Hello again, everyone.
Sorry this has been so long in the making. As always, feedback is encouraged.
Here are the links to the previous chapters:
Part 1: Brenna's Gambit
Part 2: Brenna's Fear
Part 3: Brenna's Quest
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Brenna’s Inquiry:
“I don’t care who she is, Commander. She’s a danger to the success of this mission. Admiral Dawson needs to learn that meddling in Intelligence affairs is going to cost him dearly.” Ban Danna was becoming annoyed. He didn’t like having his orders questioned, especially not by a man like Commander Tyche, who was supposed to just do what he’s told to do. He continued, “If you don’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done, I can find someone who does.”
“No sir. That won’t be necessary.”
“Good. Then you’re clear on your mission, Commander?”
“Yes sir. Crystal clear, sir” replied Tyche.
Ban nodded and said, “The Xenon claim the lives of many of our pilots every Jazura, Commander. She will quickly become a forgotten statistic. I will deal with the Admiral. You just make sure that you return with the Xenon technology, and without Commander Brenna.”
Tyche saluted then said, “Yes sir. Consider it done.”
Ban returned the salute and said, “Good hunting, Commander.”
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Infiltrator, this is Shadow Lord. Begin docking procedures now.
Commander Brenna spoke into the ship’s communicator, “Copy, Shadow Lord. I’m moving into position.” She looked out the red-tinted viewport of the Xenon fighter as she maneuvered toward the docking bay of the Centaur corvette above her. An extra console had been installed next to her for the “experimental” Xenon translator. The system used the latest in artificial intelligence technology, and some even believe that it may eventually become artificially sentient. Brenna wasn’t too concerned about that, she just hoped that it was smart enough to learn what it needed to learn about Xenon communication from the data chip in the short amount of time it would have. She wouldn’t be able to load it until she was underway into the Xenon system, whichever one it turned out to be. To do so before would be to risk Tyche and his men discovering her tampering after she docked. If one of them decided to go aboard the Xenon fighter, there would be nothing she could do to stop them.
There was a slight bump followed by the sound of metal on metal as the Xenon N fighter settled into hard-dock with the Shadow Lord. Brenna climbed through the hatch and was greeted by Commander Tyche. “Permission to come aboard?” she asked as she stepped out onto the deck.
“Permission granted, Commander Brenna. Welcome aboard” replied Tyche. “We’ve set up temporary quarters for you here in the cargo hold. I’m sorry we couldn’t do better, but the Centaur just isn’t designed to carry extra crew, and we thought you might like some privacy.”
“That’s very considerate of you, Captain. Thank you. Hopefully we won’t be more than a few days anyway.” Brenna was still a bit skeptical of the situation. It sounded good, but she kept wondering if they just wanted to keep her out of the way.
“So where do we start?” Tyche was asking.
Brenna replied, “I was hoping you’d have more information than I do, Captain. The freighter they used against us in Red Light was registered to a company on the planet Hades in Black Hole Sun. Since that’s apparently all we know, that’s probably the best place to start.”
Tyche nodded and said, “Very good. We’ll make the jump while you’re getting settled in.” He smiled then left for the bridge.
Brenna reached in through the hatch of the Xenon fighter, pulled out a duffle bag, and settled into her quarters. They really weren’t much, as far as quarters go: Just some temporary walls constructed to section off a small part of the cargo bay, a cot, a foot locker, and a curtain for a door. Still, Brenna was glad to be in the cargo bay so she could keep an eye on the Xenon fighter. These intelligence goons hadn’t done anything yet, but she figured she had reason enough to be suspicious, and a little bit paranoid.
“Jump drive activated. Jump will commence in twenty sezuras.” The Shadow Lord’s computer voice was a harsh, modulated bass tone. Far different than the soft female tone her own ship used. She sat down on her cot and waited out the countdown, then a wave of vertigo passed over her as the ship made the jump. She was one of the unlucky few who experienced this side-effect of jump drives. She could go through jump gates all day long without it affecting her, but something about jump drive technology was different, and caused her to become light-headed. Fortunately it wasn’t enough to keep her out of the service.
