9 months later, March 27th, 2264. 04:15 St. Mary’s Station – Special Operations Boardroom
John stood in front of a window made of a transparent ceramic alloy. The planet of Manchester was shown in its majesty below. Despite his misgivings about the royal family, the planet itself was genuinely beautiful to observe.
While the continents were radically different it was one of the most Earth-like worlds that humanity had grown to call home. The mountains were topped with snow. Beautiful cloud formations could be seen as well. An oceanic storm was brewing off the west coast of the island the station was anchored to.
He couldn’t help but think how many opportunities and how much time had been wasted in the past nine months. John had impatiently waited for his VIs to clear people, but as the list grew smaller the time to clear additional suspects grew exponentially.
John had come to believe there was only one way that someone could fully avoid being wrapped up in his scan. It involved those old quantum computing devices. Despite their age, they were ironically the only means to completely avoid detection. The utter lack of security on the device was just so bizarre to John.
John’s focus was broken when Admiral Nelson and General Mizrahi entered the room. He quickly turned and saluted the superior officers. They nodded and sat down.
“I presume you have something to tell us,” Uri said.
John nodded, “Recording devices are shut off in this room by the way. This conversation never happened.”
There was a brief pause, but John noted that both men nodded.
“My list is down to ten potential people. But I strongly believe it is one name in particular.”
“You aren’t going to tell us who, are you?” Admiral Nelson asked.
“I am not, no. Months ago, you told me that this needs to be on the up and up. I am telling you this right now, it cannot be. We’re spinning our wheels in the mud if this continues. Also, if I am right, there is nothing we can do to actually find them through our legitimate searches. We also lose an asset, which I’m not going to speak of if I do try to find evidence of the traitor.”
Bill was very concerned with what John had said, “Are you telling me you’ve withheld evidence in this investigation?”
“I have yes, but no, I will not speak of the particulars. Not while the traitor is in our midst.”
“What do you want to do?” Uri asked.
“The plan hinges on identifying the mole. Most of what I want to do has already been put into action. There are two things that I need to do at the station. If I am right, by the time I come back from our mission on Viridis Prime then the traitor will have been identified and potentially dealt with. Then the next phase of our mission can properly happen.”
“How much of this has to do with some of the modifications you’ve made to your armor?” Admiral Nelson asked, “The expenses you’ve racked up are equal parts impressive and questionable.”
“Those modifications will be necessary to successfully complete the mission,” John said nonchalantly.
Admiral Nelson sighed, “John, do what you need, but understand that if you push too much NI may come after you. We won’t be able to protect you if you murder people of your own accord.”
“Understood, sir. I hope it doesn’t needlessly escalate,” John said, “Sirs, I know you’ve been briefed about the scientific community. Do you mind sharing a brief summary?”
Inside the Confederate borders, the scientific community word had spread like wildfire of military raids on outlaw scientific labs. The specific nature of the illegality was rumored but never fully explained. If Dr. Norman was having difficulty filling positions at his illicit labs, then a gentle nudge in the wrong direction for him could be enough to force him to do more drastic things.
“Rumors and innuendo abound, but said innuendo appears so fantastic that they can’t help but ignore it out of hand as impossible,” Admiral Nelson said, “NI believes it has impacted their capability of recruiting.”
“But as you are well aware John,” Uri said as he washed his glasses, “That information hasn’t been independently confirmed.”
“Though we can assume that is the case based on the last three bases we raided. They had about a third of the expected staff there.”
“That is a fair assumption, but we believe his pool of candidates is still dangerously extensive,” Admiral Nelson then looked at his watch, “Son, I believe you have places to be.”
With that, the jamming device from John was turned off. The three men got up and left the room. John headed in a different direction from his commanding officers. They were surprised that John had vetted through the list of potential traitors, but even more, so that he had focused on a single name. Their curiosity of how this was being done was tempered though by the knowledge that they knew John was not only willing but had already planned on committing actual crimes.
