14. Grey space station
Cat frowned, this dump was even worse than the spartan quarters inside the roid in Itani space. It was slightly larger than the cubicle she used to have, but at least that had been clean. She tossed the linen on the covers and dumped her knapsack on the chair. She took the covers off and was disgusted by the large stains on the mattress; obviously it had been used by a self-employed liberal businesswoman. Cat threw the covers back on and went out into the washroom. At least it had been scoured clean, the metal surfaces discoloured and rusty but apparently clean. There was a harsh antiseptic smell in the air and Cat shut her olfactory senses off. So, this was home for now. She sighed mentally and wished that she was back at the hot steam bath in the barracks around Pyronis with her friends but it looked like she inadvertently had become an enemy of the state, or at least a part of the state. Her brainpal activated with an incoming signal. She acknowledged it and a small holographic image of a grim reaper with a caption that said BERIA was projected on her retina.
"Are you comfortable yet? I know it is not the best, but it is secure."
She ordered her brainpal to switch the image into a sunflower with a big smile. That made her a bit more comfortable at least. Her own avatar was that of a small bald cat but she assumed that Beria translated the icon into something he wanted as she had done to his avatar.
"What do you want?"
"Straight and to the point. Well, it is not a social call anyway. I need you to join us in the briefing room in an hour. Your skills are needed. I'll send a station map with location for you. Remember your weapons, we are in Grey after all."
"I'll be there."
In her brainpal the image of the sunflower got burned by an immense flamethrower, thus ending the link with Beria. An evil looking bat flew towards her until it reached her brainpal's translator-sphere that turned it into a fat grey pigeon. The data package from Beria. She acknowledged the data package with a message of her own and walked in to find her guns. She had a hard time imagining who could harm her but Beria had been right so far.
###
Brix Servan tried to control his temper, which was pretty hard; he was furious at the UIT SWAT member that had just turned him away again. What the hell was he to do, he had to deliver the data pad he had received from his employer to the research facility on the BioCom station within an hour or the data was worthless. He had a reputation for always delivering on time, no matter what. Always on time. Apparently something major had happened since they had locked down access to the launch bay. He couldn't let that stop him, not with this kind of money at stake. He tried to dial his buddy in the police but didn't get a connection before his third try. Which was strange, usually it worked extremely well inside the station.
"Brix, kinda busy right now buddy."
"I know but I need a favour. I need a favour badly and I need it now."
"I can't man, I am pulling guard. Some terrorist is on the run or something. Can't really talk about it either."
"I figured as much. I need to launch my X within the next twenty or lose a ton of cash."
"Can't help you Brix. I am stuck here and if I leave I am toast."
"Remember last month? I covered for you with that girl you picked up. And who paid for your room update?"
"Screw you Brix. Okay, but then we are even you hear? Bay sixteen passage Delta 4 in fifteen minutes. If you are not there at that time we are still even mate."
"Yada yada. You know we are, I'll even sweeten it for you with a bit of creds buddy."
"Fifteen."
"I'll be there."
###
Taerow walked in a daze from his room to the food plaza intent on finding some sugary foods. He had always had a sweet tooth but the last couple of days he had felt a craving that was almost impossible to satisfy. It had started around the same time that he woke up after the mission, along with the constant feeling of being watched, a constant feeling of something scraping on the inside of his skull. He grabbed a bowl of "Sugar-Coated-Honey-Bombs" and poured sugar and chocolate milk on top of it.
"Are you sure you have enough calories in that bowl?"
He whirled in surprise and shock when he heard the familiar voice.
"Bill, I thought you were dead?"
"Nah, the rumours of my death were vastly exaggerated. Although I had my doubts some times. How are you these days?"
"Tired. Dead tired."
"You certainly look tired mate. What have you been up to, still that research programme?"
"Can't really discuss it but yeah I am still on it. Even though I wish they would find someone else. And you?"
"I have been running a search and destroy mission in Metana for a week now. We believe that the Serco have a deep penetration team in place somewhere for raiding traders. I sure would like to get my neuts on one of them."
William smiled in anticipation of the kill. He grimaced as if remembering something unpleasant.
"Before that we were test rabbits on some nutcase project. Some social science idiot with an ear in High Command wanted us to do combat simulations with the whole squadron and then rigged the scenario to see what our responses would be when we realised that we couldn't damage the opponent but only be damaged ourselves. I hear that he has a hard time walking these days, something with a kneecap and a piece of metal piping."
He grinned like a schoolboy that just paint bombed the teacher’s house after final exams. He looked down at the extreme sugary breakfast that Taerow was standing with and then down at his own very rare steak.
"Maybe if you ate something healthier you would be less tired."
Taerow looked at the steak and felt his stomach do a couple of flips.
"You still prefer to have the meat directly from the tenderiser I see. You ever heard about cooking food?"
William gasped in mock horror.
'What, and risk burning this fine meat? Never. Listen I need to go to my squad. I'll see you around, hear?"
Taerow nodded in agreement, let William clap him on the shoulder and poured some koffee into his sugar before walking over to sit alone as usual. Seemed that the secrecy surrounding the Omega was still as tight as ever.
###
The guard on duty in the most secret facility in Pyronis received the signal from the distress beacon and logged it as he was instructed. The beacon was from one of their teams in UIT space and it meant that the team was detected and on the run. The guard alerted a snatch team to launch a set of Warthog Mk II’s with special recovery equipment and set course for Dau Senate. He then sent a coded signal to the two operatives’ brainpals that the mission specific data should self-erase in case of capture. They were on their own if they were caught as they knew prior to the mission, but if they could just get outside of the station they would be picked up. Lady Serco was not known to toss resources away needlessly.
