Hidden Enemies (Book 9 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Zia laughed as the two women stepped into the indicated corridor. “That went a little bit easier than I’d expected. Good thinking.”

  “Why make it hard?” Veronica asked with a shrug. “Everybody in this bay has been the new guy at some point. Asking for directions isn’t going to raise any eyebrows.

  “We should keep that in mind going forward. The more we behave like everyone else, the less we’ll stand out. The goal is to blend into the crowd so thoroughly that no one remembers us once we’ve left.”

  It only took them a couple of minutes to find Statler’s. As the man had said, it wasn’t much to look at, but it wasn’t a dive, either.

  Veronica took the lead as they stepped inside and headed toward a short, balding man sitting behind a relatively tall counter.

  “One room or two?” he asked disinterestedly.

  “We’re acting as point for our crew, so do you have a dozen rooms available? If so, how much for the block? We like them close together since we’re a tight knit bunch.”

  The man nodded, showing some interest for the first time, and tapped a couple of keys on the small computer built into the counter. “How long you plan to stay?”

  She shrugged. “Depends on how fast we find what we need. Might be a couple of days. Might be as much as a week. Hard to say at this point.”

  “The weekly rate might suit you better, then. If I charge you by the day and you extend, you’re going to pay more for that same stretch of time. If you book the week and leave in a couple of days, I’ll cut you a bit of a break.”

  The price he quoted wasn’t too outrageous, so Veronica paid it. Thankfully, the New Terran Empire had a good supply of Rebel Empire money. That was going to come in handy during this mission, she was sure.

  People kept wondering why money never went fully digital, but she knew the answer. So that folks could make payments like this without showing up on any electronic record.

  If there’d been some kind of digital credit, there’d be a trail to follow. By paying cash, no one would figure out where they’d come from or where they’d gone. Or what they’d paid for while they were here.

  They went up to check the rooms after the man had given them the keys. A quick tour of each confirmed that they were of adequate quality. Not top-of-the-line, but certainly not the worst she’d ever seen. They’d do.

  Their block of rooms sat at the end of a hall and Zia pointed toward one of the rooms at the very far side. “We’ll take that one.”

  It was a fairly standard sort of place with two smaller beds. They were still larger than what Veronica was used to, though.

  “Sounds good,” she said. “We’d best go get our bags and signal the rest to start coming over.”

  Their good luck lasted almost all the way back to the shuttle. A pair of men in security uniforms came out of the bay just as they were about to enter. Veronica thought they were going to walk past and moved to the side, but one of the men intentionally singled her out and blocked her passage.

  “Identification,” he demanded, his hand extended.

  Crap. Well, it looked as if she was about to find out how well the New Terran Empire could forge identity documents. If hers didn’t pass muster, this mission was in very deep trouble and so was she.

  Kelsey stared at herself in the mirror, somewhat amazed at her transformation. To match the appearance of the dead Rebel Empire Fleet commander she was impersonating, Kelsey had allowed Angela to cut her hair into a bob and color it an almost midnight black.

  She’d also allowed her large friend to apply makeup in the same style as some of the images that they’d found on the wall in the woman’s office. Kelsey was no stranger to makeup, but she tended to use it in such a way as to enhance her light complexion and golden hair.

  The dead woman had favored a stronger hand. More makeup and in stronger colors to contrast her dark hair. Definitely not Kelsey’s style.

  To her annoyance, Talbot seemed intrigued. He walked around her, examining her new looks closely.

  “I have to say, this is quite a change. You look a bit… dangerous.”

  “I’m always a bit dangerous and it’s not my looks that are turning you on. It’s what you saw in that woman’s closet. Which, by the way, I’m still not wearing.”

  Her husband laughed. “It doesn’t matter what you wear or, for that matter, don’t wear. I’ll love you just the same. Still, you can’t stop me from imagining you dressed like that. I think you’d be exceptionally sexy. Not that you aren’t already exceptionally sexy.”

  “You’re not helping yourself,” she growled playfully. “Tell you what. If we get out of this place with everything we need, I’ll let you pick something from the stash for me to wear.”

  “Talk about motivation. Now I’m going to move Heaven and Earth to get what we need. Which, of course, I was going to do anyway.”

  He stepped back after giving her a quick kiss and examined the uniform hanging from a hook nearby. It was a Rebel Empire Fleet uniform with commander’s tabs. They’d had it made special for this mission based on Veronica Giguere’s own uniform.

  “Do you think you’re going to need this? I thought we were leaving the shipyard portion of this to Zia and Veronica.”

  Kelsey slid an arm around his waist and stared at the uniform. “I’m still not sure. It’s possible we’ll stay in civilian clothes the entire time. It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

  She sighed. “I know it’s just a disguise, but it feels dirty dressing up like that woman. Not as in the sexy kind of dirty, but the kind you can’t scrub off. She was a vile human. How can someone like that have gotten into a senior position inside the Rebel Empire’s version of Fleet?”

  Talbot squeezed her back for a moment and then released her. “Their version of Fleet isn’t really designed the same way ours is. Superficially, it looks the same, but it’s not. The New Terran Empire’s version is there to protect us from any threat. That woman’s version was meant to suppress humanity.

