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

by Terry Mixon

  “Unless things go to hell, I have no intention of moving forward tonight. We need to scout these individuals and get an idea of as much of their behavior as we can. When we strike, we’re going to have to take them all prisoner.”

  The doctor nodded. “Then I’d ask that you consider what you’re going to do with them when you’re finished. When the full scope of what we’re doing becomes evident, I have no doubt that security will come down on them hard.

  “I doubt very seriously that civilians will be killed for cooperating with armed intruders, but we can’t rule that out. The Rebel Empire is an ugly place filled with ugly people. It might be prudent to take them with us so that they can’t tell anyone what they’ve seen. Or so that security doesn’t torture them for information they don’t possess.”

  Zia considered that and slowly nodded. “One more complication, but a relatively minor one in the scale of things. I’ll consider that, Doctor. Get us the access we need while I go talk to a marine about breaking and entering.”

  Kelsey was seriously considering going in after Carl. Veronica had subtly shook her head any time she’d looked toward the door. Even though she knew the other woman was undoubtedly correct, that didn’t stop her from worrying.

  Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Carl came back through the door. He looked shaken, his face pale. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t been pleasant.

  The female security officer swaggered out behind him and gestured toward her men. “Let them through. Have a pleasant visit.”

  Commander Sommerville had an expression of mild distaste as he nodded toward the woman and led the three of them into the shipyard.

  The corridors beyond the entry point looked like the kind one would see in any station or shipyard. People either dressed in Fleet uniforms or civilian clothes moved about on tasks that Kelsey couldn’t begin to guess at.

  “I’m sorry about that,” the Rebel Fleet officer said. “For what it’s worth, Mr. Owlet, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  Carl just nodded, his expression pale. “I understand. Thank you.”

  Veronica moved up to engage Commander Sommerville in conversation while Kelsey pulled Carl a little behind them.

  “What happened?” she asked softly. “Did she hurt you?”

  He licked his lips a bit nervously. “I’d rather not discuss the specifics. Imagine whatever humiliating search procedures you like and let’s just say I’m glad Veronica has the gear because I couldn’t have hidden it anywhere on me.”

  A bolt of pure rage shot through Kelsey and she almost turned on her heel to start back the way they’d come before he grabbed her shoulder.

  “Don’t,” he said softly. “We have too much riding on this mission. People are counting on us. What happened was incredibly demeaning, but I did what I had to do. Let. It. Go.”

  “I’m so very sorry, Carl,” she said at last. “Let’s do what we need to do and get the hell out of here. Veronica and I will distract Sommerville when you need us to. Just give me the high sign when you’re ready.”

  He nodded, not saying anything more.

  She let the subject drop and moved forward so that she was once again involved in the conversation between Veronica and Commander Sommerville.

  He was gesturing toward a cross corridor. “That way goes toward the main viewing area. A lot of construction takes place inside the confines of the shipyard and they’ve built a transparent wall so that visitors could see the hulls.

  “And up ahead we’re going to get into the place where they manufacture the various parts that have to go over to the ships. Everything from the drives to life support. Nothing is imported. Everything is built right here on this shipyard.”

  Veronica nodded. “Without getting into any classified information, what kind of ships are being built here? Freighters? Destroyers? Maybe even a light cruiser or two?”

  “All of that and more,” he said. “The civilian side builds just about any kind of ship you can imagine. The Fleet side builds every class of ship we need up to and including heavy cruisers. This is a full-service shipyard. If you need it, we can build it.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Kelsey saw Carl raise his hand and meaningfully glance at a junction box on the corridor wall. It was time.

  That’s when she remembered that Veronica had the equipment that Carl needed. She’d need to distract Commander Sommerville while the other woman slipped the pouch to Carl.

  “So, you build flip drives here?” Kelsey asked, stepping between Veronica and Sommerville. “I had a long discussion with one of my engineers about flip drives. There’s a lot of rare materials that go into making the damned things. Are they mined locally or imported?”

  As she spoke, she walked around him so that Veronica was able to pass the pouch to Carl without Sommerville seeing the act. It only took a moment and then Carl started working on planting the patch.

  “No,” Sommerville said. “Those have to be brought in, but luckily the closest source isn’t very far away.”

  Carl’s estimate of the time required was conservative. Inside twenty seconds, he had everything closed back up and was listening politely to Sommerville’s answer.

  One down, three to go.

  “You mentioned manufacturing equipment that built all of this stuff, including flip drives,” Veronica said, stepping up beside them. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see those next. That sounds fascinating.”

  Somerville smiled and gestured for them to continue down the corridor. “It’s not very far from here and it really is an amazing thing to watch. Come on. We’ll go take a look at that and then I’ll treat you all to lunch. It’s the least I can do.”

  28

  Talbot sat in a small café just down the corridor from where their young target lived. He wasn’t alone, but none of his companions were in sight at the moment.

