Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (89 page)

“Not at all. But in this case I thought you too would be … curious to see them go,” she said, choosing her words carefully.

“Good. I'd hate to be obvious. It could be my undoing I suppose,” Skeletor growled, turning about. She felt the hem of his cloak strike the back of her legs and then he was gone once more.

---<>))))

Once Sharky was outside Skeletor's underground chambers, everything the tiny computers had recorded was ready to be transmitted. First the computer had to find a signal, then lock on and upload its contents to the Federation satellite in orbit.

A lot of information was transmitted at once, but due to his implants limited bandwidth and the continued motion of the subject, it took time to get it all out. The mission Sharky was leading was initially buried in hours of recordings. The intel team would have to sift through it all to find the nuggets therein.

Captain Montgomery and the intelligence team he'd assigned to monitor Sharky and Skeletor had been distracted with the conference. The
El Dorado
news and changes in the intelligence community made them almost miss the sudden download alert.

Fletcher picked up the alert and sent his own alert to the captain as well as Commander Lake and Sprite.

NCIS and ONI agents swarmed over the feed. The team leader quickly broke it down into chunks for each group to go over and take notes on. The A.I. set up bots to run transcript programs while the organics saved data like faces, builds, and other information about each person the man had met.

“Wait,
why
is he out now?” Captain Montgomery asked six hours after the process had begun. “Why now?” he demanded.

“Are they moving him?” Commander Lake asked.

“I don't know.”

“We can find out. I know you organics hate it, but if you skip to the end and then backtrack,” Sprite suggested. The two humans groaned and then nodded.

Sprite's suggestion to skip to the end and back track let them replay his travel. They rewound quickly until they got to where he first exited the base and held a conversation with someone. Commander Lake hit pause, then replayed the conversation carefully.

“They are going on a mission,” she observed after the first round. She looked up. “Heads-up people! There is a group of … ten individuals, all human or humanoid on a mission. Find out that! That now takes priority over identifying suspects!” she snarled.

“You're thinking it is bad?” Monty asked.

“Aren't you, sir?” Commander Lake asked. “That many warm bodies?” She shook her head angrily. “Too much fatigue …,” she turned and rounded on a lieutenant. “You, find someone in the police now. Forward the data we have on their vehicles. Put a BOLO out now. Warn them to be extremely cautious. Faces and names to follow. Do that now. Also pass an alert to the governor and planetary security something is in the works,” she ordered.

“You'll compromise the source, Commander,” Monty said mildly, crossing his arms.

“I'm more worried about what they are up to, sir. We've given them enough rope, I don't want our own necks in the noose if something goes down on our watch and we could have prevented it. I don't want civilian deaths on my conscience.”

“How bad is it?” Commander Sung asked, coming into the room with Commander Teague behind him.

Monty looked up and then waved them over. “Apparently bad enough, Commanders,” he said with a nod to each. Irena didn't know it, but he'd slipped her onto the captain's list. The flag officers had approved her promotion late last night. Admiral White was the only holdout, but he was out on maneuvers.

“Sir, there are multiple missions going out. At least a half dozen,” a junior lieutenant said. “We don't know the other targets, they kept it compartmentalized in the recording I just finished listening to.”

“I'm scanning the transcripts the bots have gotten down so far. Some of the speech and acoustics are giving the transcript bots fits however,” Fletcher stated.

“Sir! The subject's target! It's Admiral Irons!”

Monty jerked upright in his chair, and his eyes went as round as the assembled commanders around him. “Commander Sprite …,” he said turning to her avatar.

“On it,” she said firmly. “Intercept them now. Admiral Irons is on planet speaking with the governor. According to his itinerary they are supposed to tour an industrial complex. In fact, they are there now. Damn it! The pipe works and metal in the area is messing up our long-range communications!”

“Get the reserve security team in motion,” Captain Montgomery growled. “Sung, get a marine contingent in motion now.”

“We're on it,” Sung said.

“And pray we're not too late,” Commander Lake murmured.

“Sir! We've triangulated the signal from the subject. He's there, at the industrial complex now! What do we do?”

“Damn it … someone better hurry,” Commander Teague said.

Chapter
50

Captain Thomas Burrows scowled as he heard a broken call over the radio. He put a hand to the receiver plugged into his implants. It resembled an old fashioned earwig link. He scowled, playing with the gain of the receiver on his implants. “Say again?”

“Tr … pull … ge …,” the voice kept breaking up, but the urgency of the caller's tone got through to him, making him feel like the hackles on the back of his neck were rising. There was no caller ID, or it too had been broken up. But they had his frequency so something was up. Could it be the encryption? Cross chatter from the PSO? Or some idiot trying to hack in? He shook his head slightly. Doubtful he thought, more likely interference …

“Damn it,” he snarled, looking at the copper and iron pipes around him. “Got to get higher …”

“What's up, boss?” a Marine in a civilian suit asked.

“Trouble. Get someone higher. Find an old fashioned phone if you can and find out what the hell they want,” he said. “It sounds like trouble.”

“Did they use the code word?” the corporal asked, now curious.

