by T. G. Ayer
The counter was now blinking eighteen minutes.
DO OR DIE
STELLAR DATE: 10.05.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Fletcher Technologies, Eshnunna
REGION: Anahita, Ayra System (Independent)
Time was ticking by and Nerishka fidgeted with her purse. The man sure was taking his time. Time she didn’t have.
They reached a second set of double doors and Fletcher palmed the security console, entering the required biodata. The doors slid open and he entered then waited for Nerishka to walk inside, an arrogant smirk on his face, the lord showing an underling around.
“Welcome to our facility. The labs on Agrab Station are modeled after the ones here at FTech. They should give you a good feel for what you’ll be working with.”
Nerishka smiled and followed him inside. “I'd hardly expect anything as...elaborate as this.”
Fletcher shook his head. “I think your credentials speak for the value you will be providing FTech,” he said as he took the left hallway and hurried to a room at the end.
Nerishka followed on his heels and entered the room after him. “So when do I get to see the details? I’m still not sure about the financial backing. I don’t want to end up without a job and without my pay halfway through the research.”
Fletcher paused near a black plas holo-surface desk. At his back was a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto the city. At night, Eshnunna sparkled like a multicolored jewel. A second room led off Fletcher's office, a large window providing a full view to a fully equipped lab.
Fletcher gestured above the desk and brought up a holo of the financial details backing the research project.
Lyra updated her.
He nodded and smiled, this time the expression slightly twisted, as if he was fighting a desire to smile. “I can show you the project plan, but I have to warn you it isn’t as detailed as you’d expect. I am a little sidetracked so…” He fell silent as he brought up a holo of the plans and projections, and details of research that they’d already completed. “But I assure you that there is a future here that is incomparable. With this research, the possibilities are endless.”
“Can I ask what the end goal is? I mean, I know I’m just a grunt here, a cog in the great wheel, but I’d love to know where you want to take this research. I won’t be shocked if you said you wanted to sell it to the military, though.”
Fletcher shook his head and smiled, his eyes clearing a little.
Nerishka took that as her cue and retrieved the box of poison from her bag then walked around the holo. She waited for a few seconds then rounded the hologram, the silver box of poison within her fingers.
When Fletcher’s eyes flickered to her hand, she opened the box and showed it to him, smiling sheepishly. “I’m very much taken with these hand-crafted boxes. It’s quite a quaint trend,” Nerishka said as she slid her fingers onto the gel-like liquid before rubbing it lightly onto her palm. She slid the box back into her purse and smiled seductively at him.
Nerishka stepped closer to her mark and pressed up against him. “I have to say I’m very impressed. You’re a man of mystery. You must have all the women falling all over you.”
He grunted in response and frowned as he stared at her. Nerishka knew that her shifting personality would make him more suspicious, but she didn’t have the luxury of time. Her counter was blinking ‘Two minutes’ and though she knew she had some leeway, she couldn’t take any chances.
She reached out and was about to lay her hand on his cheek when Lyra called,
Fletcher grunted and shook his head. His eyes widened as he stared at Nerishka.
Nerishka didn’t waste a second. She kept smiling and slid her hand from her mark’s shoulder to his cheek. “You know, I think—in a different time and place—we could have been friends.”
“What— You…” Fletcher clutched his chest and groaned as he leaned to the side.
“You won’t…” he gasped, then coughed as he rolled over onto his side. His body spasmed and then he paused. “You won’t get away…” Fletcher choked and swallowed hard, the muscles in his neck bulging, the veins at his temple engorged. Then he took a deep breath and began to crawl to a low set of drawers.
Nerishka rushed for Fletcher as he pulled a hard Link from the drawer. He flicked his wrist and inserted the hard link into the port on the inside of his arm.
Nerishka bent and ripped the hard Link from the port in Fletcher’s wrist, watching as the cable fell across the floor, away from her prey.
But the man just laughed, the sound a little too steady. “They’ll be here,” he said, coughing as he took a deeper breath and rolled over onto his elbows and knees.
Between the fading toxins and Fletcher’s nano, he was well on his way to being in tip-top shape and Nerishka couldn’t let that happen.
As her mark straightened, Nerishka reached for her hair-sticks. She plucked them from her bun, letting her hair fall in waves around her shoulders.
Fletcher pushed to his feet and let out a ragged laugh, his eyes filled with fury and suspicion, shifting from Nerishka’s face to the sticks she held loosely between her fingers.
She didn’t waste another moment, letting both hair-sticks fly, barely waiting for them to reach their target before asking Lyra,
The man crashed to the floor, lying on his back, a deadly hair-stick protruding from his chest, perfectly aligned to slip between his ribs and into his heart. Blood coated the front of his shirt, though not as much as she’d have expected. His nano must be working hard to save him.
They’d find the effort a waste of time.
The second hairstick had met its mark too; Fletcher’s left eye. The thin blade was half-buried in his eye, and Nerishka knew it had broken through the back of his eye socket and penetrated his brain.
