by Jason Kent
Sparrow was forced to pull up short and backtrack several times in order to avoid random security avatars patrolling the data paths. Finally though, she reached her destination, the central computer controlling the physical security of the EMTEC Huygens Complex. She laughed to herself as she broke the security codes with ease. For some reason, the arrogance of the security professionals who couldn't safeguard their own systems amused her. They didn't think anyone could get this far. Good luck with that, guys, Sparrow thought as she worked.
Within milliseconds, Sparrow had granted unlimited complex access to the cards she had already handed out to Kate, Georges and Garrett. With these cards, they would be able to walk right to their objectives. Next, she turned off the alarms around the lab containing the orb and uploaded departure orders for the shuttle Dagger and Garrett planned to steal. With any luck, they'd be able to walk out as easily as they got in.
"Right," Sparrow breathed and felt a smile spread across her lips. That's why we brought all those guns. Sparrow double-checked her work then left a few extra surprises behind as she made her way out of EMTEC's data system.
When Sparrow opened her eyes, everyone was staring at her expectantly.
Georges raised his eyebrows at his long-time partner.
"We're good," Sparrow reported. "In and out. No problem."
"And, now I'm just asking because I'd hate to have to explain my custom built assault rifles to any EMTEC security folks, they won't detect these?" Ross hefted one of his big guns.
"I've implemented a subroutine in the security protocols which will tell the central processors to ignore each of us when we trip the internal sensors," Sparrow explained.
"What do you mean 'when' we trip the sensors?" Dagger asked, glaring down at the Link Sprite.
Sparrow met the pilot's gaze before responding. "It is simpler to fool the system then try and rewrite the base code." She stared at Dagger as if this should satisfy her concerns.
Dagger threw up her hands and looked around at her teammates. She growled, "Anyone?!"
"Sparrow means there is no need to hide from the sensors when she controls them," Tivon said.
Dagger shook her head. "We should just blow them up."
"That won't be necessary," Sparrow said. "As I ""
"Yeah, yeah! I got it," Dagger said and held up her hands. "Let's just do this."
Ross hid his rifles under his long coat while the others hid their pistols under their jackets. Merrick laid his sniper rifle in a long case and snapped it shut. Garrett hit a button on his cross bow and the arms retracted neatly against the stock allowing him to conceal the weapon under his coat.
Kate nodded as she looked everyone over. They had all picked out clothes which would fit into the corporate world better than their usual explorer garb and armor. She muttered, "I think we might just pull this off."
"We'll see about that," Dagger muttered. She opened the door and led the way back to the concourse and turned toward EMTEC's entry portals.
Chapter 25
Resonance
Kate led the way to EMTEC's main entrance. Ross, Sparrow, and Merrick did their best to blend in with the stream of corporate employees. They'd timed their arrival to coincide with the beginning of the local work day. The crowds, along with Sparrow's work within the security computer, should help conceal their arrival.
"How are the others?" Kate asked Sparrow quietly.
Sparrow looked back at Kate, her silvery eyes slightly unfocused. Sparrow was glad Kate and Tivon had thought to wear contacts to conceal their glowing eyes. In Sparrow's case, eye upgrades for Link Sprites were not unheard of, so there was little need to hide the augmentation. Kate and Tivon's glowing eyes were another matter. Sparrow accessed the cameras used to monitor the various entrances to EMTEC to check on the others. The team had divided into three groups. Not only did this help ensure at least some of them would get in, but their chosen entry points would place them closer to their various targets once they got inside the complex
"Georges and Tivon are inside," Sparrow reported. She cocked her head to one side then added, "The security subroutine is functioning properly."
"Did they set off any sensors?" Kate asked.
Sparrow stared at Kate for a long moment before answering, "Not one. Ten sensors have detected the wea ""
"We get the picture," Kate interrupted.
Sparrow realized she'd almost said 'weapons' out loud. She glanced around at the office workers pressing toward EMTEC's entrance with them. It wouldn't do to have them overhear anything about their smuggling operation. Sparrow looked back at Ross. Of all of them, the big marine was armed the heaviest. As usual.
