"And what of this project you've demonstrated to our subordinates?" asked Jardeau. "I hear disturbing reports of mind control."
"It is nothing of the sort," Antoine declared. "It is a means to physically prevent workers from engaging in strikes or sabotage, nothing more. When the testing is complete and we make implantation mandatory, the last gasp of the revolutionaries will be heard. Our investments and interests on Hestia will be safe. Completely."
"At least you're putting that wretched socialist to good use," Cooper grumbled. "Her ship's role in thwarting the League's plot at Lusitania gave her the potential to be a threat. Now it is gone."
"What more can you tell us of your company's anti-disruption project, Mister Rigault?' Bohlen asked. "I know Rigault's been spending quite a lot of money upon various security projects, and I can easily imagine the vast expense of such an ambitious undertaking."
Antoine returned Bohlen's thin smile. You want more details. I am not fooled, old man. "We have found research personnel of great skill and capability. That is all I am clear to say at this time."
"Good. I hope you haven't compromised our position and neutrality unduly, given your post as our Security Director, Mister Rigault?"
So you think you know something? I will not be trapped, Bohlen. "Never, Chairman Bohlen. I would not jeopardize my family's company so lightly."
There was a certain glint in Bohlen's eye. Antoine knew he wasn't entirely convinced.. Bohlen must know about how far Rigault was stretched financially from Antoine's works. Not that you dare do anything about it.
"I applaud your caution, then," Bohlen said carefully. "With the peace treaty between the Coalition and League signed, we may face a renewal of League involvement in Sagittarius, especially in our space. I would hate to see that undermine your great company, or this Council."
"As would I."
The rest of the Council went silent. All could see that there was more to what was being said, but Antoine had faith in his security measures, and how well he was balancing the books to hide the extent of his expenses from Bohlen. He wasn't about to see Rigault Industries jeopardized by their "allies" on the Council. Not when he had so many plans for the future that required the company's resources.
Bohlen nodded to him one final time and brought up his digital tablet. It was a gesture of momentary surrender, and Antoine returned the nod to accept it. He listened patiently as Bohlen went on to other matters of concern to the Council, beginning with the latest move in the Terran Coalition Assembly to impose sanctions on the Business Council. "The pro-victory parties are, surprisingly, our greatest allies in this matter," Bohlen remarked. "They are undermining the unity of Fuentes' Peace Union by painting the measure as a socialist gesture instead of a human rights matter…"
The meeting went on for another hour before Bohlen dismissed them. Antoine was pleased to be freed of the Council's utterly banal economic discussions. As he joined the others in filing out of the room, he checked his watch and noted that he would be just in time for the resumption of testing.
* * *
After a coarse meal and rest period, Tia was dragged back to the labs. This time, she was brought to an examination theater, where she found Antoine Rigault waiting with more guards. Her face paled in sheer rage at him. "It's not enough you exploit us, now you'll rob us of our own bodies?!" she shouted in rage. "You're the embodiment of everything evil about capitalism, you slaving pig! No, I take that back; it's an insult to pigs to be compared to a monster like you!"
Antoine's response was a bemused chuckle. "Call me what you want, Hestian. This is the end for everything you stand for. The control hardware we're perfecting on you will go into every Hestian on this planet. There will be no more strikes, no more sabotage, no more protests. Your people will finally make yourselves useful to the galactic economy."
"If you think we'll surrender, you're wrong!" she insisted. "We'll find ways to beat your tech, just as we beat all of your other methods of controlling us. My people won't let you turn them into puppets!"
The response was laughter, as if she'd just told the galaxy's funniest joke. For several seconds, Antoine guffawed in delight. When he regained control, he managed to speak with a wide grin on his face. "Haven't you paid attention, Hestian? Your people are already half-broken. We crushed your uprising, and they broke under our response. They know the humiliation and lonely death that awaits them if they resist. There is no fight in them now." He drew up to her face. "To that, we'll add starvation. Any Hestian who refuses the implant will be forbidden wages. Their families will be punished if they provide sustenance. Between the chip and food or that… I'm betting they take the food. Those that don't? They'll get the chip anyway once they give us an excuse to imprison them." He chuckled. "This is how it ends for your 'revolution,' Hestian. It dies with a whimper."
