Infiltration, p.7
Infiltration, page 7
He bent his head to Piras in thanks for being complimented. “I’m grateful you agreed to see me on such short notice.”
“That’s all you ever give me, Security Chief. Sit, if you wish. What can I do for you today?”
Kuran didn’t sit. His preference to stand tended to make Stacy antsy, but Piras was well-used to Nobeks who wished to remain on their feet. “I’ve heard it rumored you’ve employed the use of nanospies to great effect. Your Matara engineers the best of those units, and they’re rarely detected.”
“You’ve dug deep in our records since we brought you in as our agent.”
“I wish to be familiar with tools which could help me in my job.”
Piras regarded him. “Who are you thinking of tracking in an up-close manner? Your personal relationship with the governor makes me doubt it’s her. The lieutenant governor? Bryant has questionable ties to supposed Earthtiques.”
Kuran would have loved to set a nanospy on Ken Bryant, but he was aware of the potential blowup between Kalquor and Earth if it were discovered the empire was keeping close tabs on one of Earth’s top officials. As yet, there wasn’t a valid reason to take such a drastic step.
“I’d like to keep watch on a news reporter named Blythe Nelson. She’s come into private information about Governor Nichols she shouldn’t have had access to. I want to know who’s talking to her.”
“Sensitive information?” Piras leaned forward.
“Nothing to put the government or Earth in danger. It’s the potential of her discovering such material which concerns me. If I can find her source in the governor’s circle, I can watch the leak…and remove it, should it become a threat.”
“You’ll confer with me before drastic action, unless the safety of the governor or Earth is in imminent peril,” Piras warned.
“Of course.” Kuran didn’t consider beating sense into a would-be problem as drastic action, particularly when it came to Stacy. Intimidation had its proper place, after all.
“My Matara…Specialist Nath, that is, has developed new nanospies. Better sensors, capable of moving themselves around to escape detection. She’s applied for field testing. As there’s no immediate risk where this reporter is concerned and she’s a civilian rather than someone in an official governmental capacity, this could serve as the opportunity we need.”
“I’d be glad to assist in the devices’ testing.” Satisfaction curled warm in his belly. He’d been worried Piras would refuse him the use of a nanospy.
“I’ll have Hope…” Piras huffed, obviously irritated at himself for using her given name in an official meeting. “Specialist Nath will contact you and go over the parameters of using the nanospy. Since the subject is a civilian, certain personal spaces like the subject’s bedroom will be blocked from your video and audio feed. The information will still be recorded, but only Nath will have access to it.”
“Understood.” Kuran felt relief. He hadn’t considered he might witness intimate moments of Matara Nelson’s routine. The idea he might have when he was committed to Stacy sat badly on his conscience. He was glad Piras had thought of it.
“No one else is to view the rest of the footage except you and Nath. I’ll inspect it if either of you feels there’s a reason for me to. Otherwise, I’ll rely on your regular reports to keep me apprised of the situation.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” Kuran appreciated Piras thought enough of him to allow him so much autonomy. Yet again, he was struck by how much respect he was finding for the man who’d put his brother in his grave. Why couldn’t the Dramok give him the ability to continue hating him?
* * * *
Kalquor
Tara watched Yuder from across the courtyard. He knelt in vajrasana, his preferred meditation pose. He would have appeared to be deep in contemplation but for the severe crease between his steel-colored brows.
She drew a breath. Calm, she counseled herself. Neutrality. Both had become challenges in the days since he’d returned home.
She padded barefoot along the tiled ground. Her silk robes whispered, telling her beloved of her approach long before she arrived. The divots of his disquiet vanished as a slight smile appeared on his lips. His eyes opened as she sank onto the mat in front of his. For a golden moment, she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of his regard.
“You’re having trouble going deep.” She let her concern show.
“My stomach is growling. You’d think I’d learn to have my meals prior to meditation.” He grinned.
Tara had a strict policy of not allowing her students to skirt their integrity. While Yuder wasn’t a student, he was too important for her to let him get away with a half-truth.
