Short Stories Archives - Council Science Fiction

Short Story Part 2

Imperator — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 22:34:52 +0000

New Short Story Part 2!

Chronicles of the Expansion War: Episode 1 Part 2

Part 2 of my latest short story is now released. Click the link above to go to the story page and read it now!

For those who prefer, a PDF version of the complete story can be downloaded here:

Chronicles of the Expansion War Episode I: The Battle of Yates - Complete

1 file(s) 427.07 KB

Download

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A New Short Story and A New Content Format

Imperator — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 20:12:37 +0000

New Short Story!

Chronicles of the Expansion War

Episode 1

The Battle of Yates (Part 1)

A Short Story By Gerold F. Eberl III

Click Here to Read it Now!

I had planned to release this last week but because of the length of the story I had to delay it for editing. The overall length of this story means it could technically be considered a novella. Because of this I have decided to split it into two parts, expect Part 2 to be released soon. As usual I will release a PDF version of the full story when I release Part 2.

New Content Format

This is something I am particularly excited about. I have some experience in 3D modelling and design, so for a while I have been considering creating some 3D concept art of ships or locations in my stories, and I finally have something to show in that regard. Below I have included a quick conceptual rendering of the colony ship that appears in my latest short story. This is very much a work in progress, the model, textures, and lighting are incomplete. However, I wanted to release it as a sample of things to come.

Work In Progress – Click for full sized Image

The post A New Short Story and A New Content Format appeared first on Council Science Fiction.

New Short Story: Resolute Outcast – Part 2

Imperator — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 19:06:43 +0000

I am pleased to present Part 2 of my new short story:

Part 1 can be Read Here

For those who prefer, a PDF version of the full story can be downloaded here:

Resolute Outcast - Complete

1 file(s) 355.02 KB

Download

May 12, 6303 Earth Standard

Freighter Blue Sparrow on Approach to Mendel II

Two and a half days after his departure from New Concord, Michael Bannik once again found himself seated in the cockpit of the Blue Sparrow. This time they were not leaving a world, but rather on final approach to Mendel II. It was a stark contrast to where he had come from, thousands of ships around the planet, numerous orbital installations some nearly a hundred kilometers across. He had seen it in VR, but seeing it himself was entirely different.

As they descended towards a city Michael became aware of just how large it was, sprawling out beyond any on New Concord, with towering buildings soaring kilometers above the surface, “How many people live here?”

“Nearly two hundred million.” Megan replied.

Two hundred million, the figure struck him. It was ten times the size of St. Anne, the largest city on New Concord, and Earth had cities with billions, he could only imagine how vast they must be. As they passed through a cloud layer the port came into view, ships that dwarfed anything he had ever seen were docked at numerous berths around a massive facility. The imposing sight just served to emphasize how small and isolated the colony on his home world really was.

“We’ll drop you at the passenger terminal before continuing on to the cargo docks.” Nate told Bannik as they neared a small landing area, “Just to let you know, the gravity here is a little higher than you’re used to. So be careful when you get off the ship.”

Bannik nodded as they touched down, he was far too distracted by the sights around them to offer any more of a response. The ship landing drove the realization into him; he was actually on a different world. “I made it.” He said aloud.

“All your documentation in order?” Megan inquired, she knew if it wasn’t he was in for a bureaucratic nightmare.

“Yeah.” Bannik replied as he picked up his bag, he had checked several times to make sure of it, “I filed everything before I left.”

“Well, we’ll wish you the best of luck then.” She continued.

“Thank you.” Bannik replied as he left the cockpit. He quickly made his way to one of the ships boarding ramps, a blast of warmer air hit him and his ear popped as the ramp opened. The atmospheric pressure here was slightly higher than on the ship. When he stepped off the ramp he quickly realized why they had warned him about the gravity, he must have felt 20 kilos heavier and he had to tighten his grip on his bag to avoid dropping it.

Looking around, the area appeared to be a landing zone for charter flights. Most of the people around him appeared to be significantly wealthier than him and he couldn’t help but feel a little out of place. Entering the terminal he had to stop and take in the overwhelming scope of the structure. It was unlike anything on New Concord, for a moment he felt like he might get lost, fortunately the directions to immigration were clearly posted.

His path led him to what appeared to be some sort of tram, at least it reminded him of the tram on New Concord, but it was significantly more sophisticated. The alien feeling of an artificial gravity field greeted him as he entered with a number of other people. He suppressed a gasp as the tram took off at an incredible speed, reaching its next stop nearly a kilometer away in a just a few seconds. People filed on and off and the tram took off once again; after several stops he was quickly becoming accustomed to it.

Finally the tram brought him to immigration, an expansive area dominated by a number of gated kiosks. Most of them appeared to be run by automated AI’s, but there were a few counters that had real people, likely to deal with any complications that arose. Michael Bannik made his way to the nearest open kiosk, he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but he had heard that the AI would walk him through everything. The face of an AI appeared and a quick scan swept over him as he entered.

“Michael Bannik, age eighteen.” The AI stated as a holographic display appeared, “Please review and confirm the following data before continuing.”

Bannik looked at the data, birth date, planet of birth, various bits of biographical information; it appeared to have been compiled from the documents he had submitted. Everything appeared to be in order so he pressed the confirm button.

“Thank you.” The AI continued, “Your current status is: awaiting approval for temporary residency. Because you do not have a medical record associated with a doctor licensed by the Colonial Confederation you will be required to submit to a medical examination before your temporary residency status can be approved. The medical facility can be found down the hall on the left once this interview is concluded. Please note that it is a felony to intentionally lie or provide misleading answers to any questions posed. Please indicate your understanding and acceptance to continue or cancel this exchange and proceed to the service counters if you would prefer to speak to a human representative.”

A mass of text accompanied the AI’s explanation; most of it was simply the associated laws and other references. Bannik had already seen most of it when he was filing his initial documentation, “I accept.”

The AI display shifted to a questionnaire format, it appeared quite short so long as the conditional questions weren’t triggered, “Do you confirm that the information provided in your residency petition and subsequent interview is substantially accurate and free from errors?”

“Yes.”

“Have you visited any of the listed locations before your arrival on Mendel II?”

A list of locations appeared before Bannik, many of them, like Lambda Station he had never even heard of, “No.”

“Are you currently carrying, or were you asked to carry any of the following contraband items?” The AI continued.

“No.” Bannik answered after quickly looking over the list.

The final question came up, “Since your immigration interview, have there been any changes in your status that would require updates to the following information.”

Bannik reviewed the data displayed, “No.”

“Thank you, and welcome to the Colonial Confederation. Please proceed down the hall to your left for your medical examination.” The AI finished as the doors on the other side of the kiosk opened.

“Well that was quick.” Bannik commented as he looked around the area. To his right was an exit that appeared to have scanners, likely to prevent those who needed medical exams from exiting, and to his left, the hallway to medical.

The entrance to the medical facility consisted of a relatively small waiting room. Apparently there were not a large number of people in his predicament, but there were enough to warrant having such a facility on site. After a short wait he was called back to an exam room.

A doctor entered the exam room shortly after Bannik, “Michael Bannik is it?” The Doctor inquired to confirm she had the pronunciation right, “I’m Doctor Colfax, I’ve reviewed your data, I must say you’re somewhat of a surprise.”

“How’s that?” Bannik had no idea what she meant.

“Oh it’s nothing to be concerned about.” She replied with a wave of her hand to alleviate his concerns, “It’s just, this is the first time I’ve ever met someone who had absolutely no genetic augmentations, and I’ve been here almost two years. It’s somewhat exciting from a medical standpoint.”

“I see.” An uneasy nod accompanied Bannik’s response. He wasn’t too fond of being considered a medical anomaly, but in a time when over 99.7% of the human race had some genetic modifications it was hardly surprising.

Doctor Colfax gestured to the exam bed, “If you’ll lie down, we’ll take a preliminary scan for your medical records.”

Bannik did as he was instructed, then a large scanner slowly swept over him. Doubtlessly it was a far more intrusive scan than the security and identification scans he had been subjected to so far.

“That’s it.” Colfax commented as the scanner returned to its normal position. Quickly she glanced over the results, “Everything looks normal considering your unaltered genome. How are you handling the high gravity?”

“Alright. It’s a little tiring.” Bannik admitted.

Colfax nodded, “That’s to be expected. Once you’ve undergone the basic augmentations it shouldn’t be so much of a concern. I’m sure you’re aware you’ll need a medical confirmation of that within the next three months before your permanent residence status will get final approval. Have you found a doctor or scheduled the treatment yet?”

“I’m attending the military academy; they’re supposed to handle everything.” Bannik replied.

“Ah, shouldn’t be an issue then.” She replied as she walked to a counter and prepared an injection, “This is an immune booster; it should prevent you from getting sick until you get your genetic treatments. I can tell you, you do not want to be walking around with an unmodified immune system. There are some diseases out there that while harmless after the treatments, could put your life at risk right now.”

“Disturbing.” Bannik commented as the injection went in his arm.

“It is when you stop and think about it.” She agreed, turning her attention to a small tablet where she punched in a few commands before turning back to him, “There you go, your temporary residency status is now approved.”

“Thank you.” Bannik got up and grabbed his belongings as the doctor led him out of the room, activating the sterilization protocol as soon as they were both out. Before he left he turned back to her, “Do you happen to know where the Fleet Office is?”

“Somewhere on level four if I remember correctly.” It had been a while since she had been down there, “Ask the computer when you leave the office it should be able to give you directions.”

Doctor Colfax was right; the computer had led Bannik right to the office, doorways flanked by holograms about joining the military. With a deep breath he made his way inside to find a woman sitting behind a desk, her uniform identified her as a specialist second class.

“Can I help you?” She inquired as Bannik walked up.

“Yes.” Bannik pulled a tablet out of his bag and brought up the instructions he was given, before handing it to her, “I was told to report here upon my arrival on planet.”

It took the specialist a few seconds to look over his tablet and pull up some data, “Mr. Bannik, you’re on my schedule. A little earlier than expected, but that shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll let Lieutenant Tully know you’re here, please take a seat.”

Bannik knew what to expect here, before he could attend the academy as a provisional cadet there would be an interview. He didn’t know what they would ask him, but he knew that he would be scanned and monitored to assess the truthfulness of his answers. It was minor but it was the final hurdle that could derail his plans if they were not satisfied with his answers. He was getting nervous thinking about it, and his palms were sweating.

Suddenly the silence was interrupted by a man’s voice, “Specialist, is this Mr. Bannik?”

“Yes Sir.” She replied standing up.

The Lieutenant looked over, “Set him up in interview two, I’ll be in in five minutes.”

“Understood Sir.” She saluted and turned to Bannik, “Please come with me.”

As she led Bannik into the interview room he was surprised to see that it appeared to be a small conference room and had a window overlooking a park outside the building. He assumed the whole design was probably to help people relax.

The specialist gestured for him to take a seat in one of the chairs at the table in the room, “This room is equipped with sensors to monitor your vitals and assess the truthfulness of the answers you give during your interview. Lieutenant Tully will be conducting it, he’ll be in shortly.” Without another word she left and the door closed behind her.

Another specialist accompanied Lieutenant Tully when he entered a few minutes later. The lieutenant sat down across from Bannik while the specialist stood against a wall, his attention focused on a tablet that was probably displaying Bannik’s vitals. Tully looked at his own tablet and the data on Bannik, “Mr. Bannik, I’m sure you’re aware of the purpose of this interview and Specialist Jacobs told you that you will be monitored to assess your truthfulness.” Tully saw Bannik nod, “Good, because while you’re currently accepted to the Fleet Academy as a provisional cadet for the next term, that acceptance will be revoked if your answers here are not satisfactory.”

“I understand.” Bannik answered trying to hide how nervous he was.

Tully nodded approvingly and pulled up a list of questions, “Excellent, let’s begin. We’ll start with the basics. Are you Michael Bannik, born January 7, 6285 on New Concord?

“Yes.” Bannik replied.

“Have you ever been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a criminal offense?” Tully continued.

“No.” Bannik replied; after he answered he thought about how he had gotten his parents approval for the school he had attended, he doubted it rose to the level of a criminal offense under the circumstances. His parents had simply authorized it without reading. Judging by the reaction of the specialist, he was okay.

“Have you in any way falsified the data you presented in your immigration process or your Academy application process?”

“No.”

“Have you attempted to present any factually accurate data in a misleading way in the aforementioned processes?” The Lieutenant read from the questions before him.

Once again Bannik responded. “No.”

“Are you now or have you ever been a member of a group, movement, or any other organization with goals that might seek to undermine the government of the Colonial Confederation or the wellbeing of individuals under its jurisdiction?”
“No.” Bannik could feel his heartbeat, this was effectively an interrogation. He wasn’t concerned about the questions anymore; just that his agitation might make him look misleading.

“Do you harbor any ill will towards the Colonial Confederation, its government, or its citizens?”

“No.”

“Pay attention this question is a little different.” Tully cautioned, “Do you abandon any prior allegiance and swear your allegiance to the Colonial Confederation?”

“I do.” Bannik replied, realizing that he had just completely forsaken his homeworld. Strangely, that thought brought him comfort. The rest of the questions seemed to get easier for him after that, and he found his confidence growing as the interview went on.

“Final question.” Tully informed him, sliding his tablet aside, “How does it feel to know you’ll be an Academy cadet when the next term begins?”

It took Bannik a moment to process, “Great, thank you Sir.”

Lieutenant Tully stood up to shake Bannik’s hand, “Let me be the first to congratulate you. You know you’ll be the first cadet from your homeworld in hundreds of years.”

“I knew it had been a long time.” Bannik acknowledged.

“Well you still have a ways to go before you get there.” Tully reminded him, “You need to undergo some genetic treatments, so for the next three months you’ll be transferred to Kannalli Base here on this planet. There you’ll undergo your treatments at the base hospital and be put through a special training. At the conclusion of that, you’ll be transferred to Earth, where for the next six years you’ll attend the academy.”

Bannik couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you Sir, I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to get off my homeworld.”

After pressing a few commands into his tablet Tully returned his focus to Bannik, “Take the tram to the Fleet landing facility and get on transport G-14, it’ll take you to the base. I need to return to my other duties but hopefully we’ll meet again someday.”

For the first time in months, Bannik felt completely at ease, everything had finally come together. Even the prospect of the gene therapies didn’t bother him at the moment; he was probably one of the only people from his world who could say that. He took a minute to completely relax as the tram carried him to the transport docks.

It was a relief when Bannik stepped on to the transport, the gravity aboard defaulted to one g, considerably less than he had been enduring since his arrival. It wouldn’t last, but he was going to enjoy it before facing the prospect of several months on a high gravity world. The transport was far from full, but there were a number of other people aboard, some were uniformed military personnel, but most of the others appeared to be new recruits like him.

The flight to the base took less than ten minutes. As the transport approached, Bannik could see the sprawling complex in the otherwise remote region of the planet. On the far side of the base were berths for larger ships, and beyond that a large open area, currently occupied by what appeared to be some sort of massive landing ship.

Impressive as the view was, it was short lived as the transport descended towards a landing bay in the central part of the complex. When they landed the uniformed personnel guided everyone to a meeting hall for a thankfully short orientation briefing. Finally, everyone was assigned to quarters on the base.

Bannik’s quarters were small but more than adequate, about 3 by 5 meters with a tiny bathroom. Looking at the clock he had just enough time to shower before changing into the uniform they had provided and reporting to the base hospital. Everything he had already done paled in comparison to getting genetic augmentations, it would be the final rejection of the way he had grown up and the planet he had left.

At the hospital Bannik presented his orders and was immediately brought to a suite with far more intimidating equipment than he had seen at his initial exam. Dominating the center of the room was a table beneath an array of surgical equipment, Bannik swallowed as he looked at it, he barely noticed a man walk towards him.

“Michael Bannik?” The man inquired prompting a nod from Bannik, “I’m Lieutenant Commander Victor Lorne; I’ll be your doctor while you’re here. Try not to be intimidated, we just need the sensors in this room to customize your treatments.”

A wave of relief came over Bannik, he was beginning to wonder why he was in a surgical suite, “I was getting worried.”

“Nothing to be concerned about.” Lorne reassured him, “Though I understand you’re a rather unusual case. Absolutely no genetic alterations?”

“None.” Bannik confirmed.

It was quite unusual to meet someone like Bannik, Lorne’s curiosity had to be satisfied, “How are you holding up in the high gravity?”

Bannik frowned, “The other doctor asked me about that when I arrived. Can’t say I’m exactly enjoying it, but other than getting a little tired…”

“Well, it shouldn’t be an issue once your treatments are over. Speaking of, have you been briefed on what to expect in that regard?” Lorne inquired.

“Only that I’ll need several rounds of treatments over the next two months.” Bannik answered.

