McKnight's Mission: A House Divided, Book 1 (Spineward Sectors- Middleton's Pride 4)

by Caleb Wachter

  The recording ended and Tremblay was left more than a little confused. That Bethany had been so eager to accept whatever closed-door offer Lynch had made had been unexpected, but he had always assumed it had been essentially a survival tactic. But as the days had passed, she had seemed increasingly convinced that an engagement of some kind with Lynch would be not only in her best short-term interests, but also in her best long-term interests.

  What he had initially assumed to be a simple case of trying to navigate a dangerous situation had somehow changed into a genuine change of priorities for the Caprian Princess-cadet—whose prior agenda had been nothing short of a return to Capria as soon as humanly possible.

  Why would she change her mind so suddenly? Tremblay asked himself silently as he stared at the blank data slate. And that she had suggested he could somehow ‘screw this up’ for her was not only unexpected—it was downright uncharacteristic of Her Haughtiness!

  “So,” Lynch’s voice snapped his mind back into focus on the present, “you ready for Phase Two?”

  Tremblay cocked his head as he put the data slate down on the sofas near end table. “What about my money?” he asked, deciding it was best to get such particulars out of the way on the front end.

  “What about it?” Lynch asked as a reserved smile played across his features.

  “I want my first year’s salary—all three million credits—deposited into an offshore account beyond Caprian jurisdiction. Capital would be fine,” Tremblay said, leaning forward and clasping his hands between his knees, “but I want the account accessible to my mother or, in the event of her death, I want it put in trust for Alfredo, my cousin. And I want a verified withdrawal to be made by her, along with proof that it is securely deposited and beyond your reach.”

  Lynch’s smile broadened. “Good boy,” he said approvingly. “I’ll have my peeps work something up in a few hours,” he assured him before sitting up and mirroring Tremblay’s posture while fixing him with a hard look that was even more unnerving than Jean Luc’s had been. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

  Tremblay nodded slowly, knowing that whatever mission Lynch had in mind, there was an extremely remote possibility of coming back alive. And that meant that he needed to leave behind something that would mean something to the people who cared for him—even if he had never much reciprocated the sentiment. The small fortune Lynch had promised for his salary would do better than he could have dreamed possible just a few short weeks earlier, when all he wanted was to escape legal entanglements en route to a quiet, meaningless life on the edges of society.

  “You deposit the money,” Tremblay said, the weight of his entire life’s purpose up until that point hanging by a thread in his mind’s eye, “and I’m your man.”

  “Good,” Lynch nodded. “You’ll find I keep to my bargains,” the arms dealer explained as he produced a second data slate, “and I expect my associates to do likewise.” He flipped the slate through the air, and it landed precisely against Tremblay’s hands as the former Intelligence Officer snared it mid-air. “That’s our mission profile—but I need you to understand that once you read it, there ain’t no backin’ out. Wait for the money transfer before opening the file if that’s what you’d prefer,” he shrugged indifferently before standing to his full, imposing height, “but as someone who’s gonna depend on you in the coming months, I’d suggest you get crackin’ on the bookwork. Things are about to get real in the field, son, and due to recent events you just moved into the top spot on my organization’s active Intel branch.”

  Tremblay considered waiting to open the file, but he had little leverage in his current situation. If Lynch wanted him dead, he could have done it in a hundred equally efficient—and entertaining—fashions. That Tremblay still drew breath meant he still had some part to play in the arms dealer’s plans.

  And that was all the security he would need…for now.

  So he opened the slate and began to review the contents while Lynch stood motionless before him. Tremblay’s eyes widened as he read the slate’s contents, which started with a simple, yet mind-blowing declaration of lineage by Lynch himself.

  Tremblay re-read the section three times before looking up to make eye contact with Lynch, who smirked and tilted his chin toward the slate, “Keep readin’—it gets better.”

