Felisa leaned back in her chair, a pensive look on her face.
My impatience grew as the seconds ticked by, but I gave her a little time to think. Delayed answers were acceptable as long as they were correct, and I only risked mistakes if I rushed her.
“Thank you for going through that, Jared,” Felisa said. She was frowning, but it didn’t look like the expression was directed at me.
“That has answered some of our open questions while raising even more. Still, I promised you answers of your own, and I’ll do my best to provide them.” There was a pause as she seemed to collect herself, fingers tapping on the arm of her chair before she continued.
“I understand my father was in contact with you?” Felisa asked, quirking an eyebrow.
I was left blinking for a long moment as I struggled to figure out what she meant. Then the obvious answer struck me, “you mean Lord Admiral Darvon?”
No wonder he’d shown up in the middle of a crisis then. It wasn’t just any royal family member that had asked him; it was his daughter. Which presumably meant he was married to the Duchess.
Given his position, it made a certain amount of sense, and the fact she was married to the man in charge of the entire planet’s navy no doubt pushed her influence even further.
“Indeed,” Felisa responded with a nod, the nervous energy in her posture growing as the conversation continued. “He has since secured the drop ship in question and has put the technology in his new flagship to use in reconstructing the day’s events.”
“From the latest report,” she began, only to pause again as if bracing herself. “It appears the fleet marine’s captain received an order via his covert royal communication channel minutes before the mutiny began.”
The bottom of my stomach fell out, and cold dread filled me as I realized the horrifying scope of what she was referring to. “Ah,” I sighed, fidgeting in my seat as I tried to come up with the words to respond.
“So they thought it was a sanctioned black ops mission then?” I asked after a long pause, my thoughts churning. Killing all those men and women had felt bad enough when they’d been traitors.
Instead, they’d been loyal the whole time, believing they were doing the right thing. What a nightmare.
“So the whole thing was just a trick then,” I continued, shaking my head in despair. “All those deaths just because someone hacked the com network; it’s a tragedy.”
Felisa grimaced, confusion mixed with sorrow, fear, and regret flashing across her face. “I still forget you’re new to this,” she sighed. “I’m afraid it’s much worse than a simple hack, Jared.”
“We’re well aware of our vulnerability in that area and have taken measures to prevent it for our most important communications. Each of our covert channels has a set of one-time codes associated with it.”
“As each code is only used once, it is almost impossible to decipher a message and entirely impossible to fake one,” she continued, staring intently at me.
“She’s right,” Linnea broke in from beside me, her tone worried. “I’ve used the same kind of system in the past. Since there are no examples of the next code before a message is sent, there’s no way a hacker could even begin to break it.”
Surprised, I turned to my lover, raising an eyebrow. I would have assumed this was Elana’s kind of thing, but then Linnea had mentioned communicating with her father over some sort of secured channel.
Then, the implications of the entire situation washed any other thought away. “So if one of those codes was used to encrypt the message,” I said, turning back to Felisa, “and it was a royal channel, does that mean…”
Felisa nodded gravely in response. “That one of my family members was involved? Most likely, yes.” Clearly agitated, she continued. “Even I don’t know the full details on how such things are handled, but from what I’m told, it would have had to be the king or one of his children.”
The Duchess had told me about that thing with her brother, so this wasn’t a complete surprise, just a worrying one. “So if we rule out his majesty and your mother, that would leave your two uncles,” I asked.
It felt like a reasonable assumption to make. If the Duchess had wanted my frigate that badly, she could have just killed me at the Arkathian facility with no one the wiser. As for the king, this situation felt too convoluted for someone who could have just ordered me to turn the ship over.
“That is the assumption,” Felisa responded, her voice low and sad.
I winced, realizing I’d been a little too blunt; we were talking about her family members, people she would have known her entire life. Still, I needed to know the extent of the problem, so I pushed on.
“Isn’t that a bit blatant, though? Surely this can be traced back to whoever sent the message?”
“Perhaps,” Felisa said. “From what I’ve been told, the soldier who received the message destroyed his decryption code and then died in the battle. There must have been a code for the royal side, but no information on that investigation has been released.”
“I would assume they can’t find it,” she shrugged and shook her head. “So without the message, the whole situation is just a confirmation of what we already expected. I assure you that we will continue to investigate,” she hurried to add, holding up a hand.
“But we need the case to be ironclad before making any accusations.”
“I see,” I said slowly, frowning in consternation. That was not the answer I’d wanted to hear, but it filled in some of the blanks around the attack.
A feeling of helplessness washed over me as I realized the person responsible would get away with it. Even if it was only for now, the idea of all those deaths going unpunished grated on me.
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“Is there no other way to decrypt the message?” I asked, struggling to find a way forward. “You only said it was almost impossible for an existing message, right?”
It felt like I was grasping at straws for solutions again, which was a feeling I had not missed. Things had been going so well that I’d almost forgotten how hard it was.
“We have multiple groups working on it,” Felisa responded with a helpless look. “Including my father’s Arkathian communications ship. If we have anything that might have a chance, that ship is it.”
“I’d like a copy,” I said, managing to stop myself from adding, ‘if possible.’ I was an important person now and was the wronged party in the position. It was time to throw my weight around a little.
I wasn’t so arrogant as to really believe I had the resources to crack the message when the whole nation couldn’t. However, it was still worth a shot, and I did have one thing no one else did.
Mira and her still unknown capabilities as a free AI. She’d already done good work helping Elana create blueprints and designs; perhaps she could also figure something out here.
Of course, the best outcome would be for her to work with the communications ship and its likely superior computers. Unfortunately, that presented something of a problem given the kind of willful blindness she’d been treated with so far.
