The Deadly Pact

by Michael Freeport

  Cobb pulled up the raw data captures from the cyber-attack. The unfiltered data came onto his screen a few seconds later. Cobb leaned forward and looked at the traffic headers and data transfer protocol logs. He pulled a second data storage device from his pocket and attached it to the terminal. He pulled up an analysis spreadsheet and began transferring the raw information into it.

  He spent some time stripping away false data headers, and a pattern began to emerge. He glanced over his data terminal and saw his supervisor had left the area. He returned his attention to the spreadsheet. He started sifting the information by time and original data node address. Traffic headers started filling in, and he got a number of automatic interpolations based on the inferred data paths.

  Cobb shifted to the second page of his spreadsheet and put the headers through a vector analysis. The results came in a moment later. Cobb nodded in confirmation to himself. All of the data infiltrations had come from three terminals that were using a number of slaved computers throughout the Karn region. That meant this was a deliberate attack intended to either stop services or steal data.

  The computers affected by the attack were on the classified network, but no breach of classified data had been detected. Usually, an attack of this kind was supposed to stop vital services, but none of the computers on the classified network controlled any of those kinds of systems. Cobbs thoughts turned the conflicting data over. It was easy to see why the analyst had concluded it was a distributed attack. The cached headers were from a large number of computers. The problem was that most of those computers reported they were infected with a common virus that allowed them to be remotely controlled. A secondary analysis of the infected computer traffic showed a high probability that the computers were under remote control when the attack had come. Cobb rubbed his eyes and looked around the office again. He’d been working on the data analysis for almost an hour. His new supervisor usually checked on his activity frequently.

  Cobb returned his attention to the analysis. It was nearly complete. The thing he needed to figure out now was why the attack had been made. At first glance, there wasn’t an obvious target. The attack had come just before the evacuation announcement that had preceded the Ulef attack. He considered the situation for a moment. What possible use could the Karn have to infiltrate the classified network while Behemoth was evacuating people?

  A sudden flash of insight hit Cobb. He checked the classified rosters of selectees for the Behemoth. He pulled up the original selection list and compared it to the final list distributed to Behemoth. The system flagged a couple of thousand inconsistencies. That was to be expected as the list was revised. He listed people who weren’t originally selected and then pulled the names of each person added to the list after the first revision. The list had gone through several revisions after the plan to evacuate people on Behemoth had been conceived.

  He then cross-referenced the list by the regional origin of each person who’d actually been included on the list. Almost everyone removed from the list was Ebrim, and over ninety percent of the replacements were Karn. He cross-referenced the names of all the Karn who had been assigned places on the Behemoth. None of the names seemed out of place at first glance. There were no outstanding indicators of insurrectionist tendencies on the list he’d created. That in and of itself stood out to Cobb. The Karn were disgruntled, especially regarding the evacuation. The people they’d brought had fought against the naval personnel evacuating them as often as not.

  He saw one anomalous thing. One of the people who’d been evacuated was listed as still living in the Karn capitol, Istyul City. That was odd. He pulled evacuee records and then cross-referenced active utility accounts. More than three hundred people who were listed as evacuated came up as still living in the Karn region. Cobb started getting a sinking feeling as he continued the analysis.

  He tapped out another series of commands. Sure enough, he was seeing a pattern of spare identification records being ordered by more than three hundred of the selectees that went aboard the Behemoth. Something was up here. He needed to get himself back into the Intelligence Division. He packaged his correlations and conclusions into a single chart. His fingers flashed, and he started preparing a report to give to Stone.

  “Mister Cobb, what are you doing?”

  Cobb looked up and saw his supervisor looking at him over his monitor. “I’m working on a report for that vandalism complaint we got this morning.” Cobb lied smoothly, without any of the obvious tells that gave away amateurs.

  His supervisor’s eyes showed she clearly didn’t believe him. “Get back to work. You’re not in intelligence anymore. The next time I find you working outside your classification, you’re going to have more problems than where you’re supposed to report for work. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Cobb said through gritted teeth.

  Simmons tapped at her console with satisfaction. Several days had passed since she’d finalized designs for the upgrades to Loki. The ship was finally back to perfect condition. Her combat AI was tested, ready and seemed to offer solid tactical suggestions. She’d run a number of combat simulations against it, and she’d been trounced solidly each time. The AI was also designed to learn from experience both in simulation and in actual combat.

  Her calculations showed she could form a jump ring to her target system, however, very little fuel remained in reserve. She ran the calculations. After cutting the safety margin as thin as she was comfortable with, which was much thinner than naval regulation stipulated, she ran calculations for the point to point jump.

  The engines slowly built up and formed a jump ring. An alarm began to sound, indicating she was out of fuel for the point to point drive. The Loki lurched and moved through the jump ring. Her plot updated and showed her at her target coordinates. She smiled to herself. She was about a hundred thousand kilometers outside the comet shield of her target system. She checked the computer and saw a large gas giant right where it was supposed to be. She set a least-time course towards the gas giant. The countdown started at seven hours until she would need to return to the bridge.

