by M. D. Cooper
The sound of the doors sliding open heralded the entrance of the engineers. Tanis turned to address Lieutenant Simon, their CO.
“Glad to have you folks here. We’ve got credible intel indicating an MDC is in this and probably the other three network nodes here on the ring. We’ve got some preliminary data up, but so far nothing is standing out to us as anomalous.”
Simon eyed the holo projector. “Nice work, sir. You’ve saved us valuable time with this.” He walked to the railing, looking out into the node as he said this. A sidelong glance betrayed an uncertainty his voice did not. “How sure are you there is a molecular decoupler in these nodes? I’m not certain if you’re aware that such a charge could take a healthy portion of this ring with it—potentially the whole Cho if a runaway scenario were to occur.”
“All too aware, Lieutenant. I know there is some threat against the Intrepid, and so far this is our best lead. The thing I can’t wrap my mind around is how the pulse could be sent through the network.”
The engineers were setting up more equipment around them and one, a corporal, spoke up. “If I may, sir.”
Tanis nodded and he continued. “I wouldn’t actually deliver the pulse from the nodes as much as the raw energy from them. There is a significant flow of energy brought in via ionized plasma. If one were to well, enhance that energy, and direct it from each node through various conduits, you could have a relatively small device, comparatively speaking, emit the wave from elsewhere.”
“So this could even be software,” Tanis said.
“Yes, sir. That’s how I’d do it.”
Tanis pondered this as she stepped back and let the engineers do their work. Long minutes passed before one of the women bent over a series of holo interfaces called out. “I’ve found something. It looks like this node has a persistent connection to the dock the Intrepid is berthing at.”
“With the amount of network traffic going to that dock, that doesn’t seem unlikely,” Tanis said.
“Aye, sir, but this is a secondary connection. From what I can tell, each of the nodes has a similar connection.”
“Can you trace the end device?” Lieutenant Simon asked.
“Trying to, it’s pretty nebulous. It just seems to arrive at the dock, connect to the main routers there and then dissipate.”
“Either way you’re saying that there is something actually on the dock, right?” Tanis asked.
“Everything points in that direction,” Lieutenant Simon said.
“Then I’m heading out. You folks stay here and see if you can find a way to sever that connection.”
“Yes, sir.” Simon saluted. “Good luck.”
“I’ll stay connected to your net. Keep me abreast of any updates.”
The lieutenant nodded as he turned back to the main holo and the data that was being brought up on the anomalous connection.
Fifty-seven minutes.
CHAPTER 31
STELLAR DATE: 3227347 / 01.29.4124 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: District C9Y, Ring 19C, Callisto Orbital Habitat (Cho)
REGION: Jovian Combine, Sol Space Federation
Tanis sprinted through the corridors, taking the fastest route to the docks that also kept her from running into the large shift-change crowds currently flooding the main thoroughfares.
After several a-spin tubes and a short maglev train ride she arrived at the dock. Several TSF Regulars guarded the entrance, passing all comers through a thorough Auth & Auth check.
Upon seeing her, the soldiers tensed and their squad leader, a Sergeant Weston, stepped forward.
“Uh sir, Major Richards. We’ve been ordered to take you into custody should you show up here.” He was clearly nervous, but his hand was on his sidearm, a certain indication that the sergeant would do his duty.
“Sergeant, there was a mixup. ChoSec tried to get me pulled in and passed off a series of commands as though they came from Grissom.”
The sergeant cast her an appraising look. “I don’t know about that, sir.”
“Look.” Tanis stepped up to the Auth & Auth, which proceeded to approve her access to the docks. “Would the system let me pass if I were flagged? Not even an alert attached to me on the approval display.”
Weston scratched his head. “Well, those Cho guys do like to throw their weight around…”
“You know it, Sergeant. Glad to see you’re with the TSF on this. I’ll be sure to mention it in my report.”
Tanis walked past the soldiers and onto the dock. Behind her she heard Sergeant Weston start to say something and then stop.
Tanis was surveying the dock when a voice spoke from beside her. “So, what’s the plan, Major?”
Tanis turned to see Trist standing beside her and smiled. “Thanks for the help back at the node. How did you get them off my back anyway?”
“Well, as far as they know, you got into a firefight and ducked into a maglev that derailed on an external part of its track. It’s going to take over thirty minutes to get to you.”
“I’m doing all that right now, am I?” Tanis cocked an eyebrow at Trist.
“Yeah, and your life signs show you as unconscious with a damaged Link node.”
“That’s really unfortunate for me.”
“I thought so.”
“I have to say, you’re pretty good at this.”
“I’ve been told.”
“So what do you make of this?” Tanis asked. “Think there’s really some sort of MDC emitter here?”
“Could be, there’s enough crap to hide it in.”
“What’s the most likely culprit?”
“I’m guessing something in line of sight with the main cargo hatch.”
“Well, we’ve got one/two and two/three on the dock doing final inspections. We can get them to help.”
“The more the merrier.” Trist smiled.
A few dock workers, cargo handlers, and of course the people setting up the stage for the post-docking ceremonies could be seen. Tanis decided that for now she would let them continue their work, no need to cause a panic. It wouldn’t take long for word of something like this to race across the Cho.
She called the two fireteams to her position and when they arrived updated them on the current situation.
“Marines, we’ve got a problem,” Tanis began.
“When don’t we?” Perez said under his breath.
Sergeant Kowalski shot the private a look to shut him up. Tanis found herself wondering why his superiors even bothered.
“We have credible intel regarding an MDC on the ring, and it’s here on this deck. We’ve got to find it before the Intrepid is in range.”
“Sir, wouldn’t something like that be rather large and…well…really noticeable?” Dvorak asked.
“Damn, that means it could be a lot smaller,” Dvorak said.
