Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  Fletcher was beginning to see where this one-sided conversation was going. Saying, “So what. Let the bastard rot,” he crossed his arms in a somewhat defiant posture.

  The Illusive Man finished off his drink and set the glass in the receptacle on the arm of his chair. “I’m afraid that would be ill-advised, Admiral. Lang is unhappy with me and my organization, and now he’s unhappy with the Alliance. I need him dealt with, before he can talk to an Alliance appointed lawyer. The man knows too much. It’s up to you to take care of this problem, before it becomes our problem. Deal with him however you think best.”

  Fletcher was just beginning to voice a protest when the Illusive Man touched an invisible control, terminating the connection. ‘Damn! Have to get in touch with someone on Arcturus… someone in a position to clandestinely kill that bastard Lang.’ The admiral left the QEC compartment and walked slowly to the closest exit. He needed a few hours to think, and he always did his best thinking after a few gin and tonics at the officer’s club. Michael Moser Lang would soon become someone else’s problem.

  * * *

  * ARCTURUS STATION · AT LARGE *

  Specialist Samantha Traynor had spent nearly her entire shift reconstructing and configuring a QEC terminal near the station’s engineering section; she had finished testing the receiver section of the just overhauled unit and shut it down so she could go home for the evening.

  Traynor hadn’t stopped thinking about the unexpected presence of Michael Moser Lang on the station As she rode the pedway through number three tube to the outer habitat ring, she mused, ‘It’s no coincidence that bastard showed up here – on this station – in an attempt to permanently shut me up… as if that goddamned NDA hadn’t done a good enough job. Shit, at least the Alliance didn’t execute me when they killed our program.’

  She continued to think about Lang’s appearance here – ‘coincidental? I think not!’ – as she entered her small living quarters; she used her omnitool to sweep the interior for listening devices or cameras. She hated having to live in a constant state of paranoia, but decided immediately after Lang had been taken into custody, she couldn’t afford to take any chances.

  To that end, she had inserted an undetectable sub-routine in the station’s massive communications array. She couldn’t monitor any of the QEC terminals on board; it actually would have been counter-productive to do so, as she would have to know who was on the other end of each and every call. The terminals were paired with several on Earth, along with a few on Mars, three on the Citadel, and one on each of the Alliance flagships within the fleet.

  Traynor felt that monitoring ‘open’ comms within the station would be much more productive, and she had kept the computer programs she’d once used while chasing down the ancient asari artifact and while searching for a way to stop Lang’s plot to kill turian warmonger Raherix Ursivus. She keyed her terminal on and initiated the search program to look for any mention of her name or that of Lang. Leaving the terminal, she moved to her small kitchen to prepare a bit of dinner.

  The terminal’s alert tone interrupted her meal; the trace program had noted both names mentioned in the same message from Earth – specifically, Alliance HQ in Vancouver. An Admiral Fletcher had been speaking with his counterpart on the station, and what Traynor had heard did not bode well for Lang… or herself. However, she was now quite certain she knew the identity of the admiral in the upper command chain that had pushed so damned hard for General Park to terminate the O7 program, and had given up Traynor’s current duty station and assignment to that bastard Lang. What she didn’t know at the moment was what the hell to do about it; she had no real friends on this station, with the possible exception of Lieutenant Kelsey Winters, who had assisted Sammy when Lang had attacked her in the passageway outside her apartment.

  She needed to inform Xiùlán, and General Park. There was no telling how deep this treacherous admiral had gone, but she’d be damned if she was going to allow the greedy bastard to implicate her in murdering Lang, and she sure-as-shit wasn’t going to die just so he could continue to enjoy the extravagant payoffs Cerberus was obviously making to his account.

  After checking a nearby chronometer, she decided to sleep on the information she had; in the morning, she’d armor up and contact General Park and Xiùlán. She wasn’t going to take any chances with Cerberus operatives being on the station.

