<Overkill?> Lyra asked.
<I was trying to lob it past her, put the explosion between her and the wall. She moved at the last moment, hit her instead,> Nerishka said as she pushed to her feet and dashed toward the groaning woman.
The assailant lay crumpled on the floor, half propped up against the wall. Her helmet had been torn from her head and now hung onto her shoulder, revealing a grey-green complexion and eyes so dark they appeared lifeless.
<Huh,> Lyra grunted. <I really thought it would be Vanka.>
<Guess our friend from the Commodore really wants payback.>
The woman groaned and blinked, staring around her, visibly stunned. The moment her eyes fell on Nerishka, the assassin pushed against the wall and surged to her feet.
Though shocked at the woman’s determination in the face of her injuries, Nerishka was ready for the first blow. The assassin produced a short blade in each hand and began to strike wildly at Nerishka’s face and torso, every attack more desperate than the previous one.
Nerishka side-stepped, avoiding the blade and reaching for her lightwand at the same time. There was no longer any time to waste. With a single, swift movement, she drew the weapon, activated the light blade and plunged it into the assassin’s side.
The lightwand cut through the woman’s armor like butter and sliced halfway through her torso. A moment later the green-faced woman teetered on her feet, then sank to the floor where she collapsed on the scorched carpet, staring up at the ceiling.
<She’s gone.> Lyra supplied the information before Nerishka could even ask for it.
Crouching beside the woman, Nerishka scanned the white hair tied in a high ponytail at the top of her head. The woman’s green-hued face was covered in dark red tattoos, with only a small percentage of skin still visible. <Any identification on her?>
<Unfortunately, she’s wiped clean. I cannot ascertain if the elimination of her internal datastores was recent—as in she had a failsafe to dump all data for security reasons—or if she’s operating as a ghost.>
Nerishka shook her head and then stared around the trashed room. <Who would want to kill Karsin? And then go to the extent of watching the place to eliminate anyone who comes looking for them?>
<Someone who believes Karsin had something important that they didn’t want to fall into the wrong person’s hands?> Lyra suggested.
<Or maybe some government spy who was onto Fletcher’s project. Or we may even have an element who figured out Karsin was a spy himself.>
<Which means you could be the next target.>
<Well, I would be. If they knew who I was.> Nerishka left the bedroom and studied the living area, then frowned. <Think he hid something here?>
She walked around the apartment, examining each of the paintings on the walls, every overturned sofa and chair, every book that lay in the numerous stacks and shelves that littered the room. <He kept a lot of books. Did a good job playing the part of rare book dealer,> she muttered, rifling through a collection of boxes on the lower shelves of a floor-to-ceiling bookcase.
<Some of the items here date back many centuries,> Lyra said. <He has a collection on his open files that claim to be first editions of an early title of an Earth physicist from the twenty-first century.>
<No kidding. How would he have gotten hold of something like that?> Nerishka headed over to a large trunk, lifting the lid to find more books and folders.
<Well, he does work for the Hand. Perhaps his cover is better than I’d thought.>
<He did manage to infiltrate this system’s black market. Karsin would have never gotten to Fletcher if he hadn’t been believed to be trustworthy.> Nerishka shut the trunk and took a deep breath. <So where would Karsin hide something so only I would find it?> she murmured as she searched the room again, cycling her vision in case she missed something small.
<I’m scanning his last messages just in case it contains any indication of what he wanted you to know.>
Lyra began to replay the message Karsin had sent to Nerishka via Director Jeriah. It would have been made weeks ago, but Nerishka knew enough about Karsin to know he was pedantic, that he always planned in advance. Even in the event of his death.
After a few seconds, she sighed. <I’m not getting anything here that can help. Karsin is merely providing his standard debrief; he used the required security levels for the report. Nobody would have overheard or managed to record this conversation. And yet he says nothing about being in any kind of danger.>
<He’s more paranoid than you are,> said Lyra with a chuckle.
Nerishka ignored her and ran the recording again. <What if we look for his body language, intonations and expressions that don’t make sense.> She replayed the recording two more times before she paused the video, a smile forming on her lips. <There. You see it?>
The clasp holding his cloak together at his throat had changed direction twice during the recording. <You think he’s providing you with a clue?> Lyra asked.
But it was more a rhetorical question, which Nerishka ignored as she was already spinning around and studying the messy disaster that was Karsin’s apartment.
Beside the table, crumpled on the floor, lay the cloak in question. Nerishka hurried over and grabbed it, searching the neckline and finding nothing.
The cloak was in keeping with the semi elegant style of the city’s residents. <Surely he has more cloaks than just this one.> Nerishka began a search of the room again, this time turning things over and looking inside and under everything that lay on the floor.
When the main room offered up nothing, Nerishka returned to the bedroom and tossed the already rumpled bedclothes, then let out a small cry. <There! We have it.> Twisted among the sheets was the cloak in question, identified by the bland navy-blue ornament on the clasp. Nerishka pulled the clasp free and said, <Got it. Now let's get the hell out of here.>
<You won't get any objections from me.>
A DEEPER GAME
STELLAR DATE: 10.06.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Palomidae Hotel, Eshnunna
REGION: Anahita, Ayra System (Independent)
Nerishka closed the doors to her suite and released a passel of drones to sweep the room. Whoever her enemies were, she had to assume they could have learned enough about her to know where she was staying.
