A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) (6 page)

Now she was at New Delhi and though her grandparents were dead she knew her parents wouldn’t be pleased to hear she had visited the colony. Despite everything she had heard about the colony she still had to admit that it was beautiful. It was no wonder the Indian government had managed to convince so many people to move away from the slums of India to such a pristine world a few generations ago. Even the city was something to behold, Gupta thought as the shuttle broke through the clouds. Surrounded by ocean on three sides and sprawling the entire length of the peninsula that reached back to the main continent, it almost conjured images of the lost city of Atlantis. Its largest spires were also impressive; some reached up almost two kilometers into the sky and were beautifully matched by their reflections in the glistening ocean.

However, once they got down into the midst of the city the beauty began to wear off. It looked just like one of the many cities Gupta had visited before. Here and there were obvious signs that some sectors of the city were less cared for. Half demolished buildings stood beside others that looked like they had been abandoned years before. Such sites plagued almost all of the human colonies. With space no longer at a premium it was far cheaper to just build on new land than spend the time and effort to demolish and clean up an old building before erecting another.

When the shuttle set down and kicked up a large dust cloud within a poorly kept landing platform the allure of New Delhi had already worn off. Gupta was ready to get the mission completed and get off the planet that had haunted her nightmares as a child.

After disembarking the shuttle, Bell took the lead. She had been to New Delhi before and had a basic working knowledge of its layout. She was also the only one who knew the contact they were going to meet so all Gupta had to do was look like a freighter captain on the hunt for a good trade opportunity.

Thirty minutes and two maglev trains later they arrived at their destination, a downscale looking restaurant. “You six go in and order yourself some food, I’m going to have a drink at the bar,” Bell said.

Without any further explanation she walked on into the restaurant, leaving Gupta to assume that Bell had already arranged to meet the contact at the bar.

For any civilian the meal that followed would have been less than appetizing but for five marines and a naval officer used to naval meals it wasn’t the worst they had ever had. The ordeal was made worse however by the stares her companions got from the locals. Gupta fit in with her Indian complexion but in this part of the city foreigners stood out like a sore thumb and everyone who entered the restaurant took a few moments to stare at them. Thankfully at least, no one sat too close to their table. If they had, their interest might have been pricked even more for each of the marines simply sat in silence as they ate, constantly checking their surroundings. Even Major Johnston, someone she knew from her time as the First Lieutenant of
Drake
, didn’t try to strike up a conversation with her.

Just when Gupta was reaching the end of her patience she saw a young man enter the restaurant, walk over to Bell and take a seat beside her at the bar. After briefly trying to start up a conversation with her he got up and moved further down the bar, looking upset at having his advances rebuffed. Gupta had been studying the exchange closely to see if their contact had passed off anything to Bell. Either he had nothing for them or his field craft was very good for Gupta had seen nothing. She guessed he was a highly trained British operative permanently based here. Something like what Bell had been doing at Wi Li when Gupta had first met her during the Void War. He certainly had the Indian complexion to fit in.

Despite the quick exchange Bell must have got what she wanted for she soon stood up and made her way out of the restaurant. As she paused to wait for the automatic door Gupta could have sworn she looked back and gave her a quick wink.

As she made to get up and follow after Bell, Johnston’s hand reached out for hers, “hold on a minute Captain, its best we aren’t seen leaving together. Give it a few minutes and we can pay the bill and make our way out.

“Of course,” Gupta said, scolding herself for being so naive. Obviously she had a lot to learn about this spy business.

Once out on the street again there was no sign of Bell. Johnston didn’t look concerned and, shrugging his shoulders to the rest of the team, he led them off in a seemingly random direction. Sure enough it didn’t take Bell long to fall in beside them.

“Did you get everything we need?” Gupta asked as soon as she could.

“I hope so, we’ll not know until we get somewhere more private to look over the data file he gave me,” Bell answered.

“Back to the freighter then?” Gupta continued.

“No, I think it would be better if we looked for some rooms in a hotel nearby. There we can look over the data and make a plan of action for tomorrow. If this data confirms our suspicions we’ll be making a visit to the Varun shipping company’s headquarters here in Bhopal. There’s no point going back to the freighter. We can all enjoy a more luxurious night’s sleep,” Bell answered with a smile.

“You can’t do all this spy work without a good night’s rest after all,” she added with a wink for Gupta.

Once the interstellar trade companies and corporations were just small competing entities. It would take many hundreds of years for them to come to dominate our society and large swaths of the galaxy in the way they do now.

- Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

16
th
March 2466, Bhopal, New Delhi

The next morning Gupta woke early and got dressed in her best civilian uniform. She was going to an important meeting and she needed to look her part. Bell was already waiting for her. The rest of the marines would be following behind them as at this meeting they would have to keep their distance.