Lorne was unused to dealing with people who knew so little about genetic augmentation but it wasn’t surprising in this case. He grabbed his tablet and pressed a few commands, “I’m sending you the data sheets on the treatments, they’re long but they can answer most of your questions. As for what you can expect right now, we’ll examine your DNA and prepare a treatment accordingly; combined with some minor nano-surgery the treatments can reach full effect in about two months. The long list of changes is in the data sheet, but the big ones are increased lifespan, improved health and immune response, and better environmental adaptivity. The general treatments are pretty refined but there can be some side effects, most commonly nausea and disorientation, they’re temporary and usually very mild. The one exception to that is the augmentation to your muscles and bone structure, it’s not a mandatory part of the treatment, but on a high gravity world you’ll be very thankful for it. The downside is that it usually causes general body aches, normally they’re nothing more than an annoyance but they can sometimes be severe. Typically they start around forty-eight hours after the first treatment and end about ten days after that. If they get severe let us know, we’ll treat them. I can see this is a little overwhelming, you probably have some questions.”

At the center of Bannik’s myriad of questions was one major one, “Exactly how safe are these treatments?”

“Extremely safe.” Lorne reassured him, “These treatments are customized for the individual. As I said, there can be side effects, but as long as we’re not talking about black market clinics the odds of complications are about one in a billion, and of those complications only about one in fifty are serious. No one has died from a licensed treatment in well over a century and in that time there have been literally trillions of treatments administered.”

“And these won’t affect my mind or anything like that?” It was one concern that still lingered in the back of Bannik’s mind, left over from his upbringing on New Concord.

Lorne shook his head, “No, modifications to neurological function are extremely restricted and for the most part, only done under special circumstances. You have nothing to worry about in that regard.”

That reassured Bannik, for a second he had been having second thoughts, “And after this I’m supposed to have two months of special training?”

“That’s right; it will help you adjust to the changes, particularly the changes to your muscle and bone structure. Most of that will be done here in the hospital. Anything else right now?” Lorne inquired, to which Bannik shook his head, “Then, if you’ll lie down on the table we’ll get started.”

Bannik did as he was instructed; only now noticing the woman on the far side of the room configuring the sensors. With a brief smile she pressed the controls and a large ring like scanner moved over Bannik. As it finished the doctor moved to the display and examined the data, nodding as he mulled it over.

“Prepare a Series 1A-4 gene mod for the current sequence.” Lorne commanded the computer before turning to Bannik, “That’ll take a few minutes to prepare; you have no previous gene mods so I will ask you to wear this for the next few days.” Lorne produced a small translucent sensor patch and pressed it onto Bannik’s upper arm where it became all but invisible, “That will monitor the changes and let us keep track of your progress.”

Before Bannik could ask anything the console behind Lorne sounded with an incoming transmission, “Commander Lorne, lab here. You ordered a Series 1A-4 gene mod, can you confirm that?”

“That’s correct.” Lorne replied with mild frustration.

The voice on the other end sounded somewhat surprised, “Understood, you’ll have it in a few minutes sir. Lab out.”

“What was that about?” Bannik demanded with renewed concern.

Lorne just shook his head, “Series 1A treatments are for people that have no other augmentations; we don’t use them very often. They probably thought it was a mistake.”

“I see.” Bannik leaned back and tried to relax, he knew there really wasn’t anything to be concerned about but some anxiety still lingered.

A few minutes later a small drone delivered the treatment. Lorne examined it and placed it in an injector, “Ready?” He asked approaching Bannik.

“Yeah.” Bannik answered with a deep breath.

The next two days Bannik didn’t notice any difference but on the third he realized what Lorne had meant about the body aches. They weren’t unbearable but they were definitely uncomfortable. Slowly they subsided, and he began to become more aware of the changes. The most obvious one was that he wasn’t getting tired as easily in the high gravity. In one of his training exercises they placed him in a 1g environment, where he found to his surprise he could jump twice as high as he once could. As the training continued it shifted more to a military basic training regimen.

After a month on base Bannik finally decided to try contacting his family, hoping they might have gotten over their anger at that point. However, the notification that his transmission had been blocked by the receiver seemed to indicate otherwise. He didn’t have any more luck trying to contact his sister directly but in her case he would at least keep trying. For now, he was where he expected to be, completely on his own.

The day came after his three months on Mendel II, his transfer to the Fleet Academy on Earth. He had been looking forward to this day; it was what he had wanted for years. With a large group of other people he boarded the transport ship that would take him to Earth. It was far larger than the cargo ship that had brought him to Mendel II, but offered very few luxuries. Clearly it was not designed for long term habitation; each of its tiny rooms had two bunks, though the ship was not filled to capacity so most people had their own rooms. Unlike his room on the base, they did not have their own bathrooms or showers; still, they were sufficient considering he would only be aboard for a few days.

Those few days aboard seemed interminable as Bannik eagerly anticipated seeing Earth. It was the birthplace of the human race, the capital of the Colonial Confederation; a planet of well over two hundred billion inhabitants with history dating back over ten thousand years. During the trip Bannik had met two other people going to the Academy, one of them had been to Earth years before and described cities so vast Bannik had a hard time envisioning them.

When they were finally on approach to Earth Bannik made sure he was on the observation deck in the ship’s commons area. Looking out he could see more ships than he could ever have imagined, stations the size of small moons, and Earth’s moon, an industrialized military installation dotted with massive construction facilities. Beyond the moon he got his first look at Earth itself; a blue and green sphere, with cities that could be clearly seen even from 300,000 kilometers away.

Around Earth were several large ring structures, providing habitat for billions of people but also providing the backbone of Earth’s planetary defenses. The structures were the legacy of the Expansion War, fought against an alien threat thousands of years ago. Though victory had been achieved it had cost half the human race; in the aftermath of the war it had been decided that as the birthplace of humanity Earth needed to be unassailable, and so the long task of building those defenses began. Even by modern standards those rings were some of the greatest structures ever created.

The transport drew closer to the rings, bringing into focus their truly massive size. A series of docking bays became visible, according to the itinerary they would transfer to smaller shuttles and transports that would take everyone to their final destinations, one of those would carry him to the Fleet Academy. After docking he would have one hour until his next transport headed to the surface, not much time to explore, but enough for him to get a look at one of the rings habitation zones.

It was a detour that proved to be worth it, the massive space proved to be an entire ecosystem. An expansive green forested area, interspersed with habitation zones stretched on for kilometers. Even lakes and rivers flowed through the area. An hour wasn’t nearly enough to explore it; he was going to make a point to return someday.

After seeing that it was hard for anything to appear anywhere near as impressive, but the Academy grounds were inspiring in their own right. The campus was absolutely monstrous, a city unto itself, situated in a mountain valley. He only got a brief view of it from his shuttle, but according to the published information there were several million cadets from all across the Colonial Confederation.

Finally stepping off the shuttle Bannik stopped for a second and breathed in the air, it occurred to him that he was the first member of his family to set foot on Earth in over 2000 years. While his family would no doubt be disgusted with him, he took some pride in his accomplishment. Continuing on from the docking bay he joined a legion of new cadets arriving at the Academy. The sheer number of people made the area crowded, but without too much difficulty they made their way to an absolutely massive auditorium where Admiral Parker, the Academy Superintendent greeted the new class. Bannik let it settle in, this would be his home for the next six years, and as far as he was concerned, it was the best decision he had ever made.

* * *

March 22, 6309 Earth Standard

Council Fleet Academy, Earth

It seemed like the last six years at the Academy had simply flown by. Michael Bannik had become a citizen of the Colonial Confederation just six months ago, and in another two months he would be graduating from the academy. Thinking back on how it had all started eleven years ago he could hardly believe he had managed to get where he was. He had been so naive, but his determination had overcome everything, and at least now he had a future with better prospects than being an agricultural technician. His background had always made him a bit of an outcast at the academy, the guy from ‘that’ planet. Even with the number of people at the academy there very few who had ever even met another person from his homeworld. He had never let it bother him though, no matter what, he was more welcome at the Academy than with his own family, and eventually he overcame the stigma associated with his background. He had more friends here than he had on his homeworld.

Bannik was sitting in the commons of his residence hall, watching a sporting event with some friends when he heard a shout behind him, “Officer on deck!”

Everyone jumped to attention, Bannik recognized Lieutenant Kauffmann, but not the commander that accompanied him. It was unusual to see Kauffmann here, and Bannik could only wonder what they wanted.

“Cadet Bannik!” Kauffmann called out.

“Here Sir!” Bannik replied stepping forward.

“With us cadet. The rest of you, as you were.” Kauffmann ordered as Bannik joined him and the unknown commander.

Whatever was happening was beyond Bannik’s imagination. As far as he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, and Kauffmann wasn’t responsible for discipline so he doubted it had anything to do with that. Furthermore, who was this Commander Griffin; Bannik had finally seen the name on his uniform. Yet another question was why they had shown up in person, they could have just as easily requested his presence by comm. It seemed Bannik would have to wait until they reached their destination to get his answers.

A short time later Bannik found himself led into a conference room in a nearby building. Commander Griffin turned to Kauffmann, “Thank you Lieutenant, you can wait outside.”

Kauffmann saluted and stepped out of the room, leaving Bannik standing at attention and even more curious as to what was going on.

“At ease cadet.” Griffin ordered as he paced back and forth, “I’d imagine you’re quite curious as to who I am and what this is about, but before I get to that, I need you to understand that what we discuss here is classified. You’re not to discuss this meeting or anything brought up here with anyone else without permission, is that clear?”

“Yes Sir.” Bannik answered even more confused.

“Good. I am Commander Darrel Griffin, Council Intelligence and Security Counterintelligence Division.” Griffin saw the bewildered look on Bannik’s face, “I see you have even more questions now.”

That was an understatement, CIS was a major security and spying agency made up of both military and civilian personnel; Bannik couldn’t even begin to understand why Griffin was here, “Yes Sir. I’m just not sure what CIS could possibly want with me.”

“Quite simple cadet.” Griffin smiled, “We’d like to recruit you. And your next question is doubtlessly, ‘why me?’ In addition to your academic performance here at the Academy, which has been impressive, you’ve shown a remarkable aptitude for what might be called… creative problem solving. Put bluntly, your record shows you have a talent for subterfuge when the need arises. Even before you arrived here, you managed to overcome the obstacles which would have prevented you from attending the Academy; and you keep your plans secret from your friends and family for five years. Yes, I’ve read your file. Point is, what you accomplished there could be difficult, even for trained operatives. Additionally, your history gives you a unique perspective, which could prove valuable under the right circumstances. We keep an eye open for individuals with these sorts of talents; you managed to get our attention.

“I want to emphasize, your under no obligation to take this offer, it is strictly voluntary. If you turn it down it will in no way affect you, and it won’t appear on your record; it will in no way be a blemish. But, if you accept, then after your graduation you will be assigned to CIS Counterintelligence for training, where it goes from there depends on our assessment of you. I don’t need a decision right now, take a few days to consider the offer and get back to me. If…”

“No need Sir. I accept.” He didn’t mean to interrupt the Commander, he just blurted it out. Despite being overwhelmed, Bannik knew he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity before him.

“That was quick.” Griffin replied, “Usually people take at least a few minutes to consider, or ask questions, but not you. I have to ask why?”

Bannik took a deep breath, “Sir, I’ve busted my ass to get where I am. The opportunities I’ve had, I had to make for myself. I’m not used to opportunities presenting themselves to me, so when one does and it looks promising, I take it. Maybe if I took some time to think over what you’re offering I’d have a few doubts or concerns; but in the end, I know I’d make the same decision Sir.”

“I think you have potential cadet.” Griffin responded with satisfaction, “Best of luck on your upcoming exams. We’ll meet again soon. Dismissed.”

Bannik saluted then turned and left. It was the most unexpected thing that had happened to him in his entire time at the academy. He wasn’t sure what awaited him, but he was eager to find out.

Thank You for Reading

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, actual events, or locales is purely coincidental.

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Fourth Character Profile and a Short Story

Imperator — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 19:57:58 +0000

The Character Profile for Michael Bannik is now available.

Click Here to Read it Now

Bonus content this time includes a complete short story!

Michael Bannik was determined not to follow the same path his family had for generations. Fueled by an unyielding resolve he sets out to rise above his humble origins. See the events that propelled him away from one of the galaxy’s most obscure colonies and paved the way for his future.

Part 1 is Available Now! – Read it Here.

This short story is set well before my novels and should not contain any plot spoilers for them. Part 2 will follow very soon (within a few days), and I will also post a full PDF version when Part 2 is published.

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New Short Story: Resolute Outcast – Part 1

Imperator — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 19:57:31 +0000

I am pleased to present Part 1 of my new short story:

For those who prefer, a PDF version of the full story can be downloaded here:

Resolute Outcast - Complete

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May 7, 6303 Earth Standard

New Concord Colony

Only 52 hours to go. Michael Bannik looked at the clock and smiled with some satisfaction, soon he would be off of this world. All of his forms were filed, his interviews complete; all he had left to do was leave. He realized that meant he might never return, but he had come to terms with that long ago. His future on New Concord was a predictable dead end, but in the Colonial Confederation he could quite literally start a new life.

It had all began five years ago when his cousin Richard had died. Rick, as he preferred to be called, had been 14, just one year older than Michael, and they had been close growing up. He had appeared in good health before the seizures started; his health deteriorated quickly after that. It wasn’t that there was no treatment for Richard’s condition, just that it was illegal on New Concord. At the time Michael had just accepted it, but that acceptance didn’t last long. A few days later, at Richards’s funeral, he just went numb. Looking around he could see everyone in tears, people reciting the usual platitudes. That Richard was in a better place, that it was his time. All Michael could feel was anger.

His cousin, his friend, was dead, that was all that mattered, and he knew who was to blame. It started with everyone who had colonized this damned planet in the first place and everyone who had followed thereafter; a bunch of luddites who rejected certain aspects of modern medicine. Some because of religion, others out of simple moral objection; their animosity was primarily focused on human genetic augmentation, but that hadn’t stopped them from outlawing the neurological procedure that would have saved Richards life. After them, the blame fell on Richard’s parents, they could have taken him off world for treatment, but they didn’t. Whatever they professed as to their reasons, Michael couldn’t help but see it as an excuse for stupidity. That was when he made his decision. This world and its philosophies had murdered Richard; and he would not stay here.

At 13 years old Michael knew there was no way for him to leave New Concord, but that didn’t stop him from figuring out what he could do in the future. He knew he would need to keep this secret from his parents, their beliefs may not have been quite as fervent as some others in his family, but they would still do everything they could to stop him. At first he was nearly overwhelmed, he had made his decision, but he had no idea where to even begin, quickly he realized what his real obstacle would be, money. His family was not wealthy, even if he had their support the expense of a trip off world would be significant, on his own, it would be almost insurmountable. When he combined that with the expense of immigrating into the Colonial Confederation he almost gave up. Then he saw it, it was only a small ad but that was all it took, reading the marketing pitch aloud was like opening a door, “The Fleet of the Supreme Council of the Colonial Confederation, a force for all Humanity. Enlist today.”

It wasn’t what he had in mind, but joining the military would cut his costs, they would cover his room and board, and provide him with pay. Still that wouldn’t help him if he couldn’t get off world in the first place.

Michael remembered the day when everything finally came together, if he had known then what he knew today things would have gone smoother, but he couldn’t place too much fault on his 13 year old self. That day his parents and sister were away so he wasn’t concerned about them knowing what he was looking up, it also allowed him to use the vocal interface, “Computer, access the Council Network and look up immigration travel… reimbursement?”

He wasn’t sure what he would find, but there were innumerable results. A news report: The Crippling Cost of Immigration, “Tell me about it.” He just shook his head, amusing, but not what he was looking for.

A few items seemed closer to what he wanted, some companies paying the cost for new hires, some waivers and exemptions, still none of it applied to him. Then he found them, travel grants for higher education for students from outside the Colonial Confederation. Much like joining the military, a college or university wasn’t something he had ever given serious consideration; apprenticeships and perhaps some tech training were the norm in his family. The only one in his family who had attended a college was his great uncle, and he was sort of an outcast. Still, if there was a way he could combine this with a military career, at least then he might be able to afford it, “Computer, look up Colonial Confederation Military Academies.”

As the results displayed in front of him he knew what he wanted, “Council Fleet Academy…Admissions…Requirements.”

A feminine but professional looking AI appeared in his display, “Hello, I am the Academy Admissions Assistant, how may I help you?”

“I want to know if I will be eligible to attend.” Michael replied.

“Certainly, at the time of attendance will you be at least 18 but not over 50 years of age?” The AI inquired.

“Yes”

“Are you a citizen of the Colonial Confederation or will you have become a naturalized Citizen of the Colonial Confederation at the time of attendance?”

It wasn’t something Michael had anticipated, but he guessed he should have, “No.” He reluctantly answered.

“Because you will not be a Citizen of the Colonial Confederation you will be unable to attend the Council Fleet Academy unless you are from an independent colony for which a treaty exemption applies. Please indicate your current citizenship status.” The AI continued.

Michael was sure his idea was dead, New Concord’s relation with the Colonial Confederation had never been good and were all but nonexistent night now, he winced as he replied, “Citizen of New Concord.”

