by EJ Fisch
Saun nodded. “Someone’s coming,” she hissed into the communicator, hoping Aroska would shut up for a few seconds. He did, and she held the device away from her mouth again just long enough to kill him with suspense.
“We need to start a trace on an HSP homing beacon,” she said quickly to Bothum before returning the communicator to her mouth. “Okay,” she breathed, “I think they’re gone.” Then, in a normal voice, “As I was saying, I’ll find somewhere to lay low for awhile and then I’ll get out. I told you, I’ll be fi—”
She screamed in shock, startling Bothum, and tossed the communicator to the floor several meters away. “Aroska!” she shouted, drawing the attention of those down in the assembly area. She began reciting Dakiti’s coordinates and strode over to where the device had fallen. “Level three!” she cried, giving it a shove with her foot. She followed it across the floor, shouting for help in Haphezian, and then brought her boot down hard on top of it. It shattered, emitting an ear-piercing squeal for a moment before going completely dead.
When Saun looked up, Bothum was watching her approvingly. “Will that bring him in?” he asked.
“Yes,” she wheezed.
-31-
Payvan residence
Noro, Haphez
Aroska stood under the sarmi tree and listened to the silence of his communicator for what seemed like hours. If he hadn’t just imagined the last few minutes of conversation, Saun was currently alone inside Dakiti and had just been captured. And it was his fault.
Once he broke out of his stupor, he quickly ended the dead transmission and entered the comm code of Mack Markel, another man in the SCU who had worked under him during the past three months.
“This is Markel.”
“Mack, it’s Aroska. When’s the last time you saw Saun?”
He could hear Mack in the background asking around and was glad he hadn’t started questioning him or trying to change the subject. “Nobody’s seen her since we left Headquarters this morning,” he replied after a few seconds. “Another SCU group returned to base about an hour ago. She could be with them.”
“Did she say anything to you about Dakiti?”
“Dakiti? What – no. Nothing. Like I said, I haven’t seen or spoken to her since we left. I just figured she was with another team.”
“Mack, she’s there!” Aroska exclaimed. “She’s at Dakiti. We got a lead this morning and I made the mistake of telling her about it. Sheyss, I shouldn’t have even been talking to her. I thought you guys might be able to help—”
“Tarbic, settle down,” Mack said. “How do you know this?”
“I was just talking to her. She told me she was there and that she thought she was being followed. Then she was taken.”
Mack exhaled deeply. “Okay, listen. We’ll pack up and head back to HSP. You figure things out on your end and let me know what you need me to do.”
Aroska was already running back to the house. “Got it.” He cut off the transmission just as he reached the front door and burst inside. “We’ve got a problem.”
Skeet and Zinni whirled from their nearby positions. Skeet waved his hand for silence and moved toward him. “I hope your problem is the same as ours or that means we’ve got two problems.”
Aroska suddenly noticed the life-size hologram of Emeri Arion standing on the center table in the living room. Ziva stood on the communication pad beside the table and shifted her attention from Aroska back to the hologram.
“Answer me, Payvan,” the director ordered. “Did you or did you not willingly give up custody of Jayden Saiffe without the consent of this agency?”
“I did,” Ziva replied, “but it—”
“I specifically told you that if he was put in any danger, you would be taken off the case. Not only did you give up custody, you almost allowed him to be killed by Solaris last night. The Tantali captain called earlier and told me all about that.”
“Solaris isn’t trying to kill him. They only came because whoever they’ve got working inside HSP was able to monitor and track a transmission that Jayden sent out to his colleagues.”
“And you had no knowledge of this transmission?”
Ziva hesitated. “No. We did not.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“He was in private quarters! We had no way of knowing. I only let him go this morning because he could potentially lead us to the governor and the Sardon Solaris leader. We’re tracking him now.”
Emeri wasn’t impressed. “Payvan, that’s outrageous. We have no way of knowing if the governor is even still alive. Your mission was to protect Jayden, not send him straight into the core of Solaris.”