  Simmons went to the manufacturing bay and began construction on her new battle armor. The unit considered the input data for a few seconds before beeping at her, confirming construction was under way. She passed the time by going to her new pinnace and running it through a series of diagnostics to make sure it was operating properly. Once she finished that, she puttered about with the computer for a while until her armor was finished.

  She tested the new armor and felt it was performing as she had expected. She’d only gone through the basic battle armor training, but she was an expert at hand to hand combat. She practiced her moves while wearing the armor. The backpack and heavy cannon moved her center of gravity, but she was soon able to compensate. She moved the armor onto the pinnace and also moved a supply of food and water to the pinnace. That got her thinking, and she the distributed food and water supplies all over the ship. She didn’t think she was being paranoid, just ready.

  The ring dipped into the atmosphere of the gas giant. Fuel surged into the storage tank. After a short time, the computer reported she had a full load of fuel. She turned her attention to her first target. The database on Aeternum reported this was a highly advanced medical research facility. Primary goals of the facility were genetic manipulation and longevity of the human genome.

  She input a flight plan to put Loki in orbit around the planet. Surface readings indicated breathable air, but the surface was covered in thick mats of moss and mold. No larger plants and no animal life was indicated. The old base was underground, but there were several doors visible from an orbital scan. A number of low power energy sources were evident. Simmons snapped her fingers and said, “I better bring a power pack with me.”

  She glanced around the bridge sheepishly. Talking to herself wasn’t something she’d planned on developing as a habit, but she was doing it more and more. She strolled off the bridge and got a bit
e to eat while she waited for Loki to arrive at its destination. She pulled up a series of entertainment videos on the galley screen to pass the time. She felt like she had done nothing but work over the last several days. While she was quite driven to complete the mission that she’d assigned to herself, she still needed to unwind on occasion.

  She was still watching a silly drama between overdone fictional characters on her small display when the computer beeped at her. She was entering orbit. She went and checked the status on the bridge. She put Loki into a ballistic orbit and set the stealth systems at maximum power. Glancing at the clock, she decided she’d wait until the next morning to make her landing. She turned in early. Sleep came only after long hours of tossing and turning. Her excitement at beginning her mission kept her mind racing. The sheer possibilities kept churning through her thoughts. How long would she live? How many people would she cure with her reclaimed knowledge?

  The next morning, she had allowed herself to sleep until she awoke naturally. She checked the bridge sensors and found that nothing had occurred during the ‘night.' Ships didn’t have true days or nights, but they usually maintained a sync with their place of origin. Despite the fact that she was over two hundred light years away, it was mid-morning on Lashmere. Sighing, she went down to the pinnace and ran through the preflight. Her armor and supplies were secured in the aft compartment. She remoted the space doors open and slid the pinnace out into orbit behind the Loki.

  She spun the pinnace around and began calculating her entry profile. The primary entrance to the base looked to have had a landing apron at one point. She plotted a flight path and watched as the auto-navigation system placed her with finicky precision into the safe descent zone. The small craft buffeted heavily as she dropped through the atmosphere, despite the gravity plating reducing the effect, she was still thrown against the restraints on her command chair.

  The pinnace did have a small gravity slope drive, but it took a lot of energy to use it to fight down through a gravity well, and the pinnace ran off of what was essentially a highly efficient battery. There was a small ion decay power pack, which could be used to recharge the pinnace over a period of several hours. It wasn’t able to provide the massive energy needed to power a warship. The shaking stopped, and the entrance to the base came into view. A large flat area just outside what looked to be a cave came into view. The sky was sapphire blue which contrasted vividly with the brilliant green and yellow of the moss growing on the ground. The vegetation was soft and the landing struts sunk almost half a meter into the thick moss before it hit something dense enough to support the weight. The small craft shuddered slightly and then settled onto the landing gear.

  She secured the flight systems and engaged the passive stealth systems. With luck, the pinnace wouldn’t be detectable from orbit. She got settled into her armor and picked up the power pack. She cycled through the airlock and lowered the short ramp onto the surface. She stepped down and input a command code on a control panel mounted to the side of the pinnace, causing the small craft to withdraw the ramp and lock itself up. The moss reached to just over her knees. A slime of green and yellow sap coated the legs of her armor as she pushed her way through to the cave-like entrance to the base. Her armored feet clomped onto the thinly covered stone outside the entrance. Anyone wanting in would have to either burn their way through both doors or enter the proper code.

  There was a door set into the natural stone around the entrance. A control panel with a keypad wad mounted on the wall by the door. She walked up to it and scanned it with the sensors built into her armor. She detected no power to the panel, but the circuitry within was easily understood. She took a moment to analyze the design and then pulled a lead from the power pack that hung from her belt. She probed into the panel, looking for a way to pass power to the internal circuitry. After a few seconds of fiddling around, guided by her sensors, she got a connection.

