by M. D. Cooper
The itch to obey Myrrdan’s agent and the urge to achieve Myrrdan’s praise and recognition had been scratched, if only temporarily.
INSPECTION
STELLAR DATE: 12.06.8935 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Tanis’s Shuttle, approaching Hercules Platform
REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System
Erin wanted to carry out the final inspection of the platform personally. It would form the foundation of Carthage’s second space station, Hercules, and she wanted to reassure herself that it was perfect. She took Tanis’s personal shuttle from Government House to where the platform hung in geosynchronous orbit.
The overly hasty—and sometimes shoddy—workmanship on other infrastructure projects that had resulted from Carthage’s engineers falling behind schedule wasn’t something that could be tolerated for the platform’s construction. A serious fault could risk the integrity of the space station. At best, a structural issue would be detected after the station had been built, when its position would make it extremely awkward to fix. At worst…. Well, the worst-case scenario wasn’t something Erin liked to think about. The space station would be home and workplace for tens of thousands of people. Their safety was paramount.
After the incident with the traitor, Hart, at the SATC, she also wanted to be completely satisfied she’d done everything correctly. Though the platform wasn’t part of the trap she was setting, it was still an integral part of the overall project.
Despite the fact that Tanis didn’t seem to hold her responsible for Hart’s escape or Sasha’s injury, Erin was not so forgiving of herself. She would never forget the young engineer’s scream when she was shot. She couldn’t help but think she should have done things differently. This time, she was determined to make no more mistakes. With the help of the ISF Marines, she would catch Hart and put an end to the threat of the picotech falling into enemy hands.
As the shuttle made its way up through the atmosphere, Erin realized that she was also looking forward to returning to the black, even if she would only be in orbit, and only for a few hours.
The time she’d spent planetside had been a refreshing change, but now that the novelty had worn off, she found that she didn’t feel entirely comfortable living on the surface. There were too many people and too much color and noise. Her discomfort hadn’t been too bad at the promontory, but she guessed that, at heart, she wasn’t a dirtsider girl. She liked things simple. Or perhaps it was only that she’d spent too long on spaceships.
Erin also wondered if Isa was another reason that she wanted to return to space, if only for a little while. She liked Isa a lot and felt guilty about not contacting her again. What she’d told her had been true—she really did have so much to do that it made seeing her difficult—but she also knew how that reason might sound. Isa could be forgiven for interpreting her words as a half-hearted, insincere excuse. Erin probably could have made time to see her or at least speak to her over the Link, but something always put her off.
And then there’s Martin…
The shuttle arrived at the platform, and Erin told the pilot to wait while she carried out her inspection. She made her way aft to the single-seater spacecraft she’d brought along and climbed inside. Although Tanis’s pinnace was compact and a joy to fly, it was still too large for the close inspection Erin wanted to do. Flying the small vessel across the Hercules Platform’s surface would allow her to complete a visual inspection as well as a deep, detailed scan. She would only be satisfied if she not only completed the check by the book, but also by the Book of Erin, which had several additional checks that less particular engineers might have called overkill.
Erin snapped herself into her harness, closed and sealed the one-seater’s transparent, domed canopy, and flew it out of the shuttle. Outside, the platform spread wide.
The word ‘platform’ was a bit of a misnomer, as the structure was largely bowl-shaped, and nearly a hundred meters thick in most places, dotted with struts, anchor points, and cargo netting.
As she eased away from the shuttle, Erin pivoted her craft so that her head pointed away from the green-and-blue globe of Carthage and toward the broad metal surface.
Erin nodded absently.
Walter didn’t answer. Darn it. He’s doing his silence thing again.
Erin didn’t know how he did it, but his trick told her more than anything he could have said to her. Her AI was right. She should contact Isa again.
The station’s platform was fifty kilometers in diameter, but with Walter’s help and her vessel’s scanners, she checked the entire structure to her satisfaction in a little over four hours. Confident that everything was as it should be, Erin returned to the shuttle. Rather than flying back to Government House, she told the pilot to take her down to the elevator construction site directly below, at Thrace.
