Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Page 14

  “That’s a bit... much, don’t you think?” Gina said nodding toward someone who was indisputably female, yet wore long thin mustachios. “Ridiculous.”

  Stone grunted. “Seen worse.”

  “Ah, you noticed our Genevieve I see,” a man said as he quickly approached with a hand out to shake. “She only stuck them on to annoy her sister. It’s her birthday. Twins you know.”

  Stone shook the offered hand. “We have an appointment with Stationmaster Favarro.”

  “He sent me to fetch you. I’m his personal assistant, Roger Dellani at your service. And you are Captain...?”

  “Stone. These are Lieutenants Richmond and Fuentez,” Stone said indicating each with a gesture.

  “A genuine pleasure to meet you all.” Dellani shook each of their hands unselfconsciously, obviously unconcerned with their killer cyborg reputations. Not always a given.

  Kate studied and judged him as another bureaucrat, but not a silly one this time...

  >_ White male, brown hair and grey eyes, 1.87m tall. 65 years old approx. Unarmed. Threat potential negligible. Addendum: slight limp in right leg, possible sporting injury within the last 24hours. Most popular sport aboard Helios: Gravball.

  >_ Searching... no matches found.

  >_ Search local database [Y]es/[N]o?

  >_ N

  Kate dismissed the data from her internal display. She had no interest in the staff up here. Security would be handled at a much lower level. She followed Stone as Dellani led the way to Stationmaster Favarro’s office and saw them allowed through the outer office flunkies without delays.

  They were met inside by a surprise for Gina. “James!” she squealed and Kate rolled her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  James hugged her and kissed her on both cheeks. “I’m with the team sent to study Jeff’s latest find.”

  Jeff would be Captain Colgan of Warrior, Kate assumed. Her mission brief had that detail along with the basics of the battle and the discovery made afterwards. On any normal day she would have been snooping already—simple curiosity would have been enough. She never felt the need to justify herself, but if she had needed to, she had the best justification for breaking into secure data, like ever! A bunch of new aliens on a captured raider and no one knows where they came from? Come on! Even a saint would turn hacker given that incentive.

  Stationmaster Paulo Favarro beamed happily at the reunion he had engineered. He wasn’t what Kate had expected at all. He was old for one thing, like ancient old. She hadn’t delved into his background at all, but judging by appearances he had to be well beyond his first century. He obviously didn’t care to hide it either. Most would use body mods to suppress the signs, but he hadn’t tried. Comfortable in his looks and his age, he had let his hair turn completely silver and his face to wrinkle. It actually made her uncomfortable seeing his senescence openly exposed. No one flaunted their age this way, or very few, but it did draw her attention like a grisly curiosity. Paulo Favarro emanated power. He was The Personage, The Authority way out here. Maybe it wasn’t his age that made her uncomfortable after all. Despite her military career guaranteeing there would always been someone judging her actions, she wasn’t a fan of authority. Probably something to do with coming from Bethany’s World.

  Yeah, I have issues. So what, who doesn’t?

  And another thing. The Stationmaster seemed content to watch the proceedings as if now that he’d set things in motion he wanted to observe the results of his power over them. She didn’t like the thought. She would prefer that he come out with what he wanted from them, no matter what it was, so she could blow him off and get on with saving her brother.

  James shook Stone’s hand and then approached her. “Looking good there, Kate,” he said peering into her eyes. “They match.”

  She grinned and let him hug her briefly. “Yeah. I kind of insisted on that. They’re both new from the same batch as my old one. Like ‘em?”

  “I do. What did you do with the eye patch?”

  “It’s on the wall above my rack in the barracks. A trophy, sort of.”

  James nodded. “I have my beamers in my kit. They’re not really trophies like you mean. Actually, I’d prefer not to remember some of the stuff I saw, but I can’t shake the feeling I might need them again. Stupid I guess, but they make me feel safe.”

  Kate nodded. Didn’t sound stupid at all to her. “Considering why we’re out here, bringing them along was a good idea.” She wondered if he’d thought about reloads. Shan beamers couldn’t use standard power cells. “Who else is with you?”

  “Not the whole team. Janice, Bernhard, and Brenda are the real show. I’m just here because Brenda is. We’ve kept things small this time around.”

  “Just the four of you?” Stone said, sounding surprised.

  Kate agreed. It sounded too low key for the kind of discovery they were here to study. Surely three new alien races rated more?

  “Oh no, I meant from our original team. No, we have more. Two teams, sort of, with Janice in charge of both. The other team handles all the lab work as well as the autopsies and dissections. Med techs most of them.”

  “Autopsies,” Stone said in a hard voice and James looked away. “Of the aliens?”

  “Well... no. Not just the aliens, no.”

  Stone’s eyes flashed rage, but Kate was the only one to notice. She easily guessed what he was thinking. When a viper went into hibernation, their bots held their cells in stasis allowing repairs to be undertaken, but outwardly they would be dead. Vipers in hibernation didn’t breathe or react like a human in a coma would for example; they were more like a machine that had been switched off. With the right nanotech diagnostic tools, a medic could figure it out, but had they even checked?

