Unknown Heroes - Chapter 3 (v1.1)

[Warenwolf]

Edit: Added updated content.


Version 1.1 of this chapter is out, containing few changes here and there, nothing big time (only hundred words extra or so). The plot remains unchanged. I realize that there is still lot of proof reading and editing to do, but I have decided to do it some other time, when I am less busy.
Throughout the text I have provided links to the glossary of this story (containing explanations on things and persons). By every word that is explained in the glossary there is “*” sign. Just click on “*” and the glossary page should open.



Warning to new readers: compared to other stories one may read, this chapter (at the last part of it) has high level of semi-realistic violence that some may dislike. Usually in writing the story I will keep the violence levels at “light” (in other words no blood, descriptions of pain, etc…) unless it has a point and meaning (describing the situation, place, person’s etc…).


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Chapter 3: Old connections




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Links to other chapters:

Chapter 2: Means for revenge
Chapter 1: First kill

The glossary of Unknown Heroes

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A Mercury transporter with its id-emission signal identifying it as Otto 45, yet with a hardware-id remarkably similar to that of Faith, the ship reportedly destroyed few tazuras ago, slowly docked with the Seizewell Shipyard Station. The station, in the usual Teladi style, consisted of several busy wharf modules each operated by private ventures. Otto 45 had docked at a module owned by Thalikimanstir 14th, a notoriously liberal interpreter of the Company’s Law, even for the taste of her own Teladi species. It maneuvered through station’s narrow tunnels until it finally arrived at assigned docking bay.
A dock master was already in place, waiting for ship’s crew to disembark. She had recognized the pilot’s id the moment Otto 45 hailed the station, so she was waiting prepared with the ownership transfer and purchase certificate documents ready. She had done dealings with Otto Dahl before, a well-known salvager in the Seizewell system. From time to time, he would turn up in damaged ships with scars from plasma or laser fire. More often then not, ships he brought in also lacked shields. What remained essentially same every time, was that the ship was “salvaged” and that Otto was here to sell it.
To the dock master’s surprise, station’s scans showed entire ship to be intact, highly unusual status for the ships Thalikimanstir’s wharf module usually dealt with.
When the ship’s airlock opened, dock master saw that Otto had another Argon man with him.
“Welcome esteemed investor Otto and good profitsss to you. I see you have a friend with you. Transssfer or ssstay?” the dock master asked.
“Good profits to you too, and it will be transfer. We will not stay on this station and waste opportunities for profit” Otto replied politely.
“Good, good! That meansss I will not need to regissster your friend here”, the dock master said, noticing that Argon with strange scars on his face did not introduce himself, remaining instead silent, looking just once around, before returning his gaze to the dock master. The dock master has been many jazuras in the business – she instinctively knew that this Argon man would not welcome any questions. She looked at the datapad that Otto had provided, containing information about the freighter.
“Since I see that transsssfer of ownership to your name happened lessss that Mazura ago and I assssume that you are here too sssell it, I mussst by the Company Law ask you how did thisss happen”, dock master asked, not that she cared too much about the details. Thalikimanstir’s Dockyards did not become number one company among salvagers by caring about irrelevant details.
“Well I saw this ship in Greater Profit system tazura ago, went EVA and claimed it”, Otto answered giving her a knowing smile. They had been through this hundreds of times - he too knew that the dock master could not care less about circumstances surrounding Otto’s acquisition of the ship.
“Well than all the paperwork wassss taken care off”, the dock master said, connecting her PDA to the ship’s datacard so that she could see ship’s details and compare them to the ones Otto provided. Otto was not one of those salvagers that lied about such things, but the dock master always assumed that salvagers tried to cheat her. As usually the info Otto gave was true, but just as she was ready to start bartering about the ship’s value, one detail caught her eye. Teladi did not usually bother with such small details but the dock master was a cunning Teladi who knew when she was looking at a chance to extract some bribe.
“I see from ships datacard that ship’s shields were on entire last wozura. If you claimed it a tazura ago then how did you get through the ship’s shields?” she asked.
“Well…Hmm…I…” Otto obviously seemed lost for words.
For the first time during the conversation, Otto’s friend began to speak,
“My friend here confuses the stories of Otto 44 with story behind Otto 45. You see, he won the ship along with its cargo from me in a Triskele game”.
At the same time as the high Argon male said that, a bank note with 500 Nushari Buckzoids appeared in his hand. Nushari Buckzoid was the currency used by Nushari World, a planet in Danna’s Chance system. Since the planet was not part of either Foundation or Profit Guilds, it issued its own money. Unlike the ubiquitous Credits, Nushari currency was not electronic in nature; made from cellulose it was virtually untraceable.
“Mossst unfortunate for you. Profitssss will come again to you I am sssure. What wassss your name again?” the dock master asked. The bank note disappeared and the dock master rapidly came to conclusion that it was not necessary for her to know ALL the details of the ship’s background, so she quickly added, “Hmm, it seems it isn’t more ssspace on the form to write on. I guessss it isn’t really important fact”.
She was happy to see that hand with money had reappeared again. The bank note changed owner and they continued to argue about the price of the ship and its cargo. Argons wanted 2.75 millions for the transporter and the ship’s cargo of ore but settled eventually for 2.6.
The dock master was satisfied with today’s bargain. Argons seemed not too much disappointed either.