  “Even though the lowest ranks don’t know what the System Lords really are, the personalities of the senior officers define everything about how Fleet operates. Those people are like a distorted mirror version of the folks you know. Evil.”

  She almost asked how something like that could operate for even just a little while, but she already knew the answer. She’d heard Olivia West describe the Fleet presence on Harrison’s World. Talbot was right. They were oppressors, not defenders.

  Not that there weren’t some good apples in the bunch. Olivia’s dead fiancé, for example or Captain Black, the man in charge of the Grant Research Facility. But they were the exceptions rather than the rule.

  In her Fleet, the percentages were reversed. They had plenty of great people and just a few bad ones like Wallace Breckenridge. Thank God.

  She shook off her bad mood. “I’m tired of waiting. We haven’t heard anything negative from Zia, so let’s go over now.”

  “I don’t think we should do anything until we hear from her,” he objected. “No signal might mean that someone’s captured them. After all, it’s not like they can use their implants without giving themselves away. They’re in stealth mode. Any signal at all might blow their covers.”

  “They have coms,” she countered. “All they have to do is signal the shuttle and it will retransmit something to us. They have a panic button, too. If they’re about to be captured, they wouldn’t hesitate to hit it.

  “No. They haven’t run into significant trouble at this point and I’m tired of sitting around doing nothing. If we’re not relocating now, we will be shortly. Let’s get everyone together and head over. With the enemy warships in the system, we can’t afford to waste any time.”

  “I think this is a really bad idea, but I know that arguing with you isn’t going to help,” he muttered. “For safety’s sake, I think we should take two more of the cargo shuttles over to the orbital. That way if something happens, maybe some of us can
get away.”

  Kelsey knew that wasn’t really an option. If the Rebel Empire discovered who they were, the freighter wouldn’t escape.

  “We can hope,” she said softly. “Once we get onto the orbital, I’ll send a message to Zia and get a status from her. Make sure that Carl has the special cargo ready to go. I don’t want us to have to come back for anything. If we might need it, I’d rather have it with us. Any unnecessary movement could draw unwanted attention.”

  Following her own advice, Kelsey slipped her uniform into a clothing bag and grabbed what she intended to take with her. If things went badly, it wouldn’t matter, so she had to plan for things to go well.

  They had to go well. She wasn’t going to let everyone down like that. She’d make this work or die trying.

  21

  Zia forced herself not to tense. The Rebel Empire was filled with paranoid people and identification checks were probably standard procedure.

  Veronica dug her forged ID out of her vest pocket and handed it to the security man. His eyes scanned it before looking back up at the other woman.

  “I don’t recognize your ship’s name,” he said. “What does Squared Circle mean anyway?”

  The former Rebel Empire Fleet commander shrugged. “I didn’t name the damn ship, so I have no idea. We’re just looking for cargo and want to have a good time before we head back out. What needs to happen to make sure our friendly visit stays friendly?”

  The security man smiled. “Isn’t that what everyone wants? I can arrange for security to leave you and your crew alone, but it’s going to cost you.”

  He named a price. It seemed to be a fairly reasonable rate. Not that Zia was all that familiar with bribes.

  She had to admit that she was surprised at how blatant the exchange of money for protection was. It was carried out like a straightforward business transaction.

  “What’s your name?” Veronica asked as she dug the money out and handed it over. “If someone gets too pushy, I want to know who to refer them to.”

  “Alden Stoffel. I’ll put the word out. If someone gives you trouble, it’s because you’re doing something you shouldn’t. Behave and everyone will come out of this happy. Understand?”

  Veronica nodded. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

  The two security men resumed their journey into the orbital and Zia followed Veronica back to their cargo shuttle. Once they were safely inside, she turned to the other woman and raised an eyebrow.

  “Is that common? I have to say that’s not how things work in the New Terran Empire. At least I hope not.”

  The news seemed to surprise Veronica. “Really? How do you make sure security doesn’t harass you or stick their noses in where they shouldn’t?”

  “Our security officers stick their noses in the things that are actually business related as opposed to extorting protection money.”

  “What a strange place your Empire must be,” Veronica mused. “It’s the cost of doing business here. They have to deliver on the protection or word gets out and the payments dry up. The less scrupulous ones get dealt with by their comrades.”

  Zia didn’t know what to say. Their worlds were so different.

  “I hope you’ll get to find out just how different our world is soon. It’s going to be an adjustment, I’d imagine.”

  “It sure sounds like it. Now that we have the rooms set aside, do we call everyone over?”

  Zia nodded. “Shockingly, it seems as if it might be relatively safe to do just that. Especially since you just paid to make sure we weren’t harassed. Maybe that’ll help us get the gear to the rooms without being searched.”

  “From what I understand, there are only a few bulky pieces,” Veronica said, her tone indicating agreement. “Those might be a little more troublesome, but nothing we can’t handle so long as we act casually.

  “The first step is getting them onto the station and organizing the trip from the bay to Statler’s. We’ll send out scouts to make sure we don’t get stopped by security.”

