Traitor Winds - Kestrel Saga: Vol. 0 (Kestrel Saga - Origins)

by Stephen A. Fender

  “As far as I know, major offensive weapons are not permitted on Torval. The pirates who scanned us when we arrived made sure of we weren’t carrying any, so unless you’ve managed to smuggle some in…”

  “And indeed I have,” he grinned. “I have access to a long-range mobile launcher and several rounds of ammunition. That’s where the operation gets tricky.”

  “How so?”

  The map zoomed out to three-quarters of a mile. A series of green blips began flashing in a circular perimeter around Krador’s mine. “These sensors will detect anything larger than ten feet out to a range of a mile. I will be able to slip past them undetected, but my equipment will have to be positioned outside the range of the sensors until after I begin my assault.”

  Angelika’s brow furrowed as she contemplated the timeline, knowing the speed of the androids on foot in relation to the speed of Toyo’s equipment. “That’s going to cut things really close for you.”

  “I’m less worried about myself than I am about you. You’ll have to begin your insertion within minutes of the guards leaving. You’ll have to hold off the remainder of the guards, make sure nothing gets out of the mine, and make sure Stoval doesn’t escape.”

  “But he’ll want to call for some kind of assistance.”

  Toyotomi nodded. “The first projectile I will fire is going to jam his communications. That should keep him in the tower for a few minutes while he attempts to troubleshoot what is happening. That will be the best time to make sure he stays there until we’ve incapacitated the droids.” He brought up a side-view schematic of the central tower, then pointed to a blinking box at its base. “This is the magnetic elevator controls. If we disable the junction box at this terminal, Stoval will be trapped in the tower.”

  “So that’s my first priority.”

  “Precisely. You’ll have to navigate the complex without detection to get to that point. After that, you will have to dispose of any androids as you see fit. None can be left functioning. Should even one of them make it out of the complex, it’s entirely possible they have been preprogrammed to seek out other forms of getting a message back to Krador.”

  She nodded in understanding. “I’m going to need some heavy weaponry, more powerful than the field-issue hand weapons I normally carry. They’ll have to be portable, concealable, and light.”

  Katashi smiled. “I thought you might. As you probably noticed before entering orbit, there are very thorough patrols that guard this planet. Anything the vessel commanders deem questionable is confiscated, then stored in nearby depot.”

  Angelika grinned. “Including all weapons.”

  Agent Katashi nodded with a smirk. “I’ve managed to… acquire access to the storage area. I believe we will find everything we need there.”

  Chapter 9

  As Toyotomi had stated, he and Angelika had indeed found everything they needed at the confiscation depot…and then some. Properly outfitted with all the weaponry and additional equipment for their upcoming mission, they loaded the mining equipment Angelika had come with into a small caravan of hover transports and set off for Krador’s complex.

  The journey to the mine was a long and desolate one. Stretched for hundreds of miles on either side of the small transport skimmer Angelika found herself in, the beige sand dunes seemed to her like a sea of dust frozen forever in a deathly repose. Occasionally a rock formation would be visible, as if the red and brown irregular boulders were trying desperately to free themselves from the unrelenting grasp of the surrounding terrain, only to be swallowed once again in the next sand storm—an altogether common occurrence in the arid climate.

  Toyotomi Katashi, sitting on Angelika’s right and piloting the craft, followed no road or discernable sign to guide him to their destination. Such markers would be useless in the constantly shifting terrain of the desert. Instead, he was relying on the unchanging GPS coordinates of the mine, and in the ability of the antiquated skimmer’s navigation system to get them where they needed to go. While Agent Katashi had taken to piloting the craft, the computer could have easily—and probably more efficiently—gotten them to their destination. As it was, he said that it broke up the utter boredom of the journey to command the small craft themselves.

  Angelika, her hair tied up in a turban, turned her head to glance behind the skimmer. There, not a hundred yards behind them, was a large robotic sled. Carrying hundreds of tons of equipment and machinery, the large, flattened craft hovered a dozen feet from the desert floor, kicking up next to nothing in its nonexistent wake.

