by Rob Howell
“That doesn’t seem all that relevant to your training program.”
“I can see that it might seem like a waste of time, but we have a number of talented programmers who tend to do bad things if they get bored.” I smiled again. “It’s our job to provide you with the best training tools we can, even if your officers deem that region a lesser priority.”
He shrugged. “Whatever you want. The heavy part of the forest is tricky at times, even in CASPers. It’s usually easy to move through the vines that wrap around the CASPers’ boots, but sometimes you step in a section where they’re thicker, and you really have to push through.”
“So you learn to avoid some of the big snarls.”
“Yes. Even some of the small snarls had vines that messed with the CASPers’ joints. If you didn’t clean all of them off the CASPers after patrols, their sap would corrode the contacts.”
“Excellent! That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for. We’ll be sure to emphasize maintaining and cleaning equipment while on Maquon.”
He blinked. “I guess I just mentioned that sort of thing to the troopers so often it became a habit.”
“No substitute for veteran wisdom, Master Warrant Officer. Countless times we’ve found all sorts of things NCOs teach noobs that never get into training manuals but get passed down as institutional wisdom.”
I dutifully recorded all his answers and passed them on to the programming division. I checked to see if the sweeper’s routines had finished. They always did within seconds, but something might have blocked them, so I checked. I glanced at the results.
Nothing within a hundred meters. It would have to do.
I straightened up. “Okay, we’re clear.”
“What?”
“No bugs. We can talk freely. Elite Training incorporates the answers to the standard questions I just asked into its packages, so they make excellent conversation starters while we check security.”
“Hiding secrets in plain sight again.”
“It’s clear we have some security issues somewhere along the line. I understand you had a problem with a recent shipment, and I wanted to make sure you didn’t have any additional information that you felt uncomfortable sending us.”
Russell grimaced. “That we do. There was a…glitch during delivery.”
I didn’t snort. I was proud of myself. Supersonic missiles could certainly, in some ways, be described as a ‘glitch.’
“My primary employer has been retained by your supplier to investigate that glitch.”
“Do you ever speak plainly?” snapped Russell.
I laughed. “Not often, actually. It gets to be a habit.”
Russell snorted.
“It’s like those things you do when on patrol.” I smiled. “The things that outsiders think are stupid or silly but which can make a difference when the shoe drops.”
He blinked. “That…does make sense.”
“We fight in different combat arenas, Master Warrant Officer, but we’re both careful and experienced.”
He nodded.
“So, to continue, the supplier hired my primary employer. Please pass that on to your boss.”
“I will.”
“My boss will be focusing on some of the background issues. I’ll continue serving as your liaison with Elite Training. I’ll drop in from time to time, though it’ll likely be weeks before the next time I arrive.”
“We’ll keep sending reports.”
“Excellent.” I paused. “What do you know about the contract on Cimaron 283133-6A?” I forestalled his growl. “Not the action itself, the contract. How was it arranged?”
Russell settled back. “I don’t know. Edmonds assigned Six-Alfa to me because the el-tee assigned to it was so shiny his BVDs squeaked.”
“That was smart of him.”
“Yeah, so I thought at the time.”
“And now?”
“Still smart. I just wish…” Russell shook his head.
“Yeah. Me too.” After a moment. “Do me a favor and ask Edmonds how that contract came to be. Who initiated the discussion? How did the negotiations go? That sort of thing.”
“Will do.”
“Thanks.” I closed my sweeper. “You’ve had nothing more from Tlanit? Just the first data package?”
He snarled, “No. We shouldn’t have trusted him to tell us anything.”
“Don’t be hasty. Interstellar transit isn’t fast, and he’d have made sure his method of sending the information was completely secure.”
“He could’ve sent it with Kiial.”
I shook my head. “You might not have accepted Kiial. Tlanit would’ve had to either tell his nephew intel he didn’t need to know or have him carry the data on some sort of media. Either option puts Kiial and the security of the information at risk.”
“What about the letter?”
“The letter promised information, and that’s why we got the earlier data package. However, did you note that the first batch of data wasn’t terribly confidential? It was the kind of thing anyone could find out, given the right search queries. There’s little risk with that information, and yet it’s valuable if we hadn’t seen it before.”
Russell shook his head. “You make my head hurt.”
I grinned. “That’s my job. Here’s something that might make you feel better. Tlanit’s fieldcraft is excellent, and it makes me expect good things. He told us a bunch of things without letting go of anything our opponents might want to know. He also told our opponents something he wanted them to know. Kiial may still be a target, but he won’t have any truly valuable information. He’ll be in danger, but Tlanit is protecting him as well as he can.”
“Good.” He sighed. “I still want to shove a MAC up Tlanit’s ass, but the kid’s been alright. McWhorter likes him, at least. He was the only one of his platoon that charged the enemy in the ambush.” He smiled. “And he accepted a lesser version of a CASPer Mk 8 so he could stay with his platoon.”
“Your kind of soldier.”
“Yes.”
