by C. R. Daems
"That's true, Mother. Kris says her uniform’s beginning to look like it belongs to a retired Admiral."
Alexa laughed. "You two have certainly earned more meaningful medals than most officers earn in their naval careers. Are you getting closer to catching them?" Concern was evident in her voice.
"I think it’ll depend on what they do or don't do next. They still have one and maybe two cruisers in UAS space, and I don't think they’re ready to leave. The credits are well worth the risk. We have to wait for the next Master Puzzle edition to find out."
"Good, that means you'll be home for a while."
* * *
I spent the next couple of days reviewing merchant activity for the last five years. It soon became obvious that the Controllers did not use the Cloud Chaser, Star Trader, or Good Deal merchants to and from their assignments. So I started over, looking for any merchant that was in system a week after each raid. It took two days but I finally eliminated everyone except for the merchant ship Gypsy. It had been in position to relocate each Controller after the raid. I was convinced I had the right merchant when I verified the Gypsy had subsequently traveled to the systems where we presently thought the Controllers now resided: Stone Ring to New Zheng, Easter to Safe Harbor, and Holy Star to Oxax.
Then I looked at the Gypsy's activity over the past five years. Unlike the three messenger merchants, the Gypsy didn't confine its principle activity to a publication area. At the three-year mark, I did notice more activity at the raided sites. Given I was right about the Gypsy, the passenger logs identified the Controller at Stone Ring as Leo Massey, at Eastar as George Bernal, and at Holy Star as Ken Finch.
And according to the latest movements, Ken Finch had moved to Oxax and then to Westar to set up the ambush. Leo Massey had moved from Stone Ring to New Zheng and then to Oxax to arrange the ambush at the NIA office. George Bernal had moved to Safe Harbor.
It was late when I finally finished, and I sat back and considered what I had found. Not so much the Controllers' locations or why they moved, but how it affected their methodology. The three UAS merchants knew how to determine if the puzzle AU was valid, but I now knew they didn't know the Controllers—only the Gypsy knew them. The other three merchants were messengers paid to deliver the puzzle publications to ... who? Certainly not the FPU cruisers, given how careful the raiders had been to shelter the Controllers. Since there were several FPU and PRS merchants in UAS space at any one time, I concluded the hand off was to one or more foreign merchants working with the raiders.
So the UAS merchant meets a FPU merchant and gives the puzzle publication to him. Then I presume the FPU merchant delivers it to the raiders. But would the raiders give the FPU merchants their hiding place—very unlikely. So where were the three cruisers hiding? Was it just one place or one per publication area? And what was the Gypsy's part in this?
My head spun with unanswered questions and felt like hundreds of tiny men were banging on the inside of my skull to get out. That was probably the reason Red had disappeared into my nightdress—or else he was just disgusted that I couldn't deduce the answers. Frustrated, I sent Adrian my findings.
Several days later, I was notified that we had received three puzzles from the Checky Fools.
* * *
When I arrived at the office, Adrian, Kris, and Rich were already in the conference room looking deflated.
"Good morning, from the look on your faces the puzzles weren't real," I said as I sat with my cup of moo-coffee.
"All three are supposedly real. Each puzzle's AU had the double asterisks. But when I removed the non-Latin characters, I didn't see any of the words in the previous valid messages," Kris said.
"I sent them to your tablet, Anna." Adrian's voice had a hint of optimism.
I turned on my tablet and went through my normal procedure as a double check and then scanned the resulting strings. The same four words were in each puzzle.
"There is a message, and it's the same in all three puzzles. Your end of days."
Adrian and Kris paled; Rich sat with his mouth hanging open. It was a message meant for the four of us, and an acknowledgement that they knew we had deciphered their previous code. But that raised interesting questions—how were they now communicating, and did they have a current winner or three. Because all three AUs contain the two asterisks indicating they were real, I checked each AU and found each in an out of the way location in the appropriate system as indicated by the last letter in the string.
"This means they know we can decipher their previous code, still don't like us, and the messages are fake." Adrian shrugged in defeat.
"I don't think so. The merchants don’t know what the puzzle message says, only that there’s a valid AU coordinate; therefore they'll report to the designated area."
"But if they know we can decipher the message ... another trap? Do they expect us to follow the merchants?" Kris asked. "Well, at least MacLin doesn't need us to do that." She croaked out a laugh.
"Which is why it probably isn't a trap. I think they want us more than a cruiser. Besides, I don't believe they think they can fool the cruiser captains so easily again. They didn't fare well in the exchange." I had a feeling that one of the three messages was real. "If my assumptions about the Gypsy and the Controllers are right, then only Safe Harbor can be a valid target ... whether that puzzle message is valid or not."
Everyone grabbed their tablets and began reading my message to Adrian. After a long silence, Adrian and Kris looked up and nodded.
Eventually, Rich looked up and smiled. "Because none of them except the Controller on Safe Harbor has been there long enough to identify a target and a winner."
"But how does the FPU merchant and or the FPU cruiser know it’s a fake?" Kris asked.
