Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment (5 page)

“
Yeah
!” laughed Meyer with weak faith. “
Assuming that was the Court’s one and only ship on Forcurrier! You need to secure the spike immediately. After that display, they’re going to be sending an entire squadron after you!
”

“Heh!” laughed Rose satirically. “That ship’s fine. I simply disabled it—”

A ground-shaking explosion suddenly went off in the streets below. In an instant, her assessment was rendered erroneous . . . and she smirked in embarrassment.

“
Uh, huh,
” said the captain in humor. “
Then what the hell was that noise
?”

“Never mind that,” deflected Rose. She began walking towards the nearest staircase. “Do you have a location on the representatives?”

He paused as if watching them live. “Yes,” he finally replied. “Unfortunately, their ship just took off near the roof. They’ve escaped.”

“No,” proclaimed Rose. “Impossible. That must’ve been the first group of them. Captain Kyte and the Vicese couldn’t have made it to a ship yet. Check for any other awaiting ship—”

“Wait!” interrupted Meyer. “Four floors below you. There’s another hangar. That last ship was the only one on the roof. They must be headed there. But I’m not sure that you’ll make—”

“Oh, I’ll make it!” interjected Rose confidently. She turned around and started for the window again. “I’m heading back out. I can simply rappel down. Four floors, correct?”

“Y-yes. But hurry. They’re bound to be nearing their ship as we speak.”

Rose sprinted for the window she had just come through and dove for the street again. At once, she could see the Court ship in flames below and black smoke was rising from it. However, it seemed that none of the Court’s other forces were on this street, a plus for her, though they were certainly already in the building. She hooked the sill she had leapt from, swung for the fourth floor down, and cast a devastating power for another window. Swinging through the splintering glass, the woman flipped and landed inside without worry. She called her harpoon back and turned down the hall.

“Okay, I’m in. I’m on the same side as before. Which way are they?”

“Go left, down the hall,” advised Meyer. “There should be another hall, leading to a hangar within the building. Hurry!”

Without even responding, Rose turned and darted down the hall. She could already hear small arms fire being exchanged a few more floors down. It sounded like the installation had chosen to fight instead of surrender. Knowing this would only agitate the Court on their way up, she quickened her pace even more. Ahead, the first hall was nearing.

“I can see a hall,” she huffed. “Is this it—”

“No,” confirmed Meyer. “One more hall down. I know I keep saying it, but hurry. They’ll be in your vicinity in moments. Ugh!” he groaned. “Why the hell did our guys engage them? This is the galactic center of Court territory. They can’t hope to escape!”

Only partially listening to the man’s rant, Rose finally reached the next hall. A directory sign above pointed, reading: Center Hangar. She turned, running full speed. “Found it! How far am I?”

“Just a bit further. And be advised, the Court’s requisitioning additional forces. At best, you’ve got two minutes before the airspace alone is locked down.”

Another soft thunder of an explosion vibrated below her. This was followed by a temporary ceasefire, in which the building fell silent for the first time in minutes. But it did not last. Only seconds later, an entire warzone’s worth of gunfire ramped up, even louder than before. They were closing in. Rose followed another directory, turning down what appeared to be the final hall. And then she heard it: The startup roar of a transport’s engines.

“Damn it!” she cursed. “They’re already taking off! I’m almost there, but . . .”

Suddenly, she picked up the faint voice of Captain Kyte.

“
No. We’ve still got time . . . We wait for Byruhme!
”

“
We wait on that fool, we’ll be caught
!” insisted the voice of the Vicese man. From the distinct notes of their voices, they seemed to be arguing on the hangar floor.

“
I agree
,” said the Vicese woman. “
All she cares about is the device. She’s not even supposed to be here. I don’t trust her. Let her die or face prison!
”

“
No!
” shouted Kyte. “
We’re not leaving her. Pilot, do not move! The rest of you, we’re waiting. Two minutes, then we take off!
”    

“Amusing,” huffed Rose, nearly to the hangar now. “It seems that Kyte’s actually waiting for me. The others mean to leave me here.”

“Use the opportunity,” said Meyer. “Get the device. Whatever it takes.”

She reached the large doorway leading into the hangar. Near the center, the transport was warming up. Captain Kyte was facing the two Vicese representatives and three of his own men.