  * * *

  * ARCTURUS STATION · AT LARGE *

  Having donned her armor, húdié dāo and kinetic shield generator, Traynor activated her personal comms terminal and placed a secure call to General Park in order to inform her about her discoveries regarding Alliance top brass in Vancouver. After initiating the call, Sammy was forced to wait nearly five minutes for Park to appear; the general sounded grumpy as she said, “Traynor! Why in hell are you calling me at this unholy hour?”

  Sammy placed a hand over her mouth for a moment as realization struck her – it was probably the middle of the night in Vancouver. “I’m terribly sorry, Ma’am. I didn’t check local time before I placed this call, but it’s imperative I speak with you. You need to know you have a traitor in your midst.”

  Park’s eyes widened slightly at this. Pinching her temples between thumb and fingers for a moment, she dropped her hand and looked directly at Sammy. “Okay, Specialist, let’s hear what you have.”

  As Traynor told General Park about her interception of the comms call between Admiral Owen Fletcher in Vancouver and the commander in charge of Arcturus station, Rae Lee’s expression gradually changed from annoyance at the late hour of the call to grim understanding of Traynor’s reasons for placing it.

  When Sammy fell silent, Park rubbed her temples again as she thought about the implications of Fletcher’s self-centered betrayal of the Alliance. Dropping her hands, she returned her gaze to Traynor and asked, “Have you shared this with anyone besides me, Specialist?”

  “After his original attack on me, I notified Yuán on the Tokyo and Buchanan on the other side of the station,” came the reply. “I was going to see Lieutenant Winters next, since she was the one holding a gun on Lang in the first place… let her know what’s…”

  “Not a good idea, Sammy,” Park interrupted. “There’s something about Winters that just seems… off, if you take my meaning. I would be very careful around that woman.”

  Traynor nodded her understanding, then asked, “Can you recommend someone else in this section of the station that I can talk to?

  After a few moments of looking down at something out of Traynor’s view, Park returned her attention to the specialist and replied, “Unfortunately, I know of no one in that section I would feel comfortable in recommending to you, Sammy… I’m sorry.”

  Traynor looked down for a moment, then looked back at the general’s image. “Looks as if it has to be Winters, then. She’s the OC of my section… it’d be difficult for me to justify going around her concerning this problem. What’s your feeling about the station’s commander? Is he part of the problem as well?”

  Park’s answer was immediate. “I’ve known General Nathan Chandler for nearly a decade, Sammy… he’s been commander of that station since 2160. He’s always been a by-the-book sort of guy – and totally trustworthy. I find it difficult to believe he’d be capable of working for an organization like Cerberus, but I’ll do what I can to look into it.”

  “Okay, Ma’am. I’m forwarding a copy of Admiral Fletcher and General Chandler’s conversation… Perhaps it will help you convince his colleagues to deep-six him.” Traynor took a quick look at the elapsed time for the call, then added, “I have to cut this short, General. I’m going to call Yuán on the Tokyo – the ship’s still in the system, but will be departing in two days or so. I also need to warn Buchanan – he’s assigned to engineering on the other side of the habitat ring.”

  General Park sighed. “Dammit, Traynor. I can’t seem to pull your ass out of the frying pan. How is it trouble always finds you and docks itself on your shoulders?”
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  Traynor frowned grimly as she responded, “I’d like the answer to that as well. I’ll check back with you soon… during daylight hours, if I can manage it.”

  Park’s smile gradually returned as she said, “Be careful, Specialist. Don’t get yourself injured or killed.” Chuckling lightly, she concluded with, “Yuán would never forgive me.”

  Traynor nodded as she cut the connection. After sending the information to Park’s Extranet address, she placed a call to Xiùlán, followed by a call to Griff; both expressed amazement that such a highly placed officer as Fletcher was committing acts of treason in order to make himself rich. Sammy had told them greed was a powerful motivator; it had taken the admiral down a path that would undoubtedly end badly for him.