“An exemption applies under the Treaty of Jernon of 3409. You may attend as a provisional cadet if you meet all other requirements. Your continued attendance and graduation from the academy are contingent on your successfully completing the naturalization process while in attendance. If you fail to meet these requirements you may be expelled and forced to pay restitution.”

Michael Bannik was beyond stunned, he had heard of the Treaty of Jernon in his history classes but he had no idea it contained such a provision, or even that it still meant anything. It was signed thousands of years ago, shortly after the New Concord Colony was founded. He had always thought of it as ancient history, but not today.

The treaty was from an era before the Council had started implementing mandatory genetic augmentation laws in the Colonial Confederation. Those laws eventually led to a near total breakdown of relations. But to this day New Concord had no standing fleets of its own and remained under the protection of Council military forces. When the treaty was signed it was intended to allow individuals from New Concord to be able to attend military academies.

The remainder of the requirements he could meet, the only one that posed a hurdle was a diploma from an accredited secondary education institution, of which there had been none on New Concord for nearly a thousand years. It was a problem but, one that he could overcome. There were a number of online schools on the Colonial Communications Network. For the most part they were targeted at children growing up on spacefaring vessels, but not exclusively.

He would still need his parents’ permission, which they would never willingly give. However, they never actually took the time to read his normal school forms anyway; he could just bury the other attendance forms with those and a few retinal scans later he would be good to go. He had his plan, for the next five years he just had to make sure his grades would get him where he wanted to go.

Reminiscing, Michael Bannik was pleased with the decision he had made. Somehow he had managed to keep it a secret from his parents and everyone else for that entire time, but he was leaving in two days, tomorrow evening at dinner he would have to tell them.

Finally the time for dinner came. Many times he had tried to imagine how bad their reaction would be, now he was about to find out. Dinner with his parents and sister began very much like it always did, a thanks for the food, then his parents asking his sister about her school day, but the normalcy didn’t last.

Michael watched his father wash down his food with a gulp of water before turning to him, “Michael, I was talking to my boss, Nick Hammond today, he said one of those technician’s apprenticeships we were discussing was open, but you’d have to start at the end of next week. I realize it’s sooner than you were planning, but you should take it, it’s a good opportunity, and not something you can afford to pass up.”

It took a great deal of restraint for Michael not to frown, his father wouldn’t know a good opportunity if it crashed into him. This was it, it was time for him to speak his mind, “I’m not doing an apprenticeship.”

“What are you talking about?” His father asked perplexed, “Of course you are, we discussed this? Besides, it’s not like you have a lot of other options.”

“I’m attending a university.” Michael replied flatly.

Both Michael’s mother and father glanced at each other then let out a laugh before his father continued, “With your grades, that’s a good one. Look, an apprenticeship is nothing to be ashamed of; I got my start that way.”

It was true, Michael had let the grades from his normal school work suffer, simply because it was irrelevant, but his grades from his online school had been quite impressive. His parents simply assumed he was a typical rebellious teen when he disappeared for hours each evening, in reality he had been focusing on what really mattered to him, forsaking many friendships and relationships in the process, “I’ve been attending an online school, graduate with honors, I’ve already been accepted to a university.”

“What?” His mother said with a look of utter confusion, while his sister simply tried to avoid getting in the middle of things.

Michael’s father grew frustrated, “Enough with this, it’s not like you could attend a school in secret.”

“That would be true, if you ever bothered to actually read my school forms.” Michael replied.

It was clear that his father still did not believe any of it, “Alright, then what university are you going to, hmm?” He mockingly demanded.

There was no stopping now, Michael knew from his father’s attitude that things were about to get very bad. Michael pulled out a small tablet that displayed his acceptance letter and tossed it onto the table, “I’ve been accepted to the Council Fleet Academy, on Earth. I applied and started the immigration process to the Colonial Confederation the day I turned eighteen.”

An uneasy lingering silence hung over the room, it probably only lasted a few seconds, but it felt much longer. Only ending when his father managed to voice his angry disapproval, “This better be some perverse joke.”

Michael’s mother picked up the tablet, hoping it was some kind of elaborate joke, but it immediately became clear it was not; as she read the letter her hands started shaking, “Michael… how could you…”

Michael didn’t give her the chance to finish, “I’ve been planning to get off this world ever since Richard died.”

“It was his time. Sometimes we just have to accept these things…” His mother tried to speak.

“No.” Michael snapped, “His condition was perfectly treatable, he died because of idiocy.”

“Treatable?” His father scoffed and stood up swinging his arms as he spoke, “If he wanted to have his brain mutilated then sure, I don’t know what would have come back from that operation but it sure as hell wouldn’t have been your cousin. And you know what you’d have to go through with what you’re thinking? You really want them to tear up your genetic code? To turn you into some sort of freak?”

“All pointless superstition.” Michael replied. Glancing to his right he could see how this whole thing was frightening his sister, unfortunate, but unavoidable. He stood up to confront his father who was trying to loom over him, “Maybe that argument had some merit a long time ago, when these treatments were in their infancy, but not anymore. The truth is this whole planet is a joke, the subject of galactic ridicule. The planet of a billion backwards fools who reject modern medicine and are lucky to live past a hundred and fifty. They let Rick die, and the way they let him die, Uncle Don should have just shot him himself, it would have been faster, and certainly less painful.”

Within a second his father’s fist slammed into the side of Michael’s face, nearly knocking him down and sending him stumbling into a wall. His mother grabbed his sister and sent her into the next room. With clenched fists his father glared down at him, “Now you listen you ungrateful shit, if you think we’re going to let you throw away your life you’re in for a rude awakening. I don’t know what that school polluted your mind with, but those people out there you want to join, they’re not human anymore they threw that away long ago, you want to throw that away too? There are some things you just don’t do, like defiling God’s creation.”

Michael had anticipated this, his parents were not deeply religious, but they fell back on it when they were under stress. He had planned in case things went this badly, standing up straight he glared back at his father, “I’m leaving; I’ll spend the night in the terminal.”

“No you’re not.” His father replied as he moved to block him, fists still balled up, “Don’t make me hit you again son.”

Michael ignored the warning, and his father followed through, this time Michael blocked the blow then shoved his father aside, knocking him to the floor. Without a word he grabbed the bag he had hidden behind a couch and headed for the door.

Suddenly his ten year old sister Jennifer ran towards him, “Don’t go.” She said with tears in her eyes.

She was the only one Michael would truly miss. Unfortunately she was too young to really grasp what had happened with Richard. At the time she had only been five, old enough to understand that he was dead, but not old enough to understand why and ask questions. She probably couldn’t comprehend why he was doing this. He stopped and looked at her, “I have to, but I’ll stay in touch.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” His father replied climbing to his feet, “I’ll not let you corrupt her too.”

“If you don’t hear from me, it’s because they won’t let me talk to you.” Michael told his sister. He knew it might be calloused to intentionally drive a wedge between her and their parents, but he hoped it might make her think before blindly listening to them, “Goodbye Jen. You should get off this planet too, the first chance you get, it’s no good for anyone.”

Jennifer wrapped her arms around him, “Please don’t go.”

He returned her hug and then tried to explain further before his mother grabbed Jennifer and pulled her away from him like he was some sort of plague bearer, “Not my son. Not my son.” His mother kept uttering as she shook her head.

Michaels father looked at him and fired off a last ditch attempt to dissuade his son, “If you go out that door you are never coming back!”

“I never intended to.” Michael replied as he turned and left.

As Michael sat on the tram heading to the transport terminal he thought about what had just happened. It wasn’t the worst case he had envisioned but it wasn’t far off. The only thing he remotely regretted was not being able to say a better goodbye to Jennifer, but he had planned for that as well. There was a message he had left her explaining everything, it would only play when she was alone, he didn’t want his parents to prevent her from seeing it. It was the best he could do under the circumstances.

As the tram raced into the city he looked out at the sunset, realizing it was probably the last time he would ever see it on this planet. For a moment it gave him pause, but then he thought about how his parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents lived; the truth was he wanted more than this world could ever offer, and he would never fit in here.

After switching a few tram lines Michael Bannik finally arrived at the passenger terminal. In reality it was just a part of a much larger freight terminal. Most major commercial carriers had stopped flights on and off New Concord many centuries ago. Scarcely anyone from the outside wanted to come here, and the very few who did never stayed long. The traffic on and off world was almost exclusively transport ships carrying a limited assortment of imports and exports. It was pretty much the only thing that really tied them to the rest of the galaxy.

It was on one of these transports that he had booked his flight. A small privately owned cargo ship; the first one he could get on to Mendel II with room for a limited number of passengers. He actually felt his heart racing out of a mix of fear and anticipation; this would be the first time he had ever been into space.

As he entered the terminal it looked abandoned with the sole exception of an active AI kiosk where he could check in. The tiny number of people that passed through meant that the area was extremely clean and well kept, something he was thankful for. He walked over to the kiosk which quickly scanned him and confirmed his flight; it was then a short walk to the departures. Except for him the terminal was empty, but at least it had a fantastic view of the landing area, illuminated as night fell; there was nothing for him to do but wait until his ship arrived and try to get some sleep.

When he awoke the next morning the terminal was still largely deserted with the exception of two other people who had entered while he was asleep. The fact that the area could hold hundreds if needed just further illustrated how little it was used. As he looked out the window he noticed that the berth where his ship was to dock was now occupied. Inspecting the ship closer he gulped and felt his pulse quicken, it was a little over a hundred meters long and bulky, but looked old, really old. This was what he had spent nearly all of his money on, he could only hope it kept him alive long enough to be reimbursed.

After two hours of watching cargo being loaded on and off the ship he heard the facility AI announce his departure. Picking up his bag he walked over to the door which led to docking berths, there he was met by a security guard.

“Michael Bannik?” The guard inquired.

“That’s right.” Bannik responded.

The guard just nodded, “If you’ll follow me I’ll escort you to your ship.”

Because of the limited number of passengers, almost all flights were treated as charters. It was easier just to escort people to their ships through the cargo terminal than to build a specialized docking area for passengers. The cargo zone was far more industrialized than Bannik’s home town, huge cargo skiffs were constantly entering and leaving; with the distractions around him Michael almost didn’t hear the guard talking to him.

“So going off world?” The guard asked in an attempt to make small talk, “Mendel II”

“Yeah.” Bannik responded regaining his composure.

“You’re not planning on coming back then.” The guard surmised.

It was surprising not to hear an edge of contempt in the guards voice, “You’re the first person who doesn’t seem to resent me for that.”

“I’ve been here for years, heard a lot of stories; some good, some bad.” The guard replied as they continued toward the ship, “In the end if you’re doing what you want to with your life, that’s your concern, not mine. Well, here we are, the Blue Sparrow. Best of luck wherever you end up.”

“Thanks.” Bannik replied as a woman walked over from the ship.

“Megan Vickers; you must be our passenger.” She said with a smile extending her hand, “We don’t get many on this run.”

Bannik shook her hand and nodded, “I’d imagine not.”

“Any other luggage?” She gestured to his bag.

“This is it.”

She quickly looked over his reservation and then waived him aboard, “Well then, let me show you to your cabin.”

Looking around the ship Michael realized the inside was better kept than the outside, but the age still showed, “If you don’t mind me asking, how old is this ship?”

“The Sparrow, oh my husband and I have been running her for nearly two centuries now, and she was nearly fifty years old when we got her so…” She noticed a look of apprehension on her passenger’s face, “Nothing to be concerned about, she may not look like new, but I can promise you she’ll get us where were going.”

While Bannik was concerned about being on a 250 year old ship, his thoughts had shifted to the woman he was talking to. She was over 200 years old. If she was from New Concord he would have guessed that she was maybe in her forties. She continued to lead him towards the top of the ship where he found a small corridor of cabins.

“Just pick one, you’re our only passenger.” Vickers told him, “Washroom’s around the corner to the left, and there’s a small lounge and galley to the right. Feel free to move around, just stay out of the cargo holds.”

“How long will it take to get to Mendel II?” Bannik inquired.

“About two and a half days. Your first time going into space, isn’t it?” She noticed the lingering unease on Bannik’s face as she replied, “Why don’t you come up to the cockpit when we depart, it’s the best view, and I’m sure my husband would like to meet you.”

“Thanks. I’ll take you up on that.” In truth Bannik just thought he might feel safer if he could see what was actually going on.

She stopped as she was about to walk away, “You sure you want to do this? I know how people on this planet are, you leave and I doubt they’ll welcome you back.”

“I’m sure.” He answered with what resolve he could muster. He gestured towards the bruise on the side of his face, “They weren’t exactly happy about my leaving.”

“Yeah, you might want to put something on that. There’s a med kit in the lounge.” She said pointing down the hall.

“Thanks.” He replied and did as she suggested. Fifteen minutes later his bruise was gone and he found himself entering the cockpit as they prepared to depart. The view from its panoramic window gave a clear look at the terminal and the city beyond. Megan Vickers was seated at a navigation console and sitting in the pilots chair was a man who spun around and extended his hand, “Nate Vickers, welcome aboard. Take a seat and we’ll get going.”

Michael looked at the chair Vickers had pointed to and noticed the lack of restraints, “Shouldn’t I be strapped in or something.”

“I love this kid.” Nate said with a laugh as he pressed a control. He could see the look of surprise on Bannik’s face as the artificial gravity activated, “So, not only have you never been to space before, you’ve never been in artificial gravity before. Where the hell are you from?”

“Smaller town, a few hundred kilometers outside the city.” Bannik replied with embarrassment as he quickly sat down, “Actually, I’ve only been in a big city a few times before.”

Megan turned to him, “You think this is a big city, wait until you see Mendel II. That you’re final destination by the way?”

“No. Eventually I’m supposed to go on to Earth.”

“Now that’s a planet with cities.” Nate commented as he completed the per-flight, “Wait until you see ten times the population of this planet in one urban area.”

Bannik wasn’t sure whether to be intrigued or disgusted by the thought of that many people stuffed into one area, but he could reserve judgment for the time being. Suddenly the ship started to move the Terminal AI had cleared them for departure. The ship slowly rose up out of the facility, affording an incredible view of the entire city. Once it was clear, it started to climb, quickly. Looking out the window Bannik caught a glimpse of his home town, they weren’t even out of the atmosphere but it already looked small. As they climbed the atmosphere slowly gave way from a cerulean blue to the abyssal starry black of space.

Nate saw Bannik looking down at his world, awestruck, “Never gets old. The look on someone’s face the first time they go into space.”

Bannik was too distracted to even hear him; this was by far the most exciting thing he had ever experienced. In fact it only served to convince him that his life up to this point had been isolated and boring.

The limited traffic around New Concord meant that they could go to FTL well within the system, something that otherwise required special clearance in systems with heavy ship traffic. Bannik had watched his planet grow small on a display as they pulled away but it was about to vanish.

“Alright, here we go.” Nate said as the ship moved to FTL.

Bannik watched as the stars outside became distorted by the drive envelope, it was almost surreal. Finally he was underway, whatever his life would hold New Concord would not be a part of it.

Part 2 is now Available – Click Here to Continue Reading

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New Short Story: Lockdown – Part 2

Imperator — Sat, 09 Dec 2017 20:11:27 +0000

I am pleased to present part 2 of my new short story:

For those who prefer a PDF version, it can be downloaded here:

Lockdown - Part 2

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Click here to read Part 1

Clark met Lane in the infirmary and dismissed the two security guards with her, “Ms. Lane, I’m Dr. Clark, we’ve met before, briefly.”

“I remember.” Lane acknowledged.

“Good.” Familiarity would make her more relaxed. Clark handed her the documentation from the meeting, “Right now, I am not acting as an employee of the company; I am your doctor, no more no less, anything you say, anything I learn; I will keep in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to share it. Do you understand?” Lane nodded, “Alright, I’ve been apprised of the situation, and I have reason to believe your mind may have been tampered with. You don’t seem surprised?”

Lane shrugged, “It would certainly explain a lot.”

“Well, we may be able to confirm that as well as prove your innocence.” Clark told her.

“A neural scan.” Lane knew what she was talking about, “I requested one days ago, they told me they couldn’t give me one while I was in their custody, too many legal problems.”

“Apparently they changed their minds.” Clark informed her, “To be honest, they want the data back; they figure if you did it the scan will tell them how to recover it and if you didn’t, they still have a spy to find.”

Lane was concerned, she had already been set up once, “And if it does say I did it, what then, you’d give it to them?”

“No.” Clark answered, “Say the word, and it’s deleted.”

As apprehensive as she was, Lane didn’t have much of a choice, she was already being set up, this might prove she didn’t do it, and maybe even tell her who had done this, “Fine, let’s just get this done.”

Clark led her to the room they used for the procedure, the room was dominated by the scanning device and the bed that extended from it, “I’ll assume you’ve never had a scan like this before.” Lane shook her head, she was clearly frightened, “It’s painless, and for you fairly simple. You just need to lie down and try not to move too much; you don’t have to be still, just keep your head in this area. The whole scan shouldn’t take more than an hour, at most.”