  God I hope so.

  “I’m sure they know what they’re doing,” James said plaintively. He had seen Stone’s reaction now and realised its source. “They know what they’re doing, Stone.”

  “You know that, or you hope that?”

  James didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

  The Stationmaster intervened. He finally rounded his desk and came forward to shake hands. “Well, I’m very pleased to meet you. You’re the first vipers I’ve met in all my many years. I’d begun to wonder if I ever would.”

  “Is that why we’re here, to indulge your curiosity?”

  “Richmond,” Stone growled in warning.

  She shrugged. “Just asking.”

  Favarro chuckled. “Yes indeed. Of course as Stationmaster I do have certain privileges such as welcoming visitors personally should I choose.”

  Kate remained wisely silent this time and Favarro laughed at her. Her annoyance edged toward anger, but she stomped it flat and held it down where it squirmed and fumed wanting the release only action could supply. Who said she had no self control? Stone had more than once, but he nodded approval of her restraint this time despite his own impatience with all the grandstanding. They had to have Favarro’s goodwill while aboard his station unless they wanted to threaten violence. Out of the question of course, not that violence would get them anywhere had it been an option.

  Favarro was still speaking...

  “...vulnerable here The Red One alert has stripped my sector of naval protection. The ships currently docked will leave soon and Helios will be left without protection again. We’ve had a battle right here in system for the first time in thirty years, next time the station itself might be threatened.”

  “What do you expect me to do about it?” Stone said. “I have no say in how the navy runs its patrols.”

  “I realise that. I’ve had representations from my citizens asking me to approach the navy to request a ship be left on permanent station here. We both know that isn’t going to happen.”

  Stone nodded.

  “That leaves the other option. It’s unlikely a raider would fire upon my station; they want money and goods to sell and that requires them to board and take what they want. If we had marines stat
ioned here—”

  “I’m not a marine.”

  “No, but you have influence, or your general does,” Favarro said. “I’ve already sent drones requesting a battalion of marines be stationed here on a permanent basis. Our biggest customer is the navy after all. I approached Commodore Walder about this only yesterday.”

  “And she said no,” Kate said.

  Favarro turned to her. “Not precisely, but it adds up to the same thing. She said she couldn’t spare any of the marines she had on hand, but that she would pass my request along. I think her exact words were that she would ‘pass it up the chain’ so to speak.”

  “Well that’s that then,” Stone said. “You don’t need me. The Commodore will see it’s taken care of.”

  “She was very dismissive of me and the idea, as if I were just an annoyance and Helios only here to serve her.” Favarro’s eyes glittered with his affronted anger. “I doubt she will pass my request along, but if she does she won’t endorse it. She may even sabotage it.”

  “Why would she do that?” Gina interjected. “Making Helios a marine post doesn’t affect her command adversely, it enhances it.”

  Stone nodded. “It would give her some form of authority in this system where currently she has none.”

  Favarro raised a hand and let it drop. “I know, I know... I made that point to her myself. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want her meddling in my affairs, but the safety of my citizens comes first. I think it may be a matter of principle for her. She just doesn’t like it that Helios is a civilian station and thinks we should hire mercenaries.”

  “She said that?”

  “Not in so many words, Captain, but that was my impression.”

  Kate didn’t much like the idea herself. Mercenaries—honourable companies properly registered on Arsenal—had their place, but she didn’t think Helios was it. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you don’t agree with her, and that your citizens are horrified by the idea.”

  Favarro grinned.

  “Thought so.” She looked the question at Stone and received a shrug in return. “You think a report to General Burgton along with our recommendation might ah... grease the wheels with the navy?”

  “General Burgton does have influence with the President. If he were to champion my cause...?”

  Champion his cause. Right! She didn’t quite snort but she wanted to. Stone however was giving the idea serious consideration. Before she could think of a reasonable response, he had taken over the conversation.

  “My mission has no bearing on your situation here, but I’ll add this to my report.”

  “Thank—”

  Stone interrupted Favarro with a raised hand. “No, don’t thank me. All I’m promising is a report to the General. That’s all. It will be his decision whether to take your problem to higher authority.”

  “I understand,” Favarro said.

  Kate could sense from his apparent satisfaction that he really didn’t. He seemed to think the General would automatically side with him once made aware of the situation; that wasn’t a given. As far as she could see, the regiment should stay out of it. This was a civilian matter, or at most, a dispute between civilians and the DOD. No matter what Favarro thought, Commodore Walder didn’t have the authority to set up new marine bases whenever or wherever she felt like it. At most, she could detach elements under her command for temporary duty, but even then she had to justify her decision to her superiors. A proper post would need budgeting and planning approval from navy department planners, but before that the DOD itself would need to agree there was a need for a marine presence here and get the admiralty on side as well. Kate didn’t see that happening. After all, before the Red One alert changed things, the navy had deployed Walder’s command to patrol the sector rather than set up bases. The admiralty must feel a mobile defence was a preferable and more economical way to protect Helios and the sector.