  Tremblay blinked in surprised confusion as he read further down the mission’s description, and he found his jaw dropping further with each passing paragraph. This was the type of mission that an Intelligence Operative read about at the academy—or the kind that blockbuster holo-vids recounted. It had intrigue, it had espionage, it had stakes that were nearly unimaginable and, most important of all, it actually seemed possible!

  “This…this…” Tremblay found his hands genuinely trembling in excitement. It was clear that the man he had come to know as Lynch—but whose apparently true identity was a crucial aspect of the mission before them—had spent a staggering amount of resources preparing for this mission, and that he was prepared to spend even more in order to accomplish it.

  “This is what you was born for, son,” Lynch said, turning on his heel and making for the short corridor which led to his quarters. “This is what’s gonna make your life actually mean somethin’ in this ‘verse.”

  As Lynch disappeared down the corridor, Tremblay could find no fault with the arms dealer’s assertion. This mission, if the slate’s assertions were accurate, was the kind of thing he had dreamt of since he was a boy. It would be difficult in the extreme—and, it seemed, Lynch’s primary team of operatives had been unexpectedly killed before undertaking the mission—and it would need to take place on an abbreviated timeline, but those were challenges which a man like Raphael Tremblay relished.

  Gone were the days when he would play second fiddle in a role he had never wanted, under a Montagne Prince whose bigotry, mistrust and hatred had briefly cost him his hand and nearly cost him his life. It seemed he had come to a new chapter in that life—one that promised a chance at everything he had ever coveted.

  “You’re gonna fit right in around here,” Fisher declared with a confident smirk as he swiveled his chair back around to face the pilot’s console.

  Even a few minutes earlier, Tremblay would have found that sentiment laughable. But now, after reading about where they were going—and what they were set to do—he believed the jovial man was right.

  This was where he truly belonged—if only for the time being. One way or another, the mission which was now before him would be the most important endeavor to which Tremblay had ever been involved.

  He couldn’t wait to get to work.

  Chapter XIX: Together Again

  “This is outstanding work, Corporal,” Lieutenant McKnight said after finishing Corporal Lu’s briefing report. “Have our specialists tested Mr. Fei’s network capabilities?”

  “They have,” Lu Bu nodded her broad, almost masculine head curtly. “They have already found the identity of a man who Private Traian encountered during undercover operation.” The Lancer Corporal gestured to one of the many data slates she had brought for the meeting, and McKnight began to peruse its contents as the larger woman continued, “He runs one of largest smuggling operations in Sector 24, and after quite a bit of digging the specialists have found links between his organization and House Raubach.”

  “What kind of links?” McKnight asked as she perused the extremely long-winded dissertation contained in the data slate. It seemed that the Corporal had allowed the verbose specialists to write their own reports, and McKnight feared it would take her several hours to go over the document in its entirety.

  “Financial and logistical,” Lu explained. “The bulk freighter, Perilous Halibut, was rerouted due to intelligence planted by this man’s organization—false intelligence,” she added pointedly.

  “It was led into a trap well off the beaten path,” McKnight concluded, prompting Lu to nod. “This is a good find,” McKnight said approvingly, looking around the Mode
’s sparse interior and knowing that Lu had done more than she could have been reasonably expected to do, “you did great work here, Lu. Are you ready to hand this over?”

  Lu Bu nodded with what McKnight knew was eagerness to return to familiar duties—Murphy knows that McKnight herself often longed for the days when her own job was more easily defined and executed. “I wish to return to duties as Lancer,” Lu Bu said.

  “What about your children?” McKnight asked hesitantly. Knowing the Corporal’s fiery demeanor, it was bound to be a touchy subject. But it was an important one for McKnight, since Lu had been the head of their Lancers since Captain Middleton’s death at Cagnzyz.

  “They will not interfere,” Lu Bu said, causing McKnight to wince.