To describe the device as intimidating was an understatement; Lane tried to be calm as Clark worked the device controls. Two panels extended from the device on either side of her head as the scanner came to life and a display appeared over her face. Clark walked over, “This will provide some entertainment, music, holos, whatever, just tell it what you want; it won’t affect the scan. But I’d recommend something relaxing, it makes things go a little faster. I’ll be in the next room, call if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Ramsay spent an hour considering how to carry out his plan before heading to the infirmary. The two guards flanking the doors acknowledged him as he entered and made his way to Clark who he saw seated in her office, “Well, anything yet.”

“Scan’s not done.” She replied as she stood up and walked toward the scanner room, “Few more minutes, and then I’ll have to take a look at the results. Even if it was done I couldn’t tell you anything, not without her permission.”

Apparently he was a little too early, but he was beyond curious to know what she found; undeterred he found a chair and sat down, “I’ll wait.”

A full twenty minutes passed before Clark and Lane emerged from the room, prompting Ramsay to eagerly stand up, “Well?”

Clark glanced to Lane who nodded, “She doesn’t know anything about any stolen data, let alone where to find it, and there are no signs of altered or erased memories. As far as the VR device, she does remember using it during that time; however, there were some anomalies. Nothing to indicate the memories were fake, just a few things that I would call odd, especially since I can’t find a reason for them.”

“So that could have been caused by someone tampering with the device?” He speculated.

“Probably.” She half agreed, “But to know with absolute certainty I’d need to examine the device and whatever program was running.”

“I’ll see what I can do about that.” It was possible the chip with the program no longer existed, but Ramsay suspected that such a valuable tool would be kept intact.

“Now you know I didn’t do anything; can I go now?” Lane moved to leave as she spoke; it was more of a statement than a question.

Ramsay gestured for her to stop, “Ms. Lane, I apologize for the situation, however, I could still use your help.” She frowned but didn’t say anything so he continued, “Whoever did this, went through a lot of trouble to make us believe it was you, and if you’re willing, I’d like them to continue thinking that you’re our suspect. At least for a little while.”

“You want to put me back in that cell, why don’t you lock up the son of a bitch who did this to me!” The indignation in her voice was more than justified.

There was little choice for Ramsay, he would need her help, the problem would be convincing her, “The unfortunate truth is, we don’t have any hard evidence, we can’t even say for certain Langston was responsible, which means if we go after him now, he walks. You want him locked up for what he did, I want the data he stole, and the only way that happens is if we catch him in the act.”

A part of her wanted to just run away, but she couldn’t let him get away with what he did, he played her like a fool for months, “What do you want me to do?”

“Play the part of our suspect for another thirty six hours.” It was a request Ramsay hated to make, but he was out of options.

“This better work.” She begrudgingly agreed.

Ramsay turned to Clark, though silent her reservations were apparent, “Meet me in Meisner’s office in thirty minutes. And don’t tell anyone about this.”

She sighed, “Fine.”

“Remember, this needs to be convincing.” Ramsay told Lane as he led her out of the infirmary, “Although if you just stay silent and angry it should work.”

“That I can do.” It wouldn’t be much of an act as far as she was concerned.

The two guards met Ramsay as the doors to the infirmary closed behind him, “Take her back to holding.”

As they led her away Ramsay heard footsteps, he turned to see Reed approaching, “So she did it.” Reed assumed.

Though her presence was unexpected, it could work out, “I don’t remember mentioning anything about this to you.”

“Please.” Reed scoffed as she walked toward the lift with him, “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she was in there for a neural scan, so what did it say?”

“Don’t know. She wouldn’t let us see it.” Ramsay made sure to sound frustrated.

That feeling was something Reed could relate to, “That’s disappointing. Sure we couldn’t find out somehow?”

“As much as I hate to agree with Hendricks about anything, he’s right in pointing out that if we look at it she’ll get away with everything.” It was Ramsay’s best attempt at a convincing narrative, “The whole case against her could get tossed, and then we could be the ones facing charges.”

“So what about the data?” It was hard for Reed to believe that everything, their careers even, hinged on some legal impediments.

“I’m going to meet with the Director, we’ll have to figure something out.” He replied with a shake of his head.

The lift stopped at the security offices and they both stepped out, Reed had to get back to her duties, which seemed more pointless with every passing minute, “Well you better come up with something, because we are accomplishing nothing.”

He sympathized with her, but he couldn’t tell her what he had planned, the fewer people involved the better. In addition to himself he needed the cooperation of Meisner, Clark, Lane, and with some reservations, probably Lobek. According to the computer, she was finishing a meal in a lounge near the security offices.

The doors to the lounge parted, prompting a smile from Lobek when she saw who walked in, “I knew you couldn’t stay away.”

Once again her inappropriate leer caught Ramsay off guard, “You really don’t quit, do you?”

“No.” She casually replied, as her look shifted to disappointment, “You know what your problem is, don’t you? You let everything get to you, it makes you stressed.”

“Forgive me for caring that my job, no, my entire career is on the line. I’m sorry, I take that seriously.” He retorted sarcastically.

“Not what I meant.” She replied, almost sounding apologetic, “I take my job seriously as well, and if I might say so, I do it very well; but I don’t get stressed about it, for two reasons. First, I believe I should have fun doing my job.” She drew a little closer to him with a lascivious smile, “And second, I am a very firm believer that work should end where leisure begins.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He replied, unsure if this was just her normal teasing or if there was something more to it, “But right now I need your help with something.”

“And back to business.” She sighed, “So what is it this time.”

“You’re our top expert on A.I. systems, and that includes security. Finch is good, but let’s face it you’re better.” He was reluctant to give too many details right now, “I have a meeting with Meisner in a few minutes, and I think your expertise may be useful.”

“Cryptic.” She mused, “But interesting; let’s go.” She quickly led the way out of the room; Ramsay continued to be astonished by how she could go from excessively flirtatious to completely serious in a matter of seconds.

To Ramsay’s surprise he found Dr. Clark waiting outside of Meisner’s office with a frown on her face; forcing him to wonder why she wasn’t inside, “Problem?”

“You’ll see.” Clark sighed.

The door to the office was locked, but the administrative A.I. appeared next to it, “Please wait while I inform the Director that you are here.” After a brief wait the doors opened, “You may enter.”

The reason for the frown on Clark’s face became immediately apparent, “What the hell is he doing here?” Ramsay almost shouted as he saw Hendricks seated across from Meisner.

It was abundantly clear that Meisner was unhappy with the situation as well, “I had to read him in to the situation.”

An arrogant smirk on Hendricks face conveyed how he felt, “Yes, in a situation like this, the company’s legal interests have to be represented by…”

“Shut up. I really don’t care.” Ramsay snapped, silencing Hendricks. Turning to Meisner, Ramsay continued, “Fine he’s been read in, now he can go.”

“I’ll be involved in any further decision making from now on.” Hendricks interjected.

“I told you to shut it.” Ramsay angrily retorted.

Hendricks wasn’t going to put up with Ramsay’s insolence, “I suggest you remember who you’re speaking to, or perhaps I should…”

“Enough, both of you!” If Meisner didn’t put an end to this now one of them was going to do something unfortunate. Calming himself he looked at Ramsay, “As much as I don’t like it, company policy mandates someone from legal be consulted in this situation.” He slid a tablet across his desk to Ramsay, “Read it for yourself.”

“That is assuming you can read.” Hendricks taunted, but Ramsay completely ignored him, prompting Hendricks to further his insult as he shifted his gaze to Meisner, “To be honest, after hearing what has been going on, I’m beginning to wonder if anyone around here is remotely competent.”

Everyone was visibly angered, but Lobek stepped forward, “You bastard. I don’t care how high up in the company your family is; it doesn’t give you the right to treat people like shit.”

Even that did not deter Hendricks, “That’s true, that particular right comes from people doing shitty jobs.”

“Hey!” Meisner tried to stop Hendricks but it was to no avail.

Hendricks stood up and raised his voice, “Furthermore, I don’t need to be lectured by someone with your record; what was on that last complaint, oh yes, unsolicited sexual advances. Be careful, someone might decide you’re not worth keeping around.”

“And I’m getting close to deciding you’re not worth keeping around!” Meisner snapped, silencing Hendricks.

“You can fire me.” Hendricks acknowledged, “But have you considered the consequences?”

“Damn the consequences.” The glare from Meisner told Hendricks he was serious, prompting Hendricks to sit back down and raise his hands mockingly in defeat, “Now, I suggest we get to the matter at hand.”

Once again Hendricks had to comment, “I hope that scan you ran on Lane showed what you think it did, otherwise you probably destroyed any chance of a successful prosecution.”

“She didn’t do it.” Clark answered, breaking her silence.

“But I have a good idea of who did.” Ramsay added, “Looks like the boyfriend, Paul Langston. The problem is, I don’t have anything more than circumstantial evidence, and if we pick him up now I doubt we’ll ever recover the stolen data. We need to catch him in the act, with the data, and to do that we need to avoid doing anything that might make him suspicious.”

“Too late for that.” Hendricks interjected, “The moment he finds out you had to release Lane he’s going to get suspicious.”

“That’s why I didn’t release her.” Ramsay replied trying to suppress the rage he felt at Hendricks, “She agreed to help us catch him and play the part of our suspect for a while.”

Hendricks jaw hung open, “Wait, you know she didn’t do it, but you put her back in a cell anyway? Are you trying to get this company sued? Or worse, get us charged with false imprisonment? She needs to be released immediately.”

“Wait.” Meisner told Hendricks before turning to Ramsay, “Alright, what’s your plan?”

Ramsay knew what had to be done, he just needed to convince Meisner over Hendricks certain objections, “First, I want to confirm that Langston is the one responsible.”

“How?” A skeptical Hendricks inquired.

“I’m going to have Dr. Clark conceal a bio-monitor in my conference room, then, I’m going to call him in to interview him; it’ll be enough to figure out if he’s responsible.”

“And totally inadmissible if he’s not aware of the fact that he’s being monitored.” Hendricks added.

“That won’t matter if we catch him with the data.” Ramsay replied, “Once we know, then we need to draw him out. I want to partially lift the lock down. We don’t allow any communications; we just make preparations for the people who are supposed to be rotated off the station to travel back to Rawson 8, via secured transport. Langston will be on that list of people, and he’ll have to have the data on him somehow, that’s our opportunity.”

“If he slips through, the data is gone.” Meisner realized.

“True.” Ramsay admitted, “But given the security protocols, I doubt he’s going to be getting on that transport. More likely, he’ll take the opportunity to find another way off the station. Which is why I asked Dr. Lobek for her help, our thief is a very good hacker, and we need to be able to respond to whatever he tries.”

“Without knowing what he’s going to try, it’s too risky.” Meisner opined.

“Why not just check every data device on the station?” Hendricks suggested.

Lobek was not going to miss this chance to make Hendricks feel foolish, “It would take weeks. We’d have to scan every one of them for anomalies or alterations, and there are billions of data storage devices on this station. The systems in this room alone have thousands.”

“Fine. Not practical.” Hendricks begrudgingly agreed.

“If I may.” Ramsay continued, “We know one thing for certain, he will go after a small ship, with interstellar capabilities. His options are either to hijack the transport, or, more likely, to take another ship; and it would need to be one he could operate alone. That leaves the shuttles in the adjacent docking bays, that’s where we focus our efforts.”

“It’s still risky.” The value of the data was such that Meisner couldn’t afford a gamble, “If he gets out of the docking bay…”

“Then we shoot him down.” Ramsay answered, “I admit, this plan is not without risks, but I haven’t heard any other ideas.”

Meisner considered his options for a while, at some point the lockdown would be lifted, if by that time they had not recovered the data and made sure it had not been transferred to any other devices then the data would get out and their careers would be finished. Finally he stood up, “Alright, Dr. Clark, get that conference room set up. Ramsay, whatever you need, you’ve got it.”

Hendricks rose to his feet as Clark left, “I can’t believe you’re going along with this.”

“I didn’t hear a better idea from you.” Meisner said with frustration.

“That’s because I was in shock, this whole plan is idiotic. Forget, ruining our careers, if this goes to shit, you’ll land us in prison.”

“Stop exaggerating.” Ramsay retorted.

“You fucking idiot, you just don’t get it!” Hendricks shouted, wildly enraged, “There are laws, there are regulations; and because of that, the company has procedures for these situations, we’re supposed to follow them. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Where are you going?” Meisner demanded as Hendricks began to walk away.

Hendricks turned around, “To put an end to this. Figure it out, your career is over and you’re gambling everything on some desperate attempt to save it. It’s time to mitigate damages, before you drag even more people down with you; I’m going to have security pick up Langston, and we’re going to do this the proper way.”

Ramsay almost laughed, “They won’t listen to you.”

“Well, as was so keenly pointed out, I have family and friends in high places, so if they want to keep their jobs, they will. Speaking of which, you should probably start looking for a new one.”

Ramsay glared as Hendricks turned and walked away, he didn’t hear Lobek quietly move up beside him. Deftly she drew his pistol and shot Hendricks in the middle of the back, leaving him splayed out on the floor, “You’re welcome.” She said as she passed the pistol back to him, making sure he could see that it was on a non-lethal setting.

Even though he knew Hendricks would wake up in a few hours, Ramsay was still shocked, but a part of him wanted to laugh. He finally glanced at Lobek, “You realize how long this incident report is going to be?”

At the same time Meisner looked at Hendricks on the floor and tilted his head, “Well, now I have to fire him.” He said calmly.

“Wait, him?” Lobek was sure she misheard.

Remaining completely calm, Meisner turned to her, “I have to fire someone over this, I’d much rather it be him. Oh, and Alex, leave the part where she took your gun out of the incident report, we’re going to have enough trouble without that. And as far as that report goes, you shot him because he was trying to jeopardize our data recovery efforts, which happens to be true. Make it sound like you had no choice, I’ll support it.” Meisner stopped to think for a moment, “Ms. Lobek, officially I have to inform you that taking a security officer’s weapon is grounds for termination, but under the circumstances, let’s leave it at a verbal warning. Unofficially, I wish someone had done that years ago. Now, you have work to do, and I need to have a word with our security chief, in private.”

The serene, almost emotionless response from Meisner left Ramsay perturbed, if he was about to be reprimanded he wanted to get ahead of it. He barely waited for the door to close behind Lobek, “I shouldn’t have let her take my weapon, I…”

Still remaining calm, Meisner raised his hand to stop Ramsay, “No, you shouldn’t have, but she did, and it’s done. She made the decision for us. So, you better catch him, and get the data back.” With a heavy sigh he looked at Hendricks on the floor, “Because that’s the only thing that will protect us from the fallout of that. You think you can get him into a holding cell without attracting too much attention?”

Ramsay nodded, “I think so.”

“Good. He’s not going to be happy when he wakes up.” It was a massive understatement on Meisner’s part, “By the way, I think she likes you.”

“Hmmm?” Ramsay was unsure of what he meant.

“Lobek. Who else?” Meisner specified.

The very suggestion bewildered Ramsay, “She flirts with everyone, sir.”

“Does she shoot people for everyone?” Ramsay’s only response was a confused look, so Meisner continued, “She didn’t make her move until he threatened your job, and she fully expected to be fired for it. You don’t do that if you’re merely flirting. At the very least you owe her dinner.”

With how obvious Meisner had made it sound, Ramsay wondered how he could possibly miss it; apparently Lobek’s teasing had skewed his perspective. She was both attractive and intelligent, but her personality gave him serious reservations, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ramsay turned his attention to Hendricks, he was a large man and carrying him would be more trouble than it was worth; but there was a grav-sled in a closet near Mesner’s office, it would suffice for moving him. Getting him to a holding cell without anyone noticing wouldn’t be too difficult, maintenance corridors ran underneath every level on the station, they were cramped but it could get him to the holding cells unnoticed.

By the time Ramsay finished with Hendricks and returned to the security office, Clark had finished installing the bio-monitor in his conference room, a fact she communicated with a discrete nod. At the same time Reed approached him, this was it; he had to follow through with the plan.

“So, how did the meeting go?” Reed got her answer in the form of a frown on Ramsay’s face, “That well?”

A heavy sigh and a long pause prefaced his reply, “We’re partially lifting the lockdown.”

“What?” She almost couldn’t believe it.

“The Director insists that we can’t keep everyone locked up for much longer.” Ramsay really didn’t need to act, he just let all of the frustration he was feeling vent, “So, were to make preparations to cycle people back to headquarters in a controlled manner. Station communications will remain offline, and everyone will be subject to security scans before being allowed to leave; then they’ll be scanned again at headquarters.”

“Why even bother, why not just send out the data ourselves.” This was one of the worst ideas Reed had ever heard, “The moment we start letting transports off this station, that data is gone. The Director can’t be that stupid!”

“Keep your voice down.” Ramsay chided her, “Believe me, I tried to convince him, unfortunately the legal ramifications of an indefinite lockdown are starting to weigh on him. Especially with a suspect in custody.”

“Hendricks.” Reed concluded with an angry glare, “Where is that son of a bitch.”

“Stay away from him, unless you want to risk your job as well.” Warned Ramsay.

That meant he had threatened Ramsay’s job, which made Reed even angrier, “That bastard. Someone should just shoot him.”

