Unchained (10 page)

“
It didn’t make any sense
the first time I looked at it.” The optimism in Barrios’ voice was
unmistakable as he tapped loudly on the note. “It mentions a plan.
And the cargo.”

Decker opened his mouth to object. Then
closed it.

Grey nodded. “It had to have come from the
transport crew. Sounds like they sustained some damage when they
jumped off the Galena. Maybe an unlucky hit from one of the
Saurelian fighters. No wonder we never heard from them again.”

“
A homing pod?” Cidra was
reading the message again and missed Grey’s last grim
comment.

“
It’s a very small,
unmanned pod with a built-in navigation system and a preset
destination,” Grey explained. “Not standard equipment for a
transport, but it could be a custom addition.”

Barrios smiled. “Jarid would have done
that.”

Grey drummed his fingers evenly on the
table. “I’ll bet it had a storage compartment big enough for one
small vial, a scribbled note, and a holo recording. What do you
think Decker?”

“
It’s possible.” Decker
brightened and bobbed his head. “Yeah, definitely
possible.”

“
That’s it!”

All eyes turned to Barrios. He raised his
head to look at them. “And that’s how Syrus got them. Jarid would
have had that pod pre-programmed to return to Avion.”

Decker balked. “Lord knows where that
transport ended up. It could have taken years for a homing pod to
reach Avion.”

“
How do we know it didn’t
make it?” Barrios countered. “Syrus could have recovered the pod
anytime in the last ten years.”

Cidra turned to face Barrios. “Then why
didn’t he say something?”

Barrios reached out and clasped her hand. “I
don’t know. He didn’t have many friends in high places by then.
Maybe he was afraid no one would believe him.”

“
I would have,” she
whispered.

Grey heard the break in her voice and
decided to push forward before she lost it altogether. “Since they
didn’t include their coordinates, they must not have been able to
determine where they were. Sounds like they were trying to leave
some clues as to where they dropped out of hyperspace.”

“
So now all we have to do
is find them, right?” Barrios grinned at Grey and leaned back in
his chair while it squeaked in protest. “I’ve heard you’re the best
there is.”

“
I’ll tell you right now,
it doesn’t sound good,” Grey warned. “For one thing, that transport
could have dropped out of hyperspace anywhere. In case you hadn’t
noticed, the universe is a very big place. Secondly, attempting to
land on a planet when you’ve lost most of your systems isn’t
pretty. Obviously, they never returned to Avion. There’s a very
good chance they didn’t survive at all.”

Cidra eyed him shrewdly. “Forget the odds.
What does your instinct tell you?”

His mouth turned up.
Too damned perceptive
.
His gut feelings were positive on this one, but how did she know
that? He was definitely in trouble.

He kept his eyes locked on hers. “I’m going
to regret this.”

CHAPTER SIX

Plass entered his Supreme Ruler’s chambers
with the bearing of a man on a death march. The red sunset cast a
venomous glow over the sparse contents of the chamber. Tausek
occupied center stage watching the evening’s entertainment—another
savage sunset. The room was silent but for the faint clicking of
claws on the black, stone floor as the corvits moved to their
master’s side. Plass came to a halt behind his ruler.

“
You have news for me,
Commander,” Tausek voiced evenly, not a muscle moved on his broad
back. “Proceed.”

Plass took a deep breath and prepared
himself for the inevitable. Tausek did not tolerate failure
well.

“
Jarid Faulkner did indeed
have a daughter named Cidra. It is possible she survived the
initial attack and is now posing as the niece of Syrus Almazan. Her
description and approximate age fit. Our sources reveal the niece
arrived shortly after we eliminated Faulkner and his family. I am
inclined to believe, based on the evidence, that she is Cidra
Faulkner.”

The only acknowledgment from Tausek came as
a twitch in his shoulder. He continued to view the sunset
unperturbed. “I see. You will, of course, execute her properly this
time.”