  Bill Smith, dressed in nondescript coveralls and wearing a hat that came down over his eyes, was in the building where Ralph Halstead lived. Talbot wasn’t certain exactly how the man was going to manage it, but it was his job to figure out if the receptionist lived alone or if they were potentially going to have to deal with a second person.

  Rather than communicating by implant, since that might end up being traced back to them, they were using standard com units. Talbot’s was linked to an earbud so he could listen without worrying about being overheard. A throat mic meant he could murmur his responses safely.

  “It looks like the apartment is empty at the moment,” Smith said. “The hall was empty, so I stuck a flexible camera under the door and took a peek. The lights are off and the unit didn’t pick up the sound of any pets.”

  “So, what’s next?” Talbot asked.

  “Come on up. I can pick the lock and bypass his security system, but not while I’m watching over my shoulder for random passersby.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Talbot left a tip on the table and dropped his disposable coffee cup into a recycle unit. Unhurried, he walked up the corridor and into the residential building. Since he would stand out more than Smith, he made certain to do nothing that would draw anyone’s eye.

  The building didn’t seem to have any cameras in the lobby, but one never knew. The technology could be so small that no one would be able to see it.

  Knowing that the elevator would almost certainly have a camera, Talbot used the stairs. Minutes later, he exited onto the target’s floor. Smith was standing just down the corridor working on a panel recessed in the wall.

  He walked up to the man and looked over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  “Just passing the time until you showed up. As long as I was working on something, nobody that saw me would give me the slightest bit of attention.”

  Smith closed up the panel and walked a few doors down to the target’s apartment. “I’m going to be focused on the lock in the security system. If anyone pops up, I want you to go ahead and start reading me the riot act for not getting
something fixed. Make sure you have something in mind before you start talking.”

  “Copy that.”

  Even though he mentally rehearsed a little segment chewing Smith’s ass about his toilet not working, no one intruded before the specialist had the lock undone and the door open.

  “Inside,” Smith said with a hurried gesture.

  Already, there was a low beep sounding from an illuminated keypad on the wall. Smith focused on that as soon both were inside and the door was closed.

  Rather than ask an idiotic question about whether Smith was going to be able to disarm the alarm before it went off, Talbot reserved his gaze for the apartment itself.

  The furniture matched, so young Ralph made enough money to buy his own stuff. It wasn’t of the highest quality—in fact it was somewhat worn—so it might have been hand-me-downs.

  Rather than art on the walls, the young man had photographs. A lot of photographs. Not of people, but of places. All of nature scenes. He wondered whether the receptionist took them himself or just fancied them.

  The beeping stopped. Since there was no alarm blaring, Talbot made the assumption that Smith had disarmed the security system.

  “You’re pretty handy,” the marine admitted.

  “That’s what the ladies tell me,” Smith said as he tucked his equipment away and relocked the door. “What are we looking for? The guy isn’t here and he’s going to have his security badge with him.”

  “Mainly evidence that he lives alone. We’ll be going over everything just in case there’s something useful, but I’ll be happy if this is just a dry run for breaking in tonight to retrieve his badge.”

  Talbot had his stunner out. It had been among the equipment they’d smuggled aboard the station. After all, if security found the transport ring it hardly mattered if they found a couple of illegal weapons, too.

  He didn’t need it. There was no one else in evidence. In fact, it seemed their target lived alone and had no pets.

  The only thing that stood out as unusual was what would normally have been a spare bedroom. In this case, it seemed to have been converted into a home office. One with a lot of computer equipment and large screens. There was also a VR suite.

  Smith looked around with a smile and whistled softly. “My, my. What have we got here?”

  The intrusion specialist walked over to the computer—or perhaps Talbot should’ve said the largest computer—and examined it without turning it on. “I’d have to look inside to be sure, but this is probably a very powerful unit.”

  “Don’t they all look the same from the outside?” Talbot asked. “It’s just a computer. The Rebel Empire can make some really small ones, so why would a big one be a shocker? Maybe it’s old.”

  Smith shook his head. “I don’t think so. That VR unit and some of the equipment on the shelf beside it make me think this is a gaming computer. Those have to be powerful. In fact, the more powerful they are, the better a player can perform. Gamers tend to have the most advanced equipment in the general population.”

  Okay, Talbot admitted that was interesting, but it hardly seemed relevant to what they were doing. “If you can stop panting over the equipment, we should finish searching the rest of the place.”

  The man waved them on. “You go on. I want to call in some computer support. If the hacker can help me get into this system, we might have just hit the jackpot.”

  Talbot frowned. “I don’t follow. How so?”

  Running his hand across the top of the computer, Smith grinned. “I’m just following a hunch. I might be wrong, but the thing that gives a gamer the most edge is lots of processing power.

  “Our young friend has a relative in a research department with some very serious computing power, I suspect. If he managed to get any kind of access through her—or he’s a hacker, too—then this computer might be linked into the research facility to use its raw power.

