DJ's Mission (18 page)

When her SWAT escort was done with their security
sweep, they posted up next to the only door and powered down, effectively going
to sleep while standing up and while still on guard duty. It was a skill every
military and law enforcement personnel developed, the ability to sleep just
about anywhere at anytime. With the advanced biomechanics of the SWAT-TAC
armor, which was only one step below full military grade armor, they only
needed to come out of the armor once every seven days. At that time, the suit
had to be completely powered down and its software rebooted or it would shut
down on its own, trapping and suffocating the officer inside. This was a design
flaw that had been corrected in the military-grade TAC armor. Given that this
was a known problem, LEOs would rarely spend more than five days of constant
wear before performing the reboot procedure, just in case.

Of course, the High Councilwoman knew nothing of
the problems or dangers with long exposure in TAC armor. Even with her years of
service in the FSA, she had not had that much contact with the military. Her
specialties had been diplomacy and espionage, which she used now to bypass the
firewall of the hotel mainframe. She was curious exactly who was, or was
supposed to be, watching them. It didn’t take long for her to back trace the
signal to a sub-branch of the Saturn Sheriffs, most commonly referred to as the
SIS – Saturn Intelligence Service.

Officially, the SIS was the same as most police
force’s Internal Affairs division. Tasked with the investigation of
professional misconduct of Saturn’s LEOs but she knew better. They were, in all
actuality, the secret police arm of the Sheriffs, doing the dirty work the line
officers couldn’t or wouldn’t do and they reported directly to Kassinger.

There wasn’t much, if anything legally that she
could do with this knowledge but as they say, knowing is half the battle. Teana
was pondering this latest development when a blinking icon came up on her
computer. She had a message and not just any message, an encrypted message.
Pulling out her portable scrambler, she attached it and booted it up. When it was
ready, she opened her mail.

After she read it once, she removed her glasses
and wiped her eyes. Replacing her glasses, she read the report again. She
recognized the author of the report but didn’t know why he was sending it to
her. Although, if the information within was true, then tomorrow she and her
escorts were walking into the proverbial lion’s den.

Without considering the hour or the sensitive
nature of the document, Teana spoke in a normal voice. “Spike.”

SWAT Officer Tim “Spike” Ernspiker was instantly
awake through a combination of the learned skill of light sleeping and the
attentiveness of the AI in his suit. His AI gently prodded him awake with
increasing jolts of pain straight to his nervous system. Using this method, it
usually didn’t take long to wake up a sleeping officer.

“Yes ma’am.”

Unaware of the pain his suit had inflicted on him,
Teana leaned away from her computer screen and pointed at it. “I want you to
read this.”

Moving forward, the pain faded from his mind as
Spike read the report. “Is this true?”

Teana shrugged. “According to every trick I know,
this file is legit. The only question is why would Commander Cline send it
directly to me?”

“Do you know this commander?”

“Only by reputation, he was a Captain at the time
though. He was the officer in charge of the Planetary Defense System when the
Nemesis slipped past undetected in its rush to protect the President.”

“And now he’s a commander?”

“The military needed a scapegoat for their
failures in the whole assassination attempt and Cline was convenient. But that
is whole other subject.” She pointed at one area of the report. “What do you
make of this?”

“Haumea?” asked Spurgeon. Isn’t it some sort of
uninhabited rock out past Pluto?”

Teana nodded. “Supposedly but that really isn’t
our concern, well not directly. I want you two to keep your eyes and ears open
while we are on our tour tomorrow. If you see any sort of reference to the
dwarf planet, I want you to alert me ASAP.”

Spurgeon had to ask, “Why?”

Teana took a deep breath before answering. “As
citizens of the Coalition, it is our duty to protect it from all enemies,
foreign and domestic. And believe me; if Titan Avionics is sending ships to
Haumea then they are trading with the Confederacy. The Confederates aren’t as
beaten as the general population has been led to believe.”

That was news to both SWAT officers but their
current charge was on the High Council and she would know better than they
would. Moving back to their posts, the two SWAT officers settled in to get as
much sleep as possible over the next few hours. Tomorrow seemed like it might
be a bit hectic.