"Your...accessories should go unnoticed," Sparrow said.
"Right behind you," Ross said with a wink.
Sparrow's gaze landed on Merrick. He carried the case containing his big rifle with ease; as if it merely contained a piece of equipment destined for one of the many labs located within the complex. Sparrow took in Merrick's calm expression then flicked her eyes back to Ross. He also looked as cool as a cucumber despite the fact he was carrying two highly illegal weapons and an unlicensed blaster. Sparrow grinned and focused on the checkpoint they were approaching. EMTEC had no idea who was about to pay them a visit.
This will work, Sparrow thought as she watched Kate pull out the duped identity card the Link Sprite had made for her. Kate approached the scanner and hesitated for a second before she swiped the card over the glowing plate. She had given Kate the identity of Jennifer Petit, a technician scheduled to escort a team of three down to the labs. The real Jennifer was off-world. Sparrow didn't want to raise any alarms by having the same 'person' try and enter the building twice.
Sparrow stared at the red light on the scanner. She wasn't sure how long it took the system to accept or reject a card. Kate couldn't remember from her last visit. Now, what was probably a normal lag seemed to stretch out interminably. She blinked when the light turned green.
Kate didn't move.
"Jennifer..." Sparrow prompted with a smile.
"Oh!" Kate started. She reached forward and pushed the big door open. She waited for the others to pass her, something which would be expected of a person escorting visitors into the building. Kate favored the closest guard with her brightest smile. "Good morning!"
Within a few short seconds, she had let the door shut behind Merrick and followed him into the lobby. Sparrow and Ross waited for them under a model of a new SUMC assault shuttle. A nearby hologram was busy extolling the virtues of the Mark XXIX Marine Landing and Assault Shuttle.
"That went well," Ross said under his breathe. He eyed the cameras mounted up near the ceiling, covering every inch of the lobby. He leaned toward Sparrow, "Do I want to know how many sensors are in here?"
"No," Sparrow replied. She started walking toward the bank of elevators at the back of the lobby.
"So, your program..." Ross began then paused. He made sure the front of his long coat was cinched closed, concealing his weapons.
"Oh, it's working just fine," Sparrow said and favored Ross with a grin. "Otherwise, there'd be all sorts of commotion to welcome us."
"Kate?!"
The voice caused Kate to stop in her tracks. She had known there was a chance someone might recognize her. But, it was a risk they had decided to take. While working for EMTEC, she'd been a field rep and was away from the corporate offices for long periods of time. Those who might recognize Kate would most likely assume she was back for periodic training. Every rep was required to participate in refresher courses before each deployment. The one person Kate never expected to hear was the one calling her name now.
Kate spun around. Her face lit up with a bright smile and her eyes went wide. She searched the crowd before spotting a young woman pushing toward her. "Rach?!"
Rachel Lane skirted a knot of slow-moving EMTEC employees and gathered Kate up in a warm hug. Merrick and Ross pretended they weren't there and tried to blend into the crowd. Rachel fina
lly noticed Sparrow staring at her with her silver eyes.
"Oh!" Rachel said, focusing again on Kate. "You're here with friends!"
"Yeah..." Kate replied, her tone non-committal.
"Oh. My. Gosh! I thought you were dead!" Rachel rushed on, not catching Kate's evasiveness. She took Kate's hand in hers and looked into her eyes. "When you didn't come back from Gliese..."
"I thought the same thing!" Kate blurted. She did not want to go into the details of her journey after the battle. "Is Jess okay?"
"He got a little banged up, but he's good! He's the one who pushed me into the escape pod right before the explosion..." Rachel's expression turned vacant as if she were experiencing that horrible day all over again. She came back when Kate cleared her throat. Rachel blinked a few times then looked Kate over. She noted, "You look great! Have you been working out?!"
Have I ever, Kate thought. Just not in a gym. To Rachel she said, "Something like that!"
