“I did not know they were innocent until after I searched the craft.”
“I understand. Nothing you did up until that point is questionable.”
Falcon felt differently. He felt that everything he did up until that point was monstrous. He held his tongue. He still didn’t understand why he was in Ram’s office.
“Falcon,” Ram said dispassionately, “the problem is that you identified yourself as a Wraith of SWORD and apologized for a mistake.” Falcon’s brow furrowed. “SWORD does not admit mistakes and does not apologize. The correct course of action was to leave the scene without identifying your affiliation.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You appear to have something to add to that,” Ram correctly inferred from Falcon’s body language.
“Yes, sir. Before I explained myself to the civilians, they were terrified and confused. After, they were supportive and even grateful for SWORD’s success in breaking up a child-trafficking ring.”
Ram considered Falcon’s statement. “What got on the news feeds, however, was that a SWORD agent stormed an innocent civilian vessel at gunpoint, terrorizing the inhabitants, one of whom was a child.”
“News feeds?”
“Apparently, the couple shared their story and either they or the news organization edited out the ‘happy ending’.”
“Sir, I’m very sorry.”
“I do not seek your sorrow. I wish for you to learn from this error and not repeat it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ram stared at the young Wraith. “I also wish for you to follow the advice of your teachers instead of the advice of Agent Ramirez.”
Falcon looked uncomfortable with the request. “Sir, I believe Agent Ramirez is a superior agent.”
“She is as successful as every other agent in the field. But she is unique for reasons that are not your concern. Her style works for her, but it doesn’t work for other Wraiths. I believe you’ve been unduly influenced by her and require regressive training at the academy.”
“You’re sending me back to the academy? I can’t go back. It’s humiliating.”
“Humiliation is not something a Wraith should feel. This proves my point.”
“Please, sir…”
“Begging. Stronger evidence,” Ram said evenly. “I am assigning you to train with Agent Silverton, codename Fox. When you show the proper confidence of a Wraith, you will be sent back out to the field.”
Falcon clamped his mouth shut to avoid proving Ram more right about him. “Yes, sir,” he managed.
“Dismissed,” Ram said, abruptly ending the meeting. Falcon got up and left the office. He went to the weight room and punched the sandbag repeatedly, picturing it to be Agent Hailey Ramirez.
The Angel, the Geek, and the Crank
Derek made his way to the medical department and knocked on Anna’s door. Anna was the medical technician who taught all trainees how to use their new implants. Derek, like most Wraiths, had formed a bond with Anna during his years at the academy and hoped that she could help him now.
“Derek! It’s nice to see you. Are you having a problem with an implant?” Anna greeted the young Wraith.
“No, ma’am,” Derek replied. “I just need…” he trailed off.
“You can tell me anything, Derek. I don’t share confidential information with anyone.”
“I was wondering if you could give me a new LM.”
“A new one? Is yours damaged?”
“Not damaged so much as…faulty.”
“What makes you think so?” Anna asked.
“I’m having feelings of humiliation and self-doubt. Director Méndez says I need regressive training.”
“But you think it’s a technical problem.”
“I’m hoping it is. I can’t imagine what kind of training will fix me.”
“First of all, Derek, you’re not broken. You’re not a robot to be fixed. You’re human and you have feelings, even with a limbic monitor. Especially when you’re not in the heat of a mission, your LM allows feelings to bleed through. That’s normal.”
“Director Méndez thinks Agent Ramirez has been a bad influence on me.”
“Hailey?” Anna asked, surprised. She knew all the Wraiths when they were fifteen- and sixteen-year-old trainees. They were all children with first names to her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Derek confirmed.
“Derek, it’s me, Anna. Call me Anna, like you used to. I’m not a ‘ma’am.’”
Derek dropped his head. “I’m so confused. Comet taught me to respect the feelings of citizens, but Director Méndez said I shouldn’t worry about that. It’s more important for SWORD to have a good image.”
“That’s Méndez’s job, Derek. Everything comes down to PR for him. What is your opinion of Hailey as a Wraith? As Comet?”
“She’s amazing. She handles all sorts of different people beautifully. Everyone ends up happy by the time she leaves – except the guilty, of course.”
“Is that the kind of agent you want to be?”
“I want to be a successful agent. I want to complete my missions, save the innocent, catch the guilty.”
“That’s what SWORD wants from you, too.”
“Then what makes Comet different?”
Anna considered the question for a moment. She and Hailey had talked many times over the years. She had learned details of Hailey’s life that weren’t public knowledge around SWORD: Hailey’s love for Jackson Quint, another Wraith working somewhere in the Empire; Hailey’s mother, Karen Ramirez, on the colony world of Light One; her adopted uncle, Carter Flynn, a retired Wraith from the days before the limbic monitors were standard-issue. Anna knew that Hailey was unique in that she had people in her life that meant a lot to her. Most Wraiths were solitary assets, single-minded in their work for SWORD. At times, Anna feared that SWORD might tire of Hailey’s uniqueness and do something drastic.