A prolonged silence drew Tausek around until
he faced the Commander. Plass tried to match Tausek’s icy facade in
a dismal contest. In the fifteen years he had known Tausek, he had
never seen any significant emotion in the man. Every movement,
every word, every action was expedient, rationed as if coming from
a limited supply. Plass shifted uncomfortably, struggling to find
words that would minimize Tausek’s wrath.

“
When we locate her, we
will not fail,” were the words he finally settled on.

Tausek’s expression grew darker.
“Explain.”

Plass drew himself up with every ounce of
courage he’d earned in his lifetime. “It appears she has left
Avion. We are following a promising lead now. I am confident she
will be located and terminated shortly.”

Tausek remained silent for a few long
moments, his black eyes drilling into Plass. Heat began to build
under the Commander’s uniform.

“
Sssss.” Tausek hissed
between his teeth.

Called to attention, the corvits stepped
from their positions toward Plass with ruthless concentration.
Plass swallowed, his throat constricting to the threshold of pain.
Barely visible in the darkness, they were a nightmare come
alive.

“
Let us hope you do just
that, Commander. I will hold you personally responsible. I suggest
you handle this matter as if your very life depended on its
success.” His eyes burned into Plass.

“
Yes sir,” Plass managed.
“I understand.”

He took a resuscitating breath. First
message delivered and he was still alive, barely. His eyes flicked
over the corvits. Even frozen, they looked terrifying.

Now highly motivated, Plass plowed ahead.
“There is one other item. Earlier today, there was an unusual
security breach into our primary information system. The only files
accessed were for the Avion vaccine negotiations and communications
ten years ago.”

Plass paused, noting with surprise that his
ruler’s natural arrogance appeared momentarily compromised. Hoping
to head off a second storm, he said in haste, “The files were
assigned Level Three security only. I consider this a minor
incident. I have corrected the oversight, but I thought you should
be aware of it.”

The momentary lapse passed and Tausek
regained his composure without missing a beat. “You thought
correctly. I want a copy of every file accessed in this violation.
Then permanently purge those files from the system.” His jaw
clenched ever so slightly. “Have you identified the
perpetrator?”

“
No sir, but we will. I
have our best people working on it.” Plass continued with some
trepidation. “It may take some time. The transgression originated
off-planet.”

If Tausek was breathing, Plass couldn’t
tell.

“
How have you corrected
this situation?”

Plass’ uniform was burning from the inside
out, perspiration carving a river down his back. “I relieved the
Head of System Security of his position.”

“
Terminate him
permanently.” Tausek’s words cut through the air.

Plass blinked once. “Yes, sir. Will there be
anything else?”

Tausek turned his back to Plass with a
single easy movement. “You will notify me when you identify the
source of the infiltration. I will decide what action to take at
that time.”

“
As you wish.”

“
Dismissed.”

Plass glanced once at the motionless
corvits, spun on his heel and headed for the safety of his office.
He didn’t slow down until Tausek’s chamber door slid shut behind
him. Releasing a full breath, he turned right and headed toward his
private office, his footsteps echoing through the empty halls.

He tried to sort through the unusual
conversation with Tausek. He’d expected the anger. He’d expected
the retribution. What he hadn’t expected was the fear that flashed
ever so briefly in Tausek’s eyes. Any other man wouldn’t have
picked it up, but Plass had known Tausek a long time.

Tausek, the powerful ruler of Dakru, was
rattled.

Plass entered his office and dropped into
the chair behind his desk, mindless of the perspiration soaked
uniform sticking to his skin. Wedged between Tausek’s private
quarters and office, this room remained windowless, no violent
sunsets for him. They were almost too painful to watch.

He laid his head back, steepled his fingers,
and began to ponder each point throughout the conversation for a
clue to the uneasiness that now gripped him.