“You’re struggling. There isn’t enough meaningful activity for you to direct your attention toward.”
A shadow of guilt appeared on his sharp features. “I’m trying, my Matara. I search for duty of significance, a task of value. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t made for this era of peace. As grateful as I am for the contentment of the empire, I’ve never known the harmony it’s enjoying. It makes no sense to me.”
“It’s more a matter of the restrictions placed upon you, isn’t it? There’s always some struggle to overcome for a society, even in peacetime. Your inability to be involved on any level is what chafes.”
He grimaced. “As always, you see to the heart of my dilemma. I feel useless, Tara. This is death for me.”
“Is that why you keep sneaking off to meet Councilman Oiteil?”
He stilled. Another flash of guilt, accompanied by anger. “You’d never spy on me.”
“You have friends who have spotted you together, and they’re worried. They commed me yesterday. They thought it best I speak to you before Clajak or the High Court finds out.” She held up a hand to forestall the explosion his darkening face warned was coming. “They wouldn’t report you, Yuder. But who else might discover what you’ve been doing? The war is long over, but the Imperial Family has its opponents.”
“Oiteil seeks me. He speaks, but I offer nothing that could be construed as meddling in governmental affairs. I assure you, my Royal Guard escort would testify to it.”
She ached for him. His need to be essential to his empire was blinding him to the trouble he courted…or it was too much for him to care.
“Yuder. Please, for the sakes of those who love you, consider very carefully what could happen. If Oiteil is instigating these encounters, it’s on you to decline them. Mere social interaction with a sitting councilman, even in full view of witnesses who’d corroborate you’ve said nothing out of turn…it could still land you in trouble. The Galactic Council’s High Court was specific.”
“Oh yes, they spelled it out quite clearly,” he growled. “I’m essentially to turn tail and run if the lowliest Royal Council aide heads in my direction. Ancestors forbid I say hello to anyone who’s ever set a toe in the Government House.”
“I realize it’s difficult—”
“Do you? Do you honestly understand what it is to have to stand by when the empire I once ruled is facing new challenges?” There was furious frustration in his expression and voice, but he took her hands gently to show it wasn’t directed at her. “There’s backlash against Earther males being made legal clanmates. Against the laws changed to accommodate up to ten legal bondings in a single household. The new Earth is already dealing with protestors determined to cut it off from Galactic Council planets, particularly ours. A spyship orbiting Bi’is has disappeared. If the Bi’isils have developed a weapon—”
“Yuder!” She stared at him, stunned at how deep Oiteil had pulled him in. She couldn’t help but glance around the courtyard, worried someone might have overheard him. Fortunately, his pair of Royal Guards stood well beyond hearing range. A dozen or so of her disciples were meditating in the area, at a distance where it was unlikely they’d picked up on the whispered conversation.
“You can’t do this,” she implored. “Oiteil has to understand the trouble he could get you in. You must know! My love, please. I don’t want you taken from me again. Am I of so little importance?”
“Of course not. My Matara, you can’t think it. But if the empire needs me—”
“You are banned.” She emphasized each word, desperate for him to recognize the impossibility of his situation. “No matter what happens, no matter how unhappy it makes you, no matter the challenges Kalquor encounters, this is your reality now.”
“Oiteil thinks the Royal Council might vote to reverse the High Court’s sentence.”
She stared at him. “He can’t be serious.”
“I thought so also, at first. He and a few others are quietly speaking to their colleagues, and he says he think he can gain the support needed to bring back not only me to public service, but Rajhir and Ospar as well. He says there might be enough votes to overturn the Imperial Clan should they attempt to veto such a motion.”
Tara’s mind whirled at the implications. “If Clajak opposed overturning the High Court’s sentence, which he probably will because he prefers to uphold their authority, he’d never consult you about issues of state. He loves you, but if he were to ignore your sentence, it would be seen as a rebuttal of the justice branch’s authority.”