Billy was sitting on the only chair in his small, dark and damp apartment, a place that was included in the deal when he purchased the bar. The walls were grey from the dirt and humidity. The carpet, having lost its original color long time ago, was torn at several places.
The previous owner had been a drug addict who, when his addiction finally bankrupted him, sold the bar and the apartment along with the furniture to Billy for only thousand Credits and three Mistan shells*. Three tazuras later, a Police patrol found a ship drifting. Inside they found the previous owner of the bar that now was known as Billy’s Place, dead from dehydration. Euphoria induced by Mistan shells caused the man to forget to drink water. Billy did not loose any sleep over it.
Despite having nearly one million Credits on his bank account, Billy never bought new furniture for his apartment, so his newest plaything was forced to sit on the floor. The girl, early in her teens, had absent look on her face, her thoughts thousands of miles away.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked her.
“Nothing,” she answered. He knew that she lied so he kicked her in the side. The girl whimpered. Billy did not care what the girl thought about; his mind was on other things.
Billy, himself both a former pirate and ex-orehauler, understood that Tony’s freighter Faith was long way from the usual trade routes when it was ambushed and destroyed. He suspected that this so-called tragedy somehow was connected to the meeting in his bar between the ex-military man with expensive suit and Tony. After all -
Information broker was another of Billy’s professions and he knew when information could be profitable if told to the right ears. He used his connections in the Station Security to check the arrival lists in order to find out the name of the ex-military man. He also asked his cousin who worked as agent in Argon Prime system’s anti-piracy section, to check out background of this Mick Starfield, if such existed. His local contact obtained for him low resolution picture of Mick Starfield from station’s security cameras that he also sent to his cousin, but he did not expect that information from Argon Prime would arrive anytime soon.
Periodically Billy checked Mr. Starfield's whereabouts but it did not seem that Mr. Starfield had left the station since his arrival. Billy was surprised by that fact - however he was sure that disappearance of Faith and Mr. Starfield were somehow connected.
He intended to find out more about this connection and perhaps in time, he would find a way to cash in somehow on this information. Whatever damage Tony managed to cause NSM, Billy was sure that the bounty NSM would post for any information would be substantial. Greedier informer would inform NSM immediately about the planes against this huge company but Billy was shrewder than that. NSM’s anger would increase after it had suffered the damage Tony had planed. Increased anger would translate to increased rewards, Billy reasoned.
Billy wondered what kind of expert Tony had hired. Man’s age would indicate that he was inexperienced, yet his face was of a man that has seen too much hell. He did not have the 1000-yard stare of the mercenaries that been too long in the field, but his jerky and sudden movements from time to time revealed some inner trauma. Perhaps he was a demolition expert from the civil war that raged in Olamancketslats Treaty system, Billy thought. There were plenty of them around and many were looking for employment, not caring if it was legal or illegal.
Yes, demolition was most likely thing Tony planed, Billy reasoned, blowing up a mine or something. Kids his age opted always for violent solutions, Billy thought.
He smiled to himself, excited at prospect of something that big happening, fantasizing about the size of the bounty. Then he turned his attention back at the girl. She was looking at him anxiously, waiting to see if he would hurt her again. Billy had other ideas. He unzipped his pants and reached for the girl, ignoring expression of disgusted on her face.





After undocking from the Shipyard Station, Otto sat course for the Sizewell’s Trading Station, a ugly chunk of metal few mizuras of flying away. Of course, in true Teladi fashion, the place in docking queue was related to pilot’s bribe to flight control and Otto knowing the local custom had paid in advance.
Once the ship docked with the Trading Station, he went immediately to the station’s bank section. He sent 2.5 millions credits to a number account without a name. Hundred thousand he kept to himself just as agreed with Erich.
With few commands to the bank terminal, illegally earned money turned legal. Only cost was the Teladi tax on the profit from the sale of the ship and it was small price to be paid in the eyes of Erich and Otto. If the Erich had simply gone to the bank and tried to deposit over two millions of credits to his account, the police would have arrested him within few stazuras, asking Erich unpleasant questions about how he got the money. Not that Erich dared to open an account anywhere in the regulated sectors. He was, after all, officially dead…