It took a great deal of restraint for Ramsay not to laugh at the irony of the statement, “At the rate he’s going, you might just get your wish. For right now get a team down to Bay 4 and have them set up security checkpoints. Oh, and I want to talk to Langston, have him brought in and put him in my conference room.”

Reed nodded, “We already interviewed him you know.”

“I know.” Ramsay needed his reasoning to be convincing, “But he was Lane’s boyfriend, and we have nothing else to go on. Maybe he can provide an insight, something we overlooked. If we can recover the data, and make sure it wasn’t transferred anywhere then we can lift the lockdown without concern.”

“So not just legal concerns, but lighting a fire under us as well.” Reed realized, “I’ll have him brought in.”

A few minutes later Ramsay met Langston in the conference room while Clark monitored from his office, “Mr. Langston, thank you for coming in.”

“Did I have a choice?”

The response sounded almost mocking to Ramsay, but technically Langston was correct, by contract he had to answer any questions from corporate security, “I suppose not, but nevertheless, your cooperation is appreciated.”

“Is this about Amanda?” Langston demanded, “I already told your people everything I know. It’s still hard to believe.”

Ramsay didn’t buy Langston’s performance for a second, but he had to go along with it, “I understand this is difficult. I can’t go into details, but I’m afraid the evidence is quite damning. At this point we’re just trying to piece everything together; and you probably knew her better than anyone else on the station, is there anything you might have overlooked?”

To a casual observer Langston’s performance would be very convincing; a man in near shock, distraught by what had become of his girlfriend, struggling to grasp what she had done; he played the part perfectly, “No. I told the other officers everything I could think of; I… I don’t know what else…”

“I know it’s hard, but try to focus.” The more he saw, the more Ramsay wanted to strangle Langston; only an unapologetic sociopath could act like this, “It could be something seemingly innocuous. I wish I didn’t have to pry into your personal life, but, were there any changes in her behavior, her schedule? Were there any days where she acted differently, or did anything out of the ordinary? Remember, it could be something small.”

“I don’t think so. Nothing I can think of.” Langston really did seem genuine, “What’s this about?”

“As I said, I’m afraid I can’t tell you the details.” Ramsay replied, trying to sound apologetic, “But we need to establish a timeline of her activities, and we need to know if there was any abnormal behavior on her part. I know you were already asked this, but I have to ask again, you truly knew nothing of what was going on, of what she was doing?”

“No, I still don’t.” Langston replied.

If the last response was a lie, then Ramsay had him, the last thing to do was prod him for a reaction, “I really hate to ask this, but, was there any change in your sex life?”

“That’s a very personal question.” Langston sounded surprised and almost angry, “What the hell does that have to anything.”

“Just trying to establish any behavioral changes.” Ramsay said downplaying the question, “It’s one thing people rarely discuss unless they’re directly asked, and the other officers didn’t ask.”

“No. Not that I can think of.” It was clear Langston was angry, or at least acting angry.

Ramsay let out a heavy sigh, “I guess that’s everything then. I’ll have someone escort you back to your quarters. If you think of anything, please contact us.”

Langston stood up, still appearing angry, “So you can lock her away longer?”

Though he wanted the man out of his offices, Ramsay had to maintain the act, “You’re upset, and you have every right to be. But you’re not going to help anyone by keeping secrets.” Langston frowned and walked out of the conference room, Ramsay was glad to be rid of him.

Clark walked into the conference room from Ramsay’s office, “Would you like the long or the short version.”

“Just tell me if he did it.” Ramsay was not in the mood for games.

“Oh, he did it.” Clark answered, “He’s also a sociopath; and a particularly good liar; he actually believes most of what he said, but all that emotion, all that concern, completely fake. The good news is, he actually bought your act, he has no idea we’re on to him.”

“I figured as much.” Somehow Ramsay felt vindicated, any flaws in his performance were dismissed as extreme fatigue, “Did you notice? He didn’t ask about the lockdown. I told Reed we were planning on lifting the lockdown, there is no way he didn’t hear at least something about it while he went through security. Any normal person would have asked about it, but he didn’t.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Close the noose.” For the first time in nearly a week, Ramsay smiled as he called Reed, Lobek, and Finch into his office; he would need all of their help for what came next.

While Lobek and Clark already knew what was happening, Reed and Finch had no idea, and Reed seemed particularly irritated by having been left out for so long, “You didn’t think it might be a good idea to tell the second in command of station security what you were doing? I knew you were hiding something, but this!”

“We’ve kept the people that know about this to a minimum.” In truth, Ramsay understood her anger, he wouldn’t have liked it either, “We needed Langston to believe he’d gotten away with it, and we need him to continue believing that.”

Having spent most of the meeting in silence, Finch finally commented, “This whole plan does seem a bit risky.”

An accurate assessment as far as Ramsay was concerned, but it changed nothing, “It’s the best chance we have of recovering the stolen data; and catching him with it is the only way we can take down Langston, everything else we have on him is either circumstantial or inadmissible; it’s actually quite impressive how well he covered his tracks.”

“So we either do this, or the company fires him and he walks, probably with the data.” Reed summarized.

“And most of us lose our jobs.” Lobek added.

“Great, let’s get to work, where do we start?” There was no hiding the sarcasm in Reed’s voice.

Ramsay scowled at her attitude, but otherwise chose not to comment on it; turning to Lobek and Finch he began, “I need the two of you to make sure our systems are secure. Langston’s proven himself an adept hacker; I don’t want him humiliating us again. And check fire control, if we need to shoot him down I want to be ready.”

“The system is clean right now.” Finch told him, “And it’s as secure as we can make it, however, that might not be enough.”

“Do whatever it takes to keep him out.” Ramsay commanded, before turning to Reed, “I want you to set up the security checkpoints, keep it just like you were planning but put on additional personnel, and make sure everyone is armed. Also, put together a TAC team, quietly, and put them on standby near Bay 4; but keep them out of sight unless I give the order.”

She nodded in agreement, but the whole situation bothered her, “We still don’t know what he has planned, but I think it’s a safe bet he’s not going to submit to a security scan with the data on him. What if he’s got another way off the station?”

It was something Ramsay had already considered, “He won’t risk drawing attention to himself any sooner than he has to. That means if he’s going to try anything, it’s going to be on that docking level, when he does, we’ll be ready for it.”

“I should be down there too.” Lobek interjected, “Assuming he tries to steal a shuttle he’s going to need to override a number of local security protocols, I might be able to slow him down.”

“Can’t you do that from here?” The tone in Reed’s voice conveyed her suspicious attitude.

“Yes.” As Lobek trailed off she made it clear that there was a caveat, “But from down there, I can connect directly to the shuttle and the docking computer. I won’t have to worry about him disrupting intrastation communications.”

It was a valid point, and anything that improved the chances of success was worth considering from Ramsay’s view, “Fine, but if shooting starts, you stay away from it.”

“See, I knew you cared.” She teased, “Agreed.”

Ramsay led the way out of his office, “We have a lot of work to do.”

While Reed handled most of the preparations, Ramsay went to meet with Meisner. Part of him hated keeping his people in the dark, but he couldn’t see any other way for it to work; still they didn’t know what to expect. But as it was, they were already asking questions about the sheer number of personnel to be stationed at the check points, hopefully that would concern them enough to stay alert. Yet Ramsay had no illusions, things never went perfectly according to plan, and he continued to consider contingency plans as he walked into Meisner’s office, “We’ve got him.”

“Langston?” Meisner almost cracked a smile; they finally knew who was responsible.

Ramsay nodded, “Everything will be ready, he won’t get off this station, and we’ll catch him with the data. We should make the announcement.”

“All of that assumes he takes the bait.” Meisner replied as he touched a control on his desk display.

Suddenly the station A.I.’s voice came to life, “Attention. This is a security update. The station lockdown will be partially lifted at 1800 local time, special security measures will remain in effect. Personnel scheduled for rotation off of the station since the lockdown went into effect should make preparations to disembark; a transport will be returning you to Rawson 8 at 1900. Please note, due to special security concerns, no computerized devices of any kind will be allowed through security, and all personnel may be subject to security scans and questioning before leaving the station, and upon arrival on Rawson 8. Your cooperation is appreciated.”

That gave Ramsay three hours to make sure everything was ready, “This may be his only chance to get off the station, he has to take the bait.”

The security teams on the docking levels worked at a hurried pace, but with an unwavering discipline. Ramsay was pleased with the results as he surveyed the area, he would have liked to have armed drones patrolling the area, but he agreed with Finch and Lobek; Langston’s hacking skills made it too dangerous to use them. He was not concerned though, he had absolute confidence in his team’s abilities without drones to supplement them. As he walked through the docking bay, he tried to consider every way Langston could attempt an escape.

Every person being transported off of the station would be moved in groups, under armed guard, from their quarters to the docking bay. Langston would have nothing to worry about until they reached the security checkpoint on the docking level, once there, everyone would be subjected to a security scan, even the security personnel. He would have to have the data on his person, and with no way to get it past the checkpoint, he would have to make his move. Assuming he somehow got past that point, the transport was under heavy guard; his only options would be the shuttles in the adjacent bays. That’s where Reed’s TAC team would come in, and do whatever was necessary.

Pleased with the security arrangements, Ramsay made his way to the observation deck overlooking the docking area, with just a few minutes left until the lockdown ended. Lobek was already there, alone, almost like she was waiting for him. A seductive smile crossed her face as she looked up from what she was working on, “We just keep running into each other.”

“Somehow, I’d say you arranged that.” Whatever her intentions were, he wanted to find out.

“Would that matter?” She continued to tease.

At this point he wanted to be direct, “I’m certain you’re not oblivious to your reputation for… excessive flirting, so is this just that? If it’s not, I have to ask why.”

“You’re not boring.” She said quickly and with complete seriousness, “Most people are; it’s fun to make them a little uncomfortable and watch how they respond.”

It was almost absurd, that was her whole reason. Ramsay was a bit perplexed, but he understood the implication of what she said, “So you taunt most people for your own amusement; but in my case, you’re interested in me because I’m not boring? I’m almost hesitant to ask how you came to that conclusion.”

Lobek shrugged, “You figured out it wasn’t Lane, from just a chip in a VR device. With the evidence you had against her, most people wouldn’t have bothered to even look at that, and if they had, they would have ignored it. The fact that you didn’t sets you apart from the rest of them.”

Coming from her, he wasn’t sure if he should consider that a compliment, though he was certain that’s how she meant it, “You should have been a psychiatrist.”

“I almost was.” Suddenly her tone went from serious to satirical, “Then I figured out I enjoyed messing with people more than helping them. Now it’s my job to mess with A.I. personalities, make them feel more alive.”

“And mess with your coworker’s mental stability in the process.” Ramsay added, somewhat surprised by how direct she was being.

“Making people uncomfortable, makes them more creative, makes them consider possibilities. Personally, I think my way is more fun than poking them with a stick. Take you for instance, is there some reason you didn’t want to be administrator when Meisner leaves, aside from the fact that it represents a change from the norm? With your background you’re qualified.” The look on his face gave her an answer, “I didn’t think so. So like I said, you’re not boring; you should do something interesting.”

At times, he was amazed that she passed her psych evaluations, but having had a somewhat serious conversation with her, he realized that whoever was giving them was at a serious disadvantage, “You are far more complicated than you lead people to believe.”

“Thank you.” An alert sounded indicating 1800 station time, making her frown. She walked over to Ramsay, her mannerisms becoming more seductive as she closed in, “I guess we’ll have to continue this later.”

Ramsay gave serious thought to what Meisner had said, “Over dinner?”

She nodded, then leaned in and kissed him, “If you get yourself shot, I will be very disappointed.”

If things went well, there wouldn’t be any shooting; Ramsay appreciated her sentiment, but the immediate situation required his attention. After checking in with Reed he pulled up a sensor display, he wanted to see every move that Langston made after he left his quarters. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as he could tell; the group was escorted from the living quarters to the security checkpoint without incident. As they went through the scans one by one Ramsay grew impatient, he was beginning to wonder if he had been wrong, Suddenly, he lost his sensor feed; feeling his heart starting to race he opened a channel to security, “Finch, what the hell happened to my sensors? You said the system was clean!”

“It is.” Finch frantically replied over the comm., “This looks like some sort of localized interference, I’ll try to figure out the cause.”

There were more important things to worry about at the moment. Ramsay’s thoughts raged; he had hoped for a quick clean capture, but he wasn’t surprised things had gone this way. He needed to know what was going on down there, “Team three report. Report!”

After a few seconds he finally heard something, “…Anyone read this. This is team three can…”

“This is Chief Ramsay, I need a sitrep now!”

“We had some sort of power failure sir.” The comm. identified the person responding as Frank Galloway, the team commander, “Everything just went black, and we’re missing one person.”

“Langston?” Ransay demanded.

A bewildered pause lingered on the comm., before Galloway responded, “Yes sir. How did you…”

“I’m implementing full lockdown.” As Ramsay gave the order alarms blared, and the security doors in the area sealed, at least they might slow Langston down, “Galloway, keep everyone there under guard and hold your position. If you see Langston you may engage but do not pursue.” Thinking frantically he switched comm. channels, “Reed, take your team and move out. Langston was last seen at the checkpoint, I’m working on getting you an exact location.” Once again, Ramsay contacted Finch, “I need a fix on Langston’s position, now!”

While Ramsay had been coordinating security, Lobek had been working manically; she was way ahead of Finch, “I’ve got him.” She exclaimed jumping up, “He’s in the maintenance corridor, under the docking bays; it looks like he’s moving to Bay 3. I’ll try to keep the outer doors sealed.”

He certainly was fast, Ramsay thought to himself, “Reed, he’s heading for Bay 3, I’ll meet you there. No matter what, he cannot be allowed off this station!”

“Copy that.” Reed and her team quickly made their way to Bay 3, but it sounded like Langston was ahead of them, she just hoped he wasn’t prepared for them. A lone, unarmed man shouldn’t be a match for her team, but she didn’t know what to expect when the doors of the inner airlock opened into the bay. Unfortunately, her fears were well founded; as the door parted, they were greeted by a barrage of heavy fire from the shuttles defensive weapons scorching the deck and walls. Diminutive as far as ship mounted weapons went, they were still enough to slaughter her team, even with their armor, “Fall back!” She screamed as she sealed the doors, “This is Reed to all security personnel; we need heavy weapons at Docking Bay 3 immediately. The target has seized control of a shuttle.”

Ramsay heard all of it over the security channel and diverted his path to one of the armories; as he suited up he contacted Lobek, “I assume you heard that, I thought you said you could stop him from taking over the shuttle.”

“He isolated the control systems before he powered up the shuttle, I was locked out. The bastard knows what he’s doing, and he was prepared for this.” She really didn’t have time for pleasantries, Langston was proving quite adept, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep him out of the Bay control system. Oh shit.” She could see what was about to happen, “TAC team, brace for decompression.”

That warning came just as Reed felt the loss of artificial gravity, her pulse raced, at least her team wore sealed combat armor, but they could still be blown into space, “Activate personal gravity units and take cover!” The door she had closed earlier opened, but there was no weapons fire this time; and no decompression. Reed carefully glanced into the docking bay; the outer door was still closed but then she saw a faint crack, and the void of space beyond. The air rushed from the bay, dragging anything not secured with it; the howling wind slowly subsided, until only silence was left.

Despite his efforts, Ramsay realized he was too late; the vacuum warning on the door meant Bay 3 and the area around it had decompressed; at least the sensors indicated that Reed and her team were safe. Ramsay retracted his armor’s pressure helmet and heard footsteps behind him; he turned to see Lobek, “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to restore the atmosphere.” She gestured at the door.

“I said… Never mind.” He didn’t have time right now, he needed to contact security, “Finch, it looks like you’ll have to shoot him down.”

“Understood.” Finch replied, “Weapons are online, targeting… No, no no no!”

That was not what Ramsay wanted to hear, “What’s happening.”

“The turrets won’t track!” This was the most panicked, Ramsay had ever heard Finch, “He triggered maintenance locks; the safeties think there are people in there.”

“You said the system was clean.” Immediately Ramsay realized his statement was not helpful.

“It was!” Finch snapped back, “This was just triggered. I can fix this; I just need a minute or two.”

Ramsay checked the sensors, the bay doors would be open long before that, “We don’t have that long.”

Suddenly, Lobek pulled out a tablet and started working at frenzied pace, “I have an idea. They were power testing weapons on the Atlas when the lockdown went into effect, they were never disconnected, and they’re not tied into A.I. control yet. If I can access the controls I can fire them manually.”

“You’ll have to fire before he starts moving.” If she didn’t, she would never be able to track him manually. A quick look at her tablet almost gave Ramsay pause; the weapons she was talking about were complete overkill for use against a shuttle, collateral damage to the docking bay would be massive, he needed to warn the TAC team, “Reed, take your team and fall back as far as possible, heavy weapons fire incoming.”

Reed was unaccustomed to the nervous tone in Ramsay’s voice, she didn’t know what was about to happen, but she didn’t want to be caught in it, “Understood.”

