Shards of Eternity (Stars in Shadow Book 2)

by John Triptych

The registration officer at the Angkor Museum of Historical Artifacts checked off the positive readouts on her console before looking up at the blond-haired young boy standing behind the counter. “Sorry for the delay, your ticket and security check have now been approved. You may join the rest of your class in the main foyer, just down the hall.”

  Duncan Hauk thanked her before moving off to join the rest of the spacers in the strike team. When he presented his forged ID and ticket at a nearby automated kiosk, an alert flag popped up, and he was directed over to the manned counter for a secondary check. Fighting the urge to panic, he kept his cool as the lady behind the desk ran a more thorough security sweep of his documents. After several agonizing minutes, it came back positive after all.

  Angkor was close to one-gee in gravity, and the atmospheric processors had rendered the planet’s equatorial regions breathable over the course of two centuries, though the lack of moisture was still a problem. Imported flora and fauna from Earth had been carefully introduced, but very few species thrived in the harsh, arid conditions outside the cities.

  Garrett Strand and the others were waiting for him in the high-ceilinged hall. Hauk walked slowly and deliberately, regaining his confidence with each step. The spacers looked at him impatiently, but he wasn’t going to be hurried. They all had arrived via a space liner the day before, after going the roundabout route past the Union border systems.

  Strand loomed over them like a mother hen as he adjusted his fake glasses. Their cover as a group of teachers and students from an offworld school was supposed to be easy, and everyone was surprised when Hauk was required to go through a more thorough scan. “Well, now that we’re all here, let’s proceed over to the orientation wing. Stick together, everyone.”

  Hauk lengthened his stride as he caught up with the lieutenant. “What happened back there? I thought these IDs were supposed to be foolproof, LT?”

  Strand sighed a little. “My guess is this cracker didn’t double check each ID he gave us, and he must have missed a detail or two. And don’t call me LT out here, not till we begin the operation, at least.”

  Hauk remembered Strand’s cover name. “Oh, sorry, Mr. Horner. I thought I was a goner for sure back there.”

  “The cracker must have detected the alert and got it sorted in the nick of time,” Strand said. “Everything’s good. We’re still on.”

  “Okay, LT—oops, I mean Mr. Horner.”

  Strand led the way as the group headed towards a line of tourists queuing up in front of the adjoining hall. “I want to talk to you about one other thing, kid.”

  Hauk was about to slow his walk to fall back in line with the others, but he kept up his present pace in order to keep listening. “About what, sir?”

  “On the way down here, I heard about your little duel back on the ship,” Strand said. “What did I tell you all about that?”

  “No fights,” Hauk said. “But Diego started it.”

  “I’ve already dealt with Diego and he got a reprimand,” Strand said. “You, on the other hand, I’m disappointed with.”

  The boy was crestfallen. The lieutenant’s words stung more than any blow he received from Diego. “What did I do?”

  “You’re supposed to be better than that,” Strand said. “I have high hopes for you. Why else would I be bringing you along with me?”

  Hauk scowled. “You keep saying I do a good job, yet when it came time to promote the spacers to sergeant, you never did it to me.”

  Strand understood. “I get it. You’re jealous I promoted others over you, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Hauk said. “I think I made my bones to be promoted to sergeant. I know I’m better than Diego and maybe even Oana, at least.”

  “Let me explain something to you, son,” Strand said. “The reason I haven’t recommended you for promotion is because of your age. Sixteen standard years is the bare minimum to get up to the rank of sergeant for humans.”

  “Sixteen? That’s another two years for me.”

  “With another couple of years experience under your belt, you’ll be ready,” Strand said. “Just be patient.”

  Hauk pushed out his lower lip. “I shouldn’t have to wait, I’m ready already.”

  “Comments like that are the exact reason why you ain’t,” Strand said. “Spacer sergeant is a leadership position, and being in command is not about power but about responsibility. You’ve got the skills, that’s obvious—but when I talk to the other spacers about you, they say you’re a hothead at times and you get way too cocky. That’s a terrible combination.”