05:20 St. Mary’s Station – Inner Residential Wing – Bravo Sector, Floor 4
John was walking toward Commander Deborah Murphy’s residence. He had been tracking her movements on the station for the last three months. Her routine was more known to John than to herself. The Commander’s shift started twenty minutes ago, and it was a twenty-five-minute walk from her office to return.
John pressed his tablet to the terminal outside the last hallway before her residence, “Eve, engage security blackout.”
Eve disabled the hallway cameras in the entire sector. They’d be malfunctioning for at least the next thirty minutes. John shifted into a jog down the hallway. One more right and he could see her door.
Once there he held his tablet up to the door. Eve, once again, did her level best at entering the system and took control of the situation. Deborah’s room had additional security on it though, something John hadn’t bothered doing at their home.
“Lieutenant, the door is open, however, a silent alarm will go off if a code isn’t entered.”
John whispered back, “Can you get the code?”
“It will look suspicious if you wait here the several hours it will take to do that.”
“Ok, can you prevent her from receiving the error message?”
Eve paused for a moment before speaking once again, “Yes, I believe that can be done. Additionally, once your leave the system can be reset, unless she looks at the log files she shouldn’t be aware that you were in her quarters.”
“Do it,” he said as he put on gloves.
John waited until even gave him the green light to enter the room. He made straight for the terminal in the living room. The front of it was pulled off, but disappointingly no quantum device was found. Four more terminals were inspected, but again, the device he had to find to prove the evidence of a traitor wasn’t there.
Deborah’s quarters were a bit disappointing overall. The décor was dull and uninspiring. It looked like someone spent next to no time thinking about how or where things were placed. The dinner table had space for eight chairs yet only three were present. The paintings that were hung up on the wall all wreaked of cheapness. But continue the search John did, there was only one thing he really cared about finding in her quarters.
Ten minutes later all terminals in the residence were pulled apart and looked at. No quantum devices were found. There weren’t even traces that had been plugged into them. He even spent time searching for secret compartments, but all he could find in the walls were poor patches and mismatched paint.
Everything that was picked up was placed back exactly where it was. John was not surprised at how neat and orderly everything in this room was. He had correctly pegged Commander Murphy as being an obsessive control freak. Her choice in décor and general layout wreaked of someone being lazy though. In review, the search to this point had been a gross failure, but John endeavored forward.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
John continued his search by looking at a couple of smart appliances to see if the device could have fit but he struck out with those inspections too. More worryingly for John is that it didn’t appear that any of the terminals had ever been pulled apart since they were put together, and the only way to connect the quantum device was direct to the universal expansion socket.
“Fuck. We struck out, we’re bouncing.”
John left the quarters in disgust; he was sure the most incompetent agent he had ever met was the mole. So positive he ignored virtually everyone else. He had suffered from tunnel vision, something no agent or investigator should ever be guilty of doing. But all was not lost.
One name was removed from the list. And Deborah wasn’t the only intelligence asset on his list. John knew Dexter Watanabe’s schedule inside and out as well. The taste of failure was quickly lost as his next target was identified.
06:20 St. Mary’s Station – Inner Residential Wing – Lambda Sector, Floor 6 Suites
The same script was followed getting into Dexter’s residence. The cameras were shut off and Eve used her substantial processing power to brute force through the electronic locking system. Also, like Commander Murphy’s place, Eve was able to counteract and hide the alert for the alarm code not being entered.
Unlike her residence, Dexter’s was a fucking mess. Dirty plates were piled high in the sink, used glasses were everywhere, as were empty beer cans and bottles. Three blankets were spread randomly on the floor and a spare pillow was wedged between the couch and loveseat. A dirty shirt and a single sock were laying on the ground between the couch and the dining table. And speaking of that table, it was piled high with data slates and paper.
John somehow found a secret compartment almost immediately after he began looking. It was found behind an awful painting of dogs playing poker. After sliding a panel, a small terminal appeared. John wasted no time pulling the cover. To his great shock, a quantum device was attached to it.
“Three serial numbers later than the one I got. That can’t be a coincidence,” John said quietly to himself.