Once her head cleared, she made her way up to the bridge. In truth, it wasn’t so much a bridge as it was a large cockpit. Tyche was there alone, as expected. He said to her as she entered the cabin, “Jump is complete, we’ve arrived in Black Hole Sun. We’ll be entering Hades’ atmosphere in a few mizuras.”
Brenna sat in the copilot’s seat and nodded, saying, “I honestly don’t know what we’re going to be able to find here. Hopefully they’ll be able to give us a clue as to where to look next.”
Tyche nodded and said, “Well, as you stated earlier, it’s a place to start.” He was quiet for a moment, then said, “That must have really been something, huh?”
“What’s that?” asked Brenna.
“Seeing those Xenon ships just appear out of nowhere.”
“Oh, that. Yes, that was something, alright. One of the most frightening things I’ve ever seen.”
“The reports I read showed you were already at red alert. How did you know?”
Brenna thought for a moment, wondering how much she should tell Tyche. She said, “I didn’t. It was an educated guess. The freighter was emitting gravitons. About the only thing that has any real use for graviton particles are the jump gates, so I figured either it was some sort of jump beacon or it was a weapon. Either way, my ship was in danger.”
Tyche nodded. He said, “That was quick thinking, though. I’m not sure many other captains would have been able to put that together quickly enough to react.”
Brenna smiled and said, “Thank you. We were fortunate, though. It didn’t appear that the Xenon ships were coordinating very well. Had they attacked in unison, we would have lost, and lost big. Have there been any reports of other races being attacked in this manner?”
Tyche shook his head, saying, “None that we’re aware of. It’s possible, though. We’re certainly not telling anyone else that it happened to us, so it’s logical to assume that if it has happened to another race, they’d keep quiet about it as well.”
Brenna nodded and said, “Makes sense. If we were the first they attacked, then my guess would be that they’re going to want to do some recalibrating before they try again. Having your ships come out of that jump without being able to coordinate with each other somewhat ruins the tactical advantage you get from surprise. I don’t know how long that will take, though. They seem to work very quickly.”
“Hopefully we can capture and analyze this technology before they have a chance to hit us again” Tyche said.
Brenna glanced sideways at him. He was looking forward out the view port, not at her, so apparently he wasn’t trying to gauge her reaction. She tried to match his tone and answered, “Yeah, hopefully.”
The truth is that the Xenon don’t remember things like humans or the other sentient races do. All of their knowledge, everything they’re building and researching, is stored in databases. If you can manage to find and eliminate all copies of something from their databases, then that thing effectively never existed to them. If… no, when she succeeds, there is no chance that a Xenon scientist is going to wonder what happened to the project and start trying to reconstruct it from memory. To them, it will have simply never existed and they will continue on with whatever their programming dictates should happen next. The real trick was going to be finding and eliminating all copies of the information in the various databases that it’s likely to be stored in. Something that important would certainly have multiple backups across many locations.
The Shadow Lord’s computer interrupted her thoughts: Orbital insertion completed. Beginning interface to atmospheric reentry. Reentry in fifteen sezuras.
The planet Hades was filling the view port of the Shadow Lord now. Though habitable, the planet is constantly ravaged by powerful storms, making it one of the more inhospitable planets in Argon space. Generally speaking, the good people of the federation don’t come here for anything. The planet is a safe-haven for pirates and other criminals looking to avoid the law. Most of the businesses on Hades that are legit were started by natives, and those people move to different locations as soon as they can. Apparently Benson Transportation, the owner of the Morning Star, is either not a very big business, or they’re not completely on the up and up.
Brenna felt a sudden bump as the Shadow Lord entered the atmosphere. The energy bleed-off caused the atmosphere around the ship to ignite, sending flames up over the nose of the Centaur and obscuring the view port. Eventually the flames died down, and Tyche pointed out the view port, saying, “Cerberus City Starport is, if you’ll pardon the expression, dead ahead.”
“I’m sure it’s a lovely place…” said Brenna dryly.