While Otto was on the station, Erich himself was in Otto’s Harrier, accessing the Trade Station’s information archive. He looked for any information about NSM and its CEO. He had to pay 1999.99 Credits if he wanted to be able to access advanced search options and full content of the articles, but he could glance at headlines and short description of the texts with no charge. Erich chose the last option, not because he minded paying the money, but simply because he did not want to leave electronic traces that such payment would leave. A general search about NSM was undertaken every mizura somewhere in the known universe and no police detective or hired bounty hunter would be able to check them all. After few mizuras of search, Erich found what he was looking for.
Erich dismissed all the information about Mr. Rudel loving to take quiet beach walks together with his wife. However, he did believe that Mr. Rudel liked to dine at Nazaroth Hotel. Erich knew the place. It was in Vega Outpost, a small resort outside Argonia City. The hotel was a meeting place for the rich and famous, and likely place Mr. Rudel would choose to flaunt his riches and his beautiful wife, a former miss Argon Universe. A plan started to form in Erich’s head.

After Otto returned, the very first thing he did was to delete his ship’s log of communication activities using a deletion program that deletes information and then user chosen number of times overwrites the spot in the datacard, where the information was stored, with randomly chosen streams of information.
He ordered ship’s computer to repeat the delete sequence 22 times.
“Perhaps repeating the sequence 22 times is overdoing it.” Erich said smiling.
“Where to?” Otto asked, ignoring Erich’s remark.
“Argon Prime. Did you get any messages about my employer?” Erich asked.
Already before his first meeting with Tony, Erich understood that someone else beside Tony was involved. Ordinary men like Tony did not have the knowledge and the contacts to hire an assassin, especially an assassin of Erich’s caliber. It was obvious that someone had given Tony financial support along with few pointers about how to contact Erich. He remembered also his conversation with Tony and Tony’s references to his “sponsors”. Erich did not like working with unknown variables so he asked Otto to tail Tony to see if that would lead them to the young man’s benefactors. Following Tony, after the meeting in the bar, Otto discovered that Tony contacted a woman. Before they left Ore Belt sector, Otto had asked his contacts to investigate the woman and check her background.
“Yeah, there was a message waiting for me. It came trough COMSAT network just before we docked. Give me some time to decrypt it and we will see what my contacts have discovered”
All communication, to the grievance of the five race’s intelligence services, between illegal groups like pirates and smugglers or those working in the grey zone between lawful and unlawful activities like mercenary companies were done by one-time-pad system*. Since the invention of the quantum computers, every message, no matter how long the key was, was decipherable. The beauty of the system was that while cryptanalysis using quantum computers could easily test every possible key combination to see which would fit and therefore reveal the right content – but in doing so reveal also every possible wrong message which was semantically meaningful. The cryptanalyst would not be able to tell which decipherment was the correct one. Therefore, Otto did not worry of the message being intercepted before he received it. Using the id-signature of a taxi job offering that was posted to the station’s BBS the moment he got this message as the key, he decrypted the content.
Reading it first, he handed it over to Erich saying nothing.
“Sector 21? I did not suspect them to be behind Tony”, Erich commented. The bad feelings he had about his current job, which he until now dismissed as unjustifiable, returned. Terrorist groups were unpredictable and fanatic, a combination of ingredients often leading to disaster.
“Perhaps he is a member, posing as a vengeful man, so that in case of you being arrested, you could not lead the police back to them. Or they simply work trough straw man in order to avoid retribution of the police”, Otto suggested.
“No. I checked Tony’s story. His hate against NSM is real. Beside I would be surprised if they did not claim the responsibility for the deed”, Erich said. In his experience, every time a public figure was killed, every terrorist group from Kingdoms End to Grand Exchange claimed responsibility. Few times this fact had worked in Erich’s favor, confusing the investigators and causing them to investigate false leads.
“Then why the secrecy?” Otto asked, not convinced by Erich’s reassurance that Tony’s grief was real.
“That is what is worrying me. It is not the first time my employers try to hide their identities but terrorist groups… I will have to thread carefully…”
As usually, whenever they worked together, conversation turned to the talk about the old days. Trip to Argon Prime was long one and some stories and jokes were bound to be retold couple of times but two friends never grew tired of each other.

