Rogue Stars

by C Gockel et al.

  Eric snorted; yeah right. Zhang was a player, probably small time as yet—his engineering business did seem real—maybe his shady side was a hobby or something. He would keep digging.

  Kanarion was supposed to facilitate a meeting, but Yi Zhang could be nothing more than a middle man if that. If Kanarion expected him to pay full price for this introduction, he could think again.

  Eric followed the two men using Ashfield’s cameras until they entered the plaza. He picked them out on his sensors and tagged them for targeting. Even slowed by the Raytheon inside his clothes, both would be dead before they could think of betrayal. Still, he didn’t seriously feel threatened. He watched for any surveillance on himself or on his visitors and found none. He stood to greet them as they reached his table.

  “Gentlemen, please sit,” Eric said shaking their hands as if this were a normal meeting. Both men looked taken aback but did sit. “Kanarion... yes I know it’s not your real name. You were supposed to introduce me to a certain someone. Mister Zhang here doesn’t fit the bill.”

  Kanarion’s face darkened.

  “If you think I’m paying you fifty thousand for this meeting,” Eric went on. “You’re stupider than you look.”

  “You!” Kanarion began in a rage, but his companion stopped him from leaping up with a hand on his shoulder. Kanarion sat back fully and hissed the words, “If you try to screw me, you won’t live to regret it.”

  Eric grinned nastily at the blustering man. His targeting reticule pulsed redly, spinning and centred on his forehead right between the eyes. Kanarion was only a thought away from death; his companion too. Zhang was more sensible. He had moved a little apart from his friend after his initial instinct to restrain Kanarion. A quick assessing look was all Eric needed to assure himself they were both unarmed.

  Eric leaned forward. “You had a job to do. You didn’t do it. Why shouldn’t I just walk away? Threaten me again and I’ll shut your mouth for you.” He let them see a glimpse of the Raytheon under his arm, and smiled.

  “If I may?” Zhang said. “He can’t help you, but he knew I could. He hasn’t failed.”

  Eric sat back and regarded Zhang thoughtfully. He kept both men targeted, but had his sensors do a sweep looking for anything interesting. A wire frame representation of both men flashed up onto his display as the sweep commenced. A few seconds later a couple of places flashed amber on the models, but none red. A query showed Kanarion was carrying a wand, but although its carrier wave showed it was active for incoming comms, it wasn’t in use.

  Zhang had a number of devices in his pockets. An inactive wand was one, the other two might be comps of some kind, but neither device was active. Both men’s wristcomps were online of course, but unlike Eric’s military issue, they had no ability to broadcast.

  Eric dismissed the sweep’s results to concentrate on Zhang.

  “He knows to keep silent. If you agree?”

  Eric quickly reviewed his log of the last few seconds, and nodded slowly as if thinking it over. Zhang had proposed paying Kanarion off so that they could get down to business.

  “And you guarantee his silence?”

  Zhang nodded. “He’s my sister’s husband.”

  Eric grinned, Zhang didn’t sound happy about that. Eric wouldn’t have been either. “Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll pay him twenty-five thousand—”

  Kanarion cursed.

  Zhang whirled toward his brother-in-law. “Keep silent fool!” He turned back to Eric. “Go on.”

  “Twenty-five thousand for him as payment for this intro, and he goes away. He doesn’t talk about this and you guarantee it. Then, if you complete his job as you say you can, I’ll pay you another twenty-five thousand. You can give it to him or keep it for yourself. I don’t care which.” Zhang began to agree but Eric held up a finger and pointed at Kanarion who was looking incensed. “Make me believe you can control him.”

  Zhang turned to his brother-in-law. “You were always a disappointment to my family,” he began and Kanarion’s face darkened. “But this time you accidentally did something right by calling me. Don’t ruin it. I swear I will give you the twenty-five thousand. On my honour. You know my word is good.”

  Kanarion nodded reluctantly.