“Captain, your command is over!” said one of the Pirate troops. He and the other three held their rifles in a prominent, threatening manner; but did not point them yet. “We’re leaving. The posteritor can find her own way out! If you don’t like it, you’re staying too.”

Kyte held his arms up in a forfeiting gesture. He then caught eye of Rose, glancing at her for one swift moment, but returned his eyes to the rest. “You should reconsider. If she finds out—”

“She’ll die if we leave her,” said the Vicese man again. “So there’s no way she’ll . . .” He trailed off, his composure visually shaken. He turned slowly towards Rose as she approached, and the rest turned as well. “Oh,” he said. “Well . . . here she is! I guess that solves this problem.” Rose proceeded towards him at an angle, wanting to seem as if the ship was her destination. She nodded declaratively as she reached his side, acting as if she had not heard anything. “Good,” continued the man, as Rose secretly prepared her right harpoon. “Everyone on board! Let’s get out of—”

Rose shoved her harpoon into the side of the man’s neck like lightning. He threw his hands up to the already gushing wound, weakly gripping the glass shard. As her prey’s knees buckled, Rose withdrew the harpoon, pulled one of her swords from her side, and slashed the Vicese woman across her shins. The woman crashed on her knees, with a little yelp. But Rose ignored her and drove the arkanverre into her heart. She let out a scream of sickening agony; and it was at that time the three Pirate soldiers began firing away at Rose.

“TRAITOR!” one of them bellowed, unloading with extreme prejudice. “KILL HER! KILL HER!”

Rose abandoned her blade still impaled in the Vicese woman and darted for the Pirates. Streaking into a blur, she ripped her second arkanverre from its sheath and penetrated the little group. They tried following her with their weapons, but she moved too fast to hit (and even the few scant rounds that threatened her were burned away by her shielding). First, she went for the man on the right, launching a harpoon ahead of herself and knocking his rifle off target. He was cleanly exposed now, and Rose promptly jabbed her sword into his center. The man cried in pain, crumbling to the floor.

Trying their best to reacquire her, the final two turned and began shooting. However, she was already moving. Red crystal bullets began flying again, all of which Rose avoided as she moved directly between the two. Calling her first sword out of the Vicese woman, and aiming the one held, she pulled on one and threw the other, skewering them both. Two gasps of defeat and spraying wounds later, the men were down. She could feel the small echoes of life emitting vainly from the floor as she straightened up again.

“Fools!” she spouted. One by one, the last of the living Pirates exhaled their last breaths. “You all did not sincerely think you could defeat a posteritor?” Without waiting for the answer, she summoned her blades from the bodies. Catching them, she whipped the blood from their edges and turned for Captain Kyte.

“Oh my God! You killed them . . . you . . .” He was behaving predictably hysterically, speaking as if winded, though he had contributed nothing. The man began shaking his head.

Rose advanced, but first pointed a weapon-like finger to the cockpit of the transport. “Pilot, don’t you dare move!” she commanded. She then repositioned her eyes on Kyte, who was backing up slowly. “Shame on them,” she mused a little calmer, sheathing one of her swords. She held the other at the ready. “I accept reassigning to help with this critical mission, and what do I get? Practically a dagger in the back!” She stopped in front of the captain.

The man held his arms up. “Please. I meant to wait for you. They wouldn’t listen!”

“I have orders to kill you, Captain.” She pointed her ruby sword at him, and he cowered. “Command’s orders. If ANY were uncooperative or hindered the mission at all, they would henceforth be considered rogue and a liability—”

Cutting her off, another explosion went off downstairs, much closer this time. The Court was nearly there. And then came the shouting of commands. It seemed they were only a few halls away.

“Please!” begged Kyte. “I never meant to hinder your mission. I—”

Rose reached for him, grabbing his collar. “Shut up and listen!” she growled. Extending her right harpoon over her empty hand, she pointed the deadly blade at his neck. “You’ve shown more quality than I anticipated, Kyte. To reward your loyalty, I’m letting you go. Do NOT let me come to regret this!”

He nodded frantically, as footsteps began approaching. “Of course. Never! Thank you. Thank—”

Ignoring his pleas, Rose threw him for the boarding ramp. “Report to Captain Meyer’s installation for further orders.” She then glanced to the cockpit of the ship. “And you better have control of that pilot. If he exposes my
handling
of these wretches,” she motioned towards the corpses, “I’m coming for you!”

