by Ryan Krauter
Having made an innocent-looking but deliberate sweep for anyone who seemed familiar or too interested in her, her curiosity was satisfied and she entered the bar.
Loren watched it all happen from a block away, hovercar tucked in the rooftop parking lot of a three-star hotel chain. He'd been cautioned by Halley about using recording devices, so just as she did, he was using the optics only of his high end camera.
"Loren," he heard Halley's voice through the comm unit sitting in his lap. While commercial versions of Halley's dermal communicator patch were common (although controlled by a data pad and not nanites), most people still preferred to use the handheld comm devices, Loren included.
"I'm here," he replied. "One block West, top of the hotel in the parking area."
"What's her status?"
"Took a stroll around the front patio area to clear her tail, then she walked in. Maybe thirty seconds ago."
"Okay. The rest of us are going to get closer. Web and I will head inside and try to see if she's meeting anybody. Cory and Merritt will hang out front and watch for sleepers or follow her if she gives us the slip."
"I could come down there," Loren suggested, feeling useless while stuck in the hovercar.
"There are two types of people down here, Loren. The first type are couples. They're here together, to enjoy each other's company. They disappear into the background because that's what people expect to see in a place like this. Then there are the singles. They want to be seen because they're looking to meet someone. Singles get noticed, and you can't afford to be noticed, even if you stay somewhere that Starr never goes."
"There has to be a way I can get in there and do something," Loren insisted.
"Sure," he heard a new voice, Merritt's, break into the channel. "You can go find a random girl and pick her up, bring her inside with you so you can blend in. Better yet, we can call Cassie and ask her what qualities you look for in a woman and get her advice. She can help us pick someone nice for you."
"You will fly minefield patrols for the rest of your career," Loren warned Merritt.
"Fight later," Halley said, taking back control. "Everybody in position."
Halley and Web entered Energy and their senses were immediately assaulted. It was loud, with strangely pulsing music, the latest fad; dance and club music composed by computers to supposedly encourage certain feelings and emotions. There were so many smells, Web couldn't sort them all out. Perfume, cologne, spilled alcohol, and one or two whiffs of a substance every Confed soldier knew; wakeup capsules, designed to be held under the nose to give a burst of energy to tired fighters or revive someone who was unconscious. It was addictive if used regularly, but sought after on the gray market for its use to heighten the senses among those who liked to entertain themselves with chemicals. The lighting was a study in contrasts; the dance floor was often flashing with bright lights in a kaleidoscope of colors, but other than the long chrome bar itself much of the place was lost in shadows. It was a great place to conduct a quick clandestine meet.
Cory and Merritt lounged at one of the tables set up on the big patio in the front of the building. They'd arranged their chairs so that Cory was looking right at the front door while Merritt had a view of the exit to the walkway Starr had used on her own approach.
"Does this count as a honeymoon?" Merritt asked, sipping on a local ale.
"If you want it to, I guess," she replied. "I had some crazy things I was planning to do to you during a tropical getaway, but if you'd rather have this..." she let her voice drift off as she sipped her wine.
"No, no, this is a sad substitute. I can wait."
"Good husband," Cory replied with a smile. She tapped her comm device and low-talked using her dermal patch. "Nothing interesting out here. No tails we can spot, nobody watching the festivities. Just a lot of semi-inebriated folks looking to burn the night away."
Halley nodded to herself without saying anything. She and Web were in the bar itself, casually walking around while trying to keep an eye on Tana Starr. They picked a spot at the bar and ordered drinks, then Halley did her best to watch the woman in the reflections of the mirror behind the bar. Web did his best to not attempt any surveillance at all; Halley had gently but firmly told him that there was no room for error, and since they had to assume Starr was an expert at what she did Halley would take care of everything.
Chapter Thirteen
The evening was a bust as far as actionable evidence went. Halley claimed it was still successful because they could now scope out a likely location she'd use for a meet, but everyone else was disappointed.
They spent the next day with Loren, Web, Cory and Merritt rotating watch on Starr in her office while Halley spent some quality time in and around Energy. She mapped out all the entry and exit routes to the building, access points to the building itself, likely defense points, and half a dozen ways back to Starr's apartment. Apparently, Halley found this sort of thing incredibly rewarding; everyone else was ready to see what jumping into the third-tier energy barriers felt like.
The workday was over and Cory returned to their temporary low-rent accommodations near the spaceport after following Starr to her apartment and passing her off to Halley and Web.
"Anything interesting?" Loren asked hopefully as Cory headed for the small fridge to grab some water.
"Nope," she replied sullenly. "If this is the life of adventure that Halley leads, I am definitely tearing up my application to the Spy Academy."
"Well, let's hope Starr does something soon." Loren got up and walked over to Cory and gestured with his comm device. "I just talked to Captain Elco. The orbital controllers are going crazy about Avenger being stuck in her slot there. They even sent someone over to 'monitor progress and render aid'." He chuckled.
"And how did the captain react to that?"
"Badly," Loren admitted with a grin. "He asked if the man would have preferred Avenger detonate because of a core overload, and when the guy tried to find something to reply with the captain invited him to get back onboard his shuttle and leave. He actually left, too. I suppose the Captain didn't make any friends today, but it probably felt good. In any case, the clock's ticking."
