Desperate Measures

by Michael Anderle

  Erik turned away with a thoughtful look. “Maybe not as much as you’d think. I joined the Army because I needed direction in my life, and I liked being a soldier, but seeing the rest of the UTC wasn’t some grand goal. If my life had turned out differently, I could have been happy in Detroit or a place like Neo SoCal. You’ve seen me. I like my restaurants and my foods, and I’m consistent in my choices. I’m not aching to go to weird places like your sister took you.”

  “Maybe the age of grand exploration is over,” Jia murmured. “So none of that matters.”

  “Why do you say that? I figure as long as someone’s breathing and can get to a new place, people will always push out farther.”

  “It’s different now because of the Zitarks, Leems, Orlox, and the rest,” Jia answered. “We’re effectively surrounded on all sides. Human history teaches us what happens when two civilizations push into the same area. I’ve got my biases. We’ve got plenty of planets and moons and plenty of space on them. I’m sure we could grow humanity into the trillions with the extent of the UTC now.”

  Erik thought for a moment before shrugging. “Who knows? Someday different races might decide they could use different planets in the same system. Maybe we’ll be mixed together in some giant United Confederation of the Milky Way.”

  “You really think that?” Jia stared at him, surprised by Erik being the less cynical one in the conversation. “We were very close to having our first interstellar war.”

  “Close isn’t the same thing as having it. I’m not saying I want a space raptor as a neighbor anytime soon, but I don’t know. You look at the history of humanity, and it’s clear that everyone expected us to die off. They placed their bets against us, but we’ve prospered.” Erik chuckled. “When I was a kid, my dad showed me a history lecture from 2085 at a college in LA. The guy said despite us setting up colonies on other worlds, we were doomed because too many people had their hands on nukes or bioweapons, and it was just a matter of time before we killed ourselves off. He said if it wasn’t those things, it’d be nanotech. The guy, who was a big-time historian back then, said humanity had a less than 0.1 percent chance of surviving for another fifty years. He had this big calculation for it, which was called the Doomsday Quotient.”

  Jia sighed. “I bet that guy felt smug when the Summer of Sorrow happened.” She winced. “Assuming he survived. You said the lecture was in LA. Did he live there?”

  “I never checked on him to see if he was in LA at the time. Never cared much about the lecture. My dad used it as an example of smart people being wrong, and how with hard work, we could succeed.” Erik frowned. “But that’s the thing. LA was destroyed, just like he might have predicted, but everything changed, and things didn’t go the way he said. People didn’t get rid of war or assholes trying to hurt people, but here we are in 2230, and no one’s saying humanity’s done. We’re sitting here having this conversation about whether we can push back aliens.”

  “There are a lot of threats out there. The conspiracy, local neighborhood aliens, the Hunters.” Jia stared at the camera feed of the monument garden as the MX 60 circled the area and pulled away. There was something soothing in Erik’s words.

  “If we didn’t kill ourselves when we were all on one planet with thousands of nukes pointed at each other, we’re not going to.” Erik tapped his finger on his leg. “Not that some bastards might not try, but there have always been murderers and people who don’t care who they hurt, and things have still moved forward. Even if the Hunter ship had taken out Earth, we have colonies now. I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends with aliens, but I know there are more people out there who give a shit about making the galaxy a better place than those who don’t.”

  “And on that poetic note,” Emma interrupted, “I have important news that we might be able to use to make the galaxy a better place. You should return to the Argo immediately.”

  An hour later, Jia and Erik were waiting in the cargo bay when Kant and Anne landed and hurried out of her flitter.

  Erik looked up from the crate of grenades he’d been rifling through. It was always good to see what was easily available. Looking at a data window wasn’t the same.

  “Here’s the executive summary,” he announced. “Emma’s isolated a possible conspiracy shipment originally from Earth that she’s pretty damned sure hasn’t left Chiron yet. The shipment is clearly contraband. Our friends played some records games to conceal the importation of the cargo from Customs inspection and have been moving it around a lot.” His snicker caused Anne to shiver. “All that effort to hide it, and they still left themselves vulnerable.”