“Yes, of course!”

“Get out of here! My mission’s still incomplete. I expect to see you when I return.”

With that, the captain nodded and hurried up the ramp. The transport promptly fired its engines and lifted off the floor. Getting clear, Rose sprinted over to the Vicese man upon the floor. She rolled him over and shoved a hand into his pocket before pulling out the memory spike. The colorful device sparkled in the light of the ship’s engines, before the vessel finally turned and departed. However, not five seconds later, the rushing of combat boots filled the hall right outside. With no time left to examine the spike, Rose stowed it and darted for the hangar’s gaping maw.

“Primary mission complete, Captain,” she said. “The device is secure.”

“
Good, I can hear them on the way
!” said Meyer in her ear. “
You better find a way out of there.
”

“All in good time, Captain,” she replied. “I’m hoping the Court believes the rest of us here escaped on that transport. It’ll make it easier for me to escape as well.” She reached the ship entrance of the hanger, slowed, and peered over the side. The street was at least half a dozen floors down but currently not heavily occupied.

“
It was noble of you to spare Kyte, I must say; although, I think it would’ve been better for you to just leave with him
.”

“As I said, hopefully, he’ll distract the Court. I was serious: I’m not done yet.”

“
You’ve got the spike. What other business could you have there
?”

Rose stepped out of the building on an overlook, and pointed one of her harpoons for a higher floor. “Crashing the system, Captain.” She fired the weapon, hooked part of the towering wall, and ascended.

When Roszephnye reached a floor high enough to avoid the Court for a while, she peeked into the nearest window. No one was inside that she could see, and the adjacent hall was dark. Captain Kyte’s transport had already rocketed out of sight, interestingly not in the direction of Meyer’s installation. On the plus side, however, it seemed the Court’s air support was running late. Rose stepped closer to the window, extended one of her harpoons and sliced a hole into the thick glass. She punched the section in and hopped in herself.

“Alright, that should buy me a little time,” she noted. “I’ll say one thing, though, Kyte better not betray me. He wasn’t even heading towards your installation.”

“Perhaps he wanted to make sure he wasn’t leading the Court here,” guessed Meyer.

Rose nodded. “Perhaps. Now, would kindly point me in the direction of their central computers?”

“Just a moment.”

While she waited, Rose used her power to sense for any approaching enemies. She could still hear the faint sounds of gunfire and yelling on the lower floors, but they seemed pretty far away. Other than that, the hall was quiet. “Captain, it looks like the power’s been knocked out in the entire building. Will I even be able to access the computer system?”

“If they followed standard protocols, the computer system should be connected to backup generators. But you need to move quickly. The Court could’ve already hacked the system from the bottom floors. Anyways, the nearest command terminal is one floor down, in the server room. I suggest you hurry.”

Taking his advice, Rose turned at once for a nearby stairwell and rushed in. Emergency lighting had activated due to the power outage, shining a calm white glow in the space. Forgoing the steps themselves, she ran to the railing and noticed plenty of room to simply jump down. She hooked the railing with her harpoon and flipped into the shaft itself. In seconds, she reached the subsequent floor. She retracted her harpoon and scooted close to the exit, listening.

“Okay, the room should be down the hall,” advised Meyer. “Take a right out of the stairwell. I just hope they haven’t plugged in yet.”

As far as Rose could tell, using her super-hearing, no one else was on the floor. At least, not near her. “Affirmative, I’m on my way.” She opened the door and hurried down the next hall. “Oh, and they better hope they’re not in our system yet,” she said. “I’ve got a particularly . . .
violent
strand of virus just waiting to sink its data into something.”

The captain let out a little huff, that sounded like a laugh. “You always come prepared for everything?” he asked.

“Always,” confirmed Rose. She followed a directory sign to the server room. “I’ve found it. Okay, Captain, is there anything you need me to save before wiping the system?” She threw the door open and made a beeline for the first terminal.

“No. Everything my installation needs is already in our databanks. Crash the system and get back here. Command is . . .” He trailed off. And then, addressing someone there with him, he spoke again. “Inform them that Posteritor Byruhme is on her way back! The mission is on schedule. The device is in our control.”

