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  May 11, 2430

  Alpha Centauri System

  Tyr

  Nathan?

  No go, the Archon answered back telepathically from his position in the hallway just outside the doors. They’ve got a camera here too.

  Lio?

  It’d be noisy, but we’ve got a window in three minutes.

  We need silent, David reminded them. Anyone else?

  Sorry boss, Jet-612 said, communicating through their telepathic chain, with each of them simultaneously functioning as a relay using their Ensek abilities, which also allowed them to monitor what they were passing along, making for an open comm channel between the 6 men that The Word couldn’t pick up on. Already in. Had to go dark for a moment.

  David frowned, holding position in a maintenance crawlspace alongside the dead zone they were attempting to penetrate. How’d you manage that?

  Went in with the crates. Somebody stacked them crooked and left a gap, so I went for it. Didn’t have time to ask permission.

  Any ruckus?

  No, I think I’m in clean. The cameras were out of view too. Nearly got mashed by a lifter though.

  Where are you now? David asked, rethinking their strategy.

  Intake warehouse by the looks of it. There are mountains of crates here, and a very busy army of ants working them over…one of whom just lost his keycard. I’m heading to position 6. If you want in, get your asses over there.

  Move, David said, sending out the telepathic message and having it ‘bounce’ from one member to another, though in actuality it was being retransmitted in a mental ‘reflection,’ with the distance of transmission limited to the individual’s Ikrid range. All of Green Team had trained hard to extend that range, as well as other skills useful to their line of work, so David had a fairly wide telepathic net to work with, even with 4 of Green Team off on other assignments.

  That said, the ‘dead zone’ was extensive, far wider than they had the ability to communicate, so they were focusing their infiltration efforts on what they thought was the most vulnerable side of the ghost complex.

  One of the first things Green Team had done once they’d arrived in the city was start digging into computer records using equipment that Red Team had smuggled in from the moon’s exterior. Their team had arrived the same way, while David’s had come the civilian route. The Word had obviously detected David’s arrival, but hopefully Red Team, and maybe some other members of Green Team, had gone unnoticed.

  Once they all got in, they literally vanished into the city, with no further attempted grabs by The Word, though whether they were trying or not was another matter. David had slept only 4 hours since he’d gotten to Tyr, having been busy nonstop with low level activities that did little to drain his energy compared to his normal training, allowing him to keep awake and active far longer than normal, though given they didn’t know how long they’d be on site, he chose to grab a few hours of rest to keep himself from dropping into even light fatigue.

  Green Team kept on the move, bouncing from location to location where they couldn’t be put under surveillance. Thanks to the Star Force contract teams that had built most of the city, they had access to detailed blueprints, allowing them to navigate through areas unknown to the public, as well as being able to access locked doors that were likewise built by Star Force, using dedicated lock picks specifically designed for the familiar technology.

  Doing so had kept them more or less off the grid, though when they passed through public areas there was always the chance of them being picked up by some form of surveillance, but thus far either their opposition had been unable to keep track of them, or they were laying low and playing another angle. Assad was currently monitoring the city’s data flows, having found a nice little niche to hack in from, and would keep David abreast of any changes in activity via comm if necessary, though thus far there’d only been a flicker since their arrival.

  That flicker had been in regards to exports, which ticked up by an average of 6-10% across a wide variety of categories. That told David that The Word knew they were here and that they needed to start moving their operations out, hidden in the commerce flow. Problem was, there was such a large volume of cargo coming in and out of the city that it’d be almost impossible to spot unless they put a total lockdown on orbital traffic and started sorting through crate after crate by hand.

  The lockdown was an option, given the Star Force fleet in the system, but they didn’t have the manpower to sort through even a tenth of the cargo, not to mention the delay getting through it all would give The Word the opportunity to relocate it before it could be found.

  So Green Team was keeping quiet, as was Red Team, who was off bagging key personnel in the Brazilian hierarchy on Tyr and sorting out which ones were operatives and which ones were legit. Their mission was to reclaim the colony. Green Team’s was to ferret out any Word activity.

  Which brought them to the dead zone. Another benefit of having the city’s schematics was they were able to compare them to the public ones and see where the maps didn’t match up. As expected, there were regions that were mislabeled or just plain left off the public map, that David had no doubts contained Word facilities. The complex Jet had just worked his way into was the largest by far, with several smaller ones spaced around the city, which the other three members of Green Team were investigating simultaneously in case one of them alerted The Word to their presence.

  Hopefully they still thought their secret areas were unknown to them, but David had long since abandoned any ideas about The Word being stupid.

  He crawled back through the maintenance area until he got to a junction that led him off through a level that ran underneath the dead zone, meeting up with Seraph-822 outside what looked like a small blast door that had a keycard lock that wasn’t of Star Force make. Devin, Lio, and Nathan arrived a few minutes later, having had to traverse a longer distance to get down to point 6 out of some 18 potential entry points Green Team had scouted previously.