*   *   *   *   *

Sheriff Kassinger paced back and forth as he
surveyed the carnage.

Sometime after midnight his office had received a
report concerning a shooting in the downtown area. The first two deputies on
the scene had called for additional backup when they found the six dead bodies
and the mutilated corpse of what looked like an overgrown purple bug. Within
minutes, the sheriff’s police band was afire with conflicting reports, ranging
from a gang war to being invaded by giant insects.

When Sheriff Kassinger had arrived, he’d
immediately put a lockdown on the crime scene, including all information
concerning the incident and personnel. This wouldn’t eliminate the rumors but
it would slow them down and it would keep the media at bay. Kassinger paused
and looked down on the headless corpse of the geometrid. “Who in the fuck did
this?”

“The Red Falcon,” came a voice behind him.

Kassinger spun and dropped his hand onto his gun
but didn’t draw it when he recognized the speaker. A Jovian dressed in the
official black uniform of the SIS stepped up to his commanding officer, clicked
his heels together and nodded his head.

“Kommandant.”

“What in the world are you doing here?”

“I’m working…what does it look like?”

Kassinger took a deep breath to calm himself
before he spoke next or he would be tempted just to reach over and pull the
Jovian’s head off. “Pridgen…I meant what are you doing away from Mocha’s?”

The SIS officer unconsciously adjusted his cap as
he stepped over the mutilated corpses. “I am actually on a mission for my
employer,” he made the air quotation marks with his hands. “A small time dealer
known as Needles was supposed to meet with a supplier last night.”

“I know who Needles is,” Kassinger pointed down at
the decapitated corpse, “and there is no way in Hell that Needles did this.”

Pridgen shook his head. “No. As I said, it was
probably the Red Falcon and Jagger Jax.”

“And why would the bounty hunter and that damned
pirate be in my city?”

“Mocha sent the Falcon here to collect on a debt.
I would guess that something triggered their attack on the bug. Nothing in the
Falcon’s profile would suggest this action.”

“Needles would know.” Kassinger spun around
quickly looking for the drug dealer. “Where is he?”

Turning back he found Pridgen bent over studying
the ground. As much as he wanted to demand answers, he knew that the Jovian had
more skill than anyone else in his department when it came to tracking and
yelling at him would only delay his reading.

The Sheriff waited until the Jovian stood back up
before asking, “What do you see?”

As Pridgen began to explain, he pointed out
different sections of the battle that stood out to him, especially the pool of
blood with a distinct void in the pattern.

“Needles was here; see the area without blood? He
was laying down when he was shot but that was after the rest of the men were
dead or dying.” He pointed at a couple of the corpses. “These two were only
wounded in the initial assault but executed as they were reaching for dropped
weapons. You can tell that by the placement of their arms. They’re outstretched
in an unnatural position for a dying man.”

Turning back to the void in the blood pool, he
continued. “Needles lay here for some time before crawling off in that
direction. His wound is serious but probably not fatal.”

“It will be when I find him,” muttered Kassinger
as he turned back to his waiting men and began barking orders. Within minutes,
there was only one police cruiser and the Sheriff’s own skimmer parked in the
intersection. “You better get back to Mocha’s before your cover is blown.”

Pridgen nodded. “I’ll be happy when this mission
is over. I can’t wait to get my hands around that smug-ass gambler’s neck.”

Kassinger placed a reassuring hand on the Jovian’s
shoulder. “All in due time my friend, all in due time.”

Chapter 15

As morning came to Titan City, the panels of the
city’s bio-dome duplicated the faint light of Sol and slowly increased the
intensity of light and heat. Titan was in a synchronous orbit around Saturn
which meant that the primarily settled regions of the moon were always facing
the sun, while the far side of the moon remained in virtual darkness. Of course
this meant that the length of a Titan day was the same as a Titan year, the
complete orbit around the gas giant, which turned out to be about fifteen days
and twenty-two hours, using the Terran clock.