  Well, Favarro could think what he wanted as long as it got them out of his office and back on mission. She was getting increasingly impatient and wanted to see her brother, even if it was with bars between them. Just seeing him alive, in the flesh rather than in her imagination, would go a long way toward settling her down. Before Stone’s revelations regarding her brother during her recruitment on Luna, she’d had nothing but her personal belief that he was alive to sustain her. She had always believed he lived, but years of searching had not found him. Now they were on the same station mere hours from a meeting long overdue.

  She couldn’t wait... but had to. She scowled.

  Stone noticed of course and moved to bring the meeting to a close. “I’ll send a drone with an update once I’ve seen our man. If there’s nothing else?”

  “I can arrange a drone launch for you right now,” Favarro said eagerly. “No need to use your own. Helios is more than happy to cover your expenses.”

  Favarro was pushing, but he would get nowhere with this. Yes, drones were expensive but Snakeholme’s location was classified. There was no way Stone would allow anyone access to that data. Harbinger was a courier ship and faster than any drone, but it did have limited drone storage. It was one of the modifications the regiment had made so that the General remained in contact while away from home.

  “That won’t be necessary. Now, if you’ll excuse us we need to get on with what brought us here.”

  “Of course, of course!” Favarro said, hurriedly backing off as he sensed he’d received as much as Stone was willing to give. “It was an honour meeting you all. Please don’t hesitate to contact my office if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  Stone nodded and they took their leave.

  About damn time!

  * * *

  11 ~ Fallen

  Helios Station, Helios System, the Border Zone

  James accompanied them in the transit pod back to the docks, chatting with Gina about their friends and catching up with each other. Kate listened without commenting until he dropped his bombshell.

  “You got hitched!” Kate said in surprise. In response he raised a hand to display his wedding band. Very traditional of him and very old fashioned. Few displayed marital status anymore. “Who to?”

  Gina snorted. “Oh come on, Kate. Who do you think? Brenda wouldn’t let him get away.”

  James chuckled. “You’re right there. I wanted to marry her but would have accepted cohab if that’s what she wanted. I didn’t get the chance to ask. She proposed the day we landed back on Earth at the spaceport! I said hell yes, and we took another flight straight to New York to meet her parents.”

  “That must have been...” Kate frowned. “Interesting?”

  “Intimidating more like,” James said. “Her parents are great, really great, but they were suspicious of my intentions.” He laughed as he remembered something about his first meeting with them. “Brenda did warn me with stories about them. I thought she was exaggerating, but no, she really wasn’t.”

  “How so?”

  “Elaine, Brenda’s mum, is a school teacher. She loves working with kids, and wants more grandchildren. It was major source of contention between them for years. I think Elaine had already written Brenda off as a source of more grandchildren but Brenda’s sisters have been... ah, prolific let’s say in this regard.” James grinned. “Elaine was very excited when she met me. I had to promise to supply her with at least two new grandchildren before she would get off the subject. You should have seen Brenda’s face when Elaine started giving me tips that she says will guarantee a pregnancy in short order. I thought Brenda would burst a blood vessel when I promised to start practising right away!”

  Kate laughed. “What does her dad think?”

  “Daniel looked a bit sick, to be honest. He muttered something about emigrating to the Border Zone for some peace, and disappeared into his den.”

  Gina grinned. “What does he do?”

  “He’s a doctor working in the local med centre. I think it was his influence that got Brenda started in biology. I don
’t think either of them thought she would detour into exobiology and make that her career. That’s Brenda for you, always doing the unexpected.”

  “Stowing away that time on your shuttle could have been called doing the unexpected, but I’d call it ballsy,” Kate said. “Arguing with the first Shan any Human had ever met for shooting you took guts. How is Tei’Varyk doing by the way? Last I heard he’d accepted his seat on the Council.”

  James nodded. “He and Tarjei are doing great. He did take his place on the Council, you’re right about that. Everything was going well last I heard, and Tarjei was expecting her first cubs. She’s due any time now.”

  “What is it with babies around here,” Gina grumped. “Is everyone thinking about getting knocked up?”

  “Well I’m not!” Kate said.

  “Me either,” Gina agreed.

  Stone laughed under his breath. “Don’t look at me. I don’t have the right equipment.”

  These days none of them had the right equipment. All vipers were sterile, a consequence of the enhancement process. It didn’t bother Kate at all. She would have made a terrible mother. Actually, she was pretty sure she’d been born without the maternal instinct gene. Gina wasn’t like her though and would have made a great parent. She already mothered her men and treated them like her kids most of the time.

  The pod began to decelerate as it approached the transit hub at the docks, and Kate looked to Stone for direction. She wanted to get out of the straight-jacket she was wearing and back into battle dress, but they needed to retrieve their man first.