by Dietmar Wehr
Corvosier swore and said, “Okay! Ease off. I’ll release the clamps as soon as my people are pulled back, dammit!”
Cut thrusters, Keko.
[Done.]
“Don’t take too long, Frank. My patience is limited.”
Just as Hoch felt the ship pull free of the station, he heard Corvosier say, “You win this time, Racheengel, but if you ever set foot on this station again, I absolutely guarantee that you won’t leave it alive. You got that?”
Hoch laughed. “Oh, yeah, I got that, and I’ve got something for you too, Frank. I know that you leave the station every now and then for some R&R. You better hope you don’t run into me somewhere else. I still owe you, Frank, and payback’s going to be a bitch.” Hoch cut the channel manually without waiting to see if there was a reply.
He watched the station recede into the distance as Whirlwind continued to back away.
[Where will we go now, Hoch?]
“Do you still have access to the station’s computers?”
[Affirmative but not for much longer.]
“Okay, see if you can find out where the Wolfbane was when they picked up Honniger. Also, where that ship went after it left Thule. And finally, where did Sara go after she left here?”
The reply came back almost immediately.
[I have that information. Wolfbane picked up Honniger at the Ceridian Station before coming to Thule Station. The flight plan it filed shows that it was then headed for the Blue Horizon Station. Sara’s ship went to the Hannelon Colony when she left Thule.]
“Can you show me where those places are in relation to each other?”
The large screen in front of him formed an image of four green dots with connecting yellow lines. Without being asked, Keko rotated the image to show Hoch the 3-dimensional relationships. The lines didn’t really tell him anything. It was entirely possible, although not conclusive, that Sara’s ship might have ended up in the vicinity of the Ceridian Station where another ship with Honniger aboard intercepted her and then dropped him off at the Ceridian Station. So now he had three choices: continue to follow Sara’s path, follow Wolfbane—and maybe catch up to Honniger, who, with the right amount of persuasion, could tell Hoch if he was in any way involved with Sara’s rape and murder—, or backtrack Honniger to Ceridian in the hope of picking up some kind of lead to the other ship. It wasn’t a difficult choice to make.
“Let’s head for Blue Horizon, Keko. If Honniger is still there, I want to have a little face-to-face chat with him.”
[Course has been calculated and uploaded to the auto-pilot.]
Hoch double-checked the projected course and then unbuckled himself in order to head to the galley for something to drink. He had plenty of time now to figure out how to convince Honniger to tell what he knew. Hoch smiled at the thought of that conversation.
Chapter Three:
As soon as the ship was within communications range of the Blue Horizon Station, Hoch had Keko query the station computers about the mercenary ship Wolfbane. It was no longer there, but Honniger still was. It occurred to Hoch that Honniger was waiting to be picked up by another ship, maybe THAT other ship. While the station took control of docking Whirlwind, Hoch made sure his stunner was fully charged and checked the two pistols to make sure they were loaded. They were small enough to fit into the leg pockets of the tailored flight suit without showing any telltale bulges.
“Can you find Honniger? I’d prefer not to run into him until after I finish with Admin and when I’m good and ready.”
[Affirmative. I downloaded his photo from the Thule database. I’m tapped into the Blue Horizon system now. Honniger is currently in the station cantina eating a meal.]
“Fine. Keep an eye on him while I take care of the red tape.”
Hoch’s interaction with the station staff went far more smoothly than at Thule, but he was still too busy to think about how to approach Honniger. Keko gave him some startling news as he was leaving the Admin section.
[Honniger just got a call from someone in the Admin section that you’ve arrived at the station.]
“Wait a minute. This this mean that Honniger was actually expecting…” Hoch let the question dangle. “Check the station FTL logs for incoming messages to him, Keko.”
[He received an encrypted message thirty-four hours ago from Earth. I’m unable to identify the source any more precisely than that.]
Hoch smacked his right fist into his left palm. “Damn. That means that somebody back on Earth learned about what I’m doing out here and warned him. It seems that Mistress Fontaine has a mole in her organization. I wonder if it’s Franz or his buddy. So Honniger now knows that I’m after him, but he’s not trying very hard to hide, is he.”
[He may not be hiding at all. You’re assuming that he thinks he’s being hunted. Maybe he thinks he’s the hunter and you’re the prey.]
Hoch stopped walking. “But if that’s the case, how would he know that I intended to come here? I never told Mistress Fontaine or Franz that I intended to come to this station.”
[Thule Station could have figured out that you were headed here from Whirlwind’s departure vector. Someone there could have notified Earth, and they notified Honniger.]
“And Earth must have contacted Thule to keep an eye out for me because it was the logical place for me to start the search, which means…they were eavesdropping on my private conversation with Mistress Fontaine. So she was right. Sara’s murder wasn’t just a random act by pirates. When I’ve fin—“
[Honniger just got up and is heading for the exit. I can’t tell for sure from the surveillance video, but there’s a chance that he’s armed, Hoch.]