Once again Ramsay looked at the sensors and swallowed; the bay door was open, and the shuttle was lifting off; impatiently he turned to Lobek, “Rachel?”

“Targeting.” She replied without breaking focus, “Promise they won’t charge me for the damages?”

“Just shoot him!” How could she make a joke even now?

As the shuttle turned to exit the docking bay, several bright flashes streaked from the Atlas, hitting the shuttle in the aft port quarter. The blast tore through the shuttle and the docking bay bulkheads behind it. Ramsay felt the whole area shake, but he couldn’t take his attention off of the sensor feed, and the tremendous satisfaction he felt as he watched the shuttle spin and crash back into the docking bay, burning as it vented atmosphere.

“The shuttle is out of commission, permanently.” Lobek said with a smile.

As satisfied as he was, Ramsay’s job wasn’t done yet, “Reed, move in and secure the shuttle, find out if Langston is still alive.”

Lobek moved to a control console on the wall, “I’ll see what I can do about restoring the atmosphere.”

Ramsay paced, he wanted to get in there, “How long?”

“I hope you don’t rush everything this way.” She taunted, “The bay doors are a lost cause, the shuttle damaged them when it crashed. I think I can restore artificial gravity, but with all of the damage it’s going to be unstable. Got it.” She turned to see the vacuum warning on the door fade, “That’ll hold in a breathable atmosphere, but no promises on how reliable it’s going to be near the damaged areas, so you might want to keep your helmet on.”

The crash site was in complete shambles; it was difficult to tell that some of the debris had ever been part of a shuttle; but the forward section was mostly intact, so it was possible Langston was still alive. Ramsay watched as the maintenance drones cut into one of the shuttles airlocks; they were working quickly, but it wasn’t fast enough for him. As they finished he drew his weapon, aiming it as they lifted away the damaged hatch. Langston was within, crawling his way out despite substantial injuries. Ramsay relished the moment, “Paul Langston, I’m taking you into custody, for corporate espionage, grand theft, sabotage, attempted murder, and whatever else we can think of. Medical team to Docking Bay 3.” Langston glared at him with his bloodied face, but said nothing.

After the medical team arrived, Ramsay and Reed entered the shuttle; the data Langston tried to steal wasn’t on his person so it had to be there. It didn’t take long, in a case full of devices, Ramsay found a data chip, almost identical to the one in Lane’s VR device; following a few quick tests he contacted Meisner, “We got it.”

“You recovered the data?” Meisner said with excited disbelief.

“Yes.” It was the best news Ramsay had been able to give him all week, “Lobek confirmed it, and it hasn’t been copied. And that’s not all, we’ve got proof he hacked Lane’s VR device; we have the stolen source code to prove it. I think we found the device he used to disrupt the power as well.”

Despite the unforeseen difficulties, it was the best news Meisner could have hoped for. Even the damage to the docking bay didn’t matter; the cost of repairs was insignificant compared to losing the data, “When can I talk to him.”

“I’ll have him in a holding cell as soon as he’s out of the infirmary. Which reminds me…” Ramsay switched to the security channel, “Finch, you can let Lane out of holding now. Tell her we got the bastard.”

“I’ll see to it.” Finch replied, “Uh, Chief, did you lock up Hendricks?”

“Yes. Why?”

While Finch was somewhat astonished by the audacity, he found the prospect of Hendricks in a holding cell hilarious, “Oh, he’s just been screaming for the past twenty minutes, and making it abundantly clear he has no knowledge of anatomy.”

“How unpleasant.” Meisner sarcastically interjected.

“Sir, I didn’t know you were…” Finch gasped.

Meisner didn’t care about Finch’s casual attitude, “Don’t worry about it. You can tell Hendricks he’s staying in that cell until he gets shipped off this station. In fact, I’ll tell him myself, I’ll be down there in a half hour.”

By the time Meisner arrived in the Security offices, Langston had been transferred to holding. According to Ramsay, he had said nothing the entire time; even if he stayed silent Meisner wanted to look him in the eye, wanted to savor the victory.

On his way to Langston’s cell Meisner took a moment to stop by Hendricks, who was clearly infuriated, “I hear you’re unhappy with your accommodations.”

Hendricks didn’t try to hide his rage, “Listen you son of a bitch, when I get out of here your career is finished. You and everyone else responsible for this are through. My father knows the Chief Prosecutor; I’ll have so many charges brought against you…”

While it was sure to be an entertaining tirade, Meisner didn’t have time for it, “Phillip Hendricks, in my capacity as Project Director and Station Administrator, it is my pleasure to inform you that your employment has been officially terminated. As you no longer have security clearance, you will be detained until you can be transported off of the station. Please note that the events of the last few days are classified, discussing them with anyone lacking sufficient clearance will constitute a breach of your nondisclosure agreement. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Hendricks broke into a nonsensical diatribe of profanity, but Meisner just walked away and smiled; he could only hope Langston proved so amusing. Ramsay was waiting for him outside of the cell; Langston was within, lying on the bed, seemingly oblivious to everything around him, “He still hasn’t said anything.” Ramsay said as Meisner approached.

Looking at Langston in the cell, Meisner was surprised by how calm he seemed, “Has he been sedated?” Ramsay shook his head in response.

“Director Meisner.” Langston said tranquilly as he stood up, “A pleasure to meet you. I really must congratulate you and your team, Chief Ramsay in particular. You’re only the second person to catch me.”

Everything Langston said seemed almost serene; it troubled Meisner greatly, “You do realize your situation? You’re in a holding cell; you’re going to have a litany of charges laid upon you, not the least of which is attempted murder. Eventually they’ll figure out who you really are, I wonder what else they’ll find.”

“Occupational hazards.” Langston shrugged.

His attitude perplexed Ramsay as well, “You’re awfully calm for someone who could spend the rest of his life in prison.”

“That remains to be seen.” Langston replied, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should get some rest. Let me know when my transport arrives. You can go now.” With that he returned to his bed, ignoring any further attempts to converse.

“That was… strange.” Meisner commented as they walked away.

“Very.” There were only a few possibilities in Ramsay’s opinion, “He was taunting us. Anyone that calm, in that situation… either he’s psychotic, or he has a way out; I’m guessing the latter.”

“Perhaps both. Keep him under continuous guard just in case.” Meisner ordered.

As they emerged from the holding area into the main security office, Lobek and Finch came up to them, “You’re both going to want to see this.” Finch told them handing them a tablet.

It looked like some sort of contract bid, but it wasn’t tied to NOVA Galactic, “What about it?” Meisner asked.

Lobek stepped forward, “Now that we have communications, we started looking into his background; he didn’t make it easy, it’s not surprising he got past the background checks, but now we know what to look for. We managed to find a few aliases; one of them led us to that.

After we lifted the communications lockdown, you informed Headquarters we captured him. Ten minutes later, that started appearing up on darknets. We looked into it; it took some digging, but we’re pretty sure that’s the offer for anyone who gets him out and clears him; the offer was set to post upon his capture. Based on what we found, it looks like he did this once before.”

Ramasy’s mouth fell open, “One billion? How the hell can he have that kind of money? And if he does why is he doing this?”

“It’s not impossible.” Meisner replied with some hesitation, “Headquarters was beyond relieved when I told them we recovered that data. Apparently, if he had auctioned it off to the right buyers, the price could have soared into the hundreds of billions, and that would have been a bargain. He’s doing this because he enjoys it, and if he’s been at it for any length of time, he could certainly have amassed that kind of money.”

“Well, at least we can add attempted bribery to the charges.” Ramsay figured.

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Lobek commented.

Finch took the chance to explain, “It’s all circumstantial, we can’t tie it to him, and we can’t definitively prove that he’s done this before.”

Details, Ramsay needed details, “Do you know what happened last time?”

“Real simple.” Lobek smirked, “The judge excluded a bunch of evidence; he walked. Not long after that the judge wins a fortune and retires. I find it unlikely that’s a coincidence, but we have nothing tying Langston to it; we haven’t even found his real name yet, I’d imagine he’s had his DNA altered several times, never legally of course, so there are no records.”

Everything they discovered just seemed to deepen the mystery surrounding Langston, he clearly had resources, but Meisner wasn’t going to allow him to use them, “I’ll let Headquarters know that they need to take special precautions with him. At least once we hand him over he’s not our problem anymore; I want him off my station.”

While they spoke a somewhat timid security officer came up to them, “Um, Director. We’ve been contacted by a Don Hendricks from legal.”

“The idiot’s father.” Ramsay said with a frown.

“And the Regulatory General Counsel.” Meisner added.

The timid officer swallowed, “Yes, he’s on the holocomm, demanding to speak with you; I told him you’d get back to him but…”

“Say no more.” This was something that Meisner had been expecting.

“Want to take it in my office?” Ramsay offered.

Meisner nodded, “Yeah; might as well get this over with.”

As the holocomm came to life, a well-dressed, stern faced man appeared in the office, “Director Meisner.”

Despite the professional overtures, Meisner could tell he was angry, “Counselor.”

They stared at each other for several seconds before Hendricks broke the silence, “I’m curious, who do you think you are? Just who the fuck do you think you are, putting my son in a holding cell?”

While Meisner wasn’t at all surprised by Hendricks abuse, he didn’t have to tolerate it, “I’m the Project Director, and the Administrator of this station. Meaning, I’m the one with the authority to terminate your son’s employment and revoke his security clearance when his insubordination jeopardizes operations and almost results in the theft of data that could cost this company trillions! I had him placed in holding until he could be transported off the station.”

“I’d be far more concerned with your own employment than my son’s.” Hendricks threatened, “I have many friends in this company; not that I’d need them, you nearly oversaw the theft of that data. I can’t imagine that bodes well for you.”

It was clear to Meisner that despite his clearance Hendricks didn’t have full access to all of the reports yet, “Oh I’m certain there will be an investigation, I’m also certain it will find no wrongdoing or breaches of protocol on the part of anyone here. Besides, when I spoke to them, Dayton and the rest of the Board seemed pleased with the outcome of the situation; so I think I’ll be just fine.”

Hendricks realized Meisner was beyond his reach for the moment, “I won’t forget this.”

“You want to try to save your son’s career, that’s your prerogative, but he won’t be working in any department I run.” Meisner closed the channel; father and son, they were both vile, but the family was influential. The so called friends he had in the company consisted mostly of sycophants and those that were terrified of angering him. Meisner refused to fall into either of those groups.

Reed had joined Ramsay, Lobek, and Finch while Meisner had been in the office. For the first time in days, he saw people laughing and smiling, Ramsay turned to him as he walked down the stairs, “Well, how’d that go?”

“It could have been worse.” Mesiner admitted, “But, it would probably be best if all of us avoided anyone with the name Hendricks for the foreseeable future.”

“So, we’re being rewarded?” Everyone laughed at Ramsay’s joke, “By the way, I’m taking a week off.”

Meisner shrugged and nodded, “You more than earned it.”

“We’re taking a week off.” Lobek said over Ramsay’s shoulder before she turned to whisper in is ear, “You owe me dinner.”

“I knew it.” Meisner smirked, “Both of you get out of here on the next transport.”

Reed and Finch looked absolutely stunned; Ramsay never got involved with coworkers, but of all the people they could have envisioned him with, Lobek would never have made the list. They both stood there with their mouths hanging open trying to comprehend what was happening, Reed was finally brought to her senses by Meisner’s hand waiving in front of her, “Sir?”

Now Meisner was sure he had her attention, “Don’t let either of these two back on the station until every last second of their vacation has been used up.”

Thank You For Reading

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The post New Short Story: Lockdown – Part 2 appeared first on Council Science Fiction.

New Short Story: Lockdown – Part 1

Imperator — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 19:30:03 +0000

I am pleased to present part 1 of my new short story:

For those who prefer a PDF version, it can be downloaded here:

Lockdown - Part 1

1 file(s) 289.98 KB

PDF Version

April 16, 6333 Earth Standard

NOVA Galactic Enterprises Research and Development Shipyard, Petric System

“I still can’t believe they’re actually planning to land that thing on a planet.” Alex Ramsay looked out the window of the Director’s office; the titanic hull of the Atlas cargo ship stretched out for over a hundred kilometers below them.

Director Kevin Meisner followed Ramsay’s gaze, “I know what you mean, but the engineers say they can do it. Just don’t expect me to be anywhere nearby when they try.”

“I’m with you on that. So you’re really planning on leaving after this project?” Ramsay inquired; Meisner had been the Director of the project and the administrator of the shipyard for over a decade; they had worked well together, Ramsay didn’t relish having to break in a new director, and he didn’t want the position himself, he was quite happy as Security Chief.

In a way Meisner lamented the decision, he enjoyed his job, but it was time to move on, “Yeah, it’s official now; with the twins getting older, only being home one week out of every three isn’t working.”

“Their birthday is coming up isn’t it?”

“Next month. Four years old.” Meisner smiled and looked at the hologram of his family on the desk, “You know with the push to get the Atlas done by the deadline I had to arrange that week off six months in advance. Paul’s grown up and on his own, and while it was just Miranda and I it wasn’t so much of an issue. But I don’t want my kids growing up thinking of their father as the hologram that appears in the room every other day.”

Ramsay nodded, “Fair enough. So it’s onward and upward then, to one of those senior director positions that are opening up.”

“Director of Aerospace Research.” Meisner specified, “I’ve heard the office has a very nice view.”

“In that tower, it damn well should.” Ramsay remembered growing up in the complex that surrounded NOVA Galactic’s headquarters building on Rawson 8, a monumental structure that towered over seventy kilometers above the planet’s surface.

“Speaking of, they’re saying Oshiro might be retiring, and it seems like it might be more than just rumors this time.” Meisner added.

“Like we haven’t heard that before.” Oshiro was the General Director of Research and Development, and this was probably the fifth time in the last eight years that Ramsay had heard of him retiring, “Still you might be right, I’ve heard some talk about replacements.” The slight smirk on Meisner’s face told Ramsay everything, “You’re angling for it?”

“Well it would be nice.”

While it wasn’t impossible, Ramsay very much doubted Meisner had a chance, “I heard that the short list was down to Kwan and that guy from Medical…”

“William Jagger.” Meisner finished, “I realize it’s a long shot, but you can’t blame me for trying. If nothing else it puts my name out there.” A quick glance at the time caught his attention, “I have to get going, still have a ten hour flight back to Rawson 8.”

Ramsay frowned, for him it would have been eighteen hours, “Go ahead and rub it in to those of us who don’t have clearance for an in system jump.”

“Become Director and you can have the perks.” Meisner smirked as he hastily got up, “But if I don’t get back for this weekend Miranda’s going to kill me, we have reservations at The Vineyard.”

“Fancy.” And expensive Ramsay thought as he too stood up. It was one of the finest restaurants on the planet, boasting hand prepared meals served by actual humans, and true to its name, it had the largest wine selection in the system, “Celebrating that promotion?”

The prideful nod that Meisner responded with verged on arrogant, but he felt like he deserved to tout his promotion, at least a little, “To be honest, we had to make the reservations before it was a done deal, but… it worked out.” As he made his way to the door he changed back to business, “Now, I already gave the standard briefings to everyone, so you know the drill; try not to blow the place up while I’m gone.”

Before Ramsay and Meisner could make their way to the door an alarm sounded, Ramsay immediately recognized it, “What the hell? That’s the lockdown alert.”

Suddenly the face of the facility A.I. shimmered into existence on a display and its baritone voice came over the comm., “This facility is now on lockdown, this is not a drill. All non-security personnel please remain in place until security arrives to escort you to your living quarters.”

There was something seriously wrong, and Meisner was almost in shock at the timing as he gawked at the hologram of the A.I. Finally he managed to regain his composure, “Wait, if were both in here, who the hell authorized the lockdown?”

As he spoke the office door opened and a very out of breath man ran in, swallowing as he tried to speak, “I, I did.”

It was Bruce Finch; Ramsay immediately recognized the head of his cyber security team. Finch must have run all the way from the security office and used an override to get in, “What the hell is going on? Why didn’t you contact me?”

Still out of breath Finch flopped onto a couch in the office, “Comm.’s… lockdown. Security breach.”

That got, Ramsay’s attention, “What kind of breach?” He demanded.

Finch finally caught his breath enough to make a sentence, “We were running a routine security audit, it looks like someone downloaded confidential data without authorization.”

“Looks like?” If Finch locked down the entire facility over something trivial Ramsay was not going to be happy.

“What data?” Meisner interrupted.

“It was something from the engineering database; my team is working on figuring out exactly what.” It was abundantly clear that Ramsay wanted more of an explanation, “But that’s not why I initiated the lockdown; whoever this was did a damn good job of covering their tracks. We got lucky catching it. This was planned, and executed using a very sophisticated program, even the A.I. didn’t pick it up. Lee was auditing the security logs, it was sheer luck he caught it, in fact it’s not what was in the logs, but rather what wasn’t. There should have been…”

“Skip the technical stuff.” Ramsay didn’t need an explanation he wouldn’t understand, “Bottom line, how bad is the breach.”

Finch’s look of bewilderment said more than words, “We don’t know yet, it could have been someone’s cookie recipe.” He glanced out the window, looking out upon the shipyard, “Or, it could have been designs for the whole ship.”

