The collision alarm sounded in Lithium’s flight deck. The small holostage showed a third mosquito racing in on his tail. Lithium’s AI released the counter measures but Lithium knew his fight was over. The mosquito detonated on contact with the cruiser’s plasma jets vaporizing craft and occupant in a nanosecond.
Captain Peel watched the final detonation on the holostage of the Intrepid’s command deck and then set course for Goliath. The first part of his mission was complete. The next part would be the knockout blow for the civil state. Freedom for the entire population was imminent. He’d be hailed as a hero for his work today. There would be more glory to come.
Chapter 6
The news hit Silver hard. A file brought to her by Darklin was from the bureaucrat Skraf in Gov Central. It had been sent to Admiral Blake, and had been intercepted by Darklin’s people. There had been an attack on a group of police cruisers. All cruisers had been destroyed. No survivors were reported. All agents were dead. Silver felt the guilt that rightly belonged elsewhere; she was in hiding while her people were being killed.
“I can’t stay here,” Silver said to Darklin. It wasn’t a request but it sounded like it. Silver needed help if she was to leave Frost. Only Darklin could give her what she wanted.
“Come with me,” Darklin said. “I think I can help.”
Silver walked with Darklin through the narrow streets of the settlement. The two burly guards from Darklin’s habitation quarter walked a few meters behind. The settlement was as Silver remembered, shouts and groans of human pleasure and pain emanated from every doorway. The streets were busy but there was order amongst the population.
“You haven’t had any rioting?” Silver asked.
Darklin turned to Silver and offered a huge grin. “We are always having a bit of a riot here. It’s our main attraction.”
Silver stepped around a group crowding a doorway, stretching and twisting about each other, all trying to look inside at the violence within.
“Remember, we offer violence and disorder.” Darklin stopped. He touched Silver lightly on the elbow and nodded toward the crowded doorway. “You want to see?”
Silver looked toward the crowded doorway. She neither agreed nor refused. Darklin motioned to his two guards to clear the doorway. With the two men bulldozing a path in through the door Darklin and Silver were able to step inside.
The dark crowded area looked down at a roped off square where two heavy men were fighting. They were lit by a bright light above, the white light glistening off their sweaty, and bloody, bodies.
The crowded area around the fight was filled with the smell of sweat and a sticky heat. Shouts and groans leapt up from the crowd as one of the combatants with heavily tattooed arms landed a heavy punch on the other’s jaw.
“Bare knuckle fighting,” Darklin shouted over the noise of the crowd. “Anything goes, until one goes down.”
The fighter who had just taken the heavy blow to the jaw responded with a flurry of wild hooks. Each was deflected or avoided by his opponent. A powerful upper cut was the reply from the tattooed fighter and it landed on his opponents jaw. The opponent staggered backward, struggling to keep his feet. The tattooed man stepped forward and delivered a series of blows to his opponent’s head. The punishment took its toll and the man fell backward to the mat.
“It’s all live,” Darklin said. “These guys have had enough of VR. It just doesn’t get the blood flowing.”
The tattooed man reached down to his fallen opponent and offered a hand. The man on the floor took the hand and stood up, his knees wobbling under him. The two men fell into an embrace to cheers from the crowd.
“It’s about real competition. You can only win if you risk losing. You can only feel pleasure if you know what pain is.”
Silver watched the two men struggle out of the ring and two fresh fighters climb in. They were light and lithe. They both moved lightly on their feet and skirted about each other for a few moments. Then, according to some unspoken agreement or understanding, both men launched themselves at each other in a frenzy of punches and kicks. Attack, block and counter in a wild whirlwind of flesh and bone.
“The lighter divisions can be more exciting than the heavy hitting big guys,” Darklin said.
Silver turned to the exit. Her world was already violent enough; she didn’t need it for entertainment. Darklin’s men cleared a path and Silver stepped out into the narrow street outside.
“So you think that is better than VR?” Silver said.
Darklin shook his head. “It’s not better. It’s more dangerous. And that is the point. These people need it. They can’t get that from VR.”
Another doorway and Silver heard the familiar sounds of violence. “So you want to see VR destroyed, is that it?”
“Not at all,” Darklin said. “VR has its place. This activity isn’t for everyone. But I don’t think it should be forbidden.”
Darklin led Silver off the busy street and through a locked door. Beyond the door Silver found herself in a large hangar. A civilian personal cruiser was sitting in the center of the hangar.
“This is mine,” Darklin said. “We don’t have a police cruiser or anything military. But this will keep you hidden. Now take it, and go.” Darklin looked down to the ground. “I don’t know what the admiral will say if he finds out I let you go.”
“Just tell him I overpowered you.” Silver offered her hand to Darklin.
Darklin took her hand and stepped in close.
“Thank you for your help,” Silver said.
“Any time,” Darklin said moving closer still.
Silver generated a light gravity field with her newly repaired tac suit. It was just enough to keep Darklin from pressing in any closer. “I’ll see you again, I expect,” Silver said. Then, without waiting for a replay she turned and walked up the ramp into the small cruiser.
