by Aer-ki Jyr
“Nice jog?” Green Team’s leader asked as Drake came over to him and pulled his helmet off, setting it down on the corner of the table where it wouldn’t block any of the display.
“Tolerable. How close to finished are you?”
David sighed. “We’ve cleaned out all the equipment we can find, though I know there’s more here hidden somewhere that we’re probably never going to get to.”
“The Brazilian transports made orbit this morning. How long do you want me to hold them off?”
“Four more hours. Green Team will be ready to go then.”
“Last minute op?”
“Following one last thread, though I doubt it’ll amount to anything. How are you set for the transition?”
“Primary services have been stabilized. So long as we hold them through the handover we’re good to go. Pulling the rest of the city back together is Brazil’s problem. How many prisoners are you taking out?”
“We’ve got most of what we want already on Glasir. There’s a few dozen probables I still need to sort through, so we might have a handful more to add.”
“How’s the investigation going?”
“We’ve got a mountain of questions to answer, and a lot of data to work through, but we are getting some good intel out of the prisoners. The fact that they don’t know we can read their minds is really helping out, because they’re only guarding their words, not their conscious thoughts. In fact, that last little op we’re running is following up on intel we got from one of the contract operatives we caught, though I doubt the stash he pulled from previously is still in place. The Word cleaned out their facilities quite thoroughly, so I doubt they left much of value behind except where we got the jump on them.”
“Better to check and come up empty than to miss a find,” Drake agreed. “How’s the prime guest getting along?”
“Incredibly resistant while being excessively chatty. I’m told his mind is very tight, though I haven’t interrogated him yet. I expect that to be one very long conversation.”
“I for one would like to know about their chemical weapons program…and how many more of those canisters are floating around other worlds.”
“You and me both, but I don’t expect him to give up that kind of information voluntarily…unless it allows him to brag on The Word in some way.”
“You keeping him on Glasir?”
“We’re keeping them all on Glasir for the length of the investigation. Then we’ll decide what to do with them.”
“Do you have a list to give the Brazilians?”
“Already made up.”
“Four hours then?”
David nodded.
“I’ll let them know,” Drake said, picking up his helmet and walking over to another station, letting David get back to his work.
“Ah…finally,” Governor Aranha said, getting up out of his chair only to have Yavari push him back down into it again with a firm grasp on his shoulder. “What?! Let me go!”
“Sit still,” the Archon insisted as the Brazilian delegation walked into the Governor’s office and presented themselves to Drake, the leader of which offered his hand.
“Antonio Costa.”
“Drake-756,” he said, gently shaking the man’s hand, given that he was still wearing his armor minus the helmet.
“Brazil owes you a great debt, Mr. Drake.”
“Just Drake.”
“As you wish. Though I’m saddened to see the decompression death toll, I’m told the actual combat was more or less bloodless? That’s not something my people could have accomplished, and I thank you for it, on behalf of myself, my troops, and my country.”
“You’re welcome,” Drake said, wanting to skip the formalities. “We’ve reestablished a skeleton government using your own people that we were able to clear. There’s a still a backlog of prisoners that we haven’t had time to determine their allegiance, most of whom are security. If they shot at us their loyalty is in doubt, though many of them believed we were the enemy, given how quietly the moon switched hands,” he said, throwing a glance at the former Governor.
Costa followed his gaze. “Is he one of them?”
“No,” Drake said, surprising the Brazilian. “What he is, is an incompetent dupe. He let his subordinates carry out all of his duties while parading around like a rock star. The Word kept him distracted by all the perks of his job while he carried out none of the responsibilities. I highly suggest you fire his fat ass.”
“What?!” Aranha demanded, trying to stand up again only to have Yavari push him back down.
“Done,” Costa said, giving the man a harsh glare.
“What? No…I had no part in this. They attack my city and I am to be blamed for it?”
Costa looked at Drake. “He still doesn’t know?”
“He doesn’t believe he could be that inept,” the Archon said, rolling his eyes.
Costa took a step towards Aranha, but didn’t come up close to the overweight man. “You are hereby relieved of your post, effective immediately. You will remain in your personal quarters until such a time as transport is arranged for your deportation back to Mars. You can plead your case to them, so do not waste my time. Guards, escort him there and make sure he doesn’t wander off.”
Two men standing in the doorway behind Costa and his transitional team walked forward and pulled Aranha out of his chair, relieving Yavari of his charge.
“This is an injustice,” he murmured, but once they got him moving he didn’t resist. “A proper inquiry will bring the truth out.”
Costa let him go, then turned back to Drake. “I have security teams coming down, some 5,000 men to replace the leadership in the local forces. How would you like to handle the transfer?”
“It’s your city, and there hasn’t been any looting or riots for over a week. Things are fairly calm, it’s the logistical situation that you need to get a hold of. We’ve maintained the essentials, with a limited commerce flow through one of the spaceports, but before you open up normal operations you need to lock down the infrastructure, or you could have chaos with people grabbing at whatever they can get.”
