Relic Tech (Crax War Chronicles) (40 page)

My eyes were wide. The meal with Specialist Tahgs felt weeks past. “Actually, sir, Mr. Habbuk requested I escort him back to his quarters just after I was contacted by Specialist Muller to report to the colonist area.”

“Any
additional observations?” Chief Brold asked.

The screen remained frozen on the assassinated men. “Mr. Habbuk was insistent I escort him, but then said it would be fine and that I had others to watch. I told him to remain and I would send someone.” I searched my memory. “During the boarding, Mr. Habbuk responded similarly. He turned toward the offender before any observable hostile act.” Chief Brold nodded in agreement.

“You all noted,” said the XO, “that someone, not picked up by the monitor, passed by Private Fleishman without raising an alarm. He didn’t nod or acknowledge, so definitely not a marine. Probably not security. A passenger in the corridor should have raised suspicion. I believe a maintenance or engineering tech, or engineer. This assessment will tie in later.”

“I saw the laser flash, light duty?” asked Haxon. “What other weapon was employed?”

“Small caliber MP,” Chief Brold said. “Non-explosive rounds.” He lowered the screen and tossed aside his toothpick. “Now for the primary targets.” That statement raised four of our six eyebrows. Haxon remaining impassive. “Instructor Watts and her son.”

My nose started bleeding again. “Not Lowell Owen?” I asked.

“Why would you say that?” asked the XO.

“It was my understanding that he was a corporate whistleblower.” I dabbed my nose. “Although all that’s happened seems pretty far to go to get him.” I recalled Frost’s inadequate reports and deleted sec-bot files. “He’d been roughed up pretty badly before. When I was in confinement. I filed an addendum report.”

“No, Keesay,” said the chief. “Colonist Owen was either an innocent bystander, or more likely Instructor Watts’s white knight.”

“Agreed,”
the XO said, rubbing his chin. “Up until now we haven’t had much success in tracking the suspected infiltrator. Specialist Haxon, could you speak to that?”

“Sure,” Haxon said, after a nod from Chief Brold. “The non-detection device. We tried to scan for alloys unique to Crax and V’Gun, hall by hall and, covertly, room to room without success. Senior Engineer McAllister programmed the security monitors to track civilian and personnel movements, and identified patterns and profiles. Also recorded sounds not matching visual. Scanned various spectrums, and on the outside chance, scanned for shadows. Maintenance Tech Gudkov designed and erected multiple covert spectrum irradiation sources to provide a possible signature. No success. The system attack destroyed the data files.”

“From Keesay’s report,” Chief Brold said, holding up the note pad, “collected prior and follow-up interviews conducted by Specialist Club and Muller, evidence collected from both assault scenes, and from Medical, this is what’s been pieced together.”

He plucked another toothpick from a miniature barrel. “Maintenance Tech Schultz is our man. That’s why I wan
ted him to visit Medical.” Gudkov’s eyes widened as the chief explained. “Dr. Sevanto is scanning his bruised sternum right now. It’d help if we had a comparison, but Dr. Sevanto thinks he can locate any acidic suicide device couched behind the aorta. If he can, we’ll know for sure.” The chief gnawed his fresh toothpick. He had difficulty not grinding his teeth while uttering the last sentence.

“The blow to his chest was quite fortunate,” added the XO. “It’ll lessen suspicion. Even if Dr. Sevanto cannot confirm, we’ll keep very close track of Tech Schultz.”

“We don’t know how fanatical he is,” said the chief. “Nor do we know what could release the corrosive into his bloodstream. But he’s our only lead to any other conspirators. Right now Specialist Club is surveying his quarters, workstation and then frequent stomping areas.”

The chief held up his finger then, placed a hand to his ear. Over a minute passed. “Understood. Excellent work, Senior Engineer.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “McAllister reports that the attack program was advanced artificial intelligence. We might have eventually gotten the upper hand on it, but the exploration shuttle software located the backdoor deactivation. However, while it was breaking the entry code, the artificial intelligence program laid virus mines throughout the system and then self-erased. One of those mines attacked the backup installation from the memory plates.”