  “How much longer until we arrive?” she asked.

  Katashi had barely spoken a word since they had left the depot nearly three hours ago. In the open air of the skimmer’s cockpit, his lips had become dry and cracked from the unrelenting suns overhead. He pulled out a canteen of water, swirled the life-giving liquid around his mouth, and then swallowed hard.

  “About ten minutes. It’s just on the other side of that large formation,” he said with a nod toward the bow of the craft.

  Ahead of the skimmer was a series of large mountains coming out of the desert floor. Angelika swore they hadn’t been there a moment before, and she mentioned as much to Toyotomi.

  “The desert can play tricks on your eyes, Agent Jordan. Do not trust it.”

  “How is it that those mountains came to be? I mean, I’m no geologist, but I do know there is currently no tectonic activity on this planet.”

  “Very good, Agent Jordan. You are correct. What you perceive to be mountains is in fact the rim of an ancient crater.”

  “How ancient?”

  “Oh, tens of thousands of years but many estimates. You see, there is very little need on Torval for scientific research, so no such study has ever been performed on the formation. It is, however, widely speculated that the formation of the crater coincided with the creation of the wastelands.”

  “That must have been a massive explosion,” she pondered.

  “Enough to devastate this entire region, perhaps even the entire planet.”

  “An extinction-level event?”

  Toyotomi nodded with a smile. “Quite possibly. In my university days, I would have likely paid a king’s ransom to come out here and study this.”

  “You studied geology?”

  Katashi shrugged his shoulders. “I studied many things, including alien geology and mineralogy. That is one of the reasons I was chosen to lead this mission.”

  “So if he’s mining the crater, the material is not natural to the planet?”

  “No, it’s indigenous. However, there are numerous precious metals that were said to have been discovered by Krador’s mining operations, some of which are rumored to be alien in origin. They are likely from the asteroid impact, if they exist at all. As I said, it is mainly rumors, spread by desperate miners and cargo captains traveling to and from this system.”

  “What would Krador need with precious metals, assuming he found any?”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary. He could refine some of them into computer or control components, but most would be piled into storehouses and used as bargaining chips or for trade agreements with Kafaran Alliance members.”

  Angelika was beginning to see a much broader image of what was going on here, and Toyotomi’s role in this mission.

  “Your collateral mission was to find and secure these mineral stockpiles?”

  Toyotomi licked his lips, and failed at hiding a wide smile that succeeded in stretching across his face.

  “Assuming they exist?” he asked in jest.

  Angelika found herself smiling, then nodded.

  “In a manner of speaking. I hadn’t heard the rumors until I arrived on the planet. Once I did, I was already out of communications with Sector Command and the OSI. You could say that I’ve taken it upon myself to see if they are true or not, and I will make a…command decision about what should be done with them—assuming there is any truth to the myths.”

  Angelika knew all too well that
agents, especially the most successful ones, were often the most resourceful people in the known galaxy. Not only was it not unheard of for OSI operatives to keep large stores of “unaccounted for” riches in their personal care, it was something of a necessity at times. After all, one never knew when several tons of gold or platinum might be useful, and when lives were at stake, it was better to hide them from everyone—including superiors—than have to go through the red tape of bureaucracy when every second counted.

  Besides, who was she to judge? Angelika was no different, as she had her own personal storehouse to attest to that fact.

  A few minutes later the skimmer slowed to a halt. Angelika looked out to the sand dunes stretched out to the horizon. There was nothing around them for hundreds, if not thousands, of miles, save for the tall rise of mountains to their north.

  “This is where I will begin the diversion,” Toyotomi said. “I will attempt to draw out as many of the droids as I can, but I’m afraid not nearly as many as you would like will answer my call.”

  Angelika nodded. The two exited the craft and began unloading the supplies Agent Katashi would need for his part of the operation. Several of the large excavators would need to be moved off the hover barge, and a handful of automated weapon emplacements would need to be erected at the leading edge of the area—the point at which it was hoped the droids would attack from.

