by Rachel Aukes
Chapter Twelve
Choosing Sides
Critch’s crew—even Gabe—welcomed their captain back as soon as they caught up with him and Reyne’s team in the tunnels.
Maddox, one of Critch’s crew, sobered soon after greeting his captain. “We lost Sam. But at least he never felt a thing.”
Critch grimaced. “Damn it. Not Sam.”
Maddox paused. “What’s the word on Chutt?”
Critch’s jaw clenched. “He didn’t make it.”
Silence befell his crew.
Maddox turned to Reyne. “Why the sudden change in RP?”
Before Reyne could answer, the sounds of approaching steps had everyone rushing to level their pistols and rifles on the entrance. Moments later, Seda and his men stepped into the underground room. Their eyes widened, and Seda’s men raised their weapons in defense.
“Funny,” Seda said. “I was beginning to feel like you were having a party and I wasn’t invited.” He looked at Reyne. “You changed the rendezvous location without telling me. At least you were nice enough to stop at one of my businesses so my security could report your location to me.”
Reyne strode right up to the stationmaster and slammed him into the wall.
Seda shoved him off and had him pinned to the same wall in a flash of movement. “Watch yourself. Assaulting me is becoming an unpleasant habit of yours.”
Reyne glared. “How’d the CUF get there so soon, Seda?”
Seda’s eyes narrowed before he pushed away from Reyne. “We had a leak. I plugged it.”
“How convenient,” Reyne said.
“If I was going to betray you, I’d wait until everyone was in the same room and then gas it. I don’t like risking my life and the lives of my men if I don’t have to. Tipping off the CUF got three good men killed today.”
One of Critch’s crew—Alex was his name—holstered his pistol and held up a hand. “Let’s all just put our weapons away and talk.” He looked at Reyne. “Seda’s telling the truth. I saw what happened back at the Citadel. One of Seda’s guys sold us out. Seda caught on and drifted him.”
Seda held out a hand as he explained. “Donovan gave himself away when Vlad got shot by one of the patrols that hit us at the Citadel. Don always had a lousy poker face. He’d been with me a long time. He was a very capable soldier, but greedy. I thought I paid him enough to satisfy his itch. I was wrong, and Vlad and Sam paid the price for Donovan’s treachery. It was Donovan who tipped off the CUF to make a few extra credits. What he didn’t expect was seeing his pal have his brains blown out by a dromadier, and it threw him.”
Critch then walked between the two groups. “It’s done. Holster your weapons now. We don’t have time this. We have work to do.”
Everyone obeyed.
Seda smoothed his shirt and walked over to Critch. “It’s nice to see you made it,” Seda said. “Did you see Stationmaster Patel during your stay?”
“She’s alive, but she needs medical attention.”
“Well, then we’d better get her out of there. Do you have the location of the generators?”
Critch pointed to his head. “I need to see a map.”
Seda nodded to his men. “Tax, Corbin, cover the entrance. The rest of you, stay sharp.” He pulled out a tablet and set it down on a crate. He ran his hands through several command sequences. A projected image of the Citadel displayed on the wall. Seda tapped on the tablet again to zoom in on the image, and the entire facility’s layout appeared.
Seda began. “The walls and ceilings are reinforced with titanium, and the floors are solid rock with titanium rebar. As you can see, it’s the Collective’s largest Faraday cage to prevent any sort of EMP disturbance.”
“Cages can be broken,” Reyne said.
“It won’t be easy,” Seda said. “We must use EMPs. Any other tools involve deadly force, which guarantees prisoner deaths from friendly fire as well as draws unwanted attention from the outside.”
Critch pulled up a crate and sat down. “EMPs will work.” He traced his fingers around the walls. “All the cells line the outer walls, so we can’t shoot our way in without collateral damage. Prisoners are randomly rotated into new cells each day, so it’s impossible to know where anyone is on any given day. To make it more complicated, prisoners are rotated between two shifts. When one shift is in the commons, the other shift is in cells.”