  Anne stepped away from the flitter. “That’s a lot of circumstantial evidence, Blackwell. Are you sure this is worth pursuing?”

  Jia walked over to Erik’s side. “We’re several companies deep into misdirected cargo, falsified records, and businesses clearly linked to elements controlled by the conspiracy. We’re not here to arrest them and put them on trial. I think circumstantial evidence is enough. We don’t know what they are hiding.”

  “We don’t have any idea what these items might be.” Anne folded her arms. “They could be nothing very important. It could be cheese, and they’re trying to avoid paying Customs duties.”

  He eyed her. “Nobody goes through that much trouble to avoid Customs duties on cheese. Emma’s cargo is scheduled for transport from the facility to the spaceport tomorrow. Cargo she can trace from Earth to the other companies we’ve been looking at. If we wait until it’s at the spaceport, we risk having to confront militia or local cops.” Erik gave Anne a merry grin and motioned to his grenade crate. “I want to throw grenades at the conspiracy, not cops.”

  Emma appeared in a dark suit. “You might find some of this drone footage interesting.”

  Data windows appeared above her, displaying footage taken from different angles. Side doors opened on a tower level, allowing the entrance and exit of large cargo flitters. Emma paused the playback to magnify and enhance the image. Helmeted men in full tactical suits with rifles stood near the cargo flitters as bots loaded and unloaded the cargo.

  “Lot of guns to protect some cheese,” Jia observed.

  Anne’s focus flicked to Jia, a small curve down to her lips before she restored her focus, her face blank once more.

  “According to public records,” Emma began, “this company ships nothing of a value sufficient to warrant such heavy security. It’d be as if Erik started guarding his plants with his exoskeleton.”

  “Bad analogy.” Erik shook a finger at her. “If someone came after my penjing setup, I would put on an exo and take them out.”

  “Okay, you’ve got a point.” Anne scratched her cheek, her brow creased in deep concentration. “We’ll have to assume that isn’t the only security. Are you anticipating a full assault? We only have your two exos.”

  “Exos aren’t viable if we need to get the hell out of there fast, and based on what Emma’s found, the cargo should be small enough to fit in flitters.”

  Jia nodded her agreement. “If we aren’t using exos, it’ll be easier to explain if the locals show up.”

  Kant headed over to the grenade crate and knelt to inspect his options. “In summary, we’re robbing the place and seeing what special cheese they have?”

  Anne threw her hands up. “Shut up about the cheese already. It was an example.”

  Erik smirked before turning to Kant. “Something like that. I think the best time to strike is right after they leave the facility.” Erik pointed at the various clusters of grenades in the crate. “They’re not going to want to call the cops or draw any attention, so as long as we keep them from showing up, we should have a good amount of time to take the shipment and get the hell out of there. We come back to the Argo, an area where Emma has complete control, then figure out if it’s worth it to just take off with our pirate treasure or plan a follow-up.”

  Anne marched over to a carryaid secured to a rack on the wall and examined one of the mecha
nical backpacks closely. “How are we going to ensure the locals don’t show up? There’s no way this is happening without shots being fired.”

  Emma offered a thin smile. “Mr. Constantine and I are currently infiltrating the relevant systems everywhere around the target. We will be able to suppress the drones and cameras without alerting the company. Once the attack begins, we can push hard into their security systems as well. He and I are laying the groundwork for that.”

  “Are we sure we don’t want local help?” Kant asked, lifting a plasma grenade and slowly turning it in his hand before looking up. “In case things get rough? I get that we don’t want the cops tagging along, but what about some of the local ID presence?”

  Jia shook her head. “Our conversation with the agent the other night made it clear they don’t want anything to do with this mission. It’ll take too long to convince them to help, and we’re on a tight timeline on this. Sometimes it’s better to handle things ourselves.”