The XO interrupted, asking, “Did McAllister give you any idea how many more we might set off?”

“No. She’s working up a profile on them. Apparently, she intends to use a derivative of Maintenance Tech Cox’s Code Wars program.”

“Benny?” asked Gudkov, a confused look on his face.

“You got it,” replied the chief. “Apparently Benny modified it to overcome a virus mine set in the freezer system. McAllister said his program was able to temporarily limit the infiltrating intelligence program’s access to the freezer systems.”

“Well, of course,” said Gudkov. “They’re not a priority system.”

“Actually, they were targeted,” replied the XO. “What we now know is an A.I. program not only shut down the cooling system but initiated an emergency defrost sequence. According to Mer, launched from a mobile system, Tech Cox’s program interrupted the defrost but couldn’t restart the cooling. I’d speculate that the A.I. program set a mine in retreat, but one of Cox’s routines overcame it.”

“What’s so important in deep freeze?” asked Gudkov.

“Guppies,” said the chief. “And eighty percent of the stock was saved.”

Gudkov asked, “Isn’t the system Benjamin Cox cleared also tied into the one used by Medical to hold someone in cold sleep?”

“Bingo!” said the chief. “Leading to what we believe was the main target for the infiltrators. Instructor Lori Watts and her son.”

Again, both Gudkov and I were surprised. Haxon managed to hold a straight face. This time I spoke up, “Why her?”

“Let’s just say they are not accurately identified on the ship’s roll,” said the chief. “And that their continued health and safety may have a very large part to play in the war.” He let that statement lodge itself. “I feared their identity might already have been compromised. Recall, the colonists suffered greatly upon revival from cold sleep. In the preparatory sequence, a defective drug was administered to the colonists. It was discovered late in the process and steps were taken to nullify the results. At that point Watts and her son were not believed to be the target. It could’ve been a screw up. It could’ve been an effort against whistleblower Owen. Or it could have been a corporate espionage effort to hinder Negral Corp. Such things are not unheard of.”

“The incident,” said the XO, “with your arrival on the Mavinrom Dock, Specialist Keesay, was a heads up.” I noted he didn’t state Representative Vorishnov. He continued ticking off on his fingers. “The abduction of Specialist Tahgs and the effort to access colonist files indicated that Watts and her son’s cover wasn’t completely compromised. The incident during boarding, the A-Tech explosive on Keesay’s cart, and the suspected non-detection device, indicated there’s a concentrated effort against them.” His fists clenched. “We didn’t single them out for protection because their identity would’ve been revealed without a doubt.”

“And I had reports,” said the chief, “that unusual activities had occurred on one of the decoy ships, where Negral planted information about Michael Watts. None of the measures taken was as extreme as what we experienced today. And those focused on abduction, not elimination. But the Crax invasion probably lit a fire under someone.”

I said, “Could I ask someone
who
?”

The chief looked to the XO who shrugged and answered. “I believe a small minority in the government bureaucracy. Maybe a few military leaders. Several corporations. Capital Galactic Investment. Ask somebody else, you’ll get a different answer.”

“Some would list Negral Corp,” suggested Specialist Haxon.

“Namely, CGIG,” said the chief. “My mother taught me, when you point at somebody else, three fingers are pointing back at you.”

“Speculation is interesting,” said the XO. “But our main duty is to ensure the health and safety of Instructor Watts and her son until we reach our final destination, Tallavaster. We’ll need to work up a security plan while we lay over at the
Zeta Aquarius Dock.”

“The ZQ Dock,” said the chief. “We’ve got to get there. Let’s go over details of the attempt on Watts and son. Then new duty assignments. Commander, did Dr. Sevanto verify his initial findings?”

“Yes. Instructor Watts had ingested Sigilligaste, a V’Gun drug which is essentially inert in the human body. Traces of it were located on a drinking glass in her assigned quarters. Undigested remains found in Watts’s stomach. The latrine, where she’d vomited, contained amounts of Conwestrondian, another V’Gun drug. Some bound to the Sigilligaste. A lethal combination. Further examinations revealed small crystal like structures, almost identical to salt were found in the undigested food, digestive track, and vomit. The crystals were impregnated with digestive, time-released Conwestrondian, known to inhibit capillary constriction. Both drugs are colorless, odorless and very difficult to detect in food, blood and body tissues. The uncontrollable hemorrhaging in Colonist Owen set Dr. Sevanto and his staff on the trail. An antibody reaction in Watts tipped Dr. Sevanto off further.”

