“Bringing lunch with you?” she asked, nodding at the box.
“I didn’t get the chance to eat.”
“You feeling okay?”
“Yeah. Just a little tired, that’s all. So did you find out much more about our guest?”
Molly shook her head. “Not anything useful at this point. She seems to have a chip on her shoulder about her grandfather, more than the Federation itself, but I think over the years it’s just become generalized.”
“I’m going to excuse the pun.”
Molly sniggered, realizing what she had said.
Joel strapped himself in and started opening the pizza box. “Do we have a plan for when we get to these coordinates yet?”
Molly shook her head. “Not beyond the obvious. We’ll know more as we approach. Coordinates look like they’re for some kind of shipping port – which would make sense. If they’ve just scored their weapons then they’re probably looking to exchange some of them for parts and supplies, I guess.”
She shrugged. “But like I said, we’ll know more soon.”
“And then I can put together an operationally realistic plan in the five seconds we have between seeing the target and engaging.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, patting his arm.
Joel snorted, and tipped his head back against the headrest for a moment.
She nodded at his pizza. “You should eat now, though. Won’t take us long to get there.”
He glanced down at it. “Smells amazing.”
“It really is,” she agreed.
“Ladies and gentlefolk,” Crash’s voice announced over the intercom. “We’re about to leave the base for Take Two of this mission. If you could take your seats and engage your seat belts, Empress Spacelines will be ascending any minute now. If you look out of the port side window you will see our local example of a Skaine ship. Take note and commit this to memory, because it’s unlikely you’ll see such a specimen in these parts any time soon.”
Crash continued in his normal pilot-announcer voice. “If you’d like to take holoimages, please consider your feed followers when choosing to post publicly. And please remember, any unauthorized footage will be removed by our in-house AI. Consider yourself warned.”
The Empress gently lifted off, and although Crash was only joking with his crewmates in his announcement, more than a few of them shuffled over to the port side windows in the lounge to get a look at the Skaine ship that was taking off just ahead of them.
“The power of suggestion,” Molly mused, remembering how she’d use that many a time to manipulate co-workers for amusement in her pre-Sanguine Squadron days.
Aboard The Empress, Skipum Wharf, Agresh Quadrant
Crash brought The Empress to a pause fifty kilometers out from the shipping port. “Yep, definitely them,” he said, punching in on the registration plate on the hull on the holofeed on the main display.
Molly studied the holoscreen. “Great. If they’re here they’re either in for repairs or restocking on parts. Let’s get Nickie on the line.”
Crash punched a few keys and Nickie connected with them on a second holo screen and over the cockpit audio.
“You seeing what I’m seeing?” Nickie chimed confidently, bypassing normal pleasantries. Molly noticed she had her feet up on her console unit in the bridge.
“That this is our target?” Molly confirmed.
“Exactly.”
Molly glanced over at Joel to check he was watching before she continued the conversation. “So any ideas for retrieving the weapons and immobilizing the troops?”
Nickie looked like she was actually thinking. “Dunno,” she said reluctantly. “Just blowing up the ship with a torpedo seems a bit overkill – given that the good people of this port probably didn’t do anything I’d object to.”
Joel watched Molly’s expression as she stood, hands on hips facing the main screen. “You think?” she scoffed.
The sarcasm seemed lost on Nickie. “Yeah. I’m thinking we should dock and then go in and take out a few of them manually.”
Molly was about to protest when Nickie kept talking. “We don’t need to kill them all. Just a few – just to show that we mean business.”
Molly’s frown deepened. “How about we set the weapons to stun and just immobilize them and tie them up? I need to call in the Leath authorities, but more importantly, we need to get those weapons off that ship before they get there.”
Nickie paused for a moment. “Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. “We can do it the un-fun way. My preliminary scan is showing there are about two hundred crew, fifty-something of whom are gathered in the ship. Might be a bar or mess hall, or something.”
Joel stood up and edged closer to Molly to talk in a low voice. “From the schematics, it looks like we could probably confine them to that area and take control of the ship separately.”
Oz’s voice came over the intercom. “Meredith has suggested taking control of the ship’s secondary controls and putting it in lockdown. Apparently, she’s done this before to great effect.”
“Okay, we’ll do that,” Molly agreed. “But only on my signal, when we’re ready to storm the station. We need to be in position first.”
“Crash, take us in,” she instructed, touching his shoulder briefly. “Nickie, perhaps you could dock on the port side. We’ll take the starboard. That will give us two angles of approach once we get boots on the station.”
Nickie nodded, taking her feet off the console and standing up. “No problema,” she agreed. “We’ll get ready. See you on the flip side. Penitent Granddaughter, out.”
Molly shook her head, trying to maintain her patience. “Hey… Nickie, wait!” she called. “Make sure you wait for my signal. We all strike together, got it?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it. Stick up ass, et cetera, and so on.” She ended the call connection with an exaggerated roll of her eyes.
“That girl!” Molly growled in frustration.