  The truthful criticism hit the boy like a ton of bricks on his head. He stayed quiet, knowing full well the lieutenant was right. Ever since he helped save the Nepenthe, a touch of arrogance and aloofness came over him. He expected respect from the other spacers, and when they didn’t react well to his expectations, his temper often got the better of him.

  Strand could tell the boy walking beside him was taking his advice to heart. “You have to earn their respect; it doesn’t come with rank in our little community.”

  Hauk nodded. “I think I got it, Mr. Horner. Thanks.”

  Strand jerked his thumb back. “Good, now get back into line with your classmates, young Bart.”

  Hauk slowed down until he got in towards the rear of the other spacers. He felt weird with the clothes they were wearing since he had never bothered to learn what kind of fashion the kids his age were into. Hauk was used to wearing utility skinsuits and battle armor, and these flimsy clothes made him feel naked and helpless.

  Within moments, the lines ahead of them consolidated and the whole mass of tourists began making their way into a darkened, cavernous tunnel with full-sized holographic screens on one side of the wall. Images of the entire compound began showing as virtual AI assistants popped up alongside each visitor as the queue continued to move slowly towards the display galleries.

  A beeping noise on his earpiece made Hauk activate the throat microphone hidden in the collar of his gaudy shirt. “Hello?”

  Sappho’s soothing voice drifted into his left ear; the virtual AI assistant to his right remained mute, even though the hologram’s mouth continued to move. “Hello, Duncan. I have now synchronized with the other strike teams in the area. Rather than hearing the museum’s recorded audio orientation, you’ll be listening to me instead.”

  “Okay,” Hauk said. “Pity though, I would have been interested to listen in on the orientation too. This museum seems pretty cool.”

  “I could run dual audio modes, one with me and the other with the simple AI recording so you can hear both if you wish.”

  Hauk smiled while shaking his head slightly. “No, that’s okay. I think I need to concentrate on the job we’re supposed to be doing.”

  “Right,” Sappho said. “Your teammates will slowly drift away from the line and into the service corridors. This will be done gradually in order for the other civilians not to notice.”

  Hauk looked ahead, and he saw that Strand was already missing. As he rounded another corridor, he saw that more of his teammates had already ducked into a number of maintenance doorways, hidden behind the wall projectors.

  The boy increased his stride to lessen the gap forming ahead of him as another spacer shifted sideways and quickly disappeared in the shadows to his right. Glancing over his shoulder, he could see the tourists behind him weren’t paying much attention, as they were fully concentrating on the holographic guides walking alongside them.

  “Five meters ahead of you there will be another juncture,” Sappho said. “You should stay low and sidestep to your left.”

  Hauk observed that the pudgy man behind him would match his speed every time he tried to gain some distance. “What about that tourist behind me? He seems to have quickened his pace. He’ll notice for sure.”

  “Yes, he seems to be somewhat paying attention to the queue,” Sappho said. “I will distract him with a surprise using his interactive AI.”

  Just as Hauk
got to the intersection, the tourist behind him was startled when the man’s virtual companion suddenly morphed into an Arcturian yeti, momentarily distracting him as the civilian cried out in surprise. Hauk quickly slipped in behind the flat screen monitor to his left and tried to push at the darkened paneling in front of him, but it wouldn’t budge.

  The boy tried to push even harder, expecting the divider to part, but it felt like he was shoving his shoulders against a solid wall. “Hey, it won’t let me in.”

  “You need to get down lower,” Sappho said.

  Hauk frowned as he crouched all the way down to his ankles and felt a cold draft blowing into his face. The ventilation grille in front of him barely measured one meter in diameter.

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” he whispered while catching a glimpse of the fat tourist moving ahead of him, completely oblivious to what had just occurred.