  “We’ve got four trained ops personnel with plenty of field experience in dealing with dangerous situations.” Erik gestured to everyone in turn. “Emma can operate the MX 60 even under jamming conditions, and we’re not there to take out the entire place, just grab some cargo. This calls for a small, agile team, and their trusty AI.”

  Jia patted her stun pistol. “We also shouldn’t assume that everyone involved is a dedicated member of the conspiracy. We’ll hit hard and fast, but we should restrict ourselves to nonlethals until we have reason to suspect otherwise.”

  Anne frowned. “That could be risky.”

  “The conspiracy controls a lot, but that doesn’t mean everyone knows what they’re doing.” Jia motioned toward the roof. “Otherwise, we’d be laying siege to every Ceres Galactic building out there.”

  Emma raised her hand. A data window filled with names appeared.

  “There’s only a small number of security personnel listed in their public records. Erik is reluctant to have me to dig deeper and risk alerting them to their partial systems compromise. As it is, the discovery of the shipping records was unexpected, given where they put it in the system. They are clearly hiding both personnel and the nature of their cargo.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to hold back the lead and grenades unless we need them.” Erik clapped and rubbed his hands together. “If all goes well, we’ll stun a couple of guards and have ourselves a nice pile of alien artifacts or Tin Man parts to show for it.”

  Anne frowned at him. “Do you really think it’ll be that easy?”

  “No. Of course not.” Erik kept his smile. “I expect we’ll hit the cargo flitter and a half-dozen full-conversion Tin Men will be inside waiting to kill us, but that doesn’t change anything.” His jovial mask faded, leaving only determination. “We’re grabbing that cargo. I don’t care if you want to tweak the plan, but we didn’t jump all the way from Earth to sit on our hands. Understood?”

  Anne nodded. “Understood.”

  Jia’s heart pounded. She’d gotten so used to major strikes against the conspiracy that the idea of slipping in, grabbing something, and sneaking out from under their noses was antithetical. It would be nice to visit a new location with Erik without blowing anything up.

  She couldn’t wait.

  “Good.” Erik cracked his knuckles. “Now, let’s go over the specific ops plan.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “What’s our status?” Erik asked, circling the company from a distance, safely ensconced in the MX 60.

  He’d changed the vehicle to a dull gray color and altered the transponder signal. That would cut down on recognition. He was using a disguise, but depending on how aware the local conspiracy members were, that might not help him escape without them realizing he’d been there.

  It didn’t matter. The most important time for secrecy was before a mission, not afterward.

  While Emma had been able to change the transponder on Jia’s flitter, she couldn’t do anything about the color. They would need to look into an upgrade. He doubted this would be the last time they needed both flitters for a mission, and for that matter, Anne and Kant would need their own vehicles.

  “Preparing to insert the spoof programs into the local cameras and drones,” Emma reported. “Fortunately, flitter traffic is light at this time of day. That’s minimizing the chance of surreptitious reporting.”

  “I’m monitoring company security,” Malcolm added. “Keeping it high-level, but there are no alerts or elevated risk reports on the basic systems. If I go any deeper, I risk getting someone’s attention.”

  “Stick to the plan,” Erik announced. “We’ll bring them down, open them up, and grab what’s inside. They can cry all they want at that point.”

  “I hope this is worth it,” Anne offered from the other flitter. “It reminds me of an ancient American folk song my grandmother used to sing to me. In it, this tribe goes after this other tribe because of their treasure, and it turns out the treasure is just a rock that says ‘peace on Earth.’”

  “Anything that hurts the conspiracy is worth it, and I’ll eat my TR-7 if it’s a rock that says ‘peace on Earth,’” Erik replied. He took a deep breath and kept his hands tight on the control yoke.

  “I’ll hold you to that, Blackwell.”

  Erik smiled.

  They flew in an irregular pattern, waiting for their chance. The shipment was scheduled to leave the facility in ten minutes, and there was no sign of the police, the militia, or any worry at the company. Everything was going well.