Critch continued. “That the Citadel is fully automated will work in our favor. I only saw two staff when I was there. The drones distribute food and supplies. They shock anyone carrying more than one food ration or anything else they deem to be on the contraband list. Other than that, it’s a self-run ecosystem. The problem within the prison is the people. The gangs control everything. While the majority are political prisoners, there are some criminals in there. I don’t see a way to separate the two when we take down the Citadel.”
Reyne’s lips thinned. “We’ll be unleashing criminals back into the fringe. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I have,” Seda said. “I have no qualms about releasing criminals back into the system if it means we’re doing a greater good.”
“I figure we make the same offer to everyone, regardless of why they’re in there,” Critch said as he scrolled through the maps. “Become a torrent or go their own way. But we’ll be quite clear: any torrent who breaks the rules will pay the price.”
“They’ll naturally congregate with their gangs from the Citadel after we free them,” Reyne said. “We’ll likely have to deal with that at some point.”
“Any thug who tries to return to his previous ways on my planet will find swift justice from me,” Seda said.
“Here they are,” Critch said and both men turned to the screen. “The backup generators are here and”—he shifted the map— “here, across the prison.”
Seda frowned. “They have two separate backup generators? That complicates things.”
Critch continued. “The Citadel has redundancies for everything. So it makes sense it has redundant backup systems. It’s a simple layout once you understand it. If you cut the Citadel down the middle, each half is a mirror image of the other. The generators sit a level below the open prison area where prisoners spend each day, and each is enclosed in its own Faraday cage to protect it from EMPs and electrical interference.”
Reyne held up three fingers. “We need three EMP teams. Two teams to take down the generators and a team to take down the Citadel.”
“I believe you could still get by with two teams,” Seda offered. “A team for each generator. Then, once the generators are fried, one of the teams sets off the big EMP.”
Critch turned to Birk. “How far out are the specters? We could use some of them on this one.”
“They’re all at Nova Colony,” Birk answered. “To assist with the evacuations.”
Critch frowned. “Evacuations from what?”
“The CUF has been using the Coast for target practice,” Reyne said.
“I can call them in if we need them,” Birk offered.
Critch held up a hand. “No. They can do more good there.”
“I have plenty of staff,” Seda offered. “I’ve been planning this mission for quite some time.”
“It’ll have to do.” Critch tapped the map. “I had a plan to bring down the Citadel while we were inside, but it fell through. Chutt was collecting supplies when he got caught.”
“The drones?” Reyne asked.
Critch shook his head. “A gang. Led by a former torrent, no less. Mingh didn’t take kindly to Chutt stealing from their stash, even if it was to break them out.”
“Mingh?” Reyne recalled the torrent and his love for killing dromadiers. “That one always had a mean streak.”
Critch’s voice lowered. “I’m looking forward to getting payback when this is over.”
“You’ll find him.”
Critch remained silent.
Reyne changed the subject. “The EMP teams are the easy part. We have to pre
vent their alarms from sounding before we set off the EMPs. Otherwise, the CUF will be able to pick off escapees faster than using automatic blasters on vigs. The injured and weak ones, like Vym, won’t stand a chance.”
“The alarms are automated,” Critch said. “It only takes a single drone to fire off the call to the CUF and we’re fighting our way out.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve had that part worked out for some time,” Seda said, rubbing his chin. “The drones will think our teams are all prison staff.”
“How so?” Reyne asked.
“The staff wears vests. Otherwise, the drones don’t seem to even care who’s who in there,” Seda replied. “Coincidentally, the vests were made at one of my facilities in Rebus Station.” He continued analyzing the maps. “The staff are collocated in the northwest corner, here. As you can see, they have their own entrance. Our teams go in through there and gas the entire section to neutralize any staff.”
“We don’t know how smart the systems are,” Critch said. “We’ll have to keep our teams small in case large numbers trigger warnings.”
