Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Read online

  Finally they reached Harbinger and navigated the ramp into the ship. As soon as the hatch sealed and locked behind them, they relaxed and Kate took the cryo unit down to the hold while the others changed. She hurriedly locked the unit down in its niche and connected it to ship’s power for the trip home, before hurrying to her cabin to change. Stone had promised to let her go see her brother, and she was holding him to that. As she stripped to her skivvies, she used viper comm to contact him.

  “Don’t even think about trying to stop me leaving the ship, Stone.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Stone replied.

  “Because you promised and... I can go?” Kate said pausing with only one leg in her battle dress. “Really?”

  “I promised didn’t I? Look Richmond, I know what family means to you. I know you’ve been waiting for this for years. I won’t stand in your way, but remember that everything you do reflects on the regiment and the General. Everything.”

  She bit her lip. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Careful hell, just be sure no one can connect you to the bodies! Stone out.”

  Kate chuckled.

  She quickly finished dressing and then put away her dress uniform. She shouldn’t need it again this trip. She hesitated over taking her pistol with her. There was no rule or law against military personal carrying weapons even on civilian stations, but it was certain she would be asked to disarm before they would let her see Paul. She decided to leave it behind. She settled her beret on her head aligning the viper badge precisely over her left eye and flattened it down properly on the right. One last look in the mirror and she was out the door striding quickly along barren corridors heading for the airlock.

  Gina was waiting for her. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks,” Kate said and the hatch whooshed open. “Later.”

  “Later.”

  She stepped out and the hatch locked behind her.

  * * *

  12 ~ Prodigal Son

  Helios Station, Helios System, the Border Zone

  Kate entered security as if entering enemy territory with all her systems trawling for emissions. Her HUD (Head Up Display) had windows open detailing various data points such as whether or not there were active motion sensors—there were and lots of them. Her sensors had detected gun ports in the overhead. They were closed but they weren’t exactly invisible to the naked eye and had probably been designed that way as a deterrent against wrong thinking. Her sensors compared their targeting emissions with the properties of known weapon systems and labelled them as the ever reliable Petreus Systems XMH-4S 4mm mini-autocannon. The name was a little misleading in her opinion. No cannon worthy of the name fired a mere 4mm projectile, but Petreus didn’t agree and with their autocannon firing 6000 rounds a minute with ammo storage to match, few cared to dispute them. They were compact, deadly, and reliable; what more could you want from a discreet sentry gun?

  Kate presented herself to the security checkpoint guard and asked to see her brother. That’s when things started to go wrong. The guard frowned at her request and consulted her comp. Kate waited, looking and scanning her surroundings. Her targeting reticule danced over her internal display briefly locking on to targets and storing locations. If she had been armed, she could have totally taken this place apart in five seconds flat. Servicing targets already zeroed in like the sentry guns and the few live guards was literally child’s play to any viper. It was a good thing doing so was off the menu.

  “Lieutenant?”

  Kate focused upon the woman. “Yes?”

  “I think there’s been some sort of screw up. Did your CO send you down?”

  “No. This is personal. He’s my brother.”

  “Ah, then I think you need to talk with my supervisor. Are you armed?”

  “No. Why do I need to see your supervisor?”

  The woman stood. “I’ll escort you to him, Lieutenant. He’ll explain. Sorry about this, but I need to scan you.”

  What the hell? Kate stepped forward allowing the woman to wave her wand over her body and wasn’t surprised when it beeped, but it wasn’t picking up a weapon. It was confused by her cybernetics, which did have a detectable low level power emission. She could have used her ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) to cloak herself, or spoof the woman’s scanner, or both, but she was in uniform and not attempting to hide.

  The guard frowned at her scanner’s readout.

  Kate sighed. “Cybernetics,” she said. By way of an extra hint she turned her shoulder toward the woman to reveal her unit designation.

  “Oh! Is that what I’m seeing?”

  This one was a little dense it seemed. Kate was wearing her uniform and beret with the viper patch staring the woman in the face, and she hadn’t put it together.

  “That’s so magalicious! Really freaking frosty. I’ve always wondered...”

  Kate blinked at the street speak. Maybe she was just young and inexperienced, not particularly stupid. She revised her estimate of the guard’s age downward toward the ‘barely out of pigtails’ range.

  “Go on, ask.”

  “Well it’s kind of personal?”

  “Ask or don’t. I want to see my brother. Preferably today.”

  The woman winced. “I think maybe I should just take you to my boss.”

  “Fine, lead the way.”

  She followed the guard and waited as she used her wand and codes to enter the secured area. Her sensors continued cataloguing everything and located a lot of cameras and motion sensors throughout the entire area. The station used to belong to the navy. She would bet quite a few credits that this area had been the brig even back then and hadn’t changed much in the time since the civvies took it over. She couldn’t see a stealthy way of busting Paul out of here. She could do it fast and dirty no sweat, but if she did that she would be running for the rest of her life. She hadn’t needed Stone’s warning, not really.

  She followed her escort into an office and was introduced to Supervisor Tom Croft. They shook hands and Croft waved his underling out. Kate declined the seat offered, impatient to get this over and see her brother.