“We’re going to get him out.”
“Not if you’re off the case.”
“Sir!” Ziva exclaimed. “You take me off and Jayden will die in the time it takes to brief and mobilize another team.”
“Then perhaps that is the price of failure,” Emeri said coldly. “Your orders were to ensure the safety and maintain custody of Jayden Saiffe while searching for the governor and you disappointed me. Was multitasking too difficult for you?”
“Sir—”
“Lieutenant Payvan, as of this moment, you are relieved of your command on this case. Full responsibility will be transferred to Adin Woro’s Alpha field ops team.” With that, the hologram flickered and disappeared, leaving the living room and its occupants in stunned silence.
For a moment, Aroska forgot all about his conversations with Saun and Markel. He wasn’t thrilled with the approach Ziva had been taking on this mission all along, but he was confident in her abilities to follow through. He needed her to follow through – it she didn’t, Saun and Jayden would both die, and the Solaris cell at Dakiti would only grow.
“What was that last part?” he said, taking a step forward. “I didn’t quite catch it.”
Ziva turned around and watched him quizzically.
Skeet stepped toward her as well. “Neither did I,” he said, taking the comm remote out of her hand and re-activating the image of Dakiti. “The director has never stopped Ziva Payvan before, and he’s not going to now.”
Everyone began to gather around the table, but an alert tone from Zinni’s computer stopped them dead in their tracks. “Sheyss,” Zinni muttered after taking a quick glance at the screen. “Jayden’s already on the move. It looks like they rendezvoused with a Tantali transport just outside their home system. They just entered the primary FTL lane to Sardonis.”
Ziva nodded thoughtfully, unfazed by these sudden and inconvenient dilemmas. She turned to Aroska, brows furrowed, chin resting in one hand. “Now, what’s your problem?”
Aroska felt a nauseating wave of guilt hit him like a slap in the face. “One of our own has just been captured at Dakiti,” he said quickly.
Everything stopped. “And you know this how?” Ziva asked, eyes narrowed and head tilted as she moved her hands down to rest on her hips.
It was the moment of truth. Aroska didn’t even care how she would react. “She’s a Solaris Control analyst that I’ve worked with, Saun Zaid. I was just in contact with her, and she was grabbed. It’s my fault she’s even there – I told her it was our best lead.”
For a moment Ziva only stared at him, dumbfounded, unmoving. “You’ve been in contact with someone outside the circle?” she exclaimed. “That’s a blatant violation of protocol.”
“You’re one to talk about ‘protocol’, Ziva,” Aroska snapped. “I thought she would be able to help us.”
“Bloody hell, Tarbic, use your head!” Ziva turned in a slow circle, muttering under her breath in what sounded like another language. She turned back and locked eyes with him. “For all we know, she could be the Solaris informant.”
“No Ziva, not Saun. I trust that woman with my life. Maybe that’s too hard for you to grasp.”
Ziva scoffed. “Are you saying I’m not trusting?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
She shook her head and adv
anced toward him. “You don’t even know—”
Skeet caught her and stepped between them. “Hey!” he exclaimed. “Now is not the time for this. Back off, both of you.”
The room was so quiet for the next minute or so that it almost seemed loud in Aroska’s head as he tried to sort his thoughts. He stared at the Dakiti hologram rotating on the table, picturing Saun inside of it. Ziva’s accusation about her involvement with Solaris made him want to vomit. He of all people would certainly know if she was working as a double agent… at least he hoped he would.
He looked at Ziva, who was now sitting in a chair staring vacantly at the image as well. Skeet had said it himself earlier that morning – she was capable of compassion. Aroska was determined to make her prove it.
“We’ve got to get her out of there, Ziva.”
She said nothing as she watched the hologram, her face scrunched in a thoughtful manner.
“You have a plan?” Skeet asked. “I see that look in your eyes.”