  “I know you think me a fool for keeping to the old ways, but remember this: keeping my word isn’t the only tradition I uphold. Vendetta is another. I swear if you speak a word of this, my sister will be a widow the next day. Do you understand?”

  Eric blinked. Zhang didn’t sound angry or upset. His heartbeat and other stats were unchanged, but Eric believed every word he’d said. Going by expression, Kanarion did as well. The suddenly scared man nodded jerkily.

  “Good,” Zhang said and turned back to Eric. “Satisfied?”

  Eric counted out twenty-five platinum wafers as his answer and slid them toward Kanarion. The greedy man’s hand darted out and made them disappear, his eyes glowing with excitement.

  “Good bye, Kanarion. We won’t meet again... we better not,” Eric said evenly.

  Kanarion stood and hurried away. Eric kept him tagged on sensors, but he left it to his processor to alert him should the man do something interesting. Meanwhile, Zhang had to be dealt with. He slid the remaining wafers of platinum to Zhang and the man pocketed them without counting them.

  “I don’t envy you,” Eric said mildly.

  Zhang grimaced. “My sister loves him and I love my sister. It would hurt her should I have to make good on my threat, but sometimes I think a little accident and a quick funeral for him would be better for her in the long run.”

  “Kids?”

  Zhang shuddered. “No thank god, but she wants them. I must decide soon.”

  Eric pursed his lips, but then he nodded. This so-called businessman would be called something else on other worlds he had visited. Something a little more sinister. Crime boss sounded a little old fashioned and the image it conjured was a cliché, but that’s what Eric was getting from Zhang’s demeanour and conversation with his brother-in-law.

  He remembered thinking about Thurston’s future when he first arrived, and how the station stood guard against crime, but it was obviously already here dirtside. And that was a problem of another sort. Why hadn’t his searches found Zhang’s shadier dealings? His digging still hadn’t found anything of the sort.

  * * *

  Computer: Narrow search to Yi Zhang’s immediate family. Include financials. Query: Is there any evidence of Freedom Movement affiliation and/or sympathies?

  >_ Working

  * * *

  Eric decided to probe a little while his processor deepened its search into Zhang’s family.

  “You said he did the right thing by getting you involved. Why?”

  “Because I can do what he cannot. You’re not the first mercenary I’ve hired on behalf of my... of friends,” Zhang said.

  Eric’s eyes narrowed, he’d been going to say something else. Family maybe?

  “In my line of work, I’ve needed such before,” Zhang continued. “My friends heard that about me. When they found a similar need, they came for advice.”

  “I see,” Eric said and did see quite well. His processor had finally found the missing data he had needed to get a handle on Zhang.

  Yi Zhang’s company was family owned and run as Eric had expected, and although it must be a front for some criminal activities as well, it really did produce machine tools for the mines. It was a legitimate company, but one family member had not stuck around despite that.

  His brother, Hu Zhang and severed all ties and changed his name in an apparent effort to disavow its less than legal activities. A noble goal, but that was why a preliminary search had failed to find any links to Zhang. Hu Zhang, was now Daniel King, a politician opposed to President Thurston’s policies.

  Eric realised immediately why Hu chose the name King. It was just a Romanised version of his real name, but his processor hadn’t made the connection on its first pass. Yet another reason to regre
t the loss of real A.I computer architecture. An A.I would not have needed him to make the connection, it would have seen the obvious. Still, Eric had the data now; that was important, and besides, he had enough problems with a dull but obedient computer living in his head. He didn’t want to think about having a real A.I constantly with him. He didn’t think his sanity would survive it.

  “I understand you wish to join the Freedom Movement,” Zhang went on after a moment. “Why? You’re not from Thurston. Why do you care what happens here?”

  Eric took a sip of coffee and frowned when the usual caffeine alert appeared on his internal display. He ignored it as he always did. “You know the answer. I don’t care what happens here unless it inconveniences me. I’m a merc. Money interests me, nothing much else does.”

  “But you have money.”

  “Not enough.”

  “What is enough?” Zhang shrugged. “I’m a businessman too. I’ve yet to find that elusive figure.”