Otto and Erich became friends while undertaking same medical test required of applicants to the Navy’s flight school. Otto passed the medical test but Erich failed his. According to the doctors, Erich did not have fast enough reflexes. Instead, he got an offer to join the planetary assault infantry. Otto received fighter training with recon specialization and become Discoverer light fighter pilot. Erich on the other hand was found fitting for the cybernetic service in what other soldiers called cyberborg platoons.
Even in the age of spaceships and plasma cannons, the control of space routes was not enough for wining a war. The enemy spaceships could isolate a planet, but without the assault troops actually taking control over the planet’s continents, a planet could keep resisting for tens of yazuras. Argon generals realized early that Argon species had no chance against the Paranid or Split in close quarters combat, the type of combat that occurs in urban areas. Argon bodies simply lacked durability and endurance that Paranid and Split soldiers possessed. Since the use of intelligent battle robots was prohibited by the existing conventions, Argon military scientists developed the next best thing - cybernetic augmentation implants. Operated, or fused to the soldiers as it was called by doctors performing the procedure, cybernetic implants greatly enhance the capabilities of the human body increasing greatly the capabilities of relatively fragile human body. Each Argon division had at least five so-called cybernetic platoons.
Erich’s augmentations consisted of reinforced ribcage and spine, along with ultra thin nividium alloy around his cranium. In addition, he had a Slave Chip* similar to the type space pilots used, with an addition of motion targeting software in optical, IR and radar mode. His arms had meshbones attached to his original ones so he could lift two times his own weight just like a Paranid. His reflexes, reason he was rejected by flight school, were now faster than Otto’s Discoverer. Erich had good reasons to feel like a superman.

When his convalesce ended, Erich thought that the hardest part was over. How hard could a PT session be when you can lift twice your own weight? Soon he discovered how wrong he was.
Twelve months of grueling training began, psychologically much harder then the training ordinary assault troopers got. First few mazuras consisted of endless exercises with little rest. The point of most of them was to learn the new cyberborgs how to coordinate their implants under extreme conditions. Everyone soon learned to hate the marches where any usage of pain dampening implants was prohibited. Usually this type marches would not cause any trouble to a cyberborg, however the marches lasted several tazuras without breaks and no sleep. No matter what implant you had fused into your body, the second tazura your legs started to ache and feel heavy. Feeling of the pain in the legs without the possibility to stop because the implants simply ignored the commands from Erich's brain ordering his legs to stop and rest, led Erich to conclude that his implants under certain situations were in control of him. This caused great discomfort to him; he did not feel like a super man longer. He could not quit the Army as ordinary soldiers could – after all Argon Federation had invested nearly 7-9 millions of Credits in every cyberborg. And Argon Federation intended to recuperate every last Credit of their investment. Lack of motivation and dedication was easily solved among the cyberborg troops. All that was required was a reprogramming of couple of circuits and the cyberborg would be tailored to the needs of the Argon Federation. Erich preferred his thoughts to be his own, not induced by some neuroimplant, so he kept his own opinions to himself.
Then the tazura the training was over came. Entire class, except few men, would be posted at a carrier as a part of the ship’s planetary assault infantry contingent.

To Erich’s delight, once aboard the carrier he found out that Otto too was serving in one of the carrier’s light fighter squadrons. Both friends celebrated their reunion with a bottle of Teladi Firewater , that Buck, Erich’s friend from the platoon, managed to produce from some unknown source. To Buck’s and Erich’s great sorrow, their throat implants classified ethanol as a dangerous poison. Whenever they tried to take a sip from the bottle, the implant forced them to vomit and a message appeared across their vision, produced by their modified slave chips, telling them that the liquid was highly toxic. Yet again, Erich felt keenly how much the implants controlled his actions. To Otto and Buck’s surprise, he decided to do a test. He took out his laspistol and pointed it to his head. He pushed the trigger. Without his brain ever ordering his arm to move, not that the central nerve system could transmit the signals that fast anyway, within one thousand of a sezura his arm moved just enough so that the beam missed his head by half centimeter. Of course, this stunt cost him one wozura at the brig for the damages he caused to ship’s interior, but he learned that his freedom of action was limited to what implants were programmed to see as normal behavior. Erich did not get any more chances to philosophize over this because before the mazura was over he would be in a jungle stuck with a suicidal captain.





“Ok, it is your time to watch the scans”, Otto said deactivating the stasis chamber. Erich hated being in stasis. He felt tired and grumpy. The chemical processes in human body stopped once stasis chamber was activated so if a man entered stasis mode while being tired, he would be still tired when someone woke him up from stasis mode. Usually this was not a problem, but now Erich had to stay up next 12 stazuras and keep watch on ship’s scanners. Otto smiled understanding. He wanted to say that he had restocked the liquid mixer machine with chemicals for Miner’s Coffee in Ore Belt, but then he remembered that the caffeine would probably be brandished as a toxin by Erich’s implant that was responsible for ABC protection. Otto stepped inside the stasis chamber and activated it. Erich turned towards the scanners. Only couple of independent traders and an Argon convoy was showing on the scanners. Since the convoy held the course for the Argon Pride system, he did not expect any trouble. Any pirates would rather try their luck on single and unprotected transporters then risking their lives attacking a well-protected convoy. Those convoys were usually owned by big companies with means to get revenge on any pirate clan daring to cause them loss of ships and goods. If a bounty was high enough, it could topple most pirate warlords.
Erich gave a mental command ordering his body to feel rested. Erich’s various neuroimplants would coordinate the biological processes needed to produce such feelings. Erich used seldom this dangerous procedure. If body’s signals were not respected and listened to, internal organs aged faster then they should. Whenever he forced his body beyond the limits, there was a danger that something would go wrong. Therefore, Erich changed his mind and ordered his implants to allow his body to go to sleep, but not allowing it to enter the deep sleep. He programmed the scan to give warning whenever a ship capable of high speeds entered a radius of 10 km. Erich would be awoken many times next 12 stazuras by warnings caused by passing freighters or fighter ships that showed no interest in the Harrier. Then for last time the warning sound sounded and just as he thought that yet another harmless freighter triggered the sensors, the ship’s computer announced the Argon Prime gate.






