I didn’t wait to hear a response. I stared at the photo of the poor scientist and that woman—I’m guessing Helena—as I held the com-link up to his console’s speaker bar. My sore arm started to shake by the time I finally heard his faint voice.
For a second, I was worried this wouldn’t work, and it would all have been for nothing, then he repeated himself louder, and the screen unlocked. I exhaled through my teeth, returned my com-link to my ear, and went to type. Again, I caught a glimpse of Basaam’s picture out of the corner of my eye and stopped. It had automatically shifted to one with him and Madame Venta at a celebration for the legal occupancy of Martelle Station.
“Are you ready for instructions?” Rin asked, irritation creeping into her tone. “The files are encrypted and far beyond our skills, so all you need to do is follow instructions to transmit them to us. Basaam will decrypt them on our end.”
My gaze darted between the picture and the screen. I was used to improvising, but this was a new level for me. I knew I couldn’t transmit the data and be left behind, but I hadn’t figured out how to avoid it and get off until now. Basaam wasn’t the only one who was friends with a paramount member of the Earthborn corporatocracy.
I reached out for the thin console bar that projected the screen. The back popped off with a switch, and inside was some circuitry and the tiny, thumb-sized hard-drive holding petabytes worth of data. I’ve heard people say that back on Pre-Meteorite Earth all that data might have fit the whole world’s information and required an entire building filled with servers. Now it was the key to everything.
“Malcolm, do you read me?” Rin asked.
“Loud and clear,” I said.
“Then what’s the issue?”
“All coms from this level are being jammed.” I tapped on a key repeatedly for good measure, loud enough for her to hear. “I won’t be able to transmit anything, so if you want this data, I’m going to have to steal a ship and meet you, but I’ll need help on your end.”
“You’re lying.”
The truth was, I might not have been. That was the smart move considering whose lab I’d broken into, and Madame Venta was many things, but dumb wasn’t one of them. “If you want this data so badly, you can either trust I’ll get it to you or don’t, and they’ll bury it deeper than the Darien Lowers,” I said.
“Malcolm Graves, this is your last warning!” the officer outside shouted. I heard the clatter of them preparing a fusion cutter to break into the office. There was too much sensitive material around the lab for them to risk blowing the door.
“We sent you in so we didn’t need to get involved,” Rin said. “Finish the job.”
“I am.” I took a step back and looked through Basaam’s drawers, hoping he had a weapon. He didn’t. “Scientists,” I grumbled under my breath before kicking the desk over with my synthetic foot to provide myself some cover. “Now, I’m going to need you to contact someone so they don’t kill me.”
“Do you think I’m lying about what I’ll do to Aria, Collector?” Rin said.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” I drew a deep breath. “Kale, I know you can hear me. You made me risk my daughter in coming here. Now it’s your turn. How much are you willing to risk for a chance to even yourselves with Earth? If you aren’t, then ignore me. Otherwise, I’m a man of my word.”
They must have silenced the feed because I didn’t hear any arguing until Kale said, “What do you need?”
The loud whir of a fusion cutter powering on filled the room. Pulse rifles clicked into position outside, and the officers moved into formation to take me by force.
“I need you to open the Cora’s wide coms and use my hand terminal to link me to Luxarn Pervenio,” I said. “Anything from Martelle Station’s network is blocked, but this line won’t be until they jam the entire Jovian system.”
“Absolutely not!” Rin snapped. “So you can tell them exactly where we are?”
“You forget who you have on that ship,” I said. “Don’t be fools. You said I was your collector now, so let me do my damn job to keep her safe!”
This time, they didn’t bother muting me while they argued.
“There’s no time for arguing!” I said, instantly regretting the rift between them I’d help nurture. Sparks flew out from one corner of the door. “They’re breaking in. These are the split-second choices leaders make, kid. Unless Rin makes all of them.”