  “If we can get into this machine and that is true, our guy can bypass all the stuff that’s been keeping him from going through the firewall. Our little hacker might have already done all the work for him.”

  Talbot considered that. There was a potential for gain, but there was also a risk that someone would catch them in the apartment the longer they stayed. Still, it was a regular workday, so they should be okay.

  “Call him. Is this going to be something that requires his physical presence or can he do it remotely?”

  Smith shrugged. “I’m not sure. Let me contact him while you search the rest of the apartment.”

  Talbot spent fifteen minutes going through the rest of the apartment without finding anything useful. Ralph seemed to be a relatively normal guy living on a fairly regular income, massive computer aside.

  He was about to head back to the gaming room to find out what Smith and the hacker had decided when he heard the front door unlock.

  Veronica had to admit that the automated manufacturing setup impressed her. The compartment holding all of the industrial equipment seemed to be as large as her old destroyer, and that was not an exaggeration.

  The multilevel room held row after row of massive machines that were being fed raw materials by small automatons and the finished products were then picked up by those same machines and taken away.

  The entire room was visible from the bottom level because the central part of the room had no ceiling. The open space went up seven levels and showed her the entire operation at a glance. It was massive.

  The machines seemed to have very little human interaction. Everything was done by computer-controlled machines and seemed to operate at very high speed. Which she supposed was necessary as they were building a number of vessels at the yard and would be continually in need of fresh parts.

  Frankly, she couldn’t see how they kept everything straight.

  “Okay,” she said to Don after a few minutes. “This is damned impressive. What I don’t understand is how you keep track of everything. That part over there, for example. Whatever it is. How does it get to the appropriate ship to be installed? What if there’s a delay? Does it get put on a shelf somewhere?”

  Her old friend grinned at her. “Everything is tagged so that it can be tracked down. Once a part is on the schedule, it gets built. If the schedule slips, so does the manufacture of the part. If there’s some type of short-term holdup, the part gets put into one of the storage rooms for retrieval.

  “With computer assistance, it’s not hard to keep track of everything that needs to be built for a given project. Or even for a project that is already complete. I could look back at any of the ships previously constructed here and tell you when each and every part for it was made, shipped to the construction site, and installed.”

  She cocked her head. “If it’s so automated, what do they need you for? To stand around and look important?”

  He laughed. “It seems like that some days. I spent a lot of time wandering between systems and making sure everything is operating as it should and that all parts are accounted for. I suppose you could say I’m a glorified bean counter and maintenance man.”

  “That seems like a lot of work for one person,” Kelsey said. “Shouldn’t there be a team of you?”

  “All joking aside, Captain, there is a team working on this. We work on different shifts to make sure someone is always here. There are always three of us on shift. It’s such a large facility that we occasionally work an entire shift without seeing one another, but we’re here.”

  At that moment, one of the machines one level up began emitting an insistent beep and a small red light started flashing on top of it.

  “And speaking of the devil, there calls my master,” Don said with a sigh. “I’ll go see what’s wrong with that unit and be right back. It should only take me a couple of minutes to get whatever is out of alignment back on track. Just wait here, I’ll take care of it, and we’ll go have lunch.”

  With that, Don set off for a lift serving that side of the compartment.

  As soon as he was out
of sight, Carl stepped over to one of the machines near them. “Keep an eye out for anybody coming by. I’m going to install a shunt on this machine so I can access the computer system inside the facility.”

  Veronica watched one way, while Princess Kelsey watched the other. There was no one in sight, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t just appear without warning.

  The young scientist quickly took off an access panel and dug into the guts of the machine. Sixty seconds later, he had it back together and was standing beside them as if nothing had happened.

  “I’m accessing the shunt now just to see what I can get to,” he said. “This machine doesn’t look like it’s set up to manufacture flip drive parts. I need to figure out where exactly the machine we need is located and how to get into its programming.”

  He closed his eyes for about thirty seconds and then smiled. “Found it. It’s on level three just above us. As it’s a specialized piece of equipment, I’m going to have to access it directly. I’m not getting much more than the location from here.”

  “What if Don comes back?” Veronica asked, concerned. “If you’re not here, that’s going to make him suspicious.”

  Carl shrugged. “It’s not as if we have a choice. If we skip this opportunity, we may never get another one. Tell him I went looking for the bathroom or something.”

  With that, the young man headed for the lift on this side of the compartment, moving quickly and pressing the button. The doors slid open, he stepped inside, and he was gone.

  The next three minutes dragged by with incredible slowness. Veronica willed the scientist to reappear every few seconds, but of course he didn’t.

  Instead, the first lift opened and Don walked out. He grinned at them as he walked over. “Problem solved. Let’s go get something to eat.”

  Then he frowned. “Where’s Mr. Owlet? This is a secure facility, he can’t just wander around. Technically, I shouldn’t have left any of you unescorted.”