“Shit.” Meisner dragged his hands through his hair, “When did this happen?”

“Two days ago.” Finch replied.

“Two days!” In the world of corporate espionage it might as well have been an eternity; but Ramsay’s main concern was that he was the Chief of Security, if this got out his career was over, “So whoever did this could have sent the data off station by now.”

Meisner flopped into a chair; the gravity of the situation just hit him. The Atlas contained some of NOVA Galactic’s most advanced technology; in fact it was the new reactor technology that had made it possible to construct a vessel that large. If the exclusivity of that was lost it could amount to a financial loss of hundreds of trillions or even more over the next few decades. It became clear that even if he missed his dinner it wouldn’t matter, he had nothing left to celebrate.

“I don’t think they got anything off station yet.” Finch replied, bringing a clear glimmer of hope to everyone in the room, “No ships have left since the data breach and no one has redirected the long range transmitter, we’d definitely know about that. If someone tried to send it our security protocols would have detected it and even if they were compromised it would have been detected on the receiving end.”

The security measures on the station may have been draconian but it appeared they had done their job. Only allowing weekly transports, directing all communications through a secured relay on Rawson 8; with two days Ramsay was concerned that the spy may have found a way around such measures, but it seemed he or she did not want to risk detection. Whoever had done this needed to be caught, “Alright, I’ll be back to security in ten, keep your team on it, find out where that hack originated. Even with communications locked down we still have everyone’s personnel files, have Price and Sharma put together a team and start tearing through them, look for anything suspicious, no matter how innocuous.”

“There are over fifteen thousand people on this station; it’s going to take time to go through all of those.” Finch said with surprise.

Ramsay glanced at Meisner who gave him a quick nod, “Well, no one is going anywhere until we catch whoever did this. So we better get to it. Oh, and have security posted at every docking bay and at the communications control room, the spy might get desperate if we start closing in.”

It was a massive undertaking, and Finch would need all the help he could get, “Um, Chief, if it’s alright I’d like to bring in Dr. Lobek to help out.”

Though a little surprising; Ramsay didn’t consider it an unreasonable request, “From the A.I. team?”

“When it comes to computers she’s the best we’ve got.” As much as Finch hated to admit it, she was even better than he was, “And with the lockdown it’s not like she’s doing anything else.”

Ramsay nodded, “Alright, prioritize clearing her of any suspicion, along with all security personnel, if she checks out then its fine.” Finch nodded in response and quickly made his way for the door.

“What about the omni-directional?” Meisner inquired about the emergency communications unit as Finch left.

“The power switch is manual.” Ramsay replied, “And the relay is in a locked cabinet in the security offices, there have been at least five people in there at any given time. No one’s gotten near it, and no one is going to. Well I guess this ruins your weekend; and you can’t even let your wife know.”

“Unless we catch this bastard in the next fifteen hours.” Unfortunately, Meisner knew that was unlikely, “Still, under the circumstances I think Miranda will understand, at least I hope she will. Just find whoever did this.”

* * *

The scene in the security office was beyond frantic, everyone was working double shifts; some on tracing the source of the breach, others reviewing personnel files. They had managed to clear a number of people so far including Dr. Lobek and almost everyone in security, but that still left thousands more. The worst part of it was the human component; there were almost three thousand very angry people who expected to have a week off, and were now effectively under house arrest in their living quarters.

Ramsay looked out at the chaos from his office, the best thing he could do right now was let everyone do their jobs and get them whatever support they needed. There must have been fifty reports on his desk’s display, and more came in every few minutes; unfortunately most of them were about minor anomalies in personnel files, he had yet to hear from Finch’s team, which meant they had little to show for nine hours of effort.

Finally, after two more hours of looking at dead end leads, Finch and Lobek came to Ramsay’s office, both looking fatigued and very frustrated, “Rachel, thank you for helping out.” He hadn’t seen her yet and he wanted her to know her efforts were appreciated.

She just smirked, “Well, help here or sit in my quarters? Either way my strip poker night was ruined, it’s just no fun unless you’re playing with real people.”

It had been a while since Ramsay had spoken to Dr. Lobek, but just as he remembered, she was not shy, and her sense of humor was as peculiar as ever. Her inappropriate remarks had resulted in at least two sexual harassment complaints, but she was undeniably good at what she did, and that was what interested Ramsay, “Look, you help catch whoever did this and you can count me in on your next game; just tell me what you found out.”

Lobek approached Ramsay, leaning in almost uncomfortable close, “Wear layers.” She whispered before backing off, after that her demeanor was completely professional; before she spoke she pulled up a holographic station diagram on a display, “Whoever did this was very good, what little there was to go on had us chasing leads all over the station, but all of those traces eventually converge here.” She enlarged a portion of the station, “Sector G living quarters. We’re fairly sure that’s where it originated.”

Finch spoke up, “And knowing when the hack took place we can narrow our suspects to the people in that area at the time.”

“How many?” Ramsay inquired, still a little flustered by Lobek.

“Eight hundred ninety four.” Finch’s stern expression conveyed his disappointment with such a large number, “We’re working on narrowing that down.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Lobek interrupted, “But, it’s going to take a lot of time, if it can be done at all; this hacker didn’t leave much of a trail.”

“Do we at least know what they took?” That information could help Ramsay and Meisner mitigate damage if they couldn’t stop those responsible.

There was some obvious hesitation on Finch’s part, “While were not absolutely certain yet, it looks like engineering schematics for the Atlas.”

“Specifically, reactor schematics.” Lobek clarified with a starkly contrasting confidence.

“Shit.” Ramsay frowned; it was almost a worst case scenario. From a financial standpoint it was the single most valuable innovation on the ship, “Okay, failure is not an option, we need to find who did this and recover the data.” Ramsay walked toward his door leading to the main security office and got everyone’s attention, “Listen up, we have a list of eight hundred ninety four priority suspects, Mr. Finch will give you the details. I want all of your efforts focused there for the time being. Even if they’re already cleared, take a second look. Someone on this list was the source of the breach, let’s find them.”

Finch walked out of Ramsay’s office and began coordinating the teams; Lobek looked at Ramsay, “I’ll see what I can do about narrowing the suspect pool a little; and don’t forget poker night.” She added flirtatiously.

Despite the fatigue that was obviously setting in, work in the security office continued at an incredible pace. Everyone knew that the lockdown would only end one of two ways, with the perpetrator caught and the data recovered, or when Headquarters confirmed the data had gotten out and the damage was irreparable. As they continued to trace the hack, clearing suspects became easier, until Lobek finally had it down to a single level, leaving just eight people. She smiled, it was a small enough group to bring in, and if she examined their quarters she might be able to determine exactly where the hack had originated. Though yawning from exhaustion she felt excited as she rushed into Ramsay’s office, “I’ve got it down to eight people. Bring them in let me examine their quarters, and I think I can give you the hacker.”

Bloodshot eyes greeted her as Ramsay looked away from what he was working on; a rush of adrenalin cured his fatigue as he pulled up her list, “Eight people? That’s a suspect pool we can work with.” With a quick gesture he pulled up personnel files, “And it looks like three of them had access to the reactor schematics.”

“Damning, but not necessarily conclusive given the hackers obvious skills.” Lobek reminded him.

“True. I’ll have some security teams bring them in; you get Finch and whatever equipment you need, then get up there. I’d prefer not to keep innocent people in holding any longer than necessary.”

As Lobek quickly left his office and Ramsay took his pistol out of his desk and put on his holster, “Open comm. Security. Security Teams two and three, assemble outside of the main office.”

Two security teams for eight people was probably overkill, but Ramsay didn’t know what to expect. It was almost certain that one of those people was the culprit, how far would they go faced with imminent discovery? He honestly wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or relieved when no one resisted; though all of them were obviously angry and demanding to know what was happening. He couldn’t give them details but they deserved some reassurance before security took them away, “I realize this situation must be upsetting but I’m afraid I can’t offer any explanation, except to say that we hope to have this resolved in a few hours and get everything back to normal.”

A cacophony of angry protests rang out, and Ramsay couldn’t blame them, he likely would have been just as upset had the situation been reversed. Ignoring them he looked at the team commanders, “Take them to security, for the time being keep them in the low security area unless they cause problems.”

“Yes, sir.” Both commanders responded as they directed the group to the lift.

As the lift opened Lobek and Finch got off with some equipment, making way for security to file on with the detainees, “They didn’t look happy.” Lobek commented.

Ramsay shrugged, “Would you be?”

“Probably not.” Suddenly she smiled seductively, “Though under better circumstances some handcuffs could be fun.”

“Please stop there.” Finch could live without any more insights into the workings of her mind.

As she turned to Finch her look was one of almost, disappointment, “You really need to learn how to relax and have some fun.”

“And you need to learn that there are some details of your life that people don’t want to hear about.” He replied.

“Can we get to work, please?” Ramsay interrupted.

“Oh very well.” Lobek’s voice was filled with feigned acquiescence, “Once we find the terminal that was used it should be easy to identify it.”

“And then we’ll know which one of them to lock up and this will finally be over.” Finch added.

“Almost.” It wasn’t quite the end as far as Ramsay was concerned, “Everyone can get some sleep, but we can’t risk lifting the lockdown until we recover the data and make sure there are no copies.”

It didn’t take long to rule out a terminal, a matter of minutes, but each time it seemed to feel like hours. Finally when they came to the fifth terminal Lobek cracked a smile, “Got you. This is it, the source of the hack.”

“Whose quarters are these?” Finch inquired.

Ramsay sighed, “Amanda Lane’s. She’s a programming supervisor for the reactor control systems, and she definitely had access to the data.”

“And quite possibly the computer expertise to pull this off.” Lobek said flatly as she continued to look through the computer records, “She tried to hide the fact that this terminal was used, but that’s not so easy to do.”

Finch smiled, “It’s always the audit trails that get them.”

“Any sign of what she did with the schematics?” Ramsay demanded.

Lobek tried some things but her frustration was evident, “Nothing that stands out, the hack came from here but as to what she did with the data, that I can’t tell you.”

It was not what Ramsay wanted to hear, “Fine, get a forensics unit up here to tear these quarters apart, maybe they can give us a lead; I’m going to go have a chat with Ms. Lane.”

* * *

Four security officers barged into the low security holding area, startling everyone, “What the Hell is going on?” Dr. Alan Brooks demanded. They had been in here almost an hour without explanation and he was growing impatient.

“Sir, you need to back up and sit down.” The commanding officer responded, “Someone will be here in just a few minutes to explain the situation.” Reluctantly Brooks did as he was told as the guards turned to converge on someone else, “Amanda Lane you need to come with us immediately.”

“What’s this about?” She demanded defiantly as two guards took her by the arms.

“Bring her.” The commander ordered without further explanation.

Lane soon found herself cuffed and deposited in a windowless conference room that was doubtlessly meant for interrogation. After a few silent minutes the head of security Alex Ramsay walked in, “Care to tell me what I’m doing in here?” She inquired as calmly as possible.

Ramsay made no attempt to hide his frustration, “Are we really going to play this game? Just tell me what you did with the data, so we can recover it, and I’ll tell the civilian prosecutor that you were cooperative. You’ll still do some time, but it’ll be nothing compared to what you face if you insist on doing this the hard way.”

“Data?” She asked, completely baffled, “What are you talking about?”

“You’re not helping yourself.” He snapped.

Her composure began to waiver, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The reactor schematics; the ones that you stole.” Ramsay shouted as he pounded his hand on the table, “Now, last chance, what did you do with them?”

“I haven’t stolen anything.” She insisted, “And I want to talk to an attorney.”

“When you tell us what you did with the data, you can take that up with the civilian prosecutor. Until then you’ll get nothing, or did you forget the contract you signed.”

Lane was fighting the tears she felt rolling down her face, “I told you I don’t know anything about stolen data. I haven’t done anything.”

“We traced the hack to your terminal; you were the only person there at the time.” Ramsay said as intimidatingly as possible, “And we confirmed it was your biometric I.D. that was used for access. We don’t need you to confess, you’re going away no matter what, for a litany of cybercrimes at least. All I need from you is to know what you did with the data.”

Tears spilled forth as she broke down and buried her face in her cuffed hands, “I told you I didn’t do anything, I don’t know what’s going on. Please, you have to believe me.”

“It’s a hell of a performance.” Ramsay admitted as he turned to leave, “But I’m not buying it. I’ll give you a little while to think about the situation, because it’s not going to get any better.”

“Convincing act.” The Deputy Security Chief Tanya Reed confronted Ramsay as he stepped out of the conference room, “I was observing.”

“Don’t tell me you bought it.” He replied.

She shook her head, “No more than you did, but you have to admit she missed her calling, she should have gone into acting.”

“Unfortunately you’re right, questioning her like this isn’t going to get us anything.” It was clear from his furled brow Ramsay was planning something, “Move her to a cell for the time being, and have Dr. Clark set up set up the room for bio monitoring. Next time I talk to her I want to be able to call her on every lie.”

“Pity we can’t just do an active neural scan.” Reed replied.

It was an idea that had some appeal, but it wasn’t worth it, “It certainly would be easier, but even with her consent there would be legal issues. Might make the company happy if we got the data back, but if word of it ever got out we’ll be the ones losing our jobs and taking the blame. We have the situation contained for the moment, so we’ll stick to proper procedure.”

“It was just a thought, I’ll have Dr. Clark get up here and let you know when everything’s ready.” A concern stopped Reed as she walked away, “You should get an hour or two of rest; you look like shit.”

While the observation was abundantly obvious, Ramsay tried to downplay it with some humor, “Good, it would be a shame to be as miserable as I am right now and not have everybody else know about it.” Nevertheless, he took the advice; even just a few hours of sleep would help.

That little bit of sleep was equally refreshing and tormenting, as Ramsay made his way back to work and found Reed and Dr. Clark outside of the interrogation room, “She’s in there, waiting. I brought Dr. Clark up to speed on the situation.” Reed informed him.

Dr. Clark handed Ramsay a neural comm., unit, “This is secured, I’ll be able to communicate with you from observation. If she lies at all we should be able to tell immediately.”

Ramsay placed the device behind his ear, “Testing.”

“It’s working just fine.” Clark confirmed.

“Alright, let’s try this again.” The sooner Ramsay got the data the happier everyone would be. Lane scowled at him as he walked into the room; her feigned despair had apparently given way to anger, “Ms. Lane, have you reconsidered your situation?” To no great surprise she remained silent, “Very well, you may have noticed some changes to the wall panels. Since you have refused to cooperate, we will be conducting bioscans, if you lie we will know; and before you protest, you agreed to this when you signed your contract. This can be very simple; I just need to know what you did with the stolen data.”

A heavy sigh escaped Lane as she tried to maintain some composure, “I already told you, I don’t know anything about any stolen data.”

“According to the scan, she’s telling the truth.” Clark told him through the comm.

How was that possible, Ramsay wondered; he had heard of spies being trained to resist interrogations; biofeedback to control her reactions, it was the only explanation. The only way to get to her would be to throw her off balance, make her lose control, “Convincing, but we confirmed, the data was accessed using your biometric identification.” He pulled up a display of the access logs.

Lane truly looked shocked, “That’s impossible.”

“Really? Accessed 2214 station time, using your neural I.D. scan.” He replied, “Oh, you bounced your hack all around the station, messed with the time codes, but that was just to make it difficult for us to figure out that you moved the data to some type of unauthorized device. To get to the data in the first place, you still needed to use your authorization, well we found you it’s over, do everyone, yourself included a favor, and don’t draw this out anymore.”

The look on Lane’s face became even more bewildered, “Wait, you said, 2214? It’s not possible, I have a VR system, I was in a game for almost three hours that night, the device logs, they can prove it.”

“With how you hacked our system you expect me to believe you couldn’t falsify some records on a VR simulator.” Ramsay scoffed.

“She’s telling the truth.” Clark once again said via the comm.

“What?” Ramsay couldn’t believe it, “Are you sure the scanner is working properly?”

“Yes.” Clark took some offense at what Ramsay was insinuating, “Are you sure you’re interrogating properly?”

Ramsay needed some answers, “Is it possible she’s conditioned to control her responses?”

“There’s an easy way to find out.” Clark replied, “You need to ask her something a typical person would instinctually lie or recoil about, don’t need an outright lie, just something she would wish to conceal, details of her sex life would probably be the fastest way.”

At the moment, Ramsay wished he could have Lobek conduct the interrogation, she would probably enjoy this. However, he had a job to do; he just had no idea how he was going to write this up in his report, “So Ms. Lane, how’s your sex life?”

“What?” She exclaimed.

As much as he didn’t want to Ramsay pressed, “Oh come on, you must have a boyfriend; maybe more than one; I bet you’re into some kinky stuff.”

Now Lane was visibly angry, and pulled on her cuffs, “I have a boyfriend, and what we do together is none of your damn business! What the hell is this about? I thought you were looking for missing data.”

“I need to talk to you now.” Clark said over the comm.

“We’ll pick this up once you’ve calmed down.” Ramsay told her as he stood up and walked to observation, “She’s lying, right?”