Ziva stood up. “Nothing’s changed. We’ll fly in with the H-26s and drop in from above. We’ll have passenger room to get them all out – Zaid, Jayden, and the governor.”
“You want to steal stealth fighters from HSP?” Skeet said, raising an eyebrow. “At this point we can’t exactly waltz in and just take them.”
“Borrow forcefully, Skeet,” Ziva corrected. “We never steal. And no, we can’t just waltz in. That’s why Adin’s team is going to do it for us.”
Skeet chuckled. “Have you talked to them about this?”
“Give me five minutes,” she replied, “and we’ll need another man to bring the fourth fighter. Any ideas?” This she directed at Aroska.
He nodded. “Mack Markel. He’s offered his assistance already. I’ll make sure he’s on board with Adin.”
“You’re sure he’s not our inside man?”
Aroska’s only response was a brief glare. He was done arguing. “So, we’re going to go through with this mission without consent or back-up from HSP.” It was more of a statement than a question; he was perfectly aware of what needed to be done, but it didn’t stop him from thinking the idea was completely ludicrous.
Ziva was deadpan. “Basically.”
“This is insane,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes.
Zinni had been glued to her computer for the duration of the conversation. “It’s a two-hour FTL trip from here to Sardonis,” she announced. “If we leave within four hours, we can still make it there to jump under the cover of darkness. We’ve got plenty of time to get everything set with Adin’s team; then the only matter is getting there.”
Ziva nodded. “Then let’s get going.”
-32-
HSP Headquarters
Noro, Haphez
Adin stepped into HSP’s massive fighter hangar and gazed out across the vast expanse of docked ships. The overhead lights were off, casting the huge floor in shadows. He quietly descended the short flight of stairs that led to the shuttle used to deliver pilots to their appropriate craft. He paused for a moment at the bottom, thinking the situation through again. This was crazy. Ziva, Aroska, they were all crazy, but he trusted their judgment and was ready to do his part to help.
His intelligence agent, Colin Zier, moved down to stand by him. “Scouts are in Section G,” he said quietly. He carried a holographic map of the floor layout.
Adin powered up the shuttle, opting to leave the lights off, and motioned for Sergeant Mari Rebek and Mack Markel to follow. He kept reminding himself that they didn’t have to sneak, as they were now in charge of this investigation. In his mind, however, Ziva would always be in charge, no matter what the director said. It had taken long enough to get the opportunity to come down to the hangar, and now that they were so close he hoped he wouldn’t have to stop and explain to anyone where they were going with the stealth fighters. Such a delay would be most unwelcome.
The little shuttle platform glided across the floor in silence. The plan was to fuel the ships and fly them out to Ziva’s house, where her team would then be deployed to Sardonis. She hadn’t given him any further details when she’d contacted him – plausible deniability, she’d said – but it didn’t take a genius to realize that they would be completely on their own once they reached Dakiti. Adin had instructed Ziva to contact him if they needed anything else, even if that meant he would lose his so-called deniability.
Colin pulled the shuttle up to the end of a long row of H-26 Scouts. All of the ones registered to HSP had been painted dark gray, but they looked black and eerie in the darkness of the hangar.
Adin jumped off the platform and connected the thick tube that pumped fuel from the reservoir under the hangar floor. “We have to move fast,” he said to the others. “Ziva wants to get out of here ASAP and this is going to take a few minutes.”
Colin, Mari and Mack hurried to their respective ships and hooked up their own fuel lines. They were making more noise than Adin would have liked, but he once again reminded himself that they had every right to be down here. He climbed up into the cockpit and readied the controls for takeoff. These slick ships were as easy to handle as they were stealthy. They were equipped with state-of-the-art cloaking systems, infrared scanners, long-range targeting computers, and, perhaps most importantly, they had FTL capabilities. For a very brief moment, Adin wished he had a little more time to play with such an exceptional piece of equipment, but when he thought about the task at hand, he knew what he had to do.
