The Feeding of Sorrows

by Rob Howell

  “Binnig hired everyone who could type a one or a zero. Whoever did this crashed their sensor and air defense network just like that.” He snapped his fingers.

  I pondered his statement. “We could do that, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

  “You could do that. One other employee. That’s it for our firm.”

  “And that other employee is you, isn’t it?”

  Bullitt grimaced. “Maybe at one time.” He waved his hand at the archaic stacks of paper that sat around his office. All the company’s records were paper, and each filing cabinet was fitted with a thermite bomb capable of destroying the whole building. “This shit doesn’t take care of itself.”

  “Okay,” I leaned back. “Let’s think this through. We know the attacks at Cimaron 283133-6A, Peninnah, and Houston included Zuul. We also know the Zuparti paid for at least two of those attacks. We have no idea who was behind the attack in Houston, but it seems likely the Zuparti as well.”

  “So what do the Zuul and Zuparti have against these guys?”

  “I don’t know.” We thought about it.

  Bullitt nodded. “That’ll be on my end. I’ll start studying the contracts and looking into both races.”

  I nodded. “And I’ll start going through all the data from the attacks. I’ve already been working on the stuff I pulled from Houston. The good news is I’ve found some scraps of what looks to be a Zuul comm protocol. The bad news is I’ve not found much else. No hint of any Humans behind the attack.”

  “Some of a Zuul comm protocol? Better make sure the techs get that. We’ve got hardly anything on them.”

  “Will do.” I paused. “Unless it’s an inside job, I can’t imagine someone penetrating Binnig’s security without significant Galactic tech. The Zuparti are better at that sort of thing than the Zuul, though you never really know with the Zuul.”

  “Yeah. And either are willing to hire elSha or another tech race to help.”

  “You know who paid for the new CASPers from Binnig?”

  Bullitt nodded. “The Wathayat.”

  “Odd, don’t you think?”

  “Very.” He tented his fingers. “The Wathayat are playing their own game.”

  “I’m not yet ready to believe this isn’t a gift worthy of Odysseus.”

  “Agreed. I’ll look into the possibility the Foresters are simply collateral damage. Whoever is doing this could be going after the Wathayat.”

  “That’s possible, I suppose, but I doubt it. Even if they eliminate the Foresters completely, their destruction will be less than a mosquito bite to the Wathayat.”

  “True. It’s a small chance, but worth looking into. You talked to Colonel Edmonds, right?”

  “Yes. Elite Training has a new customer as you well know.”

  “I don’t know that I want you going back and forth to—” Bullitt glanced at his notes “—Owen Sound a bunch of times. Even with your cover, that place is too remote and exposed.”

  “Now that I’m no longer locked out of our system, I’ll get back to assisting their training. After I get access to the complaints reporting section, I’ll head to their office in downtown Toronto to discuss things further. We already have that system in place.”

  Bullitt leaned back and smiled lazily.

  “What?”

  “Just remembering some days of my misspent youth.”

  I chuckled. “I take it you spent some time in Toronto?”

  He laughed. “Oh, yes.” After a moment he continued, “You know, you’re too uptight sometimes, Rick. Going into hiding when your boss asks you to come to work isn’t normal.”

  “I don’t work for a normal company.”

  “Too right that.” There was something in his eyes I didn’t recognize. Something dark. His eyes cleared. “You should hit the Orbit Room. Tuesday night has been reggae night there since before First Contact. Still hopping, I’ll bet.” He munched more pecans.

  I snorted. “I’ll check it out when I have time.”

  “Do that.” His eyes grew serious again. “What did you pull off their systems when you were talking to Edmonds?”

  “You don’t have it already?”

  “How many operatives do you think I have?”

  “You sent one after me instead of helping the Foresters, didn’t you?”

  “Damn right. You cost me a ton of man-hours.”

  I snorted but activated my sweeper and sent over the files.

