Unsanctioned Reprisal

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Days earlier, Pierce had received grant credits to conduct studies about the weather changes on Mars with IESA. The grant money found its way into the hands of the Hashmedai Liberation Front, the dreaded HLF terrorist movement. The HLF stepped up their activities and recruitment in the area days later. The men that attacked Pernoy were found dead, their heads and penises cut off and carefully placed in the laps of their corpses. It was a message to all humans and Radiance personnel on Earth, leave the Hashmedai alone.

  Does that make me a terrorist? It was a question he avoided asking himself in the years that passed.

  As long as he never answered it, the answer was no by default. To the EISS watch list his name appeared on, yes. The HLF was kind enough to help Pierce out when people started asking questions about what happened to the grant money. It came at a cost, however, he found himself stuck doing lectures at UBC having lost the willpower needed to work for IESA. His harshly criticized book about Sirius didn’t help.

  His life remained the same until Foster asked him to rejoin IESA and join the Sirius expedition. All while keeping his distance from Pernoy, fearful she might be targeted again, or EISS investigators would bug her. It was bad enough her partner and his brother turned out to be members of the HLF, the sole reason he was rarely home.

  “Penny for your thoughts?”

  Just like that, Penelope’s English accent pulled Pierce out of the 2030s, back into 2118 and the construction site they rested at.

  “Penny? I haven’t seen those since 2013,” he said. She looked at him pleasantly. It was the first time he seen anything that resembled emotions from her. “What’s on the agenda tonight?”

  She pushed a small hologram at him, it was an image of an Aryile man with dreadlocks draping over his shoulders, and a face full of piercings. “This is Devorei; he’s a member of Maraschino. He was recently recruited by EISS to assist in a black op operation in the Morutrin system. We haven’t heard from him since. Furthermore, his HNI transmitted to one of our members on Morutrin Prime that he suffered critical vital signs during the mission.”

  “The mission must have gone badly.”

  “The pirate activity in the asteroid belt of Morutrin, suggests everything went according to plan,” she said. “Someone killed him, and we need to know why. If it was an accident, then fine. But if he uncovered something . . .” She handed Pierce an oddly shaped data crystal. “That’s where you and this come in.”

  He stared at the data crystal in his hands, frowning. “And how does this help with that?”

  “Simple, you infect the EISS computers with it, and it should grant me remote access to their network and QEC nodes. I should be able to hack into their servers from there and view recent mission reports, namely the mission they took our member on.”

  He slid the data crystal into his pocket, hoping it was the right thing to do. “And I’m going to be the one delivering this . . . What if they find out what I’m up to?”

  “You’ll be fine, Travis,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “The station is going bonkers looking for you. The story EISS spun is that I’m that naughty girl that’s up to no good and took you away for fun and frolicking. Just surrender to EISS, and they’ll take you in for protection and questioning. When no one is looking, just plug that data crystal into a computer.”

  “Which one?”

  “Any, it doesn’t matter, it’s all networked. It could be the bloody coffee maker for all I care. The virus is smart and will spread until it finds the mainframe we need. I’d do this myself, but the longer I remain close to EISS personnel with HNI, the greater chance I have of being detected. But you . . .”

  “Yeah, yeah I have no HNI, they can’t scan me as easily.”

  “Ready?”

  He snorted. “Not really.”

  “Fantastic!”

  EISS had a small branch deep within the financial district of the city. It was a fourteen-story building with aesthetics that made it scream, ‘this is a UNE government structure,’ though the flag of the UNE was a dead giveaway. The sidewalks in the district were full of people leaving their jobs having finished the late-night shift with briefcases in hand, marching to parked air cars, or nearby train stations. Then there was Pierce. He was marching toward the district.

  Penelope kept a close eye on Pierce via the in-construction office tower the two were on, monitoring his progress, and keeping an eye out for EISS operatives that might be hiding. The closer he got to the building, the faster his heartbeats increased. He was, after all, about to willfully perform a malicious act on a government structure, what’s going to stop them from shooting him? Hell, what’s going to stop them when he surrendered?