The personal cruiser was far smaller than Razor. It was slow and had no armaments, but it was covered with a dampening field and could pass unnoticed by ship sensors. If anyone saw the small craft or the two plasma jets with their own eyes then Silver would be discovered. But no one was looking for her. She was dead, shot down by a mosquito missile over Frost. Her craft was utterly destroyed and as far as anyone was aware she was gone. Only Darklin and Admiral Blake knew where she was and what she was doing.
The small cruiser was on course for Pepper. If there was one other high-ranking official that Silver could trust, it was Skraf. She didn’t like him, and she suspected that he didn’t like her. That was irrelevant. He was an ally. If he had known about the conspiracy to hijack the civilian cruiser and crash it into Gov Central he would have fled the complex and saved himself from certain death. Yes, the conspirators were fanatical and possibly suicidal but Skraf had no reason to allow himself to be killed.
Silver was sure he wasn’t involved with the conspiracy. But with the conspiracy gaining ground he was in danger. The bureaucratic service was necessary if the system was to recover from the current turmoil. Skraf needed to be taken into protective custody quickly.
Silver sat in the flight deck of the cruiser. It was far more elaborate in design than Razor had been, built for comfort not functionality. She reclined in a large chair and watched the craft’s slow progress toward Pepper on the holostage next to her chair.
“I am detecting a message on police HQ systems,” Arty said.
Alert and nervous, Silver sat forward. “I said no communications. I don’t want to alert Pepper’s flight control that we are inbound.”
“It is a police service coded message, reaching out to any police service AI. Only I can hear it,” Arty said.
“What is it?” asked Silver.
“It’s an image, from agent Diamond. It was sent a fraction of a second before his cruiser was destroyed.”
Arty displayed the image on the holostage. It was a grainy dark image. There was barely anything to be seen. A black image with a single bright line across it.
“Is that it
?” Silver looked more closely.
“That is the raw data.” Arty replied. “It was captured and sent in a hurry.”
“Can you enhance the image?” Silver asked.
The image blurred and darkened as Arty manipulated the image data. The resolution flickered and the bright area grew in intensity. There were clearly two elements to the image, the void of space and the dark image of a composite hull. As the image became clearer, Silver could see that the bright line was a reflection along the hull’s leading edge.
Silver looked and considered what it might be. What would her agent send in a covert message moments before his destruction?
“It is a ship.” Silver said.
The image blurred and brightened in a strobe like fashion as Arty again tried to resolve the image.
Looking at the flickering, Silver spotted a light region in the dark area of the hull.
“There,” Silver said.
“I see it,” Arty replied. The image reframed on that one bright spot.
The image flared and blinked, streaming through the visible color spectrum and then through the wider electromagnetic spectrum.
“I have it,” Arty said as the image came clear and showed the reflective edges of an embossed series of letters. “The image is incomplete but this is what Diamond sent us. It is a ship designation. I can extrapolate from this data and present the lettering I think is stamped there.”
“Do it.” Silver said.
The image resolved and showed the name. Intrepid.
“The destroyer Intrepid. Was that who was waiting to ambush my agents?”
“Uncertain, but we know one thing. It was the last thing that Agent Diamond saw.”
“Where is the Intrepid now?” Silver was up on her feet.
Silver waited for Arty to locate the destroyer. She paced back and fore. This was taking too long.
“Arty, the location, please.”
“We have them. Heading to the outer system on a course from above the ecliptic.”
“Was the Intrepid at the location that all my agents were sent to?” Silver asked.
“Possibly.”
“Can we intercept?”
“Yes.”
“Do it,” Silver said. She dropped onto a soft chair and closed her eyes. She would need rest if she was going to take on a destroyer. Her ship was outclassed in every way. She was one agent going up against a destroyer with a full complement of military personnel and Marines. Her ship was unarmed, she was fatigued and she was carrying a number of injuries. But she had one advantage. They didn’t know she was coming.
Chapter 7
The destroyer was fully in detector range before Silver was woke by her AI. She felt stiffness in her joints and her freshly mended fingers felt stiff and cold. She extended her suit around the hand, holding it in a protective and healing glove.
Silver’s cruiser was ahead of the destroyer. Arty had placed them in the flight path of the destroyer as it swooped down toward the plain of the ecliptic. She was ahead of the destroyer, but not for long.
“If you are going to board the Intrepid you need to move now,” Arty said.
“I’m going, I’m going,” Silver said testily as she limped toward the cruiser’s hatch.
A civilian cruiser of this kind was not build for much other than interplanetary transport. It had no airlock. Silver ordered Arty to depressurize the craft.
“I’ll have to power down all systems. We need to fool the onboard systems that we have landed.”
Silver powered her suit, activated her environment and set her visor to no-light vision. The cabin door clicked open.
“Once you are in contact with the destroyer you will not be able to contact me,” Arty said. “If you do I will be routed through the destroyer’s AI and you will be discovered.”