Cidra Faulkner’s disappearance had prompted
Tausek’s anticipated anger. The complete destruction of the Kin-sha
and the Faulkner’s were an obsession for all Dakruians. By
withholding the vaccine, they had killed millions and sealed their
own death orders. Considering what they had done to his people, not
to mention Plass personally, they deserved no less. He glanced
soberly at the still-life holo image on the corner of his desk. The
faces of his life’s mate and three precious children smiled back at
him. All beautiful, all lost in the critical early stages of the
plague.

It had been much the same for the rest of
the d’Hont units. The plague seemed to hit their forces
particularly hard. Few d’Honts died, but they watched their
families and friends perish slowly, painfully, bit by bit.
Helplessly watching.

D’Hont became his life and his future
shortly after Tausek’s appointment as ruler of Dakru, effectively
replacing the family he’d loved and lost. Plass had been selected
d’Hont Commander and right hand to the ruler. In this position, he
could guarantee that Avion or the Kin-sha never forgot their
intolerable mistakes of the past.

Yes, he agreed with Tausek’s anger. Knew its
basis, understood its justification.

So that left the other issue, the puzzling
security breach. Puzzling because the skillfully executed,
unorthodox infiltration had gained access to the entire system. Yet
the only files touched just happened to involve the Avion to Dakru
vaccine shipment. Tausek’s shock, and that’s just what it was,
confused matters even more. His order to execute the Head of System
Security struck Plass as excessive, even for the barbaric
Tausek.

The questions started rising, questions he
didn’t know if he wanted to pursue, but couldn’t ignore. Why, after
all these years would someone want the Avion vaccine files? Was it
pure coincidence that Cidra Faulkner had risen from the dead at the
same time, only to auspiciously disappear again? And by far the
most unsettling, why should Tausek be so disturbed by such a minor
system infiltration?

The Commander gazed into space and drummed
his fingers on the desk. If Tausek wanted him to handle this
personally, that’s just what he would do. He’d copy the files to a
micropad and then purge them as directed.

While he obeyed his ruler’s wishes, it might
not be a bad idea to make a copy for himself. In fact, it might not
be a bad idea to take a closer look at all those files.
Personally.

Grey was running hard on
the TrackMat when he spotted Decker enter
Calíbre
’s rec center sporting a wide
grin.

“
Thought I’d find you in
here. Isn’t this your second time today? You’re going to burn up
that TrackMat, you know.” Decker stopped in front of him and shoved
his hands in his pockets. “Having trouble sleeping or
something?”

Grey glared at him. With sweat stinging his
eyes, his lungs screaming for mercy, and his legs burning, he was
in no mood for any digs from his first officer. His lack of sleep
was no one’s business but his own.

“
Maybe I’ll make this a
requirement for my entire crew,” he stated bluntly.

Decker laughed and folded his arms over his
chest. “You’d kill us all.”

Grey slowed to a steady run, much to the
relief of his lungs and legs. “I assume you’re here for some other
reason than to watch me sweat.”

“
I just like to see how
some people work out their frustrations. Anyone I know? Maybe a new
crew member?” Decker turned and gauged the distance to the
door.

Grey shot him a homicidal look and wondered
how much frustration he could vent with a fist to Decker’s face.
“Report or leave,” he snapped, slowing his pace to a fierce
walk.

Decker held up a hand. “I’m reporting. I
used the security codes you gave me and pulled the shipment
information from the Avion archives. There’s not much more than we
got out of Syrus’ box. So after that, I broke into the Dakru
information system.”

Grey stopped dead on the TrackMat, grinding
the automatic sensor to a halt. “Find anything?”

“
Not much. Not what I
expected.” Decker shook his head. “I managed to get into the files
on the Dakru shipment from Avion.” He grinned. “I wonder if they
realize how bad their security is.”

“
If they didn’t know
before, they do now. You could lead them right back to us,” Grey
charged.

Decker shrugged. “You said be creative. I
figured I might find some answers. Besides, it’s going to take them
a while to trace it back to us, if at all. I left a mess of false
trails.”

Grey stepped off the TrackMat and snagged a
towel from a side chair. “I hope it was worth it.”