“This pair was included in those that were stolen by the Alliance,” Eve said
“Eve, the next time it’s powered up, I want you to upload that program to it,” John said as he plugged his tablet into the terminal, “I also want our scanning software loaded onto it. Copies of everything he does on that terminal can be sent to the private server.”
Eve’s avatar flashed a green check. She was ready as she always was. Moments after powering the terminal, the rogue runtime was loaded onto the terminal. The next time Dexter logged onto the enemy server a secretive run-time was propagated onto it. That program would scan the contents of the server and make records of any new files or messages that passed through it. The terminal was then shut off and John unplugged everything and placed it back.
But before he left the residence, he placed a pair of hidden cameras that were hardened against electronic attacks. John wanted to be absolutely sure who it was that was actually the traitor. Mental notes were made to scan the video logs outside the hallway to see who else, if anyone, came to this place.
John gave a quick sweep through the rest of Dexter’s quarters, but nothing was amiss. Nor did he find anything substantial. Besides the fact that Dexter’s spice tolerance must be legendary because of all the pepper paraphernalia found through the residence.
As he headed out of the residential section and into the commercial ring, he couldn’t help but think he was dead ass wrong about his assumption. How could he be so wrong? Dexter being on his final list was likely due to the sheer amount of paperwork John thought the poor bastard was buried under. Never in a million years did he suspect that he’d be a traitor.
“Tunnel vision, you fucking prick,” John said to himself, “You are better than that.”
Tunnel vision indeed. Too often investigators focused on the most likely suspect and ignored the signs pointing elsewhere. Commander Murphy’s rank incompetence made her an opportune target to latch onto. With her around him John though, she’d draw all the eyes to her, and people would overlook John. Now all he had to do was get Dexter to deploy with them the following evening. And John knew exactly how to pull that off.
1 day later, March 28th, 2264. 17:45 CNS Fargo – Platoon 3 Meeting Room
John stood at the front of the room in front of a rowdy bunch of marines and two incredibly annoyed and bothered Naval Intelligence officers. It warmed his cold and dead heart to know he was making their day that much more difficult by being here. The bitterness from his divorce from the agency still bothered him, despite him accepting things for what they were, so little things like this helped John make his day a bit brighter.
“Ok, enough grab-ass. We need to talk about the assault on Veridis Prime. Thanks to our intelligence overlords,” John grinned as he pointed to the intelligence officers, “We can expect this base to be empty.”
John activated the holographic display in front of him. The base was located on a mountainside right near the tree line. It was a pretty standard positioning that the platoon had expected to see.
“Another fucking clean-up mission?” Lukas asked dejectedly.
“Sadly, that is exactly what we are doing. Platoons one and two got the more interesting deployment. The weather’s nicer on VP though, so there’s that. Darryl your squads will be running protection or cover for our esteemed guests.”
“Roger.”
“Do we expect any locals present at the facility?” Erica asked as she looked at the holographic display.
“Planetary governor doesn’t believe any locals went out that way. Hunting and fishing in that neck of the woods was pretty shit. So big cats and bear-like things aren’t going to be a threat up here,” John sighed, “That is also the downside, the chefs aren’t likely to get any fresh meat from us for the trip back home.”
“FUCK,” David said under his breath.
John grinned, “Ok since we have guests, our standard procedure is a little fucked. Darryl, like I, said y’all are riding reserve until we finish the sweep of the base. Derek you and your squads are going to assault the base via the west doors here. Erica, you get the big ass hangar bay here. My teams will take the east entryway here. Darryl, I want two squads here and here as a backup while the remaining two will be on standby with them.”
“Standard room clearing process?” Erica asked.
“Yes, don’t worry about cataloging anything from the get-go. Once the base is cleared then NI gets to come in and dictate how shit goes,” John paused and looked at the pair, “Don’t suppose y’all have anything you want to add?”
Dexter shook his head, “We’ll split up once we get in the base to help with the cataloging. The power, if there is any juice stored or leftover, is not to be turned on until you hear either the Commander or myself give the order.”
“Good call. Chances are the primary and backup generators are long gone, but if they are present don’t touch a fucking thing.”