She attempted to address Derek’s question without divulging Hailey’s private information. “Comet has had many experiences that other Wraiths have not. Her work is as good as every other agent’s, but she’s developed a certain…ability to form relationships that most modern Wraiths don’t – or can’t. What makes her special is that she’s learned how to balance being human with being a Wraith.”
“Wraiths are supposed to be better than normal humans.” Derek shook his head. “Out on that mission, I was thinking I was the superior human out there. I was going to catch the fugitives. If I had thought logically, I would’ve called for air support from Sector Security.”
“You can’t be in more than one place at a time,” Anna pointed out.
“Exactly. And I went to the wrong place and lost the fugitives.”
“You have to learn to work with Sector Security and EURO and the Navy, not instead of them. Hailey has learned through hard experience that it’s OK to trust normal people to help you, even save you.”
“She said a couple of kids helped pull her out of the quicksand pit.”
“She values people. Well, not maybe not everybody, but good people.” Anna smiled. “I consider her a good friend.”
“What about me?” Derek asked sheepishly.
“I’m your friend, too, Derek. Now, I can run diagnostics on your LM if you want, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you.”
“Just in case,” Derek replied meekly.
Anna smiled at him. “Come this way,” she said.
“Hi, Lucky,” Hailey said as Laura entered her room. “What’s new?”
“Nothing. Empire’s humming along, neat as you please,” Laura responded.
“That’s new!” Hailey argued. Laura smiled. “You just want to keep me locked up in the Scabbard until I’m old and grey.”
“If you keep popping that hip joint, that’s how long it’s gonna take!” Laura replied, then changed subjects abruptly. “Ram had a chat with Falcon.”
“Poor Falcon,” Hailey said with a mock sad face.
“You’re the only on
e who seems comfortable talking with Ram,” Laura noted.
“Yeah. I guess I am. He made a joke today,” Hailey reported with a glint in her eye.
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. It was funny, too. Although his subsequent non-joke was funnier.”
Laura chuckled. “Poor Ram. Not a clue.”
“But he tries. What’d he do to Falcon?”
“Told him to steer clear of your faulty advice and report to Fox for retraining.”
“Ouch.”
“He’ll survive.”
“Hey, can you get me one of those wheelchairs so I can go to the basement?”
“Sure. What business do you have in the basement?”
“I want to visit Agent Chan.”
“You’re not on a mission, Comet…”
“I want to see if they tracked down Mané. It’ll make Falcon feel better to know he’s been caught.”
“Then comm Agent Chan.”
“I want to get out of this room, Lucky. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt myself. I’ll be especially careful around corners,” she said with a grin.
Laura conceded. “I’ll see if there’s one available.” Laura left the room and Hailey commed Agent Chan. Are you free for a visit?
Chan commed back: At your convenience, Agent Ramirez! Agent Chan got a certain thrill out of being the personal go-to guy in the basement for the Wraith. Wraiths rarely set foot in the analytics and research department where Chan worked, but Hailey took her requests to him in person whenever she was on the Scabbard. Their current project was a secret one. He did not report on it through official channels or even through SWORD hardware. Thus, the need for a personal visit to the basement.
When Hailey arrived in a wheelchair, Agent Chan was surprised. “In medical care again, Agent?”
“Afraid so. I just can’t keep my leg out of the evil maw of crime. Or, in this last case, the evil maw of Worm-zilla.”
“What’s Worm-zilla?”
“Ever see that sci-fi vid, Godzilla? It’s been remade, like, twenty times over the last three hundred years.”
“Oh, I get it. Giant monster worm, huh? What’s it really called?”
“No idea,” Hailey replied with a shrug. “So, you have good news for me?”
Chan broke into a huge smile. “Indeed, I do. Please step this way – er, roll this way – to my private office…”
Hailey followed Chan into a small office. Chan closed the door. “I’ve found a way for you to contact Agent Quint without SWORD having a record of it.”
Hailey smiled. “I’ll say it again: you’re the best.”
“If you’ll let me have your comm for a few minutes, I’ll load the software.” She handed it over. After a series of commands and passwords, Chan handed the comm back to the Wraith. “OK, using the dark net, but not creating any records of it, you can comm Agent Quint – text only, I’m afraid – by first entering this code: 77A32F1597GH00486.”
“With every text?”
“No. That code does two things. When you enter it, it automatically sets up Agent Quint as the recipient and anything you text will be invisible to SWORD until you enter the exit code: 33Y.”
“Brilliant. What about Agent Quint’s comm? Will his return texts be seen?”
“Well, that’s the stumbling block. I will need to program his comm as well if he is going to text you in secret.”
“Well, this is half the battle, anyway. Thank you, Agent Chan. How can I repay you?”
“Not at all! It was a fun project. I liked the challenge,” he said with a grin.
“Now we just need Jax to stop by and get his comm programmed. How often is he here?”
Chan checked entry and exit records for the space station. “On average, once or twice per year for technical upgrades or R&R.”
“Thanks, again, Agent Chan. I’ll get out of your way,” Hailey said, turning her chair toward the door.
Hailey didn’t go back to the medical wing. She rolled quickly to her private quarters and closed the door. Immediately, she entered the code 77A32F1597GH00486, simultaneously putting pressure on her limbic monitor so that she was free to feel her love for Jax.