She turned to see Pieter and Joel sniggering quietly. “Stick up ass!” Joel chuckled. “Classic!”
Aboard Skipum Wharf Space Station, Agresh Quadrant
It didn’t take long for either ship to get clearance to dock, and they managed to take up their positions without a problem. The crew disembarked onto the docking bay and made their way through the empty corridors completely unchallenged. The people they did pass seemed completely nonplussed by them being heavily armed, probably on account of the aura the team gave off of being on military business.
“Probably just assuming we’re the authorities,” Sean whispered over their private comm channel.
“We are the authorities,” Molly countered quickly just before a pair of Ogg crew members came within earshot of their group.
Apart from Pieter and Crash, the others were out en masse, moving swiftly down the corridors, weapons still in holsters. Even Brock had felt confident enough to venture out on this mission, much to Joel’s surprise.
“Okay, ladies,” Nickie announced over their implants. “I’ve got eyes on them.”
Karina slowed her pace, nearly tripping Joel up behind her. “How the hell does she have eyes on them?”
Sean pulled her back into formation. “I have no eye dear,” he chuckled quietly. “Get it? Eye dear…”
Karina raised one eyebrow at him, unimpressed.
“Okay,” Sean conceded, making sure they maintained their position in the group sweeping the corridors. “She has implants and little marble sized devices that she can send out.”
Molly and Joel turned to look at him.
“Probably,” he added.
Molly had already shifted her attention back to the task at hand. “When this is all done we’re going to sit down and you’re going to tell me everything you know about this girl and her family.”
Sean shrugged. “Well, some of it is classified.”
Karina glared at him, as if with a warning.
“Oh, but I’ll tell you everything you need to know, baby,
” he added hurriedly.
Joel noticed that Molly had heard the comment but chosen to ignore it. – at least for the time being. “Okay, focus people, we’re getting close. Move in on my mark only.”
He made hand signals and the team moved forward on the warehouse segment Oz had pinpointed for them as they had docked.
Jack took the initiative and moved around to flank the other side. “I’ll find another door in, just in case they try to run,” she told Joel quietly as she moved off.
“Good thinking, Jack,” he shot back, distracted by instructing the others.
“All part of the training,” she whispered through the holoconnection as she rounded the corner at the far end of the corridor they were on.
“Brock, stay close behind me,” Joel continued. “Molly, if you’d like to do the honors you can go ahead. Sean and Karina, if you could fan out around the left-hand side as we breach, you can limit their options as we close in. All get into position. On my mar—”
Before Joel could give another instruction, there was an almighty bang followed by a whistling like a high-pressured kettle. Then an explosion.
The corridor shook.
“What the fuck?” Sean yelled.
Joel and Molly looked at each other. “I guess Nickie wasn’t waiting around,” Joel surmised.
Forced to make their move, Molly stepped up and kicked open the double door in front of them. She moved swiftly in, weapon drawn and sweeping the area for targets.
The team followed quickly behind her, entering just in time to see Nickie drop a dozen burly Leath single-handedly with rapid laser fire.
Once they were down, she busied herself, tying them up with some kind of leashing device that allowed her to hogtie each one in a matter of seconds.
The dust from the explosion started to settle, revealing a bunch of broken up crates. Crates that had been full of what looked to be spare parts. Nickie finished binding the fifth Leath and then straightened up, stretching her back like she’d been doing something mundane like cleaning.
“Anyone wanna help me get these SOBs packed away?” she asked, as the Sanguine Squadron stood around, mouths agape, and weapons still unholstered.
Molly was the first to respond. “I thought we said no killing?”
“I didn’t kill any of them!” Nickie protested. “Set to stun, see?”
“And the explosion?”
“A distraction,” she explained simply, kicking at some of the debris near a flaming pile of wooden pallets.
Molly put her sidearm back into her thigh holster. “Well, in that case, sure, show me that device you’re using, and I’ll give you a hand.”
Sean looked butt-hurt. “But you said she was to wait for your mark!” he protested.
“I did,” Molly agreed, turning the new toy over in her hands and then aiming it at the wrist of a downed Leath Nickie was holding up for her.
Molly fired it, and the plastic thread wrapped the wrist, leaving the other part dangling looking for the other one. Nickie dropped the bound wrist and then put the other one near it and finished the job by wrapping it with the loose thread which seemed to constrict until it held the two hands tightly behind the Leath’s back as he lay unconscious on his belly.
Molly ducked as three small metal marbles, probably the ones that Sean had mentioned returned to Nickie, hanging in mid-air just a few feet from her. She swiped them out of the air with one hand, clipping them nonchalantly back into her belt. “Dunno what you’re so bothered about,” she commented. “I just did all your dirty work for you.”
She dusted some debris from her shoulder.
Molly shrugged in Sean’s direction. The rest of the team had started poking around the carnage that remained.
“Okay, let’s get the weapons moved off the ship,” Molly announced, handing the binder to Brock to take over.
Nickie brightened. “I’ll go get my house bots. Save us getting sweaty hauling those crates.”