"The other worlds will know you for the monsters you are."
"The other worlds won't care. They have their own problems."
Tia never thought she would feel hate again like she felt it now. She wanted to kill Antoine Rigault and wished she'd made sure he was dead the day of the uprising. She felt the hot rage that surged, the desire to sink her teeth into his throat if it was necessary. He was the embodiment of every injustice ever perpetrated against her people, and he reveled in it.
She had no chance to act on her hate. The far door of the examination theater opened. Two people entered. She recognized the first figure, the lab coat-clad doctor who'd implanted this evil device on her.
Tia's eyes widened at the uniformed African woman who entered behind the scientist. "You."
"Ah, you recognize my silent partners in this project?" Antoine moved to stand beside her. "Not by name, I think, so allow me to introduce Commander Yvette Aristide of the League of Sol's External Security Service, and her associate, Dr. Jan Breivik, inventor of the neural control implant."
A scowl crossed Tia's face. "You bastards!" The fury in her voice was unmistakable. "I learned a long time ago you were hypocrites on the liberation of workers, but that you'd go this far? Allying with this capitalist slaver and helping him develop this technology?! You lying pieces of shit! You were never for liberation! You're no better than he is!"
Aristide's expression never changed from the cold, distant disdain it projected toward Tia, as if she were a particularly disgusting thing that Aristide must attend to. "Doctor Breivik, I have little desire to hear this backward individualist spout her anti-Social deviancies. Silence her."
"Yes, Commander." Breivik pulled out the control tablet and tapped twice on its screen. Tia felt her throat tighten. She couldn't make her vocal cords move. "I can progress with the demonstration, if you desire?"
"Please do." Satisfaction glistened in Aristide's eyes as she gave the order. "The full range."
Breivik went to work on his tablet. Tia felt her whole body stiffen. Against her wishes, she began to walk in a robotic shuffle around the room.
13
The remaining crew on the Shadow Wolf were waiting when Henry returned with the others, including Felix. For a moment, everyone's eyes settled on their former comrade, a man who'd deceived them all in working for his superiors at CDF Intelligence. All were shocked to see him and half were frowning. He returned their attention with a quiet, pained expression.
Henry wondered what his crew would do about Felix's presence. His moment of suspense ended when Samina spoke up. "How have you been, Mister Rothbard?"
"I've been getting along, Samina, thanks for asking," he answered, nodding at her.
Henry felt the tension in the room evaporate. Any inclination to argue or throw recriminations at Felix faded from the crew when Samina broke the ice. "You wanted to talk to us?" Henry asked him. "We've got some time while Ts'shris and his people get everything in order."
"Right." Felix found one of his old seats and drew in a breath. "So, the peace treaty. It's looking to be more and more of a sham."
"No surprise there," Brigitte grumbled. Henry
thought she looked a little tender from the stun grenade's effects, but she had the energy to scowl deeply. "I never thought it'd go anywhere."
"Well, it's a shame you couldn't persuade President Fuentes and the Congress of that," Felix answered dourly. "Fact is, the Coalition's trying to honor the deal, but we're finding evidence the League's covertly breaking it. The reason I'm out here is that CDF Intelligence is tracking military-grade material being smuggled through Neutral Space by League External Security. Our old friend from the Lusitanian op is behind it." Felix used his link's holographic display to show them all the image of a dark-skinned woman near some undetailed building.
Henry recognized the image. "The lady in charge of their Q-ship fleet when it fled the system?"
"Commander Yvette Aristide," Felix said, scowling at the picture. "She was initially Internal Security for them. Broke up a bunch of resistance cells and insurgencies on the worlds they occupied in the war. Lusitania was her first setback. The fact that she's still breathing, much less back in active operations, means she must've successfully passed the buck on to someone else."