“Okay,” Reyne began. “We send in two teams through the staff entrance. They knock out the staff and make their way through the lower levels to the generators. Each team fries the generators, then one sets off a large EMP within the prison itself.”
Seda nodded. “Then we have all the time in the world to transport the freed prisoners from there to Broken Mountain.”
Reyne and Critch both flinched.
“Broken Mountain?” Reyne asked.
“The tunnels in Broken Mountain were destroyed,” Critch said in a monotone.
“They were,” Seda said. “To the Collective, my quarries aren’t my most profitable companies. What they don’t know is that my quarries do much more than produce gravel. For the past ten years, I’ve had teams clearing out the tunnels. About a third of them have been rebuilt to date. There’s enough space to hide everyone, and the CUF would never think of looking there.”
“Of course they wouldn’t.” Critch pushed to his feet. “You know how many torrents were slaughtered there? For many of those torrents wasting away in the Citadel, the last thing they saw before prison walls was the CUF invading Broken Mountain.”
Memories of the past had Reyne’s heart beating faster. “The torrents inside may still be shell-shocked from Broken Mountain. That might not be the best place. It will push some over the edge.”
“We could bring in the Matador,” Critch offered. “It could hold everyone.”
“Impossible,” Seda said. “You can’t bring a supply ship of that size onto Terra without drawing the attention of every CUF ship in the quadrant. It’ll get blown out of the sky.”
A chime sounded, and Seda glanced down at his pocket.
Reyne eyed Seda. “That’s your other tablet. You’d better answer it.”
Seda stood. “Excuse me. Let’s take a brief break.”
Reyne shook his head. “No. Anyone who’s not Critch, Seda, or me, leave the room.”
Seda narrowed his gaze onto Reyne. “What are you doing?”
“Take it here.” Reyne motioned to the crate Seda had been sitting on. “You’re either for the torrents or you’re for the Collective. What will it be?”
Seda pursed his lips for a moment, and then he waved off his men. “You heard him. Everyone out.”
The stationmaster reclaimed his seat with a sigh and pulled out the tablet from his pant pocket.
Upon seeing the dark gray device, Critch’s lips parted. “You’re a Founder.”
Seda spoke. “I made my choice long ago, but there are delicate matters involved. I require your absolute silence and trust.”
“Done,” Reyne quickly stated.
Seda went through a series of keystrokes, and his face lost any hint of emotion before he spoke into the tablet. “Accept call.”
Reyne and Critch sat facing Seda, watching him watch his tablet.
“I just learned of some interesting news on Terra.”
Reyne’s blood ran cold. He shot a glance at Critch, whose angry expression and clenched fists made it clear he also recognized the voice. Mason.
“What news would that be?” Seda asked.
“I saw images of three men who were killed outside the Citadel during a prison break tonight. Two of them were your employees.”
“Yes, they worked for me,” Seda replied. “However, they were freelancing at the time—as do all my employees from time to time. That pair obviously could’ve shown better taste in their extracurricular activities.”
“Obviously.”
Reyne cringed at the superiority in Mason’s voice, and he craved to jump through the tablet and kill the Founder.
“However, what piqued my curiosity was the third corpse. A pirate from the Honorless, no less. Did you know they were associating with pirates?”
“As I said, they freelance, and I do not keep tabs on who they choose to associate with. They are not tenured to me and can do what they wish to make money on the side.”
“You should care. They were associating with a rather dangerous demographic.”
“They were guns for hire. Everyone they associated with is dangerous.”
“However, since they worked for you, their choices could reflect poorly on you should that information comes to light.”
“I control the Terran news. The only way that information would become known is if it were leaked to the Collective news.”
“I’ll do my best to see that doesn’t happen. Now, tell me about the prisoner that escaped. I believe his name was Eben Abery, Junior.”