  The conspiracy had grown complacent, too used to their secrets being concealed by layers of false companies and smiling socialites with billions of credits. Erik and Jia had torn off the mask, and they could continue to follow the trail until they were done. The jumpship had changed all the tactics.

  Now they were ahead of the enemy.

  “We’ve got movement,” Malcolm announced. “The bird is leaving the nest.”

  Jia glanced at Erik. “Did we agree to that sort of thing?”

  “Nope.” Erik sighed. “But let him have his fun.”

  “Suppressing local cameras and drones,” Emma reported. “Setting up drone-based redirect of local traffic. You are clear to engage.”

  Erik turned the MX 60 and zoomed toward the large cargo flitter. Their target had left the facility and was now above an open sky bridge that was empty except for some cargo drones off to the sides. The Lady was with them so far. Anne and Kant charged in from the opposite side.

  Waiting any longer might cost them a great opportunity. It was time to inflict additional fear on the conspiracy.

  “Emma, ready the EMP,” Erik ordered.

  A button rose from the right side of the control yoke. Despite the impressive-sounding command, the external difference was limited to a plate pulling back to allow the EMP emitter to release without interfering with the flitter.

  Erik lined his vehicle up behind the cargo flitter. The target vehicle didn’t alter course, despite the erratically flying MX 60 behind them and the other rapidly closing vehicle. The poor bastards had no idea what was going on, or if they did, they might be afraid to make any sudden movements and tip someone off that they were carrying valuable cargo.

  Taking a deep breath, Erik pushed the button. The cargo flitter shuddered, sparked from the bottom, and lost altitude, the bottom scraping the sky bridge. That resulted in more sparks, smoke, and flames as pieces shredded off and bounced around until it skidded to a halt.

  Erik let out the breath he’d been holding, grateful there was no one else around. The cargo drones increased altitude, their simple AIs only concerned about avoiding collisions, not stopping daring early-morning heists.

  The team’s two flitters dropped fast on either side of the downed vehicle. Both pairs threw open their doors and pulled out rifles. Dark opaque windows concealed the passengers. If the Lady were feeling extra-generous, there might not be anyone aboard.

  Erik’s hope was fleeting. The back of the cargo flitter slid ope
n, and stun bolts blasted out of it. He ducked behind his door to protect himself from the barrage. Jia hissed and reached for a stun grenade. The front doors flew open, and guards used them for shields as they fired at Anne and Kant.

  “Go to nonlethals,” Erik ordered, drawing his pistol and returning fire. If the enemy wasn’t trying to blow their head off, they’d repay the favor until they had a reason to believe otherwise.

  Emma’s drones swarmed the area. Target highlights for the eight men inside the back of the flitter appeared, marked in everyone’s smart lenses for convenience. Thermals indicated two men in the front.

  The guards in the back were crouched behind ballistic shields, the barrels of their rifles poking through small slits. They all wore tactical vests but lacked the full suits or helmets of the security Emma had spotted before.

  A small insignia decorated the shields.

  Jia dropped her rifle and pulled her stun pistol. She fired, but the bolts dissipated harmlessly against the shields. Erik frowned. Something was wrong.

  The guards were well-prepared, but if the conspiracy had known someone was coming after them, they would have used something with more punch than stun rifles.

  A drone feed from behind Kant and Anne showed they weren’t having much trouble, and were secure behind the armored doors of Jia’s flitter. The two guards from the front of the cargo flitter kept up a near-constant stream of shots, but they were also using stun rifles.

  “The insignia on the shields is associated with a local modestly priced private security company,” Emma reported, sounding as confused as Erik felt. “I’m currently occupied, so I can’t dive too deeply into their records, but a general news search suggests nothing that would associate them with the conspiracy other than their appearance here.”

  “Budget rent-a-cops,” Erik muttered. “There’s no way they hired rent-a-cops to guard something important. What the hell is going on?”