Skybreach (The Reach #3) (5 page)

“Hey, Holger,” Talia called out
.  “Why aren’t you the one hauling this shit around?”

Holger looked up and gave her a mocking smile.  “I’d much rather stand here and watch you do it,
sugar pie.”

His eyes dropped to her hips and he made no effort to hide his appreciation of what he saw.

“Ugh,” she said in disgust, pressing against the other side of the wall as she passed him in an attempt to stay as far away as possible.  “At least get out of the way, huh?  Go find something to do.”

“You’ve worked up quite a lather there, Talia.  Maybe you should–”

“Keep dreaming,” she snapped, not bothering to turn around.  She could still feel his eyes on her back as she stalked away.

In the week since she’d first arrived at Skybreach down in Link, she’d met plenty of good people.  Decent people.

Holger wasn’t one of them.

Ostensibly there for his fighting abilities, Holger seemed to Talia more like a freeloader, content to soak up the sustenance and security provided by Skybreach while offering nothing in return.  In the few hours since they had begun to move into their new lodgings in Gaslight, she had seen Holger do nothing apart from lounge about, picking at food supplies and staring at his
holophone.

Considering the rigorous recruitment practices that were supposedly in place, she wondered how he’d ever gotten his foot in the door.

Silvestri appeared in the hallway ahead, and when he laid eyes on her he seemed relieved.

“There you are,” he said to her.  “I’ve been looking for you.”

“What’s up?”

“Place that down somewhere and join us,” he said.  “We’re about to have a crisis meeting.”  He glanced past her and saw Holger loitering in the hallway.  He raised his voice.  “Holger, I’ll need you as well.”  Then he disappeared through the doorway again.

Talia continued on, making it to the makeshift surveillance room they’d begun to cobble together, and found Roman seated on the floor amid a tangle of wires.

“Hey, you,” she said cheerfully, placing the terminal on a bench and wiping off some of the sweat and dirt onto her blouse.  “Having fun?”

“It’s a mess,” Roman admitted, “but we have to start somewhere.”

She smiled.  “That’s the spirit.”

“What’re you up to?”

Talia jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.  “Silvestri wants me for some kind of crisis meeting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think it’s about the attack this morning.  The explosion at the consulate.”

Roman pursed his lips.  “That’s bad news, isn’t it?”

“Yes.  I’d say so.”  She began to walk away.  “I’ll catch you later, I–”

“Talia?”

Something in his voice made Talia stop and turn back immediately.

“What is it, Roman?”

The boy glanced down and fiddled with a bunch of wires.

“No one will give me a straight answer about what happened to Mattus,” he said disconsolately.  “The guy was my friend at Grove for a long time. 
I know he was killed, but–”

“I know he meant a lot to you,” Talia said compassionately.  She knelt beside him.  “I know he was a good friend, but I’m not sure what you want me to tell you.”  She thought back to the firefight with Capper and his crew down in Link.  “A lot of people died that day, a lot of good people.  Mattus was just one of the unlucky ones.”

“It just seems like such a waste when we were this close,” Roman said.  “He worked a long time for Skybreach and it all came to nothing.”

“It doesn’t have to be for nothing,” Talia said, clasping him on the shoulder.  “Not if we carry through with the work that he started.  We owe it to people like Mattus to make Skybreach all it can be.”

Roman nodded.  “Yeah, I guess.”

“Keep yourself busy.  Don’t dwell on it for now.”  She got to her feet.  “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll shout you to lunch,” Roman offered, mustering a smile.  “Knile is addicted to these disgusting things called chow sticks that they sell in Gaslight.  You have to try them.”

Talia grimaced.  “Sounds delightful.”

The headquarters were dingy and ill-maintained and there was a strong, unpleasant odour that seemed to pervade every corner of every room.  As Talia returned to the meeting room she glanced around, noting that it was much like the handful of other rooms in the
quarters
– small and sparsely furnished, lit by a square, rusted panel about the size of a dinner plate that was embedded into the far wall.  The bottom edge of the panel was littered with the remains of dead insects that had crawled inside and died before they could find a way out.

For some reason she’
d expected more from the Reach.  In her mind, she’d pictured
that it would be significantly better than conditions in Link, but it seemed that, in Gaslight at least, that was not necessarily the case.

Silvestri glanced up from a diagram he’d been poring over with Knile as Talia entered the room.  Those assembled had been chatting quietly amongst themselves, but as Silvestri clapped his hands together to gain their attention they began to simmer down.

“All right, people, we’re all here,” he announced.  “Let’s get started.”

Talia looked about for somewhere to stand.  Space was at a premium with so many already gathered, so she positioned herself just inside the door jamb next to where Holger stood with his arms crossed, leering down at her.

“One thing first,” Holger said, interrupting Silvestri.  “Before we get started, I have to know – what the hell is that stink?  Smells like they scrubbed the walls with rotten meat.”

Silvestri looked across at Knile, who was propped up against a bench nearby.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to find this place,” Knile said.  “It’s the best I could do at short notice.”  He sniffed at the air, and as the light panel behind him flickered he gave it a solid thump with his fist, bringing it back to full illumination.  “I don’t know what they were using it for before we got here, and frankly, I’d rather leave it that way.”

Holger twisted his mouth disparagingly.  “I don’t think I can stomach dinner with this stench–”

“Good,” Silvestri snapped.  “You could stand to lose a few hundred kilos.”  There were a few guffaws around the room, but Silvestri held up his hands for quiet.  “That’s enough.  Let’s get down to business.”

