Hi Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bobby, and Aunt Christa!" they said in unison.
"I'm Grayson!" the boy said.
"And I'm Ashley," the girl added.
"We can't wait to see you!" they said together as the message ended.
"They seem nice," Trent said. The rest of the room just stared at the screen. "I can see the resemblance."
Christa looked at him, her slack-jawed look slowly morphing into a weak smile. "Right. Could someone explain what the hell we just saw?"
I had no idea. It was only months ago, I was holding those two--both of them--in my arms, watching them coo and chortle. Now, they were teenagers. I swear, I saw something like this in one of Harm's old movies.
"Losi and the other docs are baffled," Harm explained. "There is no record of anything like this happening on a League world. Not only have the kids hyperaged, they seem to have access to the knowledge of both parents, which means they know the contents of both the League and Crystal databases. This is incredible."
I looked around the room. Bobby was smiling. He saw me looking his way. "You look like you can't wait to meet them," I said.
"They are so cool. I wonder if they'll be into suit fighting."
I could always count on Roberto to have a level head. As Shenda once noted, Bobby was the rock of the four siblings. He was their anchor. Christa, though, was another matter. I looked over and saw her ashen face and trembling lips. "Christa! Snap out of it" I yelled.
"What? Oh," she said as her cheeks flushed. "Sorry. I... I..."
I reached across the table and took her hand. "You're freaked, we all are. Just remember those two kids are your flesh and blood. Imagine what it must be like from their point of view."
"Anyway," Harm added, "didn't you and your sibs share a demon once?"
Christa blushed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She leaned back and saw Trent looking at her. "What?"
"Your family is very cool," he said.
She smiled while her tail tried to make an appearance. Ignoring it, she asked, "You think so?"
He nodded, then stopped when he saw Harm looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Lucien, anything else?" I asked in an attempt at breaking my husband's concentration.
Dropping his stare, Harm gathered the pages and put them back into the folder. "That's all he wrote. He and Shenda want to talk to me and you when they arrive."
"Computer, arrival status of LTV Marta McMurphy?" I asked.
"LTV Marta McMurphy is inbound. ETA at docking port E135: twenty minutes," the computer replied.
I nodded. "Let's go meet the family. Trent, you're welcome to join us," I said.
"Thank you. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Chapter 17 - Discoveries and Skullduggery
Tryton Station may be one of the lesser stations in the sector, but you wouldn't know that from the docking facilities which are considered top-shelf. A gang of dock personnel moved in as the Marta hard docked to the station, ready to off-load the cargo before on-loading more to replace it. Time was money for merchants and the station crew knew it.
With a final loud clunk, the Marta hard sealed to the station. Moments later, the ma
in door slowly opened to reveal Shenda and the crew waiting inside the Marta's hold. Before they could step out, two figures dashed out, ran across the deck to where we were standing.
"Grandmother!" they yelled as both grabbed me to give me a bear hug that a grizzly would be proud of.
"Hey, kiddos," I said while hugging them back. "Have you two grown since the last time I saw you?"
Ashley stepped back and said with fists on her hips, "According to Doc, we're sixteen now!"
"Great," Harm noted. "I'll need more sticks to beat the suiters off with."
"Grandpa!" the twins said in unison.
I reached around and grabbed Trent who was hiding behind me. Placing him beside Christa, I announced, "This is Trent, Bobby's friend and partner. Trent, say hello to my family."
"Hi," he said with a little wave.
No one said anything. They were busy staring at Christa and her tail which was ogling Trent.
I cleared my throat.
"Shit," she said as she grabbed it, shoving it into her belt.
The family laughed as they swarmed Trent, welcoming him in the process.
"Grandma," Grayson whispered, "is Christa interested in Trent?"
"Yep," I said as I hugged the two of them once more.
"They're a cute couple. I wonder if he knows." Ashley added.
"Yes, they are, and no, he doesn't know. Give him time."