"More importantly, if it isn't a fake, who's the target?" Adrian asked, clearly frustrated. "I should tell Stauffer what we suspect," he said as he rose.
Kris nodded. "Best to keep them informed as to what we surmise. If Safe Harbor turns out to be a target, they would be rightfully upset if they weren't notified, even though it's only conjecture at this time."
* * *
Rawls called for a meeting after Stauffer informed her of our conclusion.
"As I understand it, you believe Safe Harbor's the next target, but you don't know who or when," Rawls said, getting straight to the point. "Still think we shouldn't arrest the UAS merchants and FPU Controllers?"
Everyone looked to me and I felt my cheeks burning. I was close to capitulating when Red appeared and wound into my hair and draped his head on my forehead. For no reason I could determine, I felt he agreed with me and we shouldn't back down.
"Yes, ma'am. Their last message is clear—they aren't leaving until they're ready, and they want the NIA team dead. Rounding up the Controllers and the UAS merchants won't cause them to leave or to stop hunting us. Consequently, it might take years to discover their new methodology, whether they kill us or not."
Rawls sat deadly still staring at me for a long time, and it became so quiet I could hear people breathing in the silence that followed. "That's a persuasive argument, Anna. I'm sure Admirals Lultrel and Bell will agree that protecting this team's the priority. I concur with your recommendation. Good hunting."
"Well, what can or should we do now?" Adrian asked after Rawls and Stauffer had left.
"Spend more time at the firing range," Rich quipped, but I felt he was partly serious.
Adrian and Kris nodded almost imperceptibly.
"Wait for the next raid," I said. "I would like to go to Safe Harbor after the raid to see if they used the same procedure—and if they did, to identify the client they found."
"Seems rather heartless waiting to go until after the raid, but I agree. What else can we do without knowing who?" Kris looked resigned.
"Let's take the time to rest, as I agree with Anna. We’ll be off to Safe Harbor soon enough," Adrian said. "Meet here same day next week for an update."
* * *
The week p
assed slowly but I didn't mind. It was great being home. During the day I pondered the complex system the raiders had developed and hoped that if we could figure it out, we could destroy their operation. We were missing some critical pieces.
We knew, or I thought I knew, the Gypsy was used to set up a system for the raiders’ Controller and to deliver him to the system. The Controller initiated the ad and filtered the contestants until he found a winner. He then constructed a puzzle with the information the raiders would need ... but ... how did he know the coordinates for the UAS merchant to hand off the puzzle? It wasn't a constant because I checked—neither the system nor the AU remained constant. So where did he get the information?
The UAS merchant reviewed the puzzle publication each month and delivered the publication to the designated area when the AU had two asterisks. I was guessing to a foreign merchant, who then delivered it to a raider cruiser. But how did the foreign merchant know where the cruiser would be? They were careful, so I doubted the merchant knew the actual location. They met at some designated location, but was it static or did it change, and if it changed, how did the FPU merchant get the information?
I concluded a major piece of the puzzle to their methodology was how they communicated the location information. The system had been carefully thought out and designed to make sure that no one merchant's capture could expose the Controllers or the raider cruisers.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Incident at Safe Harbor
"Are you making any progress on ferreting out the raider's methodology?" Alexa asked as we sat in the living room after dinner.
"I'm missing a key piece. How do they get their rendezvous location with the raider cruiser? Because I doubt it's a static location. I think it varies in case a merchant is arrested or decides to betray the raiders. That way the link is broken."
"Another puzzle—" Alexa began.
"Yes. You're a genius, Mother," I blurted, giving her a quick hug and opening my tablet to search the file containing the previous Master Puzzle publications. "I think they're using another puzzle to designate the location." For the rest of the evening, I sat scanning through the latest publications, looking at the answers for the previous month's puzzles. Early the next morning, I decided I was going about the search backward and sent Adrian a message.
To Lieutenant Commander Shrader
Can you query all three Master Puzzle subsidiaries? I would like to know all the puzzles individuals pay to put in the monthly publication.
From: Lieutenant Commander Paulus
The next morning I received a surprise call from Kris. "Pack your bags, we're headed for Safe Harbor. You were right. They raided the Star Mining Company processing plant and made off with rare gems and metals worth more than three hundred and fifty million credits."
"Kris, you don't have to go—"
"Stop! I don't like space submarines or space battles or being shot at, but I like working with you. We make a great team. Besides, are you going to trust Red with Adrian or Rich?"
"I would feel so bad ... if you got hurt, I would never forgive myself," I whined, feeling guilty and afraid. I did seem to attract trouble.
"I feel the same about you, so let's make sure we watch each other’s back. See you on the Vulcan by twenty-two hundred hours." She cut the connection, forestalling any further argument.
"Mother, I'm off to Safe Harbor," I shouted, as Alexa was upstairs dressing for work.
"When do you have to be at the space station?" she asked from the head of the stairs.
"Tonight. Twenty-two hundred hours."
"If you like, I'll take the day off and we can spend it together."
"I would love that."
* * *
The shuttle arrived at the space station at twenty hundred hours, and I was at the entrance to the Vulcan fifteen minutes later. A tall Lieutenant was at the bay checking IDs.