  Only one thing kept him going, the fact that the agent that took him at gunpoint didn’t kill him. If EISS truly wanted him dead, they would have done so and made it look like a terrible accident. So, in that sense, EISS did need him alive, and from what he gathered, it was because Penelope approached him.

  His confidence grew ever so slightly.

  Then diminished when he remembered that his name was probably still on a terrorist watch list. The HLF maybe be gone, but the UNE still had warrants for the capture of those from the HLF that fled Earth and were still alive.

  All the more reason to find out what Maraschino knows about Pernoy and her disappearance, he thought as he began to come up with ideas to get Pernoy out of trouble if she was in it. His feelings for her were too strong. Feelings he never felt before for a woman.

  Pierce made a racket loud enough to get the attention of those in the lobby of the EISS building he entered. He ensured to announce who he was, that he was unarmed, and surrendering with his hands up, and needed their help. They were quick to react, carrying him inside, and up a multistory elevator climb. Two government men patted him down and scanned him with their HNI for any weapons, neither of them found the data crystal. They also didn’t give him the chance to approach any computers, or the coffee maker for that matter. They dragged him into an interrogation room.

  He found himself sitting at a plain rectangular table before the two agents, their eyes hidden behind the darkened lenses of their shades. “Doctor Pierce, you’ve been a hard man to find,” said one of the agents.

  Pierce nodded. “My apologies for that.”

  “No need, you had no idea that woman was trouble,” the second agent said. “Word to the wise, if she wants to take you home after talking for few minutes, she’s not going to fuck you. She’s going to fuck you, up.”

  “I’ll make a note of that.”

  “So how did you get away from her? She’s got some pretty high tech and illegal mods.”

  He shrugged, hoping they wouldn’t ask follow-up questions in regard to that. “Could have fooled me.”

  “You see all those fancy bracelets, chokers, and earrings she has on?”

  “Yeah,” Pierce said. “Rather dazzling I might add.”

  “Those are her mods,” said the first agent. “Inside them are data crystals, and computer components designed to enhance her hacking ability. If she has them off, she’s nowhere near as powerful, with them on; she’s a fucking nightmare to handle.”

  “Not to mention has the power to hack our HNIs,” said the second agent.

  “Yeah, something only the Draconians were able to do until now,” said the first agent. “Understand why she’s a threat? Maraschino has either given the Draconians that tech or brokered a deal with them to receive it. Either way, we suspect they have a secret alliance with them.”

  Pierce heard and felt his heart race rapidly again. He began to question if giving Penelope access to the EISS network was a good idea. She might have truly been the bad girl the whole time, she did literally tell him that too. And her friend Devorei getting killed? Maybe he deserved it. Maybe EISS knew he was a threat that couldn’t be allowed to live. If that was the case, anyone fighting EISS at that point was aiding a group that were nothing more than agents to the Draconians, probably to create chaos with
in the galaxy, making their job easier.

  “So, I say again, how did you escape?” said one of the agents. “There’s no way she would have allowed you to get this far with those mods on.”

  “Unless she wanted you to,” his partner said.

  The two agents weren’t taking him seriously. The previous EISS sit down Pierce had with Moriston showed their HNI could be used to scan one’s face and detect possible lies.

  Pierce stopped withholding the truth. “She’s at a tower under construction not far from here.” A truthful response, at that point he was unsure if she was trustworthy or not.

  The two agents grinned, facing one another. “Check it out.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  One agent left, leaving Pierce alone with the remaining one. “Am I free to return to my ship?” he asked him.

  Crossing his arms, the agent said. “The Kepler left the station hours ago.”

  “Can I speak with Foster?”

  The agent reached into the inside of his black business jacket. Out came a pistol aimed at Pierce’s face. “No.”

