White Fire

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

The Blackflame arrived on Waystation EEXDU early in the Waystation’s morning, or so the local time alert told her. To Toni, it felt like late evening. She should have checked the station’s standard time and squeezed in a nap. Time differences always gave her a dull headache.

As the two agents stepped off the Blackflame’s ramp, Toni tasked the CII with the job of infiltrating the Waystation’s electronic systems to search deeper after he reported finding fragmented code. She and Mate headed to the dock master’s office to confirm the shipping routes again. The stolen manifests listed basic medical supplies, water, clothes, and mechanical parts. It seemed like an odd list of items to steal. She wondered if the pirates might be setting up a base somewhere.

The dock master scratched at his balding scalp as he thought about his answer. His skin, tinged aqua-green, suggested he originated from the Odeen Sector, but Toni couldn’t be sure. A forked tongue darted out to lick his lips. Well, that confirmed it. “Yeah, I remember a Sunchaser. Big old mark on the stern. The pilot was hard to forget.”

“Why is that?” The smell of alcohol wafting off the dock master was so strong. Toni didn’t know if it came from his breath or his clothes.

“The woman stood out, you know what I’m saying? A bit like you. I mean, not see through and all, but she made an impression. Built real nice and knew how to dress. She was memorable, all right?”

Toni tugged the sleeve of her silk shirt down over her wrist. Silk was one of the only materials that didn’t irritate her sensitive skin. “In what way? I need more than just an impression. I need a description.”

“’Bout your height. Hair that was all colors. Purple eyes. Astril accent.”

“Astrillian?” What was a Sector Two native doing all the way out here?

“Do you mind getting me a screen capture off your security vision?”

“Honey, those things don’t work. They’re just for show, you know? A way to deter troublemakers.”

She sighed. Of course the security systems didn’t work. Her shades vibrated against her nose. A message from Zach popped up on her glasses display.

Zach: Hey Boss.

Toni glanced up, locating Mate. He was still prowling the docking port, matching each ship to the station’s database. With no signal from him, it was unlikely he and Zach had uncovered a discrepancy. Hm. What else could Zach have found? She asked the dock master for a copy of the delivery docket to compare it against the list Zach pulled from Marn. The dock master swayed unsteadily as he returned to the main office.

“Zach?” She barely gave voice to the utterance, knowing the small microphone in her shades would pick it up.

Zach: Boss, I think I’ve found something. You were right; it looks like there was another hack, a week earlier than mine. The coding was buried pretty deep. They did a decent job covering their tracks, but I have located two access points. One in the morning, and again a few hours later. They pulled the dummy route from the navigation system, but it looks like it didn’t confuse them for long.

Gotcha! “Anything you can track? Can you tell me where the hack was made?”

Zach: Send Mate to access the exact terminal and I can get a better read for you. I’ll flash a map of the location and request Mate head back to you now.

“Thanks.” She signed off as the dock master returned, carrying a small notepad.

“This is all I could find.”

“Thank you,” she told him. Mate emerged from the shadows painting the rear of the bay black. The dock master’s eyes widened and his tongue darted out to taste the air of the bay.

“What is that?”

Toni’s lips quirked up in the corner. “My pet.”

“That’s a pet?” The dock master stumbled back as Mate drew near. The man let out a sharp screech and ran toward his office. He didn’t take his eyes off Mate the entire way.

“Stop it,” she admonished when the C-bot reached her side.

Mate looked up at her and tilted his head. “I am not sure what you mean.”

“Uh huh.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on. Let’s find that terminal.”

*

Mate backed out of the console’s base. “That is all I can access.”

Using the C-bot’s signal, Zach had accessed the Waystation’s system and discovered two more pieces of information about the unknown hacker. The attack originated from an internal connection via a booster box installed into that particular terminal, and the signal was a familiar one. Zach’s text bubble appeared.

Zach: It’s definitely the Stargazer. It appears he’s a frequent visitor.

Toni spoke quietly, peering around to see if they were being watched. “Zach, can you leave a little gift for our Stargazer friend? Something to activate next time he lands here?”

Zach: Yes.

She smirked. There was no way she was letting the pilot escape now. Finally, she had a chance to solve this case. Those pirates were as good as captured. “It can’t be noticed, Zach. Throw a timer onto it. Don’t let it activate on install.”

Zach: I gotcha, Boss. Are you headed back?

She shook her head. Though Zach couldn’t see her, she found the behavior was instinctive. There was time to go over Marn’s supply list again and check her info drop.

Zach: Boss?

“No. We’ll be back soon, though.”

Toni headed toward the station’s meal zone. Last time here, she’d set up an informant’s anonymous drop and had Zach post several reports on the holonet with hidden messages. She didn’t expect anything would come from the request for information, but on the off chance there had been a response, she should empty the inbox.

With Mate covering the meal zone entrance, Toni strolled to the rear wall. Below the large holoscreen were several small ports. Eyes followed her across the floor; she ignored them through long practice and leaned back against the wall, playing with her shades. Slipping a hand behind her to feign a scratch, she slipped a fingernail-sized chip from one of the ports.

A good ten count later, she straightened and headed to one of the meal counters. Searching the boards for a meal that didn’t sound too disgusting, she purchased a small bag of fried cerulean stick-leaves and wandered back out of the zone.

*

“Zach, how’s that message chip coming? Anything on it?”

“Yes, Boss. There’s an encoded message.”

“Can you break it?”

“Working on it.”

Mate raised his head. “Why encode the message?”

Toni shrugged. It did seem self-defeating. She returned to the tablet in her hand. On it were the two manifests “Mate, are you seeing what I’m seeing? There are discrepancies with the water volumes.” She sunk into the three-seater, the worn red cover stretched but never seemed to tear. Mate lay at her feet. She needed mats. No, a rug—she should get a rug. The interior of the Blackflame was pretty bare since she hadn’t had time to purchase anything personal. To do that, she needed to solve this case and get paid more than the stipend Zaambuka gave his agents at case assignment.

“Who would steal water?” Mate asked.

“Someone desperate I suppose,” Toni said.

“I’ve been investigating the stocks. It’s too expensive already. It’s only going to go up. Maybe the pirates are part of a black market ring? It appears there’s good coin in water supplies,” Zach jumped in.

“I have a feeling we’re missing something.”

“Boss, I’ve opened the message,” the CII announced a moment later.

Toni sat up. “What does it say?”

Zach projected the reply onto the nearest screen, and Toni read it quickly.

Supplies not what you think. The Reef, Uxt. Contact will provide further intel. Belani woman seated close to the bar, alone. Code name: Jasmine.

“Can you ping the source?”

The CII declared negative.

Mate rose up on all fours. “This sounds like a trap, Boss.”

Toni agreed. Still, she’d heard about Uxt. The planet was a water world with only five percent of its landmass located above the surface. It had become a major tourist mecca after the inhabitants of Uxt built a massive entertainment complex and casino under the planet’s ocean. The Reef, Zach informed her, was a well-known bar located within the complex.

Toni knew that already. The Reef was talked about in glowing terms at the Academy. Every traveling Defender or Sentinel who addressed her small class had ended the lecture extolling the virtues of the bar on Uxt, with a suggestion to the new graduates to stop at The Reef if they were in the area. Toni had always intended to visit. “The place will be full of Defenders, Sentinels, and STCT. If this mysterious contact wants to meet us there, then let’s do it.”