  “I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing, Lieutenant. I can’t understand how it happened. I wrote the report myself and saw it dispatched via drone a month ago. This is so embarrassing.”

  Kate felt bad news looming. “Embarrassing?”

  “That you came here to Helios instead of Northcliff.”

  “Wait. Are you saying my brother isn’t here?”

  Croft nodded glumly. “All of the prisoners were sent to Northcliff for trial. The ship they tried to hijack was a Northcliff registered merchant you understand. We loaded them aboard a ship heading out that way and glad to be rid of them. Sorry about your brother, Lieutenant, but it didn’t sit right with us having them lying around down here breathing our air and eating our food for free. We did send our own personnel along as escort. They’ll reach Northcliff safe and sound, don’t you worry.”

  Worry? This was a fucking disaster! Her eyes narrowed, or was it? She had already decided that busting Paul out of here stealthily was unworkable, and doing it any other way would mean looking over her shoulder for Stone or one of the others for the rest of her life. Was there a way to avoid that? That was the ten quadrillion credit question right there. The prisoners were gone, on their way to trial at Northcliff. That was fact and unchangeable. She needed to go to Plan B... she didn’t have a Plan B! One thing was certain, she was in the wrong damn system and she needed to change that fast.

  “How long for them to reach Northcliff, do you know?”

  Croft made a quick calculation on his comp and grunted. “They’re about two thirds the way there... call it another ten days or so before they translate back to n-space. Add another day to reach the station, and maybe one more to get the prisoners logged in and down world. So, two weeks at the earliest, maybe more depending on whether the captain wants to save on fuel. You know how traders can be; they’re always watching the bottom line.
”

  “Two weeks then,” she said, pacing the office, her thoughts racing. Harbinger could do it in less if she pushed her. Courier ships were the fastest jump capable ships in space. “Two weeks to get there, and then pre-trial hearings to hear the pleas...”

  Croft was frowning now. “You do realise your brother is guilty? I’m sorry, but there’s no doubt what the verdict will be. You do understand that you can’t help him?”

  She would see about that, but she couldn’t tell Croft she was going to break her brother out and help him disappear or die trying along with anyone who got in her way! She made herself nod and forced herself to show grief on her face when all she really felt was impatience. She wanted to be on Northcliff waiting for her brother’s ship to dock, not playing catch up here.

  “I realise that, but he’s my only family. I want to be there for him. I can at least pay for a good attorney. Maybe I can get mind-wipe off the table at least.”

  Croft regarded her doubtfully.

  Yeah, it was bullshit. They both knew mind-wipe was mandated for this. No prosecutor worthy of the name would bargain with anyone caught in the act of a hijacking. There were few things considered worse out in the Border Zone where every colony, station, and ship lived in fear of piracy and the mass murders associated with such crimes.

  She had a thought. “You wouldn’t have vid of the prisoners would you?”

  Croft nodded. “This place is under constant surveillance. Want to see him?”

  She nodded. It was a long shot, but she only had Stone’s assurance that her brother had even been held here. She doubted he could be wrong about something so important, but she could hope... Croft turned his screen towards her and that was that. He was older and he hadn’t shaved, but it was him. Paul Richmond, sitting in a cell alive and not particularly well wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit that made his pasty complexion all to evident. He hadn’t been eating well, she thought. Dark circles under his eyes and worry lines had aged him. He looked up towards the camera and she caught her breath as eyes identical to those she saw in the mirror every morning glared at her. She ignored the obscene gesture he made and studied those eyes. Pale blue and cold as a glacier, just like hers. She had to save him.

  She straightened. “Thanks.”

  Croft nodded and turned the display back around. “Anything else I can do, Lieutenant?”

  “No. I appreciate you meeting me and letting me see...” she waved a hand at the comp. “You know.”

  “Happy to help.”

  Kate took her leave and made her way back to the transit pod. She had absolutely no interest in anything Helios related anymore. Her focus had shifted completely to Northcliff. She needed to research the planet, its judicial system, and its penal system among other things. How quickly would pre-trial hearings take place? Within days of the prisoners’ arrival on Northcliff would be problematic—even she couldn’t plan a breakout that quickly. There were limits even for viper ingenuity. On the other end of the scale, months wouldn’t work for her either. Stone would be all over her arse if she waited that long. Weeks then. It had to be within a few weeks or never. She couldn’t see herself successfully evading Stone while rescuing her brother if it took longer than that. He was too good.

  She realised as the transit pod whisked her away and into the first tunnel that her mind was made up. She wouldn’t ask Stone for help. Gina was out also, but that decision had already been made when she first considered it shortly after their arrival. The decision made, she had to plan a way to evade Stone long enough to jack Harbinger out from under him. She grimaced at the thought of betraying her friends. Friends, but for how long? She was considering going rogue... no not considering. Her mind was made up and she was a rogue already, a rogue planning her escape. Her friends would put her down for the good of the regiment the moment they understood that.