  Pierce stood up with his trembling hands in the air, at the request of the agent. EISS, friend or foe? He thought. At that point, he couldn’t tell anymore.

  The agent moved closer to him, keeping the pistol aimed at him. “Give me the data crystal!”

  “What crystal?” Pierce said, panicking.

  “Don’t fuck with me,” said the agent. “We searched you, we know you have it, and we know she gave it to you.”

  “If that’s the case,” Pierce said as his face turned pale. “Why didn’t you take it?”

  “Was hoping you’d do the right thing and hand it over and tell us where she is,” said the agent. “You only did half of that.”

  His trembling hands surrendered the data crystal to the agent who held it with one hand, while keeping the other wrapped around his gun. “Next time, be more confident in yourself. If you’re going to betray someone, commit to it. If you’re going to betray Earth, have the balls go through the plan and not call your partner out—”

  The agent’s body began to convulse rapidly, like he had been hit by live wires. The pistol hit the carpeted floor with a thud. He held onto his head, screaming. The screaming was brief, as he fell to the floor unmoving or breathing for that matter.

  A life-sized hologram of Penelope appeared over the body of the agent seconds later. She looked down at the agent, then back up at Pierce with a cold grin. “Took you long enough,” she said to him.

  He shook his head no repeatedly, holding both his hands up to her. “Stop, stop . . .”

  “Don’t tell me those wankers got to you, Travis,” Penelope said. “They can’t be trusted and are full of lies.”

  “Maybe you’re the one full of lies.”

  “Take a look at our dearly departed,” she said, waving her hand to the agent as if she was presenting it to him.

  Pierce stepped over to the body, looking down grimly. “He’s dead?”

  “Very much so, all the more reason why you must come with me,” she said. “An EISS agent ends up dead and was alone with you? What do you think they’ll do to you when they find out?”

  He looked up at the Maraschino hacker, and apparently government agent killer, which was on par with a cop killer. People like that ended up on the run for the rest of their lives back in his days.

  “Why did you have to kill him?”

  “That wasn’t a data crystal I gave you, it was a device designed to brute force all the passcodes needed to access the EISS network. As you can see, there’s a side effect, it fired his HNI and took his brains along for the ride.”

  He slapped the palm of his hand across his mouth, holding in the shock. “Oh my God . . .”

  “I had no choice, the encryption EISS uses is strong,” Penelope said. “There was no way I could hack into it with the limited time we have. I knew you weren’t going to agree to help me do to this or be so nervous you’d give yourself away.”

  “So, the computers were a lie?”

  Penelope waved her holographic index finger at him. “Oh, don’t get all emotional on me.”

  “You used me to kill a g-man so you can hijack their network . . .” Pierce said. “I’m not emotional. I’m terrified! What’s going to happen to me now?”

  “He was a bad g-man, if that makes things better,” she said. “I’m downloading their mission reports now, and, as I suspected, he and several other EISS operatives are in league with some naughty individuals.”

  “Exactly what kind of bad are you talking about?”

  “Tell you what, escape without getting shot, while I do the same, since someone tipped them off where I was laying low. And I’ll share all the gossip.”

  Penelope’s likeness turned into a fountain of blue pixels and vanished. The doors in the room opened automatically, guiding Pierce into the office space he passed through to get into the room. Lights in the ceilings flickered, computers flashed cartoon cherries flipping the bird, while the floor was covered in bodies of unmoving EISS staff.

  Unlike the agent behind him, the bodies still had a pulse, he found out why when he made it to the elevator. Two agents collapsed holding their head screaming adding to the unmoving bodies. They two had pulses of life, they were suffering from HNI disruption, the same one the Dragon Knight and Maiden could use.

  “What the hell . . .” Pierce said to himself.

  Or he thought.

  “I’m in their network remember?” Penelope’s hologram appeared next to him, walking with him to the elevator as if she was there with him. “I don’t need to be in range anymore.”

  The two entered the elevator. He went to command it to lower to the ground level, then pulled his finger away from the button. The elevator moved on its own. Penelope shot him one of her cold glances.