* * * * *
Chapter 14 – Rick Blaine
Marrilton Hotel
Houston, Texas
I hunched over my pad, looking like every other businessman in the downtown Marrilton Hotel. Bullitt had gleaned some new information since I had left his office. Most was background data I wanted to study at my leisure. Nothing in it had jumped out at him, and he caught more than most. However, he tended to send all of his people as much raw data as he could, knowing one of us might catch something he had overlooked.
I saved it in my pinplant to review whenever I had the chance. Once I downloaded everything, I went to one of the secure cubicles provided by the hotel, and I activated the privacy settings. According to the advertisements, the Marrilton’s secure cubicles boasted complete interdiction of electro-magnetic emissions from inside to outside.
That had never been true, but the security worked for most businesspeople and wasn’t without merit. Combined with my emissions controls, I was actually in as secure a facility as I could find on the road. It was the reason we chose to have this hotel chain’s corporate card.
Bullitt had found the contract information we needed. The Zuul unit on Cimaron 283133-6A had been the Stalkers in the Stars. Peepo had brokered the arrangement, which wasn’t surprising. At first glance, it looked like they were hired by a Zuparti clan that opposed Kukuluki’s family. However, when Bullitt peeled away the corporate layers, he found it was actually Kukuluki’s family who paid for the contract.
Kukuluki had to have chosen them for a reason. Then he hired them again on Peninnah after the trial. Why?
Bullitt had also noticed the anomaly in Tlanit’s recent judging schedule. It looked like the Peacemaker had seen the connections to Kukuluki, and his recent Zuparti cases involved that family.
Kukuluki wasn’t going to like that. Would he go after Tlanit? I thought for a moment. Not directly. Not a Peacemaker. But that was why he went after Kiia
l.
We still hadn’t found a reason for Kukuluki’s enmity toward the Foresters, but it was clear it existed.
My alarm pinged, and I packed up and left for the shuttle pad. Captain Allnut floated in the boat bay when I reached the African Queen.
“Welcome aboard, Rick. With your permission, we’ll head to the stargate.”
“Please.”
She leaned into her comm. “XO, set course to the stargate at one G.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
The pilot fired the fusion torch, and the ship rumbled. Soon, the comforting feeling of a G pressed us back onto the floor.
Allnut turned back to me. “May I show you to your quarters?”
“Thank you.”
She chattered about the African Queen as we walked. Specs. Weaponry. “And you’ll want to see the electronic warfare suite, I presume. You spooks always do.”
“I do, in fact.”
She chuckled.
After a pause, I continued, “You guys were really bored, weren’t you?”
She laughed. “That doesn’t begin to tell the story.”
“Bullitt’s been busy lately.”
“Yeah. It’s not healthy, and I worry about him.” She stopped in front of a hatch. “Here are your quarters.”
She pressed a button and ushered me into a beautiful stateroom. The wood paneling looked like cherry. Comfortable chairs sat next to a small table with a case on it. The case held a decanter filled with an amber liquid and several glasses. A plush couch faced a high-end Tri-V projector. If you could ignore the noise of the fusion torches and the seat belts on the chairs and couches, you might think it was a Victorian parlor.
I glanced at her with raised eyebrows.
“It’s Bullitt’s stateroom. No one else is using it, and it has better shielding than any other room. When he sends us with spooks, he’s especially security conscious.”
“That’s fair.”
She showed me around the rest of the suite. She watched me with an eagle eye as I put my stuff away. “Gonna be here for a while, sir. Might as well get into the habit of ensuring your stuff won’t fly around in zero G.”
“Makes sense.”
“We’ll be boosting at one G in normal space, so it won’t be an issue, but most of our travel time will be in hyperspace.”
“I’m in pretty good shape and speed might be an issue. Can we go faster?”
“How fast do you want to go? Three Gs?”
I grimaced.
“Good. I hate staying at three Gs.” Captain Allnut smiled. “How about 1.5? That’ll cut the transit time down dramatically, and while it’ll suck, it’s livable.”
“Yeah, go for it.”
“Allnut to XO. Accelerate to 1.5 Gs.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
I staggered a bit as the African Queen’s engines opened up.
“You’ll feel half again your weight, so don’t push it,” she warned.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to go to the EW suite now?”
“I think I’ll wait until we enter hyperspace. We’ve got a day to the stargate?”
“About that.”
“I’ll work until then. Maybe I can leave Bullitt a treat before we pop out.”
“Good thought. In that case, I’ll take my leave. I hope you’ll join me for dinner at 1900.”
“Absolutely.”
“And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” She forestalled my protest. “If I’m doing something that requires my attention, like dealing with a pirate or a tricky maneuver, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, I’m at your service.”
“Thank you.” With a smile, she left the stateroom.
I settled into a chair and pulled out my sweeper. I activated the anti-surveillance and security routines. While they ran, I availed myself of the amber fluid.
It would be nice to relax a bit.
The programs beeped. I’d’ve been shocked if they had found any issues, but they did not. It was time to break open the treasure Bullitt had given me. I had resisted doing so until I had a little more understanding of what was going on. Once I undid the proprietary compression and encryption, the data would be vulnerable, even if it was only on the African Queen.