  The cargo shuttle’s com chimed. Zia hoped it wasn’t anything bad as she went to the cockpit and pressed the accept button.

  “Zia.”

  There hadn’t been much call to use fake names. It wasn’t as if the Rebel Empire knew who they were.

  “There you are,” Kelsey said. “I got tired of waiting. We have two shuttles making the trip now. We’ll be in the bay in a couple of minutes. We brought all the gear we discussed. Did you get us rooms? Better yet, did you find a bar?”

  Zia smiled. Some of that was choreographed because they knew that others could be listening in. Probably would be.

  “Of course I did. The rooms are all reserved and we’re back at our shuttle. As soon as you land, we’ll get everything back to the place we rented and then we can see about that bar.”

  “Excellent. You haven’t had any trouble, I take it?”

  “Nothing we couldn’t handle. I let Veronica take lead and she did a great job. We’ll meet you by the bay exit in fifteen minutes. Hope you’re ready to relax.”

  Kelsey laughed. “You have no idea. See you in fifteen.”

  Zia press the button to end the call and headed back to the main part of the cargo shuttle. “Kelsey and the rest will be here in a couple of minutes. I’m not going to feel safe until we have everything in the rooms. Do we need to worry about security searching our quarters? Some of the stuff we’re bringing would get a lot of negative attention.”

  Weapons, high-tech gear to break and enter, specialized computers for hacking, and the small transport ring. Any of that would set security’s hair on fire.

  “They shouldn’t,” Veronica said. “We’ll just keep our heads down and move forward with the plan.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Zia spotted Princess Kelsey leading a small crowd of almost two dozen people. A couple of them were moving a trolley with a couple of small crates and everyone had packs just like the ones Veronica and she had retrieved from the shuttle.

  Kelsey looked stunningly different. The shorter, darker hair and more pronounced makeup, combined with a sterner expression on her face, really did make the princess look like a stranger.

  That didn’t stop the small woman from giving her a hug as soon as they came together. “I was worried you wouldn’t get everything set up by the time we arrived. I kind of jumped the gun.”

  Zia eyed the crates that Carl was hovering near. “We need to get these back to the rooms as soon as possible. Veronica made an arrangement with security to leave us unmolested, but I’m not sure that taking crates into the station won’t get someone’s attention.

  “Veronica and some of our people are going to spread out and keep an eye out for security. If they spot someone, they’ll signal us and we’ll find a place to loiter until the course is clear. We probably should have someone trail along behind us just to make sure some enthusiastic security team doesn’t come running up on us.”

  “Excellent idea,” the princess agreed. “Let’s get moving.”

  Veronica quickly conferred with the people assigned to scout. They spread out and headed into the station. A minute later, the main group moved to follow.

  Zia was starting to relax when she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. A couple of women exiting one of the restaurants near the cargo bay. Both wore lanyards that indicated they worked in the cargo bay.

  It seemed as if they would walk into the bay without comment until one of them stopped and glared at Carl. “Hey! Where are you going with that? Has it been checked? Let me see your papers.”

  Oh crap.

  Talbot didn’t give Carl a chance to respond. Before the young scientist could say a single word, the marine inserted himself between the two women and the crates.

  “These were already cleared,” he said smoothly. “There’s no need for any trouble.”

  The woman who’d demanded the papers glared up at him. “I decide if there’s going to be trouble. No taking cargo out of the bay without t
he appropriate clearance. Moving anything onto the station itself requires an examination.”

  He glared at her. “And who exactly are you? So far as I know, you’re just some idiot trying to cause me trouble. And good luck talking yourself out of that category.”

  The woman bristled even more at his words. She grabbed the badge hanging from her lanyard and shoved it into his face.

  “Associate supervisor Marya Franzen, cargo control. You either trot out your paperwork or I call security. I can tell you right now, your attitude is going to cost you.”

  He saw that Kelsey was about to step forward and insert herself into the conversation, but Zia beat her to it. The commodore extended some folded paper toward the supervisor.

  “Sorry about that,” she said, her tone bored. “He’s new. Here’s the paperwork. I think you’ll find everything in order.”

  To Talbot’s amazement, the folded paper turned out to be money. His friend was trying to bribe their way out of trouble. And not subtly, either. Right out there for everyone around them to see!

  He waited for the supervisor to start shouting for security, but all she did was count the money and make a gesture for more. “This is light and your mouthy friend just cost you even more. Take it out of his pay.”

  Zia counted out more money and handed it over.

  The woman pocketed it and gestured for her companion to follow her as they departed toward the cargo bay.

  Talbot watch them go in stunned amazement. Then he turned his attention to his friend.

  “What the hell was that? Better yet, how could that possibly have worked?”

  Kelsey waived a hand between Zia and him. “It doesn’t matter right now. We need to get these crates out of sight. Pick up the pace a little, but don’t be obvious about it.”

  Even though he was certain security would pounce on them before they arrived at their lodgings, Zia led them to a place called Statler’s without trouble.

  Only once they had the crates locked up in Carl’s room did Talbot start to relax even a little bit. This was crazy. What had just happened? Time for some answers.