  “They said you have the same hacking powers as the Dragon Knights,” he said to her hologram.

  “Kinda.”

  “How?”

  “That’s a secret I’ll have to keep to myself.”

  “Penelope! This is serious!”

  “We’re data brokers first, Travis,” she said. “Secrets are things we sell to those paying. Are you willing to pay to know those secrets?”

  “Not really . . .”

  “Oh, the stuff they have on this network is fabulous by the way. I wish you could experience it how I do.”

  The lobby had a similar situation unfolding as he made his escape. EISS employees and agents all slumped onto the polished tiled floors. They all still had pulses. Pierce kept his face down and low, when the fake moonlight from above shone down on him, and strode away from the building, fast.

  “If I remember this correctly, my part of the bargain should be done, right?” he asked her, having realized that the holographic woman following him around was probably going to draw attention to anyone that looked at him.

  “Hmm, yes, I suppose so,” Penelope said. “You gave me what I’ve been seeking.”

  “So, we’re done then.” He stopped, directly facing Penelope with a firm finger pointed at her. “I want out, and I want my payment for helping you.”

  “Ah yes, Pernoy and her children.”

  “And my freedom.”

  Penelope licked her lips. “Move to the parking lot behind you, love.”

  Absolutely not! Is what he wanted to say, he had enough of the games. He wanted out, and what he asked for, no more secret missions. He was done. She never gave him a direct reply to his request for freedom, only directing him to the parking lot.

  Reluctantly, he continued to play and arrived at a space reserved for EISS staff cars.

  “I can provide you with everything, except the freedom part,” Penelope said, much to his disappointment.

  He sighed. “At this point, that’s the most important thing.”

  “Travis, EISS is quick, as we speak they are trying to kick me out of their network. And at the rate they are working at, they may succeed. When, I could
n’t tell you, but they will.”

  “Not my problem.”

  “You’re a fugitive now, Travis. You being on the terrorist watch list back in 2033 isn’t helping your image. Throw in the dead agent, and I say this station, rather, the entire UNE is no longer going to be a safe place for you.”

  “Isn’t there anything you can do for me?” he pleaded, trying to wash away the guilty thoughts plaguing him.

  Penelope waved her hand like a presenter in the parking lot. “Pick a car, any car.”

  He stepped toward a random car, a sleek jet-back vehicle reflecting the fake white glow of the moon from above with tinted windows.

  “I’m going to be leaving the station, Travis,” she said. “These reports I’m looking at are related to a significant amount of EISS activity in the Morutrin system. I’m going there to find what I’m looking for; you are free to join me as my traveling companion.”

  Her holographic fingers snapped, and the car’s door slid up, while its engines powered on automatically. “Is this your doing?” he said, keeping his eyes on the car that seemingly turned on by itself.

  “It is, care to join me?”

  “I . . . didn’t want any of this.”

  “If you stay here, you’ll be hunted and captured,” she said, gliding her fingers across the car’s rooftop. “Slip into this car, and it’ll chauffeur you to the freedom you want.”

  By freedom, Penelope most likely meant the freedom exiles and fugitives on the run and wanderers had. The freedom of the lawless Morutrin system, Pierce and Penelope were to become their newest residents.

  The things we do for love.

  34 Avearan

  Phylarlie’s Manor

  Muro, Taxah, Uelcovis system

  October 16, 2118, 00:36 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  The Draconians were a fascinating yet savage collective. According to the data Avearan read, combined with her observations, Draconian ships were at one point in their lives to be massive land-dwelling creatures, quite possibly wyrms, born and raised on some obscure planet out there in the cosmos.

  There were signs that their limbs had been removed, prior to undergoing intense genetic manipulation and augmentation with cybernetics. From there the interior of a ship was constructed on the inside of the beast, the final stage of fusing technology and organic matter into what the rest of the galaxy knows today as a Draconian bio-ship.