“Can you tell where he’s going?”
[Not precisely, but if he knows where you are now, he’ll take the same route. I’m checking to see if he’s getting data from the station network. He is. He must have a relatively sophisticated personal electronics device too.]
“Is it as brilliant as you?” asked Hoch.
[No, not even close, and thank you for that comment, Hoch. His unit seems to be equivalent to what junior Space Force officers have. It’s quite good for communication and data transfer, but it can only ask for data; it can’t demand it as I can. The station network has given him permission to access the surveillance system. He’s not getting direct video feed, only verbal information.]
“Hmm. So he knows that I’m standing in the middle of this corridor?”
[Affirmative.]
“Is there some place between here and where he is that I can surprise him?”
[Yes. I’ll give you directions but you’ll have to hurry.]
Honniger reached the intersection with the side corridor that station had said Racheengel was heading for. Even without looking down the corridor, he could tell that some of the lighting was offline. It wasn’t quite pitch dark but damn close to it. The surveillance cameras in that corridor weren’t working either. If Racheengel really was on his way to the cantina, then meeting him here was a hell of a coincidence. Maybe he could find a doorway in the darkest section and ambush Racheengel as he walked by? He took a quick peak around the corner and saw nothing moving. Good. He had gotten here first. He ran down the darkened corridor looking for a doorway and saw, or rather felt, a brilliant flash of light that numbed his body. Whatever remaining light there was suddenly disappeared as well. He saw nothing; he felt nothing.
Hoch was panting from exertion by the time he finished dragging Honniger into the access tunnel that happened to be relatively close by. The tunnel had only one way in or out, and there was a door at the entrance that Keko could lock. This section of the station didn’t have a lot of personnel traffic, and the metal door was thick enough that very little sound would get through. The tunnel itself was less than ideal. For one thing, it was so low that he couldn’t completely stand up in it, and for another, there were sharp metal edges protruding from the sides that must have been left over from when the station was being built. He looked down at Honnige
r. Keko had turned down the intensity of the stunner so that Honniger would quickly wake up but wouldn’t have complete muscle control for a while. He bent down, searched Honniger and found his weapon.
“Can you keep him from using his headband to call for help when I wake him up?”
[Affirmative.]
“Good.” He then slapped Honniger’s face hard.
“Wake up, dammit. I’ve got questions, and you’re going to give me answers.” He slapped Honniger again. This time there was a response.
“Somabitch, youuu knew I was coming.”
Hoch smiled. He could tell that Honniger was clearly shocked to learn that the hunter had turned out to be the hunted. “That’s right, Claus. You may have been tracking me, but I was also tracking you. I set up that darkened corridor, which, by the way, is not dark anymore, and the surveillance system is back on too, but there are no cameras in here, Claus. It’s just you and me. Did you rape Sara Fontaine?”
Honniger hesitated. “Nooo. Wasn’t me. The others did it.”
[He’s lying, Hoch.]
“Did you kill her, Claus?”
“No! That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Hoch. A couple of guys, the crew, they took her aside while the rest of us worked on the cargo. Not…wasn’t me!”
[Lying] was all that Keko said. Hoch nodded. It was enough.
“Guess what, Claus. I don’t believe you.” Hoch got up and stepped back.
“Aw shit, Hoch. I know I can’t prove I’m innocent. Just hand me over to the Station, and we’ll let them figure out if I’m telling the truth, ‘kay?”
Hoch looked at Honniger, then turned away to consider his next move. He had a chance to balance the scales of justice with his own hand right here and now, and he was prepared to do it, but before he committed an irreversible act, he wanted to think how to arrange it so that there was nothing that could point to him afterwards.
[BEHIND YOU!]
Hoch spun around, crouching at the same time out of instinct. Somehow Honniger had gotten up and was about to stab him with a knife that Hoch’s search had missed. Hoch reached up with his left arm and fired the stunner at Honniger’s head. Honniger shuddered, dropped the knife and fell backwards.
Hoch bent down when he noticed a dark liquid spreading out from under Honniger’s neck.
[He’s dead, Hoch. I detect no breathing or heartbeat. I was able to warn you because I heard him moving suddenly.]
Hoch carefully lifted Honniger’s head high enough to see the jagged piece of meal projecting from the tunnel wall. It had sliced into his neck and severed his spinal cord. Hock let the head drop back down. This is a down payment on what I owe you, Sara. At least this animal won’t be raping and killing anyone else.
Honniger’s headband now drew his attention. It undoubtedly contained information about his past movements, incoming and outgoing messages and possibly even the decrypted messages from Earth. If Keko could access that info, he might be able to blow this whole conspiracy wide open!