Silver stood in the open doorway, infinity at her feet. “Just tell me when to go and I’ll do the rest.”
“Go,” Arty said and Silver stepped out into the void.
The cruiser dropped away from Silver leaving her standing in black emptiness. Far away she saw the small speck that was the distant destroyer. It grew in size second by second as it powered its way across the system.
This was going to be close, Silver thought. She had no doubt in Arty’s calculations. She had no doubt in her ability. She had every faith that her suit was functioning at peak efficiency, but...
The approaching destroyer only had to adjust its heading by a fraction, adjust its attitude by a fraction or alter its predicted approach by a fraction for Silver to miss her chance. She could be left behind as the destroyer sped away to the outer system. Silver would be unable to catch up in her cruiser.
As the destroyer came even closer Silver calculated the chance of her being struck by a protruding piece of the destroyer’s outer hull. She would be smashed. There was also the danger that she could fail to grab hold of the craft and be left behind, only to be incinerated by the destroyer’s massive plasma jets.
Silver had one shot at this.
Her suit told her the craft was close enough for her grav field to touch. She extended it toward the approaching craft. The pressure built quickly. The suit compensated and adjusted the field so Silver was in contact with the craft. As the destroyer approached Silver strengthened the field and latched on like a limpet. She drew herself in toward the destroyer until she touched it with her fingers.
Silver stood up carefully, checking she was safely aboard. She looked along the hull. The craft seemed stationary now that she was secured to it. The dark composite hull was almost invisible against the black of space. Walking back toward the aft of the massive destroyer Silver used her visor to scan for any access panel or hatch. Then she would have to find a way to get inside. She had only just started this dangerous infiltration attempt. She was on the destroyer, but she needed to be inside. There was still much that could go wrong.
It wasn’t in Silver’s nature to fear the unknown, though. If it had been she would never had become an agent. She would never have come this far. Her visor scanned through the spectrum and at various combinations of frequencies as Silver searched for a way in. Then the visor showed the outline of a small port. It was too small to be a personnel access port but it was big enough for her to squeeze through, if she could get it open.
The outline of the port was almost invisible except for the frequency combination her visor was using. Silver pressed her fingers to the edge of the port. She focused the grav field on her fingertips and then extended it forward like a wide blade pressing into the edge where port joined hull. Silver felt her field penetrate the joint. With the correct amount of force Silver could crack open the destroyer’s hull like she would crack a nut. There would be security measures in place, though. She would have to be careful still. She extended her grav field around the inside of the port until it covered the interior side of the port, creating an artificial hull. If there were pressure sensors inside she might be able to fool them. Without a moment to lose and nothing to be gained from hesitation Silver cracked the nut.
The port cover came away at one edge. The crack opened to reveal nothing but darkness inside. Silver slid the cover aside and once fully open she began to slide inside head first. She was in an open space. Her suit’s sensors told her it was only a few meters across but several meters deep. Silver closed the hatch behind her and dropped down to the bottom.
The space, like a square tube, had small ports on the sides all the way down. They were similar in design to the outer port. Silver cracked one open the same way she had cracked the outer one. She was showered with a hail of debris of various sizes and textures. She realized she had found the trash. The disposal units of the crew quarters fed in to the square tube and the trash. She pressed past the trash and emerged in a crew quarter trashcan. Carefully checking the quarters were empty before moving on further Silver sat in silence. The quarters were empty. Silver was aboard.
The crew quarters were simple and clearly for a low rankin
g crew member. There was a bed, a small desk and chair, a wash room and a closet. Inside the closet Silver found a uniform, a basic coverall suit with requisite badges and identity labels. In a crew of just over a hundred it was unlikely she would go unnoticed for long but the uniform would give her a bit more freedom to move about the ship undiscovered than her tac suit would. She slipped it on over her grav suit and slipped out through the door into the corridor outside.
Job one was to find a terminal. She came across a general terminal in a corridor and sent out a connection fibre from her suit into the terminal. She was accessing unsecured ships information in moments. All she needed to know was the location of the captain. His quarters were in a secure area of the ship not accessible to regular crew. His office was more accessible but it was located off the main command deck.
Silver decided she was going to find a way into that office. It was dangerous but she was determined that Captain Peel was going to tell her why his ship had attacked and destroyed her agents. It was possible that only one of them would walk away from the meeting but Silver had more work to do after this. She was determined she would not fail.
She guessed that the best way to gain entry to the captain’s office was to be brazen and bold so she marched along the corridors of the destroyer and headed to the command deck. Her only doubt in this strategy was that one of the other crewmen walking about the ship would recognize the identity tags on her coveralls and call her out as an infiltrator.
She moved past crewmen and officers, all preoccupied, all too busy with their own tasks to notice the agent in their midst. The command deck was up ahead. Silver walked calmly through the open doors, passed the two Marines on guard there. The captain’s office was to her left. She turned smartly toward it and pressed her hand to the door. It swung open easily and Silver was inside.
Infiltrate (Silver Cane Chronicles Book 3) Page 4