“Damned if I know, the signal was too broken up to make out. It's repeating, but I can't get enough of it with the metal around us.”

“I'll head to control,” Corporal Livey said with a nod. “They should have a land line out from there if this place has been updated, which I have my doubts,” he said.

“Do that,” the captain ordered with a nod.

He turned back to the admiral. He saw the admiral was in conversation with the governor and his entourage. The governor's industrial board were all in attendance. Mister Daly seemed quite pleased with himself since he owned a lot of shares in the chemical and steam works.

“Why now?” Thomas muttered over and over as his eyes roved around, looking for a threat but not finding one.

---<>))))

Sharky grinned as they used their uniforms and ID tags to get through the rear gate. Everyone was focused on the main gate where the circus of people and vehicles were at. The group had just arrived; they were running late. He silently nodded to the teams to peel off and get to work.

Two of the guys worked janitorial shifts in the control room or had up until they'd gotten into trouble and had gotten fired. He followed them to the control center, hoping and praying their luck would hold and they'd get through without incident.

The other seven men would be setting up the explosives while his team took the control room he thought, reviewing the plan carefully.

When they got to the small nondescript control shack, he noted it was up high, on an iron scaffolding with iron stairs and a balcony up to it. Their boots climbed the stairs, clacking here and there. He kept his expression schooled as he heard passing voices below.

The guy ahead of him was supposed to go in since he was a familiar face. He was supposed to lull the control room techs in there to focus on him while the others came in and killed them. But Sharky could tell from his pale milk-like skin that he was about ready to back out. He elbowed him aside and moved in, pulling a knife.

The first tech was turning in surprise at the swiftly opened door, but he was in easy reach. A swipe of the knife under his chin and he gagged, grabbing for his throat. Sharky moved in, ignoring him to finish the second tech and then ram the knife into the startled PSO's right eye.

All three bodies slumped to the ground as their lives ended. He ignored them, eyes intent on the controls.

Their inside men had done their best to draw them for him, and he'd rehearsed where to look and what to do. But it still took time to resolve the paper drawings with reality.

He heard a startled gasp of dismay from behind him and looked to see the guys coming in. “Oh my fracking …”

“Shut up. Get in here, get the bodies out of sight, and get to work,” Sharky snarled. “You, monitor security. Disable the phones,” he said as the phone began to ring. “Don't answer it, you're too scared shitless to play it right,” he snarled.

“But, but …,” the kid looked at him with wide eyes. “If I don't they'll know something is wrong. Eventually they'll send someone to look.”

“Let them. We'll be done shortly. Now get to work,” he ordered. He reached over to yank the knife out of the PSO's eye then whipped it on the dead man's head and ear. The two inside men shivered, eyes locked to that casual cleaning then jumped back into the work.

---<>))))

Terrance noted the climbing steam pressure on all of the boilers and scowled. Either someone was screwing around or they were going to have a problem. He tapped the gauges with flicks of his fingers then shook his head. “Why now?” he demanded, reaching for the phone. He had to call his brother in the main control room to see what the devil he was playing at.

---<>))))

The other seven saboteurs spread out over the pipe works and spot welded steam valve controls to keep the boilers from being vented, then strapped explosive packs in strategic places. The patrolling PSOs they looked like ordinary workmen going about their business of routine maintenance.

---<>))))

Corporal Coup Summers looked up to the stairs and frowned. There was something dripping from under the building and that seemed … not right. His sense of smell was beyond offended. Technically he shouldn't take notice to something dripping; the entire pipe works dripped here and there, especially in the older sections of the plant. But seeing something dripping under the control room? He frowned and reached out to touch it just as three men came out of the control room and started down the stairs as if they were in a hurry.

He looked to them just as his fingers were touched by a drip. He rubbed his fingers together, suddenly scolding himself about touching an unknown substance, especially in a chemical works. He looked at it though when he didn't feel pain. As he brought it out of shadow he noted the red color, the color of blood.

By that time he noted that the two goons had spotted him and slowed then halted their pace. He frowned up to them. “Problem, boys?” the corporal asked. “What's the hurry?” he asked curiously.

“Um …”

“I gotta um, take a leak and he's got um …”

“To um, check in with Aux control and …”

Coup noted them as he sniffed the substance. It smelled coppery. He was going to wipe it on something like the railing, but his enhanced senses picked up the coppery scent and identified it as blood. That instantly got his notice. He frowned.

His frown was picked up by Sharky who was behind the two idiots. He realized he was made and reached for his pistol.

Coup's enhanced senses screamed danger. The metal around him blocked the ability to sense the metal of their weapons, but their gunpowder was a different story. He saw a PSO patrol coming up behind him just as he looked at them, face hard. “Why don't you fellas come down here, and we'll have a chat,” he said, stepping off the landing and waving to the PSO patrol to come over.

That was all Sharky needed. He shoved the guys then kicked his leg over the stair rail and dropped to the ground. He looked at the carnage he had caused as he finished pulling his weapon.

“Gun!” the PSO called, backing off and instantly calling it in.