[I’m trying to access it now, Hoch, but I can’t seem to establish a two-way connection. It may be that his device will only respond to his brainwaves; however, a more likely explanation is that the device was damaged when he hit his head on the deck. If it’s just the interface that’s damaged, I may be able to access its data if a direct, physical link can be made between it and me. There’s no way to do that here, so you should take it back to the ship.]
With that decided, he returned his attention to Honniger. The body would have to stay in the tunnel. It might be months before a station maintenance personal entered it. By that time, the body would be badly decomposed. He would leave Honniger’s knife. The station would determine that Honniger’s fingerprints were on it and conclude that he had died in a fight. Hoch decided that he would take Honniger’s pistol and dispose of it somewhere else. Hoch had been careful not to touch any part of the tunnel and therefore didn’t have to worry about his own fingerprints being found. When Keko confirmed that the corridor was clear of pedestrian traffic and that she had turned the surveillance system in the corridor off, Hoch carefully opened the hatch, wiped any prints and shut it behind him. As he walked quickly back to the ship, he found that his hands were shaking. He had never killed anyone before. Wanting to do it and being able to do it was not quite the same as the act itself. He knew that this death was just a side effect of his actions, but the only difference between what had happened and what would have happened was the timing and the manner of the death. The end result was the same: Honniger was dead. His quest for vengeance was well and truly begun.
By the time he got back to the ship, his hands were steady again. He hid the pistol in the secret compartment with the gold and found what he needed from the spare parts bin to connect both devices. Keko quickly determined that the other headband was completely non-functional. Whatever data if had was effectively gone, and therefore Hoch’s search would continue.
I should send Mistress Fontaine a report on Honniger. I’m assuming that you can encrypt the message and then arrange for it to be sent to Earth?
[Affirmative; however, this station charges a fee for sending FTL messages, and right now you do not have any credits to spend. You’re going to need some credits to pay for docking fees in any case. Perhaps now would be a good time to do some trades?]
“Might as well,” he said out loud. “I’m supposed to be a trader. It’ll look suspicious if I come and go without trading anything, and I can’t think of another way to acquire some station credits, can you?”
[Actually, I can. I’ve just accessed Honniger’s station account. He has a balance of 89,144 station credits. I can modify station records to show that Honniger bought some of Whirlwind’s cargo. You can then use those credits to send the message and pay for docking fees.]
“I wonder where he got…” Hoch let the sentence dangle. He suddenly suspected where the credits came from. It was probably Honniger’s share of the proceeds from the sale of Sara’s cargo. “Won’t the station people wonder how Honniger could have bought anything after he died?”
[Pinpointing the exact time of death retro-actively will be difficult, but I’ll make sure the time stamp on the transaction is early enough that it’ll seem as though he did it while still alive. If the station keeps visual records long enough, they’ll see that he was still in the cantina and therefore alive when the transaction took place.]
“Very good, Keko. To avoid suspicion, let’s sell Honniger items that are in short supply on the station, for prices that are at the high end of the historical range for those items. How much will that generate?”
[Fifty-five thousand two hundred thirty-three credits, Hoch.]
“That’s all? I was hoping we might be able to take it all.”
[Not advisable, Hoch. Spending every last credit while staying on a station would not be a prudent thing for someone in Honniger’s position to do. It would look suspicious when they find his body and check the account. Leaving some of the credits behind will make the transaction look more credible. Besides, we don’t have anything else to sell that’s in short supply right now. After the message and docking fees are paid, what will you do with the rest?]
“Is there something we can buy that could be sold back on Earth?” he asked.
[No. Blue Horizon Station does not produce any indigenous items that are unique to this station, and none of the other traders currently here are offering anything that fits your criteria. However, if you’re willing to make a detour to another station, there might be a way to make use of those credits. Dresden Station orbits a planet that is barely habitable. The only reason it’s been colonized at all is the fact that one of its local fruits makes a much sought-after drink that could be sold easily on Earth. That station is experiencing an unexpected shortage of some critical parts, which this station has in abundance. Apparently, the shipment that was supposed to go to Dresden, ended up here. Blue Horizon is willing to sell its surplus supply in exchange for station credits. So far n
o one has wanted to risk the possibility of getting the parts to Dresden after they’ve gotten what they need from somewhere else. Shall I ask this station’s Commerce Manager how much they want for their excess supply of parts, Hoch?]
“Sure, go ahead and ask.” While he waited for the results, Hoch made himself a coffee and consider possible future moves. A few minutes later, Keko gave him the results of her query.
[This station is asking a lot for these parts, but we can get fifteen recycling units for 52,500 credits, which will leave enough for the FTL message and docking fees. Shall I go ahead and arrange both transactions, Hoch?]
“Yes. Let’s do it. I’ll compose the message, and as soon as it’s sent and the recycling units have been loaded, we’ll undock and head for Dresden.” He thought about his message to Mistress Fontaine for a few seconds and began speaking.