  “Just push the button at the top of the grille and slide it up,” Sappho said. “The cracker has already unlocked it.”

  Hauk did as she instructed. The grille slid up and he began crawling inside. “Everybody else gets a maintenance door and I get this?”

  “This entryway was chosen specifically for you due to your size,” Sappho said.

  The boy grumbled as his optical implants switched to night vision, and he began making his way through the pitch-black ventilation shaft.

  Strand slid sideways as he made his way through a deserted staff corridor and into a locker room. Two spacers from his team were already inside. They had opened a number of personal lockers and begun to put on security guard uniforms. Strand walked over to a designated locker and it immediately swung open. In addition to the uniform, there was also a laser pistol and stunner on the top shelf. He quickly took off his civilian clothes and began donning the gear.

  Horace Stevens had recently been promoted to spacer sergeant, and he was amazed just how the uniform fit him. “Did you give the AI cracker our clothes sizes, LT?”

  “Sure did,” Strand said. He was just about to put on the helmet he found in the opened locker but at the last minute decided it looked too new. Seeing another more weathered helmet lying underneath one of the benches, he bent down and picked it up. It smelled faintly of mildew and sweat, but he figured it would be more realistic if he wore it instead.

  Horace and the other youthful spacer stood in front of him while fully dressed as security guards, waiting for their orders.

  Strand strapped the weapons belt around his waist before pointing to the exit. “Let’s get moving. The vault is two levels below us. If we encounter anyone not part of the team, I’ll do the talking.”

  Two dead humans were lying on the floor of the security command room. Karana grabbed the ankle of one corpse and dragged it to a small area behind the main console so that anyone coming through the door wouldn’t spot it instantly, giving her time to react. After doing the same with the other one, she moved over to the far side of the room and closed the adjacent door leading to the commander’s office. The streaks of blood by the entryway were still obvious, so she reached over and turned off the nearby lights, placing enough shadows in the area so a casual observer wouldn’t notice something was amiss.

  Sitting in front of the main console was a gaunt man wearing an ill-fitting security uniform. His disheveled blond hair and scruffy, unshaved cheeks made it obvious he didn’t belong with the contingent, but there was no one to challenge him. His fingers twitched nervously every time he inputted new commands into the central control network, and he would regularly reach up and bite his nails while waiting for the servers to update.

  The readouts on his console instantly received an incoming flash alert, and he dutifully redirected it outside of the museum compound. “The com-link relays at the shadow zones are lighting up about the explosions at Cielo de Fuego.”

  Karana flexed her damaged right hand, checking to make sure it was fully functional. The head of security was a male riwwr, and he had fought to the death when Karana entered the room. After a brief but brutal struggle, Karana had thrown his remains back into his blood-splattered office. When her system checks gave her a positive reading, she turned her attention back to the man operating the main console. “What about the teams? Are they all in place?”

  The cracker nodded. “Yeah, they’re set. How is my daughter? Vega hasn’t updated me for days now.”

  “Don’t worry about your family, Hoyt,” Karana said. “My captain’s ship is at full acceleration and heading towards this planet right now. You’ll be reunited with them shortly. Just don’t screw up and stick to the plan.”

  Hoyt nervously tapped on the keyboard and executed another set of commands. “Security bots are ready. Once they deploy, they’ll shoot at anyone who’s not on the aspect list you gave me.”

  “Good,” Karana said. “Start sealing off the designated areas.”

  Hoyt pressed a key and the console instantly reacted. Heavy grating noises soon reverberated from the outside as the alarms sounded and the blast doors surrounding the most important displays began to close. The security cameras showed panicked tourists running in all directions as the surprised staffers in the public areas began to herd them out of the complex.

  The door opened, and a hulking, bald-headed man wearing stolen security guard gear peered inside. “Commander Karana, my team is set.”

  Karana nodded. “Execute your mission, Baz. I’ll see you back on the Tiburon.”