"How did you—"
Kate cut Rachel off with a quick hug. She pulled away and gestured at Sparrow and the others. "Rach, I'm so glad you're okay! But I really need to run! Catch up over dinner?"
"Sure..." Rachel said with a vigorous nod. "I understand..."
Kate hugged her old friend good-bye and walked away. She glanced back before they turned a corner leading to the bank of elevators. Rachel was standing where they'd left her under the model of the Mark XXIX.
"She looks like she's just seen a ghost," Ross murmured.
Rachel managed a weak smile and gave Kate a small wave before they turned the corner and lost sight of her.
"I think she did," Kate said. She shook her head and tried to remember what they had come to EMTEC to do.
They reached the elevators and moved to one marked with a downward arrow. Kate had rarely visited the lower portions of the EMTEC complex. Normally, she would take the lifts up to the towers protruding above the Martian surface. The majority of the offices as well as the training centers were located there. The lower levels were given over to research and development. At one point, Kate had harbored hopes of landing a prestigious job in EMTEC R&D. But, she'd discovered life had other plans for her.
As they crowded into the lift, Ross planted his bulk so as to block the door. When a mousey-looking woman in a lab coat pulled up short in front of him, the marine smiled down at her. "Sorry, we're full, ma'am."
The small woman huffed as she eyed the half-empty elevator car. "That's just rude," she muttered and went to find another lift.
Sparrow jabbed the 'close door' button before anyone else came by looking for a ride. Her hand hovered over the keypad and a look of indecision crossed her face.
"Problem?" Ross asked, looking down at the Link Sprite.
"I may have forgotten to check for the lab number when I was in the core system earlier..."
"Nemus!" Kate hissed and closed her eyes. "Where is the orb?"
Lab 1213. That's—
"Got it!" Kate breathed. "Thanks!" Kate opened her eyes and reached around Sparrow. She tapped the icon for sub-level twelve.
"Well, at least someone knows where we're going," Ross muttered.
Sparrow hit Ross in the arm.
"Ow!" Ross said and feigned being hurt.
"My apologies," Sparrow replied evenly. "I didn't realize a big marine like you would be so easy to injure. Maybe next time the security systems needs spoofing you can take care of it."
Dagger and Garrett strutted down the wide hallway leading away from the side entrance they'd used. Unlike the glittering lobby Kate and the others got to pass through, the secondary entry point was used for deliveries and as an employee entrance. It gave easy access to the warehouse and storage areas located under the sprawling complex as well as one other important zone.
"The hangars should be ahead on the right," Garrett said. He slipped his aviator glasses on, playing the role of a military pilot to the hilt. They were going to waltz in and steal a very expensive shuttlecraft. Both he and Dagger agreed things would go smoother if they simply acted as if they owned the place. He'd brought along his leather flight jacket and made sure the menacing unit patch on his chest was properly affixed. The symbol for the 707th was a skeletal grim reaper wielding a wicked scythe and the motto, 'Black Death Delivered'. The 707th existed only as Georges' Deep Reconnaissance Unit, not a full-up Battalion. But, Garrett figured no one here was likely to know that.
"I'm hoping for a Mark XXV," Dagger replied seriously.
Garrett gave Dagger a sideways glance and raised his eyebrows appreciatively. "You don't mess around."
Dagger rolled her neck, eliciting several satisfying cracks. "Well, you know what they say, if you're going to steal candy from a baby, take the whole bag."
"Nobody says that!" Garrett retorted.
"They do now," Dagger growled. "Now shut up."
They turned right and strolled through a wide doorway into the first hangar they came upon. Dagger stopped, her feet firmly planted on the ground and her hands on her hips.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," Dagger stated.
Garrett lowered his glasses and looked at the long line of shuttles. He whistled. "Well, they aren't twenty-fives. More like the twenty-nines I was reading about before our little adventure with Knowl."
"I'm good," Dagger said and started walking again.
"You should be," Garret said, "I haven't even gotten to fly one of these!"
"That's what you get for hanging out with a bunch of librarians out in the rear end of space."