  Eric laughed. “Same here. I don’t want to join the Freedom Movement. I don’t do causes. If the movement didn’t exist here, I would go to a planet where it did. I’m not the type to follow a cause. I follow the money, period. Now that’s not to say I won’t stick around for a while you understand.”

  Zhang grinned but sobered quickly. “So it’s just another contract for you. I can understand that. My friends will want to check you out, but assuming all goes well, I think you can consider yourself hired.”

  Eric raised a hand. “I don’t come cheap, not even on the Guild’s pay scale, but I can be had. Two mil for the duration of ah... of hostilities.”

  Zhang paled and then laughed. “Two million credits for one man is ridiculous. I could hire ten for that!”

  “Ah, but they wouldn’t be me. And besides, you wouldn’t get ten on an open ended contract. I did say I would stick around for the duration. For all you know that could be years.”

  Zhang frowned. “True. Why would you agree to that?”

  Eric grinned and retrieved the data crystal he’d compiled from a pocket. “I’m glad you asked. Here’s a free sample of my work. Give it to your friends. If they like it, I want the two million up front deposited to my account. You’ll find details on here.” He handed the crystal to Zhang. “In the very unlikely event they don’t like what it contains, no hard feelings and I’ll be on a ship away from here by the end of the month. Deal?”

  Zhang nodded slowly. He was looking at the crystal pensively. “I will enquire.”

  Eric stood and offered his hand. “Nice doing business. I’m off to catch a show. Might even try to bag one of your dinos. I heard you have safaris.”

  Zhang nodded, still seeming distracted.

  Eric walked away watching Zhang on one of the cameras feeding him live imagery. He smiled to himself as Zhang took out his wand and made a call. Eric froze the image and captured the name and number displayed on the wand. You never knew what could turn out to be important.

  * * *

  Saint James Hotel, Thurston, Border Zone

  Eric returned to his rooms after the latest in a long list of leisure pursuits he had indulged in. He would rather have been on his way back to Snakeholme, but with no contact from Zhang or his friends, he had to stay here and pretend to be having fun.

  Take in the sites like a tourist, check.

  Go on a three-day safari, check.

  Take in a couple of shows, yawn and check.

  Practice on the range, making errors like a Human just in case he was being watched, check.

  It had whiled away the time, but he could have gone into hibernation if that was all he wanted. No, it was more to keep up appearances than to fill time. Surely he was being monitored, if not electronically, then by Human means. He did still watch for surveillance, but he hadn’t detected any. It annoyed him, because without any kind of reaction to his presence he couldn’t gauge his progress.

  Eric checked at the desk for messages. None again, but that was expected. Zhang could leave one on the comm in his room if he wanted, or preferably on Eric’s own wand. Checking at the desk was a sign of his impatience, nothing more. He wanted to be done with this, and go home, that was all.

  He took the elevator up to his floor and quickly entered his room. As soon as he entered he froze, hyper alert, and the nano-sized remote he’d left to guard the door reported in. Two intrusions within the last five hours. Why two? His sensors swept ahead, but found no one in the suite now, but someone had been here. Perhaps the hotel staff had stopped in to clean... no, he couldn’t detect any aromas of cleaning products.

  Excellent. If not hotel staff, then it was likely a team sent to search his room. It was the kind of response he’d been waiting for.

  Well it took them long enough, Eric mused as he checked out each of his rooms. Someone had finally gotten around to searching his suite and installing listening devices. He wondered if it had been Major Stein’s paranoia or whether the Freedom Movement had finally gotten with the program. If there was one thing he hated more than terrorists, it was incompetent terrorists. Professionals could be expected to do certain things, and were therefore predictable within certain parameters. With two-hundred years of experience, he had those parameters pretty well mapped now, but amateurs... he shuddered. They were a bloody menace.

  The search of his suite wasn’t a surprise; bound to happen eventually. What did surprise, and annoy, was how long it had taken for a reaction. His meeting with Zhang was nine days ago, and no contact had been forthcoming. That was why Eric had wondered if the search had been a Marine operation. Stein had to be jittery now that the Freedom Movement had completed the op his data crystal had outlined.