"Then let's get Merritt in the hovercar and head over to meet Halley and Web. We have a long night ahead of us; hopefully something happens."
Tana Starr changed into evening clothes and left her apartment the same time as she did the previous evening. She even took the exact same route to Energy. Tonight, Merritt and Cory went inside while Halley and Web stayed on the patio, with Loren grumbling in the hovercar the whole time.
"So you're saying you'd rather fight a saber-toothed neo-cat than a hungry hyenadon?" Merritt asked in surprise to Cory.
She simply raised an eyebrow at him as she took a sip of her drink from where they sat in a dark corner booth. "You gave me the two choices," she replied. "So yes, if I had to take them on bare handed, I'd go after the saber-tooth."
"That's amazing, considering-" he was cut off by Cory's gesture, her index finger lifting up from the surface of the table. "What?" he asked.
"Starr just bumped into someone," she replied.
"She didn't bump into anyone," they heard Halley's voice through their patches. "If she's talking to somebody, it's a meet. Keep an eye on the subject. Describe him to me."
"Male Drisk," Cory began, "mid thirties, athletic, dressed like everyone else. Blends into the crowd."
"That's our guy," Halley stated simply. "Cory and Merritt, you stay on Starr. Everyone else get ready to follow the mark."
"I apologize again for bringing you out to meet," Salvor was saying over his drink where he and Starr stood near the various gaming tables, "but we need to change locations. At the very least, we should move out farther from the capitol. I'm surprised Confed isn't conducting building-to-building searches right now."
"That's not the way they work," Starr cautioned as she smiled for anyone who might be looking. "They have to maintain a balance between keeping the p
opulace pacified and compliant. You have time. I will have you in a new safehouse by the weekend."
"Alright," Salvor said slowly, as though the words were hard to utter. "We will also need more funds. We've used up what you gave us initially."
"I'll bring you a number of credit chips before you move to your new safehouse," she replied calmly. "I have also just purchased a used transport that you will be able to use to escape once the blockade is loosened." She felt a twinge of guilt as she made promises of the future for them. She'd received a coded message that afternoon from the Commander himself, and it was what she had dreaded but accepted as an eventuality. The order was to go through with the original plan of having Velk not survive the escape attempt. She would supply a transport for the team to use to leave the planet, but she was also going to place a bomb onboard. During their flight from Delos, the transport would explode, and Representative Velk would be removed as a threat to the Commander's plans for this galaxy. Starr regretted that Salvor and the remains of his team would also have to perish to sell the act, but they were soldiers and this was war; they knew they could be called upon at any time to die for their cause. The act of arranging the death of the former Commander weighed on her, but she trusted in Commander Tash's plan and vision, despite her reservations about how un-Priman it was.
"Excellent," Salvor replied, showing what appeared to be a genuine smile. "I thank you for your efforts, Ms. Starr."
"Now go. We can't be seen together. I will stop by the safehouse tomorrow evening with the credits and the information about your new location as well as materials you'll need to claim the transport."
"Until then." Salvor put on a smile, then walked off into the crowds, the act of a man who'd been rebuffed by a woman and was trying to take it with good humor.
"He's leaving now," Merritt mumbled for his comm patch. "Dark gray overcoat, black pants."
"I have him," he heard Halley reply. "Stay on Starr and head back to our hotel once she goes home for the night."
"Got it."
The Drisk walked home, exhibiting the same subtle but practiced tradecraft that Starr did. He doubled back, stopped to gaze in store windows, look over the edge of the second tier balcony at times, and in general tried to be unpredictable without being too obvious about it. It took almost forty minutes, but eventually Halley, Loren, and Web followed him back to a second tier, three story home. It was as plain and neutral as one could hope to find; the perfect base for someone hoping to hide in plain sight.
The three Confeds met in the parking lot of a small all-night restaurant a few blocks away, Loren having parked the hovercar there earlier so he could walk the streets and relieve Web and Halley.
They sat at a table nursing cups of stim-caf.
"So, that's the place?" Loren asked for the benefit of the doubt.
"It's our only option, but it seems like exactly what we're looking for," Halley replied with less conviction than Loren was hoping for. She'd used the thermal vision abilities of her contacts, among other features, on the building as she'd walked by. "I saw two people on the first floor, but the second was blanketed entirely; they're shielding it from every scan I could try, from thermal, to x-ray, to laser imaging. Not many reasons to do that, other than to hide something."
"So we don't know for sure how many Primans might be in there?" asked Web.
"Not yet," replied Halley firmly. "We'll give this place the full treatment starting as soon as we all meet back at the hotel. We can pick up Starr after work tomorrow, but for now we make this place our focus. Don't plan on getting much sleep until you're back up top aboard Avenger. You know what else I noticed about our friend in there?" She eyed the men to see if they'd caught it.
Loren and Web looked at each other and shrugged.
"He was wearing a ring just like Starr's."