The Shadow Lord settled onto one of the landing platforms as indicated by starport control and powered down. Tyche said, “We’re going to want civilian clothes for this one, obviously. I don’t think Argon military uniforms would be too welcome here. We’ll meet you in the cargo bay in five mizuras.” Brenna nodded and began to leave and Tyche added, “Oh, and bring a side arm.”
Brenna gave a little grin and said, “Oh, I planned to.” She disappeared through the hatch and went back to her temporary quarters to change. She put on a simple spacer’s jumpsuit that would be both inconspicuous and easy to move in. She strapped her sidearm to her waist, then threw on a rain poncho over the top of it all. Tyche was waiting at the boarding ramp.
“The others are going to stay and take care of the ship, it’s just you and me” Tyche said. He added, “If anyone asks, we’re a small corporate mercenary outfit and we’ve come here for some down time between contracts.”
Brenna nodded and said, “Got it. Shall we?”
The two stepped off the ramp of the ship and were greeted by a cold, howling wind that whipped across the starport, driving rain horizontally at them. Brenna pulled her poncho tighter and put her head down, making her way to the entry facility of the starport. Lightning ripped across the sky, followed immediately by a crack of thunder so loud that she instinctively ducked. It wasn’t hard to see why nobody wanted to come here.
They reached the entry facility and went inside. The heavy door sealed shut behind them, leaving the storm outside. Ahead was what passed for customs in Cerberus City: A very large man sitting next to an old walk-through body scanner. Tyche stepped ahead of Brenna and approached the man, who stood up with some effort, apparently annoyed that anyone would cause him so much trouble. “What’s yer business in Cerberus City?” the man asked in a gruff voice.
Tyche said, “Just here for some R and R, mate.”
The customs man said, “Y’aren’t carryin’ any weapons, are ya? Weapons ain’t allowed.”
Tyche pressed a few credits into the man’s thick hands, saying, “No, no weapons here. Like I said, just some R and R.”
The man flipped a switch on the scanner and said, “A’ight, move on through.” Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “Oh, and welcome to Cerberus City.”
Past the body scanner was a cluster of turbolifts. Most of Cerberus City was underground, to protect it from the planet’s constant storms. The one that was going on outside right now was pretty much an average day on Hades. The real storms could be much worse. Surface structures generally didn’t last very long unless they were heavily reinforced like the landing platforms.
The two stepped into one of the turbolifts. A man lay on the floor of the lift car, passed out and reeking of synthetic alcohol. Another stood against one of the walls mumbling to himself. Brenna instinctively took a step closer to Tyche as they entered the lift. At least the directory terminal on the turbolift’s control panel still worked. Brenna keyed in “Benson Transportation” and a moment later, the computer responded with, “Level seven.” She confirmed the destination and the turbolift accelerated downward faster than the inertial compensators could keep up with. Brenna grabbed onto a handhold as her stomach seemed to leap up into her throat from the sudden downward movement. The man standing off to the side smiled widely and let out a shriek that almost sounded like a cheer. A few moments later, the turbolift came to a halt in the same manner, and the man went back to mumbling to himself, completely oblivious of their presence. Brenna and Tyche stepped over the unconscious man and exited the turbolift car.
The turbolift cluster opened onto what Brenna presumed was the main thoroughfare of Level 7. Run-down buildings and storefronts lined a street just wide enough for two electric vehicles to pass by each other. The air had heavy, humid, almost greasy feel to it, and the smells of oil, waste, and rot were almost overpowering. The entire area was cast in perpetual twilight, as most of the artificial illuminators, like everything else, had broken down and nobody had bothered to fix them. Panhandlers were gathered around the turbolift cluster, some conscious, others not. Other people walked up and down the street, going from shop to shop.
Tyche led Brenna through the beggars and said quietly, “Be on your guard, this looks like a good place to get jumped. Let’s find a directory and get this done…” He was clearly as repulsed by the place as Brenna was.
“I couldn’t agree more.” She tried to ignore the hairy, toothless man leering at her. Never had she been happier to have her sidearm concealed beneath her rain poncho.