  Bullitt shook his head as he scrolled through the data. “When will these mercs learn that they can’t keep everything on servers? We’ll always find it.”

  “To be fair, their security would stop most people. It’s not the most recent software, but it’s the best of last year’s stuff.”

  “All they can afford, probably.”

  “Yes. However, Edmonds does have some reserves.” I sent over another burst.

  He raised his eyebrows. “That’s surprising. I didn’t think the Foresters had that much.”

  “They don’t. I think that’s mostly the Edmonds’ family estate.”

  Bullitt paused. “I’ve never met Edmonds, but I’ve heard about him. He doesn’t deserve this bullshit, and it pisses me off.”

  “You?” I was honestly surprised.

  He smiled. “Yeah, I know. I have feelings occasionally.” He snorted. “The Horsemen? They’ve all shit the bed a time or two, and I might chuckle a bit if this was happening to them, but these guys are as clean as anyone in this business.”

  “That isn’t much. There was that thing on Cimaron 283133-6A.”

  “I read that report.” He paused. “There are holes in it big enough to drive the entire Winged Hussars space fleet through.”

  “I think I found one. You should dig into the red diamond supply.”

  “In my spare time.”

  “You’re in the investment business.”

  He raised his eyebrows and pulled up the red diamond markets on his screen. “Interesting. They found some on Cimaron 283133?”

  “I think so. Look at what the Cartography Guild has been doing lately.”

  “And the Sidar?”’

  “And the Zuparti.”

  “Those damn weasels.”

  “Yeah. While you’re chasing that down, I’ll patch some other holes.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Bullitt grabbed some pecans. “Let’s just say that everything else I know about the Foresters’ past is honorable enough that everything that’s going on makes me tetchy.” He continued scanning the Foresters’ data. “Ah, good. Edmonds has put most of his assets with one of those ‘hypersecure’ brokerages.”

  “Hypersecure sounds good in the ads.” I chuckled. “Are you going to play with it?”

  “I think I might. He’s going to need a war chest, and I’m damn sure I can invest it better than anyone else in this business.”

  “I’ve no doubt.” Bullitt was another reason we posed as stock analysts. Our company gathered information, and he had an instinct for making money. Good thing he found that game boring. “How rich are you?”

  Bullitt’s mouth shut in surprise. He thought for a moment. “Not sure, really. I don’t keep track as long as we have enough to stay ahead of the hackers.”

  “The hackers that don’t work for you.”

  “Best way to beat a hacker is to hire him.” He ate more pecans and looked at me. “But that’s not what’s important.”

  “No.”

  “You’re not going to let this go.”

  “No. I can’t. There’s an iceberg here, and I don’t know what ships it’s going to sink.”

  “I know.” He waved his hand. “And I suppose you’re right. I wonder…” He turned to his sweeper and brushed his hands along its proprietary controls.

  “You wonder what?” I asked finally.

  “Hmmm? I wonder how many merc units are catching this sort of shit.”

  “Me too. It’s going to take some research to answer that question.”

  “Yes. I’ll see what
I can find out. At the very least, I can dust off some algorithms I’ve had lying around to search the GalNet for hints.”

  “The Information Guild frowns on bots,” I said drily.

  “Teach your grandmother to suck eggs.” He glared at me. “I’ll do things my way, thank you very much.”

  “And I’ll do things in mine.”

  He sighed. “Might as well. I’ve never been able to change your mind. If I think you’ve spent too much, I’ll take it out of Edmonds’ profits.”

  “Won’t he mind?”

  “No one ever has before.” He chuckled, then leaned back and pondered the problem. “I think you should go to Karma-IV. Take the African Queen.”

  “You’re not serious.”

  “It’ll help with your cover. I don’t want you to have to search for berths to get home, and for that matter, I wouldn’t be surprised if you gotta go somewhere else after Karma-IV.”

  “It’s not about the ship or my cover. It’s about going to Karma-IV. I don’t want to draw Peepo’s attention, and it’s really hard to dig through the GalNet there without attracting any.”