"So how does that explain why you're here on Trinidad Station?" asked Piper. "After Lusitania, the League's influence around Trifid Nebula became nil. The Trifid Neutrality Commission is barely neutral these days. Why would the League be doing anything here?"
"They're not," Felix said. "I'm here because of this picture. It was taken by a CDF asset on Hestia."
"She's on Hestia. Aristide." Henry frowned as he started to see where Felix was going with this. "You think she's involved in whatever reason the megacorps have to go after Tia and Linh?"
"It's looking like it."
Miri shook her head. "But it doesn't make sense. Kepper's got a KC order on his head. He'd never be a part of such an operation."
"He may not be involved in the League part. There's another player." Felix turned off the image and put the link away. "We've been trying to find signs of where the League's been sending that material. As it happens, our assets on Hestia are tracking repeated shipments of materials into Thyssenbourg Spaceport, materials with similar tonnage and volume to the League stuff we've found out about. All of it's being done under Rigault Heavy Industries. We're talking premium alloys used in ship construction, which doesn't match any of the actual Rigault economic activities on Hestia."
"It doesn't," Henry agreed. "Rigault exports minerals and ores to their factories elsewhere; they don't do any on-site manufacturing or mineral refining on Hestia."
"Yeah, I remember Tia laying out how the megacorps worked too, and I shared it with my superiors. General Ostrovsky agrees with me that the League's working with Rigault on projects of some kind."
"What does this have t' do with Tia's kidnappin'?" Cera asked. "Or th' attempt on Linh?"
"We're not sure yet, but we'd like to find out," Felix answered.
Something in the way Felix said those words made Henry sigh. He recognized just what Felix was looking to do now. "So let me guess. Ostrovsky sent you to find us to help insert you onto Hestia." He shook his head. "It won't work, not now. The Hestians have to know who we are. They'll watch us like hawks, assuming they let us land at all."
"I can get why you're thinking that way, but it's not at all what I'm here for," Felix answered, grinning. "I'm not here to see if you'll give me and my team a ride. I'm here to offer you a ride."
The surprise of the others clearly matched Henry's own. "What are you getting at?" he asked his old friend.
"We're already heading to Hestia," Felix explained. "I'm bringing the Majha, a big hauler commanded by a CDF Intelligence agent. The Wolf will fit in one of her cargo pods and can launch to extract us after we rescue Tia."
Henry blinked. "Us? You're talking about taking a CDF Intelligence team to rescue Tia?"
"Intelligence suggests some of Rigault's shipments are winding up at the security center in the capital where they're keeping her," Felix said. "I figure we can go for her while my team secures access to their computers and downloads whatever intel they can get on the League's activities."
"From the use of 'we,' it sounds like you're more interested in rescuing Tia than doing your job," Pieter said, his chuckling almost a snort of amusement. "That's surprising, given how often you two drove each other up a wall over economics and politics."
"Heh, we did," Felix agreed, chuckling himself. "But I consider her like I do every one of you: comrades, friends, and I wouldn't leave any of you to hang out to dry. Whatever your politics." He glanced at Henry again. "I sold this to Ostrovsky already. Pointed out a rescue op can easily draw attention from the intel-gathering op. He greenlit taking the team in for both."
"That's taking quite a risk," Miri said softly. "Given the political situation with Fuentes' reliance on Rhodes and her wing of the Peace Union, I'd say it's impossible for this op to have Presidential authority behind it. Ostrovsky's doing this on his own initiative, isn't he?"
After several moments of silence, Felix nodded uncomfortably. "I'd appreciate it if you don't speak about this."
"Speak about what?" Piper inquired with a grin.
"I think you can trust us on that," Henry said. He watched Felix wince at the word "trust" and felt a small pang of remorse at his word choice. He clamped down on the thoughts he felt about before. Tia comes before my anger. "We can discuss this planned operation of yours later. Station Security should be starting the interrogations now."
* * *
One of Mavik's subordinates escorted Henry and Felix into the interrogation observation room. Henry was so used to dealing with Yanik that it threw him off to see a tailless Saurian like Mavik. Like the majority of his co-religionists, Mavik's tail—vestigial for Saurians—was severed in a religious ritual when he entered adulthood. It gave him a human-like silhouette, albeit with some clear differences.