“At least you got some sleep”, Otto said rubbing his blood shot eyes. He too had been tired when he had entered the stasis chamber. Erich waved his hand and said,
“Yeah, like entire fifteen mizuras”
“Well at least you will get some sleep soon. I have to head back to Herron’s Nebula to get some sleep. They know me here and I don’t feel like talking to police this tazura”, Otto said, pointing at the scanners screen. On the scanner’s hologram, marked as a blue miniship, a Buster could be seen following them at 2 km range. One Discoverer was at their ten, four kilometers over. Ship’s computer told them every fifteen to twenty sezuras that they were scanned. The identification codes of the ships, told Erich and Otto that the ships belonged to the Argon Customs Service.
“They will probably report my presence to Station Security once I dock with the Trading Station. That will mean that they will take interest in anyone who is with me…”
“Yeah.”
“The usual method?” Otto asked, not waiting for replay, his fingers already tapping at a console. He wrote a message saying that he had arrived with express cargo for Suad Khan, owner of a ship’s equipment and repair shop on the Trading Station. Mr. Khan had some contacts among the Security. Otto’s ship would be assigned at the second level’s private docks, at a spot without surveillance cameras and nosy dock masters. Otto sent the message to the Trading Station.
When he few mizuras later asked station’s traffic coordinator for permission to dock, he was instructed to dock at private docks at the place he expected. Mr. Khan was already there and helped him to unload a large box.


“You heard the Customs”, a station security man who was newest addition to the station’s security corps, told his colleague. He was assigned to work at Trading Station’s Security section only wozura ago and was aching for some action. So far, he had only to deal with drunks and a lost kid. The older man only smiled and answered, “I have been longer here than you kid. Sergeant will only tell you to leave Mr. Khan alone and that would be it.”
“Has Mr. Khan some friends in the Government?” young man asked.
“Or he is with the spooks”, old man said, using the slang for the intelligence service.
“But if he is, then he has the perfect set up for smuggling with nobody ever bothering to check shipments he receives for contraband. I think he has drugs in that box and I am willing to wager a jazura’s salary on that”
“If he has friends in high places he would never get convicted, even if we arrested him and found Mistan shells on him”
“And if he is with the spooks?” young man asked.
“Then we really don’t want to know what he has in that box…”
“So he is untouchable then?”
Old man nodded. The other man was visible disappointed, his hopes for action dashed. He rolled his eyes when over the com his commander ordered him to help some mother find her kid.



Suad Khan watched the man leaning over his nephew and whispering slowly. His nephew stared wide-eyed at the man but said nothing. Probably thinking he was looking at the ghost, Suad told himself. He had pulled many strings and paid lot of money to have his nephew permanently on station’s hospital section, within walking distance of his office. Buck has been like a son for him ever since he was borne. After his father died, Buck looked upon Suad for guidance and advice trough his life. It was Suad who had arranged for Buck to be enrolled in the Army and now he felt guilty for Buck’s condition. Ever since Buck disappeared on that cursed colonization operation and then reappeared some time after, Suad asked himself, every night before sleep, how Buck’s life would have been if he had counseled his nephew differently back then. Initially Buck was rejected as a cyberborg material and instead enrolled as a regular infantry soldier. Buck pleaded to his uncle to use his connections to get him transferred over to the cyberborg units. Officially, Suad was owner of a shop on the station, unofficially he was the foremost expert on correlation between culture and space warfare. Using his extensive knowledge of the five races cultures, he could predict how a new design would be used in space combat. Now and then, some Xenon hardware would find his way in his shop and he would analyze it to find out what tactics it was capable of. So it was easy to him, using his connections, to get Buck transferred to a cyberborg units. He ignored his sister’s misgivings, wanting to please his nephew. One jazura later, he regretted this. Buck was assigned to a carrier taking part in operation “Argon Pride” , largest colonization operation in Argon history. The taskforce was forced to retreat after a Xenon attack, leaving the settlers and Buck’s unit behind on the planet.
Then one mazura later, another shock struck. A patrol investigating the alarm at the gate leading to the unclaimed sector where Buck have disappeared, found Buck drifting in a EVA suit, with air almost gone. He was in comatose condition when brought aboard. Right after a Xenon strike force jumped in and the patrol had to retreat. Only after half tazura had passed and the Xenon attack had abated, the crew aboard the corvette could give Buck proper treatment. When he awoke, he kept screaming about his friend being left behind and children dying from lack of air. The crew looked at each other. It was decided that Buck should be sedated again. After three mazuras at a mental institution, Buck was finally released. Then the real trouble started. Ignoring his uncle’s advice and warnings from the Argon Navy, Buck began writing letters to news agencies and TV channels, telling an incredible story about what people now called the Argon Pride Tragedy. He wrote about colonists dying from the lack of air and a desperate attack on Xenon ground installation by remaining cyberborgs. He told about a friend of him still drifting out there in his EVA suit.