  Bullitt snorted. “For me, maybe. Not for you. We both know Peepo’s gotten her hands on some interesting things no else for light years around has sniffed at.” An odd look crossed his face.

  “True.”

  His face cleared. “Better yet, she’ll likely have focused on the merc races. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has the most complete GalNet database of merc races anywhere.”

  “Yes.” I grimaced. “It makes sense. I just don’t trust anything that goes on there.”

  “And you’re right not to, but I still want you to go. The risk is worth it.”

  “It’s not your ass.”

  Bullitt’s face turned grim. “More than you might think, so don’t get caught.”

  “I’ll try not to.”

  “Do that.” He chuckled. “Besides, I’m not going anywhere for a while, and Captain Allnut has been bitching at me that her crew’s getting stale.”

  “She doesn’t bitch. She’s too damn nice for that.”

  He smiled. “True, but she does calmly send me her readiness reports, and she makes polite requests. Diligently. I’d rather have her bitching.”

  I shook my head. “Fine, I’ll go.”

  “Good.” He paused for a long moment, clearly pondering another choice. Finally he nodded. “Yeah, this is probably the time to use it.” He pressed a button. “Mr. Moneypenny, will you retrieve file Sierra Madre?”

  “Helping the Foresters make money, letting me have the African Queen, and bringing one of your treasures out of the vault? I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you with this much of a burr under your saddle.”

  He ignored me and ate a few pecans. I leaned back, still thinking.

  Moneypenny entered and put a locked chip case on Bullitt’s desk. “Anything else, sir?”

  “No, thank you, John.” After Moneypenny left, Bullitt pressed his thumb against the reader, and the case slid open. He picked up the data chip and weighed it for a second. Then he slid it over to me.

  “A couple of years ago, an employee managed to access Peepo’s system. She retrieved a number of interesting tidbits and sent them to me.”

  “Got through Peepo’s security? Who the hell is crazy enough to try and good enough to succeed?”

  “Peepo found the breach almost immediately. Sadly, our co-worker was forced into retirement soon after she sent the data.”

  “Ah.”

  We were both silent for a moment.

  Absent companions.

  “It seems Peepo had arranged some sort of feed from Zuul internal merc databases. She had a bunch of their personnel records.”

  “Old records?”

  “Up-to-date, when you factor in interstellar travel times and when she got them.”

  “How the hell did that damn Veetanho do that? The Zuul don’t like anyone, and they let almost no one enter their space, much less land on their primary planets.”

  “Peepo has dirt on everyone.” Bullitt shrugged. “She probably had the right leverage to manipulate the right Zuul bureaucrat.”

  “I wonder how many other races she’s unlocked.”

  “Most, if not all, I’ll bet.” His face twisted into a bitter, wry smile. “This isn’t the only treasure our retired co-worker sent me.”

  “Peepo’s undoubtedly got a great deal of interesting information on the Zuparti, too.”

  “Undoubtedly,” Bullitt agreed. “But don’t try to get it. The time may come when we’ll attempt to breach her system again, but this isn’t it. Do all you can to avoid letting her know this data exists.”

  “I shall. I suspect Peepo’s retirement package is even more pointed than yours.” I took the chip. “I think I’ll hold on to this until after I leave Karma-IV. It can stay on the African Queen. No need to chance Peepo getting into my sweeper and finding it.”

  “You can put it on my server on the Queen and look at it during transit. If they can bust her security, we’re screwed.” He tapped his pad and sent me a file. My sweeper beeped. “Here’s a list of Elite’s current contacts in the Karma system. The top two reached out to us, so they’re expecting someone to visit from us. I’ll send the usual update when you get there. Then you can prowl through the GalNet node to your heart’s content.”

  “If captured, I’ll do my best to get her to hunt you.” I got up and grabbed a handful of pecans. “Have a great day, boss.”