Jackson, it’s Hailey. Surprise! I’ve got a secret comm connection that only you can receive. Don’t text back until you visit Agent Chan in Analytics on the Scabbard next time you’re there. The taller Agent Chan. There are two. He’ll program your comm to text back to me over the dark net. Doesn’t matter where we are, even in compression, we can communicate! I’m so excited about this. I can’t wait until you can write back to me. I love you, Jackson, always and forever.
Hailey lifted herself out of the chair and lay down on her bed. She fantasized about Jackson being with her, touching her face, stroking her hair, loving her passionately like he did years and years ago. In her mind, they were still twenty-two, fit and healthy, secret lovers with a secret ability to overpower their limbic monitors. Now in her forties, Hailey took longer to recover from her injuries. Her body had been abused by hundreds of perilous missions. The fact that she had been dealing with the current hip and leg problem for more than five weeks was a testament to her devotion to serving the Empire over her own need to heal.
Thadeus LaMont did not view Hailey as the selfless, devoted agent that her handler, Laura Schwartz, always claimed she was. He saw Agent Ramirez as an undisciplined brat who, yet again, took herself out of service for much longer than necessary, this time corrupting a promising young graduate whom Ram sent back to the academy for additional training. “She couldn’t even complete an evaluation mission without fouling things up,” he told Laura when he called her into his office to vent.
Laura bit her tongue. Under most circumstances, she got along with her boss, but when it came to any problem that happened within a lightyear of Agent Ramirez, he always blamed her for it. Laura knew that Hailey had caused the second injury to her hip when physical therapy for the original injury frustrated her so much that she kicked her crutch into a metal wall. But the third iteration of the problem with her damaged hip and leg happened while she was rescuing children from a harsh life of servitude on a slave island. There was no way to accuse her of being out of line for that, but Thadeus LaMont found a way.
“She should have left the island business to the Wraith whose mission it actually was. As it is, she let two suspects get away.”
“They were picked up by SS the moment they docked on the mainland.”
“Be that as it may, she should have stuck to surveillance.”
“She felt she could not sit idly by while a pedophile molested a young teenager,” Laura defended Comet. LaMont harrumphed. Laura sighed. “Is there anything else, sir?”
“No. Just get that asset of yours under control.”
“Yes, sir,” Laura answered in order to get out of his office as soon as possible. She didn’t plan to do anything differently. She thought Comet was awesome just the way she was.
Ruckus in the Medical Wing
When Hailey did not return to her hospital room, the staff commed her. She had fallen asleep on her own bed with heavenly thoughts of Jackson in her mind. Jackson occupied her dreams as well – until her comm pinged and she awoke instantly.
“Jackson!” she said, thinking that by some miracle he had programmed his comm to reach her as hers was programmed to reach his. A moment of consciousness reminded her of where she was. She sat up and looked at the comm and saw it was her therapist. She answered the communication: “Ramirez,” she said, lying back down on her bed.
“Agent Ramirez, where are you? I’m here at your room but you’re not here. It’s time for PT.”
“I’m sorry Ricardo. I fell asleep in my quarters. Give me a few minutes, OK?”
“Sure. You need a hand?”
“No, I have a wheelchair.”
“Good. I’ll meet you in PT room B.”
“Copy.” Hailey focused on her Wraith business again, letting the limbic monitor function normally. Hoisting herself in
to the chair, she rolled away to meet Ricardo.
“Do you remember Carter Flynn?” Hailey asked Ricardo as he supervised her efforts to strengthen the muscles around her hip joint.
“Flynn,” he puzzled.
“It was a long time ago. Crushed legs. You helped him re-learn to walk.”
“Sounds familiar…” Ricardo was on the medical team at the Scabbard. He was not endowed with the cranial implants the Wraiths were, so memories were not locked in place inside his brain like they were for Hailey and Laura and Derek and every other Wraith.
“Older guy… blamed me for the truck running over his legs…” Hailey provided hints.
“Oh! Yes, I remember him. Carter. He was funny. He didn’t really blame you,” Ricardo told her.
“I know. He was joking.”
“How do you know him?”
“I met him on one of my missions. He knew my father way back when.”
Ricardo smiled. “He’s a good guy. You know where he is?”
“Not specifically at this moment, but I know where he calls ‘home base.’ He likes to travel.”
“You Wraiths don’t get to see your friends very often, do you?”
“Most Wraiths don’t really have friends.” Hailey huffed as she struggled for one last rep on the adductor exercise machine. “Ugh, this pain bites.”
“You’re in pain? You should’ve said something. We can control that. Pain management should be a high priority.”
“I think that’s where I went wrong the first time. I felt good, so I pushed too hard. I think pain is a necessary tool for me.”
“Perhaps. But only during PT, OK? When you’re resting, I want you to rest comfortably. Otherwise your body is putting too much energy into dealing with the pain. Agreed?”
“Yes, sir,” Hailey replied, lifting her leg out of the machine with her hands.
“You did well today. Better than this morning’s session even.”
“Thanks, Ricardo. You’re a delightful therapist. I know Carter enjoyed his sessions with you.”
Hailey's Comet Anthology Page 38