by Dietmar Wehr
“HR to LMEF. Your suspicion that Sara’s rape and murder were not the result of a random attack by pirates appears to be confirmed. Someone on Earth told Thule Station to keep an eye out for me. The only way they would know that Thule was a logical place for me to start my search is if they overheard our private conversation. You may have a mole in your organization. I’m pleased to report that the scales of justice have been balanced insofar as the individual who raped and murdered Sara is concerned. However, he clearly had help, and I’m now searching for his accomplices. The timing of my next report is unclear. End of message.
“Let’s make sure that message is encrypted with the algorithm that…” Hoch stopped as a disturbing thought reared its ugly head. Franz had given him the encryption algorithm which he had uploaded to Keko. Theoretically, only Mistress Fontaine had the decryption key, but if their private conversation had been overheard, it had to have been arranged by someone who had access to Mistress Fontaine’s private suite. Someone like Franz or his buddy. It was now looking more and more like one of them was the mole. Either they had found a way to copy her decryption key, or more likely they had substituted a bogus algorithm—one that only they could decrypt—for the real one. There was one way to find out and maybe flush Honniger’s accomplices out of the bushes at the same time.
[I only have one encryption algorithm, Hoch. Shall I request that the station transmit your encrypted message now?]
“No. Just in case the people backing Honniger are able to decrypt my message, I’m going to send a different one. HR to LMEF. I’ve found Sara’s killer. He gave up enough information that I’m now certain I can find out who else was involved and who ordered her killed. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was not able to finish my business with him, and because his information is time-sensitive, I need to leave Blue Horizon Station immediately. However, when I return, he and everyone else involved will get the justice they deserve. End of message.”
[You’re hoping that the mastermind on Earth will order the ship behind Sara Fontaine’s murder to come here by the time we get back from Dresden?]
“That’s correct, Keko. Now that we’ve bought those re-cycling units, it would look suspicious if we just stayed here waiting for them to arrive. By going to Dresden before returning here, we accomplish a couple of things. My cover as a trader starts looking more legit, and I make my alibi concerning Honniger’s time of death even stronger. If this message is intercepted and somehow finds its way to the authorities, it will look like Honniger was alive when I left the station.”
[Very devious, Hoch. I’ve encrypted your second message. Send it now?]
“Yes, do that. Where are we with the re-cycling units?”
[I’m watching the units being moved by robotic cargo carriers to our docking bay now. We should have them stowed within approximately eight minutes, Hoch.]
Hoch didn’t relax until the ship had undocked and was heading for Dresden Station.
Chapter Four:
Lady Luck must have been smiling on Hoch, because when he arrived at Dresden Station, he discovered they had not yet obtained any re-cycling units. Indeed, they were very glad to get their hands on some because one of their operating units was close to failure, and they had zero spares. Keko was able to negotiate a very good exchange rate for the local liquor. The quantity was large enough that the sale of it on Earth would net Hoch over a hundred thousand Earth credits.
“I’m surprised that no one brought any re-cycling units before we did. With the high demand for their liquor, you’d think that there’d be lots of ships making regular runs between Dresden and Earth, wouldn’t you?” he asked Keko.
[I’ve checked the station logs and FTL message traffic. The frequency of arriving trading ships has dropped off significantly over the last six months or so. Apparently, half a dozen starfreighters left this station for Earth but never arrived there. It appears that some of the other traders have decided not to tempt fate and have shifted their trading routes elsewhere.]
“Has Wolfbane docked here within the last six months?” asked Hoch on an impulse.
[Affirmative, but only once, and that was five and a half months ago. Sara Fontaine’s ship visited here twice. The last time was twenty-one days after visiting Thule Station where she met you.]
“Oh, really. Remind me again where Sara went after Thule and Hannelon Colony.”
[She left Hannelon for the New Singapore Colony, then Blue Horizon, Dresden, Earth and finally Ceridian where her ship was attacked.]
“Do we know if she brought Dresden Liquor back to Earth, Keko?”
[Affirmative. According to the data that Mistress Fontaine uploaded into me before your departure, the quantity was substantial.]
“Ha, so it looks like she was beginning to exploit the Dresden liquor trade on a regular basis, but if that’s what she was planning, why not just shuttle back and forth between Earth and Dresden Station?”
[I can explain the trips to Hannelon and New Singapore colonies. Both of them produce locally grown foods that would have found a market at Dresden or any other trading station. Blue Horizon happens to be in the direct path between New Singapore and Dresden, and she may have stopped there to make more trades or perhaps send an urgent FTL message to Earth. As for Ceridian, she only visited that station once. Ceridian does not produce any unique tradeable goods, but it has developed a reputation for being able to customize ships, and there is circumstantial evidence that their customizing capability includes installing weapons.]