Instead of riding the maglev trains around the city they opted for an air taxi to take them to the headquarters of the Varun Shipping Company. Their RSNI contact in Bhopal had come through for them. He had tracked the payments from one of Chang’s shell companies to the Varun Shipping Sompany and one of the mid-level managers based in Bhopal. The data strongly suggested Chang had bribed a division within the Varun Company to smuggle him out of Chinese space and provide him with a safe place to hide. The financial trail led to a certain Rahul Banik. He was only a mid-level bureaucrat and Bell believed he was taking orders from higher up. Their current plan was to rattle Rahul and see where it led them.

When they arrived at the headquarters they had to go through a security check before they were allowed in. Once through they approached the reception desk.

“May I help you,” a young Indian woman asked politely.

“Yes,” Gupta said stepping forward. “My name is Neysa Avvari, I would like to request a meeting with Rahul Banik, I believe he is a shipping coordinator here.”

The Indian receptionist took a moment to look over Gupta’s attire. Without a company insignia on her uniform she obviously came to the conclusion that she didn’t work for any of the other big shipping companies. “I’m sorry but none of our coordinators take meetings that haven’t been arranged in advance. If you are looking for a shipping contract we have many listed on the planet’s data net you would be welcome to apply for,” she said.

“I’m afraid I have other business with Mr. Banik,” Gupta began, hoping the receptionist would be able to read between the lines. “If you can tell him I’m carrying cargo from the Chinese colonies that one of his clients requested be transported out of China then I think he will make an exception.”

There was no way the receptionist knew of Chang but if she guessed Gupta had been hired to transport something illegal for Varun then she would likely contact Banik directly, the Chinese connection would do the rest.

“Ok,” the receptionist said, “if you would have a seat in our waiting area I will contact Mr. Banik and get back to you.”

“Thank you very much,” Gupta said with a half bow before turning around and heading towards the seats they had been directed to.

Barely a couple of minutes passed before a security guard appeared in the reception area and approached them. Gupta felt a shiver of disappointment pass through her as she saw him walking directly for them but to her surprise instead of asking them to leave he said, “If you ladies will follow me, Mr. Banik will see you now.”

After following the guard to one of the top levels of the building they were ushered into a large room. In front of them an ageing, slightly overweight Indian sat in an oversized chair. “Come in,” he said nervously. “This wasn’t a meeting I was expecting. Do you mind telling me who you are exactly? I don’t have time to be wasting on unnecessary meetings.”

“Of course Mr. Banik,” Gupta said in a conciliatory tone. “We won’t take up much of your time. My name is Neysa Avvari, I have to apologize though. I’m afraid I wasn’t the one who wanted this meeting with you. I’m simply an independent trader, it is Ms. Qu-Shin who hired me.”

With that Gupta stood back and Bell stepped forward. “I must apologize too Mr. Banik. I’m sorry for the deception but I didn’t want my name on any official record of our meeting. Qu-shin is just a cover; my real name is Li Bai, formally of Chinese Naval Intelligence.

“I believe we have a mutual friend. Before he left China he tasked me with gathering a number of his prized possessions and transporting them into Indian space. He gave me your name as his contact so I’m here presenting myself to you. Ms. Avvari has a freighter in orbit awaiting your directions. We’re ready to take the cargo to our mutual friend on your say so.”

As she had been speaking she had been watching Banik’s face closely. At the mention of a ‘mutual friend’ his face had flattened into an emotionless disinterested stare. She knew she had the right man.

“I’m sorry young woman,” Banik said in a flat tone that reflected his face, “but I quite simply don’t have a clue what you are talking about. If you want to give me the name of your client then I can look up our records but as far as I know, Varun hasn’t had any dealings with Chinese colonial space since the war broke out.”

Bell let out an exaggerated sigh, “Come now Mr. Banik, I don’t think our mutual friend would want us brandishing his name about indiscriminately. He spoke to me personally before he left Chinese space and he gave me your name as his contact. This isn’t my first time doing something like this you know. You don’t have to play dumb.”

At the last sentence Mr. Banik jumped to his feet. “Look here young lady. I don’t know who you work for or who this mutual friend is. I’ve already told you so. Now, I’ve had enough of these allegations, it’s time for you to leave. The security guard who escorted you up here will see you out.”

With that he sat down again and pushed a button on his desk. The large double doors they had entered through swung open and Bell turned to see the security guard standing there with two of his comrades for backup.

Waving them in with his hand Banik shouted angrily, “Escort them out please, and don’t let them talk to anyone else. They have already caused enough trouble.”

Before leaving Bell couldn’t help turning back to the coordinator, “You’re making a mistake, the Minister won’t be pleased if he doesn’t receive his possessions.”

If she had any doubts Banik’s reaction settled them. “Out,” he shouted in anger though his look of alarm was clearly visible at the mention of Chang’s former position as the Chinese Minister for Intelligence.

Their escorts were more than a little rough showing them out and once they were back on the street Bell led Gupta towards a bar. This early in the morning it was deserted but the privacy gave them the opportunity to speak openly.