Angela fed possible configurations onto the net and the Marines looked them over.
Tanis proceeded to give out the orders. “Dvorak, Trist, I want you to head to the comm shack at the far end of the dock. The NNs are all maintaining connections to it, so it’s quite possible that our culprit is down there. The rest of us will do a standard grid sweep across the rest of the dock. Don’t forget to load those configs into your structural scanners. I’ve also got the net source signatures of the NN connections from the 701. They’re on the tac net as well. Check every piece of cargo t
hat’s making a net connection for that route.”
The Marines all saluted and dispersed to the grid locations that Kowalski laid out.
That possibility had never even occurred to her.
Tanis passed the information to the Marines and followed after Dvorak and Trist who were making their way across the dock toward the comm shack. If what they were dealing with really was just a trigger and it was using the waveguides to generate some sort of cohesion beam then it was even more likely that the answer was in the comm gear.
She hopped on a hover heading to the far end of the dock and brought up the records for the comm shack. Sure enough, a service entry was logged last month, a full twenty weeks before any scheduled maintenance—with no record of malfunction being filed.
“Seems a bit suspicious,” Tanis muttered to herself. She passed the information to Trist and Dvorak along with the details of the repair job. The chance of the info about logged repair being related to the actual work done was slim, but it was a place to start. The hover dropped her off near the comm shack and Tanis kept an eye peeled for anything suspicious as she entered the room.
All ship to station net traffic would pass through the equipment in the shack and since this dock was reserved for larger ships, a lot of systems were crammed in the twenty-meter-long space. After a moment’s search Tanis found Trist and Dvorak already hunched over consoles.
Not wanting to interrupt them, she turned and examined the room, looking for the largest conduit which would likely be connected to the trigger device. Several large plasma lines ran out of the room and onto the dock. Tanis followed them and saw that they terminated at an array of beam emitters and receivers.
They were mounted to a column that ran down from the dock’s ceiling. The design allowed them to rotate and slide into the best position to make a Link with a docked ship.
Tanis pulled up the specs, matching each device in the array to the design blueprints. As expected, something was not right. One emitter looked like a G1 TR3, but was not.
“Aha!” Tanis realized that her vocal proclamation wasn’t all that helpful.
Tanis put a visual of the added component on the tactical and engineering nets. Lively debate ensued between Dvorak, Trist, the engineers and several of the AI.
Tanis took the moment to review the arrival time of the Intrepid. It was getting close; within thirty minutes they would be making the seal. The outer hatches had already opened and the atmosphere on the dock was being held in by an ES field. If she looked carefully at the mass of local traffic through the opening it was possible to see a pattern clearing to allow the colony ship through.
Simon paused, and she could see calculations being done on the engineers’ net.
The connection was severed. Tanis poked her head into the comm shack and looked at Dvorak and Trist.
“I’m cut too; we’ve lost all Link to any nets outside of this dock,” Trist said.
“I’ve got no external wireless connections,” Dvorak added.
Tanis looked up to see one/two running toward the comm shack. “Taylor. Someone’s dampened the dock. Check outside and see if you can get—” The whine of railguns coming from the dock’s entrance interrupted her.
“Aw fuck,” Private Weber cursed. “Never a dull moment with you around, Major.”
“Glad to oblige.” Tanis tried to contact two/three on the discreet Link that military teams could use at close range.
Tanis pulled up a map of the dock and examined it.
Kowalski initiated a local combat net which Tanis extended to Trist before marking two/three’s current position and destination on it. She turned to one/two. “Weber, you stay with Dvorak and Trist. You two try to determine how to disable that thing.” Tanis pointed up at the emitter. “We could just blast it, but who knows what sort of failsafes and detectors it has.”
“Yeah, I’m typically against blowing things up that we don’t understand.” Dvorak’s tone was dry, but Tanis could tell it masked concern.
“The rest of you, we’re moving to position G/4.2. We’ll set up cover for two/three and try to catch whoever this is in our crossfire.”
“I’m guessing that it’s someone who wants to stop us from disabling this little party trick here,” Taylor said.
“Or just someone with amazingly bad timing,” Perez grinned.
“What, like your jokes?” Weber asked.
“This is the second time I’ve been attacked today.” Tanis sighed. “I’m beginning to think some cosmic force wants me dead.”
“I’d bet more on simple human forces wanting you dead…sir,” Perez replied.
Tanis cast him a futile quelling glare and the fireteam moved out, hopping on a hover traveling in roughly the right direction. Tanis stayed back, monitoring two/three as well as Trist and Dvorak’s progress.
Minutes later they were in position, deployed behind several crates containing casings for SC batteries. The casings were molecularly dense and also magnetic; with luck they would de
flect or slow any incoming rail shots.
Two/three had managed to reach their position with no injuries and were returning fire on the attackers. Their feed of the enemy was on the combat net and Tanis saw they were fighting more of the same heavily-armed men from the conflict on Mars 1. The count came to be under forty enemy.
Tanis realized that in those ten minutes the Intrepid would be making its seal. Whoever was orchestrating this party had to be making certain that all appeared outwardly normal on the dock. She thought briefly of the TSF guards and a feeling of guilt assaulted Tanis momentarily. She should have warned the guards there to be on the lookout for trouble. Their names were added to her list.
Tanis steeled herself and addressed the teams.
With her nanoprobe net extended, Tanis gathered an aerial survey of the combat zone. Sure enough the attackers were trying to flank the Marines. It’s what she would have done. A quick run through the cargo manifests revealed several things that could be of use. A crate ten meters away contained automated servitors to be used for scrubbing air ducts in environmental processing plants in the colony station. They were equipped with scalpeling lasers that could remove deposits and corrosion with ease. She sent a command to the crate to unseal, and a quorum of nano flew over to activate the servitors.