They made their way through the streets and found the offices of Benson Transportation. The office building blended well with its run-down surroundings. Brenna said, “Why would you want your offices in this part of the city?”
Tyche replied, “I don’t know, but I have a feeling this isn’t the worst area… Maybe they spent all of their money on ships and couldn’t afford a better place. Or maybe there just isn’t a better place. Who knows?”
Brenna shook her head and pulled the office door open. Inside was a woman at a desk that she assumed was an administrative assistant, though you’d never know it by looking at her. Brenna said, “Excuse me, ma’am, we’re looking for Mr. Benson.”
The woman at the desk, without looking up from the datapad she was reading, said, “Mr. Benson is unavailable. If you’d like to make an appointment, I think we can schedule some time next week.”
Tyche stepped up to the desk and put his ID in front of the woman’s face. He said, “I’m Commander Tyche of the Argon Intelligence Agency. If Mr. Benson wishes to continue operating this business, he will make time to see us right now. It’s a most urgent matter.”
The woman looked at Tyche’s credentials and said, “Uhh, OK, Mr. Benson may have some time to see you now…” She keyed the intercom on the desk, saying, “Cy, I think you better come out here, there are some people here to see you. They say it’s important.”
Cyrus Benson emerged from the back office with an annoyed look on his face. He was a short man, mostly bald and with beady eyes that were set just a little too close together. He looked at Brenna first, then at Tyche, and asked, “Well? What’s this about? I’m a very busy man.”
Brenna cut off Tyche before he was able to say anything rude to the man. She offered him her ID and said, “Mr. Benson, my name is Jess Brenna, I’m with the Argon navy.” She motioned to Tyche, continuing, “This is Jon Tyche, Argon Intelligence. We’d like to ask you a few questions about the ship you recently reported missing.”
Cyrus’ expression turned from annoyed to hopeful as the subject of his missing ship came up. He asked, “The Morning Star? Have you found it?”
Brenna said, “We did, but unfortunately it was destroyed. We were hoping you had more information on its disappearance. The missing ship report you filed was not as detailed as we would have hoped.”
Cyrus looked down, disappointed. “Destroyed? No chance of salvaging her?”
Brenna shook her head, saying, “I’m sorry, there’s not.”
Cyrus took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He said, “That’s a third of my freight capacity gone. Not sure how I’m gonna pull out of this one…”
Brenna said, “I’m sorry for your loss, sir, but we really need some information. Do you know the approximate location of where it was hijacked?”
Cyrus said, “Well, we were running some cargo for the between Barren Shores and Trinity Sanctum. The last time they checked in they were just about to leave Reservoir of Tranquility in Boron space. Our pilots check in every other sector, so that would have put them in either Family Rhy or Rhy’s Desire. They would have checked in before entering Teladi space.”
Brenna asked, “What cargo was the Morning Star carrying when it disappeared?”
Cyrus shrugged and said, “I can get you a manifest and an itinerary, if you like. I believe they were scheduled to carry Silicon on that particular run. Nothing special, that’s about all that comes out of Barren Shores.”
Brenna nodded, saying, “Had you made any special modifications to the ship?”
Cyrus shook his head, “Not really… we put in some cargo bay extensions and mounted a light weapon on it, but that’s about it.”
Brenna asked, “You didn’t modify the engines, at all?”
Cyrus shook his head, saying, “No, all of our extra money for making modifications went into the cargo bay so that it could carry more cargo.”
“From what you were saying, it sounded like this was part of a regularly scheduled run, is that right?”
Cyrus nodded, saying, “That’s right.”
Brenna asked, “Had your pilots ever reported any Xenon sightings in the area?”
Cyrus almost laughed, asking, “Xenon? No. There have been sightings of those new things: Khaak, or whatever they’re called… but not Xenon. Why would you ask that?”
Brenna shook her head, saying, “Just trying to cover all of the possibilities, Mr. Benson.”
Tyche spoke up, asking, “Is there any other information you can give us, regarding this incident, Mr. Benson? Any ransom demands, any threats to your company prior to this incident?”