  “Get the fuck outta here.” His booming laughter followed me.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 13 – Rick Blaine

  Foresters House

  469 Jarvis Street, Toronto, Ontario

  “Good morning, Private—excuse me, Corporal. Stanley, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir. And good morning to you, Mr. Blaine.”

  “I’m here to follow up. Hopefully, you’re getting tired of all our techs coming in to get the software properly arranged, but perhaps Master Warrant Russell won’t mind giving me a moment or two.”

  “I’ll check, sir.”

  “Thank you, Corporal.”

  He went into the back room, then returned. “Master Warrant Officer Russell will see you now.” He opened the door and ushered me in.

  “Good morning, Mr. Blaine,” Russell said as he got up and shook my hand.

  “Forgive my intrusion. I know you’re busy, but I’m here to follow-up on your order and to see how Elite Training can further assist the Foresters. In fact, I apologize for not coming sooner. We had an issue requiring me to be elsewhere for a few weeks.”

  He waved it off. “In all honesty, your company’s techs have done fine.”

  “So, the installation of the Elite Training program is going well?”

  “Yes, according to reports from Owen Sound.” He motioned for me to take a seat, and he closed the door.

  I did as he instructed and opened my sweeper. It was set to automatically activate my security programs in the background. I set the bug detection program to scroll along the bar at the bottom. While it did that, I activated the Elite Training management software Tri-V display.

  “According to Captain Gregg, our officer overseeing the installation of the simulator modules at West Rocks Training Centre, your software synced with the Binnig Mk 8 training modules without a glitch.”

  “One would hope so, given that we’ve been assisting mercs working with the Mk 8 since its release. We’d be absolute failures if we couldn’t do that.” I smiled broadly. “And I’d like to think we’re better than that.”

  Russell took a deep sigh. “You better be.”

  “Yes, given the size of the contract.” I clicked a few buttons. “We have a basic precis of your normal operations and have tailored our software to assist you. As is fairly common during this particular follow-up, I’d like to ask a few questions about your ops to further enhance the training.”

  “Okay.” He cocked his head quizzically, wondering when I’d get to the re
al point.

  He’d make a terrible spook, I thought. I kept the humor out of my eyes. “You’ve clearly specialized in forested worlds. In our original conversations, Colonel Edmonds mentioned that you also have units regularly stationed on Peninnah and Maquon. Is that still correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Captain Gregg should’ve received installation packages for both planets, along with all the forest worlds we have decent descriptions of. However, the only information we had available about Peninnah and Maquon is what resides on the GalNet and other public resources. Colonel Edmonds gave us your geological and ecological files pertaining to those two planets, as well as a number of other forest-analogue worlds where the Foresters have served.”

  “As you say, sir.”

  “However, we’ve learned in our decades of training mercs that senior NCOs such as you often know more about the actual day-to-day details the troopers have to deal with. Before we make our final tweaks, we like to chat with high ranking NCOs about their experiences with a unit’s normal duty stations. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

  “Shoot.”

  “That’s your job, Master Warrant Officer.” I smiled slightly at the small joke. “In any case, tell me about Maquon. It’s one of your primary bases right?”

  “Yes. It’s our main off-world storage depot.”

  “The depot is next to an urban area, correct?”

  He nodded.

  “However, the urban area and the vast majority of that continent are covered in light jungle or forest with dense underbrush, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me about marching in that underbrush. Is it annoying? Are there vines that hinder walking? Did it affect the CASPer Mk 6s in any way?”

  “Generally, we took trails that have been there forever.”

  “Surely, you didn’t exclude the denser areas from your training?”

  “On Maquon, we usually did. But we didn’t do a bunch of training there, since the troopers are generally there waiting to be transported to their final unit destination.”

  I looked at him. “Master Warrant Officer Russell, I’ve not known you for a long time, but I seriously doubt you didn’t prowl through the worst areas a time or two while you were at the base.”