“He’d be correct, and I don’t expect him to approve. It wouldn’t make a difference. I could belong to a watchdog group that reports to the Royal Council. I wouldn’t be a decision-maker, just a concerned citizen helping them perform their duty to the empire.”
It was hard to speak her conscience and fears in the face of his excitement, but Tara was certain Yuder and Oiteil weren’t considering the ramifications of what they proposed. “Yuder, you must tread lightly. In the end, what a few Royal Councilmen wish doesn’t have any bearing. It was your first conviction and the pardon that followed most feel tipped Kalquor into civil war. I doubt the people want a reminder of it, and if they’re asked to reflect on it, they won’t agree. If the High Court believes you’re conspiring to a return to public service—”
“Conspiring!” Yuder stared at her. “This wasn’t my idea. I’ve done nothing but listen to what Oiteil has to say on the behalf of a number of others. If my people call for me, I can’t stand by and not answer. I’m sorry if you don’t understand what hinges on this, for me and my empire.”
He stood. Before Tara could think of anything to say, he sped out of the courtyard, leaving her sitting alone and on the verge of tears.
* * * *
Captain Nako’s marauder
The ship suddenly blared alarms as another vessel appeared off its bow. Nako and his weapons commander shouted oaths and slammed their fists on their control panels in the same instant, furious at the surprise. Fortunately, the marauder and its computer podiums had been built to withstand damage from temperamental crewmen.
“Alarms, off!” Terig shouted, his command slurred by his descended fangs. “Assholes!”
Nako willed his own fangs to fold to the roof of his mouth as he sent evil wishes to the captain of the chevron-shaped spyship on his main vid. “They must be what Admiral Tranis told us to stand by unphased for.”
As if on cue, Com Officer Vaskiz spoke. “Captain Kila of S-S-one-zero-three-eight is hailing us, Captain Nako. Audio only.”
“Kila.” Mingled irritation and relief made his voice rough. Ensign Ilid had named his captain as another man, but Nako had worried about Kila’s fate nonetheless. “Answer.”
“On line.”
“Captain Kila, you nearly got yourself shot in the face. Of course, it might have been an improvement for your ugly mug.”
Laughter filled Kila’s rough voice. Nako could imagine the fiend’s usual mocking grin stretched from ear to ear. “Captain Nako, I figured if anyone could appreciate a joke, it would be you. Do you need a change of uniform, or shall we resume phase and discuss why Admiral Tranis sent me here?”
Nako and Terig exchanged grudging smirks. It had been a good trick. “Come on over. Bring your head engineer. He’ll want to verify our forensics team’s assessment that the recovered shuttle’s home ship blew up around it.”
* * * *
“I thought Imdiko Ulof cooked better than this.”
Nako grimaced as Kila’s chief engineer and clanmate Lokmi stared at the shuttle. “Ulof no longer works in the kitchen. He’s a terraformer now. It’s burnt to a crisp, isn’t it?”
“The scorch marks have scorch marks.” Lokmi rubbed his jaw. “The aft section is the worst. It’s a definite sign it was fleeing at the moment of explosion. Did your forensics guys confirm plasma burns?”
“We did.” One of Terig’s team stepped forward.
“Consult them and go over their findings, Chief. Captain, I want to see this survivor of yours, Nako.” Kila’s trademark sneer was in place, but it had a sickened quality. Maybe he imagined his own ship disintegrating with his clan on board.
“Ensign Ilid has been placed in a medical coma,” Nako said. “I may have to torture my head medic to convince him to wake the boy. He’s in bad shape.”
“Ilid? Dramok Ilid?” Kila’s interest sharpened.
“You know him?”
“I know of him. Has he spoken of what happened to him?”
“Nothing that makes any sense. Something about being afraid of the dark and the command staff becoming shadows. It was a lot of disconnected jabbering from a man on the brink of death.”
“Maybe.” Kila’s expression closed off. “Let’s go to medical, and I’ll tell you what I can on the way.”