It wasn’t too likely—given that both times they’d attacked her in locations connected to Karsin—but it was a possibility.
The drones didn’t pick anything up on their broad sweep, and she set them to do a more intensive scan while dropping into one of the room’s plush chairs. Morning light had begun to brighten the room, and she let out a sigh.
That had certainly been a long night.
Now she stared at the gem clasp that rested in her palm. <Get anything from it?> she asked Lyra.
<No. The clasp is made of osmium—we won’t get a thing. Perhaps open it.>
<Already on it,> replied Nerishka as she searched the gem for a clasp or a release button. After manipulating it a dozen different ways, the gem clicked and opened like a flower, the domed top slipping into six separate pieces and falling open to reveal a datapod.
Nerishka lifted it free and closed the clasp, slipping it into a pocket. <Lyra?> she said, staring at the device. <Let’s get a look at what’s so special that Karsin had to hide so inventively.>
<Already on it,> came the AI’s reply and Nerishka grinned. A few seconds later, Lyra said, <You do realize Jeriah is going to have a conniption with you going off-script.>
<I know,> Nerishka said as she retrieved the datapod and inserted it into a buffered reader. It was entirely possible that the enemy had taken the real data and left this as a plant for her, so she set the reader to apply its full multi-layered defenses before connecting to it.
Once the information began filtering into the reader’s sandboxed honeypot environments, she continued. <But can you seriously tell me we don’t have an obligation to follow this trail now? You know how long it’s going to take to
get the report to Jeriah, and then for her to send someone to investigate? It makes more sense for me to do something now. While I’m here.>
Lyra’s avatar shook her head solemnly.
<Besides, Director Sera is reasonable,> Nerishka continued, <She used to be a field agent. That means she knows that we have to trust our guts when we feel like we’re onto something.>
<Well, it does look like you’re onto something.>
Lyra threw up the files on a holo in front of Nerishka who paused in surprise at what she was seeing. Karsin’s files were a duplicate of Fletcher’s. But every single one of them included the unredacted details that she’d been missing.
<The outbreak appeared to be much worse than Fletcher’s files indicated,> said Lyra, her voice low and sober in Nerishka’s mind.
<Fletcher may have had a distilled version of this particular file. Or he deleted what he felt may be sensitive. But not before Karsin got his hands on it.>
<So we have dozens of affected patients. And this particular location—> Lyra highlighted Xerxes, the next planet closest to the Ayra System’s star, <—has been flagged as a possible origin point. A substantial portion of the victims—if not all of them—originate from a settlement at those coordinates.>
Nerishka frowned and shook her head. <Karsin’s commented here in a note saying that the Greshan settlement—a small scale agro farm growing oat crops—was partially destroyed in some sort of catastrophic event. He claims that there had been reports that an unknown object hit Xerxes’ atmosphere and fell to the surface of the planet close to Greshan. Only problem is when he went looking again he found nothing. All trace of the object was wiped out. Karsin died to protect this information. I’m assuming there is more to this than meets the eye and we need to get there, see what’s been going on.>
The files named Arraphka as the city nearest to where patients had shown up with symptoms. Still, far too much of the relevant information—like what the secret project was—remained locked behind added encryption.
Nerishka grunted in annoyance. <Turns out Karsin’s file is also encrypted.>
<He managed to break through the first level of encryption which gave us these details,> Lyra added. <But the information indicating the project name and the people responsible are still encrypted.>
<Karsin has been with the Hand for four hundred years and he’s an analyst at heart. Not to mention a skilled cryptographer. He had the skills to break through even the second level encryption, but it’s likely they got to him first.> Nerishka shook her head, seeing Karsin’s face again, the memory of finding him dead still haunting her. <If this is what Karsin got killed for, then he was onto something game changing.>
<Worse than picotech?> asked Lyra archly.
<We’ve found next to nothing about active pico research. I’m beginning to suspect the picotech was a side-dream of Fletcher’s.>
<Or, if you want to think in terms of espionage, it was likely bait to catch people like you and Karsin.>
Nerishka grunted in reluctant agreement. <Hmmm. There is that too.>
<Very well. I’ve booked a cabin on the Belshazzar, a liner headed for Xerxes. We have a three-roomed suite suitable for the likes of Kiarra Vestine, socialite and real housewife of New Manchester in the Sphire System. Sole purpose in life: spend her darling wife's money as fast as it's made.> Lyra ended with a flourish in her tone that Nerishka could almost see.
<Perfect, Lyra. Now the only thing to do is to get my special delivery redirected to the Belshazzar.>
Lyra let out a strained cough. <I’ve been trying to get in touch with the AI at the cartage company holding your shipment, but he doesn’t seem to be responding.>
<Just inefficient? Or is there something I need to be worrying about?> asked Nerishka, already worrying.
She’d been looking forward to getting her hands on her lab-pod filled with botanicals from Valkris, a little impatient now as her stock of rendered toxins had begun to run low. She’d waited years to receive this particular package and she couldn’t afford to leave it behind when she escaped Anahita.