“Son of a bitch.” said Hoch slowly. “She knew she was in danger, and she went to Ceridian to arrange for weapons to be installed. I’ll bet they couldn’t do it right then and there. She would have had to come back a second time, but she never made it back.”
[That would be a reasonable hypothesis, Hoch. By the way, docking is now complete. Station Admin is asking if you’re going to be coming there soon to register.]
“Okay, tell them I’m on my way.”
As he walked to the Admin Offices, Hoch reviewed what he knew about civilian starships being armed. There was no outright prohibition against it, but the companies that built starfreighters did not want to run the risk of being sued by victims of armed ships built by them, so they voluntarily refrained from selling any. Some ship owners had definitely found a way around that. Wolfbane, for example, was herself not armed, but she carried a highly modified cargo shuttle that had an auto-cannon built into it. The armed shuttle was capable of escorting incoming or outgoing ships for a client station or colony. Sara’s ship hadn’t been much larger than Whirlwind and therefore didn’t have the room to carry an auxiliary craft. Adding a weapon to her ship would have meant some serious hull modification. That would have taken time, and it would have cost a lot. When he got to the offices, he found the staff there friendly and accommodating, a welcome change from Thule and Blue Horizon. With the formalities taken care of, he stayed a few minutes longer to chat with the attractive young woman behind the counter about life on board the station. While he was doing that, Keko was carefully searching the station network for any data that could expand their understanding of the big picture re: Sara’s murder. Hoch waited until he was back on-board Whirlwind before exchanging information with Keko because he found it easier to converse with her verbally rather than consciously thinking of his responses.
“Find anything in the station databases?”
[Affirmative. URS made an offer to buy out the station owners two years ago. Their offer was rejected. I also discovered another interesting tidbit of data. The company that makes the re-cycling units is owned by a company that’s owned by a company that’s owned by URS.]
“Hmm. I find the first fact more interesting than the second one. URS is such a huge conglomerate that some of the station’s components are bound to be manufactured by a URS subsidiary. You already know what Elvira told me during the chat. Any comments on what she said?”
[Her statement that the station owners are convinced th
e missing starfreighters were victims of piracy is to be expected. It’s difficult to come up with an explanation that involves natural causes or malfunctions, but there is still no conclusive evidence that piracy was the cause. If those missing ships were intercepted, it was too far away for any distress signal to be heard, unlike Sara Fontaine’s case where her ship was attacked shortly after entering jumpspace. It took almost twenty-one hours for the automated distress signal to reach Ceridian Station. That still gave her attackers plenty of time to transfer her cargo.]
“But they didn’t take her ship. They left a perfectly usable ship behind, unlike the other missing ships. We have no way of knowing for sure, but those ships could have been captured as well, and after the crews were disposed of, the ships could have had their transponder ID numbers changed.”
[Why would they leave Sara Fontaine’s ship behind?]
Hoch nodded. Keko was capable of some clever insights into human behavior, but she still managed to miss some obvious things. “They either wanted to send a message to Mistress Fontaine, or they wanted to distract her from something else like…I don’t know, corporate maneuvering maybe. Any other thoughts?”
[Affirmative. Changing a ship’s name is easy, but changing a transponder ID number is not. That requires some sophisticated equipment and expertise. I wonder if Ceridian Station has that kind of equipment and expertise.]
“Now THAT is an interesting question. Has the trade been completed yet?”
[All re-cycling units have been offloaded. The loading of the liquor is almost done. Am I correct in thinking that you’re in a hurry to get back to Blue Horizon, Hoch?]
“You are correct, Keko. I’d say that I’m dying to see if someone took our bait, but I’m too superstitious to use the word ‘dying’. When we’re out of station radar range, you can boost our speed to maximum.”
[The auto-pilot has been given the necessary instructions. I confess that I don’t understand why some humans are superstitious. Where is the logic in that?]
Hoch chuckled. “There is none!”
When Whirlwind arrived back in the Blue Horizon star system, Hoch told Keko to turn off the ship’s transponder. That was a violation of generally accepted regulations that all stations and colonies insisted on, and Blue Horizon would impose penalties when he docked, but he was willing to pay that price in order to have an advantage over anyone waiting for him. Knowing who they were before they knew he was back would give him time to plan his strategy. Luckily, Keko was able to access the station’s network before the ship got within the station’s radar range.
[Only one ship is currently docked, Hoch. It’s the Skies The Limit. She’s listed as a trader, and she’s been here before. A dozen times in fact. Her trading record is unusual in that she always sells cargo, never buys any.]
“Check her arrival and departure times compared with the timing of the attack on Sara’s ship and adjusting for the transit time between the two locations. Could that ship be Sara’s attackers?”
[The two sets of data fit well together, but only if that ship has military-grade engines.]
“Do we know if Ceridian Station is capable of upgrading engines to that level?”
[I have no conclusive evidence to give you a yes or a no, Hoch; however, everything we know about Ceridian would suggest that they likely are. We’re about to enter radar range.]