To solve the issue of day and night cycles common
to the human condition, the advanced solar-mechanical panels of the city’s
bio-dome captured and stored the faint light of the star until needed. When the
time was right, it would blend that stored energy with geothermal energy pulled
from the moon’s core to heat and light the city. It really wasn’t an efficient
method but humans weren’t always the most efficient or logical creatures. The
settlers of Saturn and Jupiter were still only three or four generations
removed from Earth and haven’t completely adapted to life among the stars. They
still insisted on regular day-night cycles based on Terra, hence the bio-domes
and their inherent quirks.

Stephanie didn’t think about any of this as she
moved up the white marble steps which lead to the front door of the retired
Admiral’s mansion. Her mind was already working on the details of tonight’s
kidnapping. The Falcon might call it a rescue but until she had his story
confirmed by Kaitlyn that was how she would continue to look at it. Stephanie
knocked on the door and looked around as she waited. The retired Admiral
must’ve spent a fortune on the landscaping of this place. There were dozens of
flowers and bushes which she recognized that were from Earth. She didn’t know
their names or the regions they came from but she was sure that the environment
of the bio-domes wasn’t exactly flower friendly.

When the door opened, Stephanie was surprised to
find that it was Megan answering the door instead of one of the servants. She
was sporting rather large sunglasses and lots of makeup, which at a few minutes
after six in the morning, was odd for anyone. Glimpsing a dark bruise under her
right eye which the makeup couldn’t completely hide explained away her
unanswered question. Stephanie couldn’t help but think, ‘
if the bitch is too
weak to defend herself or too stupid to leave him then she deserves every
beating.’
Instead she forced a smile to her lips and asked, “I’m sorry to
stop by so early but is Kaitlyn up?”

Megan’s smile was genuine as was the relief which
flooded over her body. “Of course, come in…come in. She will be thrilled to see
you.” Megan turned and began walking toward the back of the mansion. “You’ve
been good for her in these….rough times.”

Stephanie didn’t say anything but followed the
battered female down the hall. She mentally took inventory of the devices she
had hidden in plain sight over the last few months; a vase on the mantle, the
silver ashtray on the coffee table and red leather bound book in the study.
These were the only three she could see in her passage but felt confident that
if they were still in view, the others were still undetected. She was so
occupied with her task that she almost ran into Megan when she stopped
abruptly. The battered female didn’t even notice as she downed, what Stephanie
guessed was not her first, bloody mary of the day. Megan waved one hand down
the hallway and wandered away muttering to herself. Stephanie could only
presume that she was heading back to the bar.

Stephanie knocked twice and poked her head inside.
Even though she had never been inside Kaitlyn’s room, this was probably close
to what she would’ve imagined for the young lady. It was decorated in a mixture
of old and new, pre-teen and teenager. There were black and white pillows on
top of her bed which was covered with a thick comforter that was decorated with
the gothic motif of skulls, crosses and gargoyles. The walls were covered with
posters of the latest bands and anti-Coalition signs. She even spied a classic
Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ poster on the door of Kaitlyn’s closet
before the young lady jumped into her arms from the nearby desk.

“Stephanie!”

Returning the hug, Stephanie wanted to be firm and
get right to the reason of her visit but Kaitlyn had other ideas. Turning away,
she went back to her packing. That’s when Stephanie realized that the closet
was actually empty and all of its contents were thrown all over the floor. As a
matter of fact, the only clear spots on the floor were in front of the door and
around the feet of the boxy android.

“Isn’t it a little late in the year for spring
cleaning?”

Kaitlyn smiled. “Funny. I’m packing.”

“I can see that. Going on a trip?”

That stopped Kaitlyn in her tracks. Getting up,
she rushed to the door, opened it a crack and peered down the hallway. Not
seeing anyone, she closed and locked it before moving back over to her desk.
Kaitlyn pulled out a silver device which the spy recognized as a scrambler.
When turned on, it emitted sonic waves that jammed all forms of visual and
auditory devices. It usually only had about a three meter radius but within
that scope, they were very effective. The two questions which went ran through
her mind was simple; where did she get such a device since they aren’t
cheap…and who did she need the protection from?