When she arrived, she found Bourke busily directing and supervising the teams that were building out the elevator’s base and ground-side facilities.
“Nearly ready for our special shipment,” the head engineer said when he saw her. “Just another hour, and we’ll have everything in place.”
“Thanks,” said Erin. “Sorry for the change of plan at short notice.”
“No problem at all. It’s good to be busy again after that stupid delay. Though, I have to say, I did find some changes a little puzzling.”
Workers were passing around them as they stood on the site. Erin Linked to Bourke privately.
Bourke gave a mental whistle.
Erin smiled.
She left Bourke to complete the site pre
parations and sought out Major Usef. After arranging a rendezvous point over the Link, she met him on the fourth floor of one of the empty buildings that overlooked the elevator construction site.
The major was deeply tanned and looking relaxed. Though she knew the officer by sight, Erin hadn’t had many opportunities or cause to speak with him until then. Her impression of Usef was that he was quiet but steady, serious and reliable. He had served on the Intrepid all the way from Sol. She was glad to have the support of someone with such a wealth of experience.
Usef explained where he would be stationing his men and women, then he added, “After Hart’s last attempt, he’ll be expecting the pico to be heavily defended. So some units will be in plain sight, for those who know what to look for. They know they’re going to be targeted. Once Hart springs the trap, others are positioned to stop him from getting away.”
“Sounds good. And where are you putting me?”
“You, ma’am? I didn’t think you would be on site. I’m not sure that it’ll be safe—”
“I want to be here, Major. After what happened at the SATC site, I need to be here. If it goes badly and I’m sitting back at Government House…”
She wanted to see Hart captured with her own eyes. She needed to. Maybe then she could shake the feeling that she’d screwed up. She wasn’t going to sit in an office somewhere, waiting for a message.
“Well, you could join me at my position,” Major Usef said, nodding slowly. “But I’ll have to insist that you’re armored and armed.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Then I’ll have to get armor prepared for you. Usually a suit will adapt to fit the wearer, but I’ve seen women of your build try to get in our standard issue, and it’s—” A pained expression crossed Usef’s face, and Erin wondered why.
Then she decided to try and break the melancholy. “Are you calling me short, Major?” Erin cocked an eyebrow.
Usef’s gaze focused back on her, and he grunted. “Let’s just say that not many Marines have your particular stature.”
They shared a laugh, but she could see a distant look in the Marine’s eye, and she suddenly remembered what memory a small woman in Marine armor would have conjured up.
Stars…I guess a lot of people still miss you, Trist.
* * * * *
Later that day, Erin stood with Major Usef in the basement of a newly built, empty office block. The window before them was at ground level, giving a wide view of the space elevator site. Bourke and the construction workers were still setting up their equipment, ready to begin feeding out the carbon nanotube strands, when the picotech arrived.
“Do you have any ideas about where Hart will approach from, and when?” she asked the major.
“He could arrive at any moment once we receive the tech,” he replied. “There are advantages to making his attempt then, or while the pico’s in use, or after they’ve finished with the module and we’re taking it away. I would expect him to attack when it’s in use, but he might prefer to bide his time. If he attempts to take it from here, of the three entrances, that one is the least likely.” He pointed across the construction site to a narrow, pedestrian-only street that ran toward Thrace’s small city center. “It’s the most overlooked. If he arrives on armored transport, he’ll have to use one of the other two. That one leads out of town, where we’ll have the shortest notice of his approach.”
“You think he’ll be driving an armored vehicle?” Erin asked.
“One was stolen recently from a base not far from here, and it would make a lot more sense than arriving on foot. A vehicle can transport weapons he can’t carry himself, and it’ll give him additional protection. He might try to drive in, gun down any opposition, break through to the picotech module, and snatch it before driving away.”
“That would be dumb, though, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah. He would never get out of here alive. We have plenty more picotech. If he managed to get it, we would just blow up his vehicle and not worry about the pico module going with it. I doubt he’ll do that. I guess he might come from up there.” He peered up at the brilliant blue sky.
“Via shuttle?”