“Okay. When they demand to know our identity, turn our transponder back on and apologize for the oversight.”
A few seconds later, Keko confirmed the station challenge and their provisional acceptance of the apology.
“Do you have full access to their network yet, Keko?”
[Affirmative, Hoch. I can now tell you the following. Skies The Limit had an encrypted message from Earth waiting for them when they arrived. Three members of the crew, including I believe their Captain, are currently having drinks in the Cantina. The station network has just notified one of them that Whirlwind is coming in to dock. That individual has a headband device. I may be able to determine its capabilities, but there would be a risk of discovery that would tip them off to my existence. Do you wish me to proceed?]
Hoch pondered that for a few seconds before replying. “Go ahead.” To his surprise, Keko didn’t come back immediately.
[That was tricky, Hoch. The Captain has a headband that is superior to Honniger’s but still not up to my level. I don’t believe that I was detected; however, I can’t be 100% certain of that.]
“Very good, Keko. You continually amaze me,” he said with a smile.
[Yes, I do believe that I’m unique.]
Hoch chuckled and nodded. “Well, then, let’s dock this bird and go visit the Cantina.”
As the ship was docking, Hoch was getting ready for a possible confrontation with the STL’s crew. He already had his stunner and was looking at the two tranquilizer guns.
“Is the Captain’s headband capable of determining that I’m armed if I carry these in the pant pockets?”
[Affirmative. It is quite capable, given its limitations. Why not use the restraining straps inside the ends of your sleeves?]
Hoch had no idea what she was referring to, but as he examined the inside of his suit’s cuffs, he saw that they had been tailored so that something small could be held inside the sleeve, easily retrievable by the other hand. He inserted one of the dart guns and it was almost completely hidden inside the sleeve. “Whoever designed this outfit thought of everything,” he said as he repeated the action with the second gun in the other arm’s sleeve.
The docking went off perfectly, and Hoch headed for the usual check-in at the Admin Offices, while Keko kept tabs on the three crewmen from the other ship. Knowledge of his approach and docking hadn’t seemed to motivate any of the three to stop drinking. Hoch had half expected them to try to ambush him on the way to the Admin Offices. The fact that they weren’t even trying he considered to be a lucky break.
Check-in at the Admin Offices was routine, and before long he was crossing the threshold of the entrance to the Cantina. He stopped there and took a long look at the only three people sitting at a table. They were male, wearing dark grey, one-piece outfits that many freighter crews wore and were sitting so that he could see their faces. They were too busy talking to each other to notice him yet. He began walking slowly towards their table. When the one on the right happened to look around the room, he noticed Hoch and nudged the one in the middle, who Hoch saw was wearing a metallic headband. All three had stopped talking and were looking at him. Hoch tried to get a clue as to what they were thinking from their expressions. They might as well be playing poker. All three of them are keeping their expressions under control and not revealing anything. When Hoch got close enough, he read the nametag on the Captain’s uniform. Traeger. Anything in your database on this guy, Keko?
[Nothing, Hoch.]
“Is there something we can do for you, Mister...”—Traeger looked at Hoch’s nametag—“Racheengel? Did I pronounce that correctly?”
“Maybe,” said Hoch as he scratched an imaginary itch on his cheek with the hand that had that tattoo on it, making sure that all three men could see it. There was no obvious sign of recognition. “A very good friend of mine was raped and murdered by pirates a while back as she tried to leave the Ceridian Station. I’m looking for clues to the name of the ship that attacked her or the names of the Captain or crew on that ship. I don’t suppose you might have some information about that? I’m willing to pay for it if you have something.” Again there was no change in their expressions. Hoch had been certain that mentioning Sara’s murder would trigger some kind of involuntary reaction.
“Can’t help you there, Captain Racheengel, but maybe we can conduct some business between us. What kind of asset would you have offered as payment if we did have that kind of info?”
“Nothing dramatic. I’ve just come from Dresden Station, and I have some of the brandy that’s made from indigenous fruit. I was thinking of offering a case of that liquor, but in
terms of a trade, I’m not interested in trading more than that here. I have to ask this, Captain Traeger. Did you or your crew kill Sara Fontaine?” This time there was a physical reaction on Traeger’s face. He started blinking quickly, then laughed.
“Hell, no. We haven’t killed anybody.”
[He’s lying, Hoch.]
Bingo! Hoch tried to keep his own expression unchanged and neutral, but he was elated by the thought that he had found Honniger’s accomplices.
“Glad to hear that. If you or your crew happen to overhear something that would help me find those scum and their backers, and you get that info to me somehow, I’ll find a way to show my appreciation. Nice meeting you, Captain.” Hoch nodded to them, turned and walked back to the exit. What are they doing now, Keko?
[The other two are talking to each other. About what I can’t say, but Traeger is using his headband to query the station about any cargo that Whirlwind is offering.]