Shenda walked up to us and gave me a kiss while tousling the twins' hair. "So, my mom is a suit fighter. Nice. Look, we've got to unload and reload before we do anything else."
"I understand. My team and I need to get back to training for tomorrow night's match..." I looked at Ashley and Grayson and saw their faces drop. "Hey, Lucien, got a minute?"
Harm ran over. "Yes, my love?"
"Shenda, would it be alright if the twins gave Harm a hand? He needs to run a few errands around the station before the match and could really use their help."
"I do?"
I gave him the hairy-eyeball.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. Shenda, may I borrow your two lovely children?"
The twins lit up like a pair of novae.
"I don't know..." she looked at Chasm for guidance.
He nodded. "I think Ruby would love to join them as well."
I forgot about Ruby. A tall something in a red jumpsuit walked up and took her turn tousling the kid's hair. "I'd love to join you," she said.
"What the hell are you?" I asked.
She explained. Ah, the carefree life of non-corporeal life forms.
"Nice look. Love the jumpsuit,” I commented.
"Thanks. Connie lent it to me."
"Well?" I asked Shenda.
"Sure. Good idea," she replied. She turned to her offspring. "You two are to be on your best behavior. Grandpa is getting on in years..."
Harm choked while I stifled laughter.
"...so take it easy on him, OK?"
"Got it, Mom," Ashley said while her brother nodded.
After saying their goodbyes, Harm, Ruby, and the twins set off. Meanwhile, I turned to Shenda. "What's up?"
Her eyes were huge. "Where do I start? My babies are teenagers, for God's sake," she said as she hugged me. "First, they take out a team of mercs, then they steal a religious artifact. Look, I'm good, hell, the sibs and I are real good, but we don't even come close to Ashley and Grayson. Mom, they're... They're..."
"They are your children. No matter how old, or how smart, they are your children. Love them with all your heart and soul. You're not in this alone. You've got your parents, your sibs, and your crew to help you."
She looked at me. "Did you feel helpless, you know, when Dad..."
I wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, and my solution sucked. There isn't a day I regret what I did. You, young lady, are a hell of a lot smarter than me, so don't make the same mistakes."
She nodded. "I've got to get back to work."
"Copy that," I said. "The match is tomorrow at 2000 hours in the stadium. Just identify yourself to the staff and they'll take you to the VIP box."
"I can't wait. You psyched?"
"I am going to kick major ass, you just watch and see. Your mom is going to do some major damage to her opponent."
"Now, don't get cocky, young lady," Shenda admonished.
"Yes, ma'am!" I said with a salute. We laughed.
Seeing Bobby and Trent finishing with the group, we made our exit and headed back to the stall to get in more practice and testing. Christa was bound and determined to figure out how Team Nina was shutting down its competitors.
I was looking forward to tomorrow.
###
I carefully removed the suit harness and placed it on its rack before collapsing in my seat while waves of exhaustion washed over me. I looked over at Trent and saw a man as exhausted as me, sweat pouring off him. "Aren't you supposed to be resting?"
He gave me a weak smile. Between quaffs of water, he said, "Oops, my bad. Damn, General, are all the women in your family this tough?"
Before I could answer, my daughter joined us in an agitated state. "I found it!" she yelled while bringing up a holoprojection above the table. "Those bastards are using sound!"
I looked at me daughter and marveled at how she has transformed in the last few days. Of my four daughters, she is the most feminine, preferring dresses and skirts to slacks. Standing before me was Christa 2.0 in cut-off shorts, a camo shirt, a bandana wrapped around her head, and tennis shoes. She threw a stack of books on the table and took a deep drink of water before continuing.
She pointed to some incomprehensible piece of equipment floating above the table. "That's the high fidelity audio mixer all teams use to mix crowd noise with verbal communications between the suit driver and the pit crew."
"Crowd noise?"