Initially, Suad and his sister, Buck’s mother, believed that Buck’s stories were products of the nightmares Buck’s brain have created when he drifted in the space in an EVA suit going out of the air. However, Navy’s reactions to Buck’s stories struck Suad, who had experience in such matters, to be suspicious. Navy claimed that Buck disappeared from the carrier when it entered the Montelaar system. Few moments after the carrier jumped in, an unauthorized use of emergency airlock was detected. Ship computer had announced that Buck Seydlitz Khan was missing along with an EVA suit. Senator McCarthy along with few other senators condemned the journalist who supported Buck’s story as an unpatriotic sensationalism creator, who wanted to tarnish the glorious name of Argon Navy.
Suad knew that patriotism was the scoundrel’s refuge. The reaction of the navy was an indication for Suad that his nephew was talking the truth. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out why his nephew’s stories were dangerous for the Navy.
After he was ridiculed and threatened by the Argon AF and then declared a deserter, the kid retreated into himself, staring into the wall and just now and then uttered something unintelligible. The media brandished him for a mental case and Argon AF jumped at the chance to discredit him further. It was leaked to the press that the Buck has retracted his story. Then one tazura Suad’s sister could not take the stares from the people on the streets, her son’s apathy and constant harassment from media anymore. She said she was going to the bed and went upstairs in Khan’s apartment. Instead of going to the guestroom, she entered her brother’s working room and found the laspistol she knew he had. They found her one stazura later.
Suad decided then that he was going to find the truth in the matter. He noted that Buck in his letters often told about one more survivor. Since Buck used Erich’s call name in the unit, The Grinder and not his real name, Suad Khan had a difficult task ahead of him. He had to find out the names of all men that had served with Buck in his unit. If someone had survived, he would see if they were still alive. After many fruitless leads, a name of Erich Campbell attracted his attention. After a visit to his broken parents who pointed him to Otto Dahl, he tracked down Otto to an apartment at Antigone Memorial. When he knocked on the door, instead of Otto, a wary man with telltale scars on his face opened the door.





Billy was puzzled by the data he got back from the capital city. Two tazuras ago he sent a picture of Mr. Starfield that was taken by surveillance cameras, to his cousin that was working for Argon Intelligence Service. His cousin did not find any Starfields that matched Starfield persona on the station, something that was expected, so he did a picture search based on the picture Billy sent. The answer he got was Erich Campbell. The problem was that the man was dead for seven jazuras now, a fact based on the data from an old biometric scan aboard General Donahue carrier. The soldier was confirmed KIA in Xenon sector 1051 and there was no doubt about it.
Billy thought that this case was getting more and more stranger. He never heard of any case or anybody that had covered his tracks this good. Billy’s respect for Mr. Starfield grew. Neat trick, Billy thought, operating your face to resemble a dead man. Great defense against picture identification methods.
He then started to wonder why Mr. Starfield was nowhere to be seen. Station logs showed Mr. Starfield to pay regularly his bills for food and the stay on the station. Yet Billy had not seen Mr. Starfield since he first saw him with Tony in his bar. Ore Belt’s Trading station was not that big. He decided to ask his contacts among the Station Security to see if Mr. Starfield was still among them. Residence Module had surveillance cameras in its corridors. Mr. Starfield was bound to be on one of them.
Billy looked at the girl. She had dazed look, a sign of space weed being still in her system. He wanted her to be clear in her head when he had his ways with her and he suspected that the girl knew this and deliberately smoked space weed whenever she got the chance. Well, perhaps it was time for her to take a spacewalk, Billy thought.