“Rationing?”
“In place on foodstuffs. The water supply is secure, and I didn’t care about luxuries, a lot of which were looted anyway. Some stores have reopened, but most are awaiting new inventory and a full security detail before they open up their doors. That’s put everyone on edge, but so far they’re behaving themselves…though you will have a backlog of looters to prosecute that we bagged. We didn’t have time to investigate any reported thefts or assaults, so the ones we’ve got in custody were caught in the act. I’d take that fact into consideration when they whine about due process.”
“I’ve been given a wide latitude in legal matters to rectify this situation,” Costa said with a smirk. “We’ll take your word for it.”
Drake nodded his contentment. “I’ll start inserting your men into the current field assignments and rotating ours out. As soon as you can get enough down here we’ll be out of your way.”
“There’s no rush, though we don’t want to be a burden on your time anymore than Tyr already has been. Thank you for fixing the hull breach.”
“It’s a firm patch, but it’s not armored. It’ll have to be replaced at some point.”
“I’ll get on that right away. I understand you were able to discover what happened to our previous assault team, some of which were recovered?”
“The Word took most of them captive and were holding them in a section of the city where one of the chemical weapons was detonated. We found their bodies there, no survivors, but some of them that The Word was smuggling out we were able to rescue. They’re not in good physical condition, and we evacuated them all to Glasir for treatment and debriefing, but they said that there were plants in the strike force itself that turned on them…so I’d be careful with the people you brought out with you, for there might be more Word operatives among them.”
Costa frowned deep
ly. “They knew who we were sending?”
“More than likely.”
“I don’t like the sound of that at all,” the Brazilian said, turning and beginning to pace a short line over to the Governor’s empty desk and back again. “That means they’ve not only infiltrated Tyr but other facets of our government.”
“And for all I know you could be one of them,” Drake said evenly, not trying to be insulting. “Which is why Star Force is going to make occasional visits to the moon, have a look around, and make sure The Word isn’t getting another foothold in the aftermath of all this.”
Costa nodded. “Please do, and forward me any findings. In my experience ferreting out spies is a nasty business. I’m clean, and I’m fairly sure of my senior staff…but if the very troops we sent here to root out this criminal organization were part of it, any part of our government is suspect. Having an external set of eyes would be most helpful.”
“There’s also some new infrastructure beneath the city that you need to check out. The Word built an extensive complex, as well as mislabeled the city schematics to section off areas that they rebuilt according to their needs. We obviously haven’t had time to search the entire city, but we compared our construction records to the public ones and found the discrepancies. I’d suggest that you do a full survey of every room, corridor, and shaft on Tyr and draw yourself a new map, just in case there are any other alterations…some that their operatives might still be using.”
Costa sighed. “That will take a while to organize and execute, but I agree. What was in their base?”
“They cleaned it out before we got to them…then left a heap of explosives as a door prize. We disarmed them, but who knows how many more are sitting around out there.”
“Thanks for the warning. How many operatives have you been able to discover?”
“Over 200, but we know there are far more out there. Some of the factories we raided had hundreds of workers that we weren’t in a position to collect at the time. They got loose and we’re not sure who or where they are now.”
“Do you have a list?”
“Yes, but I’ve decided that we’re not sharing it just yet. We’d prefer if The Word didn’t know who was taken, and if we give you a list they’ll probably get a copy of it before too long.”
“I wish I could disagree with you, but given recent information I don’t see how I can. That will make taking a head count rather difficult.”
“If you can take my word for it, we’ve already done a head count. Everyone on the books is accounted for, including the corpses…though those books may very well have been cooked to make some individuals disappear prior to our arrival, but as far as having missing citizens in distress, that’s already been taken care of.”
“Which doesn’t discount the possibilities of lurkers,” Costa said, referring to individuals who lived on various worlds without proper identification, “but that’s one more item I can check off my list. Thank you.”
“We like to be thorough,” Drake said, glancing at the four people waiting behind Costa. “I guess this is your office now. Our makeshift operations center is in this building. I suggest you utilize that through the transfer, though we’ll be taking our equipment with us when we finally leave.”
“Best to use what’s currently in operation,” Costa agreed. “Anything else big that I should know?”
“Wanna get to work?”
Costa smiled. “That’s why they sent me.”
“The Word had an arsenal of custom made plasma weapons. We’ve collected all we could find, but there still may be some floating around.”
The Brazilian’s smile faded. “Tyr isn’t known for a large criminal element, I’m told, but even one unregistered weapon could do a wealth of damage. Dozens in the wrong hands…could mean the casualties from this mess aren’t yet over. What of the weapons from the assault team?”
“That I can’t answer. I assume they were of the same make as the local security armament?”
“Not entirely,” Costa said, disgruntled. “More loose ends to tie up.”