Kila filled Nako and Terig in on the spyship orbiting Bi’is going silent. “I was on my way to check on it when Admiral Tranis contacted me and diverted me to your position. When Captain Abgi failed to report on schedule, we feared there was a problem.” There was no hint of his usual smile, worried or otherwise. “I served under Abgi early in my fleet career. He was a dedicated officer, committed to his crew. He refused promotion to admiral five times. If he died, the fleet has suffered a major loss.”
“We’re tracing the shuttle’s flight path to discover where it left its ship. It seems it must have drifted following the damage it took, so it’s taking us some time. All indications show it came from Bi’is’ general direction.” Nako preceded the group into Medical. “Dr. Zo!”
The physician came from behind a partition separating the main admittance area from prolonged care. His guarded expression was no doubt brought on by Nako’s don’t-fuck-with-me tone.
Nako respected Zo. He thought maybe the sentiment was returned. The jury was still out, even after decades of serving together, on whether they liked each other.
“It’s too dangerous to wake him, Captain. The slow bleed from his internal injuries damned near killed him, and he’s too weak for more than one surgery every few days to repair the damage and stop the bleeding.”
“Yes, I gave blood and ordered everyone in the crew compatible to do so as well to keep him from dropping dead, if you’ll remember.” Nako felt terrible to risk the young Dramok’s life when he’d barely survived long enough to be rescued. It made his temper flare, and he fought to not snarl at Zo. “This is Captain Kila, from the spyship fleet.”
“Doctor.” Kila nodded to him. “I appreciate your wishing to maintain Ensign Ilid on the road to recovery—”
“I’m trying to keep him alive, Captain. The stasis coma is my one sure way of doing so.” Zo’s growing anger was evident in his tone.
Kila’s brutal smile was nowhere in evidence. The man was capable of perfect diplomacy when it was called for. “I want nothing more than to let you do so. However, the situation is far beyond the suspicion of a ship’s mere destruction. The ship Ilid came from was orbiting Bi’is, making sure our old friends weren’t constructing weapons to use against the empire. Weapons we think they were developing, thanks to evidence my own crew uncovered.”
“My patient—”
“Is potentially the sole survivor of a phased spyship the Bi’isils supposedly had no idea was orbiting their planet. If they somehow discovered its presence, it puts the whole spy program in danger. If they turned a weapon on it capable of destroying it despite its being phased, it puts the Kalquorian Empire in danger.”
Nako sighed. “One man versus the empire’s welfare, Doctor. We have no choice but to allow Captain Kila to interview Ensign Ilid.”
Zo reddened. He could be as volatile as Nako’s clanmate Ulof when it came to his patients. Nako could sense him searching for a valid argument, but the doctor knew when he was beaten. He settled for, “Under protest.”
“Noted.”
“If his vital signs dip to a dangerous level, I’m putting him back under.”
“If Captain Kila is satisfied.” Nako said it apologetically.
“If his vitals drop. You’re welcome to court-martial me if you don’t like it.”
Zo swiveled on his heel. He stalked to the prolonged care ward, muttering under his breath. No doubt he was calling the two captains every name in the book, but Nako didn’t reprimand him for it.
“Dedicated doctors are a blessing and a curse to fighting ships,” Kila murmured to Nako as they followed Zo to a small room.
“I agree. The blessing part has kept this particular doctor alive longer than expected.”
Kila chuffed laughter. The humor died as he got his first look at Ilid.
The young man had been cleaned up, which should have helped his appearance. To Nako, he looked more wan and depleted than when they’d pulled him out of his charred shuttle. More a vulnerable boy. He lay still beneath the medi-bed’s computer arms, which shielded much of his naked body from view. They fed him medicines and nutrients while tracking his vitals. A containment stasis field shimmered around him.
“I found evidence he was operated on recently.” Zo bared fangs for an instant. “Operated on and left scarred. He’d been healed just enough to maintain a reasonable level of health.”