  30 seconds after the last of them arrived Jet made telepathic contact from the other side, then the door eased open, showing itself to be some 8-10 inches thick.

  All clear, he said telepathically, knowing it was pointless to talk aloud when they had the means for silent communication, despite being only feet apart.

  Jet backtracked and led the 6 man squad inside. David came in last and closed the door behind them, waiting the few seconds it took then jogging off after the others, who split up and went in separate directions once they got to the main floor that Jet had entered from.

  David stayed in the ring of service areas and tried to work his way around the perimeter through a network of maintenance hallways, but quickly ran into a dead end. He back tracked and worked his way out to the main floor, getting quick telepathic reports from the others when they spotted a guard or camera, both of which appeared only to be located near the main entrances.

  That held with the overall feel of the place, which told David that security was designed to keep people out, not monitor those inside.

  The crate stacks offered considerable cover, so David crossed to the nearest one and jumped up onto the lowest tier, working his way around and keeping off the floor as he spotted the nearest people in mind’s eye and worked his way up towards the top, eventually finding an eagle’s nest to visually search from.

  The area was busy, very busy, but most of the traffic involved moving crates off the floor, with a lesser amount coming in at regular intervals. David followed the flows and saw they were leading to a series of exits on the far side, but rather than being mounted on movers they were individually being loaded onto conveyor belts and disappearing, one by one, through the walls.

  David knew that was where they needed to go, and already the others were working their way there. He knew they’d find a way in if there was one, so he stayed behind and dropped down a couple of tiers on his crate stack and picked one of the more concealed containers to inspect. They all had basic locks on them,
the kind that responded to chip tactile identification to release the latch that held the top of the crates closed.

  David didn’t have the key to open it, so he did the next best thing and wrapped his hand around the tiny device, pulling it up above the level of the crate as it pivoted on the loop ring that held the latch down, and closed his eyes.

  Using his Rensiek ability he began increasing his body’s production of heat and channeling it down into his hand. He released it into the lock, using his palm and wrapped fingers to concentrate and contain most of the heat, not allowing it to bleed off into the air as he poured more and more into the device. The metal he wasn’t going to melt, for his skill wasn’t that advanced…yet, but the adhesives bonding together the casing of the lock were another story, and within a couple of minutes he felt the entire assembly shift in his palm as they melted apart.

  Focusing so not to burn himself, he kept his thermal barriers up on his fingers and picked the halves apart, exposing the inner workings of the lock, which he then realigned to release the fishhook loop from the casing. He ran through the eyelet on the crate and tossed it aside, using his Lachka to cushion its fall so it didn’t make much of a sound, then he stepped aside and pulled up the top of the crate to see what was inside.

  More crates, small ones numbering 8x8 and probably just as many deep. He pulled out one of the synthetic boxes, as opposed to the large metallic ones he was standing on, and opened it up…finding white powder inside.

  He tasted it, wrinkling his nose as he swallowed a smidge of the flour.

  At least some of the crates contain ingredients for foodstuff production, he told the others, who were now well ahead of him.

  Question is, what are they baking? Nathan commented.

  Or building, Jet added. Mine have industrial parts. Nothing I can identify. It’s all small stuff.

  Anyone see a way through yet? David asked.

  Look up, Devin prompted.

  David frowned and angled his head upwards, then he saw the catwalks running the length of the ceiling, but they were too high for him to jump to from his stack, even if he went all the way to the top.

  There’s a ladder on the north side, Devin continued, but we’ll have to take out a few eyes to get there.

  Any other options?

  Hide in a crate, Nathan said, and David wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.

  Southeast side, Lio suggested, there’s a ladder almost close enough to jump to. We can bypass by the floor.

  Define almost, Nathan asked.

  I’m not close enough to measure, he said, and David could feel his mind moving in that direction. He could feel all of the minds in the area, almost all of them in the chamber, but his teams’ stood out, not only because of his familiarity with them, but because they were operating on a higher level and therefore had a stronger signature that ‘felt’ different. He couldn’t access any of them given the Ikrid blocks the V’kit’no’sat had placed, but they still reflected his Ikrid energy, giving him some information that didn’t require hacking into them.

  Try it, David prompted. Everyone else, keep looking.

  And they did, for nearly 10 minutes as Green Team skulked their way from one crate stack to another, avoiding the 400+ workers along the branch-like routes they were traveling up and down as they pulled crates out of stacks and transferred them over to the exit conveyors, as well as stacking up the lesser amount of new ones in the correct locations as determined by their contents.

  Eventually David sensed Lio’s mind rise in altitude, then he got a quick confirmation blip that wasn’t a word, but rather one of their set of telepathic ‘hand’ signals.

  Looks like that’s our way in, David told everyone as he started heading towards the ladder.

  Meanwhile Lio scouted ahead over to the far side, cutting through the wall that had open access points for the catwalk to pass through. They were connected in a large grid that covered multiple rooms, allowing access to what had previously been crane tracks on the ceiling, though their mechanisms had all been removed. In fact, the walls separating the chambers looked to have been of different construction than the structural elements, making him wonder why they left the catwalks up at all.