Rose pushed Meyer’s other conversation to the edge of her mind. She began typing away at the terminal. Surprising her at first, the primary few prompts she met proved trivially simple to bypass. But then she encountered one she could not crack in time.
Damn it!
She cursed internally.
Because of these delays, this particular layer has hurt us almost as much as an actual breach would!
Altogether uninterested in fighting the system, she instinctively pulled her glass slate from her skirt. After powering it on, she connected to the system and began devising a workaround.

“No, I’m still running this op!” said Meyer sternly. “Command must wait! She still needs direction!”

“Sounds like they’ve grown even more impatient, am I right?” said Rose sassily.

“Too impatient. It didn’t take them long to catch wind of the Court invasion there. Now, I’ve got assistants flooding the command room, trying to monitor communications and keep Command apprised. They’re bugging the hell out of me! You?”

Rose defeated the security finally and hacked into the Pirate databanks. “Almost done. That despicable layer of security had me held up for a moment. But I’m in. And you were right, by the way; the Court’s already in the system.”

“Yeah, probably assigned their people to it the moment floor one was clear.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like they’ve retrieved too much intel. And they’re not going to be able to use what they did get. I’m uploading the virus now—”

Suddenly, Rose detected footsteps coming up the hall. It sounded like at least a dozen men. She hit a button on the slate, completing the virus and then stowed the device again. Backing behind a stack of equipment, she put a hand over her mouth to hush her voice. “Contacts! I’m going dark.”

“Oh . . . okay, be careful,” whispered Meyer.

Rose pushed against the wall as far as she could. Out in the hall, the Court approached. “
What the hell
?!” sounded a soldier, out of the blue. “
I’ve just lost radio uplink with Command
!”

“
Me too, Lieutenant
,” replied another. “
All I’ve got is static
.”

“
Yeah, me too
.”

“
What the hell
?”

“These terrorists must’ve jammed our comm. systems,” said the first, now very clear. “Try a short range frequency.”

“This is Charlie Squad, can anyone read me?” called another. A small second passed but the soldier spoke again, obviously reaching someone. “Affirmative, our long range connection has been knocked out.” He turned his voice on his commander. “Sir, Alpha and Bravo report the same malfunction. Apparently, though, it was an attack on all our systems.” They reached the doorway, and the subordinate spoke again. “They say it was not a defense already in place . . . meaning it was not set off. Someone just recently uploaded it in the system.”

“There must be someone still in the building,” assumed the Lieutenant. “Keep alert! And clear these rooms.”

“
Oh, man, sounds like they’re closing in
,” said Meyer. “
Radio silence seems to have cut them off from the rest of the Court, however. You should be able to put them down without retaliation. Assuming you can take them all.
”

Rose sort of tossed her head, displeased with the situation. Over at the computer terminal, however, the system was still standing by for deletion. She needed to purge the databanks or they would eventually extract the intel. And then it occurred to her. Instead of issuing the formal command, she could simply spread the virus to the Pirate system. She pulled back out her slate.

“Lieutenant!” she heard a man hiss. He would’ve been inaudible, but for the potency of her sensitive hearing. “In there!” Rose could all but guarantee he was pointing. “This room is open. Looks like a server room. They could be in there!”

she typed.

“Carefully,” whispered the Lieutenant. “The rest of you, get our backs!”

“
Okay
,” said Captain Meyer. “
Good luck. I’ll be standing by
.”

The Charlie Squad began to tiptoe in. Now that they were pointing around the room, Rose could see the shine of gun mounted flashlights dance about. She scanned the room for an escape, not wanting to engage them. But there was none. Taking a deep breath, she slowly pulled her dual arkanverres from their sheaths. They scraped on the way out, but only just. Rose squatted into a leaping position, as the first barrel poked into view. Inevitably, it began to turn.

“Hold up!” said the Lieutenant suddenly. The squad halted. “Is that right?” he asked, presumably to his radio. “Copy that. We’re on the way!” He turned his voice upon his men. “Looks like they’ve cornered a few officers about four floors up. They were in the system, trying to dump the databanks. Those were our guys. The rest of this building has surrendered.” Rose saw the light of several flashlights reposition. “They need help rounding up the soldiers a couple buildings over. You two, try and access that terminal over there. Radio if you find anything. The rest of you, with me.”