  The panel flickered to life and lighting came on. Simmons adjusted the power level carefully until the panel stabilized. A quiet hum came up, and she saw power being fed to components deeper inside the structure. She touched the panel experimentally. Symbols appeared on a small screen above the keypad. Her suit computer started loading the symbols and attempting to extrapolate their meanings. She touched another key and watched new symbols appear. This went on for several minutes. Soon, the small computer in her armor started presenting her with possible meanings of the symbols.

  A short time later, she had the sequence she thought she needed to convince the door to open. Tapping out the sequence she heard a series of heavy thunks and the door groaned and shuddered. The actuators that operated the door were obviously seized. A small crack had appeared along the edge of the door. She levered her gloved fingers into the crack and gave the door a heave. A groan and suddenly, the door started retracting smoothly. After it had moved straight into the base about ten centimeters, it started sliding sideways. She pulled the power leads out of the panel and stepped inside.

  She felt a flush of excitement The opening was roughly three meters high and wide and quickly disappeared into pitch blackness. She took an experimental step forward, and a large cloud of dust kicked up at her feet. She turned on her suit lights and saw a heavy haze of fine dust hanging in the air. She saw she was in a short, wide passageway. At the end was a simple door with a mechanical latch. She took three more steps forward; billowing dust sprang up as she walked forward. She rested her hand on the latch and turned gently. The door opened away from her. As soon as she stepped through, she saw a small room with a low rail running most of the way across it. A click and a hum came through her audio receptors. Suddenly, a small hatch opened in the ceiling, and her sensors reported an alarming spike in power readings in the room.

  A small energy mount dropped through the open hatch and began firing at her. Energy impacts spattered on her face. She fell backward and landed on her butt on the floor. Panic tightened her throat as she scrabbled backward while the small ceiling mounted turret shot her repeatedly. Within a few seconds, her armor reported dangerous levels of damage to her helmet armor. She managed to get around the corner but was repeatedly shot in the back and legs as she retreated on her hands and knees. She sat, panting in the small passageway she’d entered through. She was sweating and shaking in her armor.

  She peeked her head around the corner, and the turret started firing with a few seconds of her appearance. She stood and began working on her suit computer. She had a good layout of the room, and the computer provided her with estimates of the damage capacity of the turret. She programmed a single volley for her plasma cannon and prepared to dash across the doorway. Her estimates indicated she could take quite a few more hits before the damage became critical, but she didn’t want to take another shot to her head at all. She took a deep breath and tried to steady her jangled nerves.

  She dashed out two steps and triggered the heavy energy cannon. The roar of the weapon filled her ear, and a huge chunk of the ceiling next to the turret appeared. She turned slightly and fired a second time. The turret vanished into a scattering of demolished metallic fragments. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and felt her shoulders slump. “Wow, I hope there aren’t any more turrets.”

  She worked her way through several rooms off of the room with the turret. Her suit computer mapped out her movements. There was a room that had obviously served as a barracks, and she thought the room with the turret must have been a security check point. There were a variety of non-functional computers and workstations in some of the rooms, but she didn’t try turning on any of them. Her sensors told her there must be a server room or main computer somewhere, given the number of data lines coming from the various workstations.

  She got to the back of the main area around the door and mapped out three passageways going in three different directions. Each of the routes had security panels at the door, but she detected no other automated defenses. She picked the left-most passage from the entra
nce she’d used. It ran about thirty meters to another door. This door was made of thick cased steel. There was another keypad by the door. She went to it and connected her power pack. The symbol challenge began, and she used the suit computer to figure out the responses needed to gain entry. After a few tries, the door released and slowly swung open a few centimeters. She grabbed the door and pulled it open.

  A pair of turrets snapped out of the ceiling and started shooting at her a few seconds later. She quickly withdrew down the hallway to get out of their line of fire. “Dammit,” She said and stomped on the floor. The next time she invaded an old Terran Empire base, she was bringing grenades. She mapped the turrets’ locations and ran into the room banging away with her heavy cannon. She took more hits on her helmet as she entered, but she was able to take the turrets out. Her status display showed the armor status as having taken serious damage. She couldn’t take many more hits like that before there would be a chance of her losing protection on her face.

  She marched into the room and looked around. Dust and debris were everywhere. She looked around, hoping to see some indicator of the purpose of the area she’d entered. There was another of those low walls crossing most of the space and the two craters in the ceiling from where the turrets had been. She checked the single door at the back of the room. It was unlocked and held shut by another of those odd mechanical latches.

  The next room held what she was after. Inside were three stacks of equipment. All of it looked like computers to her suit scanners. She scanned around the room and found a central power supply in a panel mounted on one wall. She opened the panel and attached her power pack. Various hums and beeps quickly started coming from many of the computers. She set the power pack on the floor and moved over to the equipment stacks. Screens were showing various startup diagnostics and boot sequences.