  He got his answer a minute later when a lone contact showed up on his mental radar, slowly walking through the adjacent chamber. Lio made his way around the square that he was looking down on and over to the most likely entry point the person was coming through, noticing the workshop below that had 2 dozen grease monkeys disassembling the parts coming in from the warehouse side and reassembling them into new formations.

  Splitting his attention between the work and the approaching mind, he noticed that they were pulling specific components out of the parts, though he couldn’t see for sure what they were…and to be honest, even if he was down on the floor he might not be able to identify them. Mechanics wasn’t his area of expertise, and the stuff the workers were manhandling didn’t match any of the standard parts he was familiar with.

  Lio turned the corner of the square and slowed his walk to keep his steps as quiet as possible, which was difficult on the metallic grating. Fortunately it was fairly firm and didn’t give with his steps, but there was still an audible ‘thunk’ every time he stepped down no matter how soft his steps were.

  The Archon got up to the hole in the wall that held a spur of the catwalk just as the person came through. Lio timed it well, plastering himself up against the side wall and getting the drop on the man from the side with a hand going straight to his throat.

  Lio held him aloft for several seconds as he squirmed in place, then he dropped unconscious, but not from lack of air. The weapon he was carrying slipped from his grasp and fell towards the catwalk, and Lio reached out for it with his mind, using his Lachka to lift it up…but it was too large for him, which he knew before he even tried, so he slowed it as much as he could with it hitting butt first with an audible clang.

  He managed to hold the barrel upright long enough to get his hand on it as his eyes went straight to the work floor below…but the people down there were making far more noise and thankfully didn’t notice the stray sound.

  Lio watched them for several seconds, wanting to make sure he hadn’t been seen. The catwalk didn’t offer any concealment, save for the shadows that the suspended drop lights didn’t reach up to.

  The Archon laid the unconscious man out on his back, looking him over. He was dressed in a Brazilian security uniform…not their intelligence division, but the regular guard detail that was visible all around the city. Lio had no way of knowing if this guy thought he was doing his job or whether he was part of The Word’s hoard of operatives and accomplices, but the fact that they had someone patrolling the catwalks, and armed, meant this area was more vital than a traditional industrial wing should have been.

  As Lio sorted through the man’s pockets he gave the other members of Green Team a quick recap of what he’d seen so far, then he took the man’s rifle and examined it, seeing quickly that it wasn’t the standard Brazilian plasma rifle. Rather, it was one of the knockoffs that The Word made.

  That made Lio cringe. Why bother dressing up as security if you’re not going to use the right weapons? It was a dead giveaway to anyone who had the proper experience that this guy wasn’t on the up and up…or was he just put here after The Word realized they’d breached the city?

  Devin sent a small recognition ‘hand’ signal as he approached on the catwalk behind Lio, then stooped down next to him.

  Remember this? Lio asked, passing him the rifle as he continued to sort through the guard’s pockets, pulling out several personal items along with a radio-like comm unit.

  The Archon cringed again, seeing the man already possessed an earpiece. Why have two sets of comms, especially one as beefy as the hand-sized unit Lio now held?

  Devin set the rifle down and walked past Lio, taking up point as Jet came up behind them with the others not far behind. Lio stayed put, finishing his search of the ma
n’s clothing and trying to puzzle out what was going on. He glanced over the side, seeing the workers keeping up their busy pace, wondering just what all this was about and who in here was friend or foe.

  Before he could make any guesses he got a telepathic warning from Devin and shot up to his feet, pulling out his own weapon while leaving the guard’s on the catwalk as he stepped over him, heading around the corner and into the next room.

  5

  David came up the ladder last, getting to the catwalk just as Devin’s warning was sent out. No visuals or other information came with it, so the Archons were moving forward towards his position not knowing what to expect. They were all armed with two weapons…one a stun gun, which David now had in hand, and a stinger with a couple clips of extra ammo in a belt strapped underneath the loose civilian shirt he wore.

  None of the Archons were wearing armor, given that this was a sneaking mission and they needed to be able to blend in with the populace to get to and from the area in question, which made every warning a bit more tense. They couldn’t take a random hit and shrug it off, so they had to be extra careful with their movements.

  In the past that would have been a greater problem, but with their ability to spot minds around blind corners the threat was lessened…unless there were automated defenses or other non-living opponents to deal with.

  When David caught up with the other five he stepped over the downed guard, but could tell that wasn’t the threat they were worried about, for he got a ‘hold’ signal as soon as he started to step over the man and turn the corner into the walkway through the wall.

  David crouched down and held still, then got a brief telepathic glimpse from Nathan of the room below…followed by a questionable tactic suggestion. Sensing their window of opportunity closing he sent a return gesture, indicating he agreed and that the others should stand by in their shooter positions as he tucked his stun gun into its holster and backed up against the railing as he rolled the downed guard to the side with his foot.