"Permission to come aboard, sir," I said as I reached him.
The poor man stood with his lips moving but no sound as he tried to reconcile me to my dress uniform with its lieutenant commander stripes, battle and award ribbons, and the two fully armed marines standing behind me. Finally, after checking my ID against me several times, he managed to speak.
"Permission granted, ma'am," he finally said, delivering a reasonably good salute. "Ma'am, petty officer Jackson will take you to your quarters."
Just then a short stocky man stepped forward. "Ma'am, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to your quarters. The captain would like to see you and Commander Sinclair when you are settled. She's in the room next to yours."
"We'll have to wait for my security to clear the OOD," I said, nodding to the two marines having their IDs checked. When they did, he led me to my quarters.
While I was putting my clothes away, I heard a knock at the door and opened it to find Kris smiling at me.
"About time you got here." She gave me a hug. "Hi, Red. Remember me?" she quipped when Red appeared from inside my jacket.
"Been here long?"
"About an hour. If you're ready, we should go see MacLin. He'll probably want to know if we’re chasing cruisers." She laughed.
We made our way to MacLin's office and were admitted immediately. Colonel Pannell was already there when we entered.
"Well commanders, what's the game plan?" MacLin asked after returning our salutes.
"As you probably know, the raiders hit the Star Mining Company. We're going to try and determine the inside person, whether their methodology has changed, and if so how."
"Any possibility of another surprise encounter?" he asked.
"You would certainly be a prime target, as you've two of NIA's raider-team members on board, and they could reasonably assume we would come to Safe Harbor to investigate the robbery. The question is whether they want to take on a UAS cruiser or wait for us to debark." I immediately regretted saying so, as Kris's face turned pale. Not that it wasn't true, but for the sake of Kris's feelings.
She shrugged. "Here or on Oxax. What's the difference? I know how to shoot, we've a marine squad tailing us, and we've Red for backup. I would say those are reasonable precautions." She gave a sharp nod for effect. "Too bad we can't send them a reply to their message—the raiders’ end-of-days is coming."
MacLin laughed. "I almost feel sorry for the raiders, having you two bloodhounds on their trail."
* * *
The three days to Safe Harbor seemed to drag with nothing to do, so Kris and I spent several hours at the marines’ firing range. Kris had improved over the months and could consistently hit the kill zone. I also felt good about my ability to shoot without having to take careful aim.
When we exited the Wave into Safe Harbor, I did query the WavCom for all the messages to and from the merchant Star Trader.
"What are you hoping to find?" Kris asked.
"Not sure, but unless my logic is wrong, we’re missing some form of communication between the raiders and the foreign merchants, because I don't think the cruisers would give away their location. Somehow it's arranged each time."
"Transfer what you have and I'll scan them. We have at least six hours before we dock at the space station," Kris said, opening her tablet.
"Ready?" I asked as I felt Red work himself into my hair and lay his head on my forehead.
"That's creepy." Kris shook her head. "More so now that Red lets me hold him when you’re in a bad mood."
"He could just be bored," I said, and we lapsed into silence. First, I eliminated all the messages prior to publication date in the month of the raid and twenty days after the publication date. That left only seven messages. One immediately jumped out at me.
To: Star Trader
Tell your mate it measures 11 by 31221.
From: Gypsy
"Damn, you were right—or was it Red." Kris's voice elevated with excitement. "Gypsy."
"I agree. Somehow that identifies the rendezvous location. One step closer to giving you time to find that elusive father of your
children."
"I hope he's not gray—or worse, bald—by the time I find him."
* * *
"Commanders Sinclair and Paulus, this is Lieutenant Wheeler," Pannell said when he entered the conference room with a tall sandy-haired man in his early thirties. "He's in charge of the Safe Harbor NIA office. The commanders are from the Oxax office."
"Please to meet you, commanders. Lieutenant Clark was the primary interface with the Safe Harbor police investigating the robbery," Wheeler said, nodding toward an average looking man in his early twenties. "Colonel Pannell says you want to review our findings. You understand it was rightly the local police's jurisdiction, and they conducted the investigation. They allowed us access only because Admiral Rawls requested it."
"Please sit. Commander Paulus and I are part of the team assigned to investigate a series of robberies across the UAS. We've P1A authority, and this robbery is now part of that investigation." Kris waited for Wheeler to nod understanding. "After we review what you know, we would like you to set up a meeting with the senior person at the Star Mining Processing facility and the police chief in charge of the investigation."
"May I ask why? The police were very thorough."
"Did they identify the inside person?"
"There was no inside help. A group of six to eight men strong armed their way into the facility, killing the five guards."
"Unless this robbery isn't related to the other robberies, there was inside help. We're here to find him or her," Kris said. "If anyone gives you a hard time, the investigation of this robbery is being conducted under P1A authority."
Our subsequent review of the police report indicated the robbers had hit the facility a little after two in the morning and killed the five security guards and two other men who had been processing a special order before they could raise an alarm. The robbers then broke into several rooms which contained rare gems and metals and were gone before the morning shift arrived. The police concluded the thieves hadn't left the planet.