“I know very little as yet. I ran a search when I learned of my men’s involvement. Abery is a low-level criminal with a temper, with two prior arrests for shoplifting. His latest arrest was for assaulting a citizen.”
“Yes, I read his story. He seems a waste of Collective resources. I don’t see why someone of his low stature would have the assets to arrange a prison break.”
“I am looking into it.”
“I’m sure you are. However, you realize we are at a precarious time. We must be ever diligent and stand united. I know you felt the death of Seamstress, and I hope that hasn’t caused you to waver in your allegiances.”
“Never. Just as I hope the loss of Baker hasn’t done the same to you.”
“The betrayal of a Founder is felt by us all.” Each word in Mason’s response was clipped and full of anger. “I trust you to keep me apprised on any torrent activity you learn of.”
“Of course. As always, I trust you to keep me apprised of any significant activity planned in the fringe.”
“Of course. For the free.”
“For the Founders.”
Seda ended the call. He then frowned, the first emotion to cross his face since he took the call. “Mason knows that my men would never take any side jobs without my approval,” he said without looking up, and began typing out a message on the same gray tablet.
Critch grimaced. “How can you handle talking with him, knowing the crimes he’s committed?”
Seda still didn’t look up. “Because I have to.”
Critch cracked his knuckles. “I looked forward to breaking that man’s neck.”
Seda held up a hand to silence Critch and continued typing. Finished, he slid the tablet into his pant pocket.
Seda leveled a hard gaze on them. “Everything has changed. If Mason knows I’m working with torrents, he’s no doubt deduced that I initiated the new rebellion. He will quickly move against me.”
“Watch yourself,” Critch said. “Vym initiated the Uprising, and she engaged me to help her. Don’t take credit for her years of hard work. Besides, I don’t see you wearing one of these.” He lifted the chain to reveal the torrent teardrop.
“Except that Vym’s also a Founder.” Reyne narrowed his gaze on Seda. “If you’re the one she’s been working with all this time, that makes you Aeronaut. So you’re the Founder overseeing every major event that happens in the
colonies. No wonder Mason speaks directly with you. I didn’t expect that, but it makes perfect sense that Aeronaut would be one of the most powerful men in the fringe. You and Mason play with lives like they’re game pieces.”
“Mason enjoys playing games. I’ve never found much pleasure in them.” Seda held up his hands. “Enough small talk. We need to move against the Citadel tonight, and then I must focus on minimizing whatever havoc Mason has planned.”
“You’re going to get me in front of Mason,” Critch said.
“Killing Mason will only speed up the plans he’s set in motion. Taking him down requires finesse, something that’s far better aligned to my skills than yours, I believe.”
“I will have retribution.”
“We’ll all have retribution,” Reyne said. “Mason—Gabriel Heid—will be stopped.”
“But tonight we free Vym and everyone else in the Citadel,” Seda said.
“We’ll need to prep the teams,” Reyne said. “I’ll call Throttle and have her prep the ships. If Mason is about to make a move, we’d better be ready for a hasty retreat.”
“I’ll send Gabe up to help,” Critch added.
“I’ll have the necessary supplies delivered to the quarry,” Seda said. “However, I must caution both of you against leading teams into the Citadel.”
Both men guffawed.
“As visible torrent leaders, you need to stay alive. I have capable officers under my command to lead the infiltration teams.”
Critch chuckled. “If you don’t get why we’re heading in, you don’t understand what it means to be a torrent leader. Leading from the shadows isn’t leading at all.”
Reyne nodded. “We’re both going in.”
Seda pursed his lips. “I assumed you wouldn’t be swayed. I’ll have someone bring cloning gel for Reyne’s skin. I’m sorry, but you can’t enter the Citadel without a disguise. Even a disguise may not be enough for any who knew you well.”
Reyne inhaled deeply. “I know.” He walked over to the crates. He disconnected a rifle from the automated tracking swivel base, which was still homed in on the beacon Reyne had planted earlier. He slung the rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s head out.”