  Agent Jordan took charge of the weapons emplacements—a series of automated laser batteries not unlike the ones that she’d affixed to the sentry that had malfunctioned and attacked her earlier that morning. To say that she was nervous at handling the equipment would have been an understatement, but it was a job that she needed to do. Agent Katashi was busy setting up the various parts of mining equipment around the area, and he needed to make sure everything was exactly where it needed to be for his ruse to be successful.

  Within the hour, Toyotomi had the machines operational, and it looked for all intents and purposes like an actual mining site. The excavators were digging hard at the loose soil, the ore processors were sifting through tons of sand, and small hovering hoppers were ferrying samples and piles from one location to the other.

  Likewise, Angelika had successfully deployed the four weapon stations at the perimeter of the makeshift dig site. She dusted off her loose-fitting clothes and returned to the center around which the mining machines were hard at work.

  “Are you finding anything?” she asked Toyo.

  “If I were to find anything, it would be by the sheerest of luck. Besides, as I’ve said, this is a restricted area. Colonel Stoval would surely execute anyone who ventured this close to his territory.”

  “Let’s just hope that doesn’t include us.”

  Katashi smiled. “If all goes to plan, Stoval will be the one groveling for his life when this is all over.”

  Angelika smiled and stretched out her hand. “Good luck, Agent Katashi.”

  Toyotomi’s smile faded and he bowed graciously before her. “You honor the fallen members of my team by taking on this assignment, Agent Angelika Jordan. Agent Yournikov would be proud.”

  Angelika nodded somberly at the mention of her old lover’s name. Although she hadn’t spoken to him in a very long time, she would nonetheless personally make sure Dmitri’s name was etched into the Hall of Fallen Agents at OSI headquarters on Third Earth. “Thanks, Toyo. I’ll see you inside.”

  “I will be there shortly.”

  * * *

  Angelika reached the top of the crater’s rim just as Toyotomi was preparing the next phase of his plan. She turned briefly and surveyed the makeshift mining operation he’d set up far below, watching as a large machine dug an enormous trench into the barren soil before depositing the worthless pile of sand into the top of an ore-processing machine. Reaching into her pocket, Angelika withdrew a small transmitter and pointed it at the center of Toyotomi’s operation. This would be the signal to Katashi to begin his next move.

  Almost immediately, there was a tremendous shudder in the ground below her feet as Agent Katashi set off seismic charges in the ground far beneath his equipment. By themselves, the detonations should have made irresistible bait for Stoval’s droids. However, Katashi then lobbed three rounds from a high-powered grenade launcher over the rim of the crater. Angelika watched as they soared over her head, then landed just outside Krador’s mine complex. They each blew large holes in the sand and sent a cloud of dust high into the air.

  Moments later, a dozen droids, fully armed, filed out of the main complex in two columns. Ill-suited for extended climbing operations, the droid’s programming was taking them on a course around the periphery of the crater’s rim—and would soon lead them into the line of fire of Toyotomi’s hidden weapon emplacements.

  Waiting until she was outside their visual scanning range, Angelika made her way down the slope of the crater toward the mine.

  The first structure Angelika encountered was one of the tall, cylindrical lifting stations, used for elevating the raw LKC ore from the underground mine. Withdrawing the small vial of corrosive acid from inside the folds of her thermal cloak, she poured the contents on the locking mechanism of one of the tower’s vent covers. Within seconds the liquid stopped fizzling, and the small vent popped off and landed in the sand. Crouching down, she quickly entered the small fan room. Finding an unlocked door there, she made her way into the tower’s inner workings.

  The top of the lifting station was connected to the main processing complex by a long, covered conveyor belt. Using her wrist computer, Angelika deduced that there were no cameras or monitoring equipment nearby. As the lift churned a large load of ore onto the conveyer, Angelika was quick to hop beside it, riding the lift until it reached the processing station about fifty yards distant. Just as she reached the innards of the processing station, her wrist computer picked up a video signal, and Angelika was quick to dismount the conveyor and seek cover behind an open door jamb.