He looked down the row and saw that the others had disconnected their fuel lines and were climbing into the cockpits. Adin started up his engine and descended the ladder, ready to shut off the fuel. Before he could do so, however, he heard the click of a weapon behind him and turned to find one of the captains watching him, rifle lowered but ready to use.
“Lieutenant, would you mind telling me where you’re going?” Trey Rhenza asked, looking smug in his unsoiled uniform.
Adin casually finished disconnecting the fuel line and faced Rhenza, arms crossed. “We’re heading out to investigate a Solaris cell in Seran,” he said.
Rhenza smirked and looked down the row at the three agents who were watching anxiously through the cockpit windows. “Markel?” he asked, nodding toward the second ship.
“Why not? He’s a Solaris expert.” That much was true.
“Tell me something, Woro. Are you and your team committing treason by assisting Lieutenant Payvan despite her removal from this investigation?”
Adin shook his head and leaned back against the ship. “That’s ridiculous. Certainly the director has better things to do than make false accusations and send his dogs out to spy.” He turned away, ready to climb into the ship.
“The director knows Payvan well enough to realize that she’s not going to just roll over.” Rhenza raised his rifle. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Adin hung his head. He didn’t have time for this – they were running late as it was. He hadn’t expected such a turn of events, and knew he would have to fix the situation before they could carry on. “Look, Trey,” he said as he raised his hands in surrender and turned around.
“That’s Captain to you,” Rhenza snapped, stepping forward.
Taking advantage of the captain’s brief distraction, Adin seized the barrel of his rifle and gave it a quick shove backward, striking Rhenza in the jaw with the butt end. The man let go and staggered back, knocked off balance. Adin kicked him hard in the groin, sending him to the floor, and brought the rifle down against the back of his head as he fell.
He stood for a moment, slowing his breathing and listening for anyone else approaching. Satisfied that nobody had been alerted by the commotion, Adin dropped to the floor and fished through Rhenza’s uniform, removing his communicator and handcuffs. The communicator he threw as hard as he could across the hangar, and the cuffs he slapped over the captain’s wrist before dragging his unconscious body over and securing him to the H-26’s access ladder. He quickly coiled up the fuel line and climbed in
to the ship, receiving shocked looks from his team.
“You okay, boss?” Mari snickered.
Adin ignored her and remotely opened the huge overhead door above them. He guessed it wouldn’t take long for someone to find Rhenza, and he didn’t want to be anywhere nearby when the man woke up. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, piloting the Scout up and through the opening. They took off into the evening sky where the sun was just disappearing behind the distant mountains.
-33-
Payvan residence
Noro, Haphez
Aroska stepped into the lightweight jumpsuit and watched as Ziva, Skeet and Zinni did the same. He slipped the life support system over his shoulders and strapped his rifle securely to his back. This whole mission seemed suicidal to him, but it was a regular routine for Ziva and the other special ops agents. While it was true that both field operations and special operations required much of the same training, they required very different amounts. He tried to remind himself that Emeri would have never allowed him to work with spec ops if he didn’t think he could handle the missions, but then he remembered that this mission wasn’t even supposed to happen. Though he would never admit it, he was scared out of his mind.
Adin handed him his flight helmet, which he put on, leaving the visor up. “You doing okay?” he asked, nodding his head in Ziva’s direction.
Why do people have to keep asking? Aroska picked up his supply belt, checked it for all its contents, and put it on. “Better. Not great, but better.”
“You can’t let her get to you now. Focus on what you have to do.”
“Blast it, Adin. I know!” Aroska hoped he wasn’t shaking. “I may be new at this but I’m not incompetent.”
“Adin!” Ziva called, mercifully drawing his attention away. She strode over to them, sporting her flight suit like a professional. “Did you ever pull any more information from that scrambled communicator?”
“Nothing of importance,” he replied. “Whoever had been in contact with Jaxton covered their tracks very well. You suspect one of the captains? That would explain how our inside man got hold of Level 4 clearance.”