Inside the room, a couple of Mavik's subordinates were interrogating Saxon. Henry felt a twinge of discomfort at seeing one of them wail on him with a series of blows. It was a reminder that Trinidad Station's adherence to law and principles was still a little shaky. "How is it going, Chief?" he asked.
"The responsible guilds have completed repairs on our systems," Mavik answered. "As for the prisoners, they will not cooperate."
"He's trained to resist this kind of treatment," Felix observed. When that drew Henry and Mavik's attention, Felix nodded toward the window. "I've read his dossier. Trapper Saxon, formerly Sergeant Trapper Saxon of the TCMC."
"He was a Coalition Marine?" Henry asked.
Felix nodded and frowned. "One of the bad ones, unfortunately. Nobody recognized it when he went into special forces, but it came out once he got seconded to CDF Intel for black ops in Neutral Space, right about '49. Once he realized how much money there was to be made as an experienced wetwork operator-for-hire, he deserted. Nearly killed his CO on the way out, causing two fatalities on his team."
"Why'd he get recruited if he was a psych case?" Henry asked.
"Intel tries to screen for it, but some of these guys are good at hiding it, and the need for personnel can make the screening people a little myopic," Felix answered. He turned to Mavik. "If you give me a few minutes with him, I bet I could get him to cooperate."
"My people have failed so far, so you may try," Mavik said. "Do not kill him."
"You don't need to worry about that," Felix said. He went for the observation room door.
Henry watched him leave before asking, "How's Chief Khánh?"
"Dr. Toussiant has personally taken charge of her treatment," Mavik answered. "I am told she is being kept under medical observation, but no further measures were needed." His ruby red eyes locked on to Henry. "I am aware of her plans to accompany you to Hestia to rescue her old friend. I counseled her against it, but she insists. It will be up to you to keep her safe."
"I'll do my best." For Tia's sake as much as Linh's.
Their attention returned to the interrogation room, where Saxon was screaming for help. They watch
ed Felix press an auto-syringe to Saxon's throat and step back. The prisoner's body stiffened. Felix leaned in, placing his lips a few centimeters from Saxon's ear, and started whispering something the speakers couldn't make out.
Felix, what the hell are you doing?! Henry wondered. He turned in time to see Mavik dash for the door. He followed. They turned the corner and barged through the main door into the interrogation room.
They entered to the sound of Saxon speaking in shouts. "It was Antoine Rigault, okay?! He hired me to snatch the Hestian or kill her if we couldn't get her away! He provided us the back doors into the systems here!" His eyes locked on Henry. "For the love of God, help me! I don't know anything else! Nothing! Make him cure me!"
"What did you do to him?" Mavik demanded. "What did you give him?"
"Something special," Felix said. "And now the other part." He pressed a second auto-syringe to Saxon's throat before they could do anything.
At first, the merc didn't react, but within seconds, his hands started flexing, as if he was just regaining his use of them. "I don't know anything else," he insisted. "I swear! I swear!"
Mavik opened the door and summoned guards. They came and assumed control of the frantic man. They cuffed his wrists and carried him off.
Once he was gone, Mavik turned on Felix, his red eyes seeming to burn like coals. "What did you do to him?" Mavik demanded. "Poison him?"
Felix shook his head. He held up the second syringe and opened the end of it, allowing Mavik to take a whiff of it. "Sugar," the Saurian said. "Glucose solution."
"It's a placebo," Felix said. "The first agent's a temporary paralysis agent we use for snatch jobs and quick takedowns. Only deadens the CNS for a few minutes, depending on the dose. The compound's new, so I figured Trapper wouldn't know about it, and the dose was light enough it wouldn't keep him from speaking." Felix allowed himself a small smirk. "I figured someone like Trapper would see me in the same light he sees everything else. He'd assume it was a compound meant to melt his innards and be frantic for a cure."
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 11