Each blade was coated with a deadly concoction of poisons, even more lethal than the one she’d used on her hands. She’d hoped she wouldn’t need to go as far as using the good stuff, but this blend would be undetectable—not that detection mattered considering this kill was certainly not as cle
an as Nerishka’s reputation claimed her to be.
Lyra would have to design a worm to infiltrate the networks in order to wipe out evidence of Nerishka’s presence on Anahita.
Not that Fletcher’s death would ever be traced back to the Hand. No one here even knew what the Hand was.
Nerishka would leave no trace of herself, nothing that would hint at the existence of a shadow organization guiding the fates of the quadrillions of people who lived in the Inner Stars. Director Sera would have her head if that ever happened—the soft spot she had for Nadine’s cousin would not matter in the least.
Sera would have to get in line though; Nadine would rip Nerishka apart first for being careless. Carelessness was not a part of the family trademark.
All those considerations aside, it was done. She’d terminated her mark. Mission accomplished.
She couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Eshnunna.
EXFILTRATE
STELLAR DATE: 10.05.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Fletcher Technologies, Eshnunna
REGION: Anahita, Ayra System (Independent)
Nerishka crouched over Fletcher and reached into her purse for her nano-laced cloth. With her free hand, she gripped the blade protruding from his chest, gave it a swift tug and slid it free from the thick muscle of his heart. The weapon came away coated with still-warm blood but Nerishka calmly wiped it off.
She had taken the poison antidote before applying it, but—because so much time had passed since she’d rubbed it onto her skin—she had to be careful to ensure she didn’t accidentally get dosed again. Her own nano was far superior to Fletcher’s and would protect her well enough, but she didn’t want to add any strain or diminish their numbers; who knew what she’d need them for before the day is out.
Once the blade was pristine, she set it aside and leaned forward to retrieve her second hair-stick.
This blade resisted for a few moments and then suddenly popped free. Not that she was squeamish, but Nerishka was glad the man’s eyeball hadn’t come out with the weapon. Thankfully, the blade remained clear of eyeballs, though still coated with blood and brain matter.
Nerishka ignored her AI and cleaned the second stick off. Working swiftly, her gaze darted around the office. They were taking far too long at the scene of the crime; they had to get out of the building fast to ensure a clean getaway.
She had choices though. She could go now and leave empty-handed, having nothing to show for the messy kill, or she could wait to get her hands on the real story behind what Fletcher was up to, info that her gut had insisted was there. Somewhere.
With a resigned sigh, Nerishka got to her feet, winding her hair into a topknot and jamming the hair-sticks in place as she began to search through drawers, cupboards and boxes around the lab.
Nerishka straightened from rummaging through Fletcher’s filing system, sure she’d detected a feeling of worry from the AI.
And even more suspicious.
Had Fletcher been in possession of information or knowledge of something so vital that his death had to be broadcast the instant he’d expired?
A few moments of silence ticked by during which Nerishka continued to search the room, stepping around the unmoving corpse of her dead mark as she traversed the floor. There were going to be ramifications for the problematic kill. Knife wounds weren’t easy to cover up, and the man’s death would send his partners—or masters—running to ground. Catching them off guard may prove to be impossible—if she found leads to pursue, that was.
Lyra’s voice cut into Nerishka’s thoughts.
Nerishka didn’t need further encouragement. She strode to the door—glad Lyra had fixed the balance with the weird shoes—pausing only for the AI to confirm the hall was clear.
Out in the carpeted corridor, Nerishka sprinted toward the intersection up ahead. The lighting from the ceiling had faded, leaving only a low orange glimmer along the bottom of the walls to guide her way. Lyra dropped the schematics of the floor on Nerishka’s HUD revealing the route, though the way out was easy enough to find.
What Nerishka appreciated more, though, was the live IR indicators that would alert her the moment the security team arrived. Which wouldn’t be too long. A cluster of red markers glowed where the layout indicated the location of the lifts.
At the intersection, Nerishka would need to choose a route away from the entrance through which Fletcher had led her.
That way be guards and guns. And for all intents and purposes, Nerishka was unarmed.
Their proximity forced Nerishka to move faster. She reached the intersection with the main entrance down the corridor to the right. The left hallway ran along the floor until it ended at a window overlooking the city, similar to the one near Fletcher’s office. Not an option as it was in the soon-to-arrive security team’s direct line of sight.
No choice really.
On Nerishka’s HUD, the six dots had passed the lab entrance and were now halfway down the hall to the intersection. Should they reach it and look right they’d see her immediately, especially in her gleaming silver dress.
Lyra chose to ignore the complaint. Instead she instructed,
The door opened just as Nerishka reached it and she ducked inside, plastering herself to the wall as it slid shut with a fraction of a second to spare.
Nerishka leant against the wall, barely registering the shelves and cabinets fil
led with canisters and plas containers as she listened to the rapid thuds of booted feet rounding the corner. Nerishka studied the dots on her HUD, only partially relieved to see that the security team appeared to be heading directly for Fletcher’s lab.
Nerishka let out a soft groan.
Nerishka rubbed her arms and began to pace the floor.
Lyra made a soft noise that sounded like a chuckle.
A shout at the end of the hall echoed toward Nerishka and then a loud alarm clanged within the building.