  Once she had finished speaking with Buchanan and Xiùlán, she secured the comms terminal and wiped its record of her calls; she expected the discovery of her conversation with General Park would not be looked on with any sympathy by other members of Alliance command. After glancing around her apartment, she left for the short walk to Lieutenant Winters’ office, hoping as she walked that she could uncover just how far the shadow of Admiral Fletcher’s corruption had spread.

  * * *

  After scanning Lieutenant Winters office for listening and recording devices, Sammy had shared the recording of Admiral Fletcher’s recent conversation with General Nathan Chandler, the station’s commander; Winters listened in stunned, open-mouthed silence to Fletcher’s instructions concerning the final disposition of the prisoner Lang, along with a certain, nosy little bitch named Traynor. He had even read off Traynor’s Alliance ID number so there would be no doubt about the person needing to be eliminated.

  “I don’t know what to say, Specialist. The message seems quite clear – Admiral Fletcher wants the CO to find a way to kill Lang and implicate you in his murder, then kill you as you attempt to keep from being taken into custody.” She shook her head in disbelief as she concluded, “I think I’m beginning to appreciate your paranoia concerning Alliance brass. How in the hell did you get your hands on this?”

  “Just doing my job, Lieutenant,” Traynor replied in a serious voice. “In addition to rebuilding the QEC terminals, I repair and maintain the main comms systems for the entire station. Part of what I do involves monitoring quality of communications through the relays.” ‘Well, that part is mostly true,’ she thought. “Listening to this message leads me to believe Admiral Fletcher was responsible for the termination of the O7 program.”

  “Who else have you shared this information with, Specialist?”

  Every hair on the back of Sammy’s neck stood at attention at this seemingly innocent question… ‘Is Winters on the take as well? How deep has Cerberus entered into the mundane, day-to-day operations of the Systems Alliance?’ “No one, Ma’am,” she lied, hoping as she said the words that her conversation with General Park on Earth and with her Inamorata on the Tokyo, along with Griffen Buchanan, wouldn’t come back to bite her in the ass. Yuán had promised to share the recording with her own XO as soon as possible; Xiùlán felt she could trust Commander Tyler with the information, relieving Sammy of any concern for Yuán’s safety. Traynor had also forwarded a copy to Buchanan in an attempt to keep him safe as well.

  “That’s good, Samantha… We need to contain the bullshit to just this facility. For now, let’s walk over to the detention block, make sure the on-duty staff knows what may happen to Lang.” After a brief pause, she added, “I would never have expected a high- ranking Alliance officer to be complicit in murdering a prisoner. This is beyond anything I’ve ever had to deal with.”

  “It hasn’t happened yet, Ma’am… they still need to implicate me so I can be murdered for my attempt to evade capture and confinement… they don’t want me locked up, Lieutenant. I’d sing just as loudly as Lang… he will almost certainly have to be killed in my presence.”

  Winters nodded in understanding, then apologized to Sammy as she clipped a heavy pistol to the socket on her belt. “Sorry I can’t arm you as well, Specialist.”

  Thinking, ‘Oh, I just bet you’re fuckin’ sorry! You already threatened to shoot me over my wanting to slice that stinkin’ bastard,’ she lied again. “That’s quite alright, Ma’am. Wouldn’t know what to do with a gun anyway.” She surreptitiously sent a terse message to Buchanan as she walked behind the Lieutenant, saying only that she might be needing help… fast. After closing out her omnitool, she reconfigured it for combat. Unfortunately, Winters had seen one of the two butterfly swords she always had strapped to her lower calves, but the lieutenant hadn’t seen the multiple weapons her omnitool was capable of generating. Traynor silently took a number of deep, calming breaths as she followed Winters into the detention block.

  * * *

  The sergeant on duty looked up as Winters and Traynor walked into the main reception area. “Lieutenant… Specialist? What may I do for you today?”

  Winters answered, saying, “There’s a rumor… probably no truth to it… that Cerberus has landed an assassin on the station to take care of Lang for you. You haven’t seen anyone nosing around, asking about him, have you?”