One of the squad, a woman actually, hurried over to the terminal and began slicing in. The other, Rose could not see, but she assumed he was standing guard. The rest of the team began moving out and a second later, she could not even hear their footsteps. Amazed at her remarkable luck, Rose drew in a calming breath.

“
Unbelievable
!” breathed Captain Meyer. “
I’m guessing they haven’t seen you. Two grunts should be no problem to handle.
”

Rose sheathed her blades quietly and concentrated her focus on the room. The second soldier was only mere meters from her, standing in the doorway. The woman hacking the terminal typed away.

“Really wish I had more of my equipment,” she said to the other. “This system is locked down tight.” Rose primed her harpoon to fire, but then sensed the other moving. She scooted behind the equipment, peering through a hole in the structure. The man reached the other and stared at the terminal.

“Yeah, never was that good at computer slicing. Did you try connecting from an alternate route?”

Rose tilted her head in interest, seeing a unique opportunity. She slipped from behind the equipment and held her arms up to attack. Slowly, she moved behind them towards the door, watching closely.

“I tried one workaround,” replied the woman. “Let’s see if they covered this.” She continued configuring the terminal, and Rose reached the door, undetected. Thanks to the power outage, not many lights were on in the hall outside. Taking advantage of her luck, she left the room, slipped into the shadows, and hurried down the hall.

“Okay,” she said, as soon as she was clear. “That was close, but I managed to slip out without neutralizing them.”

“Good work,” praised Meyer. “That should make it less likely that they’ll send any forces back to your building. It looks like they’ve already discovered our military operations there. That’s probably where they’re redirecting that team that was near you.”

“Yes, well, it looks like this installation committed to a nonsensical plan. If they’d have simply surrendered as Boss R had predicted, the Court wouldn’t be gunning them down at every corner . . . or sending such sizable backup.” She reached another stairwell and ascended a few floors with her harpoon. Upon reaching a quieter floor, she moved into the next hall. “Now,” she began quietly. “Tell me there’s another server terminal on this level. According to the signs in the stairwell, this is a specialized tech floor. I still need to complete the data purge.”

“Yes,” replied Meyer. “About three rooms over on the right.”

“Copy that.”

She darted for the room and ran in with haste. Reaching the terminal, she sliced the system again and imputed the necessary commands. The screen confirmed the purge in progress, estimating about one minute until completion.

“That did it,” she confirmed. “All systems are deleting databanks. The Court won’t be able to retrieve anything further.”

“And the information they’ve obtained already?” asked Meyer.

“That lovely virus of mine will wipe their own databanks all the way to their headquarters . . . if it’s not stopped, that is. Which it should have been already. The important news is the local Court forces are completely cut off from their superiors for now, and most of their equipment is probably destroyed.”

“Excellent!” cheered Meyer. But then he went suspiciously silent.

Rose took the opportunity to reach the side of the building with the prominent windows again. Outside, she could see that the smoke from the Court ship was still rising, though it had thinned considerably. Luckily for her, on this floor, the windows could be opened. She slid the nearest pane to the side, letting in the warm night air. The Court had not positioned any of its ships in range yet, but when she leaned to see the street, she noticed it was swarming with military. “Great!” she expressed. “I took too long. There’s already an entire legion of them in the street below.”

“That’s not a . . . positive development,” said Meyer finally. “And neither is this: the Court’s air forces are patrolling the surrounding airspace. They appear to be holding position outside of the district.”

Rose tossed her head, her options having grown even more constrained. “That’s going to complicate things. I assume they’re waiting to catch any ships escaping this area.”

“That’s the way it looks.”

She nodded, annoyed. “Which means I’ll have to go even further out of the area to get a transport back. Has the Court grounded air traffic in the entire city?”

“Not the
entire
city, but a good portion of your area, yes. The closest non-restricted district is a couple kliks ahead of you. But it appears you’ll have to stay on your guard the whole way. Even ground-based traffic is being monitored now.”

Rose peeked down into the street again. At the distance she was from the ground, she figured the Court forces would probably not see her climb higher. She stepped outside and fired her harpoon up to another floor. She retracted the device and shot up rapidly, landing at the edge of a connecting structure (an elevated hall apparently). Moving to her end of the elevated hall, she began examining the opposite building.