  The signal wave indicated that, every few seconds, there was a window in which Angelika could move freely. Seeing a series of large pumps and equipment along the floor of the station, she timed her movements accordingly, reaching a tall ladder a few moments later. The ladder stretched to an overhead catwalk about a hundred feet up. Taking another look at her computer, she could see that the surveillance camera had no view of the ladder after the first fifteen feet. Waiting until the coast was clear, she began scaling the ladder, making it out of the camera periphery just in time. That was when her computer once again signaled her that something was amiss.

  Looking at her wrist, Angelika could see two blips—probably droid guards—approaching the bottom of the ladder. Angelika wasn’t sure if she had been spotted or not, but the movements of the droids seemed to be a leisurely one. Not willing to take the chance, she locked her legs around the sides of the ladder. With her hands now free, she reached into her cloak and slowly withdrew her twin sidearms. Within a minute, she could hear the telltale stops of metal-shod feet striking the hardened floor with mechanical precision. A few seconds later, two all-black droids rounded a ten-foot tall heat pump and headed directly for the bottom of the ladder. Their weapons were slung casually at their sides, and it seemed even more apparent that Angelika’s presence was still undetected.

  As the two droids came to within a foot of the ladder, one of them suddenly stopped. A high-intensity lamp mounted on its back sprang to life, and the robot’s torso began rotating. It made two full circles as it scanned the area. Angelika’s grip on her weapons tightened, and her fingers stroked the triggers in anticipation. The droid’s light suddenly turned off, and the two guards continued on their patrol.

  Sighing deeply, Angelika waited until they had rounded another corner before she holstered her guns. Disengaging her legs, she swiftly climbed the rest of the ladder before the patrol returned.

  When she had reached the top, she once again checked her computer’s sensor readout. As before, there was little in the way of security, and it made her even
more cautious. If this installation was as sacred to Krador as Toyotomi had relayed, then it should have been more difficult for her to get this far. Stealthily moving along the catwalk around the border of the processing station, she could now easily see the two droid guards from a few moments ago, as well as another patrol on the far side of the room. Cautious not to alert them, she moved to the only door she could see, one that she knew led to a raised passageway that would take her directly to the complex’s central tower.

  Using the sonic lock deactivator, the doors parted. Before her was a two-hundred-foot passage, lined with windows on the left, with conduits and various diameter tubes on the right and strewn throughout the overhead like spaghetti.

  A quarter of the way down the passage, she heard what sounded like a ticking sound coming from behind her. Drawing her gun and pivoting, she saw nothing there except an empty space. She waited for a few moments, but the sound never reappeared. She turned and made her way down the remainder of the passageway, ending at another series of doors like the ones that had brought her there. A small, lighted keypad was near the door. Again using the lock activator, the door’s computer-controlled lock went through several cycles before it finally unlocked. The doors parted, and Angelika was presented with a T-shaped intersection. Unsure of which way to go, she decided to first try the passageway on the right and see where it led her.

  However, as soon as she stepped through the open doorway, a pair of droid guards—one coming at her from either passage—stepped out and blocked her way. She snapped back and attempted to draw her weapons, but the droids’ computer servos were too quick. They each reached out with mechanical hands and slapped the pistols from her grip before she found her footing. Sliding back on the balls of her feet, she reached behind her and withdrew her remaining sidearm.

  Then she heard the popping noise again, only this time it was louder…closer. The droids in the open doorway were not advancing, and from somewhere close behind her Angelika could hear the sounds of metal scraping against metal. She slowly turned and found herself face-to-face with another droid. This one was suspended from the ceiling, upside down, with its predominant red sensor transceiver only inches from her face. Looking up, she watched as the droid’s claw-like feet disengaged from the overhead conduits one at a time, its torso twisting as it moved to an upright position less than a foot from her.