  The sergeant had stiffened slightly at Winters explanation, but otherwise remained as he was, replying, “You’re the first person that’s asked about him since we locked ‘im away, Lieutenant. Does anyone in their right mind really think they could get in here and kill one of my detainees without us knowing?”

  “Just following up, Sergeant. May we see him? Just to be sure?”

  The sergeant cocked his head slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, Ma’am. No one from outside is permitted in the lockup.”

  “What about lawyers, Sergeant? Surely…”

  “… Visitors’ wing next door, by appointment. Secure rooms, monitored visually but not recorded. Lawyers and their clients have all the privacy they need there.” Looking down at his monitors, he added, “Lang is taking it easy… not a care in the world.”

  “So, he’s being cooperative?” Winters pressed. “Not causing any trouble?”

  “He’s a model detainee, Ma’am. Couldn’t ask for better. Won’t speak about why he’s here, nor speculate on how he’s getting out, and as I said, there’s been no one asking to see him.”

  Winters, it seemed, had run out of questions, so Traynor asked, “Sergeant, do you have eyes on ‘im ‘round the clock?”

  The sergeant looked at Traynor with the same raised eyebrow expression as before. “Not sure what you’re implying, Specialist. The cameras are on all the time – low-light sensors at night, and this desk is manned around the clock.”

  “What happens when you or your counterparts have to answer nature’s call, Sergeant… does someone continue to watch these monitors?”

  The sergeant’s expression hardened slightly as he replied. “There are other monitors, Specialist, with people watching them… there’s never a time when Lang isn’t under observation.”

  Traynor nodded, saying, “Apologies, Sergeant… I’m not questioning the security in here… it’s just that Lang is a free-lance merc whose most recent employer was Cerberus, and before you ask, the answer is I cannot tell you how I know of this, except to say his attempt on my life is why he’s locked up.”

  “You were the one holding a blade against his throat?”

  “That was me, Sergeant, after he knocked me down and attempted to kick my ribs in.”

  Winters interrupted, saying, “Come on, Specialist… let’s go. We’ve taken enough of the sergeant’s time.” Thanking the man for speaking with them, she led the way out of the reception area and started back for her own offices. Sammy followed her out, thinking as she did that she was no closer to learning who had been sent to Arcturus to end Lang… or her.

  Once outside of the detention block, Sammy’s omnitool came to life, silently indicating it had received a message each from Xiùlán and General Park. Thinking, ‘Area must really be shielded against comms frequencies,’ she decided to wait until she was alone to
read the messages. Moving to walk beside the lieutenant, she said, “It’s already been a long morning, and I need to go to work.”

  Winters glanced at her as she walked, responding with, “Go ahead, Specialist… I’ll do some nosing around, see if I can discover if there are agents already here. I’ll see you later.” As Traynor walked away, Winters silently activated her omnitool and sent a quick text message.

  * * *

  After making sure she was out of sight of Lieutenant Winters, Specialist Traynor opened her omnitool and read the messages from Xiùlán and General Park. Xiùlán had shared Traynor’s concerns with Commander Tyler, the Tokyo’s XO; she had promised to immediately inform Captain Anderson. General Park had spoken privately with Leon Gibbs, a Marine general assigned to Alliance Central Command; Gibbs held a rank equivalent to that of Admiral Fletcher’s four stars, so could not be coerced into looking the other way concerning Fletcher’s transgressions.

  Traynor had nearly reached the entrance hatch to her apartment block when she heard the muffled sound of boots, running up behind her. Turning to see who was following her, she was nearly hit by what appeared to be an old-fashioned baseball bat. The man wielding it, along with the other five behind him, were all dressed in Marine SDU’s, and were all equipped with either baseball bats or… Shit! Is that a golf club? No matter… Traynor quickly sized up all six as she slipped into her combat trance, seemingly slowing down all the events happening around her.