Cyrus shook his head again, saying, “No. We made an inquiry to the Split government, but apparently they have better things to do than investigate a single missing freighter. They couldn’t offer us any information.”
Tyche glanced at Brenna. She nodded, and said, “Thank you for your time, Mr. Benson. You’re cooperation is appreciated.”
Cyrus asked, “You’re quite certain that the ship cannot be salvaged?”
Brenna nodded, saying, “There’s no question. I’m sorry, Mr. Benson.”
Cyrus looked dejected as the Tyche and Brenna left. As soon as they were out the door, his expression morphed to one of hate. He snarled at his assistant, “I’ll be in my office. No disturbances.”
He sat down at his desk and keyed his video communicator. A Split face appeared on the screen, scarred from action and wrinkled from age. The Split had one eye covered by a patch, but was still as ruthless and capable as one would expect of a Split warrior. Cyrus said, “They were just here, as you predicted they would be. I’m sending you their pictures from the security cameras.”
The Split asked, “What did you tell them?”
Cyrus feigned an offended look, “Just what we talked about. They know where the ship disappeared, that’s it. The only clue I gave them was the last known location of the ship. They should be heading toward Rhy’s Desire next.”
The Split nodded and said, “You have done well, human. Your reward shall be granted forthwith. Kk’run out.”
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The Split’s communicator went black with the “End of Transmission” marker all that was left on the display. He sat back in his command chair for a moment, thinking about the situation. Doubtless the Argons would go to Rhy’s Desire next. They’re so predictable. Not that they’ll find anything there… at least not without his help.
This is Lord Kk’run, commander of the Split Python-class destroyer Devastator. He thought back to when the Xenon appeared from outside the system in Rhy’s Desire and plucked that Argon transport right out of the shipping lanes. He was there. They were too fast, though, and he could not engage them before they jumped out of the system. To keep his failure from reaching high command, he confiscated all of the sensor data of every ship and station in the system, made threats where required, and eliminated people who didn’t respond to the threats. It was mostly luck that one of his intelligence contacts managed to find out about the Xenon attack in Red Light using the same freighter that had disappeared just a few Tazuras before. Nevertheless, found out he did, and now Lord Kk’run knew of this new Xenon technology as well. Recovering this technology would not only erase any potential black marks from his record, but also earn him rewards beyond his wildest dreams from the Split government. Of course he had his own people working on discovering the secret, but he saw no reason for not letting the Argons try as well. If they discovered the secret to this technology before his own people, he would just take it from them when they weren’t expecting it.
Kk’run keyed his communicator again, and another Split appeared on the screen. Kk’run said, “Our business with the human named Benson is finished. Kill him.”
The Split assassin’s voice came almost as a whisper, “It will be done, my lord.”
The screen went blank again and Kk’run shook his head. How could Benson possibly believe that his reward would be anything other than death? Were all humans really so gullible? Doubtless, he was expecting piles and piles of credits, perhaps enough to buy a new ship. How foolish. People in positions of power don’t pay others: They use them, and then discard them. It was such a fundamental principle to the Split, yet it seemed completely lost on these humans.
Kk’run would use these two new humans as well, though they wouldn’t know it until it was far too late. They would need his help, though. They’ll want sensor data and the like when they reach Rhy’s Desire, and since he was the only one who had it, he would have to give it to them. Fortunately, none of the other Split in the sector would even initiate a conversation with them, let alone give them information, so he would be in full control of what they received.
He smiled smugly, then barked out, “Spin up the jump drive. We have an appointment to keep in Rhy’s Desire!”
Brenna's Inquiry
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
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The Zig
- Posts: 458
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KiwiNZ
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Can only agree! Great read and a lot of background to what comes up next!Zigi wrote:Yay, Brenna's back!
Plot deepens. Hm! All this treachery over one bit of technology - are the sentient species really any better than the Xenon?!
Liked the city. It felt alive. Good stuff
Looking forwards to seeing this story grow further.
Looking forward to seeing Brenna spit into a Split frying pot
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Chinesefortunecookie
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