Nobody answered. I craned my neck to see the door and how close the officers were to breaking in. Luckily, in a lab testing fusion reactors, every wall and door was specially reinforced. I had a minute, maybe two, until I was swarmed.
I looked down and noticed my right-hand twitching, subconsciously itching for a pulse pistol no doubt. I rarely found myself in precarious positions without one… not that I’d been any good at shooting ever since Titan.
“C’mon, kid,” I whispered to myself. “Don’t be her puppet. C’mon.”
“Luxarn Pervenio here,” the familiar voice of my long-time employer suddenly spoke into my ear. My heart skipped a beat it took me by such surprise.
“Sir, it’s me,” I said, breathless.
“Graves? Is that really you?”
“As sure as Zhaff is your son,” I replied. I knew I had to tell him something only I would know to ensure that it was me. Considering we weren’t long-time friends keen on sharing secrets over a glass of whiskey, that was the best I could think of.
“By Earth. Trass took you and threatened me, and the reports I’m getting from Europa… what the hell is going on?”
“They captured me, and I broke out,” I said. “But I need to get back in with Kale, and what I’m stealing from Venta Co. is the best way. Please, sir, I need you to get them to back off. I told Kale I’m out of the game with you if they have the credits to pay me. If I can just earn his trust, I’ll be in a position to end this from the inside. They’ll never leave him alone.”
“Graves.” He sighed. “As glad as I am to hear you’re alive, you must understand what position you’re putting me in.”
“C’mon, sir. It’s a chance to get me in with them and to screw Venta over at the same time.”
“Haven’t you heard? We’re one entity now.”
“Only in name,” I said. “Get Venta to pull away.”
“Then what?”
“Then I steal a ship, get the hell out of here, and bring Kale what he wants. The first chance I get on Titan after I earn his trust as a mercenary, I put him down. You were right, sir. Zhaff deserves that much at least.”
“About that. Malcolm… I… Zhaff…”
“Sir, you’re breaking up. They must be jamming all outward communications now. If you’re getting this, I won’t let you down. Just clear me a path.”
His response was an unintelligible mess of interference. I cursed under my breath and yanked the com-link out of my ear. It was all but useless. I craned my neck to see the door, only to find that the fusion cutters were done. The door toppled forward, and the officers outside rolled smoke bombs in, filling the room with heavy smog. Laser sights slashed in.
I grabbed a long shard of one of Basaam’s models and held it to my chest. If I was going to go down, it wouldn’t be without a fight.
A cluster of footsteps neared. My grip tightened. Then I heard the bang of a pulse pistol being fired and someone screamed. Another rang out, and another. The shots were short and succinct, and the confusion amongst the Venta Co. men meant it wasn’t coming from one of them.
Weapons and bodies clanked the floor one after another, a refrain of death. Then silence.
I released a mouthful of air I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and leaned slowly around the overturned desk. A Venta Co. officer lay, head facing me, a bullet hole through the center of his visor.
“No, please!” I heard an officer shout before he too was silenced by a bullet.
“Who is that!” I shouted.
“Malcolm Graves, you can come out now,” a man replied with th
e same robotic voice that the Cogent from above in the station had. Now that we were closer, I could hear the machinelike tinge to it that not only made him sound artificial in cadence but like a Solnet user interface.
I came further around the corner, still not willing to expose myself. Maybe Luxarn was helping me out, or perhaps he wanted me for himself to see what I’d learned from my time as Kale’s captive. There was still always the possibility that he’d somehow found out about Aria, considering how public a figure she’d become.
The smoke began to dissipate, revealing at least ten Venta Co. security officers’ bodies lying dead throughout the office and hallway. One clean shot to the head had claimed each of them, except for the one currently in the hands of my Cogent savior. He stood in the entranceway, arm wrapped around a struggling officer’s throat before he snapped it.
