Honor of the Fallen

Chapter 5

"Oh good... Am I still the richest guy on the planet?"

"In the Empire... and yes you are."

Phyllip caught the report, and flipped to the first page. Unenthusiastically he mumbled, "Yea me!"

"Lady Celine did well, again."

Phyllip smiled, "I know that tone of voice. She beat you again didn't she?"

"I don't know how she does it!? I thought I had her this year! I grew seven percent and some, she was under me by a more then a whole percent but she still edged me out on the list! I hardly closed the gap!"

"Ah yes, my little prodigal financial advisor and wife. Some days I think Celine doesn't even try just so she can get under your skin."

"Well she succeeds nicely. I'm not going to hear the end of it until next year's list comes out. And she will probably beat me again..." Thomys sighed in exasperation. The running contest between himself and his best friend's wife had been amiably fought over the last two decades, but Celine was pulling ahead over the last several years. Celine and his own wife had teased him relentlessly over his lack of progress. "I should just quit, give everything away, and become a monk somewhere."

"You know I won't let you quit." Thomys grunted at Phyllip and drained the water pitcher into a glass. Before he could take a drink, Phyllip stopped him, "Hey! Put some of that back!"

Thomys shook his head as he exhaled his frustration, before pouring a splash back into the pitcher. "You know, paranoia is not a good trait in a sovereign."

"It is not paranoia if they really are after me, my friend."

"Phyllip, you have some of the best security in the galaxy. You are more secure then the terraforming commissions patents. And as you have proved on many occasions during our younger days you are very difficult to kill. Do you really think that keeping water in your pitcher, so that you can see the ultrasonic vibrations from your anti-bugging field shaking the surface, is absolutely necessary?"

"Yes," he replied flatly. "You know as well as I do that overlooking the little stuff can cause the biggest problems." Thomys nodded, as he was reminded of his own philosophy, he could only agree. "I have buried four children. Persephone is my last. I will not be careless with her or Celine."

"I guess that's true. After... 'the incident' I guess that makes more sense, and putting those two statues of yours to watch her."

"They are good men, solid, stable and reliable. I have worked with them both before. And they are the most duty bound mules I have. They can keep each other honest."

"Thanatyos is still pissed off about you going over his head..."

"To hell with my little brother. I am over his head. He picked the last one, and we both know how well that turned out." Phyllip tossed the Profit and Loss statement back to Thomys. "Maybe this time, two will work better than one...

"Why did it have to be 'him' that went off the reservation?! He was our best... he could have been anything! Why couldn't it have been that rabid dog that Thanatyos keeps around? The Guardsmen had two hundred years of a spotless record until... him."

Thomys shook his head at the reminder of Thanatyos Chroynos' disagreeable and vicious Guardsmen Alexios. "The man is intimidating. Really, just think about it, how many Guardsmen favor a giant ax over a sword... but he is a jerk, loyal, but still a jerk."

Phyllip deliberately changed the subject, "You mentioned something about subordinate corporation 'issues', Thomys?"

"Yes. This one is sort of... 'Odd'." Thomys dropped the stack of precious paperwork onto the floor as he leaned forward. It was something he only did when his mind was fully engaged on something that was bothering him. "The investigation at our Research and Development Division determined that it was 'Pure-Human' university groups just making trouble for our Nanotech. The reports call it simple vandalism and such." Thomys pressed his fingers together in front of his mouth as he leaned forward in the chair, staring off at nothing, another bad sign. "You know that Research Corporation, and specifically 'Design Division' are my babies and I love them like any one of my little girls. I toured the facility before I let them clean up and... It... well it just felt 'wrong'.

"I authorized them to rebuild the lab to inventory and we won't miss production, which was at another site. The reports confirmed that nothing was missing per the equipment inventory. I couldn't get the nagging feeling that something was missing out of my head so I spent about two days locked in my office and file room looking for a report from that section. I finished this morning. I had it printed for you about four months ago, we went over it quickly. You had wanted to know about the process between sections, and how the expensive components we were buying tied together and such."

Phyllip's eyes were narrowed as he was suddenly very glad for the anti-bugging field he had activated. His gut was sinking and he didn't like where this was going. "I remember it."

Thomys absently nodded before continuing, without looking up. "The things we draw on I generally keep in a secure vault behind my office. I like to have them in case you ask to see them again."

Phyllip nodded recalling several times Thomys had done just that and produced, weeks later, things they reviewed when following questions had arisen.

"My copy of the investigation report appended the materials inventory to the report. Since no one bothers me in my office I just locked the door and turned on my sound field before I came up. I had the digital inventory open on my terminal before I closed off the connection to the outside world and just laid the hard copy next to the investigation digital copy that said everything was accounted for, which prompted the investigators to rule out theft and state only 'vandalism'.