  “That’s not what I meant, Lu,” McKnight said levelly. “This operation is going to require dedication and commitment which exceeds even that which you have already proven capable of providing. You’ve proven instrumental to getting this effort off the ground, but if you want to step back and tend to your family you will hear nothing but gratitude—“

  “You are smart,” Lu Bu interrupted shortly, but she exhibited far more control than McKnight had expected of her.

  When the Corporal failed to expand on that particular statement, McKnight cocked her head, “What do you mean?”

  “You are smart,” Lu Bu repeated earnestly. “Of old Pride crew, only three were as smart as you: Kongming, Captain Middleton, and Doctor Middleton.”

  “I don’t see what this has to do—“

  “You are also educated, social, and beautiful,” Lu Bu continued, catching McKnight completely off-guard. But something in Lu Bu’s visage was surprisingly honest, open, and unreserved, so McKnight refrained from interrupting as the other woman continued, “I am none of those things. I am a warrior,” she said, her eyes hardening as she said it, “and I wish I could love my children in different way, but I cannot. For them, I must fight—and I must win—or I will fail them.”

  “That’s not true, Lu,” McKnight said firmly. “You can do anything you want—“

  “I want to fight for them,” Lu Bu growled, and McKnight saw the other woman’s knuckles whitening as she gripped the arms of the chair in which she sat. “I want them to know their mother protects them…I want them to know that they are worth protecting.”

  Lu Bu’s eyes had misted over, and McKnight was taken aback by the almost pleading nature of her fellow’s tone and expression. The two sat in silence for several seconds before McKnight finally decided, “Then you leave me no choice but to strip you of your rank and remove you from the active duty rolls—“

  Lu Bu bolted to her feet angrily, “Do not deny me the right to choose!”

  McKnight gestured for the other woman to be seated and, after a short-lived battle of wills, the powerfully-built Lu Bu grudgingly obliged. “I’m stripping you of your rank and removing you from the active duty rolls because you’re going to head our new Black Ops team,” she explained, causing realization to dawn in the other woman’s visage. “As far as anyone outside of your immediate command—or your immediate family, as the case may be—is concerned, you and those individuals who are assigned to your team have either opted out of service with the MSP…or they’ve died.”

  Lu Bu’s brow furrowed for several seconds before she began to nod slowly, “We will not exist…we must fake our deaths?”

  “Some of you must, yes,” McKnight allowed. “But some of you can serve the operation better by remaining ‘alive’ and more or less visible. I’m envisioning a team of six,” McKnight explained, handing a data slate to Lu Bu for her perusal, “do not let anyone see this slate, and do not attempt to link it with any outside data sources. I want you to go over the potential members I’ve listed, as well as make recommendations from your currently-assigned Lancers and specialists. But bear in mind that the operation badly needs those specialists—we’ll probably even need to transfer one of them to Captain Archibald’s command in short order,” she added sourly. “So the most I can accept—the absolute most—for full-time assignment to your team would be one of your three tech experts.”

  “Of course,” Lu Bu nodded, accepting the slate. “Is there anything else?”

  “What about Doctor Middleton?” McKnight pressed, hoping that she might negotiate to secure the good doctor’s services for her command. “Will she be joining us?”

  Lu Bu nodded confidently, “She will come with me. We have…discussed it.”

  McKnight suspected that Doctor Middleton had taken an active role in caring for Lu Bu’s three children, which meant that she would need a relatively stable residence. She looked around the Mode and saw that there were several pieces of baby-specific equipment strewn about, including feeding bottles, blankets, and even a few small, polymer toys like the ones McKnight herself had played with as a toddler.

  “This is your home now?” McKnight asked.

  “It is,” Lu Bu nodded, “Yide has agreed to let us live here for now.”

  “That’s generous of him,” McKnight said, feeling no small measure of relief.

  The stealth Cutter was probably the best place for Lu Bu’s team to be stationed, which meant that securing Yide’s cooperation might require some further negotiation. But she was confident they could reach an arrangement of some sort, possibly one which included him directly in the team itself.

