Decipher
Kaevan and Terrell docked their Dagan Class Two with their favorite Jack crew’s Harpy. It was the same Jack crew they used to capture LtCol Jim Roper. Time wasn’t on their side, and they needed answers yesterday. The president was on their case as political pressure was mounting on her.
“Dillon,” Kaevan said as he greeted the Jack crew’s leader, the large, black-bearded man with a mechanical arm. “What else have you learned about that Jack crew that Stoddard hired?”
“They’re a strange bunch, they are,“ Dillon started. “They’re primarily refugee runners, and they’ve built up a solid reputation for honesty, which isn’t altogether consistent with people in this line of work. I’m actually quite surprised I’ve never heard of them before.”
“I’m not,” Kaevan said. “There’s thousands of Jack crews running loose in the Federation, and each one focuses on a few specialties. You probably know more about your direct competitors, not refugee runners.”
Dillon nodded his head in the affirmative. “Right, well, word usually spreads pretty fast about Jack crews who do jobs for the government. It’s kind of seen among our kind as contradictory, if not treasonous, in its own way. That crew keeps their work pretty well hidden…”
“And you don’t?” Kaevan cut him off.
“That’s not my point,” Dillon replied gruffly. “It’s the way that they do. There’s no records of anyone on that crew more than 10 years back. Word is they all claim to have military training – they even have a doctor. A lot of us have fake ID’s, but if you dig hard enough, you can find out the truth about us. There’s noth’n on ‘em. And I mean noooooth’n.”
“So, what you’re saying is that Stoddard had all of their identities wiped?” Terrell piped up. “They’re not just a Jack crew; they’re members of his organization.”
“I don’t know what it means,” Dillon said, turning his attention towards Terrell. “All I know is what I discovered.”
“Do you have pictures of them?” Terrell asked.
“Not a one. They cover their tracks well.”
“So, it would seem,” Kaevan agreed. “That or someone covers it for them. Planet Hell’s policy is to shut off all cameras during special ops training so that operators’ faces and identities aren’t exposed. They got the same treatment. And how many crews fly around in Zephyrs?”
“Not a lot,” Dillon said. “Only those who fly into Alliance territory because the Zephyr has the same signature as some of the Alliance’s high-ranking officials’ ships.”
“Makes sense,” Kaevan confirmed. “So, they run refugees out of the Alliance, and we know the best way to run spies and saboteurs into the Federation is with refugees. It lends credibility to the notion that Stoddard’s secretly working with the enemy.”
“It seems to me that one of the refugees might know something about that crew, and that could help us figure a few things out. Why don’t we go hunt them down?” Terrell suggested.
Kaevan shook his head. “Where would we start?” he asked. “Dozens of them come through daily, if not hundreds. And they scatter after they get here.”
“Yeah, but almost all of them file for political asylum.”
“Like I said, dozens if not hundreds every day. We won’t have time before Stoddard makes his move.”
“Okay,” Terrell said. “So, what other options are we left with?”
“Maybe I can help with that,” Dillon interjected. “One of my contacts got wind that there’s some serious Alliance activity on a planet in the DL in the Crux-Scutum arm.”
Kaevan and Terrell turned their heads and looked at each other, and then they looked back at Dillon. “Do you know what kind of activity, specifically?” Kaevan asked.
“It’s like a military build-up or something. It’s exactly the kind of military build-up that Stoddard has a reputation for destroying.”
“Did your contacts notice anything unusual about this particular military build-up?” Terrell asked.
“What do you mean? Like outside of the Alliance’s normal shenanigans?”
“Something like that.”
“No, not that he mentioned,” Dillon confirmed.
“Good,” Terrell said before swiftly putting the nozzle of his laser gun to the man’s belly and pulling the trigger. The man’s flesh acted as a natural suppressor, so there wasn’t any sound from the weapon. Immediately after the shot was fired, Kaevan pounced on the man, covering his mouth to deaden his scream. He put the man down gently, then made a motion towards their ship.
“Secure our air lock, but leave theirs open,” he said rapidly to Terrell, who nodded his head in affirmation.
After their Dagan was sealed, they disembarked from the Harpy and watched as the vacuum from space pulled loose objects out of the ship, including Dillon’s corpse. Kaeven immediately turned his ship so that his guns could effectively fire into the breach. He managed to squeeze off half a dozen rounds before the emergency doors started to close. But those shots were all he needed to disable the Harpy. He flew back up and made a strafing run towards the Harpy’s engine compartment, hitting its power generator, causing the ship to explode.
“Guess that answers that,” Terrell said as they felt their ship vibrate from the shockwave.
“That it does,” Kaevan confirmed with a nod. “It looks like we’re headed to Sanchu.”