Garrett nodded at a few of the mechanics they passed. As he'd expected, they were used to seeing arrogant military pilots striding through the EMTEC hangars. They might wonder who they were, but no one was going to ask them what they wanted. After all, security would keep everyone who wasn't supposed to be in the hangars out.
Daggers initial excitement at their discovery of the lines of Mark XXIX's had been blunted. As they walked along inspecting the new ships, they realized many of them were missing components.
"They must be checking out the ships before delivering them to the SUMC," Garrett noted quietly.
"So, we have two dozen pieces of tral," Dagger remarked.
"More or less."
Dagger stepped in front of a mechanic pushing a cart laden with electrical components. "Any of these things ready to fly, buddy?"
"They all have manufacturing issues which need to be addressed," the man stammered.
"Look," Dagger said, trying her best to sound reasonable and failing. "The good Captain here," she hooked a finger at Garrett, "came a long way to see a fully functioning Mark Twenty Nine. Do you want to disappoint him? He's THE customer, you realize!"
Garrett got over his initial shock that Dagger was berating someone who could sound the alarm on them and assumed the aloof air he'd learned so well from his fighter pilot friends. He gave a deep sigh and made a show of looking everywhere except at the mechanic.
The mechanic pointed at the shuttle parked at the end of the line. "Try number one twenty six. They're running final checks later today." He smiled nervously at Garrett then back to Dagger. "Enjoy the tour!" He pushed his cart away and disappeared between two of the shuttles.
"Are you crazy?!" Garrett hissed as they started walking to the end of the hangar.
"Relax, flyboy," Dagger said. "No harm done. Plus, now we know which ship to steal."
Garrett glanced around them to be sure no one was in ear shot. "A little louder, the guy over there didn't hear you."
Dagger stopped and looked up at the sharp nose of the assault shuttle. She leaned from side to side, sizing up the sleek craft. "Yeah, that'll do nicely."
Garrett found himself getting excited. It'd been a long time since he'd been behind the controls of a military-grade spaceship.
"...yeah...it'll fit..." Dagger was saying to herself.
Dagger's comment caught Garrett's attention. He leaned close and asked, "What do you mean, 'it'll fit'?"
Dagger sla
pped the marine pilot on the back. "In the hold, silly." She strode off in the direction of the open hatch on the side of the ship.
"I thought we were going to use it to get back to Blade then leave it behind," Garrett hissed when he caught up with Dagger.
"Nah," Dagger replied. "Might as well take it all the way back to Avalon Five. Who knows when something like this will come in handy?!"
Garrett opened his mouth to protest then realized Dagger was right. He followed her up the short ladder. "Okay, but just this once!"
When the elevator doors slid open, Sparrow and her friends found themselves in a different sort of lobby.
"Cheery," Ross said with a grunt.
Sparrow stepped out of the car into the stark white room. There were no guards, but she knew they were being watched through the camera up in the corner. The door had a keypad beside it, preventing anyone from casually accessing the labs beyond. Sparrow did not want to raise the interest of anyone who might be monitoring the camera feeds so she strode purposefully beside Kate up to the key pad. Kate swiped her forged card. There was a loud click. Sparrow reached out and pulled at the handle to reveal another, smaller room with an identical door on the opposite side.
"Everyone in!" Kate said cheerfully. "The inner doors will not open unless the outer door is closed.
"Nice to be locked in a small space," Ross whispered as the first door locked behind him.
"It's only for a second," Sparrow reassured the big marine. Kate swiped the card and the inner doors swung open. "See?"
"Just give me a clear line of fire," Ross said under his breath. "That's all I ask."
Sparrow eyed the numbers of the first door along the bare hallway. The lab they were looking for was located at the far end. As she led the others, she looked up at Ross and whispered, "Well, you have a nice clear line of fire. Unfortunately there's no one for you to shoot."
Ross grunted, "Not complaining. After all, I'm hoping not to use my particular skill set. I don't feel like I'm adding a lot to this mission!"