“Wrong.” Clark replied, “At least according to this equipment.”

“How is that even possible? We know it was her.” Reed inquired.

Clark shrugged, “I can only tell you what the equipment says. She is either telling the truth or the best liar in the galaxy. She believes what she’s saying, and when you pressed her at the end, it was a completely normal response, not what you’d expect from someone conditioned to lie.”

“But this could still be an act.” Ramsay concluded, “Is it possible her memory was wiped and replaced?”

“According to these readings I very much doubt it.” Clark replied, “But I could do a medical workup to make sure. A perfect memory replacement is very difficult and requires specialized equipment, and since no one hijacked my infirmary, she didn’t have access to it. That means there will be anomalies if her memory was altered.”

“Alright, check it out.” Ramsay turned to Reed, “Take her back to holding. Then retrace everywhere she’s been over the last few days, maybe we can turn up something new.”

Reed left the room and Ramsay moved to follow her, but Clark stopped him, “Alex, I know what I’m doing with this equipment, I’ve reviewed thousands of interrogations using it; the company insisted on it for this job. I can tell you right now, you’ve got the wrong person.”

“Then we have even more problems.” He hoped she was wrong, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that she might be right, “But right now she’s our best suspect, so keep that thought to yourself for the time being. On the chance someone framed her I want them to think they succeeded.”

Clark clearly didn’t like it but she nodded in agreement. It truly was baffling; Lobek and Finch had ruled out tampering across most of the major systems, the only fake records they found were the access logs and the subsequent download. The records for the security sensors showed no signs of tampering, and they put her in her quarters alone at the time of the hack. Even if someone else had been there, faking the I.D. scan would have been virtually impossible, and forcing her to access it under duress would have triggered a failsafe and locked her out. Ramsay hoped the forensic team could discover something, because without some new information he was at a dead end.

After making a detailed scan of Lane’s quarters the forensic team had taken anything that could be moved to their lab for analysis. A small swarm of drones meticulously ran detailed scans of every item while most of the team huddled around a display. Only Max Tyson, who was supervising the scans, noticed him, “Chief.” He acknowledged.

“Find anything?” Ramsay asked. Without a word, Tyson shook his head, his face conveying obvious frustration. It was not what Ramsay wanted to hear, and he almost left but then he noticed the VR system Lane had mentioned on a table with dozens of other items, “Has all of this been cleared?” He inquired before he touched anything.

“Scanned, cleared, and logged. There’s nothing of interest there.” Tyson confirmed.

Curiosity prompted Ramsay to pick up the VR system; he had the same kind, just a generation older. As he turned it in his hand and the light hit it perfectly he noticed something that he never had on his device, the tiny serial number on the data chip, “Did anyone take the chip out of this?”

Tyson looked over with a confused glance, “Why would we, scan showed it was factory original, just a typical assortment of games and simulations.”

“Well keep at it.” There was no need for Ramsay to say anything more, but the tiny doubt that Clark had planted in his mind was growing, “All of the data you collected is logged into the system?”

“It’s incomplete but what we have so far is there. Not sure that it will be much help.” Tyson replied, “Is she being as uncooperative as we’ve heard.”

“Worse.” Ramsay answered as he left, somewhat dismayed by how quickly the gossip had traveled.

What he needed now was some uninterrupted time to review what they had learned. Despite the evidence pointing at Lane, something wasn’t right, “Privacy mode.” He ordered as he entered his office, no one would be able to see in his windows from the outside or enter without his authorization. Falling into his desk chair, he pulled up the scan data Tyson had mentioned. At first glance he was correct everything looked normal, but that serial number continued to bother Ramsay.

Rubbing his brow in an effort to alleviate his stress he had an idea of how to proceed, but it would be difficult without access to an interstellar network, he would have to rely on data stored on the station, “Retrieve all available technical data on the Varo Mirage Personal VR device; model number VM-814 E. Filter for any data pertaining to the unit’s data chip. Also pull up any available marketing from the company that shows the data chip.”

Even with the filters it was a great deal of data to review; fortunately he knew what he was looking for, he just needed to verify one thing in the technical data then he could have the A.I. run an analysis. It didn’t take long to find what he wanted, like most devices the data chip could be inserted either way, the question now was whether it was placed serial number up at the factory or whether someone had flipped it, “Computer, run an analysis on all retrieved marketing data, and identify any that show the chip serial number.”

A second later the A.I. responded, “No matches found.”

Now he truly was intrigued. The forensics scans were still pulled up and he had the results of the VR device scan in front of him. According to the analysis, there were no fingerprints, skin oils, or even DNA traces on the chip; someone had removed it at some point, taking great care to return it without leaving evidence, except they didn’t put it back the right way. He needed to talk to Lane again, this time without anyone else around.

Fortunately it was late by station time, and since he had given almost everyone orders to get some sleep, there were a minimal number of personnel in security at the moment. He didn’t want anyone overhearing let alone gossiping about the conversation he was about to have.

Ramsay looked around as he entered the detention area, there were a few personnel outside in the security office but aside from Lane he was the only one there. Lane’s holding cell was the only one with a light on making it stand out against the nighttime lighting. Ramsay approached her cell, as far as holding cells go it was fairly comfortable, much better than a prison at least. Lane was still awake, her attention focused on a tablet, “Reading?” He asked.

The scornful frown Lane cast was far more powerful than anything she could say, “Employee handbook, trying to figure out just how much more you can fuck me over.”

Admittedly Ramsay may have deserved that; without a word he pressed a few controls on the panel next to her cell, “I just deactivated the surveillance for this area, so the conversation we are about to have can in no way be used against you. I’ve been authorized to offer you a deal. Tell us where the data is, and you won’t be referred for any felony charges, just misdemeanor. You’ll still be fired, lose any benefits, but at least your life won’t be ruined. We just want the data back. I’ll get the guarantee in writing.”

Lane stood up, “Wow, that’s a really great offer, and I’d take it. If I had anything to do with stealing the data, but as I told you I didn’t! I can’t help you because I don’t know anything!”

“That… was the right answer.” Finally Ramsay was inclined to believe her, only a complete idiot would have faced decades in prison instead of what he had just offered her, “I apologize for that but I had to make sure.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Lane demanded.

“I’m inclined to believe you, there are things that just, are not adding up.” Ramsay told her, “What I need from you is just a little patience and just answer a few questions.”

“I’m through with questions, if you believe me then let me out.” She snapped.

“I can’t do that yet, please just hear me out.”

She stared at him like he was an idiot, and gestured around her cell “I don’t exactly have a lot of options.”

Her cooperation would be essential so Ramsay tried to be more polite than he had been, “You said you were in a VR game when the hack occurred.”

“Yep.” She replied, making no attempt to hide her frustration.

“Yet the device records contradict that.” She was going to protest but he continued, “So, I need to know. Have you ever removed or changed the data chip on that device.”

She seemed surprised by the question, “No, it’s the same one it came with. I haven’t even used one tenth of its capacity; there’s no reason to change it.”

“Okay; then I need to ask, did anyone else have access to that device, anyone at all?”

“Not that I can think of, I kept it in my bedroom. No one goes in there but me, except…” She trailed off.

“Paul Langston, your boyfriend?” Ramsay finished.

“No, no.” She said as her breaths became shallow, and tears began to flow, “He wouldn’t he, he… couldn’t. How would he even…”

“Ms. Lane. What I’m going to ask of you might be difficult, but I need you to stay in holding for the time being and try to act like we did not have this conversation. Rumors travel fast around here and assuming you’ve been set up, I don’t want to tip off whoever did it until we have them; or you could end up in an even worse position.” By the look on her face Ramsay wasn’t even sure if he had gotten through, “Amanda, can you do that? I promise you that I will find who did this and get this sorted out.”

She nodded, “If he did this to me…”

Ramsay knew exactly what she meant, “Just hold on for a while.”

There were only a few ways this could have been done, and each less likely than the last. What he needed now was an expert opinion, so in the dead of night he found himself at Dr. Clarks door, he pressed the chime several times before he got a response, “Who the hell is there?”

“Emily, its Alex. Sorry for the hour but I need to ask you something.”

After a few silent seconds the door slid open; Emily Clark stood there in a robe, half asleep, “This couldn’t wait?”

“Not this time.” He replied as he entered, “It’s about Ms. Lane; you said that a failsafe would have been triggered in the system if she had tried to access that data under duress?”

“That’s right. It detects certain stress patterns, denies access if any flags are set off; actually it’s quite reliable…”

“Fascinating.” He interrupted, “But you’re saying that she couldn’t have accessed it against her will?”

“It’s very unlikely.” Clark confirmed.

With the theory he was about to voice Ramsay hoped he hadn’t gone crazy himself, “What if she wasn’t aware she was doing it?”

Suddenly Clark was wide awake, “Interesting, though she’d still need to enter other access codes and be seated in front of the scanner; I suppose it might work but, what are you thinking?”

“Ever hear of project Walford 19?” He asked.

“The spy project?” She confirmed, remembering a short lecture on it from her medical school, “Human proxy’s way the hell back, wasn’t that thousands of years ago?”

“Yeah.” Ramsay hesitated, “I need to know, could a reprogrammed VR device be used that way, to turn someone into an unwitting puppet.”

Clark’s eyes went wide as she pondered, “You said whoever did this was a damn good hacker?”

“That’s right.”

“Maybe.” She answered hesitantly, “I suppose the way those work it’s theoretically possible, but there are numerous safeguards in place to prevent that, you’d need to talk to a computer expert, but as I understand it, to even have a prayer of pulling it off you would need to have access to the devices unencrypted source codes. Considering the security those companies have, that’s not exactly easy to get.”

“But if you did have it…” He insinuated.

“Again, theoretically possible.” It was a lot of supposition, but she couldn’t deny the possibility, “Look, I believe she’s telling the truth, but without some hard evidence, I very much doubt anyone will go along with this.”

“That’s the problem.” He agreed, without some sort of proof all he had right now was wild speculation, “If that was done to her, would there be any way to detect it?”

The truth was Clark did not know, “Maybe; I know you’re getting tired of hearing that, but I can’t say for certain, it’s not exactly a common case. It might leave some memory anomalies, but, the only way to detect those would be a full neural scan. Without a medical emergency we can’t do that while she’s still in custody, even with her consent.”

“There might be a way around that.” Ramsay replied.

Clark was unsure, “And that would be?”

“If you were acting in a capacity as her personal physician, rather than as a doctor hired by the company, it shouldn’t raise any legal issues.” He replied but it was clear from his tone there was a catch, “However, I’d need someone from legal to draw up the documents for you to sign to that effect, and we’d need Meisner’s approval.”

Clark looked defeated, “With a prime suspect in custody? You think he’ll risk it?”

“If she’ll agree, I think I can convince him.” He replied, “You said it yourself, it will get us answers, so we’ll either recover the data or we’ll know definitively she didn’t do it.”

“But you think he’ll buy the VR device theory?” She pressed.

“I think…” Hesitation filled his reply, “We should talk to Lobek first. She is our top specialist when it comes to computers.”

“Okay.” Clark was clearly not happy about the idea.

“Problem?” He knew what it was but, still he asked.

Clark had to be careful not to violate medical ethics, “You know what she’s like, but… never mind, she is damn good with computers.”

When she found out what Ramsay wasn’t telling her she would no doubt be upset, but he wasn’t going to risk giving anyone the full details until he had some confirmation of his suspicions. He had already told her more than he wanted to, but her cooperation was essential, “I’d like to keep as much of this to ourselves as possible. If we’re right, we still have a spy out there, who is no doubt keeping tabs on the situation; the fewer people who know the full details the better, and that includes Meisner.”

Considering that keeping those secrets was grounds for termination she was obviously hesitant, “Great… Well if things don’t work out I’ll just blame you for everything.”

“Glad you’re on board.” Ramsay wasn’t worried, he had moved past that a few days ago, he would either recover the data, or lose his job; she couldn’t make that any worse.

The meeting in Meisner’s office was tense, largely due to the presence of Phil Hendricks, the head of the legal department on the station. Despite drafting the documents, he had made it quite clear that he was unhappy with the situation, “You have the evidence that she stole the data, even without recovering it, we have enough for a successful prosecution. Now, you want to jeopardize that over some absurd theory.”

Ramsay really hated dealing with Hendricks, and honestly hated the man in general, “Look, that data is vital to the company.”

“And how can I know that, you won’t even tell me what it is.” Hendrick’s interrupted.

“It’s above your clearance.” Meisner stated flatly.

That did not deter Hendricks, “So read me into it, you have that authority.”

A long pause preceded Meisner’s response as he held back his frustration, “You don’t need to know the details; all you need to know is that we have to recover that data.”

Hendricks glared at Ramsay, “Your security team has been trying, and failing. Maybe it’s time to bring in a team from the company that can get results.”

Ramsay tensed and leaned forward on the conference table, “I’d think very carefully about your next words.”

“Fine. I’ll put it in terms you can understand.” The arrogance in Hendricks voice was palpable, “If you and your team had done their jobs in the first place, we wouldn’t have this problem. Now you seem intent on sabotaging what little success you’ve had, which is exactly why the company hires people like me, to stop people like you from doing stupid things.”

“Enough!” Meisner slammed his hand on the table. He had to put an end to this before Ramsay assaulted Hendricks, “I’m not going to have us coming to blows over this.”

“Yes, that’s…” Hendricks started.

“And you shut up.” Meisner commanded turning to Hendricks, “If you ever speak like that to someone on this station again, you can look for a new job.” Hendrick’s looked like he was about to protest but Meisner’s glare made him reconsider. Looking to Clark and Lobek, Meisner calmed himself and continued, “Now, both of you think this is a legitimate possibility, that she was in some way, hijacked?”

Hendricks rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything; Lobek chose to ignore him, “It certainly wouldn’t be easy, but it is possible.”

Clark continued, “The fact is that the only way we will know for sure is to conduct a neural scan and examine her memories. If she is willing, I don’t see the harm in that.”

“You wouldn’t.” Hendricks interjected, “But understand; legally, if you do this, and the fact that we were discussing this ever becomes known at trial, there is a very good chance any case against her will fall apart, and she will walk.”

Ramsay had other concerns, “Back to reality. This is the only way to know for sure, and it will confirm one of two things. Either she did it and the scan will tell us what was done with the data, and with how sensitive the data is, it would be better to recover it and let her walk than to lock her up and let the data walk.” He looked at Hendricks mockingly, “Or it will confirm that she was set up. In which case we still have a spy on the loose, and the moment we lift the lockdown that data and the spy are gone.”

Hendricks leaned back and crossed his arms, “Ultimately, Director, the choice is yours, but know that if you approve this, it will be against the advice of counsel.”

Meisner picked up the tablet that sat in front of him. A moment passed before he finally endorsed the plan, “Do it. Dr. Clark, until this is resolved…”

“Ethical concerns, of course.” She said as she got up to leave, “I’ll need to meet with my patient in private. The scan shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“I’ll let security know and have her moved to the infirmary.” Ramsay replied as she left.

Hendricks stood up to leave as well, “I tried; it’s your asses on the line now.”

“What an asshole.” Lobek commented as the doors closed behind him.

Ramsay and Meisner glanced at each other in agreement, “Be glad you don’t have to deal with him very often.” Meisner replied.

As they left Meisner’s office Ramsay leaned toward Lobeck, “Be glad you don’t have to fight the urge to shoot him.”

She just laughed, “Why the hell does the Director keep him around?”

“He is decent at his job, when he’s not being a complete ass. But primarily, because his father is high up the ladder in legal and he has a lot of powerful friends.” Ramsay explained.

“Nepotism 101.” She concluded, “So, he’s even more pathetic than I thought. Not sure whether or not to be impressed by that.”

“How about disgusted.” He opined.

“That goes without saying.” She replied, “By the way, what were you holding back in the meeting.”

“What do you mean?” As far as Ramsay could tell there was no way she could have known.

She quickly cut in front of him, once again getting uncomfortably close as a conniving smile appeared on her face, “Please. I’m very good at reading people; you’d know that if we’d ever played poker. You have a suspect don’t you? Someone you don’t want anyone to know about yet. So, are you going to tell me?”

It was as if she was teasing him, and he could feel his pulse quicken, “If Lane’s scan says what I think it will, you’ll be the first to know.” He stepped around her to escape the situation and started walking to security.

“Playing hard to get.” She said as he walked away, “I can work with that.”

That exchange left Ramsay both intrigued and unsettled. She could certainly be alluring when she wanted to, but he felt like he was a moth about to fly into a fire, and that was a distraction he couldn’t deal with right now. If Lane was being set up he needed to be focused, the most likely suspect was the boyfriend, Paul Langston. The name was certainly an alias; but Ramsay had reviewed his personnel file earlier and there was nothing to trigger any suspicions, assuming it was a fake it was well crafted. Additionally, Langston had a clean record, there was nothing to use against him. Ramsay could question him, but without any evidence, he would walk away unscathed. The only way to get him would be in the act, but convincing Meisner to allow such an operation wouldn’t be easy, even if he could prove Lane was innocent.

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