“Yeah, everyone,” Holger said mockingly.  “We’ve got a
crisis
on our hands.”

“First, a few introductions,” Silvestri went on, ignoring him.  He began on his left.  “Knile Oberend, one of our specialists on the Reach itself.”  Knile gave a curt little wave.  Silvestri pointed to the next man, a thin, dark-haired fellow with a prominent mole under his right eye.  “Yun, expert in tech and particularly electronics.  Aksel, our eyes in the Consortium network.  Talia, one of my personal advisors.”  Holger smirked at this.  “Holger, our lead brawler.  He and his team will be providing the muscle when we go up against the Redmen.”

“Good luck,” Knile said under his breath.

“Hey,” Holger shot back, “if they couldn’t kill a scrawny bug like you, what have I got to worry about?”

Knile shrugged.  “Whatever you say.”

“Remus,” Silvestri went on, indicating to a short, middle-aged man with auburn hair and a neatly trimmed beard beside him.  “He’s a history buff, particularly on the Reach.  Knows a lot about how things work around here.”  Remus nodded politely and gave them a meek smile.

“Howdy,” he said.

“Iris,” Silvestri said, nodding to the woman with the tattoo of a snake on her neck.  “Strategist and head of security.”  Silvestri then glanced to the corner of the room, where the last person waited to be introduced.  Although seated, he was so huge that his eyes were on the same level as those who were standing.  “And this is uh…”  Silvestri wiggled his fingers as he attempted to come up with the appropriate title.  “Redman Lazarus.”

Lazarus’ eyes, which had up until now been pointed at the floor, suddenly shot up and bored into Silvestri, full of ire.

“He’s not really one for nicknames,” Knile said quickly, getting to his feet.  “How about ‘Aron Lazarus of the Crimson Shield’?”

Lazarus grunted and glared at Silvestri a moment longer before dropping his eyes back to the floor.

“Good,” Silvestri said, struggling to regain his composure.  The silver coin that he carried with him was suddenly in his fingers again, flipping around nervously.  “Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s take stock of where we’re at.  I’m sure you’re all aware of what has taken place here in Gaslight today.”

“It’s chaos around here,” Iris remarked sourly.  “Where did these insurgents come from?”

“Word on the street is that they’re calling themselves ‘Children of Earth,” Silvestri said.  “They’ve been sighted around the Reach before.  H
owever,
no one seemed aware of their activities.”  He tapped his head.  “They bear a circular mark on their foreheads.  Up until now it had been assumed that they were merely harmless zealots, but now we know that is not the case.”

“I think they’ve been building up to this for a while,” Knile said.  He glanced at Talia.  “I’m pretty sure they were the ones who caused an explosion up in the Atrium a few years back.  I was there on the day and I saw them hanging around.”

The day Mianda died
, Talia thought as she stared back at Knile.  She could see in his face that he still found the memory unpleasant.

“What were
you
doing there?” Holger said.

Knile grimaced.  “Long story.”  He waved his hand dismissively.  “Anyway, they were amateurs back then.  Opportunists.  By the looks of it, they’ve gotten themselves organised now.”

“So what do these weirdos want?” Yun said.

“There are scattered reports coming in that their preachings involve embracing Earth, foregoing any kind of relocation to the outer colonies,” Silvestri said.  He looked at each of them in turn.  “If that is the case then it would be reasonable to assume that they want to drive the Consortium out and close down the Wire.  That way they could keep everyone earthbound.”

“Which puts them in direct contradiction to Skybreach,” Knile said.  “We’re fighting for ideals that lie on the opposite end of the spectrum.”

“They won’t break the Consortium,” Remus said adamantly.  “The Consortium is too big.  Too powerful.”

“I don’t think we can rely upon that way of thinking,” Silvestri said.  “Aksel is trying to intercept communications between the Consortium powerbrokers as we speak, but until we know any better, I think we have to assume that the timeline for Skybreach has changed drastically.”

“To what?” Holger said.

Silvestri spun the coin in his hands, seemingly reluctant to speak.

“I’ve decided we need to be looking at implementation in two weeks.”

There was a moment of complete silence, then an uproar as everyone began speaking at once.  Their responses ranged from indignation to anger to outright disbelief, and as they each tried to be heard over the other the room was filled with a riotous din.

“Enough!” Silvestri shouted, holding up his hands again.  “Enough!”  He waited until the noise died away.  “I know this throws our plans into disarray, but–”

“We don’t
have
plans for that kind of timeline,” Yun said.  “Emil had us working on a projection of three to six months.”

“So did I,” Silvestri said, “until this morning.”

“We’d have to throw out practically everything we’ve done,” Iris said.  “That’s what we’re talking about here, right?  Starting from scratch and coming up with a new plan that has almost no chance of success, given the amount of time we have to work with.”

“It can’t be done,” Remus muttered to himself.

“What’s the point?” Holger said.  “There are easier ways to commit suicide.”

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Silvestri said, “but we can’t underestimate what we are dealing with here.  Some of you might be looking at this attack as nothing more than an inconvenience, but you need to stop and think about it.  The Consortium have never been threatened during their decades of occupation here. 
Decades
.  We have no idea how they could react to this uprising.”  He moved his hand in a broad sweeping motion.  “We don’t know what these Children of Earth are capable of doing.  Knile has done some digging and believes that they might have as many as a dozen cells across the Reach.  What if this isn’t the end of their attacks, but instead the first of many?”