I’d seen men killed that way enough times not to be affected by it, but the ease with which he did it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Like he was playing with an action figure but had pushed too hard. He let the body fall from his arms in a heap, then glared up at me. All I could see in detail through the hanging mist was his eye-lens.
The muscles of my gun-hand tensed. Memories of those last moments on Titan with Zhaff rushed through my mind. I heard the ringing of my pistol again and saw him toppling over. Of anyone Luxarn had to have help me, of course, it was another Cogent. If I never had to deal with another one, it’d be too soon.
“Malcolm Graves, you must hurry,” the Cogent said. I couldn’t help but notice the familiarity to the tone beneath that unnatural tinge. However, every Cogent spoke like Zhaff did. My mind was just playing tricks on me again, bringing me back to that moment where my life was turned upside down.
Still cautious, I pulled myself to my feet. The Cogent’s weapon was lowered at the very least. I finally wondered if my insane plan was actually about to work, and Luxarn was really going to help me get a ship in an attempt to have a man inside Kale’s operation.
The Cogent stepped toward me. “Malcolm, it is good to s—"
An earsplitting crash from the testing lab assaulted my ears. The Cogent was whipped off his feet and sucked out of the doorway. Air whistled, then pulled Basaam’s desk, all the bodies, and me with it. The desk jammed across the doorway, and I slammed into it. Incredible pressure squeezed my limbs and made my eye sockets burn. Blood rushed to my head, and with everything I’d been through, I started to grow faint.
I felt a firm grip on my shoulder. White armor filled my vision, then a Titanborn heaved me over his shoulder. The last thing I remembered was the glinting of the Cogent’s eye lens down the hall, holding on to a railing as the change in pressure threatened to tear him out into space through the wall of the testing lab that had been blown open.
Five
Kale
“How much are you willing to risk for a chance to even yourselves with Earth?” Malcolm said to me. “If you aren’t, then ignore me. Otherwise, I’m a man of my word.”
Rin glared over at me from the com’s controls. The way the dim lights played across her scarred face, anybody else might have cringed in fear.
“He’s playing us for fools,” she said.
“What if he’s not?” I replied.
“How many collectors have you met? This is what they do.”
It was true; I hadn’t met any beyond surface interactions. Anyone from Darien who grew up in the Lowers knew to keep away when a collector came to town. Those that didn’t… people didn’t hear from them again. I turned to Basaam, who was being kept quiet by one of my men.
“Basaam, how easy would it be for Martelle Station to block all outgoing communications from their network?” I said.
My guard let his hand off his mouth. “Complicated, but not impossible,” he said, short of breath. “Numerous subsets of Venta Co. operate within the station’s optics. However, a top-down order from Madame Venta or the Jovian High Director could allow for full station override.”
“He’s lying, Kale,” Rin said.
“And how would you like to prove it?” I snapped. “He can’t see Aria, and we don’t have time to wake her. Now move over.” I shoved my way in front of her and lowered my mouth to the coms. “What do you need?” I asked Malcolm.
“I need you to open the Cora’s wide coms and use my hand terminal to link me to Luxarn Pervenio—”
I didn’t hear the rest of what he said because Rin cut in and barked, “Absolutely not! So you can tell them exactly where we are?”
“You forget who you have on that ship,” Malcolm said. “Don’t be fools. You said I was your collector now, so let me do my damn job to keep her safe!”
Rin was in such shock by his request, she scoffed. Then she looked to me, visibly unnerved I didn’t share her same reaction. Months went into planning Mars and Basaam’s capture, but we were all improvising now, as Malcolm would say.
“You can’t seriously be considering this,” Rin said. “Kale.”
“We need that data,” I said.
“We’ll find another way. We can’t trust him. This is too far.”
“There’s no time for arguing!” Malcolm shouted, his voice muffled by a grating noise in the background. “They’re breaking in. These are the split-second choices leaders make, kid. Unless Rin makes all of them.”
“I don’t trust him,” I said.