She headed off back the way she had come, stepping over the metal door she had blasted through.
Joel sidled up to Molly. “You sure about this?”
Molly paused, then nodded. “Yeah. She’s got a game plan, we just need to keep them from getting back to the Leath authorities. I’ll have a chat with her before she goes, though. Sean, Karina, wanna make sure the dock is secure. Don’t want any unexpected surprises.”
“Yes, boss. On it,” Karina called, heading out after Nickie.
I’ll put the call into the Leath authorities.
Thanks, Oz.
Molly stopped to survey the scene. It sure was good to have a highly competent team, she mused to herself as she noted the sheer mess that they were going to leave behind.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cyber Communications Department, Spire, Estaria
“We’ve been on this rotation for nearly a week,” Hughes complained. He glanced over at his partner Riley. She sighed but didn’t answer. He always thought of her as a tough version of prom queen. A prom queen who had no interest in dalliances anymore, and instead did her best to define herself through her work.
Riley closed the holoscreen she was using to spy into the window of the mocha shop where their target had been sitting for the last twenty minutes of her lunch break. A strand of dark hair fell against the side of her face, and without really registering she hooked it back behind her ear.
“You know the score on these things,” she told him. “We sit here until the brass tells us not to.” She turned to notice him. “Besides, it’s a damn sight cushier than a ton of the assignments we could be on. Especially after, well, you know.”
Hughes sighed, the back of his head hitting the headrest in mild frustration. “Yeah, I know.” He rustled a plastic bag. “You want a sandwich?”
She shook her head. “No thanks. Hang on.” She pulled up the holo again. “Okay. She’s on the move.”
Hughes hurriedly screwed up the bag of food and stuffed it into the side pocket of his door. He gently started the engine just in case they needed to move.
“Shit, I can’t see anything from this far away. Let’s get closer. Just in case.”
Hughes rolled the car out into traffic with the goal of doing a drive-by whilst the target got into the imagined safety of her vehicle. Once she was inside, she would be sheltered – from most things, at any rate. Then he could turn around in a side street and follow her back to the government building secure parking lot where he would sit for another five hours until she finally finished work. Then he would follow her home where she would prepare a holoscreen dinner and crash around midnight.
“Okay. I’ve got her,” his partner told him, her eyes scanning the holo amplification for any signs of a threat.
Hughes drove as slowly as he could without drawing attention. If he timed it just right Carpe would be in her car just as they passed her.
“She’s going for the car,” Riley told him.
A car pulled out in front of him, pulling his attention. “Shit, I’ve lost her,” Riley cursed.
Then there was a scream and a flurry of activity on the street just around Carpe’s car. Before he knew it, Riley was out of the car and running across two lanes of traffic, flashing her badge as if it would protect her from getting run over.
Hughes expected the worst. He pulled the car over and flew out, following his partner across the street.
He arrived panting, to see Riley pushing people back using her badge as a forcefield. “Get down, move back,” she yelled. “Police! Move back!”
She kept turning, looking at the rooftops.
Hughes turned his attention to the upper windows across the street, searching for any sign of a sniper. The crowd was still in danger. They were in danger. Plus, there was still a chance—
He glanced down at Carpe. The bullet had gone straight through her head.
“Okay,” he corrected himself. “There is no chance she’s still alive.”
He made a snap decision. “I’ll go after the s
hooter,” he told Riley.
She nodded her agreement. “Be careful!” she shouted after him.
He vaguely heard her as he rushed back across the street, barely aware of the sound of horns chastising him for getting in their way.
His thoughts were on other things, like exit routes a sniper might take out of a building. From the position of the body, he guessed the shot came from the red brick building directly across the street. He could be wrong, of course. That would all come out in the investigation. Would be nice if that investigation included extracting a confession from the son of a bitch that just tapped his ward though.
His brain scrambled, his eyes searching for a likely exit route. Round the back, he thought. Too many cameras on this side of the street. He noticed the red brick building was a hotel. That would mean security cameras in the corridors – probably.
He found the nearest alley that would let him pass behind the building and ran as fast as he could. There was a gate at the bottom. He looked around for something to help him scramble over it. There was nothing.
Then he heard the footsteps moving briskly on the other side of the gate. He pressed his face against the gate, the mesh scoring his skin, creating a hatched print. He caught sight of a figure and strained to get a closer look. The figure was dressed in black, about 6’ 2”, medium build, but definitely packing some muscles under his black atmosuit. Not only that, but he carried a large holdall. Certainly one big enough for a rifle.
Hughes was about to shout out but stopped himself. He reached for his weapon. That wasn’t going to help at this angle either. He pulled his holo out. The man was walking in the opposite direction. He didn’t have a shot of his face. He snapped a few images.
Now is the time to shout out, he told himself. He felt his voice get caught in his throat as the urgency of the situation caught up with him.
“Hey!” Nothing. The sound wasn’t loud enough.
“Hey, you!”
That was louder.
The man turned briefly, allowing Hughes to take a snapshot of his face before he set off running down the street.
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