"Well here's the hook. The lists are different. No purchases were authorized and no equipment is to leave that facility without my express written approval for disposal or repair at a certified vendor. It is a top secret secure research facility after all.

"That insult added to the injury of them penetrating our security for their little 'prank', really started me digging. The discrepancy list is short and I won't bore you with technical details, other than the two that are bothering me. First, the items missing from the list are small and portable. The components are untraceable in other words, once they were gone. If they find a half decent tech and some simple off the shelf electronics, the missing components can be used to custom make Nanotech." Phyllip didn't like the sound of that but was already guessing where the second issue was pointing. "Second, someone accessed our asset logs in a top secret facility, deleted items, organized the theft, followed by the vandalism to cover the loss, and all while leaving no digital traces of their efforts. This resulted in the 'official' false results ruling out 'theft' as the motive."

Phyllip sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Suddenly he was very tired. "I hate technology."

"The only reason I caught it was because I had that printout for you saved." Thomys shook his head in frustration and restated, "The only thing that saved us from being completely unaware of the theft was that I had that hard copy that no one but us two knew about... Phyllip, someone has penetrated our security, at a level above our top secret Research and Development Security levels."

Phyllip shook his head, "You are only paranoid if they aren't really after you. I guess I'm not paranoid because they really are after me...

"Keep this between us, Thomys. Don't tell the investigative services. They may be compromised. I don't know where and I don't want to draw any attention to you personally. I want you to quietly investigate this on your own. I know it will be a long shot but maybe you can find something if the thieves think they are safe because there is nothing coming out of our intelligence services about them. At this point I really don't think we can trust anyone.

"How in Hade's vast domain did they penetrate our intelligence network?"

"I don't know Phyllip. It pisses me off and scares me to death."

"You and me both," Phyllip looked at the very slight vibrations in the water, and relaxed some knowing his sound field was operating normally, then stood and walked over to the window, without looking away, from the view, "Send my attack dogs back in. I need to think this through."

"Understood... Are you sure you need eight? You have a whole squad of Guardsmen. We must have better uses for at least some of them. Maybe we could extent the perimeter out a little farther?"

"They really are after me my friend... I'm not even sure that eight will be enough when they come for me. We have an extensive perimeter. That many guards should keep the unit honest, a mastermind would need to buy eight Guardsmen outright to get close to me. Hopefully one of the eight will be loyal enough to let me know he was approached. It is also much harder to hit me with that many moving shields in an assassin's line of sight. Send them in and deactivate the security fields."

Phyllip heard the field pop out of existence as usual when the outer door to his office opened for Thomys.

The sun was disappearing behind the approaching storm, and only turned the sky an angry red, orange, yellow, and purple mix as it back-lit the flashing thunderheads and their natural fury.

His black and gold clad Guardsmen assumed their typical positions. Two by the door and the rest spread a respectful distance around him, silently waiting.

The storm was approaching.

Last Night:

The warm, wonderful face hovered just out of reach. Smiling and welcoming. She had sapphire-gray eyes, quick smile and long soft brown hair that begged to be touched.

His step forward is greeted by her retreat. She is still just out of reach. She is still smiling and calling. He struggles to keep pace. She continues to recede into the foggy oblivion.

The dream of the beautiful brunette, with the coconut hair and flower skin, the wonderful bright eyes, beautiful body, radiant smile, ever elusive.

Then he has her.

Her hands drag him forward.

Sneaking out with the pretty girl and her friend, shopping, sneaking, getting into places she should never go. She whispers soft nothings to him about 'getting lucky' in the back of a mattress warehouse. His knees almost buckle in excitement and fear.

The horrific racket starts in the depths of the warehouse as the exquisite woman, is pressed to him.

"Run! ! !" shouts the friend. But she picks up all their clothes. The girl runs away! She is ahead of them running down the twisting isles of the warehouse. He pushes the beautiful girl after her friend, unable to keep up himself.

Lights flash! White strobing lights penetrate the gloom, capturing still images. Persistent suns light the way before expensive video capture rigs.

He is running as fast as he can. He is falling ever closer to the pursuit, and capture. As fast and as hard as he runs he is only sinking deeper into the floor. The building police and their strobing blue, red and white and horrific whining join the chase.

Escape is near! But still so far...

The long safe alley pinches to a tiny acute angle trapping him, cornered, like the criminal he is...

A mob of pursuers bludgeons him repeatedly with fists, boots and shock lances. Still, he is trying to run and delay the inevitable. Finally, the mob pull him down and down into the mud. As the dark fog and concrete alley turn to quicksand, everything closes in and swallows him piece by piece and whole at the same time...