Coup heard that as the two men struggled to untangle themselves. He kicked one, then knelt on the other as he pulled his own weapon. Weapon fire made him duck for cover. His training took over; he kicked with his enhanced legs to snap one perp's neck as he tried to get a handle on the third.

The weapon fire switched to the second perp, however; one shot hit squarely in the back. The man jiggled then laid still. Coup's senses noted him flatline within seconds, but he was too busy to do much about it.

Sharky fired a fourth shot at the PSO that had taken cover then took off. He reloaded on the fly.

“Go after him. I've got to see what they've done,” Coup snarled to the PSO. “Can you call anyone?”

The trooper shook his head. “I think the shots were heard though.”

“They echoed,” the corporal growled, looking at the canyon walls of metal as he climbed the stairs. Something told him to move his ass faster so he double timed it. A steam whistle going off made him move even faster.

---<>))))

Sharky snarled as he ran. His plan to take out the auxiliary controllers was gone; escape was the one thing left on his mind. He hid the gun under one arm to keep people from seeing it, but his fast pace told them something was up. When the steam whistles went off, he snarled and kept moving faster.

---<>))))

“That sounded like gunshots,” Admiral Irons said, eyes narrowed as he turned to Captain Burrows. The captain wasn't looking at him, he had one hand on his earwig, trying to punch a radio signal through he realized.

“Admiral, a signal has been trying to punch through the metal for a short time,” Captain Burrows said.

“I've received it too but I haven't been able to process it,” Protector stated.

“Filter?” Admiral Irons said as the governor looked up from his chat.

Three men rounded the corner in utility uniforms. It wouldn't have been of any consequence except Irons was looking directly at them. Protector had gone to active alert and noted the metal just as two of them scrambled to pull weapons out.

“Gun!” Admiral Irons bellowed, just as Thomas lunged to put himself between the shooters and his principle. Thomas pulled his own weapon out as a PSO tackled the governor and another yanked the other men and women out of the way as the shooters opened fire on them.

---<>))))

Thomas felt a round punch into his shoulder and he snarled as his own pistol came out. His military training kicked in. He dropped to one knee as a shot ricocheted near him. He took a two-handed grip and then opened up, taking down one target at a time methodically.

---<>))))

Jimmy saw his brother and cousin go down and turned to run, but the cold bastard they had been shooting at picked him off before he got more than a meter away. He flopped to the ground like a rag doll as a round punched through his upper torso into his heart.

---<>))))

The last four shooters rushed to the exit as they were finishing the last charge, but they ran into a PSO patrol who saw what they were doing. Already in a panic, they tried to pull out weapons, but the PSO duo had heard the shots and had already had their hands on their weapons. Like gun shooters in a western they drew faster than the quartet and took them down in methodical hail of copper jacketed rounds.

---<>))))

Terrance saw the boilers moving into the red zone and swore viciously. Sweat beaded on his head and his arm pits became moist as he tried to call the control room one last time before he did something.

---<>))))

Coup heard more weapon fire the higher he climbed but didn't stop to try to narrow down the source. Instead he started to focus on his implants to punch a signal through. He got one when his right hand touched the copper railing. The railing acted as an antenna, amplifying his receiver. Like an electric jolt messages flooded into his implants, making him nearly miss a step. He recovered then scowled.

“This is Corporal Summers to all hands, the code is Capricorn. Repeat Capricorn. Zulu exists, state again, Zulu exists,” he snarled over the PSO and Marine frequencies, echoing the call from the intelligence department. “Warning of a bomb in the industrial plant. Evacuate, repeat, evacuate. Shooters and explosives on the premises. Get out NOW!” he finished as he entered the shattered blood stained control room.

His eyes caught the red signs and flashing red lights and he cursed.

---<>))))

Proteus had been attempting to use the admiral's bandwidth to communicate for a scheduled meeting with Yao up until the crisis had kicked off. His attempt to get through was interrupted by the urgent call from Corporal Summers. The engineering A.I. cleaned it up by comparing the two repeats to fill in the blanks and immediately passed on the warning to Protector as the group started to react to the end of the brief gunfight.

“Sir, we need to evacuate now. Intelligence reports it isn't over; there is a bomb in the complex. The entire complex is a series of boilers set to explode,” Protector stated. “Powering up antigrav now,” he said.

“Belay that. I can't save them all with the shields,” the admiral snarled. “All hands shag ass for the nearest exist. This place is rigged to blow!” he bellowed. That created a panic with the men and women around him as they rushed away.

“Damn sheep,” Irons muttered as the marines urged him to follow. He picked up Thomas under one arm, Jeff under the other and then moved like his life depended on it.

---<>))))

Monty's warning to the fast reaction force got through some unexpected red tape. Finally, the warning sank in when the initial shot reports made it to them. Something was indeed wrong, so the captain in charge swore and then swung his people into action. SWAT teams geared up and moved out.

---<>))))

Two workers noted the explosive charges and yanked them off. One turned in place and then pointed to a vat of acid. “No time, just help me get the lid off,” he snarled. When they did he waved a hand as he tossed the first charge in. “Now go see if there are any more,” he yelled. “And pass the word!” he yelled over his shoulder to his retreating colleague.