Arianna leaned forward and spoke up, “What if those systems are present?”
“Then you’ll secure the main hangar. One team will make a break for the server room to see if it’s still present. Darryl, you will then bring forward our special guests so they can make the determination of when or if the power is turned on.”
“What should we do with any squatters?” Vanessa asked.
“Standard protocol. If they fight, they get put down,” John said bluntly.
The pair of intelligence officers in the rear of the room were visibly stunned at John’s statement. Not in as much that he said it, but that he said it as casually as he did. Both were aware of the numerous rumors surrounding John’s somewhat sordid past with Naval Intelligence, but they, like most people, believed the stories were embellished to make the man larger than reality.
“Here’s the good news. The slip tides are in our favor heading out. We’ll be transitioning back into real space in two days. The assault will begin in sixty hours,” John said as he clicked a couple of buttons on the terminal in front of him, “Sergeants, here’s the training plan and the main hangar is where we’ll be working.”
“Sir, may I recommend we shift the start of this back a couple of hours? The first shift can start after chow,” Erica asked.
“Approved, you have the first shift. The D’s, you’ve got a second shift and third shift respectively.”
“By alphabetical order again?” Darryl asked.
John grinned, “One time I’m going to answer in the negatory for your smart ass, but yes. Same-old same-old this go around. Any other questions?”
The marines shook their heads.
“Oorah, let’s be smart, smooth, and deadly folks. I want to be back home so I can go golfing down on the surface of Manchester when the courses open near Bristol Bay. Your dismissed.”
The marines filed out of the room relatively quickly. John handed data slates to his sergeants while Jerad handed John a not-insignificant amount of paperwork for him to review. John groaned loudly enough for people down the hall to hear him. Jerad was both smiling and laughing as he left the room.
Dexter Watanabe stood up and spoke to John, “Operational doctrine for this scenario suggests squatters are to be treated…”
“Like hostiles. Anyone that willingly stays in a place of death and horrors is neither to be trusted nor overlooked,” John shook his head, “Besides, anyone that is dumb enough to stay in a place like that ain’t doing shit to a bunch of pissed-off marines in power armor. Honestly, no one is that fucking dumb.”
“Why are we here?” Commander Murphy was so over this trip despite it could be measured in minutes at this point.
“I think the better question is why weren’t y’all a part of these missions before? You both know damn well what that doctrine is. NI should be on the frontlines ready to interrogate witnesses or review materials found on sight.”
Dexter raised his hand to shush the Commander, “Lieutenant, as with many things, you are technically correct. However, in this case, that seems a bit overkill to presume they are hostiles. Or needing us both to accompany your platoon.”
“Until I know otherwise Chief, I am treating anyone and everyone that aren’t Marines or Navy personnel as hostiles. They raise a fist to me and I’m turning them into a blood smear on the fucking ground,” John smiled, “It’s also not like you won’t have time to do whatever paperwork y’all need to work on.”
“Whatever, do our quarters have secure terminals for us to work on?”
John nodded, “They sure do. Commander, you’re in Bravo-One, and Chief you’ve got Charlie-Three. I’m in Alpha-Four if you need to visit me for anything. Generally, I’m in my room, the marine planning room, or the chow hall.”
“Understood. Since it’s a short trip we don’t have an office set up for us, do we?” Dexter asked.
“Sure don’t. If y’all come with a longer deployment, we will make sure to have better facilities provided and ready for you. You being with us was a bit of a last-second thing and we didn’t have time to set things up better.”
“Understood. We’ll get out of your hair for the day or so. I presume there will be another briefing.”
John nodded, “Oh there’ll be plenty of briefings. I’ll get you added to the final briefing. Should be in two days and several hours from now.”
Neither intelligence officer noticed the evil grin forming on John’s face. They were both too irritated to notice John’s curious behavior. Whether they wanted to or not, their paperwork still needed to get finished somehow. Their working environment was far from ideal onboard this ship. He wasn’t worried about their creature comforts. His prey was onboard the ship and that was all that mattered.