  For the good of the regiment, she mused, was something bandied around in the 501st as cover for when things went badly wrong. On Snakeholme that often meant a viper being euthanized. Sanctioned murder was the reality but that sounded so barbaric didn’t it? It was accepted by all as unavoidable—the Gospel according to Burgton. The thing of it was, she bloody agreed with him! In Stone’s place, she would put her down the moment he learned what she was planning.

  She shivered. He would do it too. She knew he would do it, probably agonising all the while even as he pulled the trigger to add her to the legion of ghosts he carried with him. He had a line he wouldn’t cross—for the good of the regiment was a diamond hard armoured line he would not cross. Her line was her brother. She would sacrifice anything and anyone for Paul.

  So, she had to finesse the bloody ship out from under Stone and Gina, and keep far enough ahead of them to free her brother. After that, it didn’t matter what they did to her. She didn’t want to die, but risking her life was something she was practised at. It would catch up with her one day. What better way to die than saving the life of her only family?

  “Can’t think of a thing.”

  Kate kept away from Stone the rest of that day. She spent her time in her cabin researching Northcliff trying to throttle her impatience to get moving. Stone had indicated earlier that he planned upon visiting Jean de Vienne again tomorrow. That was when she would make her move. She didn’t want to confront him or Gina. She wanted to slip away without fuss.

  Gina was still visiting with James when Stone contacted her via viper comm. Kate considered not answering for a nanosecond or three, but that would only make him come down from the bridge and visit in person. She had to put her research on hold and pick up.

  She sighed.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you okay?” Stone said. “Want me to come by?”

  Actually, a certain kind of comforting would be good right about now, but that was a slippery slope. If she had sex with him now she would be tempted to reconsider her decision not to ask for his help. Too risky. He did squirrelly things to her thoughts when they were together.

  “No.”

  “No you’re not okay, or no you don’t want me dropping by?”

  Kate grimaced, he was pushing. “No to both.” The silence stretched. “You still there, Stone?”

  “I’m here.”

  She had to know. It had been in the back of her mind, festering, gnawing at her confidence in him. Croft said that he’d sent a drone with a report about the prisoners being shipped to Northcliff. How was it that Stone hadn’t known that? He knew about the battle, he knew her brother was a prisoner, how could he not know where they were being held? She was about to ask him and blow the situation out of the water when he spoke again.

  “Richmond... Kate I’m sorry.”

  She stiffened. “About?”

  “Not telling you about your brother before your enhancement. You needed repair so I withheld the data. I knew if I told you about him being here that you would be hot to reach him and wouldn’t wait.”

  “How long did you delay me?” she said coldly. “You were fucking me and all the time you knew my brother was rotting in a cell?”

  “No! Shit, Richmond, you know me better than that!”

  “I thought I did.”

  Stone growled angrily. “You were in enhancement for a week. I knew a few days before that. I swear to you, I withheld the data so that when you came out here with me you would be fully operational and able to do something for him. Something better left unsaid.”

  She wanted to believe, and she could if she chose. She could simply choose to accept his explanation. Leaving Snakeholme nine days or so earlier wouldn’t have made any difference as far as getting to Helios in time to see Paul. He’d been shipped out weeks before. Her enhancement did give her a chance to rescue him, a much better chance than if she’d remained offline. He was right about that. Stone seemed to think Paul was still here. He seemed not to know what had happened. Appearances could be deceiving however. He was good, certainly good enough to be playing her. The thought stabbed, but she’d played others in
her time and done worse. She knew how to play the game.

  She swung her legs off her rack and calmly buckled on her holstered pistol. She drew the weapon in a servo enhanced blur, tightened the thigh strap and settled the belt on her hips before trying again. Better.

  “Okay,” she said putting warmth that she didn’t feel into the word. Her face stiff, she stared at herself coldly in the mirror. “I believe you. Thanks for telling me.” Her voice was dead now. “Richmond out.”

  * * *

  13 ~ Rogue

  Helios Station, Helios System, the Border Zone

  Kate reclined on her rack and stared unblinking at the overhead of her cabin. With her hands folded behind her head, anyone entering would guess her to be relaxing or daydreaming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Her internal display was awash in data—she had dozens of searches running. Lists of data cycled constantly in windows competing for attention with other windows containing pictures of people and places associated with Northcliff. Everything she did now had only one purpose; furthering her personal and self-imposed mission.

  >_ Task complete. [S]ave [D]isplay [P]rint [U]pload?

  Kate frowned in annoyance when all the windows she had been using minimised and parked themselves at the bottom of her display. What the frig? She was tempted to just save and dismiss this annoyance, but it would bug her if she didn’t at least find out what the data was.

  Save and display.

  A new window opened listing vid and text files in a menu format for viewing. She chose some at random and watched the prisoners in their cells. Her brother was one of them of course. The vid that Croft showed her was on a secure network, which meant her earlier search commands had finally progressed out of the station’s public Infonet. She had forgotten to terminate those searches. Her processor was still pursuing the Helios mission in addition to her personal one. She hesitated, but let it continue working its way through its priority list. She didn’t need the extra cycles for anything.