  Baz Wilkerson raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going with us, Commander?”

  Karana shook her head. “The captain says I need to tie up some loose ends here. Your path is clear. Get moving.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Hauk made it to the end of the next shaft when the alarms sounded. Sappho had been directing him in which route to take, but an unexpected blockage at a juncture point forced him to make a detour.

  Peering past the grille, Hauk could see the deserted room in front of him looked more like a staff pantry. There were counters with half-opened cabinets containing packets of food and drinks, along with desktop heating ovens. He quickly keyed in his throat microphone. “Sappho, are you sure this is the right way? I was supposed to have made it towards the maintenance section of the vault already.”

  “I’m sorry, Duncan,” Sappho said. “But it seems I’m getting a lot of interference on the com-links. My access to the network is limited.”

  The boy was confused. “Is that supposed to happen? I thought we’d been given full command authority.”

  “Captain Vega specifically said his own people would be handling the security hacks,” Sappho said. “I don’t have direct access, and I was only included as a failsafe in case anything went wrong.”

  Hauk’s level of mistrust instantly heightened. He was used to being alone, and now his sixth sense was telling him something was very wrong. Using his fingers, he pushed on the grille, hoping it would come loose, and it did. Crawling out into the rear pantry area, he stood up and stretched his legs. “Do you have the map of this level?”

  “I have limited camera access to triangulate your position, but based on your last known location and direction, I believe you are in the staff area of level eight.”

  Hauk spotted a small multi-tool lying on one of the tables and grabbed it. “Okay, so where would the vaults be?”

  “They are on sub-level two, a full ten levels below you, I’m afraid.”

  Hauk frowned. “Okay, how do I get down there?”

  “The elevators have been placed on lockdown, and I cannot contact Lieutenant Strand or any other spacer in your team. Something is wrong.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” Hauk said. “Can you try to use an uplink and send a message up into the orbital com-links? Maybe the Nepenthe can get a hold of what’s happening down here.”

  “I can’t at the moment, but once the opportunity arises I’ll send one up right away,” Sappho said. “What do you want me to tell them?”

  “Tell them we’ve been screwed.�
�

  The high-security wing on the museum’s tenth level was the first area to be evacuated, for it contained the most priceless artifacts in the entire complex. The blast doors to the entrances had already been closed, and the numerous displays by the walls had automated shutters that also sealed them. The whole place now resembled a nanocarbon tomb.

  Two security officers assigned to stay in the wing stood near each other, both men glancing nervously at their wrist smartcoms while waiting for any updates.

  One of the men had a thick moustache, and he shook his head. “No further news whatsoever. All I got was a notice about terror bombings in Cielo de Fuego, and they’re shutting this place down as a contingency.”

  “It’s just standard operating procedure, Charlie,” the other man said.

  “But it’s a whole star system away from us,” Charlie said. “Why would they shut everything down here?”

  “I don’t know,” his partner said. “And I don’t wanna know. I just want to get back to Maria tonight so I can bone her.”

  Both men chuckled before turning their heads in surprise when one of the blast doors along the side opened up and four more security officers walked into the display hall.

  Charlie began making his way to the four men approaching him. “More reinforcements? Is it really that bad?”

  The first man facing him was hairless and built like a tank, but the gear he wore seemed too new. He gave Charlie a wink. “It’s actually worse.”

  Charlie placed his hands on his hips while looking back at him incredulously. “What do you mean? And who are you anyway? I don’t seem to have met you before.”

  Baz Wilkerson smiled gently at him. He liked to put people off guard to make the killing easier. “I’m the last guy you’ll ever meet.”

  “What?”

  Baz drew his gauss pistol and shot Charlie in the face at less than a meter away. The other three men with him drew their weapons and aimed them at Charlie’s partner, who held his hands up and began sobbing uncontrollably.

  “D-don’t shoot me, please!” the security guard pleaded while getting down on his knees.