“I know, you trust her. But just because you care about her doesn’t mean he really does. We should leave him behind and go. At the very least, we’ll give Venta a scare.”
“Is that all we’re good for—frightening Earthers? You always talk about us making a difference, but they were scared of us before we called ourselves Titanborn. It doesn’t change anything any more than spacing people on the Piccolo did.”
“C’mon, kid,” Malcolm whispered. “Don’t be her—”
Rin switched off the coms, then waved back to the Titanborn holding Basaam and signaled for them to leave. He yanked Basaam away, and the Earther yelled about seeing his clan-sister before his screaming was muffled by a thud.
“It’s my job to protect you,” Rin said. “Who knows what he’d bring back to Titan?”
“It’s your job to support me!” I reached into her pocket and pulled out the hand terminal and battery I’d taken from Malcolm. “Gareth died for this chance.”
“Think this through! It’s his job to notice things, and who knows what he saw? If he figured out about Aria, their Cogents might not gun for you anymore.”
“He doesn’t know a thing,” I said.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because he wanted to protect her from you. If he knew she was pregnant with my child, a stubborn old Earther collector like him might not have been so eager to stop it before the baby died.” I shoved the device into her gut. “Do it, or I’ll find someone who will.”
Rin bit her lip in disgust then snagged the hand terminal and plugged it into a port on the Cora’s control console. “You aren’t thinking clearly,” she said as she swiped through commands until Luxarn’s private contact information came up. “Scanners could pick us up the moment I broaden our range.”
“I don’t plan on staying for long,” I said.
She keyed a few commands within the Cora herself to switch on our long-range coms. We’d light up like a star to any Venta scanners watching the area for anomalies. Rin then let her finger hover over the button on the hand terminal, which would sync Luxarn Pervenio onto our private line with Malcolm.
“You’re sure you want to do this?” she said.
“If you want to be Queen of Titan, fine. But until then, you asked me to lead us, and this is our only move. Do it, Rin.”
She held her tongue then did as I asked.
“Good,” I said. “Now cut us out.”
“You don’t at least want to know the lies your new friend is telling?” Rin said, holding back frustration.
“If Luxarn analyzes the feed, they might find that we we
re listening in. Cut it, now.”
Rin threw her hands up in frustration, but again, did as requested. Silence filled the command deck, and all the proof we had of Malcolm’s conversation with the man who turned Titan into our nightmare was a tiny light indicating their lines were open. We, on the other hand, were now completely exposed.
“The moment they’re done, we burn for Titan,” Rin said.
I leaned forward and stared through the viewport at the distant dot of life that was Martelle Station. Ships swarmed around it and lights flashed with activity. Each of them faced inward.
“First we get Malcolm,” I said.
Rin’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“They’re all focused on him. You’re right, we can’t trust him if he makes contact with Pervenio. They can falsify the data to do Trass-knows-what. So while they’re focused on him, and Venta and Pervenio argue about what to do, we grab him.”
“Why didn’t you just say that was the plan to start with?”
“I didn’t have a plan yet,” I admitted.
Rin let a rattling groan slip through her lips. “We have no idea what defenses are on that station. The whole point of using him was to keep you far away.”
“And if we hide like cowards, like Luxarn, this will all be a waste. But if we get him and secure the data, nobody will see it coming. Malcolm will seem like he’s still on their side, and we can use him again to get close after the engine is finished.”
“Luxarn might already know we’re using Aria as leverage.”
“He doesn’t,” I said.
Rin rolled her eyes. “Again with absolutes. You can’t know that, Kale.”
“I lived with Earthers on the Piccolo for years. I followed even more of them around in Darien. They don’t frown upon anything more than having illegitimate children, and Aria is one. The newsfeeds haven’t yet connected her to Luxarn Pervenio, which means Malcolm kept her quiet to save his job.”
“A job that, according to her, he no longer has,” Rin reminded me.
Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set) Page 87