"Yeah," Bobby explained as he finished up shutting down the unit and setting it for recharge. "The other drivers love to hear the roar of the crowds and the mixer allows them to enjoy the adoration while still being able to hear their pit crew."
I find it odd that ex-military types would go for this sort of thing. Most of us work out of sight on ops where visibility would be detrimental. "So, what does this mixer have to do with the shut downs?"
"I went through the logs from the match where Team Luciana suffered a shutdown during its match with Team Nina. I was able to isolate the shutdown and back trace it to a command originating from the mixer..."
"Why the hell would the mixer be giving commands?" Trent asked. "It's supposed to be a command receiver only, and those commands should only be settings and power state."
Christa plopped down in the chair next to Trent and leaned back to look at him in a sort of upside-down state. "Correct-o-mundo, yet I found a command string originating from the unit."
"What kind of command?" I asked, intrigued.
"System reset. Since the unit is active, the reset is overridden, but it takes about a second due to a flaw in the suits operating system. That's where the freeze comes into play."
"It sounds like someone found the glitch and exploited it," Bobby said. "What now?"
"Well, I can fix it, but it'll take a day of programming and testing," Christa said as she played with Trent's hair. I have to give him credit. He just smiled and went along, not an iota of trepidation in his body language.
"Any changes to the core OS need to be tested by the refs. That could take weeks," Bobby informed us. I could hear the dejection in his voice.
Mom to the rescue. "Did you find the trigger? Is it a specific sound?" I asked.
Christa turned her seat around so she could lean up against Trent. He put his arm around her.
"I think so. I decompiled the code and it looks like a modulated 40kHz ultrasonic pulse activates the reset. Someone had to have gotten into the mixer and reprogrammed it to react to that particular stimulus, probably using a virus injected during one of the scheduled software maintenance uploads. I could try reprogramming..."
"How about we j
ust turn off the external mics on the suit while running the headset mics through low-pass filters to keep the pulse out?"
Christa's head snapped forward to look at me while the other two followed suit. Her look was priceless. "Yeah, that would work."
The Earth Marine Corps has a motto: Improvise, adapt, and overcome. I have spent most of my adult life finding solutions to problems using whatever was handy. You can't spend a day reprogramming your battle armor while fighting-off the bad guys.
"Is it against any rules?" I asked the other two members of the team.
They both grinned. "Nope. No driver ever shuts down the external, but there is no rule against them doing so," Bobby noted.
"In fact, we can record the crowd noise from the pit area just in case someone tries something," Trent added. I looked at Christa and saw wonderment in her eyes. The girl definitely needs some sleep.
I rubbed my eyes. "Where are we?" I heard snoring coming from Christa while Bobby and Trent sat with their heads tilted back. "OK, we are done for the night." I got up, walked over to Christa, and said, "Wakey-wakey, daughter. Let's get you back to your room for much-needed sleep. Boys, hit the hay. We'll regroup in the morning."
Chapter 18 - Ashley and Grayson
It was late by the time Christa and I headed back to her room. As we walked, our conversation turned to Trent. I could tell my little girl was smitten. "Sounds like your dad and I have to prep for a bonding ceremony," I said while looking to the ceiling as I mapped out the guest list.
Christa came to an abrupt stop while her face flushed bright red. "Mom!" she said while looking around to see if anyone heard.
I reached over and gave her a hug. "Just kidding kiddo.” We turned a corner and found our way blocked by Frasier. I stopped Christa with my arm as I surveyed the situation. Frasier stood there, swaying with his arms crossed and feet splayed in an attempt to steady himself. He was angry, too angry. I looked around for a blue button, one of those things you press when you feel threatened. There was none in sight.
"I knew Frasier, hell I trained with him until he decided to sell out our team to the highest bidder. Frasier was a team kind of guy that means he had friends waiting in the wings. I noticed that he stood in front of an intersection, so his friends were probably waiting down one or both side corridors.