“The ship they came in is also missing,” Drake added. “We’re guessing it was disassembled.”
Costa blew out a breath, seeing his massive job already developing wrinkles. “Command center?”
“Follow me,” Drake said, grabbing his helmet on the way to the door.
6
June 9, 2430
Alpha Centauri System
Glasir
David was staring at a datapad in one of the Archon lounges in the primary Star Force city on Glasir when his attention was broken by someone else entering. With most of the Archons on planet being part of the three resident Clans, very few had been assigned to the regular Star Force colony, and as such the Archon-only lounges there were usually left unused. David had set up shop in one of them for that very lack of activity, giving him a quiet, large area to work out of as he tried to piece together the data they were collecting and delve deeper into the mystery that was The Word.
“What?” he asked as Nathan walked over with an odd look on his face.
“Just got the chemical analysis on the toys back from Odin,” he said, hefting another datapad. “They confirmed Glasir’s analysis. There’s nothing abnormal about them…even the Archon action figures. Maybe they’re just selling them to make some credits for the organization and couldn’t do it aboveboard without our franchise license?”
“That’d be insulting enough…but I don’t buy it. There’s got to be something hidden in them.”
Nathan shrugged. “Maybe it’s some sort of code.”
“I’ve been down that road already. The toys, aside from the various models, are all identical. Unless they’re packaged in mismatched sets to deliver some sort of encrypted message I don’t see how they’re relaying information…aside from the cargo hatch in some of the Star Force knockoffs, but they could just as easily purchase the real ones and use them for that purpose, which brings into question why would they need to make their own and why in a secret factory?” David said, referencing the Star Force merchandizing mandate that all frivolous toys and trinkets have some practical secondary function.
Some of the items the mega corporation produced were light sources, others had cargo compartments where you could store a data chip or micro-ration food cube. Others transformed into screwdrivers, hammers, picks, and other tools. Some more expensive models were even small hologram projectors. Even with their toy line, Star Force products always served some purpose, including the Archon action figures.
“Perhaps you should ask our resident Agent.”
David frowned, leaning back in his chair and setting down the datapad he’d been holding. “Anything new on that front?”
Nathan shook his head. “I don’t think he knows how, but he’s caught onto the fact that we’re monitoring him somehow and has locked down his biological cues. I don’t have the Ikrid skills to penetrate the armor over his thought processes, so we’re working him through some mind games trying to loosen him up. Aside from what Jenson got the first couple days we haven’t seen any progress with him, and he’s stopped talking too. Not even any friendly chit chat.”
“At least we’ve got him on the defensive. If it hadn’t been for your quick grab he’d be dead and out of our reach. Our psionics have given us a greater victory here than I think The Word anticipated, and I don’t expect they’ll make the same mistake twice, so we need to squeeze whatever intel we can out of what we’ve got.”
“Well, the lower operatives aren’t so savvy and have been giving up chunks of information, we just can’t pull very much of it from their minds…and what we have got is illuminating, but overall not very useful in exposing threads to follow. They’re very strict with their cellular layout, which means Mr. Agent is holding most of the cards we need…though we are piecing together some things from the collection of cells.”
“Anything new?”
“Not conclusively, but Assad thinks that they were us
ing Tyr as a sort of training ground. We’ve been able to trace a lot of fake IDs back there, now that we know what to look for.”
“Don’t suppose we’ve picked up Drake’s hacker yet?”
“Nope,” Nathan said with some disgust.
David shared the sentiment. After running a genetic test on the blood Drake had brought back on his armor they’d determined that the man was in fact on Star Force’s detain list, with a priority 2 ranking…the highest possible for non-violent individuals. He was known as the ‘Specter’ and had a very elusive nature when it involved computer records, having switched between hundreds of identities during his career. Green Team badly wanted him for interrogation, thinking his presence on Tyr probably wasn’t a coincidence and he may have been helping The Word with the forged identities that many of the captured operatives were using.
“On the up side, of all these shipping manifests I’ve been able to piece together,” David said, tapping the datapad on the lounge table, “it looks like they’re primarily using non-Star Force channels. Most of their exports were going out on Brazilian transports or private hires. They’re not risking sending them through us anymore.”
“Did you get that packet out to Davis yet?”
“It went out on a jumpship this morning.”
“How long have you been in here?” Nathan asked, though he was fairly sure he already knew the answer.
David sighed. “Too long.”
“Take a break. Deviousness isn’t going to be discovered on a fried mind.”
David checked his watch. “I guess it’s time for my afternoon workout anyway,” he said, getting up out of his seat and snagging his datapad. “I guess if this was going to be easy I’d be disappointed.”
Nathan walked into one of the rooms they were using for interrogations and saw Assad sitting opposite a long table with the man known only as ‘Agent’ at the other end. They’d run his genetics and come up with no matches, meaning he was either someone born outside the Star Force network and its affiliates, or he’d had his identity erased.