“Yes. A pinnace would give him the speed and fast getaway he needs. But I have satellites scanning the area, and three of our own pinnaces under camouflage nearby. We’ll let him land, then grab him. If he manages to get away, we’ll blow him out of the sky. Whatever he tries, we’ll get him.”
“Seems like the odds are stacked heavily against him,” Erin said. “Maybe he won’t even try. He’ll bide his time and wait for another opportunity. I hope he doesn’t.”
“If he does,” Usef said, “we’ll be ready the next time, and the next.”
Watching the site, Erin noticed something else. She gestured to the gas plumes that encircled the planet. “What if he flies in from the gas clouds?”
Usef said, “The turbulence could be a problem for him, but I don’t think the gases present a danger to pinnaces, if that’s what you were thinking.”
“More like, could he fly along the gas stream parallel to the ground and so escape satellite detection? He could also fly out that way at a later point, and we might not know where.”
“I’m not sure,” Usef replied, a frown settling on his brow. “I’ll have to check, but he would have to enter and exit the gas, and the SATC would soon pick up the anomalous traffic.”
“Yeah,” Erin agreed. “I would think so.”
She’d received news from Sasha that morning that the SATC was finally fully operational, and that Carthage now had integrated supervision of planetary and interplanetary craft without manual handoffs.
Erin watched the clouds. Major Usef seemed to have all the angles covered, but she had a nagging feeling that there was something they’d forgotten. Still, she had time to think about it before the picotech arrived.
The major stood, tall, burly, and imposing beside her. Unless they were talking about something to do with the matter at hand, the officer never seemed to have anything to say. It was like he wasn’t interested in anything outside of work. His deep tan had her wondering, though. As far as she knew, the major wouldn’t be doing much outdoor work in his position.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Erin said, “but have you been on vacation recently?”
“Yes. I was on Athens. I was called in to coordinate this operation. Arrived back on Carthage yesterday.”
“You had to cut your vacation short? That’s too bad.”
“I did, but I’m not complaining. This is what I signed up for. Besides, when I heard what the assignment was, I jumped at the chance. I’d love to catch this scumbag and put him away forever.”
“Me too,” Erin agreed. “We can’t afford to have the pico in anyone else’s hands.”
Silence.
“So, what’s Athens like?” Erin asked. “I haven’t been planetside anywhere but Carthage yet.”
“Athens is an interesting place,” the major replied. “Definitely worth a visit.”
He didn’t offer any further comments, so Erin didn’t pursue the conversation. It was strange, though, that Usef liked Athens so much. She’d heard that it was a very laid-back, almost hedonistic destination. She couldn’t imagine what the taciturn, serious Marine would do there.
Erin pushed the puzzle of Major Usef from her mind. She needed to think about the trap to catch Hart. She went over each potential avenue of attack in detail, hoping that the answer to what she’d overlooked might pop out at her.
Nothing jumped out at her. It seemed as though Usef had covered all the angles—though that didn’t stop her from worrying.
RENDEZVOUS
STELLAR DATE: 12.06.8935 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Landfall, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, 3rd Planet in the New Canaan System
The wait to deploy the picotech was almost unbearable. Erin had wanted to stay at the worksite overnight, but Major Usef had advised her to go b
ack to Landfall and get some sleep. He had even said, though not unkindly, that if he was going to have a civilian with him, he would prefer that civilian was well-rested and alert.
The problem was, Erin found having nothing to do harder than missing out on a little sleep. She was sure the major knew what he was doing, but she was also sure she would have felt less on edge if she were at the place where the action was about to happen. She was used to being occupied most of the time. Out in the black, if she wasn’t eating or sleeping, she would have been working. Life had been that way for as far back as she could remember, and that was how she liked it.
At Landfall, in her rented apartment, she felt useless and bored. Unable to sleep, she tossed and turned. After a while, she began going over the latest reports on the infrastructure projects, but she’d read them all twice and couldn’t glean any information that she didn’t already know. She considered requesting updates from the lead engineers, but put the idea aside. It was too soon since their last report, and any time spent preparing the information for her was time they wouldn’t spend working. Besides, all the projects were back on track. The problems that Tanis had asked her to help with were all fixed. Her work on Carthage was nearly over but for the matter of dealing with Hart.