Commander Devans stared upward to the right in thought before he continued. “Dr. Sevanto reported, if Conwestrondian is present, even as little as two milligrams, a quarter dose if given for medical purposes, and even a trace amount of Sigilligaste is present in the body, the results...well, Colonist Owen. The damage from the sonic blade may have been crippling but the internal hemorrhaging caused by the drug combination was fatal. Dr. Sevanto estimated that even with a fully functioning med lab and immediate knowledge of the lethal combination, survival would have been less than five percent.”

“Okay,” interrupted Gudkov. “Obvious questions. Why didn’t the combination affect Instructor Watts? Why did it affect Owen and not the other colonists? Namely her son?”

“Any other questions before I am allowed to finish?”

I elevated my hand to get the XO’s attention. He nodded. “Why didn’t the assailant, presumably Tech Schultz, finish the job? And did Instructor Watts ID him?” Commander Devans didn’t scowl at my question as he had Gudkov’s, so I continued. “The non-detection device as evidenced by previous monitoring and by Private Fleishman and Mr. Habbuk would indicate that it’s only effective against electronic surveillance, such as a security monitor or sec-bot.”

“You want to take those, Chief?” asked the XO.

“Sure,” he said. “First with Keesay’s. Your sec-bot, Lefty, responded to the sounds of the conflict. His downloaded recordings indicate an intermittent scuffle, possibly a sound dampener associated with the non-detection device. Lefty arrived in the lavatory facilities, found Colonist Owen down and Instructor Watts huddled in the back of a stall. It transmitted a call for immediate assistance. The sec-bot registered no other individuals in the area but detected an anomaly in some of the scattered vomit and blood.” The chief scanned some hand written notes. “I don’t have it handy but the sec-bot recorded disturbances in the fluids on the floor, then scanned the ceiling for causation. It went into defense mode with both silent and siren alarm. It also fired two tranquilizer darts without success. The assailant then disabled the sec-bot with a powerful magnetic discharge. In defense mode the siren and silent alarm continued, but diminished in strength. We believe this is when the assailant fled the scene.” He checked his notes again. “A colonist child, Vargus Idaduhut, responded, saw the scene and alerted his father.”

The XO finished the answer. “Instructor Watts, at the time, was visually impaired due to the drugs ingested. She’ll recover, and she did identify a tan-suited attacker. And as far as the other colonists, it appears the Sigilligaste was localized to the Watts’s compartment. On the pitcher and one water cup. Apparently Michael Watts didn’t drink from the pitcher that night or possibly the night before.” He took a breath. “Colonist Owen apparently ingested the Conwestrondian like a number of other colonists. He picked up the Sigilligaste through his wounds from the instructor’s vomit on the floor.”

“And as the Watts family is under
special
protection,” said the chief, “we can reasonably assume that they’ve been administered non-standard inoculations. One of them apparently foiled the lethal V’Gun drug cocktail.”

I recalled the attempted assassination of Representative Vorishnov and my subsequent encounter with Field Director Karlton Simms and the resulting injection of an unspecified countermeasure drug to foil drug-assisted interrogations. But the chief’s assumption about Instructor Watts and Skids fit.

Gudkov nudged me, pretty hard. “Keesay, your nose is drippin’,” he whispered.

“Thanks.” I grinned back, ignoring the pain as I dabbed and caught up on what the XO was saying.

“I believe the VP from the Chiagerall Institute was eliminated not necessarily because of his ability, but what he represents.” He hesitated. “And his connection to the Watts family.” The chief raised his eyebrows and his neck twitched, almost imperceptibly, but it did.

Specialist Haxon spoke up. “Not everyone feels what the Institute does is credible. But you saw how long their VP evaded a crossfire. Whoever took out that marine was a good shot. And Keesay reported his early response at the boarding incident.”