The next day was spent in tense observation of the Priman safehouse. They couldn't do much, unfortunately. Halley had tried to access the city's building records to obtain a floorplan, but the home was old enough that the records had been left behind in storage memory the last time a system upgrade had been performed. There was no activity, no stream of disguised Primans leaving the house. The place was silent, imposing, and gave them absolutely no help. Web even suggested breaking into an adjacent house to at least see what the floorplan might have been like, but many of the homes had security systems and Halley had vetoed the idea as too risky. Better to lie low and not attract attention.
Just after lunch, Captain Elco called for Loren.
"Loren," the captain said informally from the comfort of his own quarters.
"Captain," Loren replied.
"I commed so we could trade updates," the captain began. "The engine repairs will be done tomorrow, and it's been made clear and in no uncertain terms that we will be spending tomorrow evening in the naval yards at Navy HQ. Will you be able to join us in time?"
Loren appreciated that the captain was receptive to the fact that this was an unsecured like. "That should be doable, Captain. We plan to attend a party tonight, and hopefully make some new friends by morning."
"Will I want to meet them?"
"Most definitely."
Halley had sketched out a rough plan, and Loren could feel his short hair turning gray as she spoke. They didn't have warrants or any legal ground to stand on, but they had enough evidence to warrant action. They couldn't just go in with guns blazing because they had to consider the fact that they wouldn't find what they were expecting to. It could be much more innocent. Or much worse. In any case, they needed to enter the building and see for themselves. If Velk was there, he was going to be leaving with them. Merritt put in a vote to try to collect Tana Starr as well, and Halley agreed that they'd wait as long as possible to see if Starr went to the safehouse that evening. Either way, they were going in before the night was over.
The day was spent in tedium, watching, cataloging, hoping to see something useful. Halley had moved everyone to an apartment just down the block from the Priman safehouse. She'd scoured the local real-estate listings and found an empty apartment for rent, then broken in and declared that they'd spend the night there. The team tried to nap when they could, but nobody was getting any real rest; that would come in the morning, provided all went well.
They'd decided on a breaching plan. Halley was, in her typically abrupt fashion, going to walk right up to the front door, kick it in, and start shooting/beating/terrorizing whoever she found if conditions warranted. Loren and Web would enter through the patio doors from the courtyard. Meanwhile, Merritt and Cory would delay briefly before landing their hovercar on the roof and having Merritt head down inside. Cory, as the best pilot of the group, would take back off and catch any runners or be ready to make a fast getaway if need be. They'd disassembled, cleaned, and checked their weapons as many times as they could, and all that was left was the waiting. Waiting was the hardest part. Boredom and a stagnant mind created their own problems, and Loren stared at the chrono field on his comm device, willing the time to pass faster.
"Loren," he heard a voice behind him and he started, blinking his eyes rapidly as he realized he'd been experiencing episodes of microsleep.
"I'm here," he replied wearily, rubbing his eyes. He turned to see the knowing smile of Halley.
"I figured you deserved at least ninety seconds of sleep," she began, "but now I need you back."
"Happy to help," he replied, getting up and stretching to get the blood flowing again. He looked outside and saw that it was full-on night and wondered how long he'd really been asleep.
"Don't you need to sleep?" he asked her softly, trying his best to guard her secret nanite allies in her bloodstream.
"Not as much as you'd think," she replied. "But it will catch up with me sooner or later if I put it off too long. Luckily, we'll wrap things up all nice and tidy tonight."
"You sound confident," Loren stated as he checked the power cell in his SSK one last time before dropping it into his thigh holster.
"All of us make a great team," she said simply. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"Oh, you had to go and tempt fate..."
"Jackpot," stated Web over their comm channels. "Starr is getting dressed up for a night on the town." He’d been watching her apartment while everyone else had staged in the vacant apartment that Halley had found for them the night before.
Everyone in the empty apartment stood up in excitement, all the weariness and fatigue getting pushed to the side by one last shot of adrenaline. They even knew what her timeframes were for travel to the safehouse, thanks to Web. During the day, he'd taken the time to map out and then drive, walk, or take public transit on a half dozen of the most likely routes from Starr's apartment to the safehouse, even including detours past Energy. If she was walking, it would take almost a half hour to get there. If she took the tube or a hovercar, she was still looking at fifteen.
"She's past all the places to use if she wanted to catch a ride," Web said calmly into his comm device, and Loren switched the video feed of his own device on. He saw Web's face against the backdrop of the rear of the hovercar, and that face was currently distorted in concentration as the man was very obviously racing at insane speeds through the city to get back to the group.
"So we have a half hour starting a minute ago," Halley concluded. "Web, how long to get here?"
"Five minutes."
"Ok," Halley said, gathering everyone around but leaving the comm channel open for Web. "We're going to do this right now." She glanced at the time on her comm device. "She’ll roll in around twelve thirty a.m. By the time Starr gets here we'll all be in place, and most reasonable people will be asleep, so hopefully we can worry less about collateral damage. So, a minute or so after she enters, we go in. We all know what she and Velk look like; those are our two primary targets. I'm not saying wipe out everything else you find in there, but unless it's one of those two you can shoot first and ask questions later."