  Standing from her seat in the cramped cockpit, McKnight looked around pointedly. “You’ve done an outstanding job, Lu,” McKnight said, proffering her hand. “I’m looking forward to the next step in our mission.”

  “I am as well,” Lu Bu accepted her hand, gave it a short squeeze and said, “I will review this list.”

  “Have your recommendations prepared by 0900 tomorrow,” McKnight instructed, “because by 2100, you’ll need to take your team on its first assignment—and not all of them will survive it.”

  Lu Bu nodded curtly, drawing herself into attention and snapping a salute, “Thank you, Captain.”

  McKnight returned the salute, “Hop to it.”

  “Of course I’m in,” Traian said eagerly, having expected this very moment for the past several months. “Who else do you want?”

  “Hutch has proven capable,” Lu Bu replied quickly, “which makes three, and we will need one tech expert so that is four. We have two more openings.”

  Traian nodded thoughtfully as she spun the slate around on the table and pointed to a list of highlighted names, “I recognize some of these…but only a few.”

  “We need a sniper,” Lu explained, tapping a collection of four names on the slate, “who do you like?”

  “You’re not too bad with a long rifle,” Traian grinned as he scanned the names.

  “I am good,” she allowed, “but I am better up close—so is Hutch. We will take point during insertions, and will need long range support.”

  “So we’re going for specialization rather than general skills?” Traian asked, finding the idea somewhat counterintuitive.

  “If team is compromised, our mission will fail,” Lu Bu explained. “We should not worry about dealing with damage—“

  “—We should worry about how to deal the damage,” Traian finished for her with a knowing nod. “The team’s too small to assault a ship directly, so we’ll need to think about stealth and technical expertise. Also, most successful tactical unit insertions of fixed structures are concluded in six to eight seconds,” he continued thoughtfully, “anything beyond that reduces it to a shootout, so having everyone able to do everything only gives us insurance against failure.”

  “Failure is not an option,” Lu Bu said heavily.

  “Failure is always an option,” Traian countered, “in fact, it’s always the most readily-available option.”

  Looking simultaneously annoyed and approving, Lu Bu gestured to the list, “Who do you see?”

  Traian thought about the matter for a few seconds. “Well…I know two of them—one personally, and the other by reputation,” he ad
ded at her surprised look. “Fields is an ex-commando…he’s tough and capable of prolonged solo deployments behind enemy lines. But he doesn’t exactly play well with others,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’d recommend him if all we needed was steady nerves and steadier hands, but if we want someone who will follow orders without fail then he’s out—he’s just too much of a maverick.”

  “Ok,” Lu tapped Fields’ name, greying it out and leaving three names on the list. “Who else do you know?”

  “The only other one I’ve even heard of,” Traian said skeptically before tapping a name, “is Black Mantis.”

  “Black Mantis?” Lu furrowed her brow.

  “Yeah…” Traian nodded as he wiped out the other two names, “if we want a cool shooter who could put an eye out at six clicks, she’s our girl.”

  “Ok,” Lu said after a moment’s consideration, glad for the opportunity to include another woman on the team, “but that leaves us in need of pilot.”

  “I can fill that role in a pinch…but I think we both know there’s only one good option for a pilot,” Traian said knowingly.

  Lu Bu nodded reluctantly, “Assuming Yide agrees, Black Mantis is the only outsider for the team…Captain McKnight might not agree.”

  “She will if you think it’s what’s best for the mission,” Traian shrugged.

  “I just worry that you’re placing personal experience and comfort with these people above the objective needs of the mission,” Captain McKnight said after Lu Bu had made her case for which members should be assigned to her team.

  “These people infiltrated Perilous Halibut,” Lu Bu explained, knowing her CO would require some convincing regarding her choices. “We secretly boarded that ship, killed Commodore Raubach, and secured the assets with only four of us. We already did this kind of mission,” she said passionately. “I do not broke if it is not fixed.”