After staring at the chip for a long while, I plugged it in to Bullitt’s server and ran the decryption routines.
It took me a few minutes to figure out how to manipulate the searches in the database. My first query was for Rei’shin Khistoln, the commander of the Zuul on Cimaron 283133-6A.
At first, my lack of familiarity with Zuul search methods made me wonder if I had found the right Khistoln. Prior to that assignment, according to the database, she had been commander of the guard at the prime Zuul military hospital on Tahv. Before that, she had run a number of other garrisons. There was no sign she had ever commanded a line unit prior to the Stalkers in the Stars hiring her to take the job on Six-Alfa.
Was the hospital a sinecure like such posts for Humans? It certainly seemed like a prestigious posting. What happened to get her sent to Six-Alfa?
I searched through the Zuul media and military bulletins in the database and on the GalNet. There was nothing in them that suggested Khistoln had failed on a mission or had allowed a breach in the hospital’s security. Nor was there any hint that she had done anything extraordinary. Ever.
How did she convince the Stalkers to take her?
It would be a mistake to assume that Zuul assignments followed a logic that made sense to Humans, but something still seemed out of place to me, even with the gap in the data.
Next I turned to Fahrinan, the rei’shin commanding the Stalkers on Peninnah. Her career made much more sense and, in the course of it, she earned more than a few decorations. I went through each, finding some with Human analogues, and many without. One marked her as a veteran with at least eight combat operations. She had joined the Stalkers as a youngling. All in all, she looked to be a soldier worth fighting next to.
I looked back at Khistoln’s awards. I found almost nothing. It was almost like Six-Alfa was her first combat posting. Maybe they had many assurances there would be no action, and the Stalkers merely needed an officer who could handle a garrison job. Maybe her clan was connected somehow, as it seemed clear that clan ties mattered to the Zuul.
Fahrinan was a member of Clan Tahverian. All those of her clan who became mercs served with one of three units: the Stalkers in the Stars, the Tahrietha Trackers, or the Preytakers. For some reason, the Trackers had apparently been folded into the Stalkers about eight years ago.
I double-checked Khistoln and found she was part of Tahverian, which answered some of the questions.
Then it was time to look at the Stalkers in the Stars. The commander was Tahnerif. Going back through the data, I discovered he wasn’t only the commander of the Stalkers, but the leader of Clan Tahverian.
His career had been even more distinguished than Fahrinan’s. He had a long list of successful actions and awards to his name. He had commanded what I assumed were warships and regiments. In fact, there seemed little he hadn’t done in battle.
If this was all true, I’d have been honored to serve with him. What could he possibly have against the Foresters?
His two littermates had been prestigious warriors, too. Tahcarran had commanded the Trackers before they were rolled into the Stalkers. His career, though not as bright as Tahnerif’s, was certainly worthy of respect. After they rolled the Trackers into the Stalkers, his career had been strangely quiet, but that told me nothing. He wouldn’t be the first, second, or third son needed to help with administration.
Tahzhent, the other littermate, commanded the Preytakers, and he had also done well in both space and ground actions. He, too, had few recent contracts on his record.
Despite spending the rest of the transit prowling through the Zuul database, I learned little else.
I wonder if Tlanit knows something.
When we arrived, Allnut let me watch the docking procedu
re at the Karma-IV station from the bridge. It was enjoyable watching a skilled team in action. That was about all I enjoyed while on Karma-IV.
I spent most of my four days in-system visiting Elite’s contacts to protect my cover. The rest of the time I confirmed things I already knew. Yes, the amount of information there was greater than on Earth, but I wasn’t yet ready to attempt a serious hack of Peepo’s databases, so my results proved limited.
My most interesting query was a search for recent Zuul activity around Karma-IV by the Merc Guild. There were a number of Zuul around, though I had little idea of which units. The Stalkers in the Stars hadn’t listed themselves as available since 2121. The same was true for the Preytakers.
I had to find Tlanit. There was no other option.
I just hope I know the right questions.
I checked the schedule, and he was currently adjudicating a case on the GenSha world of Amberia.
Time to shuffle off and visit the buffalo.
* * * * *
Chapter 15 – Rick Blaine
Amberia City
Amberia
When the African Queen reached Amberia, I got a room at a hotel, despite the fact that I could easily have stayed onboard. The hotel’s primary clientele were the planet’s huge, bison-like herbivores. Humans don’t sit in GenSha chairs, we dangle. I had to jump into the bed. The restroom facilities proved…challenging. I had stayed in less comfortable places in my career, but never one known as a “luxury hotel.”
But Tlanit stayed at this hotel, and that overrode all other factors. He had a penthouse hotel management had undoubtedly adorned with elegant, Cochkala-designed furniture instead of forcing him to live like Gulliver. However, his elegant room shared the same network as the rest of the hotel.
The hotel’s electronic security was good; no expense had been spared. They had probably hired some elSha techs to design it. It took me three hours to break through that security, an eternity.
Then I did something completely idiotic. I sent Tlanit a direct message.