“Well, what did you think?” Bell asked Gupta.

“I’m no expert at reading facial expressions but he had guilty written all over him,” she replied.

“Exactly,” Bell said, “now all we have to do is wait. Did you manage to plant the bug?”

“Yes, I slipped it under his desk when he was focused on you,” Gupta answered.

“Ok,” Bell said as she flipped open her datapad “now let’s see who Banik calls.”

It only took a matter of seconds for the datapad to alert her that the bug was picking up an outgoing COM channel from Banik’s office.

“Damn,” Bell swore.

“What’s the matter?” Gupta asked.

“My datapad can’t decode the security encryption, they must not be using one of the standard encryptions the RSNI provided me with. If we want to figure out who Banik is speaking with we’re going to have to return to the ship and use its computers to decode the encryption.”

“We still have audio from the bug right?” Gupta queried.

“Yes, maybe Banik will let a name slip. Let me play the call from the start,” Bell replied as she switched on the volume of the datapad to play Banik’s conversation.”

“I’m sorry for contacting you Sir.”

……

“Yes I know I need a good reason to use this COM channel.”

……

“It’s just, I had some visitors in my office just now. One of them claimed to be an ex Chinese intelligence officer. They said they were working for a certain Chinese Minister and had a freighter full of the Minister’s cargo.”

……

“No, everything we had of his has already been transported on. I’ve never been informed of any additional cargo.”

……

“Yes Sir, I’ll get on it right away. Thank you Sir,” Banik finished with obvious relief in his voice.

“Well,” began Gupta, “that seems to confirm our suspicions, though we’re none the wiser as to who organized all this. What do we do from here?”

Bell didn’t answer for two men had just entered the bar. Immediately they surveyed the room and for a spilt second their gaze fell on Gupta and Bell before passing on. Both men found seats that allowed them to watch the door and the two women. That was all Bell needed to tell her that they were up to no good. “Now we do nothing, we have just made a couple of new friends. I think we might need a little help from our marines,” Bell said.

Gupta turned to stare at the two men but Bell quickly kicked her under the table. “Eyes on me, come on, we’re leaving,” she said as she rose and pulled Gupta with her.

Outside she caught the eye of the marine who had been lounging about in the street outside Varun’s headquarters and flashed him a few hand signals before their two new friends followed them out of the bar. Taking Gupta by the hand she began to walk briskly down the street. With an occasional glance behind her she led the two men on a complex trail, twisting through the streets of the city. When they found a street market taking up one of the city’s open squares Gupta thought for sure that they would lose their followers but they turned out to be better than she thought for a couple of streets after the market they reappeared.

Increasing her pace again Bell continued to follow a random path through the city. Eventually she passed an alleyway where one of the marines lazily leant against a wall. When he caught her eye he retreated back into it.

“This way,” Bell said as she turned Gupta towards the alleyway. As they walked down the narrower street they passed a section that was in almost complete darkness, the sunlight being blocked out by one of Bhopal’s lofty towers. “Good luck,” she said into the darkness.

As they reached the end of the alleyway they heard a number of grunts from behind them. Nodding in satisfaction Bell turned them onto one of the city’s main streets. “Now we get back to the ship,” she said, “and see if we can figure out a plan to get the information we need. Today hasn’t exactly gone to plan.”

*

That night Bell, Gupta, Becket and Major Johnston all sat in the Captain’s quarters of the freighter.

“Were the ship’s computers able to decode the COM data from your bug?” Becket asked Bell.

“No, their encryption is extremely good, it must be military grade. Without a dedicated decryption computer there is no way we will be able to crack it,” Bell answered. 

“Well that’s suspicious in itself, our intel suggested they would only be using civilian grade encryption,” Johnston complained, “where do we go from here then? It’s time we got our hands on this Chang bastard.”

“I’m not sure,” Bell began, “there’s no doubt Banik had a hand in smuggling Chang out of China but he’s too junior, I think it highly unlikely he knows where Varun have placed Chang.”

“Still, he’s our only real lead, surely he will have some information that we could use,” Becket interjected.

“True,” Bell agreed, “but there is no way he will take another meeting with us and short of kidnapping him we have no other way of getting face to face with him.”

“Exactly,” said Gupta, “that’s what we need to do.”

“What?” Bell asked with concern.

“Well, I don’t mean we kidnap him exactly. But we can break into his house, confront him face to face and force him to tell us what he knows about Chang,” Gupta explained. It was clear from Bell’s face that she wasn’t convinced but Gupta pushed on with her idea. “Look, it’s Friday today. Tonight Banik will go home and no one will expect to see him back at work until Monday. We can break in, confront him and then leave him restrained. No one will come looking for him until Monday at the earliest. By then we will have high tailed it out of New Delhi and onto wherever Banik’s information leads us. I don’t see that we have any other option, does anyone else?”