“I think he shows some improvement. He was more attentive this time”
Suad Khan nodded, knowing that Bucks condition had no chance of improvement but not wanting to upset Erich. He offered Erich a glass of whisky and as always before Erich declined.
“What do you need for this job?” Suad asked, wanting to change the subject. He was the contact man between Erich’s customers and Erich. Most of the times the Argon intelligence services were Erich’s customers but sometimes they were his marks. Suad was not bothered by this; both men had lost their loyalties long time ago.
“Well first of all I will need false papers and health check papers so I don’t have to be in quarantine. I don’t have two weeks to spare”
All visitors to Argon Prime planet had to undergo bio scans and two weeks quarantine. This measure was introduced to avoid epidemics from germs spacefarers brought with them. Erich wanted to avoid bio scans. He did not want to leave traceable DNA logs if he could avoid it.
“Second, I figured out that the high performance rifle with chemical propelled solid shots would be best solution”, Erich said taking out a datapad and showing to Suad the performance specifications he needed. Suad took one glance on the datapad then gave it back.
“Is Otto around?”
“Yeah, just post a transport mission application to Grand Exchange on Herron’s Nebula BBS. He will show up here the next tazura asking for adoption of a ship to atmospheric conditions of Boron worlds.”
“It will take at least a wozura before he gets back here with it”
“You know where to get one?”
“Southern Continental States started to use them. Lasrifles demands more advanced factory tools and raw materials that SCS lacks” Suad said, referring to the civil war at Olmancketslat’s World.
“I am not sure about this. I need a high precision instrument and when those things are made by amateurs they can be outright dangerous”
“Don’t worry about that, a former Goner is crafting them. SCS snipers using those rifles are feared by mercenaries employed by Alliance of Free States, that’s how I found about them.”
“Fair enough. How about the id-papers?”
“Already done, just remember to avoid bio scans. You got 30 mizuras before next shuttle leaves for the planet”, Suad reassured him taking a sip from his glass. Then looking at Erich for long time before speaking as if he wondered if he should ask the question he asked, “Was the name of your mark familiar to you?”
“Can’t say it is. Should it be?”
“Max Rudel was overall commander of the infantry contingent aboard carrier you served.”
“I don’t remember him. Cyberborgs were an independent outfit receiving their commands directly from special operations command. How did he end up as CEO of NSM?”
“He was a close friend to the captain that…”
“Don’t go there. I don’t want to discuss that subject with you”, Erich interrupted him raising his voice slightly.
“Who this person is or was will not affect my performance”, he said firmly.






“There couldn’t be another survivor! Those men are imposters!” the thick man yelled. His assistant used a napkin to wipe away sweat from man’s forehead. Two men in front of him stood nervously, afraid of their boss. The thick man waved the assistant away and she left the room.
“How do you know this? Which bird sang this fairytale?” he asked the two men.
“There was a biography request about one of them”
“Request!? From where?”
“From a low level intelligence officers responsible for anti-piracy. When he entered the search for Erich Campbell the computers patched his request to us” one of the men explained.
“I want to know why he searched for that Campbell. And I want to know before this day is over!” thick man yelled.
“I am afraid sir that this is impossible. We intercepted communication between a bartender in Ore Belt and this officer. We believe that this bartender in Ore Belt system has the answers we want. It will take more then a tazura, to equip and send a team over there.”
“So a bartender has the answers…Very well then. I want that Khan fellow watched again” thick man said, referring to only other man in Argon space that had ever tried to find info about Erich Campbell. That was six jazuras ago, but the thick man had not forgotten that. Bruno Gellar, a former admiral and commander of a carrier in the Navy intended to keep his wealth. He had after all worked hard to obtain it and he did not want his past to come back and haunt him. After dismissing his men, he called his assistant back again. When she entered, he told her to prepare for video conference with Senator McCarthy Senior.