  The Major hadn’t been happy when Eric informed him of the operation, and the expected results. It went against the grain to allow a terrorist group to successfully jack a government armoury that way, but in the end Stein had gone along hoping that casualties would be low, and getting a man inside the movement would compensate.

  The Freedom Movement had gone in hard, neutralised the security net as instructed in Eric’s plan, killed everyone in the building—five guards that late at night—and withdrew in a pair of armoury trucks carrying pallets of ammunition and dino hunting rifles. They were completely unopposed and unseen thanks to the network shunts he’d included the specs for in his plan. As soon as the op went down, Stein had beefed up security, but that was fine. The Freedom Movement would have expected no less.

  Bringing Major Stein into the loop had been a calculated risk. Eric knew he would need backup eventually, but he could have waited until later to make contact, but Stein was one of those forward thinking officers the Marine Corps liked so much—an effective one. Eric preferred that sort too, but in Stein’s case it could have short-circuited the evolving plan. Eric had needed to hustle when he realised Stein was going to make a move that would have made the data on the crystal he’d given Zhang obsolete. That would have ruined everything.

  Getting Stein alone had been hard, but Eric had managed it, and the Marine had taken it in stride when he realised what Eric was. Getting him to agree to delay his plans though, especially when doing so would almost certainly risk lives, had been a struggle. Eric never liked pulling rank. It didn’t seem right to give orders to a major when his own official rank was lesser, but the truth of the matter was that Stein could have been the Commandant of Marines—unlikely in the extreme as it was an administrative position not a battlefield command—and he would still have complied... probably.

  It was history and tradition that made vipers command the other branches of the military on the battlefield, not rank or regulations. Eric was careful never to abuse that. All of them were. They were feared and respected, but that respect never quite dulled the fear. No one in the regiment wanted to make that worse. Eric had to wonder how well that would work if they began recruiting again. He shrugged. It wasn’t his problem.

  Eric wandered his rooms as if bored, allowing his sensors to map the surveillance grid ne
wly installed by unknown persons. It wasn’t Stein, he decided as he traced more and more emissions. The gear was good tech, a little too good for the regular military. That was no insult to the Marines. They wanted rugged gear, able to do the job and take abuse without failing on the battlefield, and military budgets also preferred it that way. A score of good solid units could be had for the price of a single highly sensitive and temperamental unit meant for true espionage.

  The tech in use here was not regular military issue, neither was it the absolute cutting edge, but it was spy stuff. The kind of thing a government agency would employ.

  Eric frowned as another grid appeared on sensors. What the hell? Two surveillance grids in one place made no sense unless... he nodded and smiled in amusement. The high end gear probably was government. Thurston was up and coming, its agencies would need to keep pace. Unemployed mercs would surely be on the watch list especially considering recent events. Eric tagged that net as Thurston InSec for now and left it alone. It was active but passive in that the sensors had no offensive capabilities. The same couldn’t be said for the other grid.

  This one he tagged as Freedom Movement and hostile, because it did in fact have offensive capability in the form of sonics and neurotoxin dispensers. He hacked the net and disabled the weapon circuits, but left the passives alone. No one would realise what he’d done unless trying to trigger an attack. It was good but not high end tech; exactly what he had come to expect from terrorist organisations with off world backing, something he was seeing more and more as the decades rolled by. Maybe Burgton was right about that too.

  Burgton’s theory of growth over stagnation within the Alliance was something the regiment often debated. They had the time and vision to see long-term trends. Their unique perspective and ability to collate data from all over the place, gave Burgton an unparalleled ability to predict events.

  After a moment’s thought, Eric inserted a little subroutine into the hostile net that would warn him if someone sent a signal to attack. His hack would prevent the attack, but it would be good to know if one were attempted. Looking over his work, he carefully withdrew from the net, satisfied he was once again secure.