The Duchess and Felisa no doubt knew she existed but had avoided pushing for details. Bringing her up might open a can of worms that I would not be happy with.
If it turned out her existence was illegal, and they’d just been looking the other way, I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do.
Felisa looked as lost in her thoughts as I was, taking a while to respond. “That… should be fine,” she said at last. “I’ll confirm with a few people after this. Please wait before leaving; we’re transferring all classified information via physical mediums at the moment.”
I nodded in agreement; that was a sensible precaution given how deeply their communications network had likely been infiltrated. With superior technology and a Technokinesis Psion on their side, for a time, it seemed almost certain.
And that was assuming they didn’t have any more such Psions available. “What about the Technokinesis ritual sites? They’re under your mother’s control, so shouldn’t there be a record of the people who’ve used them?”
Felisa nodded, looking relieved for the first time in the whole conversation. “Yes, that is one of our best lines of investigation now that you have confirmed it was Technokinesis. With it being from our own ritual sites, we should be able to trust the information.”
Turning to Linnea, she continued, “Thank you for retrieving the body, Linnea. That will help a great deal in identifying the individual in question. I'll send for the records immediately.”
“As that information is also highly classified, it will take a few days to transfer securely. Once it arrives, I’ll have our best people review it.”
I was almost tempted to ask for the records as well, but I still remembered how serious they’d been about security when I visited my last ritual site. Somehow, I doubted they would release it to me, even under the current circumstances.
“Is there anything else I can help you with, Lord Hope?” Felisa turned back to me, losing some of the informality she’d held throughout the meeting.
Had I pushed too hard? I didn’t think so; she was probably just signaling that she had work she needed to attend to. I was still getting used to the social norms of the nobility here, but that felt like the most likely meaning.
And I could easily see how it would be true. All this had happened in the Duchess’ lands, and she hadn’t even been here. The workload on Felisa as her regent must be immense. Nor was I helping matters by continuing to request things.
Was there anything else I needed to know that wasn’t just another variation on, ‘How could this have happened?’
“Do we know why they’re so intent on going after my frigate?” I asked after a moment’s consideration. Our shadowy opposition seemed to be launching a lot of attacks my way, and the last one couldn’t just be explained as a target of opportunity.
Obvious concern flickered across Felisa’s face before. “Until now, we had put it down to you having the worst security,” she began with a sigh. “With this outlier that’s been thrown into confusion.”
“The best my analysts can come up with is they’re after your stealth capabilities. From what we know, they’ve been managing their operations with only a few small transports slipped past our patrols.”
“Ah,” I said, shivering at how much worse the situation could get with a stealth frigate at their disposal. Entire shipments of gear and troops would become possible, or even full-on strikes at key locations.
I’d have to bulk up security considerably. Both at my ship, and anywhere else they might try to draw my attention. Which brought me to another matter.
“Were there any issues getting the troops we discussed together?” If there was any location that might get me to deploy my ship again, it would be that mine and its critical ore.
It was also the last matter I needed to handle at this time. Anything else could wait a few days until Felisa had more information. With luck, the Duchess herself might even return with news from the capital.
“They were part of the force that greeted you at the landing pad,” Felisa responded, looking relieved — perhaps because I’d asked a question she could actually answer.
My eyebrows rose as I realized she was talking about the royal guard soldiers. We’d only discussed regular army troops, so something must have changed since then.
For a moment, I worried this might be a betrayal and that she would seize the mine when I wasn’t looking. Then, I pushed the paranoia away. If they’d wanted the mine, they just wouldn’t have leased it to me in the first place.
No. I was sure it had to be something else. Perhaps another security issue?
“And they know not to follow any sudden, covert orders?” I asked the obvious answer springing to mind. With one rogue order incident already occurring, she would be worried about it happening again.
“They do,” Felisa confirmed, her lips set in a tight line. “I have passed that message throughout our duchy, but the legality of such an order is somewhat in question,” she continued, looking tired.
“Individual commanders might well decide that royal prerogative overrides my authority. However, Mother’s royal guard is only loyal to her. They’re the only troops I can be sure won’t be tricked into anything.
“Thank you for deploying them,” I said, a genuine smile crossing my face. If they were the only troops Felsia could be sure of, then there must be a hundred places she would have preferred to put them.
That she’d chosen to send a significant portion to handle my request meant she was serious about apologizing for what happened. I’d take the gesture as it was intended and keep my anger for the real culprits instead of spreading it to the entire royal family.
“I think that’s all I need at the moment, then,” I continued, lowering into a short bow. Felisa was technically my boss at the moment, after all, and giving her the proper respect would show I didn’t hold the situation against her.
“We’ll return to the frigate and wait for the message transfer before leaving.”
Relief flashed across Felisa’s face again before being swiftly smoothed away. “I’m glad I could assuage your concerns, Jared,” she responded. “And once again, I’m truly sorry about what happened.”
“You’re wounded should have already been transferred to our best medical facilities. I’ll ensure updates are sent your way, and we will provide transport for their return once they are well.”
“If I get any updates about the investigation, I’ll request another visit from you. This isn’t the kind of issue we should talk about over coms.”
I nodded in response. “Agreed. I appreciate the efforts you’re making.”
That was diplomatic enough, right? I really needed more training in how to handle this kind of thing.
It went down well enough, and we departed after exchanging farewells. I wasn’t entirely happy with the information I’d received; if anything, I had more questions than when I started, but it was the best I would get for now.
At least I was confident that Felisa and the Duchess were on my side. They were throwing enough support my way to show that. Hopefully, the investigation would turn up more soon.
For now, I had to get my non-critical troops back home before working on a plan to return. I still needed to raid the depths of that mine, both for my ship and to pay Broker for information.
And the longer I waited, the longer those damn spiders would have to prepare.