Lyra let out a soft groan. <I think their system is offline for some reason. Vernon, the AI is completely unresponsive.>
<Could it have something to do with Karsin?> Nerishka mused, more to herself than Lyra. <His killers seem to be trying to end me as well, so would they have possibly tracked my shipment?>
<I don’t see how.> Lyra’s tone was doubtful. <We used an alias and covered your connection to the import clearance too well. And Karsin had no idea where it was. There is no way they would have known it belonged to you.>
<I think my paranoia radar is on a little too high.>
<Don’t you mean your professional radar?> Lyra chuckled.
<Well said.>
TEAMWORK
STELLAR DATE: 10.06.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Palomidae Hotel, Eshnunna
REGION: Anahita, Ayra System (Independent)
Nerishka hadn’t brought much that she couldn’t leave behind in a hurry. Which meant packing up wouldn’t take long. She’d been on missions before where fleeing within minutes of her assassination was the smartest thing to do if she wanted to keep breathing.
But she still had to maintain both her cover, and the appearance that she hadn’t been fazed by the two attacks on her life. Whoever had killed Karsin had also attempted to eliminate Nerishka, and she had no clue where they’d sneak up on her next.
<There. I just have to pack my weapons and we’re good to go.> Nerishka dusted her hands off and then said, <Lyra, who do we have in this system that we could call in to back me up?>
Nerishka shook her head as she surveyed the suite. <No, it would take them, even Bryce, a week to get the message, days to disengage, then another week to get here. I’m thinking non-agent assets, or even unrelated operatives.>
<Oh?> Lyra responded archly.
Nerishka lifted a brow. <What? You don’t approve?> She suppressed a smirk as she turned and headed toward the carved headboard and her secret hiding spot.
<Not really,> Lyra replied airily. <I’ve been observing your lack of desire to work with others. I merely didn’t expect such a request.>
Nerishka’s browed furrowed as she replied, <I’ve used outside help on numerous occasions, Lyra.>
The AI gave a resigned sigh. <Very well. I performed my duty in providing the appropriate warning but I’m well aware of your history. I was briefed before I was paired with you.>
<You had objections even before we were paired?> Nerishka asked, tugging the narrow case out from behind the headboard. She tapped the biolock and double-checked the weapons and toxins hidden within. All was as it should be.
<Not objections,> the AI said, her tone somewhat haughty. <Reservations.>
Nerishka’s smile turned into a grin. <So…any regrets?>
Lyra’s avatar rolled her eyes. <While you were baiting me, I checked on your current list of non-Hand contacts—thank you for releasing them to me—I think I have an in-system contact only a week’s travel away who may suit perfectly. It’s a lucky break too—he seems to be just stopping for resupply while passing through the system.>
Lyra threw up the details of the contact on the holo and Nerishka set the secure bag beside the rest of her luggage. The image on the holo startled her and she let out a deep sigh. <I would have been perfectly happy with anyone but him,> she muttered.
<Why is that?> Lyra asked, sounding affronted, as though Nerishka shouldn’t be critical of it merely because it was the AI’s intelligent choice. <Dresden appears to be perfect for the situation. He’s
ex-TSF and an ex-Hand agent—although I’m not sure how one gets to be an ex-Hand agent. He has excellent contacts in this system and beyond. And he even has a small team on call.>
<I know all that, Lyra. He is my contact after all.>
<I detect an increased heart-rate—which you attempted to hide by altering the bioelectric signals that pump your heart.>
Busted.
<So…is there something you need to tell me?> Lyra prodded. Nerishka didn’t respond, which resulted in a chuckle from her AI. <You can decide not to reveal details, but remember, I am inside your head. Hard to miss much from here.>
<Which means?>
<Which means I can sense a complex emotional reaction to Dresden. Coupled with your reservation, it leads me to a perfectly reasonable conclusion: you two have had an intimate relationship in the past.>
Nerishka let out a resigned sigh. <If you must know, yes. We were once…together.>
Lyra sighed. <I fail to understand why you organics are so often ashamed of attachment, whether brief or permanent.>
<It’s got nothing to do with being ashamed. It’s more regret that things went wrong. Or maybe regret that things happened in the first place. Or regret that you didn’t listen to your gut and you went ahead and got involved at all. Numerous things.>
Lyra let out a soft sigh. <Ah. I believe I understand. It didn’t work out and you left. And now you feel like you’re going to have to face the person you hurt. And that may not work out well in a working environment?>
Nerishka pursed her lips. <Something like that.> She didn’t want to elaborate. Lyra knew too much already.
Dresden and Nerishka had met when he’d been part of a squad she’d used almost a century ago. A lot of water had passed under their bridge since, and she didn’t want to have to face the man again.
Not that she’d done anything inherently wrong. Liar. Just leaving the guy without a word of explanation kinda meant there would be ramifications when she did see him face to face again.
<Fine,> she said, heaving a deep sigh. <Reach out and see if he will meet us on Nimrud Station. He’ll likely get there before us so that should give me some time to prepare.>