Erich was bored. For half stazura, he had listened to the old man sitting next to him on the shuttle on how much everything was better in old tazuras.
“And now they will allow Boron food factories to establish themselves not only in Argon space, but on the planets too! What will happen when food production in Argon space is taken over by Borons? I will tell you what – the food quality will suffer because Borons will be more preoccupied with profits then with the quality of the food”
“Wouldn’t the Borons operate their factories according to Argon laws?”
“Well…Yes, but…The food production will be in the hands of the Borons!”
And so it went on for the whole next stazura about the evil, profit seeking Borons.
Finally, after stazura of delay, shuttle landed on the landing pad in Argonia. Erich found some hostel that did not ask about the id-papers of its customers and hired a room. He slept fourteen hours before the landlady woke him up. Erich paid her and then looked around for a hoovercykle to steal. Finding one, he picked the primitive magnetic lock and drove it to the train station. There he bought a ticket to Vega Outpost. He did not wait long before the train arrived. Entire trip took under a stazura.
Once he arrived to Vega Outpost, he drove around in his newly acquired hoovercykle until he found what he was looking for, a cottage that was empty. The place was isolated with no neighbors around and no alarm system to speak of. He broke in easily and settled in. He decided to catch some more sleep before he scouted the place. Next tazura, finally feeling rested for the very first time that mazura, he went to Nazaroth Hotel.
The place was just as he remembered it. The very first time he had been to Vega Outpost was the night before the tazura he enrolled in the assault infantry. He and couple of his friends were with him sitting and having fun in the restaurant that was just across the hotel. A girlfriend of his friend brought with her couple of her friends and they laughed and flirted with the girls entire evening. Erich felt that those were the best days in his life. It happened only seven jazuras ago - not even full seven Argon years. So close in time and yet so different it felt. He looked towards the restaurant almost expecting to see his friends there.
Concentrating on his current situation, Erich focused again on the hotel. Entire facade was made of glass with view over entire Vega Outpost. Using his scanners, he could see more now then he could see first time he had been here. The glass wall had shielding making Erich glad that he had opted for the chemical propelled solid shot. Initially he chose this ancient design because if he had used lasrifle, the onlookers could easily pinpoint his position after the first beam struck. This weapon had another advantage too. Metal piece propelled by chemical explosion inside the barrel of the weapon, could penetrate the shields unaffected...
Erich walked over the street and continued along a street taking him behind the hotel. Once there he spotted a young man, barely out of his teens, wearing the hotel’s uniform, obviously taking a break. Erich approached him with the smile on his face. Young man looked at his scars with interest. Erich knew that every kid dreamed to be cyberborg and that former cyberborgs enjoyed great deal of respect among that age group. He hoped that he could use this to his advantage. With little luck he could avoid the violence.
“Hello, friend. May I ask you a question?” he asked with jovial voice.
“Of course, sir. How may I help?”
“Well… How should I put this… I work for a magazine and we are doing a survey about how popular are the old rich man among the beautiful models”
“Listen, sir, if you are some kind of paparazzi, I can not and will not help you,” the young man brushed him off, underlying the “NOT” word. He turned his back to Erich and started to walk away briskly. Obviously, Erich would not be able to persuade the youngster to tell him what he needed…
Erich sighed, looked to see if anyone was around in the narrow street and then with few long steps he approached the young man from behind and grabbed him. With his left hand, Erich blocked young man’s mouth so that his victim could not scream and then using his right arm, easily dislodged the young man’s own right arm. His cybernetic augmentations ensured that the man could not get loose.
Once again, he looked around to see if any onlookers were present. The place seemed deserted, with only audible noise that of children playing in distance.
“If you scream you will die. I will break couple of your fingers so you will understand that I mean business” Erich said that and using his right hand broke couple of fingers on the man’s right hand. His victim started to shake uncontrollably. Ease off, Erich told himself. The kid was already in shook. No point in driving him over the edge.
He turned the youngster around and asked him with cold voice, looking him directly in the eyes, “You promise to be quiet?”
The young man nodded with his face contorted by pain. When Erich removed his hand, his victim uttered, crying, “Oh my Creator, I can’t believe this is happening to me… Why are you doing this to me?”
“Calm down, kid. This is just a bad day. Remember this: I will be gone soon and never come back. So calm down, eventually your suffering will end. Just answer couple of questions. Ok?”
The young man nodded, tears streaming down his face. The shaking was still there.
“I need to know when Mr. Rudel dines his dinner at this hotel”, Erich told him searching the man’s jacket. Finding the id-papers, he showed them to the young man and said “And please don’t lie. It will upset me and make me angry. Angry enough to hunt you down and kill you. Including your mom and dad…”
“Max Rudel? He who is marred to that Miss Argon Universe? Every Wednesday and Saturday, five PM sharp”, young man answered, his eyes wide-eyed from the fear of the Erich’s newest threat. The kid was telling the truth, Erich decided.
“There you go. Now do you have some car around? Hoovercar or a hybrid car?”
“Why do you want to know” young man stammered, his fears renewed.
“So I can get you to hospital. You are badly wounded. I believe I squeezed you too hard and one of your ribs might be broken. Without proper care it can puncture your lungs”
“It is parked right there, that red Kofstad right over there”
Erich sighed again, detesting himself and his job for what was to come next. Using his left fist, his augmentations giving him strength of a Ghurk*, he punched man’s nose. The blow forced the nose bone to break and to enter the brain tissue, effectively killing the young man soon after. Erich picked up the body easily and approached the car. Using the still warm thumb of the body, finger print sensors accepted the identification and the door unlocked. Erich placed the body in the back seat and drove towards his cottage. He passed by the restaurant where he had sat with his friends seven jazuras ago. Much has changed since then, Erich thought with sadness.





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Continue to next chapter

[Captain Chris sTc]

Tis good, must say i didn't notice grammer problems in it. That was a very gripping chapter and i can't wait for eth next one to see what happens next.